It is always so difficult to pretend like this—to press herself into the mold of someone meek and weak, of someone who needs the assistance of others. But she reminds herself of the grand scheme, of the purpose behind it all, and so she continues to lie on the ground. She continues to lie down, feeling the dirt dig against the curves of her ivory armor, the shadows creep against the thin sides of herself, pulling down. She lets her voice fade slowly, eyes closing as she hears the sound of him coming closer, hiding her smile.
When his voice bleeds into recognition, she pushes more poison through her shoulder until it oozes, looking like the marks that the monster’s claws could easily make if they were to slash down her flesh. She is pleased by the pitch of worry in his voice, by the softness of his touch, and while it takes everything in her to keep that from her face, she manages—instead rearranging her features delicately.
“Lumineer?” she whispers, the faux exhaustion threading through her voice. “Is that you?” She leans a head up before she coughs, spluttering blood as she drops her head back to the ground. She breathes heavily, expanding a delicately armored body into a pained movement, wincing lightly against it.
“I was looking for you…” she murmurs, her voice trailing off, not putting an accusation into the words but letting the implication carry. “I couldn’t find you,” her voice sounds weaker this time, and she closes her pale brown eyes. It was his fault, she thinks, that he hadn’t sought her out, and if this is the lesson that he must learn, then she will teach it to him. She rests like that for a moment longer, eyes closed, her breathing labored. “But I kept looking,” she whispers, opening her eyes and searching his face.
She coughs, poison on her lips bringing forth a froth.
There’s a question in her eyes, but she doesn’t ask it—not yet.
but in all chaos, there is calculation
@[lumineer]