#I should draw the Deity Scratch Spot one. I do love thinking about POWERFUL BEINGS just unwinding because you scratch the Good Spot

[lindwur-fr]

FR headcanons that I have but aren't supported by any on-site text

Food is measured as "One unit = 100 lbs"

Only User dragons tend to have any genes. "Canonical" dragons have Basics or EXTREMELY common genes that are feesibly "realistic" to see on animals, like stripes, spotting, etc

Dragons tend not to use weapons to fight and they're more showpieces if they have swords or spears. If a dragon is fighting, its ALL teeth and claws and magic. Duels are weapons-based though

SOME dragons out there use Fae Nests in the same way people use cliff swallow nests to make soup

Dragons eating other dragons isn't too unheard of, and ritualistic cannibalism is popular with Nature, Plague, Light, and Ice Clans

Users are dragons of some sort, but we don't know what kind. We've had a few NPCs refer to us as dragons in their text (Higgins, Dustcarve Dig, etc). Personally I believe it's the same breed that used to be on the "T for Teen" rating at the bottom of the site bar

The oceans of Sornieth aren't strictly salt water per-ce, but are highly mineralized depending on where you are, and some lower sections of the sea are salty, or even briny sub-oceans when you go deep enough

Light Flight's territory just REEKS right now. Not in the same, stale, mineral-laced way that the Scarred Wasteland does (The exposed flesh and dead biomaterial there is dried and doesn't produce much of a scent unless you're close to a pustule or wound, so it's more like dry rot), but Luminax is wet rot. Juicy. Leaking. Has a cloyingly sweet smell that sours as it hits your throat.

Luminax WILL eventually die, but not by means of the Light Flight's efforts. Rather, the sun in the Light Flight territory will get stronger and stronger, heating up Luminax's body, the gas builds up, insides twisted shut from all the movement of what is otherwise a decaying body... Pop.

Every species of dragon has a spot that you scratch and it "Starts their motor". Banescales, its under their horn where their ear would be. Gaolers, its their tummies. Coatls, under their chin. Wildclaws, behind their horns on either side of their crest.

Deities have scratching spots as well. But they're a well-kept secret (Stormcatcher's is right behind his ears. Rubbing there will release tension from a headache he's had because he's been clenching his jaw all day and cause him to just uncoil from all the relieved tension. Beware of static)

[paintedwithapalette]

An Oath to Return

SoKai Week Day 5 - Tanabata/Star-Crossed Lovers 

Word Count: 1,663

------------------------

He’s late. But by now, Kairi expects as much. 

She sits on the ledge of a fountain, immaculate in its detail and proud in its stature. Nice and snug in her pink yukata with white flower embroidery trailing down the right and the checkered purple obi that binds her waist, she waits patiently as she watches the children attempting to play despite their limited movement, the couples walking hand in hand, and the numerous booths and games on display with prizes for the taking. 

Still no sign of him. Despite the sigh that escapes her, her smile doesn’t waver. Even though it would have been nice if he were a bit more on top of things, Kairi wouldn’t have him any other way. 

Just as her eyes propelled to the sky glittered in stars, she hears a voice. 

“Kairi!” 

Right on cue. She snaps her head in the direction of the sound to find her favorite lazy bum scrambling towards her, his movement stiff due to his dark grey yukata with horizontal light streaks streaming downwards. He nearly bumps into someone carrying a recently won goldfish and apologizes profusely, the distraction doing little to derail his attention from Kairi for too long. She giggles as she clasps her hands together and rises to her feet just in time for him to reach her. 

“Hey! Sorry I’m a little late, something came up a little unexpectedly,” Sora apologizes, rubbing the back of his head. “I hope I didn’t make you wait too long, at least. It was just, uh… kinda urgent.” 

She sends a knowing look accompanied by a smirk. “You took a nap, didn’t you?” 

“Whaaat? Of course not!” he denies. Kairi rests her fists against her hips, dipping down as her eyebrow arches in a way that intensifies her smirk even further. “O-okay, so maybe I napped... a little.” Sora emphasizes this by pinching the air with his index finger and thumb. 

