all that and more

KIADA

the harpy

A small smirk is given to Deimos in the response of Zariah. A quieter laugh bubbling its way out of her throat. “Only our worst enemies.” She comments with a thought brimming in her mind, a snicker leaving her. “If only we could put Zariah against Zariah.” A ridiculous idea, but the thought of it rallies in her mind of sheer amusement. Unsure of how else a fight would go — perhaps they’d both burn out and wink away into nothing.

But the comment of bodyguards seems to rebound, and her gaze lifts back to Deimos with a small smirk. “He joined the Monster Hunters Guild. Meaning I can maybe put him to use for some of the less trained members.” A wider grin to that, a tip of her head as if she’s thought about ways to make him helpful and useful, different from how his past has made him.

all bright things must burn

BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3

Deimos Muffled laughter, as if they were afraid to unravel too much, go too far, after the doom and gloom. His snicker matched hers though, a shake of his head at ridiculous spectacles, of reflections of the Merciless pitted against herself. Perhaps the orders, commands, and dominion would repel off one another, and it’d be the only time she was forced to concede. “Hn. Who could withstand who?” Meant to be rhetorical, but echoing with a chuckle regardless. Her collected notions of Harper and foretold duties, however, made more sense now than his previous machinations and ruminations. A nod followed, understanding and comprehension dawning – not for her - but for those of the Monster Hunter’s Guild, members who might be keen on destruction and persecution of demons, infidels, and whatever other infuriated creatures roamed throughout hills and valleys, but incapable of thwarting further damage upon themselves. “Useful.” If that’s what Harper wanted to be – and who knew, after those years of servitude and desecration. While some of them, like Hotaru, like Kiada, like himself, adhered to violence as if it was embedded in their veins, in their bones, in their blood, others might not be so keen to return. “Have you asked him?” Out of sight and out of mind Make everything alright So let the sky and sea collide Just not in our lifetime

KIADA

the harpy

A bubbling laugh slips from her throat at the mention of who could withstand who. She imagines a draw of sorts, both battered and beaten until they inevitably fade out together. Poetic, in a sense, but the question had been rhetorical and so she simply keeps her amusement alive, her thoughts to herself, as the bubbling laughter chimes off of their surroundings and floats around the air.

The smile remains when they speak of Harper, arms remaining folded across her chest as she looks to Deimos with a raised brow of a smirk, tilting her head a small amount to nod and respond to his comment of usefulness. But the idea of asking him? No, she hadn’t planned on it. However, if they spent more nights like before… She could probably get it out there.

A small Cheshire smirk crosses her face as she looks back out over the rainbow hues. “I learned a lot about him, you know.” She manages, something conspiratory in the way she speaks almost as if it’s a whisper. “He stayed the night with me, we talked most of the night.”

all bright things must burn

BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3

Deimos Oh, perhaps he’d been led into a snare he hadn’t seen. Seemingly unaware, caught and snagged while he’d plotted his own, a specious scheming for predators that had somehow broadened and manifested to noose him as well. What had begun as teasing and taunting her was inevitably falling back upon him, and the more she discussed, the more she didn’t forthrightly say, left him to fill in the gaps. Based on her smirk, she knew exactly where his mind would go. Overprotective at the best of times, Deimos’ eyes narrowed to slits as he stared out over the expanse of molten liquid and blended hues, clenching his jaw in what any adversary or enemy would note as a precursor to a storm. Any hints of his snicker were gone, mouth drawn into a thin line. “Gross.” The implications of his grimace thereafter could be rendered towards her innuendos, or just the thought of talking for so long. But then he stifled a sigh, because none of this was up to him, and the thought that she was sharing any of it all had should’ve been worth something. Too long ago they’d simply carried on about their days with none of these emotional connections, she’d been a flaring Harpy, he’d been a detached vessel. So instead of searing and seething at the edges, he inclined his stare back to her, quieter, not a whisper, but a light rumble. “You are happy with him?” Out of sight and out of mind Make everything alright So let the sky and sea collide Just not in our lifetime

KIADA

the harpy

Oh, she certainly did catch him off guard. And as he utters one word in response, she can’t help the bubbling chime of laughter leave her lips – mischievous and amused all the same, happiness and smugness flickering down the attuned bond to Deimos, before she reaches for him to tug him along the sides of the rainbow road to spot more vantage points of their colorful hues. They couldn’t just stand in place all day, could they?

