when rome's in ruins, we are the lions
Colt's words land and he does not reach for them, even as they tear. Silence is a discipline he learned the hard way, and he holds to it now with teeth set and shoulders squared, jaw feathering as the accusation sinks in and finds purchase where it was always going to. Her thoughts are loud again, heartbreak ringing like struck glass, resolve cooling into something brittle and pale, and the shift makes him want to shiver despite the warmth clinging to skin and stone.
He lets the shadows betray him instead, the dark at his feet twitching and stretching as if impatient with his restraint, as if urging him to say something sharper, something truer, something that would at least make the pain make sense. He doesn’t, though. He stays where he is, half-caught between light and dark, because leaving now would be easier and therefore worse.
When she calls him a coward, he exhales, the sound low and tired rather than offended, a sigh scraped from somewhere older than this argument. "There’s plenty of things about me you don’t know," he says quietly, not defensive, not pleading, just stating a fact that has never done either of them any favours.
When her hand goes for cigarettes and matches, the intention clear enough, his shadows respond before he consciously decides to let them, pooling close around the matches in a mute, practical warning about fire in a fucking library.
As Colt offers him the location of the book, he lifts his chin in a distant nod, acknowledgement without gratitude, because the book has lost its urgency and its purpose along with everything else. Replacing Niki’s ruined copy feels suddenly trivial beside the way Colt’s resolve drains out of her thoughts, leaving a cold that settles into him and stays. Even as she begins to turn he does not follow, btu nor does he disappear. Vesper remains where he is, partly illuminated, partly swallowed by shadow, and waits for her to leave, even though vanishing would take no effort at all.
He lets the shadows betray him instead, the dark at his feet twitching and stretching as if impatient with his restraint, as if urging him to say something sharper, something truer, something that would at least make the pain make sense. He doesn’t, though. He stays where he is, half-caught between light and dark, because leaving now would be easier and therefore worse.
When she calls him a coward, he exhales, the sound low and tired rather than offended, a sigh scraped from somewhere older than this argument. "There’s plenty of things about me you don’t know," he says quietly, not defensive, not pleading, just stating a fact that has never done either of them any favours.
When her hand goes for cigarettes and matches, the intention clear enough, his shadows respond before he consciously decides to let them, pooling close around the matches in a mute, practical warning about fire in a fucking library.
As Colt offers him the location of the book, he lifts his chin in a distant nod, acknowledgement without gratitude, because the book has lost its urgency and its purpose along with everything else. Replacing Niki’s ruined copy feels suddenly trivial beside the way Colt’s resolve drains out of her thoughts, leaving a cold that settles into him and stays. Even as she begins to turn he does not follow, btu nor does he disappear. Vesper remains where he is, partly illuminated, partly swallowed by shadow, and waits for her to leave, even though vanishing would take no effort at all.
free of the colosseums
☆ 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.
