|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2022 2:54 pm
There had been a moment in Ai's fourteenth year that she decided to live for the cause and no longer for herself.
She'd let go of everything she'd ever known to embrace a foreign land as best she could. A foolish teenager, one whose mind was still growing and consumed with hatred, set out in a world she had no business controlling. In the early years Ai could have never expected a life outside of Jauhar, and yet when she'd returned to Aisha's side she'd done so as a stranger. The girl who had left Chibale wasn't the same as the woman who visited and in all honesty she had no desire to ever return. Memories were all that remained and that was okay. She didn't need to be there any longer, not when she had other priorities.
A life of her own...that's what what she wanted.
A life with Lucijah.
"Keep up we're almost there." The Aishan spared a glance behind her as she trudged through thick, foggy wilderness. She'd almost forgotten how ominous yael could be and how it thrilled her to jump out of the mists like a phantom. The sheer surprise that would consume an earthlings face right before she peeled it off....Goddess, you just couldn't replicate that.
She'd purposefully drug Lucijah away from their room without any information on why. It was meant to be a surprise and one that Ai hoped was still there after all these years.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2022 3:05 pm
(1/10) Yael wasn't, exactly, what Lucijah had come to expect. In some strange ways, it was very similar to Jauhar - forested and teeming with danger around every bend and corner. But the ground was strange, the mists were bewitching, and the landscape was... unique. She could understand, in some ways, why the Yaeli had come to be so superstitious, because every night the air was heavy with something like expectation, and Lucijah could almost imagine eyes watching her from the treeline.
This was the place that Ai called home, and where she'd been threatening and awe inspiring back in Jauhar and Oba, here she was breathtaking. She moved along the perilous grounds like she'd been born there, feet sure and stride calculated, and almost in spite of her height there was a grace to her every motion that made it hard to tear your eyes away.
Unfortunately, Lucijah absolutely had to, because unlike Ai she wasn't used to this place, and already she'd nearly snapped her ankle in one surprise crevice, which Ai had afterwards pointed out led to an underground river. One wrong step, and she'd have been bashed upon the rocky ceiling of an underground cavern, never to be seen again.
It was thrilling - horrifying, but thrilling.
At the very least, Lucijah wasn't helpless as a babe - her steps were careful, a bit shaky but sure, and she managed to at least keep decent time behind Ai's more confident stride. "Of course, you still won't tell me where there is." She grumbled, teetering a bit in her step before she caught her balance again. "I thought you said I couldn't go to Zinris?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2022 3:32 pm
There was something to be said about seeing Lucijah's shift among the soft mosses and jutting stones. The way her skin transformed with the hazy moonlight their first night here was truly something to behold. Ai didn't thin she would never truly be used to it and definitely not in an environment where she'd only ever seen tanned flesh and eyes that popped like diamonds soaked in ink. Lucijah evolved like a lunar moth or a living spirit gliding over the land.
Gliding may have been too generous a descriptor. She kept pace, barely, and Ai couldn't count the amount of times she'd had to reach out just to make sure the shifter didn't hurt herself. So far she hadn't seen a single Aishan which was both a blessing and a source of constant anxiety for Ai. A hand was always at her side ghosting over the hilt of a blade and her antennae snapped at the slightest sound. One day soon their calm would break...
"You can't." She moved around a larger stone and just as quickly rocked back on her heel. The alkidike held her arm out to stop Lucijah from following her, lest they both fall straight through a crevasse. Instead of crossing she turned and walked along it's side to a thinner spot safe enough to pass. "We aren't going to Zinris."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2022 3:41 pm
(2/10) It had been a guess, of course, but when Ai dismissed it Lucijah felt a surge of relief. Maybe she should feel strange at how earnestly Ai was keeping her away from her people (surely she wasn't the only Aishan here who had earthling ... whatevers?), but she really couldn't find it in herself to feel that way. She understood the rationale - Ai herself was a good enough example of why it wasn't safe. Yes, she had admitted to being an extreme case, but it wasn't impossible to think there were others who were just as resentful of how things were changing.
Clicking her tongue in faux defeat, Lucijah dug in her heels so she didn't bump into Ai's back when she stopped, peering forward to look at the crevasse, grinning. Yeah - she couldn't even bother hiding how invigorating it was to be out here, in such a strange and unknown place.
