#thread❟ riyan ✧

[enruint]

pressed against the roof tiles,     a bandaged hand kept her ducked down with him,    waiting until the dogs known as the city guard passed them by below.    their heavy footsteps fading into the lantern lit night,    their voices carried by the wind    &.    mist before they too simply   became part of the ghastly scenery. slow is the way riyan stands up,    practiced    ━━━    balancing upon the tiles before a hand is silently offered for her to take.    it takes a while before   the mourning dove    finds their voice,    stitches around throat burning,    pulsating painfully underneath silk wrapped throat.    ❝   they have a nose   ...   for snuffing out  ... outsiders.   ❞    raspy is voice,    blood already pooling in the back of throat,    ready to spill but he swallows it down.  

 ❝   did you  -  at least get    ━━━    ❞   heavy pause,    how they wish to soothe the itch but they refrain from doing so,    forcing to push words out and straining themselves.    ❝    ━━━     get what you needed  ?  ❞ ⊱ @sentinalle, sc.   ⊰

[enruint]

as soon as artemis is stood next to him riyan carefully pulls her a tad closer,    free hand resting lightly upon her hip.    lucky they were that the supposed moon in the sky had been    swallowed up the unnatural clouds    that slowly moved through the sky    ━━━    the darkness swaddling them in it's suffocating embrace.    from behind violet tinted glasses did eyes,   dark and seemingly without a speck of light,    flicker towards the jewelry that adorned her neck and the relief that spread across her face   ( much like the sun breaking through the night ).    how tragic it was that    the very concept of a sun    something unknown and unnatural to them,    for this    accursed place had not seen it    for decades and would perhaps not see it for decades more.   ❝    i   ━━━  am glad.   ❞    raspy response and it's barely above a whisper,    carried mercilessly by the wind and send far away where it remained unheard.

still holding her hand within their own does riyan briefly look away,    sharp eyes looking over the numerous towering buildings,    the sweeping rooftops and the lowly hanging bridges connecting various stratums of the city with one another.    mapping their escape route in ways    they would avoid being seen     by the city guard that ever only patrolled diligently within the highe-city opposed to the undercity.    it's her voice that pulls    the mourning dove   away from his thoughts,    head tilting slightly to the side,    while expression upon face    remained void of any discernible emotion    he was slightly confused.    ❝    it's    ━━━    ❞   he doesn't finish,    instead he swallows down    the string of unsaid words   and waits for her to find whatever it was she was looking for.  

 ❝    notebook.    ❞    they don't understand    ━━━     don't understand why she would offer them this:    for what kind of obligation did she have to do this  ?   ❝   o-okay  ...   but keep it. for me.  ❞    a pause before he continues.    ❝    when i get you    ━━━   down.   you can give it.   ❞ when they've finally made their way down to the ground, hidden within a narrow alleyway, does riyan take the notebook from her. he flips it around then goes through the decorated pages with a light frown upon face. ❝  what are ━━━ these ?  ❞ referring to the numerous stickers of people they did not know nor could place.

Lingering amongst the shadows feels like second nature to Artemis, who has been hunted across the galaxy since the tender age of fifteen. Hiding comes easily to her, but here it feels even more paramount. This city feels … wrong; like a mask concealing some ghastly secret of which she would rather not know. Fingers hesitantly curl around an offered hand, pulling herself up alongside him — remaining close for fear of being discovered … or falling face first onto the concrete.      “ I thought I had lost it forever, ”     the girl gives a sigh of relief, pressing her hand to the trinket now dangling from around her neck,     “ it’s the only thing I have left of my mother, so — thank you for helping me get it back. ”

Although she didn’t know her, Aria is still an important part of who Artemis is today; her sacrifice saved her daughter and the entirety of the universe itself. Having the trinket stolen devastated her and thus … she really is grateful to him. Watching him struggle to speak, however, is difficult. Bandages may conceal the injuries upon his throat, but – she knows pain when she sees it.     “ Riyan, you … don’t have to talk if it hurts, ”     the girl says, brows pressing together in concern – pausing, Artemis sifts through her bag to produce a small notepad decorated in stickers of cute and colorful mascots as well as a pen,     “ here, maybe this will be easier? You can keep it, I have a bunch. ”