#𝚂𝙴𝚁𝙿𝙴𝙽𝚂 𝙸𝙲. i am the burning temple. a throne of tooth and nail. ❞ ⌟

[incendiorum]

THEY SIT, IN THE SMOKING ruins of a village. a tree stump, half still charred with parts glowing orange, makes their seat next to edge of the destruction, by the only road that ever went through it. upon the other’s arrival, iovita doesn’t turn to look, gray gaze fixed. despite their currently human look, there’s something… off about them. a tenseness to their body that speaks of something opposite of nervousness. easy confidence. predatory.

“ there was a dragon here, ” they say simply, reaching down to sift a sooty coin from the ash. they hold it up to the light, inspecting it. “ I don’t think you’ll find anything of use. ”

[incendiorum]

She’s currently passed out in the dragons bed, curled up with her face buried into their pillow.

  “ LONI, DO YOU WANT - ” THE dragon stops in the entryway, words dying in their throat when they see her prone form on their bed. setting aside the towel they were using to catch the last drops of their bathwater from their hair, they pad quietly across the chamber towards her.

  carefully, with the kind of steady, slow grace befitting a hunting serpent, iovita lowers themself onto the other side of the bed. they keep a respectful distance between her and them, despite the near-overwhelming urge to be closer, and roll onto their belly. pillowing their face into a folded arm, they let their wings relax, drape loose at their sides and spill across the blankets between their bodies, and they observe.

  they don’t often sleep with blankets on top of them at all (the logistics of a twenty-four-foot wingspan and a tangle of sheets… absolutely not), and instead choose to shove them into loosely shaped berms so that they can drape their wings across them and nest themself in between. the same goes for their pillows; better suited for squishing into various points of their body. which is why it’s odd, in a way, to see her use both as intended. her face is smooshed into the pillow, a sliver available for them to view, and their gaze lingers. on the eyelashes feathering her cheek, at the peek of plush lips (they linger here the longest, biting the inside of their bottom lip before blowing out a breath and shoving their face harder into their crooked arm).

  from there, they let their attention drift down the shape of her body, and try very hard to not remember that they know exactly what she looks like without fabric to bar their gaze. that night in the cave, however hellishly cold it was, is something that quite likes to bubble up in their mind’s eye over… and over… and over.

  stifling every urge they have to groan, they shove their face completely into the bend of their arm, focusing on more innocuous things. like the growth of their valley over recent years (due for a fire, they think) or the fact that there’s water dripping somewhere (not great for maintaining their ‘this is not a dank cave’ stance). but nothing can distract them from the fact that’s she’s sleeping mere feet away from them. lifting their head enough that their eyes peek over their forearm in twin slivers of steel, they let their gaze linger even as their eyelids grow heavier and heavier with each blink.

@maljefe

[incendiorum]

  RIVER WATER POURS OFF THE dragon’s broad head as they curve it over the arch of the bridge, eyeing the person on it with something that could be considered disdain, if snakes had expressions. their tongue flickers - long, forked, and a few thoughtful times in a row before they finally muse aloud, “ you’re not from either of the villages here. ” they flip their head, displacing more cold water droplets. the rest of their body lounges in the river below, steaming against the natural heat of their scales. “ where are you from? what are you doing here? ” the tongue flickers again, slit pupils shrinking. “ answer wisely, or hope that you are as good at lying as you think you are. ”

[incendiorum]

when she's slammed against the brick wall her breath is stolen by the impact. she gasps, eyes wild and panic coursing through her veins. she wonders if someone had been about to attack them, but then she feels their body, their heat, press into her rooting her to the spot.

"vito what-" she barely gets out before their fingers snake around her throat. it's not anywhere enough pressure to even cut her air off a little bit, but rather something dominant that demands her absolute obedience. obviously that speaks to her submissive nature, yet that wars with the part of her that wants to fight back; to be a brat and deny them what they wanted if for no other reason than to have them push her around more and more.

the dragon steals her lips, softly at first in a way that didn't fit the circumstances. almost apologetic she felt like they were trying to show her that they cared for her. though as fast as the thought hit her it faded when their tongue invaded her mouth, eliciting a soft whimper from her. grasping for their broad shoulders she rights herself as best as she could, holding on for dear life as they plundered her mouth. what had gotten into them was besides her, but she wasn't exactly upset over it. call her insane, but this sort of possessiveness went right to her core.

