time passed but the bluffs remained the same. it was still the kingdom of her family, and @Louve ♔ remained its high sovereign by way of her scent scattered across the border. but there was something that shifted, a snap in her chest that made faustine alert even as the emptiness of wolfbron greeted her. what was it?

she couldn't find out right now, but she was certain she will once her mother or grandmother came to greet her. faustine made no haste to enter the borders, even though her scent was that of the lands beyond. should someone come and stop her then they ought to notice her resemblance to louve, or the stark red eyes belonging to apollinaire. if they were to be blind or ignorant then faustine was more than eager to show them some other way - if she must. her skin itched for a fight whilst her brain ached for a taste of the hidden cache only dieudonnes knew of. she was neither elegant or gentle in her movement, paws kicking up dirt and tail slashing across the air. the prodigal daughter, the red-eyed serpent, stalked her way beneath the darkness and slithered through the rocky terrain until she found it.

faustine licked her lips.

ART BY RABBIT, CODE BY LARS

Her wandering form had not gone unnoticed by patrolling eyes. Ever alert to all that happened along this edge of the border, Cassius had made sure to work himself overtime. Following the loss of his attempted usurpation, the male had ensured to stay within Wolfbron for the time being. To heal. To regroup. But also to give Icefang some space. Things had not gone according to plan and he was in no mood for her questions or her nagging.

Blue's easily track the all too familiar body as she snakes her way around the border edge. For a moment he thinks on leaving it be. A bitterness still trickled down within his chest over this female. As alluring and intoxicating as she had been to him, @Faustine had left. Left Wolfbron. Left Amaryllis. Left him and everything he had to offer. Had it just not been good enough? Bloody enough? Did she not think him capable of providing every promise he had ever whispered against her ear? Against her lips?

He wanted to ignore it. Let the Dieudonne deal with their wayward daughter. Yet even in that decision, he could not look away. Could not bring himself to turn and head off the complete other direction. No, instead he is moving closer. On silent paws, the slowness of his pace having more to do with the still fresh wounds littering the majority of his flesh.

And then, without realizing how or why, he is there. Standing in dangerous stillness. Watching with deathly calm. Gaze locked upon her. Filled to the brim with both undying admiration and crippling hatred.

code by scorpixia♡︎ | art by editjackson

he, too had not been forgotten. faustine could still taste the sharpness of him on her tongue, the thick musk of him that had bathed her like ambrosia. those stolen nights - how long had it been since then? they were always folded into the recesses of her mind, tempting her to return along with the longing to see her family.

it didn't matter now, faustine's hunger lorded her mind and she had not yet entered her family's cache. she took what she needed - some part of the hind quarter, skinned - and slipped out in seconds. her red eyes lingered against @Cassius ♔, unfazed, though she cared enough to set down her meat. cassius, what a pleasure she said, her accent as smooth and polished as venom, such a long time, you miss me? the crocodilian girl grinned, all sharp teeth and ruby red gum. he seemed utterly shocked, or at least this was how faustine saw him as. she would love to watch the bewilderment of anyone she deemed as interesting really. are you here to kiss me, or are you here to hurt me?

code: cala | art: editjackson@dA

She speaks as if she had known he was there the entire time. As if she had felt his eyes the moment they had landed upon her. And within his tormented mind, her words sound so indifferent. Did she not care after all? Did not care enough to explain herself and just why she had left the Bluffs, her family?

Why she had abandoned him..

Her teeth flash and ruby red eyes seem to shine brighter. The two main features of hers that always stood out sharper within the shadows. The two main features of hers that he had grown to favor so highly. The feeling rose up to the surface even now. And it made him want to rip out one of those cherry orbs. To swallow it down so that a part of her could never leave him again.

Can it not be both? The tone a little flat though remnants of a grumble hinted within. And are you here only as a thief?

@Faustine

code by scorpixia♡︎ | art by editjackson

louve knew her scent as well as she knew any of her children, though most had vanished over the past months. anxiety thrummed through the mother, knowing this, though there was no sign of it on the surface. she carried on as usual, scarcely able to ignore the itch beneath her skin.

boredom, if she examined it closely, and the only true relief from it was the blood of an enemy on her tongue. it had been too long, too many months, and the hunger gnawed at her belly as fiercely as the impatience spurred her forward so quickly, keen to find her daughter and alleviate the unease.

"as-tu l'intention de rester ?" do you intend to stay? perhaps they seem harsh, her words, but to those that know her best they might recognize the guard that was in place. yellow eyes rest only on her daughter, paying no mind to the tension that thrums between her and the boy, neither bothering to look his way.

