[split] (SE) heart of a lion

Ah, Aurelia if only you'd asked sooner.

Alas, your walk is going to be much, much farther now.

WESSEX

the wraith

Wessex nods, understanding what she means. “Mastered Fire magic can do that,” she offers as an explanation. “It can start fire and I started a fire inside the tiger.” Brutal as the action - and result - is, the demigod can’t help but grin a little. “It’s the first time I’ve done something like that, so -” They’re in similar boats. Careful to omit the how of it, Wessex is happy to follow Aurelia’s conversational lead and as she declares that she’s fine, and they can head back to Torchline, there is agreement.

“Sure.” She can play escort. No problem. The Wraith even continues to smile and nods gregariously.

Until something feels off and she finds that her body is picked up by a similar-but-not-quite feeling and the world goes dark - then -

They arrive somewhere else entirely. Blinking, Wessex finds she knows this place. But how did they get here? She didn’t - did Aurelia? Casting a confused glance towards the Torcher, she half-demands, “Did you do this? There’s no way I could - I can’t  - Torchline, maybe, but not here.”

she's pullin' the trigger

cause it's me and the moon, she says

and i have no trouble with that

but if you're broken

Wessex is talking and smiling, and Aurelia mirrors it, thinking this might actually go well in the end. Well, she didn't get eaten by a tiger, she learned something new about her magic, and potentially she's made a new friend. A very interesting friend. All in all, consider it a win.

That is, until the world tilts on its axis and suddenly the temperatures around them go with it. Muggy, gentle humidity from the jungles becomes aggravating heat. Beautiful, glowing trees become red and black ground, letting nothing else thrive here. Aurelia's foot steps through and piping hot magma comes squishing out for her. She peels away quickly, bumping into Wessex, breath sucked out of her lungs.

"Did I-?" She pauses, turning to better face Wessex with just as much confusion the other woman is feeling. "No." She shakes her head, "Not unless I have some sort of ability I don't know about..." Which is possible but nothing about her tone implies that she really believes it.

Turning to take everything in, she tries to decipher a direction home. She's disappointed to find that she has no fucking clue, so she says, "Please tell me you know how to get out of here..."

you don't have to stay broken

Aurelia

code credits go to Skylark!<3

WESSEX

the wraith

Pausing to consider that maybe Aurelia does have a magic she didn’t know about, Wessex tests the surrounding area with her Magic Re-Resonance and… comes up empty. “No,” she says firmly, shaking her head. “It wasn’t you. And it wasn’t me, so -” a quick glance around the Crust doesn’t reveal anything out of the ordinary to the far-reaching demigod, which leads her to only one other conclusion. “- do you think it was the Oerwoud?”

Because as far as she knows, the Climb can’t pull anyone to it. Can it? If so, why wouldn’t it have done it before? Mildly frustrated by the conundrum, Wessex looks very much like how she feels until Aurelia asks her a question and the Wraith realizes how odd - or scary? - this might be for her.

“Oh. Yes,” she answers, thinking of the way she’s come before, and often with a passenger. “But you may not like it. And you certainly aren’t dressed for Halo.” That would be a problem, as she’ll need to recharge between jumps.

she's pullin' the trigger

cause it's me and the moon, she says

and i have no trouble with that

but if you're broken

Thinking of why or how or some sort of hidden magic within the Wilds is, perhaps, the most logical answer, had Aurelia thought of it. She didn't, though, because all she can think about is that she doesn't know the way home.

Briefly, she panics. Perhaps she won't be able to get home from here. Her fingers curl into her palms, her lips draw a tight line, and her forehead wrinkles. She doesn't answer Wessex's question (not right away, at least), merely gives an acknowledgement that it's been said. She meets her eyes with a fearful darkness in her own. She doesn't know and her mind and heart are scrambling for much different answers.

Relief tempers her, though, when Wessex very casually seems to have the answer. The idea of going to Halo does give her some pause, but... "I don't care, I have to get back. Let's just... try to be quick." She hopes that Wessex understands that. There's a home that awaits her, people that need her, and, more importantly, people that she needs too.

"What is it, exactly? The way out?" She tilts her head curiously.

you don't have to stay broken

Aurelia

code credits go to Skylark!<3

WESSEX

the wraith

“Okay then.” Wessex offers Aurelia a calm smile and tries to wash some of the more obvious hesitations away. “It’s me. My magic. We’re working on getting a portal in the climb, but as you can imagine, it isn’t exactly an Ascended-friendly environment.” To the say the least, and she emphasizes that with a big shrug. “So I’ll teleport us to Halo’s portal.”

