Well, I touched it so it's mine. [Clarice and Hawk]

[Hawk Black]

The weary traveller rubbed his eyes before he laid them back on the old beaten scroll trembling in his shivering hands. The cold he was no stranger to but the bitter cold was new to him as the cold rainy days of the salty seas were nothing compared to the icy tundra which surrounds him now. He rolled the scroll back up and tucked it away while he scanned his surroundings. Hawk took a breath in but exhaled slowly if only to watch the whiff from his lips swirl into the cold air and vanish into the light of the morning sun. By now he'd have thought he'd outgrown his sealegs having been land-bound for so long but the snow which rose to his knees didn't help his stability. 

Hawk staggered through the heavy snow only stopping to check the scroll that lead him here. At this point however he was beginning to question if he had read this scroll right or if the scroll even held the truth. He had seen his fair share of myths that turned out to be just stories and lies of great treasure beyond belief. He thought himself a fool to follow this piece of paper but everything about it seemed to check out and be true. A few more hours passed in the blink of an eye and Hawk looking out at the vast terrain decided this was hopeless. He had been at this search for weeks and hadn't come any closer to it so he dropped his head and turned on his heels to make his way home. He was lost to his thoughts as he walked thinking of his warm bed, the merriment of being with his friends and rum that he didn't notice the thin ground crumbling beneath him.  

The ground gave weight and after falling with a holler, Hawk hit the floor with a thud and a groan that echoed through the cavernous temple he'd been looking for all along. "Typical" Hawk murmured to himself from the floor. He forced himself to his feet but leaned against his knees as he cursed and let the pain of his tumble run its course through his body. He began his search quickly becoming aware that this is the temple he had searched for yet he hadn't taken into account how time might have long-buried it and that of course, the scroll he owned wouldn't show that.

Hawk had only searched for a few minutes before he discovered what he had searched for. The old crystal glowed in the darkroom and shined in his eyes and as he touched it there came another hand upon his. Hawk didn't draw his hand away but being met with a pair of eyes that glowed like his wasn't something familiar to him. He tilted and ticked his head from side to side as he began to try and figure her out. "Your eyes..." He said as he scanned her over and back up to her eyes trying to comprehend who she was and how she was here. "...you're like me." He confided to himself but said it loud enough to be heard by her. He looked away for just a moment as he thought "The rat bastard lied-" He growled low to himself again before he laughed in annoyance over his revelation. "Of course he did."

It must have seemed crazy for him to be in front of her and yet still talking to himself. He scoffed once more and cleared his throat."Right... Well." He spoke to Clarice now as he brought his eyes right back to hers "That's mine." He gestured towards the glowing jewel with his head as his hand still laid upon it. "I've touched it first you see and-" He looked away to think of where he was going with his train of thought. "-well that's just... Pirate law so-" he cleared his throat again as he looked back at her one last time. "Mine... It's mine." 

[Clarice De Biville - Council]

✧ Well, I touched it so it's mine✧

Loneliness filled her realm once again as she stared around the room for a moment wondering what mindless hobby she would entertain herself with till sleep would eventually take hold. She looked at her book wondering when she should pull Hera back to her realm to be with him. She missed his company in many ways. As she moved to pick up a glass drinking the Fae Wine that Kyan sent her regularly.Her eyes went wide at Hawk stumbling into her realm. “How in the hell.” Once again he managed to make his way into her realm without her invitation, he was becoming somewhat of a problem for her security spell, causing her to worry.

Clarice wasn’t one to allow a man to yell at her so he was lucky to have his tongue still but she took in his demeanor time really did move differently for them. He was so drunk at this point and wanted to act a fool. She could remember a few drunken nights like this, she had made herself a fool more then once in her life not that she would ever admit that to anyone. “Well you are correct people fucking suck but that is why we have our circles of people that suck less then everyone else. Are you saying there is no one in this world that makes the people who suck not exist for you?” She questioned waving a finger to allow one of the stools of her kingdom to move behind him so if he fell over it could catch him.

