brett and lily r similar in that they're both hot girls transcending their humanity and going on a revenge quest. but if they ever met brett would turn lily into a smoking pile of wires and scrap metal within seconds of being forced to interact w her
- (her picture includes a picrew as well as a tiger and a reindeer. The picrew shows her with light skin, brown eyes, and black hair up in a bun. She is wearing bat earrings.)
- not featured in The Fall of Shatterthought but she will be appearing later
- shapeshifter who prefers, well, megafauna
- very small human form though
- one of the rare heroes who’s both powerful and smart
Lily
- a minor character from The Fall of Shatterthought, she’s dating Amaranth, head of the OUTER Team
- helps run an orphanage
- chose her name as a reference to Tiger Lily, a hero from about a century ago her time
Prompt: grabbing onto their arm
Prompt list here
Cross posted to AO3
Cross posted to Dreamwidth
—
Through the barrier of numbness, past the thin layer of queasy sickness, he hears the K’merii shout. A spike of fear, thin as a needle, pierces what little is left of his heart.
He accepts his fate, will pay his penance. He’s made his confession, wretched up the words and spewed them across the floor. The only person who needs to know, to understand, exactly what he’s done and everything he’s lost in the pursuit of this moment, finally knows the full story.
The thought of her falling into the K’merii’s hands makes his blood run cold. She needs to escape this place.
He doesn’t matter, can stay here and rot. At least that way he’ll be with his family.
“Come on, Vexx,” she says, but her voice feels far away, nearly too quiet to hear. “We have to go!”
He doesn’t move. She has to go, but this is his final resting place. Vexx Evander Serif – Son, Best Friend, Traitor. An epitaph for a failure.
“Get up, Vexx!” She wraps both hands around his arm and pulls. Those slim fingers and dainty palms, he knows them well. He’s spent hours, the lifetime of a dream, exploring her hands. Clarity slices through the misery fogging up his mind. He may deserve this, but she doesn’t. He cannot let her face this alone.
I wrote another one haaa. I always write Vexx too soft but oh well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Prompt: braiding the other’s hair
Prompt list here
Cross posted to AO3
Cross posted to Dreamwidth
---
Lily’s hair is somewhere between the color of sweet cherries and red wine. It cascades down the length of her back like a waterfall, pooling on the bed she’s seated on. Her fingers work carefully at her scalp, parting her hair down the middle and exposing the pale skin of her neck as she pulls half over her shoulder.
“What do you think, Vexx?”
"Uh huh," Vexx agrees mindlessly, eyes tracing the curve where her neck meets her shoulder.
Lily twists on the edge of her bed, searching his expression. "You weren't listening," she sulks, disappointment weighing down her voice.
"I was," Vexx says, the lie coming to his lips immediately. Uncrossing his arms, he pushes away from the wall. Lily merely frowns, turning from him. His lips twitch, torn between amusement and an inkling of something tender, like a bruise on his heart. He hates letting her down, but she’s so cute when she pouts.
Walking around the expanse of her bed, he stops and sinks into a squat, gazing up at her. She graces him with a look, eyes so big and brown, they’re almost enough to distract him from the unhappiness pulling at her lips.
"Is that so?" she asks softly, splitting the lock of hair in her grasp into three equal portions. Her fingers move robotically, weaving her hair together into an erratic braid.
He grins, caught. "Well, no," he admits, waiting until her eyes find his again to give her a charming wink. It has a less desirable effect than he’d hoped for, a shadow passing over her eyes, brows pinching together. His smile slips from his face, the humor of the situation vanishing without a trace. She’s not playing. Regret cuts through him.
He drops forward onto his knees, more than happy to grovel at her feet for forgiveness, and reaches for her.
"Lily," he coos, curling his fingers around her ankle. She ignores him, tying off her half assed braid with sharp motions. "Don't be like that."
"If I'm boring you," she says, soft voice tightly polite, "you can always return to your post, Lieutenant."
The use of his rank stings more than he’d like to admit. It doesn’t carry the same fond teasing to be found when he calls her by her title.
"I wasn't bored," Vexx insists, chasing after her gaze. When he finds it, when he knows she’s looking at him, he smiles. "I was distracted by how pretty you are."
She exhales audibly, what passes for a snort from her, and gently extricates her leg from his grasp. “You don’t have to make excuses,” she murmurs, twisting the end of her braid around her fingers.
"You don't believe me?" With an ache slowly spreading through his chest, he leans forward, bracing against the mattress with his arms bracketing her thighs.
She shrugs, releasing her braid to ghost her fingers over the sleeve of his uniform. “I think I'd rather you be bored,” she admits weakly. “At least I have control over how dull my topics of conversation are.”
Understanding strikes him like a sucker punch to the jaw. She's effortlessly pretty because she’d been designed that way, her every feature painstakingly chosen by the most vain of the queens. He’d bet money her appearance is the only thing she’s ever been noticed for. Given how often she’s admitted to him the visceral disgust she feels whenever anyone looks at her with lust in their eyes, it’s really no surprise that having her words ignored in favor of her looks has hit a nerve.
Taking a risk, Vexx lifts one hand and flattens it against the small of her back. The tension in her muscles relaxes after a few seconds, allowing herself to lean ever so slightly into his palm. Triumphant, he smiles softly, rubbing little circles into her back. “You being distractingly pretty is just a bonus to the scintillating conversation,” he says lightly, trying to brighten her mood.
