((CW: Allusions to alcoholism and passive suicidal ideation. Take care of yourself and read only if it's safe to do so.))

Flurry was well and truely fucked up at this point. How exactly she'd gotten out of the ravine and onto the land bridge would be lost to her forever and in the coming years when she tried to remember this period in her life it'd be obscured in thick cloud of alcohol, only able to pull up scattered moments in time.

But in the now? Flurry stood on the northern point of the bridge, the southern most part of Boreas. Before her stretched an empty expanse, Auster on the horizon but feeling impossibly far away... Between her and it was nothing but sand and a hungry ocean, ready to swallow her up if she so much as stumbled... Which she probably would... Flurry and sobriety weren't exactly on speaking terms right now...

But it honestly wasn't the drink that was the biggest issue... It was the gnawing hunger, the exhaustion. Flurry hadn't exactly been taking care of herself as of late. Hard to feel motivated to do so when she saw no possible future ahead of her anymore. She'd thrown that away and now she was simply existing. Not dead, not actively looking to die... But not really trying to live either...

Frankly, she was depressed. Deeply depressed. But it would take a lot less numbing herself to the world to be able to even register that.... As the woman wobbled her way down the land bridge she wondered idly if it was possible for a giant wave to come by and wash her away... Would she even care if it did? Drowning certainly wasn't high on her list of comfortable ways to go but it also was better than many others she could think of. Plus maybe it'd mean her family could go on assuming she was out there somewhere... Better than a body to bury and mourn...

But it wasn't a wave that finally stopped Flurry in her struggle towards Auster, it was the hunger, and the exhaustion. It was her body finally deciding it had struggled enough. If she wasn't going to rest willingly then it was taking that choice away from her! Flurry hardly even registered surprise as her legs buckled out from under her. She wasn't that far from the northern shore of Auster when suddenly the world tilted and the sand rushed up to meet her. Her chest hitting the ground first, which hurt, followed by the rest of her which also hurt. Flurry groaned, it suddenly felt like she could feel her own weight, the idea of moving a limb seemed a distant dream, surely it'd be impossible when it felt like her bones has turned into boulders. Her eyes similarly felt heavy... Somewhere her survival instinct was trying to break free, telling her not to close her eyes... But she'd learned how to shut that part of her up long ago... And she decided it couldn't hurt to just close her eyes for a bit...

She didn't even register the sound of the cat as it rushed out towards the nearby shore, distressed mew rising from it as it searched frantically for anyone nearby, unwilling to go too far but unable to do anything to help her itself.

- | movement | speech  -

code by Cloudy

Updated 01/13/23: I am currently on indefinite scarcity, please be patient and don't remind me of missing tags right now.

Empousa was making her back from Auster, she wanted to camp at the beach for the night before heading back into Boreas. So far not much had caught the dusty colored woman's attention, at least not for long. Tonight's weather was cold, wet, and windy. So she was smart enough to not want to attempt to cross what remained of the bridge before her. Soon her attention is called from her as her ears tilt forward at the sound of a cat mewing in the distance, the distress evident in its poor voice. And Emmie rushed to close the distance, curious to find what was distressing it so. As she stumbled across the scene her widened ever so slightly, and she approached the poor cat slowly. Letting it sniff her as it mewed more and appeared to try desperately to lead her closer to the bridge, and she followed. Eyes landing on what she could only assume to be the cause of the cat's worry. She came to sniff the rather limp-looking form, checking for signs of life. Making sure the effort she was going to make would be worth it, and she wasn't going to be hauling a dead body onto the beach. After getting a decent enough sign of life from the limp girl's chest rising and falling she reaches to grab her by the scruff. Hauling her form to the beach, which took quite a bit from her. She was smaller and lighter than the woman she dragged, but in the end, she would have felt just kind of bad if she left her here to die. Especially since that poor cat was clearly VERY upset by this. Empousa grumbled a little as she finally got the woman far enough away from the ocean that she didn't think the waves were of any danger. Then she took to sniffing her, trying to figure out if she was sick or what. And then the heavy scent of alcohol hit her and she just shook her head. So she would be taking care of a rather thin, unhealthy-looking drunk tonight, great. She headed into the coastline, gathering some sticks and tinder so she could make a fire. She wanted to keep the girl warm at the least, make sure she didn't get sick. And then if she could she would catch something small for her to eat after she got a fire going. She came back, set up the fire, and made sure it would stay burning long enough for her to get something. And so she went to the land bridge, waiting to spot some fish, and almost dived in after them. After a few trips, she gathered up six fish and claimed that to be good enough for them both. She took to cooking them on the fire, after giving the cat one for herself. Had to reward the poor thing for all its efforts after all. And then she drew herself closer to the unknown lady, sitting on her haunches and laying next to her. In an effort to at least sort of warm her up. Hopefully, she would awake, sooner rather than later preferably. "Speach"

