KATJA DE LA CRUZ
Dragon
Posts: 53
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Kit Clarke
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 16, 2024 19:00:56 GMT
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Post by KATJA DE LA CRUZ on Mar 30, 2023 19:03:34 GMT
Muttering under her breath in a steady stream of Quechua, Katja fought her way out from under the sheets. They were itchy. The mattress that had looked new enough when they’d moved in had developed lumps, like some razor toothed creature was trying to tear its way free of the earth every time she turned over. And she had spent another night doing that constantly.
As it had done the night before, Bernardo’s low voice droned through the wall. She hadn’t heard Copacati’s voice on the other end either time, but there was only one person he spoke to in that obsequious tone. Yes, Copacati, no, Copacati, I’ll do whatever it takes to get through to her, Copacati. Promises made that she had every intention of standing in the way of, even if it meant she had to stay here.
Frank probably would’ve let her stay, saved her that walk of shame back into the apartment that had instantly felt smaller with her shattered ego filling it. It would have put him in the middle of her and Kit though and she wasn’t about to force him to make that choice, or take away one of the people who would hold Kit up if he tumbled again. They needed each other and she needed to get out.
The apartment hadn’t felt that small when they’d rented it. ’Two bedrooms, only one bathroom, sorry – although there is a large shower’ (the realtor had glanced at Bernardo when she’d said that, although she’d blushed and clamped up as she’d remembered he wasn’t viewing the place alone). Maybe two thirds the size of Frank’s place, but without the stretch of yard, the porch where she’d linger in the mornings, coffee in her hands, watching Frank head out to work, listening to Kit pad down the stairs, anticipating the brush of lips on sun warmed skin as he found her. Room to stretch her wings, literally.
Bernardo walked out of his room as she did, the bulk of him filling the corridor enough of a pressure against her personal bubble to have her shoving her way past him and into the bathroom. He was there, waiting in the kitchen when she got out, but the silence that had held between them since the night she’d arrived back without an explanation held. She wasn’t talking that through with him.
’I told you he would be trouble’.
Her mother’s voice drifted out of the apartment with her, insidious in her head, the way it had been for what had felt like thousands of days trapped underground. Warnings that had fallen on purposefully deaf ears, warnings she should’ve listened to. Shoulders creeping up around her ears, Katja walked across the square, avoiding the club that squatted large and ugly on the square, the same way Bernardo had in the apartment. Unavoidable, but she wouldn’t hide from it either. She’d born the scars of her mistakes with pride from the moment Copacati had set her free. These weren’t as visible, but she’d bear them too. Lines cut into her heart, radiating pain and heat as she’d slammed her way from the house that night. Still burning.
Places like this were littered with the dust and ruins of civilisations that had risen and fallen, failing in violence or starvation. Katja pushed her way through the front door of the museum, wondering if that was the way Copacati would’ve described what she’d lost, but she doubted her mother had ever been that poetic in her life. In the Goddess’ mind she hadn’t failed, her empire hadn’t crumbled. Her grandmother might have fought as Francisco Pizarro had brought the Incans to their knees, but the Order had continued and as long as it did, so would Copacati.
Katja drifted among the glass cases, stepping close enough to read some of the plaques. Local history for the most part - a Civil War uniform, complete with musket ball hole in the shoulder (close enough to the memories that always simmered just below the surface to have her stomach twisting), a small exhibition on the Founding Families (paying for a wing or two probably bought you as much real estate in the place as you wanted), a trail through the Americas that she followed one case at a time.
She knew what home sickness felt like and it hadn’t been what had tugging at the pit of her stomach. A flash of it worked through her as she saw the spreading tendrils of the Amazon on the map that backed the glass display cabinet. The pool of Lake Titicaca, the spot – not marked – where the village had lain. Katja pressed her fingertips to the glass, her brows drawing together as she stared down at the artefacts scattered against the black felt background. A bird handled dish, a ceremonial knife that glittered with what she was sure was a gold inlay. The arm band, silver, chased with geometric images, a jaguar’s face, it’s eyes ruby red and still as bright as they had been when the piece had graced her mother’s slender bicep.
