a silent film he'd watched a thousand times before
Marcus hadn’t expected to arrive on time, and he wasn’t surprised to find himself late. What caught him off guard was that he wasn’t the only one. For all of Halo, the crowd gathered was small, scattered among the booths Deimos had arranged.
High above them, the eagle wheeled in slow circles, the sharp edge of blood still dark along his beak from the morning’s hunt. His gaze swept over the gathering—steam rising from drinks, stalls offering small comforts against the cold—and he banked lower, wings tucking slightly as he angled in. A hot cocoa stand drew his eye, and he dropped down onto the roof, talons scraping the wood as his beak clicked once against the air.
From his perch he looked beyond the bustle to the field, head canting in the quick, sharp way of a bird. The snowball fight was already underway. Deimos stood as the powerhouse of it, methodical and merciless, striking down anyone foolish enough to challenge him. Marcus picked out Theea and Damien among the chaos, their shouts carrying faintly, though the rest of the players he didn’t know. He wondered where Amhran was, recalling the conversation they had before about how the demigod needed to experience a true and proper snowball fight.
High above them, the eagle wheeled in slow circles, the sharp edge of blood still dark along his beak from the morning’s hunt. His gaze swept over the gathering—steam rising from drinks, stalls offering small comforts against the cold—and he banked lower, wings tucking slightly as he angled in. A hot cocoa stand drew his eye, and he dropped down onto the roof, talons scraping the wood as his beak clicked once against the air.
From his perch he looked beyond the bustle to the field, head canting in the quick, sharp way of a bird. The snowball fight was already underway. Deimos stood as the powerhouse of it, methodical and merciless, striking down anyone foolish enough to challenge him. Marcus picked out Theea and Damien among the chaos, their shouts carrying faintly, though the rest of the players he didn’t know. He wondered where Amhran was, recalling the conversation they had before about how the demigod needed to experience a true and proper snowball fight.
marcus olson
