To crooked eyes truth may wear a wry face - Lilliana

[Wolfbane]

Horses individual reactions to seeing him were like natural highs for Bane, since so many things had changed lately. His focus had shifted outward now; he no longer feared losing control of his limbs in a bought of emotional distress. Safe to say he went the extra mile sometimes, just to test how he could further the shock-and-awe or instant disgust. How deep could he make Neverwhere’s scowl, he wondered? How reckless could he make Lilliana? His attention was glued, no gravitating to every little twitch or motion on her fiery red face. There were so many, and so varied! And each one put together was such a lovely image when he pulled back from looking so intensely. Even the dinge of a ghost beach failed at dulling her incessant shine. His heart thundered while the pit of his stomach clenched in a low growl

“That’s exactly who I am.” He chimed light-heartedly, hearing his name, “And if you’re in the company of wolves like Lilli, then I’m glad to know exactly who you are, Neverwhere.” He purred, committing every finite detail of what he could see and sense from the bitter mare finding refuge in his territory to memory.

He wouldn’t forget this one.

“Say no more -” He said without missing a beat, sliding closer to Lilliana as a needle seeks magnetic north. With her the corners and ridges on his face and in his voice smoothed clear; Wolfbane lost himself all too easily in their usual banter… and the electric blue of those eyes. How could he have ever forgotten the blue of those eyes? Bluer than the heavens, and he’d been up there enough to claim such a thing. “- you could probably lead the hounds of hell here for a drink of water and I’d wave them through.”

He’d seen them touch and had clearly heard Lilliana’s breathy warning to her companion. There was something there, something more than just a desire to curb bad attitudes. Wolfbane let it rest, wondering if it was something deeper than the way her friend stank of the North. Like he’d said: Lilliana could bring the hounds of hell if she wanted.

Wolfbane lacked a certain kind of fear, these days. Nothing came to where he was and threatened his peace anymore. Not without consequences.

And Neverwhere’s distaste of him was nothing more than another reaction - her words held very little weight and he could admit to himself that being blind would piss him off too. So he smiled in a way that only Lilliana seemed to bring out and said, “You know when I was a colt someone told me that everything around us - this beach, the land itself - was just our past recycled into something new.”
Wolfbane seemed to sigh, looking around and hearing the crash of ocean waves. Though heavy, the fog showed enough of the beach that it looked to curve up into nothingness. “I grew up believing that Taiga was probably the Chamber of long ago, or that maybe Hyaline was once the Falls. Silly fantasies I suppose, but still…” His voice seemed to fade away, just like the mysterious beach.

“Lilliana I think I know the perfect place for you and Neverwhere, if you know it.” He suggested instantly, snapped clear from his reveries and looking between the couple of female friends. “A short walk if you follow the shoreline, and it’ll lead you dead on to the Boneyard.”

He was talking about a grove of petrified trees; up the shore a gathering of felled, ancient redwood trunks dipped in and out of the sand, their bark bleached white and gone stone-hard from exposure to the salt spray. Eerie enough without the fog, they were impressive and offered respite sometimes from the wind and constant wetness. “The payoff is worth the walk. This your first time in the forest of the giants, Neverwhere?” Wolfbane asked the dappled gray, taking in the shape and color of her white-washed face with quick little flicks of his pupils.

@[neverwhere]
@[lilliana]