Clemente
It almost feels selfish to remain in her embrace, but selfishness often meant survival on the streets. Perhaps it's fair, then, to remain here in her arms. Soaking up the maternal love that pours from her, the memories of better days that are faded and aged in his mind, too young to properly recall them when they happened. It's the worst temptation to stay here, not just for now, but for as long as she'll have him. Joy was a rare commodity in his life, and often fleeting. Even if she disposed of him eventually, cast him away from her perfect family life, he would at least have this. "She's even cooler then," he mumbles, laughter shaking his shoulders more out of habit than any air that would have left his lungs. Clem wants to meet her so badly, and yet he's still harboring the persistent fear that she will dislike him. That he will be a stain on their ranks, young and useless. She's a Queen, and one that came into the rank just by being a badass! What would she think of a street urchin like him? One that never made a name for himself? How could she look at him and not think that he should be better?
Clemente is distracted from his darkening thoughts at the display of magic, and he puffs his cheeks stubbornly at Rexanna when she reminds him that she has it. "You didn't say you had more than one!" What other tricks did she have up her sleeve? But when she reaches for him he can't help his stifled flinch, only for it to wash away in wonderment as his clothes suddenly change will still laying against his skin. Far sturdier than his threadbare outfit previously, and he can't help but lift a sleeve and rub it against his cheek, even though he can't really feel it. Eyes still wide and starry at the blatant display of power. "Thank you," he breathes, suddenly feeling shy and even further indebted to her.
So of course she decides to take it a step farther, drawing his gaze to her palm as she quite literally creates something from thin fucking air. At first he can't focus enough to figure out what it is, too baffled by the laws of physics breaking before his very eyes, but then her words draw him back down to his body and into the moment. His eyes begin to water again as she offers it to him, and he gives her his thin wrist in return, ignoring the tremble of his fingers. It's absolutely beautiful, and he's never really...received a gift before. "It's beautiful," his voice trembles, looking from the jewelry on his pale skin to Rexanna's piercing irises. "I'll never take it off," he vows, because thanking her again seems to fall so flat in comparison to how he feels. Emotions he can't possibly put into words. And she's right; he is sure to think of her every time the bracelet catches his eye.
i stopped being a kid the day
you sent me down here to die
