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the first time they saw him, natalia de riva thought he was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. sleek black hair, strong jaw line, and there was a perfect scrunch on his furrowed brow. the presence he carried when he passed through a crowd had a certain kind of finality to it — an inevitability. as if he'd go straight through you if you got in his path.
the surety of his gait was enchanting. the gravity which lucanis dellamorte commanded drew natalia in. unsurprising, considering there were many fledglings whose knees would give at the sight of the first talon's grandson — and that doesn't even take into account his actual absurd reputation — natalia thought he was just that dreamy and exactly what a crow should be.
"stop smiling," said the sharp voice beside them, breaking them out of their reverie.
"i'm not." natalia tried their best not to sound indignant upon having their bubble burst.
"and take off that ridiculous helmet. subtlety is a quality all assassins must possess." the nagging continued. "and you're sticking out like a sore thumb."
they huffed at that: natalia had an inexplicable attachment to their crowhead helmet. one day they put it on and there it stayed.
"viago..." natalia began, to which fifth talon viago de riva sighed in preparation.
"isn't the whole point letting the people know that we did it? that a crow..." finger to helmet "...did it."
viago pinched the bridge of his nose, two seconds away from a conniption.
"during an assassination, yes. the only thing —"
"— i'm doing is assassinating your reputation," natalia finished the sentence in a deflated voice as they faced viago. pointy beak and dead, beady yellow eyes stared the talon square in the face.
"can you tell what face i'm making now?" they mumbled.
natalia saw viago open his mouth for what they assumed would be a colourful lecture or a threat of back-to-back poison resistance sessions (they still can't feel part of their pinky from last time) until both trains of thought were derailed by lucanis dellamorte himself.
"viago..." lucanis approached.
inside the mask, natalia's jaw started to unhinge and everything was in slow motion. maker, even his voice is heavenly. natalia called forth everything they'd learned about steeling oneself but ended up locking their joints and briefly forgetting how to breathe.
even though the talon tore his attention away from natalia to address lucanis, a lecture remained formulating in his mind.
"lucanis. you're looking well. the diamond is always delighted to welcome your presence. teia should be around somewhere."
natalia couldn't help but side-eye viago — why was their talon not more pleased to be talking to lucanis dellamorte? viago knows nothing.
"please allow me to introduce my new protégé, natalia."
their head whipped around to face the assassin; all pointy-beaked and beady-eyed.
"master lucanis," natalia managed to say as they bowed their head in politeness, an action they regretted immediately. they were certain they looked like they were about to peck at a crumb. a crumb named lucanis dellamorte.
and viago was not amused.
however, the maker felt like playing fair, since lucanis seemed to find humour in the interaction — or was gracious enough to save the poor fledgling the embarrassment.
a cordial smile is what natalia received in response. that was good enough.
inside the helmet, a dopey grin spread across their lips. lucanis dellamorte. the crow you are.
"back-to-back poisons training and i expect a report."
"yes, talon."