Callisto’s nose scrunched all the way up as he listened to Finn try and push the topic even further, his arms came up to cross over his chest. More in a protective way rather than any sort of frustration towards Finn, especially now that Xevon was slapping a hand out towards him.

He didn’t want him to take the stupid locket. He didn’t want Xevon to become wrapped up in those memories again but his feet remained glued to the floor. As though he were slowly sinking in mud, Callisto remained where he was and watched in fear, waiting for Finn to make his decision.

Lily was distracted, her eyes had landed on Renissa and her pitying expression that made her heart lunge. She didn’t want to be looked at like that. She was normal. She was still normal.

Renissa crept forwards, her footsteps as light as feathers as she came closer and closer to Lily, her eyes still scanning observantly over her injured side. It made Lily want to curl up into a ball and hide, it made her scar pulse with feeling as she was reminded of its existence.

“Xevon spoke of you.” She started slowly, finally meeting Lily’s good eye which brought some semblance of relief to her. Why had Xevon spoke about her?

“He said you were hurt, that I could help.” Her voice was still wispy, light and airy as she spoke. Lily frowned gently, how on earth was she going to help this?

“I’m alright, honestly, I-”

“I have something that will help, come, come.” Renissa didn’t let her finish her sentence and turned around to walk into the kitchen, oblivious to the men having their debate right at her side. Whether or not she was outright choosing to ignore them or not, Lily wasn’t entirely sure.

She padded after Renissa slowly, unsure if she wanted to take part in whatever was about to occur. Lily didn’t have the greatest track record with deities to date.

The sound of a heavy footfall made Lily’s head whip back around, having to overextend her neck in order to use her good eye to see what was happening. Spinning on the ball of her foot, her eyes landed on where Xevon was gripping Finn and subsequently the locket. A spark of fear rocketed through her as she practically saw the anger rippling off of Xevon’s form. Finn wasn’t letting go.

Through the door frame, she could see Callisto standing there in just as much distress as she felt. However, she could guess it was more to do with Xevon’s threatening to spiral rather than Finntello’s safety. Lily almost took a step back, barely hearing Renissa’s voice as she began to explain the poultice she was going to use, mumbling about the old world. Then Xevon retracted and arched his arm back, the tiniest glint of light in his hand before it went flying into the distance.

She could hear the pounding in Xevon’s chest the loudest. It eclipsed the sounds of everyone else, their heartbeats, their breathing. Xevon was always the loudest.

Then a hand met her wrist and she almost lept out of her skin, her attention swinging back to meet the delicate gaze of Renissa who was smiling at her.

“Here, do you mind?” She asked carefully, her free hand lifting in gesture towards her eye, a mottled green paste on her fingertips.

“S-Sure.” Lily managed to eek out, still shaken up from the men and their dramatics.

–

Callisto had taken a rather large step backwards upon Xevon’s sudden approach on Finntello. Unwilling to be another receiver of that fury. That didn’t mean that he wasn’t fearful, the hair on his arms were spiking upwards, jaw clenched as he waited for something to happen.

It was relief that came first. When that locket went flying into the distance, it meant that Xevon wasn’t about to gift Finntello his second meeting with death.

The young man padded past them and slinked into the home, leaving Callisto to stare over at Xevon. Watching the way the tension in his body was all consuming, it had made his muscles shudder, his eyes burned and chest lifted with increasing effort.

He left a beat of silence.

“Xevon…” Callisto murmured quietly, glancing towards the others before taking a step towards his friend, angling his head back up to Xevon. He knew things about Xevon, but that was a little more information than even he was aware of. He would not point it out, it was clearly a tender topic.

Florence’s head lifted with the quick ascension of Xevon, watching the dark feathers fade into obscurity as the dying sun glared across the murky sky. She kept her head tilted backwards, tipped to the side well after Xevon’s form had vanished from view. Tapping her finger on the thatched roof, listening to the mumbled voices below her.

In swift movement, Florence slipped down the angle of the roof, letting her feet land securely on the grass before turning lazily around towards the door. Ignoring the look of annoyance from Callisto as she passed him by. Instead, her dark brown eyes landed on Finntello who was brooding in the doorway.

