VESPER
Vesper barely has time to brace before she’s there—mud-splashed and incandescent, all momentum and conviction—as if proximity alone might drag him into whatever blueprint she’s already drafting behind her eyes. The brightness of her intention surges forward again, full of timber beams and glass panes and the stubborn belief that space can be carved wide enough to keep everyone inside it. His brows lift slowly at the word big, amusement cutting through the lingering smoke in the air. "It doesn’t have to be big," he says, a low snicker threading the edges of his voice. "I just don’t want to keep bendin’ in half every time I walk through a doorframe."
The image of some sprawling, window-laced cathedral in the middle of the Greatwood flickers through him—sunlight spearing down in great golden shafts, Nova insisting on skylights wide enough to swallow the stars—and he lets it hover there without committing. Her thoughts bloom around it in luminous sketches: open beams, polished floors, rooms meant for gathering rather than hiding. It is not lost on him that what she is really building is permanence. He does not dismantle that; instead, his gaze drifts toward the water when the sound shifts.
It is subtle at first, the estuary’s rhythm thrown half a note off-key. Then come the voices—warped and hollowed, drifting across the brackish surface like echoes that forgot their origin. They ripple outward in coaxing fragments, laughter bent at unnatural angles. It is an odd sensation for him to hear words that carry no mental imprint, no scattered current of emotion to triangulate their source. The absence is louder than the sound itself, and for a fleeting second he feels the faintest prickle at the back of his neck.
Vesper huffs softly toward the water, unimpressed, as though dismissing a particularly theatrical stage whisper. He tilts his head, watching the surface with idle calculation rather than alarm. "Hey," he says conversationally, glancing back to his sister, "you happen to have a measurin’ tape on you?"
The image of some sprawling, window-laced cathedral in the middle of the Greatwood flickers through him—sunlight spearing down in great golden shafts, Nova insisting on skylights wide enough to swallow the stars—and he lets it hover there without committing. Her thoughts bloom around it in luminous sketches: open beams, polished floors, rooms meant for gathering rather than hiding. It is not lost on him that what she is really building is permanence. He does not dismantle that; instead, his gaze drifts toward the water when the sound shifts.
It is subtle at first, the estuary’s rhythm thrown half a note off-key. Then come the voices—warped and hollowed, drifting across the brackish surface like echoes that forgot their origin. They ripple outward in coaxing fragments, laughter bent at unnatural angles. It is an odd sensation for him to hear words that carry no mental imprint, no scattered current of emotion to triangulate their source. The absence is louder than the sound itself, and for a fleeting second he feels the faintest prickle at the back of his neck.
Vesper huffs softly toward the water, unimpressed, as though dismissing a particularly theatrical stage whisper. He tilts his head, watching the surface with idle calculation rather than alarm. "Hey," he says conversationally, glancing back to his sister, "you happen to have a measurin’ tape on you?"
Will I ever quit playing with matches?
Why am I making angels in the ashes?
Why am I making angels in the ashes?
☆ 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.
