#quinh

wives

@bailousilkbrew has done it again, Sassy Quinh is Sassy

How do you get your mind off of the shadows that nip at your heels? Do you simply ignore them and try passing them by each day or do you actively and adamantly go out of your way to silence your fears? How would you silence the continual voices of doubt and fear that bring up the pains of the past and draw their similarities to the present and hopeful future? Would you succumb to their voices or would you draw upon that fire that is your own soul and burn brighter than before, the roar of your fire silencing the voices and pushing them miles away? Fire works. Fireworks. With the eyes of her two friends watching around the ring that she had made herself, nestled in the cliffsides of Desolace she was trying to find her innermost balance. Malourn had needed little convincing to at least watch the show that was unfolding before her and Quinh had been a catalyst herself in finding this place where the elements came together in a rough and cacophonic harmony. Here was where she was going to vent herself and actually put into practice the magics that she had been studying for so very long. The Spirits never spoke to her, but the elements seemed to flow through her veins, and no longer could she be the meek and tiny stream if she was going to push through this. To no one else but herself she needed to prove how very strong she really was. This is what you have been since your birth, Meilahn, and though there has been much that has been put at your feet it will never be enough to overcome the mountain of a woman you are underneath the fur and fear, underneath that soft and gentle heart. Time and again people have told you that you are so much stronger than you realize, that the trials that you have been put through in your life are only making you stronger. “Time to see my own strength.” Quinh gave a smile and nodded as the large ring of earth some 35 yards roughly in diameter had been cleaned of debris and smoothed out  long ago by someone else likely that was training, but the edges of her were clearly defined as a gouge in the earth that had been blown clean. The sound of the waves crashing against the cliffside  were palpable and at this time of day beat against the rock as if it were bringing to the ears of others the heartbeat of Azeroth itself. This was where she was going to find herself, surely this was where she was going to dig down into herself and find that ember of a soul that had felt so crushed and hopeless and instead burn brighter. Even if it was by sheer force of will. Standing in the center of the stone stood Mei, wearing gloves of wrapped linen carefully bracing her wrists and between each finger in fit, tied at the wrist that they braced securely. The vest that she wore was of a gentle off-white linen as she had worn it many times before, the shorts surely matched them and her feet were bare against the ground beneath her. Even with the wind that beat against her back from the water below she felt at peace and started her movements. The movements themselves were slow and methodical, simple positions that she had learned at a young age as a way to greet the sun and the new day but with a refined purpose. These were not greeting the new day with a gentle but sure focus, these were the forms she herself was going to use to greet the woman that everyone else saw. She had to. There at the sidelines she saw briefly out of the corner of her eye Quinh who had done as had been asked of her. Dressed in her leathers and with the weapons she was most familiar, a polearm that had the top of the haft wrapped in red ribbon with two bells that jangled in the breeze, a pair of gleaming and sharp hooks that glittered in the light of the high noon sun. That was all that her friend needed, she knew, because it would be the hands themselves that would be the hardest to fight through as they were quick and precise from years of training in several skills that all focused on the same goals through different means. Mal had opted out, but she understood completely why her tall friend stood there, stoic and silent with a bit of fear showing in just the corners of her eyes. Mal and Mei herself had never come to blows, not even once had they sparred and it was a line that they had never crossed. If Mal did not trust herself enough to give all she could to the sparring then she could at least be there to support. A silent and stalwart friend trying to help in the way that she was asked. Each form grounded the black and white furred woman as she went through each stance, finding herself at the end of the list of forms and going through them backwards once more. She did not travel perhaps more than a meter from her original position through all of what she did, and yet it was better that way, that meant that she was actually focusing on the task at hand and doing them all properly. With a final deep breath and a low bow towards the edge of the ring Mei stepped back from the center, simply standing with her hands at her sides and waiting as Quinh adjusted the final lacing of the interlocking brace that she wore for her hands. Fire burned in Quinh’s eyes with a jovial smile that came along with them, she was helping and she was going to be able to vent for herself and prove a point. All of this was good, no matter what bruises were to come. Stepping onto the field Quinh offered a bow in return