the iron in her heart

I didn't come here to make friends
We were born to be suburban legends

Kaiholo Port is unlike anything that Aithne has experienced previously, somehow managing to be simultaneously similar to and altogether different from Jack Tar Landing. Everywhere she looks, ships rock in the waves, brightly painted buildings stand against the beach, and market stalls choke the walkways. Various piles of barrels and crates clutter every path, forcing the significant crowd milling about to bob and weave their way through the chaos. Merchants and sailors shout, hels wheel overhead, and altogether, everything blends together in an absolute riot of color and sound that has Aithne momentarily staring.

It doesn't take her long to recover, and then she's slipping into the throng, allowing herself to be pulled this way and that with the crowd, keeping a careful eye on her scant belongings to make sure no pickpockets try their luck with her. Indeed, she quickly becomes the predator, relieving one distracted man of his coin purse as she ducks between two stalls and quickly disappears. Now she has money - a fair bit of it, thanks to her unsuspecting target - and that affords her the ability to browse the stalls and shops dotting the waterfront. Off she goes, a bounce in her step and a wicked grin on her face, tail flicking behind her with satisfaction as she begins to search for her lunch.

When you hold me, it holds me together
And you kiss me in a way that's gonna screw me up forever

Aithne

girls can be dangerous and still win

Today, Melita dangled her feet from a roof, swaying them back and forth in time with the breeze, humming along the throngs of people watching and eating bits of cinnamon bread. The latter was most invigorating, and the former just as amusing, because from there she could easily aim water balloons at specific targets – most that she found suitably annoying or irritating or quite frankly just because – before pretending it hadn’t been her.

Fangorn grumbled and she handed him another piece as Sila flew overhead, tracking – but there’d be no need when she caught the familiar toil and tumble of Aithne meandering her way through. A slight of hand seemed to gain new weight in her grasp, and the Honeybee thought about letting the Ancient drift out of sight, but then again, she was quite taken with the notion of being a little shit – so –

She squared up and launched a smaller water balloon, aimed to either knock the Grounder on the shoulder or carelessly, haphazardly flicker behind and hit someone else. “Hey!” she called from overhead, waving down with a bright, vicious little grin for attentive, announcing purposes.

Melita

she knew exactly what she was doing when she invited the wild in

I didn't come here to make friends
We were born to be suburban legends

Aithne moves easily through the throng, already long gone by the time her target realizes that he's been pickpocketed. She does not, however, seem to get away completely in the clear; something unexpected explodes in a shower of cool water against her shoulder, and the girl yelps, hackles rising, before spotting Melita's shit-eating grin from overhead. Snorting a laugh and waving in response, Aithne calls back a spirited, "Hey!" before picking her way over to Mel's vantage point and beginning to scale her way up to join the demigod.

It's a short, relatively simple climb, and then the girl balances near the redhead to peer down at the crowd below. "Oooo, what about that guy?" she asks, gesturing vaguely towards a young man dressed gaudily - new money, she thinks, and not afraid to flaunt it. Probably the kind who thinks he's owed something because he's rich now, forgetting what it feels like to come from nothing. By the time the words are out of her mouth, she has an entire imaginary backstory built for the poor guy, and she's entirely ready to hurl a water balloon at him just because of his imagined slights against humanity.

When you hold me, it holds me together
And you kiss me in a way that's gonna screw me up forever

Aithne

girls can be dangerous and still win

The yelp inspired another wicked grin across her features, watching the turn of Aithne’s facial expressions as they morphed from hackles raised to recognition – clearly only bothered if it had been someone else committing the water balloon crime. “Come on up! What brings you out this way?” she hollered from on high, ignoring the way some of the merchants glanced, rolled their eyes, or simply pretended not to notice. After all, the Honeybee’s shenanigans were nothing new.

But the Ancient wasted no time in scaling portions of walls and shimmying her way up the roof, so by the moment she’d reached the platform Melita was patting a spot of warm shingle beside her. Tilting her head, she snorted, gaze going out towards the indicated individual. One of those smarmy, haughty looking dudes – peacock-esque. Not a favorite.

Instead of doing the honors though, she passed one of the balloons over to Aithne, the enabling, encouraging grin following suit. “By all means. Go for it.”