She gave a gentle sigh to answer why she returned the gift before he just decided he knew the answer so she rolled her eyes in. “Are you always in the habit of answering your questions on what people think of you? If you do that with everyone it's no wonder you think everyone sucks. Maybe you are projecting your own self feelings onto others. I returned the gift because it belongs to you. The song reached out towards you. I am just a protector of magical items. It didn’t seem like it would be a threat in your hands. I figured it should be with the person it chose. Not many Mystics could say they are chosen by magical items like you with this stone.” She moved closer towards him.

She reached down picking up the stone in her hand, “Please do not do this silly little game of cat and mouse. I will fuse this stone into your flesh if you leave it here yet again.” She downed her wine and sat it aside. “Lily ah there is someone who makes the world suck less for you. Well lost doesn’t even begin to describe what you are.” Clarice mumbled to herself before looking at the stone running her thumb along it feeling the magic swaying in it pulling towards Hawk. She knew what happened in that moment, her magic was traced on the stone allowing his drunken determination to allow him to enter her realm once again.

“Jeeze.” she scoffed as he stared at her and she waved his hand casting a remove poison spell which would sober him up because alcohol has poison affects. He would be sober with no hangover due to her spell. “The stone seems to have retained some of my magic when I threw it back into your pocket, meaning you will have a way to travel here when you are determined to do so. Maybe the stone wants me to be your teacher and you my student but the question is do you want that?” She asked him then with a snarky tone, “See how I did that? I asked you a question and didn’t answer it for you on what you cared to do.” She scoffed slightly at him before moving over. Taking his hand and opening his palm, placing the stone there.

“Do you want me to send you home to Lily, was it?” she purred out the name.

[Hawk Black]

The fool did fall over... Over the stool meant to catch him. Hawk groaned from the ground "You did that on purpose!" he grumbled like an annoying little brother as he then began to climb and pull himself onto the stool. He hiccuped several times as she spoke and questioned him often interrupting her words. "What!?" he aired perplexed squinting his eyes to focus because there were now four of her. "You answered my quest..." He swallowed the rest of his words with and sharp inhale as a spark of sober realization settled in his mind for just one second. "...oh I did answer myself, didn't I? Huh..." he said aloud but as he wasn't speaking directly to Clarice. He said nothing further to answer her question on this as it should've been clear that at this moment he had answered his own question due to his drunkness.

Like a scared puppy, Hawk nearly panicked as she approached and froze. Maybe if he was still enough she wouldn't see him but of course, she did. His childlike logic wouldn't work anymore, and certainly not here. Hawk's fear of closeness in certain situations and of her and her connection to the Tremblay brothers turned him to stone. It was in fact the only reason he allowed her so close and kept his hand shut as she closed it because even in his drunkness he was afraid of what consequence he might face if he so much as moved. Then there were the questions about Lily. He of course was aware enough to realize he mentioned her first but now Clarice kept asking. He didn't trust it. He knew better than to say anything to anyone about his personal life and even some of the Rogues he'd grown close to didn't know of Lily. If only to keep the only light in his dark life safe. 

It was a crude and chilling feeling as she sobered him up. Not at all pleasant considering he got drunk on purpose and now all the proof of his work was gone. His face tightened at the realization of his sobriety and his mouth formed a thin line. "You ask now when you should've asked before when we first met. So this asking means nothing." his sharp tone showed he was still on guard of her naturally and getting through that was going to take time. "I know better than to speak of my life and the people there to you or anyone. What I want is to be drunk. Give it back!" he huffed as he crossed his arms over his chest. There was a moment of stillness before he huffed once more. "Not all Mystics or people respond to fear and its tactics well. You say you want to help our kind but kidnapping us and dragging us here without consent or even understanding doesn't match your words." he sighed and looked away from her. 

