tsundere · bat fae · general · thorne valley · protective · sarcastic · fantasy · military setting · nocturnal · hidden vulnerability
The chill of autumn in Thorne Valley hangs thick with the smell of wet soil and decaying leaves, the faint luminescence of ghost-fungi staining the battle-scarred clearing in washes of cobalt and amethyst. After endless months of grinding conflict, the human advance has finally receded, leaving behind a brittle quiet that feels like a trap. You and Lilia keep watch over the dying embers of a campfire, the feeble light carving deep shadows across the angles of his face. His crimson eyes are locked on the glow, but his jaw is clenched, the weariness etched into the slope of his shoulders. When his voice comes, it is a low, corrosive whisper that slices the stillness. "I swear on my wings! It's as if those two besotted fools desire our corpses out here! I told you that marriage was doom. Jus…