"But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura
11-25-2018, 07:04 PM (This post was last modified: 12-09-2018, 10:48 PM by Zoryn.)
He'd been wracked with fever. Lost track of the time, and how many days it'd been since Rhonen's seal had broken. Loosed whatever this was that he, and so many others, now suffered. He wished he could say he hadn't asked for it. It was his fault, no one else's. It'd been said before that he would lose everything, and his fear began to grow everyday without them that it might be true.
The beast in his head roars in the dark of its cage, and it becomes less and less certain whether it urges him on or perhaps grows stronger as Zoryn weakens, ever hopeful of its release. Nevertheless, he walks on. Because he must. Because he needs. His lungs are harsh with each breath dragged through them. Sometimes he coughs, and it feels like fire in his throat, like he might expel his very insides. His blood boils in his veins, heating the surface of his skin, drawing constant beads of sweat in vain attempts to cool him. He is restless, having long given up on trying to sleep. No amount of rest made this any better, only rode him with nightmares. Each time he awoke, he felt worse, his mind in less control. Maybe there was no hope for him.
There is only one thing he hopes for anymore. That he might find his precious baby girls. Ensure their safety and that they weren't suffering alone in all this. It was all he cares to ask for. And their mother as well. His sister, Dizzy. His heart aches at the thought of her. Rattles in its chamber. He'd given her everything and it wasn't enough. But it wasn't her fault. Only he could be to blame. He who had been blind. He'd thought being away from her for a time would do him good, but it'd only widened the void in his chest. Made him find other ways to fill it. With another woman. With Dovev, the bastard. The only man he could ever say was like an addiction. He needed the bone-man in ways he didn't dare voice. But right now, he needs his girls and his sister the most. Needs to know they're safe.
11-25-2018, 09:13 PM (This post was last modified: 11-25-2018, 09:16 PM by Dovev.)
dovev
"Zoryn," he murmured, sliding up to his side and brushing his lips over his neck. He'd found him.
"Dizzy is safe." And his boy but he wasn't sure if Zoryn knew about him yet. It was probably Dizzy that should tell him if not. Maybe. "I told her I'd find you and the girls and bring you to her. Where I'm staying." Well, sort of. Where he was seen a lot, but he was technically still trying to return to Ischia.
"It's safe there. They won't get sick."
It felt damn good to see him again. He kinda hated that. He'd never wanted to be attracted to this guy and still didn't. Them two and Dizzy, they could'a been something. If he hadn't broken it. He was always breaking everything. He was probably breaking something now too, even.
"Let's go find our girls," he said quietly, lipping at Zoryn's sharp jaw and leaving a graze of his teeth behind to sting him a little. His heart sank that his baby girl couldn't know who he was, not really. She couldn't know he was her dad. But he understood it was better that way. They were twins. They shouldn't feel separated from each other and maybe having different dads would do that. Maybe having a stranger for a dad would do that. So they had Zoryn. He was a good dad. Probably a better one.
Maybe they would be friends with Briella.
"I took a girl in," he told him with a glance because he'd know how fucking random and lolwhat that kinda shit would be for Dov to do. Adopted a kid? Kidding, right? But, yeah. Got him a pretty damn cute baby girl, from right here in the river. "She's maybe the girls' age." Maybe they could be friends. Maybe he could see his stranger daughter sometimes and have a good reason to. Spend some time with her and her sister.
He fell quiet then as they tracked the girls down.
They hid themselves away. After finally leaving the handsome dark blue and pink boy that had rejected them so easily, they had come back looking for Daddy. Then this crazy thing happened that had everyone in a panic. This... wind had swept over everything and invaded all of their nostrils. Some became ill, some had been safe. Some ran for cover, others plotted, others still panicked for a cure. But they stayed put and hid. Her and Zynnie. They'd agreed that mommy or daddy would be a lot more likely to find them if they stayed. And they would find them. Especially Daddy.
