It wasn't there. Perhaps it never would be again. That fear of him. At least not surface level. But that was okay. It was what he had wanted wasn't it? The true alterier motive? Friends he had thought of them. All he had been doing was ensuring she could look after herself. Wouldn't need him. Or perhaps that was the motive. Her not needing him so that he could be rid of her.

Yet here she still was. In his grasp. Their chests rising and falling against one another. A feeling that felt foreign despite this not being the first time he had held a woman this close. But with her if was unnatural. Twisted. Hurt her. He wanted to hurt her not hold her. Yet hold her was what he wanted. It tickled the back of his mind like some squirming parasite.

Her head turns, lips so near to his that his expression shifts. Brows furrowing down in confusion. No. This wasn't right. Usually he'd welcome a heated kiss but this was off. What he had with Melusina was not gentle. It was not tender. It was the farthest thing from sweet.

And he would have thought to pull back. To not let their lips join in that kiss that was inching its way into creation. He would have thought to end this shit because it was fear or pain or nothing.

Nothing!

Her punch finds his ribs before his decision could take action. His eyes widening a tad and a grunt involuntarily lifting from his lungs.

Cassius lets her go, taking a step back to regain regulation of his breathing, but all the while eyes remain on her. Emotions swirling too rapidly for him to process which was right. Too rapidly for him to decide which was true. Confusion? Lust? Pride? Fury?

Lo- NO.

You should know me better than that.

No. He half wheezes half growls. I knew a pathetic little girl who missed her mommy. A sneer as his equilibrium finally rights itself. You, I do not know.

His jaw works itself back and forth until it pops while shoulders roll. But. A paw coming to run along his forehead to sweep his mane back out of his face. I think I want to.

He moves forward, attempting to bring them close once more. This time however it was in typical Cassius fashion. She had thrown the first punch and the monster demanded more. Craved it. Once everything was back in order only one thought could be found wedging itself between his eyes. A punch was certainly not enough. A bruise just wouldn't do. If she was going to go for it then she better deliver this time. If she was going to go for it then she needed to mean it.

Claws extend to try and slash across her chest, his face split by a wild untamable grin. She was not a child anymore. Last time had been an lesson. However he would ensure that this would be the real deal.

He would ensure that whatever had just tried to insert itself into his consciousness would be set ablaze; and left to be burnt to the ground.

Cassius vs. @Melusina
Minor Maim
Round 1 / 4
Hits:

Rolling 8d20: 7 + 1 + 16 + 11 + 19 + 3 + 6 + 15

Dodges:

Rolling 3d20: 20 + 17 + 1

Luck:

Rolling 5d20: 4 + 5 + 9 + 2 + 17

Art by Rabbit, Code by Minxy

s

o forget theories of sorrow / & hellfire & brimstone at the final circle of the earth: / if I must believe in anything, I choose this

---

To her surprise, her blow actually lands.

She'd half-expected @Cassius ♔ to catch her hand, to wrench her wrist back and snap it as if it were nothing. She has felt the weight of his power before, the brute power behind a force that is stronger, and faster, and larger. But the sound of his breath catching in his throat is like a gospel, and the way he keens is a picture committed to memory, a canvas of her own design.

But she did not end it. She has merely thrown the first stone.

And hers is a house of glass.

She reels back as Cassius catches his footing. She watches with agonizing slowness as he sets his jaw, and wipes his bangs from his face.

No, he seethes, and Melusina's eyes widen as her teeth grit together. But she doesn't move—she has faced this very same fear and not run before. She cannot run now. She can never run again. Running only gave him the chance to grow angrier, and stronger. I knew a pathetic little girl who missed her mommy. You, I do not know.

He doesn't know just how much his words are liberation.

If even Death could admit it, then Melusina is no longer the woman she once was.

Her heart is racing in her chest, howling in her ears. Her jaws are set but her lips are half-parted; eyes half-wild. A mix of bewilderment and anger fights for dominance in her nearly-feral expression, but the one thing that no longer lives there is fear. She cannot fear him; not when he bleeds like her.

But, he drawls, I think I want to.

Melusina swallows the breath she didn't know she'd been holding. But she can do nothing else before he is charging, snapping shut the distance between them and striking his clawed hand across her plumey chest. A surprised gasp parts her lips as she suddenly reels backward. She is only just quick enough to miss the worst of his claws, managing to only lose a few tendrils of fur between outstretched claws, but the action is too quick, and given too much momentum, and she instead falls directly on her rump. It is nothing for the pain to steal the air from her lungs, and the instinctual, animalistic panic that settles in causes her to cry out, even as she can manage no more than a choked sob.

