Fantasy DIFFERENT BODIES ⋮ SAME SOUL | ( *starboob && syntra )

[starboob]

☉ LIORA TRIHN ☉
​

As time drags on and on, the show continues to play long after the conversation has died down and long after the cookies have disappeared from the platter. At some point, with as exhausted as she had been and really only staying awake out of sheer spite, Liora had drifted off to sleep. The blanket she shared with Inna had just been so warm, and the subtle warmth of her partner's body heat emanating off her figure gave the woman a quiet security she so often lacked during her willfully sleepless nights. And with all that comfort around her, her body had slowly shut down and she had fallen asleep somewhere in the middle of Akko getting stuck inside of Sucy's head. (She's already decided that she does not like any of the characters, save for Sucy and Diana. Amanda has qualities that irritate her, but those very qualities are ones she is learning to appreciate in her companion and so she does somewhat appreciate that character as well. Akko, she believes, should just give up on magic since she is so clearly talentless and it's just pathetic watching her try so hard. Like a worm trying to become a butterfly, really.)

During her short slumber, she never noticed that Inna had disappeared. Not until the background noise stops does she wake up (because Netflix apparently had been concerned about whether or not she is still watching). Groggily, the woman rubs her eyes and lifts herself into an upright position. "Inna?" she asks, sleepily, looking around for her companion and quickly realizing that the blonde is missing––however, unlike the prior morning where that had stirred panic, she does not fret over Inna's absence. After all, she does not recall leaving the conversation on a sour note. And besides, the blonde is free to roam wherever she pleases; while a note would have been considerate, she figures they will rendezvous at some point or other. Either their stupid mission will teleport them to the location of their next boss battle or Inna will return to Sol's apartment from wherever she is (and part of Liora hopes she's gone to get coffee; there is such a nice shop not too far from here as well). In any case, she is unconcerned and has no reason to believe that her partner has tried to abandon her again and gotten herself into some form of magical trouble.

Still bleary eyed, she reaches for the remote on the table to turn off the television. She stretches, yawns, and when she opens her eyes again she spots something from the corner of her eye. Though when she turns to look at whatever figment had been there, it is gone before she can even name what it was. It's not until she blinks again that the image returns and she blinks so hard to make it disappear that when she opens her eyes again, it is gone. Then it's back again. Then gone. With each blink or eye movement, the scene in front of her unfolds in a strobe-light way that nearly does cause her to seize, because what she's seeing? Her stomach pretty much sinks down into the room below Sol's.

'Okay, so that's possibly Inna and she's possibly with another chick. And they're fucking in Sol's living room––except they're not. This is probably fake. So many things have been fake this past week––' except that, no. Many things have not been fake about this past week. In fact, everything that should have been deemed fake turned out to be incredibly real. So Inna and that other chick? Undoubtedly, she now knows what the blonde is up to and it brings her no sense of relief. Interestingly, she's not even disgusted that she's seeing this––where that feeling does exist in her somewhere, what she feels primarily is anger.

Like, how can Inna be so inconsiderate? Granted, while they only discovered their mental back channel rather recently, this seems fucking excessive. Just why is Inna letting her see this? And how the fuck can she turn it off? Quickly, the woman turns away from the image in the living room, except like a fucking sunspot in your damn eye, it follows her and now the bed is somewhere where Sol's dishwasher should be. Liora shuts her eyes hard and puts her hands over her ears to avoid what she's witnessing, but the images exist in her mind just as potently and watching Inna get bitten by another woman makes her so angry and she cannot figure out why! Because it's not like Inna is her girlfriend, they're barely just becoming friends, and she does not have any romantic feelings for her companion! That would make things way too complicated on top of their already complicated mission saving the world. (Though it's not like Liora would know what romantic feelings are if they smacked her in the face like a shovel––which they have.) She reasons that she's so pissed, because this is like reverse invasion of privacy!

With a concentrated amount of effort, the woman rises from the couch and decides to ignore what she is not seeing, because this is so fucking indecent and maybe Inna does not care about privacy or keeping things private but Liora does! So she makes for the bathroom and tries to get on with her day. 'Maybe I'll fucking find someone to fuck and that will fucking show Inna some fucking manners.'

 

[Syntra]

The sun glimpsed through the curtains, sharp and annoying, and Inna wanted it to fucking die. Like, could a girl not enjoy her rest in peace?! Rising this early in the morning, she thought, should have been illegal. This only proved that laws were but meaningless, stupid constructs invented by control freaks-- had they been able to protect her from this bullshittery, maybe she would have respected them more. So, yeah. The blonde wanted to put a pillow over her head, except that... huh. Her pillow seemed to have shrunk??? Because she had always gone for large ones, like a civilized goddamn human being, and this pitiful excuse of a pillow was just so small it was fit for a Barbie doll. In the light of this, Inna only really had one question, and the question was: What the fucking fuck?! Had some demon decided to tamper with her sleep now, hoping to defeat her through pure exhaustion? Not that she didn't understand the impulse, mind you-- having to face Inna Badass Orlovskaya in battle was basically a death sentence, so like, good for them for trying to find some alternative fucking solutions. Problem solving was a good skill to have, blah blah blah. Still, did they have to target one of the few remaining pleasures in her increasingly more shit life? Like, drifting off to the land of dreams was the sole constant the blonde could look forward to, and trying to take that away from her must have been against the Geneva convention. Had Inna believed in shit like 'mental health' or 'inner stability,' she would have said they were trying to destroy those things as well! (...a good thing she didn't, which made her immune to all of that. RIP to the people who had bought into the propaganda, but the blonde was different. Different and thus better, thank you very much! Better than pretty much anyone, aside from Liora, maybe, and... Liora. Hmmm, hmmm. Why did that name trigger such interesting feelings in her? Lately, it had tasted just fine on her tongue-- sweet, even, when she dared to look beneath the LayersTM, but this just felt off. Kinda like biting into a what you thought was a cookie, except that nope, it was a villainously disguised chilli pepper instead! What a fucking mystery. Why would the memory of her friend weigh on her like this now? It wasn't like she had stabbed her kitten to death or anything.)

...a mystery that was solved the second Inna turned around and discovered that this, in fact, wasn't their fucking room. Even more importantly, though? The hottie lying next to her wasn't Liora, either. Oh, fuck. Oh, shit. Was it too late to craft a conspiracy theory about how aliens had brainwashed her and made her participate in some freaky-ass Human Sexuality research? 'Cause she had a few good fanta... ehm, nightmares, right, that could be used for this scenario. Just a few tweaks here and there, and it would work! (Mostly, uhh, adding more horror elements. The newfound appreciation for that sort of thing that usually came as a ~twist~ would kinda destroy the purpose, and... and...)

"Mornin', sleepy head!" the silver-haired beauty giggled. "I thought you'd never wake up," she smiled, smugly, and Inna's heart skipped a beat. Like, damn. Who knew college girls were this hot? Had the blonde known, she would have been more serious about pursuing tertiary education! "I did promise to break you, but it being permanent would have been... hmm, sad," she settled on before licking her lips. "Considering how much uncharted territory is still there to explore. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Ah. Um, yeah, totally. I've, haha, always wanted to be an explorer! Or more like a pirate, really, 'cause those are explorers as well, but way cooler," Inna rambled, not nervous at all. (There also weren't any feelings of guilt she was trying to bury, thank you for asking! Liora was a friend, and friends should be happy that their friends got to score. In fact, the Codex of FriendshipTM demanded that Inna should describe the juicy details to her!) "Breaking rules makes everything that much hotter, if you ask me, uhh..." Fuck. She had introduced herself to her, hadn't she? Now Inna kinda regretted saving her number as 'Hottie #2,' but as per usual, hindsight was 20/20. What a cursed goddamn concept! "...Sandra."

"Sandra?" the girl chuckled. For a fraction of a second, something like anger burned in her eyes, though it dissolved so quickly that Inna had to doubt whether it had been there at all. Like, some weird shadow had probably just been fucking with her perception, right? "Not even close. It's Emily, sweetie. But to think you don't remember, after all of that..." Swiftly, she moved, and before Inna realized what was happening, Emily was sitting on her, her hand in her hair. Again: shit!!!! "I'm afraid I'll have to make you scream my name this time. Sorry, Inna. These are the rules."

***

Returning to Sol's place, of course, wasn't awkward at all! First of all, she was Inna Fucking Orlovskaya, and one of her defining feature was not having any sense of shame. Besides, what she had done had been Just and Righteous-- lesbians deserved to feel good, as reparations for the centuries of bullshit they had had to go through, so her seducing random hotties was basically sticking it to the fucking man. Direct action, my dudes! Inna was so, so glad to be a part of the revolution. ...which, of course, was why she'd bought Liora stupidly expensive coffee at the nearby coffee shop-- to celebrate, not to, uhhh, apologize to her or anything. Again, the blonde hadn't shat on the pages of her favorite book! No, she had just done some adult things that all fucking adults did, and there wasn't anything wrong with that. In fact, when you looked at the incel """community""", Inna would argue that releasing some steam only contributed to the overall comfort of mankind in general. There was only so much frustration the planet could bear!

So, when she entered? Inna beamed at Liora, her smile the very definition of innocence. "Hey, Li! I was... umm, exploring." Some interesting, interesting things. "Bought you a coffee, too. Should be fucking good for how expensive it was-- if not, I'll torch that stupid shop."

 

[starboob]

☉ LIORA TRIHN ☉
​

Studying for the SATs while your younger sister has decided to become a drummer? Easy. Ignoring the sinking feeling that your roommate is getting some action from across the room because she thinks you're asleep? Easy. Easy in fucking comparison to whatever shit Inna is pulling right now, because trying to clean Sol's entire apartment, floor to ceiling, while her friend and some fucking stranger fuck in the background? It should be easy. It's a fucking menial task––cleaning takes up almost zero percent of her thinking capacity; it can be relaxing and therapeutic even; the perfect distraction for avoiding literally anything and yet it's nearly impossible when every other second is filled with explicit fucking visuals of everything that is happening to Inna, coupled with the sounds of her moaning. Liora is only human and when her vision is actually fucking filled with this free explicit show, it's hard to fucking concentrate on scrubbing the mold from Sol's shower. 'Maybe I should mix the fucking bleach and ammonia to get rid of this fucking headache permanently,' she thinks bitterly. It takes her nearly twenty-minutes to clean the goddamn toilet bowl because of these unwelcome interruptions.

However, by the time that she's done with the bathroom––which would have been an event by itself––the anger she had initially felt has run out and in its place she only feels exhausted. Or that's the best word she has to describe hollowness in the pit of her stomach and how a dark cloud seems to swirl there. It gets worse with the more details that are revealed her; how Inna is letting some strange woman mark her (maybe Liora wants to do that); how she is being teased so relentlessly (Liora would do it better, she is sure); how this strange woman has Inna so perfectly wrapped around her finger that she's whimpering (Liora wishes that were her); how she can almost feel the sensation of Inna's nails in her own back... The entire situation drives her wild and the tornado tearing through her stomach fills her with such irrational thoughts, she almost considers running off. It's more than she even knows how to handle. And she doesn't even know where all of these feelings are coming from. If she knew any better she might think that this is some form of jealousy, but that makes no sense to her! What does she even have to be jealous of? Because she kind of thought she meant a little more to Inna that she wouldn't be so easy to move on from? That maybe she could have woken up with the blonde curled around her instead of waking up alone in the apartment? That she thought Inna and her were finally getting closer? (Although, why can't they be close while Inna has her fun? She doesn't know how to justify this particular thought so she ignores it.)

Having cleaned the apartment and started a pot of coffee, she sits on the couch, bent over and hugging a pillow close to her chest as she tries to look anywhere except for the area where Inna is having the night of her fucking life, apparently. It's becoming increasingly impossible to deny that she is upset over this and for more reasons than how inconsiderate it is for the blonde abuse their shared brain wavelength like this. She just perhaps wants Inna for herself and it took this for her to fucking realize it. But since Inna is so clearly fucking over her, she knows it's not worth pursuing and that defeat leaves her shattered.

So, at one point, she decides that if Inna is going to have a good fucking time, then maybe she should try to find someone to entertain her! After all, she doesn't even remember the last time she actually took someone home with her. Though downloading one of the million hook-up apps that are available does not fill her with any inspiring thoughts, because unlike Inna, apparently, she doesn't just fuck anyone. Also, the app just makes her feel weird, because she realizes just how disinterested she is in pursuing anyone (other than the blonde, but apparently that ship has sailed). All the lackluster messages––hey cutie, ur sooo pretty!, wanna meet, are those real, etc.––do nothing to make her feel particularly special either so the app only exists on her phone for all but three hours. At which point, the snapshots of Inna's epic fucking fuckfest cease and Liora is too worn out to think anything more than, 'Thank the fucking gods.'

Hurt, betrayed, though not willing to abandon Inna, she stays put at Sol's apartment––only seeing her sister come in and out for some item with only some quick pleasantries––and waits for her companion's eventual return. While she waits, she sips on what is probably her fourth cup of coffee and flips through Sol's Pokémon card collection. Pathetically, despite her bruises that do not hurt, she's still trying to connect with her companion. Like some fucking loser that doesn't know how to quit while they're ahead. 'This is so fucking pathetic, Liora. Like, yeah, she's your friend, I guess, but you don't have to try to understand her interests. Not the fucking stupid ones.'

When the blonde eventually returns, Liora does not look up from the collection and instead holds up a finger to Inna to signal that she's busy. Which she isn't. She's staring at Pokémon cards which is both extremely out of character and also does not require any of the concentration she is assigning to the task. It's mostly (entirely) petty. Eventually, she sets the binder aside on the coffee table and looks up at Inna, her expression blank, which is to say it is very much her usual resting bitch face. "That's great, Inna," she says dryly, sipping her own coffee and not even bothering with the one that the blonde has offered her.

"And, yeah, I can see that you've been exploring," she looks pointedly at her companion's colorful neck, ignoring the pang in her gut, and does nothing to reveal just how much she actually knows. Like that would be fucking weird to bring up––so it's better to not address it beyond what is obvious to anyone with fucking eyes. "I hope you enjoyed yourself." Liora then rises from the couch and goes to set her mug down in the completely polished kitchen. "And it's not that hard to say Liora. It's just two extra syllables. Sol is a dumbass for coming up with all those idiotic nicknames,” which seems to carry the connotation of you’re a fucking dumbass too for using it. Though that's not what she thinks at all. This is just her way of putting up her walls again. (It's just a lot more than she expected, being around Inna and knowing just how her night had gone once she found the perfect moment to fucking escape. Clearly, she had only been waiting for Liora to pass out so that she could sneak off––it would have been better had she just dropped her off at Sol's apartment and left, but instead she had to stay. She had to stay and fucking be nice and make her her stupidly delicious cookies, hug her with her stupidly comforting arms, and, Jesus fucking Christ, Liora feels like an idiot for fucking opening up the way she had! Like, wow, she's tempted to track down Alessia so that she can smack her past self for being so fucking stupid in front of someone who barely cares about her.)

Liora walks back into the living room and grabs a duffle bag that she had packed during her cleaning frenzy. She slings it over her shoulder, Declan already on her hip, and she looks at Inna, completely failing to ignore just how tight her chest feels now that she's actually looking at her. 'I wish I could just fucking disappear.' She swallows hard, fighting to keep her composure intact, but she knows if she can pull this off for another ten seconds, she'll be like ice again. “Anyway, we should get going before some fuck tries to murder us for the hundredth time. If you need to freshen up, just make it quick.”

