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 Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 8:23 pm
Dari laughed, but it wasn't the usual chiming, joyful sound. All of the mirth had gone out of it.
"Love, there's nothing you can do about it."
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Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 8:25 pm
"Is it something at work?" Cody asked. "Did something happen? Do you have to go away again?" Why was Dari so upset? "Why won't you tell me?"
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Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 8:27 pm
"What? No. You know everything about work," Dari said. He was clearly painting an amorphous shape, but it was indistinguishable as an object. Someone was going away, but it wasn't him, and it wasn't now.
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Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 8:28 pm
"Tell me," Cody insisted, raising his voice slightly. He kissed Dari's cheek to soften it, though. "Please, love. You've been acting off for days."
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Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 8:30 pm
Dari had never heard Cody raise his voice before. He turned to face him, brow furrowed, paintbrush still poised.
"If there was anything to do about it, don't you think I'd tell you?" he asked. "If it was anything so superficial do you think I would care?"
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Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 8:32 pm
Cody crossed his arms. "I know it must be something important. You don't act like this for no reason. Maia says you were like this before you changed. Is it me? Did I do something to upset you?"
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Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 8:34 pm
Dari laughed and set his paintbrush carefully on the easel.
"Oh, you will," he assured his fiancee, "but it's not something you'd do intentionally." He looked up to Cody, and there was something off in his eyes; it was half sad, half rife with anger.
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Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 8:37 pm
Cody's expression crumpled. He stared at Dari for a long moment. "So...what is it then?" He asked. "Can you tell the future? What do I do?" Maybe he could prevent it. Whatever he was going to do, it'd upset Dari for days...
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Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 8:38 pm
Dari frowned deeply and rolled his head, prepared to remind Cody not very nicely that he could not see the future. Instead, his head steadied on his neck and he went for a more sarcastic option.
"It's simple," Dari said, "You die."
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Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 8:47 pm
Cody paused. Images of dying children and houses burning down had filled his head--he hadn't expected that answer. "Well," he said. "Not for a good nine hundred years, I don't think. Adam had longer, but nobody's perfect--" he hesitated and looked to Dari.
"That's really what's been bothering you? Hell. I know two entities that used to be human."
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Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 8:57 pm
Dari rolled his eyes. "If you're lucky, you may still be alive and healthy at seventy, or else suffering from some degenerative mental disorder. At a great maximum, you will die at 95. We will spend 66 years together, a best case scenario--" Divorce, after all, did happen, even among entities. "--and you'll just be getting older and older, and then you're going to die."
He sighed.
His tone had changed now. His voice was sad, as if he had given in. He was no longer angry.
"You're going to die, Cody. I only get you for 67 years, at best. 67 years before hundreds or thousands of "67 years" without you, and I have no doubt that we were brought together to be each other's forever. I don't want to break off the engagement, Cody. It's just killing me to imagine our far future, and then my future alone beyond that. You're all I'll ever want, Cody, and you're going to die. Humans are not long-lived."
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Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 9:04 pm
No, but werewolves and vampires were.
Cody didn't voice that, though. He wrapped his arms around Dari and held him tightly. "We'll find a way, alright? I want to always be there for you. I can't imagine dying and leaving you behind. That'd be incredibly selfish of me." Dari needed him. And he needed to make Dari happy. He needed that. Dari's smiles made each day worth living. "You'll see. We'll have forever and then some. For as long as you want me around. Those hundreds of thousands of years? I'll be there."
He'd have to talk to Toby. He was willing to do anything to make Dari happy again.
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Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2016 7:22 pm
"No," Dari said firmly. "Forever is a curse. Everyone around you dies over and over again. Grief aside, I would rather you die."It was only fair to Cody.
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Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2016 7:52 pm
Cody hesitated. His expression darkened slightly. "Love! No. I'm not leaving you! I refuse. I'll talk to Toby."
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Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2016 8:03 pm
Dari turned his head and glared.
"Don't you dare."Of everyone, Toby's curse was the worst. At least vampires didn't have to transform every month!
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