the dawn broke, eager and bright, across the clouds - striped soft blues, corals, and silvers. gold swept through the landscape, dripping honey over the world, and elodie parted the grasses like the red sea as she walked.

there was no greater purpose to her wandering - only the foliage brushing against her shoulders, a steady pressure that comforted her, the rhythm to her paws, the soft glow of the landscape. birds in the trees beyond, the gentle whisper of the rushes with every soft breeze. there was a reverent simplicity to the grasslands of lorien and beyond - you could walk for miles, aimlessly, with no interruption. no distraction.

@Melusina

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Freedom felt bittersweet. She had gained, and she had lost, and had not emerged from her imprisonment unscathed. Dominic was still held captive within the Oasis, and the mother who had returned to bright-eyed and bushy-tailed cubs had been a hollowed remnant of her former self. It had left Melusina and her siblings fractured in their responses, in their coping; and though Alaric did not let her linger far from the Mire, Melusina were decidedly more cautious in her explorations. But long had Ecrosia begun to felt suffocating, and the little princess found herself desperate to escape.

She knew Alaric would be following her, but she ventured deep into the grasslands regardless. The bright spring sun veiled the land in pink and gold, light bursting from the distant horizon and piercing through the receding darkness. The land was still quiet, mothers tending to their spring newborns nestled within the grasses, the crooning of returning birds filling the air with their song. The gentle crunch of new foliage crunched underfoot, her playful promenade uninterrupted, until—

— Crash!

Melusina isn't sure if it is @Elodie she walks right into, or if she happens to trip on a stick and fall right before her. But when she lifts her head up from her frayed, collapsed frame, she is met with a pair of mismatched eyes. Eep! she says suddenly, scrambling back to her paws, S—Sorry!

the steady rhythm of her movement was interrupted - there had been a lull to the grasslands, almost a melodic kind of thing, and the stop was jarring. the wrong key hit on a piano. a body colliding with her - just barely, a blur as it brushed past her chest, a sharp gasp inhaled all too quickly, and elodie recoiled, rear legs giving way with the shock as she settled into her accidental sit, eyes wide and red locks particularly wild.

"sorry!" she blurted, instinctively, at the same exact time as her counterpart.

she paused.

the lavender girl was as small as she was. a little more delicate looking, even. she was pretty, in an untouchable and untenable sort of way - waifish, like a storybook princess. elodie had delicate, sweet features, but over-large ears, untamed tresses of flame, bold stripes. she hadn't met another girl her age except for kilída before, and was caught unprepared for how @Melusina was almost the same, but so different.

elodie swallowed, suddenly a little nervous.

"hi," she tried, voice soft, gaze unwavering.

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Melusina

blessed be the children who come to know their god through some senseless act of violence

Girls seldom came as small as Melusina and @Elodie, and the wide blink of her eyes was filled with surprise and wonder. She were comparable to Magdalena—bold and blindingly beautiful against the backdrop of soft greens and browns. Except, Elodie were like fire, the lick of her crimson fur a stark contrast against patches of icy white. She felt a fervent heat rise to her cheeks, embarrassed to have mis-stepped so awfully in the presence of someone ethereal. Certainly, this girl were a princess—or some unreachable fairytale Melusina could only ever wish to be.

They linger in that gawking, nervous silence. At first, their synchronized apology had Melusina thinking that perhaps there were an echo. But as realization settled in, she felt that if she may attempt to speak again, she might inadvertently overlap the liger once again. Such a thing would be irrecoverably rude.

Hi, the cub finally speaks, and she feels the beginnings of a smile twitch the corners of her lips. Despite all the horrors she had suffered, all the trepidation endured, Melusina still found happiness where softness lived. Hi! she breathed back, the furl of her tail swinging delighted behind her. Wow, she suddenly began, renewed confidence propelling her closer toward the girl, glittering green eyes studying her from her toes to the tip of her blissfully too-large ears. I wish I had stripes like yours.

code by cala, art by acheavsmisle

for some unfathomable reason, a faint pink blush unfurled across @Melusina's features, and elodie was enraptured. she was decorated so artfully with springs and flowers, accompanied by a soft floral scent laced with something totally unfamiliar. surely - this was how picturesque princesses had been described to her, in bedtime stories when they were young, of maidens and knights and princes. such an untouched, pristine sort of painted picture. every stroke purposeful.

