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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


    [private]  your personal ghost who haunts your dreams
    #1



    Vastra would never admit it out loud, but she had been keeping an eye open for the painted stallion/mountain lion she had fought with in the meadow. It had been a few years now, but the memories were still fond - still made her smile. She bore a few new scars from it and that was always a delight, it had been too long since she had added to her collection of them. She had been quite the sight picking Chel up from the playground later that day but she’s not sure her daughter was surprised in the least.

    Who knew that all she needed to do now and then was just pick a fight?

    And what did she have to do to find someone to fight with again?

    She had absolutely intended not to follow his scent, not wanting to admit that he had enough influence on her to tug her attention in such a way, but when she was wandering and caught it by chance she could not help herself. Vastra wanted to feel the joy of a scuffle again, the refreshing scent of blood and sound of howling caused by her claws, the clarity that she felt when her flesh was the one being torn.

    When she arrives at the border of the jungle Tephra, Vastra shifts into her horse self - a warm, sand-coloured mare with wings at her sides. If she’s going to trespass (visit) she does not want to do so as a predator. His scent is strong here and her blue-grey eyes are bright with curiosity as they take in the lush green foliage - looking for a sign of gold and white among it.

    v a s t r a

    artwork by space1993


    @[Svedka]
    #2

    let my shadows prove the sunshine

    The battle in the meadow has been long since gone from the stallion’s mind. Different matters plague him and perhaps had certain things not happened the way they had, he would have easily sought out Vastra long ago. But even now he can feel the overwhelming tightness in his shoulder; all gnarled and red, reminding him constantly of how he had passed from one life to the next, all to be ripped back in a blink of an eye. He still struggles to understand the purpose the dark god had in doing so - why not leave him there?

    There are other things that remind him that his ‘adventure’ was not just a nightmare. Carnage has given him two children, one that eerily mimics the demeanors of both fathers and one that reflects Svedka’s lion in ways that he, even as her father, could not ignore.

    Among it all, Svedka feels as though a piece of him feels is missing -  as if something had been left behind in that terrible place where his lion self was completely separate. It consumes him, this idea, and he is placidly staring up at the warm rays of sunlight as they filter through the thick canopy of the jungle, lost in thought. Her scent brings forth a tidal wave of memories and feelings, causing him to jerk his head around and snort sharply. Had the magic still stirred within him prior to Carnage, he would have shifted. Even now, there is an inkling to do so.

    But nothing happens.

    And, strangely enough, Svedka feels disappointed.

    The sun-and-sky stallion turns around slowly, following the familiar scent with steady and unhurried steps. There is much that Vastra would find different about him physically upon seeing him, though not even for a moment does he wonder what she will think about his inability to shift into the creature she remembers.

    Upon seeing her, he cannot help the lazy smile that finds his pink lips. Out of habit, probably, as there is still so much unhealed within him, but it felt natural and good to relapse into that charming, gentle attitude that he knows so well.

    “Took you long enough,” he huffs at her, coming to a halt a few lengths before her.

    svedka




    @[Vastra]
    #3



    No matter what shape Vastra takes, she has a predator’s instincts. She watches Svedka approach but she’s watching him too - noting the scars. She thinks she can guess which ones she had left and they are dwarfed by the newer ones. There’s a faint stirring of… jealousy? Perhaps? In her stomach when she sees his shoulder and knows she’s not the one who had left that mark. There’s some concern, too, and she cannot decide which of those two emotions - concern or jealousy - is the worst. She’d prefer to stamp them both down.

    But that smile is the same and his huffed words bring out the start of one in her face too - chased immediately away by an eye roll.

    “I wasn’t sure you wanted to be found. You didn’t exactly give me an address before you went running off into the hills.” It was hard to believe it had been so long - and Vastra is irritated by the sense that she should have come sooner. Hadn’t she offered to become his tutor of sorts? She had certainly dropped the ball on that one. Instead, she had gone to find Chel, coated in both her blood and his and boasting a few new scars of her own.

    It was certainly a wonder how Chel had turned out as wild as she had.

    “I’m Vastra, by the way. Since you didn’t ask that before propositioning me either.” Her voice is rough, as it always is, though there’s a light in her stormy eyes that hints that this is her attempt at a jest.

    It’s an effort not to just ask if he’s ready for round two, or shift and launch herself at him to see what instincts are lying beneath his surface. Since it has been so long, she reasons, it’s only polite to at least exchange names first.


    v a s t r a

    artwork by space1993


    @[Svedka]
    #4

    let my shadows prove the sunshine

    “Maybe I didn’t,” he replies with a grin, though it is obviously not the case. Svedka’s predator instincts (when he had the chance to wield them) were not anything that would cross over and remain in his equine form and he never would have thought to cover his tracks to keep her from finding him. 

