"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
It is impossible for the son of the volcano to slink.
Below his hooves, the earth shifts with the strain of his weigh, each step in life cost him more than it would cost a lighter beast. After him, before him: smoke floats, heralding his approach with rich, heady smoke - an out of place scent in any world other than Tephra.
His presence had never been obscure - he was a man on fire.
Yet, for all his grandeur, he was easily unmade. His little sister didn't need him to protect her anymore, but maybe she never really had. Ceara had uncovered his guilt, rejected his expressions of remorse (vulnerability) with commands (threats) of her own. She had burned him and all he does was slink back home. She was more like Offspring than he would ever be.
Except he can't slink - he can't even do that right.
The waters part before his broad chest as he lowers into the channel, momentarily dousing the flames which make up his tail. He dips his heavy skull below the gentle swells water, allowing the fire along his crest to spit and boil the water around it before those flames too are doused. He didn't feel like fighting today. Blowing the air from his nostrils he submits to the salty water as it washes over his face, into his ears. A thought fills the space which had been thoughtless- preoccupied with primitive sensations, water, and fire - and he doddles it, testing it and himself. This dark thought - a hollow, dangerous thought - takes him deeper into the water, lower and lower to where his dense muscles and airless lungs would have him rest.
As his lungs begin to burn, dark lids flutter open to grey-blue blur and the experiment is over. His solid legs begin to churn of their own accord, bringing him to oxygen, pulling his weight onto the sand - dripping, re-born, flameless, and naked.
From her hiding spot – one of the volcano’s many caves – she had seen his approach. It had been mid-winter when she had last seen him, the day when he had escorted Karaugh, and her family, out. Amorette had met his gaze briefly before he had headed off somewhere beyond Tephra’s border after speaking with Kolera. He’d been gone for more than half a year.
During those months she had failed to get the thoughts of him and Karaugh off her mind. It was not that she had been constantly thinking about it, but once every while the memory had haunted her. Especially during her broody days, right after her Warrick has so bluntly hurt her with his words. Her world had suddenly become a very, very dark place; one not befitting the short ebony woman.
With her dark eyes roaming over his flaming form Amorette feels very much torn. A part of her – and it is bigger than she would like to admit – is drawn into him, longing for and desiring his attention, where another still holds the things that had happened with Karaugh very much against him. Even now she knows the vampyric bitch is dead, died during childbirth. And it could very well have been Levi’s. The idea still horrifies her as much as when she had learned of the birth.
If her eyes would’ve been able to burn through, he would’ve had a pair of holes burned into his body by now. She does not glance away from his large form, except to blink her eyes every so often. With a frown she watches him delve under, steam rising from the surface of the pond as the flames along his crest die. He stays under and under, and the longer it lasts, the more restless Amorette becomes. Her eyes have widened and her ears flick back and forth between pointing stark forward and then pressed back against her neck.
The worry wins. ”LEVI!” she shrilly screams on top of her lungs as she dashes out of her hiding place. Fear holds her heart in its grasp, making each gasp of air a battle to breath. She’s much slower than she would like to be, tripping over her own legs in her haste.
Finally, finally, he surfaces. Relief flood her eyes with tears, causing herself to stumble once more, but Amore never fails to keep her pace up. Right in front of her eyes he ends up on the riverbank, soaked from head to toe and without the flames that are so very much Levi. ”Levi!” she calls again, her voice chocked and thick because of tears and pants for air.
When she reaches his steaming form the ebony mare does not hesitate to invade his personal space. Her muzzle presses up against his cheek, as to nudge up his head, her first reaction to kick some life into his way too defeated form. Tears are still brimming in her eyes, and her throat squeezed shut. All her brooding thoughts have made place for worry only, afraid of what has happened to him to make him do such thing. ”W-what happened? Are you okay?”
He does not look that way, but Amorette simply does not know what else to say, or ask, as her heart pounds loudly in her chest.
Amorette
Quand on n'a que l'amour.
@[Lavender] <3
Lemme know if I misunderstood your post XD.
As the dark stallion breaks through the surface of the waves, his name is there, shill and loud, surrounding him and pulling him onto the beach. A slurry of brine, ash, and dirt cascade from his pelt to pool in the divots his hoves have created in the sand. He blinks hard to clear the salty water from his eyes, but he knows who it is even before his vision steadies.
"Amorette," he coughs, the word unexpectedly catching in the raw tissue of his esophagus as she breaks past their usual margin of personal space. Yet he doesn't push her away or step back, her touch distracts him from the burning he feels inside."It's nothing. Nothing, I was just trying to cool down," he lies as his teeth grind together roughly to end his sentence. Instead, it is the slight embarrassment shoves aside for he feels somehow that it is right that Amore has found him now. The kind mare, the healer, the faithful.
His opposite.
He wonders if he should tell her why he had been gone so long, not because he owes her that - because maybe it would be nice not to hold it all inside for once. But he decides to remain silent on that matter for now - after all his last encounter had left him burnt.
The damage Ceara had done to him was more than she knew. His sister had heated him from the inside with magic, but the physical damage she had done was only half of the pain he was experiencing. The punishment she had dealt him had been harsh, yet even now he does not know where her newfound powers and healed scars had come from - their conversation had been far from healthy and open. He had left in a storm of emotions when he had come to make amends, he had given her an apology but now he felt as if he were the one who was wronged.
So as Amore rushes into him he does not resist her soothing touch, but still him mind lingers on the one who caused him the searing pain which will not go. "Ceara," he asks, his voice grating, "has she come back? Have you seen her?"
