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Icarus' teeth shimmer and shine in the light; bared and too sharp. Anger is clear in their form, puffed wings pulled impossibly close and a low growl sounding in the air around them.
Rainbow sparks litter the air surrounding them, bright and colorful against the stark background of night. (Notably, nothing in shades of orange appear. Gone without a word.)
Quixis stands across from them, inhuman smile stretched bright across their face. They tilt their head in mock confusion, no words leaving their mouth but question clear in the air.
"What." Icarus' voice comes out a strained hiss, wings shifting and adjusting against their back. The word is not a question.
"What?" The shapeshifter echoes, tone light and amused. Their words are a mock echoed question, smile shrinking to something light and gentle. It's fake, Rae knows.
"What the fuck are you doing here."
(Rae tries not to shiver at the sharpness of their words, the edge to them something he hasn't heard since corruption.)
"I am not allowed to have a conversation with you, Icarus?" Their voice drips false sweet, and he can see Centross reach for the hilt of his sword.
"Not here. Not now." They shake their head, wings flaring out just slightly. "Not like this."
Quixis teleports closer is a flurry of rainbow, standing just in front of Icarus. Their head tilts to the side unnaturally far. "Not like what?"
"This."
"This how?"
He's been watching Icarus' fists grow tighter. He is not surprised when they reach up and yank the god's collar down to their eye level.
"You know exactly how." Their wings mantle behind them, stretching and writhing at the ache he's sure the action sends down their spine. "Now, tell me again, please, what the fuck you're doing here."
The false god frowns, reaching up to grab Icarus' wrist. His brother does not relinquish their grip. "I simply wished to check up on you." They pause, their eyes scanning over the crowd. "Perhaps see how far you'd be willing to go if you ever saw my person."
Their grip does not falter, but Icarus' wings drop just slightly. "What do you mean."
"I mean I wanted to see if you'd kill me, Icarus." They teleport away from Icarus' grip, leaving his brother to stumble just slightly. The shapeshifter continues, "Or, perhaps, fail to kill me." A smile, inhuman and sharp and bitter, stretches across their face. "Like you failed to kill Haley."
"Haley died. I didn't fail to kill her." Their fists ball back up, talons visibly digging into their palms. "You brought her back."
"Perhaps." They shrug, and their smile grows amused as they contemplate their next words. "But Centross seemed to think it was a failure. A step you didn't have to take. Enderian was never going to talk to you, Creation's child."
Quixis teleports away, back to their realm, before Icarus can pull their sword.
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("'Centross seemed to think it was a failure'?" He echoes the false god in question as he and his brother sit across in their nest.
Rae could see the shake of their hands and tense in their muscles and the pain in their eyes. He could see the way their wings writh and shift against their back.
(He reaches up and unclips them, allowing them to fall away and off of them. They slump down almost immediately, and he catches them in a gentle hug.)
"It's nothing."
He runs a gentle hand up their spine, feeling as they further slump bonelessly into him. "Doesn't seem like nothing, Sherb."
"It's-" they cut themself off, and he can hear the tears in their voice. "It's nothing important."
He doesn't push.)
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