#ofcursedarrows

[forgottenanya]

"For awhile, yeah." Anya nodded. "I was with this old lady, Andrea, before that. When she died I got moved to the orphanage." Andrea had never particularly seemed to like Anya, but it was at least more private. The Darling Home was always at capacity. "Eh, it was fine as far as orphanages go. From what I heard, it got better when Minerva Mouser took over. They'd already kicked me out at that point."

Henley wanted to pry about what exactly the other girl was looking for, but she held off. It didn't seem like any of her business, judging by how vague the redhead was speaking. So she moved onto the next statement instead. "You lived in the Darling Home?" Looking back, Henley had always secretly wished that she'd ended up there instead of at Greta Queen's yard. It would have saved her a lot of trouble. But she also wouldn't have met Eira, and she wasn't sure if she could live with that. Even if she hated herself for it. "I thought that place was supposed to be nice."

[tghtropes]

"Is that what we're doing? Playing up the big vampire and werewolf rivalry? It's stupid, you know. A Hunter doesn't care if you've got fur or fangs. They see the same thing when they look at us: monsters. But sure, let's all continue squabbling pointlessly. I've got nothing but time now."

"I don't think that statement is too far off when it's clearly crawling with vampires." Henley made a slight face at the girl, not able to really help herself. Maybe it was prejudiced, but she didn't care.

[rottenjudgements]

Meg was, as a rule of thumb, vigilante. She liked to pay attention to what was going on. "I was mostly confused as to why a caster's daughter was running around with a pack of vampires." And Perry Kingsley, nonetheless. He came by Tartarus on occasion but Meg refused to engage. "But I'll have to pass. Caster's don't tend to love vampires in their space."

"Yeah, I don't want to talk about Ms. Queen." Henley lost the ability to call the wretched woman by her first name a long time ago. Literally, considering the control she forked over the moment she gave her heart up. "You have a question, ask her yourself. She stops by Queen Cosmetics sometimes."

[clawsofalostduchess]

"Hmm, fascinating point. Taken, but I can think of three reasons for when things are alright." she said almost playfully, her siblings may be curious but they were sweet and seeing them happy was more than enough."

Diana offered a gentle smile before approaching to give the other a hug, "It really has been! Is so good to see you well and in such high spirits!"

"When are things ever alright?" Henley couldn't help the self-deprecating laugh she gave as she raised her eyebrows at the other werewolf. "It's been awhile, Diana."

[snwhite]

Some things took some getting used to. It would be remiss of Eira to say that everything had changed and leave it at that. Yes, everything had changed. That was just an extreme oversimplification. The woman she had once considered to be the closest thing she had to a mother quite literally wanted to eat her heart. Her first love — perhaps her only true love — was the one tasked with collecting said heart. It had been a near impossible situation to try and grapple with, and Eira had tried to make the right decision. She wasn't so sure she had succeeded. Now, she had no choice but to forge ahead.

Finding her way to Henley wasn't entirely on purpose. Each of her seven new guardians would be incredibly quick to tell her what a bad idea it was about to be around the woman tasked with killing her, but some things couldn't be helped. Henley had been a part of Eira for a long time. She had known her before her father had died, seen what she was like before Greta had left her claw marks all over her ward. Henley knew Eira, and that was terrifying. How clandestine it was that the two would end up face to face with only the birds and squirrels to witness the reunion.

The words were, at first, met with silence. It figured that she wouldn't be able to keep her new state of existence a secret. Would she even want to? Greta still had Henley's heart. There wasn't much they could change. Her mouth now seemed incredibly dry, and Eira struggled to swallow.

"Well," the bravado trembled in a feeble attempt to seem more confident. "Hearts do tend to stop beating when you die." No, she was going about this all wrong. Eira tried again. "Look, I know you're not going to like everything I'm about to tell you, but I'm asking you to listen."

@snwhite

The woods were quiet, peaceful even, as Henley slowly came to her senses on the dirt. Birds were chirping, and the sun was out, which meant it was definitely morning. Every muscle and joint in her body ached as she pushed herself up onto her elbows, and then eventually onto her feet. It took a few seconds to get acclimated to being awake, especially the morning after a full moon, but she eventually found the hiding place where her clothes were stashed from the night before.

She was half-dressed when she heard the sound of a branch cracking in the distance, and her senses immediately went on alert as she finished pulling her shirt over her head and whipped around. When she saw Eira standing there, she was frozen in place. Partially in disbelief but also from terror. "Eira. You can't... You can't be here. Near me. What are you doing?" It had been weeks since Greta forced Henley to capture Eira's heart, but she didn't feel the uncontrollable urge to kill the other girl. Something wasn't right.

The longer Henley stared, the harder the entire situation started to sink in as she furrowed her brows and took a slow step back. "I didn't hear you coming.. because I can't hear your heartbeat."

[tghtropes]

"I suppose I've gotten far worse than a little agro before. I can handle that." Words no longer meant much to Sally. She'd heard too many of them over the decades. "I like you. You seem reasonable."

There was a quip about how old the vampire really was in there somewhere, but Henley couldn't bring herself to actually say it. She was tired of the fighting when it came to their species. With Eira's current... situation, she was starting to see things with a slightly more open mind. Slightly. "Not bad. Maybe a little agro, but not bad."

[itsashock]

"How long doesn't matter. It just matters that it's his now." The wolf could growl if she wanted to. Shock made it her business to know things. Information was one of the ways she, Lukas and Brant stayed of use to Otis. Word tended to get around quickly. This werewolf — Henley — she had hung around with Greta Queen's stepdaugther before she turned. Now, that stepdaughter sulked around with James Kingsley, who worked for Otis. They were all connected in way or another. Shock sat on that piece of information, deciding to save it for later. "What does it matter to you?"

