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 Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2022 2:44 pm
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Aelius scaled the three flights of stairs to his apartment barely keeping himself in check. A shaky hand failed twice at inserting the key to his home, before finally finding purchase. A twist of the wrist and the deadbolt slid open and he let himself inside with a quiet click of the door behind him, not bothering to lock it.
Evidence of his anger lay on the floor from a day or two ago. The flower vase still lay in pieces on floor by the couch, the water long dried up on the rug. Dried brittle flowers lay as remains. It was a depressing reminder.
It was there, finally secluded behind 4 solid walls and lost to a torrent of emotions that Aelius finally broke down. He moved just far enough into the kitchen, just off his entrance to the apartment, to lean against the counter and let tears flow. Shoulders shuddered as he let the misery envelope him as he sucked in air hastily between each bout.
Everything had gone wrong. From the moment he returned things just weren’t ever right. He felt like the odd puzzle piece trying to force himself into a space he didn’t belong. Try as he might to bend, move, and mold, it didn’t work.
Disheartened would be a mild way to put it. And somehow, he continued to just make matters worse.
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Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2022 10:48 pm
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Waru shed the guise of Albite like a dog shaking out fleas, graceless and hurried, his pace upon the stairs became a methodical thing — counting himself down as he scaled the winding climb up in order to circumvent the hindbrain itch that demanded he make the kind of commotion that would get the cops called on him — He was going to be civil, he was going to wait, he was going to burn through energy like hellfire and teleport himself into the small remembered space of Aelius entryway; if at all the door stopped him.
Whether Aelius was home or not didn’t matter. Guy had to come home eventually, right? And when he did…
Hell, if after enough time he didn’t? Waru was already churning up plans for that, clicking them into place like puzzle pieces to entirely different pictures, none of it looked quite right, but all the shapes fit and that it fit was far more important than the aesthetic of the optics right then.
What waru hadn’t planned for? Was the place being unlocked. That sent a start up his spine, the second he touched cool handle n felt it give with a twist. He was cautious after that, crept the thick barrier open and eyed what looked oh so similar to a break in —- Shattered vase and its contents all over the ground, no immediate sign of deep indigo hair or hide to be seen. <********, Aelius!” tensely barked the others name, letting the duffle hit the ground with enough force to make noise as he habitually checked his back pocket for that distinct feeling of henshin pen — thinking that maybe he should’ve teleported in, just this once. “If you’re alive in here…”
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Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2022 11:48 pm
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That voice.
Aelius jumped at the unexpected interruption to his self-pity wallow. Breath caught in his throat as he contemplated not even answering. Would Waru leave? Fat ******** chance. That man was as determined and thick-headed and as a ******** bull. Most likely the man had come to lay it on thick. Not that Aelius didn't deserve every little bit coming to him.
Funny how quickly he could fall into such a subservient attitude. Those days of old, thought to be long gone, were truly just waiting there for him to trip up and lose himself again.
In a desperate act to try and meet this head-on, Aelius wiped his eyes, still wet and red, before stepping out of the kitchen where he found Waru just within the entrance. "Right here." He said with a slight crack in his voice. "Look I am sorry I got you in trouble with Faustite." He started quickly, not daring to look at Waru as he turned his attention to the living room and the view beyond. "I just..." He hadn't expected all of well...that. It was a lot to wrap his mind around and the more he did the more it started to make sense.
All of those times he spent with Elex had been fleeting. Set to, what had felt like, an arbitrary time limit. His Glamour limit. Certain nights or days that Elex was unreachable or indisposed.
"It doesn't matter." He finally finished.
"If you came for an apology you have it." He said bitterly as he moved to slip by the man. "If you came to 'teach' me anything..." He shrugged as he moved to the couch, pausing to look at the broken vase before ignoring it once again. "I suppose I deserve it at this point."
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Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2022 12:28 am
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Thank ******** Christmas he was alive! That was such a relief, the way Aelius soggy sounding voice undid the line of tension that’d been making its home across the back of his shoulder blades; some awful mix of knife point n hair trigger on a gun that’d pulled his body taught.
N the voice that peeked out accompanied by a body cut through it all. Had him shutting the door at his back and ensuring it was both closed and locked, because who the ******** left their stuff open to be burgaled!?
Listening brought on incredulity, a slowly raised brow, Waru processed the words at half speed and decided that none of them were what he wanted right then, “Oh my god — take your shirt off n sit the ******** down Aelius, geeze...” he heaved the words and waived at the couch, glad at least that he wasn’t making another run for it, “you sound like...”
Nope. He wasn’t gonna use angry words, or make comparisons, or - none of that bullshit. He hadn’t come here for that, badly as he wanted to swing Aelius around till he could have his eyes and shake his fool head off his neck for apologizing to the wrong ******** person!
