Even for not being all that spiritual even Pyrrha can feel the energy of wrath, of growth. Or maybe she was just going crazy with talk of a lion rising from the dead and witch hunters on the prowl. Fairytale stories channeled into her mind, making the slightest of strange sounds seem intentional and mystical. For now as she walks into the wilds, letting the pull collect her, she yet tries to deny what strange things she feels. Like there is electricity in her toes but water in her head. Fire in her heart and a lead stone in her belly. And up ahead a shape round and orange begins to emerge- a beacon of saturation and warm color. It seemed at first a flame of sorts but the closer she gets she sees it does not dance. It is solid and familiar to her.

A pumpkin.

@Rohan - Pumpkin :3

code by me & art by rabbit

there was no damn good reason for him to have come here. the place was known to him, a familiar playground of his younger days, but it held little appeal now as an adult. a barren wasteland that was scarcely interesting -- but still he is here.

when he spots her it almost makes sense. if there was one that would have pulled him to this scorched landscape it was her -- if he was truthful he might have followed her to hell itself.

yet he hesitates. not for lack of wanting but for the sheer fact that he is changed since they last met, marked permanently by the teeth of his older brother. shame burns on his cheeks when he reflects on it, how close he had come only to end up lesser than.

would she even want him, now? had she ever?

eventually -- after standing and staring for far too long -- he clears his throat. seeking her attention but not feeling certain enough to approach. hoping that she saw it as confidence (let her come to him) rather than the fear it really was.

@Pyrrha ♔

coded by flea + art by yumpy

The study of the strangely appearing pumpkin is broken by the rasp of a throat being cleared. She was just about near enough to touch it, a paw was raised mid air and hovered around its smooth and rounded surface. And then her head turns- it's @Rohan that she find there but not quite in the same state she's left him. Nor for that matter is she the same either. Fortunate has favored her again in their time apart and she is Sovereign. He on the other hand is missing an eye. Alarm is quickly replaced in her face with a dismissing click of her tongue on the roof of her mouth. He's fine and walking- the worst risk long gone. "Who got the better of you?" She asks as she turns back to the pumpkin. Her paw touches the surface and then she quickly pushes it to the side. It begins to roll and she gives it another push with her nose- both it and Pyrrha are on their way closer to Rohan.

code by me & art by rabbit

there is a fleeting urge to turn away from her, even though he is the one that has called her attention. shame that burns in his gut and makes him want to hide his face, to shield his loss from her prying eyes.

she had always been better than him, hadn't she? pyrrha had done more, achieved more, reached higher -- rohan could not decide if he admired her for it or hated her. your dear writer knows he would never (could never) hate her, though, no matter the feelings he constantly grappled with.

and of course it would be her first question, as she rolled the strange orange gourd his way, and he is strangely grateful for something to look at other than her. as if focusing his eye on the pumpkin would save him face. "my brudder." there is a sneer, though, in his voice. a bite that makes it clear it is no loved brother of his, no dear family member.

though the gaping scar on his face probably told that story clearly enough. reaching out a heavy paw he swipes a claw towards the orange fruit, curious how easily it would spilt should she allow him to succeed in his reach.

@Pyrrha ♔

coded by flea + art by rabbit

It looks worse the closer she got to him. And likely much to his chagrin she isn't shy about looking at it- makes no effort to try and be subtle with her analysis. At least it isn't a stare of one who finds the injury grotesque or unappealing by any means. It's a merciless and cruel curiosity. It must have been quite the fight from the looks of it. And from the sounds of it- who had been on the giving end- she imagines there's likely some wounds she can't see. Not unless he acquiesced to being vulnerable with his emotions.

She knew all too well the sting of a brother. Responsively her ear twitches, the one half torn away and no longer floppy, as if she's been brushed by an insect. She can feel her skull throb once and her skin below her fur is warning with a feverish anger. "I understand." She says, not entirely realizing that the words have come out of her mouth and not just stayed in her mind where they are burning uncontrolled and white hot. The pieces of her you couldn't see that had been whittled away and eroded suddenly feel raw and empty- she can tell all at once how much of herself she's lost to her own brother. How much she's had to give away and sell to his delusions of entitlement.

"Hit it again. Harder." She says quite suddenly- her face snapping down to the pumpkin with its fresh destruction.