But the light sound of his voice causes her to pause and consider it. “He’s… Kind.” She offers, equally caught off guard. “He makes me feel like I don’t have to have the mask on I do with most people.” Surely Deimos could understand that – him and Amalia being the exceptions to Kiada’s known mask. Hotaru the exception as well. Everyone else, however? They all received it – only Harper had dug a bit deeper, found the cracks, illuminated them.

all bright things must burn

BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3

Deimos Tugged and cajoled, he wandered further into the midst, along the embankment of colors and fixations, drifting, drifting, drifting, rather than digging his heels into the earth. He considered it, just to air on the obnoxious, devilish sides, an indication and flare of primeval irritants, and juvenile accord. He could stand against hordes of hellions, irreverent and emboldened, defiant and seditious. He could mire himself upon summits, rooted into their chilling embrace, becoming another fixture, another element, of their icy, cold, and chilling design. But perhaps not here, not now. He followed, listening – eyes flicking, riveting, back to her as she mentioned pretenses and masks. How they all had their guards, their fortifications, their will to survive, too many times thwarted in their vulnerability by another who’d yearned to take advantage. By those who thought to exploit. By those who wanted to destroy them, who turned devastation and munitions back. So there was safety, shelter, sanctuary, in those they could find who didn’t give a damn about their flaws, defects, and imperfections. Who understood them and didn’t judge too harshly. Who defined acceptance, and tolerance, and could receive it in return. A hard thing to deny, once they’d found it, once they’d experienced it – the way he clutched and grasped and held those who knew him beyond stony fixtures and conniving forefronts. “Best keep him around then.” A half-smile lingered, and his gaze went away, maneuvering across the bubbling colors. Out of sight and out of mind Make everything alright So let the sky and sea collide Just not in our lifetime

KIADA

the harpy

At least he seemed to understand, the way he grows silent as he usually does while she contemplates her thoughts out loud – the more intimate ones that she didn’t share with everyone else. So as he speaks, mentioning that they should keep him around. There’s a nod granted to that, her own small half smile granted. “Even if it doesn’t go anywhere, he makes a good friend.” She shrugs, kicking at a rock before she turns to look back at Deimos with that very same small smile.

“We were supposed to dance at Fiat Lux, but it didn’t happen.” She explains. “And after, he sought me out for the dance. It was… Sweet. He wanted to check on me and make sure I made it out of there okay.” She offers, recalling that she hadn’t entirely made it out alright – her leg had broken and Deimos had been there to heal it, with Zuriel whom she absolutely adored. Perhaps even more so with the quick and sufficient healing granted by the unicorn.

all bright things must burn

BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3

Deimos The kicking of her rock merely inspired him to grab hold of one by his feet – a smoother conjecture, playing with it between calloused fingers while he mused and thought. Good friends was something he’d found hard to come by before – because loss defined him in the same way war, machinations, and reticence sculpted and carved over his entity. He’d had them, and lost them, and grieved them, and then were nothing left. Helovia hadn’t prospered many, save for the ones who’d managed to immerse themselves right here, all over again, and Caido kept surprising him with intervals of those who tolerated the quieter statures, the ones who strived to protect and shield without a word. A light laugh followed, entangled with a barely-there grin, but existing just the same. “Then it would still be worth it.” Then he tossed his rock, watching as it did three skips across the bright hues and rainbow essences, before dropping into the steaming pool. Another chuckle infused at her comments and descriptions; recalling other days, other moments, where Fiat Lux wasn’t such a haunting memory. “Careful. We know what dancing could lead to.” An arch to his brow and a wrinkle to his nose, utterly juvenile again, before grabbing hold of another stone and sending it along the threshold once more. Out of sight and out of mind Make everything alright So let the sky and sea collide Just not in our lifetime

KIADA

the harpy

“It would.” She agrees to his laugh, the barely-there grin that she gets that feels like the world. It was a rare occurrence to get any sort of expression shift from the Reaper turned Sword in Helovia, the fact that she gets any now – and the frequency of them – is enough to keep her vibrating with her ways to poke and prod at Deimos. But she looks back at him as he begins to skip the rock, a small smile blooming along her face, reaching down to grab one for herself to watch and attempt to mimic.

And as she goes to throw it, she hears his words – effectively ruining her attempt, and she cackles much like the bird that lives within her skin as the rock plunks to the bottom – no skip, no nothing. “Gods.” She rumbles, shooting a piercing but amused icy glare back at Deimos. “I would be so offended if someone copied you to ask me to marry them.” She teases him, sticking her tongue out at him.

all bright things must burn

BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3

Deimos The brief coil of amusement brimmed as his words caused her rock to sink, innocent plastered on his features but none left in his soul. It was a pretense anyway, and her piercing glare rolled off his shoulders, pretending to rumble along their undulations. “I do not know what you are implying.” Whether nor not he should be offended, or care really, as he grabbed hold of another stone, ensuring it went farther than his last, merely to set her on edge, on fringes, on something other than morosity. They had lifetimes of those melancholic borders, snagging and snarling at the rooted fortifications and means of loss. The pebble managed to soar, skipping along the pool four times now, strength in the turn of his arms and unleashing of his might. One more shrug released, his eyes on the water instead of upon her. “Grab onto happiness when you can.” Because they all knew it was fleeting, vanquished when they least expected it. The fact that he’d even had the opportunity to do so over the years still bewildered him at times; learning not to shy away from it. Out of sight and out of mind Make everything alright So let the sky and sea collide Just not in our lifetime

