troubles yet to come

if there's a light at the end, it's just the sun in your eyes

i know you wanna go to heaven

She whispers, laughing lowly and accuses him of lying, and his steel gaze narrows and zones in on her, gritting his teeth against the accusation. But she claims to know him, claims to scare him, to pull him close and tell her she’s not afraid. His arms shake with the pressure on her shoulders as he applies it again, keeping himself away, biting down hard on the inside of his cheek before he falters and edges loser to her as her hands find the back of his head to her neck, tangling in his hair.

Yes. He thinks. I wish he was. But he doesn’t say it, instead he turns his head from her, shutting his eyes, trying to figure out where Phoebe ends and the blight begins. But it’s hard, so hard to determine it, and it haunts him. All he wants to do is help, that small soft child within him, wishing the best for knowing how much of an asshole he could be, and yet here she was with a spyglass, seeing through his defenses as though he were a glass house.

He finds he hates it.

He also finds he really craves a cigarette right now.

His head shifts toward her face, watching the dark inky black tears stream down her cheeks like mascara, sees the black edge to her body and lips, and he regrets all of it. He puffs out a sigh of frustration, anger, of her misunderstanding, because that’s what it has to be right? He wonders what happened to the girl who cried when his voice raised slightly, when he truly was scared, and if she’s still in there somewhere.

Instead, he decides to give in – leaning down toward her face, letting her near his defenses, as though he’s going for a kiss to her cheek. “It’s not possible.” He tells her, a hint of a sneer in his voice. “Lusea is my other half, she is my armor. She is where I begin and where I end.” His voice is rough, a hoarseness of a lover within the words, despite the bite. And he pulls back with a smirk. “Do I look like a liar to you?” He asks, pressing his hands into her shoulders further, until the snow begins to shift.

but you're human tonight

SUNJATA

PHOEBE

She sneered back at him as he leaned forward. "She is where your past began and where it lives. When you're done reminiscing, and ready to be loved fully again, let me know." she whispered in his ear. But her fingers curled into his hair as he tried to pull away, her nails digging in to keep him there. Phoebe grinned, a low laugh escaping her lips. "A liar? Always. That is layer one of the armor." she said as though it were obvious. But where the blight began and Phoebe ended was not so clearly defined. The blight used what Phoebe knew to attack, to twist, to destroy. And now he was here, close, guarding the wrong things, thinking the wrong way.

Her hands trailed down his head to the side of his neck, not a movement that was terribly unfamiliar to this body. She had done it many times before, he would know it, recognize it, entirely unthreatening. Until it suddenly was. "And now, after you've broken my heart, you bring me this rose of death. How cruel." she hissed, her hands darting forward, snatching at his throat, thumbs pressing in with all her strength, lips curved in a snarl.

When dark creeps in and eats the light

Bury your fears on sorry night

For in the winter's darkest hours

Comes the feasting of the Vours

No one can see it, the life they stole

Your body's here but not your soul

Table Code by Sky!

if there's a light at the end, it's just the sun in your eyes

i know you wanna go to heaven

She whispers in his ear, and he grits his teeth again – a muscle feathering in his jaw at the implications. He wants to tell her that he doesn’t want to be loved fully, that he still plans on living fast and dying young – and dying at the hands of his flame. Because that is how it should be, how it is, how it always will be. Her hands keep him near, but he doesn’t put up much of a fight when he tries to pull away, instead, steel eyes looking into her own black rimmed ones with a crooked smirk on his lips.

And then she tells him yes.

But Sunjata doesn’t skip a beat, instead, his gaze focuses on her again as her hands begin to trail and he presses her further into the snow with frustration. He wants her to stop talking, stop bringing up the past so he can plant the one fucking rose he came to, but she’s doing her best to prevent it. And his head tilts slightly with the caress, brow furrowing slightly at the gentleness. “Ah, so you know me so well.” He begins to say until her hands are at his throat, and his hands leave her shoulders to reach for her hands, feeling the bruises begin to form.

