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 Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2011 4:47 pm
Beejoux Even surrounded by so many familiar bodies jostling around her, those few short seconds of waiting, of worry and things unknown, left the djinn feeling terribly alone. She huddled where she had fallen, arms curled tightly around her abdomen as if trying to shrink away from it all. Trembling from a chill that had nothing to do with the weather. She was happy to be home, really she was, but.. But if he wasn't here.. He had to be here. He had to be okay. She couldn't bare the alternative. She just wanted, no needed to see him. A cry sounded above the collective noise of many happy reunions, louder for its sweet familiarity, and she turned to that sound with her breath caught in her throat, eyes burning as mix of relief and sheer overwhelming emotion spilled down her cheeks in crystalline tears. He was here. He was safe! Oh, jack. She was reaching for him even before he emerged from the crowds, and the second their hands touched she dissolved into sobs. Though despite the tears, the hiccuped breaths, she was smiling. A bright, radiant thing, though certainly watered down from the norm. She curled her fingers around his, marveling at the softness of his hand, the sharp contrast of vanilla bean and mochacinno skin. The kiss, a chaste brush against the backs of her knuckles, made her shiver, and even before he had dropped to his knees before her she was pulling him down. He whispered to her. Sweet assurances of their affection, and so firmly, even when said in so soft a tone, that she would never doubt him. As he pulled her into his arms she moved automatically to slide dark arms around his neck, clinging to him as surely as he was to her, and when his lips found her's it was like everything else disappeared. He stole the sobs from her lips, quieted her crying, and she fell eagerly into that tender embrace. Seeking to replace all the foul memories of the past weeks with this one happy moment. When they finally parted she spoke, at last. Lips a delicate brush against the fullness of his mouth. Voice just as hushed as his own. "I love you, too." She might had said more, but the knot in her throat was thick enough to choke on, and it was all she could do to keep from weeping again.
Gathering her closer to himself, Sharra slowly rose, nuzzling once more into her hair, not caring that they were both worn, dirty and in various states of bedragglement. Hadiyya was, by far, the most beautiful thing that the nergal had ever laid eyes upon...just as she was right now. And he was all the more determined to be worthy of her, so that she'd never let him fall by the wayside....and that was his motivation now...to be stronger, to protect her...to never have to leave her to cry alone. She was the person with which he wanted to spend his existence with...the last thought on his mind as life fled him.
Dying will put conviction in a man.
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Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2011 5:14 pm
Her hands came up to cup along pale cheeks, dirt smudging beneath the tips of dark fingers as she she used the gentle grip to pull his head down so she could press her brow to his. Lingering in the quiet safety of his arms for a moment longer before the soft murmur of his voice hummed along her body where it was held tightly to his chest. "Yes, please." Her own voice remained a whisper, and laced within her quiet tone was something very close to guilt. There were others she was worried over, others she hadn't yet seen safe, and despite that frightening fact she wanted nothing more then to let this boil, her Sharra, carry her off to her room where they could simply hide.
She was tired, physically and emotionally, and now that they were home and safe the pain in her ankle was seeping back in increasingly painful throbs. Radiating from the break all the way up to her hip. The bruises, what little was seen around the bandana now wrapped around her leg, were darkening and migrating upward.
As he nuzzled within her hair she was content to rest her head on his shoulder, face nearly buried against the warmth of his neck. Drawing the familiar scent of him in with each deep breath. Ah, but they were a dirty pair. It had no effect on the grip she maintained on him, but they surely could both use a long soak in a bath. She'd have to suggest it once they got to her room.
She'd sent him away.. Back on the beach. When everyone had begun to group up and depart she had insisted on him leaving her there and going off with Aksaja to explore the island. Sent him away from her, out of her reach, out of her sight. He was here now, but that terrible thought kept replaying in her mind. She didn't know what dangers he faced, if he'd had to face the same inner demons as she. She didn't know. How could she have done that?
Her fingers tightened along the curve of his quilled shoulder, the beginnings of a whimper filling the quiet between them before she bit it off, pressing her face into the line of his neck. No. She wasn't going to dwell. He was here, he was safe.
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Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2011 6:52 pm
Arriving at her rooms, Sharra shifted the ghoul's weight for a moment to fuss at the door, before letting the both of them in so that he could then deposit her on the bed, kneeling at the side of it, fingers tracing down her injured leg with a featherlight touch. "I'm sorry..." It was just a whisper, as though somehow, he could have done it all better...so that neither of them would have to suffer. Though in truth, he doubted it, not knowing which was preferable. To have her by his side, and have one of them fall before the other, or to linger in horrible unknown.
