"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
Fiorina does not move when Lilliana does - though her gaze remains fixed on Wolfbane, her ears flick and track the movement of the chestnut mare. She is electrified by the fight and wants more but she senses that things are dying down and she might not get the chance. She hates all this subtext - why can’t everyone just say what they want? And be obvious about it. She snorts at the stallion’s words when he speaks because, though she is at least smart enough to catch what “leave us be” means, the rest is utter nonsense.
There aren’t any birds here.
She takes a step forward, her tail flicking behind her. “Sorry, that’s not going to work for me.” There is a part of Fiorina’s mind casually informing her that she is being an idiot. That someone who can turn their wings into tentacles likely has more tricks up their sleeve. But backing down from a fight was not in her blood. She was born of monsters and magic and there is not enough sense in her to know when a fight is fair or not - just when it is a good one.
The dedication she feels to these strangers is inconvenient, but she knows it makes sense. Her family was made to serve and those wretched instincts have kicked in here of all places, when she was just looking to recruit for a home she knows she won’t return to now. She’ll follow Ruthless and Lilliana, she’ll be the dog that keeps their flock safe.
Her eyes do slide to Lilliana, wondering what the chestnut mare thinks of the (weird) proposal made. She had willingly distracted the brute from the fight, but how far would she go to protect the young one?
Fiorina is careful to keep herself between the winged girl and Mr Octopus when her gaze shifts to him again. “No more harm is coming to either of these mares today. If she won’t go with you freely,” And Fiorina eyes the tentacles pointedly, “Then they are leaving with me. Find some other prey.”
