"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
12-18-2018, 08:30 AM (This post was last modified: 12-19-2018, 06:58 PM by kahzie.)
Round 2
They’ve done it; they’ve reached the safety of the Silver. Belieivers in the greater good, are they, and the stone-skinned fairy watches from the mountain with what might almost be a smile. He does so hope that will not be their downfall.
Ahead of them, the pretty land of the Silver Cove stretches bright and merry in the moonlight. There is no wrong path here, no incorrect way to reach the shimmering bay. And they know they must, the knowledge sprouting inside them the way magic often does, directing them to the water. They must travel through the mountains, dark and eerie peaks where ageless beasts sleep. Perhaps they will emerge alive.
Silent below the moonlight they will proceed, and just when they think they see the glint of the sea…
It attacks.
A ferocious beast, hungry and toothsome. There is blood smeared across its grinning face, but it is old and rusted.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” says the monster, clearly as intelligent (or perhaps more intelligent) than you are. Rather than speak further it bounds forward to circle you. It seems to be waiting for a moment of weakness to pounce. Will you defend yourself through might? Or will you reason with the Beqanna-dwelling beast, to convince it of the dangers to your shared homeland you are attempting to mend?
Rules
-Round 2 entries are to be posted in this thread no later than DECEMBER 23RD at 8:00 AM CST
-Posts must be less than 666 words.
-Your post should describe how they proceed through the mountains. Your post should describe the monster they come across. They may work together or go on their own. You should CLEARLY indicate whether your character chooses to fight the monster or reason with it for the good of Beqanna. Your post should end with your attempt to fight (ie making your first attack) or reason (ie the end of your persuasive statement) with the monster.
-Your character has regained one trait upon seeing the monster, which trait is up to you.
-Failing to respond on time or at all without notifying the officials will result in a permanent defect
12-18-2018, 07:45 PM (This post was last modified: 12-20-2018, 09:01 AM by Mary.)
She had made it to the correct place, a gentle huff escapes her maw. Her body was tired, but she started this mission and wasnt going to end until she completed it
She did not receive any directions from the faerie, buy something told her to head towards the mountain. She knew this would not be a simple task, and the faeries would make it the trickiest of routes.
She found herself standing before a large lake, just across it stood the mountains. She used her remaining energy to gallop around the perimiter of the lake, time is of the essence she continued to tell herself.
As she came before the entrance of the mountains she took a few moments to catch her breath. She scans the horizon before disappearing into the pointy rocks. As she moved deeper the mountains had a low rolling fog, it was eerie and she remained more alert than she would normally.
The sun was just setting, and the fog was making it even harder to see, but just through it all she swears she could see the shoreline. Just as she steps out her left leg, a creature appears from behind the jagged corner of the mountain. She blinks a few times to ensure this was reality.
Before her stood a beast that resembled her hell hound king. It stood like a canine, although it was taller than anything she had seen before and its eyes looked at her with hunger. The dark creature had fangs that poked out of its mouth, nearly taunting her.
Her pelt quickly changed to black, an attempt to hide. The average equine would run, but Mary did not fear this creature; She was from Sylva after all. She cautiously moves forward, as she stands in front of the creature she could feel its warm breath as it gently moved her mane from its resting spot. A chill shivered down her spine, It's just like Sinner, maybe even his father she thinks to herself, an attempt to calm her beating heart. But who were we kidding? This beast was not related to Sinner.
As she lifts her left hoof to move forward the beast runs out before her, circling her until she stayed in her spot. I've been waiting for you he mutters. She lifts her head regally, like the queen she was, if she would die, it would be with dignity. You, beast, have no idea who you are messing with. She snorts, calm and composed on the outside, though her mind was racing with possible outcomes of this situation.
Oh really, these are my mountains, you do not scare me little girl. The beast responds, its voice was deep and raspy, he walked as though he was weakened. He was territorial, and she could tell this was going to be a challenge. I am here on official orders of the faeries, you will let me pass her voice was fierce and determined.
The beast moves closer to Mary, lowering his snout to sniff her, I do not fall to the faeries, this means nothing to me, you may turn around or die here. a cough echos through the mountains as he clears his throat. The ebony mare pondered her outcomes, and as she did it clicked! His voice was raspy, he was weak, the cough, he must have the plague! A grin appears on her maw and for the first time her gaze finds his I am here to find a cure for the plague, if you let me pass, I will ensure you receive the cure. She stood tall, sure that this would please the beast enough to allow her to pass.
