doves and ravens fly the same
She’s not holding his hand anymore, but the echo of it still curls around his fingers like smoke, warm and unspent. Vesper doesn’t move—not right away. He stands in the quiet aftermath of her honesty, of all the wildfire truths she finally let burn clean through, and lets the weight of her mind roll through him like a storm through dry grass.
It’s a mess in there.
Not the usual sharp-edged chaos he’s come to know—no, this is the quieter kind. The spiralling, tangled kind. The ache of someone who’s already decided that getting what she wants means losing it, so better to torch the whole damn thing before it ever settles into something real. Avoidance. Longing. Resentment. Need. Every thought a contradiction, every emotion trying to outpace the last.
She misses him like she’s grieving. She wants to stay but can’t bear to be the one who ends up shattered. She’s already convinced herself he’s going to leave, so she’s racing him to the door with knives in her hands and sorrow tucked behind her teeth.
He doesn’t let any of that show, of course. Just keeps his expression calm, unreadable save for the quiet flicker of something behind his eyes as her hat lands gently on his head. It settles awkwardly over his moonlight hair, a little too warm, a little too her, and he lets it sit there like a tribute left at a grave.
Then finally, a breath. A shift. A faint drawl curling at the corners of his voice like dusk gathering around the porch light. "So what I’m hearin’," he says slowly, the shadow of a frown tugging at his mouth, "is that the options are: I hurt you, or you hurt me." His head tips, just slightly, like he’s working through a puzzle that don’t quite make sense. "And your answer is to hurt us both, shut your eyes at night like that’ll stop the stars from glowin’, and never look at another one again?"
His voice is gentle, but low and steady, like thunder somewhere in the distance, but his voice softens in the last thread of it, like something unravelled just enough to be real. "I ain’t askin’ for your whole damn heart right this second, Colt, but aside from runnin’ across the entire damn desert and then volunteerin’ for strangers to bounce around on my back just to make you smile, not really sure what it is you’re expectin’ me to do here.”
It’s a mess in there.
Not the usual sharp-edged chaos he’s come to know—no, this is the quieter kind. The spiralling, tangled kind. The ache of someone who’s already decided that getting what she wants means losing it, so better to torch the whole damn thing before it ever settles into something real. Avoidance. Longing. Resentment. Need. Every thought a contradiction, every emotion trying to outpace the last.
She misses him like she’s grieving. She wants to stay but can’t bear to be the one who ends up shattered. She’s already convinced herself he’s going to leave, so she’s racing him to the door with knives in her hands and sorrow tucked behind her teeth.
He doesn’t let any of that show, of course. Just keeps his expression calm, unreadable save for the quiet flicker of something behind his eyes as her hat lands gently on his head. It settles awkwardly over his moonlight hair, a little too warm, a little too her, and he lets it sit there like a tribute left at a grave.
Then finally, a breath. A shift. A faint drawl curling at the corners of his voice like dusk gathering around the porch light. "So what I’m hearin’," he says slowly, the shadow of a frown tugging at his mouth, "is that the options are: I hurt you, or you hurt me." His head tips, just slightly, like he’s working through a puzzle that don’t quite make sense. "And your answer is to hurt us both, shut your eyes at night like that’ll stop the stars from glowin’, and never look at another one again?"
His voice is gentle, but low and steady, like thunder somewhere in the distance, but his voice softens in the last thread of it, like something unravelled just enough to be real. "I ain’t askin’ for your whole damn heart right this second, Colt, but aside from runnin’ across the entire damn desert and then volunteerin’ for strangers to bounce around on my back just to make you smile, not really sure what it is you’re expectin’ me to do here.”
VESPER
☆ 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.
