How the game has changed

[Arrow]

Leiana LaCroix

Oh how the game has changed once again. Arrow had seen the rise of the coalition, the rise of a clan and now both the fall of a clan and of a coalition. Flokru was no more. The coalition in itself was no more. Nightblood lost meaning and power to an unknown degree. And even the power within what once was the coalition and was now another one, had shifted entirely. Away from the ones born on the ground towards skaikru. As much as Skairippa proclaimed unity, the truth was different and glaringly obvious. Only skaikru had the skills and knowledge to operate the bunker. If they wanted to, they were in power, if they reminded everyone of what was at stake: Their very own lives. And Azgeda the once strong and proud clan, was without their monarch. 

Everything was changing. And he knew he had to adapt if he wanted to survive in this situation. And if he could do something, it was adapt and sweettalk people. He watched skaikru closely. There was one, one girl, he was actually interested in. She was, despite everything around her, sweet, smiling. She had somehow held onto something most of them had lost and it intruiged him. So one day, with his ration in hand, he went up to her.

"You seem to be the only cheerful one here or is that all an act?"

[Leiana LaCroix]

And while you are sitting indoors
waiting for the storm to pass
I will be outside dancing in the rain

❧

Leiana was taking the time to explore, to become more familiar with her surroundings and learn more about grounder culture when an unfamiliar voice sounded from behind her. She spun about, slightly surprised, making herself dizzy.

She hadn't expected anyone to approach her and it took a moment for her heart to settle back into a normal rhythm and for her vision to clear enough for her to make out the features of the man standing before her. He was attractive, was a little taller than she was, a little older as well. She hadn't met him before -- surely she would have remembered his face.

He asked if her cheery disposition was all an act, and she could only smile softly. "Would you believe me if I told you it wasn't?" Leiana was a rarity even among her own people -- Thelonious had said she was one of the few sky people that embodied the best of their people.

Maybe that was the reason she had been asked to come to Polis when Clarke had become ambassador to their people, to set a good example for others, to show their people held the capacity for kindness and not just violence. Or because she was less likely to offend the grounders the others.

The truth was Leiana, for as many bad traits as she had, was a good person at heart. She cared deeply for her people but tried to see reason and logic where others only saw barbarism. And she was never intentionally cruel. Leiana never seemed to want people to suffer, even if they had hurt her.

"The world is a dark enough place without me adding to it, don't you think? And besides, I would rather be happy than miserable." She laughed softly and smiled again before offering him a hand to shake. "I'm Leiana."

● Tag: Arrow ●

MADE BY VEL OF WW + ADOX 2.0

[Arrow]

Arrow didn’t know what he had actually expected. He had approached the girl because of how she was, but having her turn around on him so quickly, brightly and cheerful was a bit of a shock. Nobody he had ever encountered, in any position was ever carefree enough to turn around open armed, with open hands and a smile. Her posture alone took him by surprise. Everything about her screamed open and the hardened warrior for once felt his intention face. How could he ever anticipate someone so far from his own culture in just her posture? With this one little thing, she essentially disarmed him in a way he had never been disarmed. Openness was something he had never truly seen. Being one for scheming and games of power himself, this was entirely new to him. He had surrounded himself truly with people who could help him rise and only those. He was opportunistic enough to even turn coats once or twice, to scheme beyond what was his position, to reach for leadership through power instead of position.

“I believe you.” He said. “Nobody would be this open in posture if it was faked. These movements tend to be unconscious, tells of who a person truly is beyond.” He explained as he came a little closer so to not strain their voices. This was one of his tells. He did tend to whisper into people’s ear, to seek conversations as privately as possible.

“The world is also a dangerous place. Especially my people. Make sure your cheerfulness and kindness are not mistaken for weakness. My people tend to punish weakness even if it’s not there.” He said, knowing very well what it meant. Weakness was something not everyone saw similarily. “I am Arrow. I am of Trishanakru and, well I do not have to ask you where you are from. You are of Wanhedas people.”


Leiana LaCroix

[Leiana LaCroix]

And while you are sitting indoors
waiting for the storm to pass
I will be outside dancing in the rain

❧

“Her name is Clarke.” Leiana corrected him with a firm tone. Wanheda was not a badge of honor and to her knowledge Clarke did not like being called that. Her gaze dropped away from his, as did the offered hand and the smile from her lips.

He spoke only the truth, as much she wished that he didn't. Leiana was well aware that her cheery disposition was as much of a strength as it was a weakness. It drew attention to her when she wanted to be overlooked.

“Yes, I know that they are. I know this very well. But so are my people. Clarke isn't the only person that should be approached with caution.” Much had changed since the delinquents landed, even since the adults had landed.

Leiana wasn't the same person she had been — she was far less trusting, less naive, less innocent. These days she questioned people, had learned to be more cautious, more suspicious. She had learned that nothing came without a cost and that others usually always wanted something.

So... Bellamy had taught her how to fire a gun and how to fight so that she wasn't such an easy target. She had started carrying weapons everywhere she went so that she could defend herself, and others if she could. Even now she thought about the knife hidden beneath the swell of her breasts and how neither Arrow nor anyone else would know it was there just by looking at her.

