(basing this on the assumption she is accepted in vb now)


elswyth had a home.

sure, the forest had been her home, but it had also housed her when she had faced loss. as her friends had disappeared one by one -- escanor, lilbet, inessa -- she had lost some of her usual zest for life. her saving grace was nico, and together they had decided it was best to join a pride. the two of them on their own were not enough to thrive -- survive, perhaps, but not thrive -- and after she had broken her leg, well...

elsie loved her friend a great deal, but he was not fated to be a good hunter. and she was only learning, so a broken leg had been an impossible setback.

the effects of those weeks were still visible beneath her fur, which was less silky than it had been, but her sunshine smile was back in place. with a few good meals she was filling out again, and her energy had come back in full force.

that was why she was here with the field stretched before her, surrounded by the colors of autumn. there was something to be found in every season that she loved, but the colors were her favorite part of autumn. and days like today with the sun high in the sky the weather was perfect for sunbathing, which was what elsie was doing. flat on her back in a thick patch of grass, eyes closed and body slightly twisted. her paws were curled to her chest and her back legs stretched out as she sought to soak up every last drop of sunshine that she could.

@Leviathan

Dream your troubles away

table by sentinel / art

Leviathan rarely left the Cay as of late. Most days, he hung somewhere between melancholy and self-pity. This wasn't actually that abnormal, most rainy seasons were tougher on the man even if he didn't realize it overtly. But on top of the seasonal blue, he was unable to come to terms with the impossible foe that was the mist. In his own way, he mourns the loss of his good friend - maybe even best - other than perhaps Calhoun.

The ordeal has been at the forefront of his mind, enough so that he's practically been island-locked at the Cay drinking away the days and nights as he keeps his grief at bay.

Eventually, just as the tides shift, so too does his resolve. He can't very well sulk forever. So he decides to take a sober venture inland with no clear objective in mind other than maybe stocking up on some rumfruit during his travels. To that end, a very well-loved sling adorns his shoulder today. It is empty and very tattered, made from the tough hide of a seal. It clings to him as he moves, looking almost like a strange shawl.

Ahead of him, the grove sprawls out in an attractive array of auburn oranges and yellows. Yet, there is a distinct creamy lilac patch in the grasses with cute little floppy ears adorning it. It was @Elswyth. Their first meeting had been a particularly humiliating one for Levi, but right now she was a very welcome distraction.

Instantly, he ducks low into the grass and quietly prowls closer, hoping to remain undetected. He wasn't a master of stealth by any stretch, but the girl seemed particularly oblivious at the moment so maybe he could get away with it. Should he succeed, he would spoil his cover by loudly flopping on his back next to her, mimicking her posture in a dramatic sprawl. "Scooch over would'ya, hoggin' all the good sun."

Art by Ale-Tie

every so often she thought of him, the fearsome beast from the ocean. not so fearsome, of course, but the story he had woven had stuck with her and made her remember the man she had left at the shore.

she is oblivious to him, lost to her daydreams, half asleep beneath the sun. the grass tickles her flesh and every so often she twitches but otherwise she is still, peaceful, content.

and then he promptly turns her world upside down, with a squeal of surprise from the startled girl. elsie scrambles away from the intrusion, wide-eyed, flop ears bouncin'. her heart snagged in her throat as she stared at the male, realization and recognition taking a few long seconds to dawn.

and then she was a ball of fury, sliding back and giving his arm a whack with one paw. "that was mean!" chiding, admonishing, even as she flopped back down beside him with the sternest look she could manage. squirming back in to her spot and purposely shoving against him (not that her minuscule size could do anything next to his bulk) to try to steal back the choice location.

@Leviathan

a dreamer in love with a dream

image by vicki clarke, code by corvus

The Blackmont is all but immune to her chastisement, form immovable as she pushes against it and whacks him as punishment. There is mirth in his stare, oh how fun it was to watch how futily she resisted. But really, he wouldn't have assumed his playful action was mean - @Eslwyth remembered he was a pirate and not some stuffy knight in shining armor right? Clearly not. He shows his disagreement with a snort, rolling his eyes. "Last time we met ye wanted teh know jus' how mean I could be - or did ye forget the stories?"

To be fair, that night was a drunken blur in his memory, he probably told her half-assed garbage.

He sprawls even more as he speaks just to spite her, his limbs stretching out and pressing against her shoulder in a casual stretch to push her away and out of the spot he had wrested from her.

Art by Ale-Tie

Elswyth rolled her eyes. "Those are stories! I don't want you to be mean to me!" Duh. Didn't he know the difference? The admonishment written in the delicate lines of her face made it pretty clear that she did.

"You're supposed to be nice to your friends you know." Because that's obviously what they were in her mind.

Squeaking again as he pushes back she impulsively opens her mouth and seeks to pinch the skin of his shoulder between her teeth, a half-hearted bite that is more play than anything, ignorant of the fact that she could be starting something she could not finish. "Move!" She emoted from between her teeth, the word muffled but no less obvious.

