[IC] Ink On Your Soul - New Beginnings

[Dark Light]

@Ace of flames01
Somewhere insignificant, a place between here and there, something out of the ordinary occurred.
In the middle of the air enough energy amassed to produce a small flame as the air caught alight.

It hovered there like a breathing candle. Expanding and contracting on imaginary breaths, flickering and glowing. Then in a sudden explosion of outward flame Dorian fell from the air to collapse heavily against the cold hard merciless floor.

His clothes were tattered, his body weak and injured, his eyes lost and confused. A vile black liquid sputtered from his mouth as he spasmed in a helpless coughing fit.
Dorian found the strength to crawl to a secluded shaded wall where he have in to the dizzying darkness and passed out.

[Ace of flames01]

@Argetlam350

Saoirse laughed at Scorn's offer. "Legal, hm? Don't pull that shit with me, sweet heart. By what means would a wendigo do anything legal? Are you secretly a lawyer behind that hood and face paint?" She replied. "As for business partnerships... I don't know. Give me some time to think about it."

===========================

One month has passed since Darian had seemingly died, and for the most part, Saoirse has moved on with her life.

Since that day, she's lived a more secluded life. She rarely leaves her room for anything aside from the essentials, like eating and bathing, and for the occasional run. Since then she has grown slightly thinner and paler but other than that, she has not changed much.

Today was going to be one of those usual, calm rainy days that Saoirse enjoyed so much. And, unlike normal people, she thought today would be a good day to go for a run.

Saoirse was dressed up in her usual noodle strap camisole, sweat pants, and red hoodie that draped over her face. She was strangely bare foot, but that was simply how she liked to run, feeling the Earth and concrete beneath her feet; even if it meant that she might get a scrape or two.

Running down the streets of NYC, Saoirse was drenched from head to toe and she loved it. The cold feeling of the air, the sight of her own breath coming out as steam, even the feeling of her clothes and hair plastered to her face. Today was just another good day.... Or so she thought.

Saoirse was running down the street when something, huddled up in an ally, out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. She cautiously approached the figure. As she neared what she could only assume to be a homeless person, she caught the scent of something familiar. A warm, sweet scent... Something not human, a dangerous scent. She knew this scent and she knew who it belonged to. She wanted to believe that it wasn't possible, but at this point, after everything she had experienced a month ago; anything was possible.

Saoirse kneeled down before the fainted and beaten up body of her soulmate. She pressed her forehead against Dorian's and sighed deeply, then smiled weakly. "You are a horrible, horrible man, you know that? Abandoning me for a month... And what's worse... I can't seem to escape from you." She murmered to him, then caressed his cheek. She then gently kissed him with a comforting and gentle warmth; almost as if she were breathing a new life into him. She sighed softly once again then removed her hoodie and draped it over him like a blanket. Saoirse looked around and made sure nobody was looking, then changed to her wolf form and layed next to him, placing her head on his lap, then fell asleep next to him.

@dark light

[Argetlam350]

@Ace of flames01
Scorn smirked and played innocent."Me? Oh why must you fall for the stereotypes? We wendigos aren't all bad. Oh I won't deny I rarely ever take the legal route but comparing me to a lawyer, that's cruel. I can be twisted but I like to think I'm far more truthful then any lawyer you'll find in the world," she said getting up feeling that the lovely chat was coming to a close and handed a card over ",I'll trouble you no more for now ,wolfy, but here's a number to call if you decide to use my services. Ta-ta for now, I'm sure we'll cross paths again." With that Scorn turned on her heels and skipped merrily out of the spacious home, disappearing down the road, going back to the shadows, playing her games and cackling to herself with glee, for what reason no one will ever know.

