He didn't dare get close to the border - he didn't even want anyone within the pride to know of his existence. Instead, the beast lingered along the beach outside the borders - hanging beneath a small alcove that gave him shelter. The sand was soft beneath his feet, wet and pliable. But also cold, which made his fevered body feel much better.

Dominic had managed to find some form of medicine to take to try and combat the fever and infection, but either he wasn't taking enough, or he needed to find something else. With a sigh, the beast chuffs out softly - his mind whirling with concerns and thoughts. He hadn't seen Magdalena since she did...this...and now it was worse, thanks to that piece of shit, Cassius. There was a poultice covered leaf hiding the full extent of the damage, thankfully. Hopefully she wouldn't ask how bad it was.

@Magdalena

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magdalena worried for @Dominic far more than she wanted to admit.

seeing those gashes she had opened up on his face had stirred up such a violent whirlpool of emotions within her - guilt, anger at him for stepping in where he shouldn’t have, disgust at herself for hurting yet another person she cared about. magdalena lays awake in her den for what feels like days after the war. long after the blood has been washed from the sands, long after the summer heat turns into the chilled, bitter nip of autumn.

why? she asked herself. why did she always seems to hurt those around her? when had magdalena turned so vile and corrosive that her poison now seemed to sizzle into every crack of her life? she hadn’t meant to hurt @Dominic at all, would not have if he hadn’t thrown himself forward in front of her vicious claws. to do what? save her sister from magdalena’s fury? the thought of it alone pisses her off.

he could have left her to face off against the one person who had been equally as corrupted by their lives. perhaps the sisters would have been better off for it. instead those feelings seem to fester within her too like some great, rotting corpse. it seems that isn’t the only thing festering either.

magdalena’s nose wrinkles as she loops around the outside of the lagoon in a half-hearted patrol - meant more to keep her thoughts from racing in her den than it is to provide actual security to the pride. she pauses then because the faintest smell of pungent infection is overlaid with a scent that’s all too familiar. magdalena is racing towards him before she even realizes it, panting by the time she reaches that pitiful alcove he’s huddled in.

that flaring anger is quelled as she lays eyes on him, brows knitting together as she takes his gargantuan form in. instead her lips are drawn tight, ears flattening in an expression that can only be guilt. “dominic-“ what can she follow that up with? i’m so sorry feels incredibly trivial for the scars that magdalena has quite literally left behind. the woman takes a tentative step closer, concern now etched across her features. “let me see your eye,” even from here, the smell alone tells her the wound underneath is infected. despite the chaotic mess of feelings towards dominic, magdalena cannot find it within her to let him suffer any more on her account.

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Perhaps Dominic should've let the sisters fight, work out their differences - really see if that hate could be resolved or not. It had felt right at the time, to protect Magdalena. Not only from harming herself physically, but emotionally - of course, he had never claimed to be smart. His actions had been committed purely out of instinct. A desire to hold her and ensure that no harm would come to her. It had been harder than expected and he had paid the price for his meddling.

He knew better now, or so he thought. That had been his mindset when he'd come across Cassius, and then he'd had to ask about Melusina - had to get himself entangled with that worthless beast by engaging him in battle instead of simply walking away. Dominic was still young, inexperienced and while it was obvious that Cassius wasn't much older than himself; there was a difference in skill. Something that the young male wanted to remedy immediately.

At the sound of @Magdalena's voice, Dominic flinched, not expecting her to arrive so soon. Perhaps he should've - she was likely still enraged with him. His name on her tongue sounded almost scolding and he couldn't help but snort in a wordless retort. He looks away, refusing to look at her face and find anger there, but as she grows closer - voice softer now, he finally looks back at her.

And finds concern. It confuses him enough that he looks somewhat dumbfounded for a moment before his features grow impassive. "What eye?" He rasps darkly, ears sweeping back. Before she can have too long to think she was responsible for the loss of his eye, he snorts. "Some shit took it, not you." The wound she had inflicted hadn't initially been too severe. Permanent, but nothing he wouldn't handle. Now?

It was so much worse.

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