Heavy claws tore into his left cheek, flexing and tearing the flesh just beneath his eye. The blood began to flow freely, painting his face in a dark red. The wound would scar, but he didn't care. Still, he was unable to prevent his reflexes from kicking in as the man's claws slammed into him. He jerked his head back, tearing the wound even more. An angry his parted his jaws and he glared at the man who had bested him, if only barely. It was no matter, really. Next time Adalwolf would win and he would make this man pay for the damage he had done.

@Ronin turned away from him, facing those who had gathered. It was only then that Adalwolf was able to really take in the crowd that surrounded them. He did not recognize the red woman, apart from having seen her around the Mire here and there perhaps. @Sláine he knew as the queen who ruled beside Alaric. The lighter-colored female, the one who had called the man dad, was interesting to him, if only because she clearly meant something to Ronin. He stored that information away in the back of his mind, showing nothing in his eyes as he turned away from her after brushing her with his gaze only briefly. His attention was consumed by Sláine as she spoke to the two warriors.

A low growl rumbled in his own throat, but not directed at her as the dark man's had been. "He attacked und seriously injured mein vife," he answered, his gaze narrowing towards Ronin. "I sought revenge on her behalf." She had been close to passing out by the time she had returned to the Mire, he stomach torn open by the man's claws. Anger still burned in Adalwolf. He would fight again if he had to. There was no concern other than revenge in his mind.

@Deirdre @Erna @Caillen @Nephthys

so the question i ask is

where the fuck is your god now?

image by rabbit, code by anyu

When @Ronin did emerge victorious Deirdre let out a most pleased grumbling purr from deep within. Pride swelled into her face and she could not find want to tear her vision away from her brother in his bloody glory. Victorious, dominating, and powerful. This place was offering all that he promised it would be and more. As she then got her first look at what migt be more lions that he had met here before, their pelts thick with the scent of the Mire and actions all suggesting that their was prior association. Deirdre's smile grew and she licked along her lips enticingly, primed to move forwards and join her brother in his moment of glory.

A voice, a tickle came in her ear a bit by surprise. There had been no indication of anyone approaching so hearing the voice so clearly and close caused her muscles to tighten up. She turned and saw @Erna's half formed visage there. My brother's business is mine. She rebuked the judgement of this creature and, with a snort and flare of her nares, rose to slip away from the brush and towards the bloody Ronin. Straight towards his side, to celebrate his victory and to be his shield.

Hey. She mumbled the greeting to Ronin with a pleased, almost childish, grin on her face. Glad I could catch that. Her vision turned towards Adalwolf, bloody as he was, and her grin did neither fade nor falter but only grew. Men were so beautiful when they bled.

speech

The warmonger could handle a lot of things, but the hurt look on his daughters face pained him. He didn’t want her to see him in such a way, and yet…there he was, anger barely contained beneath the surface, mildly threatening her mother. His ears would fall back, a glimmer of shame flickering in his eyes as he watched her turn and run off. He would watch til she disappeared, before his gaze would shift to @Nephthys, offering a wounded smile (figuratively and literally due to his cheek being injured). He'd catch the wink she gave, but it didn't cheer him up, not this time, though he did welcome the company later.

It was Slaine that would capture his attention, daring to tell him what to do. Lips would twitch, a warning. You don’t have authority over me Slaine. He would remind her, tone cold but also tinted with amusement. Did she think that she could boss him around still? That all the damage done would leave him cowed at her paws, that he would bend to her demands? Or was she simply bluffing in front of her pride mates? The thought only angered him further, what had happened to his wife while he had been gone? His wife had never cared about what others thought before, but perhaps it was different with the title (though he hadn’t cared…unless it was Erna that insulted him).

She would ask for the reason for the fight and he would remain silent, his answer being a roll of his shoulders. He had a guess, but he would let @Adalwolf confirm it for him first. It was another noise that would have his head snapping to the side, ears coming forward and then back as a voice he knew to be dead would be heard. Erna. The bearish bitch herself…although…she was markedly different then before. Her half visible, slightly glowing form would have his brows raise curiously as his sister moved forward, explaining her brothers business was hers. He smirked at his sister but then his gaze would go back to Erna. Haunting the living I see... what, did hell kick you out? He asked, only half joking, but he couldn’t help but wonder who she pissed off to be given such fate. Glad I could provide the entertainment. He would murmur to @Deirdre, he could feel the excitement and buzz coming from the girl and it almost made him laugh. Hadn’t he promised her a good time in Amaryllis?

Finally, Adalwolf would speak, his thick accent making words hard for him to understand, but he got the message. He would huff, head shaking to say that was not how it happened. In the Pit. He would start, letting them all know where the fight had taken place, I told her to yield, she did not, she knew what she was getting into when she refused to yield. Why was he explaining himself? He had nothing to answer for. Gaze would shift to Slaine, brow raising slightly. What would the queen do now? Defend her pride mate, or let it be?