-Month later-

"That's the deal, take it or leave it. I have other people who would willingly pay more for this stuff," Scorn said over a phone ",High grade stuff this is and pulling a military heist isn't easy or cheap. So I'm not going to go lower. I'll give you twenty-four hours and then I'm off to the next highest bidder. Clock is ticking. So either agree or they might end up in your enemy's hands. Tick-tock." With that she hung up the phone with a huff of agitation. This deal was beginning to become more trouble then she bargained for. She was also in a terrible mood since jobs were slow. She was disappointed that Saoirse never did call her back but she couldn't win everyone over to use her services. The only good thing to happen in the last month was that her money on taking over a nightclub had payed off and now owned a business, she couldn't wear her normal attire while there but it was a small sacrifice to pay to have a fun place to hang out and make extra cash for herself. That was where she decided to head to now as she impatiently waited for her buyer to make up their mind. All the while the rest of her gang took care of the territory they held control over keeping out the rift raft and other gangs that still had slight holds in the city.

The rain was a welcome to her, dark and grey is how she liked the world to be, but it was the thunder that bothered her. Luckily at that moment it seemed that she did not need to worry about that.

"Oh I'm singing in the rain," she hummed to herself as she splashed in a puddle every so often, not caring about random stares she might of gotten from the few people seeing a grown woman act like a child.

[VarionusNW]

Arna Renheim

Arna texted the address of the apartment building, as well as the apartment number, to Brian, and put her phone down. She leaned back, looking at the ceiling fan which rotated in it's normal, ceaseless fashion.

Getting up from the bed, she walked over to the door, and left the simple room. She had planned on taking a shower, but it seemed that Liana currently occupied that space, and Arna would be waiting for a short while. She had decided to go raid the fridge for food, and immediately walked to the kitchen.

Upon arrival, she found her mother leaning over a glass of water, in a groggy, disheveled form. Arna's mother halfheartedly waved to her daughter over the counter, before returning her attention to the glass of water, which now seemed to be the most interesting object in the old woman's view.

"Mum, you alright?" Arna asked, as her mother took a few sips from the glass.

"Yea, I'm alright, just tired. I'll just rest for the day, I guess."

"You do that, then." Arna understood her mother's worn out state, considering that she worked almost nonstop on very little sleep. The woman deserved rest. "Oh, got anything to eat?" She asked her mother, who's attention remained on that glass of water, which remained as engaging as ever.

"Yea. Eggs and stuff, all in the fridge. Just clean up after yourself." Arna walked past her tired mother, and made her way to the refrigerator, pulling out a carton of eggs along with a few other things. It had been a while since Arna had cooked for herself, since she spent most of her time living in hotels, eating at fancy restaurants and such. Of course, she wasn't complaining, but a good home cooked meal was always welcome. Arna let her thoughts wander onto dreams of the future as she tried to remember how a stove worked.

[Knight of Doom]

@VarionusNW

Liana emerged from her shower refreshed and awake. She wrapped a towel around herself and quickly headed to her room. Since she had a day off she decided that perhaps she should go out and visit an organization she’d just started working with. This organization was a non-profit organization working to help the homeless get an education and a job. So, Liana threw on a nice outfit and started to gather up her things. However, it occurred to the blonde that perhaps Emily needed something while she was out. So, she poked her head into the kitchen where Arna was making breakfast and Emily looked like a zombie.

“Hey Emily, while I’m out would you like me to get you anything?” She asked.

“We're a bit low on vegetables and cheeses. If you wouldn't mind grabbing some while you're out, that would be wonderful.” She said after glancing around the kitchen. “Also, make sure to eat breakfast, I know you're busy, but you need to eat.”

"Don't worry I will," Liana said, before continuing to gather her things.

[Dark Light]

@Ace of flames01
Dorian finally awoke, the hard floor creating a nightmare on his stiff muscles, and despite the wolfs warm fur snuggled up against him the cold air still seeped deep into his bones. He shivered uncontrollably with chills.

He clung tightly to the wolf, his fingers entwined in the hair as he clawed the creature, simple desperate survival causing him to forego gentleness for an eager comfort. He did not see Saoirse before him but a creature of meat and warmth. He didn't look through eyes of a man, but eyes more beast then the wolf before him.

