[PRP backlog] All I Found Was You (Laurelin + Chimalsi)

[Lady_Ourania]

Lady_Ourania

A sun had still been in the sky when he'd left, beaming casually down at his brokenness, highlighting the beads of self-inflicted sweat and blood. The daystar set and the darkness sucked up the glitters of light between the tree trunks, condensing it into a tiny crescent moon that threatened to drop on his head and spatter squirming conflict all over the ground. He didn't understand, not any of it. The necklace that he normally wore so proudly seemed to chafe as he went first to the ocean, watching the gulls wheel and scream and finding nothing but shattered seashells. He'd backtracked through the thorny shrubs, looking for patches of dried up skin; but they'd been picked clean and he was nowhere. Finally, he returned to the apples, the globes of them shiny-black in the dimness, hanging from snake-limbs and poison to the touch. He thought he caught her scent there, old or new, his frayed thoughts couldn't distinguish. Then it was gone and he was left to walk aimlessly, the grass around him sharp as needles, like something had pried off his hooves or his horns and constantly jabbed at the vulnerability. Preservation instinct shoved it all down and back when he heard the sound of water, his tacky neck and dry mouth guiding him forward, knowing that once he went back to beloved, it would be stagnant pools and scum for days at a time.

 

[Lady_Ourania]

Tsunake

How strange it all seemed. Her world had once been vibrant, peaceful, distant, and she gazed upon it as an observer and nothing more. She was satisfied in her isolation, knowing nothing, needing nothing, and likely would have done nothing to change the pattern of daily life she'd become accustomed to. Even coming to this place--it was the desire to follow her brother more than her own lust for adventure, and her eyes had been opened to places outside of where she'd been born and raised. Strange indeed, how a single stallion could leave her standing here by the river, gazing silently up at the darkened sky. How... fruitless it seemed, to try and relax and enjoy the solitude as she once had. Memories of the pale moon shimmering off both frothing water and his golden hide still flittered through her mind, and the mare exhaled slowly even as she lowered her head to drink. The water had been cold against her legs, but she no longer felt it now, the lazy current tugging at her twisting tail. She knew it wasn't meant to be, not since that day she'd stumbled across him fishing for a misplaced treasure he sought to bring as a gift for someone. Since she'd found him sprawled, unmoving, on the beach when that very same gift had been rejected. The mare slowly lifted her head once her thirst had been quenched, droplets of water glittering against her muzzle even as she fixed a thoughtful, wistful stare on the shadows stretching from the comforting trees that surrounded this place. A sound, then, hoof beats drawing closer. Her ears pricked, but she was little more than a breathing statue as she waited, ready to flee back into the darkness should danger choose to accompany her this evening.

 

[Lady_Ourania]

Lady_Ourania

He shoved through the twisting eaves of green-threaded black, half-stumbling into the water before he realized how near he was, jumping back from submersion like a startled foal. Once he was reassured of solid earth beneath him, the kirin tilted his head down into the translucent river, drinking slow and deep to fill his belly, wanting to kill the last of the fire he had not used to execute the mare. If he paused to think, it would be to wonder what had come over him to deny his love her basic right to bloodshed, what had fooled him into thinking that he had a choice, that it mattered. And as many ways as he managed to phrase it, the answer was always the same.

In his distraction, he wouldn't have bothered to search the shores had a stray strand of gold not floated past his nostrils, the diluted smell of her more than enough for him to pull up, gaze frenzy-bright and unsteady. She was there, her tree swaying separate from the rest, and he had to blink to be sure it was not some apparition, her brilliance unhindered by the same thing that overwhelmed his own polished gleam. Laurelin. The hair that had been floating downstream had somehow managed to catch on his horn, dangling there now like a harp string, waiting for him to pluck it and a song to come through. But he was frozen, combative feelings rising in his chest, branding him from the inside out until he was certain that the damage would soon be visible on his face. He could taste her in his mouth, trickling down into his stomach to ignite something new.

 

[Lady_Ourania]

Tsunake

Whatever numbing chill had claimed her legs quickly slithered up the rest of her, left her feeling so strangely cold and distant as she watched the sudden heave of flesh and blood bursting through the sheltering foliage. She might have startled, but didn't remember, watching him gulp down the cool water as though everything had somehow slowed down, his head eventually lifting with bits of her tail hanging precariously from his face. "Chimalsi..." It's more of a sigh than a statement, and it frees her from her incredulous stupor, surprised, uncertain... and yes, overjoyed to see him so suddenly. A tentative step closer, enough that he could likely feel her breath as she gingerly extended her neck to tug free what strands stubbornly had wound themselves around his horn. "...I am... happy to see you again." It's all that she can manage, peering at him with bright eyes carefully, shyly wandering across his form. Happy is too weak a word, but what else could she possibly say?

