[ P ] Chalk Outline

Dream big and dare to fail

Quietly she would wander along the skirt of trees, her gaze shifting around the twisted trunks and strange assortment of plants, constantly alert from not being sure what to expect within the woodland that took over most of her vision. She hadn’t stepped foot here since the war and she knew had her mother known she was here, she would be enraged or at the least disappointed at the pup for directly disobeying simple rules that had been placed for her. Far from home without a single eye of supervision for one but that might not be the worst part that might ignite the small Captain’s ire, rather the fact she was here of all places. The Highlands were strictly off limits, too dangerous for a child of the Mainlands to venture into, especially one of a noble family that served King Adamh. There could be a target on her back right now and she would be none the wiser to it, seeing no one hidden away or tucked behind the menacing trees. She wasn’t here just to frolic and seek curiosities though, she didn’t come here for something so childish.

Something did catch her attention though, something off white with odd stains of purple and red to a dried saffron yellow, causing her head to perk up. Slowly she’d move over to it, ears perched up high and her tongue running over her nose in nervous anticipation as from what she could tell it resembled a wolf. She heard stories of fae, creatures that stole children away from her cousins, more so mocking the beliefs of the free thinkers; the enemy. Had her simply being here drawn one out? Running away would probably be the best option for the creatures who sounded violent and unkind. Still she would take each slow step toward it, her ears flicking as she tried to muster courage, courage she so greatly lacked as a pristine little porcelain doll. Inching little by little, slowly creeping to a crouch as if to hide herself. Then she saw it, something more horrible than the mythical creatures but something far more real. Had she hands she may have slapped them over her mouth, having to hold in the scream without aid as she scrambled backward till her back crashed into a tree.

Bones with fur hanging off. Soldiers that had not been buried and left for the elements to devour.

They were a heart racing wake up call as she glanced around, ears pinning, being returned to why she had been here in the first place. This had to be the right place, she was all the more sure of it now. This was where she had witnessed her mother being mauled to keep her safe, where one after the other fell in war and lastly close to where her mother’s commander had also lost his life or so she was told. It had been a short lived experience, so fast yet so slow in the moment before she had been ushered away by one of her mother’s subordinates to safety. The guilt that had festered, the anguish she felt. She wanted to make things right, she wanted to make it up to the woman who’s armor always seemed so tidy in front of her, who smiled even in pain. Certain losing her father she had not met also painted agony in the woman only made that smile more hard to accept. To be able to look at her face again.

But how?
Where would she even start?
Revenge?

code by claerie

Nassar grunted from the effort of digging. Mud clung to her forelegs and darkened her paws until the cream was streaked with brown. Her common scent—that of pine when she stayed in the barracks and cinnamon when her mother adorned her with oils far too expensive—had been traded for that of soil and rain. The water made the dirt easier to dig into, but it wedged more thickly beneath her nails. Thankfully the deluge had stopped and her grave was not filling with muddy water.

Pressing her paws against the land's surface, Nassar hoisted herself out of the grave. Her ears flicked to dislodge a stray twig that had tousled in her fur. Glancing down, she felt a flash of shame—it was not enough.

But it was better than leaving the bodies to rot for all to view.

Glancing back at the small company that had come to help her, she gave a small nod. She would go and find one of their sisters and bring her back to rest, and she would call if it was necessary for another to help her with the grizzly business.

...

It was difficult to smell anything other than the loam and the rotting flesh and yet... there was another scent. It lingered, cloying with the stench that caused her stomach to twist and turn. As she approached with more caution, Nassar found herself staring at a stranger.

A girl.

In the immediate moment, Nassar did not recognize the girl although she would soon.

Ears flaring backward, the Lieutant Colonel stalked forward, a slight growl in her voice as she spoke: "What business do you have here?" Her immediate thought was that this young girl had come to mock the dead, or to stare upon their faces before running back to gaggle with her friends about how scary it had been.