His stomach growled, he eyed the creature before him, his grip tightened.

[Ace of flames01]

@Dark Light

Saoirse awoke with a startled yelp and immediately reverted to her human form then shook him off of her and pushed him away. She stood up and took a few steps back, she felt the back of her neck where Dorian clawed at her, the wet, hot feeling of blood coated her hand in crimson. She looked at Dorian with a look of pure terror, taking a few more steps back, then ran. As to where she was running, not even she was too sure. But she didn't care as long as it was far, far away from Dorian.

While she ran, Saoirse pulled out her phone and called Maxwell. She didn't speak with him directly but instead left him a voicemail, "Hey, Maxwell. It's me, Saoirse. Dorian's back. He's in an ally near Main Street. I won't be coming back to the manor. Probably ever. Tell Dorian that he won't have to worry about me being on the list anymore. I'll be fine on my own. Tell him I said 'welcome back' and that I lo-" the voice message cuts off.

Saoirse kept running, running as fast as she could. Once out of the ever watching eyes of the city and into the woods where she could hide, Saoirse finally changed to her wolf form. During the hasty transformation, however, her clothes came off. Yet she dared not go back for them, fearing that Dorian might be behind her.

She eventually found what seemed to be an abandoned burrow that was large enough for her to stay in for the night while she healed. Saoirse changed to her human form while she sat in the burrow and felt the back of her neck again, which was still sticky with blood. She decided to stay in the burrow, where she would be safe and hidden.

Saoirse curled up into a ball on the ground. Her naked body trembled uncontrollably from the cold and her wet hair was plastered to her skin. Yet somehow she found herself dozing off to sleep once more as she listened to the soothing sounds of rainfall.

[BlackPanther]

@Ace of flames01
Abel finds himself looking outside with an itch. The familiar itchiness of needing to turn...if even for a moment. He grumbles a bit as he starts walking to a more secluded wooded area. He drops a duffel bag and puts his clothes in it once he is sure no one could see him.
Then, the change. It doesn't take him very long and soon he is standing in all his fluffy glory. He shakes out his fur before grabbing his duffel with his mouth and inhaling the area's scents. He pauses, werewolf. Feeling feline curiosity he follows it all the way to that burrow.
With caution he puts the duffel by the entrance before snuffling at the entrance. Definitely a werewolf...definitely in this burrow. He grumbles at the entrance and peers in. is she...naked?! Alarm bells go off in his head and he backs up and backs up quickly, hoping she didn't see him.

[Ace of flames01]

@BlackPanther

A slight rustling awoke the young she wolf only minutes after she had fallen asleep. Slowly she rose to a sitting position and smelled the air, as she touched the, still sticky with blood, injury. Feline?

Saoirse climbed out of the burrow, just enough to peek her head out. At the entrance of the burrow laid a duffel bag that reeked with the scent of feline. Curiously, she pulled the duffel bag into the burrow and opened it to find it filled with clothing. Upon opening the bag, a wave of new scents assaulted her nose. She instinctually scrunched up her nose and covered her nose in reaction to the sudden new and overwhelming scent. "Not human. But not a house cat either. Whatever it is; it's male. That much is certain. " She winced then gagged from the odor as she held up a shirt to her nose.

[BlackPanther]

@Ace of flames01
Abel watches as the female takes his bag with her into the burrow. did she just.....she took my bag He grumbles, his possessiveness coming out as he pads forward and peers in. His blue eyes glowing a bit in the darkness as his tail flicks with annoyance. He makes a few more grumbling noises at her with his ears flat against his head. He did not want to go down there....not at all. He did not know what this female would do if he was stuck down there with her, and he would rather not find out.
After a few more inner debates he ends up getting into the burrow and standing next to his bag looking irritated. To top it off his coat now has dirt in it, making the white more dusty in appearance. His large tail flicks back and forth in irritation again, his posture screaming that he is annoyed.

