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The air was intensely different here. It was cleaner, quieter... more peaceful. Eris paused, standing with her back to a small stand of trees, surrounded by untamed and unkept underbrush. There was a sort of path several feet back on the trail, true, but Eris had wandered off of it, standing in the underbrush so as to be half-obscured by it, her waist completely surrounded by the spring's greenery. She wasn't used to plants such as these, animals such as the ones that roamed here. Neither was Itzcitla, but the pair had separated some time earlier, perhaps with the feline attempting to bring down something for dinner.

The relative silence of the world around her allowed her to concentrate, and her chartreuse-colored eyes half-lidded as she listened to the world beneath the sounds, trying to hear the old ghosts that no doubt lurked these lands. There were always ghosts, but it had been harder to hear them in Eterne—the noise and the bustle of life obscured those sounds and buried them beneath their din. The sable-furred coyote did hear the other canine's approach, but she didn't stir for a long minute, not until she was actually addressed—she had been hoping to go unnoticed, a false hope. Her yellow-gold eyes opened and she turned around, already a sour sneer planted on her face, widening as she saw the pale white pelt of the other woman, her wolfish features.

“Just adorable! Did you come up with that brilliant name yourself?” Eris asked, her voice twisted to sickly sweet as she watched the other canine's ridiculous approach, the saccharine grin splayed across that white muzzle itching to be scraped off. She did not move toward the other canine, though she had fully turned and remained where she was. It had been a while since she'd been faced with a wolf like this—she was far too used to seeing them as slaves, as was customary in Eterne. Eris wasn't generally given to fighting—she was used to others having no choice but to submit to her advances and whims. In Eterne, no one questioned her, slaves least of all. “Come closer. Let me see your pretty eyes,” the sable-furred canine said, leaning forward toward the other woman. There was something about this one yet, some taint or some touch that drew Eris toward her. She had felt this before, of course, she knew what it was—the call began as a faint feeling of thrumming in her stomach, like the beating of a second heart.

Hope the powerplay is alright, let me know if not bb. I assumed Noir would continue/start to run at this point near the end. 375

That steady feeling would increase slowly, and it did—as the distance between them closed, Eris even took a step forward, drawn and intoxicated by that feeling. Noir's fur was a pale, angelic white—clearly a symbol of innocence. Eris didn't need any method of scrying to determine that. “So pretty,” she said, though the words and the tone were almost mechanical. She was swept off in something else—anymore, Eris couldn't tell whether it was the tug of Ometeotl on her heart or some latent need to just hurt things. Maybe keeping slaves had ruined her, maybe being one had done further damage—or maybe she really felt something. Whether that was concoted by the numerous hallucinogenic therapies and recreational experiences she'd undertaken with drugs or it was actually a religious experience... well, that was yet to be said.

Out of nowhere, a bird appeared, and it zoomed dangerously close to Eris. The woman's concentration was shattered, and her chartreuse yellow eyes were drawn to the creature. It did not carry a scent, it did not seem to be really and truly alive—but something radiated outward from it nonetheless, and the lime-gold eyes of the sable woman followed the spirit's movement, recognizing it for what it was and why it was here after a moment. Her gaze twisted back to Noir, eyes narrowing as the pallid canine began to back away. “Where are you going, friend?!” she exclaimed loudly, moving with lightning quickness toward the other canine. “You just got here,” the sable-furred Lykoi said, reaching forward to grasp at the other canine's wrist. Her claws sank into the other woman's flesh, drawing blood and drawing away just as quickly, drawing it to her lips. There was the taste of magic there, a faint spice in the girl's blood that made Eris shiver with delight. Ometeotl would be pleased with this one. The sable furred wolf took after the other canine, jumping forward again.

She was by herself, what was she doing? She had never tried to harm another canine with free will one on one before—she was unarmed, she didn't know how she hoped to offer Noir to Ometeotl, but he had demanded this one, and she was bound to it.

oshit. taggin'. 375.