"You did all right on the beach...? The camp wasn't attacked or anything of that nature...was it?" He wouldn't be able to forgive himself if something terrible had befallen her...the lass he'd had to leave behind. Fingertips went to one of her hands, stroking the soft skin of the marid's digits gently, as though he was going to re-memorize every part of her from fingers to toes. Sharra and the group that he'd pressed forward with...had truly had a difficult time, and from the shaken looks on even the faces of Riley and Jericho when they'd appeared through the portal....Jack, the Nergal had to wonder just how many more had died behind him. At least he hadn't truly been alone in that nightmare.
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Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2011 7:10 pm
She clung a little tighter as they got to her door, helping hold her own weight up against him so he had an easier time with the knob. When he set her on the bed she was reluctant to let him go, but in the end she settled for that feather light touch along the bruised skin of her ankle before he claimed her hand for gentle stroking. Half-lidded eyes had followed his movements, silent at first until he felt the need to apologize. "No, you didn't do this to me." Her ankle had been broken far before they'd reunited on that beach. "If anyone should be apologizing, it's me. I sent you out there.."
She let her protests trailed off as he brought up her time on the beach. Lips pressing in the thin line before smoothing into something close to a smile. She squeezed his fingers where they wrapped around her hand, letting herself slip to the side so she was laying on the edge of her bed, hand and legs draped over and into the nergal's lap. "There were no attacks. The portal exploded though, and then the fog.. " Had he had to deal with the cloaking mist as well? The fog that had brought with it insanity?
A frown tugged at the corner of dark lips before being replaced by a gentle smile as she curled an arm under head. "I've got an idea." A wonderful, relaxing idea. "Let'srun a hot bath with scented bubbles. We can save all our questions for when we're warm and clean and cuddled blissfully in the bubbles. How does that sound?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2011 8:34 pm
"Tch. It was a thing that needed getting done." He murmured, excusing her quickly from any blame in the entire event. It was his job to be guardian over her, her protector against all comers, and those who would even think to hurt her. Inanimate or not....even if it was that ghastly not-fog...somehow, there should be a way to ward against even that nightmare. "And still...that I was not there to tend you..." When she spoke of the fog he knew without a shadow of a doubt, that she had experienced the same sort of terror that had befallen their entire group.
"It...wasn't pleasant at all." He whispered, closing his eyes as a shiver went visibly through Sharra's body. Pulling her legs closer to him, he smiled ever so faintly, the expression one that seemed almost unfamiliar to his features now. "And there was no way to escape the fog, until we reached the lighthouse...and even then...there were things just as baffling." For whilst the imaginary terrors had not plagued him, most of them were little to the experience of being impaled...dying, entrapped in a disembodied state.
Tapping the ghoul's lips with a finger, a light came into his eyes at the mere mention of warm water and a froth of bubbles. Ah Jack, that sounded... "That is an absolutely divine idea..." He replied, with not a little enthusiasm. Moving to gather her up all over again, Sharra gave a reckless grin. "So! To the bathroom!" And now they were on a marvelous quest...to wash away more than just the physical grime.
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Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2011 9:06 pm
Clearly they were both feeling a fair amount of guilt for their separation on the beach, but even knowing that it didn't really make the djinn feel any better about it. She still felt bad about sending him away, and there were points through out her time there, between the visions of fire and strange voices, where she had to wonder if perhaps she hadn't sent him to his death. Oh, if only she knew. For her, him being with her now meant he met with no lasting harm. Well.. No lasting physical harm. If he had to endure the fog, and it certainly sounded like he had, then he was no doubt suffering from his own internal scarring.
She wanted to ask what he'd seen. Out of concern, for sure, but also curiousity. What was it that had plagued him in the mist? What demons did he have dwelling within that noble mind. She held her curiosity at bay though, at least for now. There would be time later, after all the grim had been washed away and their aches and pains were dulled by the warmth of the bath.
As his mood lifted, so to did her's, and she even giggled as he carried her off to the bathroom. Once there she'd request to be set down on the edge of the large tub near the faucet so she could get the water the perfect temperature. Pouring soups and relaxing scents and salts within the raising water so it frothed and bubbled up beneath the spill of the tap. Even the proximity of the water was therapeutic to the ghoul. The scent, the humidity, it did wonders to lift her spirits. And as the tub filled she'd peel herself free of the torn tank top that was clinging to her upper body, dropping it on the floor before turning a curious glance up to her nergal.
She lifted a hand to him, beckoning him closer. "Come here."
