I can't relate to desperation
Charlie beams at Kaisel ’s attempt at reassurance, her grin bright and feral and entirely too delighted for someone actively in labour, her fingers tightening around his hand in a fond, almost indulgent squeeze, right up until the next contraction hits. It steals the breath from her in a sharp, electric gasp, her body arching slightly as the pressure coils tight and demands attention, and suddenly her grip crushes down on his with shocking, inhuman force, flames erupting instinctively along her skin in a violent, blooming flare that licks up her arms, her legs, her throat like something alive and hungry.
"Oh—ow," she laughs through it, breathless but exhilarated, her head tipping back as the fire crowns her in a halo of chaotic gold and red, her eyes blazing just as brightly. Around her, things move fast with the Temple staff close in, hands sure and practiced, voices a blur of calm instruction that Charlie barely seems to hear, because the pain—is already gone? Snuffed out as quickly as it came, leaving behind nothing but heat, and light, and that same wild, thrumming anticipation that has been building beneath her skin all night.
The flames surge again, higher this time. Brighter. Wilder; they coil around her like a living thing, a cocoon of fire and chaos that pulses once—twice—and then bursts outward in a radiant, blinding flare that forces the room to blink against it. And just like that, it's over. In the sudden, ringing quiet that follows, broken only by the crackle of lingering flame, one of the nurses steps forward, cradling something small and impossible in her arms: a baby wreathed in fire. Not the wild gold and red that had consumed Charlie, but something cooler, stranger; flames of vivid, flickering blue that dance along impossibly soft skin without burning, without harming, casting a soft, otherworldly glow across the room.
Charlie’s head lifts, curls falling back as her gaze locks onto the child, her entire expression shifting in an instant—from chaos, from mischief, from spectacle—to something blindingly adoring. "Oh," she breathes, softer now, but no less full of wonder, her hand loosening in Kaisel’s as she reaches for her daughter. "Well," she adds a heartbeat later, a slow, delighted grin pulling at her lips as her eyes sparkle all over again, "this party is for you after all. Glad you could make it."
"Oh—ow," she laughs through it, breathless but exhilarated, her head tipping back as the fire crowns her in a halo of chaotic gold and red, her eyes blazing just as brightly. Around her, things move fast with the Temple staff close in, hands sure and practiced, voices a blur of calm instruction that Charlie barely seems to hear, because the pain—is already gone? Snuffed out as quickly as it came, leaving behind nothing but heat, and light, and that same wild, thrumming anticipation that has been building beneath her skin all night.
The flames surge again, higher this time. Brighter. Wilder; they coil around her like a living thing, a cocoon of fire and chaos that pulses once—twice—and then bursts outward in a radiant, blinding flare that forces the room to blink against it. And just like that, it's over. In the sudden, ringing quiet that follows, broken only by the crackle of lingering flame, one of the nurses steps forward, cradling something small and impossible in her arms: a baby wreathed in fire. Not the wild gold and red that had consumed Charlie, but something cooler, stranger; flames of vivid, flickering blue that dance along impossibly soft skin without burning, without harming, casting a soft, otherworldly glow across the room.
Charlie’s head lifts, curls falling back as her gaze locks onto the child, her entire expression shifting in an instant—from chaos, from mischief, from spectacle—to something blindingly adoring. "Oh," she breathes, softer now, but no less full of wonder, her hand loosening in Kaisel’s as she reaches for her daughter. "Well," she adds a heartbeat later, a slow, delighted grin pulling at her lips as her eyes sparkle all over again, "this party is for you after all. Glad you could make it."
.
Hella golden retriever energy. Small unrefined horns made of ruby. Regular spade-shaped tail.