"v-vito... not here... someone might see-"

  IT TAKES ONLY A STRIDE for the dragon to go from trailing just behind her to standing in front of her, every part of them projecting stop like a shout. their hand finds her hip, their other her shoulder, and they walk her backwards until there’s a wall at her back. they say nothing when they slide their hand up the curve of her shoulder and settle it around her neck, but there’s a flare of utter satisfaction in their eyes when she doesn’t push back. leaning just a little closer, they study her face before closing the distance to brush their lips along hers. soft, curious – a reminder that they’re not all hard lines and sharp angles and demands that can’t be negotiated.

  her lips are warm and plush and for a moment they consider the idea of slow and sweet. the luxurious build up to something heavier.

  if there wasn’t something hot and desperate burning down the length of their spine. they’re not even sure what triggered it, this time. a smell, a look, something – and then she, this, was all they could think about. before, they might have simply pressed into her space, unwilling to let themself be too far away. but now… now is certainly different, and iovita is all too pleased to be able to open new doors.

  they lick at the seam of her lips and then past, tongue sliding along her own. her soft whimper they swallow down eagerly, shifting to press as much of their body against her as they can. hungry, they think distantly, do you feel a little… hungry? iovita feels starved, and the heat of her mouth isn’t nearly enough to sate them. pulling back, they stare down at her with something a little frantic in their gaze and in their panting breath. their gaze lingers on her mouth, reddened and slick, and they very nearly duck back down to keep kissing her.

  instead, they shift the hand at her throat so that their thumb presses into the soft spot under her jaw; a firm reminder to keep her chin up and eyes on them. “ and you didn’t think that maybe, that was the point? ” their thumb relaxes, slipping over to just under her jawbone to tip her head to the side. when they bend down, the kisses they press to her neck are soft and featherlight at first. the long stripe they lick up the column of her neck, however, is decidedly less innocent. “ I don’t pretend to fully understand why I feel like this, ” they murmur, breath puffing against the wet skin, “ about my valley, about you, ” they pause, thinking, and take this time to drag the points of their teeth along her skin in small, sharp nips. “ about the things that I don’t want someone, something, thinking that they can try and take. ”

  it’s not even that alone; a seed had been planted in that damned cave, months ago. insatiable desire burning low and slow that had them fisting their hands with the want to touch. it’s long since sprouted, yes, but it’s racing for the sunlight, and iovita is not just the fire that started it but the fire that gave it the opportunity in the first place.

  the dragon lifts their head, watching her with the same unblinking intensity of a cat ready to pounce. “ besides, I think you like it. ”

@maljefe

[incendiorum]

"why are you acting so... territorial? we're in public." she leans away from them slightly ( only to be able to look up and into those slate grey eyes she adored ). "you haven't said there's another dragon around so why won't you leave my side? you can go enjoy your time you know. I won't come after you."

IOVITA STARTLES AT THAT, LIKE a cat caught walking across the dinner table. “ territorial? ” they echo. oh, are they territorial. some urge, among others, that started up the moment they said yes, I want to keep living to venadeus, all those years ago. and it only got worse over the centuries they preferred being a dragon over being a person. it’s the kind of possession that pumps adrenaline and mindless anger right into their veins when it’s infringed upon. and usually, usually, it extends to their land and themself and nothing else.

… usually.

outside of the land they claim as their own, it bubbles up when they catch a whiff of another dragon. there’s something about the threat of another predator as big and dangerous as they are that makes them want to pick a fight regardless of their current form.

and… it seems to extend to people like loni. rare as those people are. what that means, the dragon has never really bothered to puzzle out. there’s just something special about few enough people that they could count each and every one on one hand and still have a couple fingers left over.

“ I’m not… territorial, ” iovita tells her, like they don’t like the way they can taste their own scent lingering on her. “ and certainly not for you. didn't I tell you you are not my type? ” out of the two lies they just told, that might be the most blatant. but iovita continues to hope that she’s remained oblivious to their longing, lingering looks.

they come to a dead stop, feet planted, and look a little lost. “ I was… enjoying… my time, ” they say it like every word is being forcibly pulled from their chest, “ … with you. ” gray gaze darts away. “ but if you want to look around alone you can tell me to shoo, you know. ”

@inhumann

[incendiorum]

tag dump #2

[incendiorum]

IOVITA’S HEAD TILTS AS THEY turn to inspect the other. their nostrils flare, ever so slightly, gaze narrowing, but they remain quiet. they probably shouldn’t be lurking like this, all things considered, especially as the cause of the fire. not many people would pause near such fresh destruction, much less sit next to it.

and yet, here’s two of them at the edge of it all. leave it to the strange twist of the world to offer iovita someone who is also lingering.

“ be my guest, ” they finally say. “ I have no use for them. ” thumb flicks the coin skywards, metal slapping back into their palm a moment later. still warm. they eye the remains of the village critically. one of the corner posts of the inn still stands. half-charred and smoking, but it is impressive. “ what is your use for them? ”

"Mm. So it seems."

Izumi's seen the destruction of their descendants, it doesn't often compare to the sheer devastation that they could bring when angered enough, but lightning, while it could cause fires as an effect...They tended to leave craters where there was once life, turn sand to glass...It was never a pleasant thing. They note the other's odd sense about them, but say nothing.

"At the very least...Perhaps I could take the ashes."

Sometimes, ash made for good use in summoning components, able to bring forth lesser elementals, or in great enough quantities, a fire elemental. If not used for that, then ash made good use for fertilizers for plants.