She isn’t very strong, but he doesn’t trust it, trying to take those daggers away. “I am trying to help you.” He hisses through clenched teeth, a bite to his cheek enough to draw more blood as her hands reopen clotted wounds. “If you fucking let me.” But he doesn’t think she will, and he desperately wants her to stop with the talking, stop with the finger pointing and the blame, to stop trying to reemerge the scared child within him.

But he can’t help but to think about her statement, while he struggles somewhat with her hands around his neck. “Who says I want to be loved?” He snaps.

but you're human tonight

SUNJATA

PHOEBE

He tugs at her hands and she laughs, her nails sinking into skin as she held on. It felt good, too good, to watch the moment of panic as he realized the trap he fell into. But it didn't laat long as the cockiness returned. He didn't think she could do it. He didn't think she could kill him. But she could. And she would. The asshole deserved it.

But he asked who said he wanted to be loved. She laughed in his face.

"You. You're just bad with words." she hissed, sliding her thumbs until they found the raise in his throat. Quickly she pressed down against his Adam's apple, still intent in her goal. The only way to destroy the flower was to destroy him first.

When dark creeps in and eats the light

Bury your fears on sorry night

For in the winter's darkest hours

Comes the feasting of the Vours

No one can see it, the life they stole

Your body's here but not your soul

Table Code by Sky!

if there's a light at the end, it's just the sun in your eyes

i know you wanna go to heaven

Who did she think she was?

Did she honestly think that she stood a chance?


His arrogance returns and he recovers from the trap he’s fallen into, eyes narrowed and sharp, predatory as they linger on her tear stained face. More so, when she has the audacity to laugh in his face. “You. You’re just bad with words.” He doesn’t even have time to bite a retort back until her hands are pressing in on his throat.

He doesn’t want to hurt her, but he doesn’t know if he has a choice.

But gods how confusing it makes all of this.

He hisses, grabbing onto her arms and prying them off of him to pin them down in the snow with one hand, the other pressed across her chest as he leans in close, nose brushing against her blackened cheekbone. “You shouldn’t love me Phoebe.” He tells her, regaining control over his hoarse voice, from a bruised throat and the blood that drips from it. And he grins through it all.

“You might have to die for me.” He taunts, all arrogance over her sharp words and barbs that he’s certain he’ll have to fix later. But first, he needs to plant that flower, and he has no idea how to go about it other than distracting her. And with the surprise that came with his recalling of the snowman, however brief it was, gives him an idea he knows deep down he’ll regret later in the face of the darkness that sweeps over the midwife. His head tilts toward her and he damns all the darkness and blight, the tar and the earth, fighting mixed signals within him, as he leans in to kiss her – to distract, to confuse, to pause so he can finish the fucking job.

but you're human tonight

SUNJATA

PHOEBE

He tears her hands away and she snarls in anger, finding her hands pinned and chest held down. She had had him - she had been so close! She glared up at him, her gaze hard and foriegn, so opposite of the midwife he knew. His words made her laugh, low and manic. "You already killed me, Jata, and clearly you've no intention of reviving me." she hissed, trying to break him down again, to make him feel and slip up. But instead her lips were captured in an unexpected kiss.

Men were so dumb.

With her mind held in the clutches of the blight, the cunning and venom she spewed were only within her grasp to harm. She wanted nothing save the most basic of needs. Food, shelter, water - a good fuck even. Had he gone for that, she may have been distracted, but a kiss? It served no real purpose. She did not reciprocate, instead twisting her head, trying to bite down on whatever piece of flesh she could. Her legs reared up as well, trying to kick between his legs.

When dark creeps in and eats the light

Bury your fears on sorry night

For in the winter's darkest hours

Comes the feasting of the Vours

No one can see it, the life they stole

Your body's here but not your soul

Table Code by Sky!

if there's a light at the end, it's just the sun in your eyes

i know you wanna go to heaven

He wants to laugh at her retort, to claim that he already had. Oh no, no, no, no. He absolutely hadn’t. And she didn’t realize it. Didn’t realize the implications it took for that to be true. But his lips are on hers, black melding with blood and marking his face, when he realizes it’s not working. He curses himself internally, pulling back while she struggles to kick him, but he pins her further. “Go inside.” He tells her, glancing briefly to Pim to see if he’ll do something. He has to know she isn’t right, right?