{ and in my dreams i've kissed your lips a thousand times }
I waste no time. Quietly calling to the shadowy figures of the babes who followed me and Aegean since the beginning, I greet them each individually, pressing my nose to their foreheads if they will allow. Their mothers are not here, and I am used to such a crowd; not one goes without attention.
Once they are soothed (though my heart beats wildly), we travel towards the bay via the shortest possible route. I do not falter in my step; after all, this is my kingdom and it has been since it resurfaced in Beqanna; no one else knows this place like I do. Initially, my path seems counterproductive, and I suspect that few others besides the children will follow. We traverse directly north for what seems like too long. I hold my nerve, ignoring the slamming in my throat, and finally I cut due east into a mostly hidden canyon which leads directly to the obsidian beaches. No ups or downs for us through here..
A rock clatters.
I've been waiting for you.
Shrill but fearsome, a scream tears from my lips as the eldritch creature leaps from where it had hidden in the rocks above. I am immediately on my hind legs, forelegs swinging defiantly at the black thing, trying to gain us some time - I cannot be responsible for the death of these children - before it draws any closer. My first instinct is to call for Panthera, who assuredly lurks nearby; but when I reach for her with my mind, only silence greets me.
Silence, which rapidly grows into the sounds of screaming and crying - all within my own head.
The beast circles us carefully, with barely enough room to pass due to the narrow canyon walls. Though my blood races with the need to attack, I only pin my ears at the monster as it comes round once more. Air billows from my nostrils in rapid succession; before I begin my persuasion attempt, I realize that I am hyperventilating.
"Please listen," I begin, the whites of my eyes showing as I try to stand in such a way that the children are shielded behind the bulk of my body. "Before you do what you must, please, allow me into your mind." I speak evenly and without tremors, though a great neediness still seeps through the words. Staring at the beast and trying not to fixate on the decaying blood around its maw, I nearly sob when it finally gives a slow nod of agreement. I cannot read whether it is pleased or displeased with my begging - but I do not wait to find out.
Mentally leaping to attach myself to the monster's mind while it is still willing, I induce a state of sleepiness within it. Nearly no time passes before we both stand in the same place physically, but dreaming; my hold on our lucid dreamscape is minimal, but enough to convey the information I need to.
As the dreams of hundreds display themselves on the canyon walls surrounding us, I pray silently for my life, and for the lives of the people I love.
Shown on the walls and heard between them, the pain caused by the plague presents itself to the beast. Dying loved ones, the already dead, and the chaos of this sick existence are shown; more abstractly, the specific feelings of fear, hopelessness, and helplessness mingle in the air, causing a physical nausea in both myself and the beast. Gagging, I hold on to the dreams of those I have surveyed across Beqanna for as long as I can, willing it to be enough to shake the beast and to show him the truth of why he shouldn't kill us.
Gasping, we awaken where we stood.
"Please," I choke. "Beqanna is sick - you must understand, you must see that her dreams do not lie. Please let us pass. Please let us save what is left of our dying world."
KAGERUS
Caretaker of The Sanctuary Lover of Solace Immortal, antlered Dreamweaver
Word count: 659
Trait regained: dream manipulation
Tactic used: persuasion
12-21-2018, 09:59 PM (This post was last modified: 12-21-2018, 10:09 PM by Briella.)
Briella
your eyes are lined in pain, black tears don't hide in rain
Others felt their magic returns, others felt themselves gifted again; but Briella is different in the moment that she hears the clatters of stone and shifting sand. Those pale blue eyes leveling on the creature: a beast of impossible size and brawn, of of smooth angles and predatory curves. She sees the ripple beneath the dark flesh, and all the visceral addendums like pearly fangs coated and dripping in saliva… claws yellow and stained with suggestions of blood.
Like an ancient typhonic beast it lurks and lingers, circles her and she feels as if this thing is more than it seems- as if the shadows around it are so unreal and thick that the light itself bends away from them… like the beast cannot endure the harsh brightness; but whatever the truth she feels it’s fetish and rotten breath. Heat and moisture hanging in the air: it’s sumptuous and gravel-like voice rolling through the distance between them.