The truth was she was such a different person now. They all were. “Your people shouldn't make the assumption that I am an easy target because I choose to be happy during hard times.” Her words weren't meant to be a challenge or a threat. It was advice. Leiana wouldn't be a victim again, not after everything she had survived.

● Tag: Arrow ●

MADE BY VEL OF WW + ADOX 2.0

[Arrow]

"Clarke then." He actually had no idea, or care what her true name was. He had distanced himself from Lexa when times were tough and against her and with right. He had taken distance from every leader when it was no longer within his interest or beneficial for him. With his ambition, he had to take care of himself and thus of his people. With their ambassador gone, with how their people were ruled, he was sure he had to reach for his ambition. He had to admit, he was impressed with how she acted around him, how despite her openess, she showed strength, strenght of the mind, which others were severely lacking. 

"I do not doubt that. I have seen the field of blood your people once left. But so far, Clarke, has been the only one I experienced willing to wade through the field of blood and still add to the pile of bodies just to save you all. Over and over again. She was a symbol many of my people cared more about than yours." He said. "Where is she anyway? I have not seen her yet." And maybe it meant he would never see her again. With her, things could be explossive down here, or soon finding peace.

"An easy target? We all are easy targets here. We are sitting ducks, no way out and all of us are still just made of flesh and blood and so easy to kill. Down here, it seems we all bleed the same. I think I would like to get to know one who still manages to smile this freely."


Leiana LaCroix

[Leiana LaCroix]

And while you are sitting indoors
waiting for the storm to pass
I will be outside dancing in the rain

❧

Leiana looked away from Arrow when he asked about Clarke. Her eyes looked sad, her mouth pulling down at the corners. "She's not here." She simply said. This was not a conversation she wanted to have right now, especially not here.

The fact of the matter was Clarke was her best friend and Leiana hated to see the woman struggle under the weight that had been placed on her shoulders. Leia wanted to help her, to carry some of the weight for her, but there was little a vision impaired woman could do.

Right now Clarke was fighting for them, giving them hope and a reason to go one while she was in here, hiding with the others and it was upsetting. Arrow was right, each and everyone of them were easy targets.

They were only human, made of flesh and bone and blood. Prey waiting to be picked off one-by-one by the harshness that called post-apocalyptic earth home. All any of them wanted to do was survive -- that wasn't to much to ask, was it?

"Do you want to know why I smile, Arrow? Why I try to be cheery when things are difficult?" Leiana was still looking away, trying to hide the emotion in her stare behind the fall of ebony locks.

She tried hard to be happy, to smile, to remind others there was still good in the world. Sometimes it was hard but she'd never stopped trying.

"I was sad all the time. I watched those I love get hurt, get killed, and suffer. I wasn't able to do anything to help them. If offering a smile or a few happy words helps them forget their pain for a little while, then its the least I can do for them.

● Tag: Arrow ●

MADE BY VEL OF WW + ADOX 2.0

[Arrow]

She was good. Innocent even. Perhaps even in need of protection, because while she was right, he knew his own kind. He knew the violence imbedded in their hearts, in his own as well. He was brought up a warrior. If he had to, he would wade through a field of blood, just like their wanheda - Clarke - had, but he was also different. He would not just willingly add to the pile of blood just to save his people, he would also surprisingly willingly add some of his own people, if it saved the collective. And there was the matter that power, true, sweet power was the sweetest siren song he ever heard. The fact that he could outplay rulers, well this was satisfaction in itself. 

And here she was, smiling. And for some reason, his heart seemed to react differently to that smile. Because while power was his siren song, her smile was sweet and calling him as much as power, if not perhaps more. Arrow couldn’t help his own smile. Maybe in this world, there was hope, in more than one way. Because she held power in a way she did not realize and he felt the need to protect something so innocent and he was sure others would, too.

“A very noble and impressive thought. I have to admit, that you are intriguing me. I hope you allow me to get to know you more.”


Leiana LaCroix

[Leiana LaCroix]

And while you are sitting indoors
waiting for the storm to pass
I will be outside dancing in the rain

❧

Leiana looked away from him then. She looked down so that her hair fell around her face to hide the way her cheeks flushed pink at his words. She didn't know why it made her blush.

Maybe because what he had said was unexpected, or maybe because she didn't think that trying to smile and be happy in a world gushing blood deserved such a statement. Leiana wasn't doing anything special, she wasn't anything special.

Not like Raven, or Clarke, or Octavia. No, she was just being herself, she was just trying to make the best of a worse situation. Leia swallowed hard to dislodge the lump that was suddenly in her throat, and tucked her hair behind her ears when she thought she'd stopped blushing.

She looked back up at him, a soft smile on her mouth, her expression almost coy. "I would like that. It would seem were going to be here for a while, so I think it's a lovely idea, us getting to know each other."

● Tag: Arrow ●

MADE BY VEL OF WW + ADOX 2.0