None must know the true nature of someone who wears a pretty skin. The beast living within a beauty rages, chained with an electrocuting shocker for a collar to keep it at bay. It rages, growing stronger each other within, ready to break the collar and the shell it hides within, but it must always be contained. For the sake of those who matter, for the sake of her humanity, for the sake of her hard work to not go to waste. Everything she’d done was to conceal this power, this she must not set aside, but sometimes the collar around her neck makes things far more harder than they should be. As an example, pushing one’s limits is not rewarded but punished. This is how she finds herself struggling to breathe for a moment, holding a handkerchief to her mouth as she struggles to hold back her coughs. Her body shudders as the pain reflects within, scolding her for trying to tap into something she wasn’t allowed (yet). Her mother’s words echo in her head, the soft whisper of the unique magic put on her, a chain and a seal. How could a mother do this to her own child? Of course, “for her own good.”
The pain causes others senses to become duller, not noticing the approach of someone who should not witness this showcase of weakness. The voice rings through the empty space, it’s late and she knows she’s not supposed to be here for all other students are celebrating in their dorm. This is a refuge, a place where she thought no one would find her. A moment to herself so she won’t have to bring back the mask she wears to fit in, to gather information and people, to remain metaphorically untouchable. A reputation must be held up, she isn’t going to eat dirt anymore upon being pushed down. Malleus Draconia is certainly not the one she wishes to show anything remotely inelegant, it’s about her own personal pride.
As she wipes away the blood off her lips and turns around, her gaze shows her exhaustion for the pain was enough to make her exit the building and stagger as far away as she could to seclude herself. While still holding the handkerchief before her mouth, she still smiles and calmly responds as if her body was not agonizing from pain. This is nothing, she’s suffered worse. Zarina won’t be accepting any help from anyone nor does she wish for anyone else to witness a weakness. No one can be trusted, in this academy she must succeed and enter another stage of her plan.
“ Ah, Malleus. I didn’t feel well and decided to get some fresh air, ” she doesn’t lie but she doesn’t speak the whole truth. She makes sure to put the handkerchief away without letting him witness the red splatter on the white fabric. Ever elegant and pristine, Morozova is the picture of calmness and serenity in this very moment. The moon is the only partner she needs right now, not the wizard who is known to blossom with talent and who’s come up from a royal bloodline. People like him will never understand the things she’d had to go through to reach such heights, some would call her wicked and some would call her insane. It doesn’t matter, but she does not wish for those draconic eyes to analyze her or watch her. Not right now. Not when her body aches for repose.
Instead of letting him ask her more questions, she poses her own with a wave of her hand towards him. There is no fear or intimidation towards the other. He is a figure of power, but it will not make her look away or shudder before the dragon’s might. His status matters not, but his skillset matters quite a lot in this situation.
“ What’s the matter? Did you wish to have this place to yourself? I can leave if you wish, ” her words are careful and polite, she doesn’t miss a moment to show off her charismatic smiles. Not only that, but for those of experience and knowledge her behavior puts a line between them, a distance that cannot be crossed easily. She might seem friendly and open, but it cannot be more wrong: how politicians work, she takes on their techniques shamelessly. Politicians, rulers, royalty, merchants; anyone who has to know how to strategize and work would be able to notice this approach. All because it’s what makes the life of strong so intriguing. However, Zarina doesn’t want the other to find out of the setbacks given to her. She must hold back, she must never let them know, she must graduate without any intervention. “ I feel a bit better after being outside and being under the moon. You’re choosing the best time to be outside. ”
Her mother called her a ‘moon’ too. The solitary existence on the night sky that shines the brightest, exposed to all the darkest parts of this world for all crimes were committed under moon’s watch. But, of course, her mother called her a moon for her silver hair, not the other implication. Hah, many beasts and monsters come out to play out at night. Is Malleus one of them? She wonders, fae is a folk that she doesn’t want to dance with without extreme caution.