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 Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2014 1:56 pm
The great rocks stretched across Ayr like a series of jagged teeth, jutting up out of the earth at all angles, and the winds for which the continent got its fame whistled between them, howling dissonant melodies like spirits with cracked voiceboxes. Detraeus and Araceli traveled inland for the better part of three days. They camped each night together without the burden of company, eating what they had brought with them and occasionally supplementing their supplies with fresh meat hunted from the rocky passes.
Detraeus found himself settling into the routine of it far too easily. Addicting, almost, to have nothing but Ara’s company and new sights to take in every day. Without the burdensome fear of onlookers, he grew comfortable with more touch and more casual exchange. He learned the way firelight looked as it danced over the angles of her face after sunset, and at night, when the winds moaned around them, he did not object to the gradual melding of their bedrolls until which were ‘his’ furs and which were hers became irrelevant. She slept in his arms, tucked under his wing.
And he came to prefer it that way.
It was on the fourth day — far enough inland that the ocean had long since gone out of sight and they had nothing but towering spires and wild footpaths to guide their way — that they came across a narrow valley, augmented with a section of closely knit stacks so near to each other, it looked as though one could very nearly jump from one to the next if they chose to climb. Far above, the cliff faces on either side of the valley sported several leveled-off sections which looked to be not only stable, but supporting some rare displays of plantlife, sunny, and sheltered from the wind.
Detraeus shifted the weight of his traveling pack and glanced to Araceli. “Ever climbed?”
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Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2014 2:15 pm
Ara reveled in the idea that Detra was growing more accustomed to being with her and touching her. She liked, that by the third night, it seemed as if it was the norm for her to settle down, close to him, at night. When she slept in his arms, she felt safe and since that first night, she hadn’t, thankfully, had another nightmare. Ayr had been a wonderful idea and one moment, in their lives, that she would never forget. So much beauty on the windy continent. Sights she had never imagined she’d see.
When they paused at a cliff side, Ara glanced around in search of a way up to the greenery. At Detra’s question she froze, gaze flitting back to him. “...climb?” She shook her head, nerves bunching under her skin as she glanced back up the cliff. “I’ve never had the...opportunity.” Ara bit her lip, worry etching her face. Climbing was one of those things that she had never had a reason to do. Araceli was a person who loved town and while exploring was a dream she had, she hadn’t gotten out much to do so.
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Tangled Puppet Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2014 4:05 pm
Detraeus eyed her, noting her cautious expression and obvious nerves before giving a soft hum of a sound and leaning in towards her. “Well,” he said, something almost verging on a smile teasing the corners of his lips, “perhaps it is time to try.” His attention flit down to her lips, but he flushed and pulled away without doing anything.
Instead, he approached one of the spires. After glancing up the body of it, and then over to the next — judging the distance and force of the wind down the funnel of the valley — he began unstrapping the bulk of his travelling gear, stripping down to to the essentials: rope, several blades already strapped to his person — though not his short swords — quiver, and bow. With one, boosting thrust of his wings, he leapt up and locked himself into a starting point on the rock. Then, holding himself all but flat to the cliff, he began to climb.
Having lived on Eowyn for the greater part of over four years as well as making his home within traveling distance of the Terra Expanse, Detraeus had taken, on numerous occasions, to climbing both the stacks of the desert and the rocky terrain of the Expanse, even before his wings and tail had grown in. His wings, he considered to practically be cheating when it came to such activities, though they did allow him to attempt far riskier feats of strength that he would not otherwise have attempted. His tail, however, refused outright to be kept out of the fun, and always played an active role in his climbing as soon as it had grown in.
Now, it swept from side to side, the spines digging into the grainy rock as he went and helping to drag him up as he progressed higher. Ayr’s winds nipped at him, biting at his newly bared skin and attempting to push him this way and that, but he held fast. Only after he made it to the first semblance of a rocky ‘ledge’ — little more than an outward jutting rock which provided a useful handhold — did he lean out, glancing down to Araceli with the unspoken question: Coming?
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Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2014 5:49 pm
Ara watched as Detra leapt up and clung to the rocks, maneuvering himself upwards like an expert. Heat crept up into her cheeks as she realized her eyes had locked onto his arse and the swing of his tail as it moved to aid him in climbing. From her vantage point she could enjoy the view without him noticing and she took full advantage of it, despite the heat that flooded her face at doing so. Her eyes traveled up to his back, carefully watching as his muscles moved with each pull upwards.
Her head tilted to the side as he paused and leaned out to look down at her. His look suggested Detra wanted her to follow him. Ara swallowed, eyes moving from him to the path, up the cliff side, he had taken. She had never climbed a day in her life and her nerves twitched at the very thought of starting that day. Ara didn’t want to spoil the day, though, and so she made her way over to the cliff, dropping her unneeded things on the ground beside Detra’s. With a deep breath she took hold of the first spot she could reach and grip safely. Ara closed her eyes and sent up a silent prayer before pulling herself up. Letting her breath out slowly she began to climb slowly up towards him.
Ara grinned when about halfway up to Detra, happy that she had made it that far. When she reached up for her next hand hold, though, the rocks beneath one of her feet crumbled and gave way, slipping out from under her. She yelped but quickly pulled at her magic, twisting and manipulating the already blowing wind to catch her feet. Ara glanced up to Detra, giving him a quick smile to show that she was fine. Her fingers gripped at the rocks beneath them as her wings twitched. The wind around her had stilled, all focusing under her foot that had fallen and as she glanced up, a thought occurred to her. If she could use her magic to fly and help her float, why couldn’t she use it to climb?
