Noctisardor Bypass life is about creating yourself.

Tauris agreed to his suggestion, making a quip about turning it into a game that she was determined to win. Fig smiled at this, though he couldn’t relate. He wasn’t a competitive creature, so it didn’t have the same ability to strengthen his resolve as it did hers. In fact, not even his comment about not wanting to break her trust had the effect he’d hoped for.

Silence stretched between them, then. Fig searched his mind in hopes of finding something to help break it, but his brain was almost entirely void of any thoughts other than ones he was supposed to be stomping out. He wanted to ask her about herself, her childhood, her hobbies, her favorite color, anything at all to start a conversation. But the words didn’t come. His body didn’t want him to talk, and so it held his brain hostage—stuck a sock in its mouth and shoved it into a trunk so it couldn’t stop him when he did finally part his lips to speak.

”Or…” Fig said, his tone as suggestive as the small, playful smile on his lips. His body was tense as he held it back, but one look and the shackles would break. Consequences be damned.