[private] we need the dark to know the light; hourglass

[aureus]

Aureus

oh, these wings, they flicker and my feathers stir
'til I'm an ancient soul in a cascade world

She nips and laughs and it almost makes him feel as though he, too, can relax. He knows that he can’t, but it is such a lovely thought that he lets himself have it for a moment. He lets himself sink into this world where he can pretend that he is good and can pretend that this is forever. Pretend that the star on his back is glowing warm with friendship and that his heart is not scrambling for walls and shields against this.

His smile is cautious, hesitant, but does not flee from his lips immediately.

“I will pretend I am the best,” he affirms, although his voice is not confident. He will though, he thinks. If she wants to play pretend, then he will gladly do it for her.

He listens quietly as she continues and it does not occur to him to think that she could not be anything that she wanted to be. Even if his heart clutched in his chest and the thought of her getting hurt took his breath away, it never occurred to him to think she couldn’t do it. He could imagine the look of disappointment on his fathers’ faces if he ever heard that kind of thought pouring from his lips.

“I think you can fight,” he says quietly, tilting his slender head, “although I’m not sure you would ever truly want to.” It sounds terrible, he thinks, to take a life, to cause pain. He knows Pteron was made to be a warrior, but he feels like he’s not inherited that piece. He is more like Aegean in this regard—too soft.

“But if you’re a knight princess then I will gladly be your squire.” His lips tilt up at the notion, at the idea of something so otherworldly and noble settling into his bones. “I think that I could do that well.”

and I'm quick with the bullet when it comes undone
I got a head like a turret with a mouth for a gun