 

[Syntra]

Unlike Liora, Inna happened to be legit awesome at these things. At, like, human interaction in general, you know? A complete fucking social butterfly, ready to spread her wings at any time. Tiny nuances were basically an open book for her to flip through, and no secret could escape her gaze-- which was, by the way, entirely pointless here. At least when her companion was being about as subtle as a goddamn sledgehammer! (And perhaps that was why Inna's brain just straight up froze. It just wasn't calibrated towards this level of bullshit, you see? Like, yeah, it was a powerful machine and everything, but try pouring water into your computer and then turning it on. Just, good luck, pal! Certain situations (read: train wrecks) were just too much for pretty much anyone to deal with-- and, curiously enough, Liora acting this fucking cold towards her had somehow wormed its way into this category. ...why? Wasn't she supposed to be used to this? Inna distinctly remembered the time when every other word the two had exchanged had been a new, searing insult, so this should have been... well, not hard. Normal, even! Not pleasant, definitely fucking not, but also not unexpected. Kinda like living in the goddamn England, really, and forgetting to take an umbrella as you were leaving your flat-- duh, you getting drenched to the bone was a foregone fucking conclusion. Or living in England and... uhhh, maybe just living in England in general? To Inna, that had been a continuous source of disappointment, anyway.)

So, yeah. Aside from thinking of wacky comparisons, the blonde had no fucking idea what to do here-- especially because, for some mysterious reason, she felt like a child that had been caught stealing Christmas cookies whole days before the goddamn event. (Which, by the way, was fucking absurd! If anything, she was an adult who had had a passionate affair with the cookie, and was now staring into the eye of its unimpressed baker. 'How dare you take advantage of my daughter?' she demanded to know, and... uhh, okay, okay. The imaginary scenarios were getting a bit out of hand, weren't they? To the point that even Inna had trouble seeing the connection, which was certainly new. Maybe early onset dementia, or something? ...or maybe, maybe it was her preferring wild fantasies over, you know, being in the same room with Liora, who threatened to stab her with her glare. Ahh, the joys of dissociation! Not that Inna would know anything about that, of course-- only weakass cowards had coping mechanisms like that, and she was neither of these things. Just, Inna Orlovskaya being weak? Pffft, hahaha! Even fire itself bowed down to her very will, and several mythological bastards had discovered why it was a bad idea to fuck with her, and-- and-- why the hell was Liora looking at her like that?)

Oh. It was about that, apparently. About Sandra or Erica, or whoever the fuck she was. Why, though? It wasn't like the blonde had done anything reprehensible. A girl had her needs, okay, and the two of them weren't fucking dating, and like, wasn't it Liora who had rejected her? 'Cause Inna seemed to remember it going down like that! With staggering clarity, too. (...no, it couldn't be about her companion being jealous, or anything similarly nonsensical. Like, had jealousy been even programmed on her chip? It was one of those functions that were both advanced and entirely needless, so Inna didn't see Liora possessing it. And the murderous energy radiating off her? That was... uhh, probably just her being pissed that she'd left without saying a word-- something about it being bad for their mission, maybe, 'cause Liora valued success so much. Yep, that had to be it! Nothing deep to be fucking seen there.)

Chuckling nervously, the blonde put the coffee on the table. "I... yeah, it was fine, I guess. Needed to release some fucking steam." ...which had happened, yeah, and it had been mindblowing. Ten out of ten, really! Emma had fucking outdone herself there-- everyone should get to be with their Emma at least once in their life, Inna thought. Awesome, show stopping, unforgettable! (Why, then, did it feel so wrong? Like, not physically, of course, since that would be the equivalent of hating on pizza, but in all the other ways. ...hollow, that was how she felt. Hollow instead of fulfilled, as if she'd spent the night studying for a fucking maths exam and still didn't understand a single equation. Blah, blah, blah, insert something deep about the equation being her life.)

The way her companion demanded to be called just 'Liora,' though? Bizarrely, Inna could feel her eyes growing wet at that request-- like, wetter than they normally were, 'cause eyes were obviously always wet. Almost wet enough it could be classified as the C verb, which... yeah, no, no need to discredit herself further. With her throat too tight for words, the blonde turned around and headed to the bathroom. Bathroom = hygiene = privacy, right? So, that meant she could cry in peace! Thank the fucking god for bathrooms, man.

(The sensation of hot water against her skin did make her feel better, somewhat. The tears were just as hot, so with some degree of imagination, Inna could pretend she wasn't crying at all, actually! It was all just bath water, end of. ...well, that, and it also kinda hurt, which she felt she deserved. Why? Look, don't ask her. Analyzing her thought processes wasn't what they paid her for, so good luck getting her to do it!)

When Inna finally emerged from the bathroom, her eyes were red-- hopefully not suspiciously red, though, because, even while wrapped in a towel, it was obvious most of her skin had gained this reddish tint, too. The perfect camouflage! "Liora," the blonde said, placing an emphasis on those two syllables, "are you like, mad at me?" A stupid fucking question considering the venom dripping from her words, but it Needed To Be AskedTM. "I just didn't want to wake you up. You seemed so fucking tired, and I was antsy, and..." Why was she even justifying herself to the woman, anyway? Liora wasn't her fucking mom. She wasn't her girlfriend, either, so this was none of her goddamn business! "...I dunno. It's been a lot lately. I wouldn't leave you, though. If it makes you feel better, I can message you next time, so that you know," Inna gulped, "where I am."

 

[starboob]

☉ LIORA TRIHN ☉
​

With each passing second Liora feels the comfort of her walls returning to her and protecting herself from things she does not have the capacity to deal with; mind you, it's not as if Inna had made significant progress demolishing those walls, but that she had even been able to crack them is significant by itself. The odd thing is, the woman hadn't even minded that she was letting someone else in because she had started to think of Inna as someone who is trustworthy and as someone who can hold her. But apparently she had been wrong about that and had been wrong to let anyone else in. It's not a mistake she plans on making ever again and she should have known that trust no bitch should have meant trust no bitch (even the ones who make your heart feel all sorts of strange). Luckily, Liora is kind and forgiving towards herself and she can understand why she may have faltered on her rules given all the stress she has been under lately and reasons that is what led her astray. Now that she is aware of this glitch in her system, she can fucking fix it so that it never happens again. There is no use relying on other people, because they always fucking disappoint. (She just wishes Inna hadn't disappointed her. She had hoped that she would be the only exception.)

So it doesn't bother her that Inna dashes off towards the bathroom, clearly upset. She thinks nothing of it––after all, what does Inna have to be upset over? She's the one who decided to reverse invasion Liora's privacy and give her a free all access subscription to her OnlyFans. Like, had she expected Liora to be pleased about that? Did she expect Liora to applaud her for scoring? That thought is so ridiculous she does, in fact, believe it's something that Inna would assume.

(And why does Inna have to be so goddamn sensitive all of sudden? What ever happened to her too cool for school schtick? Because Liora is pretty sure being sensitive entirely defeats the purpose of Inna "Never Impressed" Orlovskaya.)

Anyway, Liora distinctly decides that she does not care how her behavior is affecting her partner, who she isn't even sure she wants to be friends with anymore. Maybe they should have just stayed colleagues and never tried to get close after hours, because clearly they are fucking too incompatible for even that. To Liora, that makes sense, because they could barely handle it when Chett had partnered them together for their last assignment. Hell, the two of them could not even work properly together! Both of them had tried to complete the fucking assignment on their own, separate from another, so clearly they are just... not meant to ever understand each other even if Liora still kind of wants to and feels pathetic for even having that urge. Like she's just clinging to scraps of Inna. 'This is so disgusting. How is every fucking song about this?'

So when Inna emerges from the bathroom, steam trailing behind her, Liora does notice Inna's red eyes. And they aren't red in that just smoked a joint way, but red in the I just almost sealed my eyes shut with my tears way. That, um, makes it difficult for Liora to be or even pretend to be disaffected. In her calculations of pushing Inna away, she did not account for her dumbass heart being a slow fucking processor and not getting the memo sent from her brain approximately three fucking hours ago. 'Stop feeling guilty, you idiot! She has nothing to be fucking sad over. Sh–she probably did smoke a joint.' Though Inna's question and everything that follows makes Liora highly doubt her prior logic.

Her brow arches upward and she crosses her arms over her chest, looking completely unimpressed with Inna's question. As if that's an entirely useless question to ask and not because the answer is so obvious, but because Inna is so off. Liora is not mad. Not at all. She is beyond the need to feel that way towards Inna when humanity's survival relies on their cooperation. However, despite that, she hears herself say, "It's not about you leaving––I knew exactly where you fucking were, Inna." (And, hey, at least she has not returned to saying Inna's name like it's acid.) "I knew exactly where you fucking were and I knew exactly what you were fucking doing." At first, she doesn't elaborate. She only stares at the other woman, but she doesn't seem angry or sad or any form of upset. In fact, her glare feels hollow and lacking in something. "I saw fucking everything––I tried to fucking ignore it," she says, gesturing around to Sol's now spotless and sparkling apartment, "but whenever I fucking turned around there you were. With some fucking stranger having the time of your goddamn life––which good for you, I don't care." Though her tone is steady, there isn't anything believable about that last line. "And even though I was trying to look away, because I'm not a fucking perv, that didn't mean I couldn't hear every fucking thing that was happening. Try getting anything done with that going on in the background." Her arms drop from her chest and she places her hands on her hip, becoming more open the longer she continues to explain herself. "It was inconsiderate as fuck, Inna. I don't want to know what you do with your sex life." (Because it doesn't involve Liora and until a few hours ago, she really hadn't known she wanted to be a part of it––though it's not like she can admit that now. She doesn't know why she cannot admit this, but she just can't!)

She runs her hands through her hair and then drops down onto the couch, seemingly exhausted at having to express herself even if she did it with all the grace of Brutus trying to save Rome the other day. She puts a foot up on the coffee table and glowers at the cup sitting in front of her. (What? Did Inna really think a fucking coffee would make up for what she did?) "I don't want to be mad at you," she starts and then unfortunately finishes with, "because it's a waste of fucking time and will not help us. So it's whatever. Water under the bridge," just like everything else that has ever upset Liora. "Are we good or what?"

 

[Syntra]

...okay, okay. Sooo, this was a bad fucking dream, right? Well, either that, or her ears glitched out in a really dramatic way and Inna was hearing stuff that Liora couldn't really be saying. (What a persistent glitch, though! 'Cause, hahaha, it kept occurring again and again, with her partner claiming the same sort of nonsense. 'Saw everything,' pffft. Fucking how? Had she been spying on her? If yes, then Inna honestly didn't understand the nature of her complaints-- that was like shooting someone and then becoming terribly fucking offended that they had the nerve to bleed. Like??? Was the relationship between the cause and the consequence this mysterious to the dark-haired woman? The blonde had never considered Liora to be a fucking dumbass, but it seemed that, under the weight of new evidence, she might need to revise that stance somewhat. Apparently, you couldn't buy common sense at a fancy university! Who would have fucking thought, huh? ...besides, if anyone had the right to be upset here, it was Inna. You know, Inna 'Perpetual Victim of Stalkers' Orlovskaya! That Alessia would stoop so low, that she had sorta accepted already-- in the same way she had accepted mosquitos still hadn't been hunted to extinction, or that the prices of literally everything kept hiking up. It was just one of those Universal TruthsTM, really. Liora, though? Liora, from whom she had expected better? Come the fuck on. Fate seemed to be weirdly insistent on demolishing every single illusion she had ever cultivated, but there had been no need to do it in such a crass way!)

(Especially since the memory kinda made her skin crawl. Like yeah, it had been awesome and everything-- probably the highlight of the past week, if Inna were to be totally honest. If she had to pick between fighting random monsters and enjoying a ~romantic adventure~ with a hot chick, then obviously, the blonde would go for the latter. Who wouldn't, really? ...except that maybe, maybe she would have preferred not having to pick at all. Not like this, anyway. If it had been possible to separate her dumbass brain from her body, then Erica might have become one of her favorite conquests, but since science didn't care about such noble pursuits, Inna was left with this... this confusing cocktail of feelings. Contradictory feelings, too, which seemed doubly absurd! Inna Orlovskaya didn't usually do petty shit like emotions at all, so being torn between pleasure and guilt and about million other things she didn't care to name, was, uh, fun. You know what was even more fun, though? That at least 90% of the bullshit was tied to Liora in some way, and Inna just... had no idea where to even begin to unravel that, really. Not when she stood there and looked at her like that, with her gaze empty but disapproving-- as if she was a mildly annoying complication in her Perfect LifeTM. A missed train, maybe? Definitely not anything that actually fucking mattered.)

Protectively, the blonde wrapped her arms around herself. "Yeah? And you just fucking admit to it like that? Look, it's not my fault that you stalk people and then get exactly what you wanted to get, Liora. What the hell did you think you'd see? The two of us playing poker? Not to mention that I can't fucking believe you'd have the nerve to do creepy shit like that and then complain about it to me and..." Wait, wait, wait. What? That didn't fucking add up. Like, Inna was sure she would have noticed had they somehow moved to Sol's place, and... oh. Oh, this was about their weird-ass psychic link, wasn't it? Shit, shit, shit! The metaphoric light bulb appeared above the blonde's head, and in that moment, her cheeks turned scarlet.

"Ah. I-- I had no idea that that was what happened," she explained, her eyes wide. "Wow, sorry, that must have been awkward as fuck. I guess I somehow lost control over it? Not that I'm aware I'm controlling it in the first fucking place, which might honestly be the problem." Just, damn. That wasn't how Inna had pictured this! In her fantasies, Liora had seen her naked, yes, but she was much more of an active participant, and there wasn't nearly as much guilt involved, and... and... Fuck, Inna needed to sit down. (To sit down on the couch and sink into it, only to never emerge again. Turning into a piece of furniture seemed like a preferable alternative to spending more time with Liora, who had apparently decided to embrace her old Ice Queen bitchsona. And, like, getting used to that sort of existence wouldn't even be such a leap for her, would it? Since everyone liked her to treat that way, despite her technically wearing human skin.)

What was worse, Liora didn't relent at all. Like, she wasn't shouting at her or anything, but every fucking word felt like a whip against her back, and Inna... Inna couldn't deal, alright. It was too much, all of it! Especially with her transparent fucking lies, which was what finally sent her over the edge. "Water under the bridge," the blonde murmured, her lower lip trembling. (Her knees felt weak, too, but she'd rather die than sit this close to Liora now, so she leaned against the wall instead. "And you don't want to be mad." ...which meant she was, no matter how she put it. Don't get her wrong, Inna hadn't thought they'd never argue again in their life just because Fate had forced them to work together, or just because they kinda understood each other now, but this didn't seem like a normal argument! Not with this fake-ass conclusion, obviously worth less than Chett's pride. No, this was Liora cutting her off, and for what? One mistake? One accident? Wow. Nice friendship they had had, the blonde guessed!

"How terribly fucking considerate of you, love," Inna uttered, unable to bring herself to actually say her name. "You seem a little bothered for some who doesn't care about my sex life, though. So, what's the problem here? You don't want me, but you don't want me to be with other people, either? Am I to be your faithful fucking side kick and admire you from the distance? Sorry for not playing that role convincingly enough, then."