“Listen. Me n Faustite are not kids. S’much as we maybe act like we’re two, or fortytwo or..whatever…” redound the dumped duffle n slid it over to the couch with an errant swing, “M’not in trouble with him. Our boys not gonna put me in time out n scald all my coffee into tar for the next month just cause I was uncautious about things.....” though his tone was more considerate on that one, he knew neither himself or Eion to be above simple slights. Course his boys sanctity for unbastardized drinks might’ve ensured he wouldn’t wake up to a cup of ‘all grounds, only grounds, choke on it and die’ — at worst it would’ve been weak bean water and creamer that tasted suspiciously like Faustites saliva…and was also black…but!
That was all besides the point.
“I’ll find him. We’ll talk. I’ll apologize properly for kicking all his landmines in the nuts…Though I am straight up ******** his trust with how often this keeps happening. Do you know Chrysocolla?” distracted himself with a display of words and the act of rummaging past a myriad of zippers.
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Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2022 1:35 am
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Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2022 4:19 am
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“She has pretty eyes, was sweet as pie to me —“ he remembered liking her smile, wanting to know more about whatever rock of power had given her such a glow. She was the only other Eternal he’d met besides Kamacite, the rest were dead, gone, fled— Chryssy didn’t seem the type to do a fleeing. She was a long haul girl by his own estimate, if only she coulda been nice to his boy, “ but a right b***h to him, unnecessarily, never figured out the why though. Only knew that it wasn’t fair this random girl I didn’t know from Eve…”
“Could ******** him up cause I was unaware of all this — ‘thisness’ — there’s a lot of ‘this’ going around, Aelius. N while I’m not tryna shovel the whole of it up into the light when things are good going on better.” huffed a loose lock out of his eyes, and the bags insides looked half like a raided medical ward (which he had, putting an end to Rocktankaskite had its benefits) and half like Waru was going to throw a sleepover at a break in, “Knowing a little bit more about ‘this’,” gloves came on, a rarity, but Aelius wasn’t fire hot enough to prevent anything from living — wasn’t prone to being disease proof as his boy, n maybe himself a bit for how innoculated he felt against most ailments; like being in constant danger and covered in rift s**t had boosted his immunity— or so he liked to believe, “maybe couldn’t ******** hurt me. Might even help the two of you?”
“So! What caused ‘this’ to happen—“ and now he did wanna know about the fight that’d caused the fire, intimated as much with a pointed glance at the hidden burns while he nudged Aelius arms gently away from his torso; searching the gauze to find a poorly tucked end before beginning the slow process of unpeeling him like a candy wrapper whose contents had been left too long in the sun.
Carefully.
Slow, methodical unwind that stole his focus and shut his mouth for a moment; let his face do what it wanted for awhile. Which was to crease up with soft lines of sadness.
He wasn’t angry.
Tired, surprised, in awe of how similar two people could be while also being more dense than whatever lined the casing of his skull, because Aelius sounded like Faustite. Less snarl and anticipatory flinch of form — probably wouldn’t’ve paused for cane strikes on the pavement from the meemaw’s at a crosswalk, or stared off into the middle distance when a nosy cop ‘ooosidentaly’ popped open all over the pavement.
But the flavor of it was there. The dismissal of himself being ‘people’ enough that it set Warus antennae on alert. Like Aelius couldn’t see that he wasn’t any further in the doghouse than Waru wasn’t…as if that didn’t matter…
Aelius mattered.
Mattering didn’t mean he had the right to be dismissive of Faustites pain, but hell — it sounded like there was enough history that he felt — well, dismissed? Betrayed? Abandoned?
Awholelotofthings… a few even Waru was wary to touch; knew there’d be backlash for it. Knew that he’d already shoved his dirty fingers in the open wound labeled ‘past’ so he might as well have continued!
Besides! Aelius, resilient ******** that he was, he came back to serve under Faustite. Came back To Stay. At least, Waru hoped…
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Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2022 11:27 pm
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“Humn, were y’all teammates wit’ her or something?” an ask that needed little answer, inso much as it was meant to fill the spaces between words with words of his own. Waru talked to himself as often as others, reasoned bits n pieces out. Knew that something severe must’ve gone down at some point — considering Faustites reaction to seeing Chryssy again was so gut wrenchingly brutal.
Though really, he needed to stop pulling his boy out to do things mid sleep on their reversed time schedules. Time management. That was what he needed, and an organizer to do it with.
Careful with the gauze where it caught, he coiled it into a messy pile on the floor, tsking softly at the pink that’d seeped into drying cotton. He thought Helio seemed like the kind of guy who had a hell of a lot of mind to speak — but Faustite didn’t set his friends on fire casually, was the most avoidant to touch of a being he’d ever seen — save maybe Kamacite, who clutched his robes like women with pearls. Knew there were reasons to it that he had no interest in plying apart n dissecting; some things just weren’t any of his business, and others were obvious.
