You Look Familiar...

Vera

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"Distorted thoughts
A conceived grudge
Always,
Keeping an eye out for the malice in the shadows..."

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@Izumi

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Vera was running after the fox she had spotted. The poor thing had been too close to her when the hunt began, it's fate was sealed. As she drew upon the creature, it released a strange noise, one only a fox could make. Though it was annoying, she kept her focus and was able to pounce on the fox, crushing some of it's spin with her large paws before crushing it's head in her jaws to end the poor thing's suffering. She had better eat this creature fast. There chase was short, but she was far too close to Shiroshika for her liking. Though she missed them ever-so, it was better if she was able to avoid old and new faces alike.

So while she was not fond of the taste of fox, she quickly devour the creature with a gusto that was hard to match. She was a loner in the tundra, every bit count as body weight and fat was quite important here.

Just as the tail went down her throat she would become frozen like a deer in the headlight. An all-too familiar face was in the distance, gazing at the world in a way that reminded her of when they first met. She wanted to run, to hide, but there was NOTHING in this graveyard of ice to save her presence.
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 And Izu, too, could never forget a face so distinct. Marred of scars like the rest of her muscle-woven body, and with mismatched eyes that stared back with constant alert -- one too cloudy for its own good, and the other red like garnet stones. The snow white titaness had returned from whatever hiding she had done ever since the incident involving Gryfalcon. Or perhaps it was not hiding she'd been doing....Izumi was simply upset that she'd left before they had the chance to talk.

 "Vera." The crane called out simply, shifting her lithe weight to face the she-wolf eye to eye -- for what felt like forever and a day. Izumi was no fool to not notice the resistance in her body when treading closer became a struggle...it was as if her dark legs were glued to the ground beneath them. Moving closer....what would that risk?

 Could she trust Vera enough to move closer?

 Whatever compelled the crane to finally step forward must've been stupid bravery -- her heart may have practically spilled from her chest at the rate it pumped blood, but talking to Vera had been something the fae sought to do from the beginning.

 Standing before the titaness, her lilac gaze locked with her own mitchmached ones as she awaited words to fall from the girl's mouth...

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Vera wanted to wake up from whatever dream she was having now. It was indeed Izumi that she had encountered. Fate was a cruel mistress. The Siamese female was just as gorgeous and graceful as she remembered. Just hearing her own name again was a surprise to her. Vera...that was herself, right? She was Vera. In her head she had been calling herself a monster so much so that it felt like it was her new identity and label. So to hear her name again was quite surreal. She began to panic as Izumi walk over to her. With each step the other took toward, Vera's breathing got faster. All her nerves were screaming, telling her to get out of here.

And yet she did not have the strength to flee from the aura of the other, those eyes turning her into stone. It commanded her presence despite the hesitance that were in each of her steps. As she stood in front of Vera, her scent entered her. Ah she truly missed her pack. The smell itself almost brought tears to her eyes, but she willed them away.

Vera found herself trying to shrink, her confident posture and boyish flirting no longer existed. It was almost comedic for such a large beast to coward. To think that a few months ago they had been having such a good time together. She wanted to fix everything, to be friends again.

Instead she took a few steps back, finally gather the strength to look away at the ground. "Um..." She started, not knowing what exactly to say. "Sorry, I do not mean for my hunts to bring me so close. I will leave immediately so um..." Her voice died out along with her will from the pain this was causing her that was evident by the contorting of her face. She had nothing to say, numbed and broken, there was nothing left of her to portray to another. Vera proceeded to turn herself around to leave, to runaway from this situation. She was just going to get yelled at or something probably.
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 It felt unnatural in the way she'd been facing her then -- she, the one who had introduced herself with such confidence and bravado before, now tuck by the tail and sinking into herself like an injured runaway. Something felt terribly off about the change in impressions Vera had left throughout time -- from trusted to dangerous...and now pitiful...was all of this even possible now? That she'd felt pity for what she'd done to Gyrfalcon?

 "Stop it, Vera--" the crane stated with a heavy, conflicted sigh "I've spent so much time trying to find and talk to you, only for you to try leaving again. I'm the one approaching you -- If I didn't wish to see you that wouldn't be happening...see?" and almost to prove it, the crane would take a seat in front of the scarred woman like a protest not to move at all. Fujiwara did not seek Vera out only for her to disappear again; she needed to ask her the very questions that have been bugging her for many moons now.....

 Fight or flight made the muscles in her back legs twitch instinctually. As if fueling them with blood in case she'd need to haul ass -- though it was Izumi that approached the she-wolf, she just couldn't bring herself to trust her right now. Not after what she's done, and not after the confusing flip of emotions Vera has shown after everything. The woman was a wild card, in the crane's eyes...

 "What happened? What could've caused all this to unravel the way it did?"

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Vera had not expected the quiet wolf to be so adamant about the encounter. As Izumi moved through the slush to sit in front of Vera she immediately slid to a halt, bewildered. This was the kind of situation she was in now, huh? Questions, curiosity because she was a spectacle that couldn't adjust to societies standards. The facts were already presented, she ripped off someone's leg and was unhinged. Vera let out a deep shaky and long breath. Sobering up, going from doe-eyed to heavy-eyed as her energy left her very being. Yes she knows, she fucked up. Just let her move on. If Izumi was so curious to know then fine, she would indulge her and be the pierrot she wanted.

"I think you are not understanding something..." She started with, her eyes glancing at the sky, focused upon the falling snow that would fall upon her face to kiss. "You seek knowledge about the situation because you can't understand why I did what I have done, but the reality is you never understood anything about me from the beginning." She said in a small but cold voice as her eyes lowered again to meet Izumi's purple ones. It never occurred for a moment to Vera that maybe Izumi just wanted to know because she cared about both sides.

