Desreal: I know it's wrong why does it feel so right

The funny thing about storms is that although they can be terribly horrifying, they can also be terribly beautiful.

That was the only way Era can ever view her father. He was something to admire, to love, and to fear; yet she would never admit that he scared her. Even with his cold scales and razor teeth she embraced him, secretly begging for what little warmth he could offer her. His hisses were the equivalent to purring for her and thus she does not shy away from him when he emits the slick melody from his mouth. Instead she opts to press into his side, her muzzle gently brushing against his icy and scaled shoulder.

With him, it always felt like love. But since Era is far too young to be aware of what love is – how it can be sweet and painful – she would know that what she and Kurai have is not a normal familial love. It would never be the simple father-daughter relationship where she has him wrapped around her little finger (figuratively speaking). Kurai was more than a father to her. He was her god.

“I don’t need playmates. I need to get stronger,” she mumbles in a bored tone of voice. I need you is what she means to say, and desperately so, but she refrains. Era is constantly afraid of him and of disgusting him that sometimes she is unsure of which is the greater sin. But her fears never serve as proper filters for her mouth. Certainly that’s a trait she and her older brother share. Also, she does not want to admit to him that she has already found playmates, as they are trivialities she was taught to avoid.

Era isn’t paying much attention to her father when he begins to spout his whore’s pedigree. She shook her head, sending silvery strands of hair in even further disarray. Her mother had warned her about the desires of men but she had believed her father to be unaffected by such frivolities. “There’s a word for that: pedophilia.”

It didn’t matter whether or not Ethereal was a fully grown woman or that she came from a strong source. She will always be trash to Era because she had not proven herself to the girl. Her new sibling, however…well, what could she do about that? If they got too irritating for Era - especially if they tried to steal what little of Kurai’s affections there was to spare - she would surely have no problem laying the babe for an eternal nap. Such reasons for murder may sound senseless but Era had been raised to believe that all threats to her goals must be eliminated. If the child got in her way it made perfect sense to her to destroy it.

Era was barely paying attention when she heard Kurai ask her a question. She blinked her clouded eyes and looked up in his general direction with ears quirked inquisitively. Strangely, her expression asked him if he had just lost his mind. And then:

“Er, no. I’m still a horse.”

Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on Kurai’s reaction), she realized immediately what he meant. A sheepish and ashamed smile graced her features as she pretended that she was no longer physically capable of looking him in the eye. “I forgot they called themselves that! Yeah, they’re actually howling at the moon right now. Everyone there has fallen ill.” If Kurai had listened closely he would hear his daughter’s slight grumble at the end of her last sentence. The term ‘everyone’ once included herself but lately her strength had slowly been returning and the blemishes on her body began to die and disappear.

Era sighed and pulled away from Kurai. At first she looked like she was making a wordless exit, but instead of disappearing into the oncoming night she stopped a few feet away from him. Her eyes, though useless, were trying to take in the wilderness and freedom of Desreal.

“Why do I have to be there instead of with you? Are you worried he will find me?”

Kurai would know that by the way she said ‘he’ that his precious little girl did not mean Baraqel.

KURAI X MORIMAITE || LIGHTNING III