The flutter of her hearts steadily rose, her actual beating heart thudding hard in her chest with the physical excertion, and the spirit-heart in her stomach pounded harder, their beats matching in tune as always. There was power in this pale-furred wolf's heart, power over that spirit-bird, and Ometeotl demanded it. He yearned for it, he howled for it, he rattled the skies in her mind and called for it from the depths of the earth. Or was it what she had seen, after days spent eating peyote and seeing the horrible and wonderful things it showed, all twisted up and tangled together so badly it took a lifetime afterward to sort them out?

There was the faint spark of barely-there pain on her finger, and the annoying cadence of quacks from the duck's beak drew the shadow-furred woman's chartreuse eyes, burning with daggers for the interruption. She was not afraid of the spirit—they could not cross the physical barrier, and even if they could it could not hurt her. The duck was another matter entirely, and the shadow-colored wolf reached for the animal, tearing it from the other canine's grasp by the neck, twisting around until it cracked in her hand. The limp body fell from Eris's grasp, and her hand went for Noir, grasping at the air as the canine had continue to back up.

The question rang out, and Eris did not hesitate to answer it. Noir deserved that answer—all prey deserved that answer. Maybe it would even comfort her, knowing what greater purpose she was to provide. “Ometeotl wants me to see,” the sable-furred canine said softly, her breath coming in excited heaves now. The faint thudding had become a roar, pounding in her ears and guiding her fingers to where they needed to be. But again the wolf had moved, and she was was running now, running away, and Eris charged after the taller canine, flinging herself toward the other woman, but the pale wolf had a good jump, and she was already starting to pull away. Eris wasn't going to give up, though, and she took several bounding steps after the other canine, a growl beginning in her throat. What creature wouldn't want to serve that purpose?

DUNDUNDUNNN~ ALSO YES I CHEATED AND WAS TYPING THIS POST AS YOU TYPED YOURS OH NOEZ >_> 533

The moon would rise soon and bathe the land in silvery light, but it mattered little to Eris whether or not there was sun to see anything or not. There was no difference—blood was blood regardless of the time of day. The sable-furred canine didn't know these lands and Noir had that advantage as they would run, sure, but Eris had been living on nothing and walking forever—she was in good physical shape where it came to running and endurance, even if she was pounds thinner than she'd been upon leaving Inferni. She'd gain it back, though—she'd return to full strength sooner or later, and it was canines like Noir, with whatever power it was that gave her that spirit-bird, who would feed her appetite.

The sable-furred hybrid's resolve was not weaking despite the distance between herself and Noir, the speed of the other wolf. The pallid canine certainly had longer legs and a larger stride, but Eris was determined, and she motored faster to keep up. Then, there, before her eyes, there was someone else! The dark-hued woman's chartreuse eyes widened, but there was no fear or anger in her. This was no interruption—it was as if the hand of Ometeotl himself had reached down from the skies and brought her here. She did not yet know the connection between the two canines, of course, but like some things, she felt/saw it there, barely palpable beneath the surface of things. Ometeotl was showing her something here, and she stopped where she was, chartreuse-colored eyes widened to watch things unfold for a moment.

The man put his weight over the other canine, and as Eris drew even closer, creeping now, her body drew lower to the ground, almost crouch-walking in her two-legged form as she closed in on the pair, her chartreuse-colored eyes focused on them. Whatever had pulsed faintly within Noir roared from this man, radiating outward from him as clearly as if he were ringed in a fiery red aura. Eris did not possess that sight, she did not see those, but she could sense it in him as plain as if it had been stamped across his forehead. There was a crack from the pallid wolf's chest as the darker one pressed his weight down, and now Eris was very close, still silent and still with those wide eyes focused now on the newcomer, greeting his gaze boldly as he turned it to her.

Anger should have flared through Eris, but it did not—instead there was something almost serene dawning over her now, like child fawning over its favorite adult. Something dark glinted deep in this one, maybe some fragment of Ometeotl, maybe some piece of a younger god than that. “She is yours,” the sable-furred coyote hybrid said softly, not knowing whether she was speaking of their blood relationship or the fact that he currently possessed her. “But he wants me to see,” she repeated. “He wants me to see you,” the sable-furred woman said. Why else would the chocolate-colored wolf have shown up here? It was a sign, clear as neon blazing in the night, and Eris could do nothing but obey.

love you ;; 936 SORRY

The chesnut-colored wolf before her was etched with scars, jagged ones running across his face and cut into his limbs. They were not intentional—they had been gouged into his flesh by the struggling motions of his prey. No such things existed on Eris; the spiral on her shoulder that had been cut into and steadily deepened into a permanent wound where no fur would grow was completely intentional, ritualistic, even. She could still smell the burning sandalwood incense from those rituals and feel the hot knife piercing through her skin.