Melita

she knew exactly what she was doing when she invited the wild in

I didn't come here to make friends
We were born to be suburban legends

If it had been anyone but Melita to pelt Aithne with a water balloon, chaos might indeed have ensued. But given that it is Melita - someone who Aithne has labeled a friend - it is easy to shake off the slight in favor of joining in the shenanigans. So she clambers up to join the demigod, huffing only slightly with exertion when she reaches the woman's vantage point. "Warmth," she says simply. Then, after a brief pause, she tilts her head and adds, "Exploration."

Sitting next to the Honeybee, Aithne quickly picks out her target, and when Melita gives her the go-ahead to join in the fun, the girl happily accepts the water balloon and innocently tosses it towards the unsuspecting man. He reacts just as poorly as she'd hoped, swearing as he looks around for the culprit; spotting them, he glares daggers as Aithne waves her hand to twiddle her fingers in a mocking wave, fanged grin on display.

When the man seems to think the better of confronting her and stalks away, Aithne leans back on her hands with a sigh. "Why do you do all this stuff?" she asks. "Is it just for fun, or is it a demigod thing, or...?"

When you hold me, it holds me together
And you kiss me in a way that's gonna screw me up forever

Aithne

girls can be dangerous and still win

Warmth and exploration were valid reasons in Melita’s mind, and she nodded along at the idea, grabbing hold of a smaller water balloon and rolling it about in her hands while she pinpointed another target. Aithne’s seemed horribly nonplussed and the Honeybee let out a merry little laugh that ended in a cackle, before chucking hers at an unsuspecting woman with the largest wig she’d ever seen. It hit straight at the top, bounding into the makeshift hair to join its cavalcade towards the ground, and in the ensuing sputtering she turned back to the Ancient.

“Hm? Why not do this stuff?” She started, mostly on a tease, swinging her legs back and forth as the stranger threatened lives and the demigod arched a brow. “Both, really. I mean, aren’t you having fun?” She passed Aithne another balloon on a whim, shading her eyes and completely ignoring the strangers below for a moment. “Part of it’s my job though. Ludo always says people are too serious.”

Melita

she knew exactly what she was doing when she invited the wild in

I didn't come here to make friends
We were born to be suburban legends

Aithne's target is scarcely out of the way when Melita takes aim at a woman with an absolutely ridiculous wig; the hair quickly removes itself from the woman's head, tumbling damply to the ground, much to the woman's dismay. The Ancient snorts a laugh, snickering long after the stranger is finished threatening the pair of them.

'Why not do this stuff' is valid, and Aithne tilts her head to one side as she considers. "I mean, totally," she agrees. But there's something about it that she can't quite understand, and she can't quite put her finger on why. In the end, she snags another water balloon and passes it from hand to hand. "I guess... I would expect this kind of chaos from someone who follows Dygra. Maybe I just don't know enough about Ludo, though." She tosses her balloon half-heartedly into the crowd at random, and it splatters disappointingly on the ground - though it does manage to splash some passersby, who look up at the Ancient with distaste.

When you hold me, it holds me together
And you kiss me in a way that's gonna screw me up forever

Aithne

girls can be dangerous and still win

Aithne’s lackluster shot had Melita’s brow quirking, but she didn’t say anything – grabbing one for herself instead, and hurtling it towards a man in a suit – clearly on some business exchange, watching and waiting as he began hollering at people nearby. The question gave her pause though, and out of loyalty to Ludo, she could feel herself bristle a little; perhaps because the defensive means were always tucked tightly against her throat, ready to come out in various degrees.

The inquiry seemed innocent though – even if she was being labeled as someone from an Ancient calling. “I mean, I don’t know Dygra at all, but it feels like they’re probably two sides of the same coin. While they both offer chaos, it goes in different ways, and the similarities end.” She hadn’t even known about Dygra until years and years ago, and her devotion and allegiance to the spooky herald had long been cemented and decreed. “Two people can like the same things and not be identical.” So she figured it went in the matching mode for deities. “I doubt you can leave toys, puzzles, and candies to her and get away with it, hm?” She joked, granting another wink. “Ludo likes its tricks and mayhem, but it also has to collect souls for Mort,” she shrugged; the duality of rags. “They all have their purpose.”

Melita

she knew exactly what she was doing when she invited the wild in