 

[Lady_Ourania]

Lady_Ourania

There was no helping the way his ears flicked forward when she spoke his name, smooth and warm like a charm to subdue the power the night wielded against drifting minds. Neither was there a possibility of preventing the way he shivered away from her touch, the heat and the kindness rankling to harbored suspicions that were barely his. The strand she held snapped against his spiraled horn with a vaguely musical sound, making his cold jaws ache all the more severely while he stepped cautiously back to study the mare. Her eyes, the perfect, sapphire cut of her irises regarded him with lighter intention: where were these lies hiding in them? There was no room for anything else when she looked at him as she had, offered a sentence so simple and affectionate that it made him glance down, regarding the three toes that rippled out at him from beneath the water. Had that been what beloved was describing as a lie? He couldn't be certain, even as he drew up and cleared his throat, his voice rough from yelling. "Laurelin... are you..." He paused, uneasy and stranded in the ugliness of accusing language. But there was no sense in hedging around the matter, not when he had been so thoroughly chastised for thinking only the best of her. Not when he wanted to hear her say it more than he wanted to see it, unearth it for himself. "... have you been dishonest? With... with me."

 

[Lady_Ourania]

Tsunake

Her eyes would widen only slightly at the question he slowly pushed her way, shock scrawling thorugh her posture, her expression. How... had he known? Had she truly been so open, so forward? She hoped not, prayed she'd simply, ignorantly overlooked how perceptive he truly was. Her throat was uncomfortably tight, but she would give him the courtesy of looking him in the eyes. "...I... have done my best to be completely honest with you, Chimalsi. I knew... you had someone you cared for, very deeply. I promised myself that I wouldn't... allow myself to interfere in that, not even when I saw how very badly you'd been hurt. ...But, I have not been able to stop thinking about you... Chimalsi. And I had hoped... that you would come see me, even though there was another." The golden mare dipped her head low after a moment, ashamed and feeling her happiness shirvel into nothing. "I am... sorry."

 

[Lady_Ourania]

Lady_Ourania

The guilt shadowing her face made the bristles along his flank stiffen and rise, finding that small difference condemnation enough. She'd been caught by his sloppily laid trap, stumbling as badly as he had, and now she did not even appear interested in fighting for her virtue. So beloved had been right, and ruination was upon him. Bitterly, he wondered if the little chocolate mare had stolen from him as well, if he was as blind as he was foolish. But Laurelin did not shy from his stare; his disgrace, her triumph, none of it registered. The stallion's brows furrowed as he followed her faltering explanations, the way her voice gripped his name as she felt around the words. And he hadn't recognized how many ties sat slack between them until they were pulled, the elegant curve to her neck tugging at his chest when she bowed, appalled by her own concession. Dumbfounded, he sought solace in the scattered flecks of moonlight that dappled her wood-sloped shoulders, trying to read them for clues. "I..." He swallowed, feeling strangely short on air, winded by a foreign emotion. The tap of his hooves set off a chain reaction in the pebbles beneath as he stepped gingerly closer to her, trying to pull her gaze up to him again. "Why?"

 

[Lady_Ourania]

Tsunake

The crunch of gravel almost took her breath away when she realized he was, in fact, approaching her, not casting withering scorn upon her shoulders as he turned to leave her in disgust. Swallowing once to regain her composure, the mare slowly lifted her head again to peer up at him, almost unable to. "...Because you make me happy, Chimalsi." She eventually whispered, her ears tipped back and her eyes welled up with silent tears that refused to fall. "...And I want you to be happy, even if that means you're with another. So long as that makes you happy... Then I will not interefere."

 

[Lady_Ourania]

Lady_Ourania

He made her happy? The idea rang discordant, that he could serve someone else's pleasure without first reducing himself in some way, that he had given her an apple and time and it fashioned him into something she wanted. During all of the instances she'd stopped to help him - to mend his body and restore his pride - he had glimpsed an emotion working through her, and it was there now, wrapped in anguish but identifiable. Not a lie, not like he'd suspected, the bread crumbs beloved had left to him picked up by whatever variety of winged beast flapped anxiously in his gut. "Laurelin," The kirin shook his head, scrambling to find what it was he wished to say. This must have been what his lover was afraid of, why she'd separated him from reality, only for them to come together again of their own accord. Every step of the way, she had disliked this mare, and standing there, watching her resist tears, he understood why. It was true that he had not considered his personal perceptions in a long time, gleaning satisfaction rarely from his acts, from the supposed enjoyment of another. But she asked for nothing, save his happiness, for him to do what he wanted, and that would somehow suit her own desires. After a hesitant second, he tilted his head toward her, recalling the old signal from the beach as his horn grated lightly against the bump on her nose. "I am not making you happy right now." He murmured to the stream, closing his swollen eyes and feeling her silken lips ghosting so close to his muzzle.

