Ravensblood Forest who do you turn to when the night is darkest?
in our town the hangman came, smelling of gold, blood and flame
390 Posts
Ooc — jal
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#1
All Welcome 
impromptu for whenever <3 @Cassiopeia
 
Her scent is faint, but it is there. The fleeting imprint of her presence is carried away with every gust of wind that passes over him, unable to grasp onto it long enough to be pointed in the direction she took. To this, he releases a sombre howl throughout the empty wood that no doubt would be to be muffled upon the crashing shores of the coast. Even though her physical form is nowhere near his current station, she does not leave him. He hears her whispering hushedly in the back of his mind. He sees her reflection in the water staring back at him with narrowed eyes. He begins to believe that she had been a figment of his imagination all along, or a phantom manifestation of torturous punishment -- a cruel haunting for all the heinous acts committed at his claw. There would be no rest for a weary heart that seemed to clench at the thought of her absence and burn at the sight of her standing before him. It was a pitiful display of weakness.

Vaati would have to kill her.
for the sins of the unworthy
must be baptized in blood & fear
v e r i t a s
436 Posts
Ooc — thalia
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#2
she thought she'd found something resembling a purpose in the warlord's little group, but her attitude towards the whole venture had chilled and she'd set out for the coast once again. her prescence was never too long in any one place, and there was fevered restlessness with which she walked the coast. she's not sure what she wants or where she wants to be, and each change of direction is decided on a whim, the simple act necessary for survival commited spontaniously and joylessly. 

she stumbled across his trail and follows it. maybe it's what she's been searching for, maybe it's a fluke, but she closes the distance between them until a few meters seperate them, and then her tail stiffens and is parallel with her spine, ears flat against her crown and nape spiked. she sharges and throws herself at the man from behind, attempting to throw a forepaw over his shoulder and grasp one of his fears with barred fangs. it's quick and violent and certainly infused with a certain amount of anger, but her choice of target is not fatal.
That is not dead which can eternal lie. 
And with strange aeons even death may die.

in our town the hangman came, smelling of gold, blood and flame
390 Posts
Ooc — jal
Away
#3
She finds him sooner than he finds her, having not even felt her presence before a forepaw was slung over his back and teeth sought his neck. And yet, the attack did not hold aggression strong enough to kill, and so he simply rolls himself over onto her much smaller frame -- sandwiching her between himself and the ground. "Why are you like this?" He bellows towards her, though he cannot see her face. Perhaps it is hypocritical to say, seeing as how not moments ago he decided he would kill her.

Would he have the strength to do it? Not the physical, but the emotional capacity to slaughter someone who was tied to him since youth? Surely it would settle a stinging misery within him, but in the absence of all the things she made him feel, who would occupy his thoughts?
for the sins of the unworthy
must be baptized in blood & fear
v e r i t a s
436 Posts
Ooc — thalia
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#4
he topples her easily, but she never truly expected to gain the upper hand in the literal sense. but already something's sparked and she's not willing to lay there like a lump as he bellows at open air, and as he speaks she is already moving again. she wriths like a snake and makes to grasp his throat, protected as it is by brine-encrusted fur. from her position, the grip she lands is a weak one, but hopefully enough to incite him to do more than simply lay atop her and yell. in response, she merely snarls a challange and wiggles closer to his throat, latching on as best she can. if he doesn't move soon, she'll begin worrying the fur there, tear and snipping in an attempt to rouse him.
That is not dead which can eternal lie. 
And with strange aeons even death may die.

in our town the hangman came, smelling of gold, blood and flame
390 Posts
Ooc — jal
Away
#5
She squirms beneath him, biting and clawing at anything she could whilst leaving tiny scars upon his skin. But it makes no difference, he does not budge until he decides he must. Flipping them so he now rests upon his back and so to wiggle out of her grip on his throat, he stares up at her with narrowed brows. "Do it." Vaati's hard gaze challenges her to do what he knew she would not... not because she was physically incapable of doing so but that if she had truly wanted to, she could have done so long ago. Should he be proved wrong and she makes a move to rip out his throat, he will act accordingly and kill her like he previously believed he should have. The ball is in her court, whether or not she realizes it.
for the sins of the unworthy
must be baptized in blood & fear
v e r i t a s
436 Posts
Ooc — thalia
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#6
she's heaved the right way around and suddenly he's below her, and he's beckoning her to snatch the prize that is his scarred throat. incredulousness burns in her thoughts but it is dark anger that flashes in her gaze, and she wastes no time in making her move. her muzzle slashes in the manner of a viper, and there is blood in her teeth; her tongue. her fangs are lodged in the soft place beneath his chin, where so far the skin is whole and unscarred. she withdraws yet remains atop him, tongue flicking out to catch the blood seeping there. it is reminiscent of the day outside the cave so long ago. "you're dull." is all she says, and her eyes dance with all the fire of her youth passed.
That is not dead which can eternal lie. 
And with strange aeons even death may die.

in our town the hangman came, smelling of gold, blood and flame
390 Posts
Ooc — jal
Away
#7
She does it. But he does not fight as she punctures his neck, absorbing the feeling of blood seeping from the wound with an odd serenity. It is not enough to kill him, but enough for him to understand how truly she loathed him -- he could not blame her. As much as he could try to justify his attempt to ruin her and sew together the bones of a new woman, there was no true reason for the crime. It had been done out of selfish curiosity, to test his own limits. However, in the aftermath, Vaati had been foolish to expect her allegiance. He was foolish to assume she wouldn't lunge for his jugular, for had he not once wished to give her the guts to do so? Inside him wages an eternal conflict, unable to decipher if killing her was truly the end to the problem he created. But created her, he had.