Kairi grins triumphantly. “Should I really have expected any less of you, Sora?” 

“It’s not what you think, though. Naminé wanted to look through my memories to see if there was anything she could find that might help us with, y’know, the current situation,” he nearly trails off before he perks back up, scratching his cheek with a bashful smile. “And, well, I kinda had to be asleep for it. That’s all.” 

Kairi smiles as well, though it’s laced with a tinge of bittersweetness. “Well, in that case, I suppose you’re forgiven.” 

“Thanks! I was real worried that—” 

The sudden warm of her arms wrapped around his torso quickly puts Sora into a trance. For a brief instant, his mind wanders back to the time when they found each other in the original Organization’s stronghold and soon he returns the embrace. 

“As long as you’re here, that’s all that matters to me,” Kairi says, nuzzling into his chest. “Let’s just... make the most of today, okay?”  

Sora nods, his eyes firm before he pulls back and sends an assuring smile in hopes of lifting her spirits. “Just like we always do.” 

They wander the busy festival streets with their fingers laced together under a beautiful starry sky, making sure to check out all the attractions and games at their disposal. As he walks with Kairi with their hands intertwined, being able to hear the soft giggles and witness her kind smile in person, he thinks just how much this feels right. Even the little things she did found a way to make his heart swoon. 

Meanwhile, Kairi adores the way Sora’s eyes light up whenever something catches his attention. The way he pulls and drags her in every which way looking to find adventure in every corner of the festival. 

After they both write and hang their wishes on their tanzaku, both having an inkling of what the other wishes for though neither mentions it, Sora leads Kairi to a hill on the outskirts that gives them a view of the whole festival. From here, they can take in the ornate lights hung in droves, the fluctuating colors uniting together in harmony. 

She rests her head on his shoulder, shutting her eyes as she feels his warmth pressing against her cheek. Watching her almost angelic face is enough to make Sora’s heart flutter. 

“This is the way it should be,” Kairi says. “I wish we could just stay like this. Forever.” 

Forever. 

Suddenly, the air grew tense, as if something taboo had been said. Sora keeps his sights set on the grass while Kairi draws invisible circles on the ground. It’s a reality neither wants to accept, but know they’ll have to face. Sooner, rather than later. 

Sora looks down at his hand and watches as it almost looks like translucent glass. He sighs before putting on a smile. “Kairi, I have something for you.” 

“Huh?” Kairi asks, lifting up from his side as she sends her wide, curious eyes and a slight tilt of her head. Sora chuckles at her reaction. 

“Close your eyes,” he requests.  

Kairi doesn’t hesitate to comply. 

“Hold out your hand.” 

Kairi does as told and feels a paper-like substance enter her palm only a moment later. She rubs her thumb across the paper-like texture and concludes in her head that it’s... shaped like a star? 

“Okay, you can open them,” Sora says.

The first thing Kairi sees is a somewhat spotty-looking star about the same size as the lucky charm she gave him years prior. Indeed, it is a wayfinder made of leaves tied together with less than grace and on the top leaf there is a face with eyelashes and deep blue eyes. She assumes it must be Sora’s attempt at drawing her face the same way she had drawn him years ago. 

“I’m not the best at sewing seashells,” Sora admits, scratching the back of his head. “I know it isn’t the best, but I kind of had to improvise since the seashell thing didn’t really work out.” 

Kairi’s lips part for a brief instant before she closes her eyes and reopens them with a gracious smile. “I love it.” 

“Really?” Sora asks in disbelief. 

Kairi giggles. “Of course. It’s so thoughtful of you.”

“Well, I just figured... I wanted to double our promise.” 

He pulls out his own good luck charm Kairi had given him. 

“Now, one for the both of us,” Sora says. “Who knows? Maybe it’ll be double the good luck!” 

With a sheen of water shimmering over her eyes, Kairi holds it up to the moonlit sky. “It’s beautiful.” 

Sora smiles as well. “I know one person that has it beat by a couple of miles.” 