 

[starboob]

☉ LIORA TRIHN ☉
​

Alright, so apparently they aren't good as Liora had been hoping. Like what even is the point of dragging out an argument or a fight or anything when it never solves anything. After all is said and done, it's not like Liora can ever forget about the slight which means it's still fucking there. An apology won't fix it, because it's just stupid useless words that are so empty and hollow they make her want to choke. But, also, fighting over it never does anything to fix the slight either, because, see the point above, she still will fucking remember it. Surprise, surprise, Liora fucking Trihn is a resent and remember type of bitch and these pieces of evidence that she gathers only prove that having people to rely on always fucking backfires. So why not dig her heels in and make this worse? It's not like she has anything more to lose (because in her mind she's already lost Inna).

(Liora has never dealt with conflict. Or, she's dealt with conflict, but never with someone she actually cares about. It's new, foreign territory with rules she has not yet read up on and so she deals with all conflict the same. With canon balls and atomic bombs, because she doesn't know that fighting with someone can also mean fighting for someone. That conflict can be a chance to fix rather than destroy. But that is just not something within Liora's grasp, unfortunately, and so she needlessly struggles with herself.)

Once more, Liora looks at Inna in disbelief––it's not a huge change of face given that she's only managed to glare at the blonde, but as Inna accuses Liora of being an actual fucking perv who would go so far as to willingly watch her companion get fucked? That is nearly grounds to start World War fucking III in Sol's fucking apartment. Anger surges through her faster than she can even think to stop it, causing her face to heat up and the vein in her neck starts to bulge––

But then Inna seems to realize just what Liora was referencing (which, admittedly, is Liora's own fault for not clarifying and assuming that the other woman would catch on to her suggestion) and she calms. Somewhat. She's still angry, but it doesn't look like her head is going to explode like Captain Magma. Her arms cross back over her chest as she looks away from Inna, too hurt to even look at her; though she won't even admit that to herself. "It's fine––" in a sense. Like, Inna can't exactly take back accidentally opening up their dumbass psychic channel; maybe Liora would have decided to stick with her assertion that the blonde has shared those images on purpose, but even she knows that's ridiculous. Even if she wouldn't put it past the blonde to do so, Liora does understand that neither of them really know how their powers work. Not totally and given that Liora only recently has been able to control hers on command, sort of, she does at least believe that Inna is telling the truth. (And somewhere she feels guilty for even thinking so little of the blonde that she'd cross a boundary that shouldn't even need to be stated. Like you don't just force someone to watch your fucking sex life.) "I guess it was a fucking malfunction," she relents, giving the blonde some hint that she recognizes what actually happened versus what she had assumed happened. Still, she doesn't apologize for her accusations since she still feels justified in them.

Now, when Inna reverts back to calling her love, that actually does something to Liora. It completely sinks her. She looks at the blonde with what she thinks is disbelief, but it's really something like a wounded puppy. Even if she had never cared about Inna's refusal to say her name before, she had even genuinely thought that the blonde hadn't bothered to learn her name, it just reminds her of their lapse of being nemeses. And how she liked that lapse. And how she wanted it to last longer than a moment. And this pretty much proves it's gone and was never meant to be. (She doesn't at all see how this is entirely her fault and the result of her inability to react to upset in a normal fashion––no, because for Liora, even the smallest insults, even if accidental, feel like bombs going off. This is the only way she knows how to respond to threats to her fragile emotional state. She also fails to realize that this can be fixed.)

Though as Inna continues to speak, Liora steels herself once more. She swallows each of those ridiculous remarks and once the blonde is finished she shoots up from the couch. "What?" she poses the question as if Inna had said something stupid––which it is. To suggest that Liora wants Inna to be like some fucking lapdog or that she's somehow possessive of the blonde? She rejects that automatically! That's not what she wants at all! (But just what does she want? She does and doesn't know and even if she did solidly know, she wouldn't know how to even articulate it.) "That's stupid as fuck––that's not it at all! I just don't want to have to be fucking disturbed by your sex life," because (1) it's disgusting to watch and (2) it does hurt her, "like is that really so hard for you to believe? Do whatever the fuck you want, Inna. Do whoever the fuck you want. Just keep it out of my goddamn head, okay?" Liora massages her temples as she tries to keep herself from saying anything she'll regret, but she just can't admit that maybe, possibly, Inna had been a little right. Right in the sense that Liora does not want Inna to be with anyone else, but wrong about Liora not wanting her. She thinks she wants Inna and she thinks she wants her in the way the blonde had admitted to wanting her a couple nights ago. Or she did. Or she still does. She just doesn't know! All she knows is that she is hurt having to see Inna with someone else and, the more she thinks about it, she hasn't been too keen watching Inna flirt with Alessia, her sister, those random college girls, etc. (If only she could handle these feelings normally and not as fucking threats.) "Just stop being so difficult about this––I'm trying to let this go and just move on, so why can't you?"

 

[Syntra]

The way Liora looked at her? Oh, it didn't hurt her at all! Something as cheap as puppy eyes wouldn't work on Inna Fucking Orlovskaya, for starters, and besides, there was no need to concern herself with whether her partner was okay or not. Like, why the fuck should she extend that sort of consideration to Liora when she clearly didn't give a shit about her? Friend privileges only applied to people who fucking cared to be friends, and, surprise, surprise, her colleague didn't! Inna had thought that she did, once, but now? Now she fucking saw the truth, in all its blinding glory. (...for her, the blonde was just a receptacle. Something convenient to unload her feelings onto-- to use and use and use, really, till there was nothing left to give. As long as she'd conformed to her idea of what was RightTM, then everything was fine! Hugs were nice, you see. Cookies were tasty, too, and the way Inna offered encouragement so easily must have been pleasant as well. When there were needs that she had, however? 'No, bad Inna! Return back to your fucking box and do exactly what I want you to do. Also, know what I want you to do telepathically, 'cause I'm not about to tell you. Good fucking luck guessing!')

Slowly, the feelings of hurt were growing into concentrated fucking resentment-- and Liora sure as hell wasn't improving the situation with her words. (...wow, wow, wow. And to think she had actually fucking cried over her! Like, tears were a renewable resource and everything, but the blonde kinda regretted wasting them on her. They weren't even not on the same page-- whole fucking continents separated them, apparently, and now she felt like a certified clown for failing to see that. All this time, Inna had been reaching for something that had never even been there, which... yeah, maybe it was a good thing that Liora had rejected her, actually. The embryo of that fucking relationship was cursed, and it would have developed into something she wouldn't have liked, and... shit, just imagining it was so fucking miserable! Feeling this lonely, this fucking ignored, but having some sort of official seal stamped on it. ...this hurt bad enough as it was, without the additional 'hurr durr, why aren't you happy, you fucking got what you wanted' as a delicious side dish.)

"Well," the blonde finally said, her voice just a little bit firmer, "thanks for the fucking permission, love. Without it, I truly would have been lost. Like, who would have guessed that I was an adult and could do whatever I wanted?" ...or do whoever she wanted, as Liora had pointed out so helpfully. Whoever, huh. Okay. Okay, then! That statement did nothing to Inna, too, because she had buried her feelings for the other woman already and everyone knew zombies didn't fucking exist. (Not unless a demon re-animated them, at least, so she was safe in that regard. Since, you know, there wasn't a drop of demonic blood in their veins!) "I'll keep it in mind, though. Not bothering you with my private fucking life, I mean." Funny, huh? Like 'sex life' and 'private life' could mean the same thing, but also something drastically different. (And yeah, yeah, maybe it was childish to pull away like that, though Inna kinda felt that she had to. Because if she didn't... if she didn't, and they continued to kinda sorta understand one another, then her dumbass heart would inevitably get the wrong idea, and boom! Back to the Painville it was. No, no, Inna clearly had to guard herself better-- nobody else would do that for her, sad as it was.)

"Why can't I let it go?" Inna repeated, disbelief written in her eyes. "Duh, I dunno, princess. Maybe don't make a fucking scene and then try to pretend it didn't happen? You do realize that's not how it works, right? Like, you can't fucking set a forest on fire and then expect it to go out the second you think it's inconvenient." Christ, just talking to her made her sick! Like, physically sick, with her stomach feeling so light that she was lowkey thankful she hadn't eaten anything since those cookies. "But, okay. At least I fucking know where we stand." That was positive, right? Right? (The terrible, sinking sensation that made her feel so fucking dizzy claimed otherwise, but the blonde would ignore that, too. Ignoring her emotions was something she had tons of experience with!)

"That being said," Inna began before grabbing her clothes from the couch she had put it on, "I think I need some fucking practice. You know, to figure out how to keep that channel closed even if I'm, uh, distracted. So, since no catastrophe is currently happening... I think I'm gonna take advantage of it and go back. Just give me a call or something if you need to reach me, okay? Bye." ...because, yeah, there was no fucking way Inna could spend more time in her presence right now. It was too much, in all the wrong ways, and while going back to Eve felt bad, too, she just... didn't know what to do, really. Stupid fuck tests with no right answers! Without waiting for any sort of answer, the blonde slammed the door behind her and ran.

"...wow," someone behind Liora giggled. (Someone whose voice sounded pretty familiar, actually. Wait, could it be...? Yep, Alessia!) "Now that was a shitshow," the woman announced, as if her appearing there wasn't a concern at all. "I swear, I didn't want to witness that, but damn. It was impossible not to, really, with your thoughts being that loud. Have you thought about how you're going to make it up to your little girlfriend, Liora? Not why I came here, though. No, I... kinda came to warn you, I guess. Something big is about to happen. I heard the Demon Queen is about to get involved into this... power struggle thing you have going on. You know, since you've been slaughtering your subjects!"

 

[starboob]

☉ LIORA TRIHN ☉
​

There she goes again, with her absurd fucking remarks and petulance! Because, obviously, Liora is not being a child about this at all. In fact, she sees her reaction as completely fucking justified given that Inna forced her to fucking witness her getting railed for hours on end. Who wouldn't be upset? In several ways, Liora felt her boundaries had been violated and then there were/are those completely sticky, thick as molasses feelings she felt/feels completely stuck in with no hope of ever getting out or breaking free. As much as she wants to ignore those feelings, she can't. Not when Inna is talking to her like that and pushing her further and further away, which is not what Liora had wanted at all and yet all of her actions so far have suggested that she doesn't want anything more to do with Inna. No, Liora just cannot wrap her head around what is going on or how this even happened (because that would require looking in a mirror). She just... she just... What was the purpose of this reaction even? To protect herself, clearly. Except now she feels like somehow she set off some bomb and there's shrapnel stuck in her fucking face.

Though that's not to stay she does anything to stop Inna from leaving, practically butt-ass naked too. Like what the hell is wrong with that woman that she just thinks it's okay to strut around nearly bare? Liora doesn't spend anymore time trying to figure out that mystery, she just rolls her eyes at how dramatic Inna is being over this situation that's her fucking fault anyway. From her perspective, she's acted in a completely logical and rational way. She even said that she wasn't trying to make a big deal out of this and then Inna just had to trample all over that and make it a HUGE fucking deal. If she had just accepted that she fucked up and moved the fuck on, as Liora had wanted and anticipated a rational person would want, they would not even be whatever clusterfuck they're in. 'Fighting fucking demons is easier than this shit,' she thinks to herself, bitterly.

Fine, Liora is not going to go chasing off the blonde, because she's pretty sure she'll figure out where she is shortly––if she really is going to go back to whatever slag she's decided to entertain herself with. (And like good for fucking Inna––good for her for moving the fuck on. Doesn't matter that it happened to be at just the time Liora was starting to hope for something more between them. Or that's kind of what she thinks had been happening the previous night––she just hadn't had the time to think about it more deeply since Inna insisted on watching that stupid fucking cartoon. Nope, she had to fucking realize her feelings because Inna can't control the psychic network. Well, at least she hadn't got too wrapped in those fantasies and Inna at least gave her the benefit of knowing that when the blonde says she likes someone, she only means for a fucking night! Or perhaps fucking two if you're lucky like the white haired bitch.)

With her arms still crossed, the hairs on the back of her neck raise when she hears a voice coming from behind her––which is odd, because to be behind her that would mean whoever this intruder is came in through some other entrance. Though when Liora whips around to see who it is, surprisingly not alarmed, she is beyond unimpressed with Alessia's burglary skills. Less so by the words that come out of her mouth and since Liora's feeling on edge, she slams the woman backwards into the wall and pins her there. "You are so goddamn annoying the next time someone tries to fucking sacrifice you to a demon dog, I'm going to fucking let them you fucking bitch," she hisses.

At that, Alessia merely chuckles and places her hands on Liora's wrists. Then, with a surprising amount of force, she pushes the woman off of her. "Vie had more grace with her greetings, but I know you're not exactly her––those magical abilities leave something to be desired, after all, but you and Inna have faired surprisingly well despite that... Anyway, I digress, didn't you learn to not shoot the messenger? I'm trying to give you a warning, dumbass, and by my predictions, you don't have time to waste."

'What?' The confusion is written on Liora's face too and, of course, Alessia does not bother helping the woman figure out the puzzle. That would be too generous, so Liora is left to wrestle with what the bitch is talking about, because she sort of wiped what Alessia had said from her brain the second she decided to slam her into the wall. After a minute, she does recover the information and has to take an extra step back, fingers knotting into her hair. "The demon queen? Is that, like, just a fancy name for another kraken monster of hydra-type thing?" She doesn't need Alessia answer that, because the sinking feeling her gut tells her she's just figured out the next item on their ever-growing Save the World To-Do List. She groans, dropping her hands from her hair. "Christ––how is this even our fault if those stupid subjects keep attacking us? What're we supposed to do, just let them get away so they can murder us another day––shit, shit, shit!" Maybe she shouldn't have joked so loudly about trying to find the head of the snake, because clearly the magic overlords had heard that and are now determined to make Liora eat her fucking words. There's just no way she's ready to showdown with the Demon Queen––she just fucking figured out how to teleport!

With a sigh, she waves Alessia off and heads out of Sol's apartment, only grabbing Haenel and Inna's phone. 'I'm going to super glue that fucking thing to her fucking forehead if she keeps––oh, wait... I can still reach her.' Even with this mission to distract her, however, it's not like she particularly wants to face Inna again and so soon, too. Not with her being so petulant and not able to let shit go. Then, Alessia's initial comment strikes her too, the one about making it up to her fucking girlfriend or something along those lines. (Which is so fucking ridiculous because Inna is not her girlfriend––she's just everyone else's fucking girlfriend.) As annoying as that accusation had been, the woman had been right that they can't just go into this upset with each other. And Liora can't deny that they're both upset even if she thinks she's the only one with actual reason to be... So with a sigh, as she continues to walk aimlessly through the campus, she puts a finger to her temple and concentrates on Inna.

"Inna? You there? You left your fucking phone at Sol's apartment so... Sorry about the disruption, I guess," she begins, trying to make her mental tone sound... not like a bitch. "Um, Alessia came by right after you left with a fucking warning... And look, can we talk?" Though she doesn't see a point to trying to talk again, because she's almost certain it will go nowhere or will be just as disastrous as fucking ten minutes ago. Really, she'd rather just wait this storm out, but there aren't many fucking options given the urgency of the threat. Then she thinks again about the implication of Alessia's comment and how she seemed to think Liora needs to fix this... Normally, she wouldn't heed the advice of others, and she doesn't think she has anything to feel sorry about, but she doesn't have many other options. "I, uh, guess things got a little out of haaaaaand––"

It sure would be nice to know what Liora might have said next, but either she accidentally teleported herself back to that confirmed haunted cathedral or something else pulled her there; it's also pretty neat that the demon rift Liora had half-opened up the previous day is, uh, spewing weird energy. It gets even cooler when, in the next moment, the rift seems to erupt, shaking the ground beneath her, and Liora isn't sure what's happening but there seem to be a collection of... things trying to push past some form of impenetrable veil. "Jesus fucking Christ..."