As she walked up to him, to slip past into the cottage she looked up from the corner of her eyes at him. Just as she was passing him and let loose her comment.

“It looks like I’m not the only person that pisses people off all the time.” Her voice was low, but she didn’t miss the sharp look she gained from Lily across the room as she padded inside and past Onas.

–

Callisto was left standing alone again, watching Xevon’s form vanish into the sky and he felt that pull again. He was consumed by his own mind so much so that when Florence landed beside him, he staggered backwards a little before righting himself and shooting her a quick look.

His eyes followed her as she made her way towards the cottage and brushed past Finntello. Blinking widely as he watched the confrontation brew. He did not miss what Florence had said and he doubted Lily had either.

Well, it seemed like there wasn’t much time to linger on Xevon’s departure now. Lily was going to either ignore it or rip her to pieces. Either way, Finn would be making a scene.

–

Renissa had carefully smeared the paste onto the scarring, it was cool and felt strangely pleasant as it was pressed into the fresh scar tissue. Next to be placed on her was a cotton eye mask, pinned around her head. Great now she looked pitiful and like a pirate.

She was attempting not to think about what she looked like, unsuccessfully, when Florence’s sudden voice made her blink her good eye. However, it was what she had said that made her frown and turn away from the fussing Renissa.

Scowling, she glared over at Florence as she made her way into the cottage nonchalantly. Lily felt a bubbling of something in her chest that resembled anger, but it was different. Like something else was causing it, not entirely her own mind.

“Excuse me?” She snapped, pulling violently away from Renissa and stalking across the space towards Florence where she lingered in front of the fireplace.

“What did you just say?” Her voice was underpinned with a snarl.

Florence glanced over her shoulder at her casually before turning to face her, one eyebrow raised.

“Me? I didn’t say anything.” She shrugged, but she didn’t have time to finish the statement entirely before Lily was within inches of her, hands balled into fists. Lily didn’t like this feeling, it was horrible. It was like a surging wave of fury that was overshadowing her entire sense of self. It felt like something else was in control of her, ignoring her logic and making her act on impulse.

“Take it back.” Lily managed to force out between bared teeth, eyes bright and pupils narrowed into the tiniest of slits.

The words rang like a bell in his head. Finn's eyes didn't move at all from the spot on the floor where he had latched onto to try and garner some sort of mental stability. And she had kicked it out from under him.

The words were designed to rile him up and he knew it.

But with the rising tension in the room... and how angry Xevon had been...

Well, Finn wasn't always the smartest but he knew at the least that he could use this entire situation to his own advantage and make Florence look like the absolute witch that she was. She wanted him to explode, to follow suit, twist into that deep anger that Xevon had and struggled with. But Finn, as dumb as he was, had a touch of cunning in his blood. A touch of manipulation was running in his veins from his father's blood lines.

So he used that against Florence. He knew everyone had heard it. Lily, Callisto, Renissa, Onas and Alma. All of them... And all of them were honed in on Florence.

Finntello took in a shaking breath, forcing that anger into twisting grief. The shattering sort of emotion that tore through him like a cold winter breeze, taking his breath away, having his throat tighten... the knees weakening--

His hand lifted up to his forehead, pushing into his strawberry blond hair while the other clutched to the door frame as he slowly sank down with a small hiccuping breath. Crystalline tears welled up and slid down dusty cheeks, leaving a soft trail along freckled skin.

His shoulder sank against the wood, curling one wing upward to shield himself from the gaze of the others. A small sob broke through as he let himself feel the grief he had been hiding for so long.

The gripping sob that tore through him shook his shoulders. But he could feel the tension rising in the small cottage.

Alma's burning fury, Onas's disgust... Lily's absolute rage that was bound to overwhelm anyone nearby...

And he wouldn't have to lift a single finger.

What a beautiful concept.

Florence’s eyebrows twitched together as she peered into Lily’s feline eye, her muscles tensing as she tried to read exactly what was going on within her head. Anger was obvious, but there was something else in there that intrigued her. Then just as that pitiful sob ripped out from Finn, Florence found out what that was.