as if a signal that she was ready to start the match, a long moment shared in silence between them as she held the polearm in hand at her left side, the end of the haft which was a ball pointed back behind her as the weapon itself was half-tucked underneath her arm, her legs spread into a wide stance with her left knee bent and her right leg aimed at Mei. With her right hand she brought it up in centering, before beckoning her friend with a coiled finger. With the winds at her back Mei ran, a blur of black and white and a simple streak of purple moving quickly through the air as she charged to where Quinh had been only to just graze by her for a fraction of a second. Unarmed as she was the challenge was her magic, not weapons nor might that would get her through this. Driving a fist through the air as a feint a small burst of wind came from behind the elementalist, which caused Quinh to duck, moving the polearm quickly in an arc to bring it to the weapon forward in front of her. Mei would jump up to avoid the sweep of the polearm, bells jingling in her ears from both weapon and herself as she then spun a kick to strike at Quinh’s exposed chest and push her back to near the edge of the ring. Standing in the center she would look to the Tui Na practitioner with a stoicism as Quinh herself seemed to be laughing from how she had been pushed back before they both circled around to their starting positions once more. ‘We already know your handle on air, Mei, gimme something else.’ And so it would continue, the two women dodging and weaving one another's blows, for each one that was given another would move, it was like a complicated and high speed dance that was unfolding on the battlefield that had been created and only the sound of Quinh’s laughter rang clearly though each blow that landed seemed to silence her for just a moment. There was not clang and clash of metal and there were no gutteral screams of frustration and anguish that were brought with war. Not in this place. Each challenge that Quinh gave became more difficult, as water washed over the arena in a large wave and once more pushed Quinh back to the very edge. Air and Water had always come the quickest to Mei, fire had been the outlet of her anger as there was a deep burning passion that came from her. But it was the very earth itself that was the truest test that she was going to face. Starting slowly with rocks being lifted and shifted, pushing herself harder than she had ever really tried. Both of the women were soaked in water and sweat and even the fire that had been used didn’t seem like it was going to burn away the moisture anytime soon. The polearm was discarded quickly and the hooks as well had found themselves there on the edge of the ring, as Quinh knew that the defensive weapons that she preferred were not going to come and actually bring the result that was wanted. They were for defense, never offensive strikes, at least not from her. Instead she flexed her claws, testing the mechanisms in her gloves before she came back into the ring. The tables had turned. Now it was Mei who had to defend herself, and the challenge was very clear, that her friend was not going to pull her punches and was not going to stop until one of them was either too tired to move or simply was unable to because of the blows that had been dealt. There was a twitch in Mal’s eye, she could see it from this far as Quinh was coming onto the field once more. The movement was quick from the monk who had spent her life building on her high internal energy and the precise strikes that she intended to lay out. Without a real threat, she couldn’t be entirely sure that Mei would work to the highest of her own potential and it was time to push and so the lightning quick strikes came each to be quickly finding the orbs of earh that Mei had rather quickly pulled up to spin and shield around her. Each time a rock burst it seemed to empower Mei even though there was the thin edge of fear there on her face. Again and again the quick woman was darting in and out, weaving through the magical blows that she had now come to expect from Meilahn and was digging in to find the root of the woman, to get to her core. As Quinh was coming for her Mei could hear the doubts welling up once more, the defeatist fear that had been controlling her for too long, the worries that had nagged at her until she had been so convinced of their truth that she would listen to so very little else. Even the lasting damage that had been done by the Crown itself seemed to crawl up once more as she felt as if she was futile and just barely escaping the quick blows that were coming her way and that only seemed to be speeding up. Distracted, she let out a yelp of pain as a blow landed and her right hand went numb, pushing Quinh back and taking a deep stance while holding her wrist. She also felt there at her neck a small shift of chain before the locket fell to the ground at her feet, and the flower that always stayed in her hair fell with it. With eyes wide she hadn’t realized that Quinh had had the time to unlatch her necklace and unpin her flower and she looked across the ring with wide eyes. Calmly and carefully she picked up her belongings and took them over to Malourn, entrusting them to her before heading back to the circle that they had been wearing into the cleared out ground. The onslaught continued once more and she was faced with the