VULPINE: Her Second Chance

The Very Last Leg

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The Very Last Leg

Persephone was compromised. Again.

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When she finally opened her eyes, Thalia was greeted by four sets of worried ones, attached to her family and mate who had crowded around the seats she was laying across. She felt unusually anxious with everyone surrounding her, and couldn't keep Persephone from speaking through her.

Her low-voiced "Back off." came out more aggressively than she meant it to, but everyone listened, so at least there was that. Sitting up in the meager amount of personal space they'd conceded to her, Thalia took stock of herself while she got ready to apologise for her harshness. Her body seemed fine, but Claire cut Thalia off before she could utter the "sorry" she'd been meaning to.

"Back off?! You've been out for almost five hours, woman!" Claire's hand shot out and grasped Thalia's in a way that told Thalia she'd been resisting the urge to check on her for a good portion of that time.

"I told you she was just communing with her Spirit." The king seemed much less frantic than the others, but was still a bit wary in the face. Thalia assumed her friends had been harassing him. She was about to confirm his words when Beau spoke up.

"And I told you that that's not possible." Beau was firm, not because he didn't believe in Thalia, but because he'd seen her attempts to reach out over the years and didn't want to refresh that hurt.

"No, I'm here." came the fox Spirit's amiable reply. Thalia felt her pupils constrict to make way for her aural display and reflexively masked the colour. Helena gasped, then narrowed her eyes at the fox peeking through Thalia's.

"And where exactly have you been? We needed you here." Although Hels wasn't fully aware of Scott's problematic behaviour, she was deeply aware of Thalia's defect, and the Spirit's departure hadn't helped the issue. Werecat Spirits were just as fickle as the 'foxes, but they had an undying sense of loyalty to their Selves, as they were bound from birth, and would never leave them, much less in an emotionally dire situation. Thalia understood her ire, but she was also done with being surrounded and lovingly interrogated, even as a proxy.

"That can be discussed later." She put her foot down, both with her friend and with Persephone, banishing the fox from the forefront. It wasn't difficult, and Thalia had a sneaking suspicion that her Spirit had used the majority of its newfound energy to speak with her and through her. "Right now, all the need-to-know is that she's back, but easily tired out. That'll get better over time."

She turned to the king, only now noticing that he still held one of her small hands in both of his bare ones. Thalia didn't know what to say, but knew this new mate news needed to be discussed at some point. Just not now. She gently tugged her fingers away and he immediately released her, pulling his gloves from somewhere and putting them on while she spoke.

"I don't plan on rejecting you in the immediate future, but I can't promise that'll never happen." After, all, just accepting the match would be stupid of her, even though it seemed like she had escaped her abusive ex-mate. She couldn't be sure of the king's true nature until she got to know him better. "I need time to process everything."

King Jackson smiled and nodded, as she'd suspected he would, and relaxed into the seat across from his mate, as was becoming his usual. Thaddeus came in and sat in the middle seat next to the king, and her family sat in much the same formation, with Beau opting to continue the "boy-girl split" they'd unintentionally created by sitting near his fated partner. Clair leaned towards the panel, which allowed Helena to steal her armrest and left Thalia with two available.

Looking around, Thalia realised they were planning on sleeping in the car again, even though they were now in the king's territory. She barely had to lift a brow at the king before he answered her curiosity, brushing against her mind before speaking.

-We're a little over 9,000 kilometres away from the den, so we'll just drive through the night again, instead of staying at the inns. It's also becoming apparent that I need to introduce you to the nation as my queen, or else the other knot-headed idiots will come crawling from the woodwork.- He flushed a bit, which Thalia found interesting. -Excuse my language; I'm still a bit rankled from the morning.-

Rather than point out his slightly ruddy cheeks in the hopes of seeing them redden further, Thalia simply nodded and, feeling she'd rested her fill, reached under her seat to where she knew her travel bag was. She pulled out the M-shaped "wedding" dress and its accessories, as well as her portable sewing kit. King Jackson watched her curiously, but didn't ask any questions, and so she didn't feel the need to explain what exactly she was doing. Had he asked, though, she would have quipped "reclaiming my modesty". She wondered how red he'd turn then.

She laid the dress out sideways, with the skirt stretching towards the re-hidden bar area, and observed the damage. The long slits in the fabric of the skirt itself were pretty much a lost cause, though she might be able to close the tops and display a smidge less thigh. The deep v-cut of the top, however...

Well, that was quite fixable, if she only made a very enthusiastic sacrifice. The Queen Anne's collar would have to go. It was an inevitability as soon as she'd realised the reason for its existence, but she'd hated it even before it became apparent that Scott wanted to slight the 'wolves.

She gleefully - but carefully - took her seam ripper to the tacky lace collar and sleeves, coming away with two long rectangle-ish pieces of fabric. She set one aside and pinned the other to the underside of the bodice, stretching it so as not to have any wrinkles or folds.

When she began to sew the lace down with a tight and tiny whip stitch, she felt the king brushing at her conscience. When he didn't immediately speak, she looked up at him somewhat sharply. He dipped his head in acknowledgement of her early request to "just barge in", but smiled as well.

