The afternoon heat conquered over Pyrrha. The heat began to swelter, the breeze from off the shore was hardly enough to make impactful difference. She could feel that familiar beating of the rays on her back as she made her way north along the shore. She treaded a path in the wake of the waves. Their rolling motion carried sea water and foam up to her ankles and then back down into the body of the ocean. Behind her the waves washed away trace of her path - one rolling strike after another until her footprints were gone from the dark sand.

Pyrrha made her way towards an out cropping of rocky cliffs. The beach below turned from sand to well washed stones and more large clusters of boulder debris from the cliff itself. Along the wall there was the sweet relief of shade, into which Pyrrha did slink and quickly find comfort outside of the beams of sun.

@Magdalena

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the heat and humidity in the air was oppressive. leaving the safety and relative coolness of the lagoon had been a mistake, as magdalena had quickly discovered. no sooner had she hit the intersection between celosia fields and the shore did her paws turn almost instinctively back towards the water. there is only the hope that some relief could be found there until the mid-day sun dipped closer towards the horizon for her trip back towards the lagoon.

magdalena is already panting by the time she reaches the great wall of stygian shore, taking a moment to lean heavily against it to catch her breath. the shocking pink of another woman's coat is what draws the woman's attention from her own misery. "you too, huh?" she questions with a breathless grin. "thought the shore would be cooler... guess not." though magdalena didn't owe anyone an explanation, if they were both going to be stuck here together, it might as well be on friendly terms. "magdalena. i don't think we've met." at least, they hadn't formally spoken as of yet.

@Pyrrha ♔

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There's still a heavy mugginess to the air but in the shade she didn't feel like she was being baked alive. Just smothered with a damp blanket. Pyrrha exhaled in relief, slumped to her butt and let her shoulders and body sag down- she refuses to hold it together in this heat. But just as she's growing content with the idea of being a blob and maybe melting, there's a voice that snaps her attention to it and quickly she jerks her body up into a more regal, poised posture. you too huh? Oh. Another refugee from the heat. Gradually her body begins to sink and relax again, not quite as far as before but there's clear agreement - yep me too. The humidity is awful today. Came the casual comment, a dirty look for the ocean beyond.

Pyrrha. Came her return greeting. I don't think we have either, where are you from? Maybe Pyrrha has seen a passing glance at Mag's face in some big cluster of the day. But she can't place the name.

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magdalena can see the way that pyrrha's body seems to immediately tense upon seeing her, drawn almost involuntarily upwards as if the other woman was on a string. for a moment, she wants to say something, maybe insist that it's okay, you don't have to straighten up for me. however, it seems the heat convinces her of it before magdalena can speak up. "yeah, you can say that again." she says flatly, followed by a long-suffering sigh. it was honestly unbearable today and magdalena was a creature that was very much used to the heat.

"good to meet you, @Pyrrha ♔." though perhaps it might have been even more pleasant in better weather. where was she from? her youth had been split between the lagoon and the mire after that, both familiar enough that she considered them home. though one came with far fewer horrible memories than the other. "i live in scilla lagoon now." magdalena answers after a beat. "what about you?" the soft pants from trying to breathe the thick air didn't give her any clues about where pyrrha might be from.

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The benefit of company began to settle in. Pyrrha had the chance to focus on something other than the heat and the way that her body felt overwhelmed by humidity. It may not rid her of the discomfort entirely but her mind welcomed conversation as much as it would fresh water right now. I have recently met your Queen. She seems like she'd run a good pride. As she speaks she's watching Mags's eyes for signs of agreement or disagreement on the statement. Pyrrha has a good impression of Isla but she's open to hearing otherwise from an inside source if there's good knowledge to be gained.

As the conversation dance went, it spun back Pyrrha's way. A rogue currently, generally sticking around between here and the fields. Call it home for now.