Her fingertips pressed harder, heat rising from them to begin to fog the glass with steam. She had been wearing it the night the men had come, it had rung up against the stone floor of the cave as she had shifted and flown back towards the village. Laying there in the dark like the life the three of them had together. Katja’s frown deepened, vanishing entirely a moment later as the smudged reflection of someone approaching behind her appeared on the case. She drew the heat back, pasted on a smile as she turned to the woman. ”An impressive piece, hmm? Real, yes?” Oh, she knew it was, the dent from where it had hit the floor was still there, not polished out by the men who must have torn the place apart once they were gone.
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PENNY BARTLETT
Dragon
Posts: 77
Played by:
julia
Last seen Nov 3, 2024 18:33:41 GMT
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Post by PENNY BARTLETT on May 7, 2023 20:53:57 GMT
 ━ for a dreamer, night's the only time of day ━
There was a gaggle of students being led through by one of the overly-chipper guides, students that were too young in her opinion. Children should be housed somewhere until they reached the age where they could be normal human beings. Respectful instead of little snot bags who only insulted you and spread germs. Actually, she could appreciate them for that━they said whatever they wanted to and nobody batted an eye because they were “just kids” and “didn’t know any better.” Honestly, she was jealous. Though Penny didn’t particularly care what others thought━it came with being her age━but it mattered if she wanted to keep her job and stay in Mystic Falls. Which, well, she didn’t━but Cassandra did. So Penny held her tongue and slipped around the children.
She checked on the roped-off exhibit, ensuring the techs were still on track for its debut next month. Penny didn’t waste too long with them before she moved on, trying to check off as much of her to-do list as quickly as possible.
Upon passing the hall of historic artefacts from Mystic Falls and beyond, she spotted some woman touching the glass━the glass that specifically said: “do not touch.” What’s even more, though, was the heat rolling off her fingertips. Penny quirked a brow as she assessed the fogging glass, mentally debating between witch, phoenix or dragon. A witch was more likely, though she had no idea why a witch would be so interested in antiques from a dead tribe. Maybe they held some sort of magic. Penny just liked them because they were gold.
The woman seemed to reel it in as Penny approached, which made her even more suspicious━she was definitely something. This was just another point proven.
“Of course.” Penny said as she stilled by the woman’s side, dragging her (longing) gaze from the gold to the woman. “Please don’t touch the glass, though━as the sign says.” She pointed to the sign a few feet away, on the lower part of the glass. “It’s mostly for kids who get their grubby fingers on it.” She raised her arm and tried to buff away the smudges with her sleeve, mumbling, “Or the ones who try to melt it.” Loud enough for the woman to hear, her eyes, flicking sideways to the stranger.
KATJA DE LA CRUZ | no notes. |
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KATJA DE LA CRUZ
Dragon
Posts: 53
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Kit Clarke
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 16, 2024 19:00:56 GMT
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Post by KATJA DE LA CRUZ on May 13, 2023 15:49:07 GMT
The village that had once bloomed with life had been dark and barren when she had finally returned to it. Charred, tumbled walls marking out where generation after generation had flourished, the small personal symbols of lives those homes had held turned to ash, at least she’d believed they all had been. The arm band that glittered beneath the cabinet’s glass was proof it hadn’t been. Some remnants of life as it had been before the earth had been scorched, her people slaughtered had clung on tenaciously, as she had.
Would the man’s fingerprints still be on it? Invisible to the naked eye, but etched deep on the spoils of his war the same way Kit’s were on her. You could try to scrub them away, some things remained all the same, though. Plastering her fingers against the glass, raising the heat in them until it started to fog was just a momentary fog screen. In the end those marks would rise to the surface again, battle scars and bitter reminders that wouldn’t vanish, even if she took both the arm band and the pieces of her heart (and her shattered pride), back to the woman who would burn it all away for her.
