#newthread

Aku sat upon his throne, mulling over his recent defeat at the hands of Alice and Jack.  Those two were becoming quite the problem.  The thumping of his fingers echoed throughout his throne room, as he thought quietly to himself.  “IS THERE NOTHING I CAN DO TO DESTROY THEM BOTH? ONE AT A TIME NEITHER OF THEM ARE A PROBLEM... BUT TOGETHER THEY ARE ONE LARGE PAIN IN MY REAR...” He brought a hand up to his chin, beginning to stroke his beard as he pondered.

"I'm not really good at expressing my feelings but I always liked you Noct.” She nodded and smiled at him."I would love to."

Derek nodded and kissed the side of her face. “It’s going to be alright. I promise…” He grabbed the salve he had last night and moved to rub it on her back, letting it cool her skin. “Sophia, breathe darling. Breathe…I need…an explanation. What are you going on about?”

Worry set in and he felt his stomach clench. His mate was hurting and he wasn’t happy about it. Derek wiped at her forehead and rocked her gently, closing his eyes.

One breath, then another. Inhale in, exhale out. " Spells, Derek. " she whispered softly, her eyes meeting his. So tired..she wanted to sleep. She felt something cool on her back, and turned her head to see, and was able to turn her neck a bit farther than normal. Salve. Wing patterns on her back.

Turning back to Derek, Sophia could have cried with relief. The salve was easing the sting, soothing the fire under her skin. " All night. I was so angry. I called upon the Mother to give us strength. You to heal from Le Barons. For protection - the strongest spells I knew. I forgot one thing..that I knew all the spells...even the oldest ones.." 

Sophia was referring to the massacre in Toulon. The one that drove her to New Orleans, and eventually into Derek's path. With each member of her coven that she had buried, their spells and secrets became hers as she had consecrated them to the earth, to the Mother. In her desire to protect Derek, to save him from the marks on his chest, she had used powerful magic to give her mate the strength to heal from Le Barons. to never be so vulnerable again. 

"Pavel, what the hell happened?" Jim asked, his eyes widening at the darkened skin. He reached up tentatively to brush his finger over it, and shook his head in disbelief. "Who did this?" He quipped, brows drawn together in concern and anger.

rustwing:

HOLY FUCK1NG HELL.

1 SA1D 1 WANTED TO APOLOG1ZE, NOT BECOME SOMEONE’S ETERNAL ASS-SLAVE.

yeah the middleground between those two things is pretty hard sometimes

you do stop evventually

heh heh heh

you my ass-slave little fucker?

that what we gonna call this now?

i dont know, are you mine?

Mai could do whatever she wanted if she wanted, IF she wanted. She was a strong, capable woman. But it seemed hard to see her getting excited about much. Zuko was the right amount of work. :) If he had the right person. Aang...he'd been sweet. He still was. But he wasn't what she needed and he needed something more than her. They both needed more truth. He had to. Zuko was the Fire Lord. Love did have a funny way...and perhaps love could also be of use to his nation with a fresh perspective. ;) _____ The war wasn't the only thing that robbed her of it. Well, it was? It was a complicated matter. Part of her was thrilled she had more freedom. Part of her felt like a parent to Sokka's children at times. But then part of her yearned to have hear own. She'd always been maternal and part of her said why wait? But then...it was difficult to say. Suki looked at her daughters, smiling. "The older one is Suka, and the younger one is Sedna. Katara and Gran-Gran helped us with the names."