❝ i never lose, darling. ❞
“Never is an awfully bold word,” Thorn countered with eyes trailing across Callisto as she slunk in and out of the waves with all the grace of an eel. Funny how it was that when he considered the Merfolk he almost always likened them more to serpents in the water than fish; lovely, deadly monsters. More dead lately than they had been in the past, but wasn’t that way of everything in Neverland with all the chaos growing and the chill of cold only starting to break.
Still, she was one of his favorites, had been before the fires, still was even as he walled himself off more after them; perhaps because she wasn’t so entirely all sharp claws as the rest, less likely to the wild notion that the Smallfolk were reasonable enough as a snack. Or at least that was the bold hope Thorn liked to hold to, wanting some echo of connetion with the others who rightfully belonged on the island.
“Now is that because you never play games you can’t win?” He added, still careful to stay out of reach of course, no need in being foolish about it, and hugging the shoreline with the lazy motion of wings keeping in the air. “Or because you never play with people you can’t get your claws into?”
Humor, a bit dark like smoldering ashe anymore, Thorn flashed a smirk that hung at the corners of his lips before allowing himself to draw just an inch closer.
He liked to think he had something of a truce with the occupants of the lagoon; he brought things they could not gather themselves and they kept his home nice and safe above the lagoon. Besides, he’d always been fond of their strange ways, curious to a fault. All the more reason he enjoyed Callisto’s company; she almost reminded him of something playful he’d used to feel himself.
“I’d like to say I never lose either but…most of the games you play I can’t.” Woeful, his tone, and quite the impressive show of that false lamenting since it did seem to ring so honest when he offered it up. “Wings are hardly made for water anymore that fins are made for land.”