Like Faustites being on *fire* — it made the avoidance obvious, his sensitivity to the closeness of everything jacked up to the highest possible setting. Course his boy also had a temper — short fuse for perceived slights n hurts aimed his direction. Waru’d hoped they’d tamped those things down by degrees, what with the largeness of the team n the effort they all put into desensitizing him to such things….
How careless were they all with it now? How careful. With putting themselves in his space, with touch, to the point where Cela had corrupted his form to have the other twenty two hours of the day, greedily as he pleased. How Haru fed his beloved's intellectual side, the Supers’ beautiful ability to abide by some silence n ask the right questions every time.
He was grateful to the lot of them. Filling the gaps where he felt he’d have failed otherwise.
“Yanno, I wouldn’t’ve cared if you were. Cause you’re allowed to be pissed ‘bout these sorta things. Anger’s just another discussion to have. Anger? I can handle,” and he handled Aelius with care, nudged him about to a better angle before fishing fresh supplies free, scissors, gauze, anti-clotting powders; creams that ranged between aquaphor and silver sulfadiazine — He was definitely going to leave Aelius a tub of aloe, guys split ends coulda used it as much as his skin.
“The s**t that I can’t — the things that trip me up? M’lucky enough to have a team for —“ and his eyes drifted up from the length of dressing he was unraveling to cut free, pinning Aelius with purpose, “You shoulda called one of us. We’d have helped with this.” and he was talking about the bandaging, yes, but he was also talking about their shared beau. Released the softest hiss at the sight of Aelius skin, the big reveal. He’d survive, but man the back was so uncomfortable to get the marks on! Waru snorted at some distant remembrance, time spent sleeping on his front and bandaged hands from grabbing straight up fire like he didn’t care if ever he had fingerprints again, or fingers for that matter.
Dove into a lengthy ramble as he forewent cleaning and instead went straight into slathering fresh salve on. Gingerly at first, more dabbing than anything else; extra round the edges cause it was better to ooze n have a barrier cream seep out than have it all go dry n stick n peel — once it started scabbing enough to do that they’d have to nix the bandages..
“Yanno, the last time he lit me up? It was ******** beautiful. Had him in his office n I was going on about something — I want him to have his way, and he wants to go be logical and sensible about s**t. It was a fire storm; he’s all lit up, I’ve kicked his desk into the back wall. Yanked him off his a** cause I was tired of waiting,” it wasn’t technically the ‘last time’ him n his stunning firebrand had gotten into it more than playfully. Hell, he hardly even remembered now what he was tired of waiting for back then. Knew, in that moment, that anything was better than nothing. So much so that he turned the nothing on its head.
“M’thinkin almost nothing survived the aftermath, n I was one crispy fried critter for a whole damn while. We didn’t actually start being ‘together-together’ till November, since he’d died in October? N then I got this idea in my head that was meant to be executed on Christmas — Didn’t actually manage to propose to him till spring. We should’ve been better at telling people — I should be better at telling people. So they don’t get surprises sprung on ‘em so hard.”
“M’just so damn terrible at explaining. Uhm, anything ever, really?” sheepish chagrin wound round a hunt to diffuse, cause Aelius was too smart for him to figure out just by staring real hard. Kept his hurts bottled nice n clean behind thick colored glass.
“Though if you’re not mad about the wedding thing — can you clue me in as to what, the ever loving ********, you are feeling things about?” and he would’ve taken Aelius questions, his demands, his damning barbs. Needed more than ‘nothing’ to sort through, because none of what’d happened seemed out of nowhere. Waru felt real specifically like he’d dredged it up somehow, n not just the Elex parts. “Cause you clearly care. Same as Eion does about you.”
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Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2022 8:15 pm
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Aelius nodded confirmation about Chrys. Sure, they had been part of the same team. All of them under General Schorl. A team well militarized despite the needs and wanted of the individual members. Honestly, it was not at all surprising that Faustite had found himself another member to dislike. Those times had been….hard.
Being silent was easier. Safer. So Aelius sat quietly listening to Waru fill the void between them with his own words. The man was a never-ending well of conversation and Aelius wondered if Waru found the lack of conversation as uncomfortable as Aelius found from the continuous litany of words. Still, Aelius listened almost in a lethargy.
He was tired. Mentally and physically. Emotions were difficult to deal with. Especially, when said emotions were ones trying to be avoided at all costs. It was so much more effort.
Waru’s insistence that Aelius should have requested help resulted. In the young man turning his head and looking away. Reaching out a hand for assistance was not easy, especially with people he barely knew. A cohesive, working together team that cared for one another was a novelty Aelius hadn’t ever really experienced. He’d only ever had one other he trusted and that person had been the cause for needing help in the first place.
