MABEL
Mabel didn’t proclaim her earnestness, her amusements, in the savagery and unwinding of the gourds. As her dagger hit and plunged and rallied, the distinction of her barbarity might have said it all. Dangerous. Lethal. Deadly. That’s what she wanted to be, and for the world to see it in its entirety – unleashed and unwound. Even if they were just stupid pumpkins.
She could pretend, for a moment, that it was an enemy’s blood, rather than pulp.
Her eyes lifted back up to them, head tilting vaguely as a predator might do as revelations took a turn. A bite. A howl. And then wounds that didn’t contort in ichor, nothing red, nothing crimson, but fluid.
Her smile might have indicated she was immensely pleased. A rarity. “Congratulations.” No inquiries asked over what inspired the alteration; just content that the world had gained another Brightened soul, and not lost it to the Old Gods and their scales of indifference. “Did you still feel pain from the bite?” Because that was odd – but maybe it had been an affect, a nuance, from times before. Habits difficult to break, even in a life anew.
She could pretend, for a moment, that it was an enemy’s blood, rather than pulp.
Her eyes lifted back up to them, head tilting vaguely as a predator might do as revelations took a turn. A bite. A howl. And then wounds that didn’t contort in ichor, nothing red, nothing crimson, but fluid.
Her smile might have indicated she was immensely pleased. A rarity. “Congratulations.” No inquiries asked over what inspired the alteration; just content that the world had gained another Brightened soul, and not lost it to the Old Gods and their scales of indifference. “Did you still feel pain from the bite?” Because that was odd – but maybe it had been an affect, a nuance, from times before. Habits difficult to break, even in a life anew.
I bare my teeth
and stretch my claws out
and stretch my claws out
