[private] i hear the voice of rage and ruin; wolfbane

[Wolfbane]

This is what becomes of you when reason cedes to power. You hardly recognize yourself; you hardly look recognizable. Wolfbane feared he was nearly there, looking down and seeing outstretched digits that could grasp instead of hooves that could gallop. He panted through serrated teeth and sensed that the sky around him was whirling, Lepis herself had become a muddy blur. He hadn’t noticed before that she was crying. His lips straightened out and he lowered both paws to hang beside his hips, the wings at his back flapping and keeping him aloft, bobbing gently.

All of this: her projections, his manipulative use of Gale… all of it was sick.

Wolfbane shuddered, groaning in one long exclamation of brief pain as his skin stretched. The bones rolled and pressed up through the skin keeping them contained, making it seem like the Commandant was nothing more than a writhing sack full of snakes. His shifting felt uncomfortable and it made Bane tired, now that he’d changed back and forth and had to keep himself airborne. The emotional exhaustion was taking a toll as well on the both of them.

Perhaps she was right, he thought (finally settling down on the rocks he’d smashed himself into minutes ago) Maybe he should go. South then North… a week’s worth of travel at the least. He’s only just returned but…

“Lepis.” Bane tried, his throat constricting. He would apologize a second time if it didn’t feel like a cheap excuse. At this point everything felt like it was beyond apologies. “I don’t want -”

to, the word stuck fast. He swallowed it down then bit his tongue, glancing up to her. He’d always looked up to her for guidance. I don’t want this - I don’t know what I want anymore, he thought desperately. Wolfbane’s only thought was to reach out for her and he did, raising the smart line of his handsome mouth where the wind and crash of the sea was. Up and out towards his broken love, he reached and felt nothing but empty space between them. A void that felt impossibly wide.

“I’ll come back. No more than two weeks.” He promised while his head dropped. Whatever desire remained was fading; the hard edges and cold indifference came back. He’d done this to her after all… Lepis no more wanted his comfort than he wanted her emotional crutch right now. “I do love you, Lepis.” The shapeshifter threw at her, snapping his hooves on the stone as he twisted away. The haunted look of her deflated pride and the trauma shadowing her golden face stuck to the back of his mind anyway.

He could’ve stayed, tried to fix things beyond repair.
Instead Wolfbane unfurled his tired wings and left, just like she’d asked him to.

@[Lepis]