[chapter 11 - golden tiger]
[part 2 - the heartbeat & the breath]
[pov - Ist person | Takeshi]
A hum. A low noise in the once still air, disturbing the peace in the unnamed room. A twinkling star shifted above and suddenly my gravity moved and my feet brushed easily against cold tile. But then they lifted, the feeling of solid ground crisp on the edge of my skin. Warmth rolled around tense muscles, searing acid sizzling in aggravation as the disoriented feeling of being hoisted up into unknown territories nerved me.
The noise of plastic on metal, an electronic beep, before an ear splitting click. A shiver slid across my skin like shimmering dust over a still pond, the tickling of eyes caressing my figure. I went to glare back, to open my crimson eyes and see the fear over take their's, but my eyelids didn't open.
I forgot how to open my eyes.
Terror shook my muscles, and my lungs filled with the familiar acid, rising up through my throat and bubbling in my mouth like drool. Dribbling like rain water from my lips was ink, contrasting against my corpse skin and breaking into uneven spider webs as I was jerked suddenly in a different direction. Distant voices hissed and whispered, tangling together like an off beat song, crashing like dark grey waves against stone, ringing like thunder in the sky. A choked, unnoticeable whimper coughed out from my throat, sputtering acid on my lips and unheard in the symphony of voices and foot steps.
A chilling hiss and suddenly coldness pressing against a tense spine, crackling along the diamond bones and sliding over titanium skin. Hot light pierced easily through pressed eyelids and furrowed eyebrows, burning into unopened eyes.
And then there would have been silence, if not for the constant humming of machinery and the hiss of technology. A jaw tensed and an irritated hiss rang throughout the new room, resting uneasily on the cracked walls. Suddenly a fluttered heartbeat awoke.
Pure instinct allowed pale eyelids to peel open once again, to unleash blood red irises to the air and raining ink black tears down smooth cheeks. Dust in the air burned into my eyes instantly, swirling like embers into the soft lens. Blowing like a breath on his cheeks, the oxygen brushed an icy exhale over the hot acidic liquid that flowed easily like tears, too thin to be blood as it dripped easily onto the off-white table below.
Crimson eyes flicked everywhere in a split second, hardly brushing over the same surface twice. I was in a room, a metal and plastic box. The celling was covered with twisting vents, ridges easily mended into the tannish ceiling. Floors were simple square tiles, the familiar white with slate grey speckles resting in my eyes like stones tossed effortlessly into fresh snow. Cameras hung shamelessly from the ceilings, red lights blinking like stars into my eyes, a shiver running up my skin at the feeling of being watched.
Instinctively, my slender fingers went to brush the tears from my cheeks, to get rid of any evidence of my suffering. But my hands didn't move. A snarl erupted like a thunder clap as I noticed the heavy, two-inch thick metal shackles around each of my wrists, a bar equally as sturdy connecting them together and mending them to the table beneath. They were extremely heavy, heavier than anything I'd ever witnessed. I felt the electricity pulse within them, raging as if it had a heartbeat when I realized with a huff that they were stuck together by electrified magnets.
A heartbroken whimper contrasting the enraged snarl choked itself from tightly clenched jaws. I was caged, trapped within a suffocating cell with eyes studying my every move. A golden tiger leaping through flaming hoops, embers licking the fire-touched fur greedily. Every whisper and voice ringing like an excited cheer in the crowd and every breath a proud yowl from the ringmaster.
"Poor boy."
A shocked inhale, tense shoulders raising as frantic eyes dashed throughout the room before landing on themselves. A mirror. Practical in its design, it stretched far and covering the entire wall in front of me, almost forcing me to look within the crimson pools that pierced easily into the glass.
Gorgeous was the creature who stared back at me. Porcelain skin shimmered in the artificial light as if stardust covered its cheeks and a sharp jawline casted soft shadows over its throat, rough against the Adam's apple that jutted out of its white skin. The creature was still somehow beautiful with the sizzling acid covering its skin, as if an artist painted black water colors across its cheeks, swooping low like smoke billowing from a campfire and up like a storm cloud caressing the sky. Plump, yet thin, lavender lips cracked open as a breath blew itself out from within the statue-like being's lungs, a slight glimmer in the air as the oxygen accepted the new, peculiar gas.
