middaeg | Closed Catch All

Entry tags:

Closed Catch All

Who: Fang, Ozymandias, Alex, Kaede; others to add
When: Throughout Mareuer
Where: Throughout Aefenglom
What: Fishing, cats, and Fang being Fang
Warnings: n/a

[Ozy] It takes a village (to raise a cub)

[The giant sphinxes posted outside were... new. Even if Fang expected no trouble from them—and part of her was confident she could take one on—her jaguar's instinct pressed her to pass by like a shadow, and downwind. It was kinda a fun challenge, trying to get around the sentinels.]

[Even with the intermittent rain, there's enough track-like shapes around the back to indicate that one patrolled the perimeter. The cat-shifted Turnskin waited for it to pass before darting in, poking her head up to peek through the windows, looking for a certain someone. Ah, there—]

[A faint bap bap as she pawed the window to alert the growing starry sphinx and rouse it from its nap. Once Fang had its attention, she stood bipedally in order to work at undoing the window. Fang had stayed out of the mud (largely, as much as anyone could in this weather) as much in consideration of the mansion as it was for her inner jaguar's fussiness, tracking very little in. She had a gift for the little dude.]

[As so she finally dropped the squirming, panicked beast from her jaws. It's like a hare—on the large side, about the size of the starry sphinx, and... bearing a pointy rack of antlers on its head. Fang quickly shut the window keep it from leaping back out (it tried, resulting in a rattle as it hit the window before scrambling off elsewhere into the room. Go, little cub.]

[And Fang has the presence of mind to shut the door leading into the room. The cub's master would probably pout up a storm if the antlered rabbit-thing escaped into the rest of the house.]

[Alex] I don't have anything clever about quailfish

[The ocean. They're fishing in the ocean, just outside of the harbor. The wildlife here was simpering and weak compared to Gran Pulse, that was a given, but... the ocean. Fang had never imagined swimming out in that wild, open body of water. Others had gone. No great leviathan of creature had risen up to swallow them whole, or swarms of frenzied, bloodthirsty fish descended upon them.]

[Fang had a net and hooks in the little boat she'd taken out, and some of the coveted quailfish she'd been sent for. But after a while, she couldn't help indulging. She dove into the water in her jaguar form, chasing the shadow she'd seen flickering under the surface, coming up with one of the fish in her jaws. The cat paddles back to her boat, plopping the catch in, and dives again.]

[The ocean, honestly, reeks. The currents were strong and more multi-directional than the rivers she grew up swimming in, and the salt horribly stung her eyes—and especially her silverburn scars, now uncovered but still raw, rings of warped flesh around her wrists and neck.]

[But fishing like this, though ineffective, was delightfully satisfying.]

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[Places Witches frequented tended to pick up a bit of their energy too; never enough to do much with, but like a faint, lingering echo. Without refreshing, the presence faded, a scent after the passage of days.

But the magic around Chariot's apartment was still new enough that Kaede had difficulty distinguishing between that, and the Witch's still-weakened presence proper if she was across the city or further. But though it was still daylight, there were enough clouds in the sky that traveling was no issue for the Chimera. A wisp of shadow lofted up to the balcony, uncurling into a feathered shape as Kaede shook out her shoulders on her way to the door.

If the Witch wasn't here, then the infirmary was her next reasonable guess. Using the Watches would have made this simple, but this was hardly important enough of a visit for that. And...it might give Chariot the impression she was trying to avoid Fang.

Which she was, as if that wasn't abundantly obvious in how "conveniently" she always seemed to appear when Fang was absent. But today, Kaede had gotten a bit lax about it.

Opening the door, the Chimera's knuckles rapped against the doorframe as she peered inside, eyes taking a bit longer to adjust to the change in light.]

Chariot? Are you here?

Edited (smh spelling) 2020-03-16 03:49 (UTC)

[Fang's ears, in her unshifted form, were where they always were on a human. Still, at the quiet pad of feet on the balcony, the faint click of claws and the knock, she could've sworn she felt a phantom ear swivel about.]

[She blinked awake, groggily sitting up as her consciousness snapped out of her nap. Ah. Kaede. The Turnskin looked towards the balcony, meeting her eyes. There's almost no evidence of the bloody tatters from their last encounter, but for the break in Fang's right eyebrow, and a short diagonal scar in the soft skin under her eye.]

[The silence is heavy in the beat before Fang spoke.] She's out with Monika.

Edited 2020-03-16 04:04 (UTC)

[It only took a moment, and something icy raked its claws down through her guts. Movement was what her eyes could pick up first, colors second. And recognition came long before she heard that voice.

