cold in the violence after the war
hope is a fire to keep us warm
It’s the curse of being alive, in a sense. To always want something you do not have. To find beauty in things other than your own skin. Though Brazen does not feel the same bone-deep jealousy, she does know longing. What must it be like, to be so achingly lovely? To have skin so soft and flawless? To know a life without pain and blood?
It’s foolish to wonder. But Brazen has never claimed not to be a foolish girl.
Of course, it does not occur to Brazen either that such things can be wrought so easily by magic. Perhaps she should know, given her mother. But then, her mother had never been one to portray beautiful lies. Still, to her, the world is relatively simple yet, where beauty is nothing more than beauty. Besides, she should know better than most that what lies beneath is more important than that which lingers on the surface. Were that not true, she would be nothing more than the raving, maddened beast she looks to be.
She is glad when her newfound companion does not object to her overly familiar touch. Abashedly pleased when it is welcomed not just by action, but by word. Yet again, heat seems to flush too near her skin’s surface, something that is as foreign as it is curiously intriguing. “I’m glad,” she whispers, her voice almost shyly soft, despite the way her eyes linger so boldly on Naia’s warm gaze. Though she does not consciously recognize the subtle flirtations, her innate vitality rises to meet it. “I think some attentions can be… very nice.”
She shifts almost unconsciously closer, too accustomed to sharing affectionate touch when expressing herself to realize what she does. She pauses and blinks however, when Naia makes her final wry comment about switching bodies. Suddenly, a peal a humored laughter escapes her lips, low and surprisingly pleasant. As the laughter fades, she tilts her head, gleaming eyes settling on Naia as she replies, grin still on her lips. “As pleasant as that sounds for me, I think you’d find my skin much less comfortable from within.”
Brazen