"wow," came a voice so naturally matched to its beholder, "i wish i had stripes like yours." elodie giggled softly, her own voice like a chime in the wind, not the least bit bashful - but sure this creature was flattering her with empty nicities. "why?" she gasped, delighted, almost forgetting to make it a question. "you're so pretty!" her own tail flicked upward in a mirror image to her counterpart's, wild tresses of flame red striped with charcoal separating carelessly with the curl of her non-leonine limb.

she left a little pause, looking at melusina, eager to call her friend. "i'm elodie," she began. "i got my stripes from my mother. she's a tiger," she began to explain, finding talking far too easy.

_{table by hush}

Melusina

blessed be the children who come to know their god through some senseless act of violence

If fate would allow, they would stand there all day, wistfully batting eyes and dreaming about stripes and lilac fur, flowers and feathers and tales of maidens. Her blush increases upon @Elodie's compliment, and Melusina is certain she'd long turned from soft lavender to beet red. Her heart fluttered in her chest, her excitement with little else to go beyond the excited shuffling of her paws, the tingling twitch of her toes. It is only when Elodie announces her name and her heritage that her shuffling suddenly stops, and pale eyes open wide and wild with wonder.

A tiger?

WHAT, she inhales sharply, suddenly no longer afraid of the invisible barrier between them. Suddenly, she is circling the small girl, picking apart every difference between them and attributing it to her tigress-mother. She could see it now—the thick of her striped tail, the tigerling spots upon the back of her ears, the curl of her ruffled cheeks. She did look like a proper mix of a lion and a tiger, the proof written in her very skin.

That— is— so— she breathes between paces, the overwhelm of her excitement exasperating her ailing lungs, the too-quick turn of her paws causing her muscles to burn with familiarity. She had better settle, lest she pass out. —COOL!

Clearly, the Gods sent this girl to be her bestest friend. A gift for all the suffering she'd endured. Melusina was certain Magdalena would make friends of her too, and ease the wounds driven by their mother's transgressions. I'm Melusina, she said proudly, finally recognizing the hard line of her limits and coming to settle before the liger once more, clearly more out of breath and reeling than she was before. My momma is a lion, but my papa is a King! Her mother had been a Queen once, too, but it seemed now like a distant past. Alaric still gripped relentlessly onto his crown, and in a way, it were a mercy for young cubs who would never survive in the wilds alone.

code by cala, art by acheavsmisle

there is a certain charm to @Melusina's reaction - elodie inhales, and allows herself to be circled, not sure whether to shrink away from scrutiny or to preen at the attention, ending up stood statue-still so that her new friend could drink in all the visual differences she could find, watching carefully with mismatched eyes, shining in the light of the lilac girl. when she settled on cool, elodie let go of a breath she did not know she had been holding, giggling softly as her thick tail curled up behind her, a gentle tilt to her domed head as she listened readily.

melusina. lyrical. she seemed breathless as she countered that her father was a king. elodie's round eyes widened like dinner plates. "i knew you were a princess," she admitted, quite by accident, though once the words fell from her lips she knew she would never dream of taking them back. though tame compared to her brother, the little duck was far too wild to keep flowers in her fiery locks the same way melusina had them carefully weaved into her own coat - and that sort of discipline was reserved only for princesses, she was sure. "where are you from? i was born in the woods, but we live with a pride in the fields now. it's pretty! you can come visit whenever you want," she chimed, absolutely certain of impending playdates, and completely ignorant of any and all politics.

