Roleplay

If she was a cat, Tem would have purred too.

She leaned into her lynx, closing her eyes contentedly. She didn't care what time she was in, as long as she and June still had this. She vaguely remembered someone knocking last night, but dismissed the thought in her mind. It probably wasn't important, and they'd paid for the room.

She sat up after kissing June on the cheek. "Let's stay here a while. We're in the past, we have nowhere to be, and the others can take care of themselves." She sat back against the headboard, fluffing up the pillows as a back rest. Despite the fact it wasn't the most comfortable bed, she could cuddle June here for hours.

She looked out the window at the dawning light illuminating the city. It was much prettier while it was half-finished; it had a lived-in and well-loved look that was gone in the future, and the jagged parts of the unmined mountain jutted up from it like sentries protecting their charges. The mountains of Colsar hadn't always been cruel and unforgiving. For now, it was indeed the Safe City.

"Monsters aren't sentient," she was thinking aloud now. "But non-humans are. Do you think it's possible at some point that the Clans made it easier for everyone to believe that they weren't sentient either? I want to know who these clans are, why they're doing what they are. Why did they kill the dwarves? Why are they raiding villages? They can think for themselves, it's not like a Mennar attack. I just want to know why."

---

Athus had seen the scar, looking worried. His study was stuffed with books, like it had been in the future, but most of them were shabby and second-hand, and a couple were waiting at the side to be repaired with their covers falling off. The marks on Call's body told a story in their own right, but he wouldn't push him to tell it.

"Outside the City...?" He sat down unhappily. "The Clans are warring over land and resources, and we're just caught up in between. There are humans who are taking advantage of anarchy too," he sighed. "They raid the villages, usually at night. Slaughter the cattle for meat, kill all the men who don't join them, let loose the children to be hunted down for sport, and take liberties with the rest before burning the village to the ground and killing all the survivors. It's not the only thing they do. There are hundreds of Clans, some of them more peaceful - those are the worst ones. And then there are the largest, who are having their large-scale battles out on the plains while the smaller clans run amoc. Our army is scattered all over the place, mostly evacuating people, but we've clashed with the Clans several times. The battles are always haunting."

He sighed, unsure if this was what Call wanted to hear. He was about seventeen, he noticed, which was surprising seeing that his throat had been slit and he had been branded. "There are human Clans too, taking part in the chaos. If they find one of our soldiers, they hang him. A superstitious lot, mostly, they're the ones who lynch mages. Honestly, we need all the mages we can get." He shook his head. "But I can't really tell you much else. I'm just a footsoldier. You haven't any idea at all where you came from...?"

He wanted to ask to see Call's arm again, but he wasn't sure if it would be rude. He was more comfortable just talking to one person alone in his study, rather than in the crowded tavern where the attention for news was on him. Not many soldiers came back at all, let alone regularly, but he had to see Hythen.

There was a knock on the door, and Hythen came in, carrying a tray of cooking that smelled amazing. "I heard you two were up here, I've given the others something to eat too," he smiled at Call kindly.

Athus blushed a little and looked away, Hythen's smile enough to make him feel warm. "He had some things he wanted to know about the war," he explained. "This is my husband, Hythen. Hythen, this is... I don't know your name," he prompted Call, slightly nervously.

Hythen put the tray down for Call. "Your friends are doing alright," he reassured him. "You all look like you haven't had a decent meal in weeks. Oh! Did Athus show you?" He suddenly seemed excited, heading to a shelf and taking a bottle from it. It had holes punctured in the top for air, and a chrysalis was hanging down from the lid. "We don't get butterflies in the mountains as a rule, but this species does live up there - it's incredibly rare, I found it in the Small Streets." He was showing Call simply because he was excited about it, something that was making Athus smile more. "Do you have any interest in butterflies?"

"I think he's probably preoccupied with the war, Hythen."

"We're going to release it further down the city when it comes out of the chrysalis. They have stormy grey wings with darker grey patterns, and they blend into the stone like they came out of it. It's amazing we found the caterpillar, they're so rare and experts at camouflage, they eat the mountain grass, see, but there's not much of it left."

Athus didn't have the heart to interrupt him again, listening to him contentedly. He glanced out of the small window to the narrow street below. It was generous of Hythen to cook for them, but neither of them would mention that. The city was rationing food, and they were poor enough to begin with.

