Colour of the soul

In a world where everything is black and white, color is known to take hold when one meets their soulmate. Still this does not make the hunt for the 'one' any easier, the key is they eyes they are known to be the first hint of the truth.
Renee x Killian
Rose x Angus
Dani x Jory
Jet x Keenan

Managing to doze she eventually gave up and appeared again, at the comment she nodded without even needing to think about it “yeah alright. We might as well get going now then.” Getting up she stretched and picked up her notebook to tuck it away having decided that she was probably sober enough to drive. Collecting the booze left in the bags she set them in the back of the car to be drunk at a later date. “you’re in charge of navigating Curly” while driving she listened to the directions and altered her driving accordingly. Finally, they ended up in the little village that Angus called home, parking outside the small shop. Getting out and wandering over to stare out at the sea, Rose inhaled the salty air, it’d been a long time since she’d stayed close to the ocean like this. It reminded her of home, missing her island home as she always did when she was away the redhead turned to look over at Angus waiting to see what he would do, it was his home and so she’d follow his lead and behave herself…. Mostly.


Looking up from what she was doing Renee nodded not bothering to hide her concern and disappointment at the news that the man wouldn’t be able to come back for a while, - “I’d really like to stay” she felt safe here and the company of the shadow was lovely - “Yes please, I want to learn as much as I can so I can do what I can to help. I want to heal” she could feel the power over the shadows flowing through her, making her itch to help and heal adding to her own natural desire to look after others. Adding some baking powder and chocolate chips she resumed mixing the mixture in the bowl with a wooden spoon, her little bird was neatly perched on her shoulder, occasionally chirping at the baby shadows that attempted to muscle in on its perching space. He’d named himself Tawera and had quite the personality, his wings were neatly stowed and his dark beady eyes were watching the baby shadows not afraid to keep them in line.

Letting him lick her face and bounce around her, Jet practically fawned over the dog speaking to him quietly, informing him what a good dog he was, at the footsteps however she let her face return to its usual cold mask. Straightening up she studied her “I’m just looking around” unsure if this girl was with Keenan or not she quirked a brow doing her best to squash the feeling of jealousy that panged in her gut. That was not acceptable she didn’t feel such irresponsible feelings, even if he was dating the girl it was none of her business because she didn’t care about that, she didn’t give a shit about his personal life or him. He was just someone that she’d known as a child, slightly frostier due to trying to ignore the feelings.

Following him up the stairs she stopped at the entrance to his flat and didn’t move any further taking in the stacks of books that filled the rooms to the point where it was difficult to discern where furniture was, backing up a step she shrugged nonchalantly and sniffed “It’s a bit nerdy in your den, I’ll rough it outside” speaking as scornfully as possible as it wasn’t like she got cold, turning she walked down the steps and reached into her car to pull out the notebook that had been spelled to be flameproof. A useful addition she’d paid a witch to do for her, wandering over to the cliff she sat down and watched the sunset with her legs hanging over the lip of the cliff not exactly that bothered by the height. She doubted that the fall would do more than break some bones, the bonus of being a dragon was how resilient she was even in this weaker shape, flicking through the notebook she found a spare page which had become quite the rarity and began to write a few things down in her usual shorthand not that bothered about sleeping outside. It’d give her space from the selkie and time to think, finishing the notes, she fished about in her pockets for the scrap of charcoal she usually kept with her, on the small area left without words she began absently using the charcoal to etch a familiar crow onto the paper. Not one for artistry she was prone to doodling sigils and little crows, not that she often had space for them, blowing off the excess from her small artwork she admired the crow “Not bad this time Bran, I’m getting better” not that it mattered, but the annoying bird was important to her and thus was something that ended up being doodled during quieter moments.