Copacati had lost almost everything in the jungle that night, but looking at her you wouldn’t have believed it. The woman still strode through the world as though she owed it, pride shining bright as the fire that could burst from her. Imperious, gracious (as much as it burned her to admit it), brave, savage when it was needed, proud and beautiful in that ethereal way she hadn’t inherited. Infuriating. If her heart had shattered the night her lover – her love – had died, then she hadn’t allowed her daughter to see it.
For a moment Katja had seen Copacati’s reflection there in the misted glass and had felt a pang for her, but then it had shifted, like clouds reflected upon the Amazon and it had been the woman instead. Her brow quirked, perhaps not in anger. There was no instant shriek for security to remove the rule breaker, as though they would’ve been capable of much if she had melted the glass and taken what would’ve been her birthright when Copacati had finally decided to abdicate to her daughter.
Turning to face her, she pasted on the charm she had inherited, the first smile that had cracked that hardened mask her face had become when she’d pushed the door open. Playing guileless had become somewhat of a speciality after Copacati had been called to the school to discuss her outburst over the gringo’s ridiculous representation of dragons. Don’t let any of them see, a lesson she’d forgotten when she’d set her shields aside. ”Llakikunim.” Katja pressed her now merely warm fingertips to her chest. ”Sorry. Sometimes, English, you know…” Didn’t escape her. Maybe there was an occasional slip in her speech, the accent inescapable for sure, but she understood every word on that sign, and was prepared to ignore them.
The woman’s gaze was just as easy to read, leaving Katja’s pale eyes narrowing, her smile sharpening. The man who’d likely taken the piece in the first place wasn’t the only one greedy for it then. ”No grub here,” Katja crooned, taking a step back as the woman swept in to scrub at the glass as thought there were truly some damage to it. Not far enough to miss the comment though. ”My bad,” Katja shot back dryly, her throat just as arid suddenly. It had been too flashy, too easily seen. ”You know the origin of this piece?” Her mouth settling into a thin line as she lifted her chin towards the little plaque that described the piece. ”Copacati? What she could do it and this whole place?” If the woman had realised what she was doing, then a little name dropping wouldn’t be of much harm, would it? Copacati would’ve spat at the idea, but she was safe enough from any that might come seeking her now, surrounded by loyal followers in the sanctuary she’d spent decades hiding in.
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PENNY BARTLETT
Dragon
Posts: 77
Played by:
julia
Last seen Nov 3, 2024 18:33:41 GMT
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Post by PENNY BARTLETT on Jun 7, 2023 0:19:43 GMT
━ for a dreamer, night's the only time of day ━
“No grub here” was a completely unbelievable statement. Of course there was grub. Everyone, all members of the public (and half the staff) had grubby hands. Penny wouldn’t excuse her, but at least she had enough sense to take a step back. That better have meant she’d keep her grubbiness to herself.
The origin of the piece? Copacati? Penny’s eyes flicked to the woman and narrowed slightly as she looked her over. She knew bits about the Legend of the Goddess, mostly that she was some tribal figure in the bowels of Peru. And likely fiction. A guardian of one of the lakes there, and a total bitch, according to the stories. Penny respected that━being enough of a badass ruler that everyone still worshipped you while still thinking you were terrifying.
“A lake goddess? My best guess would be that she’d fill this place with water and drown us all out.” Which was the opposite of the fire abilities she thought were present here. “Are you from Peru?” She asked, raising a brow, “A believer of Inca mythology?” That was pretty obscure, Penny thought, and strangely interesting. Did anybody really believe in those stories? She was old enough to realize that there had to be something greater than herself, but… a lake goddess? It reminded her of the Legend of King Arthur and, namely, the Lady of the Lake, though she resigned herself to the fact that they could have been the same figure, just adapted for different regions.
