Scars

"Scars" is a [SEASON NUMBER] thread written on [IRL DATE].
==Summary==
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==Full Text==
Verdandi props herself up on her elbow, looking down at Liam. Behind her, the fire still burns merrily, casting flickering light across the otherwise-empty room. 
“We should get a proper bed,” she says with a soft laugh. At the moment, their only “furniture” is their bedrolls, currently spread before the fire, and the blankets tangled around their legs.
“Or we could just…always be on the floor. More room.” He smirked softly as his claws carefully caught in one of her curls and he moved it over her bare shoulder, taking in the way her skin was bronzed in the firelight. “I don’t care. I’m used to sleeping in the middle of nowhere with Nala.”
She snickers. “And yet, you keep going back to Will’s house, because he has furniture.” Verdandi trails her fingers down his chest, hesitating over the scar so close to his heart. “I’m glad you’re alright,” she says in a tight voice.
“It was a close one,” he admitted. “Not gonna lie about that. But it turned out alright.” He brushed a thumb over one of Verdandi’s cheekbones, studying her eyes again. Their new color was still slightly off-putting. But it was gorgeous in an otherworldly kind of way. “Whatever happened out there saved my life.”
Verdandi hums softly. “It did,” she agrees. She moves her fingers down to the scar on his torso. “How did you get this one?”
He sucked a bit of air through his teeth. “Hah, that one was a doozy. Uh, long story made way short…Nala had a shitty-ass sibling, the Praetor, that was chasing me and Kendra and Nala’s brother across the country. Wanted to eat his whole family or some shit.” He spread his paws above them, looking up at the ceiling. “They were this huge, gray…monster-thing. It was…a little scary. They caught up to us and Nala and Zsil had to fight them.” He made a face, his claws brushing over the thin scars across his ribs. “Uh, he had tentacle things and they cut, hard. I was probably in over my head, being involved at all. But I couldn’t let Nala do that by herself.”
He shifted his weight onto his other arm and pointed out a stippled, bruised scar below his right shoulder blade. “They also threw me off a cliff. That wasn’t fun, either.”
She cringes. “Doesn’t sound fun,” she says. Verdandi taps the one on his arm. “This is from Rhenco, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. But you were definitely there for that. I’m surprised it left a scar, actually, since it healed as quick as it did.”
Looking back at the scar on Liam’s chest, Verdandi shrugs a shoulder. “I think my… magic,” she stutters over the word, “just makes it heal faster, it doesn’t keep scars from forming.”
“That’s alright. I’m alive, aren’t I?” He traced his fingers over her skin, catching them slightly where it was puckered with old wounds. “What about you? Got any fun stories?”
Verdandi turns her hand over, allowing him to see the inside of her arm. Nodding toward the faint line there, she says, “I learned the hard way not to cut towards yourself. I think I was cutting potatoes, and the knife slipped.” She lets out a wry laugh. “That’s probably the most ridiculous one that I’ve managed to get.”
Liam grinned and cupped her wrist, rubbing his thumb over the mark. “I’ve got plenty of stupid stuff too, don’t worry. I had my fair share of scraps when I was a kid. Bullies were a thing, but not for very long around me.”
“You, get into scraps? I never would’ve guessed,” she says, flashing him a grin. “That may be the biggest shock of my life,” she adds, pressing her hand to her heart as she giggles her way through the sentence.
“Shut the Hel up,” he laughed, pushing her over onto her stomach and fake-pinning her down with his arm. His laugh suddenly died as he spotted the edges of a gold…something on the back of her neck. “Whoa. Is that a, uh…did you…get a new tattoo or something before we left?”
That stops Verdandi cold. “No,” she says slowly, “why?” She tries to twist to see what he’s looking at, but – it’s not like she can see the back of her own neck.
He pushed her hair aside and carefully traced the golden lines of a strange seal on the nape of Verdandi’s neck, strong against the darkness of her skin. “I don’t wanna jump to conclusions but this looks…um, weirdly magical. Or divine. Whatever.”
She shivers, a wave of cold that has nothing to do with the actual temperature of the room sweeping through her. “I don’t understand,” she whispers. “Where did it come from?”
