Having decided to linger around the Polar Sound for a bit gave Malico the opportunity to hunt for them- not that Mariah was much interested in eating. But, it did give them an opportunity to do some exploring on their own, rather than being under each other's feet for the entirety of their journey. The Mendacium girl had chosen to linger near the edge of the valley- atop the ridgeline. It gave her the best view of the environment as she could see it. And it was a simple enough place for her to stay that she could be easily found once again when her brother returned. It was pretty gusty, though. The northern wind was brutal, and it raked its claws down her bony frame.

Due to her weakness, she couldn't stay unmoving in the open air for very long, so she made the decision to slowly work her way towards the opening of the gorge- there was only one entrance that she could tell. She wouldn't enter the valley as she didn't have enough time to get all the way down and back up again. It would, however, shift her view a bit and open up her surroundings a little more clearly. It was a stunning view, and it made sense to her to want to take full advantage of it. One of the few opportunities to leave her packland would not be wasted.

"Mariah Mendacium"

Absinth had made a little habit of leaving the Sound for bouts of exploration, and anything else interesting really. She couldn’t keep being so good for that fucker Sephiran, and it was fine if she stayed close enough that she’d be able to hear if he called- so some leeway had been found there. The neighboring territories were fair game. And as long as Aresenn was being an elusive bastard- Absinth had to entertain herself to the fullest extent possible. She was headed up and out of the Sound, following the paths up to climb over the gorge itself. The winter wind was in full swing at the top of the cliffs, but Absinth hadn’t yet made her way over when she spotted an obstacle in her way.

A girl, younger by a little, much smaller, and skinny as all hell. Fuck. She hadn’t even looked that bad washing up from the sea. Absinth was sure the girl had noticed her first with her vantage point- something that felt unsettling. The monochromatic fae had always made sure no one ever got the drop on her, even accidentally. Emerald eyes peered up at the stranger for a closer inspection, her limbs moving forward still. She wouldn’t be blocked off if that was the girl's intention. “Sweetheart, you're one strong fucking breeze from soaring far away from this place.” A brow raised, she took note of the silver intricacies of the girl’s eyes, and the red coloration that reminded Absinth of blood. Oh, so many coats she wanted to wear.

wormwood

Mariah had stood at the precipice of the drop-off for some time observing life as it happened in the bottom of the valley. She had reached the point where she wanted to avoid traveling any lower- it was far easier traveling downhill than it was climbing back to the top. However, she was met with an entirely different reason to stay put- she noticed another girl. The stranger was difficult to see in the beginning- it was the movement she noticed. Her coat was pristine white- difficult to sort out from the snow. But the patches of black consuming her face and tail were what she noticed in the end. Mariah remained silent as the distance was closed between them. At some point, she saw the recognition illuminate the other girl’s features- though her stride never faltered, nor showed any indication of surprise. The monochromatic fae approached her with confidence- something she attempted to immolate herself- though her experiences with interactions outside her pack mates were few and far between.

Mariah flicked her ears in acknowledgment of the feminine voice- something not quite mocking, but a blatant observation of a feature of herself that she resented very much. She narrowed her eyes for a moment, before offering a grin. “Well, here’s hoping for the alternative.” She answered with an exuberant tone to her dismissal. Then she thought for a moment, before tacking more on to her response. “Or is that what you want to happen? In which case, I wouldn’t want to deny you the pleasure.” Her voice as facetious as she could make it.

She wouldn’t look behind her, but she couldn’t help thinking of Malico at the moment, wondering how far away he was in the event that she needed him.

"Mariah Mendacium"

The silver-eyed girl offered her a grin, one she most certainly returned two-fold as words spilled from the white muzzle of her obstacle. “You’re far too small to be weighing as much as a leaf on top of it- what’s eating ya? Because you certainly aren’t eating much of anything.” Absinth replied coolly while her face fell into apathy, her eyes scanning over every pronounced rib and ghastly detail of the other girl. If it was rude- she didn’t realize.. Or care. It was a blunt observation and the kind Absinth did often. What was she going to say otherwise? You put carcasses to shame! Bravo! The girl’s tone denoted disinterest. But perhaps it is a feign to mask the anxiety of meeting a stranger that could probably do great harm to her pathetic frame. Well. She was lucky she’d met Absinth and not an even fouler soul.


Absinth let her words linger for a few moments, wondering if she should reassure her own disinterest in mauling or maiming to the other girl. “I don’t find pleasure in harming the weak- I believe in survival of the fittest, so don’t worry. You're safe enough- well. From me.” Absinth’s lips turned upward in a smirk. This girl was about a year or so younger than her, and just like she felt with Karaka- wasn’t there a bit of a game to be played here?

wormwood

To say she was annoyed by the other girls further picking at her own angular appearance would have been a little bit of an understatement. However, she also was aware of the fact that she wasn’t exactly in the greatest position to take a hard stance. Thinking before speaking was a very difficult skillset for her to try and learn on the fly. “I’ll be sure to try and pass on your leaf weighing expertise to somebody who might care on the off chance I find them before you do.” Mariah answered sharply, twisting whatever dumb analogy the monochromatic fae was trying to pin her with into a more literal sense. It was a sore subject. “But in the event I figure out why I am the way that I am, I’ll be sure to let you know.” In other words, none of your business. Whatever ’failure to thrive’ condition she had been the lucky recipient of at birth was her struggle and hers alone.

