[PRP] naivety (Persephonix and Cosette)

[`raze]

Cosette had always been a number of things: big-hearted, kind, motherly.... but hateful was never one of them.

The rage that brewed inside her at this very moment, however, said very different.

The sight of the large stallion with colors akin to her own brought forth memories and feelings she had come to terms with - or so she thought. She could hear Aiolos' screams for help and Cicely's of pain, the fear that she would lose her daughter to her injuries, the crippling feeling that she was an inept mother for letting this happen... She had thought watching Cicely grow up and have kids, grandkids, and more had buried those ill feelings and memories. She had never seen him before, but her children's description of him was dead on - large, a coat that resembled that of a mountain swallow and bat-like wings. Even from the distance from which she watched, he was overwhelming.

Cosette had, for the life she remembered, had always been fairly naïve - something that as a young mare did not matter but as a mother and matriarch it did not bode well. Here, as the established head of her family, she had a choice to make - confront the Kalona that caused so much pain for her family, or walk away. Walk away and pretend he wasn't still around, pretend that the history between him and her family was a closed book. The thought made the mare shake with anger. She knew the right answer was to walk away from this. She let out a shaky breath, her eyes unblinking as she watched him lift his head from a long drink at the creek. If she was going to make the wise decision, it had to be now before he realized she was there.

However, once again Cosette's naivety struck - she really thought it would be her decision to walk away. A voice cracked through the silence, and it immediately dawned on the mare that it was never her choice at all.  

[`raze]

What was it with mares always hunting him down at sources of water? Aleera, his angry daughter Lorelei, and now whomever this broad was. It was exhausting - couldn't he just take a break?

"You've been there a minute - you're either stupid or you have something to say, so say it." His words bit through the silence. He picked up on the smell of mountain air and snow the moment she had crept up behind the tree-line. It was easy to pick her out when the air was stale and smelt vaguely floral, like flowers finally succumbing to the chillier temperatures.

He turned towards the scent, where he also heard twigs break under hooves. Icey eyes searched the tree-line and saw white ears twitch from behind the foliage. She pushed past the leaves quickly, and he saw the rage in her eyes. He straightened, waiting for his size to impose on the bout of courage exhibited by the mare. It didn't stop her though - she continued storming up to him with no intention of stopping.

She was small, with no wings or horns or sharp hooves to save her. A sly smile crossed Persephonix's lips as a chuckle escaped them, "So, stupid then?" She was hardly a threat, but the conviction in her step gave Persephonix the smallest of ideas to not play this off.  

[`raze]

Cosette felt like she was having an out-of-body experience - she could see herself freeze at his initial words, and then push past the foliage and directly at the stallion. From where she mentally was, she could see the size difference, the horns, the wings itching for a fight. She couldn't stop actual Cosette though, who just needed the excuse to confront the Kalona from all those years ago.

Though she walked with conviction and as if she had something to say and actions to back it up - Cosette once again did not know how to be mean, or resentful, or angry. As she bee-lined it for Persephonix, she felt her face heat up as she floundered for words.

"First I am NOT stupid," she shouted, angry and hurt that there was any implication of that. Yes, she was walking very confidently up to a predator, and yes she had not idea what she was doing.... "The only STUPID thing here is... is you!"

Oh, oh no. What, what kind of comeback was that? What was she thinking?

Oh... what was she actually thinking?

She could feel her resolve and confidence draining fast. Who was she to act on these feelings? She was Cosette - happy, a do-gooder, curious and sweet. She wasn't a bad a** with any fighting ability. Her stride halted feet from Persephonix, who had not budged. His wings flexed to his sides, making him enormous to her. She stood before the predator, tears welling up in her angry eyes. Why did he get to do this? Why did he get to act so unbothered? He was a murderer and evil and she was...

She was just stupid, naïve Cosette.

Swallowing hard, she made sure not to break away from his icy gaze. She couldn't read him - was he really that unbothered, or was that confusion in his eyes? She took that as an opportunity to take in the sight before her. Up close, she could see the details of his coat, the point of his horns, and how small Cicely must have felt before he crushed her leg. She felt her face flash hot again at the thought, but there was something lacking here that she thought she would feel directly in front of him. She thought she would feel fear - but something in his eyes lead her believe that just for a moment, she would be okay.

But just for a moment.  

[`raze]

He had flexed his wings as a reminder of the advantages he had on her. It looked like she needed the reminder - but wow was that just one helluva meltdown. It was like he watched her breaking in slow motion - the strong stride slowing, the angry blush and tears brewing, the realization in her eyes that yes, maybe she was intellectually inept with zero notion of survival...