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Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 5:28 pm
Sharra had just as many heavy thoughts on his mind, and not unlike the fog that had caused them, he could not dispel their weight from his musings. The nergal now loathed to even spend a moment in inward contemplation, though he knew, much as he had in the endless, eternal moments after he'd died, that he would be forced to face the whole of it before long. In fact, he knew that the exquisite lady before him would likely pull it from him with her nimble words and worrisome touches. Ah, Jack...he truly did not deserve her.
Watching as she worked, concocting the perfect bathwater much as he imagined a cook spun the perfect dish, the smells already had him relaxing, as he perched near her, unwilling to leave her side just yet, to stray too far lest she suffer further injury due to his own inattention. Well, perhaps that was not entirely the cause...as Sharra soaked up her presence like a sponge might, the bright green of his eyes flitting to each feature of her as she disrobed.
His clothes too, were in shambles, shirt just barely clinging to his body, and he just tore it away, tossing it aside with a look of utter disdain. Well, he could write that one off, mayhap he'd have to go garner more later...he could even ask Yaya to help him pick something. This meant he'd be leaving the djinn's quarters in naught but his shredded pants, but that wouldn't at all be the first time he'd departed sans the top half of his garb. His ghoulfriend had nicked his shirts a few times, and he'd been more than willing to let her...that thought alone caused his lips to curl, the smile fond.
When she spoke, he reached out the fingers of his human hand instantly, coiling them around her own. "Mmmhmm?" It was inquiring, as he came nearer yet. Discussion could surely wait for the bathwater.
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Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 6:53 pm
The ghoul chuckled as he tore the shirt away, nudging the discarded fabric with the tip of a toe that was in desperate need of repainting. Her poor pedicure, wasted on a drug hazed boat trip and a nightmarish stint on a deserted beach. It would have to be redone, but now certainly wasn't the time to be worrying about chipped nail polish.
The warmth of his fingers in her hand was comforting in so many ways, and she used that gentle grip to draw him closer so their lips could meet in a lingering kiss. Taking a moment to simply appreciate that he was here, safe, and with her. When they did finally part she lay the fullness of her mouth against the line of his throat before letting her hands slip away reluctantly. "I would have helped you out of your shirt, but since that had already been handled, I helped myself to the taste of something sweet instead." Her voice was a delicate murmur, lids dipping over vivid blues as the arches of dark brows twitched up.
All teasing aside though, their clothing wasn't going to shed itself, and the bath was nearly full. With a relatively happy little sigh, all things considered, she gave his arm a gentle stroke before turning her attention down the button of her shorts. Releasing it with a little twist of the wrist before a little careful shimmying had slid the dark material over her hips and down dirt kissed thighs to drop on the floor. Even that, something so terribly small, felt amazing. She'd been stuck in the same clothing for weeks, and the very idea.. Thoroughly disgusting.
The remainder of her clothing consisted of her blue print bikini and the orange bandana tied around her injured ankle. She'd have to remember to return that, but for now.. Own attire stripped down to the bare essentials, she turned her attention eagerly to the boil beside her. Even after all they'd been through, the pain and the turmoil, it was still a treat watching him undress. Or undressing him herself, for that matter. Dainty fingers curling along the tops of her thighs, she resisted the urge to reach out to the button on his fly.
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Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2011 2:35 pm
His pants, though surely in a state of lesser disrepair than the shirt, were probably also something that he could write off as a loss, and pulling them off, now clad only in a pair of black boxers, he folded them only for the sake that he didn't later want to venture back to his own rooms in just his underwear. He'd had enough catastrophe this week without piling on possibly mockery, thank you just as well. Sharra still had to wonder that the portal had put him all back together in just the same fashion as he'd been right before he'd been rudely transported into the fog above....it couldn't have bothered to, you know, mend his clothing too whilst it had been at skin, muscle, and vital organs? Too much to ask, he supposed.
Savoring the kiss she bestowed, he had to thank the powers above once more for the nearness of her, the solidity of this. The mere fact that she wasn't broken in his arms seemed a miracle. "Mmm...I think I will rather happily accept that alternative." He rumbled softly, the pads of his fingers on a human hand running just 'neath her chin, as a smile came almost timidly onto the boil's features. After what he'd seen, he now savored everything - the warmth of her breath on his throat, and the way that ebon lashes contrasted against the alluring mocha of her skin. Nothing...was taken for granted, as though he were seeing her anew. It was a heady experience, and he might have been more delighted still, had not so much of the recent past been weighing upon his heart and mind.