Her worried look vanished at the mention of the bookstore “yes please!” she wanted to learn so she could help and do something more than just being a useless figurehead. She’d been one of those for an awfully long time, most of her life, her only worth being who she could marry and then to produce children for them which hadn’t happened with her husband yet. The ring that had marked her as his had ‘vanished’ very quickly once she’d discovered she was safe from him on this property, standing up she glanced around the house and for the first time picked up on small bits and pieces that suggested to her that the house was in gross need of renovating. Having watched plenty of country, garden and renovating shows her mind instantly jumped on the idea and her imagination took over allowing her to envision ideas of just how this place could be improved, the top two ideas were redoing the kitchen and changing the attic of the house into an art studio/bedroom for her with skylights and the smell of paints, she’d never been able to own or do anything with paints just what she’d managed to scrape by with pencils. However her sense of reality made the girl shake her head to herself, dreams were free but one had to remember that not every dream came true, moving into her room she reappeared with her sketchbook and settled down again unable to sleep now her mind was alive with ideas.


It was hard not to be what she’d been trained to be, cold, distant, steely, Keenan belonged to memories of what she’d been like when she was younger before Ice had done such a good job of turning her into a mini ice. Now she’d tortured, killed, hunted, done many of the dirtiest jobs for her mother and the idea that she could find a way to warm the hollow space in her chest where once a heart had been was a painful one. Yet when she’d found him again it was like a breath of fresh air and brought all sorts of memories she’d thought she’d forgotten back to the surface, pursing her lips slightly at the question the woman shook her head “I’m not here looking for a place to sleep. I suppose you could say I am seeking information on him” she was here now so she might as well find out what was going on and if this stranger was his partner or not, steadfastly ignoring the part of her that replaced partner with potential competition she knew better than to feed such thoughts. It didn’t matter whether they were or not, nothing would happen between them because it could not, her mother would use him against her like how she used Melissa against Killian, knowing her she’d make her torture Keenan and Jet knew she’d do it, she had to or Killian would be forced to. Feeling the almost storm of feelings start to cloud her judgment, training kicked in, clearing her mind and packing the emotions and thoughts into their allocated boxes and draws within her head she brought her focus back to the here and now instead of musing over what could not be and why. Mulling was a waste of time, this whole thing was a waste of time another part argued but here she was nonetheless, a question that popped up was, would she even be here if she didn’t see colour on Keenan, the fact that she didn’t know the answer was troubling, she shouldn’t be entertaining this but here she was. Rather than go around in circles which was useless and a waste of her time, cold eyes dropped down to the dog and some of the cold weight lifted off of her shoulders and her heart, wanting nothing more than to just nestle her face into the animals shaggy fur for a while, training prevented herself from giving in to such a desire.

Considering shoving him off the cliff and dealing with her problems that way, Rose briefly toyed with the idea before tossing it, listening to what he had to say the dragon sniffed “I’m allergic to nerd bullshit I don’t care if I set some stupid books on fire” grinning when the selkie jumped one of her hands lifted to stroke Bran gently. “Still a bed is comfier than the grass I suppose” the familiar voice sounded in her head making her shrug slightly “Don’t know bird brain, probably not for a while, He needs to survive her and then heal and settle back into his routine. So it seems we’ll be stuck with the kid brother for a while” moving to elbow the selkie sharply the dragon tipped her head back to look up at the stars finding the constellations taught to her by her parents when she and her brother had been hatchlings mostly different dragons that had lived and their stories. Who knew where her brother had ended up, after the death of their parents they’d grown distant from one another, loosing her easy smile at the thought of Lachlan she frowned a little to herself well aware that he’d always been a little darker than she had. Perhaps it was a good thing that they were no longer in contact, scratching her shoulder more out of habit by now than anything else the dragon shifted slightly, feeling weary.


Following her quietly Jet stayed silent until they were inside, choosing to lean back against the bench instead of sitting down tapping her fingers against the bench for a few moments whilst deciding what to say “No matter, just tell me what you know then” although she did drink tea sometimes, lemonade was her preferred drink so she just shook her head at the offer. She wasn’t here to break bread and get all cosy with some overly friendly woman she didn’t know, information was why she was here, and once she had that she’d be leaving with no intention of coming back. Settled into what she knew, for now it froze all of the other emotions enough that she could deal with everything and stay safe, distracted by the dog she shifted her hands to reach out and lower her hand to petting level a slight smile breaking through the cold mask she usually wore as Birn trotted over. Stroking him and ending up finding an itchy spot Jet was very aware that if the woman hadn’t been there she would have devoted herself to snuggling with the large hairy beast.