The gentleness of Waru’s ministrations as he groped on creams to the still fresh burns was appreciated. The man was taking care not to cause anymore pain than was necessary to tend to the mess that was Aellus’s back.
He started at the mention of Faustite having died in October. “He died?” He questioned softly, eyes flickering to the man’s face to try and make sure he hadn’t just mis-heard or that it wasn’t some odd inside joke. But Waru looked serious enough about.
“It’s fine.” He caught himself responding at Waru’s sheepish comment about his lacking ability of keeping people well-informed. Damn, if there wasn’t something about this man that made Aelius want to trust him. To let himself just relax and let whatever was going to be, be.
And then came the big question.
Aelius took in a deep breath, and let it out slowly. Time passed without him saying a word, and in truth, he didn’t want to say anything. It was loaded question that Aelius wasn’t even sure he wanted to respond to, but his mouth started working before his mind caught up to what was spilling out. “I am angry at myself. Angry that I left. Angry that I want to be here, want to be near him despite everything.” A pause. His voice now sorted. “Upset that I wasn’t the one he found solace with.” He sighed, eyes moving to the window that looked to the buildings across the street. Certainly not a view anyone would rent the apartment for specifically. “I was the one who walked away. Left. I don’t deserve anything from all of this and I damn well know it. I know it, and tell myself I don’t want it but…I can’t stop. Worst of all now I find out he is...was Elex and...this all feels like some warped reality and I am not sure if it's a dream or a ********.” He stood up, ignoring where Waru was in the bandaging process. Those fingers, once soothing, had started to make Aelius feel claustrophobic. This whole situation made it feel as if the apartment was slowly beginning to close in on him. “He has you now and I am happy you two found each other.” A derisive laugh. “Maybe I am just confused about this whole thing. It’s been years since I saw him. It will likely fade with time.
“I need a coffe.” He said matter-of-factory as he left Waru sitting on the couch to go begin the makings of strong brew. It gave him a chance to separate himself from the situation. To catch a breath. Recenter himself. Making coffee was so second nature though that starting the kettle and prepping the French press took only a few minutes and Aelius was left standing there staring at the kettle. The chrome finish showed a warped image of Aelius back. Funny how he felt as contorted as the reflection.
“Tell me how he died?” He questioned finally, his voice traveling from the kitchen to the living room. The openness of the living space and the kitchen made it easy enough to converse with guests.
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Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2022 9:42 pm
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Blessed silence, Waru found it where Aelius spoke, let it fill his mouth n mind as he took in everything Aelius was working through. He wanted to laugh with him through the bitterness just as badly as he wanted to drag him down into the kind of hug that would steal his breath away till he couldn't make those terrible sounds anymore. He wondered if maybe pain would drive it all out where a steady gentling hand couldn't? Except Aelius was different than Faustite, had the words for things that fighting wouldn't fix. Loved Faustite enough that he was willing to come back into the fire again, in spite of all his self doubt, and everything he'd been through before.
Good.
All the anger, self-loathing, and tears were workable for Waru. Things he felt familiar with from time spent outside looking in on another much fierier boy than this, "Coffee, Aelius -- buddy, you need therapy and a bottle of scotch. Like, both those things together, at the same time? Though, our boy does too -- we could book group sessions!" and for that Waru could smile, genuinely, same as he could dredge up a sigh that spoke of pulled on patience wrapped round a sharp glint of knowing, "Sept any group we booked might cause a mass walkout in whatever setup we chose to have it in, that poor Therapist...Yoga's probably the better outlet for all this, or Sex? Probably sex. Ei's good at it," Waru found himself peeling the gloves free, like he'd done it a million times before, managed to make very little mess of his hands as he chucked the gooey things into his bag n instead sprawled out over the space Aelius had freed up with his retreat.
"Good at it as he is bad at having words for things complicated as this," elbows pressed into thighs, Waru watched Aelius move away just beyond sight, listened to the rattling of water boiling into steam before dribbling into grounds; kept his a** sat right there so he could speak properly -- instead of hounding the poor guy into an aneurism by sticking to his heels like a rabid sort of glue, "There's some things you need to know, though, before we get into the rougher s**t -- One being that me n him are about as good at providing solace for each other as jet fuel is at putting out bonfires. I know, even now, I'm probably not the first one he goes to for hugs. Just like I know that he's got a list of people he sees I'm not fully in on cause I forgot to ask. Same as me --" not because he didn't care, ********, not because Eion didn't care, either. They'd hashed that all out an age ago, hadn't they? Somewhere between milk cookies and citrus rinds; between 'I'm barely human' and 'Why would that make you any less attractive to me?'
Waru couldn't remember now which conversation about Agni, or deep breathing, or tracking his boys stressed moments on a calendar the discussion about partners n pairs had come up. He could only remember that they'd settled on agreeing to not care so long as they were both happy.
