"But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura
I can see through you, see your true colors Cause inside you're ugly, you're ugly like me
Even when he had been just a plain mortal child, a weak thing that was quick to burn, he had been fascinated by fire. He saw the flickers of it dance along his sire’s skin, had seen his mother lean into his scorching flesh as if it did not hurt at all. “Cleansing.” That’s what she had called it with a faint smile, when he had asked if it hurt her. He knew that Offspring had once annihilated parts of Sylva’s forest to the ground with that fire, for his mother and for him. A large silvery scar remained on Tantalize’s body, a reminder of when her flesh had been peeled for the mere enjoyment of feeling her pain. Deep within her womb he had felt that fear, that despair, that anger and pain. That relief when fire exploded around them as Offspring’s rage saved them both.
He had wanted to wield that flame too. The one that had been passed from Overseer to Heir. Yet somehow he had been found unworthy. The last child of both Offspring and Tantalize, the supposed love child, the one that they had both claimed to try harder for, to not make the same mistakes they had made with the others. A child that was plain, mortal, and the spitting image of his glowing red eyed sire except for the lack of flames. It had been easy to become infected with jealousy, to see the pride in his sire’s eyes when speaking of Levi. The favored Prince of Flames. Then Offspring had seemed to fade away and his mother faded with him. And that envy and jealousy turned into something else, something meaner. Something callous.
So he became a different Prince. A cruel one that used sharp words instead of a crackling whip of fire.
His tail lashes against his black flank like an angry cat, tentatively moving his tongue in his mouth and licking his healed lips as the golden power fades from him. She is pouting and his anger is rising, bile in the back of his throat. She scoffs at him, stubborn and obstinate. Important. Yes, it was important. Because if she was Offspring’s child, if there had been another… The flicker of heat that writhes deep in his belly is suddenly alight, an inferno of emotion that dances in the red depths of his eyes. Something responds to that, something that hisses and coils and starts to rise to the surface of his skin. He would find a way to burn this whole fucking meadow to the ground if Offspring still lived. And then he would find his sire and rip him apart for having the audacity to create another when he had failed him so spectacularly.
He is barely breathing when she speaks of his eyes. Tantalize had told him that red eyes had ran in her side of the family as well. Her grandfather, father, and some of her siblings had carried those crimson eyes. She had always found it amusing that she had eventually fallen for a red-eyed man herself. A viper is trying to force itself through his skin and his eyes have become snake-like, slitted and angry. He doesn’t notice the forked tongue that seems to replace his normal one although he feels like he can taste her and a million other things in the air. He is ignorant to how parts of his fur suddenly melt into something smooth, something scaled. His mind is a black rage, storming and chaotic, and it’s the only thing he can focus on. If she says his name… If she says who he thinks she is….
”Levi.”
The name seems to repeat itself like a mantra in his long pointed ears. Whatever twists within him seems to calm and he slowly exhales a slow breath. There is no forked tongue now, there are no scales. Levi’s daughter. This was Levi’s daughter. He should be embarrassed but he can’t find it in himself to feel anything but relief. That at least she was not one of his. Finally, as the edges of his temper seem to dampen and the scarlet gaze returns to something more equine, he responds to her gruffly. As if he doesn’t care. “Levi is my brother. Half-brother.” He amends, considering her with uncertainty that he hides behind the smugness of his smile. It had been years since he had run into anyone that was considered family, family by blood at least. If he was still that young lonely colt he might have been overjoyed to find her, a long lost niece. But that lonely boy had spent painful years hardening himself into something harder to hurt. So all she gets is his indifference, any easier thing to double down on now that he is Fae, as he looks down his nose at her with cool disdain. "I wondered where your father had been after all this time. Busy, I see."
06-28-2021, 12:48 PM (This post was last modified: 06-28-2021, 12:49 PM by Sunlight.)