The Chimera's ears flattened to her skull--and that seemed to be all, were it not for the stressed line her mouth had formed and the huddled stiffness in her shoulders. For Kaede, all those little gestures might as well have been a shouted message.

The details were last. At first, Fang's face looked as it always did. For a brief instant, Kaede could almost pretend that was all just a bad dream--

That notch in the Turnskin's brow, an unmistakable line carved under Fang's eye. In a moment, she could feel skin tearing under her claws and warm blood on her fingertips all over again. Kaede had done far worse, so many times death became just another numbed, distant statistic. But to people she didn't care anything about, to obstacles, to those she despised. Hurting someone...important, to her, was--

There was no pretending here.]

Oh.

[Her voice reduced in an instant to something small, soft; a nothing-whisper.]

Sorry.

[She could just leave. Close the door and fade away, like she was never here.

But Kaede wavered. Regret pulled at her ankles, kept her hand tight on the door.

She'd done a terrible thing. And this time, she could actually do something about it--before something dire, before further grief. Before anyone vanished into the dark, unable to be reached by apology or forgiveness.

Kaede wavered.]

[Upon Fang initially rapping on the window, the sphinx cub is not all that alert and still quite visibly groggy from its disrupted nap. In fact, while she's fiddling with the window trying to get it open, the cub doesn't bother with trying to keep its head up. It just rests his head back down on its paws with every intention of going back to sleep. But it does appear to be observing, its ears trained in the direction of the window.]

[It's maybe a little too young to be as effective of a sentinel as its currently-larger cousins.]

[Oh, but the game is immediately afoot the moment Fang drops the jackalope on the floor and it begins its desperate attempt at escape. The kitten lifts its head and rises to its feet in one motion, but does not launch immediately after the beast. Instead, the sphinx starts stalking it from above, trying to find a good position to make its first assault.]

[It seems though that the sphinx is not the only one suddenly a little more alert with the jackalope being set loose. On the second floor is the distant sound of furniture moving slightly shortly after the solid thwack and rattle against the window. There's no sound of a door, but footsteps move around upstairs towards the top of the stairs. There's a slight pause before they start walking down. Meanwhile, the sphinx is in position finally and takes a leap, spreading its wings to help guide its pounce, but damn. The jackalope is faster. The ensuing scrambling and knocking against an end table picks up the pace of the footsteps until Ozymandias opens the door and there is immediately so much for him to process.]

[Which is perhaps made only all the more difficult to process by the fact in allowing himself to have a day off, Ozymandias is having a bit later of a start to his morning than usual. He only managed to get so far as brushing out his hair in his morning routine before Fang brought along her present for the sphinx cub. Likely this is the plainest Fang has ever seen him with no perfume, no glittering jewelry, no makeup, and dressed only in pajama bottoms and robe. And it's probably the most stupefied she's ever seen him, his mouth not even attempting to make sounds and just hanging slightly open instead.]

[His eyes track the sphinx and jackalope as they dart around the room, sending it already into mild amounts of disarray before his gaze lands on Fang. There are a handful of questions all fighting to be the first one out because there are several things for him to be aggravated with this morning, and so he says nothing immediately until finally,]

What are you doing?! [The jackalope lets out an angry noise as it dives under some furniture that it can fit even with its antlers. Ozymandias gestures with one hand towards where it just disappeared and the sphinx is quickly trying to get to the other side before it can run away.] Why is that thing in my house?!

[He gestures at her with both of his hands.]

Why are you in my house!?

[There was nothing to call this except awkward.]

[Fang ran a hand through her hair in the silence that followed. Eventually she shrugged, a half-hearted gesture, before laying down again.]

You can wait for her.

[There wasn't enough inflection for a question, but there was too much to be a statement.]

[Fang lazily blinks back at the wild gestures, slow and catlike, her tail tip curling languidly in content. She's no longer bandaging her silverburns, and the gaps in fur makes the two new little nicks (one above her eye, another just below) plain to see.]

Brought the kid something. He's gettin' past wrestling with those little ones you call up.

Thought about lettin' him do this outside, but with the rain, you'd just get a muddy cub. Close the door.

[What, do you want the jackalope in the rest of the house?]

[Kaede could do that. Or she could disappear into a hole in the ground.

When Fang laid back down, her head out of sight, it took a few moments for the Chimera to unfreeze. The door shut, quietly.]

...okay.

[Kaede's voice was still inside the room. Her feathers hissed against each other, and her claws clicked away on the tiles until she could curl up on one of the empty windowsill ledges near the kitchen. Her back was against the wall so she could peer out of the window if she liked, her tail spilling over the edge. Its feathery end twitched above the floor, betraying her unsettled mood.