 

[Syntra]

What are you staring at, fuckers? Have you never seen a hottie wrapped in a goddamn towel? If so, then Inna felt sorry for their miserable, empty lives! (Besides, weren't universities supposed to be, like, dens of sin? That was how the fucking Hollywood presented them, anyway, and everyone knew that delusional film makers were the best sources of information on pretty much anything. Watching Apollo 11, for example, could easily substitute for an astronaut training.) ...admittedly, though, Inna kinda regretted failing to put her shoes on. The asphalt wasn't a pleasant surface to walk on, and the gravel hurt her feet, and, and, and! What if she got permanent scars from this stunt? Those could be sexy as hell, especially on someone as sexy as her, but like, only facial ones. Tiny scars on her feet could only ever be appreciated by fucking weirdos, who weren't Inna's target audience at all! (...unless you, of course, counted a certain dark-haired woman. Which you fucking shouldn't, by the way, 'cause the blonde had fucking scratched her off the list. The fact that Liora had even gotten there must have been some fucking malfunction, so correcting it was common sense. And that it hurt so much? Oh, please. Ripping off a goddamn bandaid hurt, too, and clearly, you had to do that at some point! Otherwise, the bandaids would keep accumulating and the whole population would gradually turn into mummies and-- and that would be bad, for reasons. Probably because people wouldn't be able to appreciate Inna's hotness? Yeah, right! ...well, that, and the entire skin cancer industry would go bankrupt.)

So, what now? Like, should she really return to Emma? That had been the initial plan, if you were bold enough to call the outburst 'a plan,' that was, but now Inna wasn't so sure. Returning to your conquests so soon after your triumphant departure? Not exactly the definition of fucking dignity! (...especially since she had lowkey thought about deleting her number and pretending the Incident had never happened. Just??? That would, uh, kinda send the opposite message-- Evelyn might think that she saw her as Relationship MaterialTM, when that was about as true as claiming that capitalism fucking worked. Nah, this was just a different route to Awkwardville. Plus, what would happen if Inna arrived there? Yet another make out session at the minimum, and she just... wasn't in the mood. Yep, you read that right. Inna Don Juan Orlovskaya officially didn't want to have fun! ...mostly because it hadn't fucking been fun even yesterday, really. It had been whatever, whatever with a capital W, and that wasn't usually what it was like. What was happening to her? Some weird sickness, maybe? And, no, the diagnosis wasn't the mortal affliction starting with L and ending with E, consisting of four fucking letters. Nope, nope, nope! Inna was just, uhh... allergic to hypocrisy, you know? To hypocrisy and to being used like a dirty fucking rag.)

Aimlessly, the blonde wandered through the park. Thoughts of a certain Liora Fucking Trihn kept pushing themselves into her head, but Inna kept pushing them away heroically, in the same ways Atlas fucking shouldered the weight of the world. (...what? She felt she deserved to be at least a little fucking dramatic here! Bite her, really.) The efforts were successful, more or less-- till the bitch invited herself into her mind. The temptation to picture the steamiest fucking scene available to the blonde was strong, but... huh. 'Well, I fucking left it there on purpose, obviously. Alessia, though? What does the stalker want? I'm not giving her my goddamn autograph.' Except that, bizarrely enough, that wasn't it. Warning? What kind of warning? Inna hoped it was a warning against dangerously delicious ice-cream that was being sold with a large fucking discount, 'cause that was exactly what she needed right now. 'Okay, I'm listening. I have a feeling I'm going to regret this, but I am. So, what is this bullshit about? Who is trying to steal our fucking souls this time?'

Except that, of course, Fate fucking decided that it would be better to show her in practice. Before Inna could as much as blink, she was suddenly standing in that cursed goddamn cathedral, and... wow. Were these tiny-ass demons? One could even call them cute, if they were so stomach-churning instead. "You could have fucking told me you were about to teleport me, love," Inna rolled her eyes. "Plus, I agreed to talk, not to go solve this nonsense immediately. Did you fucking forget I had plans?"

"Oh," a familiar giggle echoed throughout the room, "that wasn't your friend's doing, my darling Inna. No, I called you here." ...which, what??? Her silver-haired trophy from yesterday?

"What the fuck are you doing here, Evelyn?"

The woman's eyes narrowed. "Well, at least you've got the right letter this time. That's a good start, I suppose. If you can't deal with Emily, though, how are you going to remember my true name? Eysjalanatshael is a bit of a mouthful for a mortal, I've heard."

For a mortal? Great, fucking great. Had she somehow seduced a goddamn demon? Not that the idea wasn't vaguely exciting, but how the hell did these things keep happening to her? Did she have 'demons, interact with me' written on her forehead, or something? "Uhh," Inna tilted her head aside, "this is kinda embarrassing. Like, you're somehow related to all this supernatural bullshit, right? Not to make assumptions, but your name," which she had forgotten already, "seems of the supernatural bullshit variety. Plus, you know, the fact that you're here is pretty fucking damning as well. So, are like, going to try and kill us? Since that's the demons' usual shtick."

"Kill you? Why would I do that?" the woman raised her eyebrow. "My own subjects? Inna, please. Not even I am this unreasonable."

"Your fucking subjects? What?" Delusions of grandeur seemed to be a pretty common diagnosis among her kind, but still! There had to be some justification behind this, right?

"Allow me to demonstrate, my dearest Inna. Will you give me a hand?" Seemingly out of nowhere, Evelyn produced a giant sword. There was a metallic glint, and this distinctive swoosh, and-- and sharp pain, and... oh, fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck! Inna could only stare in horror at her severed fucking arm, with blood spurting everywhere in thick fucking ropes. As if this wasn't bizarre enough, the arm fucking moved. Moved, in fact, seemed like a bit of an understatement. It straight up jumped on Liora's shoulder and pierced her with a bone-- in the same way a cork screw might pierce a cork, really, except that infinitely more strange. (Probably infinitely more painful, too.)

"Ah! Wonderful," the silver-haired woman clapped. "You're a perfect key, my dear Liora. Didn't you want to get close to Inna, anyway? Thank me, then, for you cannot possibly get closer! ...I jest, I jest. I shall disassemble you once you do what I need you to do. No permanent damage, you know? We demons are resilient like that. Now, Liora, attend to your sisters. Go, and free them!" Theoretically, saying no should have been easy, right? Except that the arm fucking pulled her there, with all the strength of a bull. And it was an enraged bull, too!

 

[starboob]

☉ LIORA TRIHN ☉
​

As Liora gathers herself from the floor, she looks up and, upon seeing that same white-haired bitch from Inna's fucking sexcapade, her stomach sinks before fire pretty much ignites her blood. Like what the hell is going here? She doesn't even think that the blonde would be so tactless as to try and set-up some fucked up threesome––she doesn't even think this could be her or Inna's doing, since she doesn't recall teleporting them and she's pretty sure Inna doesn't have the ability to do so. Which only means, yes, once again, the resident dumbass that she has been partnered with by the Fates them-fucking-selves, has gotten herself tangled up with another fucking demon! No surprise there, Liora guesses, rolling her eyes. 'Really takes playing with your food before eating it to a whole new level.'

So not only did the resident dumbass sleep with a demon, she had to really fucking outdo herself and go for the head bitch! (Which honestly Liora finds even more irritating––or perhaps hurtful, because how can she even think to compete with the Demon QUEEN. Also, she happens to have eyes that she likes to use for making observations and it's not hard to tell that this queen is, if anything, smoking fucking hot. Ugh.) So this day is pretty much the worst day of Liora Trihn's life––definitely tops all the other days of her shitty fucking life. She doesn't even address Inna or the fact that she's still basically naked. Instead, she focuses on the real issue at hand which is this woman, Elsjalnalkdsfsd or whatever her fucking name is.

"We're not your fucking subjects," Liora chimes, with her usual unimpressed gait. (A few days ago, she would have probably been in disbelief that this is even happening and would have made a bigger deal about it, but once you're exposed to magic talking swords nothing really can surprise you. So, yeah, she does believe E-keysmash is the demon queen.) "And we're not going to fucking do anything––"

Well. Okay, yes, magic talking swords was definitely a shocking revelation; seeing Inna in some weird flesh cocoon was also startling; but seeing her companion's arm get sliced off as if she were made of butter? Okay, yeah, Liora's arms drop from her chest and her eyes go wide––she's almost positive that kissing that better won't fucking work as she's pretty sure regrowing limbs would take a lot more than a goddamn kiss. Though, as worried as she is for her partner, watching Inna's disembodied arm crawl towards is so disorienting that she fucking forgets to even backaway––her freeze response apparently decided now is a good time to activate (stupid fucking reptile brain). Then the thing decides to leap and fucking screws itself into her. The arm grinds into her shoulder, nestling itself comfortably into place with no regard for Liora's screams––which she had tried to stifle at first, but you try keeping quiet when a new appendage decides suture itself onto you. She can feel the bone moving around inside of her, tearing deeper and deeper into her shoulder. The sound it makes causes her to shudder and grit her teeth with such force she's almost certain she'll crack her jaw. The pain that rips through is so shiningly sharp, spots start to form in her vision and her non-ruined arm instinctively moves to cover the wound; all the while, the wild new arm drags her towards the rift and there is very little Liora can do to resist––on account of the pain and the surprisingly amount of strength it has (is Inna actually this strong?).

"What. the fuck. are you talking about. bitch?" Liora manages to hiss through gritted teeth, despite the fact that she definitely feels like she's on the verge of passing out. She barely hears E-keysmash's command, but the fact that she tells Liora to attend to her sisters alarms her for several reasons. Automatically, she starts to worry about Sol's safety and then she also wonders how the demon queen even knows about her other sister and if she's about to find out what fucking happened to her. Which means she also circles back to her first worry––wondering what the fuck has happened to Sol. Still being dragged forward by Inna's fucking arm, she looks at the demon queen, wishing she knew more than just teleporting and creating spirit monsters to make this bitch pay for whatever she's done to Sol! "If you touched my fucking sister, I will fucking slit your throat, put your goddamn head on a spike, and feed you to the fucking vultures!"

At that, E-keysmash laughs, rather melodically, "Oh, Liora, spoken like a true demon. But don't be so silly––I have no interest in that flimsy mortal. You will see soon enough, my darling."

To Liora's credit, she does try to resist stepping any closer to the rift––except that resisting causes Inna's arm to gouge further into herself as it continues to plunge forward. In the end, she more or less ends up letting the arm pull her to the seal. Standing over it, she can see all the demons threatening to escape and it forces her to remember an early vision of Chett opening up a portal to hell. Liora doesn't want to be the cause of the destruction of humanity, but she doesn't have much of a choice when the arm forces her onto her knees and begins clawing at the veil; it moves so wildly, too, that honestly Liora doesn't even think she can move with how much damage is being wrecked on her shoulder. This only works in the arm's favor, because it reaches for Declan. Liora obviously still tries to stop it and does grab hold of the sword, but the arm overpowers her and in the struggle ends up slicing Liora's hand open.

"Good, good, now just cut through the veil, Liora, and free yours sisters!" the queen purrs, suddenly hovering right over Liora and practically breathing down her neck.

Honestly? Between her injured hand, injured shoulder, and Inna's erratic fucking arm cork-screwed onto her, she isn't able to do much besides watch in abject horror as Declan, wet with her blood, sinks into the rift and tears the portal open. At first, nothing happens. In fact the portal's odd light dims and it looks like a meager split in the cathedral. Though Liora doesn't let her hopes get too high, because she figures this is only the calm before the demon storm arrives. And she's right, unfortunately, because the building shakes once more (and likely shakes the city itself), as a beam of light erupts from the chasm through the cathedral ceiling and demons begin to crawl forth from the ground.

"Ah, welcome, welcome my loyal subjects! Be free of your prison!"

 

[Syntra]

So, not that Inna was complaining, but shouldn't she be, like, dying? 'Cause that was some impressive fucking blood loss. It flowed and flowed and flowed, staining the floor a deep shade of red, and, haha, sucked for the cleaning lady, really! Dry blood was the worst, with the smell that just stayed in your nose for-fucking-ever. And the way it clung to literally everything? Super uncomfy, too-- Inna, indeed, wouldn't recommend cleaning blood stains as her number one leisure activity. Ah, fuck! Great, just great. Now she had gotten the towel dirty as well, which meant that another belonging of Sol's fell victim to her Crazy CircumstancesTM. What a wonderful fucking first impression she was making here! (Inna Fabric Destroyer Orlovskaya wasn't exactly the name she had envisioned for herself, but it seemed to be the one she had earned. Ugh. Why couldn't it be something epic like Capitalism Slayer, or Doom of the Noobs? Nooo, instead she fucking had to go for this combo of cool and mundane, just weird enough to make people go: '...huh.' And, no, 'huh' feels weren't what she was hoping to inspire in anyone! Inna aimed way fucking higher than that, for 'whoas' at least, and that went double for Liora's goddamn sister. Just, the blonde wanted her to like her, you see? Not only because she was fun, but because Liora herself presumably liked her, and that seemed important. For, uh, teambuilding purposes! Yeah, hahaha. Note to fucking self: If we survive this, I gotta buy Sol a new towel. And a new Hawaii shirt. And... some weed, maybe? In Sol's world, that looked like the ultimate apology for just about anything.)

But, yeah. Inna continued to bleed and bleed and bleed, and she did feel slightly dizzy, though other than that? It was fine. No, really. For all the dramatic fucking visual effects, this was about as impressive as a bad nosebleed pain-wise! Even if, obviously, the epicenter was located somewhere else. (Vaguely, Inna remembered that amputation wasn't actually supposed to hurt-- blah, blah, blah, something about your pain receptors being in denial. It had seemed like a steaming pile of bullshit before, but honestly? The blonde had to admit there was some truth to it, probably. ...unless it, of course, related to their demonic nature instead. Which, wow, wow, wow! What a fucking plot twist. This changed literally everything-- with her world turned upside down so cruelly, the blonde had to pick up the fragments of her old opinions, and... yeah, nah. Nah, mate. Like, how was this supposed to faze her? 'Hurrr durrr, I am your father'-type of revelations were just so last century! Moreover, Inna's own father was so high on the scale of shittiness that finding out she was actually a hellspawn of sorts was a fucking improvement. If nothing else, she had at least gotten some pretty nice superpowers from that tainted bloodline-- instead of, you know, inheriting debts, old grudges and traumas that didn't actually exist, thank you very much. So, all in all, the blonde didn't really mind. It was just an explanation of their weird-ass situation, you see? Not like it really changed anything. Except maybe...) "Ha!" Inna chuckled, only a little delirious. "Always... always knew you were a demon, Liora. That was, like, my favorite theory. You being secretly a vampire was my number fucking one, but since that's similar enough, I will... I will give myself a pass. As always, Inna Orlovskaya is right!"

And that hundreds of tiny demons were pouring into the night? That was cool, man. Like, if they crafted a human disguise as great as the ones she and Liora apparently wore, nothing too drastic would happen. Besides, if they happened to turn out to be as cool as the two of them, the humanity's collective IQ would fucking soar! (That the EQ would plummet was a whole another matter, except it didn't seem too important. Emotions were for the weak, anyway, and like, if everyone sucked at feelings, nobody would actually notice, right? 'Cause they'd be too caught up in their own sucking. A flawless fucking system!)

