DEAR FRIEND as you know,  your flowers are withering
your mother's gone insane, your leaves have drifted away.
but the clouds are clearing up
and i've come reveling, burning incandescently,
like a bastard on the burning sea.

(tldr at the end)

The waves crash into the sandy shores, pulsating at a constant, predictable rate. The sound pushing and pulling of water, seagulls cawing above, light breeze tugging gently. There, a figure of what may be Goldenluxury stood. A hollowed shell, though, is a better comparison. Every day was slow, a different experience. Sometimes the world spun by and all she could do was go through the motions, body on auto pilot as her consciousness barely observes what it was even doing. Fades in and out, feelings coming and going in seconds. The female was weary, and most of the time she cannot even quite remember why. The days fused and collided, a routine she'd created as a child to get by remained just as useful. Every body had its limits, and she knew her own quite well - the days of her collapsing from exhaustion were over, as far as she could tell. She still went home, still took care of her children, but avoided that hut as much as she could. She would not, could not sleep in her bed anymore. It was no longer her bed, no longer her room. Hardly even her house. It still, however, offered some rest, even if most times, she did not find herself asleep.

Static within her mind, every quiet sound felt so loud, and somehow silent beyond the deafening noise in her head. The feeling was not foreign in entirety, however to such a degree was, and it has been ages since she had to face it without...her. There were many holes left in her life, her routine, her existence, that'd been filled by her wife's presence. The healthier sleeping schedule, quiet time wasters, making breakfast and dinner together, watching the other peacefully sleep. But she'd lived without a lover before - most of her life. But it had been a long time, and she had more responsibilities now, with the children she now must raise without her. The captain knew she was fortunate, that others were there for her and would continue to be, but she must admit she's never felt so truly alone before despite it all.

The last time it'd gotten this bad, she had chosen to be angry. And that had worked, quite well, for a long time. But she wasn't angry. There was nothing, no one to be angry at. Only mindless, temporary distractions. And she did not desire to wage useless war. There were lives on her own paws, ones that relied on her, depended on her judgment, and she was not so desperate to waste that. It was a responsibility she'd carried for most of her life now. But it still did not change the wish for relief, for destruction, for rage. It was, at least, more productive than this, hurt her less.

But there was still one constant, one that had and always would remain. The territory's flooded, burned, body's evolved, relationships changed, earth cracked and island turned to archipelago, but at least the ocean had never changed - not fundamentally. The salty waters were much more immortal than any of the Gods that'd reached out to her, and they likely would prevail after the deities, even if their righteous plan for the demigoddess turned fruitful. The waves had always been there for her, and in return, she would offer them her own support, her full, undivided attention. They were in their own right, an anchor, at least for the daughter of stormy seas. And so, the tigress opts simply to staring out to the horizon, looking for nothing in particular, sitting in the shallow waters. The ocean was her home, just as much as the sandy shores, fruitful jungles. And she finds that, today, the buzzing in her head was soothed by the waves, at least a little.

However, the female was not aware that she was being hunted. At least not consciously in the present. Others had always been around to try and kill the esteemed Goldenluxury. None had succeeded. One, two, managed to break her. Temporarily. But neither won in the end. And at the end of the day, an injury was just an inconvenience, something to slow her down. But she'd no reason to suspect any would be creeping upon her now. All that sat around her was the scattered palm trees upon the beach, the water around her paws, and the fishes that dared to swim so close to the shore. It would seem a new trick would be tried upon her today. More than one, in fact.

The waves gently pulsate back and forth, against her paws. The motion is routine, continuing in a predictable pattern. And as they come closer, they would go back once more, close, far, close...and then she feels a tug. The waters grasp around her, pull at her, and suddenly, the tigress is under, dragged forcefully and rapidly deeper with no time to react. All that may point to her even being there at all would be the paw prints, soon to be washed away by the very waters.

The tigress stares out in front of her as she is tossed into a bubble under the shallow waters. Here, as the water washes from her face, adrenaline calms just enough, she sees them. A black wolf, bag around its shoulder, a skull with piercing red eyes staring down onto her. And suddenly, she feels as if she could smell lavender.

Her mouth remains clamped shut, staring at the wolf figure in front of her. If this moment had ever come, she'd thought she'd feel a fire, and that she would burn them down in all of her fury. That the fear no longer needed to feel so icy - she'd melted all away years ago, she thought. But instead she is frozen, unable to say anything, do anything, but look. As if she no longer held the power she did, as if she would let this happen again, let anyone use her like this ever again. She wouldn't. But still, here she remains, dripping, and paralyzed. And they would break the silence. "You know who I am." The voice was not his, though - this was someone else. She did not recognize this voice, not at all. And the wolf she'd thought she'd seen switches in front of her, to a melanistic lion, bright purple eyes staring down to her. For a moment, she wonders if the wolf had been there at all.

This one had stolen her earring. And as it dawns on her; this was the child the Gods had commanded her to kill. The one that'd tried to get her - and her children first. That she'd refused to do the same for. She grounds herself, static sweeping back and forth. "What do you want from me?" she asks - a genuine question. She did not know this lion, and while they did hold serpent-like qualities she recognized, she did not know for certain. "I dunno who you are, but I believe you 'ave somethin' th-" her body starts to shift upwards, moving to stand, but as it does so, she is interrupted, and the lion in front of her reaches out a paw, pulling something once more.