She could have left. She could have just...kept her back to Fang, and ignored the other Monster's presence until Chariot returned. But her mind wouldn't let her rest.

Was it something of Chariot's, these emotions rattling around her chest? Or some knot of things that had always been there, repressed and quashed until she forgot them?

The moments dragged on, and on and on until the silence Kaede once found solace in was a weight too heavy to carry.]

Fang. [Her voice was still quiet, but didn't wobble this time.] I'm...

[A frustrated sigh.]

I'm bad with words.

[In case that wasn't obvious.]

[The Turnskin wasn't nearly so bothered. It was awkward, and she could just about feel the tension in the silence. That was a perk of growing up in a crowded space: you got good at not talking about unresolved things until the danger or rest period was over, or just to flat out preserve the peace.]

[She'd just about dosed off again when Kaede spoke her name, and once more there was that phantom sensation of a swiveling ear. She rolled over on the bed and sat up, leaning back on her palms.]

[Fang leveled her gaze at Kaede. Not accusatory, not irritated—just observant, and waiting.]

Little bit.

[And?]

[Kaede shook her head, her antlers mostly. Just...fucking, say the words. How hard was this supposed to be?

The words tumbled out all at once, blurted out before her mind could trap them behind her teeth again.]

I'm sorry.

[There. She said it.

It'd be great if she could calm down now.

The cold, awkward, squiggly knot of a feeling was still there, somewhere just in front of her spine.]

[Fang let out a long breath. The fingers of one hand scratched at the back of her neck this time, grazing through the fur above her burn. What should she say here? Fang wasn't even sure how she really felt about the incident, other than it was a miserable affair.]

[The wound hurt like hell, and Fang was growing tired of hurting. Still, even having found her metaphorical footing, a part of her was still convinced she deserved that much. Choice, consequence. Action, reaction.]

[But it had to end. She couldn't let the smoke from the ruins of that incident choke her. Fang had to stop punishing herself, unlike Vanille. Unlike Chariot.]

[Maybe if Kaede had gotten her eye, it would be different—maybe Fang would be furious, or resentful. No, all she wound up with to show for it was scars. Like from her hunts. Like her silver burns.]

[Like Chariot's leg. Scars to be carried and borne; proof of survival, as written on her body. Proof of healing—and if her flesh could knit back to together, despite its trauma and how it was rent, her soul could, too.]

[They're only scars.]

[Eventually, Fang shrugged again, just as lazy as it had been last time, as if that alone could transform the magnitude of what transpired between them into something smaller.]

...Don't sweat it. Everything turned out fine, yeah? Guess we both had some things we needed to get outta our heads.

[Fang's physical recovery and the latest addition of harms, for the moment, escapes all of Ozymandias' notice. There is a little too much going on right now as the sphinx is unsuccessfully trying to wedge itself underneath the sofa to get at the jackalope. The sofa, instead, is slightly being pushed back until it bumps into the rug. At which point, it is not moving much of anywhere. The jackalope, wisely, is keeping as far to the opposite end of the sofa from the sphinx as possible until it's once more forced to wriggle its way back out and the chaotic chase begins anew.]

And you thought that would somehow be worse to me than a wild animal in my house? [It's not quite a slam, but the door is most certainly closed with a little more force than necessary. Ozymandias is undoubtedly annoyed with this disruption to his morning.] Wehem-Mesut, to me.

[Almost instantaneously, the sphinx cub skids to a halt at hearing those words. Oh, but it's so torn. The jackalope has hunkered itself down again and if it could just...]

Now.

[Dangit!!]

[As much as the sphinx clearly does not want to, it abandons its hunt (for the moment) to sit before Ozymandias. Ozymandias casts a look down at the sphinx that clearly communicates his disappointment and displeasure with its behavior and it has the very good sense not to give in to temptation and look over its shoulder at the jackalope. (If there was ever a question that Ozymandias was a father during his lifetime, that look right there likely proves he absolutely was.) With his sphinx cub under control and not creating a further mess of the room regardless of how the jackalope is fairing, Ozymandias turns his attention back to Fang.]

If you're going to insist on this, you can move it outside. [His gaze moves over towards the window where Fang crawled in. A face of one of the sphinxes is now peering inside from the other side of the glass. Some part of the commotion clearly caught its attention and it came as soon as it could, but it's also far too little too late. Ozymandias huffs to himself as clearly he will need to rework their orders for guarding his home if Fang was able to slip in so easily like this. Ozymandias waves it off and the creature bows its head slightly before moving on. He looks to Fang again.] They won't disturb you unless I command otherwise.