The familiar long streaks of midnight black hair swirled against its neck and back, hugging around the creature's form, as if to comfort it when the strands of gentle bangs tinkled against its forehead. Two crimson lights glowed against the strands that curtained easily over its face, glinting sharply when two eyes came into view like two ruby pools of fresh blood. A lighter X-scar rested harshly beneath its right eye, as if it wasn't meant to be there with its bent ridges into the soft skin, like silver ravines stabbing unwelcomed into white grasslands.
The statue somehow made the plain white button up look graceful on its shoulders, each fold in the ink splatter cloth professional as if ready for a photoshoot, even the way it was posed uncomfortably in the mirror, it appeared like a model with its chin jutted out and eyebrows furrowed. Eyes skimming down, I noticed it was barefoot and its legs were covered with light grey pants, tight cuffs secured around its ankles, scratchy yet soft against smooth skin. I blinked, it blinked back. I licked the acid clear from my lips, it mirrored exactly.
The heartbeat pulsed again, a flutter of butterfly wings over dew covered flower petals. Crimson met with emerald through the glass, the mirror, a staring contest between apex predators. The tigress blinked first after a few minutes, but she showed no sign of irritation or shame that she had lost, only glaring straight into my eyes with the intensity of the sun, burning into crisp flames of hidden determination. I sighed a beautiful sound, swirling dust shimmering with hidden star-fragments when the light caught them just right, like fireflies in the dim holding room.
And then I hummed, crisp noise in the still air, a lost tune, one of sadness and despair from a planet I once visited, ruins crippling like stomped ant hills. A furrowed look was shot toward my lips before a scowl over took the tigress' features, spinning on her heels and drifting gracefully out another door far beyond the mirror, hidden behind thick walls.
Lips vibrating in a silent song, crimson eyes closed slowly, eyelashes criss-crossing over each other. Finger tips pressed together delicately at the other end of the shackles, buzzing with uncertainty with the hissing of electricity so close to them. I inhaled lightly through my nose, oxygen fueling my tune and crackling like smoke against the edges of my lungs, cooling the acid residue along their walls. Exhaling, I could feel the breath against my hands, brushing against the cool metal of the cuffs and crawling along the edges of the table.
I opened my eyes when the heartbeat returned, connecting easily with emerald once again. We studied each other shamelessly through the glass wall, eyes sliding over each other's form, assessing strengths and weaknesses. I broke contact first, flicking my gaze back to my hands. They were curled again, fingers tense into claws that poked against marble palms. I watched the claws sink into my skin, acid immediately collecting around the wound, hissing as if angered at the introduction to the air.
Breathing in through my nose again, the sweet and sour smell of acid burned easily in my mouth, vanishing immediately once I swallowed the thin liquid, feeling it sear the back of my throat. The tigress' gaze flicked over me once again, curiously, her heartbeat steady, light in her chest with an easy beat.
Then a high pitched beep resonated from the lone door to my left, stuck stiffly against the mirror like a tall soldier. Then a click, a creak as the new, but un-oiled, hinges of the door slid uneasily open, as if trying to keep any wanders out of a certain death trap. A camera blinked, and then a soft, almost unnoticeable footstep rang lightly into the air.
Followed was the tigress herself, red hair burning in the light;
Natasha Romanoff.
[author's notes]
wooooo new chapter.
interrogation next I would believe, if I actually stop writing fluff.
blaaaaaah, oh shit. it's exactly 12pm as I write this-
I have school tomorrow.. oh well I s'pose.
welp.
favorite eye color; brown/black, weird question but I do love brown eyes. I actually have green eyes myself, with the yellow-ish gold around the pupil like an eclipse, but I've always wanted brown eyes, I think they're very pretty. (you might have noticed, but most of my character's have brown eyes because I want them to be as pretty as possible, and I think them having brown eyes gives them peak beauty).
I like to think people with darker eyes are more easily trusted, ya know? like the warmness of the dark colors makes you want to talk to them more openly.. or maybe I'm just a weird-o thinking about it that way, but whatever.
anyway,
love ya'
[1613 words]