#danciingashes

[beastialshimmer]

"This way, you get what you wanted." - danciingashes

Epic: The Musical Cyclops Sage||Accepting.

"No, stay. Please."

Her voice sounded normal, yet why did it feel like her vocal cords were not completely obeying her? Clawed, orange-glowing fingers sunk deep into her brain. Her skull should feel like it would splinter, yet Shauna Vayne felt strangely relaxed. Like a marionette, which did not have to think about how its body moved. Her cloak was torn on the shoulder blade from where Evelynn had aimed one of her lashers at her. The cut was not deep, and the red beads felt cool against Shauna's pale skin. It could have been worse - deeper, more hurtful, more vicious.

Yet it did not have the chance to happen, for Shyvana had slapped the demon with her massive tail, sending her flying into the undergrowth of the Wyldwoods. Evelynn had stared after them with yellow eyes, glowing like coins in the dark before she had fled them yet again. Shauna dimly remembered screaming and howling before something nameless and more powerful overtook her. She had aimed her crossbow straight at Shyvana's face, the arrow glowing an aggressive bloodred. It would have been so easy to fire it. Just one shot and Shyvana's scaly head would have been departed from her dragon body.

However, somewhere in Shauna Vayne's convoluted and wounded mind, she had known that Shyvana had not meant ill. She had merely been trying to protect her. Vayne dropped the crossbow before her feet. Pressing her hands against her thighs, she stood there, panting like an animal after a long hunt without a single kill. "I had her, I had her, I had her - I HAD HER!"

Gasping and grunting, Vayne had finally looked at Shyvana and told her to stay here after the dragon had proposed to leave her alone, so she could finish the hunt cleaner. Rage frothed at her mouth, yet Vayne still forced herself to speak normally: "I know you only tried to help and protect me, and I thank you for that, but I have experienced far worse injuries in my line of duty." She brushed a red, clawed hand through her jet-black hair. Why was she sweating so much? Why did everything feel like she had just done more labour than she could have possibly known? Worst of all, why was she still so fucking hungry? What was that strange, broiling, magenta-red blotched pattern appearing all over Shyvana? And why did she want to tear into it and drink it like it was the finest wine?

Shauna brushed a hand over her mouth. She said, "I concede, you were right. You are not like the monsters I faced. I do not yet feel comfortable calling you a friend, as I am sure you do not feel like that too. But I at least can concede that I can try not to hate you anymore." She picked up her crossbow and brushed some of the moss away. "I am sorry for my outburst, Shyvana. It is just... I bloody had her!"

@danciingashes

[dark-reckoning]

@danciingashes Vayne turns to the buff dragon lady. Somewhere in her mind she hears the dark entity reach a claw out, with its unblinking eye turning to her over her shoulder. ''Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill.'' Then on the side of her shoulder, another thought creeping in. That of her childhood friend, Locke. There he was bouncing up and down and flashing his signature stupid grin. ''Remember! No kill! Friend! Friend! Friend! Friend! Friend!''

She groans in annoyance, eyes rolling. ''Erm... Hello.... Dragon... Friend.''

[beastialshimmer]

Eyes narrowed, head tilting slightly upwards as her lip trembled. There was the hint of a growl deep within her throat. Despite having been living among 'civilized' people, she was still a dragon at heart. She couldn't ignore the blunt threat the other had made towards her but she couldn't act on it. Not directly at least. — You speak as if you'd succeed on even trying to kill me. — Shyvana said, taking a step foward. — Perhaps you'd do well to remember that we are both demacians here, fighting for the same cause but if you try and turn on me.... I will eat you and make a nest with your bones.

Vayne rose as that creature's shadow eclipsed her. Turning away from the tracks she had spent the last few minutes painstakingly tracing, she stared at her travel companion. Shauna resented the idea of calling this beast a 'companion'. Even just examining the towering woman from head to toe, the young demon hunter could not hide her misgivings in her gaze.

Everything about 'Shyvana' looked wrong. Monsters wearing human skin were nothing new to Shauna, though this beast absolutely did the worst job at it. From the purple, scaled skin, which looked more like raw hide than any human skin, to the massive horns jutting out of her head like they were a part of her skull, to those sharp talons on her hands and feet and the long, thick tail swaying idly on her back. The prince's emblem embedded in her breastplate looked like an insult more than a promise.

"Believe me, I have faced more monsters in my life than most knights do when they grow old", Vayne responded. "You might enjoy the prince's blessing, but at the end of the day, you are still a dragon. And where there is a dragon, there is death. I will do my best to be courteous for the sake of our task, but know this: You are trying to save the maiden who was kidnapped; I am after the monster that took her. We are not doing the same job. Our interests happen to align, and so far, you have not yet given me reason enough to put a bolt through your eye. That's the only reason I am even entertaining this ludicrous idea."

The wind rustled in the aspen leaves. Their travels had taken them to the outskirts of Demacia, near the Wyldwoods. Vayne had only rested in Wrenwall for a night to stock up on silver bolts, fix her handcrossbow's string, and that was it. She had not even eaten or slept while in the shelter of the larger town. Vayne had forgotten the last time she felt hungry or tired. She did feel a hunger, but it was more like a craving. Something was licking its talons for blood, and she could not say why.

The prints on the floor lead deeper into the thicket. Shauna climbed on top of the gnarly roots of an oak tree. Holding onto the bark with one hand, she kept peering down into the mess of thrown-up leaves, dug-up earth and trampled grass. Great, just great. One might as well ask Shauna to decode something in ancient Shuriman. She would have been just as lost. Pinching the bridge of her nose, Vayne groaned under her breath. "You need help."

"I cannot believe I am entertaining this", Vayne whispered under her breath before she turned towards Shyvana and called, "I found the tracks of our culprit. Unfortunately, they ran through the undergrowth in a way which makes it too difficult for me to discern where they went. You have better senses. Can you tell where they went, dragon?"

@danciingashes cont. from here.