following a spider's web

[solarpurpura]

Who: dirt-heart, vanagandr, solarpurpura
What: I'm going home.
Where: Castle Brennenburg
When: October 31st
Warnings: Grim subject matter, aka Eden's family life, mixed with fluff.

Ten days in Heda Genero's care. It is meaningless, incomparable to the punishments her own mother and sister made use of when truly incensed. They would have mocked the scientist for his meek hand,

Comments

[dirt_heart]

[Genero had said the end of the month, which was wonderfully vague, but Kelly hadn't been willing to talk to the man anymore than he had.

He'd managed for a while to distract himself from thinking about Eden locked up in there, thrown himself into other matters, tidying up the restaurant (which hadn't needed tidying), moving Eden's extensive collection up to the castle, drinking his way through a hell of a lot of beer. But come the 30th, he couldn't distract himself anymore. Parked his car up just outside the Unnatural's reach and waited, wanted her out of there and home as quickly as possible

[vanagandr]

[ Even in this form with an Eevee curled up on his chest, Fenrir is a predator, and the sound of a creature in pain has him waking up quickly. He's careful not to let Penninah fall to the floor, tucking his arm under her as he sits up, watching Kelly with blue eyes that are too still for a human until the other man opens the door and runs off.

Prey runs. Fenrir takes a deep breath, licking his lips. Kelly isn't prey. He's pack, no matter the pain, no matter the direction he's running off in (away from him). And the running...

Eden must be back, and she is thicker in the pack than Kelly. He shakes his head, ignores any protests about his moving around on the part of Penninah, and slips outside of the car to follow with the little kit in his arms. ]

[solarpurpura]

[Even for her, it has been several years since it was Othniel and herself coming to pick Kelly Bridge up out of the streets. She might have gone on her own, if she had not been pregnant at the time, or perhaps her little brother would have had to strength to put himself forward, she won't pretend to know, but she will assert that she remembers. It is a fact that she and Kelly have looked out for one another a long time now, no matter which timeline they are plucked up from.

She knows when he's close and she pushes up on bare feet, tired and hurt and hungry, but she knows he can hold her up if she can just tumble in to him. It's strange that he should have company with him, but Eden won't complain.]

Very quick...

[dirt_heart]

[He hadn't even spared a thought for Fenrir in his rush. But that was the intent of those wires in their cruellest form - to make him compliant, obedient, answering commands with no other considerations. It was not how they were usually used on him, and so he more often saw them as a gift, but he was not completely blind. He knew how Eden's father had been brought back to the Hill.

It's a relief in more than one way to see Eden - to have the tightness in his chest slacken, and to see her whole. He doesn't wait for her to tumble, goes to support her immediately, looking her over for any damage beyond the bruising that he'd expected.]

I was waiting, round the corner.

[He glances back at Fenrir, as if finally noticing he'd been followed, and amends himself to a plural when he continues.]

We brought the car.

[vanagandr]

[ Fenrir is good at coming to things that he hasn't strictly been invited to and giving absolutely zero fucks about the feelings of those involved. She is pack and so he will come and he will see how she's doing, and that's all there is to it. ]

We brought Penninah, too.

[ Fenrir isn't letting the little kit down, not yet -- he wants to make sure Kelly has a good grip on Eden first, and that Eden won't drop the little Eevee. Perhaps when she's in the car, he can set her on Eden's lap. ]

[solarpurpura]

[She rests her cheek against Kelly, eyes falling closed, listening to his heart beat just a tad too quickly. That isn't surprising, even if he hadn't run, she had been strangling the poor thing in her insistence. She's quiet now, docile as he checks her over. She is covered in bruises, but that is to be expected, what did Genero care about her health and its peculiarities. Certainly nothing considering the sticky red burns and the markings that emanate from them. Her delicate skin makes for an easy map of what was done to her. Even the shape of a hand touching her chin is left in faint purple.

Eden is quiet for a long time leaned into her friend's solid support, maybe even asleep, but she finally opens her dark eyes, looks at Fenrir and Penninah and smiles tiredly. She appreciates the bonds of family, and even in her exhaustion she is happy to be considered part of theirs.]

I am glad. I shouldn't have worried over her.

[She swallows, lips dried and cracked.]

It's time to leave the city now.

[She had warned them both it might be

[dirt_heart]

[He doesn't need to ask what Genero did to her, it's evident on her skin, and he doesn't need to exact details of it. Eden had been through a lot in her life, more than this Eden knew in the time missing between them. She would heal, with rest, in a safe place. It was time to go.]

