sometimes throw caution away - open; joining + tangler

[VALE]

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graphic gore ★ genderfluid ★ skeletal hyena

“Brymstone….” For once, Vale is speechless. Ve cannot think of anything to say.

The hyena shivers—no, the skin shivers. Jack’s barb cuts deep, joining the growing void in Vale’s mind. The only way to hide weakness is to show nothing at all; the muscles slough off the bone like cooked flesh, and Vale stands amongst the festering gore, a skeleton with a beating heart.

Exposed, Vale’s heart hangs suspended in vis ribcage. It beats. Faster! How it beats! A roar in Vale’s ears alone, silent in everyone else’s.

“No, Jack is right. I do. And I ruined him, so the little kodkod should know. But that was intentional.” Vis grey tongue swipes over vis red eyes, as if that could save ver, as if that could wake ver up from this nightmare, this dream gone wrong. “But this is the first time I’ve ruined something by depriving it—you—of my touch.”

Vale snaps vis jaws, catching the grey tongue in a toothy vice. But the taste of blood and ache in the muscle can’t stop ver from speaking. “I’ll accept this, but you must let me atone in return.”

Abruptly, Vale’s three red eyes shift to Elsweyr. “But the swamp kitty? She’s heard enough. Kill her.”

YOU NEVER TRUSTED ME ★
BUT I’M OVER IT NOW
[sub][W]isker[/sub]