05-20-2019, 09:55 PM
VulgariS
" i could be ugly in loving you. filthy and soft-mouthed. wolf-tongued and terrible.
i could carry my heart in my mouth like a bird dog to you, so gently i wouldn’t leave a mark. "
i could carry my heart in my mouth like a bird dog to you, so gently i wouldn’t leave a mark. "
“It’s always night, here,” Larva says as each of the serpents watch the sky above them. Sometimes the stars wander into the shapes of their memories, of Vulgaris taking his first steps or Larva meeting Dillan for the first time. Time seems to crawl along and spin right out of their grasp all at once but he doesn’t seem to mind. Vulgaris just lets his shoulder lightly meet his father’s as the sky shows them Adna playing shortly after her birth. The elder man laughs softly and turns to look at his son, each of them with tired eyes and satisfied smiles.
When Leliana appears, he lifts his gaze to observe her. A slow sigh slips from his lungs before he nudges his youngest son, steering his attention toward her. Vulgaris swallows hard and hesitates before another nudge convinces him to approach her, head hung low in shame and remorse. Each step feels weightless and more like simply floating toward her as he used to in dreams. His scales and fangs are all swept from his face like glimmering dust in the moonlight as he bridges the final gap between them. His lips find the corner of her jaw but he can’t bring himself to pull away and meet her gaze.
“I’ve heard a lot about you, Leliana. But you’re not dead, are you?” he asks curiously, watching her with bright green eyes. Vulgaris lifts his head at last and does his best to smile for her, but there is sorrow in the corners of his lips that he cannot hide from her. She isn’t here to stay and he knows it. She has to return to her kingdom, to their children. They won’t drift through the rest of eternity as his parents do, together forever with nothing to drag them apart anymore. In a way he has come to envy both the living and the dead.
“I’m sorry I didn’t stay, Leli. Everything was my fault,” he says softly with his lips hovering over her neck. “You deserved your revenge but I couldn’t go back on my oath.”
He can only vaguely recall the way the lava burned or how his last breaths felt like agony before it all went black. The pain feels even longer ago than the day they met, though, so he doesn’t dwell on it much. Mostly he’s spent his time explaining how they met and how they fell in love. He recited all of his children’s names for Larva and what he loved most about them. Vulgaris even confessed his crimes against his family and watched them played out against the stars.
“I want you to go back and do everything I held you back from. I want you to find someone better.”
His voice cracks but he doesn’t try to retract his words. Behind him, Larva simply watches, like ancient carvings of gods observing the goings on of mortals from up on temple ledges.
