[private] leader of the landslide, bru & aeris

[gospel]

This is where it started, isn’t it?
Her first taste of freedom.
How sweetly it had slid down her throat, how it tasted like blood.

She has seldom returned here, preferring to languish in the heat at the center of the meadow, preferring to sink her teeth into the things that venture to the river’s edge in search of water. Because the forest has so little to offer her cold, cold heart. What fun are rabbits when it comes to prey anyway? She’d swallowed them whole as a child, unhinging her baby jaw, delighting in the flutter of their pulse as they settled in the pit of her gut. Rabbits and birds and all manner of rodent. Easy prey, they hardly ever put up a fight.

And now she lurks in the shadows because the canopy overhead has stifled the steady snowfall. Because they seek shelter here, the wildlife. They curl themselves into neat circles, siphoning their own heat, their faces tucked under their tails and she snatches them clean out of their burrows. Foxes, deer, the quick and nimble things, their reflexes numbed by the cold.

Blood drips from her chin now, stains all that white, white snow as she moves slow through the forest. She could return to Pangea, she thinks, but there is nothing to life if there is no suffering and oh, how she delights in the suffering! Even her own. How sweet it is, the pain that plagues her as the wind whips cold across the surface of her skin. The scales do so little to protect her from the elements. The teeth chatter as she wanders. The suffering is brilliant white and it makes her vision strobe.

She does not hunt now, having eaten her fill. No, she merely wanders. She shivers in the cold and finds some sick satisfaction in the way the wind chaps her face, her shoulders, the slight swell of her barrel and her hips. Perhaps she will freeze out here, she thinks. What a delightful thing to think! What a vicious and merciless way to go. And what better way?

She drags in a shuddering breath and instinctively glances in the direction of some sourceless sound. She licks her lips but it does little to remove the blood from her chin. Still warm. Through the trees, she makes out the shape of something or someone. It doesn’t matter which.

“Don’t be shy,” she calls, the mouth twisting coyly.

g o s p e l,

@[Bruja] @[Aeris]

[Reia]

no one really knows what the ocean hides
but you and I, bird, we’re gonna find out

Reia steps forward slowly, deliberately.

Her cerulean eyes have been following closely, fascinated by the dribbling blood. Another hunter, she muses. A fresh kill.

Hunger groans through her body; she hasn’t hunted since yesterday, tending to her daughter instead. The only reason Adarra still hugs her side – not today, thankfully – is to solely drive a splinter further into Pteron’s skin. The child has no other use beyond manipulation, but Reia adorns her with kisses and affection in order to remain within Adarra’s trust. A cruel decision, but Reia’s moral compass has often times veered off course.

It’s why she is alone, abandoning her daughter in Taiga only to fill her empty side with another.

Prior to the invitation – just barely – she steps forward. Firelight of her mane illuminates her pretty face as it crackles along the ridge of her arched crest. A jagged smile meets the stranger’s coyness, complementing as the threads of their lives intertwine. ”I like your confidence,” she breathes, a plume of smoke rising from her nostrils. There have been others – too many – that cower away from bumps in the night or walking shadows. Inwardly, she chuckles. Pteron comes to mind and the discomfort that glazed his eyes when he saw her for the first time. They are of different levels in the food chain, and yet she wants him nonetheless. That’s why she claimed him, marked him. As weak as he is, he belongs to her.

But her, this scaled mother of monsters and mayhem, claws feverishly at Reia’s fascination. If she were so kind, she could begin to consider her an equal, but there is no such thing. Instead, a rare compliment suspends in the space between them, Reia’s voice a low drawl. ”You invite danger,” a deep breath is drawn in, memorizing her now, ”rather than hesitate or run.” Not that Reia intends to be cruel or destroy the world around her; but she’s exhausted by the meek personalities surrounding her as of late. Licking her lips contemplatively, her gaze falls to follow the occasional drips of fresh blood. ”What was it?” She asks, her hunger distorting her thoughts and piquing her interest.

and I'll be next to you when the lights go out

Reia

[Rebelle]

I am not so strategic in my approach. My mind is occupied by thoughts of little furry things, the squirming lives that occupy this world of shadows. Squirrels, mice, rabbits. Little birds and snarling badgers. They crawled about, and I waited for the right opportunity to nab one. I had experiments to do.

There was the tang of blood in the air, growing stronger the deeper into the woods I stalked. The musk of fear fading into the decaying hummus. Other scents as well, one I know. A sly grin dripped across my lips. My steps grew more deliberate, more decisive, and they led me along until the scene I was seeking revealed itself to me. A happy little sigh breathed out, my fractal scars flickering in the dappled light. 

"It's a wonder you manage to catch anything, Reia. Any critter with eyes could see you glowing a mile off. Not to mention the smell." My nose wrinkled in illustration. I ignored the girl with blood staining her maw, though the gleam of scales was jotted down. Really, hair was going out of fashion. 

I clicked my tongue a few times against the roof of my mouth. "Who's the baby vamp?" I asked, tossing my head at the dark little mare aside us. She's as hungry looking as the dragoness. Reia's gaze seemed to have locked onto the new face. My hips hitched in a lazy sway, settling in to enjoy the show. 

@[gospel] [Reia]