    It had been something much more complicated than that, of course, but he is sure Vastra is not here to listen to his story of Carnage and the afterlife, not when there were plenty of more important things to do. He feels the heat in his shoulder when he thinks of the reason he had been gone for so long, remembering the sharpness of his lion’s claws through his skin and flesh more than once. There is a shiver down his spine, but it is something that he turns into a gentle shake of his entire body. “And to be honest, I don’t quite remember how our conversation ended.”

    There is a smile on his pale pink lips, but Svedka can feel the uncertainty in his voice begin to rise. He hadn’t remembered because she had asked him to shift, and once he had, he remembers nothing except waking in Tephra covered in dried blood with the remnants of the lion’s last kill beside him.

    The two-toned stallion swallows, pushing the terrible image from his head and attempting to focus on the winged woman before him. He rolls his shoulder casually, the jagged and still-pink, gnarled skin of his shoulder glinting dully in the sunlight. “You seemed like a woman who prefers to get straight to business,” he muses coyly, raising a brow. “I didn’t think you’d be interested in small talk and - as I recall it - you didn’t seem to mind.” The stallion flashes her a mischievous grin, flicking his flaxen tail against his haunch.

    “Hello, Vastra. I’m Svedka, by the way.

    svedka




    @[Vastra]
    #5



    It is both disappointing and comforting to know that Svedka did not remember how their conversation ended. Vastra had, at the time, been completely sidetracked from what she had proposed - being a teacher that could help him remain in control while in a shift. And then years had passed and she was only just following up. She said she could teach him, she never said she would be particularly adept at it.

    Her head tilts slightly to the side and a fond note weaves through her words as she recalls their last meeting. “Let’s just say our last conversation ended in blood on both sides. It was quite fun.” Vastra decides against going into details, thinking they might hurt more than help in this situation. But she hopes at least to assure him that she had not been daunted by the lion, had not been afraid.

    When he responds to her jest with coy words, she nods. “I’ve never been good at small talk, that’s true.” She cannot decide whether she’s more annoyed that he can read her so well or that his charms appear to be working on her. It helps, though, that she’s seen the creature that hides in his heart and has tasted its blood and felt the thrill of it drawing her own. This shell of charm and wit is just something she has to deal with in order to get back to what she wants.

    Not that she wasn’t enjoying this just a little bit, though.

    “Well, Svedka, I said you propositioned me. I didn’t say I was opposed.” And now Vastra takes a small step forward, playing at the game. Her grin is not as obvious as his - it’s a glint in those storm-grey eyes that are focused on him. A predator’s gaze even in equine form.

    v a s t r a

    artwork by space1993


    @[Svedka]
    #6

    let my shadows prove the sunshine

    “Fun?” Svedka echoes with a gentle quirk of his brows, interested and curious. Yet, at the same time, there is a hesitancy to ask for any further details - he isn’t sure he wants to know much more, seeing as his lion obviously hadn’t behaved (though, it isn’t his anymore, is it? That part of him is lost somewhere, deep in the afterlife, while a new part of him now vibrates through his very core. Something powerful as well as something foreign and out of place). He isn’t sure, either, why Vastra would label their encounter as fun - but perhaps it was, he thinks innocently, for he hadn’t truly been there to experience it himself.

    For a mild moment he feels a bit guilty; there are plenty of things he should be doing now that he is back from his trip into the afterlife. He had children now, after all (two he couldn’t place, brought from the destruction of Carnage himself, and the thought of them causes a crease of a frown to find his pink lips). He should be more responsible, more settled, finding a life of happiness and warmth within Tephra, maybe with Ilma. But the stallion cannot help himself - there is an impulse that is too strong for him to ignore (and maybe that is what gave him the lion in the first place) as he takes a few fluid steps towards Vastra, unafraid and smiling faintly.

    He halts, tossing his head softly. “Small talk I can stomach,” he mentions with a grin, pouting his lips slightly, “but it does get boring, and there are much more interesting things to do than talk of the weather, or of past interactions.”

    Svedka is lost in those storm-grey eyes, wondering what sort of thoughts are brooding just behind them. He tilts his head, curious. There is a pause as he thinks carefully about his next words. “I think,” he begins slowly, his cerulean gaze tracing her gently, “the original proposition has changed.”

    svedka




    @[Vastra]
    #7



    Truthfully, Vastra isn’t quite sure what he means that the original proposition has changed. She’s sure what she had been hinting at - but she’s not very good at games. She prefers to be direct, to just say whatever it is they mean. It had been fun for a while, their teasing in the meadow, but now she feels lost. She feels either too too old or too stupid to understand what is happening (or perhaps a delightful combination of the two). It’s as though a draft she had not been expecting has caught her wings and carried her off with force in a direction she had not been planning.

    Through her uncertainty, though, his words feel like a rejection, even after he had taken a few steps towards her and as his eyes scan her. It stings, this idea that she could be rejected, that she could have spent the occasional afternoon thinking of him only to discover it was not mutual. Emotions are the worst, she figured that out a long time ago.

