0618 WORDS FOR TAIYA veissa took an arrow to the butt thigh. elysian

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,450,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=style, background-color: #6d6d6d;] she loved the thrill of the hunt. it was exciting for her, made her blood boil and rush; to feel flesh give way to a cold blade, to see an arrow bury deep within its mark - shock them into submission, bring them to their knees until merciful death claimed them. it was primal and base to her, stirring the slumbering beast inside; when she felt this guilty, shameful need to murder not for sport, but for fun, then she knew the time was getting close. soon she would need to leave, exile herself from the city. ride out on agro, faithful hound at her side, bow resting across her knees and quiver on her back. "off to hunt, then?"

[/i] the stable boy would ask, and she would simply nod and smile a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, and think to herself, if only you knew.

it happened again, and again, because she was so weak. at the end of each night she would promise to not give in again - stare at her bloodied reflection in the water, feel the blood and skin stuck in her teeth. her stomach would churn, aching until she vomited - and then she would cry, forgive herself, and curse the beast within. a deadly, harmful cycle that weighed on her mind and body, leaving her ragged and tired, because after all of these years she was still bitter, angry and ashamed.

the wolf didn't care though. she cared about the hunt - blood filling her massive maw, sating her hunger until the urge to run struck again, and then the hunt was on once more - but not about the thoughts, the ever-so-human emotions attached to it. she didn't have to, not when the only society she belonged to consisted her herself, the dog and the horse. morals didn't occur to her - a lost concept, meaningless and abstract. she was all base need and animalistic behavior, energy and joy. she knew no sadness, tension or stress - not like wintervoss did. conscious thought drifted away, gone with her human body. the cage was unlocked, the door opened, and veissa would fade away in the safety of the wild.

it was a hunter that brought her back, the wolf melting away - peace and tranquility completely shattered, the threat of discovery upon her. an arrow was buried in her shoulder, cutting through flesh and searing hot; another hissed in the darkness, striking her leg. a pained yelp escaped her maw as she turned and ran, praying she'd been mistaken as a bear, that she'd make it to the cave before the wolf form slipped from her grasp - before the hunter had time to see what she really was. ahead of her the trees began to thin, the darkness of the cave beckoning her; agro, settled at the mouth, started and stood. she almost cried out as she bolted past the mare, into the safety of the cave, feeling her shape blur and twist and break. she shattered like glass, bones resetting, and she staggered blindly towards the heat of a fire.

five heartbeats, ten shaking breaths, and then she had her bearings back. she was naked and cold, and mika was staring at her bleeding wounds (had she left a blood trail? gods she hoped not.) but she didn't have time to stop and think or reassure him. instead she clenched her jaw and pulled the arrow from her shoulder, then her thigh, and wrapped the wounds to be dealt with later; she snatched her clothes from her pack with a vengeance, wrestling into them as she hopped across the cave floor to peek outside.[/div][/div][/td][/tr][/table]

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[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 400px; background-color: #171818; padding:20px; border-top: 10px #171818 solid; border-bottom: 10px #171818 solid;] I’ll spread my wings and I’ll learn how to Fly {WORDS } SOMETHING {TAGGED } Veiss {WEARING} Armor On silent feet, Elmira studied the track of the being she was currently following. Her arrow had found its mark back there, she knew it had, but it wasn’t finished yet. She had simply been on her mare, tracking down ruins that a man had asked her to investigate for a certain crown, buried deeply beneath the surface of the ground when she had come across it. Elmira had seen some odd things in her lifetime, recently even taking down a dragon that had wanted to devour her, and she had seen every beast in the book. But nothing like what she had thought she had seen. Of course, there was always whispers of werewolves, but she had never seen one herself. When she had seen the beast, Elmira hadn’t thought, but reacted. She had notched an arrow in her bow, and met her mark, though the last twist at the end had caused it to go into its shoulder, rather than its heart. Her second arrow she couldn’t be sure had had any effect. So now she was tracking down her prey. Elmira had nothing against most beasts or creatures, and was content to let them go their way, just as she would go hers, rathering there be peace. But she also knew the importance of safety, and with creatures she couldn’t identify hanging around, she knew what she had to do, at least if the beast was violent in its desire for flesh. She couldn’t have something stalking her while she searched through some dark caves. She valued her own skin more than that. Perhaps it was dangerous, going after a hostile and wounded beast, but Elmira had gone after plenty of those in the past, and was feeling confident in her own abilities. Her ice wolf padded beside her. He usually had the enthusiasm for the hunt. More vicious than a dog, he also was just as sensitive to commands to his master as a dog was. A perfect companion for a huntress. Lifting herself up from her crouched position over the tracks, Elmira started to follow them. A few times she lost the trail, or went the wrong way, but she always got back on track. Often because her wolf would never have lost the trail and would lead her back. It was in that way that she found the cave, a mare standing faithfully outside the entrance. The tracks, though slighter now, hardly readable went directly into the cave. Elmira hesitated to go inside, and simply looked at the entrance for a few minutes, her wolf poised beside her. A slight growl was heard after a moment, and the blonde shifted her gaze from the dark cave to the wolf that was beside her, looking intently forward. She hesitated and shifted to the side while she decided what to do. Elmira hated to walk blindly into a cave with a hostile something inside. Still, she had come this far, and she couldn’t be attempting to find any ruins that she was to study if there was a creature around, waiting to sink its teeth into her soft skin. No, she was going to have to deal with this problem. And so she notched another arrow in her bow, softly commanded her wolf, and started into the cave mouth slowly. Almost instantly she came face to face with a female, and had her bow up and ready to pierce her beating heart with the arrow that had missed the first time. Or perhaps she was mistaken. A slightly confused look crossed her features for a moment, even as she had her arrow pointed at her, no idea what to say or what to do. While she was attempting to think, Storm growled ferociously at the woman and dog present before her. “You change quickly.”, she stated finally. {NOTES}

