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    COTY

    Assailant -- Year 226

    QOTY

    "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


    [private]  here we are in the heart of the darkness; Briseis
    #1

    I've learned to live with these fatal gifts
    and still you're mine

    The world had settled as a calm had once more stolen over the misty depths of their forested home. Though he holds no certainty the peace would last, he had finally allowed himself to breathe deep as they returned to normalcy. It is a normalcy he cherishes, though he hadn’t realized it before the Pangean army had stormed their way across his home. Across their home. Their haven from the world.

    He had answered the call to protect their deepest forests, refusing to cede that which he had long ago claimed as his own. There is nowhere else he wished to go. Nowhere worth uprooting their family, the entire life he and Briseis had built here together, for. And if need be, he would defend it again.

    The morning sun had begun to stretch across the sky, though this deep in the Taigan wood, it’s light barely filters through. Faint golden dapples are the only sign that morning has come, bringing the bright light of day with it. Day is not his time. He vastly prefers the lightless time that stretches across the smallest hours of the morning. The velvety darkness before the dawn.

    Though he likes to sleep while the sun is at its zenith, he has found these hours are the very best when curled beside Briseis. She is always close, and he finds her now, golden eyes blinking from the shadows for a brief moment before he slips alongside her, skin hungry for her touch despite knowing it’s absence only a short while. Brushing his lips along the soft curve of her jaw in a tender kiss, he smiles against her skin as he murmurs, “Good morning.”

    Ether


    @[Briseis]
    Reply
    #2
    I need you like a heart needs a beat
    but it's nothing new--


    Their home was always so quiet that it had caught her off guard to have it suddenly engulfed in flames. The only blessing – if you could even call it such – was that by now all of their children were full grown, to the point that they were easy to keep safe. She hadn't understood why Taiga had fallen under attack the way that it had, but all she had cared for in the moment was ensuring that those of their family that still lived here were safe from the flames. And Ether – her perfect, handsome Ether – had not hesitated to protect them.

    It was why, with him alongside her, that so few nightmares came for her at night anymore. The fires had been perhaps one of the first times that she had withstood something so terrifying with him at her side, and something about seeing that he would never let harm come to her had made all the difference in slaying the fears that tried to take her in the night, too.

    It was such a strange feeling, for her to know any kind of calm, but she was not surprised at all that it was he that finally brought it to her.

    She had hardly stirred all night, until she feels him shifting next to her. Though her sleep was dreamless it had been peaceful, and her dark eyes blink open slowly at the feel of his lips along her jaw. It brings a smile to her face, eyes drifting closed against as she laughs quietly into his chest, where she rests her face. “Good morning, love,” she whispers in a voice still full of sleep, finally lifting her head and finding his bright yellow eyes with hers, pressing a kiss to the corner of his mouth. Then she settles back against him, lowering her head once more to his chest and murmuring, “I think we should stay here, just like this, all day.”

    -- briseis.



    @[Ether]
    Reply
    #3

    I've learned to live with these fatal gifts
    and still you're mine

    It had brought him so much peace to see her begin to rest more comfortably, the nightmares receding as time passed. To be able to watch her sleep without terror. There is no small amount of pride too, to know that he could banish those nightmares. To recognize the implicit love and trust that must be connected.

    It sustains him in a way food never will.

    The fires had not touched their grove, nestled so deep in the forest as it is. Here it is easy to pretend enemies had not come at all. Incredibly easy to fall back into the comfort and safety of what has existed for years now. Later, when he skirted the shadows edge where char is beginning to fade and new growth has sprung up, he could remember.

    Now though, he wanted nothing so much as to forget. To plunge into the perfection that could exist only when they were together, separate from the rest of a world that so loved to pull things apart.

    He hums a low sound of satisfaction deep in his throat, responding to the sleepy greeting she offers. He loves these moments, when her voice resonates softly, replete with sleep and happiness. It never fails to stir something dark within him, a deeply rooted longing and possessiveness he had never managed to assuage, no matter how many mornings she had woken at his side.

    “Me too,” he whispers in response, lips trailing the strands of her dark man, the sweet curve of her neck. Slowly, darkness wraps around them, leaving only the faintest wisps of light hanging above like distant golden stars. “Here with you is the only place I ever wish to be.”

    Ether


    @[Briseis]
    Reply
    #4
    I need you like a heart needs a beat
    but it's nothing new--


    She had never thought herself the type to deserve an everlasting love such as this. Her life before Ether – and even parts of it after him – had been one nightmare after the other, woven together to make the noose that kept her constrained. And it had taken years for it to at last loosen, to free her from it’s grasp. She will never understand how his shadows – the very darkness she had tried to outrun – would turn out to be her savior; the thing to free her rather than further enslave her.

    Because when he pulls the darkness closer it feels like an embrace, and nothing like the suffocation that she had been used to. When the cool touch of the shadows crawl close enough to whisper across her skin it feels like an extension of him, and she can do nothing but sigh and lean into his lips that trace down her neck. She responds by shifting herself closer, reveling in the warmth of their love and peace.

