haunted and holy The final phase of his scouting venture into the labyrinth reared its head at him in the form of a yawning cavern deep in the system, completely and irreversibly infested with bats. He took a step into the cavern, casually looking around him with his dead eye glinting in the low light. Slowly, he looked up, and squinted at the odd way the walls distorted. Like there was something oozing and dripping from the wall. Then the sound of soft clicking, and shapes darting. Once his eyes adjusted to the dark, he breathed the word "Fuck." to himself. Almost cheerfully. Bats….he hated bats. Terrible, creepy little thing. He was about to slowly back out of the cave when his hip bumped against the wall. In a terrifying moment, what seemed like a million little lights all flickered on and looked at him. A screech heralded their frenzy. Only a few of the bats were brave enough to divebomb him, but as they descended on the conspicuous white trespasser, he reared and flung his forepaws up to bat them away from his head. Even if there was only one or two willing to actually attack, he couldn’t tell the difference and panic began to creep in. "Shit, fuck. Shit, shit." He snarled, shaking his head like a colony of bees was swarming him. Images of diseases and infected bites flashed in his mind. Backed into the wall, he whirled around just as one single courageous or psychotic bat latched onto his ear. Panicked, having poor depth perception, and fumbling in the dark Corinthian promptly slammed hard into the wall with his whole face. "Oof, " He grunted, and thrashed his head violently to try to dislodge anymore bats. Then, lunging with the entire strength of his powerful legs straight into the wall yet again, but just a few inches to the right. He ran into the wall a total of four times, before finally finding the cavern that would lead him out of this nightmare fueled chamber. "Eeeyuch, " A guttural sound emerged from his mouth as he ran down the passage, and realized the bat was still latched on. He reached up and swiped it, and it flung against the wall. Plopped to the floor, and making hissing noises it managed to find its footing and crawl away before Corinthian could nail it again. The lion limped further away from the bat cave, and reached up with his paw to his ear and came back with some droplets of blood. Fucking great. He just knew it would get infected. And not only that but his face hurt. So did his pride, if it could even be wounded anymore than it already was. Measuring his breathing, he began to reassess his environment before backtracking further down the cavern, trying to make sure he didn’t allow anything else to surprise him. @Calypso

life had settled in to a routine, a tempo that left her decidedly less exhausted than she had been in the weeks prior. beorn was largely healed and hakon was on the mend, and the healer found herself with a little more time to rest and gather what she needed from the surrounding territories. the daily swim from cay to mainland had her stronger than ever, as did the constant travels to check in on her patients. the labyrinth was not her favorite place -- she preferred the open skies and the sea -- but she came out of duty more than anything. there were herbs that grew in this dank place that she could not get elsewhere, and she carried her usual bag of goodies as she ventured deeper in to the caves. she paused from time to time to gather a few things, and then pressed on, her attention snagged by the commotion from ahead. she knew there were bats in here -- she could smell them even from this far off -- but it sounded like some poor individual was on the receiving end of waking up a swarm of them. thankfully they did not come down the tunnel, eventually sounding as though they had settled down again, but a moment later a very unhappy individual came along. "hello," a quick greeting to bring attention to herself -- she didn't want to startle him about the adventure he had just had. @Corinthian

image by koafox, code by koi

sunt mala quae libas, ipse venena bibas the garden bites, The ‘hello’, as gentle as it was, still startled him. He flinched and turned to face the woman with his good eye, and for a moment he was angry she would be stalking about in a cavern. Then he recalled that he was stalking about in a cavern. Frazzled from thoughts of rabies, Corinthian struggled to shove his gears into working order so that he could formulate a response. "...bats." He growled, panting a little. Then he realized, with a furrowed brow, that was not sufficient. He took a breath and cleared his throat, trying to straighten his stance. "Back there. Don’t go back there, it’s infested. " His rugged baritone pitched a bit higher than usual before he made a concerted effort to wrangle his nerves into anger or something else less embarrassing. "Also I’m probably going to turn into a vampire any moment. " He grunted, touching his ear where he’d been bitten again to check on it and he growled under his breath. Lips and face twitching with irritation. He joked, but...he also might have believed it. He made himself focus and turned glanced back at the stranger, considering her for the first time. The light was dim in the caverns but he could see she was an eloquently constructed woman, with pleasing facial markings and cool eyes that roused thoughts of sea foam. He noted her underbite, but thought it endearing. He waited for her response, tail flicking back and forth at his heels, thinking he had embarrassed himself enough with his neurotic ramblings. It was clear he had a special terror of bats, and a strange talent for making awkwardness worse with gruffness. He half expected she would politely nod and hurry away before he could infect her with whatever it was he had clearly gotten.

@Calypso (Sorry for the wait! <3 Won't be so long now)

calypso leaned to one side and peered behind him as he spoke, as if she might see the cursed things for herself, and then shifted back to center and listened intently. her expression was careful held neutral, though she found some odd amusement at the imagined chaos he had just emerged from. "aye, nasty beasties d'ey cen be. my first encounter was jest as horrifying."

now that she knew where they slumbered, though, she was much more careful. the stench had simply been unfamiliar the first time -- now she expected she would pick it up a mile away.

her gaze followed his paw to his ear, noting the blood even in the dim light, and she gestured to the herbs she carried. "if it hurts i cen help ye," an offer of kindness, if it would help him, "but i assure ye'll no' be a vampire." there was the first flash of amusement on her face, causing her lips to twitch and her eyes to crinkle just slightly at the edges.