Firmly on her back, Melusina attempts to kick her hind legs upward and outward, hoping to bat the firm palms of her feet against his lower chest or belly.

---

Melusina vs Cassius
for minor maim
i of iv

Hits:

Rolling 2d20: 15 + 2

Dodges:

Rolling 8d20: 3 + 1 + 4 + 17 + 7 + 5 + 14 + 8

Luck:

Rolling 6d20: 4 + 2 + 1 + 9 + 12 + 11

Art by rabbit, table by cala

Mutual player decision to forfeit fight



She should have known better. Should have known that Cassius had never been one to let things slide. Especially not violence. He was all things brutal and fierce and ruthless. It was only right that her punch would ignite the flame.

Their bodies collide and the small sting of pain that follows is but a small reprieve from the white hot need blazing through his veins.

All too easily she goes down, the air rushing out of her lungs to go weeping passed her lips in a choke. Pupils dilate against the sound, his body coming down over hers, muscles tensing and flexing against the pressure of her hind legs. Slowly he presses into that pressure, jaw slacking ever so slightly before tightening again. His expression continuously shifting from one type of excitement to another. Caught between savagery and borderline ecstacy.

Show me. He brrathes through a deafening growl. Show me how much you've changed.

He needed this. Needed her claws to scorch through him again. The feeling from the first time slowly beginning to fade as the days drove by. Cassius demanded a fresher memory. A way to keep her ever near to him. Forever close.

What I want is a world without you.

Lie. All he wanted was a world with her. But he was no fool. He knew what that would mean. Especially for him. Therefore he needed to push her away. Hurt her in all ways possible. But he wanted some of that pain too. To help ease his guilt or satisfy his masochistic impulses, he couldn't be certain.

Strike, @Melusina. Or I will.

A threat. A shove. He had the advantage. She had lucked out last time but would that luck hold up a second time if he wished to once again ensnare her throat between his teeth? That memory also left him breathless. Feeling her life in his hands. Watching the way the light of the fading day had been cast along her fur while he held her up over his head.

She may not be above him this go around, but even pinned beneath, his eyes could not be torn away. Nor did he want to look away. This time he wanted to watch. Wanted to witness her mutilate him.
And mean it.

Art by Rabbit, Code by Minxy

s

o forget theories of sorrow / & hellfire & brimstone at the final circle of the earth: / if I must believe in anything, I choose this

---

Her gasp catches between them. There is heat, and pressure, and heaviness. She's known what it feels like to be powerless in his grasp but there is something infinitely worse about being beneath him. Her chest cannot fully expand without brushing along his, so she stutters out half-breaths. Her eyes are wide and wild, desperate to interpret the constant shift in his own, stuck somewhere between violence and hate and drive and want.

Show me, @Cassius ♔ growls, Show me how much you've changed.

Melusina reaches upward, attempting to brace a paw against the span of his chest, to find some sort of purchase with her claws, to try and wrench herself free of his unrelenting grasp.

What I want is a world without you.

She seethes through gritted teeth, clenching her eyes shut. She doesn't think she can stomach to see the look on his face, to accidentally let slip the words that threatened through.

I can't imagine my world without you.

It's easy to let the words cut deep. She has long killed the part of her that would have buckled, and wept, and grieved. Instead, she lets that bitter loss fall into animosity, and that animosity becomes adrenaline, and suddenly she thinks she's capable of everything.

Strike, Melusina. Or I will.

Suddenly, she relinquishes whatever grasp she's had on his mane, and instead seeks to bring her claws to either side of his cheeks. She aims to dig them into the sides of his face, to pull his face to hers, to bear her gaze into the ceaseless blue of his own.

Go fuck yourself.

I hate you—I hate you—I love you—

Then, she lets her head fall back, until she feels the pleasant furl of grass on the back of her nape. But it only lasts a moment, for she is suddenly surging upward, and with the full weight of her strength aims to slam the brunt of her head onto his.

Art by rabbit, table by cala

TRIGGER WARNING !!
This content might touch on topics that are sensitive or triggering for some readers. [Suggestive Threat of Nonconsentual Sexual Acts ]

He waits, agonizingly he waits. For her rage to explode. For her fury to finally gobble her up whole. He waits for something. Anything. The seconds tick by with blinding speed. His patience quickly failing them both.

Cassius was a starved creature. Ravenous for the pain of her claws set deep into his muscle. She could rip out an entire piece of him and he would celebrate the feat. Because the pain was all he wanted now. Needed it to drown out these thoughts, these feelings. Needed the distraction and despair only peril could bring.

Go fuck yourself.

Her head goes down and he nearly shatters into a million furious pieces. No. No, that wasn't enough! This wasn't fair! He needed more. More. More. So much more! He'd do it then. He'd make the first move and force her to-

Wham!

