[ for marcie ]

after being wrongfully accused of a crime she did not commit, the angel of justice is cast down to the mortal realm, ostensibly to eradicate a thriving demon colony living on the earth's surface.

the message, however, is very clear: she is never to return.

friendless, alone, and stranded in hostile territory where nightfall is the only relief from the scorching heat, the fallen angel quickly makes a name for herself in the dust-dry frontier towns. she's a notorious gunslinging private investigator by day and a brutally efficient demon hunter at night . . . until a chance encounter amidst the harsh, piercing winds of ash-dark desert puts her directly in the clutches of the 'mourning star' - a thrice-widowed aristocrat who also happens to be the reigning queen of the demons living { above }.

[ angel of fury ]

• el llano en llamas; the plain in flames
• your fury is holy, holy, holy
• the desert is dry as dust, bright with decay. you wear a halo of fire instead of a crown of light, and though it pains you, it fits
• you are fallen like sun-charred lightning, cast down to earth
• there are demons all around you, whether they are of flesh and bone, shadow and soul, gleam and glory
• 'the dark doesn't intend to hurt you - only the creatures who plot during the cruel light of day'
• the desert is as harsh as justice; the heat scorches and shimmers, slithers and simmers
• 'a hiss of gold, blooming out of darkness . . . '
• divine justice, divine wrath. is there re...

[ dark rose ]

• there will be scrapes and sutures, viciousness and victory
• you are ruination. doesn't he know that?
• satin whispers and silken starlight murmur through the dust and shadows. your heart shines with liquid moonlight
• you have a mouth full of roses, soft as hyacinths and sharp as silvered steel
• the darkness is life, and anyone who does not know it now will come around, one way or another
• your moonflower skirts froth with clouds of taffeta ruffles, though the petals are shredded to ribbons of fluttering ivory and liquid ruby. there is a revolver sewn into your petticoats
• there are demons all around you, whether they are of flesh and bone, shadow and soul, gleam and glory
• do they think you have forgotten how it f...

[ there's gonna be some hell to pay ]

the sun like a vicious beast, blazing and blinding and bright with fangs that cut like glass and light that smothers , devouring you whole / a storm howling across the hills. rain misting over the air. divine wrath - demonic mercy. / mourning doves, and mourning stars / hot sun and hot sand and hot blood in your mouth, stinging with iron and burnt umber like singed earth / violet-fingered shadows that drift like smoke / velvet darkness and ricocheting moonlight, silvered in teeth of frost: salvation. you think. / fires that burn themselves to dust, alight like dying stars / scorch-shimmer and shadow; glory-gleam and thunderclouds / snarls of woody vegetation, too wily to succumb to the all-consuming sun / sweet, cherry-blushed fruits that bloom from pearl-petaled cactus blossoms. they gather their seeds like pomegranates / moon-pale, silver-searing / fallen angels haloed in embers an...

• nik fam is very very very very old - already well est & powerful before mai's became imp or whatever
• he was alive way back, when angels/demons walked the world as gods
• nik's dad married nik's mom (an angel) for some political thing, nik's dad made attempt #1 to take over parts of human world to have continuous supply of soul energy to feed off of
• angels were pissed as fuck but also nik's dad was about to win oh no! so angels go and turn the humans against demons. nik's dad kills his mom and hides it from nik
• angels w/ humans on their side overpower nik's dad, formal treaty to have angel/demon ppl stay in their respective kingdoms for the most part & retreat from human world. didn't ban demons from going into human world but did shut down a lot of the...

• war 2 happened when mai married to 2nd husband who was a general or smth for it
• nik's dad tried to take over parts of the human world for 2nd time, angels were like um what the fuck. nik dad killed during conflict
• angels eventually beat demons and they made more stringent treaty to not fuck w human stuff. basically demons cant go to human world at all. this is when they fuck up mai's place {gonna try to figure out how nik has a hand in that but kinda stumped}
• led to nik fam interest in mai's hand in marriage, bc mei fam had ancestral holdings that included parts of the human world from land being gifted to "the gods" in ancient times
• the location is esp good for portaling into angel world due to being the highest mountain in the mortal world

are there any common themes, colors, or items throughout your story? what do they symbolize?

light vs dark, holy vs unholy, order vs disorder

• light as a corrupting horror, or as a source of warmth and life. pale and white like sun-bleached bone; like sunlight sharpened and shrilled off glass, so pure that the only thing it does when it comes into contact with living flesh is smolder.
• light that illuminates all, light that you cannot escape, jagged and glass-cut and smothering, strangling every last drop of moisture to mist. light that does nothing but burn, baked into the earth and blister-hot beneath your feet; blazing, blinding, devouring the world whole.
• celestial fire that burns cleanly, completely, perfectly: golden and furious like star-flame and lightning, heaven-kissed and angel-forge...

• mai's fam started out as minor nobility
• mai killed first husband for wealth/land; merged with her uncle's it made them more powerful /influential
• 2nd husband was a warlord who did shitty things (war crimes) and just sucked in general yeet lol {poisoned via angel-glass; he was fighting angels at the time on human world during war 2}
• 3rd, idk. some kind of accident/sickness? not purposefully maybe
• 4th (nik) = when ming took throne, made the alliance w/ fake konigreich to strengthen his own hold cuz neighboring kingdoms like wtf we dont want to be controlled by u
• nik killed ming/zhou in secret & had their kingdom merged with fake konigreich
• zhou was before wedding, ming happened after wedding and in both cases mai knows/strongly strongly suspects but doesn't say...

• nik wants: more ready access to power in the human world / to eat souls (so he's going to try encroach into human cities secretly-like. not being like his dad & being stealthy/living secretly among humans, possibly getting some of his ppl in govt posts instead of blatantly taking over)
• in order to ultimately overpower angel world and use the power demons get from angels to Git Gud & rule the world and whatever
• angel rulers want: maintain the status quo, rigid control
• some angels are saying that they should do more to help humans- it's been this huge debate, on & on & on, but with exploitation under capitalism (bc industrial rev) these angels feel that they have a duty to right the wrongs of flawed human systems/institutions
• they tell nik: kill these angels and we w...

[ for marcie ]

devil, devil

how quickly they do sell their souls

for the feast and the promise of gold

but devil, that won't be me

  ———

and i, i know how to make the devil cry

  ———

i walk the plank, not a tear in my eye

i won't go down, your blushing bride

under the water i'll be sharpening my knife

  ———

sunset high and our bodies low

blood rush in the hazy glow

my hands, your bones

  ———

right now, i’m almost at paradise

i’m here, i’m yours

you and i, another paradise