Instead, he simply laughs through the slight pain in his neck; wincing ever so often at the tender spot it sits. She did what he would have done. "You did it. You're me now. One half of the other." Perhaps now they are even. But would she accept her new identity, for was that not what she wanted? To ascend to something greater than a faceless denizen without a purpose? She was the last to lay a mark of vengeance upon his neck as Hydra had done so before, rendering him at her mercy in a symbolic sense.
for the sins of the unworthy
must be baptized in blood & fear
v e r i t a s
436 Posts
Ooc — thalia
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#8
he laughs, and her gaze is impassive as she looks down at him. there is still flame there, and she thinks perhaps she's found what her restless paws have her seeking this past fortnight. "darling, it is not that easy." but something has shifted, change and when she picks herself up and withdraw a short distance away it is without the fear that he will rise behind her and snap her neck. she turns to face him and finds strewn across his pelt scars familiar and new. 

she knows then that she doesn't need him as she has for so long, in that twisted way that defied any attempt to rationalize it. perhaps she wants to. there comes a low growl in the back of her throat, gutteral command to get up. she blinks slowly at him, tail waving like a cat's.
That is not dead which can eternal lie. 
And with strange aeons even death may die.

in our town the hangman came, smelling of gold, blood and flame
390 Posts
Ooc — jal
Away
#9
He gets up as she commands, heaving frame facing her with much confusion. "It could be. Tell me what you want from me." In his tone is a slight beg; a will to be done with the perpetual chase across woods and shores alike. If she did not want him dead, nor did she seek to identify herself as an extension of himself, what was it she required from his presence? The concept of simply enjoying each other's company was foreign to him, for he had always found some concrete purpose in the relationships he held. On the contrary, Cassiopeia was one giant question mark in the way of him living an unhaunted life.
for the sins of the unworthy
must be baptized in blood & fear
v e r i t a s
436 Posts
Ooc — thalia
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#10
he asks her a straighforward question, but she does not answer immidiately. if she is honest, she does not know herself what she wants from him, and why, only that there is a line of gunpowder down her spine and he is a flame. her anger has erroded, and while it is not forgiveness, she accepts now her lot in life, and seeks only to further it. "you," she answers only, even though she herself doesn't know all that she means by it. she is not him and yet she is not entirely independant of him; however forged they are bonded in some way she doesn't seek to explain. there must be some reason that he does not snap her neck, and she wants to know it.
That is not dead which can eternal lie. 
And with strange aeons even death may die.

in our town the hangman came, smelling of gold, blood and flame
390 Posts
Ooc — jal
Away
#11
You. The word coming from her lips gives him peace of mind, affirming that what he felt was not one-sided. Perhaps this emotion was not a weakness, but something to embrace as a part of life -- something he did not know before now. He walks towards her, pressing his forehead to hers with a searing gaze in his optics. "Do not ruin me." He is taking a chance, placing his trust in the fact that she would not hurt him and he would not hurt her. It was a pledge Vaati would honour, beyond his usual tricks and sleight of hand. This was for real -- and he would not bear it should she be the one to betray him this time.
for the sins of the unworthy
must be baptized in blood & fear
v e r i t a s
436 Posts
Ooc — thalia
Offline
#12
he moves to press his forehead against his, and his request is simple. "never." she's still, and ought to have been content at this, and large part of her is. but fire nestles close to her skin, a kind of slow-searing burn that has her break contact after a long moment. she dips her muzzle beneath his throat once more, but merely cleans away the blood that is gathered there, movements firm. then she pauses and is still, and deep in her throat hums a draconic note. it is gutteral but wanting, and her stillness is the greatest invite he'll recieve.
That is not dead which can eternal lie. 
And with strange aeons even death may die.

in our town the hangman came, smelling of gold, blood and flame
390 Posts
Ooc — jal
Away
#13
And just like that, the promise is made. The true meaning behind their shared vow is something they do not discuss but is deep and unwavering, and perhaps it does not need explanation, it simply is. Therefore it is no surprise as to what follows, for the unreleased tension only grows in intensity. He makes the right moves then as she continues to clean the crusted blood from under his chin, aligning himself so that the gap between them closes and the intention is clear. Perhaps this time he will be more gentle, for it will mean much more. Jal then decides to wrap up the post here because she is Lazy and really wants to watch RuPauls Drag Race. 

- fade to black - 

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for the sins of the unworthy
must be baptized in blood & fear