-I knew you were the creative mind behind Pure Vixen, but I don't know why I didn't assume that you could sew.- He sent an impressed feeling along their tentative bond. -It's a talent I'm sadly incapable of learning, even after founding Mama Bear.-

Pure Vixen Shifterwear and Mama Bear Maternity were two of several national companies run - usually - by the leaders of the shifter groups in the countries they were founded in. Every group within the countries - be it pack, sloth, or clowder - ran some sort of company in order to contribute to the country at large. Food, energy, construction, even orphanages and prisons; all were run by groups under the leading one and made monthly reports that took ages to go through.

The Alpha and Luna of the entire area, however, were usually leading something small, but still essential. Most chose clothing, and so had Thalia, but she'd chosen to work remotely with witches to manufacture garments that could be worn and would remain in a small extradimensional pocket while shifting. That was the only thing she could think to do that would be innovative and special enough for Scott to care. He hadn't.

At least Thalia, since she had done everything for the company, was still the CEO, though they wouldn't be changing headquarters. -I had to start everything from the ground up, since there wasn't already a Sardonic company set up. Everyone, even Claire, can sew within the company. Helena is actually better at it than I am.-

-So Pure Vixen is a Sardonic Skulk company?- the king asked, concerned. -Wouldn't that mean 'Lord Kane now has control?-

-No, it's under Imperial Topaz's jurisdiction, so Scott can't touch it. I'm not a total rube, so when I figured out that I was going to have to do it all with only half the requisite help, I made sure no one untrustworthy could lay hands on it.- She figured she'd trade secret for secrets as she wondered whether she wanted any coverage on the back. -I actually had the witches who helped me with the 'disappearing' fabric transport some protection spells to the warehouses and HQ, so I do mean that literally.-

What she wouldn't tell the king was what she had in store for Skulklord Kane after the match was confirmed in the Moonstone Kingdom's records. To start with, she had removed her presence, since she had a suspicion that that weasel had no idea how much of a crutch Thalia had been to him. After that was finalised, she was going to ruin his life from the outside in, and then take every single thing he held dear from him, before finally taking his life, as well.

- - -

The rest of the trip passed pretty uneventfully, all things considered. Thalia had long since finished her garment remodelling, and had also managed to snatch a few winks of sleep despite the day prior's excitement and upset.

The timing of this all had been set up in deference for the harvest celebration and the full moon, which would both occur in about two weeks. The ceremony with the Skulklord had, as a matter of course, taken place during the new moon, when all shifters - excepting witches - were at their least powerful, for the sake of peace and diplomacy. So as not to overwhelm the new queen, the coronation would take place the next weekend, on the day of rest before the new season began.

She was under no delusion that there would be a grand procession, as there hadn't ever been one before, but the king and his pack all seemed quite apologetic, having each caught a glimpse at some point of Thalia's sewing project. Come morning, she'd had to reassure them that she simply liked to get things done early. She figured she might have to wear the dress again, though not immediately, and didn't want to have to work on it while acclimating to her new "home".

But then Mirella, of all people, made it clear that, though there would be no glitzy welcoming parade, the packs were all looking forward to the grand celebration that the coming weekend would bring.

"I think it'll be fancier than the Samhain festival, especially when you think about the fact that it's during the day, and so much more stuff has to be done compared to the whole 'reciting prayers and stripping to your skivvies' thing, which I know is an over-simplification of the holiday, but I just mean that I think there will be a big to-do over the crowning of a new queen after all this time, like a banquet and a parade, instead of, like, hunting and stuff and I'll shut up now." - was what she'd said about the matter, in response to Thalia denying a desire for any pomp leading into the king's home.

"Novem Festival." was all that Beau had replied. Thalia found Mirella's mild disdain for the shifters' gods to be amusing, but Beau - who valued tradition and felt it kept them sane - had no patience for it.

Claire, infatuated with the witch as she was, was miffed that her brother wasn't as welcoming of her crush as the girls had been when they'd seen how the males magnetised around each other. Thus, she was decidedly Not Speaking to her twin, which meant that she felt unable to reply to his grumpy interjection. Helena saved the conversation, displaying her admittedly rare desire for tact.

"How many kilometres to the castle, by the by? I'm tired of sitting in a vehicle, and I'm sure the kids are bouncing off the walls."

"It's not a castle," was Thad's input from the passenger seat, "but I'm sure you're right, and poor Claude is slowly going mad in there, if he wasn't already deranged from Franki's non-stop teasing."

The king, who had taken over driving at some point, answered Helena: "I've been going pretty fast, so we only have about 18 hundred kilometres to go. Did you want to stop and stretch your legs, or can you hold out another 3 hours or so?"

Apparently, "pretty fast" meant pushing the poor party bus to its manufactural limits by going twice as fast as his speed demon Beta had. Thalia wondered if there were traffic laws in the Moon Kingdom, or if the king just broke them because he was the law.

Unconcerned with this, the rest of the shifters, including Thalia's chosen family, said that they could wait. Beau said that Sasha had communicated her willingness and ability to hold her potty in by taking a morning nap, since they had stopped at dawn before everyone else was up. Claire, having been gifted the opportunity to ignore her brother and future in-law, did so and asked the king about Thaddeus' response.

"What do you mean, you don't live in a castle? I thought the North Star Sapphire Pack all lived in the same place, on castle grounds."

The king gestured to a mountain range rising in the distance, somehow keeping the steering wheel steady. "Well, the-"

"We do all live on the same plot of land, but it's a touch different than you're thinking." Thaddeus unexpectedly cut the king's explanation off at the root. "Sorry, my king, but I think our new family members would like a surprise better than a description, in this case."

The king's response was to lower his brow and go a little faster.

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