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Melusina

blessed be the children who come to know their god through some senseless act of violence

I knew you were a princess, @Elodie says, and Melusina's chest furls out in a plumey puff with the quick expansion of her lungs. Her nose crinkled, but there was neither disgust nor distraught in her actions. Instead, she felt her heart hasten only faster, hearing aloud that she was well and truly a princess not something she was quite used to. She'd been pushed around by the other cubs of the Lagoon regardless of her status, and now within the hallowed halls of the Mire, she had far too many half-brothers and half-sisters to even feel special. She were a dime a dozen within Ecrosia, but the way Elodie said it aloud finally made he feel different, finally made her feel like a princess after all.

The fields? That sounds nice, Melusina crooned, idealizing the golden rolling hills and the sunkissed stalks of wheat and tall grasses swaying in the spring wind. It was a far cry from the dark murky swamp her father ruled, though even Ecrosia had its charms. At the very least, she felt safe. I used to live on the beach but now I live in the swamp. It is veeery dangerous, she states matter-of-factly, her head nodding pleasantly upon each word. The Mire was not an easy place for a small, sickly girl to live. But her father had been careful to mark the safest paths for her, and she had long learned what dangers that lurk within the pridelands. I would love to see your home! she quickly reiterates, then, excited thrumming living in the playful bounce of her paws. When can we go? Can we go now? she wanted to ask, but waited for her new best friend's answer first.

code by cala, art by acheavsmisle

if elodie blushed at @Melusina's charm, at least her countenance was already flame-kissed red to disguise it. the fields sounded nice and melusina used to live on the beach and now she lived in the dangerous mire. perhaps her new friend did not know how duckie hung on every word, lost in thoughts of how she could be cool or worthy enough to be this girl's best friend in the whole world, quite intent on undying loyalty.

"i put seashells in my dad's hair once," she tried, attempting a tenuous connection to the beach. although with melusina's excited admittance of yearning, she did not need attempt anything more, and elodie brightened considerably, splaying her paws playfully, a wild and joyous look about her. "do you want me to take you? it really is pretty," - and she drank in melusina's perfectly placed features, it's pretty, it's pretty, it's pretty, and her heart skipped with the possibility of bringing her home to visit.

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Melusina

blessed be the children who come to know their god through some senseless act of violence

Seashells.

For the brief moments that followed @Elodie's chirp, Melusina lost herself in the thoughts and visions of home—of endlessly white beaches, of foam-tipped waves that lapped at the unyielding shore, of shells that shapeshifted with each wash of sea that pushed and pulled back to sea. Girlish laughter filling the air, the sound of small paws racing against the shore. It was all gone, now, a distant memory of blissful days long past. Her staring was obvious, glossy eyes looking at a distant place, but there was nothing there. It were only in the breaths afterward that she suddenly blinked, pulled back from her reverie; she blinked once, then twice, before her gaze fell upon the fiery form of her friend once more.

And then, she smiled. Soft, sad.

How'd they stay in place? she wonders aloud. It were easy to thread the stems of flowers through fur, but shells were smooth, and required far more delicate and thorough hands. Melusina could imagine the presence of a mane could help, however; if one was astute enough to slip the strands through the holes of shells poked through by crafty predators. Her nose crinkled thoughtfully, but there is a curious, girlish glint in her eyes—one entirely too expectant to see a burly man with seashells woven into his mane. It were difficult not to imagine him just like Elodie—flamekissed and striped.

Do you want me to take you? It really is pretty, her counterpart asked, and Melusina felt that creeping heat lurk to the surface once more. Unlike Elodie, her pale cheeks did not hide well the blush. Yes! she immediately agrees, but swiftly after sense takes over. Buuuuut I'll probably need to ask my papa first. He doubted her father would want her to stray too far without an escort, especially to the borders of another pride, regardless if they were allied. And Melusina, who had skirted around the rules before because she thought the world was kinder, softer, knew far better now. Not that she didn't trust Elodie (in fact, Melusina was beyond infatuated with the idea of making this girl her friend), but she did not know the dangers that lurked in the dark. Elio was, despite sparing her life, still Aeistrios' son.

code by cala, art by acheavsmisle