The backhanded-reassurance she was offered was laughable at best. The promise of safety from someone whose word meant very little wasn’t something she necessarily held in high regard. Seeking out the other girl’s emerald gaze, she offered another momentarily brightened grin. “Don’t you worry your pretty little head about me, I’m perfectly capable of handling myself … Though, I suppose it is reassuring that I’m safe from your selective empathy.” She finished, mirroring the smirk that she was given with a subtle tilt of her head. Where do we go from here?

"Mariah Mendacium"

“I would appreciate both.” It was cute. The girl was offended. A touchy subject it must have been then- perhaps she was the type to starve herself, or throw up, or maybe it was the product of some sort of trauma. Absinth had no way of knowing, so she backed off of the subject in favor of keeping the interaction as… pleasant as possible. Which, in hindsight, wasn’t going to be all that much better. In Absinth terms, that is.

The girl of red and black tones just kept trying to prove herself though her words, but was it the truth or was it a front being put up? Was her skin thick? Or was it as frail as it looked, stretched over bone? “You know, it’s good that you have a mouth on you. Can’t be a woman in the world without some backbone.” Absinth spoke the words while running her eyes over the visibly protruding spinal columns along the girl’s back. “Especially if you have nothing else.  At the very least, you have to hurt going down as they swallow you whole.” Her tone wasn’t much of anything really, maybe passivity at best. She raised an eyebrow in thought, then smiled. “I wonder how I sound to you. I always hated to hear bullshit like this too.” The woman was musing to herself mostly, but actively searching the silver eyes of her interesting new little acquaintance. She didn’t care how her monologue was taken. But she hated to see young little spitfires snuffed out- call it her inner feminism.

wormwood

The stranger marked her alleged interest in both outcomes of the pointed options she had laid out. But even still, Mariah didn’t take her seriously. There was an air of unspoken hilarity to the agreement. Though as long as the message made its contact- and it seemed like it had- then she would pursue the topic no further. Allowing the monochromatic fae the final word on the subject, she stood in momentary silence. At least, until her company took notice of her overzealous attempt at being a mouthpiece.

With the mention of being a woman in the world, her ear flicked. The words she used painted a pretty picture of spite and twisted knives, one she hadn’t paid much attention to. Clearly, the stranger didn’t know Elysium. “I don’t think it’s the women of the world that’s the issue. I come from a matriarchy, and there doesn’t seem to be much need for swallowing very many individuals whole there. Not that my mother or sisters couldn’t see to it if the need happened to arise.” The girl echoed. Unbeknown to herself, she sounded very naive in doing so- sheltered was probably the better word for it. But of course, this was her first real trip outside of pack lands- she had been too weak for exposure as a young child. Stubborn she might. Clueless to the way the world worked out she of Elysium, she most certainly was. She just hadn’t anticipated that being the theme of the path she had chosen to take. Blinking away the thought, she became aware of the tail-end sentiment that she was offered. “But there must be some truth to it if you feel like you have to spout it off to some stranger.” Mariah answered lightly. “Tell me, did you listen to it? Or do you simply wish you had?” Hindsight had the tendency to be fairly clear, and it could be easily said that she was curious as to what the path looked like behind the older girl.

"Mariah Mendacium"

So. There was a pack run by women. It sounded like a dream. But Absinth wasn’t interested in nice strong women. She wanted some deplorable bitches to make friends with. Strength was respectable enough, but if they didn’t have the same morality as her; then she couldn’t be bothered. “Well. What a privilege to grow up in a place where women have power. Congratulations. You might never know the depravity the rest of us have to experience just to survive. Well done you, being born in the right place. Do you truly have no concept of the atrocities that can befall us?” The true issue was that Absinth hated the sight of damsels in distress types, those who have no voice, no valuable physical capabilities- no will to do whatever it takes in life.

None of this was how she thought this interaction was going to go. She thought she might poke some fun at the girl, get bored and leave; but now she was stuck explaining her beliefs because of some fucking need to pick the younger girl’s brain apart. Absinth sighed as she responded to the other girl’s question , beginning to move forward so she could stay her original course of leaving the Sound. “I listened. I thought it was bullshit because I never wanted to think of myself as some weak woman of the world, but I was a child. And children learn. I’m not much older than you, girl, but we are years apart when it comes to knowing how the world works.” She wasn’t particularly condescending, her tone even and a bit apathetic actually.  
wormwood

The strange woman of the valley was a seemingly bitter individual. And there was obvious depth to her that went way below the surface. Mariah, however, wasn't interested in venturing down to the seabed, and she would simply give a noncommittal shrug instead. "No, I guess my mother left out the part of paranoia when she was teaching me life skills. But I would think everyone knows atrocities to some degree- some more intimately than others it would seem.” She answered lightly, her tone just as steady and even as the fae that stood before her. She wouldn't let her gaze waver from the eyes of the other, but her head tilted slightly, as though she was deciding something. "I suppose I have been blessed with the kind of life that doesn't need to face oppression and fear daily. But I don't think that that's a virtue, it's just luck.” Mariah ultimately agreed, restating the words to herself on her own tongue. If that was the acknowledgment the stranger was looking for or not, she didn't know.

As the monochromatic fae answered her philosophical question, Mariah offered a slow nod. She listened. Was that sad? "If it's any consolation, I'll mourn the child who was forced to accept that truth. Of course, you are likely right in your assumption that I know very little about how the world works. Still, I'm not so sure that makes me envious of your knowledge.” Mariah finished, allowing her attention to linger for a few more moments before offering a half-sided grin. Without offering a farewell, Mariah slowly turned her back on the stranger altogether to ascend to the top of the ridge line where she had left her brother. What more was there to say?

-Exit unless stopped-
"Mariah Mendacium"