KIADA

the harpy

“You’re such a liar.” She responds, chiming a bright laugh his way. She sticks her tongue out at him before the amusement falters as she watches his next rock fling across the surface of the water, and she reaches for another one of her own to focus on – deciding that if he’s going to interrupt her with something silly like that she might just turn around and bite him. That should teach him, shouldn’t it?

He doesn’t, however, and her rock begins to skip along the surface and bounces twice before it falls beneath the surface of the water. Her head tilts back to him as she focuses on his words, a nod granted to that and a slightly smaller smile. “Things have been good lately. How's it been for you and Ama?” Since Flowerbirth, really, when things were still relatively shitty. At least the last couple of weeks and seasons have been relatively calm in comparison.

all bright things must burn

BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3

Deimos “Am I? When have I lied to you?” A snort; Deimos not known for being a voracious liar, but certainly someone who could calculate or circumvent, re-navigate a conversation he didn’t want to sink or mire himself within. He watched as her rock skipped twice, and a deeper smirk settled across his lips, grabbing hold of another rock, an arched brow clearly signifying an unsaid, silent challenge. A rise to mischief and juvenile properties, an ease of relaxation in the repose, content to occupy his time this way, instead of rooted or routed in melancholy. He twisted his arm back, then swung it forward, watching as the rock whipped out of his calloused fingers and skipped one, two, three times, before plopping into the pool. The question didn’t varnish it all away either, no matter how treacherous and terrible spring and summer had been. What had begun as somewhat content, living after LongNight, preparing for Fiat Lux, had ended spectacularly awful, with the disaster stretching into warmth, when they’d lost Adam and Peter. “Better,” he declared, dreading offering anything else – liable to jinx the notions of a stretch of peace, damned and doomed to break. Out of sight and out of mind Make everything alright So let the sky and sea collide Just not in our lifetime

KIADA

the harpy

A bright laugh leaves her as she pins Deimos with a specific, piercing look. “You have this tendency to withhold certain information.” She teases him, giving a wink in his direction before shaking her head and focusing on the rock that skips twice before sinking. She reaches for another, grinning lightly toward the colorful rock in her palm as she goes to skip it again. This one makes it about three skips before it ends up sinking again, and she looks back to Deimos with a bright grin.

“I’m glad.” She says softly, quite earnestly, the amount of love and happiness with hearing the answer to the question in a positive light refracting along the Attuned bond toward him. “You both deserve it.” Her smile shifts a bit more wry with that, a bit of a playful gleam to her eye as she goes to stand beside him again – a bit closer, in his space, reaching out with pale arms to hug him tight. “You especially.”

all bright things must burn

BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3

Deimos Truthfully, when he felt the need, the man was blunt and honest. Except he often didn’t feel the need to express every sentiment, rumination, scheme, or plot that spun their way through his mind. In Helovia, they’d been menacing, cruel things, how best to manipulate or coerce an individual, how far they’d have to go before war was waged, how to conquer kingdoms and maintain crowns. Here though, primordial factions of his inherent tendencies simply remained, chiseled, carved, as much as the blades honed in his hands. “Old habits.” He shrugged, the warm smile still present, not remotely bothered by the accusation. Openly expressing or emoting wasn’t natural for him – nor was portioning or piecing away information about himself (which, unfortunately, was how poor Rexanna hadn’t known about his relationship with Amalia until almost a year later). Private, reserved, reticent, mistakenly so at times, except to those who knew him well. He watched her rocks skip, tipping the scales on her second attempt. A smirk entangled its way along his mouth, but as was previously stated, he gave naught away. Instead, he reached another stone, felt the smooth conjectures in his hand, and threw. The water happened to correspond with his ability to control its movements, and so it was no surprise when the rock suddenly launched five times, when it should’ve only been three. A picture-perfect glance of innocence was rendered towards Kiada, but he, as expected, gave away nothing. The act of becoming used to the contentment, happiness, flowing through the Attuned bond – especially when directed towards him – still brought him strange bouts of discernment and self-deprecation. A portion of him almost argued that fact of deserving it (did he?), but it was nullified by her embrace, a snort following. “Thank you,” wrapping one arm around her to tuck her form against his side. Out of sight and out of mind Make everything alright So let the sky and sea collide Just not in our lifetime