“Hey, hey, it’s okay.” He pulled her a little closer and guided her hand to the back of his own neck, the bare skin just above his scruff of orange fur. There was a myriad of dark, slightly-puckered burn marks in an elaborate circular design over the slight bumps of his spine, and he rested his fingers on top of hers as she touched it. “Now we match.” He laughed slightly. “Honestly, if it wasn’t for what we know, I would’ve said yours looks just like a demon contract. But that’s definitely not it.” He tapped a claw on his own brand. “This is.”
Thoughts collide together in Verdandi’s head, but she pushes them aside for a moment. “What for?” she asks, tracing along the design.
“Insurance,” he answered. “I didn’t want Nala’s other brother to try and kill us, too. If the Guardian touches me, Nala, or anyone in my family, he dies.” He shrugged, resting his chin on his forearms as she explored his skin. “I don’t think it’ll ever come to that. But I was on edge. And young. Seventeen.”
“Why did you think he’d try?” Verdandi tilts her head. “Was that a risk?”
tree-the-cat
Liam rubbed at his nose, staring into the fire. “Dunno. Praetor wasn’t supposed to kill their dad, but they did. They were being unpredictable. So I didn’t want to take the risk with Zsil. It only cost me a favor from me to him, and he hasn’t made good on that yet. I’ll help him when the time comes.”
aroleplayingcephalopod
“I… guess that makes sense.” she says. With a frown, she reaches back to touch the mark on her neck for herself. “If this isn’t a demon contract, what is it?”
tree-the-cat
“Hm.” He nibbled on the side of his thumb in thought, watching it as Verdandi fidgeted with it. “Well, when I say it’s not a demon contract, that doesn’t mean it’s absolutely nothing like it. But, really…it’s weird that it appeared if you didn’t talk to or make a deal with anyone…or anything.”
aroleplayingcephalopod
Verdandi pales. “What about – what I did earlier?” she says faintly.
tree-the-cat
“I got no clue. I’m sorry.” He turned his head to look up at her, his brow furrowed. “I know a lot of demon things. I don’t know how valkyries work. I don’t know…what that makes you, concerning them.”
aroleplayingcephalopod
She lets out a nervous hum. “I don’t know either.” Verdandi buries her face in her hands. “I don’t know who to ask,” she says, her voice muffled.
tree-the-cat
Liam stared at the back of her neck, thinking hard. His gaze twitched back and forth slightly as he did so. Ah, he knew why those lines looked familiar. “Kinda looks like the goat’s markings,” he said, though he was a bit reluctant to bring Milae into the conversation, given how suspicious he was of the half-breed. But he was more worried about Verdandi’s well-being. “Maybe he knows something. Maybe.” He put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, trying to comfort her.
aroleplayingcephalopod
“Milae?” Verdandi looks up at Liam. “Are – are you sure?” He’s a bit creepy, she thinks, but doesn’t say. Instead, she leans into his side. “I guess asking him couldn’t hurt…”
tree-the-cat
“I’m not super sure. I don’t really like him.” His eyes softened slightly as he watched her, keeping a firm and protective paw on her shoulder. “But I just want you to be okay with all of this.”
aroleplayingcephalopod
“Thanks,” she says softly, moving to press a kiss to his cheek. “I… I don’t like him much, either, but he did help before. In a strange way, but–” she shrugs, “–it did help.”
Verdandi lets out a long breath. “I suppose we shouldn’t worry about it right now, though.”
tree-the-cat
“I try.” Liam rolled over onto his back and took her with him, holding her close to his chest while resting his hands on her back. He gave a small, quietly genuine smile. “It’s gonna be alright, Vee.”
aroleplayingcephalopod
She giggles. “Well, if you’re saying it, it must be true,” she says. There’s a teasing lilt to her voice, but the genuine relief in her eyes is hard to miss. Even if it’s not alright… at least she won’t be alone.
tree-the-cat
“I guess it must be,” he said with an air of self-satisfaction, and a more crooked grin. “I don’t give a shit about any valkyrie or crazy knife murderer or anything like that. It’s just us.” He cupped her cheek. “Okay?”
aroleplayingcephalopod
Verdandi has to swallow around a sudden lump in her throat. “Y-yeah,” she whispers, but her smile is genuine. “Just us. I like that.”
Category:BOTGD 2
Category:Events
Category:Act I
Category:Verdandi Østergård
Category:Liam Arnason