Omg HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Youre not talking into the void, we are excited (and patient)! Hope youโre enjoying writing, dont burn yourself out โค๏ธ
thank you thank you!!!! i have been writing/editing every possible chance i get so here is another tidbit to chew on in the meantime!!!
โโโ sneak peek (again lol)
like an idiot, the words spill out of your mouth. โyouโre not going to bully me, are you?โ
the fabric wonโt wrinkle beneath his grip, you know thatโby some miracle, youโd seriously bet these clothes would help you survive a nuclear missileโor perhaps spontaneous combustion, you must be close to that, certainly.
(thereโs one in the closest no manโs land. maybe youโll ask enjin if you can check it out to test that theory.)
regardless, thereโs a building dread in the pit of your belly as augustโs expression shifts, thick brows furrowing, and where you think your death might become a cleaner legend, body buried where no one will ever find it until youโre but a memory, insteadโ
โthe hell are you on about!โ itโs a firm boom, the notion so visibly disorienting him that heโs releasing you in an instant, a step backward. โthatโs the stupidestโyou think i look like a bully?โ
he looks almostโฆ offended, babbling away. โi would never hurt one of my own! iโm a stilzaโโ heโs pointing his finger in your face before his own follows, leaning in again. heโs a bit taller, and his grin stretches wide again. โaugust stilza, to be exact.โ heโs pointing at you with both hands, โandโgramโs a bully for sure but yo, yo, yo, iโโ heโd gestured to himself, mega watt smile making your eyes hurt. โโam not dear old gam gamโdonโt forget that shit!โ
what do you even say to that?
nothing, as far as youโve surmised, because you can feel that familiar knot of anxiety, twisting, pulling sharp in the back of your mind. your fingers curl and uncurl for a moment, unsure of what to do, what to say, mouth opening and closing like a fish.
he doesnโt move, and you donโt either, statues in awkward poses positioned to stare at each other for all of eternity.
โwhat the hellโhey!โ
truth be told, youโre not the best at conversation. words are hognose snakes, burying you deep into the earth before the warmth of anything can become too hot to stand, hoping whatever they find next will be palatable.
youโre familiar with the panic that comes, of course. enjin had gotten a taste of it in the first initial attempt to recruit you. it had been two hours of talking yourselves into circles, of yelling into empty, abandoned caves expeditions and hoping someone in the echo would answer back. and only in the absence of the pursuit, you had.
(what did it say about you, hognose, that hissed and snapped but lacked fatal venom? that no matter how hard you bite, youโll never be a killer.
august is a prodding stick, digging into soft, warm dirt hoping to find you. you pray he doesnโt, youโve never done well with being seen so up close. youโll hiss and scream and play dead, but thatโs all you do. thatโs all you can.)
(you pray, you pray, you pray.)