She had almost crawled to them, her hand itching to reach out and touch the pale wolf's skin again, itching to feel the tingle of that spiced blood on her own flesh again. But she could not, not without this man's permission. Older and more powerful forces than her were at work here in this man—though only two years separated them, it might as well have been two million years for the far more refined and ancient darkness lurking in the chocolate-furred wolf. Ometeotl could not have this one—even if the god called for him, Eris would have perished trying to capture this power.

He turned his attention back to the girl and the trance was broken, and the throbbing returned to Eris's body, overtaking her hearing and swelling over all her other senses. She watched as the blood came in a swell now as the man's teeth connected with the other canine's flesh, drawing back and leaving a torrent of red behind, flowing from the bleeding hole etched into the white wolf's flesh. The sable-canine's breath caught in her throat and she could scarcely breathe anymore; her chartreuse gaze was locked on the pale canine's face and throat, following the sanguine fluid's path through the dirt.

The sable-furred canine had moved even closer, shifting ever nearer to the bubbling source of the pale canine's ebbing life, though there was some vague and instinctual part of her that was afraid of the multi-hued man, some part of her that sensed what she was toying with. Her clawed fingers made for that sanguine hole, extending forth into the tattered flesh. The girl's life had not yet completely ebbed; it still remained, slowly choking and strangly as it tried to breathe through the jagged hole the chocolate-colored demon had ripped in her throat.

He drew back as her life drained away, and the sable-furred woman climbed over her body rather unceremoniously, drawing her muzzle to the fleshy mess torn into the pallid woman's flesh in what could have been a kiss, just touching the end of her muzzle to it. She drew it back red, and swiped the fluid off of her face with her pink tongue. The shadowy canine drew her sharp claws to the other woman's belly, digging them into the soft flesh. The white wolf's life finally drained completely away, and the spirit disappeared with it, but Eris was not worried. The power was still here, the source of that power buried beneath layers of muscle and flesh here.

The shadow-colored hands delved into the woman's stomach, pulling and tearing and scratching. It was hard work—this was usually done with a stone dagger, but the method did not matter. The power was there beneath the layers of protection the body had placed over it regardless, and the method of extraction did not matter. Eris had torn her own bloodied hole through the pale wolf's flesh, staining the white fur crimson as she sifted through the woman's entrails, knuckles brushing up against bone and organ until they grasped ahold of her prize, unmistakably firm and still warm in her hands.

There were no words from the shade-colored wolf, of course—the Atotoztli were not one to chant or speak in tongues or repeat ridiculous mantras. There was only the sound of their breathing, Eris's shallow and coming to her quickly, and the silent demon's, deep and even and steady. The coal-colored hybrid laid the white wolf's liver on her chest, inches over the gaping hole now torn in her stomach. Her hands were coated with red and flecked with pink bits of organ and flesh, but she had her prize, and it oozed red over the wolf's chest. Almost lovingly, the coal colored canine caressed it, squeezing gently to draw blood straight from the source of the brownish-colored organ. This she wiped over her eyes, slowly and one at a time. Almost immediately they began to tingle and burn, and now a slow smile crept onto the sable wolf's muzzle.

For the first time in a while, the chartreuse gaze broke with the bloodied corpse of Noir, and looked to the demon. He had become an Optime in the time that she had been paying total attention to the corpse, perhaps preferring it now that the killing was done, and he was even larger now. The act of sacrifice completed, it was time to focus on him. Though she made no indication, he moved closer to her, bearing down on her with his sky-colored eyes, towering over her and outweighing her by no small amount. A single hand extended forward, dyed crimson red for the moment, and a chestnut-colored hand rose to meet it in the middle. The bloodied one slid slowly over the other, drawing her fingers over each of his, her chartreuse eyes never breaking with his, though now they were beginning to droop, slowly drawing closed as they made more and more contact, the blood over her eyes and the hand where they touched both burning like fire now.