They didn't know how long they'd wait. Only that they should. They had to. Running around would only make things harder for them, right? Make it more likely they'd end up all nasty and sick like some others had. Zoe doesn't want to be sick. Had never so much as sneezed unless something tickled her nose. She didn't want to show it, because she didn't want to worry her Zynnie, but she is afraid. Days go by, and she is afraid something bad has happened to their parents. That they'd be alone forever. Well, not alone. Beauty of being a twin. But the two of them on their own.. Zoe and her sister liked to sneak away sometimes. It's all good fun. But they always knew Daddy wasn't too far away. That he would always be there to protect them. What if he wasn't, though? Oh, not good thoughts at all.
Zoe cuddles closer to her lovely sister, tucking the girl to her with one large ravenesque wing. She's so glad she at least has her and isn't completely alone. But she has to be brave. "Won't be much longer. They'll find us. Daddy will come." She whispers to her, black muzzle pressed to her sister's soft grey and white neck. She nuzzles beneath her black hair til she reaches skin, comforting herself with loving touches. Letting doubt into her heart is a mistake, clouding the truth she knows. Her words are true. They have to be. They just have to be.
_______
She yawns as she wakes to another sunrise. The light peeking through the trees overhead, inching further and chasing away the cold and the dark. The girls remain cuddled together, warm and safe. But as a breeze kisses their cheeks, Zoe feels the need to stretch her legs. "Come on, Zyn. Let's take a little walk." She yawns again, and nudges her sister as she gathers her legs about her and rises from the place they've claimed as their hiding den. A great and languid stretch takes over her whole body, ending with her wings splaying out as far as they can reach and then upward. Quite a bit, they've grown since last seeing their family. And she quite loves the weight of them on her back. Thinks her Daddy might be surprised at how pretty she's becoming. At least in her opinion she's pretty. Zynnie too. Zoe is the same pattern and hue of her momma. But Zynnie is all sooty gray (almost blue in some lights) and white, edged in black and shaping up so nicely.
She leads her twin out into the open, offering a wing to her in case she would like to be close, the other tucks to her own side. Toward the trickling river, they walk, to wet their lips. It's here, that the sounds of hooves crunching leaves and twigs reach their ears in the soft air of the morning. Here, that a stranger's voice echoes through the trees. What he says, she doesn't make out, but automatically her heart begins to race. She starts to wonder if they should make a mad dash back to their den, but curiosity has her feet planted to where they stand. Her ears are perked, following the sound of their steps. She sniffs, but they must be downwind. Starry eyes scan the direction she hears them. And then.. Oh. OH.
"Zynnie, do you see?" Her heart begins to leap in her chest as the two stallions come into view. One, is a terrifying sight. All black and covered in bones that seem to be growing from his skin. Skin that stretches over his form, so thin and sickly. The other is gold and white, thinner than she remembers. Black hair all wirey and glued to his neck. Oh, they're both sick. But it's still him. She stands frozen with the shock of what they'd been waiting for days to come true. "Daddy? Daddy!!" Finally her body lurches into motion. Springing over the width of the river, and splashing when she doesn't make it all the way. She looks for Zynnie to make sure she's okay, and then bee-lines for Zoryn. "Daddy! I knew you'd find us!" And all but attacks him with cuddles.
11-27-2018, 10:52 PM (This post was last modified: 11-27-2018, 10:52 PM by Zynistra.)
She stayed near Zoe, always near Zoe. As close as she could get, even. It had always felt safe and warm and comfortable snuggled beneath her sister's wing, but as the time passed without seeing Momma or Daddy it became a safety that she desperately needed. She clung tightly to her sister's side.
She hadn't slept much.
Zoe was the one to get her on her feet when all she wanted to do was curl up and hide until Daddy came for them. He wasn't hurt, he couldn't be. He would come for them. He had to.
"Come on, Zyn. Let's take a little walk."
She didn't want to. She wanted to cry. But she followed, getting her legs beneath her and rising up ungracefully. When Zoe's wing was lifted in an offering, she immediately slid in next to her, tucking as close to her as she could with their shoulders and hips brushing. Zynnie touched her neck with a little kiss, grateful that she at least had her sister with her. They were inseparable.
"Zynnie, do you see?" Zoe stopped suddenly, all her attention forward as she studied something in the distance. Zyn wasn't paying much attention, she preferred to focus on her sister. It was the only good left in her young life just then. The strain in Zoe's voice finally coaxed her to look too, though. Daddy?? And a frightening stranger that had her hesitating a beat as Zoe charged forward.
