we're alone, just like you said, aureus

[aureus]

Aureus

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

It feels utterly vulnerable to be before her like this and he hates himself for not being able to hide his own emotions better from her. Hates that he has not yet learned the art of tucking things away, of putting up a faux smile and pretending that the world is fine. Instead his breath stutters and his sentences collapse on themselves and he is left standing before her with empty palms and a hollow mouth.

“I’ve been great,” he answers this time, a little more forcefully, wondering if she would believe it if he sounded more convinced or if she would see right through his ruse. It doesn’t matter though because he has already said it—already committed to the answer—and he can’t do anything but see it through.

He smiles, feeling the edges stretch just a little too tight, and rolls his shoulders. “So they haven’t been unkind?” He picks up her last sentence again, wondering if perhaps he could backtrack the conversation and focus on her again—before he had stumbled dangerously close to his feelings and then his truth.

His purple eyes search her face, trying to pick apart whatever details he can find and then, when he realizes that it’s a little too difficult to look her in the eye, he averts his gaze to the horizon again.

For not the first time, he wishes he had Astrum with him—she always was a good distraction.

“What has made them not unkind?”

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

@[basilica]