He has to.

In between her fits, he pushes himself off of her, to stand and remain between himself and the flower, the back of his hand reaching up to wipe the black from his face, and when it comes away he hisses to himself briefly. Steel eyes harden and narrow on Phoebe once more. “I’m only trying to help you. Why can’t you see that? Let me do this, and I’ll be gone.” He growls, a hint of desperation in his voice. “You won’t have to see me again.”

He doesn’t want to hear her words anymore, her claims to him. He doesn’t want any of it, having more than enough to explain now, and he finds his gaze shifting toward gunmetal as he stares, hoping she’ll leave and let him plant the rose. Because he’s not leaving until he does.

but you're human tonight

SUNJATA

PHOEBE

Pim was watching with a tilted head, a predatory gaze locked on Jata. Whether he did or didn't know Phoebe was off - more importantly if it bothered him - was impossible to tell. Phoebe continued to struggle beneath him though, and when he stood, she did as well, hunched and breathless. She glared up at him with a snarl on her lips, eyes glancing towards the flower. "NO!" she shouted at him, her voice having returned to its near feral state.

He insisted he was trying to help, but it did not reach her. Instead she darted for it headlong, intent on destroying the unseasonable bloom. She would not stop, and even if he was successful in planting it, there was no way he could ensure she would not otherwide destroy it when he left. Not unless he managed to keep her thoroughly restrained and away from it until she either died or was healed.

When dark creeps in and eats the light

Bury your fears on sorry night

For in the winter's darkest hours

Comes the feasting of the Vours

No one can see it, the life they stole

Your body's here but not your soul

Table Code by Sky!

if there's a light at the end, it's just the sun in your eyes

i know you wanna go to heaven

His gunmetal eyes narrow in on her as she stands too, hunched and breathless. She glares right back at him before shouting, and he wants to roll his eyes, wants to lock her up somewhere where she can stop fucking with the flower and his mind. But she’s charging again, and he prepares himself to protect the flower, but this time he aims for a different strategy.

He can feel the chill and bite of the snowy wind on the wounds on his neck and cheeks, and he swallows hard against them as she nears, reaching with wide arms in an attempt to grab and hold, to lift her from the ground to take her away from the flower. He’s realized there’s no reasoning with her, there’s no way he can try to bring the quiet midwife back unless he does plant said flower. And so he has to try.

but you're human tonight

SUNJATA

PHOEBE

Phoebe can’t react quickly enough on the snow to dodge him. Her body isn’t trained for such sudden maneuvers, and her footwear didn’t exactly help her in any way either. She near slid into his arms, easily captured if unhappily so. She screamed and thrashed against him, feral and vicious, eyes locked on the horrible flower he was trying to plant. She wanted it gone and dead, leaves shriveled and black. Her fists and legs strike against him in her manic effort to escape him and do so.

Pim roared as well, seeing Phoebe thoroughly captured once again (and since he wasn’t on the ground it was clear the male didn’t intend to breed with her). Static electricity pricked around his fangs as he stalked Jata, ready to strike if he continued to present himself a threat.

When dark creeps in and eats the light

Bury your fears on sorry night

For in the winter's darkest hours

Comes the feasting of the Vours

No one can see it, the life they stole

Your body's here but not your soul

Table Code by Sky!

if there's a light at the end, it's just the sun in your eyes

i know you wanna go to heaven

He grabs on and lifts, and he almost loses his balance as she thrashes against him. Ah, but he’s determined now, and he holds her tightly against his chest in the hopes of trying to keep her from moving too much where he’ll actually end up falling in the snow. Unfortunately for him, he can hear Pim’s electricity, crackling and sparking, but he grits his teeth further. The dragon needed to understand, and Jata? He needed to tie Phoebe down if he was ever going to get this to work.

