[OPEN] Hurricane

[Ellyse]

don't you tell me to deny it; i've done wrong and i want to suffer for my sins.

       The air is heavy still, weighed down by the uncertainty that lingered in the long moments after such an unusual, uncomfortable silence. Though she had found much amusement in tormenting him, she wondered if she had danced too close to the scathing, flickering flames – his eyes burned deeply into her own, and it caused her heart to seize momentarily within the confines of her chest. Thump, thump - it echoes loudly, pounding steadily against her iron-clad ribcage, threatening to break through the sinewy muscle and hollow bone. Her breath is baited, if only for a second. Speechless had never been a word used to describe her, in any situation, at any time, and yet, the words she longed to speak fell silent on her tongue. His eyes, while a soft, icy blue and warm, mysterious brown, burn still with an ember she cannot touch; one that she cannot discern. It lures her in, her rampant curiosity unsated, leaving her longing to push the envelope.

  The tension only heightens, as her demand causes the thick, taut muscles beneath his skin to tighten, his posture becoming rigid and defiant. Her own eyes change now, hazel eyes peering narrowly at him, shifting her weight from one leg to the other. Her wings, once loosely tucked against the swell of her curvaceous sides, now bristled, the long rows of perfectly preened feathers standing on end as the hollow bones expand to each side. Her long, slender neck tilts upwards, her chin pointed and her whiskered lips pursed. Though feminine, she refused to be seen as fragile – her careful gaze quietly calculated the position of his legs, silently pondering how easily the hard bone beneath his skin would bend to her will if only she chose to manipulate them, should he choose to assault her.

  She longed for her power once more. It had long since gone dormant, lost to the rage and vengeance of the land, which had purged so many of their inherent abilities. Her own bone-bending had been stripped away as the molten rock and rigid tectonic plates molded and reshaped the land, erasing the familiar lines of the horizon, turning it into something unknown and unkind.  Though she had long forgotten the way the sun had once touched the now nonexistent mountains of the east, she could never forget the sensation of delicate bone crackling and splitting from the mere force of her own mental prowess. It would always be a part of her, as much as her own flesh and bone.

  One day, she mused to herself, drawing herself back into the moment, as the corner of her lips quivered with the slightest uptick of a sneer – one that faded away easily as his voice, gruff from disuse, yet ruggedly fitting, finally broke the unyielding silence. Diable Rouge. An unusual name, one that caused her brow ridges to rise in disbelief. It had been a long time since she had heard anything so overbearing; such a name seemed ill fitting for someone with such immense presence. Slowly, the stiffness of her physique all but melts away, and her broad wings flatten once more against her sides as her cheek tilts slightly to the left – intrigued again.

  Perhaps she had misread him.
  Time would tell.

  Rou, he says, almost inaudible. With the strain of their initial exchange beginning to wane away with the summer breeze, an awkward discomfort settles in its place, as he gently sifts the soil beneath his weight with his eyes averted. Softly, a chuckle emerges from her throat again, though lacking the glee it had held minutes ago. Boldly bridging the gap between them, with a cocky smile tugging at the corner of her mouth, she reaches and promptly tugs at a cluster of twigs caught within the ragged tangle of his mane, letting them fall to the ground below.

  ”Rou. Much more fitting. You do not look like a – whatever it is you said before,” She murmurs, as if deep in thought, casting him a glance as her cheek turns towards the setting sun. ”I haven’t seen you around here before. Where are you from?”

Ellyse

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