KATJA DE LA CRUZ | no notes. |
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KATJA DE LA CRUZ
Dragon
Posts: 53
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Kit Clarke
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 16, 2024 19:00:56 GMT
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Post by KATJA DE LA CRUZ on Jun 20, 2023 10:11:56 GMT
Pieces of her peoples’ history littered the museums in Lima – what the Conquistadors had tried to stamp out displayed alongside exhibitions on the way they had swept through the country. Copacati had never forbidden her to join the school trips to them, but had always heaped on the warnings about holding her temper and staying quiet before she went. Katja had always wondered what she expected her to do – smash open the cases and steal back what had been stolen from them already? Add it all to the dusty antiques the Order held onto like they weren’t hundreds, thousands, of years out of date? It would have been as pointless as telling her teacher that dragons didn’t steal virgins just to burn them alive. Those people did not get it.
The woman’s expectations had seemed to fall along those exact lines. Her grubby hands had been too close, the precious cuff in danger of being mishandled. It would have slid up to her bicep easily, gathering heat from her skin as it went. As a child, held almost crushed between her parents when she was taken to the cave to see her mother, her fingers had traced the lines of it. Learning from it, Copacati had told her. Then the expectation had been that one day she would take her mother’s place, as Copacati had taken the place of her own mother as the Goddess centuries before.
That cave in the jungle hadn’t been near the legendary Titicaca, where Copacati was supposed to dwell, but it hadn’t mattered, the villagers had kept the faith – right up until the day they had been slaughtered.
If she could’ve gotten a drink past the puckered looking guard at the door she would have gulped from it now, rinsing away the stinging grit of the memory. ”Arí. Yes, that woulud be her,” Katja managed with a snort. She swallowed hard, feeling her throat catch. Smiling past it took effort, her smugness at the woman’s lack of real knowledge greasing the expression. ”Drowning? No. Aye, manan manachus ninata wañuchinanpaq hina llakisqa karqan chayqa.” And that was debatable. Greedy creatures like this woman had been plundering Peru for centuries, stripping away their riches and any regard for their kind. For her daughter, Copacati had raised an entire camp to the ground, nothing recognisable as flesh or bone left.
Katja swallowed back the bitter heat in her throat, trying to rid herself of the ashy taste. Not so long ago her ravaged heart had almost driven her to do the same, but even if he’d been the one to do the damage in the first place, she could not do that to Kit – or Frank, or Kace, or any of the others whose lives were wrapped up at least partly in that house. Sinking her teeth into the tip of her tongue at the woman’s question, Katja nodded mutely. About 400km easy of Lima as the dragon flew. ”I don’t look it?” she asked, raising a dark brow. ”Poyeni, not on the tourist route.” AKA well beyond your knowledge of the country – as many never ventured beyond Lima or Cusco.
The laugh snapped out before she could take another smug little swipe at how little experts knew. Heat would’ve snapped out viciously from Copacati at the question – her daughter a believer, of course she was. The Order had continued to hold on to those beliefs while everybody around them had moved on.
Leaning in towards the woman, Katja allowed some of that heat into her pale eyes – the colour of the waterfall itself, her father had called them. ”Enough to tell you that Copacati would burn this all to take back what is hers. Grub is not so bad now, hmm?” And her mother’s temper tantrum over what was hers, being held here, was exactly why she wouldn’t melt through the glass to take it all back. Copacati got her way enough as it was, she had to learn that some things were beyond her reach – just as some things were beyond her own.
Those pale eyes flicked up to meet the woman’s, her teeth bared to lend an almost feral edge to her smile and cover that ache in her chest. ”How about you, gringa? Do you believe in the old ways, or is all of that just dust and glitter to you?” Like everything else in this place. If there was anything left of those civilisations, they were like her own, treasured possessions of things long out of their times and places. One day they wouldn’t even be that much – everything crumbled in the end – the real trick was being able to hold on when it all went.
