To hear his daughter's ebullient laughter is to hear the choirs of heaven. Lhoire assaults Nihlus with questions as he materializes between mother-father and daughter. A deep chuckle reverberates through the stallion's chest and into the tiny filly as he draws her into a hug. "Why, the finest! And don't let anyone tell you differently, sweet girl." To her other questions, Nihlus only winks.
Brennen's caress and sweep whispers send Nih leaning into his touch with complete abandon. Despite the clouds, he swears that they could be bathing in sunlight by way of the warmth he feels.
Is this one of your feathers?
The child's innocent question catches Nihlus off his game, thoughts of confusing insecurity and jealousy having taken him by surprise. He had saved Scorch from the afterlife decades ago, only to fall in love with the man she broke her life-long marriage with many years later. Though he and his grandmother haven't been even remotely in touch, he can remember her hideous (yet familiar and warm) figure. After all, he'd grown up visiting her as a youth (not as a child due to Noori and Scorch's frigid relationship). Alas...
concern affection reassurance love question
Feelings of the above likeness wash over Nihlus like a hit of oxygen to his deprived lungs. For a moment he considers confiding in his lover, a firm knowledge that he would be well received pervading through him; but with Lhoire scrambling over the rocky hills nearby, he figures that that ought to be a conversation for later. As such, he deflects, and Brennen obliges him. Patience, kindness, and understanding become the magician. Those qualities may well be why Nihlus has softened - and grown in character and heart - since becoming his. After all, he'd had his own prior trysts, too. Thoughts of Nuage and their twin daughters come unbidden but quickly depart. He finds a home in Brennen whereas he'd only found an unstable passion in Nuage.
Plus, by the time he's leaning into Brennen's embraces again, he's being kissed and poked in a number of sensual places, and you're crazy if you think the stud can juggle any more than exactly only that in his mind as the teasing continues. "Brat!" He hisses through his teeth (enclosed as they are by a smile poorly disguised as an angry snarl). Nih almost forgets to hold himself back - ahem - in the heat of the moment and is, at last, only reminded to have some restraint by the resurfacing of his daughter some dozen meters away. "I'll get you back for that," comes his mutter, low and uninhibitedly sexual. The laughter in Brennen's eyes as he pulls away reflects in Nih's as a raw need and a promise for later fulfilment of this little tease show.
Minutes pass as they stand watch over their darling daughter and the sexual tension subsides. Bren's weight against Nih's taller shoulder indicates the beginning of his monologue. Blinking, Nih looks to the other and swivels his ears to his words, a chest radiant with a calm concern. When Brennen's lips still, Nih presses his nose to the slope of the other's jaw.
"Queens will come and go," Nih allows some moments later as he draws back, eyes shifting to Lhoire. "But family is forever. And that includes ours... Jesper would understand." He'd met the young stallion upon a number of occasions and thus feels secure in this assertion. "That being said, I think he would also appreciate intervention now that it is possible. If you'd like, I can go and check on his well being in the coming days. An apolitical fixture such as myself ought not warrant much attention." A pang in his chest reveals his mutual concern for Jesper's health; the political landscape of Beqanna did so tend to violence. Though Nihlus often clings to an air of ignorance (being a well-trained stay at home mom these days), he cannot pretend that the world is always a nice place to be.
He shivers, turns, and runs the side of his face along the sinewy muscles of his Arabian counter part's neck. "I love you," he murmurs, much more reserved in his verbal displays of affection than his physical. "And all that you do for the people you love does not go unnoticed." A smirk marks his final phrase, genuine though it may be. "I hope to be like you, when I grow up, my love."
Nihlus
that's all I want
i didn't proof read this ily!! @[Brennen]