@Faustine @Cassius ♔

ART BY DESSXLY, CODE BY LARS, MODIFIED BY GUNNER

irritability suited the boy - no, the man- well, faustine thought. she had the inclination to know that her departure had impacted more than just a few, but the ones she truly cared for the opinions of were not here. @Cassius ♔ was still a man, too emotionally fragile and prone to his masculine fickleness; now that faustine would never bat an eye to. in response, faustine cracked her lips apart and she smiled. one can never be a thief in one's own home she said, eyes gleaming with unshed hunger. her eyes traveled down the length of cassius's mane, his chest, then to his legs. oh, he had grown quite big, big enough to crushbig enough to be a feast.

faustine's lips parted, preparing to speak when another sound, and smell, cleaved apart her words. mother @Louve ♔, older and worn, came to greet her daughter. faustine's eyes flicked to her, holding louve's gaze as best she could. upon her mother's appearance, all desire to speak to her former paramour vanished. faustine was a cub again, being caught in the midst by her watchful-eyed mother. the girl made the deliberate move to lower herself onto her haunches.

j'ai l'intention de rester longtemps, maman (i intend to stay for a long time, mother) she said in a softer voice, though no less husky. louve had changed since faustine last saw her. que s'est-il passé? où est père ? (what has happened? where is father?)

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The pair stare eachother down. Both equally hungry. Starving for different reasons.
Cassius was on the brink of biting back some malicious retort when @Louve ♔ arrived. Dark shoulders roll, part of him expecting his Queen to rip into her daughter. Part of him disappointed that she hadn't. That she probably wouldn't. Blood meant nothing. When you were wronged, the accused should see not an ounce of mercy.

Perhaps he would do it later. He was prepared to do it now. Muscles warming and at the ready. Excited to throw @Faustine on her ass. To tower over her. To feed his greed. And hers.

The Darkling was still not fluent in the Dieudonne language, but he knew enough to get by. When the word Father passes through his ears, Cassius' eyes narrow. Gradually, a large smile touches his face. Sharp teeth parting to allow his tongue to rove over his whiskers once.

The truth was sure to bring pain. Despair. Anguish. Oh how beautiful Faustine would look. When her face fell and contorted. He couldn't wait to satiate some dark corner of himself with the image. To hold it close until he found the opportunity to take it away.

code by scorpixia♡︎ | art by editjackson

relief appears and disappears, washing over her for a moment of brief reprieve before the topic shifts. faustine would stay (was there ever any doubt?) but oh -- oh how much had changed.

"mort." she says, and her voice again might seem cold and cruel; those that knew her best might glimpse beyond the surface and hear the pain that lingered, even now. "j'ai beaucoup à te dire." i have much to tell you. more than could be managed in a few moments of reunion; more than could be managed, here, no matter how much she trusted cassius.

a part of her wanted to leave immediately, to disappear before she could bear witness to her daughter's grief, uncertain she could bear it without giving in to her own. but she stands still all the same and takes even a small step forward, steeling herself for whatever reaction might come.

@Faustine @Cassius ♔

art

mort. the previously held smile dimmed. somehow, faustine never thought about death in her family. to her, the dieudonne - male or female - would always be deathless and incapable of being killed by man or god. they were gods themselves, an ancient and bloody line of the most holiest beings. thus, the death of her father began a war in her heart, one that she wasn't sure she wanted to tell anyone about just yet. sa chair a-t-elle été consumée ? has his flesh been consumed? if faustine was a better daughter, she would've cried, would've asked @Louve ♔ what caused apollinaire's death.

a thought bled into her mind as sharp and angry as a snake. she stepped closer to her queen-mother, flattened her ears upon her skull and added, est-ce qu'un lion l'a tué ? est-ce que ce lion est mort aussi ? did a lion kill him? is that lion dead too? faustine had questions upon questions to ask, but all she could see and smell was the acidic blood pulsing through her veins.

code: cala | art: editjackson@dA

@Cassius ♔ is all but forgotten as the intensity of this reunion, this conversation, consumes her. it is the first time she was forced to face the hard truth of what she had done, and still she does not shy from it. no matter how it might change things, perhaps permanently.

louve does not back down from @Faustine's prying eyes but meets them, the yellow burning as brightly as the fire that races through her daughter's veins. "non, je ne suis pas mort." no, i am not dead did she see, then? the answer? the truth? perhaps her father's blood still stained her mother's muzzle, his death splashed clear across her fur.

no matter how much she tried to be rid of it..

"il a attaqué une matriarche. c'était... impardonnable.." he attacked a matriarch. it was... unforgiveable. explanations are not necessary but she gives them all the same.

ART BY LIZA, CODE BY LARS, MODIFIED BY GUNNER