The earthling trailed after Ai, once again marvelling at how Ai managed to traverse the narrow space even more easily than SHE could, and yet she was so BIG--
"Mm. What else... ah. You're going to introduce me to a rare beastie that all the Yaeli are terrified of but which you, of course, have become fast friends with--" She babbled on. Ai hadn't snapped at her to shut up yet, so she imagined there wasn't much harm in filling in the silence, right? At least she had the sense to shut up whenever Ai went still, like she sometimes did, intently listening.
|
|
|
|
|
|
scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 4:42 pm
"Have you been eating the roji berries?" She'd expressly said not to because of their hallucinaginic properties, but with the shifter's ramblings Ai was starting to think maybe she'd been snacking on them as they walked. In a way it was amusing - a little gratifying, maybe - that Lucijah was at least enjoying herself out here. The way the rush of each near fall brought blood to the surface of her skin or the way her eyes would dilate...
It didn't take them much longer to come upon a clearing. At some point it had been tended to with care, but over the years much of the open area had started to fill in with regrowth. The aishan stepped around patches of thorns, pressing through some bushes where little critters scuttered away from her. Ahead was nitch in the side of a stone cliffside, and as one got closer they could see it was the entrance to a cave.
When they got closer Ai came to a stop and reached inside her back for some flint. Finding some dry wood was difficult given the most recent rain, but with a bit of grumbling she managed to craft a decent torch. "How are you with small, dark spaces? I'm not going to have to carry you, am I?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 4:48 pm
(3/10) Lucijah answered that question by laughing, shaking her head fondly. They finally broke out into something of a clearing, where Lucijah paused, turning to look with open curiosity. Whatever this place was, it was taking more effort than she'd expected to get there, which only made her more and more excited to get there. Gone were the days when she'd have expected Ai to be leading her to some place to sacrifice her, but the thought did cross her mind as a joke, if nothing else.
"Not my favorite, but I'll be fine. Though if you're offering--"
Gone, also, were the days of dancing around her flirtatious impulses. Lately, she'd been leaning into it a bit more than she used to, just to see how Ai would react.
|
|
|
|
|
|
scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 5:03 pm
Ai just rolled her eyes and looked away, but not before a grin split her lips. At some point in the past she would have been highly agitated by the free floating flirtations, but now she found herself tossing them back. It was akin to playing with fire. She toed the line with the ultimate taboo for an aishan, and it seemed that every day she got closer and closer to being burned.
Walking forward, the alkidike turned sideways and bent a little just to fit in the entryway. It was a tight squeeze, one that was far more claustrophobic than Ai remembered, and at a certain point she became stuck. She had to suck in her gut, twist her arms the right way and shove her way through just to end up in a far more open cavern. When she was there she could light a few older hanging torches and then the space seemed to come to life.
Painted on the walls around them were scenes of Jauhar. Massive, spiraling trees of deep crimsons and violets, fungi that would have glowed if the paint were fresh and whisps of insects that clung to mighty leaves. Old, chipped paint pots littered a smaller table and Ai's paint brushes sat abandoned on an worn rag.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 5:13 pm
(4/10) Hmmph. Ai didn't actually do it, but Lucijah was probably relieved - she wouldn't have been able to keep a straight face if the once severe Aishan actually took her seriously. Instead, she followed - squeezing into the cavern with only a bit less effort than Ai. While she, herself, was shorter and not as broad, she still had a thick, muscular frame and hit spots that were more of a squeeze than she would have liked. But she came out the other end unscathed, dusting herself of imaginary debris as she straightened up, squinting in the dark.
She didn't see it, at first... the paintings. It wasn't until the second torch was lit that she noticed the images, and walked closer, eyes wide in surprise.
All this time traveling together, and never would Lucijah have suspected Ai of being such an artist. But the images were... vibrant, colorful and evocative of the place that they'd met. She painted Jauhar with a fondness that Lucijah didn't think she'd ever really had with the place, and it was only barely that she reminded herself not to reach out and touch.
"Huh... you've been holding out on me, Ai." Lucijah commented, her words playful, even when her words were slow, almost thoughtful. She finally tore her eyes away to peek at the woman. The time they'd been in Jauhar, she'd never really thought about it - how painful it must have been, to be torn away from her homeland. ... She still felt the extremists needed to be exiled, back then - otherwise she'd probably be in some mass grave by now, but still.
"... You really missed Jauhar. And you finally went back and..." Her eyes dropped to Ai's hand, with its missing digits.
|
|
|
|
|
|
scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 5:28 pm
Once the cavern was properly lit, Ai slipped her "torch" into an empty holder on the wall. She moved over to her table and lifted a pot, passively tapping the dried paints inside. At one point she'd scoured countless earthling caravans just to find the right dye to make a purple light enough to match the flowers she'd grown up with. Now it sat alone, unused but not forgotten, in a cave that no one knew about.
"I never could get the radaku just right." She reached out to run her finger - one of the few on that hand - across the back of the wild canine. "I used to hide their faces behind the trees because their eyes always looked off to me."
After having seen the real deal not too long ago Ai had to admit that she wasn't a half bad artist.