She feels the air escape her body, quite literally sucked from her very own lungs. It was not a foreign feeling to the girl that'd both drowned and burnt to death in her partially mortal existence. But it was still in its own regard, much scarier than the two combined. The waters that'd enveloped her as a young child had been like falling asleep, just much colder, lonelier. The fires had been the opposite, a sudden, raging burn as consciousness stripped itself from her. Now, however, it was a feeling of pure and unprecedented weakness, the only comparison to its feeling being when the black wolf had split into her spine, blackmailing to young daughter of the captain to force her into silence. Now, once more, the silence had been forced upon her, and air stripped from its home. A body's natural reaction to having the wind knocked out of it would be to simply hold itself, desperately grapple for the air that it needs so much, but now it was to an extreme level. The power in her muscled limbs left with the oxygen, only able to shiver, frozen as her mouth desperately tries to move.

Any static that'd been there before was replaced with the sound of her own body dying, loudly, and without grace. And for what feels like an eternity, she would remain trapped this way, watching helplessly as the life drains from herself, the stranger who stole her earring mocking her in their focused stance. The Gods themselves seemed to look down upon her in disappointment for not doing as they'd asked. But it was different now. They'd been a child. They were no child anymore, however. And they still wished to see their precious storm prevail, so they would only allow the torturous feeling to go on for a few moments, as far as it could go. Perhaps to prove a point that the female would not understand until later, too wrapped in the feeling of her own death.

She'd never feared it, but there were others she could not yet leave behind. Her children could not lose two mothers, not so soon. And ultimately, neither she nor the Gods that'd gifted her abilities would let this happen.

And there the bubble around them broke, forming a chain reaction. Her paw reaches out in seconds, mouth gasping desperately as the shapeshifter in front of her faltered, distracted by this mistake, bag falling from their grasp, the items inside falling out with it. She feels what she'd been looking for. Instantaneously then, the water surrounds them, crashes into them. A singular bolt of lightning crashes down to the shallow sea, causes sparks to fly out. Much like the first time she'd died, though they were no longer to revive her, gift her with her powers, burn her, but were a defense - a message to stay away. Her body crashes into the shore, over and over now, closer and closer until it finally delivers her upon the beach, water still pulsating back and forth onto her body rapidly.

"F...Fuck!"

The sky had grown suddenly cloudy, signs of storms, though it would seem the only true bolt would be the singular one cast. And the demigoddess of raging storms would crumble on her beach, coughing up water and desperately still grasping for the air around her, filling her lungs as much as she can. She appears to have no injuries. Within her paws, a blue feather earring sits grasped tightly. And the waves would crash back and forth as they always would.

(tldr:
goldie goes to vibe at the shore. suddenly gets pulled in through the waters to a bubble created underneath the water large enough for both her and the one who'd pulled her in, a shapeshifter holding a bag. she recognizes them to be the one that'd stolen her precious prized possession - her blue feather earring. she questions them and they respond by attempting to suck the air from her lungs using air elementals, and she sits there dying for several moments before finally being able to break the bubble around them. they are distracted by this, dropping their bag and letting go of their hold on her. she grabs her feather earring before being shoved back onto the shore where she's now coughing up water and struggling to breathe, holding her feather earring between her paws.)

DEAR FRIEND as you know,  your flowers are withering
your mother's gone insane, your leaves have drifted away.
but the clouds are clearing up
and i've come reveling, burning incandescently,
like a bastard on the burning sea.

Images of the wolf flash in her mind once more, eyes wide and staring out, though it's clear they're not really seeing anything. How did the stranger know of him? She clutches her earring tighter, the chill still running through her spine. Georgia's approach would cause distraction, coughs still escaping her body, now desperate for any air.

"Someone's..." she pauses, taking in more breaths, as much as she can. Her lungs felt as if they were on fire, and she knew the feeling enough to say that confidently. "Always someone...tryin' t' kill me." She stops again, trembling body dragging itself more onto the beach now, opting to lay down once she's gotten out of the water. The explanation was simple enough, would work for the moment. It was true - there was always someone wishing to kill Goldenluxury, even if the attempts seemed to have lessen, mostly, over the coarse of the last year. She'd been getting in less trouble, being stuck at home with children, and formerly Sam. But Sam was gone, and the house was cold. But still, this time really wasn't her fault, she'd like to think. She'd just been trying to sit on the beach - she doesn't even know what exactly the other wants with her, besides to obviously kill her. How they'd done it, it hurt. And they clearly knew more about her than the average killer. They shifted into what they did to bother her.

"They p...pulled the air...out of m' body," the female now explains further, bringing a paw to her chest. It felt weak, and she almost finds her mind wandering to wondering if this was how her lover had felt, with her asthma. But she didn't entertain the thought very long. To think of Sam right now would likely set her over the edge. Her gaze moves back towards the shore as she breathes, as if to verify the lion was gone.

But after several moments of breathing and staring, she decides that they most likely would not be trying again. At least, not yet. The paw holding onto her blue feather earring shifts, bringing the object upwards to display it, almost in a victorious manner. "Got...m' earrin' back." Not that the younger members of the group, such as Georgia, would even know the important of such an item. It'd been taken just before she'd joined. But it still mattered to her. It mattered a lot.