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    COTY

    Assailant -- Year 226

    QOTY

    "But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura


    Dior falls on the floor, swear we've been here before; Ilma
    #1

    "love breaks my bones and i laugh."


    Bones crunch between his teeth while he wonders if his life will always be spent this way – hunting, sleeping, eating, breeding, on and on until the end. Winter had not been kind to this doe. The swirling snow led her right to him as she tried to rejoin her herd. He’d trip her and then crushed her throat in his jaws, just like that. The once pristine ground was stained with red now. He’s stained with guilt once more. A slow sigh leaves him in a white puff of breath when he lifts his head to check his surroundings. Time to move on, he thinks as he swallows. Winter wolves are always hungry, so he turns to the forests where safety is almost guaranteed. A full belly makes him nearly as vulnerable as the deer had been.

    He finds himself at the edge of the river and decides it would be best to clean his face before rejoining his kind once more. The waters are icy and they wake him up, though he hadn’t realized how tired he had been before. Vulgaris savors the sting as he exhales through his nostrils, creating bubbles that are quickly swept away by the current. Soon, the water around his face is clear again and he decides he’s presentable once more.

    His black forelock hangs in his face but it fails to hide the handsome angles of his face or the shimmering scales across his cheeks. Soon they’ll lose their gloss and prepare to shed in the springtime. It’ll itch like mad and he’s not looking forward to it in the slightest. But instead of dreading the future, he decides to take in his surroundings for a while. None of the faces nearby are familiar to him, but some are quite intriguing. Some are even lovely. His emerald eyes blink slowly to shoo the snowflakes from his eyelashes before he wanders further into the forest.

    The snow isn’t quite so deep here and he doesn’t have as much trouble wading through it. Still, a shiver runs up his spine and he begins trying to select someone to huddle against for warmth.

    Vulgaris.
    @[Ilma]
    Reply
    #2

    Ilma
    And there's a lesson waiting to be learned
    the firestarters always get the burns
    and the good guys never get the girl

    She'd been loathe to try out her new wings; they feel so weird on her. Sometimes, they're barely even there, when it's rainy, or snowing, and sometimes their radiance would blind everyone around her. At night, they're gone, but the most important thing is - she doesn't feel them like she used to. No heavy fluff to surround her body this winter, and no flying in the moonlight.

    Yet she flew today; she flew towards the meadow, but not seeing many horses there in winter (even though it's warmer there than in the mountain kingdom), she's quick to return. But the clouds keep her new wings vulnerable, and they don't have the strength to lift her any more.

    She's got to get more used to walking, she realized then. But perhaps it's not too bad, for not having them any more at all like she'd thought earlier, that would have been way worse.

    She skips towards the north of the forest, attempting to cross the river at it's mouth, then skirting around the coastline to avoid going in to Taiga and then by the riverside back towards Hyaline. At least, that is the idea. The snow turns out to be deeper where the trees haven't kept it from landing, and so she moves a little further into the treeline to keep up her step. She's not sure she'd actually like to be here.

    and shooting stars cannot fix the world

    @[vulgaris] I've no idea how she might react to him, but let's see :P
    Any fool knows men and women think differently at times, but the biggest difference is this: men forget, but never forgive; women forgive, but never forget.
    Robert Jordan, Wheel of Time
    Reply
    #3

    "love breaks my bones and i laugh."


    He hears her crunching through the snow and he lifts his head to follow her with his wild green eyes. There’s still a copper aftertaste in his mouth as he eyes the muscle of her shoulder each time she takes a step. She’s coming closer and he wonders if she’s noticed him among the trees just yet or if he’ll accidentally spook her. (Does it matter?) Vulgaris is infatuated with the way she’s so perfectly white like the ice and snow around them. He imagines the whimpers she’d make between his teeth, pouring red and ruining that perfect body like an ugly landscape.

    He swallows.

    He snorts to sabotage his own chances of surprising her. She seems too pretty for all that gore, he thinks. Vulgaris steps into her path with a casual pace but he can’t change the way he slinks, can’t change all those pointed fangs when he smiles at her. There is warmth and a certain charm to his expression when he offers a slight nod of his head in her direction. All of his gestures are sincere by now. His stomach is full and now he only hungers for a warm body to press tightly against. Best to keep his distance for now, though.

    You seem like you’re having a rough day,” he says with a voice like a campfire – it promises safety and comfort. It promises that it is controlled. “Or am I terrible at reading your expression?

    He steps closer then to examine the faint outline of her wings. They remind him vaguely of Pond and her little shadow wings that begged for strength of their own. Vulgaris has always wondered what it would be like to fly but he keeps such daydreams tight to his chest. Serpents are lucky just to have legs with which to walk, he supposes.