Tem sighed as June asked her question, and then she shook her head, grinning. "You were too distracted. You can't concentrate on two things at once," she teased, kissing her bond before getting up from the bed. She had gotten dressed last night into fluffy pink pyjamas and purple socks - no matter how active they'd been, Tem never failed to get dressed into something new before falling asleep.

Now she stripped off completely, rummaging around for some clothes. Surprisingly, she chose plaid and britches this time - practically for working in. She still managed to look good, just in a more practical way; she put her hair into a simple, practical braid, tucking the britches into rough leather boots before standing back up, stretching, and grinning at June. "I like your clothes today," she teased her mischievously.

Tem grinned, showing herself off as June teased her. She looked a little confused as June looked at a mark that hadn't been there before and then fainted, catching her bond before she could hit the ground. She could still hear the blood pumping around her body, knowing she was still alive, only unconscious. "June?!" She sat down cross-legged, pulling her bond into her lap, running her hands through her hair gently. "What was that about...?" She glanced up to the window, lifting June easily and putting her down on the bed, moving over to open it wide, letting in the fresh, cold air of the morning.

She lifted her plaid a little as well, studying it. It hadn't been there before, certainly. She wasn't sure what it was, or why it had made June faint, but Tem wasn't too bothered about her own body. She knew she looked good either way - she had always been confident on that front. She began to wonder whether they should have gone with the others, and then she would have been able to get help for June.

She moved over to her, scooping her up again with ease, her strength still coming into play. It was easy to misjudge, but also useful. "June, love? You need to wake up," she tried not to sound too worried. "We can't spend all day hanging around, as much as I'd like to." She leaned in and kissed her unconscious bond gently. Maybe it was a Sunvaar thing.

She huffed, sitting down on the bed and holding June. She knew now that the Sunvaar wouldn't die as easily as that, and this was just a shock. She wondered what it was that had shocked her so badly, frowning. Her bond wasn't usually that easily shocked.

A raven landed on the windowsill outside, pecking at the window. Perhaps people liked to feed them, and they had taken to asking for breakfast that way. She smiled a little. People could be superstitious about corvids, but Tem found them friendly and fascinating. She wasn't a hugely superstitious person. She was already dead, after all. You had to be revered of spirits to be superstitious.

She looked back down to June. She remembered her time in Visage, when people would gift the crows with small shiny things and food in exchange for hopefully good luck, or the assistance of the crows. Crows were good that way. They always paid back their debts, and they were some of the biggest minds of justice in that city. Someone hit someone they liked? You could bet they'd be mobbed every time they stepped outside.

She pulled herself back from the mental tangent, watching June's sleeping face affectionately. She hoped it wasn't bad. She wondered what could have possibly made June faint, and a slight idea dawned on her, making her blink. She wondered what had happened for June between the future and now. It was an odd thing to think about.

Tem knew the Night Spirit wouldn't have thrown them back in time if she was worried about them ruining the timeline. That sort of thing happened in stories, but she assumed they had been sent back to a pivotal point where the future could have gone one of several routes, to perhaps change that route to something that didn't hold the cold, purposeless Empire; therefore, none of their actions would cause terrible consequences with time. The future had already happened, so they existed, but their timeline was linear still, and their history would exist even if the world went down a different route. Time was a strange thing.

She leaned down and kissed June, willing her to wake up. "Come on, love... tell me what's wrong..."

"The mark?" Tem didn't want to show it again, for fear of making June faint. She watched her bond in puzzlement, before standing up and speaking firmly. "Love. It's on my body, so you're damn well telling me what it is, and you're telling me now, okay?" She watched June with a stern expression before flopping back down onto the bed next to her, leaning into her and teasingly running her hand over her. "You wouldn't keep something important from me again. That's something you need to promise me," she kissed her cheek gently. "Okay?"

Tem jerked away from her in surprise. "Well, I know enough to say that neither of us have the equipment for that sort of thing, or I would have suggested stopping the risk." She looked down at herself in surprise. She wasn't entirely sure what to think. She had never really wanted a child, but things happened when they happened. "Vampires shouldn't be able to carry babies. The mother is always the human," she was confused. She was cold-blooded. She shouldn't be able to have a child. It would be against nature.

She wondered how that sort of thing happened. Didn't Sunvaar have no magic? And June would have asked her first, surely. She huffed at the lynx. "Tell me it won't be an egg."