As if growing shorter by the second Briella flinches when she feels the suggestion of the creature’s tail sliding against her leg, and yet, she listens with a weighted heart and a heavy soul: with purpose driving her every thought and desire.
“I’ve been waiting for you…” it purrs, grotesque and hungry: as if it’s very desire was to devour her on the spot.
Briella is not cold, not frigid: she is not frightened- oh no, instead she is wakened to a new sensation: to rage and bitterness, to malice.
She stares at it, tracks it with her eyes, her every muscle tensing and her long legs prepared should the beast strike; but she thinks at first of the intelligence it has and so Briella speaks. Persuasion is always her first choice.
“If you’ve been waiting for me or the others, than you know very well why we’re here. We seek to move on in completion of a task. I am not doing this for myself, I am doing this for others: let the plague have me; but you will not, and I will complete this task. Move, and maybe you too can be saved.”
She is severe and cold, pragmatic in the moment and Briella finds in herself a driving flame that had long been sequestered away in the shadow.
those bright crooked stars, man they're howlin’ out thought you read them all right, had them all figured out
He was idly attached to his sister’s side, naked shoulder brushing against her and dark eyes watchful through the sleep deprivation burning the edges in redness. It felt odd to feel her there where his wings used to cover, uncomfortable and raw like the soft flesh beneath a fingernail torn off. Except that he needed to be near her and now he was even closer. Every few moments he slid an uncertain glance at her though, hoping she wasn’t bothered too much that they’d had to leave the sick woman behind.
As always, he was only concerned with his sister’s feelings.
The deep shroud of darkness toned his red skin into a faded purple, a lavender sheen of moonlight spreading over his pale tobiano as he pressed in against Brazen more firmly, reaching out to sweep velvet over her cheek. The mountains loomed larger and larger as they neared and he hated knowing they’d have to go through it. He wished she’d let him do it without her so he could be sure she stayed safe, but this was Brazen. She would never just sit back and watch. He both loved and hated that about her.
“Be careful, okay?” he murmured cautiously in warning. She wouldn’t, of course. It wasn’t in her nature, so bold and brash and beautiful. Saying it was only an attempt at easing his own nerves as looking after her seemed to do. He felt better when he was watching out for his sisters.
”Aren’t I always?” she teased back with a nudge, and his lips quirked in wry amusement.
They passed rather quietly through the sharp, jagged mountains, entwining between them and keeping as straight a course as they could manage. Straight through and done sounded ideal so they could get back home and he could sleep. And hopefully get his wings back. He rolled an itch from his shoulders at the fear that they may never return.
Everything was so eerily quiet like that deadly silence when a predator was near. It was the same the whole way through though, tingling between his shoulder blades and along his spine, and so he had no warning when the beast was suddenly there and charging them.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” it grinned through toothy, bloody fangs that made his heart tremor in instinctive terror. He leaned against his sister for comfort. They were better as a pair, larger numbers. As the monster bounded forward to circle them, he pushed against her harder, shoving her back protectively when something inside him snapped, clicked into place. Fear was consumed in a burning hunger for a fight and his dark eyes glinted like stormy blue steel.
He bared his young teeth and snarled, nowhere near as ferocious and intimidating as the creature before him. Its sharp gaze watched them for a vulnerable moment to pounce, and Dagen didn’t wait for one to arise. He lunged forward and moved to attack the thing’s shoulder, his neck craning for better reach.
Before he could get too close, he dodged suddenly to the side and danced away, arcing in a small semicircle and throwing himself at the monster’s hip, aiming a hard bite to the fleshy area between its hindleg and belly where it might cause it to limp if he can land it successfully. At the same time, he kicked his back legs up as hard as he could, just in case those mighty jaws were coming for him.
Should it retaliate against a willful and stupidly brave child, at least his immortality had been returned to him and he may yet survive or come back to life, though Dagen wasn’t aware of its existence in his genes.
learned every constellation, just to find where you're at
cold in the violence after the war hope is a fire to keep us warm
They had made it. So close now to the sea she can taste the salt on her tongue. She breathes deeply of the water-laden air, a small smile curving her lips. Her eyes shift to Dagen, pressed so closely against her side that their shoulders brush. She reaches out briefly, nose pressing comfortingly against the red of his neck. Whether it is for his comfort or hers though, she cannot quite say.