Oh, n that Chrysocolla was off limits. Which was fine, he swore, he hadn't been hitting on her. Why did everyone think he was hitting on them all the time?! Whatever!!
"Cause we don't always inform each other of these people all timely like, cause what we have isn't some closed thing. Can't be. I wouldn't deprive him of his happiness with you, or Alkmene, or..." and Waru made a noise akin to shutting a heavy door, gruffly as he dug his palms into his cheeks, searching for less words to express something so simple that it felt deep. "You're not confused! I'm just confusing. ********>" fires needed air to breathe, Aelius needed Eion, these things seemed rudimentary n true. Like gravity, like..."Yanno, I don't think Faustite would destroy himself for me, but for you, Aelius? His whole life, his whole family, all the good things left in his world. Giving that up sounds like love to me. M'not saying ******** didn't definitely happen along the path of that -- but -- As two people who lost everything together, n then despite it all found each other again?"
If that wasn't some prolific, worth fighting for kinda s**t? Waru didn't know what on the whole of Earth was.
And now Waru was absolutely sprawled out across that couch, grumbled something untoward at himself, because of course he had to mention the 'death' part. Maybe he could ask Aelius to rummag up some bit of hidden alcohol and pour that plus a drop of coffee into a cup for him.
He wasn't sure if he'd mentioned it at the bar or not? No, course not, it'd all been vague n sloppy, n covered by drinks with words he didn't want to quite say back then, especially not when this was his first time meeting Aelius properly.
"Well, I wasn't there when he died the first ******** the death of Elex count if only Faustite remembers it properly? Mmmn," though he supposed Axinite remembered it too. N Aelius, partly, as a grieving party on the other side of a two way glass; leaving Faustite to watch the fallout alone. Having been forbade to reach through, lest it spell all their dooms at once. Albite couldn'tve done it, never once had in his bones the fortitude to give any part of himself up; it was key to why he couldn't ever consider purifying for himself, or changing a glamor, or...
If it cost him everyone, and only he knew?
A true death seemed kinder. Course he could only say that now with any confidence knowing that Senshi had cheat codes for second lives n resets that plain officers didn't.
Velvet wasn't to Faustite anywhere near the same as Praxidike was to Him.
"Scratch that! Just -- wow, I don't think I can say. Uhm...." of all the times for the words to flee, to dry up and die like ash on his tongue. Such a familiar face to couple to the thought of Faustite's demise that became a resurrection, and the weeks spent after waiting for show of his return, "....yanno, in the aftermath of the hill battle? Everyone looked at me like I was crazy, or maybe like I was in shock? S'not like he didn't get glued back together via magical bullshit after being blown up by a generator. So it's fine, right? Not like there's pieces of him living in my shower drains n spare bits of bolt n cog in a drawer I don't talk about...Nah, that s**t doesn't ever crawl up ringu style in my nightmares to blame me for letting him die. Cause -- if it did. Someone'd hear about it."
No one would ever hear about it. Waru's tone spoke to that, an ugly deadpan thing that was edged with a threat, because if people heard about it? He didn't have Sylvite to hug him till his ribs creaked for the rough treatment, or Lysi's home baked cookies, or Nembus to mom him into seeing the right side of reason again.....and he wasn't b*****d enough to torment Faustite with a mortal fear they were both all too aware of.
That Aelius was all to aware of, because for him Elex had died once already, hadn't he? So it wasn't fair of him to come in n piss all over that grief when they should've been sharing the love for having what was left of their boy.
"Wow. I'm ******** terrible at this....Aelius....I am, so sorry. For everything. If nothing else happens tonight? I need you to hear that from me."
And now that he was sprawled on this couch he wasn't leaving it for anything, he could watch anxiously the shadows shifting in the kitchen from a prone position as he could a standing one.
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Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2022 11:16 pm
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An open relationship? Aelius tried to wrap his mind around that in a situation where two individuals were engaged to each other. It almost seemed a mockery at the typical expectation of what he thought about such an important declaration. After all, being married just felt and sounded like the end-all-be-all. Being monogamous always felt like it went hand in hand with marriage. Multiple partners was for unattached couples or people not really serious.
Polyamory had never been at the forefront of Aelius's mind when it came to long term relationships. Perhaps it was the way in which he grew up, having a somewhat atypical family. Still, he seriously had to question himself about the probability. Could he open himself up enough to be in a relationship with someone who was also seeing others? Would his jealousy allow it? Fingers drummed gently on the cheap, beige counter top. As interesting as the questions his mind was not in any state to really entertain the idea. All that came with each prompt was radio silence or confusion.
"I..." He paused. "I don't know..." He turned back to the stove when the kettle started to gently simmer. "It all feels complicated. I've always thought of Marriage as the golden pedestal for a couple. Only a couple and no more. It's strange tot hunk about it as an open relationship." He turned the heat off before the water could get too hot and poured it into the French press. Quickly enough the aromatic scent of coffee began to fill the space. Aelius took a deep breath, letting it out gently, finding solace in the scent.