Raising her hand, Ai looked at the missing digits and even the way those remained didn't fully extend. "I went back and it almost killed me; again."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 5:33 pm
(5/10) It was such a funny detail, but now that Ai pointed it out Lucijah couldn't unsee it. She huffed out a soft laugh, moving closer to where Ai stood, looking at the painting that she'd indicated. It... was crazy, just how someone's artwork could show their feelings. There was such loving detail in every brushstroke, a sense of longing that was unnerving and a bit heartbreaking, considering where they stood now.
"Am I a jerk if I say I'm glad? That you came back, I mean." The last part was said hurriedly, with Lucijah shooting Ai an apologetic look. "... I'm glad I met you, I just wish it hadn't cost you so much."
|
|
|
|
|
|
scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 5:41 pm
Ai snorted. "If you have to ask then you know the answer." Lowering her hand, she slowly turned her head to look at Lucijah in the torchlight. The flickering flames gave her skin a glow to it like the night sky over Oba. With the painted jungle around them she could almost imagine what it might have been like to see her in the thick of it.
"...but I understand." Her tone was a little lighter - mournful, maybe? - as she thought about it all. "I wanted to prove myself to Aisha, but she never wanted me. Elzira wanted my sword; nothing more. The only one who ever wanted me-" Ai took the half step closer to Lucijah, "-was you."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 5:54 pm
(6/10)
Right. What had she expected? 'Oh, don't worry, I know you didn't mean it that way?' ... Please, this was Ai here. Lucijah did at least huff out a reluctantly amused laugh, before continuing and... after, she felt strangely... vulnerable, to have admitted such a sappy thought out loud. Ai rewarded her boldness by turning to look at her.
Without her headdress, the shadows that the torch cast on Ai's face were less severe.
And it was with that strange, almost soft expression on her face that Ai stepped closer, speaking words that started heartbreaking but ended... uh. Ended in a way that made Lucijah's heart lurch, even as a thread of guilt wound its way around her throat. After all, just a short time ago all things considered she'd abandoned Ai and now--
Goddess, but she wanted. As morbid as the discussion of goddesses forsaking and using Ai was, the suggestion here made her face go hot, eyes searching Ai's face intently. "I don't know how to describe what I feel for you-" Lucijah admitted, swallowing thickly, guilty she couldn't make any sort of stronger worded proclamation, "I just know when you were gone, everything felt... wrong. But then you were back."
|
|
|
|
|
|
scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 6:03 pm
When she finally found Lucijah she'd expected to be thrown away. Screamed at, attacked even, and while the shifter had certainly had words she didn't push her away. She embraced all that Ai was and that...was more than anyone else had ever tried. The last person Ai had tried to give her heart too questioned anything Ai did that was outside the realm of 'normalcy', but Lucijah was here, riding the edge of insanity alongside her.
Ai placed a hand on the small of Lucijah's back and tugged her forward until their chests touched. Without waiting, the alkidike leaned forward and placed her lips on hers. It was something so instinctual that there was no time to worry if she should. In that moment she hungered for the shifter and having even a breath of space between them was simply too much.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 6:16 pm
(7/10) 'Riding the edge of insanity' felt like an apt descriptor for all of ... this. Thankfully, the thought had been confined to Ai's head, and Lucijah didn't have a grasp on that particular nugget of truth. As it was, she just knew she'd been harboring this longing for long enough that it had, back then, seemed unrealistic, impossible even. Back when giving Ai a blade had been a questionably unhealthy decision to make.
And now? Now she'd followed Ai back to extremist territory, into a place that, clearly, was her own special sanctuary... and all for what was, clearly, a confession. That Lucijah ended up spilling one of her own was really just serendipity, wasn't it?
Of course, the hand that gripped her and pulled wasn't exactly gentle, but Lucijah couldn't imagine it any other way. It was like a dam broke between them, and as they kissed Lucijah just touched - fingers fluttering almost lost for a moment before they wound around her middle, pressing her palms to the bare skin of Ai's back.
It was such a perfectly imperfect kiss, with Lucijah's lips probably a bit too chapped to be comfortable - definitely a bit more teeth than was strictly necessary, but something that once seemed so dangerous now just felt... safe. Since when had she come to feel so comfortable around Ai?
|
|
|
|
|
|
scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 6:28 pm
The kiss was less stereotypically romantic and more a feral expression of pent up emotion. Once that line had been crossed Ai's domineering side came out in full force and any reserve the aishan had was gone. She didn't n** at Lucijah's lower lip so much as she bit it and the hand at her back held close as the other weaved through her hair.
For a moment she was keen to do just that - to give in and let it take her - but Ai needed to breathe. When she pulled back her breathes came out in quick, sharp pants that shook her entire frame. She'd just kissed an earthling-
Goddess, she kissed an earthling.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