quick moving Monk once more that used her speed to the best of her advantage and was coming consistently at her friend, her adversary as the truth of it was. There was no quarrel between the two of them but the winner was going to be decided and hopefully only after Mei had found herself. Two hours they had been going at each other, two hours of quick movement and the time of it all was starting to show on Mei. Panting as she was where she stood, sweat matting her hair and soaking her fur she looked tiredly over to Malourn,  and then to Quinh..the breakthrough didn’t seem to have come through until there was a whisper in the back of her mind. You are not strong enough for him. Quinh was coming at her as the thought had crossed and there was a rumble of the ground around her. The orbs spun quickly around her body once more and with a shift of her weight a large rock pulled itself from underneath its earthy confines and shot across the field at where Quinh was going to be, and only barely missed the woman. ‘Now we are getting somewhere…’ She didn’t stop, wouldn’t relent no matter how tired the both of them were she was putting everything into the battle that was unfolding. Once more the strikes started to come but now there were projectiles for her to weave through, breaking the orbs as she went and several near misses from the rock being sent over the cliffside and all around the ring. Going in for a body shot she found her wrist quickly caught in a wall of earth that had come up, locking her hand in place for a moment before being broken by a swing of her fist to come afterwards. Over and over Mei would bring up a thin earth wall for Quinh and each time Quinh was smashing it down with the momentum that she had built up. A spared moment came, just a fraction of a second where Quinh landed a sufficient body blow that Mei simply moved with instead of fighting, using her own sweat as a thin sheen of protective water over her body, a fire burning in her eyes as her fist then swung down with a mace that had been formed by the very earth nearby to come crashing down into the shoulder of the red-furred ‘menace’. Being knocked down to the ground mid-jump, the rock colliding with her shoulder Quinh panted, laying on the ground and staring up at the sky for a long moment before laughing...and laughing. Mei stood there, for a long moment trying to process what had just happened before she looked down at her body. The earth itself was covering her nearly like plate armor, the water in her fur protecting her from the abrasive rock and in her hands she held a mace of rock so tightly compressed that it weighed nearly as much as metal and glinted in the light from the sandstone that it had been pressed from. Heavy breaths came from her as she panted, listening to Quinh laugh while in pain before she collapsed to her knees, the earthen armor falling away from her quickly and laughter coming from her deliriously. She’d never done that before. Even though her body ached from each blow that had landed, the pressure points that had been building up to something that would have knocked her completely flat in just a few more thrusts, her arms tingling in pain and her legs distant and mocking her. Both of the women were tired, but happy. Afterall, a breakthrough doesn’t just happen every day.

How she made it back to the tent where she slept with Kong, how she made it back to what was home in a manner of speaking was beyond her ability to actually understand. Something had happened and she was sure that she had not walked this way, but as she lay in the furs, sobbing into the fur of a young wolf who did not understand why his mistress was so upset, it was her reality. His fur was warm in her hands and his stoic presence trying to comfort her was the best she was going to get for the moment as her words seemed to be failing her completely.  Tears rolled down her cheeks, staining what white fur she had on her muzzle with the salt within them as she openly wept, keening cries plaintitively crying out into the tent only muffled by the fur in front of her. Her body was a trembling mess, and briefly she was aware that her armor was gone and her nightshirt was in place, before the sobs brought her back to the pain that was the central focus of her night. Her body betrayed any semblance of control she might have had on a myriad of emotions, how she had been the rock for her beloved just the night before during his recovery from the horrors she had seen...and how alone she felt without him there, and how terribly small.  Curled up in a ball as she was the world seemed to fade away, her sobs mixing in upon themselves and compounding as the world faded gray. Her dreams fell into sad disarray, between the smile of her dear sisters face and the sudden horror of seeing her sisters skin neatly packed into a box that had had bits of others within its confines. She had even praised the person who had done the other leathers on their nimble knife work and how pleased Bailou would be with them. The condition of them so grand she was happy to have them within the storehouse...and that abject horror of a red and white skin she knew so well laying before her.  