Tagged: PENNY BARTLETT * Word Count: 783 Translation: Aye, not unless she was bothered enough to put out the fire |
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PENNY BARTLETT
Dragon
Posts: 77
Played by:
julia
Last seen Nov 3, 2024 18:33:41 GMT
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Post by PENNY BARTLETT on Jul 9, 2023 15:58:30 GMT
━ for a dreamer, night's the only time of day ━
“It wouldn’t be my first guess.” She hummed lightly, then nodded, knowing that “Poyeni” was at least somewhat familiar. She’d had a lot of time to travel in her years, and quickly pulled up a bit of knowledge. “Ah, yes━but it isn’t too far from Macchu Picchu.” Not by flight, anyway, and she wouldn’t let this little bitch immediately disregard her as a tourist. She wouldn’t hold one over on Penny.
Penny stayed where she was as the woman leaned in, stone-faced, and not intimidated in the least. Especially not when the woman’s eyes flashed orange. One edge of her lips curled into a smirk as her theory was proven correct. She did some quick math in her head, too, trying to guess how old this particular dragon might be. Inca mythology didn’t exactly have a timeframe of when it began, but she could fall back onto the Spanish Conquest of the Inca Empire, and that would still make her younger than Penny. Her behaviour, too, made her seem younger. Either way, though, Penny wouldn’t back down on the off chance she might be older. She watched, and waited, and when the other dragon was finally done posturing, Penny took a full step forward, her eyes darkening to that same deep orange.
“I was there when it was written, honey, and I believe only in what I’ve seen.” Her smirk grew, though it wasn’t half as feral as the other’s. She didn’t need to show her abilities in a facial expression; the sheer awesome power of it would do that for her. “I am dust and glitter, and you stomped in here looking to bestow your knowledge on the lesser kind.” At some point, the conversation had turned, and the stranger had become smug and rude, trying to force Penny into a pissing contest, and she wouldn’t put up with it any longer. “So go on, child, tell me the bedtime stories they repeated to you, and I’ll let you know if it matches what I witnessed.” Her voice was eerily calm, though her eyes were still orange, little embers dancing in them.
KATJA DE LA CRUZ | no notes. |
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KATJA DE LA CRUZ
Dragon
Posts: 53
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Kit Clarke
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 16, 2024 19:00:56 GMT
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Post by KATJA DE LA CRUZ on Jul 24, 2023 17:54:48 GMT
She wasn’t in Lima anymore, although even there the babble of Quechua would have fallen on mostly deaf ears. The Spanish had done more than conquer their cities, their presence had slowly bled into everything, including the language. As she did in so many other ways Copacati had clung to the old language and after her father had died, she’d appreciated it in a way. Quechua was his, just as her eyes were – even if they were the pale eyes that had infiltrated their gene pool with the arrival of the Spanish.
Katja pressed her lips together around the echo of her amused words as the woman’s brows rose. Kit had understood no more than she had, although the content of the words had been very different. Pain and heartbreak on one hand, the amused threat of a self-professed goddess on the other. The threat might have become real if Copacati had heard the suggestion that her daughter didn’t look Peruvian. Her lineage had run deep enough in the country that they were worshipped and here she was in this town, scrabbling around to keep the pieces of herself together.
She huffed out a breath. ”Too pale?” she asked, her lips curving. Too American these days, in her mother’s opinion. ”Ah, no, but most tourists never look further than that. They take the trails, they take their photos, they care little of the country beyond it.” And most there preferred it that way. Copacati would have gladly ejected them all, keeping the country for those who respected its old ways instead of putting them in places like this. Leaving them to gather dust and rot as the village she had left in ruins in the end had. Katja glanced back at the display cabinet, the cuff still within, then to the next – Brazil, nothing of concern to her. If there had been anything on her father’s here, it would have been a different story, no conversation made before she had shattered the glass with the heat of her touch and taken what she had wanted.
