Whisper Marsh just rope swingin' in the breeze

Not directed at anyone in particular but hopefully a familiar face??


A flood of nostalgia washed over Hecate as she stepped foot in the familiar muddy terrain. Although she was happy to be back, a part of her wanted to leave and never come back. She left to find her sister and brothers for family matters, no time to explain to Sven why and when. She parted with Attica knowing her daughter would be well taken care of. A great weight had been lifted from her shoulders after parting the Willows, but at what cost? Not having a relationship with her only pup? Cutting ties with Sven? Letting Skoll have the upper hand? Her life choices were becoming increasingly intricate. How she once flaunted her freedom and youth like it would always be availible.

Her paws and lower legs splattered with mud as she trudged through the thick marshland. Her eyes were heavy with exhaustion and her body lithe with malnutrition- the recent months had been rough in Yellowknife. Hecate's family was naturally cold, but they were almost unresponsive this time. Her father's death hung around every corner, the small family physically unable to push past the tragedy. It was inevitable that the order would crumble within a short time. Hecate was just glad she didn't have to watch. A watery cough shuddered through her lungs and lower throat. She wasn't dying or nothing, but this was definitely the worst shape she had ever been in. No big.

Though he wouldn't make the comparison himself, much like his father Sven would at times take advantage of the comforts of night to slip away and be alone with his thoughts. It wasn't anywhere near as often as Skoll's strolls, especially now that @Attica was here, but when the siren song became too much to ignore, he would slip alone. The girl had been left assuredly asleep inside the main den with the rest of the pack, with the young adult hoping she would not wake to find him gone. she was big enough now to try finding him on her own, if the impulse struck her.

That was why typically he did not stray too far outside of the borders of the pack, but tonight he did not keep such close an eye on where his steps took him. There was much on his mind, from what had come of the latest pack meeting to Attica's continued growth and whether or not he was truly capable of being what she needed him to be. He thought of @Sahalie and wondered if that other boy was back yet, if she was happier when Sven wasn't around, about how there was still so much he didn't know about her. He thought of Skoll and wondered where he was right now, if he was traipsing under the same blanket of stars. If his father was thinking of him too.

Then the wind shifted as he entered the marsh, and he thought of Hecate.

At first, he thought it only vivid memory, and his mind continued to run rampant with questions. Where was she, why had she left, what the hell had she been thinking? Why did he ever come to care about her in the first place? Then the stench persisted and he realized, this wasn't just in the lexicon of his thoughts.

His legs locked up and his body froze, tense with a sudden splash of apprehension. Several emotions hit him at once, but as it was when she had been around, anger was the strongest of all. The old wound reopened to bleed and burn, but also his mind whispered that maybe she was back to try again, and that was worse of all; if Hecate proved to be better than Piety even. A soft growl escaped his jaws, and carried through the night air.

She was near, but would she come to him, or attempt to slither past?

"Hecate."

Her name was an irrefutable demand upon his tongue.

I cri evrytimE

The voice she had become so used to struck her in an odd place. It felt like her heart had tripped and couldn't get it together again. At first, she thought it was Skoll that had called out to her. Their voices were so similar now. But there was a certain feeling it conveyed that Hecate knew her old lover could never produce. Sven was a little ways away, not being able to pin point her in the tall grass. His shoulders peaked over the greenish yellow strands. The frail woman wanted to speak up and greet him but there was a overwhelming wave of exhaustion that shrouded her. She didn't wanna talk about it. She didn't want to put in the effort to try and make it up to him. And that was what hurt most of all. She knew she was being selfish and just plain stupid. But to fail him in this way? There was no excuse that could fix this- and she knew it. Her heart fluttered, swallowing thickly before chuffing back to him. Her ears folded back on her head, tail twitching at her ankles. "I-I.."

the armed queen

His ears lifted as her woof of acknowledgement floated to him. In volume it was soft, but the edges of it were rough all the same. She had always been that way, in every aspect. Warm and vivacious with thorns that pulled you in. It was enough to guess her location, but there was no shuffling to tell him that she was approaching. The broken beginning of something attempted its way to him as well, and he decided that if she would not come to him then this was how they would communicate.

"I hoped you were dead. Do you know that?"