SUNLIGHT
Her molten gaze never wavers from the intensity of his own, the tiniest of smiles on her gold-lined lips as his pupils dilate and stretch, thin and venomous as ever. Something sends a delectable shiver down her spine and that careful grin widens, tossing her burnt-orange forelock from her white and gold framed face. His mind is a void of darkness and ominousity, as tumultuous and angry as the dark seas that churn in her childhood homeland. It brings her fluttering ever-nearer, drawn to the terrible and chaotic energy that festers in his mind, intoxicated by its potency. How strange, she thinks, that the thought of who she might be in relation to him would stir such malevolence.
There is something far more sinister that dwells beneath the surface of the sparkling stallion’s skin and she cannot help the overwhelming necessity that fills her - the need to set it free (whatever it may be).
Sunlight’s gasp is both equally inspired by awe and surprise as scales flutter to cover the smooth, obsidian skin that once covered the coiled muscle that had already been wound tight. In an instant, she takes a few unhesitant strides towards him as her eyes flicker across the deep shine of his new armor. Fire dances behind the gold of her eyes, once more her curiosity drowning out anything else that may be occurring - such as him speaking to her directly. Fire ignites in her chest, sitting there ready to be stoked and fanned, merely waiting for her command. Perhaps Obscene would feel the heat of the air rising around him as she contemplates how much fuel she would need to burn away scales instead of skin and fur.
The light in her eyes dims when the scales disappear and he is restored to what he had been before. Sunlight clicks her teeth together dully, matching his own gruffness with the sound of air rushing through her gritted teeth. Her gold-tipped ears fall disappointedly, pressing her lips into a soft frown. Obscene’s mind has seemed to quell, despite the darkness that still writhes around the edges. “I wouldn’t know,” she replies with a gentle shrug, flicking her tail against the feathering of her white ankles. Besides the company of her sisters, Sunlight would rather be on her own (perhaps a trait she inherited from Levi himself). She left Tephra one day as a filly and hasn’t since found the need to return.
She didn’t wish to dwell on things like family and bloodlines. She is indifferent, more in tune with the fire raging within her than anything a family could bring her; more interested in purging herself of her own selfish desires and dreams.
All the more intrigued, she seeks to draw out the bit of him she had caught a glimpse of previously.
“Do you care about family, uncle?” No sooner are the words out of her mouth, she reaches out in hopes to feel the same terrible darkness that had clouded his mind earlier. “Is that where all your rage comes from?”
06-30-2021, 04:45 PM (This post was last modified: 06-30-2021, 05:25 PM by Obscene.)
I can see through you, see your true colors Cause inside you're ugly, you're ugly like me
He is oblivious to the changes on his skin, doesn’t feel the shifting as it happens, too distracted by the dark thoughts in his mind and the overwhelming anger that threatens to rip him apart. He can feel the heat through his scales from her and his own bonfire exploding around the sinews of his organs. She looks at him with a bright and open curiosity, a greed in the corner of her gaze. There is something here that she wants caged is what he sees in that expression glowing around her eyes. He doesn’t like it, not at all.
His temper starts to fade and she flattens her ears in disappointment, momentarily flaring him with renewed fire. The scales continue to fall away as she speaks of not knowing where Levi is. Of course she wouldn’t, why would she? They all had that knack apparently to wander off as if they hadn’t mattered at all. An empathy for Sunlight begins to replace the burning grip on his chest and slowing that thing within him that slithers and writhes around his insides, the rest of his scales falling away.
“I hate many things, family is just one of them niece.” He snarls softly as that wild frenzied slithering flings itself against the walls of his ribcage, not knowing where to go or how to escape. Not allowing her to bait him into what she desires as he does his best to resist that slithering in his heart. His red eyes smolder with the remains of his fury but he smiles at her regardless and thinks how this fiery niece of his remains him so much of the golden mare back home. “Do you live out here?” He suddenly asks, hoping to catch her off guard as that same empathy continues to linger in his system, telling him to reach out to this little bit of family that he has left.
“Just one?” she parrots with a raise of her expressively marked eyes, pursing her lips in curiosity. “Hatred is a mighty fuel,” she adds absentmindedly, her voice fading away as she looks at him once more, admiring the shimmering gold that paints her uncle’s face. She pulls away from him, a soft exhale of disappointment escaping her lips in a sigh. Their conversation is getting boring, mundane. She flicks her golden tail against her onyx flank, her gold-tipped ears falling slightly.
