"Autumn Is Quite Alluring, Is It Not?" Robin Replies With A Delight As She Takes Her Time Taking In The

wadecalhoun​:

          Wade had garnered apprehension over this puerile and fanatical idea the entire night it had been concocted. He’d had his own passions and desires for destroying certain species but had learned, over time from Robin, how the fey had merely wished to live unbothered by society; integrated but never harmed. Theneras’ provocation, their senseless violence against Rome had pulled the trigger and sent a frenzied outlook onto Rome. A zealous approach from hunters who hungered for blood and destruction, intent on blind chaos rather than a pragmatic approach between the blurred lines of those who inflicted harm and those who projected peace. He already flinches as Robin’s wounded visage comes into view, averts his gaze as hands grab a hold of her.

These people, the Eye, are meant to be who he swears a blind allegiance to, but his motives have never been entrenched in mindlessly following a crowd. His story was a simple one, drowned in the blood of innocents, his lifestyle a collateral of the pain inflicted upon him. His family was murdered by a demon, destroyed from the inside out and it was within his due diligence to make that pain matter. Robin had approached him so compassionately when he’d come at her blindly with a knife all those years ago. She may have laughed in his face, defended herself, but she had come to teach him the nuances of species and he had to be grateful to her that Wade had merely survived so long based on her teachings.

Before Robin, Wade had been all ire and sinew; inflicting blind rage on demons and witches; sometimes species who likely weren’t either being caught up in his destructive path. She may not have realized she had honed in his abilities, made him a more adept hunter. He used to be able to brunt the injuries, smile through the stab wounds or vampire bites, broken bones and bloodied noses. Now, he’d learned to avoid them, play into the advantages he’d learned from Robin.

Wade clears his throat as the gaggle of Eye hunters he’d surrounded himself with make a mockery of Robin, laugh in her face. “Maybe she’s right, we dunno what waits inside.“ It’s a pathetic attempt to get them to quit while they’re ahead. The Forest will not welcome strangers and they reside on the border, Robin now a victim to their senseless games. They’re hardly listening to Wade, he’s never been a commanding authority figure and Wade takes a cowardly step back, merely overwhelmed, as he hears the flick of an iron switchblade.

...

Eight paltry words. That is what years of friendship had bought her, that is what the countless times she had saved his life had bought her. Eight fucking words. Eight words he hadn’t even meant. There is no attempt to command his fellow hunters, tension on his shoulders as he prepares to help her. Nothing but eight weakly said words said before stepping back and leaving her to the mercy of a crowd of merciless hunters. Now, more than ever, she understands Zahrya’s hate for humanity, for their weak hearts and loyalties. Now, more than ever, wishes she could keep that hate on her heart, but even now it fades as she looks at Wade an all she can feel is all encompassing grief.

She had thought — She had thought they were friends, she loves him as one. Loves him enough to make him a healing artifact, loves him enough to grant him passage unto their last defense, their last asylum, loves him enough to return to him time and time again to ensure he has been safe, that he was alright. Love and loyalty given freely over the years, because she has a kind heart that only wants to give, and yet all she has gotten as repayment is what? Empty promises to help with the drows, an infiltration when her kind is near extinction and nothing but eight fucking words to try and stop the hunters he has guided into her home.

Robin’s grief is so, that she fails to hear the iron switchblade, fails to see as it is aimed as her as she keeps her betrayed stare at Wade. Fails to do anything but to double in pain as it’s used to gut her as she screams at the searing pain trailing behind the blade. She doesn’t collapse unto herself, as she wishes, doesn’t wail aside from the first scream, keeping herself locked in place as she hears the distant echo of changelings and lycans approaching to hunt for trespassers and makes the decision to give her former friend one last kindness. Eyes raising up to meet Wade as she feels her blood leave her, she gives him a grim, sardonic smile.

“Run, Red Riding Hood, before the wolves and our protectors get you for this, run,” she says, words sharp and painful, coming out as a threat to those who do not know her, but as a warning meant to reach Wade’s ears and his ears alone.

Survive so that you can leave with your choices, traitor.

who? @wadecalhoun where? killjoy's notes: doing the randomize top songs thing and got i shot cupid by stela cole

"Oh, dear. Are you alright, Wade?" Robin wonders mockingly as she sits next to him at Killjoy's bar and sends him a faux concerned looked as she takes him in slowly. There is something different about the human, danger blaring on her sense as she sits next to him, but she does not knot it comes from her boldness at entering a hunter friendly establishment or something more. Regardless, she has paid precautions, having mentioned of her desire to purview the establishment to one of the vampire marshals and Davheira, and with the new laws, she doubts any hunter would risk to attack her all too openly. And if they choose to do it in the dark? She will be ready and grinning, knowing they took the bait. " You look a little yeasty, as if you had just battled a fungal infection."

                   strike me, again… 

                                   ( my wounds heal over with STEEL )

                                        ( my bones mend into STONE )

                             strike me, again, and your hand will  b r e a k

                             ( my body is no longer only flesh and blood ) 

                                   strike me, a g a i n, and you will learn…

"Aurora, my dearest friend. I would find you in the middle of a forest fire without aid," Robin drawls dramatically as she steps past another ice barrier, raising a hand to her chest to add to add to her dramatics. "Of course, the ice show did help, but truly, you are far too bright to be hidden regardless."

She nods at her logic, flawless as usual, and she is glad to be able to contribute to the conversation with something more than her own guesses.

