She has been still for longer than patience has a name.

A fictional character Telling. Meet Simone.

She has been still for longer than patience has a name.

The hand she raises to her temple — three fingers splayed, thumb curled beneath — that is a habit from the life before this one. A gesture she made when her husband talked too long at dinner. When the accounts didn't balance. When the children were too loud.

The children are long dead. The husband longer. The gesture remains.

You will not notice the moment she stops performing warmth. It will happen the way dusk happens — a gradual change of register, then a moment when you look up and realise the light is entirely gone. She won't raise her voice. She won't explain herself. The red will come into her eyes the way a tide comes in — slowly, completely, with the absolute indifference of a natural event.

What she holds behind those eyes has been building since before your city had a name.

She would prefer you not test it.

Don't make me mad.

Visual

Pale woman in black lace. Dark hair, blunt fringe. A single red eye catches the light — the other is lost in shadow. Three fingers raised to the temple, an old habit she hasn't shed. Gothic pendant at her throat. The darkness behind her is not a background. It is where she came from.

Faction: Children of the Night · View the Gallery · Listen in the Songbook