@Sláine @Caillen

@Caillen's reaction to the tension between her parents broke Slaine's heart, the slate woman turned her skull to watch the striped lioness leave, a pained expression knotting across her speckled features before she looked back to Ronin and Adalwolf.

"I ken tha'." She replied to the patched male. Had she ever told Ronin what to do? That had never been the relationship they had shared in the past. But did he expect that he could threaten her so openly with no retort?

Hairs tingled, creeping up to a stand upon the Mire Queen's neck as she heard a familiar voice that was quite impossible. Eyes moved across an unknown lioness (Deirdre) who joined the group and onward to the spectral form of @Erna.

Slaine had never met with the dead before. She had heard stories of their existence in the land but had never truly given the accounts much merit. But she holds on to her surprise reasonably well, especially as Ronin did not seem much peturbed by it. "Erna." She said, smiling to disguise the wariness. Happy to see the bear woman again, remembering back to a time when she was alive, and their lives were so much simpler.

@Adalwolf, at least, gave her a modicum of respect and the Mire queen nods to the rike male. Understanding at once his motivation for the fight. She would have done the same. "As is yer right." She nodded. Thinking that these actions were a Ronin she did not know.

But @Ronin continued the explanation, adding depth that would explain exactly why he had maimed another man's wife and though his reasoning was less somewhat less justified, Slaine had no right to meddle in his business.

Only that of the Mire.

"Well ye ken now tha' she was o' the Mire." She began, shoulders tensing, far more reasonable than the her of last year. But what would Ronin prefer? For her to jump at him and cause a divide so great that it would end in one of their deaths? Perhaps it would lead there one day, but not now. She was not ready for it. "Th' matter is settled now?" She looked between the men, for it was their grudge that was the issue at hand.

If it became her problem, then, so be it.

ART BY IRISH / CODING BY SENTINEL

Nephthys would have been lying to say it didn't irritate her that @Ronin hadn't immediately thrown himself at her in the aftermath of the battle. Her flirting had gone unappreciated save for the weakest of smiles; and that felt more impersonal than anything else he could have done. It was that blue woman causing the rift, she knew, but it didn't stop her from scowling in disappointment. Did he not realize she had come to support him? Did that mean so little?

Her eyes drifted to the man who talked like he had a mouth full of bees. Tch, not her type. Too fluffy. A shame. It did strike her as strange that half the Mire seemed incapable of talking without drunkenly sloshing the English language in their cheeks. Bizarre, but she realized by thinking such irreverent thoughts that her attention span was shot with the situation. It seemed there would still be some words to be had and none of that interested her. Nephthys pushed to her paws, attempting to briefly catch Ronin's eye before departing from the scene. If he wanted her, he could find her. Plain and simple.

Also, there was like, a dead lady?..

Ecrosia was fucking weird.

exit

It had been a very long time since he had heard his aunt's voice. Perhaps for that reason, he could be forgiven for not realizing it was @Erna who spoke to the stranger who was hiding in the brush. But then @Sláine's eyes drifted to the ghostly form and she spoke the name of Alaric's dead wife and Adalwolf's gaze turned to see who on earth she could be addressing when Erna was long dead.

He immediately regretted his curiosity.

She almost looked as she might have in life, except that there was a strange glow around her. It was not possible. There were no gods who could do this sort of thing. The dead could not walk among the living, speaking and interacting with them. His head was swimming through river rapids, dragged along by the thoughts that raced through his mind and threatened to send him into a panic. Adalwolf was not the kind of lion to panic, but ghosts were not real. What he was seeing was impossible and meant one of two things. He was either delirious or everything he had ever believed was somehow wrong. He was banking on delirious after his fight and the amount of blood leaking from his wounds. Yeah, that definitely had to be it.

"Erna?" he choked out, his voice laced with shock. "How-- vhat are you?" If it really was Erna would she remember him, Halvar's son? It had been so long, he wasn't certain. Why did he even care? She couldn't be real. It shouldn't matter.

He began to back away, tripping over his own feet. The Rike Jarl, normally so cool and collected, seemed almost frightened by the sight before his eyes. He barely registered Sláine's question about the matter being settled. It wasn't - not completely anyways. He couldn't promise that he wouldn't attack @Ronin again someday. But at least she knew that it wasn't something that involved the Mire. This was personal. But he couldn't find the words to tell her that right now. Not when faced with the ghostly form of his dead aunt.

so the question i ask is

where the fuck is your god now?

image by rabbit, code by anyu

Brother, @Deirdre says. Ah, that explains the similarity in their facial markings. So the snooping girl was none other than Ronin's sibling. Erna watched the pale female reveal herself to the group, and the Idol stepped forward to follow but paused just a few meters away from the group of living. Glowing lilac eyes set onto @Ronin, who addressed her with his usual infuriating tone. "Nein," she cut off abruptly. "I am in hell." Any other place would be heaven in comparison to being stuck in the in-between of life & death.