Watching as she shimmied from the last of her own 'proper' clothing, leaving her mostly clad in her bathing suit, his lips quirked softly, almost amused at his own thoughts. Though they were tired, bedraggled, come straight from nightmares, she was still absolutely breathtaking even in her dishevelment. Reaching out an arm to her, he nodded to the bath, rather supposing that nudity wasn't precisely...necessary. This was less about driving need and far more about mutual comfort, the washing away of far more than a bit of dirt, clinging sand that had managed to slide its way into every crevice. There would be time for passion later, a thousand times later, whatever his marid lass so required of him, he would give it...for both the love of her, and atoning of a thousand imagined sins.
Moving to ensnare her fingers, he then dipped his own toes into the warm water, making something of a near-moan as skin connected with that rather blissful warmth. "Love, I think you may have a small patch of heaven in your room." He murmured, only half-teasing. It honestly felt better just now than almost any other singular sensation that he'd experience, barring, well, you know, intimacy with the djinn he was currently luring into the bath.
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Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 12:54 pm
She watched quite appreciatively as dark trousers slid along the pale length's of his thighs, adolescent muscle coming into view inch by happy inch, and she had to lick suddenly dry lips before turning liquid blues back up to meet his own. Was it so wrong that the sight of him, even after all that had transpired, still caught her breath in her throat? Did it lesson the severity of things if her mind wandered to happy reflections of silk sheets and and the sweet taste of buttermilk skin? No no, certainly not. Proof perhaps, of them, their bond, and what they meant to each other.
It was on her mind, as it always seemed to be when she was in her nergal's presence, but it was not at the fore front. Comfort and closeness, that's what they needed now, and the warmth and cleansing of the bath filling beside them. Afterwards, all things were possible, but for now she would take the feel of his arms around her and the reassuring baritone of his cultured voice.
He took her hand, delicate fingers tangling eagerly with his as he stepped within the liquid warmth of the water, and she could feel the barest of shivers caused from the mere contact. It made her chuckle, and when he spoke of heaven she nodded happily. "Certainly, it was my only real requirement. A lavish bath."
She turned so so she could dip her own toes within the blissful heat, shivering herself as eyes fluttered closed. She left the bandana circling her ankle alone, it would provide the barest of support until something better was found, and it too could use a bath. Bracing her free hand on the porcelain rim beside her, she very carefully slide herself within the water, then offered that hand up to Sharra, beckoning him down with her so they could enjoy the bath together. They both had questions, she knew that, and even if some went unvoiced for the night, they could at least ask those that were most pressing.
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Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 8:15 pm
"A shame I didn't think to do so..." He muttered, watching as she entered the water. It was indeed her element, and to see her greet it with the exhaustion of past days was almost a comfort. Sharra himself possessed tired, sore muscles had been yearning for this for what seemed an eternity. Yes, he could imagine his entire room as a bath at this point in time, so absolutely enamored was he of the warm liquid before him....just to get the grime off, that sensation of being...insubstantial. It had nearly been too much, to think that he would never enjoy even simple pleasures, forever entrapped due to just one wrong move on the part of another.
Suffice to say he had gained a new understanding, and indeed, appreciation of the life that he maintained, and even of his ghoulfriend, ravishing even in her state of exhaustion. Once she was settled, the nergal took her hand and then braced his claw on the side of the tub so that he could lower his own form into the water. Lips parted and a hefty exhale escaped them as the liquid caressed his battered frame, and he situated himself next to her within the spacious bath, the pads of human fingers running down her arm, a soft smile, tender and somehow private in its conveyance, was directed towards the djinn at his side.
"You'll come with me next time..." He murmured, not so much a question or command as it was a statement of fact. Wherever Yaya was, he would follow, as he was completely unwilling to allow her to brave such dangers single-handedly. Guilt was already running rampant in the demon's heart and mind, and though he knew that the ghoul did not blame him, responsibility still weighed heavy on his shoulders. The words...were meant to be a comfort to them both. "But for now...mayhap...you should tell me what happened."
Somehow, he rather thought her story would be less weighty...but nary a whit less important.
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Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 11:20 pm
Her fingers were cool as they wrapped around his hand when he lowered it down to her, thumb stroking along the ridge of his knuckles as he lowered himself into the blissful warmth of the water. His reaction much the same as her's. "I wouldn't think a lavish bath would have made it into your priorities before you had met me." She could have been, of course, but it seemed more likely her love of water was rubbing off on him as time went on. Not that she minded. The more he adored the water, the more time they could share enjoying it. It seemed the definition of win-win.