Her head flies up, the hard center cracking into his nose. Cassius hisses a snarl, taking only a step back, but still remaining standing above her, head tossing down then side to side. Fuck! He spits, eyes involuntarily watering over as blood dripped out of one nostril.

For a moment he is caught. Staring her down, tongue darting out to clean the trail of red that ran down his muzzle. Was that it? Was that truly it? No. No that couldn't be it. Each breath came deeper, eyes hardening, honing, pointed. If this new @Melusina could not give him what he needed then he would take from the old version of her. Her fear. Her anguish. That would have to be enough to sate this hollow hunger.

Fuck myself? He sneers angrily. Go fuck myself? A frenzy overcomes everything he is. His body. His look. His mind. His voice. You can't seem to stay away. Always there. Always lurking. Now here in the Brook? I told you what I wanted. You. Gone. No more. But time and time again you're here. Always fucking here. So this must be what you want.

Fade/

Maybe he would have done it. He certainly was prepared to. Yet a booming Stop! thundered around in his head. A haggard pleading inner voice slammimg itself against his subconscious. Not this. Not like this. Not her.

Everything had stopped, his movements, his snarling, his attempt at ruining her forever. All that was left were his wide wild eyes and quickened breaths. Sluggishly, those untamed eyes would shift to look into her own. You haven't changed enough. The softest of whispers, as if it were the darkest of secrets. You.. Her. He could not think of anything else to say. His mind now crashing and blank from the realization of just how far he was willing to go. It opened a door within himself he did not know even existed.

A disgustingly delicious mixture of pleasure and pain washed over him as he moved away from her. Jaw set, claws scraping the earth. He had liked the feeling of power in that moment. The control he had over another in such a way. But love had saved her. A love he was not ready to see, to feel, to know.
There are things going on in Vermeda you know nothing about. Steadily he was beginning to come back into himself. Straightening, centering, mending his mess of mane. So go cry to Icefang if you like, but not even she can save you.

Only you can save you.

A final look of smug satisfaction crosses over his dark face, and then for the first, but certainly not the last, time he leaves her there in the dirt.

/Exit

Art by Rabbit, Code by Minxy

s

o forget theories of sorrow / & hellfire & brimstone at the final circle of the earth: / if I must believe in anything, I choose this

---

TRIGGER WARNING!
This content might touch on topics that are sensitive or triggering for some readers. Trigger Warning for intense allusions to violence.

---

Pain blooms at first in her eyes, before it spreads through to the back of her head. It's radiating, white-hot, and a low groan thrums through her throat as she reels. Her eyes clench shut, but as she feels the warm drip of his blood falling upon her cheek, she peers one eye open, and catches his blurry shape staggering above her. A satisfied smile curls upon her lips, followed by choked, sputtering laugh.

Fuck! @Cassius ♔ hisses.

Ha ha ha.

Fuck myself? he sneers, and Melusina blinks, and he begins to grow more in focus. Go fuck myself?

Yeah, she breathes, her canines peeking from beneath her smile.

But then there's a shift, a change. The glint in his eyes turns murderous, intent in a way that is no longer just a boy threatening to punch a girl. She is suddenly crushed under the weight of his ire, and it is suffocating, and she cannot get a word in edgewise despite her voice desperately clawing for fruition.

You can't seem to stay away. Always there. Always lurking.

I can't help it. I don't know why.

Now here in the Brook?

I was here first.

I told you what I wanted. You. Gone. No more.

I want— she manages to hiss through gritted teeth, —to live.

But time and time again you're here. Always fucking here. So this must be what you want.

As he staggers back, Melusina gasps for the breath she was robbed of. Her head was still throbbing, his silhouette still hazy and the recollection of even moments before a distant blur. But beyond the incessant trill in her temples she feels nothing but the absence of his overwhelming presence, and a pit in her stomach she recognizes as fear.

But she is free. And she quickly rolls to her side, willing away the blooming headache.

You haven't changed enough.

A snarl cautions his remark.

You..

Shut. Up.

Please, my head—is pounding.

He responds with silence. Melusina's hands come up to flank either side of her head, pressing her forehead to the merciful coolness of the ground. The sound of his hurried breaths are grating, and she swears she can hear his heartbeat right alongside it. A symphony of sounds that will never belong to her.

There are things going on in Vermeda you know nothing about.

Secrets. Always fucking secrets.

So go cry to Icefang if you like, but not even she can save you.

I hate you, she says as if she's begging for mercy, as if it might finally drive him away and relieve her of her suffering.

And in the dirt, long after he's gone, Melusina lays for hours until she can finally think and breathe again.

---

Exit Melusina.

Art by rabbit, table by cala