[He's referring, of course, to the sphinx's larger, less celestial-looking brethren. Such as the one he just dismissed.]

[Though Kaede wasn't looking at her, not completely, an ear had turned back to listen. To Fang's words, to her movements.

As with Chariot, hearing...acceptance, was hard to grasp. It was a relief--and doubt sprang up immediately afterwards, snapping back like an elastic band. Did Fang mean it? Was it something just to paste over a wound, like--

...like a bandage? To heal from?

Kaede breathed out a self-depreciating noise between a harsh sigh and a snort.]

There's a lot of shit in my head.

[Still. Always.

She shifted a gangly arm to lay it across her torso--something stuck into her ribs, and she knew what it was before her frown deepened any further. A measure of that Bonding potion--with a second vial tucked into her vest beside it. Yes, she remembered. She'd gotten used to carrying around medicines and sedatives to ward off the Moons before--now set aside or replaced, for the most part.

The Chimera held the little glass thing between long talons, staring at its gossamer silver contents instead of anywhere else in the room.]

I can...prove it.

[The black jaguar tilts her head a little, honestly considering the question.]

Didn't think much about it, really. It felt right. [All aspects of it. Catching something and deciding to bring it to the cub. Bringing it into this room (den) instead of letting the cub out. Keeping the cub clean out of the muck. All from one driving force, lurking in the shadows of her mind, seeping through the gaps in the stilted flow of magic Fang's been scraping by on. She'd forgotten how strong the instincts could be, without a steady well of magic to draw on.]

Sorry 'bout that. Moons've been knockin' more screws loose than ususal. [Fang doesn't say why. She's getting better about her guilt, but talking about anything that happened to Chariot is still difficult. No reason to voice it when Ozymandias was informed.]

[The turnskin takes a moment to stretch, paws forward, peeking under the sofa before she straightens back up again.]

No sense in lettin' a good hunt go to waste, yeah? Don't you worry, I'll fix the place up after.

[She pads over to the sofa, peering down at the trembling prey, formulating the smoothest way to snatch it up.]

Edited 2020-03-17 05:22 (UTC)

[Her eyes follow the little movements, one posture-sensitive Monster tracing another's. Fang sits up straight when Kaede murmurs those words.]

Don't need to. I believe you.

[It's an offering—an out. Fang understood the sentiment, but... it's a lot to ask for two people not necessarily in tune. If they were to come to blows again, or a severe enough argument, the temporary Bond would snap. Even that had considerable consequences.]

[But Fang's words were also an opening. Kaede didn't need to. Did she want to?]

[The Chimera's tail curled and flopped at the end, the motion repeating in jerky, anxious twitches.]

Are you sure?

[Doubt followed Kaede's steps as readily as her own shadow. Doubt others trusted her was no exception. Especially after that, Kaede wouldn't fault Fang for distrusting her at all.

But the other Monster wasn't...angry. Even after all of that. She hadn't tried to chase Kaede out of the apartment, hadn't even raised her voice. It made Kaede's thoughts of petty vengeance fall even flatter, fade to ever more distant thoughts. It hadn't helped.

Offering things, things that connected to memories but meant nothing on their own, was something that...maybe, could. She'd done that before. This potion was just a bit more literal than a few notes of a song, or a pretty stone she'd found. Kaede regarded the vial again, turning the glass with her clawed thumb.]

[So, her hesitance spoke that she did want to, though Fang wasn't sure it was a need to prove it or doubt from the outside looking in.]

[It didn't matter, then. The end result was the same. Fang's hand threaded through her hair again.]

Yeah. C'mere. I'll prove it, [The Turnskin offered cheekily, though her tone only had a shadow of her usual humor.]

[It was more than what Kaede had heard in...what seemed like a long time. The Chimera blinked, finally looking back at Fang properly.

She still hesitated. But--she didn't start on one of her questioning, disbelieving chains. Bonds were supposed to cut through all that, even fleeting, dulled ones like these potions offered.

Slowly at first, then all at once, Kaede slid the second vial out into her palm, and swung her feet back over the ledge. She looked at Fang again, as if trying to gauge whether this was a trick or not. From here, it didn't seem to be. And Fang hadn't been deceptive like that before.

Stifling thoughts of now could be the time she surprises you, Kaede padded wordlessly over to the Turnskin. She offered one of the potions without a further word, ears still half flattened.]

[Ozymandias comes very close to saying something. He goes so far as to start to open his mouth, to draw the breath necessary, but then he stops. It isn't his business what she does even if he thinks she's a fool not to at least consider a temporary measure. She made that abundantly clear the last time she was here.]

