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 Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2012 7:09 pm
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Posted: Mon Jul 15, 2013 10:34 am
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Posted: Mon Jul 15, 2013 10:47 am
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Posted: Mon Jul 15, 2013 10:49 am
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Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 5:23 pm
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Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 5:24 pm
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█║ SOLO: Die Young
█║ INVOLVED: Alex, Zul
█║ SYNOPS: The two argue about how things should have happened in the forest.
"You could have DIED, Lex!"
Those words seemed to be the theme of their shouting match. Neil had long since retreated to the library (even upstairs wasn't safe at this point), giving the Sigel and Alex a large berth. The Guardian and the Raevan, having no such inclination to give space, circled each other like a living, breathing whirlpool, each space given immediately swallowed by the other's presence.
The demon had never, in his life, been so angry. It was a rage he couldn't control, born of distress of Alex's injury, his own over-protectiveness that was getting worse by the day, and who to put the blame on - which was, as usual, squarely placed on Dr. Kyou's shoulders. Unfortunately, Alex was the only one there and she, in all her feisty, unyielding nature, was only serving to antagonize Zul's well-intended lecture turned-blow out.
"You could have too," she countered, and Zul could literally feel the spikes on his back tremble with how rigid his external spine had gone, "so could anyone there -- "
"And that would have been their problem, but you? You were going to put yourself on the line for Eiry -- "
"I'D DO MORE THAN THAT FOR HIM, DON'T YOU -- "
"-- HE UNDERSTOOD THE DANGERS WHEN HE JOINED," Zul intoned. And it was just that - not a shout, not a yell, but a pure boom of sound and power that it seemed to fill the space between them. Both of them fell silent, but the demon was so angry that he was not so easily sworn off the war path. "Everyone did. Your darling employer endangered everyone, again, by a lack of preparation and then having to rely on we, the less prepared, to save his a**." Alex drew in a breath but Zul cut her off, sharply continuing, "And you could have died for it. Then what, Lex? What happens to your friends? To me? To the ones that love you?"
The woman closed the space between them. His body curved around to the side, snake-like, keeping them from touching. He wasn't entirely convinced they wouldn't explode. "They'd understand, this is my choice, Zul! The Lab is my family, all of them, and if you think I wouldn't give up an arm and a leg just for some goddamn peace of mind, then you haven't been paying attention!"
"That's just it!" The words trickled from his mouth in a growl. "They'd go back home, to each other, their Guardians, their Raevans, their family - they'd go home and be safe. And they'd get over it. I wouldn't." Zul drew in a sharp breath and rustled his wings, the piercings making an ominous sound as they clacked against the bone of his frame. "I would never forgive anyone involved, don't you see that? Not even you! Certainly not myself."
It took some of the wind out of her sails, he could see: the way her head jerked backwards as if struck, the hesitant part of her lips and short breath drawn. "Zul - "
"Lex, I swear to whatever deities there are, you will be the death of me." Zul pressed his fingers over his eyes and along the ridge of his brow, a touch surprised as silence stretched. He could literally feel the air vibrate with her movements, could almost sense the way she wanted to reach for him, but wasn't. Respecting their space. Respecting their distance. Throwing his hands to the side, he continued in a stern tone, one she'd used on him plenty of times before. "I need you, Lex. I need you alive and whole and happy. I don't know what bred your streak of reckless abandon to yourself when others are in trouble, but you've said yourself that it's a choice you make." He stared at her, unblinking, eyes as frigid as he felt inside. "When will you choose to live?"
They stared at each other, but the silence didn't last nearly as long. "Why do you think living is different?"
Dark brows furrowed. "Different from what?"
"Being willing to die for what I believe in."
The words flicked the angry switch back on. Making a disgusted noise, the Sigel floated backwards, running his hands through his hair and over his horns. "Being willing isn't the same thing, Lex! That's like saying you like to climb trees and throwing yourself off of them is a natural part of it!" His words struck close to home - she was still healing from the lightning strike, bandaged to her neck - but Zul was beyond wordplay. "You can try to save those that need saving, but Lex, you have to let them save themselves. You're not always going to be there for them, and if you'd died trying to spare them from their own goddamned fears, can you imagine how that would have screwed them up even more?"
The woman's expression went dark, and Zul realized he may have made a wrong turn somewhere. "They aren't screwed up," she snapped, "and I didn't die, I wouldn't have died and I have no intention of dying. I'm just willing to do what's necessary!"