table by CALIFORNIA DREAMING of CAUTION 2.0, lyrics by Kelly Clarkson

0685 WORDS FOR TAIYA veissa took an arrow to the butt thigh. outfit - cloth elysian

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,450,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=style, background-color: #6d6d6d;] she almost impaled herself on the arrow. it was mika, in all honesty, that saved her. the scent of another canine had brought him bounding, planting himself before her, head lowered and lips pulled back in a predator's smile. she was forced to stop short, to focus through the haze that threatened to overwhelm her - to take in the terrifying view of a hunter ready to bag a kill. the breton inhaled sharply, body visibly flinching - death was inevitable at this point; a slip of the fingers and it would all be over. the secrecy, the lies, the careful planning that went into maintaining her shameful life - all to be ended by an arrow to the heart at point blank range. the seconds ticked by, but still the girl didn't fire, and death never came. still, veissa found she couldn't move - couldn't speak, couldn't even call upon her magicka. a bitter swirl of emotions lodged in her chest, her heart seeming to stutter with the weight; she was almost angry, disappointed, but she dare not look further than that. it was only when the huntress spoke that veissa moved, slowly shifting away from the weapon, leaning heavily against the cave wall. the cold stone bit into her shoulder, sharp and ragged, but it helped to ground her - forced away the encroaching darkness, the fatigue that dragged at her bones and slowed her mind, dulled her senses. "i'm not one to linger when faced with danger," she replied with a shrug, voice low and uneven. she paused for a moment, rubbing at her shoulder and catching her breath, taking the time to study the other. the huntress was obviously a nord - taller than the breton, with blonde hair and bright blue eyes, clothed in leather armor. light armor. fleet-footed. she turned her odd eyes back to the bow (ebony, just like hers; a beautiful choice in weapon), a delicate brow raised. "congratulations are in order though. you've caught your prey. what shall you do now?" there was no mocking in her voice - bitter amusement, perhaps; a nervous and rough tone, certainly. she knew that the last few minutes could be the last for either of them, that in mere heartbeats someone could be lying in a pool of their own blood, or burnt to a crisp. she also knew that she was tired and aching, would have to rely on her magicka because her hands were shaking too much to handle her sword or dagger; and she was so tired, the exhilarating rush having evaporated when the first arrow struck. "i don't want to fight. do you? you've not killed me yet, though you saw me as a beast. now we're on equal footing, and you've still yet to put an end to my life. why?"