It wasn’t temper or the need to prove she was the bigger woman that had her leaning in to the woman. There might have been threat in her voice, in the flash of her eyes, but none of us was to warn about her. Copacati was a different matter, one left in a country just far enough from here. The blonde didn’t so much as twitch in startlement. One corner of her mouth lifted into a smirk that had Katja’s own stomach twitching faintly. Not surprised by the fire that had risen in her eyes, she knew in some way and suddenly she felt foolish at having revealed her hand. To show what you were was dangerous, it had been her mother’s first lesson to her.
The woman stepped towards her, her own eyes flashing just as bright. Joder. Katja shifted her weight as she realised her misstep, huffing out the breath that would have tried to stick in her throat. ”Old enough to know better to believe her bullshit then,” she said, tipping her head towards her mother’s cuff. Perhaps old enough to have passed through her mother’s territory, to see just how Copacati had styled herself, basking in the worship of people who had held onto those old ways while the world had changed around them.
Drawing in a deep breath, Katja resisted the urge to shake her head and let out the truth of why she was here, in this relic of a place, instead of where she would have been before her still being at her mother’s beck and call had torn the heart out of what she’d believed had been there between her and Kit. ”Oh, trust me, gringa, that was not my intention. This was a surprise, and not welcome.” Her fingers were back on the glass as she spoke, tapping over the top of the cuff without the added heat this time.
”It would be her that repeated them to me. Mama.” The finger tapped again, a chuckle rolling out over the sharp little sound. ”And if you’ve witnessed anything with her, you would know this would have her pissed. Her things locked in a tomb like this. They came, and she tossed this aside to fight. Spoils of war, hmm? I guess finders keep and losers weep. She’d hate it, but she won’t hear of this from me. You can keep your trinket.” A thoughtful noise rolled from her throat. Katja looked away from the woman, unbothered as amusement settled back in to the angular lines of her face. ”Is this all of hers you have?” Places like this had vaults didn’t they? Places to squirrel these things away like nuts.
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PENNY BARTLETT
Dragon
Posts: 77
Played by:
julia
Last seen Nov 3, 2024 18:33:41 GMT
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Post by PENNY BARTLETT on Aug 20, 2023 15:38:49 GMT
━ for a dreamer, night's the only time of day ━
Bullshit? After toting all the mysticism of the Inca beliefs, Penny had assumed the woman would take everything as fact. Evidently not, however. “Bullshit?” Penny repeated with a smirk, “You pick and choose what to believe, then?” Her eyes faded back to their regular deep brown. She was certainly singing a different tune now. How long would it take before the other dragon’s beliefs had crumbled completely?
Though she claimed it was a surprise, it seemed to have been well thought out. Almost as though the woman had come to the museum specifically for this.
Penny waited without responding, knowing the girl would eventually reveal the answers Penny sought. And she did. Mother. This was the Goddess’ daughter? She hadn’t existed when Penny was there, and while royalty usually liked to ensure their family name would go on, deities (even self-professed) were different. She wondered how long it’d taken Copacati to reproduce.
“Hmm,” Penny hummed as she glanced at the so-called trinkets locked beneath the case. “I have, but, fortunately, this isn’t my department. Not my responsibility.” And not her fault if Copacati’s loyal followers came to collect. “Poor relationship with your mother, then?” It was almost a tease. Penny couldn’t see how a woman like that could soften for a child, but it wasn’t impossible. However, considering the way her daughter spoke about her, Penny figured she wasn’t a touchy-feely kind of mother.
“Losers, weepers.” Penny corrected. Still, she didn’t fully believe that Copacati would never hear of this. “It’s her trinket, but one of this museum’s prized possessions. Wouldn’t she be happy that her story has been brought to the Western world━that more believers are always a potential?” Penny smirked. It would be a hard sell, but the point was there━deities only existed if people continued to believe in them.
Penny put space between them again, and looked off towards the rest of the museum, considering what might be in storage. “I highly doubt we have more. It isn’t exactly easy to come by.” But there were a few pieces Winter still had to check for her. She glanced back at the woman, another sharp smirk on her face. “I suppose you don’t want to join the mailing list to be made aware of any new items of hers we put on display?”
