;; s h a d o w e d.

        ❛ You don’t need me to defend you. You don’t need me for anything.         But while you are here, in my palace, you are under my protection. ❜

     As well as her mercy.

           A mini faerie caught her attention as they waved a tooth in front of            her face & she cupped her palm for it to be placed there. Her face            lit up with joy & it slipped her mind that she had company — a rare thing.

                  ❛ OH! Her last baby tooth… You left a full dollar, right?

                               — I hope you don’t mind that I work while you’re here.                                    You wanted to observe, after all. ❜

he watches on silently, eyes taking in the pure j o y on her face. considering the last time they'd seen each other, she'd clocked him, it was-- new. he hadn't dared to visit north, or sandy, or even that blasted rabbit. jack-- he had little interest in jack, these days. the nosy sprite would seek him out if he ever wanted anything, he as sure. but tooth-- well.

it seemed his intuition, again, was correct.

                 ❛ please, feel free. ❜

a small smile slips across his lips; more of a smirk than anything.

    A laugh that would probably be considered traitorous     fell from her mouth, but it was quickly doused when the     second part of his statement came along. She turned,     violet eyes searching for him — knowing she wouldn’t     succeed.

                      ❛ You’re right. I was supposed to protect my faeries,                        but I was away. This place may not be completely safe,                        but as long as you’re a guest here I will do my best to                        defend you. ❜

               ❛ what makes you think i                  need you to defend me? ❜

it was spit through clenched teeth, eyes shutting. he blinked once, twice, and parted from the wall. he could feel the shadows pulling at him, but he moved away from them anyway, out and into the light. she deserved that much, at least, and this was her home. something he was, albeit, unfamiliar with, but--

            fear was a scent she knew well. it was cold and lonely,             changing   subtly   with  every  person.  the  scent  that             assaulted her now was pure. condensed.  she  choked             on it. it brought to mind every bad  thing that  had  ever             happened to her, every twinge of  fear  she’d  ever  felt.             it smelled like her mom’s  perfume,  blood  and  rot.  it             smelled like years of bitterness and loneliness.

                                     it smelled like her fear.

        Although it seems like sarcasm more than anything, there’s a tiny         truth that rings behind her voice. She knows it shouldn’t be there,         she remembers the terrible things he had done — one of them being         mass genocide. NONE of the Guardians were exempt from Pitch’s         wrath. But hope still clung to her tightly, telling her that Kozmotis         Pitchiner was still there, even if in tiny increments.

                        Should she still have faith in someone who shows no virtue?

❛ & you — Why don’t you show yourself? I assure sanctuary.❜ 

                 ❛  well, i am exceptionally                     charming, for one--  ❜

he's teasing, for the most part, but something in her voice makes him want to cling even further to his shadows. this is where he belongs, after all. his hand falls back to his side, lips curling into a bitter and near-silent laugh. a single sharp exhale, head falling back to meet the wall as well.