[l]

---

hoping for possibly an Izumi ?!?! but AW!

lilith woke to a stinging sensation which radiated from her nostrils all the way down to her lungs. it takes her a good solid moment to even register the fact that she has roused, and as soon as she does, she lurches forward and gags onto the pale sand at her feet. she realizes now that she is also wet, pitifully gazing over her shoulder as a wave rolls over her entire torso and blankets her in a frigid blast that leaves her shuddering. she is on a beach.
she was washed up somewhere.
forcing down the instinctive urge to panic, the girl turns to face inland in an attempt to make sense of her surroundings in the dark. whether or not she is alone, she cannot tell. tall rocky fixtures loom over her head, blotting out the dim glow of starlight which provided her only hope of vision.
she was screwed, wasn't she?
she struggles into a crawl, adrenaline powering her just enough to get her halfway up to dry ground before she stumbles. fuck, her teeth grit as she shifts her weight, scowling down at her hind legs — only to realize that she is tangled in seaweed and dragging an unnervingly large plank of driftwood with her. fuck!
yeah, she was screwed.

---

<3<3

---

❁

It had occurred to Izumi that there were many dead fish and strange creatures that washed up on these shores whenever she visited. Izumi was never the biggest fan of fish, but if she were lucky this would’ve been her second time running into a dead sea lion carcass – the last one having a chunk bitten out of them, perhaps an unfortunate run-in with a shark. What she had not imagined, though, is that one of these washed-up animals had the ability to curse.

‘Fuck!’ – it cried out – and her ears swiveled forward in surprise. Lilac eyes squinting in the darkness to try and outline exactly what she’d been looking at. ’Fuck!’ – It cried out once more, and the Empress was soon convinced that this “It” had actually been another wolf. Not potential food for the cache.

The crane bird could seek food in the morning, though. Clearly there was someone in need of help.

At least, that's what it looked like when she treaded closer. It was only for the moonlight that finally illuminated them, but it appeared to be a young woman resting against a piece of driftwood. Drenched from head to tail in water and caked with wet sand. Had she washed ashore just now?

Are you quite alright? The woman asked, finally getting close enough to make out a pair of faded raspberry eyes…

---

---

[t]

the process of trying to untangle yourself from gelatinous, sopping sea-matter was not a simple one, lilith had begun to learn. she looked like an absolute dumbass, gnawing at wet wood and bitter, salty plant; silent, humiliated tears forming in the corners of her eyes, a string of spittle dribbling down her chin as she tries her best to avoid swallowing down the hideous flavors assaulting her tongue. all the while, the sea roars behind her, coughing up rocks and debris onto her heels.
she must have died. this has got to be hell.
lost in her own misery, she hadn't even heard the sound of footsteps, nor noticed the growing shadow creeping up toward her from further up the bank. the only thing that broke her desperate trance was the sound of a voice. instantly she swivels around, squinting at the strange woman as if she weren't entirely sure her eyes were being truthful to her brain. she blinks, then she stares, eyes slowly growing wider, lips drawn into a taut curve.
the first thing she can think to say is sorry, followed by a mental scrambling for some form of explanation as to why she was here and what had happened. i-- i don't know where i am, and my... leg... cheeks flushed beneath her pelt, she gestures toward her backside and sprawls out her limbs as best she can across the sandy earth. she cannot bring herself to ask, but her eyes plead for kindness.

---

❁

The image that had been brought upon her by the moonlight was….unsettling, to say the least. Those same pair of ruby red eyes widened, seemingly at the surprise to catch the crane lurking within the dark. Yet it was the curve of the woman’s lips that caught her off guard – she couldn’t tell if it was from sheepishness, or if this was calculative. She could think of a similar time way back then – where the woman’s generosity had nearly gotten her killed by the shore. In a group’s attempts to make her and other victims suffer.

Izumi shook her head – no, she didn’t want to think about that right now.

The empress was strong enough to defend herself now, at least to some capacity, and she didn’t smell anything or anyone else nearby. If something were to happen, the woman would be more prepared than she was last time. Even so, the possibility sent an uneasy feeling into her stomach.

You….are lost, then? The pause of silence, as she’d reluctantly broke from her visual assessment of the girl. Cautious. Ah, yes…here, let me help. Slowly, her feet would dance around the girl’s frame, as if preparing for some kind of jump attack that would reveal itself at any minute. She needed help, and Izumi acknowledged it — but did not trust it all at once.

A piece of seaweed found itself in her maws— eventually, after tolerating the strong taste of salt — and she’d began to rip it away from the limb it was wrapped around.

---

---

you could say that, lilith flinches at the touch of a cold nose upon her shin, forcing herself to look away and instead focus on the foamy lapping waves of the sea. she breathes in tandem with their crashing, her pulse slowly lessening its erratic thud. she clears her throat, trying her best to hide the accent buried deep within her speech. my name is lilith. i'm sorry, for, um, the trouble.
how the fuck was she meant to explain this? the longer she sits with the uncomfortable sound of molars grinding up kelp, the more awkward she feels. she certainly feels more alive now, her paws brushing against a ribbed shell in the sand, between a clump of large, smooth stones that could only have been brought here by time itself. but how had she gotten here? where had she been before now? she digs deep within the recesses of her recent memory and only finds a thick, smoggy cloud of amnesia that's starting to give her a headache.
do you live... here? lilith gestures with a forepaw in a semicircle, implying, of course, this... place.

---

❁

Izumi couldn’t help but let out a light chuckle. Do you apologize in place for your fight with the sea? she says in between bites, teeth scissoring away at the plant fibres. A film of sand and slime coating her tongue unpleasantly. You do not cause any trouble, really. It’s alright…miss Lilith. she says the name given to her – And with that, the crane’s incisors would cut through the remaining seaweed, pulling her head away and backing up some.

Her faded rouge gaze would wander, and Izumi’s too out of curiosity of what she was thinking. Asking if she’d lived here, the crane’s head would slowly shake. While peaceful, it would make for quite a boring home, wouldn’t it? the woman says in response, tilting her chin upwards to gesture over her shoulder towards the aisle across the sea. I reside there, where the wisteria blooms in warmer months.

Her lilac gaze travels back to the dame in muddied greys. What of you? Did you drift far from home? You appear too…..perplexed with your situation to be a native.

---

---

i apologize for making you stop to help me, lilith's lip curls into a dashing half-smirk. but thank you. i appreciate you saying that.
she finally allows herself to roam the features of the woman in front of her. porcelain-pelted, fair and tall, like a character straight from one of her dreams. she's pretty, especially in the moonlight. her gaze makes lilith want to shrink down to something minuscule.
you make it sound very pretty. i have not seen flowers in a long time, she laughs, though her expression falters in an unreadable way when she's asked of herself. i am from the desert. there's not much out there aside from rocks and bushes. sometimes, maybe, if you find a stream or a river, there will be plants growing alongside it, but not very good looking ones.
her jaw tenses, then eases as the last of her restraints fall away. her leg stretches outward, flexes, then tucks back up beneath lilith's belly. she lets out a contented sigh. thank you, for rescuing me, seriously, her eyes widen innocently. there must be some way i can repay you.