Lysandra Ashryver (![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} clawsreleased) wrote in ![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} madisonvalley,@ 2025-01-28 19:13:00 |
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What: Lysandra’s arrival
Where: the White Wyrm
When: Jan. 25th
Rating: low-med, but TW vomit and mentions of war
Status: Closed; g-doc
Lysandra ran from her friends, not far, so she could puke. While her ghost leopard form allowed her to rip out throats and revelled in drinking blood and eating flesh, turned out valg did not agree with her. The black blood tasted even worse a second time.
The brunette just finished, listening to her friends a few feet away before she puked again, blinked, and suddenly noticed she’d thrown up on someone’s shoe? In a bar? She blinked and looked around before warning, “Move before I throw up on you again.”
At least now her body felt like she didn’t have anything else to puke for a few minutes.
This was not the first time she had been thrown up on and this was not the first time she’d dealt with black bodily functions, but it was the first time they were combined. At least she wasn’t bleeding black from her eyes - that was always a bad look and she would know personally.
She pulled back. “And people wonder why I wear my knee-high boots.” Okay, so it wasn’t the only reason since she thought she looked hot in them too, but this was a helpful reason.
Kenzi reached for two glasses to fill with water. One for her boot and one for the woman who just appeared out of nowhere. “You okay, or do I need to call an ambulance?”
Lysandra groaned. “Valg taste awful.” She looked at the other woman and said, “Where…am I? Also sorry.” She didn’t often apologize, but throwing up on a stranger’s boots warranted a half-hearted apology. The shifter’s emerald green eyes took in the woman.
She shook her head. “I…” and paused, because who the hell knew where she was and how people felt about shifters. “I should be okay.” At the offered glass of water, Lys took it with a nod of thanks.
“I’m Lysandra.” Before she could say anything else, a man in a suit showed up holding out a key, a card of some sort, and something else called a phone. His words made little sense and then he left.
“What. The. Fuck.”
While Lysandra was coming to terms with stuff, Kenzi poured a little water on her boot and then grabbed a rag. She washed her boots off as much as possible and then tossed the rag into the garbage. It wasn’t worth saving.
“Sorry, he was faster than usual. I’m Kenzi. And you just poofed into a different world. I’m going to guess since you were throwing up some black stuff and said a word like ‘Valg’ you’re from a world where weird is kind of normal.”
“Sorry about your boots.” Lysandra looked a little embarrassed about the woman’s boots, but at least she seemed to not be angry. Possibly resigned that her boots wouldn’t be the same again. She drank a little water.
“Hello Kenzi. I’m Lysandra.” The former courtesan sighed and then looked down at her clothing. She’d avoided throwing up on herself, and noticed her clothing compared to the other woman’s. Lysandra wore a silk dress which she’d learn was rather old-fashioned.
“Does he usually take more time to show up?”
“Don’t worry about it. It happens. Trust me.” Kenzi came from a life where she thrifted almost everything so she’d be cleaning her boots when she got home and making them good as new. Did it matter that Kaa left her a huge house and a lot of money? Nope. Once a thrifted, always a thrifted.
“Sometimes, yeah. I guess it depends on where they are when someone appears. I’ve always thought they must have like some sort of pager that beeps at them when there’s a disturbance in the force.” Maybe a beeper was too low tech.
“So, where you from? Ever heard of Earth before?”
Lysandra nodded, brunette hair falling in front of her face. Usually she styled her hair, but she’d been running as a ghost leopard and fighting, so her hair mostly fell in front of her face. “As long as you don’t say all of the time,” the shifter added, with a smirk.
“Wait, so people showing up randomly is…a thing that happens?” Great. She sounded so excited. Except not. “What…is a beeper?”
Now she side eyed the woman. “Do most people not know what Earth is?” Lysandra didn’t automatically answer the where question, because she hoped to get home to her friends. Rifthold sounded far away at this moment. And…a lot of people hated the place so she didn’t want to admit she lived there.
“More or less, yeah. I like to think of it like a way station but I’ve heard people call it a pocket dimension. People come from all over.” It sounded like she was from Earth with that side-eye of her. Which was weird because she definitely said Valg which wasn’t a normal thing on many Earths. Probably. Maybe it was a language she didn’t know. “But, yeah, actually. Tons of worlds where Earth doesn’t exist and then a lot of our Earths are different. Mine have Fae, but his doesn’t.” She gestured over to where Andy was doing some work. “Some have magic and some don’t.” She offered a nonchalant shrug. She’d been here long enough it was second nature. “One of my best friends has mermaids back home. So yeah.”
Now Lysandra wondered if the valgs had some spell that made her hallucinate this whole damn thing. “A pocket dimension.” She really needed something to help with the headache she noticed starting.
“Right. I need a drink or something for headaches.” Lysandra tried to follow the conversation, but mostly she’d gotten lost. “Oh…I come from a world with fae.” She missed Aelin and Rowan a lot. “Mermaids?” Her emerald eyes took in the guy doing work.
“I’m a shifter.” Lysandra turned into a cute black dog and then shifted back into the form she usually took. No longer could she remember her own face.
