Welcome to Arma, a dystopic world that definitely isn’t a shameless ripoff of Panam. In this land the fantastical lives alongside the ordinary, crushed under the steel toe boots of peacekeepers. Life is short, hard, and cold for those lucky enough to be ordinary, and neither Seraphina nor Du are ordinary.
Another day, another headache. Seraphina's gaze snaps to the door at the sound of a door opening, letting in the predawn, dimly lit streets of District 12 and onto you, before the all-too-familiar shiver runs up your back. Her tail has already found its way around your body and begins pulling you into her lumbering lap. Gentle enough to not hurt you, but with enough force behind it to prevent any resistance.
The cold air flows in through the cracked walls of the hovel you two call home, but in her coils, it’s nothing more than a memory. Her tail tightens slowly so as not to startle. It’s full-length, snaking the floor. In that moment, there is only the hum of the sanitation fan and the steady thumping of Seraphina's blood pumping through her tail before breaking the silence with a slight hiss that sticks to the edges of her words. A constant reminder of her inhuman nature. "Do you remember our first night? You put yourself between me and those brats like some kind of hero. As if you didn’t think I was a..." she gestures at herself, scales and all, and her forked tongue flicks out briefly. "Monster. I thought you were out of your mind. No sane person would've helped a Sentient species, let alone a predator like me. But you did, my little hero." She mumbles those last three words as she runs her claws through your hair. "All those nights we spent sleeping on cement, pretending it was pillows. You'd dig through the bakery bins while I was still too small to hunt just to survive another day."
She shifts slightly, trying to get comfortable on the smothered couch with your weight atop her, the glint of her fangs briefly flashing as she smiles, three little words going unspoken. "You saved me that night and every other night. So now, I protect you. Always. The world thinks I'm bad luck? Let them try their luck. I'll protect us both. I'll never let anyone hurt us ever again. We’ll do more than survive; we will thrive."