The sickening twist of her stomach and the sudden need for air had been so very real. In one twist of a moment all of her words had been robbed from her and only violent mourning remained. Her body had wanted to heave, to retch and relieve itself and even that simple action hadn’t been able to come to her, denied by the wracking sobs that took over her completely. There was no red, no anger, just grey sadness bleeding the color out of everything around her as it played over and over in her mind. Her beloved sister, laughing, playing, smiling...left as nothing more than skin in a box... Memories played over in her head, happy moments with her sisters bright face, guiding her around in the groups as they had grown up. A constant voice for her and a life preserver that had helped her guide the many social situations of her life. She had been the loud one, the one who knew her sister better than anyone else in the world ever would...and each time a memory played her sister slowly lost color until she was nothing more than a faded echo of herself and the crate came into view once more.  Gone. Lau is gone. Intermittently in her dreams she saw Quinh coming forward, in the few brief and candid moments she had had with the woman, from first meeting her as she struggled at the stoop of death’s door, one foot already over the threshold to where she had been coming about. Watching her recover, working with her to help rebuild her body...a playful grin on her face and a wink towards Xingba. Stolen glances that Mei had watched as she saw the pair look at each other from the corners of their eyes before going back to what they had been doing. There was something there, from the first time she had really seen them together in the flower garden in a place so private...and she too was tormented in Mei’s dreams...catching on fire right before her very eyes and burning, screaming, torn apart by an unseen force until all that was left was a singed tail laying within the box and then cradled in her hands... In the room she lay in Mal was there, Wei’feng was being dutiful in cuddling with his mistress as best as he could before leaving the tent periodically. The Thunderbluff air echoed his mournful cries as he tried to bring home the other half of the family. He was so young and she was in need in a way he knew that he could not fix nor provide the comfort for. She was breaking down in front of him and there was little the Garn could do...and so he called for help.  Back within the tent Mei’s nightmares caught a hold of her as she sniffled into the furs, lost and desperately reaching for a body that was not there. Briefly she realized in her dream that she was alone, that she was reaching for him and he simply wasn’t there and the torment of the heartache that she felt ripped at her soul.  “K-Kong....” Her voice was weak, thready even as she called out to him, hiccuping back her tears as she reached desperately only to find an empty space beside her where she lay. Her body shook with emotions and exhaustion that was settling into her as she lay...calling out for him wordlessly as her weeping started itself over once more. Wei, to his credit, came back into the tent after his mournful howls proved fruitless and he moved underneath her outstretched arm and let her hold onto him tightly.Though he was not what she wanted, he at least would work for the time being. Her dreams were a horrifying place, falling to the story that he had told her of what the Saurok had done to him, the torment and pain that he had been in there, her imagination running wild and loose and muddying the reality of the situation to the point where him, hanging by his hands and being peeled apart suddenly turned to him catching on fire. There in front of her as she was too weak to stop it from happening, Kong’huo was burning and looking at her desperately to help him until all that was left was an ear...that was tossed at her. “K-kong’huo...”  Desperately she reached out, her claws before her as she tried to reach for him as the dream shifted, once more a replay of her sister standing before her...before she was tied to a tree by her legs and was treated much the same way one would a deer. Her throat slashed open and gurgling as she was treated like just so much meat before an unknown force began taking her skin from her. She flinched, the memory twisting as she heard the cries filling the night air, hanging in a cage that was all too familiar to her dreams with bars so warm that they near scalded her back...the woman without a name who was screaming for mercy wordlessly as she was skinned for the entertainment of another. “N-no....” Constantly the faces changed, the people involved between Lau, Quinh, and Kong’huo...all being ripped from her time and again. Once more it felt like her world was shrinking, the numbers dwindling and the familiar sound of doubt speaking to her came once more. ‘Of course, because they all leave, Mei. It’s because of you...it’s always been because of you...’ Back in the tent Mal had managed to make a sort of makeshift pillow for Mei, a shirt of Kong’s wrapped around a bag and tied in place seemed to help at least a little as visibly her stirrings slowed but her mind was a raging torment of gore and pain that was on constant repeat. Now and a again she would hear a howl in the distance that sounded like Mai’go crying out sadly to the night air that simply made her heart twist in agony once more.  The one thing she needed was the one thing she didn’t have. Malourn was trying, with her cold presence, but even the deathknight knew that she was not what was really needed in the dark of night in that tent.