Snorting at the muttered complaint, the next words out of his mouth made her grin “Nah, the bird talks. Named Bran, he’s a shadow” it didn’t particularly bother her if he believed her or not. It was peaceful out here, the wind brought all sorts of scents on it “So. Do Selkies have their own constellations like us dragons do or no?” From what she knew, plenty of species of creatures had their own lore and so surely there would be a various range of different constellations, “Your brother quite likes the stars” now that It’d been confirmed that yes they were siblings she was content to occasionally drop some information about Killian. Leaning back on her hands studying the skies that she so enjoyed soaring in, the red head was quiet for a bit, not entirely sure where abouts in Ireland they were, Rose wondered just how far it was to her home from here, perhaps a day trip could be arranged she could visit the faerie pools and other various places of her island that she’d grown up with.

Looking up from her sketching, Renee blushed “Oh I was just thinking about the house. I used to watch a lot of day time tv about renovations and gardens when my husband was at work and I was doing house work or having a break for lunch. So I’d draw a lot of how I’d do up the houses and gardens that they showed on tv so um well I’m in the habit of doing it a lot in my head and I guess I came up with some ideas for this place. It’s just stupid ideas, it’s a nice house as it is and everything” ending up babbling as she didn’t want to offend the serval that she liked and respected.

Dogs truly were her weakness, they had such good hearts and were loyal, not nearly as fickle as her mother could be. “Any information is still information and thus useful if not always in the ways that one might expect it to be” used to having to make eye contact with Ice whenever she spoke. Ice blue eyes flicked up from the dog to meet Sally’s gaze squarely whilst she spoke. Her shadows were quite happily nosing through the B&B letting her know all sorts of things, however things that she found important were often vastly different from what her shadows found important, and various colours were that as she couldn’t see all things in colour so they merely disregarded such things in their logical minds.

It wasn’t right of her to feel this way about Sally, it wasn’t like she herself had been loyal to Keenan over the years, her features clouded ever so slightly as she thought of Raiden. She’d seen colour on him too and could still remember his bright green eyes, she’d been relatively young and open, he’d given her her daughter that she’d had to give away to keep her safe and after that, she’d promised herself that she wouldn’t open again. She’d become colder, darker, more ruthless, her daughter was grown and had been for a while and had nothing to do with her, Julian the man who’d raised her had done a good job and for that she was thankful and considered a debt owed to him although she’d never had words with him. Realistically she never would have been a good mother anyhow, she was too like Ice, bitter, cold and twisted up inside, lost in her thoughts the warmth of the dogs head in her lap broke through to her. Softening all most instantly she stroked the dogs head, if Jet had been on her own she’d be cuddling the dog, but there was another in the room and so she controlled herself just like she always did, she had to be the good perfect daughter lest her mother's wrath be unleashed. Part of her hated that she cared about Killian, Dani, and Claire, they just got her hurt all the more, she was so fucking foolish for caring about the two girls they had nothing to do with her and loved others, Claire loved Killian and Julian while Dani loved Killian. Nobody was left that loved her aside from Killian, it shouldn’t still hurt but it did and she loved and hated the feeling at the same time. Hating how it hurt but loving the feeling of pain as it meant she wasn’t a complete robot like she sometimes felt like. A warm tongue brushed over her hands dragging her back to the moment, swallowing all of it and once again organizing everything back into the neat compartments where they’d escaped from, icy blue eyes lifted from the dog to study Sally. Sick of dancing around questions Jet took in a deep breath and let it out quietly deciding it was time to be blunt, in order to know if it was worth pursuing or even thinking about pursuing something with Keenan “You see colour then” a hand gently rested atop the canids head not really expecting to be told anything other than the girl being partnered up with him, where once a million dreams had been at her fingertips the shadow master was now dismally aware of how limited she was, her wings were clipped, this was it, this was as good life for her would get.