"See, my darling Liora?" the queen cooed. "That is the power you were born to wield. Feels good, doesn't it? To release that which has been sealed inside of you, oh so long ago." Casually, she walked closer to her, and watched as the third arm squirmed. "You are new to this, I know. That is why I shall forgive you for disrespecting your queen. However, my dear Liora, you must learn our ways. You must learn that, in comparison to me, you are but a worm. An unripe apple that shall never ripen. May I demonstrate how far my powers extend?" Without waiting for her answer, the queen straight up ripped the arm that had belonged to Inna off-- with zero regard to Liora's comfort, it seemed. "If it were up to you, you pitiful little thing, Inna here would stay like this. With my power, though," her lips turned up cruelly, "it's just a minor setback. Watch, Liora. Watch why I am the queen here." She approached Inna, who was still leaning against the wall, and grabbed her by the shoulder. "Watch closely, too." The queen then licked her lips before pressing them against Inna's, locking her into a wet, passionate kiss. And the arm re-attaching itself with that gesture? Oh, that seemed to be just a bonus.

 

[starboob]

☉ LIORA TRIHN ☉
​

As Liora's "sisters" flee from the depths of "Hell," she just stares; her features are completely blank and trying to figure out what is going on inside of her head would be like trying to figure out what is going on inside of Inna's head at any given moment. Except that, unlike the land of Inna's brain, Liora's is actually blank. She doesn't even know what to think––that she inadvertently caused this catastrophe; first by letting herself get fucking mind controlled and then by having Inna's weird arm screwed onto her like a demonic Barbie. And speaking of demonic? Now she is to believe that... That she is somehow connected to that bullshit? In a more intimate way than just being someone who can wield magic?

'No. No, no, no!'

For as confident and unbothered as Liora had felt ten minutes ago, nothing really prepared her to find out that she's a demon. The thought doesn't repulse her. It doesn't quite shatter her either. The truth is, she doesn't even know what to do with this information, other than outright reject it, but she's starting to put together that when anyone, Alessia, the Mistress, etc., referred to their heritage they weren't talking about Inna being Russian or her being Vietnamese. That, of course, makes a lot more sense now that she's thinking about it––but it doesn't make it anymore believable; like how do two demons just go about decades of existing without issue? She would have thought there would have been incidences that hinted at this development much earlier in her life, but like her magic powers, apparently that all was sealed until they entered that mansion and discovered the tome. (And that Inna decides to make a joke about this? She'd roll her eyes if her shoulder weren't still screaming and being torn up from the inside.)

Unfortunately, there isn't more time for her to process this nifty new revelation, because the demon queen has started to speak. Each word hitting all the targets Liora had thought she had hidden away long ago. It's not enough that E-keysmash is hitting all of Liora's insecurities, bringing to light just how weak and powerless she is in comparison to her current adversary; reminding Liora that she isn't cut out to do any of this shit––she couldn't fight off fucking mind control, she couldn't refuse opening the seal, she couldn't... She can't do fucking anything! And this isn't even her first fucking day of being useless and sucking ass at magic, because this entire week has just been about barely skating through the finish, somehow fucking intact.

Then, because the Demon Queen is apparently vying for Liora's spot as Biggest Bitch, she rips Inna's arm from her shoulder. Liora crashes to her knees once more, crying out as her muscles are shredded inside of her and blood spills from the gaping wound like a waterfall. Once more, her hand reaches to cover the injury as she keels over onto her side, listening as the Queen continues her monologue on why she's so much better than Liora. As if that message isn't fucking clear enough. But to top this all off? As if the Queen weren't already doing enough? Through her blurred vision, she watches as the woman grabs Inna and locks her into a kiss.

The world itself stops. Liora's world itself stops. The meager threads of her stability and rationality that she had previously been clinging to are torn away. The sight of this display awakens some sick power residing in the pit of her heart and joins with the one roaring in her belly.

Angry, hurt, vengeful, Liora rises from the ground––letting all of these emotions dull whatever pain is pulsing in her shoulder, she doesn't even remember her injury as her vision tunnels. The more her volatility floods her veins, the spirits beneath the cathedral begin to stir, and crawl up through the surface of the earth. They match the demons spewing from the portal in numbers, yet they don't move to attack them or send them back to "Hell." That would have been helpful and, theoretically, Liora could most likely command them to corral her "sisters," but Liora has lost sight of the rift entirely. Her focus is on that bitch locking lips with Inna. Her Inna––whether either of them know it or not! This stirs a beast within her that demands punishment for fucking cracking her goddamn heart!

The beast inside of her starts to take form through the spirits that she is gathering, without full awareness of what is happening. Somewhere in her mind she can hear Declan, she can hear that stupid fucking owl warning her about giving into whatever raw energy this is and she doesn't listen. Her ears are closed and she doesn't care that the ground beneath her is tearing open wider than before; that more spirits are coming together to bring her vengeance to life; that she's potentially putting her sister, her actual fucking sister, in danger by creating a monster she may have little control over. None of this occurs to Liora, because her gaze is fixed on the Demon Queen and ripping her dumbass away from her dumbass. This isn't even about showing her who exactly is a pathetic worm. The monster that she's starting to create this time around? It's lightyears away from Brutus––resembling something closer to a hydra than a giant worm with butterfly wings. "Get. The fuck. Off of her. You fucking bitch!" And with that cry, her monster shrieks as it grows larger and larger.

 

[Syntra]

Most of the time, kisses were nice. That was their entire fucking point, you see? The universal signal for 'hey, you're hot, let's maybe hook up' just had to be pleasant, otherwise the entire humanity would go extinct in a hot minute. (Not that that would be a great loss, mind you-- in fact, Inna was pretty fucking sure the whole planet would breathe a sigh of relief. Like, surely it wouldn't miss the weirdos who kept pouring oil into its oceans and pretending that made-up bullshit like 'economy' mattered as they literally set the sky on fire, right? Nah, only humans would miss humans, mate! Except that humans would be fucking dead, and even their beloved doggos would dance on their graves. ...wow, wow, wow. What if, all this time, dogs had been double agents hellbent on destroying humanity from the inside? Inna had read conspiracy theories about cats secretly being the devil, but to her, those were some entry-level shit-- a babby's first attempt that unearthing SecretsTM. Like, cats were so obviously suspicious that they fucking couldn't be guilty! Just, try getting away with such a striking disregard for rules and shit. Dogs, on the other hand? Oh, dogs knew how to blend in, alright. During the years of their super secret research, they must have discovered that most people had all the intelligence of an empty Pepsi can, and then feigned dumbassery of an even higher magnitude. Assimilation, baby! From the shadows, they then proceeded to manipulate their """owners""", somehow always getting exactly what they fucking wanted. Coincidence? Inna sure as fuck didn't think so!)

...yeah, maybe she was dissociating. That the demon queen was kissing her? Inna wanted that about as much as she wanted to be struck by lightning, so, haha! Retreating into herself it was. (There, the blonde felt vaguely safe. The landscape of her mind was scarred, too, but there were these tiny islands of happiness as well-- her and Liora in that café, for example, or her partner falling asleep in her arms. All of that had fucking happened, you know? Out of the bitch's sight, too, so she could never taint that. Not even if she fucking stuck her tongue down her throat! ...which, ewww. How was this supposed to feel good, again? Inna liked kissing, dammit, but now she was acutely aware of how wet and slimy tongues were-- like a fucking slug in her mouth, really. Ah, to hell with this bullshit. If her body obeyed her, at least, she would have flinched, or punched her in her stomach, or done anything that didn't include her being her goddamn ragdoll-- oh. Oh, she turned away on her own! Why, though? And why did the temperature drop faster than Inna's trousers in the company of a pretty girl?)

With her eyelids this heavy, it almost hurt to look, but... huh. E-keysmash was facing Liora now, and grinning like a fucking madwoman. "Oh? What is this? Little Liora is playing with powers far beyond her understanding, isn't she? Hmmm, hmmm. You'll make a fine pupil, I'm sure, but first, certain... misunderstandings... need to be cleared up. The one about me being the queen, for example. That means I take what I want!" And, with that words? The cathedral fucking shook, sending wild vibrations through Inna's feet. Shit, shit, shit! Was she, like, going to fell it? Fell the whole goddamn building and bury them under the debris? Not that it wouldn't be kinda metal, being killed by a church after you found out about your Demonic HeritageTM, but still! Privately, the blonde didn't think they had to win at The Worst Possible Scenario bingo every single day. In the name of fairness, other denizens of the planet deserved a fucking chance as well!

"Besides," the queen smirked cruelly, "Inna so enjoyed my ministrations last night. I think you know, though, don't you? How different our relationship is to yours. Don't be so jealous, my dear. It's not a good look. What it is you're trying to do here, exactly? Kill her because she chose someone else? Tsk, tsk. How very demonic of you, Liora! You truly were born for this-- to sow destruction, whenever you go. Alright, then. Show me! Show me that your teeth aren't made of paper."

...wait, wait, wait. Kill her? Her, as in Inna? Liora was summoning some hydra-ass thing, and it looked pretty fucking impressive, but the blonde didn't really think that its anger would be directed towards her-- like, it didn't take Sherlock Motherfucking Holmes to be able to deduce that, yes, her companion indeed wanted to off the bitch. You know, as per what Liora said! (...which meant it wasn't much of a deduction, but c'mon, give her a fucking break! Her brain was drowning in mist, and then there were these suspicious-ass threads leading from the queen's fingers to Liora's beast, and... oh. Oh. Now Inna could guess what she was looking at, roughly at least, and it pleased her about as much as the prospect of waking up next to Chett every morning!)

With all the strength that remained to her, the blonde stumbled to Liora-- dark winds blew, like in some shitty apocalyptic movie, and so she had to grab for pillars and the like for support, though that couldn't fucking stop her. Inna Tenacious Orlovskaya was worse than a colony of cockroaches when it came to getting rid of her, so like, good luck! Better get a nuclear warhead and shit. A few more steps... Five or three, maybe... Don't you fucking dare to buckle, or I'll break you myself, the blonde threatened her own knees. Almost! Almost, really. There Liora stood, within the reach of her arm, but, ahh, there was nothing to hold onto, so... uhh, the blonde may have gripped her partner's waist instead. "Don't, Li," Inna practically whispered into her ear, sounding so, so drained. "Can't you fucking see it? She wants you to do it, 'cause she's got some bitch-ass manipulation shit going on. Look at the threads. I'm not a fucking architect, but like... isn't it bad they lead to the pillars? Didn't you feel how the place shook?"

"Inna, darling!" E-keysmash practically sang. "What are you doing there? You shouldn't speak to worms. It's not like they'll answer!"

 

[starboob]

☉ LIORA TRIHN ☉
​

"Shut up!" Liora yells, the dark winds around her spiraling and she isn't sure if this is the Demon Queen's storm or her own. She doesn't even care, because she can barely feel herself––which is odd since she is still physically present, but some part of her feels as though it is getting locked away. Cracks begin to erupt all over her skin and yet they don't hurt. They don't feel like anything other than gentle kisses from some primordial power she did not know existed inside of herself. Between these cracks, ribbons of black and golden light fill the gaps in her skin and threaten to take more and more territory on Liora's body. "When will you learn to just shut the fuck up!" That Liora is speaking to a queen like this? The demon queen? And apparently her queen, too? She doesn't give a shit about that. Not at all.

The monster behind her continues to grow, feeding off of its creator's energy and becoming less like a spirit and more like a solid being. The beast, which has several dragon-like heads, thrashes around, knocking the pillars in the cathedral and shaking the ground beneath them, seeming to challenge the Queen's own display of power. Fury continues to flood through her heart and consume her thoughts, seeming to create a new source of energy with each pulse, the longer she allows herself to lose control over her abilities. And honestly? It's fucking exhilarating how much raw power is surging through her––now all of those images Declan had shown her of herself wielding mass amounts of spiritual energy to create monsters, manipulate the dead, consume the minds of those she touches––it all seems within her reach. She just has to close her fist around the image and make it hers.

"I'll fucking show you just how sharp my fucking teeth are!" she shouts, raising her arms on a whim and causing her creation, her perfect child, to howl and scream, breaking the stained glass around them. Liora doesn't even seem affected by the monster's ear-splitting pitch, despite the fact that her ears are starting to bleed. For as much power is flowing through her, she is still human––at least partly and that part of her makes her fragile. 'Embrace me, Liora. Embrace your power and I will protect you,' some new voice in her head coos; it doesn't belong to the Demon Queen, she is sure of that, but she doesn't know who it is; though she trusts it, for reasons unknown. With her heart racing and her thoughts spiraling as she continues to see images of Inna with the queen replaying in her head, she can feel herself giving over to this voice. The cracks covering her skin start to split with more urgency, reaching for new parts of Liora to consume. And the more she embraces the demon within her, the sharper her teeth get, the longer her claws grow, and the whites of her eyes disappear, turning black––despite feeling no pain, because in embracing this side of herself, it hugs her, kisses her, and protects her, red tears still streak down her cheeks. (Either Liora is so emotionally stunted that her tear-ducts don't know how to function properly, or demons shed tears of blood––she doesn't know and frankly does not care.)

Just as she is about to bring her arms down and send her monster forward, she feels something pull around her waist. It's familiar. The voice that whispers in her ear sounds familiar too. And warm. And inviting. It distracts her for a moment and her creation seems to shrink when she looks and sees Inna at her side. Her Inna, looking and sounding so exhausted. She blinks, the black color that had consumed the whites of her eyes recedes until they're back to their usual coal color. While the flames of her wrath are still present, when she turns back to look at the crumbling cathedral, the threads that Inna mentions become visible to her and she realizes the damage she is wrecking on this place and the danger she is putting them in. "Shit, Inna, I––" she starts, her hand covering her mouth. The cracks in her skin begin to close, the demon deciding to go away peacefully––perhaps because she's in the embrace of the one her heart has always belonged to (for more than this lifetime, too).

Though that peace is but a fleeting moment as E-keysmash seems bent on sending Liora over the edge. Even knowing what Inna has just told her, she cannot fight the need inside of herself to prove to this queen, to herself, that she is fucking strong and is not one to be fucked with! In a flash, her eyes darken and her skin seems to electrify once more as her demon consumes her flesh and gives her more power than she could have ever imagined would be in her grasp. "I'll turn you into worm fuel, bitch," Liora mutters, though somehow her voice booms through the cathedral and somewhere she realizes that's not an iconic line to deliver, but who fucking cares! The demonic woman raises her arms once more, forgetting Inna is by her side, and this time she does not hesitate. Her monster grows again and when she sends her arms back downwards, her creature howls, thrashes, and the more she struggles against the Queen's well-positioned threads, the faster the cathedral collapses around them.

 

[Syntra]

Obviously, Inna's knowledge of the human anatomy was somewhat limited-- in fact, it mostly could be boiled down to her knowing where to cut, or where to put a bullet. The path to one's grave could be long and arduous, you see? So, like the good fucking Samaritan she was, the blonde would show her victims a convenient little shortcut! (Breaking bodies, after all, was a skill as well. Fixing them lent itself to more sob story subplots on the TV, so Inna could see how it was more popular, but like, there was a difference between being decapitated and stabbed so many times you resembled a fucking pincushion, wasn't there? Ten out of ten murder victims agreed! Just, bro, these were their last five minutes on this shit planet-- no need to make them more miserable, even for the symbolism. As far as she was concerned, idiots who barely knew which end of the knife they should stab their targets with should fucking stop ruining the assassination industry with their cheap-ass services and go cut some onions instead. Although, hmmm... Did onions really deserve to get cut this carelessly? Oookay, the blonde might have to update her recommendation to them just slitting their own throats, actually. Onions, aka the best friends of mankind, should be handled with care!)

