#duchesstart

Asuna gazed, bewitched, into the goddess’s eyes, her heart racing as though it were trying to escape her chest, her entire body trembling like a hare ensnared in a trap - though, she failed to feel trapped, promises of freedom from the ever-present agony seemingly pushing her ribcage apart curling around her ears like wisps of smoke. She felt a clawed finger delicately trace the contour of her face, over the smooth, marbled skin of her abhorred scar, the moonlight filtering through the nearby window capturing the pupil-less eye on that side of her face, giving it the same faint rainbow of light where a pupil once was as the inside of a muscle shell washed by the gentle flow of a stream. She felt a single tear spill over the edge of her eye, running down to catch on Aanrietta’s hand. 

Giving herself to the raven-haired goddess who had her in her grasp was all too easy. Her eyes remained trained on the woman’s face as she closed in, her heart pounding with the ferocity of the village taiko drums she had listened to through the walls of her tiny closet bedroom in childhood, pouring through the thick forest her home was nestled in like they were calling for Asuna to run free, to escape, to allow her fire to blaze freely and consume all who had ever called her a monster. Here was her release, her chance to live for something more than fruitless hope. 

“What is it you want?” Granted, it came out a bit more harshly then intended as a deep breath was sucked in, and let out slowly. “That you need of me,” he corrected a bit softer.

“You wish to know what I want from someone brave enough to come into my bed?” Scarlet eyes twinkled, a forked tongue darting out to lick over his lips. The darkness that swirled around the once brilliant Paladin of Earthrealm hung heavy in the air: “Have enough guts to challenge my authority, perhaps even enough to be brazen and refuse to get down on their knees to lick my boots clean where they belong.” 

His mouth curled, Raiden could have swore he felt himself stirring down below as he continued. 

          :･ﾟ🌪️┇ There is a fractured body upon the ground — severed at every joint like a marionette in the throes of being built. The head is severed from the neck. The shoulders severed from the torso. The hands from the wrists and each finger from the palm, and so on… Spread out and making the corpse appear longer than it really is. All that is left of Liu Kang — his mouth is open, his jaw unhinged into an eternal scream — two black holes fill the space where his eyes should be.

            When Aanrietta approaches the spectacle, Fujin does not so much as threaten her or even move to stop the intrusion. His mind is too preoccupied with the puzzle before him. He is straddling the Shaolin’s torso, staring down at the eternally shrieking features, shaking his head. His hands are red. His face speckled with rubies. The Kusanagi rests a few paces away, bloodied and abandoned.

            ❝I cannot make him unbleed — ❞, he explains, mumbles, voice sandy, ❝ — this is making a mess. I do not understand. What am I doing wrong? I was shown the way but cannot recreate it….❞

   “Consider me,” a pause as Hanzo debates his options for a moment, “under your command. For now.”

He should have been watching where he was walking. But instead his eyes were glued to the sky as dark clouds swirled overhead. They were unusual clouds, he thought. Even without the weird way the breach had scarred the sky, the clouds seemed oddly shaped and heavier than usual. He found them menacing, and yet it calmed him somehow. So distracted by the scene above, he failed to notice the woman whose backside he marched right into. Startled from the impact, he fell to the ground and looked up with wide, apologetic eyes. 

 ☾  ALNIRAFENEN was often being told not to travel off on her own. She was an important figurehead now, and she had an important job to do. And yet, she rarely listened. She wasn’t about to be tied down like that. She wanted some semblance of freedom. Sometimes, that meant escaping from camp barefoot and exploring the nature around her. 

   SHE had just come into a clearing, hand raised to block the incoming rays of sunshine. Her lips pursed as she took in the clearing, scanning everything she could. There were a bunch of herbs here. It looked like some she could use too. Surely, her party couldn’t be mad if she came back to camp with a bunch of herbs, right? That was doing a good deed! 

as she motioned to her, now deceased, worshipper, nivayth would simply straighten his posture and cross his arms in front of his pushed out chest. he seemed quite PROUD of this kill actually-- this is the first time he’d managed to somehow leave a mark on a daedric prince who wasn’t mehrunes dagon himself.

“ oh, but i do actually feel very JOYFUL when i get to use my subjects at last. unfortunately, you’ve stopped me from that, however. “

one may not be able to tell thanks to the demon’s mask covering his facial features, but his expression was getting sour.

“ now just look at him. a pile of dead meat, blood wasted and everything else mostly intact when i could’ve turned him into something more... pleasing to the eye. “

the dunmer would shake his head, pitying the missed opoortunity, until his attention was brought back to the demiprince before him. her orders fell on deaf ears, however. in response, the demon of dusk would erupt in hysterical LAUGHTER, his posture even bending a little because he simply couldn’t understand the gravity of the situation he was in. since his revelation, his ENLIGHTENMENT, nobody has ever given him orders again.

this reminded him of darker times.