Dream your troubles away

table by sentinel / art

Her scarred brow arched up in an obvious roll and her delicate ears had this fetching angle on them when they pinned in frustration. Leviathan quickly assesses that he rather likes this side of her, she reminds him of a baby deer stomping its foot to appear threatening. He could think of little hotter than a girl like her with a proper mean streak.

It would seem that @Elswyth didn't much approve of being underestimated since as soon as he opened his mouth to inform her that this is in fact how he treats all of his friends, she delivers onto him the most half-hearted bite he thinks he's ever seen. His stare darkens as he does his best to hide his amusement for just a moment in order to stare her down with a proper threat display, curling a lip to expose a single fang and warn her that he was not as afraid to bite as she was.

"Make me."

Levi would love to see her try, especially if it meant wrestling around with her perfect feminine frame.

Art by Ale-Tie

there was an innate instinct in the girl to run when he flashed his teeth. her heart quickened despite the fact that she was giving him her fiercest look -- which, let's be real, wasn't all that fierce -- and she squirmed in her spot. fighting this instinct, reminding herself that @Leviathan was not going to rip her face off for teasing him, she tried to return the display with a curled lip of her own.

it is hardly intimidating, looking much more like her usual sunshine smile than anything to be concerned about.

make me.

and elsie growled.

it is almost a ridiculous sound from the tiny creature, almost as ridiculous as the way she lets go of him and scrambles up, seeking to press her paws in to his chest. as if she might pin him down . there are no claws, here, but she flashes her teeth and tries very hard to look stern. "this is my spot!" she proclaims, entirely oblivious to any unsavory thoughts he might be having. "move or i'll --" a pause, a tip of her head and her flop-ears "i'll bite your nose!"

oooh, how scary!

Dream your troubles away

table by sentinel / art

She doesn't back down, and light sparks in his eye as his black lips twinge into the hint of a smile. Good girl. It was not a jolly smile but something much more sly. Her growl is frankly not impressive, but Levi reckons he can help her with that once this little game of theirs was squared away.

Her paws press into his chest, pinning him under soft toes as she sternly threatens to bite his nose. His eyes flicker to her ears as they flick to the side of her tilt, then back to her as he uses his already outspread arms to attempt to grapple around @Elswyth shoulders. As he does, his rear legs rise up and then kick out in a way to create momentum he could use to pivot them both so he was on top of her with one arm on each of her shoulders. Like her, his claws remain sheathed for now.

His nose is inches from hers, and his grin is every bit as coy as it is arrogant as he ignores the unmentionable fantasies that flood the edge of his imagination. The desire to indulge in something so impossibly pure is as intoxicating as it was dangerous. His muzzle dips towards the small of her neck and hangs there, breath washing over her fur. "I 'tink I'd prefer if ye'd bite my neck instead, Siren." He mutters after a pause, releasing the tension with a click of his tongue as he steps off of her. Eyeing her again a few feet away with a hint of weariness as he sits in a new less-sunny spot. Whether Elsie understood why or not, it seems the best spot was once again hers.

Art by Ale-Tie

for a second she knows victory, and she looks more proud than she should. for a second, a fleeting breath, and then the world flipped and return to its usual balance.

before she could do much more than squeak in protest -- what was with those squeaks? -- she was beneath him. heaving chest and wide eyes staring up at the daring pirate. his nose is there -- just there -- and she snaps her teeth at it. she misses, of course, and his nose dips down, tucking in to the sensitive fur of her neck. his breath is warm, sending a shiver down the length of her body, and she grows very suddenly still.

her heart dances an unfamiliar dance, shaking rapidly against the bars of its cage, and elswyth is.... confused. of course she had been raised to know of desire, of the way that a husband would expect his wife to be, but she had never felt such things. there had never been an awareness of interest in the pastel girl, and yet now... now there is a flutter and she doesn't know what to think of it.

siren.

he is gone before she can respond, and instinctively she is following him. almost without thinking, pulled to her feet by some magnetic force she cannot understand. gone is the easy playfulness of moments before, leaving her scrambling to find more familiar ground. "what's a siren?" approaching him cautiously, seemingly forgetting all about the sunshine spot.

Dream your troubles away

table by sentinel / art

As if thread connected them she pulls towards him as he retreats, the void between them growing and tangible as he swears her face flushes a very attractive shade of pink. "A siren's a hauntingly beautiful creature o' the sea. She uses tender song an' feminine wiles to lure men to an untimely death." He pauses, meeting her gaze with a twist of his muzzle into a wry smile as he allows his description to sink in. He suspects she will not like the comparison.

"I'm jus' kiddin' o'course" He shrugs it off before she can protest. "Tho you did forget all 'bout your special spot rather quickly - an' not all Sirens sing..."

Art by Ale-Tie