As he sat she let his had slide away, smiling softly as he traced fingers along the curve of her arm. Turning in the warm water so she crawl between his knees and claim the sweep of his chest as pillow for her cheek. Dark arms slipping around his sides so she could all but cling to him while long legs curled loose beneath the bend of one pale knee. Nodding in wordless agreement to his insistence they not part again should anything half so .. large, befall them.
Intellectually she knew there would be talk of the island, she had even, in some oddly morbid way, been looking forward to it. Not eager to hear of any misfortune her darling might have faced, but not knowing.. It was not something she could handle. Of course the exchange of information would go both ways, She would have to share as well.
Her grip around his torso tightened as shoulders inched up. Somehow she didn't think he was asking about the boat trip or her ankle, though that was by far the most obvious injury. No, he meant the island, the fog, the madness. "It was calm for a long time, I even saw West and Junko before they headed out along the beach." Her voice was soft, but it seemed to be lacking much emotion, and if he happened to catch a glimpse of his eyes they too would seem lacking. "Then the fog rolled in.."
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Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2011 1:44 am
For precious moments, he had almost forgotten the question had left his lips, the way that the water stirred pleasantly at her movements, the smooth feel of her skin as she made herself comfortable against him....and the way her ebon hair contrasted with the boil's pale skin, brushing against those youthful muscles. And he chuckled softly, "Likely not...I liked a good scrub as well as the next fellow, but you've certainly opened up water's allure to me, dear heart." There was something, the way that his voice almost caught in his throat, when he had her in his arms, limbs moving to drape loosely about her frame....it seemed so solid now, when he had spent so much time worrying as to the potential fragility of her. He did not underestimate her, he simply always was willing to think the worst of the oncoming darkness that would seek to do her harm.
Though he could not see her face, he could feel near-tangibly the way that the emotion drained from her, the dull, stoic way in which she spoke, distancing herself from the event lest it bring her down...the both of them down...once more. All too well did Sharra remember the fog, and he had to squeeze eyes tight and bid the recall be gone...at least until it was his turn to share. "The fog had all of us..." He whispered, wondering what terrors she had been forced to face...alone...without him there to wrap her up and tell her that it was naught but trickery of the island. The nergal had wished for her then, that she might tell him the same....it had not been an easy trip to bear without Yaya alongside him. It had brought friends to blows...and worse.
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Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2011 10:14 am
The fog had all of us..
She had seen the truth in that statement first hand on that lonely beach, and offered only a quiet nod in affirmation. She'd gone still against him, but her grip was boarding on desperate where her arms wrapped around his middle. "I have never been much of a fan of fire," she admitted after a short, silent pause. "Controlled flame had never much bothered me in the past. If it was contained, tamed, it was fine." Was fine, no longer. "In that maddening fog the gentle fire I had taken shelter beside grew to consume the entire beach and onward out into the surround trees. Growing and spreading around me as it the entire island would burn."
She shivered, nuzzling her cheek against his paler chest. "It ate everything, even the sand, crawling in a slow circle to surround from every side in slowly closing inferno. I was trapped.." Her voice cracked, and she took a second to moisten suddenly dry lips. "It was closing around me, and I could do nothing by cower from that biting heat. It Blistered my skin, burned my hair, and I was begging for blissful death by the time it closed around me." She shuddered, clinging tightly around her boil. Voice shaking finally as moisture spilled from her eyes in crystalline tears. A fine tremor budding from her core to spread until she was shaking faintly from toes to crown.
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Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2011 8:06 pm
And Sharra listened. it was something that he hadn't always been good at, but since his relationship with the djinn had blossomed into being, he had certainly developed a listening ear. Her voice...was one that he could never tire of hearing, but it almost pained him physically to hear the way that emotions ran in an undercurrent to her story, almost able to sense that o'erwhelming terror that she had felt, stranded on the beach alone with the fog's nightmares trying to wreak havoc with her mind. It had clearly undone others in the past, left them adrift and stranded, beyond the help of friends and comrades.
Lips pressed against her raven tresses, and his limbs squeezed her gently, a tender reassurance. It had been horrific, but it was past...merely something conjured up to break them. And it had come so close to doing so, that the nergal had second-guessed even his own mind....the logic he'd always relied on to survive. "Ah, love..." He whispered, voice throbbing with sympathy and regret. "I'm so sorry..." For the things he couldn't help, and for those he might have, had be been there to aid. Enfolding the ghoul in his arms, he simply held her, fingers brushing along the trailing length of her hair, to will away the memory that had scarred her. "It's all over, beloved...all of it..." There might be battles to fight in the days and months to come, but those they would face as they came, and now cower like helpless, weaponless children.
He'd never be able to forgive anyone or anything that had made Yaya cry.
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