Flurry drifted in and out of consciousness for a while, but consciousness was not awareness and though she caught flashes of her situation, being dragged along the sand, the crackling of a fire and the brief whiff of something cooking, she didn't register who was with her. Her poor alcohol sodden mind desperately clinging to hope that it was a family members, maybe a sibling, even drunk she didn't think it was either of her parents. She wanted it to be anyone who'd looked at her, and had seen what she had, had heard her trying to make the point that the way they were going someone was going to end up dead and she'd been fucking right! No one had ever even acknowledged that! Her father hadn't actually died sure but they'd all thought he had. She'd been right! But Flurry did not have any higher power on her side. Maybe Abraxas hated her too, she hadn't ever really bought into the whole godling thing after all. No one from her family had come to save her but rather a complete and total stranger. When eventually she well and truely roused Flurry first noticed the cat. Who after eating had curled itself at her side, purring loudly and casting the occasional thankful glance back up at the wolf who'd helped Flurry. Who for her part was groaning and blinking against the sudden light and trying to piece together what was around her. It took longer than it should have to notice the warmth of another body behind her, the scent of a stranger. Carefully she rolled her head back, mismatched gaze sliding around until she found her. A stupid grin almost instantly plastering across Flurry's face. "Shhhould drunkenly pass out more often." She slurred, tongue feeling heavy in her mouth. "Brings out all tha' pretty ladies!" Too drunk to stop her accent from starting to slip through she tried to flutter her eyes at the stranger but really only managed to blink awkwardly at her instead. Flurry didn't usually try to flirt like that anyways, but she also hadn't been sober in a while so erratic behaviour was certainly her new norm. "I like yer... Red." Flurry was talking about the woman's eyes, but as she laughed this time she felt her stomach clench and then she groaned, head lolled back towards the fire, pivoting partially on one of her horns and the elongated fangs that constantly poked out from her lips sliding forward, into attack position as her body angrily protested the lack of care she'd shown it. "Speech"

Art by Honrin

Empousa's ears soon flicked in the direction of the stranger, who was finally roused from her sleep. Good, good. Empousa moved her head to look at the rolling dog, lifting a brow at her. Even when the urge to laugh bubbled in her throat, barely held down. Then the stranger was speaking and Emmie couldn't help the indigent snort that came from her nose, this wolf had laid half-dead and drunk ready to be swallowed by the ocean maybe an hour ago and she was already flirting with her. It was both oddly charming and quite silly. "Maybe next time you can just try to approach the pretty ladies, aye?" she crooned softly, leaning to bump the woman's side. Then, the drunken woman gave her the oddest compliments, even though she understood that the lady had meant her eyes. "Thank you, I like your teeth." She said playfully, eyeing the girl's fangs. Odd attributes seemed to be quite common here, although these definitely fit the drunken girl before her. She watched as the girl's laughter soon turned to what could only be a reaction caused by pain, and Em moved her head forward. Reaching to grab three of the fish and moving them to sit in front of the stranger. "Eat, maybe that will help your stomach. I'd hate to see such a looker die on me from alcohol poisoning after I worked so hard to save them." Her voice held a teasing yet serious tone, she really did mean some of it. And then pointed adamantly at the food with her nose. "After you eat if you'd like you can tell me why I found you in the middle of the land bridge as intoxicated as you are, it was not a wise move darling." the pet name flowed off her tongue easily as she moved to grab one of the two fish left for herself, making quick work of tearing out the spine and starting to eat the flesh left behind. "My name is Empousa, but you can call me Emmie or Em if you'd like. May be easier right now either way." She said after swallowing a chunk of the delicate flesh, for making this on a whim it was quite delicious. At least in her opinion. "Speach"

"Pretty an' funny. Killer combo." Flurry chuckled, probably more amused than she ought to be. Though the pounding in her head and the continued twisting of her stomach quickly brought reality charging back in, and it was armed! Flurry wasn't sure eating was what she wanted to do right now but it was something to do and that was almost as important so she dutifully started to gnaw at one of the fish. Which had the unfortunate side effect of putting food in her which was almost certainly destined to come back up sometime later but meant her stomach wasn't drowning in just alcohol now... Clarity. Clarity hurt most of all. She let the comment about the danger hang in the air. She knew that. Flurry was well aware of the side effects of what she was doing, was choosing them over the side effects of sobriety pretty intentionally. Not that she'd be able to do so for much longer... She was out of drink now, she was simply trying to out run what that meant for her a little longer. "Flurry Fallen...." She finally managed though the sounds of her name seemed to slide around her mouth awkwardly. Fallen at least felt right... She'd never been big on the whole "descended from god" thing but she'd certainly never felt more mortal... More pitiful and broken. "Can I tell ye a secret Empousa?" She stared into the fire, mind starting to swirl darkly but even still the drink was holding on, obvious in her accent and the way she hit the P on the womans name, with force. "Safer te be drunk. Fer me at least. Drunk ah'm less likely te jus' walk offa the bride and inte the water and not come back." The next thought set her to giggling for a moment. "S'proly more likely fer a wave te come an' get me though." Somewhere Flurry was aware just how dark what she'd said was, but the drink meant that she didn't say it like it was. She said it like it was true. Because it was. "Speech"

Art by Honrin