Art by Rabbit | Table code by Zodiac

sunt mala quae libas, ipse venena bibas the garden bites, The woman was quite gracious to him, which made the feelings of embarrassment even more violent as they climbed up from his gut and to his face. He winced at himself, lowering his brow briefly in a small, subtle shake of head. "Was it? What happened?" He glanced up from underneath his brow with a sheepish grin, prodding her for more information while she was being gracious and all. I told you mine, now you tell me yours. He wasn’t sure if she was just trying to make him feel better, but he was none the less certain that’s what it was. Even so, he felt a calm begin to return to him. Maybe even a twinge of humor at it all. He noticed her accent, but couldn’t place it for the life of him. Many foreigners used to be pass through his old home, but her tongue seemed to contain notes so far removed from his experience that it was a bit beguiling. Despite the relative mundanity of this encounter, the woman’s mystique seemed to stir the waters with an otherworldly quality. Or maybe that was the bat venom addling his brain. His tapered ears twitched as she offered to tend to his ear. Ah, a healer. "To be honest…I’d appreciate it. I’m more concerned it’ll get infected, more than anything. " He admitted. His precious, pointed ears. If it fell off, that’d be just. Grand. One eye, one ear. Symmetry. He grunted at his own thoughts, then remembered manners. "I apologize for my rudeness, my name is Corinthian Lesath. " He straightened and lowered his head in a respectful nod. "It would be quite a shame for my ear to fall off at this point in my life. " A lopsided grin crept up his scarred jaws and he winked his blind eye. It may be a ghostly white, but it still responded to his commands for everything short of sight.

@Calypso (Well apparently I lied about how long it'd be lol. I am so sorry. <3)

Ah but she had a story to tell, even if it was not so thrilling. "d'ere is a cave similar to d'is where i was born," she explained as she set down her bag of goodies, idly riffling through her herbs as she began to spin her tale. "i was not much taller'n my knee," a vague gesture mid-way up her leg, to emphasis how small she had been.

a wry smile twisted her lips as she pulled out one of the large leafs that held some of her healing paste, as well as a damp piece of fur she kept handy. "i t'ink de whole pride heard my screams." a small chuckle at this. in the moment the experience was horrifying, but time had lent some humor to the situation. "an' as you cen see, not a vampire," a flash of her teeth to demonstrate, proving that they were normal sized despite the odd set of her jaw that caused her lower ones to constantly be on display.

with her tools in paw she shifted closer, reaching towards the bitten ear with the damp fur, first. "now, let's save d'at ear, aye @Corinthian?" she grinned, a teasing tone in her voice that matched his own vibe. she paused, briefly, ensuring he was on board before she began to clean the small wound left by the leather-winged beasts. in the wake of her story she forgot to give her own name, focused as she was on the task at hand.

Art by Rabbit | Table code by Zodiac

Corinthian listened to Claypso with an easy grin, and thought that perhaps the pearly set of fangs jutting out of her mouth might contest her claims against being a vampire. He responded teasingly, “That’s exactly what a vampire would say.”. The encounter with the bats was slowly becoming a more humorous thing in his mind and he couldn’t help but think that she had had the power of healing words as well as paws. An obedient patient, he remained still while she inspected him, shifting his blue eye to give her privacy although he did not doubt her professionalism. His mind began to rove for ideas to pay her back for her kindness and he realized that in her focus, she hadn’t given her name. He didn’t consider this to be malicious in any way, not as he snuck a peak and saw the concerted effort present in her features as she carefully cleaned his wound.

After a moment of comfortable silence, Corinthian allowed himself to submit a morsel of curiosity for indulgence. “Forgive me, ma’am, I can’t believe that accent is local, but I have not been here long.” He did glance at her, his ear already feeling less dirty and contaminated. His grin was an amiable one, effortless and warm as his attention swam around her, as though being humiliated by a swarm of flying rodents was either a distant memory, or his dignity simply wasn't as important to him as it might seem.

@Calypso (way late, I know. kick me.)

she flashed a grin, amused by the direction of the conversation. instead of refuting him further she simply said - "d'at be true" - with a slight shrug of her shoulders. while it was likely obvious that she was joking along with him, the twitch of her lips would make that very clear. "well, if'n i am ye might be out of luck, aye?" vulnerable and at her mercy, if she so chose to sink her fangs in to his neck and drink her fill.

with his ear well cleaned she gently applied a bit of poultice to the wound, a mixture of her own maxing that would keep any infection away and make certain that his appendage was safe. "not local," she confirmed, "but from a cove far from here. i've been in amaryllis for jest near a year." or something like that, she hadn't kept close track truth be told. but it had been fall when she came and it was nearing fall again, so it seemed about right.

it occurred to her that he had called her ma'am (ma'am? she wasn't that old) and she remembered then to give a name in return - "calypso, by de way."

@Corinthian

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