#poska

Bless you nonny, I forgot how much I love these two...

~

Poska doesn’t know what to make of The Ruby Vanguard or its elusive inner circle, other than the clear impression that her new ‘superior’ plainly resented not quite being a part of that inner circle.

She had joined up not because she believed in its anti-god mission statement—though she supposed she could get behind it; the gods, distant as they were, were also kind of the ultimate authority on Exandria and most manmade power structures. But no, she joined because she heard the name Bells Hells muttered in conjunction with the cult one too many times.

And where there was Bells Hells, there was bound to be the faun.

She had actually lucked up. She wasn’t ruidusborn or whatever, so she didn’t go to the purple-haired woman; she was no where near a trained soldier, so she didn’t go to the general; but she was scrappy and stealthy and smart, and so she went to the pompous fey ‘lord’ supposedly revered her his stealthier prowess.

And her new boss happened to have about as much of an obsession with Fearne Calloway as she did—though for what reason, Poska hadn’t parsed yet. Regardless, it was easy enough to use her past experience with and knowledge of Fearne to get the gig of officially tracking for down for this guy, and he was willing to give her the intel and resources she desperately needed to do it on an unfamiliar continent—never mind that Poska had no intention of bringing her back, not for whatever his creepy reasoning was beneath the guise of ‘vital to the cause.’

Poska eventually learned how vital Fearne really was when she finally got her hands on the faun.

Wrists secured behind her back, she had the nerve to wrench free from Poska’s grasp. Poska nearly barreled into the faun as she lunged after her, as rather than bolting, Fearne spun around to face Poska, walking backwards with a bounce in her step.

“So did Daddy send you?” Fearne asked curiously.

“Daddy?” Poska asked, brow furrowed in confusion even as she sneered.

“Yeah,” Fearne said with the air of ‘duh.’ “Real tall, long hair, pointy ears…” Her shoulders shifted and her head rolled side to side as she spoke, grand gestures she likely would have been performing with her hands forcibly repressed in her restrained state.

“That prick fey prince is your father?”

Fearne giggled at that, then abruptly stopped—again, Poska nearly ran into the faun in her effort to stay close and keep hold of her should she attempt bolt, fisting her hands in the faun’s jacket. She tilted her head to glare up at Fearne in an unspoken warning that predictably went ignored.

“Lady Captain Professor Princess Fearne Calloway,” the faun said airily, sweeping down into a bow that might’ve been a curtsy had she had the freedom of her hands. “Fey Scion of the Ancient–”

But she cut off with a soft inhale as her lips skimmed Poska’s nose when Poska refused to step back.

“–Flame…” Full lips curled into a smirk, blurry at the edges as Poska stood completely still and so close, glaring down her nose at Fearne even as she craned her head to look up at her.

“A lot’s changed since we last met,” Fearne said, tilting her head just a little closer as a strange flame sparked in her pupils. “We’re kind of overdue for a proper introduction.”

“Dearling, flighty as you pretend to be,” Poska growled, playing along as she slowly smoothed her hands around the faun’s hips. “You could never forget me.”

Bodies pressed flush together as she abruptly grabbed at Fearne’s wrists, finding her restraints lose enough to nearly slip off entirely and wrenching them tight.

Fearne startled, like prey thrashing in a snare, and it was Poska’s turn to smirk as their lips inadvertently brushed. “And I certainly haven’t forgotten any of your tricks.”

Fearne huffed a whine against her lips and pouted dramatically, though her lips quickly curled into a smile as she straightened up. “Oh I missed you, Poska.”

Last Fanart of the Year

Between Covid and fieldwork, I haven’t had a second to think about art. This piece has been unfinished for months. I wanted to end the year with one last piece so I saved myself some time to polish it up.