[Past-PRP] Returning To His Black Knight (Lance&Ciaran)

[Malhyanth]

This is a follow on from a thread RP AGES ago that we failed to finish XD This is getting finished now thooough!

Setting The Scene aka Previous Posts

tehamazingbunneh 12:36 am
(00:36:44): Lance : *He smiled again as Ciaran was tempted by the apple, and remained seated on the floor where he had positioned himself. It was fine for him, he found it comfortable enough, the carpet soft on his joints. He nodded in return to the sentiment, and allowed himself a little sigh of appreciation as to the time that had passed.* It has indeed been far too long, though I will hold my hands up bare to the blame. I... have not been as forth-coming as I should have been. I have not been there for you, brother. I will not say contrary to you, in feeling... bizarre at this meeting, but I will not renounce it. It is a good thing, this meeting. I can feel it in my very bones. We are brothers-in-arms, Ciaran, and we should not have departed as we did, with few exchanges and less acknowledgement. Again, I will hold my hands bare to this also. *Lance smiled and watched the twisting of the apple stem, himself taking from his scavenging a bite of pear.*
Petite Kitsune 12:56 am
(00:56:49): Ciaran: *He was quiet, letting the apple twist in his hand and counting the letters in an old schoolyard game his mother had told him about, and he, as ever, came up with the same letter. He huffed softly, lowered his head quietly to regard Lance with red eyes beneath his thick black forelock* Yes... I had... I had thought that you simply no longer wished to associate with me. *he bit into the crunchy sweet fruit, ears back a bit* But I am glad to find it is not so, Lance.

I'm going to use my last post in the AIM RP to make a better post to start this RP off with ^^

 

[Malhyanth]

The White Knight continued to look down at his pear that he had just bitten from, chest tight at the words Ciaran said. Lance, no longer wishing to associate with the one person he had felt had always understood him? It was odd, for Lance had always felt it had been the reverse. It hurt in a way he couldn't contemplate, his heart seemed to have stopped in his very chest, and he found it hard to breathe in. He opened his mouth to try and speak, but just made a small choking sound. Coughing, and taking a deep breath, he tried again.

"I... I don't know what to say... I had always believed that it was you who had found better pastures, and thus, not wished to associate with me any longer." Lance glanced up through his ragged bangs, his gold-amber eyes seeming to sparkle, though really it was un-shed tears from many a long day spent waiting for some sign he was needed by someone, anyone, but in particular, this one.

"Once... once you were with Zane, I thought I would just hold you back; that you wished for us to part ways. I did not want to disturb the happiness you seemed to have found. I... I guess I felt there was nothing more I could do for you, as your White Knight..." Lance looked up at Ciaran again, face pale, chest heaving against tears that had seemed to have sprung unbidden to his eyes and fallen, at least once whilst he had spoken. He placed the pear down on the table beside him, to try and find something to do to stop thinking his saddening thoughts. He coughed again, scrubbing his face with his wrist, growling almost at his own stupidity for getting upset.

"I...I apologise. This won't be helping us sort this out, will it."

 

[Petite Kitsune]

Ciaran was quiet, watching Lance. He could tell that his words had hurt Lance, but he did not know how or why; he lowered his head a bit, turning his gaze away from him in shame. Still, when Lance spoke he looked back to him, seeing those slightly teary eyes, and feeling that raw ache in his chest worsen. Oh. He'd thought he'd managed to sew up that particular wound in himself, but it felt just as fresh and ragged as the day it had been made.

And when the tears streaked down those pale cheeks, Ciaran's breath escaped him in a half-voiced swear. "Lance, I... damn it, I'm going to be really quite honest here..." He tried to speak honestly, with dignity, but he knew his voice came out small, hollow, sounding too young to match him. "I... I need you. I always have. I always will." He swallowed hard, looking away; his scarlet eyes were fixed on some point on the wall, something just far enough away so their unfocusedness could be blamed upon something other than tears. "You were the one I wanted at my side, but... I thought I couldn't have that..."  

[Malhyanth]

Lance got up so quickly it startled even himself. His legs powered up, unbidden, as if driven by some outside force that told his body to go to his brother. He knocked against the table as his large equine bulk rose up, and his slender but strong hands took his counterparts own in a firm but reassuring grip; a grip that for all the world's enemies would not be broken. His eyes stared at side of Ciaran's face, willing the slightly shorter centaur to look at him, to acknowledge his questing gaze and see the rawness of Lance's emotions.

"Ciaran..." His voice stumbled over his name, lips working against it, but still loving the sound of it to his ears. He was here, in front of him, after so long apart. "Ciaran, I never meant to hurt you. I never meant to leave your side. In truth, I need you too. I do not feel whole without you near. I feel... I feel empty. My oaths, my promises to my sword and my duties; they mean nothing when you are not by my side, striking the dynamic figure of a Knight after my own heart." Lance chanced it, and laid a hand against the cheek of the Black Knight, before feeling it too inappropriate in their emotional states, and dropping it again, releasing his hands reluctantly too, stepping back and looking slightly ashamed of his spontaneous reaction.

"I... I'm sorry, Ciaran..."

 

[Petite Kitsune]

It had felt good, listening to those heartfelt words, feeling those hands on his own, on his cheek. His strong heart was pounding, and Ciaran was a little bit dazed, a little bit confused at how absolutely they seemed to wash away the strange, empty despair. His own gaze was steady, looking up to meet Lance. "I..." He fell quiet a moment. "I, I feel the same way, you know..." His eyes closed, to hide the too-bright glitter of tears, and he smiled. "It's always been that way. So I will take you in whatever capacity I can have you, you understand...? Brother, friend... or more." There was a deep blush in his cheeks, and he swallowed hard. "Do you see?"  

[Malhyanth]

Lance's own blush rivalled his counterpart's, spreading out from his nose, up to his ears and down his neck. He raised a hand and rubbed the back of his head, a small, embarrassed smile dancing about his lips as he contemplated Ciaran's words. As the blush flowed away slowly, and the heat that had flushed his face dissipated, the Knight stepped forward and gingerly took one of Ciaran's hands, his smile turning soft and cautious as he looked to Ciaran with deep, kind gold-amber eyes.

"My dear Ciaran. To hear you say those words... I have waited so long to hear them!" His blush returned, this time not so deep, just flushing his cheeks a soft pink, the pale skin he possessed making it look darker then it really was. "Since childhood, I have felt love for you, Ciaran. I used to think... I used to think it was just my need to be needed, like I was a protector, or a hero. Now I look back, I just wanted your attention over all others. I dabbled in feelings for others; sweet Xin Yue, even Amara, at one stage, but never anything as strong as I felt for you, dear Black Knight." The White Knight smiled and thought of the dinner proposal to Xin Yue, and his meetings with Amara, none of which had struck the right chord with him.

"Ciaran, what I think I'm trying to say is... Well, when you were with Zane, me world sort of... Broke, I guess. I was lost, because the one person that I had always found a need to be there for, he was gone. I felt like I shouldn't interrupt. I don't know. Looking back on it now, I know it was foolish. I could have still stayed in contact, could have made sure I was there for you, but... I failed in my duty. Its the only way I can look at it and understand. I failed in my duty to my Brother-In-Arms." He chuckled a little, and shook his head. "It is silly even contemplating that time, is it not, my friend? We need not go over past misdemeanours. Come. What are we to do, my Black Knight?" Lance lifted Ciaran's chin gently with his hand, and smiled down at the so lovingly familiar, shy face he had come to admire.