Make it quick, [he says instead. Ozymandias bends down to pick the sphinx cub up, holding it to his chest as he straightens. It settles in somewhat now that it's much easier to watch Fang (and the jackalope) without drawing attention to the fact it's watching. Plus, it's getting chin scritches out of the deal.] I've other things I'd like to do today that don't include any of this.

[That body language wasn't reassuring. Fang did believe Kaede, but... the Chimera could volatile, to put it nicely. Approaching like that, she looked like she'd spook any moment.]

[Not the best way to enter even a half-Bond.]

[But Fang did her due, accepting the vial and knocking her half back before extending the vial. A final chance to turn aside.]

[Kaede's claws stayed tense to the floor, an attempt to root herself in place. There was no running off, now. She took Fang's now-empty vial, and glanced away; a last, shameful gesture. And she drank her share; the potion seemed like it ought to taste like something, but whatever it was always seemed fleeting and ephemeral as starlight. Or...Moonlight, she supposed.

Something appeared, in Kaede's mind. Muffled, murky, but instantly recognizable; she'd done these muted, stopgap Bonds before. Sometimes there was calm, sometimes there was a distant surge of adrenaline that made her skin prickle and mouth dry, sometimes there was just something pensive and still.

From the Chimera's end of the Bond, though her expression betrayed little, there was...quite a lot simmering under that impassive lid. Worry, guilt. Regret, doubt. An anxious apology, curling in fretful knots without daring to hope for better. These were things she couldn't hide.]

[This time, what appeared in Kaede's mind was tired. Something worn and weary and tested too many times and sick of hurting. Something fighting tooth and nail not to drown in a deluge of defeat and guilt, and to protect the flickering embers of her spirit from the storm.]

[But as dismal as Fang's presence was, it was stronger than it had been before their encounter—just a little. She didn't fully understand why, but misdirected as it was, Kaede was something real and tangible to push back against, unlike the countless ghosts and nightmares and whispers. A spark. A catalyst. Kindling.]

[It wasn't fair to use Kaede like that, inadvertent as it was. The horrible truth harmed her, even if wasn't Fang's fault. The Turnskin's expression was just as impassive, but she didn't need it. Even a half-bond could speak for them, as the stares of two wounded predators met, guilt on both of their tongues.]

[But there was no anger, nor doubt in Fang.]

[There's a chuffing noise that could either be a single laugh or a huff—it's difficult to tell.]

What, havin' a cloudy day, Sunshine?

[Her tails swishes a few times thoughtfully before Fang ultimately lifts the sofa with one paw-hand, swiping under and grabbing the jackalope with the other. Sorry, cub, she's cheating. She sets the furniture down delicately, so no to upset delicate sensibilities.]

[It was...harder than Kaede thought, to distinguish where her thoughts ended and Fang's started. It was that line of fatigue, mostly; like all the exhaustion Kaede had ever known (and still did), but compounded over years and years and years. It elicited surprise, and sympathy, and surprise again.

And the more Kaede looked, through the half-drawn blinds of the half Bond, the less she found to rekindle her anger. This wasn't some monster who hurt Chariot, or a nebulous cloud of ideas that Kaede's pessimism dragged up, this was just...a person. A tired and a little bit hollow one. A guilty one. Like her.]

...you really aren't angry.

[That should have been obvious from the beginning. Another apologetic note joined the rest, another fitful twitch of her tail and scuff of her feet.]

[Sympathy wasn't something she was expecting. Fang offered her a crooked (and tired) half-smile.]

Might've been, if things turned out differently. But really, I probably had some of that comin'.

[The Turnskin ran a hand through her hair idly.] Didn't really have the right to unload all that on you.

[The details, she meant. Even if Fang held most of them back. To talk more about it would only hurt the Chimera more—she wish she'd seen it sooner.]

[Despite herself, Kaede glanced up at Fang's eye again, at the notch in her brow and the line under her eye, and another shudder of guilt joined the rest. One layer peeled away just revealed more and more underneath.]

It's...I deserved it. [Kaede responded, almost immediately, with a self-depreciating prickle slipping through the half-Bond. Her gaze flicked away again.]

For not...understanding.

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Page 1 of 4

Closed Catch All

A Reconciliation Appears

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co-parenting is tough work, man

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Especially when one spoils the kid

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you can't just show up once a month and be the cool mom, fang! that's not how u parent

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He always has custody!!

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maybe if she'd show a little responsibility she could have overnights!!

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Weekends or bust

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