[Ace of flames01]

@BlackPanther

Saoirse was soon visited by a snow leopard. Now usually, she would question why a snow leopard was in New York to begin with, but soon realized that the leopard is actually the owner of the bag. "Ah... Sorry..." She murmered dusting of the dirt on the coat then placing it in the bag and closed it once more. She then nudged it to the leopard looking down at the ground. "Sorry..." She repeated looking somewhat empty inside. "I... I didn't mean to..."

Saoirse then gets choked up as she rubbed the injury on her neck. She leaned against the wall on the opposite side of the burrow from the leopard where she finally breaks down over what had just happened in the city. "I'm sorry..." She sobbed as she continued to rub the injury on her neck. She didn't understand. Why didn't Dorian recognize her? Why did he attack her? Had he really forgotten about her in just one month? Had she done something wrong to make him want to attack her? But more importantly, how was he still alive and why was she so afraid of him now?

[BlackPanther]

@Ace of flames01
Abel tilts his head as she apologized. He was about ready to snag the bag and leave, but she started crying. Crying and freaking out. He debates for a bit, his tail flicking back and forth as he thinks through his options. Eventually, he figures it out.
Abel walks forward and puts his head Under her chin. His way of hugging right now. The motion is much like a cat giving a head butt and since he isn't quite large enough just to do that, he has to sit on his hind legs a bit.
Really he hates seeing people hurt...especially crying.

[Ace of flames01]

@BlackPanther

Saoirse accepted the hug from the snow leopards and tries to smile through the tears. "Thanks." She replied to him. "My soulmate... He attacked me after having disappeared for a month... It's all my fault... He must hate me..." Her voice lowered to a murmered as she showed the leopard her bloodied neck and hand.

She then curled back up into a shivering ball. The cold had finally settled in and she was already starting to feel the early stages of hypothermia. Her vision blurred and she became dizzy, she couldn't stop trembling, and no matter what she did, she simply couldn't get warm. She needed a source of heat and soon.

[BlackPanther]

@Ace of flames01
Abel sits down and tilts his head. He couldn't fathom a soulmate physically harming the other. It seemed so wrong. He sniffs the blood and grumbles, something wasn't right about that. A lot of somethings. He shakes his head at her when she says that it was her fault.

Then she lays down and starts shivering. She must be freezing. Not really thinking, he nudges her arm a bit and lays down so his back is against her. He knows he is much warmer then any clothes he could give her. Hopefully, this helps her warm up...or at least prevents her from freezing. Eventually they would have to get out of this burrow, but he would think about that when they get there.

[Willow Breeze]

@BlackPanther

Jaze watches Astley's attractive smile. She is so taken aback by everything that is going on that he can hardly concentrate. Astley snaps Jaze out of her trance, "So...tell me everything about you...I want to know everything." They approach a bench and her soulmate gestures for her to join him. Jaze gives him a smile, "Everything, huh? Where do I even start?" She takes a seat beside him on the bench. Studying him, she notices a small metal object peeking out of the top of Astley's shirt pocket. Jaze is curious about why her soulmate is carrying around what she assumes to be a flask, but let's it go for now. "Well," she starts, "I currently live by myself and work as a waitress at the local bar. I would like to think of myself as hard-working, as all I've ever done since my parents died is devote myself to my job and school. I have now graduated college, and I'm in an intersection in my life right now, I guess... Unsure of what direction to take." Jaze looks at him, catching his gaze - You sound so lame, just talking about your job - her cheeks turn red. "Gah, I always feel I'm rambling." She says apologetically.

[Grimoire Gaming]

”Well it’s not like I know when you did the deed but I did have an odd feeling earlier, just out of nowhere. A strange numbness, a slight feeling of something tearing internally, as if perhaps I was going to die. a brief moment of cold and then nothing. Everything went back to normal after that,” Bartholomew explained. He looked upset. That was probably her fault, she was being unfair, wasn’t she? Well, life isn’t fucking fair sometimes.

