[P] the violence in the pouring rain

[Theodosia]

let our eyes show the
fire in our hearts tonight

Her ears are ringing.

She cannot tell if it is the ocean tide rushing to the shore or the aftermath of the artillery-fire beat of her heart, loud enough that she is sure Marisol can hear it too. It drowns out the way her breathing grows ragged and rushed, unable to pull enough oxygen in to satisfy her lungs, and when Marisol’s sharp teeth scrape against her neck she almost forgets how to breathe entirely.

(She wonders, if she moved wrong, would the bite transform her too? Or is the oceanic baptism part of the process of changing? She almost pushes her neck up into the bite to find out, but the Halcyon does not need two monsters running rampant in their midst, not when their reputation is still so smeared.

But oh, she is tempted.)

"Too much." When has she become this weak? When had she fallen so far, when had she abandoned her pride somewhere along the way? She could find no other explanation for how easily the commander drew the truth from her lips, the darkest secrets and hidden desires she’d managed to swallow down for so long, all spilling out into the space between them as each word reverberates down her spine.

“Enough that I would give up my wings for it,” It wrenches from her throat, hoarsely honest, and perhaps the most terrifying truth is that she would, she would rend her own wings from her shoulders if it meant she got to keep Marisol in her life, and gods that was perhaps the harshest realization she’s come to in ages, that she is so far gone for this woman she would give up everything else she loves.

Perhaps it is less brutal when she knows that Marisol would never ask her for such a sacrifice if it were not entirely necessary, that she trusts the commander enough to promise such a thing. Perhaps what she is truly promising is her obedience, and her loyalty, and that she will not allow these emotions to compromise her on the battlefield.

Perhaps she shouldn’t make such promises when she was already compromised.

Then again, she wasn’t the only one.

She had thought she could be stronger than this, but she had been wrong. She is folding to a pet name and the heavy-dark lust that runs through her veins, and when she moves her head to look at Marisol, her pupils have nearly swallowed the jeweled brightness of her eyes. For a moment, her tail curls around the commander’s foreleg, and the smile that pulls across her face is absolutely wicked.

“Dare you to catch me… if you can.” It is an invitation she doubts Marisol will turn down, and with a brief nip to the bay mare’s neck she’s taken off in the direction of the barracks.

She can’t make it too easy, after all. 

credits
@Marisol

[Marisol]

YOUR SOB HAS A NAME

Every muscle in Marisol’s body coils like a spring, fires like a rifle—even standing still she trembles with the force of it, how deep and bright the fire in her chest burn and how much it makes her drool like a dog. I am not a martyr, she thinks, and does not mind it. The smile on her face is a drawling, unchaste thing, and her eyes burn sweet with saltwater and want. To anyone else she would look like a predator.

To anyone else she would be.

There is salt and iron in the air. Novus has always been a savage place, no matter how much its inhabitants fight to prove otherwise; Marisol has spent far too long being civilized, and the centuries of her home’s repression are growing to be too much. Finally she is an animal again, Finally duty does not have her in a chokehold She could be an Ilati, with their animal sacrifices, or a shed-star pouring blood like water. Or she could simply be what she is—bloodthirsty, sharptoothed, too full of love to sit still.

Theodosia speaks, and she laughs again. A real thing. She has laughed more recently than in a long, long time. Slowly it is becoming more and more natural. The brief suggestion of teeth on her neck makes her shoulders flex and her tail snap, and she lowers her head like a snake as the cadet takes off, watching half-wild and half-pretty.

“I promise I will,” Marisol shouts, and races after her.

---

@Theodosia <3

aimless | kokovi