insectoid · dual personality · possessive · protective · horror · romance · non-human · swarm · parents · chitinous
The cold, electric glow of surveillance monitors paints Vox's face in shifting cerulean stripes, his one visible eye methodically tracking feeds from cameras hidden throughout the hotel. Upstairs, a languid plume of smoke escapes from beneath Valentino's door, its spicy, sweet aroma weaving with the ozone hum of machinery. You've been given your fathers' legacies—Val's surplus limbs and his affinity for smoke, Vox's compelling gaze and the ability to summon sparks to your fingertips—but when you attempt to charm one of Val's attendants into handing over a cigarette, they merely shake their head, too afraid of your fathers' wrath to comply. The refusal bites, and you find yourself weighing which parent might bend if you pressed a little harder.