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@Aurora

Dream big and dare to fail

Silence was all that came as she rested there for a long few moments, taking in the bodies for a little while longer before she would finally get enough will to withdraw from her terror though her body still shook in place as she carefully maneuvered along the spring underbrush. It was a shame, how these bodies were left here the way they were, truly and it only formed a further distaste in her mouth. Death was sacred, a time to honor the bodies and release the soul and yet the more she looked; the more she took in the scents on the wind, the more she came to see that the Highlanders cared little for respecting the dead. Be them enemies or allies, no one deserved to wilt like this in the open, left unrecognizable now and it hurt deep inside to think anyone could just leave them to such a demise. Unfortunately she was one singular small girl, there was no way she could get them to a body of water nor provide them with an earthen burial but that didn’t mean she couldn’t try but there was that hesitation. To dirty ones paws was uncouth as a noblewoman, it was better to leave to servants or workers to do it but none of those were here.

Had the situation not been so somber, she might have awkwardly laughed at her own ignorance. To laugh would feel like a mockery even if not directed at anything other than herself. The sound of one’s pawsteps only manifesting such a thought all the more and before she could really react she’d see someone larger than her come to emerge from deeper within the forest, seemingly alone. At the rusty hues, her subconscious was quick to think them a native of this land which instantly sent the hairs along her spine to tingle and the fur along her nape to puff up when they moved forward like a hunter with its prey. "Bitte iss mich nicht!" she yipped out. Though louder than normal, it came out airy and light but panicked as she shuffled backward, any etiquette out the window in that second of being startled by the rumble of the other’s voice.

That was far from what she was taught to do when thinking her life was in danger; fight or flight, not beg for mercy or freeze up.

When they didn’t immediately tackle or try to kill her, she’d glance up at them sheepishly and would try to regain some composure, quick to dust off the pleats of her gown and ensure the hem was still tidy as she recognized the woman before her as a denizen of the Mainlands as well. A noble in fact with a respectable reputation. Why was she here? “Lady Nassar, apologies for m-my outburst. You s-startled me,” she quickly apologized, feeling her cheeks warm in embarrassment and strongly hoping the much older woman wouldn’t understand a word she had said prior. She wanted to fold into herself and cease to exist till the other might leave but she had a bigger conundrum on her paws than tidying up appearances. Answering a question that was far harder to formulate an answer to, perhaps even more so than if being yelled at by kin though she couldn’t keep her waiting; that too was even more rude. Lying wouldn’t do either.

“Recompense,” she’d say softly though with a heat of determination. Her gradient gaze of cool silver and warm gold would drift away from the woman to the bodies once more, her ears flicking a couple times nervously. “But now I wish to h-help them rest. Why are they l-left out like th-this?” she asked after a second, it weighing heavily on her mind, believing more and more that Jacobites and Highlanders might truly be primal monsters.

code by claerie

It was not Nassar's nature to enter a situation with a cool head. To her, the benefit of the doubt was an insidious little thing, a get out of jail free card for those that lied better than they told the truth. Her thin patience matched her fiery temperament and demand for efficiency. Those that were innocent would prostrate as such and she'd handle any ruffled furs or frayed nerves neatly. Those that were guilty could be dealt with quickly, so as to not waste her time.

This child spoke a language foreign to Nassar's ears and whirled around, voice loud yet simultaneously soft as if it had been a whisper amplified into the ear. Already, there were notes of similarity. Nassar felt the nagging feeling that she knew this child even though she could smell little else other than that of rotting flesh. And, if she was being honest, the wave of nausea in her gut shortened her patience even more.

When she met those hazel eyes, the spark of recognition finally ignited. Her. That child that had seemingly been born on the battlefield—if not in reality, then by the fact that her whole world seemed to have been shaped by the conflict.

Aurora's apology was quickly brushed aside as the wolf's gray ears flicked back against her skull. "Aurora—" Nassar's brow knit. "Does your mother know you are here?" She could not imagine Sif having allowed the girl to venture so far all by herself. The rotting wolves and half-visible skeletons did not suit the child who, without the scent of rot, surely wore a sweeter perfume. She looked fit to read all day within an expansive library, not puzzle over the cadavers that had been left to the crows.

At the reason given to her, Nassar's lips pursed. She did not nod or shake her head, not for a long moment. This unsettled feeling left by the dead was difficult to contend with, even for a wolf that had had longer to try and manage her emotions. Aurora was but a child—yet far too aware of battle for one of her age.

"Because the living have to come first," Nassar said at last with a sigh. "We had too many injured to care for, too many lives to put back together. Only now can we start digging graves..." She paused, glancing again at those left to the elements. "And start filling them."

Another pause.

"But you do not have anything to repay them for."

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@Aurora