ON HIATUS

     Whether from gallows humour or the venom in his heart, Hideo slips. A small fang cuts through the guise of his smile. But the least of all he feels is apologetic. There is a mutual sense of otherness here, he hopes, where there is no use in hiding, and the oni can, just for now, fall prey to the indecency of being himself.      He dips his head. “A wonderful title, Niamh–is it of high rank?” He imagines so. Her names are remarkably foreign to him.      “I was… born into it, you could say. The only choice aside from death. I am Hideo, ao majin.”

  “ ban phrionsa means princess, though hardly being of ball gowns and glass slippers i’m sure you see why it’s not often i allow it to be used. “  one thing that grinds her about the modern world is their total lack of respect for royalty. of course, in her hay-day there was reason for respect; she, the sole protector of the greatest warriors, her father, king of all fae. now, she supposes, her kind is nothing short of story books and that’s their end.