Mindful of the request to be quick, Wessex doesn’t give much room to pause before going over some of the key points of teleporting. “It will probably feel much like that. A little dizzying, but I’ll keep you steady. And when I travel with someone, I can’t do big distances, so we’ll have to repeat it a couple of times while my powers recharge. So your in for a bit of a bumpy ride.” With that comb so casually dropped, Wessex finds that she doesn’t have anything to offer her in terms of protection from the weather, so she’s frowning ever so slightly while trying to plan the best route to the northernmost portal.

she's pullin' the trigger

cause it's me and the moon, she says

and i have no trouble with that

but if you're broken

Aurelia's not well-versed in Ascended things. Maybe someone's mentioned specifics to her before, but at the time it must not have felt relevant because she hasn't retained the information. So she tilts her head and scrunches her brows, "What do you mean it's not Ascended-friendly?" Perhaps it's a dumb question, so she doesn't dwell over it.

Dizzying teleportation powers. Aurelia's impressed and, more than that, she's relieved. Teleportation, even at short distances, is a hell of a lot faster than walking by foot. She can see some hesitation in Wessex's expression, and realizes it's probably over her own safety. What with mention of Halo, Aurelia assumes it's over keeping warm while they're between teleports.

"I'm sure I'll be fine," she lays a hand on the woman's shoulder, trying to be reassuring even though she doesn't exactly know where they're going or just how cold it is, "I can control fire and I have matches, if I need something to keep me from freezing my face off." She nods decisively, mentally preparing for whatever is to come. She breathes deep and exhales slowly, calming her racing pulse. "Ready when you are."

you don't have to stay broken

Aurelia

code credits go to Skylark!<3

WESSEX

the wraith

That a place of heat, lava, and fire might not be considered bad makes Wessex pause, looking at Aurelia, and then around the two of them to make sure she hasn’t missed anything. “Do you… not know about Ascended?” she asks, confusion obvious, refraining from her original question which was much more… pointed.

“We’re highly flammable. The whole lava thing here is dangerous. And then you have the water from Frey’s Breath…” Which, come to think of it, she should probably just shut up about. Aurelia might need her now, but who knows what will happen in a half a year, a year…

Gods, what a bleak thought. She tries to hide it by gently tugging Aurelia closer, wrapping her arms around the other woman if she’ll permit it.

“I’m not really warm but I can at least block some of the cold." And if Aurelia's pressed in against the Wraith, she'll find a muscle-hardened body without a heartbeat, a steady temperature, which is right now fairly cool against the heat of The Climb. Her skin may look and feel the same as any other human's, but there's nothing other than the warmth of her words and (questionable) personality to indicate she isn't a robot. "Ready?”

If so, she’ll take them as far as they can go.

she's pullin' the trigger

cause it's me and the moon, she says

and i have no trouble with that

but if you're broken

Aurelia shakes her head, "No, no, I do, I just..." but she pauses, cuts herself off as Wessex goes to explain what she meant. Her eyes widen with realization before they narrow thoughtfully. She hadn't known that, to be honest, and maybe it's good that she does now. Before she goes and accidentally kills an Ascended with her magic.

"That's... good to know," she remarks, "I didn't realize. All the more reason to get out of here as soon as possible since you're... Ascended, I assume?" She can't really tell, given that Wessex seemed every bit to her to be another Abandoned. After all, Ascendeds have no telling features (unless they choose to) that differentiate them from any 'normal' human. And Aurelia certainly doesn't have an eye for it, not yet anyway.

Wessex pulls her towards her and she'll find that Aurelia is a willing passenger. With everything going on, she doesn't have the capacity to feel awkward about the close proximity. She does notice that Wessex has a significant lack of body heat, replaced by impressively restrained strength.

Aurelia doesn't know how this will really feel, can only take Wessex's word for it, so she shuts her eyes and nods firmly at the question.

you don't have to stay broken

Aurelia

code credits go to Skylark!<3

WESSEX

the wraith

“Mmmm,” Wessex acknowledges. Found out. If they’d stayed together long it probably would have come out anyway. “Ascended. Demigod. Queen. The Wraith.” A single laugh seems to get stuck in the back of her throat, causing her to pause and clear it. “I’m a lot’a things. Lotta names.” Sometimes it even depends on who’s asking, but ah - there are better things to do right now than dwell on that.

As the Abandoned gives her consent and steadies herself, she smiles gently, fanged but domestic for now, into the heat of the Climb. “Then here we go.”

And the two of them disappear, to reappear on the Sea of Glass, where Wessex will to her best to hurry up - thinking that a building in Halo might be their next best plan. Where perhaps Aurelia can get a cloak and warm up before heading back to the portals. Once her power recharges, she takes the two of them to the one place she can literally just pop in to without any repercussions.

The Kraai.

{Fin}

she's pullin' the trigger

cause it's me and the moon, she says

and i have no trouble with that