His words were blocks of ice; heavy, solid and cold. He meant them, and cared little if she understood exactly how. What did it matter? He was speaking to a ghost, a woman who was just his father in different skin. She would be gone again, just like the rest of them all. He felt it in his bones.

Yet he kept talking.

"I hoped I could find your corpse and then when Attica became old enough to wonder, I could tell her that it hadn't been her mother's choice to leave her. Then when that didn't happen, I thought maybe your bones, but if I couldn't then at least it was open for her to think what she wish. Now you're fuckin' here and I'll have to tell her that you just walked away."

Taking no time for the niceties, he drove right in. Her eyes and cheek turned instinctively against his harsh breath, heart throbbing and dripping with pure hurt. She reminded herself of his tendencies. Reevaluating her tactics, her eyes opened again. Meeting his fiery glare with her own. It didn't have any of the same weight behind it that it used to, but it would have to suffice. Although she hated him for dragging her through the runs, he was right. In every aspect. She waited a good while after he finished. Letting them share a heated but comfortable silence. "Y-yer right." Her voice was crackly and feeble. If that wasn't enough to scare him then she was done for. "I ain't askin' for yer understanding because if I'm bein' quite honest I don't get it neither." She was drawing on without a point, she might be infuriating him further. Pick up the fuckin' pace. She urged herself. "Attica and I can figure somethin' out, I ain't askin' you to try n fix this because it ain't yer fault." Her eye contact was starting to break, straining to keep it locked up. "If it's anythin' to yer..." She didn't expect it to, it never did. "I missed yer so much." Eyes watering slightly, she kept her head down and away.

the armed queen

She just agreed, and his ears flicked with annoyance as a scowl began to shape his black lips. Of course he was fucking right, and of course she had nothing decent to say for herself, to defend what she had done. A piece of him supposed that maybe he should be thankful for that, for her honesty but the rest of him shouted back that it was far too late for all of it. His tail curled and snapped at the air as he considered just walking away if she had nothing but sniveling left in her. That's all this would be, an irritation, an unnecessary confirmation of what he had already known. It would pass, fade like all of it did. His and Attica's lives would go on, unaffected. He would make damn sure of that.

It would seem, however, that that was the aspect Hecate didn't understand. Hearing her dare to breathe that conjunction, putting herself together with his sister as if she would ever be allowed to have a future with the girl, set his blood ablaze. That downward twist of his mouth was now a snarl, fangs broadly bared as his pale eyes filled with rage that should be more than familiar to the lost woman. She had dragged him to the edge, and then when he thought they would just stand upon the precipice, that final utterance pushed him completely over.

There was no sound to warn her of what was to come, he simply moved. The flames of his anger thawed his joints and he threw his weight into her, limbs reaching up to encircle her neck and put her into the dirt. No longer was he a child, blindly striking out. There was plenty of muscle behind his grip, with tact driving every movement. Regardless of whether she fought him or surrendered to his will, the words forced themselves out of his throat, harshly cutting through the air.

"You aren't going near her ever again: she is mine. I'm the one who stayed! I'm the one she depends on! I'm the one that would sacrifice everything for her!"

And then, a hiss: "You didn't miss me. You missed him."

Shallow water has trapped several fish in a small pond. Hunt Opportunity

MAMAS ON FIRE

Hecate expected Sven to get his kicks in. Get a little pissy and maybe get up close and personal, but this. This, was unprecedented. He pummeled her into the ground, spine cracking several times as it made contact with the ground. She shuddered out a wheeze and instinctively went to roll to the side but his leg prevented her from moving. Her vision burred and a quiet whine shrilled in her ears, pawing out to find anything that would regain her acknowledgment of what was going on. She could feel his hot breath on her face as he yelled, eyes closing and ears flattening to her head in alarm. He drew the line about Attica. She would no longer be her daughter and instead under his guidance. A deep and warm feeling flittered in her throat, mumbling a protest until he said it. Her eyes shot open, vision still clouded. The familiar flame ignited somewhere deep within her, extremities tingling with unbridled rage. If she were human, she would have spit in his face. "How dare yer say that to me." She rumbled with all the energy she could muster. "Yer father, was nothin' but a good fuck and a pretty face." Time and time again Sven would make inferences about the two courters. And time and time again, he was wrong. "Now you listen here boy. I wanted a daughter and I needed someone ter get me that. Too bad, so sad it had ter be yer father that was in the line up. But I'll be a dead son of a bitch if I don't get ter call Attica my DAUGHTER." The emotion flooded from her pores, you could cut the air with a knife the tension was so thick. She had nothing to loose at this point. Hecate had almost entirely given up. The only thing that was on her mind was Attica. And Sven took care of her and was a good parent figure then so be it. "Do it." She spat, exposing her neck to make it easier. "If yer really think you got the juice then do it, let the one who taught you how be yer first." Her eyes left Sven and closed, fully expecting the blow.