So, anyway. Despite her being Not a DoctorTM, Inna had a creeping suspicion that this wasn't... wasn't supposed to be happening? Like, anime transformations were supposed to stay in fucking anime! This blending of realities was disconcerting as hell, and implied implications she wasn't at all comfy with. Were their lives to be governed by anime tropes now? Would there be power ups based on the state of their friendship-o-meter? Disgusting! A war crime! (All anime storytelling beats were, really, aside from magical girl costumes-- just, listen, Inna would kill to see her partner wearing one of those things. Liora Terminally Serious Trihn, stuffed into pink frills? Yes, please! Solely because it would be comedy fucking gold, of course. It wasn't like Inna thought them cute or even adorable, or anything like that. ...don't look up her browser history, though. For, uh, entirely unrelated reasons.) "Li," she repeated, desperation tainting her voice. "Li, I can't fucking believe I'm the one saying this, but be reasonable. I'm begging you here!" And if that didn't serve as a good enough wake up call, then she had no idea what would. Like, this was Inna Fucking Orlovskaya, the Queen of Chaos, asking her to stop and think. Was there a greater proof of shit being seriously fucked? 'Cause, this was like the goddess of war herself shilling for diplomacy!

"Reasonable," E-keysmash chuckled. "Don't you know Liora at all, my dearest Inna? She's made of storm and lightning, just like we all are. Although, I have to admit hers is rather unimpressive. A storm in a glass of water, perhaps? Yes, yes. Constrained and weak, just like she is. A paltry shadow. Better bow before your queen, darling, and I shall find you something worthy of your... hmmm," the demon queen began to admire her nails, not even bothering to look at Liora or the hydra that was roaring behind her, "...limited potential, let's say. Would you like to polish my shoes? I'll have you know it's a great honor among our kind. Or, if you'd like something more involved, I suppose you can give Inna a massage every time I'm done with her. She's always so tense afterwards! You wouldn't believe how much she--"

That, however, seemed to shatter the pitiful fragments of Liora's restraint. The monster screamed its terrible scream, and the foundations of the cathedral screamed along with it, too, and-- shit. Shit, shit, shit! (Fucking boulders, man. Couldn't they have made the stupid cathedral out of, like, cardboard? Having that fall on their heads would have been much more pleasant, Inna could tell, and it wouldn't have taken 3747445 years to build, and... and maybe they wouldn't die here, alright. Wouldn't, wouldn't, wouldn't! ...she couldn't fucking believe this was happening, again. Was this finally it? Would debris squish her like an annoying mosquito, only because Liora had a goddamn chip on her shoulder? Great job, Miss I-Am-Better-Than-You-And-Will-Die-To-Prove-It! Thanks to her bullshit, Inna would never get to claim her lips for real, nor would she kiss every inch of her skin like she fucking deserved.)

With that in mind, perhaps, the blonde leaned closer. Her hands had never left Liora's waist, but now? The grip only became firmer, as if her partner was the only thing that kept her chained to reality. "You fucking dumbass!" Inna shouted as the walls collapsed. "You're lucky that I like you, otherwise I would have strangled you in your sleep by now, and... shit. If we survive this, you owe me a whole pint of ice cream." Exhaustion still coursed through her veins, too, but that wasn't the only thing that was there-- nah, not at all. 'Give in to me, Inna,' a voice whispered to her, unknown and yet familiar. "I know what to do, and much better than you, too. C'mon, sweet girl. Let me protect you.' And, at that point? Fuck caution, honestly. Just, what had it done for her? Despite her best efforts, they were still stuck in this stupid, crumbling cathedral, with the death sentence still hanging heavy over their heads.

...so, uh, Inna's skin cracked as well. A blue glow was emanating from within, just like from one of those creatures who lived on the ocean floor-- you know, all that nightmare fuel shit. The wind's intensity increased, to the point it was straight up whipping them, except that... huh. It actually seemed to create this debris-free zone around them? Like yeah, having it blow in their fucking faces wasn't the most pleasant shit ever, but the blonde reckoned it was still better than, you know, being smashed into a bloody pile of broken bones. Just her personal preference, though! Time and time again, it sent the stones away from them, as if they weighed no more than a fucking feather, and Inna-- Inna only hugged Liora tighter.

...which was a good thing, in hindsight, because when nothing but rubble remained? She fucking collapsed into her partner's arms, her chest heaving. "Ah. I... I wonder how we're fucking going to explain this," Inna giggled, which sounded only slightly hysteric. (Swiftly, the blue cracks in her skin were disappearing, but it was obvious that they'd been there-- similarly to the claws that were retracting back into her fingers now, just like those of a cat might.) "I was only half-serious about wanting to destroy it. Or, well, two thirds serious. Also, what the fuck, Li. Were you trying to get us killed?" ...and had she killed the demon queen? She was nowhere to be seen, though Inna dared not draw any conclusions from that.

 

[starboob]

☉ LIORA TRIHN ☉
​

In the moments that the cathedral comes crashing down, Liora is not thinking of how she will survive this destruction. While the woman once had been known for her extreme caution when it comes down to completing her assignments, her impulse control seems to have waned during these past few days. Either her magic begs to be used or the stress of these circumstances demands actions that are quicker than Liora's usual elaborate plans. Inna once had said that they couldn't plan for everything so why even plan at all––and maybe now, with this demon spirit inside of her, hugging her, and giving her more power than she could have ever hoped to hold, she is finally understanding the benefits of acting on whims. It still doesn't reach Liora, through that thick skull of hers, that she is not actually winning this fight. That she is once again playing into her adversary's hand, willingly and dutifully. From where she stands, with righteous fury burning through her chest, her monster is working just as she had hoped––thrashing, stomping, screeching, gnashing its teeth at the remaining demons who emerge from the rift, taking swipes at the queen herself! Watching the destruction excites the demon in control and the longer Liora gives herself over to this power, the cracks in her skin widen and offer her more strength with the territory that is lost. Though Liora doesn't seem to mind. In fact she relishes in it and as the cathedral continues to shake as her hyrda-beast whips itself around, she even has the thought to draw up another creation with the hope she can tear the Demon Queen limb from limb.

Just as she's calling on more energy, Inna's voice finally reaches her. It startles her and snaps her attention back to reality; she notices how firmly Inna is gripping her and remembers the exhaustion in her voice earlier. It doesn't actually bother her that her companion calls her a dumbass, because now that her eyes have returned to normal she actually sees what is happening and the danger she really has put them both in––and for what? A meager power play? One that she isn't even sure worked! 'How could you be so stupid, Liora! You could have hurt Inna!' Though it's far too late for her to reign in the beast of her creation––in fact, when she searches for it through the debris that threatens to crush them, she doesn't see her monster anymore. 'Huh.' That the demon queen is also missing? She doesn't want to put two and two together and thus decides she must have released it when her attention turned to her partner.

As Inna's skin erupt in those familiar cracks that all but cover Liora, she starts to calm under the protection of her companion. The demon threatening to break out of her fleshy shell returns back to wherever she slumbers, though angry welts are left behind once the cracks have closed. (And her injuries from earlier? Those seem to have healed with the demon's power as well.) Her arms wrap around the other woman, the woman who had hurt her earlier, but she decides that grudge isn't all that important. Pathetic as she feels about admitting this, it feels good having the blonde in her arms, because within her reach she can actually protect her rather than let her walk into their next demonic trap alone. She makes a promise to herself to not let that happen again. She squeezes the other woman while she shuts her eyes and hides her face in the blonde's neck as the wind lashes around them.

When the dust settles around them and Inna collapses into her embrace, Liora only takes a half step back to catch her partner's weight. It almost feels as though they're back to normal with how the blonde immediately makes a joke of the situation. She has a hard time admitting this, but she does appreciate how Inna can always make light of their fucked up circumstances. A smile tugs at her lips automatically and she adjusts their position so that one of Inna's arms is wrapped around her shoulder while Liora supports her companion's waist; already, she reasons they should vacate the premises before the police arrive, likely followed by the local news stations, and then weirdos like her sister who follow supernatural bullshit. (Which she guesses isn't that bullshit anymore... Now that she knows it's real and all.) "We're not explaining shit––we're just going to pretend it was an earthquake," she says.

Though Liora does try to tap into her teleportation abilities, her magic is completely used up––either the demon consumed it or creating that beast did––and they end up having to walk. "And no, I wasn't," her voice is clearly defensive, though she isn't angry with the accusation. She's far too exhausted to keep her anger alive any longer. "I just––I just wanted her to shut up and she wouldn't. She just kept taunting me and I... I snapped, okay?" She hates how easy it was for E-keysmash to get under her skin and press against all of her buttons. That she is just so easily manipulated by anyone who threatens her competence. In that regard, she feels powerless to her insecurities. (Even if that display was pretty fucking impressive, she hates that it hadn't even been on her own terms. She hates that it only gave the Demon Queen more fuel to belittle her magical prowess.)

The woman sighs as she helps them both climb over some rubble. (Also where did all those little demons go? Her supposed sisters? Shit, that can't be fucking good but there isn't time to worry about that.) She can't really hold this in for much longer, because it's not just about the Demon Queen baiting her, it's also the specific fucking ammo that she used. "And it really fucking bothered me that she was using you like that," she all but huffs. "I'm just so weak when it comes to you and she was fucking digging into that and it hurt. I lost control... I'm sorry, Inna."

 

[Syntra]

Ugh. Could you, like, sue your own dumbass body? 'Cause it had no right being this fucking exhausted! Inna seriously felt like her eyes were going to close on their own mid-step, and then one of those fucking comic bubbles with 'z z z z z' would appear above her head. Just, how did this make any sense? Fire had never drained her this much, so she would have assumed that goddamn air wouldn't ask so much of her. (Maybe that was her first mistake, though-- trying to find any motherfucking logic in these crazy-ass circumstances. For all the blonde knew, air simply could have ~vibrated on a higher frequency~, or something. No need to care about the internal consistency, either, when it had never existed in the first place! Nah, any vaguely occult-y explanation would do, because words actually having meanings was just so last century. In the Current TimesTM, you see, people worshiped chaos! Chaos and Inna Orlovskaya, though when it came to the latter, they seriously could have tried harder. Like, for all her awesomeness, the blonde didn't fucking remember the last time she had received a decent offering. And, no, a cup of coffee didn't fucking count. Where was the stylish shit, like necklaces made of bones or magical buttons or a piece of the goddamn sky? ...look, Inna just believed she deserved nice things. The belief was one of the last things that kept her relatively sane, too, so you could bet your ass she'd hold onto it!)

Leaning on Liora, Inna slowly moved forward-- each fucking step felt like scaling up a mountain, too, but at this point? At this point, suffering was basically like morning coffee to her! Like, if there wasn't a major crisis by 10 PM, the blonde could safely assume this was merely a dream and she would, in fact, wake up to the world engulfed in the fires of Apocalypse. "It's... uh, fine, I guess," she muttered. "I mean, she was a giant fucking bitch. If I didn't know any better, I'd say she took the Make Liora Lose Her Mind 101 course, or something." On a certain level, Inna had to admire it-- as a fellow master of insults, she could appreciate a well-crafted attack, and the queen had fucking outdone herself. Every arrow had been shot straight into Liora's very heart! ...except that, for some reason, the blonde didn't like it. No, not at all. Targeting her Liora, while she stood right there? Inexcusable. According to the contract that existed in her head, their friendship gave her the exclusive access under the dark-haired woman's skin, which meant that everyone else should fuck right off. Just, find your own nemesis-turned-friend-turned-???, you stupid bitch!

"I wonder what her fucking problem was," Inna rolled her eyes. "Queen my ass. If I was a queen, I sure as fuck wouldn't give a shit about randos living their random lives. You know, I'd be too busy being a queen and wearing a crown and shit, maybe making my subjects fawn over me. Actually, nah. I'd be too busy chasing my bootlickers away 'cause they wouldn't fucking leave me alone. But," she smirked, "I guess I do understand her, on some level. I bet she was like: 'Wow, why can't I be this hot and awesome? And they have normal fucking names, too!' at which point, the jealousy must have consumed her. If I was less perfect, I guess I... I guess I would have reacted similarly." So fucking what if her brain was practically shutting down? Liora had gotten used to a steady supply of fresh hot takes, and Inna wouldn't deprive her of that. Besides, Sol's apartment was almost within reach now! All it took was to put the key inside of the lock, which... ahhh, yeah. Home, sweet home, baby! (Home was where the couch was, obviously, and the Inna couldn't fucking wait to rest her head. If there were some officially approved limits re: how much bullshit you could take in one day, you see, today's events had surpassed them hundred times over. So, right now? Inna only wanted ice cream and verbal shitposting and maybe cuddles, but... oh. Yeah, oh. The words that left Liora's mouth fucking froze her, gluing her feet to the spot!

('Weak when it comes to you.' What was that supposed to mean, even? Was Liora like a fire Pokémon and Inna a water Pokémon, or some shit? 'Cause that was the only interpretation that didn't contain ~romantic undertones~, and the blonde knew just how dangerous it was to latch onto that-- especially considering that her friend didn't feel that way. Didn't, didn't, didn't! This was probably just Liora trying to figure out how human interactions fucking worked, and accidentally going for... uh, a different category of interactions. You know, the one usually associated with roses and intimate lighting? Yeah, that one.)

"You shouldn't be saying these things," Inna muttered before she collapsed on the couch, looking everywhere but at her companion. "I mean, the apology is fine and dandy, and yeah, accepted. But like, I don't really think that other shit is good for us? Stuff like you saying you're weak when it comes to me. It's just that..." Inna shrugged and cleared her throat, desperately trying to pick the right words-- except that, at the moment? None of them fucking felt right! (Just different shovels to dig her own grave with, that was what they were. ...maybe there was some sort of freedom to be found in that, though. Like, if she was gonna doom herself anyway, then what did it matter what she actually said? It wasn't like she could embarrass herself further! 'Cause, you know, her image had been torn to fucking shreds already.) "I'm trying to make it work, okay? Without it being... I dunno, weird. And you're not really making it easy for me when you fucking act as if you care about me in that way. My brain resurrects the feels, which is a problem. I mean, I seduced the literal demon queen to try and get over you, so what will I do next? Marry the fucking moon? I'm just impulsive enough to do that, Li."

 

[starboob]

☉ LIORA TRIHN ☉
​

The trek to Sol's apartment went without major issue or interruption. When there's a suddenly collapsed cathedral to investigate, no one really cares about two exhausted women, who may or may not be drenched in their own blood, taking a leisurely stroll back into town. Which is a good thing, because Liora probably would have snapped the neck of anyone who tried to talk to them, mostly because she has poor people skills and is just not in the mood to explain herself. She's still sitting on that revelation that she's a, you know, demon. There isn't much she can do to change this truth and after her last display, she knows it's undeniable that her heritage at least partly belongs to an entirely different fucking species. It's still a lot to swallow at once (and maybe she is also wondering how to awaken that demon again, because that power? That's the kind of power she's certain she'll need to have any chance at saving the world and fending off more of the Demon's Queen's subjects).

"A kingdom where you're queen," Liora starts with light amusement coloring her tone (she may have even let out a breathy chuckle), "sounds like a complete shitshow. I just don't see anything getting done––like the queen title would just be a formality to let everyone else know you're the best while the actual kingdom would be in anarchy." Now, a kingdom where Liora is queen? The rest of the world may as well swear fealty to her, because her lust for power is truly unlimited and the thought of crushing––no, destroying her enemies is incredibly appealing. Though she doesn't voice that, because she's not Inna and she doesn't make wild tangents (where she can help it). "But, yeah that queen, whatever her name is seems like a shit ruler if she can't get her 'subjects' to stop getting their asses kicked by," pathetic worms, "us."

