[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] [@Oso] Cassius, [@Apex Sunburn] Iyen, [@princess] Charlotte, [@JJ Doe] Hala
[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’s gaze dropped briefly to the salt bowl placed in front of her with an exaggerated flourish. A slow breath hissed through her teeth, the kind predators made before deciding whether a twitching thing was worth chasing.

[color=#8D3B72][i]“Salt and meat,”[/i][/color] she mused aloud, voice low and velvety with razor-thin amusement. [color=#8D3B72][i]“How generous. Almost makes me forget you came over here to piss on a wound you don’t even understand.”[/i][/color]

The bread barely moved as she reached for the salt, pinching a few crystals between her fingers with the same dispassionate grace she might have used to pluck the wings off a fly. But then the drumstick hit her plate with a soft thunk, and for one blistering second, her fingers flexed like she might throw it back at Iyen’s face.

She didn’t. Yet.

Her eyes flicked up to meet Iyen’s again—steady now, cold and unflinching.

[color=#8D3B72][i]“You’re right about one thing.”[/i][/color] The words slid out, sharp and soft as a dagger’s kiss. [color=#8D3B72][i]“You’ve been through darkness. I see it on you.”[/i][/color] She leaned forward, just slightly, enough that her voice dipped lower, a thread of raw honesty pulling through the venom. [color=#8D3B72][i]“And you survived it. You should be proud of that.”[/i][/color]

A pause—brief but weighted, as if she meant to let that tiny flicker of respect land before she burned the rest down.

[color=#8D3B72][i]“But don’t fool yourself into thinking we’re standing on the same ground.”[/i][/color]

She straightened slowly, the intensity of her gaze never softening.

[color=#8D3B72][i]“You’re haunted by memories.”[/i][/color] Her voice softened, dangerously, almost a whisper. [color=#8D3B72][i]“I’m haunted by memories and the living breathing monsters who made them. I’m not just bleeding from the past, sweetheart. I’m watching the ghosts crawl back into the present.”[/i][/color]

Her eyes glittered like broken glass catching candlelight, hard and bright.

[color=#8D3B72][i]“Dangerous ghosts. Ones you wouldn’t recognize if they slit your throat in the middle of this pretty little feast.”[/i][/color] She lifted her glass, but didn’t drink. She just held it there, fingers tight around the stem, knuckles pale.

[color=#8D3B72][i]“One of them—”[/i][/color] She cut herself off, jaw clenching, that old, terrible fear flashing behind her eyes. [color=#8D3B72][i]“One of them I saw tonight. For the first time in years. And you know what my first instinct was?”[/i][/color] 

Her smile sharpened into something close to a snarl. [color=#8D3B72][i]“It was to shield him. To [/i]get him the fuck away [i]before they could see him. I ran because I would rather drown choking on regret than let those monsters see someone I care about and put a target on their back.”[/i][/color]

Her hand twitched at the memory, a ghost of a move toward a blade she no longer wore openly.

[color=#8D3B72][i]“But sure,”[/i][/color] she said with a slow, cold laugh, [color=#8D3B72][i]“tell yourself it was just some stupid girl running back to another man. That it’s all a game. That it’s just some melodrama and I want to play with his heart.”[/i][/color]

Her gaze sliced across the room, cutting briefly to where Charlotte stood. And then to Cassius.

And it was there, in the span of a heartbeat, she caught it.

Charlotte’s arms wrapped around him, her head resting briefly against his chest.

Kalliope’s hand froze.

The look she gave Cassius wasn’t anger. It wasn’t jealousy. It was confusion. Mild alarm. Like someone watching a page of the story turn before they were ready for the next chapter. Something about Charlotte’s touch… it hadn’t looked casual. It hadn’t looked like a greeting. It had looked like a goodbye.

A farewell.

And Kalliope, who knew a thing or two about goodbyes, felt a strange, low ache spark in her chest.

Her brows furrowed, a thousand instincts firing at once, and if Cassius caught her look, he’d find no teasing there now—only hard, questioning intensity.

Without breaking her gaze from the room, Kalliope plucked the drumstick off her plate and tossed it back toward Iyen with casual, cutting precision.

[color=#8D3B72][i]“Keep your peace offering.”[/i][/color]

Her fingers tightened around the base of her glass, but she didn’t drink. Her gaze swept the hall, sharp and deliberate, noting everything.

And then Hala.

Slipping from the hall like a blade disappearing into the dark.

A chill slid down her spine. She forced herself to breathe. Forced her muscles to stay loose. But something felt off. Not just about Hala, but about everything.[/color]