Ravensblood Forest say you’re my lover, say you’re my homie

blackwater in her veins guides her seaward. 

vermouth gone. 
blackbird’s presence gone. 
anathema gone. 
all gone. all —

her gaze lifted skyward as a gull winged overhead.

she is here. 

why?

It seemed black waters would always guide their steps. Anathema didn't know why she roamed so close to the forest until suddenly she did, suddenly her sister was there and none of what had come before mattered. Ava -! Breathless, running now, she stammered, Accipitra! It didn't matter. By any name, they were sisters.

Reunited again.

Nothing else mattered.

the gull wheels shoreward and minutes pass before she moves again; thinks again —

aware of an approaching storm she cannot see but can taste and smell and feel by the sulphur burning in her veins.

suddenly she’s back on shore: anathema’s voice pulling her from a place not even she knew the name.

she flinches as the sensations past; sand and salt and the whirling blur of anathema’s face swim in her vision.

she reaches to feel anathema’s face, confusion darkening her expression.

was it really her?

Dark fury pooled in the Captain's slender frame. In the wake of the birth, the saltsiren's scent had grown stale, and with it surged overwhelming anger. For the bastard rogue and all he stood for - he'd given the Boats'n a favour and this was how he repaid it? 

A distraction sought in the destruction of a rat's nest, dark muzzle nosing dirt and filth away to snatch newborn pinkies from their fur-lined slumber. He gulped the meagre meal down, and continued to search for another when a cry broke the tense silence.

Was it her? 

Paws churned at muddied earth in his hurry to approach, lips peeling in pre-emptive snarl. For he did not take kindly to abandoners, captive or not.

will arrive next round!

Anathema was still as her sister touched her face, eyes shining with tears unshed. Yet their reunion was not a peaceful one; could such creatures as them ever find true peace? Ana stiffened to hear the distant thundering of running paws, the faceless snarl from the woods.

It isn't safe here, she whispered, trembling. She shot a glance into the woods. Her eyes turned back to Accipitra, quizzical now under the fear. Did you come here for blood?

fading here since i think everyone is going diff directions now <333

as she reaches for her sister it's as if the world falls away.

a snarl bursts out from the woods like the unraveling of a great cnidarian; blackened tentacles reaching -- out of the corner of her periphery she sees a man striding; expression hard as stone -- not friendly, not safe --



when she comes to she is running miles away from this spit of sand, anathema's shadow somewhere behind her.