"So am I," he snarled back, bending himself to meet her eye level; he floated forward sharply, and she moved around to the side, their dance of space and distance. "It's why you're here, and not out there. Because I'm not willing to sacrifice you for anyone else!"
"It's not a sacrifice," the answer was exasperated, "and it's not your choice."
"When I can carry you out of there and you're unconscious for hours, it is my choice."
"And had I been awake, it wouldn't have happened. End of story." The green of her eyes was bright, the word 'toxic' coming to mind. "But tell me, Zul. What would you have done if you couldn't have spirited me away? What could we have possibly done different that would have given you some measure of peace?"
He scarcely had to even consider before the answer came, gritty and still singed with the hottest parts of his anger. "I'd have gotten everyone out. Guardians had no purpose there, neither did the Frei's. The Sigels could have convened and handled it."
"Really." The flat word gave him the impression another wrong turn was made. "So you're telling me you'd have stripped everyone of their free will and desire to help for your own sacrifice?"
"That's not what I said."
"It is. In so many words. You'd have risked yourself and taken away that choice from everyone else. You're not a martyr, Zul, stop acting like one."
"That's rich, coming from you."
And that was probably the wrong response. Alex's eyes widened and then narrowed, brows sharp in a very real display of anger, her lips curled up over her teeth like the wild animals she'd squared off with. (Dimly, Zul thought to himself that none had bested her yet, why had he thought he could?) "I've been alive a lot longer than you have, experienced more and learned more than you have, Zul, so get off your damn high horse for five seconds and listen to me." She pressed forward so fast that he couldn't move to adjust for it, her hands pushing him hard in the chest. "I am your Guardian. For all legal intents and purposes, that means I'm your parent - I am responsible for you, in your learning, your experiences, and your safety. So unless the next words out of your mouth are 'thank you for letting me risk my life and limb to do what I think is right,' I suggest you think really hard about this.
All those Raevans out there? Those people who agree to take care of them? They do this knowing what they're getting into. The contracts are clear, and making a deal with a warlock is kind of a gimme in this situation." She snorted, grabbing the fur of his gorget and pulling Zul closer, his shock keeping him still and wide-eyed. "We love you. Everyone who has met you, loves you, and would do anything for you. Now multiply that by each Raevan. Multiply that by the story each Guardian has, their own unique brand of mentorship they bring, being host to a life they can't conceive of and yet open their hearts to. You? You don't have a choice but to accept us, that's how family works, but you are the family we have chosen. We choose to love you. And the moment you trivialize that with blame, martyrdom and general asshattery, I will confine you to this house until you learn better."
Zul couldn't find the words he wanted to reply with, just a white, fuzzy static in his head. It was the first time he'd ever heard Alex sound disappointed. In him.
"I taught you better, I know I did, so I know this is you - trying to figure this out, trying to make sense of what happened and how it could have been better, but sweetheart, lemme tell ya," she smiled, and it was tight and angry and he realized that she was just as upset at the situation as he was about her hurt in it all, "life doesn't always allow choice in the heat of the moment. Sometimes it's all morals and instinct. You're not that different." Her fingers loosened and then released his furred neck piece, but he didn't right himself or float higher, watching her. "There's not always a right answer. We have to do what we think is right, what we think is best, for everyone. It's called being morally grey, Zul, and you're in the thick of it and still figuring it out."
Alex sighed slowly, wavering, but her gaze was unyielding and Zul didn't have the heart to look away. He'd struck the nerve, and he'd have to hear it out. "You can question things all you want, and I will always encourage that, but when you start making decisions for me, when you start taking away the freedom of others - you become a stranger, to me and yourself."
That stung. The Sigel's lips twitched, but he refused to look away or cringe. He'd sold himself as being responsible, and here he was, feeling one foot tall next to her. "I wouldn't change anything," he finally said, voice terse and clipped. "I'd still take you away. I'd take them all away."
"You say that now, but your mind may change." She paused, then shook her head. "I hope it changes."
He floated in silence.
"Go home, Zul." There was pain in her voice, and he wasn't entirely sure it was from her injuries.
With silence between them, with space, with distance, Zul left.
(( 1,781 words // 10 points )) |
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Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 7:14 pm
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x x x x x █║ MSN SHORT: Heartbeats
x x x x x █║ INVOLVED: Rivener & Zul
x x x x x █║ SYNOPS: Spoiler: Zul isn't dead.
