when rome's in ruins, we are the lions
Smoke hangs thin over the Stone Symphony, its haunted melody slipping through charred trunks and ash-dusted needles as evening cools the scorched earth. The forest smells of sap and cinder and damp stone, and through it moves a shape darker than the smoke itself.
Vesper prowls low in his tide jaguar form, black fur swallowing the fading light while rosettes glow faintly across his flanks like scattered constellations. Massive paws settle with careful weight, dampening the brittle crunch beneath him, shoulders rolling in a fluid, silent rhythm. Upwind, the air carries only river and ruin; whatever else stalks these banks is lost to smoke and distance; the world a strangely silent place without his telepathy filling in the gaps, lost as it is to him while shifted.
A flicker ahead catches his attention; the big cat stills, then surges. A fox breaks from the underbrush in a streak of russet, but he is already airborne, muscle and gravity converging as he slams it to the ground. A strangled scream cuts short beneath the river’s song as his jaws close around its throat, teeth finding pulse and crushing it. The small body kicks once and falls slack. He holds until the forest goes quiet again, blood dark against darker fur, rosettes pulsing softly as he stands over his kill, the river singing on as if nothing at all has happened.
Vesper prowls low in his tide jaguar form, black fur swallowing the fading light while rosettes glow faintly across his flanks like scattered constellations. Massive paws settle with careful weight, dampening the brittle crunch beneath him, shoulders rolling in a fluid, silent rhythm. Upwind, the air carries only river and ruin; whatever else stalks these banks is lost to smoke and distance; the world a strangely silent place without his telepathy filling in the gaps, lost as it is to him while shifted.
A flicker ahead catches his attention; the big cat stills, then surges. A fox breaks from the underbrush in a streak of russet, but he is already airborne, muscle and gravity converging as he slams it to the ground. A strangled scream cuts short beneath the river’s song as his jaws close around its throat, teeth finding pulse and crushing it. The small body kicks once and falls slack. He holds until the forest goes quiet again, blood dark against darker fur, rosettes pulsing softly as he stands over his kill, the river singing on as if nothing at all has happened.
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.