They forge onwards, their path curving towards the mountains that guard the bay they must reach. The knowledge had settled heavily into her heart at some unspoken point in time, a thing she cannot quite recall but possesses memory of just the same. They must reach the dark and stony beach, the water. And so, determination fueled by their too recent encounter with the sick woman drives her forward, her youthful features settled into stubborn lines.
She looks up when Dagen brushes her cheek, a faint smile of reasurrence touching her lips. Be careful, okay?
Always so worried and protective. He must know she does not need it though. But she loves him, and his worry is so very much a part of him. “Aren’t I always?” she teases, nudging him slightly as though to say he needn’t worry so.
Of course, they wouldn’t even be here were it not for her. But as far as she is concerned, that is neither here nor there.
She is silent as they make their way through the mountains, attention focused on the completion of their task. They are so close, the beach just now coming into sight. She can nearly feel it, an electric energy along her skin. It seems though, that it is not the near completion of their quest, but rather a deep-rooted instinct warning of her of encroaching danger.
When the beast leaps from the shadows, she reacts without thought, shying into her brother, her ears pinning flat against her skull. I’ve been waiting for you, it hisses through bloodstained teeth, the evidence of its conquests staining dirty fur. Brazen bears her own teeth in return, blunt though they are, eyes narrowing as she glares at the beast.
Intelligence sparks in it’s gaze, and she thinks it knows they cannot outwit him. But she would never go down without a fight. Dagen, it seems, is on the same page, though he tries valiantly to shove her out of the way. But she digs her heels stubbornly into the stony path, shoving him back.
The beast circles them, and Brazen follows its path with sharp blue eyes. Dagen doesn’t wait, taking the opportunity to immediately go on the defensive. Brazen moves then, opposite of Dagen, flanking the bloodied creature, allowing Dagen to distract him with his attack.
When the beast is between them, she lunges forward, striking for the vulnerable part of his belly, the only part she, so small and lacking in strength still, might hope to land a significant blow. A part well away from the rending power of tooth and claw. One of them alone might never have stood a chance, but together, they could keep the beast disoriented and in pain. Hopefully.
Or they could die. But at least they would die together.
Brazen
tldr: Brazen chooses to fight. She did get her bone armor back, but it still hasn't grown through her skin.
Nocturne left the scary komodo dragon monster behind him, following the path he plotted for himself on the way down the Mountain. Following the Hyaline side of the border, he managed to miss the worst of the mountain range separating the shore from the mainland, but he still found himself traversing the treacherous footing of yet another mountain, this one darker and spookier than the last, with towering trees that cast deep, dark shadows on his path.
Nocturne wasn’t afraid of the dark, though. Maybe it was foolish ignorance, or maybe it was just the fact that his best, if fuzzy, memories were of the dark inside his father’s abdomen, curled tight and held close, safe and warm and comforted by the steady beating of their hearts and the knowledge that he was not alone. Dark was the only place he’d ever felt at home, so the shadows didn’t bother him.
The hint of moonlight limned the land in silver, lit him up with its soft white glow, making the perfect target of his pale baby coat. Really, he shouldn't have been surprised when a great and fearsome beast appeared, a wide grin spreading its lips and revealing wickedly sharp teeth. And yet, he was surprised enough that the strange creature startled a bleat out of him. His eyes widened, and ice he’d thought had been stripped away for much longer came flooding back through his body, making the ground around his tiny hooves harden and frost spread up his legs again.
Oh, hello.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” the new monster said, its voice sending shivers down Nocturne’s spine. Words. That was a good sign, right? Words meant it was intelligent enough to communicate, and maybe it was a friend instead of a foe. Maybe they could work together!
“Ah!” Nocturne answered, grinning back at the beast. “Guh!” Wait. No, that wasn’t how the word good sounded. “Heh?” No, that was supposed to be help, but how did he make the end sound? Well, fuck. It wasn’t really til that moment he realized he hadn’t actually spoken aloud before, and apparently that took practice? Shit. Okay.
His brow furrowed as the beast circled back around him. His ears followed, tracking its movement, because after all it was still a scary-looking stranger and he wasn’t dumb. Even if his lack of speech probably gave the opposite impression. Well. What the shit was he supposed to do, then?
The ice tingled in his veins again, distracting him for a moment with its familiar presence. Hmm. Maybe...maybe it could help? Okay, he could...he could mime it out! Sure! So when the beast circled all the way around him and back to his front, he sneezed dramatically, like the first scary monster had. He didn’t, of course, sneeze spit and plague drippy grossness all over the beast, which was probably for the best if they wanted to be friends.