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he bears her stare without flinching. lifts his head higher, refusing to give in to the urge to back away or hide. if he cannot stand her look, she being his oldest friend, then he will not be fit for this world. for surely there will be many a prying eye to come his way, no matter that losing an eye was hardly an uncommon injury.

it was merely a more intimate one, meant for enemies that truly wished to wound permanently. mentally as much as physically.

pyrrha empathizes and his own eyes are drawn to the ear that moves, to the long healed scars. and he wonders.. and realizes in his wondering how little they truly know of eachother. "i want to know more." he says this without thinking, an echo of his straying thoughts, spoken in a voice that is uncharacteristically soft.

before his weight shifts to slam a heavy paw down on the pumpkin at her direction, claws curled to best rend the hefty fruit in to pieces. it is satisfying; enough so that his other paw joins with claws outstretched, seemingly determined to turn it in to nothing but pulp.

@Pyrrha ♔

coded by flea + art by rabbit

The pumpkin crumbles to his blow. There's the sound of it's hard outer shell cracking and away it falls to reveal nothing inside. Nothing but thin web like strands of flesh and seeds imbedded within. Hollow. She's moved her eyes to staring deeply at the destruction he rains down on the plant. She feels each strike in her heart and each one causes a little more of her hair to stand upright. She barely seems to notice his voice amidst it all, it's not clear she's heard until she moves around to walk up along his sighted side and linger there- head tilted towards his ear.

He wants to understand? She doubts he means the pumpkin that is on the receiving end of his anger. And she certainly thinks herself wise enough to fill in the blanks and context clue her way close to what he wants to know more about. But she will give him nothing - not yet. She's feeling her armor slip and clamors quickly to regain herself, to squish the feeling of vulnerability and weakness in the only way available to her. Then ask. Make him beg for it. Part of her mind thinks. The part that feels the wounds of the past still fresh and the part that demands everything of Pyrrha.

@Rohan

_{BG — ART BY RABBIT — CODE}

pumpkin guts are rather... unpleasant. it is an errant thought, one that has him dragging his soiled paw across the ground, seeking to be rid of the consequences of his little display. the gourd lay in ruin, an unrecognizable mess, and for a moment his gaze lingers there with a strange satisfaction curling in his chest.

until @Pyrrha ♔ draws nearer, sliding in to his line of sight, and captures his attention completely. it is when she comes closer that he remembers their last encounter, feeling a sudden desire to pull laughter from her lips once more. stashing it in favor of answering her question, of stepping boldly forward to drop his lips near her ear. "tell me about you, pyrrha. i want to know.." lowering his head so that his breath might stir the fur along her neck, "everything."

a spark of mischief as he equips whatever charm is left in his one-eyed shell: "please."

coded by flea + art by rabbit

The sound of crushing fades and the sweet scent of the pumpkin's innards begins to rise up in the air. It's subtle but interesting- a note of it catches her attention and it brings her eyes to Rohan's destruction. It's what all men are destined to do. Destroy something until it's unrecognizable and brutalized. She can see his gaze and attention on her now and there's something in her belly that sits. A want and warning. She will not become the next smashed pumpkin for him.

Everything? She whispers back enticingly, playing as if she didn't know exactly what he wanted. As if the breath down her neck and the needy little please didn't shout it for her. He makes it sound so simple, so minuscule. Just surrender it all. Her head turns from him and lets her neck lay there bare and open to his presence- her tongue curling around her lips until she lightly clicks it on the roof of her mouth. I am warm like fire. The coy quietness of her voice before is gone. Her chest rumbles with a deep gravel and dreamy husk. I taste of power and might.

_{BG — ART BY RABBIT — CODE}

i am warm like fire

rohan cannot help the answering rumble that rises in his chest.

i taste of power and might

now he lifts a paw from the ground and aims to curl it around her leg, to tug her closer at the same time his lips part to drag his tongue up the exposed column of her neck. "yes," a rough acquiescence as that forbidden taste lingers and his mouth floods with saliva, "you do."

again with the coy grin, the tug at the edge of his lips as he suddenly tips his head to expose his neck in return. "tell me, then -- what do i taste of?"

@Pyrrha ♔

coded by flea + art by rabbit