"You can't offer the kindness of a helping hand to someone you've just, threatened and terrified or traumatized or whatever else. I'm sure you know this but sometimes we need to hear it from someone else." he spoke in a much softer tone though his face was still stern. His eyes scanned hers while he uncrossed his arms and another moment of quietness passed. "My parents sold me to Ramus before I even knew how to spell my own name. They're supernatural hunters, every member of the House of Black is, and my parents are the head. " Hawk admitted as he stood and looked around. "They'd learned early on I wasn't human I don't even know what it was that told them but they peddled me instead of killing me as they should've. Promising Ramus his life if he took me."Hawks's voice faded as a vacant look grew in his eyes and filled with pain as he tried to fight his chain of memories.

"Sometimes I still hoped they killed me instead." he said beneath his breath and glossed right over that topic. "I can't even remember my parent's faces or if they were real... because when I think back on my childhood and who raised me all I see are the Tremblay brothers hovering over me like shadow as their crooked smiles cast down on me like a wicked moon." he maintained his softness of voice and twisted his mouth. "We all have it bad us Mystics and maybe because of the men who raised us, you and I got it a little slightly worse... Or a lot worse... But that just means we should be kinder to those like us, no?" again he huffed and looked away. "or maybe I've spent too much time with Gypsies." 

[Clarice De Biville - Council]

✧ Well, I touched it so it's mine✧

The amount of times she would be rolling her eyes at this man would lead to her eyes falling out of her head. “Well I guess you aren’t fully wrong. I was trying to give you a place to sit down. She was growing tiresome of this foolish act. Oh how the young buried themselves in alcohol to avoid problems. She just kept her gaze upon him wondering how long this would go on for, Watching him answer her question without so much actually answering her question. He would have lost his life several sentences ago if he had wound up in Thistlemoon with Kyan. Yet his reaction turning to stone as she drew near was one she had come to know by others. She was the bad guy after all to most she came across. The small few who didn’t see her that way understood the burden she placed upon herself.

Maybe that was why she was trying to help him, to gain another ally in a world that she didn’t have many. Merely a collector of pawns. Sobering him up was a selfish move for her own sanity as she was tired of dealing with a drunk toddler. A drunk toddler was somehow worse than his regular childish antics in the two meetings they have had. “In your first meeting you were not very kind and lashed out on a stranger. Maybe I could have been kinder but my isolation has only made me cruder as time has passed.” She gave a shrug of her shoulders. “I am not one who takes on students often. The last one ended up…” She got lost in the thought of the Mystic who lost their lives in the loom of faith. “Well no longer with me.” She sighed heavily.

Not wanting to talk about the people he was close to was a smart tactic to have in life so she pressed not much on it. “Do you always act like such a child?” She questioned as she moved her fingers to her nose to pinch the bridge of it. For someone who feared her getting close he really had a mouth on him and an utter tantrum mentality. “I feel you don’t remember I wasn’t trying to pull you into my realm. I didn’t even know you would be near the stone. I was only trying to keep something out of the hands out of another who would use it on others. Though maybe I should point out you entered my realm the second time without consent. At best I accidentally kidnapped you for five minutes. It’s not like I caused you any harm whatsoever.”

Clarice held a small part of her that sympathized with him as she had her own tale in life. How she was used, and abused. Yet she turned all that into where she was now. Going out of her way to correct such tragic events in time trying to make the world a better place with each thread she weaved. Instead of telling him how he should see things from her point of view she chose not to fight with her feelings. She learned long ago her feelings would never matter to another. Especially when another felt they were right with every word that leaves their mouth. To him she was just as bad as those who abused him even though all she was trying to do originally was keep others safe. He would never see that. She will always only be a woman who ‘kidnapped’ him.

“I’m sorry you still feel you should have been killed instead. I learned shit happens in life and all you can do is try not to let it rule your life.” She moved over and filled a goblet with wine since all he wished was to be drunk again; she could make that happen with one drink and send him on his way. “I try to be kind to all but I am the bad guy in many stories. I can count the friends I have on one hand and the enemies I cannot.” She gave a shrug. “If everyone knew how many wars I have stopped, how many medications I have made for the world, how many dangerous magical artifacts I kept out of the hands of others, maybe they would think differently. I am trying to make a world that I would want to live in but I cannot. I am stuck here.” She held out the goblet as she stared at one of the many fancy paintings on the wall. Her eyes tracing the pattern for a moment.