Lily’s entire body froze, her lungs refusing to fill with air as she heard that crackling breathing and cry from the doorway. Her eye twitched. There was a second of silence, only broken by Renissa’s attempt to talk and then Lily was barrelling into the other woman.

Her skin felt like it was on fire, molten heat that only made her more furious as she sunk her nails into Florence’s shoulders. The banging of an armchair as it was knocked over, the guttering screech of the coffee table as the pair went backwards. Staggering over each other's feet until they reached the wall, a harsh thud of their weight and the loss of air from Florence’s lungs. The window held onto the pressure well as Lily forced herself onto Florence, wrenching an arm free to press it firmly against her throat. Her forearm forced Florence’s head backwards into the glass.

Florence’s hands came up to grip at the flesh, her own nails drawing blood as the familiar sticky black claws emerged, edged with feathers and fur.

Then the glass gave way with an ear piercing shatter, the pair of them went with it. The weight of their combined torso’s made them flip out of the large, ruined window and directly into the flowerbed outside.

–

Callisto had been holding his own breath, waiting for Lily’s common sense to win the internal battle. It normally did. She was quite good at regulating the new fragment within her body, he was almost convinced that she was about to back away when Finn sank to the ground in front of him.

He watched in a panic as he curled a wing around himself and that delicate sob came from within and almost immediately Lily was on top of Florence. It sent Callisto scrambling over Finntello, almost tripping over himself as he forced his way into the cottage.

“Lily!” He barked out, dodging the fallen chair, arm outstretched. His fingers splayed in an attempt to grab at the back of her shirt, but just as he came within grabbing distance the crash came and the women were out the window.

Callisto gripped the edges of the window, ignoring the small amount of glass cutting into his palm as he watched Florence’s humanity fade, replaced with those wings and claws. Lily was still herself, even if she was spitting and snarling like a beast. She was still using her human hands to pin Florence to the floor with a rather startling amount of power.

He didn’t think even he was that strong, quite frankly, this woman had become rather terrifying after finding that letter opener.

Florence’s eyes were wide as she stared up at Lily, anticipating some sort of fangs to sink into her flesh, but her face remained that of a furious woman not a feline. There was a drop of comfort in that. In the haze of anger that was washing over the pair of them, Florence didn’t notice the approach of the more difficult visage of Xevon.

“Would you just-” She was cut off by Lily securing a hand firmly around her neck, Florence could feel her pulse in her ears. The squishing of her windpipe and the tendons that strained against the new pressure, it felt like her head was like a balloon about to pop.

Her claws sank further into Lily’s forearm, trying to pull and rip it away from her throat but that was when a new set of hands grasped her wrists and pinned them to the ground. The floodgates of panic opened as Florence realised who it was and what it meant. Her arms pulled and tugged but to no avail. She had no doubt she could have removed Lily’s hand from her throat, she knew she was stronger. With the initial surprise of Lily’s onslaught subsiding, Florence had been just about to tense her muscles and fight back when Xevon had arrived. His voice cutting through the air and making her eyes snap up towards him, Lily’s grip still fastened to her neck.

Without the ability to strike out at them, her eyes were bright with malice, bloodshot from the build up of pressure. Her teeth gritted to counter the growing emotion within her and the total lack of control she now had. This man was a pest. An unruly, overly confident man. In fact, they all were. To act how they did towards divinity, not just herself, was outrageous at the best of times.

After her vision began to feather and fade at the edges, Florence’s wings behind her shuddered against the flowerbed. She ripped her gaze away and her arms went limp in his grasp, sinking into the earth, eyes half-lidded as she waited for whatever fate they decided. She didn’t care anymore.

–

Lily’s grip didn’t weaken as Florence reduced herself to clay in her hands, her chest was still rippling with quickened breaths that were too short and too shallow.

She wanted to remove her hands, to stand up and dust herself off, to apologise. To return back to herself, to not be this angry, ugly thing. This thing within her wasn’t letting her go, it was holding her hostage within her own body. Forcing her to act like this. It was terrifying.

Despite her burning anger, the contortion of her face into one of fury, Lily’s eyes were glassy and lined with tears that threatened to fall.