Her big mouth nearly blurted ‘selkies are immortal usually aren’t they’ but she had the sense to keep it to herself, instead she lifted her hands and blew some gentle flame onto them watching the fire dance over her skin while she thought. “you sure your nerd nest is flameproof? I’m particularly gifted with pyrotechnics” which was Rose shorthand for when she got pissed off her control over her fire powers decreased quite surprisingly. Reminding herself to take a flight back home sometime soon, Rose leaned back to stare up at the stars without making her neck hurt “you didn’t exactly get a good introduction but, Killians a good man in his own way. He’s family to me. We hunted together for quite a while” he was slightly wary of overloading him with information so decided it’d be good to shut her trap now. Feeling a sea breeze rustle her hair and the grass as it came off the waves up the cliff and over her Rose closed her eyes quite enjoying how wild and yet peaceful this place was, she’d always been drawn to cliffs indeed that’d been how she’d learned how to fly, gliding off of the cliffs at home.


Shutting up when Cricket rubbed up against her, the newly turned shadow masters face lit up with excitement “really!? I have so many Ideas is it really alright?” it was hard not to get her hopes up for she truly had so many ideas for this place. Namely an art studio slash room for her in the attic of the house after some upgrades, she could draw everything out too so the serval could look it over and make sure that it’d be alright with Killian since it was his house. The mention of the bookstore added to her excitement as she could get more ideas from there as well, shifting her weight now too eager to sit still, in the end, she had to get up and stretch, reaching her arms up to the ceiling and yawning while doing so she felt a little better “Can we go now?” why wait if they could go now? A good walk would be good at getting some of the pent up excited energy out of her system so by the time they reached town she could act like a sensible grown-up and not the excited little girl that was bouncing around on the inside. Perhaps she could get some art supplies too, she wanted to do some painting, quite eager to paint the green that she’d discovered in Killian's gaze, not entirely sure into what yet but she could figure that out once she had a canvas in front of her and some paints next to her.

Listening to Sally as she chattered away, she glanced up at her briefly when the woman mentioned that she and some man named Blake lived down the lane and that she just helped Keenan with his pots. Hiding her surprise when it was mentioned that he could see some colours and that he liked the colour of her eyes the most, unsure of what to say Jet just looked down and stroked the dog. She’d have to take time to think about all of this. The dog was nice and she enjoyed the animal's company and honestly she was quite tempted just to take the dog and leave, sighing she leaned back into her seat and mused over things a part of her already knowing what action she’d take. She’d found out what she wanted to know and now she’d make her actions based on that information, standing after giving the shaggy beast one more stroke Jet spoke calmly “Thank you for your time, however I must be going” being as brief as she could be the shadow master excused herself and left. Vanishing as soon as she stepped outside, Jet ruminated on various things for a few hours before finally showing up outside of Keenans cell with folded arms, leaning against the cold bars she scowled slightly “I like your dog” muttering just loud enough for him to hear her.

At the question, Rose’s gaze flicked onto him, considering him a moment she finally replied “He’s tactical and serious, although he has a good sense of humour. Loyal to his family and those he cares about and is one of the few people that will take up my challenge when it comes to drinking. Reliable too, he’s in forced service to Ice, she turned him into a shadow master and if he doesn’t obey her she’ll go after his adopted sister, she tried to go after me once when he disobeyed. Once” a feral grin stretched her features revealing teeth “She hasn’t tried again” yawning widely the dragon brushed her fingers through the long wild grass “He’s rebellious when it comes to her, no matter the personal cost. Anything else you wanna know?” wondering what it must be like for Angus, she continued to watch him waiting for his reply, naturally, she had no intention of telling him or anybody about the details of several things that she knew but shouldn’t. The colour of his eyes and more, that was something painful kept locked away that she desperately wanted to forget, flicking her gaze up to the stars she sighed and sat up wanting to do something, the restlessness was nothing new, wanting to fly she poked Angus with a foot “I’m going for a flight, want to come?” she didn’t usually offer people flights but he’d already had a ride so it wasn’t too much of a big deal.

A look of pure happiness washed over Renees face when Cricket mentioned that it was alright and they could go now, reaching out to gently stroke the serval in a silent way of saying thank you she made sure the fantail on her shoulder was alright before heading out. First stop was naturally the local arts and crafts store, eyeing the various paints hopefully it took a little encouragement to reassure her she could get what she wanted with no negative repercussions, she ended up with a couple of baskets filled with supplies and once they were paid for and taken home by helpful shadows including some of hers that demanded to help, Renee and Cricket headed for some other stores to get supplies for redoing the help. Finally home by about six that night she sat down on the couch with a sigh, her feet ached from standing on them all day but it’d been worth it, deciding that they could start actual work the next day she picked up her sketch pad and started drawing out her ideas for various rooms in the house not bothering with his room or his study feeling like those places weren’t hers to redo. The first place would be her room and then the kitchen or maybe the kitchen and then her room it was difficult for her to decide which should be first, once done she offered the pages to cricket wanting the servals opinion.

