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 Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2016 6:32 pm
BreathIt was going to be a peaceful morning. That's what it felt like, anyway, with the patch of sun shining warmly on his face and the crisp, clean scent of a new day in the air. He'd been awake for a few minutes, but refused to open his eyes, refused to unsettle from his cozy nest of pillows and blankets. Instead Jamie laid there with a smile, taking his time to wake up.
Then Shiloh screamed and it was no longer a peaceful morning.
Shooting up, heart in his throat, he stumbled out of bed and nearly hit the floor with the way his head spun. He hadn't given himself enough time to adjust and blood pulsed angrily behind his eyes in the beginnings of a headache as he managed his way out into the hallway.
"S-Shiloh?" he called, checking his room to find it empty. "Shiloh?!" The path of petals went by unnoticed at first as it dissolved to nothing at his feet. The further he went, the more noticeable they became as they vanished right before his eyes. Magic, it had to be magic. What was going on?
The back door was open and he made a beeline for it. "Shiloh, p-please, what's wrong?"
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Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2016 7:14 pm
Breath
It happens very quickly.
He's left footprints in the earth. They're raised with rapid decaying vegetation. Where he stands now is a living garden, innumerable leaves and herbs and ferns swirling around his bare feet, between his toes, crawling up his ankles. His palms are dusted with honey suckle blooms. His eyes are fixated on them as he tries to ignore the uncomfortable sensation of vines curling around his face.
He turns around at the sound of Jamie's voice, and it would be a heavenly scene if not for the panic in Shiloh's eyes. He's shaking, but standing with a refined dignity. He's trembling but his posture is straight. He's caving into his anxiety but it's still somewhat beautiful in the breakdown.
Sunflowers burst out from the collar of his sleep-shirt. The grass below him seems to ripple in waves like the ocean. It's actually in time with his breathing. The land lives around him.
"J-Jamie? S-Stand back, st-stay—"
Those vines have thorns.
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Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2016 2:50 pm
BreathNo sooner than Jamie's own bare feet found grass, he learned the answer to his question was simply more questions. In the back of his mind, he put two and two together, he remembered Pax's words relayed through Shiloh, but in the moment he couldn't form those thoughts into words of his own.
What concerned him more was the fear in Shiloh's voice, the dread in his eyes. He stepped closer, warning unheeded.
"I-It's... gonna be okay," he told Shiloh in the face of everything as sunflowers lined his jaw. Jamie wasn't practiced enough to know what else to say.
He could feel the grass rippling, brushing against his toes. He could feel his heart constricting as the vines wound around Shiloh's face. Thorns or no, how was he supposed to tell if they truly meant to hurt him or not? With the touch of the Otherworld, it was always impossible to tell.
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Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2016 8:39 am
Breath
He shook his head. He shook his head and it wracked him in a fluid, full body motion. The plants reacted in tandem like a limb; they flowed evenly like liquid, they reacted as if they had their own thoughts. The lush of the grass beneath them was welcoming despite the crowns of thorns adorning Shiloh's temple. It was contradictory. He wanted the same help he tried to scorn.
And so he shook, and he shook, and he shook. His head said no, the language of his body said no, his eyes were squeezed shut in a see no evil way. Wisteria dripped off of his arms like a waterfall.
"I don't know— I don't—" understand; the word was there, barely out of reach on his tongue.
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Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2016 9:37 am
Breath"I-It's okay..." Arms held out in front of him, Jamie reached for Shiloh. He tried to brush past the flowers, he tried to find skin. It was like they moved on their own, and he wasn't sure of their intentions, but his only thoughts were trying to show Shiloh that this would inevitably change nothing that hadn't already been changed.
"I... I-I didn't get it either," he told him, "W-When I started changing I-I was so scared... but it turned out okay. I know i-it's not easy a-and it's okay to be scared, b-but-"
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Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2016 9:52 am
Breath
He flinched. He flinched when Jamie raised his hands, no matter how gentle the intention or soft the movement, he flinched at the gesture. His breathing hitched at the touch. His eyes never opened.
The flowers started to fall, steadily like rain, dissolving as they kissed the earth. Others still curled around Jamie's fingers like an invitation, coaxing him in.
The thorns were soft. saedusk idk take this i gotta go to the store LOL
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Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2016 10:04 am
BreathDon't flinch, even if he pulls away. Jamie had told himself that once before, in the Otherworld, trying to comfort Shiloh not unlike he was now. This time his thoughts were similar, but different. Don't pull away, even if he flinches.
And so he didn't. Jamie continued to touch Shiloh's skin, to search for more, to extend the best comfort he could manage agains the new and unusual, against things without proper explanation. There was no way he could be Shiloh's knight in shining armor and honestly that's not what he wanted. What he did hope was to be his friend, his confidant, to stand on equal footing and share their experiences together. Good and bad.
He took the invitation of the flowers, the invitation he thought might be Shiloh's, too. He stepped into his space and wrapped his arms around him. Jamie could feel the thorns greeting him, part of their hug the way the flowers seemed part of Shiloh, but they didn't hurt.
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Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2016 12:37 pm
Breath
Shiloh held his breath as the arms wrapped around him, mentally trying to will away all the anxiety and apprehension and fear that pulsed through his veins. Jamie was warm pressed against him; focus on that, focus on the warmth, the sense of completion, the comfort.
The wisteria took to Jamie like soil, gently caressing his wrists and his arms. Between the two of them, they held together a delicate curtain. Every exhale left more and more of the flora to shed, sunflowers slowly recoiling in on themselves, petals dripping away. When he finally opened his eyes, he only saw the soft brown top of Jamie's head. He sighed.
Jamie never pulled away.
"Stop..." he whispered, but it wasn't directed to Jamie. The foliage all dropped instantly, decaying away on the ground. The grass still swirled.
He was silent.
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2016 5:01 pm
BreathLike this the flowers hardly felt threatening. Instead, as they twined his arms, he felt a sense of familiarity in their touch, a sense of relief, of comfort. Everything slowed down and the frantic, frightening atmosphere of mere moments ago gave way to something a lot like how it felt to open your eyes and understand. This was not the end all be all, but it was a start.
Jamie remained silent as Shiloh did, never flinching at his instruction, knowing deep down it hadn't been meant for him. As if time suddenly sped back to where it should be, the flowers dropped and while things certainly weren't normal by any stretch—and hadn't been for a while nor would they be again—it was as it should be.
The grass tickled his feet, Shiloh's body against his was warm, and when Jamie breathed in it smelled like rain.
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