05-10-2020, 08:36 AM
L E P I S
i turned all the mirrors around
That he laughs at her correction brings another shake of her head, but he seems to be relaxing in the water, and Lepis suspects that is all she will get from him on the topic. The incredulity in his eyes is unexpected. He must know exactly what she’s talking about, and yet that is not at all how she thought Castile would react. Nor is the way he surges from the water, far too quickly. More than a decade has passed since Lepis had last been forced to physically defend herself. The man who had taught her how to is the one lunges toward her now, and if he had truly been Castile she would have seen the attack coming long before it did. Her Uncle is a great many things, but he is a dragon first and foremost. For him to come at her like this, like a horse, is so uncharacteristic a behavior that it is like a blindfold is suddenly ripped from her eyes.
“You!” She gasps just before it reaches her.
It is wearing Castile, much like it had worn Wolfbane, and Longclaw before him. But Castile is just a disguise it wears – the real man is likely far from Loess like had sworn to be – and though the face is false its hooves are not. Lepis has no inclination to tell the cursed creature that Castile favored attacking with his talons rather than hooves. Instead, she rises up on her own hindquarters, slamming the weight of her knees down on the shoulder he’s extended to kick at her.
She knows that the safest thing to do is to run.
She had known this long before she ever knew of Wolfbane and his curse. She’d learned it in the red forest, and it had been a hard-taught lesson. Running means there’s a better chance you’ll live to see another day.
But survival is no longer her priority, not like it had been then. At least, not just her own survival.
So rather than run, she shifts her weight back just enough to slam it down a second, her weight against its side and her head tight to protect her throat (just like Castile had taught her all those decades ago). Lepis is far from a brawny warrior, especially in this magical world, but she’s never had to be. There are easier ways to defend herself then by the might of hoof and tooth (or talon or tentacle)
Though her heart races, it is from adrenaline rather than fear. She has shoved the fear behind bravery and has no need to pretend otherwise. When they separate from their initial contact, Lepis steps back, her breaths coming heavy from the unanticipated exertion and the scrapes from hooves stinging. It wants revenge, she remembers, it wants to destroy and maim. It can’t be reasoned with, Bane had told her once, and any submission it might be appear to be beaten into would surely be a ploy.
“What do you want?” She asks not-Castile, moving so that she might always face it no matter how much she must move. A gust of warm air from over the salt lake ruffles her feathers, and she takes a deep breath of it, steeling herself. “Tell me, or I’ll make you regret it.” It’s there, just the softest touch of regret, a reminder that she is literal in her choice of words.
Wolfbane hadn’t seemed sure if the Curse was even capable of complex emotion, but Lepis has no intention of leaving any stone unturned in her efforts. Even if she can’t stop the curse, perhaps a mental assault might be enough to slow it down long enough to find a more permanent solution. First though, she means to find out why it is here, in Loess, after all these months. What has brought it here, when all her reports suggest that it has been lurking quietly in the north through the spring and summer?
@[Wolfbane]
“You!” She gasps just before it reaches her.
It is wearing Castile, much like it had worn Wolfbane, and Longclaw before him. But Castile is just a disguise it wears – the real man is likely far from Loess like had sworn to be – and though the face is false its hooves are not. Lepis has no inclination to tell the cursed creature that Castile favored attacking with his talons rather than hooves. Instead, she rises up on her own hindquarters, slamming the weight of her knees down on the shoulder he’s extended to kick at her.
She knows that the safest thing to do is to run.
She had known this long before she ever knew of Wolfbane and his curse. She’d learned it in the red forest, and it had been a hard-taught lesson. Running means there’s a better chance you’ll live to see another day.
But survival is no longer her priority, not like it had been then. At least, not just her own survival.
So rather than run, she shifts her weight back just enough to slam it down a second, her weight against its side and her head tight to protect her throat (just like Castile had taught her all those decades ago). Lepis is far from a brawny warrior, especially in this magical world, but she’s never had to be. There are easier ways to defend herself then by the might of hoof and tooth (or talon or tentacle)
Though her heart races, it is from adrenaline rather than fear. She has shoved the fear behind bravery and has no need to pretend otherwise. When they separate from their initial contact, Lepis steps back, her breaths coming heavy from the unanticipated exertion and the scrapes from hooves stinging. It wants revenge, she remembers, it wants to destroy and maim. It can’t be reasoned with, Bane had told her once, and any submission it might be appear to be beaten into would surely be a ploy.
“What do you want?” She asks not-Castile, moving so that she might always face it no matter how much she must move. A gust of warm air from over the salt lake ruffles her feathers, and she takes a deep breath of it, steeling herself. “Tell me, or I’ll make you regret it.” It’s there, just the softest touch of regret, a reminder that she is literal in her choice of words.
Wolfbane hadn’t seemed sure if the Curse was even capable of complex emotion, but Lepis has no intention of leaving any stone unturned in her efforts. Even if she can’t stop the curse, perhaps a mental assault might be enough to slow it down long enough to find a more permanent solution. First though, she means to find out why it is here, in Loess, after all these months. What has brought it here, when all her reports suggest that it has been lurking quietly in the north through the spring and summer?
@[Wolfbane]