Rivener was freshly bandaged, though there was no helping his sore, leaden wings no matter how the doctors baffled over them. The Raevan's body was almost all bandage, in fact: burns from both heat and cold had scoured both arms to mid-bicep, and a good portion of his stomach and chest. When asked what the hell had happened, Riv had just shaken his head. He stared at the walls, didn't speak. He remained that way, unresponsive, until he somehow made it to his apartment. The cab let him out and the doorman let him up looking worried, the elevator slowly climbed to the upper floors and there in the hallway before his own door, key in hand, Rivener began crying again. He put his hand on the door's nameplate. Rivener and Zul. He'd have to get that changed, and it tore him apart all over again. There were no bandages for the worst wounds of all, inside. Hand trembling, Riv managed to get the key into the lock and slipped inside, where he just pressed himself against the closing door and slid down. God, he could even still SMELL him, like he was here... "********," he sobbed, covering his face.
He'd been in and out of the hospital over the past few days, and not for himself -- fighting with Alex, checking on her and seeing if anyone had come in yet from the forest, mostly -- and was quite exhausted. The demon was nervous, deeply upset and suffering what felt like a budding anxiety attack with each passing minute. Rivener and Melisande were still out there, and while he knew they could handle themselves, he still felt the gnawing discomfort of not being there for them. He'd made up his mind and though it had been logical and sound, doubt had been chipping away at his mind once the adrenaline and subsequent exhaustion had faded away.
The door clicking caught his attention, making him freeze where he was in the bedroom, a pile of Rivener's clothes at his side that he was shaking out and hanging up to keep himself busy. Dropping one of the articles in haste, he slid out of the room and to the front door, the soft glow of his horns heralding his presence before he was physically within sight of Rivener --
And what he saw utterly gutted him. Zul felt every beat of his heart and thrum of his blood through each fibre of his very soul at the sight of his scorpion, disheveled, beaten -- defeated. It was like Rivener had given up on living and that him sitting there at all was no small feat. There was something absent, something almost departed in the Scorpion's presence that struck a very unsettling line in Zul, making his entire being vibrate with the sudden grip of something very close to sheer fear. The demon felt the strangest sensation of something burning his eyes as he sharply spread his wings and darted towards the shell of the Scorpion, immediately wrapping himself around the wilted form of his beloved. His blue eyes were too wide, his arms too tight, his grip constantly readjusting as if the one in his arms was slipping away into the essence that made him up. "Rivener!" The name was barely breathed, the painful pounding of his heart in his chest making him deaf to his own voice.
Rivener heard a rustling in the house and nearly laughed in frantic disbelief. He was tired. Starving. Wounded. Pumped full of painkillers that hardly worked due to his natural resistance to toxin. He was hallucinating! Hearing things in the house that he wished to be there, and- Something grabbed him painfully hard, sending thrums of ache and stabs of slicing fire through him. It was undeniably real. It was REAL, and though the sight of bone wings over the shoulder that held his chin took a moment to register, that breathed voice rang through the Scorpion like a clear bell of absolute world-altering SHOCK. He couldn't breathe. His red eyes, so hurt from crying, widened impossibly and his hands slowly crawled forward to hover over the Demon's skin before daring to touch, like he would shatter an illusion. "Z-... Z-Zul? You're... Are you really here? You're here?"
Zul was scared, because for once, things were outside of his power. Gripping the Sigel in his arms, his anxiety only elevated at the feathered touch and the broken, pained words that were in the sound of his name. Pulling back a little, enough to look his loved one in the eye, he skewed his brows over his imploring eyes. "Yes, it's me -- I'm right here, love, in our home -- " A hand lifted from Rivener's battered body to draw his fingers along his jaw, thumb ghosting over the Scorpion's lips. " -- and so are you." He wanted to ask Riv what happened, if he was okay, but both questions seemed inappropriate given the other's state and obvious condition. "I -- what -- what can I do for you?" And then he was beside himself with self-loathing and something close to grief; if he had stayed there, could he have prevented what happened to Rivener? Would Alex have survived the ordeal? He was conflicted, turning his loved one's condition in on himself.
