Ankyra Sound And even though I listened, I never heard a word they said.
Fear is the heart of love
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All Welcome 
bc I wanted one but def no rush on this bb <3 ALSO tags for reference but feel free to drop in! :0
I thought this might be fun to thread out pfft

It hadn't felt right, not being good with her lover.  Now, though, the space that had existed seemed to be repaired, and Rosalyn had begun to settle into her life here within Rusalka.  She could not help considerably, for running and extensive travel were both out of the question.  But she could fish, somewhat, and she could scavange.  When she wasn't, most of her time was spent in recovery, and this lent her plenty of time to dwell on what she and @Erzulie had spoken about.

The prospect of children terrified her, but it had also grown on her that night as they slept, pressed tight.  She didn't think she could love anything as much as the cinnamon wolf, but a child from her would only be an extension of that love, and she wanted Erzulie to have this if it was a thing she so wanted.  And for Rosalyn - a chance, maybe, to prove herself better than her own parents.  

She let her lover know her plan to ask @Caiaphas, in case she wished to come with, but Rosalyn knew she needed to speak with the siren anyway.  She owed her thanks, and a conversation, and the question could come along with the rest.  Midmorning found her waiting at the grotto's entrance, resting in the shadows of the rocky outcroppings around it.  Eventually she would come this way, and the russet woman wouldn't need to traipse across the territory looking for her.
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in time you'll taste all the salt in my lungs
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i am the worst at "starting" threads LMFAO i am sorry thank u for starting <3

the sylph had been out of the grotto most of the morning, keeping to her pre-raid routine of prowling the strand for breakfast. her wound had yet to knit closed, but each day the flesh grew a little closer. as hard as it was to commit to her daily rituals, the harpy did so with steadfast vigil.

she returned to the grotto with a band of kelp in her jaws, and paused as she caught a shadow lurking under the overhang of the grotto's lip. recognizing the form to be rosalyn, caiaphas slowed -- she was still unused to seeing such disfigurement on the russet she-wolf's features, and it showed by the flicker of her yellow gaze.
this house was my flowered heart,
but my petals have fallen.
Fear is the heart of love
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#3
It worked out!

There was little right now that could bring Rosalyn's mood down, not even the indecipherable face of her once-ally, then once-enemy.  She saw the flicker, but ignored it, resolved that what needed to be said was going to be said.  A lot of what had happened was water under the bridge to her now, but that didn't mean a small part of her resented what she was about to have to speak.

I owe you a thank you, she said, meeting Caiaphas' eyes with her own single one now.  I didn't say it when I returned but, for trying.  And for giving her a home.  Thank you.  She gave a small huff of laughter, for her own difficulty saying it.  Just words, but they had a lot of history to reckon with.
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in time you'll taste all the salt in my lungs
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the crone had not expected rosalyn to darken the grotto's mouth -- nor did she expect to hear the words the mutilated woman uttered -- on her threshold? the sylph's ears pulled back (or, really, one good ear did -- the other did a sad rotation that was hardly worth calling movement) in surprise she did not bother to hide.

rosalyn had been many things to caiaphas -- and never once, was it a friend. but the woman that stood besides her and loved her with a harlot's fierce abandon was closer to friend to caiaphas than most were. she had never been the kind to accept well-meaning gratitude gracefully -- hell, very little about caiaphas was graceful, including her tact.

i did not do it for you, she nearly growled -- but her lips remained firmly pursed. wait -- was she learning?

playing any emotion so close to her sleeve save hatred or rage made the siren queen uncomfortable. concealing this, she simply shrugged off the gratitude with a reply more in line with what rosalyn was deserving of. "hmm, welcome. erzulie is a good asset - you too, when you are not so ... chewed up. they will pay, you know."
this house was my flowered heart,
but my petals have fallen.
Fear is the heart of love
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Rosalyn knew, without a doubt (in her mind) that the siren hadn't come for her for her own sake.  She did not know if it was Erzulie, or an excuse to take the fight to Drageda, or both.  Either of those made far more sense than to gain her back, and if she hadn't had her lover, she knew she would have perished on those cliffs.  But if she did not have Erzulie, she never would have approached Caiaphas for a home in the first place.  Love had shifted her to a place where she did not mind lowering herself for it's sake because it was worth it, and it was love that spurred her to at least make peace with the woman before her.  Obviously in her Erzulie saw someone worth following, and so Rosalyn was forced to see her in if not a new light, then at least a less biased one.