KATJA DE LA CRUZ | wrap w yours? |
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KATJA DE LA CRUZ
Dragon
Posts: 53
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Kit Clarke
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 16, 2024 19:00:56 GMT
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Post by KATJA DE LA CRUZ on Sept 25, 2023 18:13:54 GMT
A lecture from Copacati had always felt like a scalding, as though her mother’s heat was spreading beneath her skin, stinging in a way that made her squirm and scowl. She’d presumed it was just because it was Copacati and the two of them had always been like oil and alcohol (yes, yes, she knew it was water, but that didn’t burn and the two of them certainly did). The dragon in front of her left her feeling the same, the heat simmering and leaving her restless – proving that she wasn’t as numb as she believed she’d become since she’d left Frank’s house that last time. Katja forced herself to stop squirming, it wasn’t as though she could tear or burn it out of herself.
If she’d wanted to feel like this she would have gone home, packing up her bags and suffering through the days trapped with Bernardo in vehicles that were far too small (and reminded her of their last trip). As she’d done before she’d unpack in that cell of a room again, enduring the hot waves of Copacati’s disappointment. They’d always spoken of how the goddess would judge you and that was part of her legend that they hadn’t gotten wrong. Fail to worship the goddess correctly, or offer the wrong thing to her when you came to plead your case and she would destroy you as she supposedly had the temples to other deities. Her father’s offering had been different, a way for Copacati to produce the dragon that would one day take her place, only that meant that she got to see behind the screen of myth that her mother put up.
”I choose not to believe she is everything legend makes her out to be,” Katja said, momentarily diplomatic. She had seen how her mother operated and the way her followers believed every word that spilled from her mouth. They were all brainwashed, just as Bernardo proved. She puffed out her amusement. If he’d been here he’d likely have been trying to recruit the dragon to the Order – as though she wouldn’t be able to see straight through Copacati’s ruse.
She could see the dragon’s just as easily, but she wasn’t about to stand there and play the mysterious card the same way Copacati might have done. What was the point in disguising what the goddess was to one who already seemed quite aware? Was the hum proof that she’d surprised her? Maybe not. Katja’s chuckle settled until she was just flashing teeth at the woman. ”Copacati never has had a close relationship with anybody,” she told the woman. Except for her father. Maybe if he had lived it would have been different, but the men that had invaded the jungle had cemented hers and Copacati’s future. She doubted that Copacati would soften at this woman’s assurance that the cuff wasn’t here because of her. Blame would fly in all directions as the place was reduced to crushed glass and charred remnants of other civilisations.
Katja’s glance shot to her as she said back something that was almost like what she had said. After a moment she shook her head, brushing off the correction like an irritating fly. ”You say you’re aware of her, you think she’ll be happy?” The woman obviously knew her own nature too, and even though much of what they said about them was lies, there was a tug to the gut when riches like this were right there in front of them. She’d just learned to shove it aside. Give her a cot bed and endless sand any day.
One last glance was cast at the cuff, that small taste of a home that hadn’t been hers in two decades and then Katja was drawing away. For one piece Copacati likely wouldn’t bother them, even if it was that piece. ”She always kept what she could close to home,” Katja said dryly. That would’ve included her daughter, if she’d allowed it. As the dragon shot that last smirked comment to her, she hissed out a laugh and shook her head. ”No. You can keep her. I don’t want anything to do with it.” As though she were bidding the display a goodbye, Katja tapped her fingers lightly on the glass before she turned away. The one person that had truly loved her there had been gone for twenty years, and the one she thought had here had turned out not to love her at all. The warmth she had left lingering like a promise in his bed replaced by someone else’s. One day her heart would catch up to it all and would go ice cold, the same way Copacati’s had. Maybe then it would stop hurting.
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hope to see you in the discord! 