Yeah, we know. We got things ready for you.

[He smiles slightly, smoothing a hand over her hair, then scoops her up easily. There's no need to have her walk to the car. She is tiny and will forever remain tiny, while he had grown and filled out, had wide enough shoulders to hold her, Othniel, his daughters. The weakest out of all of them, truly, and yet always there to give solace and support.]

[vanagandr]

She missed you.

[ He feels a bit out of place for the moment, and so he stands back, lightly stroking Penninah. She can wait a bit longer while Kelly carries Eden, and she can give him something to do with his hands until he can change back to the form he's most comfortable in.

He has things to say, but he keeps them quiet -- they're out in the open, and they can wait until they're at the castle, or at least inside Kelly's car. ]

[solarpurpura]

[It isn't the first time Eden has been carried home by her family, limp and exhausted. Her entire life has been built on a legacy of frailty, and she has internalized this in many ways; to avoid being touched in any physical or emotional sense. A castle in isolation would be good for that. Let the hunters try to navigate her forests, and then the haunted castle. It was a pity they wouldn't starve here in Promenade, but she would at least be at ease to treat the trespassers as was appropriate for their crimes. They were tortured, and eaten, if not by the members of the house then by those whole were kept beneath it.

When Kelly sets her down, she shuffles into the car, could take up the whole back bench if she wanted, but curls up in the corner against the window instead. There is plenty of room for a doomwolf and a tiny eevee.]

[dirt_heart]

[He makes sure she's properly settled in the car before he heads around to the driver's seat. The car itself would seem fairly normal, if it wasn't for the dark-looking charms hanging from the rearview mirror, and the odd collection of items in the trunk, if one were to look. He spends a moment checking his heart rate has fully calmed down before he glances back to make sure Fenrir's in safely too, then he starts the engine, deciding to take a route that gives the Unnatural a wide berth.]

[vanagandr]

[ As soon as Eden is curled up, Fenrir moves inside and offers her Penninah. Even if she doesn't take the little kit, he shifts back to his wolf form to settle in the back, more at ease with four legs and a tail at the moment. There's too much being unsaid here, and he feels awkward in his human form in such times. At least as a wolf he can busy himself with licking his fur. ]

[solarpurpura]

[Penninah busies herself in reacquainting herself to her mistress, cooing and purring as she noses the witch's fingers, eager to have her ears pet and to be soothed that everything is going back to normal. Eden gives the baby her full attention for a little while before reaching over to pet Fenrir's head.]

Thank you, for coming.

[She had anticipated that he would help look after Penninah, and that Kelly would come to collect her when she needed him to, although she would have preferred to have been released from custody without any further damage. She had not, however, expected the wolf would be there as well. She has underestimated protectiveness, and she is sorry for that, even if for no other reason than the potential insult.]

[vanagandr]

[ He watches, as protective as a father over his daughter when it comes to the little kit, even though he's fairly certain that Eden won't harm her. He simply wants to see how they will react to one another now, and he's calmed by what he sees, tail lightly wagging.

When Eden speaks to him, hand sliding between his ears, his tail picks up the pace. Fenrir leans into her, shifting to press his nose to her face. ]

You're welcome.

[ He spares a slight glance at Kelly before he continues. ]

Sorry I wasn't there. [ He would have ripped them apart. ]

[solarpurpura]

[Eden wraps her arms around the wolf's neck, a much easier thing to do when he is in this form. Maybe she will, eventually, get used to the human one.]

My failures are my own.

[If nothing else, Morrisons believed in personal responsibility. No one else was to blame for her capture. She could have killed those men herself, but that had not been part of the plan.]

Don't trouble yourself.

[vanagandr]

[ That press of his nose becomes a gentle lick to her face before he settles his head on her shoulder, nuzzling into her hair. He can't return a hug with arms in this form, but he can with his head and neck. ]

You're pack. I'm supposed to worry.

[ If you're pack and you don't worry about the rest of the pack, you're doing it wrong. ]

[solarpurpura]

There is no longer any need for pretense.

[Unlike most of their kind, Morrisons valued dogs over cats, and not just as sacrifices. Cats were too solitary and selfish for the kind of family the Morrisons built. She understands pack perfectly well.]

They will suffer for it. And if they approach me again, I will kill them.

[Such a terrible thing for such a soft voice to say. She presses her fingers in behind his ears and scritches.]