location: enchanted forest beast: shadow anglerfish 🦢 w. @rorinwx
many are quick to call attention to the moments in the spotlight, at the heart of the action where one attempts the finicky pirouettes and double cabrioles in front of the animated crowd, but so few speak of the moments prior. that is, before the gaining of momentum. before the curtains are drawn. before the music cue, while the space exists as a pin drop silence.
bitna feels like she’s always caught in those moments.
and that is to say: she’s always privy to her drumming heart caught in the ridges of her throat, proximal to the eardrums, it’s deafening. and in these moments where they exist in a pocket of fear and anticipation, where the space remains ever so dark, as if the world is not yet ready to glance upon them, she learns to stop time. to be still as a meticulously carved sculpture, to hold her breath and steady her pose until the light streams in and the music cues for the hour to resume.
and she sees this cue now. watches a small glow swim first from right to centre, then split from one to two. she realises it then, that the shadow anglerfish is staring straight at them. catches its taunting growls in the undertone of her beating heart, as though a sickening predator toying with their prey before the slaughter. here’s a head start, it whispers, i’ll count to ten. bitna reaches her right arm out in the dark until it lands upon what she presumes is rorin’s arm, and she slides her fingers down to seize her dormmate’s palm in a tight hold.
“rorin…?” the name falls as a hesitant whisper as she keeps her eyes locked with the beast’s, “…run.”