(This post was last modified: Oct 16, 2016, 09:38 AM by Hecate.)

the armed queen

Successful in toppling the woman who was once his closest friend, Sven placed a heavy paw upon her upright shoulder and pressed down, limiting her mobility. His breathing was heavy behind clenched fangs as his ghostly eyes blazed down at her, heart beating fast. Faintly his id took pleasure in how easy she'd gone down, in how vulnerable she now was. The thoughts weren't all there however. Not yet.

With that first shot back, he thought she talking about Attica. How dare he try to put himself between them, or whatever. No; it was the comparison between himself and his father that set her off. Too angry to allow confusion to muddle his intent, his features twisted with another snarl as his heart hammered even harder inside of him.

He remembered the moment she had told him they'd been together, how she had still insisted then that he meant something to her, that she cared about him. He had warned her too, of what would happen, and she just fucking fed into it. Now she wanted to say that she had used his father? Skoll had left too, but love as deep as Sven had held for the man never truly went away, and a part of the anger was now on the absent Archer's behalf.

Then, there it was. She actually bothered to pretend to still be a mother. Sven's jaws parted, something of a hiss escaping from his throat as his fangs lingered dangerously close to her cheek. But she moved, and spoke again, and his muscles locked up. Where had thought she was about to fight for her daughter, Hecate gave up instead.

She demanded he tear out her throat, and it would have been an awful lie if the teenager said he did not feel the claws of desire at his spine in that moment. All of those dark thoughts and impulses that he had fought to keep under control slithered forth, whispering their lexicon to him, egging him on. Who would care? He could even leave the body to rot in the open. Come back to collect the bones after the scavengers and insects had picked them clean and the sun had bleached them, place them in his skeletal palace and never forget the feeling. Not a soul would bat an eye, stage an investigation, hold him accountable, give a damn what had become of Hecate Liar.

Except... would Attica?

"I would've given you everything," he spoke under his breath, eyes still upon her exposed throat. His posture still screamed dominance, but the aggression had abated. "You and Attica both. I would've shielded you from Morganna. Would have kept you fed, protected, loved. Been everything you knew damn well he couldn't have been."

She waited for @Sven to take it from her. She didn't see why he wouldn't, she had been a shit friend, shit mother and in all honestly, a shit person. She wasn't the type to mope around and feel sorry for herself, so there wasn't much thought or energy put into "feeling blue". And it's not so much that Hecate wanted to die. Its just, where ever the breeze pulled her she went without a fight. So, if Sven did come down on her with righteousness, then so be it. She wondered why she could still hear the grass rustling in the wind and could feel her heart beating erratically. He must be taking his time, get accustomed to the fact that he was going to stamp out someones life. Her ears twitched in confusion as he spoke out again. He sounded softer now and she knew they had reached the eye of the storm. Her eyes opened to see what was going on, looking down her long snout to level with the boy. She listened to him, words cutting her like hot shards of glass. Part of her wanted to go back to where she could have had that with him. Be a little family and protect each other. I mean "family first", right? Hecate couldn't bring herself to reach at this point. Not trying to assure him that they could go back to the way it was. She looked him hard in the eyes. "I know." What a stupid thing to say. "And yer the better man fer it. An' I know I can't say sorry, I've hurt you in a way that can't be apologized fer." Even tough she wanted to, what could she say that would fix this? I'm sorry? It won't happen again?

(This post was last modified: Oct 16, 2016, 04:57 PM by Hecate.)

the armed queen