wrongkindofsith | The Preserve, Late Thursday Evening

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The Preserve, Late Thursday Evening

Cara had been feeling the urge to head down to the woods most of the week, which in and of itself wasn't highly unusual as they still felt like the most familiar place on the island. What was unusual was the unsettling and often confusing dreams (no seriously, she had no idea what a half-fixed, half-variable home-loan even was, let alone why she'd want one) that had accompanied this feeling.

But since hunting things usually made her feel better, she eventually gave into the urge, and was stalking through the preserve, bow in hand.

[For two.]

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After making his way through the gate, Leo had felt drawn deeper into the forest. Despite its unfamiliar trees and strange fauna (blue deer?), somehow he knew this was where Cara would be found.

Spotting a flash of red leather among the green, Leo waved an an arm in the air, hoping to discourage her from mistaking him for prey. "Cara! I knew I would find you here."

Cara stopped dead still. "...Leo?"

Instantly she had an arrow nocked and the bowstring pulled back. She mightn't have mistaken him for prey, but all things considered thinking he was a baneling was perfectly reasonable.

Even if they'd closed the rift into the Underworld.

...and they'd burnt his body.

...and she honestly didn't think he'd have taken the deal.

Edited 2010-07-16 02:57 (UTC)

"Wait!" While Leo didn't believe she could kill him, being as he was already dead, he didn't exactly want to find out before they'd gotten to talk. "It's not what you think, I was invited to come see you and...I admit, I couldn't resist."

Well, if he had taken the deal, that was pretty much the most epically stupid reason for doing so ever, which meant that at least this was probably actually Leo.

She didn't lower the bow. "If you're not a baneling then you won't mind just standing there until it's too late to kill anyone else." She could wait all night if she had to.

"If it means a day talking to you, count me in," Leo said. "Mind if I lean against this tree here while you tell me where we are?" He was highly aware that moving without her approval would be bad.

Very bad. "So long as you move slowly," Cara replied ruthlessly quashing any hope he might have been telling the truth. "We're on an island called Fandom. It's not part of the Midlands or D'Hara." She'd leave off the other world part for now.

"It's nice," he promised, moving nice and slowly to have a lean and then take a good look at her. "You'll have to show me around after I've proved I'm not a baneling. Maybe hunt some of those odd deer."

He may have noticed a few minor differences, like looking somewhat younger and shorter. The eye-rolling was exactly the same though. "Should be easy enough, I'm told they're attracted to people who never shut up."

"I've missed these talks of ours," Leo replied, grinning because he'd gotten under her skin just enough for the snark to come out. "Much as you look different from the last time I saw you. This island's taken the years off."

Cara was not going to admit to missing anything about Leo, because then he really would never shut up and they'd be up to their armpits in teal dear. "It wasn't the island," she replied instead, in a tone that brooked no further questions.

Of course that meant he was probably going to ask them anyway.

Of course he was going to ask, perish the thought that he would miss an opportunity to do the opposite of what her tone suggested. "So what was it? I mean, you look good, just very young."

And that wasn't an infuriating quality at all. The stray though crossed her mind that he'd probably get along with Clark like a house on fire.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Going to sic your trained chipmunks on me?" Leo asked with a little smile. Cara surely had found the time on her island with strange-colored deer to train up an animal of some kind, right?

Even if he wasn't a baneling, Leo was going to get an agiel somewhere painful if he wasn't careful. "There aren't any chipmunks on the island."

Cara did not know about the radio squirrels yet, and even if she had they still weren't chipmunks.

An agiel somewhere painful would be better than Cara ignoring him. But then, she could never really hurt him. Leo trusted in that. "What do you have instead, then? Another dog? I hope not cats."

Regardless of whether or not Cara would hurt him, the other woman on the island in red leather had a few less qualms about that.

"Cara always preferred the two-legged kind of pet," Dahlia remarked as she sauntered into the clearing. She cast a conspiratorial smirk Cara's way. "She has an eye for the pretty ones."