    “Do you ever miss it?” She asks him, most of the sleep having left her voice but the tone of it remaining soft. “The rest of the world, I mean.” She has lifted her head now, her nose buried under the shadow tendrils of his mane, searching for the strong slope of his neck underneath. “You could go anywhere in the world, but you choose to stay with me,” she says in a quiet kind of wonder, still – even after all of these years – in disbelief that he would choose to anchor himself to her, when he could be anywhere else.

    -- briseis.



    @[Ether]
    Reply
    #5

    I've learned to live with these fatal gifts
    and still you're mine

    There had been a time when the shadows had been his only companion, holding him close when no one else seemed to understand. He had never doubted his own parent’s love for him, but his father had never embraced the darkness as he had. Had always been ashamed of the way the shadows had clung. Had wallowed in guilt when seeing his children in those same shadows. It had eaten at Ether to know that he loved so much what his father had loathed.

    For so long he had hated that part of himself. Even more when it had swallowed him entirely, leaving behind the creature he is now.

    She had been the one to show him it was not something terrible, that he was not terrible because of it. Watching her fear abate had finally allowed him to accept himself. And though he could not possibly love her more, he did. For everything she had gifted him, he did.

    Now the shadows are home. There is nowhere else he would feel as at peace as he did when he wrapped them together in their comforting cloak. Nowhere else in the world he would rather be. Which is why her question catches him somehow by surprise. He had never even thought of missing the rest of the world. Not when his entire world (the only one he cared about) is right here beside him.

    His frown is brief, quickly chased away by the wonder in her voice. Pressing his lips warmly against her dark satin skin, he breathes deeply, finding comfort in the familiarity of her scent. “Never,” he whispers softly, though a surprising vehemence colors his voice. “There is nowhere in the world I would wish to be if you’re not there.”

    He pauses then, a sudden uncertainty gripping him as he considers where the question might have arisen from. Slowly, he asks, “Do you miss it?” He hesitates. “The world or… the light?”

    Ether


    @[Briseis]
    Reply
    #6
    I need you like a heart needs a beat
    but it's nothing new--


    She can’t help but to smile when he kisses her, the touch briefly chasing away all of the doubts and insecurities that liked to haunt her. She couldn’t help but to marvel at him—the quiet strength that he carried, the way that he softened so completely when he was next to her, and how he was still an enigma that she did not fully understand. The idea that he was hers and that he never strayed was something she could not even fathom, and she was often left wondering how her nightmares had transformed into a dream. And so she feels a twinge of guilt when her own self-doubt reflects back in his voice, realizing she had accidentally made him question the very thing he should never be uncertain of.

    “No, love, that isn’t why I asked,” she says in a quiet rush as she shifts to face him better, her brown eyes full and apologetic. "You are my world. You, and our children. I wouldn't trade our life for anything." She diverts her gaze again, her jaw tightening just slightly as she tries to gather her thoughts. “You just seem so much bigger than this place, and this life.” On their first meeting he had taken her through shadow portals, and shown her a mere glimpse of what he was capable of. She had thought him to be something beyond her reach back then; she had been certain that she would never see him again after that, that he would move onto bigger and better things.

    Instead he was here, wrapped in the dark with her.

    “I just don't want to be the reason that you’re...stuck.” Her eyes find the bright yellow of his, searching his face as she offers him a somewhat braver smile, and reaches to gently press a kiss to the side of his face. “When I first met you I thought you’d become a king somewhere, in some far off land that your shadows took you to.”

    -- briseis.



    @[Ether]
    Reply
    #7

    I've learned to live with these fatal gifts
    and still you're mine

    She had taught him more than just how to accept himself. She had taught him the true meaning of love. He had never doubted its existence (how could he?), but it had always seemed simple and ephemeral and so far out of his reach. But he had learned it is neither simple nor ephemeral. He had learned just how easy a simple misunderstanding could sever the bonds in the most painful of ways.

    He had vowed never again. Had sworn she would always know his mind, no matter how difficult or uncomfortable. And she chases away his doubts as she always does. He could only hope he would chase away hers as well.

    Because, like the beast he had long ago become, he could not give her up. He does not care to dwell on it - something terrible and dangerous lurks too closely beneath the surface when he does - but he recognizes its existence. Recognizes it is as much a part of him as the shadows. He knows as instinctively as he can feel the darkness on his skin that he would never hurt. But neither could he ever release her. Just as he knew he would gladly tear apart anyone that tried to come between them.

    Her lips are soft on his cheek, warming the coolness with her simple touch. His own lips find the curve of neck, a whisper of touch even as a smile blooms before a soft laugh escapes his throat. It warms him, tickling his pride that she believed him worthy of leadership (even if he knows he would be the worst of rulers).

    “You mistake me for my sister,” he replies softly, amusement in his tone. “I have never desired that responsibility. Your world is large enough for me. So much bigger than any distant kingdom.” His lips move then, tracing down the line of her gently sloped shoulder, across her ribs. Distracting her from such fanciful notions. Distracting them both.

    Ether


    @[Briseis]
    Reply




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