They will pay.  Rosalyn's expression flickered at this, and she shrugged.  I don't give a shit either way if they pay.  But I'll help you, protecting this place.  She glanced at the grotto, feeling a strong sense of deja vu being here with this woman again.  It was as if Vlad would just come sauntering out of the caves, racious and loud as always.  Even if I never quite understood what you see in it.  Her smile returned, if a little more distracted this time.
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in time you'll taste all the salt in my lungs
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many a times it had occurred to the siren that life had a strange way of pitting enemies together, forcing them to forge new bonds. she had never anticipated being rosalyn's  packmate once more -- hell, she had never anticipated risking her lives and others to raid the coven of wolves that had stolen her.

and yet... here she was. back in the sound again, back with rosalyn.

if it was familiar, it might be comfortable -- but as caiaphas looked at the disfigured features of her once nemesis, she did not feel content.

"they have my son," she growled, glancing past rosalyn to the sheer cliff that loitered overhead. "and this place -- it is better than anything. have you been inland, rosalyn? it is nothing but wolves at your flanks and meals hard to come by. at least here you can scratch a living, have children, and see them grow.." if they weren't stolen by the curs above, she thought with a strangled passion.
this house was my flowered heart,
but my petals have fallen.
Fear is the heart of love
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#7
Her son.  There had been no other prisoners as far as Rosalyn knew, but there had been young men, and one or two.... she thought of the ones who had threatened her.  Perhaps there was some resemblance.  To her, if those were the wolves she spoke of, then better he was there and not here.  But she kept that to herself because even she wasn't stupid enough to tell a mother her son was better lost.

I've been inland, and hated it.  But there's other beaches, and the ones south have no less appeal.  Have children, only to see Drageda rend them for daring to show their faces in the fields.  Watch them grow, hating and fearing.  It brought Rosalyn back to the conversation she'd had with Erzulie, and she wavered on asking.  Did she really want to raise children here?

It isn't like last time, she continued, shifting her gaze to the sand. I'm content to follow, and I owe you a debt.  Once I'm healed, I'll fight whatever fight you wish to make, no matter how pointless I might think it.  Too many failures in recent times had worn her down and while she reserved some confidence, she was tired of throwing herself at the jaws of fate and being thrown to the ground.  

As long as you have Erzulie's trust, you have mine.  And she even wants to start a family here.  As she said this, Rosalyn glances towards Caiaphas, wryly judging how she took that.  Some wouldn't like a pairing like theirs to have children, and Rosalyn knew she hadn't done much to earn the right.  It might even be a terrible idea.  But she'd said she would ask.
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in time you'll taste all the salt in my lungs
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it was a good thing rosalyn kept her tongue to herself, for caiaphas would have been irascible to hear such an opinion. even if, in the back of her mind, she thought much the same -- if only because he was unfit to be a true eyjolfur, and was better seen among the company of the defective dogs of drageda.

her gaze was sharply brought back to rosalyn, for her tone had shifted to one of gratitude and the sylph dismissed it with a begrudging flutter of her lips. it would do no good to be soft -- but inwardly, she certainly appreciated the sentiment.

as rosalyn continued, she elaborated on a concept that the sylph had been only dimly suspicious of - that the two were pairbonded, by more than simply friendship.

it did not bother the siren queen, for as a nereides she knew well the temptation to turn to the softer sex -- they were often smarter, keener, and far more understanding of the female's sexual confines. it was not unusual in themiscyra that secret trysts often appeared -- for men were useless without the member between their legs that fed and drove their every action, and had they not held the secret to reproduction by that swinging mound of flesh centered between their loins, they would have long ago been cast aside as detritus by women, for they served little purpose.

"how will you do that?" she queried, knowing it was impropable for their own coupling to yield offspring. "you would need a male -- but there are plenty at the sound that could be useful, if that is what you wish." her own mind drifted to kierkegaard -- their mating had been a passionless affair, borne of her own driving want for offspring... but as the days turned into months alongside the grizzled gargoyle, she had found a softness in her heart for him, and they had eventually turned to mates. she quickly chased such thoughts from her mind, for revisiting the past brought little but trouble.
this house was my flowered heart,
but my petals have fallen.
Fear is the heart of love
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It didn't feel right yet, not exactly, but it did not feel as wrong as she once might have expected.  Being here that is.  She'd given her thank yous and promised a repayment, so until that day came, her own code was satisfied.  Respect and loyalty where earned, but no further.  And if one day Caiaphas proved false, the debt would be forfeit.  She hoped for her wife's (!) sake this wouldn't come to pass.

