i am the mace, the map, the fall and the high
Reave had been born into a world of chaos. Memory had screamed so loudly from Brazen’s dying breaths, from Lilliana’s grief-stricken tears, that everything after had seemed nearly tame in comparison. He had known crushing guilt when he realized he had been the instrument of his mother’s demise, and only Lilli’s gentle and steadfast refusal to allow him to believe in his own fault had kept him from that which threatened to drown him.
Despite her best however, he had grown wild and hedonistic, pursuing only that which could distract him best. And now she is gone, unable to drag him back this time. Perhaps in a way that is why he had plunged into the river as he had. As though the simple act of survival might prove something.
Now, on the bank of the river, he’s not quite sure what it was meant to prove.
The first thing from her lips is a lie. He knows it just as well as she does, though he makes no comment on it beyond the slight deepening of his grin. He was rather impressed that she had done so. And in many ways, it makes her vastly more interesting.
“I’m Reave,” he replies, mirroring her introduction as he pulls himself from the river and draws closer. Rune picks that moment to drop from the sky, wings spreading wide as he lands skillfully on the thick branch of a nearby tree which, despite its heft, shudders beneath the bird’s weight. Reave ignores the intrusion as though nothing odd had just happened.
He steps closer still, the blood beginning to dry on his skin now, though it still oozes where skin meets bone. “Does it bother you?” he finally asks, head lifting as he clears the wet strands of his wheaten forelock from the mask shadowing his features, the strange glow serving to highlight the sharp blue of his own eyes. He is so close now he could reach out and touch her easily if he so chose. “For someone who knows the location of their own grave, I wouldn’t have thought it would be so concerning.”
reave
@[Elliana]