[private] you’ll ask for a match and I’ll give you a wildfire, Wolfbane

and let me crawl inside your veins. I'll build a wall, give you a ball and chain.

She has no reason to be here. 

There is no business to be done in Taiga, and no one here that she truly cares to see. She is here purely because she is bored, and an instinctual humming in her veins tells her there could be some excitement to be had in this dark, evergreen forest. Her previous conversation with Lepis was still fresh in her mind, in a haunted sort of way. She liked the other mare, genuinely, which was not common for her. Her pain was too relatable, and it made it difficult to simply shake it off. Coming here under the guise that she is searching for her is not a complete lie — she does wonder if she is still here, and how she is fairing. 

And if she just happens to run into Wolfbane, well, what a happy coincidence that would be. 

Maybe someday she will stop using others for her source of entertainment, but today doesn’t appear to be the day. 

The autumn-colored trees slowly melt into the redwoods of Taiga, and she knows it will not be long before her presence is detected. It’s not as though she blends in, with her star-like dapples glowing along her sides and made all the more vibrant due to the dimness of the forest. She slips easily amongst the towering trees, her footsteps muffled by the carpet of pine needles, and her mind ever alert for the thoughts of someone that might approach.

starsin

it’s not like me to be so mean. you’re all I wanted.
( just let me hold you Like a hostage. )

Wolfbane

Spring arrives on the bare heels of winter, and Wolfbane watches horses come and go from Taiga bit by bit. Here or there, in the sky above or under the earth they tread on, Wolfbane is listening and watching, always. He avoids only one of them because Lepis means more to him alive than she does dead and, certainly, he’d be driven to kill her if the two had another opportunity to fight. Everyone else is observed quietly until Starsin arrives.

With her glowing marks and limber little body, Castile’s advisor and Syvla’s placeholder deserves a red-carpet welcome so she gets one by way of Bane’s unmistakably sudden and somewhat off putting appearance out of what seems like the fog itself. One moment Starsin is alone, traversing the redwoods and making quaint crunching sounds as she goes, the next she is not alone.

Wolfbane is there, mid-step from appearing around the bend and sharpening the closer he comes.

Like herself it’s hard to miss him, dressed up in his blues and trademark gold. The wings are there as well, positioned comfortably over his back and dipping gently each stride he takes. “You like games, Starsin.” He calls out, familiar and warm despite them only having met once.

One time was enough, a bitter voice inside of him remembers, could look at her again though, great ass another retorts and mutually, they all seem to agree on this idea. The bad and the good have balance on occasion. Shut the fuck up he tells himself, then, “So lets play.” Wolfbane smiles, coming to block her direct path with the weight of his bulk.

“If I… oh, I don’t know, rounded up a dozen or so little foals and one of them was a child of yours,” He paints her a picture, all of his previous thoughts focusing on the image inside of his mind he’s trying to relay to this unexpected but most welcome of guests, “if I made it so that they all couldn’t speak,” He’ll leave that one up to her imagination, “and then forced them all to think of your name - would you know which one was yours by their thoughts alone?” He wonders.

What a stupid analogy, that same nasty voice tells him. Thoughts not being individual to the thinker, it scoffs, no he scoffs at himself. His practiced little smile falters for a moment. Shut the fuck up he keeps having to remind himself. But it was hard when so many sides of you had their own opinion.

Starsin

and let me crawl inside your veins. I'll build a wall, give you a ball and chain.

He appears, and she almost cannot hide her delight. “Wolfbane,” his name is nearly crooned from her tongue, and a simper unfurls across her lips like the fog that whispers through the trees. He steps in front of her, and she does not make a move to try and step around him, but she quirks a single brow at him. She was here for a reason – a reason he had already so quickly guessed at – and surely he must know she would not be leaving so soon.

And surely he must know that he did not possess the power to stop her should she decide to leave.

“I do love games, but it’s so hard to find willing participants these days,” she laments with a sigh, but that smile never falters. “So I just find unwilling ones.” And then, a tilt of her head, and a pointed glance at him. “Or at least, unsuspecting ones.”

She gives no indication for now that she can hear the war he was having with himself, but, they certainly made for an interesting dynamic. It changed the game just a little bit, because while she could not claim to know Wolfbane very well, she was fairly certain this was not him. It reminds her of Vulgaris, almost, when he had lost his memories and allowed her to paint him like a blank canvas.

This was different, though. Almost demonic, but it didn’t deter her.

She was just starting the game on a higher level than originally anticipated.

“Of course I would,” she answers him curtly, struggling to keep her eyes from rolling. “Thoughts have a voice, too.” She pauses, her intense blue eyes settling on his face as she adds in a voice that is suddenly honey-thick and just as condescending as it is sweet, “Or in your case, several voices.”

starsin

it’s not like me to be so mean. you’re all I wanted.
( just let me hold you Like a hostage. )

Wolfbane