"To enlighten, I joined Shiroshika to become what YOU are. What you saw was what I had been, for years and years. What happened is simple, I tried to change and failed. No one who has been through what I have can change, I learned my lesson. If they say otherwise then they are a liar. There, satisfied?" She couldn't bring herself to be more specific at the moment. To mention how when Gyrfalcon had grew near, the smell of the city streets entered her nose as a wolf of silver reach for her with nails coated in something deadly. How she feared for her life, of how she thought she was killing again in the name of the Messiah, in the name of her brother and all that tried to wrong her.

Noticing how the other was fighting her instincts, Vera took a step forward in an attempt of intimidation. It was time to feed her thoughts and fuel her fantasies. Sever the connections and whimsical notions of this wolf's black and white approach to life. She would not dream of going too near, for Vera found herself sharing a universal fear. They could not trust her and she could not trust herself either. She just wanted to scare the other off.
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 Vera had turned to meet Izumi’s gaze after a breath left her chest, and Izumi did what she’d promised to do and stayed put. Heart thrumming in her chest in knowing she was going through with it after weeks of contemplation but doing it regardless. For Gyfalcon’s sake, Izumi had come to the conclusion that it wouldn’t have been best for Vera to stay in Shiroshika and voiced that, but with the confusion of how such a thing even happened bugging her ever since, the crane had left the premises of the northern territory to ask herself. Stupidly without a guard -- she was no fighter, but Izu was annoyed by the idea of hiding behind someone for protection just to speak with someone. The duchess could talk to Vera herself, and if things went south, she could run.

 Her ears fell back as the woman hissed her words and emitted what felt like pain with every word. It was true that Izumi and Vera knew virtually nothing about each other, but the fact that they had met so briefly only for the trust between them to be damaged in this way both saddened and angered the crane -- especially that day at the meeting. How hypocritical of her to want to salvage any of the potential Vera had as a friend even though she didn’t want them living under the same roof, but that was how the girl truly felt -- logical thinking aside. She was just tired of seeing people turn from her, for fucks sake!

 The Titaness took a step towards her, and her haunches felt like they were on fire -- run, run, RUN -- a voice in the back of her mind yelled like no tomorrow, but she didn’t wish to leave just like that. Not after going through all this trouble to talk to her again. So with a silent yet shaky breath, Izumi continued -- a mixture of fear, pain, and anger flitting across her lilac stare. “No Vera, I’m not satisfied,” she responded in a moment of stubbornness.

 She swallowed and gritted her teeth.“You don’t get to try to push me away after giving me the idea that we could’ve been friends after we first met, it isn’t fair. How could you tell me that I’ve known nothing about you when you haven’t even told me anything about yourself? That this might’ve happened? Do you believe I wouldn’t have tried helping if you would’ve told me!? before it all happened?”

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Vera stared at the other, perplexed. She held so much fear and yet she would not run, she would not leave. As Izumi spoke, her words were foreign, something Vera could not process so easily, her brows furrowing. Pain, inside of her vessel, her chest ached, those words were not cruel and yet they hurt in an intangible manner that she could not describe.

For a few seconds Vera merely stared quizzically at Izumi, having forgotten her fake attempt of bravado to spook the other away. To be understood was something she had not thought of in a long time, because she realized everyone was different in the end, motivated by their own goals. There were hundreds of sob stories where she came from. Hers was not any different. She endured and conquered like all the other strong wolves there. Why waste the energy to carry the burden of someone you just met? As she stared at the other, her good eye's pupil widened.

For just a moment, Vera wavered. Something deep and vulnerable inside of her dared to peek out. A little girl who had once the courage and love to give to all and herself. She had spoken to Antares about some of her burdens that carried her anger. Yet she had never spoken of herself personally. It was always someone else. Vera looked to the ground, shaking her head.

"I...I had wanted to become a hunter when I was little." She started from out of nowhere, looking dazed. "I had a hobby of naming weird-looking rocks. My sister was so mature and always dealt with me and my brother's antics. Aw man I thought my brother was so cool, never realized he was so vulnerable on the inside. They and mother had been with me from the beginning. So I only needed a few friends. You would have thought it was funny to see such a scraggly boned family. But we did so good compared to others. I become a hunter trainee and I loved it, bringing a meal back to someone and watch their eyes light up." Vera finished with a wispy sigh as she reminisced about the lost humanity she once had. She had all but forgotten it. But, like a bright blue sky getting covered in grey, she darkened, all the awful things came back.

Looking up at the sky, Vera let out a morbid laugh. "But wolves get greedy ya know? Like to make others squirm. Life is all fine and dandy until you're all tangled up in vines of sharp teeth. Stuck there with open wounds for so long that the bugs eat and lay eggs in ya. That's how I lost my eye due to them eating me from the inside out. Those assholes would find me each time, beat me up, take my food, throw me back in there. Others started hating me cause I became ugly. Even my lover wanted me to die, kept dropping my location in hopes they'd wipe out this eyesore. But look at me, I'm still alive!" She finished with a laugh, her composure seeming to break along with her mind. She did not look like a sane wolf at the moment. "Oh and they tried everything, poison, fire, traps, strength, pity. Ah, even betrayals and assassinations. BUT I'M STILL HERE! ...I'm still here..." She yelled the last words before repeating them in a frail voice.

Vera found herself regrouping as she realized she was just standing in the middle of nowhere in front of a nervous Izumi. Feeling extremely tired, she tried again to walk away and hide from this light again.

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Consider this an exit unless Izumi stops her again.
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