Kairi feels the heat rise to her cheeks, but the giddiness never leaves the ends of her lips. “Delightfully corny, as usual. But I wouldn’t have you any other way.” 

Sora smiles as they both cuddled together, embracing each other and their final moments. It has been like this for the past few years. Two years and they still hadn’t found a way to bring Sora back to their realm. But for some reason, whether it be fate by whatever deities exist or the universe just having mercy on them, Sora miraculously returned to the Realm of Light on the week of Tanabata. It was a week Sora and Kairi always make sure to make the most of each and every day. 

But the hardest part was saying goodbye. 

And it always happens on the final day of Tanabata. For the past few years, they made a habit out of coming to this very same spot and watching the stars twinkle above them as Sora slowly faded away. 

You’re only everything I’ve ever dreamed... 

Despite their gratefulness for being granted the time that they’ve been given, it never made it any easier. The curse placed upon Sora for his abuse of the power of waking had taken a toll on their longing for each other, but in moments like these, despite the hurt, they still had latent hope that one day this will be over. 

It helps that the sky is mesmerizing. 

Ever dreamed of, ever dreamed of... 

They hold each other’s hands tight, neither letting go as they keep close. The wind quietly whistles as it gently caresses their hair. 

You must be kidding me, did you really think... I could say no...

Sora feels it coming. He turns to her and Kairi hesitates, but finds the willpower to sit up from her position, away from his warmth and into the familiarity of the cold loneliness of her usual day-to-day life. But neither let the other’s hand go. 

I want you for a lifetime, but if you gotta think twice... baby...

“Kairi...” Sora says. “I think it’s time for me to go.” 

Despite how heart aches, Kairi nods understandably. “I know.” 

I don’t wanna know, baby... I don’t wanna know... 

With equally sad smiles, they close the gap between them and press their lips together. Kairi deepens the kiss as a tear streams down her left cheek. How bittersweet. How could something be so bittersweet and tear her apart all at the same time? 

Everything is just right, but if you gotta think twice, baby... I don’t wanna know, baby...  

As they part, Sora grips her hand tighter. “I’ll come back to you. I promise.” 

She grips his hand back just as hard despite the fact she feels herself slowly beginning to grip nothing but air. “I know you will.” 

And just like that, he’s gone. 

It’s just her again. 

But this time, she looks down at the lucky charm he gives her and sees the determined smile he drew of Kairi. She sniffs, wiping away her tears as she looks up to the sky. An act of forbidden love. But she remembers something that Aqua told her once. And with this trinket of hers, she knows it’s an oath to his return. 

“There’s always a way.” 

I don’t wanna know... 

------------------------

And with that, my final piece for SoKai Day! I’m so glad I was able to celebrate these two dorks, they’ve been my OTP since 2006. Check out the full version of this piece by my amazing friend @amyhayanora​! 

[inviouswriting]

Cruore

It literally means “flowing blood”

Half original. Half going on the recent story I wrote.

Mentioned characters - 

Meeps/Fae - @meepsthemiqo

Shuri - @maiden-born-in-snow

Yume @earthlystar 

Some warnings in here for touching on Kivera’s descent in Hell.

Kivera is use to the smell of blood, the world she is from is full of it. The underworld, the realm of the dead. Her world she has known after her death from the hands of Bathory. She knows the realm inside and out, from the deepest pits in Tartarus and Hell itself. To the highest peak in Purgatory where she watches those who come before her. Seeking passage to Paradise.

Her punishment as much as bestowment. Punishment for her sin, bestowment for her servitude. She is under Thanatos and Hades. She does their work without question, and never asks the Fates of their reasons.

Kivera is capable of seeing the world up to the earliest of her memories she remembers. In other times she has witnessed how civilization takes hold and grows over periods. Other worlds, she sees how far behind, or how they destroy themselves.

The smell she is use to is that of flowing blood. She is use to it so much it doesn’t phase her like her fledgling days. So Kivera stands over a sight she is accustomed to people pleading her for a difference. To be let into Paradise, on behalf of some good merit they did.