Clicking on a small timer that sat on the counter, he turned back to Waru who looked incredibly comfortable on the couch. The man had no shame in making himself feel at home. It wasn't like Aelius would deny him considering the patch up he'd just gotten.
"I guess it depends on how you want to look at it. Elex's death was just the death of an alias, in my opinion. Faustite was always Elex and vice-versa." He shrugged as he spoke with certainty. A Name was a name. "It's like saying I am not Rowan anymore even though I still have all of his memories. I might not live that life anymore but I am still him."Maybe it was too simple of an explanation? And maybe he really was just being dense about it, but changing one's name didn't mean you weren't the same person as before. Had he and Faustite changed a lot through the years? Certainly. There were a lot of hands played over time, but they were all built one of top of the other. Each memory, no matter if it was Elex and Eion or Rowan and Aelius, all worked off of each other.
As the conversation went it, Waru's distress became evident. Faustite's death had rocked him. Aelius hadn't been there. Hadn't known what happened so he couldn't fully comprehend what had occurred to freak out the normally easygoing man in front of him, but it was evident that there was some trauma there. "Dreams that you were right there and for one reason or another you just couldn't help them?" He understood. He'd had them after his corruption. It was always Elex, he had been there that hazy night and Aelius had assumed the worst for years.
The sound of the timer beeping gave a good excuse to move away from the topic. Methodically he pulled two mugs from a cupboard and carefully pressed the coffee down. He poured the two mugs leaving enough left for one more cup in the press. Moving to his fridge he pulled out a small container of almond milk and grabbed a small squeeze bottle of liquid stevia that sat alongside the coffee grounds. He walked over and placed both on the table. He then returned to grab the mugs, pulling something out of a cabinet. Two mugs balanced between the handles and fingers in one hand, the other placed a half-empty bottle of white rum on the coffee table near Waru. "Sorry it's not something better suited for coffee but I don' typically put anything but sweetener in mine. If that won't work there's always almond milk." He placed both mugs of coffee down, pushing one towards his visitor.
With Waru taking up the couch, Aelius very carefully lowered himself to the ground making sure not to pull at the newly slathered up burns. Sitting with cross-crossed legs he was able to utilize the coffee table as a short desk. "You don't have anything to apologize for." He finally said. "You were just being you. Nothing more, nothing less. There was no way you'd know the history that Faustite and I had and honestly, I should be apologizing to you for letting you get pulled into it."
Grabbing the liquid stevia, Helio squirted a small amount into the mug. His eyes darted to the rum in debate. "Faustite and I have always been hot and cold with one another. We never really...settled. He was so closed off and I was his subordinate. Not to mention the expectations on us from Schorl and...well...I truly wonder if there was anything ever really there or if we were just taking solace in each other." He sipped at the steaming liquid before deciding that a helping of rum would help it.
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Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2022 9:26 am
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“Awh, Aelius. Not that being subjected to me is ever something I apologize for, but sometimes I should,” spoken like the cusp of a chuckle while his eyes alighted on Aelius with concern, and most importantly? On the bottle cozied up next to the cups in hand, guy could’ve walked back in with hot sauce n acetone and Waru would’ve complimented him for it - it would only go into the cup out of respect for the resident - because otherwise? He would’ve started in on the rum and made that his entire night; turned the coffee into a warm chaser in the rudest possible way, “cause if I can’t say sorry then neither can you."
"Though it feels like someone who isn’t Us or Faustite, owes some cosmic apology.” Schorl, it was Schorl, every time he heard her name, paired it with the idea of what expectations she had of ‘her team’. He'd only gotten a glimpse of the woman through someone else’s eyes, a memory, but all that led to him imagining one tenth of her cruelty at work, and subsequently he didn’t want to know how a group like that had functioned back then. So he didn’t dare to ask. Muttered a quiet ‘it’s perfect’ in reference to the drinks because it really, truly was.
“Mmmph, this has no right to be so good — don’t accidentally goo-up yer couch, m’still gonna wrap you after,” sighed warning at Aelius's settled form, as he dragged himself up just enough to snag the necessary implements without spilling; reaching to add a splash of mismatched fire to smooth black coffee. He wanted bitter n burn to chase everything else he’d spat out that night right off his tongue. Like the world's best palate cleanser, he welcomed it all, heat in hand, and down his throat. His looks to Aelius only grew more grateful, if that was even possible.