Upon hearing him say her name relief washes over her. The tears that wet her eyes spill, rolling down her cheeks as she breaths in a deep and long breath. He looked like shit, but at least he was talking, meeting her gaze. It is enough for the ebony mare to start her exploration, her dark eyes wandering over his form, searching for things she cannot say.
His words pull her gaze back to his mismatched one. The worry is joined by a narrowed stare, her lips pressing up together in a thin line that has been there too often lately. ”Don’t lie to me” she growls back, stamping her hoof on the ground as her tail flicks through the air. Apparently her previous anger hadn’t completely left her after all. ”It’s not nothing, and we both know it.” Without wasting more words on it Amorette presses her dark muzzle up against his shoulder.
Like often lately she curses herself. Even with her eyes closed and ears deaf till whatever answer Levi might give her, she tries to focus. She knows he is hurting, but due to her inexperience she cannot pinpoint why, what, where and/or how exactly.
With a frustrated sigh she pulls back, slowly bending her neck and looking up to meet Levi’s gaze. For a while Amorette studies his face, from the tight drawn lips to his locked jaw and the many expressions his thoughts display upon his features. It pains her to know that she cannot do anything to help him unless he tells her. The stubborn giant asshole…
”Ceara?” she repeats the name questioningly. Amorette had not officially met the black and red mare, she knows the face that belongs to the name. Frowning she shakes her head. She hadn’t seen her in a long, long while. Why would Levi ask that? Out of all things he could’ve said? ”I haven’t seen her..” she replies, head tilting a little to the side as she blankly studies Levi’s expression. ”I could look for her, or ask Warrick, if you want..?”
What the fuck is she doing? Amore does not want to leave Levi’s side. She hadn’t seen him in too long, and now even as he is back, it is as if he is not here. No, it is as if shé is not there. It pains her. More than she likes to admit.
Gentle tears roll down her dark cheeks and he is surprised to understand he is the cause of them, he doesn't know what he could have done to deserve a place in Tephra's healer's affection. But her gaze soon narrows and he is reminded that he is frustrating to practically every woman in his life.
With an agitated sigh, she searches his face and he holds fast under the scrutiny - although he suddenly feels exposed.
As Amore speaks Levi shakes his head, clearing his thoughts. His aching belly pointedly reminds him that Ceara could take care of herself; it didn't mean anything that Amore had happened to cross paths with her yet. "Yeah, my sister. We parted on..." he grimaces as the seared organs inside of him send a hot flash of pain "not the best terms."
The fire which runs along his crest return, and with a stamp of his back hoof his tail dock also ignites. The heat and flickering tendrils remain low, and as another wave of residual heat agitates his body. With a step forward he lets his skull fall heavily onto her slim shoulder.
"Amore, she burned me," he finally confesses, his lids closing over one inky-dark and one crimson eye. His skin and pelt show no signs of damage, she would never know what was wrong unless he told her. "Some magic, she heated me from the inside... do you think you can help?"
That, she would not deny. The way he had left without as much as a goodbye had been frustrating. And that they never talked about what happened with Karaugh – the day they had taken Kryptic away from the dark cave that had been her cell – did not really help either. Amorette hadn’t forgotten, but right now she feels more than frustration alone.
Worry, relief, and this strange kind of ache, and need. These feelings are new to her, or had she simply refused to acknowledge them until now? Not that she has time to ponder over them now; she is eyeing Levi with worry.
Again the ebony woman reaches out, with intent to press her muzzle against his shoulder in companionship. She mistakes the pain upon his features as hurt caused by the sibling’s quarrel. ”I’m sorry..” she mumbles, there is simply nothing else for her to say. Amorette has never met Ceara and although she knows who she is, it had been a while since she’d last seen her. ”I’m sure she’ll be back soon” she offers. What can she say, Amore likes to address things in a positive way, rather than a negative one.
Though the return of his flaming mane and tail does not scare her, the suddenness with which it comes does startle her. Amore is quick to mock herself, with a small shake of her head as her lips curl ever so slightly. ”That’s more like you” she mumbles appreciating. Naturally she shifts, offering him her shoulder as she bends her neck to lightly ghost her lips across his.
”She did what?!” Amorette didn’t raise her voice often, but today is one of those rare days that she does. Her dark eyes widen, and she’s quick to let them roam across his form, searching for the said burns. Her shock grows when he continues, and this actually makes her pull back so she can look at him. Levi looks everything but okay.
Instead of reply verbally – she’s at loss for words – the ebony woman steps closer to Levi again. This time she presses her muzzle firm against his skin, and her eyes fall closed as she breaths in deeply. ”This will burn too..” she murmurs, but does not give him the chance to pull away. Never before had she healed internal damage, but Amorette has become more sure of her ability in the time he has been away.
There is no smell of burned flesh and hair in the air, nor does smoke rise from his skin. She can feel her powers work, burning inside of his body, but once the flames die, they leave tender, but healed tissue.
Her anger towards Ceara has not subsided any, but she does not bother Levi with it. Whatever he had done to earn himself this treatment, she’d been wrong. Yes, he could be an ass and yes, he was terribly frustrating, but nothing gave one ever the right to hurt another. And it goes against everything Tephra stands for, what Amorette stands for. She simply cannot grasp why one would do such a thing.
”How do you feel?” she asks softly, forcing herself to break the contact between her muzzle and his side. Only now she realises how she had stepped forward, her head at the level of his stomach. Her dark eyes search his, a strange mix of concern and anger, on top of all her previous emotions, swirling through them.
