[M] a dog among kings

Eris Eternity · 11-17-2011, 12:17 PM

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(581)
I am only replying to keep it moving along! Still welcome to reply, and there's no thread order. :3

Eris is by Alaine! Note: witchy get-up worn only when specified.

The scent of blood was thick on the air, and it clung to her fingers, sticky and red. The coyote could hear nothing at first -- the world was silent, but for the occasional choking, gargling sort of sound from the pending sacrifice. These were the only noises he was capable of making anymore, she assumed -- the stump of his tongue had been cast aside, a useless and dead part, no longer essential to him. He did not need to speak to help the rest of them see. The dark coyote still contemplated whether she wished to speak. There were things to say -- there were always things to say, after all -- but she did not know if speaking would provide strength or weakness.

Salsola had no prayers to utter, and Eris herself considered them empty gestures, in any case. Respect might have been beaten into her with the loss of Solanaceae and Shibboleth's illness, but she did not worship. She would never worship -- this one's strength and power would serve no deity, no god -- his strength would serve Salsola and Salsola alone. The coyote lifted her head, listening. Now, ever-so-faintly, she could hear breathing. Her senses were sharpening, and the faintest effects of the mushroom began to blossom within her, awakening the dull and blind parts of her with painful slowness. She ached for her eyes and mind to fly open with the speed of a flung-open door, but there was no rushing the magic, after all.

The dark woman turned to her pack and their gaze. Some eyes were curious, some carried a clear hint of distaste for the blood. There was a scuffling, whining sound beside her, and Bastion was at the man, turning toward her with the piece she'd cleaved from this one. The hybrid watched him a moment, then stepped forward toward him, laying a gentle hand against his shoulder and nodding. The push back toward the crowd was both subtle and gentle, but it insisted he return to the gathered pack and let the sacrifice be, too. She did not know if there was truth in his blood magic, true enough, but she could not risk him sapping all the man's strength, either.

The edges of the world were beginning to grow softer, her vision taking on both strange sharpness and haziness at once. She shifted her gaze, and the motion seemed to slow. She could see the brilliant, shining halo of her Salsola -- each individual aura seemed to merge with its neighbor, and the glow was very nearly difficult to look at, shining at brighter and faster as the moments ticked by. She inhaled, and spoke.

My children. The words were spoken with loving adoration, quietly muttered to the assembled crowd. A slow smile stuck to her coal muzzle, though her face hardened again as she continued speaking. This one came onto your territory -- here she gestured back at the bleeding wolf, the movement sharp and angry -- and he would have threatened your safety. He came past our borders and violated our privacy, she continued, her voice acquiring a queer hiss. There was still faint anger in her -- this one had committed a transgression against Salsola, after all -- but she cared primarily about his power now, and giving it over to her pack. His blood will stain our earth red, and his strength will become our own, she finished. That was all -- short, simple, and utterly to the point.

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