Henley had to hold back a growl in the back of her throat as she narrowed her eyes at the younger girl. "Since when did Otis own a piece of the reserve?" It felt like his territory was expanding inch by inch every day.

[menuemarie]

"I don't like mud." She sniffed, unable to stop herself from being petulant. "Maybe you're okay with stinking, but I'm not. Besides, Adelaide didn't like us getting the carpet dirty." They weren't living with Adelaide anymore, though. They couldn't as long as Edgar was being a greedy asshole. "And for the record, I'm not afraid. Nothing scares me."

Of all people to run into, Henley wouldn't complain about the mysterious figure in the woods being Marie. Before Greta lost her mind and everything went to shit, Henley had even been friends with a couple of the wolves in the Bonfamille pack. Things were certainly different now, but the sight of Marie brought a soft smile to Henley's face as she pushed some of her hair back behind her ear and shrugged. "What, are you afraid of a little water? Or God forbid, mud.... The drama."

[crpsebrides]

Emily laughed. She couldn't help it. There were so many things that she had become and okay was so far from any of them. Poor Emily Bones, murdered for her fortune by a man who claimed to love her. Emily Bones, the vampire who was falling apart. Beautifully tragic, tragically beautiful. She had forgotten what okay even felt like. "I'm in love." It was easier to focus on that, to focus on Victor. "Is anyone who's in love okay?"

Henley's brows furrowed as she looked down at the dirt stains that covered the other girl's dress. There was a... strange smell in the air, but she tried not to let it bother her. "...Are you okay?" It only felt right to ask, really.

[maidmariian]

"Well, thank goodness for that. My arm is getting tired." That was a lie. Marian had been conditioned from childhood to increase stamina and durability. She'd learned the hard way that she could go hours locked into position. "It's interesting you said one of the bad ones." Her father would consider a good supernatural to be an oxymoron. "Do you really believe you're good?"

Henley's eyes stayed glued to the crossbow in the other woman's hand as she stepped forward, and she couldn't help but to roll them at Marian's response. Truthfully, the sight of the weapon didn't exactly scare Henley. She'd put her fear of death long behind her. "I'm not one of the bad ones, so you can put that thing down."

[kidadade]

Before, it would have been a question she didn't dare answer. Kida never would have put herself in the position to speak with an outsider in the first place. Now, it was different. It was not like before. "The Atlanteans," she said, light eyes moving to mark the woman's response. "You're not a caster, though."

Henley found herself eyeing the bag of herbs the other girl had as she raised a curious brow. It was getting late, and the last thing she wanted was trouble. No trouble was good. She was fully preparing herself to need to shift and run out of there if this other girl really was a caster, but thankfully she seemed to mean her words as the two of them stood across from each other in the forest. "What coven do you belong to?"

[tghtropes]

"I wasn't born yesterday." It had been a long time since Sally had been born. Her age wasn't apparent on her face but she swore she could feel the weight of the years in her bones. Or, maybe William was right. She always had been a tad dramatic. "Would it be bad if I said I almost wished someone would try something?"

"You do know that wandering around the woods at night is stupidly dangerous... Right?" Henley didn't think it had to be said out loud, but she was feeling snarky. It was rare that she wandered into anyone else this late at night while out in the forest.

[itsashock]

"Why? Are there monsters?" The words were coupled with a sardonic tone that Shock found herself unable to shake. "I'd bet that it's more dangerous for you than me here, but it wouldn't be fair as you'd automatically lose. This part of the woods belong to Otis."

"You do know that wandering around the woods at night is stupidly dangerous... Right?" Henley didn't think it had to be said out loud, but she was feeling snarky. It was rare that she wandered into anyone else this late at night while out in the forest.

[menuemarie]

She was fresh from a transformation. The t-shirt Marie had tugged on clung to sweat slicked skin. "My sister would say the same thing." Diana had become so paranoid lately, but the younger werewolf knew why. The eldest Bonfamille had always been overprotective to a fault. "It's not my fault that no one else wanted to come out tonight. It's going to get rainy and gross soon." Her nose instantly scrunched in disdain at the thought.

"You do know that wandering around the woods at night is stupidly dangerous... Right?" Henley didn't think it had to be said out loud, but she was feeling snarky. It was rare that she wandered into anyone else this late at night while out in the forest.

[maidmariian]

Marian was off duty. While she always considered herself a hunter, her officer duties were more strictly regulated to her shifts. Anything that happened in the woods would be considered personal and not professional. Stopping to adjust the crossbow she carried, Marian sighed once. "It seems like you all have the same three catchphrases and vague threats you like to say once it gets dark. Tell me, do supernaturals share a script? It needs a bit of work, I'm afraid."

"You do know that wandering around the woods at night is stupidly dangerous... Right?" Henley didn't think it had to be said out loud, but she was feeling snarky. It was rare that she wandered into anyone else this late at night while out in the forest.

[kidadade]

Silence stretched between the two for a long moment. Competent hands deftly sorted the recently gathered herbs into the satchel she carried. It hadn't been long since her coven had been revealed to the rest of the town, but Kida wasn't skittish around outsiders. If anything, the ticking time bomb of the coven's traditions had emboldened her. "Are you saying that to try and scare me?" It wasn't working. "I want no trouble."

"You do know that wandering around the woods at night is stupidly dangerous... Right?" Henley didn't think it had to be said out loud, but she was feeling snarky. It was rare that she wandered into anyone else this late at night while out in the forest.