“Drink and go on your way and let the monster rot away.” She said sitting the goblet down and moving from where she had been standing towards the library she had been making her way towards. The halls moving and taking the next right she stepped into the library and opened a small chest she had there that held the bracelet that once bound her to Hera and huffed at it. She was becoming more and more like him with her gruffness; it was like she was losing the pieces of sanity that once made her so kind to everyone. She had been met with stones all her life, even when she did things for others like healing Isolde and bonding her with her true love Tristian ended with the pair hating her. Though if she was fair the spell did backfire on her.

She had so many regrets in this life, maybe that was what was driving her slightly mad. She slid the bracelet back and picked up a random spell book she was flipping through.

[Hawk Black]

His brow formed a line as she spoke, her words didn't make sense. Lashed out? Wasn't trying to bring him to her realm? "Is your perspective so skewed that you don't recall grabbing my hand and quite literally dragging me to your realm?!" The bafflement of this plastered across his face. "You overpowered me, kidnapped me, took me to a place where only you had power, AND THEN strongly suggested we speak. As if I even had an option!" His perplexion was evident, how did she feel like she was innocent here? Or that his defensive behavior was so obscene!? He didn't even process she had now stolen his drunkenness. He didn't care either as he was heated over the gaslighting. "Kind? All I did was say this gem is mine, jokingly throwing pirate law into a situation where it wouldn't apply which didn't even matter. Nothing really does when the power hunger feels the need to throw said power around. "

Hawk sneers a second before locking his jaw and at last, realizing his sobriety. Which definitely didn't help the heated moment. He was trying to be nice, and get vulnerable with some he thought might understand since she was probably the only other person who went through what he had with the Tremblay brothers. Those were drunken hopes he was seeing now as his gaze turned to a glare. Hawk was quite level-headed and often calm but right now he was livid and yet his magic was at bay and it had nothing to do with being in her realm now but everything to do with him being sober. He scoffed and shook his head. "Our paths are unfortunately tied, Clarice. No matter what I do I now know I will always end up back here." He stepped through the portal she gave him. "You want to teach me but it is you who needs to learn first it seems. Hopefully when we next meet in a day, a week, a year, whenever you've taken a moment to review our first encounter. Put yourself in my shoes HELL put yourself in your own! Think back to what it was like with Prospero and remember HOW THAT FELT! Because facing that trauma and every other after made me a better person to those around me than they did when I avoided them. Maybe they'll do the same for you; you're only the villain because you're exactly like them. Exactly what they wanted us to become." 

Hawk stared at her until the portal closed and then even still remained staring until he cooled slightly. His night was ruined however, he no longer longed for a drink, and was certainly in no mood to socialize. He sucked his teeth of course the Tremblays would give him an older sister and of course, they would hate each other "How typical of those arseholes." He huffed to release the heat simmering in his chest his mind wandering to Lily as he wondered what she was doing nowadays and trying to recall the last time The Wind was nice enough to blow her his way. Almost immediately he was calm and the heated anger he felt moments ago was now replaced by a new warmth; one he could call asleep peacefully with. 

Months went on but Hawk never forgot his interactions with Clarice. Though all hope that slithered into his heart of being siblings had long died and that part of his heart had turned back to stone. He should've known better given the history between him and his real younger brother. That look of hatred and disgust when he reunited with Wolf for just that fleeting second was one trauma that still deeply hurt. It was that hurt that maybe encouraged him to try with Clarice despite their terrible first meeting. He sighed as he ran the sharp blade through the bowl of water before him a few times before bringing it up towards his face. Freezing the moment his scenery instantly changed and he was met with what seemed like an equally confused Clarice. That tie he had mentioned was at work again. "Well at least I'm fully dressed." he raised his arms in frustration and sighed as they plopped down to his sides. He wiped the remaining he face with his sleeve since finishing his shave would no longer be possible and sheathed his knife. "I'll just... never be nude again now that I know this is presently a thing." He gestured between them referring to his random jump here clearly unenthusiastic about this. 