    Vulgaris.
    @[Ilma]
    Reply
    #4

    Ilma
    And there's a lesson waiting to be learned
    the firestarters always get the burns
    and the good guys never get the girl

    Her white bodice is perhaps blending in with the snow and ice, but not with the trees. Her figure - together with the dim light that radiates from her new wings - is a stark contrast with the dark brown bark that surrounds her, and so she is not surprised when hse is spotted by another. It’s just that she would rather have liked to travel alone and, mostly, quick through the forest. It’s not a land she is all that familiar with.

    He is dapple grey, a dark and lighter pattern that perhaps is better suited for the environment. He reminds her of a one-time lover, at least, if it was to be called love what had lasted for about one afternoon in the meadow in the season of reproduction. Not something she would repeat now, even though she had a pretty daughter with perhaps a little less likeable trait. Gift or curse, that was something only time could tell.

    In other aspects however, this stallion had a different look to him. Scales over his muzzle, fangs (not perfectly white, making her wonder what he ate and then dismissing that thought because she might not want the answer), and eyes with a certain predatory look. Yet, he did not seem to be tensed, not hunting, and he gave off no alarming signals. At the moment.

    She shook her head to his question. ”I have to walk depending on the weather. But to be honest I haven’t ever been a fan of the forest. I don’t think I fit in so well.” she explained. Looking at him, she attempted a smile. ”I’m Ilma. From Hyaline, so, just passing through really. Do you live here?”

    and shooting stars cannot fix the world


    @[Vulgaris]
    Any fool knows men and women think differently at times, but the biggest difference is this: men forget, but never forgive; women forgive, but never forget.
    Robert Jordan, Wheel of Time
    Reply
    #5

    "love breaks my bones and i laugh."


    Vulgaris hardly remembers his past lovers and he’s a bit ashamed by the fact if we’re being perfectly honest. He had let his hormones get the best of him and he didn’t quite care what the girls looked like or who they were outside of the humid evenings they’d spent together. Hell, he wouldn’t be able to pick most of his own children out of a lineup even with a gun to his head. There is only a vague memory of their couplings and the soft arch of a girl’s neck somewhere beneath his lips.

    His head tilts slightly when she comments that she doesn’t fit in here in the forests, as he cares to disagree. But then she’s making her introduction and he realizes that he has failed to offer up his own before speaking to her. Normally he’s rather polite despite his rough exterior and questionable dining preferences.

    My name is Vulgaris. I don’t really live anywhere at the moment, but I wander here more than other places,” he replies with a casual shrug of his broad shoulders. “I think you fit in just fine.” The serpent is no good with compliments or flirtations but his brief observation of her is the closest he has come in a very long time. He watches the smile blossom on her lips and he thinks that kind of look belongs on a soft face like hers. Still, he does not share these delicate thoughts but rather lets them remain tucked away in his mind where they can’t make him vulnerable.

    He steps a little closer now as he decides she seems relaxed enough that any movement won’t send her bolting for an escape. His eyes roam across her a little more now though his curiosity is chaste for the time being.

    Do you pass through here often?” His gray-green eyes return to her face now as he watches her. Something like a vague smile finds its way across his lips as he waits for her reply.

    Vulgaris.
    @[Ilma]
    Reply
    #6

    Ilma
    And there's a lesson waiting to be learned
    the firestarters always get the burns
    and the good guys never get the girl

    Vulgaris. She tasted the name mentally, though didn't think to speak it aloud. He had a poetic way to describe his not-having-a-home perfectly, and she smiled a little. His observation that she fit in just fine, caused her to take a look at her surroundings once more, but shake her head briefly and gives a shrug. "Perhaps because you haven't seen me in my true home. Have you ever been to the mountains?" she countered, still not agreeing on her stark white against darker tree bark. Sure, the snow on the ground might make her fit in now, but any other season, she figured it was a no. At least, as long as she felt uncomfortable standing out like this, she would not feel like she fit.

    Nevermind that though. The scaled stallion steps a little closer, although that actually just means not a neck-stretching way of talking, so she's fine. At least that's what she tells herself. What his look on her body does, she is not as comfortable with as what her diplomatic friendly face tells him - her son may be a yearling now, that doesn't mean she has forgotten about his un-invited conception. Although it is not the season now, any behaviour of that sort might damage her more than he may realize.

    Perhaps it was a very bad idea not to bolt, and scream and... well, flying was out of the question in these shadows. That meant there was no guarantee that he would not overtake her. She frowned a little, but cleared her face again when he asked a question. She shook her head. "Not often." His smile relaxes her a little more, but the remainder of the alarmed feeling stays. One ear flicks as indication of her unease; nothing else shows. It's mostly herself she is uncomfortable with; she had not estimated well what the change in wings had done to her.

    and shooting stars cannot fix the world


    @[vulgaris] questionable dining preferences? lol
    Any fool knows men and women think differently at times, but the biggest difference is this: men forget, but never forgive; women forgive, but never forget.
    Robert Jordan, Wheel of Time
    Reply
    #7

    "love breaks my bones and i laugh."