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magdalena, though she wouldn't admit it, feels the as @Pyrrha ♔ does. the idle chatter does a good job at lessening her misery, taking her mind off of the humid air that's so thick it might as well be gelatinous. bi-colored eyes blink at the woman's compliment of scilla's queen. "yeah. she's alright." to be honest, magdalena had few interactions with isla, but the woman was good enough at leading that the lagoon hadn't fallen apart. she supposed that counted for something. "it used to be my home when i was little." an explanation, because the young stärke realizes how her lackluster answer might sound. "guess i was looking for something familiar after..." she trails off, letting silence take over for a beat. "everything." magdalena finishes, finding no better word to use in her contemplation. the past few years had been a lot, to say the least. the familiarity of scilla helped. brought back some good memories that she could desperately cling to.

pyrrha answers her question, drawing magdalena out of her own thoughts. her eyes blink as if to help re-orient her. "the fields are nice, i find myself there a lot." obviously. it was one of the closest areas to scilla lagoon and a good source of prey and isolation when needed. "you new here or something?" she asks, because most people tended to find somewhere to live after a while alone, whether that was a pride or one of the bands. maybe her temporary companion was one of the weird ones that didn't.

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Pyrrha feels a thread of connection when Mags identified the Lagoon as her home when she was little. For Pyrrha it was Caladan but the sentiment was the same. That look in her face, that tone. There's a deeper feeling than words to reach what places like that meant. I understand. There's a happiness we all have for a time in childhood. For some longer than others sure, but even if it's brief it's there. Before we know better. Sometimes being back where we were born though, for a second I think we can pretend we don't and it's so easy to be happy. Of course that's would rely some on the memories, some on where your went after. And perhaps it's not necessarily the place you were raised that becomes the place where you can pretend you're not jaded. Pyrrha believed the Cove to be her place, her home. But with all the memories she has there good and bad it's hard to return to a more simple mindset there. Except perhaps laying in her mother's garden...

Whatever everything was, it did not sound all that great for this woman. Everything. Life. As they lived and breathed now life continued. No, not new. I was born in the Cove and only recently left.

@Magdalena

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"before we know better indeed." all of her problems in life had bloomed from knowing better. she finds @pyrhha right. knows she had only come to the lagoon in search of that fleeting feeling of happiness - not out of some feeling of love or loyalty to isla or her family. "i find it harder to pretend there than i thought." the sea air does seem to lighten the invisible load on magdalena's shoulders, but the heaviness is still there. always a sinking pit in her gut and a tight grasp around her heart.

thankfully, with pyrhha changing the subject to her previous pride, magdalena does not have to focus on that sinking feeling for long. "i see." she muses with a nod. she doesn't know much about the cove nor it's current rulers but has been to a fight there before and her only opinion of the land was that it was pretty. "i was born in scilla too, left not long after though..." her mother's illness had taken a deep toll on her and the rest of the pride. in the end, the lagoon had been uninhabitable and the members had been scattered to the wind with magdalena and most of her siblings finding their way to the mire under their father. "certainly holds better memories than the mire." a low grumble as she slouches against the rock wall.

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She feels remorse for Mags when her company confesses to it being harder to pretend. A gentle frown creases her brows. "I'm sorry." Nothing more could be said or done, these weren't loads Pyrrha could carry (nor did she know Magdalena well enough to consider it even if she could help). But it still is not a fate Pyrrha wishes for her to spiral in.

Gradually Pyrrha's gaze grows more focused, the wheels behind them spinning around quickly while bells begin to sound. Lagoon for awhile and then the Mire? Back to the Lagoon? Pyrrha has heard this story before and quietly while Mags continues to speak Pyrrha puts the pieces together in a way that she makes connection. It could be coincidence but it seemed far too unlikely for that to be the case here. Especially with the Mire holding bad memories. The her wondering come to life. Spoken aloud a single word under a veil of question. Her voice is gentle, for if she's right then she has an idea why pretending may be so difficult. "Stärke?"

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at @Pyrrha ♔'s response, magdalena offers only a small shrug. "we must play the cards we've been dealt." she says, as if it might explain why she's still counted amongst the scilla ranks. though she regards pyrrha with an interested stare in the next moment. "it seems we've been through similar circumstances." had she found a kindred spirit somewhere between the blistering summer rays and perpetually cawing gulls?

she is so absorbed in her own self-pity that magdalena does not see the thoughts racing through pyrrha's head. does not catch the gears turning behind those pretty blue eyes. actually, its not until a silence falls over the two of them that magdalena realizes that pyrrha hasn't said much of anything at all for some time. bi-colored eyes turn to the other woman, abandoning a fruitless search to find something interesting in the sand, on the horizon, anywhere truly. just as pyrrha speaks there is a flicker of shock across magdalena's features, brows furrowing immediately. she didn't remember saying her last name at all. "y-yes. how did you know?" her voice is unsure - they were definitely meeting for the first time, but which of magdalena's family did pyrrha draw familiarity from?

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