    It does not occur to her to step backwards and away, to allow space to cool between them, even as she's questioning the logic of coming here at all. When had she ever thought to step away? That is not who she is. Vastra’s gaze does not shift from him - it’s focused and intense and her eyes grow wary of what, she’s sure, are incredibly mixed signals. She attempts to remind herself to be rational, to remember it had been a few years since their meeting in the meadow - and much could have changed in that time.

    It had not for her, but time had been a funny thing for Vastra ever since she had lived as a lion for years gone uncounted. She wasn’t even sure of her own age anymore.

    “Of course. It has been a long time, I suppose. Like you said.” Comes a careful but curt reply because she’s unwilling to allow her confusion to show. She just lets that small handful of words hang there as she continues to watch him. Hoping for, but unsure of how to ask for, an explanation of what has changed.

    v a s t r a

    artwork by space1993


    @[Svedka]
    #8

    let my shadows prove the sunshine

    “There is something that has - changed - and I feel I wouldn’t be a gentleman if I didn’t inform you.” Svedka’s eyes narrow slightly as he becomes thoughtful, almost hesitant. He is sure there is more to her visit than to just check on him and his other self (which he no longer has), but he cannot help but feel as though she expects much of the same from their previous encounter. His pearled pink nose wrinkles as he purses his lips, tilting his head. He is still making his way towards her (and perhaps he is a fool for continuing to do so, to get so close and within striking range), finding the way she glances him up and down only invites him closer to her.

    His flaxen tail flicks gently at his golden haunch, the tendrils of sky blue glittering in the Tephran sun. “I’m possibly not exactly the same as you remember.” A true statement as ever and as he says it, he even feels the tingling of his gnarled scar in remembrance. He is sure Vastra doesn’t care for details - not in the way Ilma, or Ryatah, or even Pteron would - and so he spares this from her. “I no longer have to worry about my other skin,” he admits carefully, halting his steps to gauge her reaction.

    Though he comes to a halt, his words did not.

    “Though I can assure you that I will personally see to it that your visit isn’t a waste of time.”

    Svedka’s smile goes crooked and his eyes are warm and sparkling. He doesn’t know how she might react to the fact that he no longer is a shifter but he had never had the mindset of a predator anyway and, he assumes, she will be happy that he is free of his burden. Besides, there are plenty of things he can find to entertain themselves in the deep jungle other than discussing his lion - or lack thereof.

    svedka




    @[Vastra]
    #9



    Her storm-grey eyes are steady on him, narrowing just slightly as her mind tries to puzzle out just what the hell he is talking about. She assumes he’s tied down with someone - perhaps the fierce lion she met has gone and fell in love and is no longer free.

    How boring, she thinks. What a waste.

    She absolutely despises this feeling of not knowing, of being too slow and stupid to be able to figure out the puzzle before her. She’s a predator at heart - bold, fierce, and utterly lacking in any sort of finesse.

    Aside from a faint scowl, she keeps her face as blank as possible. Waiting for more information that seems to be coming in painfully slow. It helps distract her from the way her heart is racing at his proximity. And then - when he pauses and says that his other skin is no longer a problem, she brightens. This, she thinks she understands - even though she’s actually completely misunderstood. She takes a step towards him now, only half registering his promise to see that her visit here was not a waste of time.

    Her dark eyes dance along his face and his form, taking in whatever she can see at this proximity and doing so with a luxurious freedom. And then another step, and her muzzle reaches out to brush against his in a gesture as soft as her curious words that she fails to keep the anticipation out of.

    “It's not a problem... so you are able to control it now? Can you show me?”

    v a s t r a

    artwork by space1993


    @[Svedka]
    #10

    let my shadows prove the sunshine

    The way she brightens makes Svedka’s own body do the same. He smiles lopsidedly, not keen on sharing exactly the premise on which he had been able to shed the lion’s skin, but finding her reaction to be encouraging. Her step forward allows him to mimic in the same way, taking a single sweeping step to close the distance between them.

    For the first time in a while, the overo stallion feels a bit like his normal self - there is a sharper edge to Vastra, something he wants to explore, but it is all the same in the chase. There is a slight quickening of his pulse, a reminder that his heart still beats wildly in the confines of his chest. Their banter is alluring and secret, a conversation only meant for them both. He smiles at her, realizing he has always had a ‘thing’ for wings before his handsome smile falters just a bit.

    Svedka’s brows rise as he realizes his mistake - a perhaps fatal one.

    “Oh,” he blurts stupidly, the warmth that once filled his chest cooling in a single moment. He tilts his head thoughtfully, though realizes that searching for the right words hasn’t seemed to help him much in this case. “I can’t show you. Its - he’s - gone. For good.” The stallion’s lips press together into a thin line, watching the storm-grey of her beautiful eyes.

    Thinking that topic was finally out of the way, Svedka takes another step closer to her.

    svedka




    @[Vastra]




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