That is what I asked, and she said perhaps a male could be found.  But we know we would need to ask you first.  She gave a lift of her brow, questioningly.  The response hadn't sounded like a no, but it wasn't a yes either.  Children were the strength of a pack, but they were also a drain on resources and a calamity waiting to happen sometimes.
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in time you'll taste all the salt in my lungs
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the siren was drawn into silence following rosalyn's words, examining internally each of the male prospects rusalka held. her own children -- which she would have offered first for such a deed (regardless, of course, of their own ambitions -- she was a woman driven by blood and legacy, and believed her children befit to such tasks) were too young to be fertile -- which left choice few options.

there was firefly -- arguably their most valuable asset not of her own blood. lucca, a sweet boy who caiaphas wondered if would be willing -- and then more recently, the heavily scarred male vaati from blackfeather. each, as far as she was aware, were bachelors -- but whether or not they had the minerals to perform such a coupling remained to be seen.

"puppies are vital for a pack. we will need them this season, and i will not be having my own. puppies bring new blood to the pack, but they also give wolves something vital to work towards. so it will be good that you and erzulie will whelp in my stead. as for males -- it might be best to stay within the pack, but that is your own decision." she glanced over rosalyn and for a brief second, it almost seemed as if there was something sentimental in her gaze. "do you think your body up to the task? you appear to be healing."
this house was my flowered heart,
but my petals have fallen.
Fear is the heart of love
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Logically, everything she said made sense.  Puppies made a pack vulnerable for a time, a reason she had never had particulately sought them in the past, but in the long run they bound a pack tighter.  And they were numbers, plain and simple.  Rosalyn nodded.  She didn't agree to the logic of staying within the pack - if she joined with a male who was a stranger, he would never know of the children who resulted.  But her own goals weren't even sure yet.

Erzulie will have them, she responded, smiling with a somewhat rare feeling for a moment before smoothed back to a more careless expression.  I have no doubt I could handle it.  But it may be for the best I don't.  She wasn't sure yet; there was still that worry that she would feel apart from children she had no part in making, but it was countered by the strangeness the thought of motherhood inspired in her.  It was as if her mind had a disconnect; she couldn't even picture herself caring for a child that was her own.  If she couldn't picture it, could she do it?
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in time you'll taste all the salt in my lungs
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a rare smile bloomed on rosalyn's countenance, brief as the streaking presence of a comet -- caiaphas only barely caught the tail end of its fleeing existence, her eyes lifted in silent surprise. if ever there was a testament then of rosalyn's devotion to erzulie, she supposed that rare emotion was it -- for she had not seen rosalyn spare a smile for many.

in revealing that it would be erzulie to carry offspring to term, caiaphas simply shrugged - it was rosalyn's body, she supposed, and she would not force maternity on a wolf that did not wish to bear it. "your choice." the siren finished, giving a shrug of her lean shoulders that suggested she had little say in such matters.
this house was my flowered heart,
but my petals have fallen.
Fear is the heart of love
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#13
It was, though Caiaphas' statement insinuated if she did wish it, it wouldn't be taken badly.  The choice was hers.  Rosalyn nodded.  I'll let her know.  She'd deliver the news to Erzulie as soon as she returned.

Now this conversation was behind, and they could go back to business as usual.  A thank you didn't mean they were square, of course; but it did mean she didn't need to speak on it again.  She and Caiaphas had struck a grudging sort of acceptance, one that Rosalyn found was tilting alarmingly towards respect on her part (yikes) but they didn't need to get too friendly.  

Well, enjoy... that. She said, indicating the kelp the other had arrived with.  She'd leave her to it if there was nothing more needing said.
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in time you'll taste all the salt in my lungs
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caiaphas, in truth, looked forward to the prospect of puppies in rusalka -- it mattered little where they came from, though, if she was pressed to think hard on the matter, she was most interested to see what the rusalkan women whelped this season. somehow, she had amassed a collection of gritty, self-possessed women -- grezig was a hardened, no-nonsense she-wolf, rosalyn was as proven as any to be a hard-knocking and clever woman, and her golden-furred comrade erzulie was a sharp-tongued, fierce woman well-versed in the wiles of men.

truthfully, ankyra had never boasted a more fearsome quad.

rosalyn's parting remark to enjoy the kelp drew caiaphas back from her thoughts - she offered a polite smile in response, but said nothing. as rosalyn knew, she was not a wolf prone to long-winded and loquacious customs, and the silence was well-meaning. gathering her kelp, and ready to return back to thinking of rusalka's future, the siren made for the grotto's stores.
this house was my flowered heart,
but my petals have fallen.
Fear is the heart of love
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As they parted, the lack of response didn't bother the woman - in fact, it spoke of a sort of peace that had settled between them.  At one time this conversation might have ended with snide words and one (or both) storming off, but instead, it was almost.. amicable.

As Caiaphas went down into the grotto, Rosalyn limped her way back down the strand, heading for the southern region she normally frequented.