Rivener couldn't believe this. When Zul pulled away -it was really him!- Riv looked into his eyes with slowly growing hope that bordered on insanity for how strongly it washed him away as it rose. One of his own hands raised to cradle Zul's cheek, touching his face all over, at first slowly then with growing relief until the wounded Scorpion was laughing and sobbing in equal measure, grabbing Zul tightly by the shoulders and pulling him for a hug again, this time clutching arms around him so tight it felt like he wanted to absorb the Demon. "Oh my god you're alive! You're alive! It was all a trick, a forest illusion, all along! Zul, my Zul, my Flower, you're alive, oh thank you, ********, ******** hell, Zul! Oh my god, Zul! I thought you were dead! I had your core, I c-carried your core..." He sobbed frantically, letting it all out of himself, reliving the terror of it all because now he knew it had been a bad dream, nothing but a bad dream. His Flower was ALIVE!
The panic washed over him in mounting tides at Rivener's reaction, so confused and for one moment, wondering if Rivener had lost his mind in that forest. But then the Scorpion's explanation tumbled from his lips and Zul felt his heart sink. The thing in the forest had painted a picture of his death and Rivener had to endure it -- all because he wasn't there. When Riv mentioned carrying his core, he had a vivid flashback of Melisande's tear-stained face turned to him, asking after Zavier. For a moment - a horrible, guilty moment - he understood her pain, seeing it so clearly in the Scorpion's distraught features. "I'm right here -- and I wont leave you again --" And he gathered the broken Sigel into his arms again, pressing his face against Rivener's, rubbing his cheek on the Scorpion's and pressing their noses together, trying to impart affection and his presence as a source of comfort. "I want you to tell me everything -- but later, much later, because right now I'm going to take you to bed and tend to you and your wounds --"
Rivener sobbed and clutched and let himself believe it: Zul was alive. He was right here, his Flower, his Demon, and Rivener hadn't lost everything. The world that had seemed like it was crumbling, held together only by the small comfort of Melisande's support now began pieceing itself back together properly. Zul was here, he was right here, and Riv's teary eyes crinkled with overwhelming relief as he stared into Zul's eyes. The affection lavished upon him was balm, spackle to bind together those little pieces of world. Riv would always see those cracks, they would never go away. He'd felt what it was like. There was no erasing that. But at least he had Zul back. He was luckier, so much luckier than some. So much luckier than Melisande. "Alright," the Scorpion agreed with a rasping voice, running his claws lightly through Zul's hair. He smiled, letting out a deep and shaky breath. "Bed and tending to my wounds sounds perfect. I just want to touch you and hold you until my mind stops bringing up images of-... of that other stuff." Of Zul's ice rock in shards on the ground. Of a magma-burnt crater of a clearing where one lone burnt body had tried to reach the demon before he was destroyed. Of a lone glowing rock smoking in the middle of that clearing. Riv shook his head, trembling as he covered himself in Zul's arms again. "You're alive. Zul is here. You're real. My Zul."
The way Rivener kept repeating the words made Zul feel a bit displaced, as if the idea of him was all that was present, the Scorpion still fairly lost in that dark place. "Riv'ner -- shh. I'm right here, my love." And slowly, carefully, he began to draw himself up and, subsequently, Rivener with him. "Tell me if I'm hurting you, alright? But stay with me. Stay on me, don't let me go." And floating backwards towards the room he'd come out of, he kept his arms tight around Rivener beneath his wings, trying not to hurt him but powerless to be gentle in such a crippling situation. "I will be here through your dreams and be holding you when you awaken. I'm here for you."
Rivener took deep breaths as they straightened. He grimaced and winced from time to time when the Demon's hold pressed or pulled at an injury, but Riv wouldn't have stopped it for all the world. He still cried, but the tears came without wracking sobs now, leftover emotions spilling over. The dark Sigel breathed deep, shakily, calmed himself as best he could, inhaling the scent of his lover, basking in his words, reveling in his warmth. They made it all the way to the bed and onto it before Riv found it in himself to speak, his voice beginning to sound tired and strained. "I love you, Zul. Don't wanna sleep. I'll have nightmares. Jus... let me rest my eyes a bit." He caressed at the Demon's skin, snuggling as close as he could. Zul was alive. Things would be okay. Everything was going to be okay. "Zul." He fell into blissful sleep.
(( 837 words // 1 point ))
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Posted: Sun Nov 24, 2013 2:31 pm
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Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2013 7:07 pm
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