Surprised when the kelpie informed her that he’d only gotten his dog because of her there was the sharp pain of guilt like she’d just been stabbed with a razor-sharp blade. “He seems to be, very friendly”refraining from telling him that the dog was wonderful she leaned her face against the cold metal bars “Why would you get a dog just because of me? You make no sense” sure as a child she’d told him how much she’d adored dogs but to get one just because she’d liked them was very strange from her standing point. He saw colour just as she did, she should do something, however, her instincts were against it, if Ice found out she’d make both of their lives a misery, she’d have to influence someone else to get him out it’d take some time, thought and doing but potentially it was possible. Was it worth talking about colours now? There was so much indecision and that scared her, very used to being decisive and determined feeling queasy the shadow master swallowed hard and made herself meet his gaze. The fact that he saw colour changed many things, but there were many mental road blocks in her mind, Raiden, Claire, consequences, they blocked the way forward changing it into a thorny tangle that wouldn’t let her make a clear decision.


To do her room first would be selfish, but she really really wanted to do it, deciding to go with her heart Renee replied “I’d really like to turn the attic into my room and art studio” the sketch depicted skylights to let in the light of the sun as well as the moon and the stars with a wooden floor and a few artsy rugs on it. A loft bed situated under a skylight with a desk underneath while there was also a comfortable couch for sketching on, art easel’s, cupboards for storing art supplies and more, brushing her fingers over the room that was her ideal dream room she couldn’t help but smile thinking about how it was all going to look and how nice it’d be to sleep there. Just thinking about it got her excited, it’d be so wonderful, and then they could do the kitchen and the rest of the house changing it from a house that needed redoing to a warm cozy home, not to mention the ideas for a fruit orchard and veggie garden and then normal gardens filled with wonderful flowers and plants.


Stretching luxuriously before shifting it wasn’t long before her dragon form stood in front of him, leathery bat-like wings folded neatly against her sides ‘Be honoured, I never give people rides’ once he had seated himself on her back the dragon walked to the edge of the cliff and jumped off. Snapping her wings out and catching herself just before they hit the water she rode the currents of air that moved over the waves, much happier instantly. Opening her jaws to let out a happy almost playful roar the orange scaled beast blew a plume of orange fire, this was when she felt the freest, turning she started flying upwards aiming for the stars, once they were as high as they could go she hung in the air looking down at the landscape beneath them. After making a decision she turned and glided down to cruising height and rode the air currents to the island that was her home, it didn’t take too long and honestly, she’d half-forgotten the selkie on her back more focused on what she felt. Landing surprisingly neatly near where she’d grown up, the wings of the dragon folded, glaring at the abandoned home Rose turned and walked towards one of the faerie pools lowering her head to drink the clear clean water.
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Musing over what to say she didn’t say anything for close to ten minutes before she finally spoke “She told me you paint the pots the same colour as my eyes” her gaze flicked away from his face when she spoke the movement subtly highlighting that she didn’t feel very comfortable nor confident speaking about this topic. Her folded arms tightened slightly and her fingers dug into her arms, she felt strangely fragile like she could just fall to pieces and she didn’t like that feeling focusing on taking long deep breaths and doing her best to fight off the guilt that was telling her she’d betrayed the person who saw her colours. It was strange that she hadn’t realized just how fractured everything was until he’d shown up again, so many things had happened, she’d done so many awful things, tortured, killed and enjoyed it. She’d enjoyed hurting others, taking out all of the frustrations she had from her mother hurting her, as each day turned to night she could feel her ties to people getting weaker and weaker leaving her out on her own. The raven on her shoulder ruffled his feathers and cawed softly to her, gently tweaking her ear with its beak allowing her to come to herself a little, turning her head away from Keenan and closing her eyes tightly. She was rooted to the spot unable to escape or go anywhere, where else was there to go? Terrified, it’d been a long time since she’d felt like this, the last time had been when she’d discovered she was pregnant with Claire, ah there was the familiar sensation of her chest being stabbed with an ice pick, it always happened when she thought about her daughter and the pain helped ground her enough to be able to breathe and continued her façade of not caring.