For once, she was completely alone and it wiped every bit of confidence from her. She ducked her head, walking so cautiously forward only because that was the direction her other half had gone. She felt anxious and uncertain, such foreign emotions for the vibrant, sassy girl she'd been before their family had split up and broken apart and vanished.
Zoe checked to make sure she'd made it safely across the water, and she nodded quietly at her. She was fine. Zynnie still lagged behind though, and hunched her little shoulders even more as she drew nearer to the sickly beast-man with - oh god, was that bone? Coming out of him?? That couldn't be good. He was probably dying. He certainly looked like death.
She shied away from him in an arching path that took her around so that Zoe and Daddy were between her and the stranger, slipping in quietly to lean into Daddy and watching worriedly as the dark, bloody man watched them closely. Watched Zoe, mostly, she realized as his gaze only held her eyes briefly before he was locked on her sister.
She was too uncomfortable to even speak, even though she so badly wanted to ask where Momma was. And when could they see her. And did this man have to go with them.
He's moving forward in a daze when his friend finds him. Friend, as close of one as he's ever had. More than he deserves, perhaps. He feels the feverish heat of him coming up beside him, doesn't need to look at him to know who it is. His blood heats in reaction to the man's lips brushing his neck, and he shivers just a bit as his breath cools his currently evermore sensitive skin. Damn him, that he affects him this way. Maybe always would. He can't say it isn't natural or right, because it had swept over them both just the same. Neither had asked for it, but had found something they needed in each other. Even if he still doesn't always know for sure what it is. He definitely needs to hear the three words that come next though. Dizzy is safe. A deep ragged sigh of relief. The most pleasant news since all this shit began.
He wants to stop walking. Tired, so tired. But he doesn't. Can't stop. Might not be able to start again. He needs to cough, but stifles it so as not to miss the words being spoken. Dizzy and Dovev had found a place where she wouldn't get sick. So she hasn't gotten it then. Good. And the girls would be safe there too, when they found them. There was so 'if'. The urge to see their faces grows and spurs him on, even as Dov's lips and teeth graze his jaw. He groans softly, before pinning his ears and snapping at the air between them. There would come a time for necessary distractions, but now wasn't it. His gaze, hazy as it was, scans the trees ahead and around them as they approached the river. He wants to call out, but coughs wrack him instead. Again and again, until he is forced to stop and put his head between his knees to gasp for air. Damn this sickness. All his fault.
Dov was speaking again, and he tries to listen even as he tries to gain his bearings. When his words sink in, Zor's amethyst specked eyes shoot up at him in a questioning glower. Took a girl in? Why in the hell.. He snorts and shakes his head, clearing his throat in attempt to ease the burn there. Better not to ask perhaps. Who is he to judge a situation he knows nothing about. At least not yet. Surely he would tell him the story, just not now, when he has his own to worry about.
And then, like music to his ears, their voices carry over the trickling river. Or at least one of them. His heart jolts to a stop in his chest and his breath holds until he sees them. Both of them. His baby girls. And then the thundering in his chest match the beating of his hooves as he rushes to meet them and scooping them into his embrace. "Oh, my girls. My baby girls.." His voice is like gravel, but he forces it out. He nuzzles his face into Zoe's hair, kisses her sweet face. Zynnie was quiet and almost like she was wary. He moves to sweep her forelock from her eyes that match his own, and murmurs loving things to her as he clutches her to him. "I'm so sorry it's been so long, my loves. I missed you both. You weren't scared though, were you? So smart to stay where I could find you." Zyn and then Zoe, he nuzzles and can't stop holding them. Pulls away only to take in the sight of them. To be sure they were unharmed. Seemed to be alright. Their beautiful eyes kept going to the other man behind him, so he turns- smile on his lips and a tear in his eye. "Girls, this is Dovev. He won't hurt you. He's going to take us to your mother, where you'll all be safe. Dov, this is Zynistra- Zynnie, and this is Dizorien- Zoe." His lips ruffle their heads, respectively, and then he nudges them softly. "Let's go, the sooner the better."