"I ran into Laer on the way here, he is currently fetching Tamlen. I believe he went on the direction of the Senate's current base, but I do not know if he changed his path," she offers. It is unfortunate that she does not know where Zahrya is, but Aurora is likely right. Zahrya is likely to return to the Forest now that they have separated. That, or to find his demon lover to have him close as they fight. Either way, he will be relatively safe and easy to find. Eyes narrowed, Robin considers their options, only to pause when Aurora speaks once more. "Perhaps, perhaps not. Will that stop you from trying once more?"

This union of their Chancellor magic had been a lot more potent than what had happened at Halloween. But, unlike Halloween, Aurora hadn't need a moment to recuperate. The elf reinforced their borders and fought while her fellows recovered up until that moment, becoming the center of a storm unlike any other that the once winter eladrin had ever conjured. Unforgiving ice and blue fire. Rarely did a soul pass through and, when they did, they were met with blade and shield. But Aurora was one storm in a sea of warriors and still she doubted even a god themself would be able to stop the onslaught of the drow forces. Their enemy had collective strength beyond anything she had ever seen, or anything she had ever seen from the memories of her ancestors.

Huginn hadn't needed to inform Aurora of the Autumn Chancellor's approach - she felt the familiarity and made sure not even a flake of snow touched Robin as she approached. "Hope it wasn't too hard to find me," Aurora joked, though her tone and her expression were as serious as death. She conjured up another wall of ice immediately where one had just fallen to a monstrous beast just a few blocks away. "No. But something tells me Tamlen isn't dead, not by Laer's reaction." Tamlen had certainly changed, changed into something. Plus, Aurora would have expected an ocean by Laer to drown half the city or a sandstorm to blind them all in his rage. "I have a feeling he'd be looking for him now." Aurora felled the monster, the tentacled thing bursting into shatters of crystalline ice. "Zahrya would never go far from the Forest."

There was a moment of hesitation but Aurora couldn't keep the sense of impending doom to herself anymore. "We're not going to be able to hold this city, Robin."

vincenzodives​:

It was good to have someone to lean on when things weren’t going well. Vincenzo was lucky enough to say that he had a few. He knew his mother would always be there for him no matter what. There was also August and Emory. Even though August was…well, August. He had never judged the witch before and he was sure to never do it for the rest of the time he was around. However long that would be. They would have to speak again at some point, but he wasn’t sure he was ready for that yet. Not right now. The witch was one of his dearest friends though. There was only so much time left both of them had. And they were tethered to each other now, bonded in something Vinny hadn’t even grown to fully understand yet. That was only one facet of the things he wouldn’t understand. Another was how someone like Robin was even giving him the time of day. Or even had in the past.

“That’s good to hear.” Maybe it would be good to have her around. Better than being stuck in this fucking hell he had gotten roped into. No, he would stop thinking that. Vincenzo hadn’t wanted mortality, but it had been thrust open him too many times to count. Whether he wanted it to be replaced by death or immortality, well, he was more uncertain about that than anything else. “Right.” That was all he said for a moment as she spoke. “Kind of. Not really. I had roommates. Haven’t really bothered to see them in a while though. Probably ‘cause of the whole, ya know, death.”

...

“Yeah, that ought to complicate things,” she agrees with a grimace as she glances down at the table and up again to face Vinny. A million thoughts slot themselves into place as she tilts her head in consideration. There is little she can do for him in the courts and the Otherworld, for even now it would be a rather terrible idea to invite him to step beyond the mortal realm, but that does not mean she doesn’t have options. With everything going on the Eye, she has a considerable number of safehouses hidden for her fellow fey, but even that seems lacking when it comes as an offer for Vinny. Instead, she does have — .

Well.

“If you would like, I happen to own an apartment in Rome. Most of the time, I do not reside there and thus it sits empty. All I ask is that the mess is kept to a minimum,” she comments gently, expression calm and fond even as her lips twitch as his continual referral to her undead status. Perhaps one day the reference will be amusing, but she is not quiet sure. “And of course, you will have to be alright with me dropping by more often than not, as it’s where I spend my free time more often than not.”

@warderinan

Intimate.

meryasek​:

Meryasek’s magic was spread throughout the forest. He’d ingrained a bit of his own song into the flowers, into the trees, whispers that would give him news, tell him what was wrong, and that’s exactly what had happened, now. Robin was in trouble, and maybe he was too hyperaware of the fey now – he didn’t think twice about using his magic to transport him across the forest, standing now above Robin. The Fall Chancellor was weak, her blood spilling into the fauna below her, and he kneeled beside her, “You’ll be fine,” he murmured, mostly to make her relax. “Who did this to you?” he asked, his hand coming to rest above hers. Blood seeped between his fingers, but he began his healing song, the wound slowly but surely stitching itself up. She would be weak, still, but no longer in danger. “Tell me.”

...

“Someone who I thought I could trust,” she gasps out as magic begins filling her, healing her, faster than she would have been able to do alone and panicking. As much as Robin had witnessed combat before, but it had never been as real. Not when no one could get close enough to wound, not when her magic could always protect her. The Autumn Court was meant to be one for guile, for trickery and strategy, they were not warriors, they were mastermind, always counting the grain to ensure they would survive the Winter, and she had grown complacent on that role. But no longer. She needed to learn how to fight beyond her magic. “I will not make that mistake again, but they are too useful to kill just yet.”