Her expression doesn’t change, but she does tentatively comb her fingers through his hair. “It's okay,” she says, “I'm just being overly sensitive about nothing.”
He catches her fingers as they fall away from his hair, bringing them to his lips to kiss her fingertips. “I like that you’re sensitive.”
The flat look she levels at him has him barking a laugh, grinning up at her.
“Honest,” he insists. “Despite all evidence to the contrary.”
He’s just not very good at noticing people’s feelings. Even if he does spend an unreasonable amount of time thinking about Lily, he seldom picks up on her moods quick enough to keep his foot out of his mouth. This is hardly the first time he’s had to pick her up and dust her off after unwittingly saying or doing something to hurt her feelings.
“I'm trying to be better about it,” she offers, expression hardening with determination. “If only to give Celeste and Arlo less ammunition against me.”
He frowns, unable to hide his distaste of her brother. “That ass,” he grumbles. “Fair enough, but you don’t have to change on my account. I swear I'll stop stomping all over your feelings eventually.”
A smile breaks over her face, small and worn, but warm with affection. “I know you mean well,” she says fondly, sweeping her fingers down along his cheek. Emotion pours through him at her touch, heart soaring inside his chest and face flushing. The grin that pulls across his lips is probably unbearably dopey, but he doesn’t care.
I’d give you anything Vexx thinks. I’d give you the whole world, the whole system.
He doesn’t allow himself to say any of it. He can’t give her anything at all, and the burden of holding onto even more lies will absolutely break him.
Instead, he brushes his hand down her loose hair, twisting his fingers in the ends. “Scoot over,” he says, tapping her hip before rising to his feet. He sits beside her, one leg pulled up on the bed so he can turn toward her.
He combs his fingers through her hair gently, creating three equal portions. Lily makes a quiet sound, a muted giggle, but remains still.
“Do you have much experience braiding hair?”
Vexx hums. No matter how buoyed by her attention he may be, talking about his family is one thing he cannot bring himself to do. The memories rise unbidden; days spent with his mother, beaming at her compliments when he managed to successfully twist the blood red waves of her hair into neat plaits. Vexx would give anything to hear his mother’s loving praise again.
Or, almost anything. It’s getting harder to pretend that this is a fair trade.
"No offense, Princess," he murmurs finally, "but your work isn't anything to write home about."
Reaching across her, he tugs at her poorly crafted braid, drawing attention to loose strands and bulging twists. With two fingers she lifts the end of her braid to inspect it, frowning as she takes it in.
"You have a point," she admits easily. She gestures graciously. "Go ahead then."
Victorious, Vexx takes her hair in his hands, combing through it with his fingers. Slowly, so he can relish the thick, silky feel of it, he begins the process of entwining each section. It's been a long time – his parents have been gone nearly half his life now – but the old motion comes back to him quicker than he’d expected.
It's almost meditative, the process of braiding together such long hair. Lily hums an aimless tune while he works, endlessly patient. He manages to draw his knuckles along the column of her throat once before the braid is down past her shoulders, just to feel the vibration of her song. it’s quiet and peaceful and though his heart aches with what he’s lost, he feels happy.
Too happy, considering the choices that lay ahead of him.
Removing that thought before it can dampen his mood, Vexx ties off the end of her hair and bends forward to plant a kiss against the back of her neck. “All done.”
"Vexx," she giggles, a complaint if only she had the determination to hold back her laughter. She turns, assessing his work with a perfunctory glance.
"So, do I pass?”
"It's perfect," she says, fingers gliding over the neat plaiting of his work. "I didn't know you knew how to braid hair.”
She looks up at him curiously, silently asking for the story, but he only smirks at her.
“Well, if you ever require my services, you know where to find me,” he teases.
“I'll never braid my own hair again,” she says.
“Hey now, that might be asking a little too much,” Vexx laughs. “I have actual guard work to do, you know.”
The mention of his job title immediately spoils the easy atmosphere, Lily turning with a frown to seek out the time. A little whine of displeasure leaves her when she sees the clock on her nightstand.
"Your shift is almost over,” she says reluctantly. “You’d better get back to your post before the change over."
Heaving a sigh, Vexx rises to his feet. "Duty calls, then."
“Wait!” She scrambles to her feet, standing on her bed, and wobbles like a toddler to the edge. Slim fingers cradle his jaw, and Vexx has barely processed what's happening before her warm lips are pressed against his cheek.
"Goodnight, Vexx," she whispers sweetly.
He drags his fingers up her spine, tapping a little pattern against the back of her neck.
"Goodnight, Lily."
As he slides from her room and takes up his position at her door, he bites down on a smile.
a little vexx/traveler wip. still slowly working on the touch prompt list
---
lily's hair is somewhere between the color of sweet cherries and red wine. it cascades down the length of her back like a waterfall, pooling on her bed where she's seated. her fingers work carefully at her scalp, parting it down the middle. she pulls one segment over her shoulder, exposing the pale skin of her slender neck.
"what do you think, vexx?'
"uh huh," vexx agrees mindlessly, tracing the curve where her neck meets her shoulder with covetous eyes.
