#iyeris

It always begins the same.

“Tell me about your tattoos,”  He says, handsome across the candelabra between them, charming with his smile.  She watches how his golden tooth catches with the candle’s light and realizes that rarely does anyone think to ask her this.

“You first,” counters she, sly and slippery.  She’s not going to return the favour, but he doesn’t know that.

He answers in a way he thinks will endear her to him, and as if on queue, she laughs; a delightful sound.  From then on, one drink turns to many, the sun sets and the stars rise high into the sky.  When they leave the tavern, it’s together.

Tipsy flirtations lead to hungry hands and luring lips— they taste each other beneath the moonlight and surf licks at their ankles.  In the distance, the cathedral bells ring on the hour.

It’s subtle, how she teases him into the water.  Deeper and deeper and deeper until suddenly, they disappear.

It always ends the same.

      She feels it.  An absence of beating in her chest.  Maybe her heart has finally stopped.  Maybe it’s preparing itself for the deal that was made.

She wants to die, she sternly reminds, it’s too late to change the bargain now.  It can’t be undone and she is too prideful to try even so; this she knows.  It’s too late to want life.  It’s too late.

‘Remember,’ she thinks to herself, almost instinctually.  Easily, the sentiment is pushed away.  It’s not productive.  Now more than ever, she must be productive.  But again she hears it like, like some distant, taunting echo.

It knew.  It knew she would change her mind.  It knew she already had when it offered terms.  It knew she would suffer now.  It knew, and still she has nothing to show for the sacrifice.

She is left with only one thought now.

「 Remember me. 」

asked someone to marry you?  "No.  I’ve lived the label of ‘wife’ twice over and both times I found the role to be one that was lacking.”

kissed one of your friends?  “We were all children once, weren’t we?”

danced on a table in a bar/tavern?  “You’ll have to wonder.”

ever told a lie?  “More accurately, have I ever told the truth?”

had feelings for someone you can’t have? “There’s never been someone I can’t have.  Rather, they can’t have me.”

ever kissed someone of the same sex? "Of course.”

kissed a picture? “Do people actually do absurd shit like this?”

slept until 5pm? “I don’t sleep anymore, I’ve no right to dreaming.”

stolen something? “Never without purpose.”

been fired from a job?  “Depends who you ask.”

done something you regret?  “What are we, if not our flaws?”

laughed until something you were drinking came out of your nose?  “No.”

caught a snowflake on your tongue?  “No.”

sat on a roof top?  “As often as possible.”

kissed someone you shouldn’t have?  “Those are the only ones I kiss.”

sang in the shower?  “What kind of benefit could this information possibly offer to anything?  Call me a cynic, but this question is stupid.”

been pushed into a body of water with all your clothes on?  “Never pushed, always falling.”

shaved your head?  "Never.”

made a lover cry?  “Yes.  Once I even enjoyed it.”

still loved someone you shouldn’t?  “I’ve only ever loved those I shouldn’t.”

have/had a tattoo?  “This seems obvious.”

liked someone, but will never tell who?  “Liked someone?  You mean ‘like-liked’ someone?  Are we twelve?”

been too honest?  “I can tell you honestly that I am never honest.”

ruined a surprise?  “Yes."

been told that you’re beautiful by someone who totally meant what they said?  "Sure.”

stalked someone?  “Show me one person that does not prefer to be the predator?”

thoughts about murder?  “Sometimes, it’s kindest thing you can do for someone, putting them out of their misery”

how about mass murder? “I’ve not enough hands.”

cheated on someone? “Yes.  And I don’t regret it.”

gotten so angry that you cried? “I’ve no tears anymore, I’ve not the time for them.”

tried to stay away from someone for their own good? “We’re like the tides, he and I; ever reaching for the shore, ever receding.”

thoughts about suicide? “If only.”

had a lover? “Many.  They never seem to survive very long, though.  Pity.”

gotten totally drunk during a holiday? “I don’t understand the point of this question.”

tagged by: @theveiledprophet, @sanasunbringer, @bluexepher, and @celestare.  thank you!

tagging: @dardillien-ward, @caedun, @longveil​, @kagethedream​, @thewardancer​, @kat-hawke​, @henessy-wow​, @ms-winford​, @unabashedrebel​ (any toon), @quai-mason​, @sevensolar​, @cazthechameleon​, @deviantaisla​, @lady-duskveil​, @kolabooc, @gavyn-haverthorne​, @mycoronervinny​, @revthepunchbear​,  and anyone else who wants to participate!