Starting slightly with surprise when the shadows bunched together and created a 3D model of what she’d been intending to do to her room “yes! That’s perfect” honestly surprised when Cricket mentioned that she’d be able to do it too, Renee looked down at the page where she’d drawn her room and furrowed her brows in concentration. Her shadows grouped together but it took them a while to figure out what she wanted before they started trying to form the room she’d sketched down onto the paper “Wow!” amazed when her shadows finally managed to do it, the woman praised them and let them relax again seeing they were trembling with the effort of projecting themselves as what she wanted. Flipping the page to the kitchen without needing to be prompted she asked her shadows again and praised them once more when they were able to figure out what they needed to do in order to follow her wishes. Having gone most of her life without praise she recognized just how important it was to be praised for things you did well “The kitchens going to be wonderful! A nice big window to let in lots of natural light” she was quite fond of natural light it was just so much softer than the harsh lighting she was used to.


Lifting her head from the water when she felt him scratch her shoulder, the dragon moved her head around to watch him through a single blue-green eye, a cheeky sparkle glinting in the dragons gaze before she sprayed Angus with water. Cackling with laughter she flared out her wings briefly to stretch them, they were somewhat sore after so much flying when she hadn’t done much in a long time, now that she was somewhere safe and on the land that had once been home the dragon had grown rather playful. Reaching around to snag a tooth through the scruff of his shirt she lifted him around and deposited him on the ground, if what Bran said was true then he could see colour on her and while that didn’t men she was going ot just open herself up like a fool it did mean that she was going to tolerate him a lot more than she’d planned to. Splashing into the water she shoved her muzzle under the water continuing to drink until finally she was satisfied, eyeing Angus she seemed to smirk and used her tail to flick him into the water which made her laugh again.

The cheerful noise surprised her, how he managed to make such a noise in such a place as this, she took only a few more moments to decide what she needed to do. She’d get him out, despite the guilt she felt about Claire and Claire’s father, this sliver of hope at having happiness, true happiness had to be enough for her, so she’d get in contact with the dragon and get him to act. If she was smart and cunning enough, she’d be able to show up every now and then, it was a desperate last ditch attempt at finding something to keep her world from going completely dark so she’d throw everything she had at it. “Have you eaten recently?” she could find something else for him to eat if that was the case, she wasn’t aware that despite her best efforts some of what she was feeling was showing through her cold façade. Loneliness, despair, desperation and a small quiet battered feeling of hope that was what hurt more than anything else, one of her hands held onto one of the bars at the front of his cell in an attempt to ground herself. Wanting to reach between the bars and ask for touch she couldn’t quite allow herself to do something so weak and pathetic, it’d been centuries since she’d had touch that was warm and kind, many times she’d cursed herself for not being able to just forget what that felt like, making her unable to completely move on. She was stuck and as much as she didn’t’ want to admit it she needed help, his help, pale blue eyes remained squarely fixed on his face watching the colour of his eyes, they were strange eyes often appearing many different colours depending on the light meaning she’d had a fair range of colours ever since she’d met him.


Smiling happily at the praise, Renee nodded at the suggestion and after some concentration the shadows fit in some more windows, “natural light is the best kind” but still for at times when the blinds would be done she added in some nice lights that would shine a nice pale yellow light. White lights were too harsh for her tastes, a few bar stools appeared on one side of the bench and a fair few house plants were added, she was quite fond of house plants as her opinion was they made a house a home, as for the art on the walls she decided that to save money she’d make the art. She wanted to have a go at painting cricket and alkira together after all but that was kept to herself in case it didn’t’ go very well, adding the modifications to her sketch that she’d carefully crafted, Renee looked at the serval waiting to hear if there was anything else she needed to add to the house to make it more up to scratch with what Killian wanted. He owned the house and it was his money, so she was quite anxious about making sure it was just right, it had to be just right, reminded she flicked back to the page she’d drawn her room on and added some more skylights. A nice deck would also be rather nice, and she was looking forward to working on making a big wonderful garden, perhaps the shadows would help her create one, the idea of being able to grow her own fruits and vegetables was rather exciting too, it was something she’d always wanted to do instead of just buying her fruits and vegetables from the supermarkets.