“You have not learned yet, and I cannot let you through.” Her voice echoed in the hall, softer as she addressed the face before her, another of many. One she’ll forget after a few days. She sees so many. Her mind constantly drifting back to her interactions in The Source.

She had let a few dozen through, and encountered only a few people who need to humble their hearts more. Still full of resentment.

“Why do you get to play as judgement here?” The words echo in her mind.

“That is just the way things are.. I just do.” She says automatically. Practiced words, ones she has said countless times. The faces change, her words remain the same as she gives these people their tasks and trials to complete. Till she grows tired of doing this, letting the realm do their part.

She retreats to her personal space, and replays the events that she had done. Her own hands burn from when she used her hell flames on Ardbert. She still feels their heat. She had marked three people to keep an eye on. Cid, G’raha, and Ardbert. She had tied their lives into her own spirit. She had to do something to keep them from meddling. 

Kivera recalls her encounter with Cid. He was busy with something he had worked on, barely even noticed her slipping in through a mirror. Before he had known, he felt something graze through his back and touch his very soul before searing heat engulfed him internally. When he had turned around, he was met with the blunt end of a scythe raising him up and pinning him to the wall nearby.

“You’re Shuri and Estinien’s lover?”

“That saves me time. I know you, and have watched you for a while now.” Kivera’s eyes were a bright green behind her mask, and he sees black surrounding them. He felt his limbs as if they were freezing in place.

“What is this about? Surely you are not?”

“Just be quiet and listen to me. You of all people should heed me. You are very much alive, and I am very much capable of ending that now. Right here. So I have a warning for you.”

“I don’t have much of a choice do I?”

“No you do not. Either you heed it or you rather not know what will happen. You have stepped into a world and realm you have no business in. One that WILL kill you. If you have any sort of devotion to your beloved, Yume. You will stay out of the time temporals. I let the events of The First slide, because I was meant to stay out. But I won’t have you setting foot where you shouldn’t now. Be with your lover.” Cid feels his arms returned to normal but his legs felt heavy as stone. 

“I can’t just abandoned my work.” He tries to bargain with her.

“I never said you didn’t have to stop. Just not mess with time. It does not lead to anything good.” She warns him. Her voice softer than he remembered, but in the empty room it was haunting as she is the border between two realms. He notes how with ease she lifts him, not even shaking in her hold bearing his weight at the end of her scythe. 

“I’ll try not to.” He is met with a glare behind the mask, irises flashing orange in her annoyance. He feels his body returned to normal in the way he doesn’t feel his body stone and the blood rushing back through him. Kivera turns and tosses him with her scythe across the room.

Kivera wanders to the door to the workshop and exits it, scaring Wedge with the sudden slam of the door. She stalks out and goes to stand in the center of Revenant’s Toll, she still had one more person to see within this place..

Kivera’s memories of what happened after replay, she had only intended to scare the miqo. 

“Maledetto! Ardbert! Why did you have to....“ She throws a fireball across the floor letting it race and fizzle out before it reaches her scrolls. She had lingered in a mirror when she spied on the meeting at Rising Stones. She saw the way her loved ones defended her name. How Shuri didn’t reveal everything about her, Divinity had to disclose, she doesn’t blame her for talking about her so much. Explaining her reason and resolve.

She sees how haunted G’raha Tia looks at how the Scions seem to just accept it, not wanting to make a further mess by targeting her as an enemy. They are wise in that choice. They know her power already with Amaurot. How she can raze a world, how she can destroy something without a thought. They see keeping her on their side more vital than a dispute.

Kivera felt guilty for how she treated G’raha, but she did not feel sorry for the way she went about her methods. He had to know the gravity of his meddling. That the lives he altered permanently, they have to deal with the repercussions. Meeps and Fae both have to come to terms with their feelings. How to raise a child without their parent they had spent.

“A parent is a god in the eyes of a child.” Her voice comes out in a whisper, she would never have that opportunity. Her life had been snuffed out decades ago. She regrets attacking Ardbert, he had just gained her trust. Then shattered it with careless words.

