[color=#DEC5D6][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/m6hY3dZ.png[/img][/center]
[color=#8D3B72]Time:[/color] Evening
[color=#8D3B72]Location:[/color] Banquet Hall
[color=#8D3B72]Interactions/Mentions:[/color] [@PapaOso] Cassius [@princess] Charlotte [@Apex Sunburn] Sjan-dehk
[color=#8D3B72]Aesthetic:[/color] [url=https://i.imgur.com/58FOu03.jpeg]Outfit[/url]


[center][img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1064772112633569330/1100627858638000148/Banner.png[/img][/center]

Kalliope saw it again, the flicker in his eyes. A glance he didn’t mean to cast, aimed at a girl across the room who she’d briefly noted looked their way once.

Charlotte.

And in that single, unintended motion, she pieced it together. Not the whole story, no. But enough. There was history there. Something unfinished and bleeding at the edges. Kalliope didn’t need to know the details to recognize the shape of it because she wore similar shadows in her own smile. Still, her gaze didn’t linger on the girl. It stayed on Cassius.

[color=#8D3B72]“I get it,”[/color] she said softly, voice lowered just for him, like a shared secret between old friends. [color=#8D3B72]“That feeling, like your thoughts don’t belong to you anymore. Like your skin doesn’t fit right, like your own goddamn heartbeat’s mocking you.”[/color]

She followed his gaze toward the marble floor, then slowly let hers drift, not toward Charlotte… but toward another part of the room. Toward Sjan-dehk.

Her jaw tensed.

[color=#8D3B72]“I don’t think you’re broken, Cassius.”[/color] Her voice wasn’t teasing this time. No smirk. Just something real.

[color=#8D3B72]“I think maybe…”[/color] She hesitated, thumb tracing the edge of a ring on her finger absently. [color=#8D3B72]“You’re starting to care. In a way you didn’t expect. And that’s…terrifying. Especially when it sneaks up on you.”[/color] She didn’t press further. Didn’t say Charlotte’s name or try to pry anything loose. She knew better than most how fragile these things could feel when they were still taking shape.

[color=#8D3B72]“But I get it,”[/color] she went on. [color=#8D3B72]“When you’re used to sharp things—blades, orders, clean cuts—it’s hard to know what to do with… softness. With want.”[/color] Her lips tilted into a faint smile then, a little wry. [color=#8D3B72]“And when it doesn’t make sense? When it doesn’t fit who you think you are or how you usually move through the world? It feels like losing control. Like something’s wrong with you.”[/color]

Her eyes met his again, steady. [color=#8D3B72]“But it’s not. It just means you’re still human under all that armor.”[/color]

A pause.

[color=#8D3B72]“And if you ever need to get away from all this for a while—clear your head, yell into the void, drink until things make sense again…”[/color] Her smile deepened just slightly, playful now. [color=#8D3B72]“You know where to find me. I’ll even let you pick the place.”[/color] She bumped his arm lightly.

[color=#8D3B72]“I’ll even bring some candy and share it with you. And I don’t [i]ever[/i] share my candy.”[/color][/color]