“Cause if you sleep without it you're gonna stick to everything," tapped tuneless with short nails over ceramic mug that he clutched close enough to sip far more lazily than he should've, tried to find a way to discuss their situations far more emphatically then he knew how to; feelings we're his thing, but he'd always sucked at explaining how open his heart was, how Faustite would get his ring cause it was what he deserved, and that they were both big enough people to keep the world warm while sharing themselves with more n just each other, "which you'll later regret. Mnh, the marriage thing though. I get how it's confusing, if you look at it like people? Sept' this isn't the realm of people we're dealing with, s'powers. Senshi n Youma n an Eternity of rebirths. Was never conventional to begin with for either of us - not when he’s human three hours of a day - n there’ll be no judge, or legal bullshit, or a court. No names to split sept what I take quietly. Not sure Risk is registered in daily life anymore than York, or if their both names in a cemetery somewhere? Our families can’t even attend,” he couldn’t logic how to get his mother and sisters there to see it without a great deal of money, paperwork and many more things. The thought of him and Fuastite being trapped on a boat for a month on the way to Cameroon was far more honeymoon hangout than wedding wait. Anyone who was gonna be on a boat that long with another being should’ve certainly been more n married by then, “We’ll be lucky if any of our friends do, but even if they don’t? Gotta remember. M’marrying Faustite, the guy on fire who used to flinch every time I’d go to grab him without oven mitts. Like I could ever forget how hot he is,” a sly little smile for that, because Faustite was always hot. It was the easiest joke in the world to make, n belied the truth that sometimes he honest to god had forgotten which places were better on his boy to touch. Though had more to do with his own impulsive need to have n grab and hold things despite the danger of them, then the fact that he’d forgotten Faustite was on fire, “but also? As if I ever cared that burning was a possibility! Like, duh, fire’s on fire. I know. Learned how that works when I was three, and I’m not that accident prone.”
If he was touching Faustite, it was because he wanted to. If he burned his dumb a** doing it? Then those were the consequences of being given free will n half a braincells worth of thought to act that will out with.
“Bonus of getting Faustite is getting Eion n Elex n Agni in the mix; minds the same, but the forms are very separate, n treating it that way is definitely a little complex. Not that I care about the complexities,” what did it matter in the face of loving him? If Faustite was on fire, or a puddle in a jar, or had an Arabian Nights worth of husbands to line his bed with daily…..
It didn't. That would've been like being a picky eater when dying tomorrow was too real a possibility for both of them. So they’d agreed to eat a buffet and snatch happiness between the feasts when famine loomed over the horizon. “But maybe especially since I don't? It means I'm gonna dodge all the norms that I already don't adhere to. He deserves to have a ring and a wedding and — something nice? So do I…so do you….you sound like you think he doesn’t love you, n personally? I think the boy you knew then played hot n cold so much cause he was a terrible liar," or the best liar in the world, one of the two. Waru wanted for them to have more, the possibility of it at least. Wasn't sure how to cement Aelius place till Aelius himself was ready to take it; till Faustite was ready to have the talks he hated the most with the subordinate he'd had the longest.
"Right now though? There’s no way he’d have you back under him in any capacity if he didn’t feel some type of way. Like…I can’t even imagine,” he wouldn’t deny there might’ve been some solace taking, could see it of the Faustite of back then, but the Faustite of now? “But we came to know two totally different people, yeah? Me n my team did our damnedest to grind some of that stuff outta him. N I don’t tolerate it from any of them when I’m quick enough to catch on that things’ve gone fubar..”
“S’why I’m here with you.”
Cause if his worry grew beyond his control? He had ten different names he’d sick on his boy, speed dialed at the ready. If Faustite was so mad at him as to need space — there was something comforting in knowing he’d have other people to talk to who’d hold him when Waru knew he’d ******** up enough that he couldn't. If things got really bad? He’d go himself. But right then…
He was there because everything had blown up for Aelius, and he couldn't send Haymitch, or Tama, or -- All the people he could ping to check in on each other, or to stop by for a night say and 'Hi'. Aelius didn't have that right then. N Waru wouldn't've wanted to be alone in the aftermath, no matter how nice an apartment or now good the coffee n booze.
strickenized worrdssss for thoz spechul eys~
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Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2022 8:29 pm
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Waru presented…well, a lot. Conventional was not a word he’d have ever used to describe his life, not since his corruption. The time before? Sure. Every part of his life was conventional before then. Expectations existed and he knew where the path eventually would lead. Graduating art school. A job. A house of his own. A loving husband. But all of that felt like it was gone. Like smoke in a breeze it had wafted away and now he just let himself move through life with no real plan. It was working, but how well? Was he even happy? Ha! That was a question he couldn’t even begin to answer cause he wasn’t sure what happy was anymore. He’d gotten to the point that a day without any stress or hurt was considered a good one. Complacent. That was what he had become. It was safe. Painless. Comfortable? Not really.