Okay. Yes.
He grinned, then sneezed again and pretended he was feeling so, so icky, just like the lizard monster. Ice helpfully trickled down his nose, mimicking the way blood had dripped from the lizard monster’s, and when he sneezed a third time, it shattered and scattered, and then gathered back into little clumsily-sculpted figures on the ground. One, a little vaguely horse-shaped, and the other bigger and chompier. An icy sprawl of beach and mountains took awkward shape, and the figures shuffled toward the beach, picked up rocks, and headed off to--oh, right, yes, big Mountain formed, and a fairy thing on top, and the two icy figures went and gave it rocks.
Nocturne grinned at the beast and tilted his head, brows raised in invitation. “Heh?” Dammit. Still didn’t come out help. He’d have to practice.
She made it - by some miracle, the golden-haired girl has found the others again. A small chance, a bit of luck - a touch of magic perhaps? - and she’d run roughly in the right direction.
No-one awaits them, no-one gives instructions, but as she remembers, they were here to collect stones from the beach. There is an antlered mare who acts motherly, surrounded by children. Eurwen is silent and hangs around the back; unsure if she would be allowed to join, still scared from the looks of that diseased horse, she also doesn’t want to ask. But doing this alone is way scarier than with a group.
When they leave, she awkwardly, silently follows, hobbling behind them so that perhaps they won’t see her following and she won’t be chased away or called upon. The way is slippery but the splashed mare seems to know where to go; they reach the beach soon enough.
What awaits them there however, gives the pink-spotted girl another mini heart attack. She stares, her wide doe-eyes taking in it’s form and it’s words. For a long time she does nothing; fighting the instinct to run away and never come back. Because the way back is full of diseased horses that scare her also, and beyond is the beach, she can see it, she can smell it. Nearly there.
Trembling, she looks at it - though not in the eyes. It is a beast made of evil, and it takes her so much time to even move. She opens her mouth to speak - and no sound but a small, silent yip comes out.
Bravery is only bravery when you overcome a fear. With two parents being braver than she knows, she couldn’t turn out much different. They’re not here. Her sisters aren’t here. But one sister is sick and to help her she must be brave.
There are no options. She needs to pass. She needs to do it fast, too, and persuading this thing will not work, with a voice like that.
She bites her lower lip. Cries silently. Thinks of all the things she might need to say. Her sister is sick. The world is full of sick ponies.
There’s a shift in the young girl’s stance. The trembling never stops, and her ears have laid flat on her skull all this time. But her fearful expression turns sour, and the yips she makes turn into somewhat of a growl. No. She refuses to give in to this thing. ”You, are, mean!”
She rushes forward. She has no traits to use. But she knows how to bite.
lies the seed that with the sun's love in the spring becomes the rose
Aegean’s smile grows a little deeper when he twists his head to see the other children joining them.
Pressed comfortably into his dreamweaver mother’s side, his purple eyes deepen as Cosmos joins them. He steps away for but a moment, letting his silvery white nose press into her neck, breathing in the same sweet scent as before. He pulls back, finding her gaze, and then turns to his mother, letting the affection on his features speak for him. This was a friend—an ally. This was someone to be trusted.
When the other girl, red and ivory steps forward, he splits from the group once more—stepping toward her. When he nears her and sees the evidence of tears on her face, he reaches for her, brushing them away with a sweep of his nose. “Don’t cry. It’s going to be okay,” he breathes. “My name is Aegean.”
He ushers her forward, taking his place in time for his mother to call them forth.
And then, without any further delay, the group moves forward, his mother surrounded by the ragtag team of children who have flocked to her side. He is pleased to know that so many have come to her, that she has been able to watch over them, that she doesn’t turn them away and he smiles softly to himself, proud to be the son of such a woman. But the thoughts are cut short when the sound of tumbling rocks hits his ears.
He is not seized by fear but confusion, his head tilting to the side, tiny ears peering forward at the sound of the being’s voice. “Waiting for us?” he echoes, his voice nearly hushed. “Why would you be waiting for us?” But his voice is drowned out by his mother. He steps back as she lifts into a rear, giving her space to be the warrior she’s always been, to protect him and the others who huddle around her.