The dragons merry cackling turned into a choking noise at the comment, shaking her head to attempt to fix the problem, when she could finally breathe again, she threw him a dirty look like it was his fault and pushed him over with her muzzle. ‘Great, Bran was right, I’ll never hear the end of it now’ snorting when the selkie resurfaced she looked away unsure of what to do or say now, she’d never actually met someone who truly saw colour on her. After a few moments of thought her shape changed back to a human, it’d be easier to hide what she felt as a dragon, but this was something that needed to be talked out. Her arms were folded and she appeared slightly on the defensive, bright red hair moving about not like unlike fire in the cool wind that whistled through the trees “Can you actually see it or are you trying to be funny” if he was just trying to be funny she’d beat the ever loving shit out of him, but she had to be sure. Not a great one for hiding what she felt, her body language gave away what she was feeling, unsure, defensive, distrusting, and surprisingly a great degree of pain. He still seemed to be in black and white, which didn’t particularly help but she had seen the book of his in bright colour, perhaps he was just irritating colours that blended into the black and white world. She wanted to believe that he was telling the truth from the way he’d been acting when he mentioned her scales, like it’d just slipped out by mistake, but with her track record it was very difficult to simply accept what he was saying without making sure first, she had to make sure for her own sake.

Remaining there for a while just watching his eyes she stiffened hearing footsteps and left, not showing up again for a few weeks when she finally did return it was with some food. Having had nothing better to do she’d offered to feed the various prisoners, wandering up with some fish in hand she stopped at the sight of the kelpie. Some how the cage had been spelled to be an aquarium of sorts and in there was a creature that was bright and dark shades of green, her mouth parted a little in surprise the colours stood out starkly from the rest of the black, white and grey world that surrounded him. Recovering a little she stepped forward and reached between the bars, finding that she could push her hand into the water as if it were a bubble of sorts, assuming that was how she fed him she pushed the several fish into the bubble of water that the kelpie was trapped within. Not having anything to say she just stood and studied him, spellbound before she pulled herself together, giving herself a firm talking to about keeping her emotions hidden behind the icy wall she’d built within herself the woman sniffed to herself. “I have a way to get you out, without Ice finding out about colour. I can assure you she’d use it against us both. It may take some time to put into motion however” once the fish were gone she pushed her hand into the water, liking how nice and warm the water was and how it felt. The water always reminded her of Claire, she’d heard irregular reports of what she was up to through Killian, as far as Claire knew Jet worked for Ice willingly and thought of her as one of Ice’s goons, it was safer for her that way although it still hurt. That hurt was always kept to herself, and the familiar pain that went through her made the bird upon her shoulder clack his beak and very gently tweak her ear in reminder.


Nodding in agreement when Cricket mentioned that it’d give them all something to do while Killian was gone, Renee smiled warmly “Alright, it’s a bit late to start now, so lets start first thing in the morning!” it was almost dinner time and she wanted to spend some time just sketching for a bit. Giggling a little to herself when the earlier words of cricket calling the place a dump sunk in she continued “its hardly a dump, its got an old charm about it” she intended to give the place a rustic safe homey feel and in all honesty was eager to get started on the veggie garden and an orchard of fruit trees and bushes. “oh! Does this place have a radio?” it’d be good to turn the radio up and sing while working. There were so many ideas churning around in her head now she knew it was okay to dream and to share her ideas of her vision for this old place, standing up and stretching the picture her shadows had created vanished as they returned to their usual shapes and darted around sharing in her excitement. Offering a smile to Cricket she turned and headed into the kitchen going through the fridge while deciding what they were going to have to eat for dinner, intending to make something for the serval as well.