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[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 400px; background-color: #171818; padding:20px; border-top: 10px #171818 solid; border-bottom: 10px #171818 solid;] I’ll spread my wings and I’ll learn how to Fly {WORDS } Something! {TAGGED } Veiss {WEARING} Something! Elmira wasn’t sure why she didn’t release the arrow to pierce the heart of the woman she had cornered. In all good reasoning, she shouldn’t be hesitating right now. A hunter never stalked their prey only to refuse to attack them at the last minute. No, it didn’t make sense, her hesitation…except that she had never hunted a human before. ’It wasn’t a human.’, she reminded herself mentally, only to refute that instantly. Even if the woman hadn’t been human while she was stalking her, she was human now, and Elmira didn’t want to harm a human. There had been only one true time in her life that she had set out with that intention in mind. That had been the man that had killed her family in cold blood. Even then she hadn’t had to actually complete the task – a bear doing it before she could. That was why she hesitated, eyes furrowed. Still, she didn’t loosen her bowstring, blue eyes simply staring at the woman she had come across. Eyes dipped down to look at where her arrows should have been, or the wounds. She was positive that her arrows, or at least the first, had hit their mark. Not where she had been aiming, since the woman wouldn’t be alive right now had it done so, but her shoulder. And so her gaze dropped from her face to her shoulder, studying her stance and poise to see if there was any wound underneath her clothes. After that her gaze dropped to the dog that had placed itself in front of the woman. It was obvious that he would protect his master, and Storm wasn’t having any of that. Her silver wolf was crouched beside her, a fierce snarl escaping his lips as he kept his gaze centered on the other canine. She also knew that her wolf wouldn’t attack unless egged into doing so, or at her command. And the woman gave her an answer that caused her to glance back at her. “Smart.”, she said simply. Elmira had never had a way with people or speech, and didn’t claim to. The less she had to talk, the better. The question that was given her was, unfortunately, one that Elmira wasn’t sure about. What was she going to do with this woman? She wasn’t sure. If she was some sort of a menace, she didn’t want to just leave her, but she didn’t want to kill a human that wasn’t currently attacking her. So there was her dilemma. “I haven’t decided yet.”, she concluded, feigning impartiality. She wished that she did know what to do now that she had caught up to the woman…but unfortunately, she didn’t. Elmira still hadn’t slackened her bowstring when she explained her own actions and asked why she was doing so. Honestly, she wasn’t quite sure herself. “I don’t hunt people.”, she said finally after a long few moments of hesitation. Elmira really wasn’t sure just why she was acting the way she was, but the fact of the matter was that she hadn’t attacked the woman again. If she hadn’t by this point, she wouldn’t unless provoked. “But you weren’t human before.”, she concluded, before she lowered her arrow slightly. “Did I hit you?”, she asked, referring to her arrows. {NOTES} NOTTA

table by CALIFORNIA DREAMING of CAUTION 2.0, lyrics by Kelly Clarkson

0685 WORDS FOR TAIYA veissa took an arrow to the butt thigh. outfit - cloth elysian

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,450,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=style, background-color: #6d6d6d;] her breath hitched in her chest, heart thudding painfully, icy blue eyes piercing her armor - accessing wounds yet unseen, slicing into her skin like steel daggers. she stubbornly turned her face away, unwilling to watch as the huntress observed her handiwork; surely she could see the fine trembles that wracked through the breton's body, the self-loathing in mismatched eyes, the bone-crushing pain of having your bones and muscles forcibly broken, reshaped and mended twice in one day with nothing but short-lived adrenaline to dull the ache. who couldn't see it? she wore her guilt for all to see - pretty little secrets, ugly little lies; everything she wanted to hide, laid bare before the world. or perhaps she was merely paranoid. her fingers were twitching uneasily, her weight rhythmically shifting from one hip to the other, and the hesitant silence was bearing down on her. she needed time she didn't have - to collect herself, to stop the world from being so damn distracting. the fire crackled on behind her, and she could feel the stiffness of the air, and the low hum of the growling canines was becoming unbearable. off in the distance a rabbit was bounding through the snow, completely oblivious to the snapping blasts of wind, and the nord still hadn't lowered her weapon. "i don't hunt people."

[/i] the impartiality - and deafening silence - was broken, and though veissalyn was left horribly confused regarding the nature of man, she no longer anticipated a fight. she ignored the statement about her humanity - lack thereof? - in favor of backing away from the lowered arrow, ducking down and firmly pulling at the scruff of mika's neck. "you did. twice. you're very good - mika, desist! - but it's nothing i can't handle." magicka curled around her hand, bathing it in gold - a few precious moments, a mere demonstration. as it is, i'm cold. you're - a nord, so you're used to this weather, but -" what was the proper protocol for this situation? was it polite to invite her in - was she supposed to be polite? people were so confusing with their little unspoken rules - "you can join me at the fire, if you'd like. or don't. it'll be too dark to see soon though, and in these times that makes for nasty, dangerous travelling." scowling, she shooed the stubborn dog away with a solid nudge, and he skulked away to (presumably) pout by the blaze.