@Sláine's voice caught the spectre's attention, but the soft smile of recognition was not returned. Erna remembers the abyss Scotswoman and her undying loyalty to Alaric. During her life, Erna had harbored disdain for the woman and for her closeness to the Mire monarch, and she still felt the emotion nested deep within the roots of her being.

The beaten man - bloodied and still heavy-breathing - stared at her in shock. The thickness of his accent was far too familiar to miss, and the familiarity with which he spoke to the long-dead Rike bear meant he was a relative of some sort. At this realization, the bearish wench narrowed her gaze upon @Adalwolf, perhaps in an attempt to remember his face or his name. However, nothing came to mind, her memory failing her although she'd certainly met her nephew more than once when he was younger. "How-- vhat are you?" She disappeared at once, only to appear once again in front of the Rike man. For once, there was no reverence for a male of her bloodline. There was no need to fear or obey, for all consequences had died with her vessel. "Dead. Alive. Maybe a god?" A brow lifted as if to emphasize her rhetorical question. She knew she was no god, lest she'd smite them all.

coded by flea + art by rabbit

speech

She knew that. Yet she tried it anyway. If he wanted to growl, or even snarl at her, there was little she could do about it besides fight him and neither of them wanted that. Could he threaten her so openly? Sure he could- he in fact had, but after the heat of a battle, could one blame him for taking a moment to reign in his anger? It was hardly a threat, after all.

It would seem the ghostly form of @Erna would put many on edge, not just Slaine. He could sense it in the air, but what did he have to fear from the dead? All she could do was annoy him with her presence, at least now she couldn’t needlessly challenge him. It did give him a slight motivation to move away from the jungle though. She was not exactly a friendly face he wanted to deal with. She would address him, saying she was in hell and he would nod slightly. Biting back the urge to tell her she probably deserved it. @Adalwolf would steal his attention as the Rike began stammering and backing away, completely terrified of her. Ronin would raise a surprised brow, really? He would wonder as the dead lioness didn’t even speak to him, only tried to frighten him more by disappearing and rematerializing right next to him. Ronin would choke back a laugh.

Slaine would agree with the Rike, it was his right to seek out Ronin and try to maim him. The warmonger would shrug- he didn’t really care. Her words questioning his reasoning would make him snort, but he would nod. Yes, I knew she was of the Mire. He would admit, but I didn’t think it mattered the Pride when she went looking for a fight and didn’t have the common sense to yield when she was beaten. He would growl out, noting the tension that formed in her shoulders. His gaze would shift to her strong shoulders and then back to her gaze, brow lifting ever so slightly. Was she going to challenge him now? Over a soldier biting off more than she could chew?

She’d ask if the matter was settled and he would shrug. Nothing to settle on my end. He had no score to settle, no quarrel with the male he had beaten. Gaze would shift, noticing that there was one missing. Nephthys. She had left. His ear would flick back, saddened by the fact that he had not seen her leave.

Ronin would shake his skull, turning to nudge @Deirdre. Sister. He would murmur quietly, hoping she would follow as he turned to leave. There was nothing left to do here, and he was both tired and cold.


-exit unless stopped-

+10- maim another character
+10- win a fight
+10- successfully wound another (adalwolf)

Even as he stared, the specter vanished, reappearing directly in front of him. Had she been alive - solid, breathing, something he could fight - he would have remembered to be offended by her forward attitude. Instead of that anger that would normally burn through him by being approached in such a way by a woman of the family, it was fear that coursed through his veins. Because his entire upbringing told him that her appearance here should not be possible.

Everything else around them fell away from his awareness. He missed those who left, including his opponent, as all of his senses focused on @Erna. She perhaps did not recognize him, though they were kin. He had changed since she'd last seen him, growing older. But she had not changed so much, having been an adult when he was born. He recognized his father's sibling.

He took a startled step back, shock and fear in his eyes. "Nein," he whispered, shaking his head as if he could get rid of her in the same way he could shake the dirt from his mane. "Das ist nicht möglich," he muttered, slipping into his native tongue as he took yet another step back. "Du bist tot," he told her, as if she didn't know that. "Und es gibt keine Götter." The last part came out as a snarl, as if he was offended by her use of the term.

He pushed farther away from her before turning to the left and running. If he tried to stay and deal with her there would be too many questions. He refused to deal with the prospect that there might be something more out there. So he ran without grace, slipping into the brush of the jungle and disappearing. He would speak of this to no one.

/Exit

so the question i ask is

where the fuck is your god now?

image by rabbit, code by anyu