10-19-2019, 02:42 PM
What Neverwhere plans is often made complicated by a strict refusal to muse and plot and consider, she is a creature of the present, so it is reasonable that others might incorrectly interpret her motives. It is perfectly reasonable that both Wolfbane and Lilliana would think her love for the red mare might ameliorate her dislike of the stallion, that she might try to smooth the waters when she takes her position beside him quietly, but of course, her path has never been a smooth one and a contrary streak runs bright and wild across her heart. It would be wrong to assume that her blunt mention of Lepis had been solely - or even mostly - to rile Wolfbane. Indeed, though she does not know him well, she can tell in his voice and his scent and his bearing that he will not be put off his quarry so easily, and if her banter is designed to annoy, it is not with the expectation that it will do more than ruffle his feathers a bit.
But there are more characters in this story than just Wolfbane, and one of them could use a heavy dose of reality. When Lilli flares, it is unexpected in that Neverwhere has never seen the reaction before in her friend, and she thinks that, very possibly, this is the first time the red mare has ever been angry in her life. That sounds impossible, and yet...
And yet.
She lets the rebuke wash over her with no more than a flick of the ear closest to it, the words do not stick but fall away from her like snowflakes. She need not follow politics to know that Lepis came to Nerine shortly after she herself had arrived there, she needed only eyes. In Nerine, she can see. She does not reply quickly, allowing Wolfbane his reponse, and if his meaning is directed for the auburn mare, it does is not lost on her. The Comtesse, not my mate.
"You misunderstand me, Lilli," she firmly suspects that Lilli does not misunderstand her, "I can see in Nerine, so I take advantage of it. If I followed politics, perhaps I might care to call Lepis The Comtesse as is preferred." Her tail swishes lazily, nonchalantly, as though to punctuate her disinterest. Ahead, only the closest of the dead, white, trees can be seen by her eye, and only the faintest outline against the fog, no more than the suggestion of something solid.
She stops, half a moment after Wolfbane does, turns her clouded eye to him, as he speaks. Leaving so soon? She is admittedly surprised by it, and more than happy to see him go. His offer to repay her courtesy rips a gruff, careless, laugh from her throat as he questions Lilliana and takes to the air. Courtesy, indeed!
"Get out of here, Lilli. Get out of Taiga." She says, watching as the striped golden stallion fades into the fog, "Come to Nerine with me, or go to Hyaline, or the bits of Pangea that remind you of the Desert."
She does turn, then and her bald, scarred, face is steeled and serious, but behind the cataracts there is a softness, too, that exists solely for the red girl who is her only friend, "Go wherever you want, but don't stay here."
@[lilliana]
But there are more characters in this story than just Wolfbane, and one of them could use a heavy dose of reality. When Lilli flares, it is unexpected in that Neverwhere has never seen the reaction before in her friend, and she thinks that, very possibly, this is the first time the red mare has ever been angry in her life. That sounds impossible, and yet...
And yet.
She lets the rebuke wash over her with no more than a flick of the ear closest to it, the words do not stick but fall away from her like snowflakes. She need not follow politics to know that Lepis came to Nerine shortly after she herself had arrived there, she needed only eyes. In Nerine, she can see. She does not reply quickly, allowing Wolfbane his reponse, and if his meaning is directed for the auburn mare, it does is not lost on her. The Comtesse, not my mate.
"You misunderstand me, Lilli," she firmly suspects that Lilli does not misunderstand her, "I can see in Nerine, so I take advantage of it. If I followed politics, perhaps I might care to call Lepis The Comtesse as is preferred." Her tail swishes lazily, nonchalantly, as though to punctuate her disinterest. Ahead, only the closest of the dead, white, trees can be seen by her eye, and only the faintest outline against the fog, no more than the suggestion of something solid.
She stops, half a moment after Wolfbane does, turns her clouded eye to him, as he speaks. Leaving so soon? She is admittedly surprised by it, and more than happy to see him go. His offer to repay her courtesy rips a gruff, careless, laugh from her throat as he questions Lilliana and takes to the air. Courtesy, indeed!
"Get out of here, Lilli. Get out of Taiga." She says, watching as the striped golden stallion fades into the fog, "Come to Nerine with me, or go to Hyaline, or the bits of Pangea that remind you of the Desert."
She does turn, then and her bald, scarred, face is steeled and serious, but behind the cataracts there is a softness, too, that exists solely for the red girl who is her only friend, "Go wherever you want, but don't stay here."
@[lilliana]