    He tries to recall if he had ever called the mountains home but there is no memory of many places beyond the common lands. A lifetime ago, he’d had his own lands with his own herd to guard, but even that place has grown hazy in his mind. Vulgaris had considered the Forsaken Valley his home for all of an hour before deciding that their goals did not suit his own. The serpent gives a shrug of his strong shoulders in response to her question after giving it some thought.

    I don’t think I have,” he admits in a voice that is surprisingly charming, given his rough exterior. “Is that an invitation?” His smile even reaches his gray-green eyes now as he watches her. She still seems rather guarded against his attempts at friendliness and he can’t really say that he blames her. Had the roles been reversed, he would have told anything with sharp teeth to shove it and move on. At least Ilma is polite enough to give him a chance to win her over, he supposes.

    He remains in place now to give her some comfort in knowing that he will not bridge the gap between them now. Maybe with time, she’ll trust him enough to let him come closer, to let him in against her skin. (Even if she never does, she’s entertaining enough to keep him nearby.)

    I promise I don’t intend to eat you,” he says as he watches her subtle hints of agitation. Of course, he doesn’t even consider the threat he poses as a male of their species, so he can only assume it’s something about him personally that puts her on edge. He’s rather clueless to the worries and fears of women. She might find it humorous just how inept he is, or maybe she’ll just find disappointment in his attempts to soothe her unease.

    Vulgaris.
    @[Ilma] he wants to be her friend so bad. he's trying lmao.
    Reply
    #8

    Ilma
    And there's a lesson waiting to be learned
    the firestarters always get the burns
    and the good guys never get the girl

    Polite enough she is - well, she's a diplomat, and a good enough one to have been promoted quickly (although also due to lack of competition, she sometimes thinks, when her mind takes her to a darker place). But it's true - only once, and only recently at that, has she had a change in attitude; quickly fixed (always too late though) when she had realized it did not help. A one-time thing she did not like to repeat.

    Not even with this slightly threatening man. Although he does nothing to upset her further, though. She's not fully letting her guard down, but she can't help but smile a little at his question. "I suppose that's for you to find out." A neutral answer, but she does enjoy his little attempt at play, at a joke, so she has decided to play along. If he does come to Hyaline, at least she won't be alone with him in a surroundings she doesn't know very well. Which would probably make her more comfortable than anything he can say to her right now.

    Well, unless it's of course 'don't intend to eat you'. She chuckles at that - she has no delusions, he has fangs and looks very reptilian, so that he feasts on meat is clear with that single line. But she had already established that he didn't look hungry before, not in a hunting stance, calculating from what angle she would be most vulnerable - no, he hadn't had that sort of look about him. And he would have tried by now, she supposes. "I knew that." she tells him, in an almost forgiving tone. That he thinks this is the reason she had tensed just now, also tells her something else - whatever she'd feared was not something he'd thought about.

    Shaking her head as if to try to clear her head from a burst of laugh, although it was really only her chuckling that she had not held in, she looks him over. He looks desperate. Too bad; she's not giving her heart away this time. She puts him neatly in that 'almost-friend'-zone in the back of her mind, and her ears perk forward to catch his response.

    and shooting stars cannot fix the world


    @[vulgaris] trying so hard he gets her to laugh haha
    Any fool knows men and women think differently at times, but the biggest difference is this: men forget, but never forgive; women forgive, but never forget.
    Robert Jordan, Wheel of Time
    Reply
    #9

    "love breaks my bones and i laugh."

    Something akin to a growl slips from his throat at her words but it holds no violence or threat within its basal tone. Instead, it is a sound of pleasant amusement like some reptilian purr curling from his throat. At the sight of her smile, he takes a few steps closer until they are near enough that he could reach out and brush his lips over her skin. He doesn’t extend his neck so far but rather keeps it coiled close so as to avoid her personal space just enough.

    Maybe once the weather warms, I’ll have to take you up on that offer,” he says as he continues to observe her now. “But for now I think I’ve darkened your path for long enough. It’s been a pleasure, Ilma.

    And then he turns to continue on his intended path before. Of course, he casts a glance over his dark shoulder to memorize her face just a little better. Vulgaris isn’t certain as to whether or not he’ll actually seek her out later but for now, it seems like a nice idea. Maybe the summers and autumns in Hyaline will be worth the wait, he supposes.

    Vulgaris.
    @[Ilma] I figured we should wrap this up since summer is so close, lol.
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