Antares’ orb reflects her eyes in a deep blue at that feeling. She cared, she knows their interaction is unavoidable. She feels the familiar pricks in her mind from Divinity searching for her. She quickly shuts her out, unable to really show the Libra spirit the sorrow she feels. 

Ardbert used it as a means to provoke her, and she let loose on him. To draw her attention off G’raha, and onto him full force. It worked, she had attacked him in pain, they had exchanged blows to the point she had invoked Pluto into her own body. A deity of destruction. If Divinity hadn’t intervened. She is certain Ardbert might not be around due to the magnitude of what she was about to unleash on him.

Kivera feels another prick into her link, and sighs as she curls into one of the beds she keeps to lounge on. 

“Te amo.. You and Shuri.” She gives Divinity what she seeks. Her response to ensure she would come back to them.

Her mind drifts to the time she spent in Hell. Wandering as a broken soul, stumbling blinded, and torn apart almost from the many who saw a pristine being and set about ruining her in every which way. She feels the hands still when they gouged skin or her eyes.

She resigns her thoughts to another thing, she needed to see Chiron. He helped her through the days following Damien’s death, then after when the conditions of his revival were placed on her. When she was asked when she would return. She answered after she visits the Sagittarius spirit. She needed tempering in her abilities, how to redirect her anger, her alignment had shifted in that fight to a little more chaotic than her neutral state. 

She’d have to summon G’raha when she returned. Any explanation she should give him, is best from herself. She didn’t need her loved ones apologizing on her behalf for losing herself.

Kivera ruffles the hair of Silvara, the sphinx raises her head to eye her.

“Tell me of a riddle.” Kivera asks her, and Silvara thinks about it.

“You are planning to see him?” A nod and she stretches herself across the reaper’s body.

“No.” Kivera snaps her attention to her.

“Why?” She was being denied entry.

“You know what must be done. A riddle nor Chiron will give you more answer than what you already know.” Silvara feels Kivera stir underneath her, and only presses down, grateful for her lion like body having some weight to pin the angel down.

“And what is that answer?!” She is met with a smirk.

“That would give away the answer.” Kivera tries to slip out from her grasp. Silvara keeps her there. Not inclined to move off and lets her frustrated curses be sound in her ears.

“Maledetto!!!!!” 

“Silenzio!” Silvara chirps back taunting her. Kivera blinks, and resigns herself.

She did know what needed to be done.

Apologies to those involved. She had let her own wrath speak for her. 

“Forgiveness right?” She says quietly.

“Bingo. Head scratches.” Silvara demands. Kivera sighs and gives the sphinx pets on her head. She won’t be allowed up unless she does.

“Don’t eat my books again in my absence.” Kivera reminds her.

“They were ones that you wouldn’t miss!”

“Silvara! Don’t eat my books! Eat Chirons! He has more than me.” Silvara gets off of her finally, and lets the reaper up.

“You’re going back right?” Silvara takes over Kivera’s spot.

“I need to. I did some things I shouldn’t have, and there is a few who miss me already.”

“Divinity always did worry when you up and leave. Even in Paradise.”

“I have a role to do, and I must see it through.” Kivera starts towards a mirror, to head back to the world she ran away from in pain.

“Don’t burn people too much again.”

“Aww... that is my specialty.” Kivera sees the grin on the sphinx, then promptly curls her wings around herself.