“I don’t live anywhere,” she admits with a roll of her dark shoulder, tilting her head so that her golden forelock falls from her blazed face. She presses her lips together in a thin line, her eyes narrowing before continuing. “Don’t you dare pity me for it,” she states flippantly, “I rather enjoy going where I damn well please.” A smile is offered to him, languid and charismatic as if she has a feeling he would understand that last part.
Suddenly, her eyes darken with a renewed focus. She closes whatever space happens to be between them, her bright eyes staring into the fierce red that calls to her. “Don’t you want to set it free?” she whispers, traveling the ivory and orange of her nose across his jawline. The gesture is not intimate or an attempt to seduce him, but a word of encouragement - her voice is solid and firm, welcoming even, as she tries to lure him towards the thing that he seems too oblivious - or too afraid - to awaken. “The longer you cage it, the worse it will be.” She doesn’t know this, of course, but at this point she would say anything to tempt him into relinquishing whatever is housed within his chest, curling ominously around his heart.
Without any warning, Sunlight commands her flames to encircle them. They dance around them in a perfect ring, bright white and furious.
I can see through you, see your true colors Cause inside you're ugly, you're ugly like me
She becomes disappointed, sulking even, as he refuses to give her what she wants. They are both creatures that thrive on thrills and suffocate beneath mundanity but he has too much on his mind to worry over pleasing her, on keeping her intrigued and interested. However he does nod absentmindedly himself as she speaks of the fuel of hatred, recognizing the thread of it that feeds into the darkness of his withered heart. The one he spins his brutal armor from, the hatred that he thinks protects him from the cruelty of the world.
Despite her growing disinterest, she responds to him anyways and he snorts softly. It’s a gesture of understanding but she takes it as something else as she flippantly warns him away from pity. “I feel nothing of the sort for you.” He smirks at her, this niece of his that wields flames like his brother but seems to have taken his backstory as her own. “There’s nothing wrong with living out here.” He manages after a pause, casting his smoldering gaze out on the familiarity of the place he had once called home himself. “But if you wanted a change of pace…” And he leaves it there with a slight shrug. Purposely leaving his unsaid words to dangle before her as bait for her curiosity.
She is not one to be thrown off track easily and it shows as she closes the distance between them again. He notices the darkness of her expression and meets it with the wine-red gaze of his own. “No.” He growls even as the snake within him seems to respond to the heat of her touch along his jaw, responding to her fire in a way that brings the scales rising back to the surface despite his clumsy attempts at pushing it back. There is no controlling this thing, a realization that makes his stomach drop, as it slips through his desperate attempts to reign it in. However, without that fuel of intense feeling, it doesn’t do much else except bring the smattering of black and gold scales to shimmer along the surface of his skin. She warns of caging it and he shakes his head roughly, moving away from her touch as she tries to tempt the serpent within.
“And what do you know of it?” His voice icy despite the warm slithering in his belly. Little does she know that he has no choice in what this thing inside of him wants or how it chooses to appear. Little does she know that he has no control over it and it’s only the newness of this power that keeps it from overtaking him completely. However her words do manage to find a sore spot, a chink in his resolve, with the worry that this thing is only going to get worse. That she might be unfortunately right.
Suddenly white flames catch in a ring around them, becoming a high heated wall that brings sweat to bead along his neck and trickle down the scales, flames illuminated on their shiny surface. And it is his turn to close that small gap between them, a wild fury in the depths of red that splinter and narrow as his entire body is soon covered in those shining plates. “What will you do when it tries to consume you my dear niece? What if your little parlor tricks aren’t enough to stop it?” He snarls at her, pushing his chest against her to back her up against the flaming wall she had created. She is messing with something that he doesn’t understand, that she doesn’t understand, but the hunger that he suddenly feels is enough to tell him that whatever it is she’s playing with is a dangerous game indeed.