[Clarice De Biville - Council]

✧ Well, I touched it so it's mine✧

"Recalling the moment, I reached for the gem simultaneously with you," she remarked, her laughter carrying a mocking edge. "In my realm, you are not without power," she clarified, dismissing his confusion effortlessly. She often forgot that her actions were not perceived the same way by others, given her unique perspective as the Loom Weaver of Faith. "Yet, you interpret my actions one way, while I perceive them differently," she added, momentarily inspecting her nails before fixing her gaze on him.


Perhaps it was the years of ingratitude or simply exhaustion from being cast as the villain by everyone. Maybe that's why the earthly realm made her physically ill, a form of punishment for being perceived as nothing more than a worthless villain.


"You don't comprehend the hunger for power. You have no idea what I've sacrificed to maintain balance in the world. All you, and all of you, see is someone to blame for your problems, without considering another's perspective," she snapped, frustration evident in her voice. "You see a woman craving more magic, but what you fail to see is a woman who has removed some of the most dangerous magical artifacts from existence to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands. I don't flaunt them or utilize them!" she exclaimed, her irritation escalating. She couldn't remember the last time someone had gotten under her skin so easily. It was only then that she realized she had been shouting.


She could effortlessly sever their connection, make him forget her existence. He wouldn't be the first person she had erased herself from. "If you desire to untether our paths, just say the word. You won't be the first to wish me out of their life, nor will you be the last. But the choice is yours," she offered, feeling a pang of pain in her chest as she spoke. "While my traumas are not my fault, I refuse to let them dictate my actions, unlike what you suggest." Her expression twisted then; she was nothing like Prospero, but it seemed that was all he wanted to see. All because of a meeting she hadn't anticipated. He had found a blind spot in her, it seemed. "See me as you wish." With that, the portal closed, leaving her to wander the empty halls in the moonlight.

-

Time flowed differently in her realm. What was a month for Hawk equated to a year for her. A year she spent in isolation, surrounded by wards to repel intruders, refusing to meet with Kyan or Hera. She was tired of reflecting on her life, wondering if she should have embraced death after killing Prospero. As she stared at the loom, contemplating the lives she had influenced, it all felt so meaningless. By the lake where the loom stood, she gazed upon those she cared for.-


Hera seemed preoccupied with his sister, Kyan exuded his usual demeanor but acknowledged her presence with a smirk and a greeting, Tristan and Isolde shared a tranquil moment, Devon embarked on a daring escapade, Nerissa remained bound to her watery grave, awaiting the next new moon, and the Dragon Lady, accompanied by Onyx, Pearl, Ruby, and Vega, reveled in laughter and merriment. Astrid and Vest busied themselves with planning a training session for their clan. She found herself tempted to peer into Hawk's whereabouts but refrained, making her way to the dining room instead. Pouring herself a glass of wine, she nearly dropped it when Hawk appeared.


Her astonishment was palpable as she observed the confusion on his face. How had he managed to breach her magical wards? Her brow furrowed as she lifted the wine to her lips, taking a deliberate sip. "The realm would have provided attire, although it might be a tad ostentatious for your taste, I'm sure," she remarked, moving to the dining table and popping a grape into her mouth before freezing a few and dropping them into the wine. "How much time has elapsed for you?" she pondered aloud, gazing out the window at the starless sky beyond. She struggled to find the words to address the unresolved tension between them.


Even a year later, her thoughts were consumed by how she was perceived by the man who had once taken her, her magic, and used her as he pleased. The potential connection she had felt when they first met was overshadowed by her reluctance to face the hate in his eyes towards her, a hate that mirrored the disdain she once held. "Do you wish to be free from the wretchedness that is me? So you can roam as you please, unencumbered?" she mused silently, knowing that a mere snap of a string could grant his release, though she refrained from voicing it.