Kivera enters through her mirror, she had some atonements to make.

~~~~~

Translation note -

“Damn you!”

“Silence.”

[renegadesrpg]

Dark Angels: Creation. Part 16, Sisters. Bryn and Layla

Bryn: Linking my arms with her after she and Sean say their quick goodbyes, I throw a look at Sean that says 'you-me-we're-going-to-talk' as I speak to her soothingly… "Come on. Let's let the boys be boys." Not that she really needed me to be soothing. She'd been scared, sure, but not in the panicked-deer-in-the-headlight way. No, it was the kind of scared that gave a warrior their edge in battle. The kind that sharpened your mind and reflexes. Adrenaline pumping, awareness of the danger, but not surrender to it. Boudicca would have approved. Without saying more, I mist us back to the Brazil safehouse. The three story Mediterranean style mansion could only have been Sin's idea of a safe house, but again, hiding in plain sight is his style. And he’d been right. The coffee plantation the home was on gave it the cover it needed. If the locals thought we were drug lords, well, it kept everybody in line. Rematting in the grand foyer I try to see it through her eyes. The foyer opened into a sumptuous open concept living/dining room with a fireplace at the end. The walls were done in earth-tone stone that extended up to fame the balcony/hallways of the second and then third floors. The floors were done in native hardwoods that mirrored the walls and the furnishings were a soothing, crisp cream and taupe. A bar lined one wall; the bottom painted the same crisp cream, the bar top finely veined black granite. Instead of screaming 'rich' at you and expecting you to be impressed, it invited you in where the luxury would gradually seduce you into comfort. A far cry from the cave in Wales I'd called home until Sin gathered us in to fight this war. And I'd probably continue to use it as home afterwards now that I had my workshop in place. Turning to the delicate-looking female, I smile... "So, are you ok? Sean healed that scratch, but I wouldn't blame you if you could use a shot of whiskey right about now." Layla: *This female had a power about her that made a fine warrior. If she was like my family she wasn't pleased to be here. Much preferring the action.* "A cold water would be lovely, please." *I wandered the area in a bit of a circular fashion taking in the immense home I'd been brought to. This place was not as big as the Manse but it was finely crafted and the decor was lovely without being gaudy.* "This home is very lovely, is it yours? Bryn: Laughing as I move behind the bar and take two glasses from the open shelving behind it. “No..... Sin is the one who likes to play the human money game. He has a lot of places like this around the world. He calls them "safe houses" for us. Places for us to use as bolt holes when we needed a respite and didn't want the Horseman to find us. Even though he wasn't leading the reaper corps any longer, he still tried to help us.” I dish some ice in both glasses and then take a bottle of water from the mini-fridge beneath the bar and pour it over the ice. Then I remove a bottle of Laphroaig Lore single from the liquor shelf and pour two fingers over the ice. Handing the glass of water to her, I raise mine to hers* Slainte' Layla: "Slainte" *I return the raise and good cheer and drink heartedly from the glass relishing the chill down my dry throat.* "So, this Horseman is the enemy you must fight to make things right?" Bryn: I tilt my head quizzically at her. “Sean really hasn't told you a lot has he? I'd take that up with him, if I were you. You may look like a fragile flower but there's steel in your spine, girl. He believes it in theory but you need to make him believe it in fact. He needs to understand that keeping things from you isn't protecting you. It's keeping you from protecting yourself.” Taking a long sip of my whisky, I inhale as it burns a comforting path down my throat. “The Horseman is the Horseman of Death. He's in charge of the reaper corps. Or was supposed to be. See, everything dies and the Creator of all worlds knew that death would be a traumatic experience for mortal souls. Some deities took better care of their creations than others, but in general, most needed some help. Unfortunately, The Horseman was a corrupt, lazy bastard almost from the get. He recruited Sin to be his first lieutenant and basically turned things over to him. Sin recruited a lot of reapers from souls that were moving on, including Sean's, Adrian’s, Zav’s and mine. But he couldn't take the corruption and he hit a breaking point. He went rogue to keep from becoming the same monster the Horseman had become. And now it's finally gotten bad enough that Sin's come back to us to take the position he should have had all along. And when he does, balance will be restored. Layla: *I take in all that Bryn had said, nodding when she finished* "When a general has gone astray, he should be put down much like a rabid dog. There is no balance or justice to his reign, that