Once they're in the safety of Sol's apartment, Liora sweeps over the place to make sure her sister is still out and once she has that peace of mind, she settles down. While the part of her that hates accepting that she needs any amount of rest, because she is Liora and she should be beyond that (and now that she knows she is a demon she believes she should be doubly beyond that), the tired part lets her fall onto the floor like a starfish. Admittedly, a pretty uncharacteristic display for anyone who knows Liora, but she's too tired to follow her own rules––like the ones that say floors are for being stepped on, not laid on. "I do think––"

But in that moment Inna starts talking again and Liora looks over and up at her companion on the couch. She props herself up as she listens, each of Inna's words stirring some kind of mysterious confusion in the woman. She really doesn't know what to think about this, because, admittedly, the admission that Inna is her weakness had been a slip of the tongue. Something her exhausted mind had said without her full awareness; though she knows it's true, it's not something she would have admitted so freely. Especially not after the tiff they got into earlier. "Oh..." she all but whispers, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink.

Then Inna continues and the color in her cheeks deepens as she realizes just how wrong she had been when she thought that the blonde had been over her. (Yes, you read that right, folks! Liora Trihn admits that she is wrong!) When the blonde confesses that her fling with the demon queen had been an attempt to respect that Liora didn't want her, her entire brain stops functioning. Followed by her heart and––oh, god is she dying? Is her entire body shutting down now? Because nothing seems to be working properly and the look on her face must leave something to be desired, because it only suggests how stunned she is. Stunned because... because she does like Inna like that. She knows she has not made that obvious or clear with her being so lost in her own forest of feelings, because apparently she has those and they're quite fucking sensitive, but after everything earlier... she knows there is something for Inna in her heart. Bigger than friendship, too. "You're impressive enough to do that too," she says, weakly. Ugh, that is is not what she had meant to say at all, but she also isn't sure what she is even trying to say so stalling seems like her best option. "But, um, I'm not trying to make this harder for you––really, I just... I don't know. I'm sorry." Words, words, words, what the fuck are fucking words!!! "I don't what's going on. All I know is that it hurt seeing you flirt with Alessia, my sister, those randoms... then watching you actually sleep with someone else was fucking torture, Inna. Honestly, I don't know what that means, because I've never had that reaction before."

She chews on her lip, wringing her hands together as her heart tries to escape from her chest. "Last night was so sweet and I want more of that. With you and only you," she pulls her knees to her chest and looks up shyly at Inna. "I guess I do care about you in that way."

 

[Syntra]

Internally, Inna braced herself. You just never knew with Liora, you see? Like, the way she had phrased her complaint seemed diplomatic enough to the blonde, but maybe Liora's brain translated it as 'you can't express any positive feelings towards me, ever' and thus was about declare a fucking World War III. (Did she want to argue with her after barely escaping yet another inglorious death? No, of course not! Except that she also wasn't going to become a fucking hostage to her own goddamn feelings. The only context in which Inna Awesome Orlovskaya was willing to let people walk all over her was the bedroom, which... which Liora didn't want, obviously. And, no, she wasn't going to close her eyes and pretend that the obscenities she hurled at her were just part of their ~dynamics~! Lying to herself just didn't seem as appealing as it once had, before Haenel had administered her Fire TherapyTM. ...maybe, for the first time ever, the blonde wanted something real. Something that wouldn't dissolve the moment she truly reached for it, you know? That smoke and mirrors shit may have been impressive to watch from the outsider's perspective, but it couldn't hold you, dammit, and did Inna wish to be held! By someone who wouldn't be ashamed of being seen with her, too. By someone who would enjoy her fucking company, not despite all the shit she pulled, but because of it, and-- and who would be there for her, no matter what. Sappy, wasn't it? Sappy and sugary sweet, to the point of your fucking teeth rotting from it, but Inna didn't care. Didn't, and wouldn't! This shit world was engulfed in bitterness, so obviously, trying to balance it out a bit was her moral obligation. Besides, someone as great and endearing as her deserved the best gf under the sun, and, uh. Was she hallucinating, actually? Because what Liora was saying sure was... interesting. Interesting, as in completely fucking mind-boggling!)

So, um. That expression of absolute shock on Liora's face? Inna mirrored it. It was only thanks to rare self-restraint that emerged out of fucking nowhere that she managed not to pinch herself-- you know, to confirm that this was fucking real, and not a hyper realistic dream her brain had conjured up to cope with some monster snapping her neck. (Oh god, oh god, oh god. Liora wanted her!!! Wanted her, Inna, and without any additional clarifications attached, such as 'to kill herself'. Just her, end of. It was a complete motherfucking sentence, and Inna wanted to drown in it. Just, shit, shit, shit. Could you, like, take a screenshot irl? 'Cause the blonde sure would have loved to preserve this moment, with all its comfy feels, and relive it over and over and over and over! ...maybe, maybe she didn't have to, though. Why, you ask? Because, listen, a life hack-- if you decided to live in comfiness forever, you didn't need to make a trophy out of every single instance of warmth! And, silly as it was, perhaps she could build such an existence with Liora. It hadn't seemed possible before, with anyone, really, but... yes. Maybe. Such a small word, full of so many possibilities!)

Inna's own heart raced, too, and her face must have resembled the fucking Soviet Union flag given how intensely her cheeks burned, but honestly? To hell with her reputation. To hell with everything that wasn't this, in this very moment. "Ah," she giggled, light and airy, and slid down on the floor. Automatically, her arms wrapped around the other woman, which felt so fucking right that Inna could cry. "I... um. I'd like that as well," she smiled. "I've never really done that sort of thing, but yeah. I... I mean, obviously I've been with people, but, you know. Actual relationships. Seemed more trouble than it was worth, honestly." Yeah, and also like giving fucking ammo to someone who would inevitably hurt her later. (Given Liora's track record, this worry was probably even more valid than it had ever been before, but so what? Butterflies in her stomach, man! That was all that mattered.) "Also, um. I kinda thought that denying other people the chance of being with me would be cruel. Like, it's me, you see? If it's you, though... I could do that." Inna Fucking Orlovskaya, proposing monogamy? More likely than you might think, apparently! (Jesus Christ, hell must have frozen over today. Just, how had they gotten from hating one another to-- to this? Logically, the blonde understood how enemies-to-lovers fanfics worked, but this wasn't a fucking fanfic, and... ooof. Her entire fucking brain was overheating, to the the point it was a wonder steam wasn't rising from her ears. Quick, do something before you shut down!)

...something, huh. Alright, that shouldn't be too hard! Acting had always been one of Inna's strengths, after all-- so, clumsily, she raised her hand and caressed Liora's hair. "Dude, this is crazy. I'm not fucking complaining, but damn. It's just... whoosh, you know? This entire situation, with me and you and everything else, and now that demonic shit on top of that, and... how are you holding up, anyway?" Wow, this was dangerously close to a mature conversation! Given the way she had chosen to address pressing concerns and shit, instead of just dragging her new partner to the bed. Character fucking development, right? Right!

 

[starboob]

☉ LIORA TRIHN ☉
​

The confession, even if it had come from Liora's own mouth, surprises her. Obviously, she knows how fucking talking works and that when you let the stuff inside of your brain exit through your mouth, then other people can hear what's going on inside. It's just that Liora really had not planned on telling Inna this. At first, because she assumed the blonde had moved on and no longer cared about her, but then her mouth started moving before she could even review the script, memorize her lines, and deliver the best confession on the planet––it just sprang out of her. While she does know that Inna still likes her, she still worries about the blonde's reaction. Like she had denied this very possibility a couple days ago at that depraved weirdo's Italian villa and then again this morning when Inna had come back from her demonic sexcapade. Though they had sort of made up back at the cathedral, she still isn't sure just where she stands with Inna.

Not until the blonde slides down from the couch and embraces her and god, does it feel like home. That place she has been searching for since she never found it any of her mother's three mansion houses. Already, she can picture herself and Inna living together; Inna doing the cooking and herself taking care of the cleaning (she has seen the inside of Inna's apartment before and she was not amused––just don't ask her about how she got into Inna's place, okay?); watching crime documentaries and commenting on how obviously fake all the gore is; and her all access pass to holding Inna's hand. She's never felt so inspired! She's also never felt quite so sick before, but she assumes that feeling will go away––if only Inna would stop talking, because each of her words only makes the feeling worse. At the same time, she isn't really complaining because everything that the other says... that her partner (?) says excites her. So much so, she's practically beaming at the blonde in a way she never has before (it, uh, actually hurts because she's never flexed these muscles before). "You're so ridiculous," she says, rolling her eyes and squeezing the blonde in the same breath. "But I'm glad you want that with me, because... no one's ever made me feel this way. No one except for Inna Orlovskaya."

Where it does feel incredibly short sighted to try and start a new relationship with their current assignment from the Universe, Liora doesn't care. Not in the way Vie had––this time around, she really only cares about Inna. That is, after all, why she had worked so hard to make sure they could have another chance; one that isn't tainted by all the chaos that had surrounded them the first time around. (Of course, it doesn't really seem like all that much has changed––only her values and what she deems is important.) One where she can actually protect Ivy the way she had meant to in their first life together, but failed to do so...

'Wait, what?' What was all that about? For a second Liora pulls away from Inna, confused by her own inner-monologuing that both does and doesn't make sense to her. While the revelation that she is Vie is so last week, she had not expected to be interrupted by her––though that's not quite what had happened... She had just not expected to have past self's voice also living inside of her, blending into her current voice? Ugh, this magical bullshit only gets more confusing the longer she is exposed to it, but at least she now has Inna, officially, by her side.

When Inna caresses her hair, she leans into the touch and the tension in herself melts away bit by bit. She even holds Inna's hand in place, bringing it to her cheek and perhaps trying to absorb her warmth through this meager touch alone. "Yeah, I––I really didn't expect any of this to happen. I honestly thought we'd hate each other until we died or something," she laughs nervously, looking down at Inna's lips and wondering if she can kiss them. Or if she should? "I guess I shouldn't be fucking surprised that there were more mysteries for us to solve, but I wasn't prepared to find out that I'm, apparently, a demon." "God, I wonder how my mom would feel if she knew she adopted an actual demon-child," the last part she had meant to think to herself, but so caught up with sitting on the floor in Sol's apartment and just existing with Inna override her ability to appropriately channel her thoughts. (Not that she cares if Inna knew this particular thought.)

But honestly? Liora isn't that interested in conversation. Not when Inna's lips look so goddamn inviting; not when she wants to know what she tastes like outside of petty bets or medical emergencies. Liora combs her fingers through the blonde's hair, then tangles her fingers into her locks as she pulls her forward, deciding that she cannot wait another fucking second without knowing what it's like to claim those lips for real. She hopes it feels as magical as those first two times.

 

[Syntra]

Ah, finally! The sweet, sweet validation. Inna, of course, knew that she was special-- always had been, really, like a rare rose growing... uhhh, in some spot that wasn't famous for its roses, she guessed. A trashcan, maybe? (Associating her awesomeness with something as disgusting was an insult in itself, but hey, that was the whole reason the metaphor fucking worked. So, for greater good, the blonde would embrace the imagery! ...for that sacrifice alone, Inna should receive a fucking Nobel prize in literature. No, seriously. Forever would her soul bear scars, almost as deep as the Grand Canyon, and so it was the world's duty to put some fucking band aid on her wounds. A flimsy award was the least they could spare!) Anyway, had these been normal circumstances? Inna likely would have smiled and nodded, and accepted the compliment as the universal truth it was-- a revelation on the level of 1 + 1 indeed being 2, or something like that. Needless to say, however, that these were not normal circumstances. No, this was Liora Fucking Trihn confessing her fucking feelings to her, and, and, and!!! The blonde's stomach was doing somersaults in her belly, okay? These weren't even butterflies anymore-- and, if they were, they'd gotten baseball bats somewhere and decided that peace had never been an option. "I, um. I..." I what? 'I thank you?' 'Cause that would be the proper fucking response here. Showing that you felt something real = weakness, you see, and relationships were just one extended power struggle where the more involved party lost, everyone knew, and Inna didn't like being the loser, so... "I feel the same," she heard herself say, despite all of that. "And, um. That makes me happy for some reason?" She made her happy, though the blonde wasn't quite ready to say that yet. (Gotta save some of the sappiness for their tenth anniversary, when she held the speech titled 'Why Liora Orlovskaya (?) Is the Best Half-Demon Ever, Aside from Me.' And, yes, Inna may have already began composing it!)

"Eh," Inna waved her hand, "who cares? Like, for me, this doesn't really change anything. That I didn't know I was a demon before didn't make me less of one, you know? I do wonder how I ended up with this body," 'cause, uh, there were some key differences between her anatomy and, say, the anatomy of that kraken-ass thing, "but on the other hand, I don't wanna know. Just, people are weird, man. Did you know there's an entire fucking community on the internet where they dream of, like, being ~taken advantage of~ by the motherfucking aliens? I could see one of those losers going for a hot demoness, too." And, no, Inna herself didn't fucking belong in that category. She and E-keysmash were technically the same species, so from that point of view, them hooking up wasn't depraved at all. Pure as freshly fallen snow, really! "They'd probably brag to their stupid buddies, too. 'Guys, you wouldn't fucking believe the chick I scored with today! Three. Fucking. Hands. Can you imagine the level of multitasking? Would recommend, ten out of ten.' Which, ugh," the blonde made a face. "Where are the times when demigods and the like had to kidnap their mortals? Made us seem at least slightly less crazy, I think. The internet was a fucking mistake."

Maybe teaching Inna how to speak had been a mistake, too-- words were falling from her mouth at the speed of 200 per minute, like raindrops during a fucking hurricane, and she knew she should stop, okay? Except that when the blonde was nervous, her speech centre swallowed the rest of her brain! And not being nervous was hard, with Liora's lips so close to her own, and her hands in her hair, and-- and-- what if it turned out Inna had forgotten how to kiss, actually? Just!!! If Liora's First Experience wasn't SatisfactoryTM, then she'd never live it down. This would set the tone for their entire fucking relationship, and Inna wanted fireworks, not a wet match! Shit, shit, shit. What was she supposed to do with her tongue? What about her teeth? To bite or not to bite, huh? Aaaargh, Inna should have made Liora fill out a fucking survey in advance! A diagram or two wouldn't have hurt, either, and--

Except that then their lips met, and all of her thoughts retreated. 'Cause, this? This was what she had been born for! Not kissing in general, but kissing her, just like that. Fucking mindblowing that she had only realized now, but better late than never, right? Right. Closing her eyes, Inna opened her mouth slightly and pushed Liora closer, closer and closer-- it would never be enough, it seemed, for how much she wanted to lose herself in the feeling. Ah, how nice! How soothing, too. Just like finding the keys you had been looking for for hours after you'd given up already, but, instead of hours, it had been years, and instead of keys, it had been the reason why she was still alive in the first place. Dramatic? Maybe so, though that didn't make it any less true. Inna moaned, entirely, content, but then-- oh. Then the warmth transformed into pain, sharp and cold. As if someone had stabbed her into her stomach, you know?

(Visions flickered behind her closed eyelids, wild and confusing. Two women, tied together by a bond that transcended death-- soulmates, maybe, if you felt sappy enough to use such terminology. Ivy and Vie, Inna and Liora. What did names matter, anyway? Just a random cluster of letters, incapable of telling you anything about its bearer. You know what did tell her something about Vie/Liora, on the other hand? The way she didn't hesitate for a second before drawing her blade, out of her sight. Before spilling her blood, really. ...as if? It wasn't fucking 'as if'. She had stabbed her! Liora, her friend. Liora, her lover. Liora, her... her what?)