Ara spread her wings, grip still tight on the rocks as she summoned the wind, sweeping it up under her wings. They billowed out, catching hold of the air as her feet pushed off from their holds and up she went, letting go of the rocks as she traveled through the air. Ara laughed as she landed back against the cliff, gripping tightly with her fingers.
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Tangled Puppet Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2014 9:58 pm
At Ara’s outcry, Detraeus’ blood chilled, his heart seizing in his throat as his head jerked around to watch, ready to leap away from the rock and dive after her—
But then, she was catching herself, manipulating the wind and filling her wings with it, and finally: laughing. Though his pulse still beat wildly with the remains of his panic, Detraeus felt his tension seep back out, and he bit at his lip, the strange urge to smile twitching at his lips. Instead, he glanced over, eyeing a nearby pillar of rock calculatively. After one, fleeting glance down — absolutely not to assure Ara was looking — he drew a breath, braced himself, and leapt. The rock under his fingers, feet, and tail sent pebbles tumbling down — down, down — into the wind and gully below, but he held fast, and once assured of his stability, he smirked.
This, he could handle.
Back, and forth, he climbed, hopped, and swung, testing the limits of his grip, balance, and the whims of the wind itself. Every now and then, he glanced back down, assuring that Ara, too, was making it along safely, before finally crawling over the lip of the first sizeable ledge. Open to the sky above, sun spilled across it, though the shape of the rock protected the nook itself from the harshness of the wind, allowing a healthy patch winding vines, flowers, and several tufts of grasses grow in between the rocks. Pulse still quick with leftover adrenaline, he glanced over the edge and crouched, ready to help Ara up and over if she needed it.
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Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2014 10:12 pm
Araceli followed up after Detra, choosing her path carefully and slowly at first. The higher she climbed, though, the more confident she became. The wind would not fail her, it would keep her safe even if she were to slip. So instead of focusing on the wild beat of her heart and the leftover nervous feeling, she instead focused on Detra and the feel of the wind around her as it aided her in each hop up.
She paused as Detra pulled himself up and over the edge of a ledge and tilted her head. When he looked over, to check on her, Ara grinned. She studied the distance between her and Detra carefully, gauging how much wind it might take to boost her up to him. The jump would be the longest she’d attempted yet but she couldn’t resist. With a deep breath she concentrated on her magic, building up the wind beneath her feet and braced herself. When she was ready, she stretched her wings out and caught the wind. She pushed off the rocks, launching herself towards Detra.
When Ara reached the height of the ledge, she gave herself another small boost, sending her colliding into Detra. Her arms wrapped around him as they both fell back into the grass, him on his back and her laying on top of him. She laughed, her breath coming in labored gasps as a grin broke out on her face. “Hello there.” Ara was finally able to spit the greeting out when her breathing evened out.
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Tangled Puppet Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2014 10:36 pm
Detraeus blinked, entirely startled at the initial impact as he caught her hips on reflex. Once the facts sank in, though, pleased warmth danced up into his cheeks, and he hummed, returning a half-smug smile before rolling the two of them to reverse their positions. There, looming over her, a full grin spread onto his features. “Hello, sky princess…” he said, and he leaned down, touching their noses and savoring the warmth of her breath against his lips. “Let me kiss you…?”
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Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2014 10:50 pm
Araceli smiled back up at him, warmth flooding through her at the nickname. The grin that was plastered across Detra’s face made her heart skip a beat and her breath catch in her throat. The fact that she had caused that smile made her giddy. When he leaned his forehead against hers, Ara let her eyes close, savoring in the feel of his body over hers. “Always,” she whispered, closing the small distance between their lips.
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Tangled Puppet Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2014 11:32 pm
Detraeus shivered and immediately pressed into the kiss, deepening and savoring it. His heart beat in his chest, wild as an uncaged bird, and as his fingers tangled in her hair, the heat of the afternoon sun spilling down on him, he felt alive. Free. Safe. And happy.
It was a strange sensation, but one he was experiencing ever more often now, with Araceli in his life, and that wasn’t to say that before her, he had always been definitively unhappy. He had been able to care for himself for several years. Feed himself. House himself. He had been living, safely, and steadily, without extreme or undue hardship, and that at the time had been ‘good’ compared to everything else in his experience. Mere absence of hardship — absolute neutral, where he was simply ‘surviving’ reliably — was good.
This, though, set a new standard for good, and by the goddess did his heart ever want it. It basked in it, so overwhelmed that at times Detraeus felt it was trying to hammer its way out of his ribcage, and so he clung to the moment. Here, he had Ara absolutely to himself. No one knew of them; no one could touch them; no one could hurt them. He kissed her slowly, and deeply. He traced the shape of her cheekbones with his thumb and reminded himself of all the patterns of her scales. He relished in the feeling of her under him, against him, pressing up to him, and mentally catalogued the differences in taste between her lips and her cheek, her jawline, her throat, and the ridged curve of her horns.
‘I love you,’ he thought, and though it still terrified him, it also gave him tremendous energy. This woman — powerful as she was beautiful, patient as she stubborn, adventurous as she was kind — who could keep up with him, outlast him, challenge him, chase him, terrify him, and dance with him up the rocky terraces of wild cliffs: this was the woman he wanted, if at all in his power, to keep. And she was the only one who would do, from this day, until his dying day.
That, he was sure of.
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