SONGS OF OURSELVES

❦ possible

i'll do this a thousand times for you

don't you let it pass us by too soon

you stayed cause you want me

and all of your colors entwined

i knew your voice grew those flowers and vines

❧ tyler cole, "heartx1000"

Dawn came. Sunrise in a gray, open sky.

The bathhouse waters eventually cooled, signaling an end to Xosa and Sunkanmi's stay at Madame Softtree's establishment. A semicolon inserted into a conflict which honestly required no further discussion.

The debate boiled down to two possible outcomes, the ethics of each varying in legitimacy depending on who you asked:

IF: Sunkanmi Finds Loveschild First

THEN: She chops Loveschild to pieces with Severance in an act of unadulterated vengeance.

AND: Trapped on Earth for the rest of his mortal life, Xosa destroys everything Sunkanmi has ever cared about and hires an assassin to destroy her, too.

❧ OUTCOME: no one wins.

[OR]

IF: Xosa Finds Loveschild First

THEN: He removes Loveschild's deathmarks, thus proving his innocence.

AND: Poallu forgives Xosa for his crimes and immediately restores* his divinity.

CONDITIONAL: *Not guaranteed. At all.

❧ OUTCOME: Empowered once more, Xosa unleashes eternal nightmares upon Sunkanmi's Heretic Army for threatening his nephew and-

...

And, what?

Xosa couldn't think that far ahead, couldn't devote any mental energy to exactly how he would flay Sunkanmi's skin (if he could, if they weren't twin flames) with their handcuffs grinding the bones in his wrist to dust.

If the Goldsmith's invention was intended to discourage rage, why couldn't he stop fuming? If anything, the constant metal sucking infuriated him even more - a bracelet of dirt refusing to rub off.

(how dare she-)

(what gives her the right?)

Quiet as a grave, Xosa yanked a woolen poncho over his horns and stomped into a pair of purple pantaloons previously owned by Madame Softtree's youngest cousin - a talented violinist and notorious philanderer. Xosa glared at his nemesis across the room and wished nothing but misery upon her and her ancestors.