Still, this was her soulmate and, as fun as it was to antagonize him, it hurt her to be causing him real pain. Trixy didn’t apologize though. Instead, she chewed on her bottom lip and stared into her whiskey. Tholo took a drink from his own glass and sighed before speaking.

”I guess that bastard wasn’t lying when he called me son,” he punctuated it with a frustrated grunt and then followed up with, ”Maybe he turned me, but it doesn’t matter to me. He wanted to kill me, not turn me that night, I’m pretty certain of that. The only thing that matters is his corpse will rot where it belongs along with others like him.”

Béatrix dipped her head in a slow nod, as if processing what he was saying. They were honest words, but they offered little comfort. Trixy let out a deep sigh and lifted the glass to quickly down the rest of the whiskey in her glass. It felt like fire, but at least it felt like something. She looked across the table at her soul mate. It still didn’t seem real… not the sorrow or the rape this time, but the fact that he was hers. And as much as she had wanted to hate him, and how much this situation sucked, she still found herself falling in love with this man.

Slowly, Trixy reached her hand across the table. She rested her cool fingers on top of his hand and stared intensely at it. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if she initiated the touching. She didn’t flinch this time, so that was a start.

[Ace of flames01]

@BlackPanther

With her eyes glazed over, Saoirse tried to wrap her arms around the leopard's warm body, but to no avail. Her body felt like lead and she could no longer keep her eyes open. "I'm... So sorry... It's all my fault... If I had been killed by the hunters that night... You wouldn't have had to protect me... You wouldn't have had to disappear... And you wouldn't have gotten hurt..." She murmered apologetically and delusionally as her body fell limp and her mind slipped into unconsciousness.

For now, Saoirse wasn't in immediate danger. However, her body was tired and trying to heal, both physically and emotionally. Her body knew that it was time for her to stop fighting and shut down for a while. So that's exactly what she was going to do. She was going to sleep until she had healed completely from the emotional and physical trauma she had sustained.

[Argetlam350]

Tholo was somewhat surprised by the sudden cold on his hand and looked to see that Trixy's hand now rested above his. Perhaps things would start getting better now though he doubted it would be easy with luggage of the pasts they had but maybe it would be less. He doubt it would be easy but he couldn't think of anyone else he wanted now with him on a difficult journey ironically. The creature he wanted to hate yet couldn't find an ounce of reasoning to do so. Maybe one more chance wouldn't be so bad to try.

"Well not to say your hand isn't beautiful to stare at but anything you wish to do beside sit here?" he asked with a slight chuckle feeling it best to try and move past the hard swallowing subject that had been previously talking about.

[BlackPanther]

@Willow Breeze
Astley seems to be listening intently when she speaks. Which he is...trying to figure out everything about his soul mate. He smiles when she says she is rambling. "It's not rambling when the person you speak to enjoys it" he lightly chuckles and looks up to the sky for a moment before looking back at her. "This may seem odd....but..." He seems nervous. As if he is having a hard time finding the words. "How do you feel about...pixies?" He winces at how painfully the question came out, but he has to know. If she feels they do not exist maybe he could play the human part for a bit longer before showing her. After all, she has a right to know.

[Willow Breeze]

@BlackPanther

Astley smiles, "It's not rambling when the person you speak to enjoys it." Jaze cocks her head to the side and her eyes light up. Awww, that was sweet! Her soulmate stumbles a little over his words, "This may seem odd...but... How do you feel about...pixies?" Jaze has a confused expression, "I... A pixie?" Oh great, this guy's a nut! He believes in fairies... "Well," Jaze starts. You don't know anything, plus he said "pixies", not fairies. "I didn't really think anything of them. They're creatures in fairy-tales, aren't they?" Jaze isn't sure why Astley is acting so strange about this question. Of course she doesn't believe in things like pixies, but it wouldn't bother her if her soulmate liked to believe things like that.