Ankyra Sound promise overkill

whenever you have time! <3

the time had come to seek out rosalyn, but erzulie could not bring herself to do that after leaving grezig. she paced around blackpine for some moments, then thought to seek out her patients. caiaphas first was greeted; the dour old she-wolf would never die, erzulie observed with some pleasure, before moving on to @Firefly. 
she did not hate the man, nor bear him any ill will — her annoyance lay with the drastic decisions that seemed to have been made over and over again, leading to this caustic clash between her wife and the sire of their children.
bringing moss to bathe his torn flesh, erzulie regarded the scarred man grimly. "why did you take de soun' from caiaphas in de first place?" came her somber tones, for now she must know.

He hadn't been much more than a lump in the sand for the past week or so, waiting for Rosalyn to come back from wherever she'd run off to. A part of him expected further retribution for what he'd said to her; he had been an outright ass, led by his fears and the pressure of stress. It was a poor excuse for shitty behavior, and he deserved to be demoted for it.

The wolf that came to him wasn't Rosalyn; he looked up at the glittering spring light and saw gold instead of red, and his heart swelled. Erzulie approached him and began to tend to his wounds, but he was silent for a while as she did so - there was no place for words here, not until she asked her question.

He wanted to say something worthwhile to her, something that made sense, but instead he just murmured softly, I don't know.

any answer would have been better than the one he gave her, and erzulie fought the anger that welled within her, taking the time to sponge dried crimson from his fur before setting the moss down again. "caiaphas gave us a home. she took us to war when drageda stole rosalyn. she protected dis lan' wid her blood," the harlot murmured, not looking him in the eye for now as she peered at her handiwork. "i see all dat has happened, firefly, and while it would be unfair to say caiaphas would have kept it from being so, now rosalyn t'inks poorly of you and dere is a rift between us."
"we are family," erzulie added, leaning back now to look at him. "rusalka cannot be so divided when de little ones are soon to come."

He can't help the lift of his lip when she speaks to him; the way she speaks to him makes it clear that he isn't a leader any longer, if he ever was one. A part of him feels the urge to snipe at her the way he did with Rosalyn, but even as he thinks of it, the feeling dies before he can act.

She is angry, potentially frightened. If he is going to have any impact at all now that he's lost his rank, Firefly knows not to rile up both pregnant women. I'm not so sure about that, he remarks when she brings up family, after how he's acted with Rosalyn he is probably the furthest thing from it.

His face darkens, he can't help but frown as he thinks - actually considers why all of this happened, and finally he speaks his piece.

I was... Feeling good. I got cocky, I'll admit that much. So I challenged Caiaphas but I wasn't thinking about the pack, only myself. I shouldn't have done it. It seemed so obvious now, but at the same time - how would anything have played out differently? If Caiaphas had been in charge then she wouldn't have been out there that day on the bluff.

"yes," erzulie muttered, annoyed with him. "we are, whet'er or not it is liked. you are de fat'er to our children. dat cannot be taken back." falling silent as firefly spoke, the jezebel glanced to the sea, jaw tensing with how unnecessary it had all been. had she known he would gave slid wet from her flanks and ran off immediately to challenge caiaphas, she would have thought better of it.
but there was nothing to change now. the children moved violently, perhaps in response to her heartbeat, and erzulie shifted onto one hip, arching the mound of her belly higher into the air. "dey are moving," came her quiet mumur, two-toned eyes lingering on firefly. "feel dem." if she could not halt the trail down which rusalka moved now, she would try to mend what she was able, starting with the relationships between the three of them.

She was quiet once he finished speaking his piece, and he wondered if the conversation was over now. Maybe she'd had enough of him just like Rosalyn, and maybe the trio were doomed to part ways — he thought about the children growing up without him, and wasn't sure if it was revulsion he felt, or relief.

When Erzulie finally spoke he nearly missed it, but moved a little closer, and heard the invitation. Whatever he had been feeling paled in comparison to how he felt as he looked at her in that moment; if his eyes were windows to his deeper soul, one would see it streaked with the uncertainty of youth, ill-prepared to the responsibilities ahead. But he obliged her request and dipped his head, grazing her swollen sides with his muzzle in time to feel something behind the flesh.

It was, in a word, jarring.

he touched her, and not for the first time at the brush of him did erzulie feel peace. for all his faults, he had not hurt her, and there seemed a devotion in firefly's regard of the harlot she had noticed. why the cruelty toward rosalyn, then, she wondered? perhaps he feared the pirate in a way that he did not hold terror for her.
"for what it is wor't, firefly," she began, quietly, lying back against the sand. "i do not t'ink you would have been a poor leader. i simply do not feel dat rusalka needed to lose its head right now." perhaps he would understand the sentiment behind her words: old and savage as caiaphas was, she had no senility that would have made her a poor leader for another handful of moons. the witch would not always lead, but for now she deserved the respect that had been lost her.

He listened, grasping at her words to keep his mind from spinning; he trusted what she was saying and knew it to be true, but could not help the feeling of restlessness and frustration that continued inside of himself. He knew he had been wrong to fight with Caiaphas and to take her crown, and was glad to be rid of it now. He did not deserve to lead this particular group — they were a mess of ideologies and temperments, and he was not equipped for that. Firefly nods, solemn beside the woman and her swollen sides, but says nothing.

fading this <3 i hope to see firefly again one day!

she too was silent, considering the days to come, and all that must be measured, weighed, all for which she must account. given her prone position, however, and the warmth of the springlight, erzulie soon found herself dozing. acutely aware of firefly nearby, and knowing he would allow no harm to come to her, the harlot allowed herself the brevity of a respite, dreaming of the clouded images her past still held.