gaza
Perse.
Gaza tastes her name in his mouth, the way it pulls his lips together and then separates them again. The way his tongue lifts to create space, to round the edges of her name, the tiny hisss at the end when the tip touches his teeth. Perse. Her mother’s name hisses at the end too, but her name is less mournful. Cordis.Cor-dis.Less of a mouthful. It is… simple, and he wonders if she indulges in such simple pleasures as touch. Not the kind that invites pain, not the kind that she’s experienced at the hands of Him. Not the kind she craves.
Just… touch. Pure and unadulterated.
“Perse,” he repeats back to her, a lop-sided grin dangling in a rather lackadaisical way. “It’s nice to meet you.” But he stops there, watching the hairs on her skin rise up. He only has one shot at this. “I don’t mean to pry, but… she’s missed you.” A half-truth, as he remembers her fleeing before his insistent questions, his queries as to why she hadn’t gone looking for Perse. But a half-truth is better than an all-out lie, and even when Gaza didn’t have his super senses, he could see the regret in her eyes. Or perhaps, what he imagined to be regret. He saw the fear, certainly; there had to be something else in there too.
vanquish x yael