⊰ Skill Point ― n/a ⊱

Lilja was appaulled. She looked between the two children with shock on her face until it morphed into a furrowed look of disappointment.

The fair-coloured woman approached the three of them, very aware that they all towered over her by this point in their lives. If Lilja really wanted to keep them apart, she would be very unlikely to be of any help.

It is not that I do not believe in you both, it is that I have faith in your father to bring your sister back unscathed. she tried to soften her tone, attempting to reach out to the softer sides of the two pups. It was blatantly obvious how uncomfortable Cupid was getting and Lilja could only try to mediate.

She positioned herself in front of the blue child and frowned while she looked up at him. She relished in a moment of silence before she spot again, the softness holding a tone of sadness.

Sverke, while I may not be your mother, I have cared for you since you were born. You need to mind your tongue, or you will find yourself in a spot you cannot fight your way out of, without your brother, without your family, and without help.

Perhaps it was too harsh, it was not her place, but someone needed to say something to the helion.

This pack is your family, blood or not. Your dad expects you to protect them while he is gone.

✦✦✦

Noise. Stern, angry, exasperated noise. It was exactly the kind of conflict she'd always sought to avoid, and exactly the kind of conflict she couldn't miss.

It was understandable. More wolves had gone missing; a sibling, a father. Emotions were high, tensions even more so. She really shouldn't be butting in. They weren't hers.

You believe she'll die out there and your solution is to send more children after her? Be reasonable, Bragi chided, leveling a stern, narrow-eyed glance to the golden pup.

They weren't hers. She didn't care what happened to them. She hadn't grieved when the split-faced boy was swallowed by the sea. She hadn't felt a thing when the splotched puppy didn't return.

So why did seeing them gang up on the poor cherub make her so angry? If Tyr can't bring Sindri home then you three sure as hell can't, either.

✦✦✦

The girl - that sun-gold, white-hot flame of a half-sister - spat out the magic words.

No wonder She left you,

Sverke took a step forward, then lunged, uncaring of the movement that brought a blue blur into his vision. All he could see was his quarry - gilded as that fucking chariot. He didn't make it to Astrid, of course - he slammed into the side of Cupid, paws scrabbling for purchase against a wall of silky-soft pastel. For all Cupid acted like a demure wisp of a man, he wasn't particularly small nor half as weak as he enjoyed pretending. He grunted beneath the upset boy's force and weight, before shoving back to keep Sverke safely corralled away from his sister. It might've said something about Sverke, that he mostly allowed the once-Courtesan to play bodyguard instead of turning his fangs on the nearest thing worth sinking them into. I don't need anyone's help to teach you your place, bastard, The Prince hissed, two-toned eyes burning with wrath and locked onto the girl before him for a second longer before Lilja broke in and managed to pull his attention away.

He took a step back, allowing Lilja to take up more space between himself and the others. His hackles remained bristling along his spine, but he was already disengaging - both mentally and physically. He was hurt and angry, but not stupid - he was outnumbered, and picking a real fight was going to be trouble brought down on his head he didn't truly want.

He glared and wrinkled his muzzle, but managed to remain standing still throughout Lilja's lecture, even if he acted like it was filtering in one ear and out the other. I am- He spat, defensively, as Lilja mentioned what Tyr would expect him to do while he was gone. And Sverke...was trying, in a way, to do what he thought was the right thing, although he mostly just wanted his dad back. Whatever. He levelled a foul, rather betrayed glower at the star-studded half-sibling who'd shown up. He'd thought there was some rapport there, but of course she thought so little of him, like he hadn't handled her fit and her secret both with a remarkable amount of grace, in his own opinion.

He whirled, landing on a random direction away from the mess now at his heels, and made to stalk off in a storm of juvenile rage.

---

You don't believe I can do it. Cupid felt the words like a shard of ice in his heart, the flow disrupted by the cold and the wound alike. He frowned, ears lowering. That's not what I - Sverke lunged, predictably riled by his sister's words, and Cupid wasted little time catching him with his body and redirecting the aggression, really anywhere except his daughter. Cupid was, in fact, a little surprised he wasn't rewarded for his manhandling of the leggy teen with teeth in his face. It betrayed Sverke as very little more than a child, who'd lost more than most, frightened and furious at the looming prospect of losing the last tether to stability he had.

