02-02-2020, 11:33 PM
Lepis barks an answer, dropping her diplomacy for sarcasm and Neverwhere has no reason to assume she is joking, yet, just as jarringly, she laughs in response, the sound ragged and unpracticed, but genuine. As Lepis continues, the silver mare chases the laughter away with a snort and a toss of her head, but the sly grin remains on gnarled lips. It is true that Neverwhere knows very little of the other mare, she does not know her past, cannot understand her motivations, but she is capable of delicate observation when there is a need and she finds herself liking the little dun in spite of herself, in spite of the venom they spit back and forth. While grey-blue eyes roll, she relaxes, the knotted cream strands of her tail flicking loosely so that they curl around her hocks.
"I just bet you would, you crazy bitch," she chuckles, pausing not to consider the rashness of calling the ambassador a "bitch," but instead that Lepis had been less sure about Wolfbane being able to destroy Heartfire not so very long ago, "I do hope you aren't too disappointed that someone's jumped ahead and taken your chance for revenge. But who knows, maybe she'll return?"
There is a reason that Neverwhere suspects Heartfire is not dead, one that she has not mentioned to anyone else, and it is the continued persistence of her perfect vision. Heartfire was no healer and the clouds remain, drifting across her eyes - something Neverwhere has seen reflected in still water - yet she sees as though they never existed at all. She is looking through the clouds. It is magic, and one she expects would not continue long past the former Queen's death. She drifts on this thought until Lepis scolds her - ears that had turned forward twist back again. She likes this coddling tone less well.
"I prefer you when you are snarling," she blinks slowly, disdainfully, and her expression fades to boredom, "Wolfbane is a threat that I will do what I can against, but I don't know that you are much better equipped to deal with him than I am. Not if you would risk your life to ask Heartfire for help rather than seeking out Castile."
She tilts her head to one side, "If he can be anybody, you'd need to be inside his head to know it's him. Perhaps I know someone that can help, but they may not be willing." As she speaks, she is already walking, leaving the cave system that protected them from the rising gale. There is a stand of wind driven trees ahead, misshapen and strange, but close enough that they block the worst of the wind and storm. They are no towering redwoods, mangled as they are, but perhaps more familiar than the damp, echoing caves.
"Revive? Do dragons forget so easily, Lepis? Do you?" She shrugs, "How do you know he isn't already in Loess? Meet anyone new lately?"
"I just bet you would, you crazy bitch," she chuckles, pausing not to consider the rashness of calling the ambassador a "bitch," but instead that Lepis had been less sure about Wolfbane being able to destroy Heartfire not so very long ago, "I do hope you aren't too disappointed that someone's jumped ahead and taken your chance for revenge. But who knows, maybe she'll return?"
There is a reason that Neverwhere suspects Heartfire is not dead, one that she has not mentioned to anyone else, and it is the continued persistence of her perfect vision. Heartfire was no healer and the clouds remain, drifting across her eyes - something Neverwhere has seen reflected in still water - yet she sees as though they never existed at all. She is looking through the clouds. It is magic, and one she expects would not continue long past the former Queen's death. She drifts on this thought until Lepis scolds her - ears that had turned forward twist back again. She likes this coddling tone less well.
"I prefer you when you are snarling," she blinks slowly, disdainfully, and her expression fades to boredom, "Wolfbane is a threat that I will do what I can against, but I don't know that you are much better equipped to deal with him than I am. Not if you would risk your life to ask Heartfire for help rather than seeking out Castile."
She tilts her head to one side, "If he can be anybody, you'd need to be inside his head to know it's him. Perhaps I know someone that can help, but they may not be willing." As she speaks, she is already walking, leaving the cave system that protected them from the rising gale. There is a stand of wind driven trees ahead, misshapen and strange, but close enough that they block the worst of the wind and storm. They are no towering redwoods, mangled as they are, but perhaps more familiar than the damp, echoing caves.
"Revive? Do dragons forget so easily, Lepis? Do you?" She shrugs, "How do you know he isn't already in Loess? Meet anyone new lately?"
Neverwhere
...
@[Lepis]
