LOVED TOO FONDLY

❛ It  was  called  the  motherland  !! A  place  very  far  off,  though  you  need  not  worry  about  it  now!  ❜  Their  words  were  chirped  like  a  bird’s  trill,  but  there  was  a  slight  waver  in  the  tone  akin  to  holding  back  tears.  BITTERNESS  ON  THEIR  TONGUE  ACHES  TO  BE  PORTRAYED.  Arita  still  smiled  at  the  baffled  one  before  them.  ❛  What’s  wrong?  Do  i  frighten  you?  That’s  no  good  at  all!  I’m  not  scary  you  know-  ❜

        1795. WALES. The Lady perches herself upon the iron-wrought edge of a street bench, the dim light of one of the public lanterns casting long, flickering shadows at her feet. Viridians are cast downward to lithe appendages, for a matrimonious band passes between them now, heavy & hot against the pads of her thumb & index finger. Bitterness soars within her like an abundance of bile, scorching the back of her throat & nestling uncomfortably at the base of her diaphragm. She should cast it away, let it clinker down the cobblestone street to lose its way into some sewer entranceway – but she doesn’t. She can’t.

       The shop is closed now.  As the last pink & orange hues of the setting star cast its colours upon the roofs of the stores, she’d simply been too late. Rumours had led her here; talk of a man who could cure her of her ailment, of her hunger. The longer she lingers, the more she thinks herself a fool. A cure! there’s an absurdity to the notion, one that has her suddenly up on her feet & standing upon the platform to the store’s entranceway, her knuckles hovering above the wood paneling. She knocks, but it as though she is watching herself rap against the door back from her seat on the bench, wholly disconnected from herself. There shan’t be anyone home. This man would not exist. He couldn’t possibly.

“ I WOULD SAY THAT WAS  a relatively successful day, calcifer. ” they stretch, hands pressing into back that arches until howl hears a crack.  finally.  only the sound of bubbling carries in the quiet and they sink into their chair, about to set feet up on table when it comes.

A KNOCK SO UNEXPECTED they aren’t sure if they’ve imagined it at first or not. but the warding around the shop buzzes in the back of their mind with the pressure of feet so they sigh. unfold their longs limbs from their chair and make for the door.  (  how does michael manage this day in and out?  )  a question howl never thought to answer until their younger companion was gone for the day.

“ I DON’T KNOW HOW TO SAY THIS without sounding cruel. ” yes, they do, but the words are difficult to find around the knots in their throat, the tightness in their chest. somewhere wrapped in starlight their heart is aching. somewhere, they blame their nerves on the unstable nature of the stars. 

         ❛  PERHAPS  KEEPING  YOURSELF  OUT  OF  TROUBLE  FOR  THE  next  few  days  should  be  your  new  priority ,  master  pendragon .  ❜  in  his  concentration ,  anduin  fails  to  humor  the  wizard’s  rather  inopportune  WIT  —-  but  given  what  he’s  heard  about  the  famed  HOWL ,  it  shouldn’t  surprise  him .  his  healing  magic  now  at  work ,  he  gives  howl  a  brief  glance . ❛  and  I  wouldn’t  know  about  pretty  –  but  I  do  know  pretty  messed  up .  how  long  did  it  take  you  to  seek  help ?  ❜