F O R G E D in the heat of battle.

So, tl;dr, I probably won’t be around much until June 3! See you all then <3

      It’s been so long since she’s been lifted up in anyone’s arms this way that the sudden weightlessness is just about as UNNERVING as it is unfamiliar. But with her leg likely broken ( yet again ) and time trickling through their fingers, Xena has no choice but to nod her consent, wrapping an arm around the tall woman’s neck to keep herself steady.

     “So am I,” she echoed, returning the girl’s smile with a forced one of her own. Xena still wasn’t used to this -- Gabrielle had always been the best with people, not she -- but she’d be damned if she didn’t at least TRY. “When I was... the person you likely still think of me as, I thought differently. But I’ve learned since that I was wrong to do so.”

      “So you expect me to risk my life and REPUTATION infiltrating a camp, all for your... friend, who I don’t even know really exists?” she scoffed, raising a brow. Why did he think she’d do this -- out the kindness of her heart? Xena was a WARLORD, for crying out loud, not some naive village girl with a bleeding heart like she’d once been. “Gimme a good reason to do this, then I’ll consider it.”

cold OR hot envy OR lust blunt OR tactful dreamer OR realist impulsive OR planner stubborn OR flexible sociable OR isolated lazy OR hard-working half empty OR half full high energy OR low energy dependent OR independent eloquent OR rough around the edges sees what they want OR sees what is there dwells on the past OR looks towards the future

     ”And if I don’t, then I can’t protect you.” It’s the warrior’s only refute before she breaks off the shaft of the arrow embedded in her torso, pushing what’s left through her body by her own hand. And it’s almost amazing, really, how even after a decade enduring a plethora of unimaginable pain, such a simple motion still HURTS. Badly enough that she almost draws blood to keep from crying out; that she’s panting as she reaches out, placing a steadying hand on Gabrielle’s shoulder to keep herself upright. “Now patch that up for me, will ya?”