Had he not met Aleera, she would have been such an easy kill. He knows he would have taken no joy in it (without the thrill of a hunt, how can you call yourself a hunter?), but there was something about crushing grounded to remind them of their place. Well, at least there was. Not anymore, not if he wanted whatever was happening between him and the brunette healer to fall apart. This however wasn't the time to get emotional about some mare that made him feel things. He had an annoying little gnat to deal with.

He didn't recognize her, but she spoke as if she had something against him. Not just generally against him, but as if she knew him - or at least of him. It sparked his curiosity - what could a grounded be so upset with him about if it didn't have to do with one of her own? He could think of a dozen dead or injured, but none with a stark white coat like hers. Who was it that tied them together?

"You have no survival instinct and you just came storming up to death. If that isn't stupid I don't know what is. It would be a blessing if I just took you out of the gene pool!" He snarled as he spoke, feigning anger at the mare for being so emboldened to storm up to him. She needed fear stricken into her. Maybe that would send her running. He made sure to flash teeth that ripped skin from bone at her, and yet nothing changed in her teary, wide eyes. He just saw anger, anger at him and herself, and not an ounce of fear.

"Look, you small, silly mare," he leaned in inches between their faces. "I am guessing you and I both know what you are capable of. I assume I wronged you in some way, but I think you will be very disappointed to know I am... changed." He hissed the last word out. He was trying very hard to no longer be the villain, the bad guy in everyone's story. It was a tired old book that everyone was done with - except for Cosette.

He was still very much the big bad in her story. As soon as the word 'changed' left his lips, he saw her fury bubble again to the surface.  

[`raze]

"Changed?" Cosette snapped the words back at him, the anger transforming her voice into one she didn't recognize. This monster, changed? Something in her brain kept recalling Cicely's screams of pain and the whirl of panic she felt in that moment. This memory did not coincide with the image of the calm, irritated stallion before her. It didn't... it didn't make sense! But if it did, what was she going to do? She had stormed up to a predator like he was prey - it was better he was what he said he was, but the reality did not break on her softly.

"You don't hunt anymore, or hurt?" She spat the words, tears that she had tried to keep only brimming now flowing hot down her cheeks. "You're the one that crushed her leg - my baby. We were lucky we had someone who could help her, one of those unicorns," she took a shaky breath, the uninterested, irritated look on his face continued to fuel her conviction, "but to this day she still walks as if her leg remembers the pain, remembers what you did! And... and...."

'Keep it together, don't do this, don't do this--' Cosette internally chided as she started to breath quickly and heavily. This wasn't the conforntation she ever imagined. Her confrontations in her brain never included how it would pan out, just the emotional release of years of anger and doubt.

"I hate you, you know that?" Cosette tried to hold his gaze confidently, but she couldn't see past the tears.  

[`raze]

Persephonix was very good at maintaining a look of irritation and annoyance. Internally though, bells were going off and he felt... well he felt uncomfortable. Before him was a crying mother, angry at him for hurting her child. He had been a menace for a while, and there were many that he had hurt for sport or necessity... but there was only once instance he injured a foal. He was in pursuit of Merciette, and those foals got in the way. He had tried to avoid them, and one of them kept getting under-hoof. They kept messing around, and he was young and impatient and had finally brought it down with a satisfying crunch. He remember in the moment feeling relieved that he had squashed the annoying gnat.... and when his own children came around, the memory was not one he remembered fondly.

"How has hating me worked out for you?" He looked down at the crying mare, careful to not show her any concern. He wasn't going to apologize or throw himself at her hooves. The past was in the past and his actions were irreversible, and it sounds like the little filly was able to be healed. There was [i[nothing he could offer this mare now except to listen. Not like she could really do anything else except talk his ear off, right?
 

[`raze]

"Ha... aha... well... I walked up to you like I could somehow challenge you didn't I? Doesn't look like it's doing me well." Her laugh was bitter and sounded foreign to her ears. Why was she softening up on him? She continued to shake and cry, finding it suddenly hard to meet his gaze. "For years I have hated what you did to Cicely and the trauma you brought our family. All I had to go on was a description of who you were... and when I saw you I just, I just knew it was you. I had to do something, say something."

Cosette wasn't sure if she was talking to herself at this point. She didn't know what she wanetd out of this interaction, but it felt good to talk about it.... even if it was with him. He hadn't moved from his spot, hadn't made any motion to make she think she was in danger.

Cosette forced herself to meet his gaze again. There was a softness to his icey eyes that betrayed his stone face. It clicked.

"You weren't a father when it happened, were you? But now you are. You understand the way I'm feeling, don't you?" Something in Cosette encouraged her that she wasn't reaching for straws - maybe he had changed, but not because of some deep reflection of his actions. It was fatherhood that made him more understanding and not a creature of impulse. It was the only explanation why she was not forced to run for her life.