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His breathing swelled over her, and her heart seemed to beat in time with it, her chartreuse gaze drawn into the baby blue colors of his own. The coal-colored lids of these eyes fell steadily, hypnotically drawn into him, connecting herself to him and feeding off of him. Noir's blood surged in her mouth and her nose, the sharp scent of it coating the air, flowing through her mouth and nose as she breathed, drawing deep into her lungs and surging through her body. Finally, the last slit of chartreuse disappeared from her gaze, replaced by matted and bloodied fur.

Fire and shadow exploded in her vision and her head jerked backwards, rolling to point her muzzle straight to the sky. The periwinkle and deep navy shades of night were slowly creeping into the eastern horizon, the west still stained a fiery gold, but Eris saw none of it—instead the flame and shade and blood swirled in her closed eyes. She was silent, but she had begun to tremble, dragons and demons and devils rising from the flame and taking shape from the smoke before a blackened sun exploded over all of it, turning it to ash. The ash and dust swirled and roared and took the shape of a lizard, impossibly large and winged, all jagged angles and protruding bone. The dragon swallowed the sun, and all went dark. There was no recognition or understanding in Eris yet—she was a mute witness to all this, unable to interpret it and blind and deaf and stupid as any other wolf-cow meandering among the packs here.

A single familiar word echoed through all of this from the chocolate-furred man and drew her back into consciousness from the trembling and black chasm of madness she dangled over, the in-between world where she might always become stuck. The convulsions and trembles ceasing as her mind returned in waves, flowing back into her body from whatever other world she saw when she went there. The fire no longer burned over her eyes, but as they reopened a distinctive tingle remained, and maybe it would for days. There was tiredness in her eyes now, but their brilliance had not faded for it. “My mother,” was the whispered response, automatic and unfeeling. Kaena had not granted her this—this was something she had taken for herself, crafted and honed down to a dagger's point in Eterne. Her family did not know of this lurking power within the sable-furred canine.

His claws gripped at her flesh, but she could not feel the pinpricks of pain welling there. “I saw a birth,” she said quietly, pausing before she continued. “And a dragon. The dragon consumed it,” the sable-furred hybrid said. Her voice was low, shaken and drawn thin with the exertion of having viewed those otherworldly things. Whether the consumption of the birth was a foreboding tragedy or an imminent miracle, Eris could not say. Ometeotl had not shown her this, maybe because he did not know—maybe because she should not know.

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He was the fire and the shade and the dragon, there was no doubt about that. He was everything all at once, the whole pulsing world in different shades of blood. This was not lost on her; Eris was not so blinded by youth and inexperience that she did not sense the vast power lurking in the chestnut-furred man. One would have had to be blind to see it—even her spiritless, one-eyed mother could have seen the flame radiating from his eyes, the deepest shadow lurking in the abysses of his pupils. Maybe she had already tasted it—maybe it had made her violently ill. The chocolate-furred man had spoken the scarred coyote's name as if he knew her intimately, but Eris did not question. It was not her place to question him—such a thing would have beenakin to an ant peering up to a tree, demanding for it to move out of the way.

“This blood will sustain you,” the sable-furred canine added at his words, reaching up with her free hand just barely draw the fingers along his cheek, the blood already beginning to dry. Even so, it left a reddish streak behind, one that Eris followed carefully with her yellow-golden eyes. There should have been fear within her, for certainly she was not the fearless canine that the scarred woman was. Fear lurked within her and it did not cripple her like it crippled her mother—but there was none for this creature. If he took her with him to the other side, it was a blessing. There was nothing to fear from that.

The sable-furred canine did not wait for an invitation or even an indication her touch would be tolerated; her shaded body leaned forward and her muzzle extended toward the cheek where she'd left the red smear, her pinkish tongue drawing it away from the fur there. The hybrid's breath still came heavily, with a raggedness to it, but there was desire there now, too—the asexual, sanitized ritual was complete, and now there was only the friction and tension between the two creatures, the sable-furred canine drawn to the vile thing lurking in the chocolate-furred one. She could not have his blood, she could not have his liver—but they could share their power nonetheless, and in the most primal way.