the breton straightened up and followed him, casting glances over her shoulder. a woman of honor wouldn't attack a turned back.[/div][/div][/td][/tr][/table]

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[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 400px; background-color: #171818; padding:20px; border-top: 10px #171818 solid; border-bottom: 10px #171818 solid;] I’ll spread my wings and I’ll learn how to Fly {WORDS } 613 {TAGGED } Veiss {WEARING} Fur armor After she made her comment about not hunting animals, Elmira slackened her bowstring slightly, almost waiting in anticipation for the woman or her dog to attack her. After all, even if the woman hadn’t been human when she had attacked her, she might still get upset about the wounds given from the blonde and become vicious because of it. Elmira didn’t know her or what she was like of course, but that could either be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how this situation went. “I was shooting at something I thought to be a beast.”, she countered. Elmira would never – aside from a certain situation in the past – intentionally hunt a human. Despite Skyrim being full of violence, Elmira had only once in her life actually wanted to harm someone. Though Elmira didn’t much like having someone tell her that she had hunted a human, she also had to nod her head in thanks when she mentioned that she was a good shot. Furrowing her brow, the young Nord listened as the Breton women started to talk about how Elmira was a Nord and used to the cold but she was not. It was true, she was used to the colder temperatures – so much so that the snow wasn’t bothering her and the cold on the bare parts of her body didn’t seem uncomfortable. Still, she was suspicious of the woman when she mentioned that she was cold. Even though she hadn’t tried anything since Elmira had found her, the young huntress couldn’t be sure that she wouldn’t attack given the ability to do so. Filled with indecision, Elmira hesitated to follow the other woman when she started to make her way over toward the fire. Could she trust this woman? So far she didn’t seem to be in any danger around her, but the woman also was a werewolf, which meant that she was unpredictable. At the same time, she did have a valid story, and Elmira thought a fire sounded pleasant enough. She hadn’t really been in this area before today, so finding her way back might be difficult, along with the prowling creatures that stayed there in the night. For a moment more she hesitated, before Elmira ended up trailing behind the woman on her journey to the fire. Storm had growled again low in his throat when the second dog sulked away, in which Elmira gave him a sharp command to stop. The command was followed by the snowy wolf, who turned its gaze to her in wait for its next command. It didn’t take Elmira very long to reach the fire as well. With her bow still out and held loosely, Elmira extended one of her arms and glanced from the fire to the woman that was also by the fire. “My name is Elmira.” She offered that much of her name while they stood there, waiting to see if the woman would give her a name back. “Are you sure the wounds are alright?” {NOTES} :3

table by CALIFORNIA DREAMING of CAUTION 2.0, lyrics by maroon 5

0685 WORDS FOR taiya veissa took an arrow to the butt thigh. outfit - cloth not done elysian

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,450,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=style, background-color: #6d6d6d;] She almost giggled at the counter; throwing a quick glance over her shoulder, a delicate brow cocked in quiet mirth, she shakily replied, "A pitiful beast at that. I didn't even turn to fight." A half-choked laugh punctuated her sorry attempt at humor (she was too tired to reach into her mind and grab those pre-recorded 'jokes' she'd gathered, too tired to even see straight), weak and catching, jarring her shoulder. She winced, hissing at the sudden stinging pain, and brought a trembling hand up to grasp at the wound. She ignored the way her hand came back wet and slick, smelling of sharp metal, and her stomach roiled. She didn't stop too long to think about it - about infection or pain, or the way the smell was disgustingly tempting. (She wasn't unaware of her beastly nature, no matter how much she wished she was. She knew what would happen if she indulged in these baser instincts, and the thought of her mouth watering and pulse quickening at the sight made her physically ill.) The fire was hot on her pale skin when she crouched, rifling through her pack with her clean (untainted) hand. Her fingers closed around a satchel, tucked deep inside, and she tugged it free with a small victorious grunt, turning to face the taller woman again. The Nord - Elmira, princess, so fitting of someone with the true Nord look - was standing with arm extended, bow held loosely in the other. She gave a little wave of her right hand, sticky with crimson liquid, as a way of apology (and if she was glad she had a reason to keep from engaging in physical contact then she blamed it on exhaustion and pain), collapsing onto a small boulder and pulling a small blue bottle free.

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