“You just so happen to be in the right place for a drink.” She decided to forgo the beer and wine and poured something stronger for her. She slid the drink over to the woman. She had Tylenol too on her, but Kenzi thought the alcohol would be preferred. She’d have picked it over pain meds, that’s for sure.
She sucked in a little breath, eyes wide with excitement. “You didn’t even have to get naked!” Yes, this was her first take away. “So cool! Are you just a dog shifter or are you like, someone who can shift into all the things?” The last one she met who could do that pretended to be Bo though he hadn’t known Bo was a succubus.
Lysandra watched the other woman. “Glad to know bars look kind of similar. Though…different.” This was cleaner at least and didn’t seem to be lit by candles and gas. “Thank you.” After taking a sip, she sighed.
“No?” Why would she have to get naked? “Do people usually unclothe to shift?” Lysandra sounded amused and confused. To answer her question, she turned into a butterfly, a raven, a ghost leopard, a tabby, a redheaded male, and then back to her previous face. “I can shift into any living creature. How do I use this?” She pointed at the thing the man called a phone.
She nodded. “Most of the ones I know, yeah. Though I only officially one and he’s a wolf shifter. His name is Dyson and runs the Fae tavern called the Dal.” Also one of her besties. She was pretty sure most of the werewolves had to lose their clothes too, though she wasn’t sue if all of them did.
Kenzi responded to each shift with delightment - she always made a good hype woman.
“Oh! Right. The phone. Sure.” She took the phone and then slowly went through some of the basic functions. Once she was done, she let Lysandra practice. “It’s how a lot of us communicate here. I’m guessing you’re from an earlier time in Earth.” And Earth, anyway. “We’re on an Earth-like planet. You’ll notice two suns in the sky. Don’t worry though, you won’t get more sunburned or anything. Oh, and people here are pretty chill about people being not-human. In case that’s a thing back home.” Though she shifted pretty easily so Lysandra didn’t strike Kenzi as someone who had to hide a lot.
Lysandra grinned, enjoying the enthusiasm. She only had one female friend back home and found herself liking Kenzi. “And what is this bar called?” Thankfully, she didn’t need to worry about clothes. Or she’d be in trouble. “Thank you for the enthusiasm.”
She listened intently as the woman explained, emerald eyes missing nothing. “Perhaps. I don’t know how to gauge if I come from an earlier time or a different Earth.” Just saying those words caused her to drink more. “But as long as I am not bought or sold as property, I can make a life here.”
As she took the phone and trusted out a few things that Kenzi told her, the shifter spoke again. “It’s… dependent upon where you live. Magic just returned. It’s a long story, but evil power hungry men etc.”. Hopefully Kenzi understood her meaning.
“This is the White Wyrm.” Now that she thought about it, didn’t The White Wyrm sound a little more Fae than The Dal? Probably because The Dal was Irish. Man she missed Trick.
Her eyes widened a little, then Kenzi looked annoyed on Lysandra’s behalf. “Bought and sold? Abso-totally-not, thank you. Slavery is the big N. O. here and thankfully from the time I come from. And those men? They can suck on a rotten egg. Power-hungry jerks know how to ruin everything” Then her expression morphed into a mixture of concern and sympathy. “You’re safe here and you have all the choices. Except the weather.” It sounded to Kenzi like Madison was going to be ten times better than her home.
The White Wyrm sounded like a place where Aelin would wind up in trouble and some combination of Aedion, Rowan, and Chaol would help rescue her. Or keep the trouble from getting worse.
“Back home I was raised as a courtesan. Not my choice but the man who held my debt and freedom. Let’s just say his throat wound up slit.” Lysandra sounded… oddly proud, but grateful. Grateful that Aelin allowed her the killing blow.
A nod. What… did that mean? Really? Without Aelin or Evangeline? Not that her expression showed how confused and scared she felt, having perfected a mask at all times. But, she offered a rare and genuine smile. “I suppose I will have to figure out a path for myself.” Hadn’t she always?
Her nose scrunched. Kenzi had been on the streets before she found Bo and had seen a lot of things. Courtesan were just fancier names for the same sort of thing, at least in Kenzi’s mind. She didn’t look at all bothered by the admission of murder either. If a man thought he could own someone, he deserved a good shanking.
“I can help, if you like. Actually, you’ll probably find a lot of people here willing to help. Most of us have been here in one way or another. You get used to this place eventually. I’ve been here for five years now.”
Courtesan meant she wore fancy clothes and ate good meals, all while racking up more of a debt. Lysandra finally got out of that life, embarking on an adventure with her friends. And by adventure, saving the whole damn world.
She raised an eyebrow, even while she inwardly panicked because what about Evangeline? Her friends? “I would appreciate the help,” she commented with a smile. Kenzi seemed like someone she could befriend, not unlike Sam. She missed her friend still even two years later.
She sent her a wide grin. “Awesome! I can clock out early and give you a bit of a tour, then bring you to the apartments if you like.” There were some perks to being a manager here even though maybe some people would say that was ‘abusing’ her position, but perks were integral to upper management! Besides, she knew her staff had this. “And you can ask all the questions you want. No question is a stupid question. Promise.”
Lysandra nodded, obviously pleased that the other woman could help. She threw back the rest of her drink and stood, ready to be on her way.