Putting her hands on her hips and narrowing her eyes at the bird she finally returned her gaze to Angus “Because some people lie about colours. People have lied about colours, luckily for you I believe you” it wasn’t anything he’d said, more what Bran had said but what he said was private between the pair of them the selkie didn’t need to know much about the bird. Inhaling she focused on relaxing and letting go of the tension that so often built up in her small frame, holding onto it now wouldn’t do anyone any favours, stepping forward she studied the stones at the bottom of the faerie pool before reaching down and picking one up studying it wishing she could see the colours there. She’d read stories when she was little about how beautiful these places were to those that could see colour, straightening and eyeing the water she moved and threw the stone watching it skip across the quiet water a few times before sinking. Slipping her hands into her pockets she refused to let herself mull over the past, there were other times for that, right now she should be thankful that the person she saw colour around saw colour on her too, there was a chance, she had a chance for once… and, naturally, she had no idea what to say next and after a few moments something finally came to mind “I don’t see colour on your hair or your eyes, they still look black and grey. I saw your notebook though” the words were almost absent while she watched the water appearing rather lost in thought.

Watching the fish float in the water a brief moment, it seemed that the kelpie wasn’t interested in eating, picking up on all of the notches that were taken out of his various fronds without a word. He didn’t question the idea that they keep their colour a secret between them which was quite nice, she didn’t have to argue or explain further, she hadn’t had time to go back and see his dog so this would just have to do. Considering things she reached further into the water, offering a hand to the Kelpie, well aware that she was just asking to get bitten, the movement was one of trust for the large creature. Her shadows were keeping tabs on the area around them so she would be well warned if anyone was coming their way,  “I’m going to get in contact with Erisidr, tip him off to where you are. I just need to get given a job where I can get in contact with him” it’d be difficult to go to him in person, but she was fairly certain he didn’t have a letter box she could simply post a letter to. No figuring out the how was going to be the hardest part of her mission but she’d get it sorted, she’d done far more impossible things before after all, during her next job she’d see if she could swing past his home and meet the puppy again.

Giggling to herself when she heard the servals sniff, Renee set about making something for herself for dinner and after rummaging around found some fresh meat for the serval and fried it in the nonstick frying pan she’d managed to get her hands on earlier during their shopping. After dinner and washing all of the dishes, she made herself a tea and curled up on the couch sketching, absently planning out how she was going to do the painting of the two shadowy creatures. Her fantail was neatly nestled on her shoulder which had become its favourite spot, the quiet creatures dark eyes watching the blank paper come to life underneath its mistresses pencil. After a few attempts, she settled on a pose of the two appearing to walk along the paper with Cricket leading which she’d done as Cricket felt much older than any of the other shadows. To Renee it made sense then that cricket would be leading, editing it a little so it appeared that the serval was glancing back towards the Jackal as if making sure it could follow, the symbolism of the work was quite pleasing to her, once she was satisfied with the two creatures that were the centerpiece of the work she started adding the background, it hadn’t taken much thought to put them in their animals natural environment Africa. The ground beneath their paws was treacherous which was perhaps why the serval was glancing back towards the younger jackal, occasionally pausing to sip at her tea, the young woman continued to bring it to life.


Looking over at the selkie, Rose studied him silently now that he was looking elsewhere, he was oddly peaceful and for the moment that was nice. Wondering who in the universe decided what soul belonged with who, Rose’s gaze also turned to the sky, if there was such a person she’d like to find them and beat the ever-loving shit out of them for having put her through so much bullshit only to find it was some quirky selkie with a basement filled with dangerous books. Snorting to herself the dragon moved to perch on a large rock taking the time to enjoy being home there had always been something magical about this island, that continued to draw her back to it, at least the selkie’s place wasn’t too long of a flight from the island. After a while she got up when her stomach started growling “Bit of a walk away there's a pub that does decent dinners” when her family could afford it they’d go there for a celebration like a birthday, they’d been dirt poor growing up but it had never felt like they’d missed out on things. While her father had been Scottish and his family had been on the island for generations her mother had been a welsh dragon which had always amused Rose as she was fairly certain she’d gotten her fiery attitude from her mother not her father. Poking the selkie she gestured “Come on selkie” offering him a hand up, she’d decided to give the man a chance, what would one more betrayal of colour be after all? Bran had never lied to her so this was an honest chance for herself and Angus, the irony of it all still irked her but that was put to the side for now.