Sipping at the coffee, the burning of the rum was both pleasant and not. After all, coffee and alcohol wasn’t a typical combination fo rhim, but the kick was needed. “I am honestly jealous of you. You are so free-willed and caring.” Fingers cupped the hot mug, steepled just enough away from the heat to avoid any unpleasantries. “You give so much of yourself and don’t seem to expect anything in return.” Eyes stared at the dark liquid as a finger tapped. “Honestly, the team is incredibly lucky to have you. Faustite too. I could see the changes when I came back. It was a relief, honestly. I had expected to find the cold-stand-offish General I remembered, and while he’s still like that with me, I can see how he leans on you. Opens up when you’re around and…I am jealous.” He shrugged. Heaving a sigh as emotions welled. “You all have done him good. Meanwhile I feel like I am a ghost from a past he’d be better off forgetting.”
Heat be damned he took a long draft from his coffee. He wasn’t ready for this. None of it. A part of him had expected to always be alone. Forced to believe that nothing good would come for him. In fact, he hadn’t even been sure his return would have been accepted, but it was. In fiery, open arms he was brought back into the fold. But a part of him doubted that it was anything beyond a physical attachment.
Yet, Waru sat there dead ******** determined that there was more to…all of this. Certain without a doubt. It was amazing and helped bolster Aelius who was barely still floundering along. A wetness slipped down his face and he didn’t care. He was tired. So very tired and Waru was willing to be the shoulder he needed. The crutch to help him survive this night feeling like a person who was wanted.
And he didn’t have the words to thank the man. Instead, more tears trailed the previous. “Thank you.” He said, head bowed over his coffee in a dismal attempt at hiding his face. It was all he could come up with in the moment. Simple, two words.
shiningamisgirl Aelius can't even process his emotions anymore, ok?
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Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2022 10:32 pm
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The affectionate compliments caught him as off guard as the legitimate gratitude, he hadn’t been expecting to be thanked. Didn’t deserve it for doing only what felt right — so he took it with a silent nod, a feather edged smile. Couldn’t very well say ‘you’re welcome’ till he was done, and he didn’t feel done, not just yet.
“See, I’d tell you you’re right, except Faustite doesn’t forget his ghosts. Not sure any of us do; we bury ‘em, make peace with ‘em, wipe our minds of ‘em? But even purification isn’t a surefire escape from all that ails you. Cause the people you run into after the fact still remember,” and it was meant to be something like comforting, a reach for reassurance that Aelius hadn’t done any wrong by returning with all his heavy ghosts n feelings in tow, they were welcomed things. Inescapable as thoughts and time. If Cybele n Nectaris hadn’t proved that to him? Nothing would.
Even with no memories they stood haunted by pasts they’d sought to leave, or embrace n change. There was nothing to do for the ghosts but love with em.
“N we don’t mind the Jealousy, heh, I mean, it’s healthy as ******** - yanno? N clearly you haven’t properly met Cela’ yet. He’s elevated ‘Jealous’ to the point of being fashionable —“ jumped up ******** had one upped him into youmadom, and Albite couldn’t even be mad because it looked so good on that boy! Cause Lionel was doing what he thought was right, for himself, for his loves, wasn’t about to ask his slacking superior if he was allowed to do it. He just forged ahead and did.
“So, where’s the bed here, or am I couching it up tonight?” the steaming mug found coffee table with a clunk, the abandoned wraps snagged up, Waru found the floor in an awkward scooting slide that gave him Aelius back better so he could start up what he’d stopped — he’d pretend that the tears streaking the mans too pretty face were steam, let him have that final bit of privacy. “Cause I can crash on a couch like a ********, but a bed? It’s shareable as heck.”
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Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2022 10:40 pm
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It was hard to say whether Waru was right if Aelius's return was truly welcomed or not. To be honest with himself, Aelius himself still wasn't even sure himself. But, what was done was done and he'd supposed there was nothing else to do right now. The best he could do was just, keep a distance. Let things cool off because the last damn thing he wanted right now was to barrel into another encounter with their General.
A little knot in his chest eased a bit at the small decision.
"Right." He said, heaving a breath and settling himself enough to stop the watery display that he'd curtained behind purple locks. He was ever so grateful that Waru hadn't voiced anything over the display. The man certainly had a way of understanding what people needed.
"No, no." He responded to the mention of Waru sleeping on the couch. "I can tell you from experience that the couch isn't comfortable for anything more than a nap." He'd spent the first few nights in his apartment on the specific item since it was the first article of furniture he had purchased. His damn bed had taken longer to arrive, forcing him to toss and turn and wake up sore from the deceitful, comfortable-looking living room furniture.
He shifted away from the coffee table to allow Waru easier access to his back and chest. "The bed is plenty big enough." And to be honest, he was so incredibly tired that he'd likely fall asleep the moment his head hit that pillow. Plus, sharing a bed, even in the most innocent of ways, would certainly help. Aelius never did much like sleeping alone.
A small smile. "It's certainly 'shareable as heck.'" He chuckled softly.
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