The growl was the only warning he got. He felt the air shift before her muscles did, read the tension in the way her wings adjusted, the way her claws curled. The crack of her jaw was a gunshot of sound between them. It echoed off ivy-wrapped stone and sent birds fluttering somewhere deep in the Celestine. His ears twitched. His rosettes shimmered.
And then she moved.
She was all speed and violence, every inch of her a weapon honed in salt and blood—but Vesper was a child of tides and dark, born in the hush between stars, and his body slipped beneath her like mist off a moonlit sea.
He twisted, shadows peeling off his flanks like sea-foam as her claws scraped the edge of where he’d been. Not fast enough to dodge entirely—she caught the trailing edge of his shoulder, scored a line through the fur—but it wasn’t a pin.
Not yet.
He rolled as he landed, paws hitting the garden path in a whisper, tail snapping once like a whip. His head turned, constellation eyes gleaming in the gloom, and then it was his turn to lunge.
Not with violence. Not with teeth. But with momentum, claws splayed and body angled to slam into her side and roll them both through a bed of glowing flowers. Starlight scattered around them like sparks, his growl a deep-chested rumble of challenge and delight. If she wanted to pin the stars, she'd better be ready to wrestle the whole damned sky.
And then she moved.
She was all speed and violence, every inch of her a weapon honed in salt and blood—but Vesper was a child of tides and dark, born in the hush between stars, and his body slipped beneath her like mist off a moonlit sea.
He twisted, shadows peeling off his flanks like sea-foam as her claws scraped the edge of where he’d been. Not fast enough to dodge entirely—she caught the trailing edge of his shoulder, scored a line through the fur—but it wasn’t a pin.
Not yet.
He rolled as he landed, paws hitting the garden path in a whisper, tail snapping once like a whip. His head turned, constellation eyes gleaming in the gloom, and then it was his turn to lunge.
Not with violence. Not with teeth. But with momentum, claws splayed and body angled to slam into her side and roll them both through a bed of glowing flowers. Starlight scattered around them like sparks, his growl a deep-chested rumble of challenge and delight. If she wanted to pin the stars, she'd better be ready to wrestle the whole damned sky.
all these little things together don't build up to somethin' small
☆ has a pale star tattoo beneath his left eye, and freckle-sized constellations move across his skin
☽ hair changes from bleached blonde to brown
☆ telepathic: Sunlit Shadows | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 60ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
☽ hair changes from bleached blonde to brown
☆ telepathic: Sunlit Shadows | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 60ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