Still, his eyes don’t leave the monster, don’t split from him.
When his mother quiets, when she enters into the dreamworld, pulling the beast in with her, he looks to the others. His body begins to faintly glow once more, a soft, milky light that pulses in the dark around them. “It’s going to be okay,” even though he doesn’t know for sure if that’s the truth, it’s the only one that he can offer them now. “My mother will make sure that we’re all okay. I know it.”
Then, curious, he turns back to the beast who still watches them, wondering if he can somehow split his consciousness to both be with his mother in whatever dream she weaves for them while also being very much cognizant of what is happening around him. Aegean decides to take advantage of the moment.
“You can kill us, you know,” he says simply, not disturbed by the idea of death, even as his immortality remains stripped from him, as his own disease simmers in his blood. “But if we don’t succeed, if we aren’t able to help find a cure for this, eventually everyone will die. That’s just the way of things.”
He pauses for a moment, considering the possibilities of it all.
“And if you kill us, and we don’t succeed, and everyone dies, you will eventually have no one to eat. No one to hunt.” He frowns a little, shrugging a small, glowing shoulder. “Which I don’t think you want.” He glances toward who he now considers his friends, toward his mother still frantically weaving a convincing argument in another reality altogether. “This world needs balance, which means you need us to survive.”
And they needed him to see that.
i could die for you.
Word Count: 615
Regained Trait: Glowing
Choice: Persuasion
She finds she cannot stay with the group who tries to collect her - the woman with her children gathered to her like a cluster of stars caught in her impossible gravity. It would have been nice to not be alone out here, but their kindness distracts her, makes it so tempting to sink in beside them and let her mind wander back to the girl she had left behind. A girl of skin and bone and dying eyes, with ribs like welts across her sides. Even now she wants to go back, wants to curl up beside her and wait for daddy to come find them with his wild wolves.
It is the emotional part of her that wants this, the part these kind strangers make so much louder with their easy compassion. But the logical part of her mind reminds her to keep going, reminds her that this is the only way she can help anyone.
So, gradually, she falls behind them until at last there is only the sound of the chirping night and her own footfalls to keep her company.She misses them immediately though. Misses the snuffle of quiet breaths, the feeling of soft eyes looking back to check on her. It felt safer with them, more like an adventure than a mission.
But the mountains refocus her, their treachery pushing the creeping sleepiness out of her mind. It is in her favor that she is so small and alone now, because she finds there are many places among the climbing rocks that she can squeeze past. Little valleys carved between mountains, paths made by the wilds (animal and nature) that keep her from having to climb the highest peaks where the stars seem to touch the stones.
She rounds a narrow bend, feeling a flicker of relief at the stink of salt and brine that has finally reached her little nose, when suddenly a dark shape blots out the night above her.
I’ve been waiting for you. It claims in a voice like gravel, forcing her backwards a few steps when it leaps down from a rocky perch to join her. She is silent, startled, taking in the flashing teeth and dark eyes, the rust of blood around its mouth seeming so normal in this new plague-world. For a second she feels cautiously curious, wondering what his purpose in this is if he knew she was coming. But then the creature lunges forward to circle her and she can feel a quiet horror erupt within her belly.
He watches her now like daddy’s wolves watch the rabbit before they devour it.
Close up he is almost leonine, but with curved claws and thick, leathery skin, and she can smell the copper stink of blood on his breath. She looks behind her, wonders if there is another route she can take, but the beast just rumbles a chuckle at her, something cruel and grinding and not at all humorous.
“I have to keep going.” She tells it, furrowed and frowning, shrinking back just a little. “I was sent by a fairy to help find a cure.” But the beast only stares, shifting its weight as she takes a few steps forward to reclaim lost ground. Her heart pounds, a strand of logic making its way from her mind to her lips. “What if the fairy wounds you for wounding me?” A whisper now, the tilt of a slender white face. “Is it really worth it? I’m only passing through.” A few more steps to hide the dry fear burning through her, the rush of ragged adrenaline pounding through her veins with no outlet.
She never wanted to be the rabbit again.
i am brambles but i am tangled in your love
word count: 615
trait: bone armor, except it hasn't grown in at all yet
choice: persuasion
![[Image: kag]](https://78.media.tumblr.com/2e8039018ce4dff6112c167ec23e886a/tumblr_p72zjit7wC1s5a0qvo1_100.png)