Inna flinched away, as if she'd been burned. Hurt was reflected in her eyes, too-- hurt, but more than that, it was shock. "I... fucking hell, Liora. You lied to me. You... you did hurt me. You killed me."

 

[starboob]

☉ LIORA TRIHN ☉
​

Surprisingly, Liora does not share any of her partner's worries. Despite being bent on perfection and doing things the right way, kissing exists in a land that is beyond her control of perfection. Before her concerns had mostly been around what it meant to kiss Inna, her nemesis, or even worrying that she would feel herself feel something when she didn't originally believe she had any feelings beyond hatred for her Inna. Now, however, there is nothing for her to fret over since she knows this is what she wants and this is what Inna wants as well. She is not scared of the fire that starts in her belly and spreads rapidly down to the tips of her fingers, touching parts of her that no other lover has ever been able to reach. With her hand firmly on the back of Inna's neck, she keeps her close, desperate to drown in her own overwhelm––because she's never felt this goddamn good before.

'Careful, Liora,' some voice, Vie's voice––if she were to guess––whispers into her ear. The warning doesn't make much sense to her, because she doesn't feel the need to be careful, in fact she wants to be careless. Though just as she is about to adjust their positioning, she stops as the same vision flying through Inna's mind passes through her own as well. Her grip on Inna loosens, the fire inside of her immediately dies as she watches, yet again, her past self murder Ivy. Unsheathing her blade as Ivy walks a path ahead of her and when her companion turns around (is she smiling? Liora can't decipher that), Vie wastes no time in sinking her blade into Ivy's stomach. Then after a sick twist of her weapon, she yanks the sword from her friend, who collapses as blood spills and spills from the open wound. Blood coats Vie's hands, fills her nostrils, she feels it gathering at her feet––

Then Inna pulls away. The memory stops and Liora immediately realizes, even before Inna has spoken, that she has seen everything. In all honesty, Liora had even forgotten that she had lied about this only a few days ago, but she doesn't try to use that as a cover for herself. There had been so much surrounding that particular day and evening that the detail that she lied got lost somewhere in the chaos of initially rejecting Inna and her running away as a result. Nervous, the woman averts her eyes away from the blonde; she even scoots away from her as if that meager bit of distance can protect herself now. "I––well, I," she stutters, her palms begin to sweat as her heart beats wildly inside of her chest––and not the good kind of wild that Inna has been able to draw out of her; the bad kind like before competing in the national spelling bee. "I didn't want to hurt you––I just, we were... We were just starting to get along and, like, I didn't want you to hate me again." Jesus fucking Christ, how much trouble is she in for this? She doesn't think lying is that bad of thing to do, especially since she had done it to protect her friend, but the astonishment in Inna's eyes and how wounded she looks, Liora just isn't sure. "I mean, I would have told you... But I didn't know how? And there were all those people watching, I just didn't... Didn't know what to even do––I panicked, okay? I'm sorry," she mumbles, somehow knowing this excuse has got to be in the running for Worst Excuse on the Fucking Planet award.

None of this addresses the fact that, once upon a time, Liora (or Vie, as she'll insist) killed Ivy, now revived as Inna. "And I didn't kill you," she says defensively, slowly rising from the ground and crossing her arms over her chest as her walls start to come back up. Trying to protect herself from what she knows is true and struggles to accept. "I've saved your life several fucking times over these past few days." Even her attempt to remind Inna that either she has changed or that there is goodness in her still comes off as self-serving. Her fists ball around the fabric of her sweater, like pulling a shield closer to her. "Vie killed Ivy," she clarifies, again trying to put as much distance as she can between herself and that shitty version of herself. (That she does and doesn't accept as herself.) "I would never fucking do that to you––and maybe she had good fucking reason? I mean, I have no idea what was going on back then, so I really don't even think this is my fucking fault––I'm sorry you got murdered? But I swear that wasn't me."

She steps closer to the blonde, reaching for her hand with a sorry look in her eyes, "Inna, please, I didn't... I don't... Can we just forget about that? I mean it's literally in the past and I wouldn't ever think of doing that now." (Vie didn't think she'd kill Ivy either, but look at how that turned out.)

 

[Syntra]

Inna liked to think she wasn't an unreasonable person. Like, a lot of the mafia types were, you know? 'Hurrr durrr, you stepped on my fucking toe, so now I'll declare a vendetta on your entire extended family. That will teach you to, uh, exist in a public space!' Yeah, a lot of the public """discourse""" unironically looked like that-- a side effect of too many men per square centimeter, the blonde guessed. And, compared to them? Compared to them, she was a fucking saint. (Holding pointless fucking grudges consumed way too much of her energy for her to be able to justify it. Liora had been an exception to that rule, mostly because her ability to make a comfy home under her skin had been unmatched, but other than that? Inna's heart had always been too busy hating, like, capitalism. Capitalism and her shitty parents, which was honestly a full-time fucking job! So, when presented with a half-decent apology, she let go of stuff pretty easily. Pragmatic, right? With a trace amount of humility, everything could be all sunshine and rainbows!)

Except that, you know, there was nothing humble about the shit Liora pulled. As far as apologies went, Inna would rate it -9000/10-- so, not really an apology at all. (Spitting in her fucking face, that was what it was. 'Ooo, look at me! I'm Liora Always Right Trihn, and thus I'm obviously never wrong. Are you sure you didn't deserve to get killed? No offense, but some people just do give off these 'I wanna be murdered' vibes. Maybe, if Ivy had wanted to prevent that, she should have told Vie that a sword in her stomach wasn't a good Christmas present. Communication, bitch!' ...and, no, Liora wasn't actually saying that. Duh, of course not. Digging her own grave with her big mouth seemed to be her fucking specialty, but going that far would have resulted in her fucking drilling a hole through the planet, and apparently even her partner had her limits. At the same time, though? She might as well have repeated the same words to Inna verbatim, because the message was the same!)

(The message, naturally, said this: 'You don't fucking matter, you dumbass. You thought you ever did? How cute. Now, come here and kiss me because that's what I, Liora the Great, want, which is what is the truly important thing here. If you're lucky, you may not even get killed this time around!' Jesus Fucking Christ. How could she have been so fucking blind? Liora had been saying exactly this with every gesture, every fucking action she had ever taken, and yet, yet Inna had bent over backwards to interpret it in a kinder light! Why? Had she been this desperate for companionship? For fragments of the affection she had never fucking received? Pathetic, really. Pathetic and disgusting and just, so catastrophically stupid! ...yes, that was right, stupid. To think that, to some other person, Inna Orlovskaya could serve as something more than a goddamn punching bag-- a doll to absorb blows, over and over and over. She could fucking take it, so why not, right? Let's use Inna, 'cause that was what all the cool kids did!)

Liora talked and talked and talked, and with each thoughtless word, the blonde's heart only hardened more. (Its current state? Colder than the fucking Antarctic! Heat seemed to be draining away from the rest of her body, too, and the blue-ish cracks became prominent once again, though that flew past her radar. It just... didn't seem important, really. You know what did, though? That Liora, the traitorous fucking bitch, dared to touch her. Just like that, as if nothing had happened among them at all! Furious, Inna yanked her hand away.) "Yeah," she spat out, "I'm sure you fucking wouldn't. Unless you had some good fucking reason, right? Such as me spilling coffee on your favorite shirt, maybe!"

A full-fledged storm was raging in her chest now, a storm that was both hot and freezing, and fuck, Inna only knew one thing-- that, if unchecked, this would tear her apart. (That she wanted it to tear her apart, really, because existing as bloody shreds seemed infinitely more appealing than this. Like, if the blonde destroyed herself first, then nobody else could do the same to her, right? ...too fucking bad she had missed the deadline, then. By an entire goddamn lifetime, too!) "I can't... I can't believe this!" she shrieked, and suddenly, the entire fucking apartment was bathing in flames. (Beautiful, beautiful flames! Orange dancers swishing their skirts as they whirled across the destruction, and turned everything into ash. Was there a sight more lovely? Inna didn't think so, though she wasn't exactly in the mood to enjoy it.) "Not that you'd fucking do this, Liora, but that I trusted you. That I wanted you! I... I..." Inna howled, half in pain and half in ecstasy, and then wings sprouted from her back-- wings made of fire, to go with her horns and claws so sharp they could snap a man in two. (Her skin, too, was covered in cracks, to the point it resembled a map. Of what, though? All of her invisible wounds? That, the blonde thought, would be appropriate! One for every moment Liora had stabbed her in the fucking back, she'd wager.) "I never want to see you again," Inna hissed, tears shining in her eyes. "I hate you, Liora. Hate you, do you hear me?! Get in my way, and I swear it'll be the last fucking thing you do. On my fucking honor." Without bothering to open the window, Inna jumped through it, and... and just like that, she was gone. Only the fire remained, crackling quietly in the background.

 

[starboob]

☉ LIORA TRIHN ☉
​

The cracks tearing through Inna's skin tell Liora that she's in danger. That this is something way too hot for either of them touch or reconcile, but Liora doesn't pay that any mind because she doesn't want to lose Inna. Not for what must be one zillionth time this fucking week––and maybe there is some foolish part of her that does believe this can be fixed, because they've come back from all their other hiccups so far, so what makes this one any different?

(Well, everything.)

"Inna––" she shouts, hurt lying underneath her words because how could she think that Liora would murder her when she's never even gotten close to doing so? (Aside from ruminating over it after particularly heated arguments and the dreams that regularly occurred after meeting the blonde for the first time; but she never once actually acted on such desires. Unless you count pulling a knife on her at a work gathering––which she distinctly doesn't, because she's pretty sure that even if people hadn't stopped her from acting she really only would have threatened her and that is entirely different than killing! Inna should know this as a certified killer for the fucking mafia.) Though Liora doesn't try to push Inna any further. Ordinarily she would, either because she has little grasp of what boundaries are or because she doesn't usually quit so easily, but the fury that suffocates the air around the blonde prevents her from even daring to reach out again. "––please, it doesn't have to be like this!"

Though maybe she should not have spoken at all, because, as if doused in gasoline already, the apartment lights up in brilliant shades of orange. Liora covers her face at sudden the change, how one moment they were standing inside of Sol's apartment and in the next Inna has decided to turn this place into the goddamn surface of the sun! Were the circumstances different, Liora might have admired her companion's power and the beauty in destruction, but in this particular moment fear grips her. Her eyes widen as the flames circle and swirl around her like angry predators who don't even need to touch their prey––already, the heat is overwhelming and smoke is fills her lungs and stings her eyes. Through teary vision, she finds the blonde in all the fire and smoke, who... who crushes her by telling her that she isn't surprised Liora (Vie) would do something like this––as if the devil horns that likely adorn her picture in her classmates' yearbooks are all that she is. She doesn't even believe this is her fault. She's not Vie! She's not! "Inna, what the fuck," she mumbles, covering her mouth as she coughs. "C-calm down!" Which, yeah, that is not an effective thing to say to an angry and upset half-demon on the brink of rupture. However, Inna's declaration that she hates her completely silences the woman. Especially in combination with the look on the her face––even if screwed up by all those blue cracks, she still sees the hurt beneath that thick demonic mask and it's an image that sears itself into Liora's mind. The impact of Inna's statement doesn't even fully hit her––the shock somehow shields her from even thinking about what Inna is saying. But before she can even respond or try to salvage this, she's gone and Liora is left in the shambles of Sol's apartment.

The flames continue to consume more and more of Sol's belongings and eventually they will spread beyond this apartment. Liora knows this, but there is no urgency in her body to move. She's too stunned with what has just happened––that Inna's reaction had been so explosive, which almost justifies Liora not telling her the truth when she had the chance. More than that, Inna leaving and telling Liora that she nevers wants to see her again. When she looks out the window, she can still make out Inna's brilliant wings and she wants to chase after her, as she always has, but how does she even... Is there any point to trying? Inna doesn't want to believe that Liora didn't kill her and wouldn't, so what's the point of humiliating herself with that endeavor.

After a few more minutes alone, with the fire threatening to blister her skin, something lands on her should and when she looks over, she sees Declan, who's large eyes reflect more of Liora's own sorrow than she does. "We should clear this up, Liora," the owl says, thankfully choosing to ignore how this mess even started. "You cannot control the flames, but if you lend me some of your power, I can quell it." For once, the owl is serious and her tone sounds more like a wise-scholar than the foolish kindergarten teacher Liora had judged her to be when they first met. (The first day Liora actually started to admit to herself that she cares about Inna––beyond being forced partners in crime. When they kissed for the second time. When they took time to get to know each other in that café. Now that all seems years away and impossible to recover.) Automatically, she lets the owl hop into her palms and she focuses her energy into Declan. The owl spreads her wings, her eyes start to glow and with a few flaps, a graceful wind whirls through the apartment and the flames are blown out as if they were candles.

Still Liora doesn't move. Her eyes stare at the ash on the ground, but she isn't even looking at that. She's looking at the spot where Inna last stood, like if she pictures the blonde back in that spot, she'll be there again. "This... This can't be happening... Declan?"

.............​

Except that it had happened and in the months that followed, it never got any easier to swallow. Whoever said that time heals all wounds is full of shit, because Liora feels this wound has only festered and its infected every inch of her pre-determined rotten soul. Plus, she doesn't even think it should be that fucking hard to get over whatever she had with Inna. Like, what? It had lasted three fucking minutes at best so it should have taken her a minute and fucking half to get over (according to those break-up blogs that say you need to wait half the time of the relationship to be over it). To make it worse, none of her usual methods for moving on work. Namely, burying herself in her next project––she tries to make studying magic with Declan her new goal and while she is better than before, it's not satisfying. It doesn't help her forget. And since she rarely ever sleeps, especially now, she finds it difficult to avoid thinking about her last encounter with Inna. (She still hears,'I hate you, Liora,' echoing in her ears whenever the room gets too quiet.)

Though she initially stayed with her sister for a few more days after the incident, trying to explain anything to her was beyond Liora so she just left (this time leaving a note behind). Instead, of being with her sister, she decided the best place for her to be was back with the Mistress in her lavish villa––partly because of its extravagance and partly because, well, she reached out and offered. She's also shown a surprising amount of investment in Liora's skills and abilities, though Liora figures that has something to do with her role as a savior of the world. (Not that she wants that title and not that Liora has done anything in these past three months to even attempt to fix one of the rifts; world ending clock or not, she just can't bring herself to go back to one of those places when she knows it should be with Inna by her side. Burying herself in magic has really only been to escape from the pain she won't acknowledge is there.)

Despite all that, Liora still finds herself in the freezing fucking land of Germany because the Mistress allegedly heard of suspicious activity (why the hell can't these fucks just be transparent) in the area and, apparently, her magic isn't strong enough to rectify the issue. Even then, Liora had refused to go; so Declan, having decided her pupil was being unreasonable, blipped her to fucking Germany. And by the looks of all those scorched "tents" it must be near the end of that stupid celebration of beer. "There better be something fucking here or I'm throwing you into the nearest fucking volcano," she mumbles to her sword as she sweeps her eyes over the wreckage. Whoever had burnt this place to a crisp must have been fucking pissed. (How is it even her responsibilty to fix this shitshow? Aren't there other magic users who can handle this?)

Except that... She narrows her eyes and her heart all but stops. "Inna?"