 

[Lady_Ourania]

Tsunake

Though she didn't quite cringe at her name, she finally had to drop her gaze, unable to stare at him any longer. How much joy he had given her! And how much pain she believed was yet to come. They snapped up again as something brushed against her hardened nose horn, startled, but wanting to melt into the touch. Hesitation held her still until his words could truly melt away the stiffness, and a slow, disbelieving sigh slipped from her. "...I will be fine." She eventually murmured, allowing her eyes to slip shut as well, as though that would help her savor this moment. "I... will always..." A slight swallow, a sudden shake of her head that pulled her away from him, and she watched him for a long, sad moment until she tentatively pressed her muzzle to his. "...I believe... this is what turns into love. So I will always love you, Chimalsi. ...I wish the best for you." And she pulled back completely then, not removing herself from his presence completely, and yet despite his warmth, she felt so very cold.

 

[Lady_Ourania]

Lady_Ourania

Their nearness felt right, familiar and fleeting as the last time. When she used her movement as an excuse to disconnect from him, the stallion wisely said nothing, listening to the smoldering quiet and trying to overlook the hum being channeled through his skull. Even then, he didn't expect her to come forward, his eyes flickering over her before their faces were laid close, and the strain on his vision was able to relax itself. If he could feel her, he didn't have to see her. A deep exhale was cut down the middle when she whispered to him, a distant entity fuming in the back of his head even as his closed eyes bunched against it. Love. She loved him, and that was the lie between them. Again, she abandoned him to the cold vapors drifting from the river, but he maintained his posture a little longer, fending off the warnings, the threats, the way his elaborate necklace was laying new bruises over beaded scar-lines. He didn't want well-wishes; he wanted to open his eyes and find her there. He wanted to say something that would keep her, force her to stay, but the required words had crossed the threshold of his mouth for only one. "Don't go." Chimalsi spoke softly, the dull gold of his gaze appearing to implore her. "Please..."

 

[Lady_Ourania]

Tsunake

Why? Why did he plead with her when there was another? But as she looked at him, watched and observed and wondered what kind of creature could reduce a stallion to a state such as this... she knew that she could not go, not even if she had longed to. And so, she only moved closer once more, this time nestling herself against his side and pressing there, ducking her head as the tears finally slipped down her long face to enter soundlessly in the already rippling stream. There were no more words, and so she attempted to convey herself through feelings now. She would stay, but only because he had asked... That was reason enough.

 

[Lady_Ourania]

Lady_Ourania

He'd exhausted his hopes on the last entreaty, and now he was drained of everything but gritty fatigue and a tingling sensation from where she'd touched him, the spots where she'd allowed him to make contact with her. The stallion practically sagged against the mare in gratitude when she drew up beside him, armored tail wrapping around whatever he could reach while he craned his neck to rub his mouth against the honeyed down of her coat, making soft, comforting noises as the dew of her tears reached his nostrils. Gently, he coaxed her from the water and onto the banks, trying to find a dry place to shiver out of their muddy hooves. Beneath the branches of infinite witnesses, he carefully lipped away any glittering droplets he could find on her, even mouthing the leafy sprouts of her tree with infinite care to remove the excess.

 

[Lady_Ourania]

Tsunake

Her hooves felt so heavy as she stood there without a word, a trembling sigh heaving through her chest as he all but gave his weight for her to hold. She did her best, feeling his tail snake around one of her legs and pressing her muzzle against the side of his scaled neck for it to shiver. Like a lamb she'd follow him from the water, her heart both swelling and bleeding at his gentle, thoughtful touches, and as she began to absently pay him the same favor, she came across his wounds. A low, if shocked sound spilled from her, and she tentatively nuzzled at the places, seeking each of them out as though her touch alone could help them feel better, heal that much quicker.

 

[Lady_Ourania]

Lady_Ourania

The limbs above seemed to contain their heat, quickly shedding the last of their watery decoration until his actions were merely for her continued pleasure. When she began to return the affectionate gestures, the kirin gladly allowed it, arching into the nose that crawled in feathery motions over his striped flesh. He'd nearly forgotten his injuries until she wandered across them, wincing and holding steady as she performed a more thorough investigation of the area. Always wounded in some little way, he was surprised she wasn't accustomed to finding blood on him, and he did not want it to affect her. "Minor." He reassured the mare quietly, twisting to settle his snout against her instead, the velvety expanse of it resting near her fine horn before it moved to trace her slender jaws, minding the whorls of wood as he went.