With a glance to Pim, he inhales sharply before moving toward the entrance of the clinic. Hoping that he can shove his way through the front door before getting electricuted. But he’s committed now, and his boots move against the snow with a surprising amount of grip despite the ice, and he keeps his arms tight around her to keep her from moving, waiting for more venomous words and denial.

but you're human tonight

SUNJATA

PHOEBE

His hold on her was strong, even as she thrashed and wriggled and tried to escape his grasp. And then he was carting her away, carrying her further and further from the damned flower she so badly wished to destroy. She growled in frustration, a noise that was animalistic and aggressive and completely not-Phoebe. But she took it one step further. Unable to break free she twisted her head and bit down as hard as she could on his neck and shoulder. Metallic, warm blood filled her mouth as she easily broke through skin, tearing her head side to side to do as much damage as possible.

Pim still stalked behind Jata, snarling and electricity crackling, but not yet striking. Phoebe still had fight in her and Jata still might have food. He was willing to risk the potential consequences for some more bits of jerky. He was food motivated after all.

When dark creeps in and eats the light

Bury your fears on sorry night

For in the winter's darkest hours

Comes the feasting of the Vours

No one can see it, the life they stole

Your body's here but not your soul

Table Code by Sky!

if there's a light at the end, it's just the sun in your eyes

i know you wanna go to heaven

Yet again, he’s underestimated, and he makes a mental note to stop fucking up as she writhes and he tightens his hold on her and her arms. He doesn’t take into consideration her teeth like he should have. Her head whips toward him and she bites down hard, hard enough to tear and open skin, and he has half a mind to drop her onto the ground right there. But he refrains, if only for a split second to push her at an arm’s length – a howl of pain and frustration leaving his lips as he uses the door to brace her against and remove an arm to pull her head from his neck.

He lets his steel gaze harden on her, darkening beneath the decidedly not Phoebe she is, fumbling to open the door to the clinic. He can hear Pim behind him, hear the electricity crackle further, and he furrows his brows in frustration, anger, and pain. The wound on his neck seeps dark red into the furs, melding with the black of where her hands had been, and he glares down at Phoebe as he springs the door open and pushes through it. “You’re going to stay in here, so help me gods, Phoebe.” He growls to her, a demand as he moves to toss her down into the couch.

but you're human tonight

SUNJATA

PHOEBE

His underestimation was only partially his fault. The Phoebe he knew – while perhaps physically capable of all of this – had mental blocks that would keep her from acting in this manner. But the blight knew no limitations to get what it wanted, and with the taste of fresh blood in her mouth it became hungry. She fought back against him as he tore himself away, his blood tinged black as it ran down her chin, muscles straining to get close enough to bite him again, to tear against flesh and feast.

But he is careless again, throwing her towards the couch. Phoebe clung to him though, pulling him down with the weight of her smaller form, shoving her weight enough to send them careening towards the coffee table. They slammed against it, jarring her slightly as she landed above him, straddling his waist and hands pressed to his shoulders. An evil sort of grin curved her lips then as she gazed down upon him. ”So help you gods? What gods, Jata? Since when do you worship them?” she hissed at him, spattering black and red droplets along his cheeks.

”Do you call out for them because you realize it is all you have now? Lusea is just a distraction from the early demise you think you will meet – not your future, just a present. You had a future with me – but it scared you to think you could have one, didn’t it? And now you don’t even fully know yourself, having had your eyes opened to the future you could have, only for Lusea to drag you back to your past of vitriol and fire. Don’t pretend you did not imagine what it would have been like to have a future with me.” she hissed, leaning in close to him. ”And you liked that future, didn’t you?”

When dark creeps in and eats the light

Bury your fears on sorry night

For in the winter's darkest hours

Comes the feasting of the Vours

No one can see it, the life they stole

Your body's here but not your soul

Table Code by Sky!