He offers it to her easily, with a nonchalance that is accompanied by a roll of his glittering shoulder. She is not so easily tempted by the power of kings and princes, but - and her golden eyes then survey him a bit closer, thoughtfully - he plays a dangerous game and Sunlight cannot pretend that the adrenaline itself is more than enough for her to consider his offer. She does not respond verbally to his bated breath, only the slight narrowing of her eyes to show brief deliberation. She is nearly fully involved now; what if the thing beneath the surface becomes unleashed without her to witness it? The tri-colored mare snorts softly, finding the idea to be disappointing.
Sunlight’s ears pin in response to his firm and unwavering ‘no’. It had not been a request as it spills like fire from his onyx lips and the same fire now alights in her eyes like embers, rage finding fuel within the audacity her uncle had to tell her no. Her tantrums as a child would nearly cause Tephra to burn uncontrollably and, despite her maturity, feels the need to unleash her flames as she had done in the past. Burn it all.
Burn them all.
The gentle clicking of his scales against the heat, however, quells her for the time being. It is enough to distract her from whatever emotions that had fallen across the unique pattern of her face, those dark shadows lifting to reveal that enthrallment now glitters in her eyes - a reflection of the flames that waver against the sleek black and gold of sparkling scales. “You would deny yourself?” Her voice is curious and quiet as disbelief takes over her expressive features. If something much like her fire is captured in his chest, forced to be squelched beneath his own fist, it is her duty - as family - to help him release it, is it not? Sunlight could not imagine allowing such a large and powerful part of herself to become stagnant nor could she fathom ignoring it.
Perhaps, she thinks idly, he is just as strong as her - if only in a different way.
The fire dances closer, faltering momentarily as the brute of his strength forces her back a few staggering steps. First, she tells him no (denies a part of himself with ease) and now he only entices her to become bolder as she realizes that nerves have been struck. The gold tips of her ears are still hidden beneath the same burnt orange-gold of her mane, her dull teeth attempting to snap instinctually at the stallion despite only meeting the armor of burning scales.
“Then it consumes me,” she hisses, seething beneath his ruby-red stare. A single feathered foreleg tears at the earth beneath her as the crackling of the grass echoes in a destructible chorus around them. “And what of you, Obscene? What if it consumes you?”
I can see through you, see your true colors Cause inside you're ugly, you're ugly like me
She is not a woman who likes to be told “No” and it becomes clear as he sees the literal flames in her eyes. Despite with slithering in the pit of his stomach, he can’t help but give her a smug grin. Something extra infuriating that would surely stoke a few extra logs on her fire. Others might be afraid of getting burned but he was not others. Just as she was unlike the rest in one simple way. She was family, regardless if they liked it or not. Regardless if it actually meant something or not, they were tied together by blood and brimstone and fire and red eyes.
He did not want to hurt her.
So he looks at her disbelieving expression and exhales a slow "Yes.” that comes out like steam, a soft hiss of an answer. He would deny himself until he could forsake himself no longer. He doesn’t enjoy pain but he would take it, he would let her white hot flames lick at his glitter lined skin, consume his flesh until his insides bubbled and burst. He would not shy from her blaze just as he doesn’t step away from the blunt teeth that snap along his scales as she seethes at him, unable to understand his reluctance. Just as he cannot understand her wild desire to unleash him.
The heat continues to bubble and bead, sweat running dark patterns along his shining shining coat as she froths at him, tearing the earth beneath her as she throws his question back at him. “Then it consumes us all.” He manages as the hunger gnaws at his insides, an insatiable feeling that makes him grind his teeth and grasp the truth of his words. A hunger that could not be satiated, a belly that would never be full enough.
Unexpectedly, he reaches for Sunlight, unafraid and brazen even in the threat of being singed and scorched. He pulls her close, his neck over hers as he brings her into a strange embrace. One where she can feel his cool scales just as he can feel her heat. His head turns slightly so his muzzle murmurs into a gold tipped ear still hidden beneath the layers of her mane. “Perhaps one day niece. But not today.” And then he lets her go and waits for her to do the same.
obscene
@Sunlight
(Wanna wrap this one and start something new?)
![[Image: Obscene-Pixel.png]](https://i.postimg.cc/fTkjKh9Q/Obscene-Pixel.png){kind=tracking}
