Your life burns faster

Alduin just about died on the way back from picking up @Midnight. The distance from the castle and Alduin was too great and Banesteppe is impatient. He mostly kept himself together before the stranger woman, despite having a coughing fit or two and wincing due to a blinding headache.

They make it back eventually, Alduin leading her closer and closer to the misty land of mystery. They move up a hill that grows fairly steep before finally reaching the castle. It’s shrouded in fog and seems to appear out of thin air as they move closer to it.

Finally they reach the bridge and Alduin tilts his head up to howl for @Dove and @Meldresi. The two healers can decide who can patch her up. He turns to midnight then and looks up at Banesteppe.

“This is Banesteppe. Magnificent isn’t it?” He rumbles out lowly, voice seemingly reverent when he speaks of his beloved castle.
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Ah, the stage was set and the play already casted. It would be the one about an injured damsel seeking aid from a demon, and out of the fog a ghostly angel would appear to save her and stitch her back together. What fun 8t was to play this role, the innocent even though she ware far from in and most certainly damned. Voices drifted, a softer tone for her, as if they were talking to a lover. They chuckled at her and her assessment of her own soul and even encouraged her to appear just as she looked, an devil in angelic cloth.

Slowly she picked her way to the two, herbal plants stored in a skull. The only break in her facade, the wolf skull sitting upon her head and the human one that she cupped by its jaw. She found the cranium of these rounder shells to be a perfect way to carry things, the plants fit so well in them!

Out of the fog her ivory coat gleamed, ethereal and angelic. She carried her herbal holder closer to the pair, her Lord towering over the much smaller woman. She looked over the injured stranger and her eyes glittered with curiousity and gentle concern, looking to the world eater before placing the skull at her paws.

"Another injured stray, you seem to find them every time you are out." she spoke in a honeyed voice, looking to Alduin then addressing the dark woman. "How badly does your wound hurt, can you walk further into our lair?"
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"I mean, I would say creepy, but yeah, sure, sure," Midnight chimed as they arrived on his doorstep.. his Banesteppe? Whatever. Her eyes drank in the scene with skepticism, finding it difficult to believe there were structures as such before her. It was a castle, he'd said, and Midnight decided right then and there she didn't like castles very much. Too big, too.. weird. Nah, pass.

A woman appeared and Midnight blinked at the lackadaisical yet somehow incredibly formal.. introduction? If that's what she wanted to call it. "I'm not a stray, lady. My name is Midnight and it'd be swell if you used it. Also, I'm not here to join your freaky sex-cult with big boy over here. He told me you could help patch me up and then I'll be out of your fur. Yes, I can walk. Walked all the way here." She didn't often dislike someone immediately, but Midnight already felt.. grumpy. Not even a hello? God, rude.

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Sorry it took so long! :’> I’m stuck studying and freaking out over class

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Alduin huffs out a laugh at her first words regarding his castle. “It’s an acquired taste.” He hums back indifferently.

Only not long after, Dove’s beautiful, pale form shows. Skull on her head, tightly curled tail bobbing on her hip. He offers her his eyes in greeting as she comes forth to greet them. A touch of a smile graces his lips at Dove’s words on picking up strays and he can’t say she’s wrong. He has brought a few back merely out of the kindness of his cold, dark, and tainted heart.

So when Dove asks Midnight her question, it seems the mouthy woman is on a reply almost instantly. Her words don’t exactly please him, not necessarily the contents of said words, but really the way in which she speaks to his lovely, and oh so gracious, Dove. His distain would show with furrowed brows and his usual scowl.

“This is Dove. Address her with respect and she may just make you feel as good as new.” He warns softly, but deeply. He turns to the pale woman then. “She was slow, but she was able to walk here. Shall we take her to the tree to gather herbs for healing?”
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Midnight wasn't entirely surprised the dark man immediately jumped to the woman's defense. That's what polygamous cult leaders did, after all, and this woman was just one of many that would soon realize she meant nothing to him.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I'm going to head out. You were fun," she said, glancing to @Alduin. Midnight shrugged, disappointed in the way things had turned out. "Good luck with the castle thing."

And with that, she turned to leave.

(Midnight exits)

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Alduin isn’t particularly surprised, but he is pissed. So his face scrunches up in disappointment, auds flattening against his skull. The audacity. Though, the audacity coming from this spicy woman isn’t quite surprising, but he supposes he should just let her leave and not take a bite out of her. Which sounds very convincing right now.

For him to offer healing, bring her to his home, only for her to dismiss his healer and deny the help merely because he warned her tp respect his medic is interesting to say the least. Either way, he allows her to walk. With merely a glare digging into her back as she goes. He ushers Dove back into the castle with a roll of his eyes and a scoff. Not at the beautiful Dove, but for the woman he attempted to help. Perhaps he shouldn’t be as nice anymore.
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