The dove-god realized he should have worked harder to be there for Tyr's other children, to be more of a force they could lean on; even this one, despite his sins against Cupid's son. He felt regret for that mistake, but couldn't let himself dwell in it. Sverke finally stopped trying to clamber over Cupid to get to Astrid, and Cupid took a step back to try to deal with his daughter.

Bragi approached silently as ever, so when her voice broke into the conversation, Cupid jerked his chin toward her in bewilderment. He would have expected her to be probably near-catatonic in a hole somewhere considering the nearby loud voices and conflict, but she had instead interjected herself.

It was a sliver of hope amongst the walls-coming-down panic that seemed to be roaring louder than anyone else's vitriolic, shouted voices.

Astrid, however, wasn't quite finished. Her decree rang out icy and sharp.

It cut into him with the precision of a scalpel, left the cast-down godling speechless and flayed to his rawest nerve. The words were unusually cruel, even for his most sharp-tongued child, but the tone was eerily familiar.

Why did his daughter sound like her? Cupid wanted to be sick. Instead, he stood still and stared at her, slack-jawed, confused, hurt.

Her place is above him.

Above them all.

She's meant for greater things, greater respect, and she'd show Sverke in time. That worthless worm, unwanted even by his mother. Even the piss-rock-eater had been taken. They'd all see. Bragi joins the scolding, talking logic, but that's logic that doesn't apply to Astrid. Astrid is something more than they see her as: a little girl with a big mouth? No. She feels it in her bones: she's meant for more than that. She's always been more than that.

And the powerlessness she feels now is wrong.

They all need to be punished. The look of pain on Cupid's face is enough for him. And Sverke, shouted down, his ego bruised... He deserves it. Always had. Always will. They all deserve to hurt. Her gaze turns on Bragi, hateful, vicious. There would be consequences for this girl that wouldn't know how to show loyalty.

She hates them all so much in this moment.

"Maybe for a layabout like you. Go bury your head in the sand like you always do." She's filled with a desire she can't understand: a desire to punish, to judge, to maim even. They don't see it. They don't see any of it.

Giving Cupid one last glare, she turns on her heel and storms off, head high. She'll do this alone, then.

- Astrid Exit -

⊰ Skill Point ― n/a ⊱

Many words were thrown, even in the addition of Bragi. It had Lilja gobsmacked, her jaw slackened as she listened to it unfold. She watched as the pair of pups began to exit, their wounds not visible to the eye but no doubt bleeding ferociously into their mind.

It hurt Lilja to have to be mean, but she, too, was barely older than a child in her old body. She did not come swinging at them with fists or teeth, but with words. In turn, she knew it was wrong and her chest ached. The woman dared not go after either of them, for she knew they needed to calm down. Lilja would only act as tinder to the flame. Maybe later she would seek out Sverke, or perhaps the boy would find solace with his brother.

With a sad expression warping her face, she turned to Cupid then, her voice barely a whisper,

I am so sorry, Sir

✦✦✦

Cupid moved quick for a blind man, walling Sverke with his body mid-lunge before anyone else could even move. It was easy to see him as weak, soft and grieving as he was, though he nearly rivaled them in size and strength. A little voice she didn't recognize reminded her not to get on his bad side.

He was only mortal, however, and words could so often cut like knives. Her anger faltered, just for a second, briefly replaced with something like sympathy before Astrid turned her vengeful gaze on her, instead. Bragi's eyes narrowed instantly, her chin flicking up in defiance. She'd been hurt by words before, but she wasn't going to let a child who knew nothing of the world talk down to her.

The unfamiliar anger that had chased her down the mountain roared it's challenge before the rational part of her brain could even think to stop it and she spit, Find her, then, since you're so eager to rush to your death. We won't go looking for you.

And then it was over, the problem children dispersed, leaving only a pained silence and a quietly whispered I'm sorry.

That brought her back a bit, left blinking in the aftermath as the flames died down. She withered with guilt, casting a sheepish glance toward Cupid. Her paws twitched, and after a moment's hesitation she padded over to him, seeking to press her shoulder ever so gently against his own.

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