never ends well. As for Sean not telling me the whole story, he didn't want to put a strain on my mind that was still healing from my captivity. I understand why he didn't, but the time has come that I needed to know. Thank you for telling me Mistress Bryn, I appreciate it very much. Is there anything I or my family can do to help? " Bryn: Smiling as I fold my arms and lean onto the bar. I like this one. To paraphrase a quote from an old Indiana Jones movie, 'Sean chose wisely.' "It's just Bryn here. And I appreciate the heart that made that offer but I'm afraid this is above the mortal paygrade. You and your family would be at a massive disadvantage against beings that can kill with a simple touch. I know the vampire race creates fearsome fighters, but we won't put even our own people in harm’s way if we know they don't have a chance in this fight. It's why we're technically outnumbered. I think the best way for you to help is the way you have been. Giving Sean a reason to live through it.” Layla: *I nod in understanding* "My mo chridhe will always have my strength added to his blade in battle and my love as his shield. I would offer my prayers and support to you all as well. You are his family and important to him, therefore you are important to me.” Bryn: Smiling gently at the valiant soul in front of me, I see what drew Sean to her. The soul of this mortal glows. “We'll take all the help we can get. We'll be grateful for your prayers. And I kind of think we're your family now too. Sean's an honorable soul. He may not make it what humans call "legal" until we're out of this, but you're already his and that makes you ours.” Taking another sip and then setting the glass down on the counter. “We're not really set up for vampire needs here...yet.” I'm sure every place Sin owns will be as soon as he knows the species of Sean's soulmate, but for now we’ll have to make do. “But there are heavy curtains that we can draw shut in Sean's room. The place is warded against all comers so you'll be safe enough from intruders, too. Would you like to clean up before he returns?” Layla: "Yes, that would be amazing. Those reapers left a horrid scent. One I wish to rid myself of. Even lessors smell a bit better than that." *I shiver at the thought of anything smelling worse than lessors.* "Where is his room? If it's alright I'd like to rest a bit as well." Bryn: “He's on the second floor. C'mon, I'll take you up.” Slipping my arm through hers as we walk to the stairs. “You know, it's been a long time since I had a sister,” smiling at her. “I think I'm going to like it.” We walk down the hallway to a room on the end and I open the door. The focal point of the room is a large California King bed. And not much else. “I'm afraid Sean lives like an ascetic. It comes from his druid heritage I guess. Before Sin insisted we move here for the duration he had a shack with a cot in it he called home in the Highlands. At least this is an improvement on that.” Gesturing to a door to the left of the bed, “There's a bath in there and,” eyeing your tall form and knowing nothing my curvy 5'3" self has is going to fit your tall slender figure even if leathers were your style, “I can get you something to wear.” I can materialize something from a shop I saw on Rodeo Drive when I picked up a heart attack a few weeks ago. Zav will figure out how to get the money in its accounts. “It'll be in the armoire when you're done with bath.” Layla: “You needn't go to much trouble on my account. One of Sean's shirts and perhaps some yoga pants (I believe that's what humans call them) are all I need. Thank you for your kindness and watching over me, though I suspect you wish you were in the battle. I'm proud to have you as a sister." *I give you a quick hug and head to the bathroom, shutting the door and turning the water on to warm it.* Bryn: “Hmm, yoga pants...” thinking back to the shop, I focus on a pair and rematerialize them here. I make an estimate on sizes and bring some lacy underthings with the pants. Sean can thank me after I'm done laying him out for keeping me out of the fight today. Putting them on the bed, I add a tee-shirt from Sean's closet and I'm done. After pulling the drapes shut and making sure there no light can enter, I quietly exit, shutting the door and making my way downstairs to sip my whiskey as I wait for the boys to come home. Layla: *I undress and get under the warm spray of water relishing the feel of today being washed away. Those bastards were nasty but Sean and his family will prevail. Of that I have no doubt, just wish I could do more to help him. I finish scrubbing the blood and dirt from my body and wash my hair. Once that's done I step out, dry off, and use the brush I see to comb out my hair. I step out into the bedroom and see the clothing Bryn left for me. Smiling I put on the undergarments and Sean's shirt. I put the pants on a chair I spot in the corner.* "Won't need those for sleeping," *I say as I climb on the bed, lay down, and instantly fall asleep.* #TBC