"...Dahlia?"

Well, at least Leo didn't have an arrow aimed at him any more, instead it was buried in the ground at Dahlia's feet, a fresh arrow already in Cara's bow.

"Dahlia?" Let it be known Leo was not forgetful, Leo had simply died before this part. "I didn't realize there were more Mord'Sith here besides you, Cara!"

"There aren't." The 'so get away from her now' was strongly implied in her tone.

There was no hesitation when he heard that reaction from Cara and Leo moved quickly to stand where he could back her up, should this new arrival attack. Of course, "Why would she come then? This was an invitation for people who truly care...huh."

This one looked like he was pretty and smart. Well, smart enough. "Why wouldn't I come? No one cares for Cara like I do."

No one else would do the things she'd do for Cara, for Cara's own good.

Leo eyed this Dhalia woman for a moment. "You don't seem very welcome from Cara's reaction." Look at him having logic and everything.

He was also very chatty, Cara had obviously given him too long a leash.

"It's not my fault she's confused about that." The borderline traitorous thought that Lord Rahl should have listened when she suggested moving Cara for proper training instead of using magical shortcuts that could be undone crossed Dahlia's mind. "That the Seeker and Mother Confessor blinded her to her true family."

Leo probably didn't want to bring his temporary Seekerhood up.

Well, this was one for the storybooks right here. "Blinded her? Cara, you serve the Seeker willingly. Even beyond serving Lord Rahl, you were by my side without hesitation. What is this woman going on about?"

Right now, Cara was a bit busy trying to convince herself she could actually kill Dahlia if she moved any closer. This was stupid, she hadn't had this problem with Triana, and trying to stop her death had been one of the things that'd led to choosing Richard's side in the first place.

Add in the fact she hadn't even been able to talk to Leo about her feelings regarding him, let alone Dahlia, and he got a not very satisfying "It's complicated." in response.

If Dahlia had been eyeing Leo before as if wondering what he might look like with a few less clothes, now it looked like she was wondering what he'd look like with few less pints of blood as well.

"I don't understand what's so complicated about wanting Cara back with the only ones who can really love and understand her." And if Cara could just see that, then Dahlia wouldn't have to hurt her. Why did she make her do that?

"The only ones?" Leo repeated, looking confusedly toward Cara. "Been even longer since you've seen this one, I take it."

Never had Cara wished so intently that Kahlan (or even Richard) was here. Even if she didn't want to talk about her feelings, she could trust Kahlan to be ready with a weapon.

"Not exactly."

"Okay...then should you consider putting down your weapons, or is there more to this?" Leo's confusion was spreading.

Because trusting Dahlia further than she could throw her hadn't caused any problems at all.

"Nothing I want to talk about." Leo was only even getting that much because he was dead.

"Your pet really does talk too much."

Dahlia wasn't upset that Cara was being unreasonable, really she wasn't. It was just the lingering influence of the Seeker, that and she remembered what Cara was like the first time she'd been this age.

Pet was quite the assumption on the Mord'Sith's part. Well...maybe not. "Excuse me, but I'm no one's pet."

Please, even in alternate universes where she wore pink dresses Leo let himself be bossed around by Cara. "He's a stubborn one too, that must get annoying."

"Go ahead, continue talking as though I'm not even in the woods," he replied. Maybe he should go pick some flowers to go with all the leather.

Trust me, Leo, you didn't want her paying too close attention to you.

"This is what I mean about the Seeker making you soft and weak. You never would have let him speak with that kind of disrespect before."

Mord'Sith did not run away from their problems. Especially not their emotional problems since they didn't even acknowledge those existed.

They did however make tactical retreats, and given that Leo and Dahlia probably couldn't kill each other, Cara felt completely justified in tactically retreating out of there as quickly as possible.

Hopefully they'd be too busy sniping at each other to even notice she was gone.

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The Preserve, Late Thursday Evening

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