[PRP] Gentle Things [Nose-in-the-Air/Last Night]

[Amorpheous]

The moon was high in the sky when she found him, sleeping in the shade, hidden despite his pale coat. She did not feel the phantom pain in her ankle as she slowed to a stop. The blood was dried on her antlers and in their violent rivulets on her face, a morbid smear on her mouth. She had yet to clean the dark evidence of the boar's death off her self yet. She had laid down to rest and woke feeling free, but also very aware of how empty she could be. Not too long ago, she would not have sought him out; she would not have sough anyone out. She would have taken her freedom and walked out, ignoring his gravity. Even after meeting his son, the one who had indirectly facilitated their first meeting. She would have wandered on and perhaps told him when they next wandered into each other. Now, she and chosen him as a point of gravity, pulling her near at times so that she could return again and again. She did not dwell on these thoughts though, on these changes to who she had once been.

Things changed. Thus was the true nature of all things.

As she gazed upon his slumbering form, she opened herself up to him, the the Swamp, to everything. The cicada song filled her and she almost felt as if she was soaring. When she came fully back into herself, she took a deep breath, grounding herself with the sting of cold air rushing into her lungs. She gazed fondly at Nose before coming forward to settle by his side, eyes staring out into the night. Sleep was not coming to claim her, not at this moment.

Ruriska

Finally, here it is. I'll get on a reply to The Last Straw~

 

[Ruriska]

He smelt blood.

Even in his dreams it registered, some deep instinct screeching in alarm. It turned his amble through the clouds to a nightmare, of sudden heat, constriction and death. Nose-in-the-air forced himself awake with a gasp, the scent of death in his nose and a body alongside him where none had been before.

Fight or flight? He always chose flight.

The buck pushed upright, stumbled and ran. It wasn’t until he stood quivering alone in the dark that thoughts began to make sense and his reaction seemed ridiculous. He should go back… it might have been one of his children…

So it was with a sigh and still a slight tremor, that he returned.

Amorpheous

high strung much?

 

[Amorpheous]

She did not follow when he fled. She knew, partly because she always knew and partly because she knew him, that he would return despite the tremors that had overtaken his limbs.

She was there, waiting for him, when he returned. Her expression was faintly concerned, but mostly unreadable, as it tended to be. She rose to meet him, licking her mouth clean of blood before gently pressing her nose to his cheek. She drew back then, to consider him carefully with her pale eyes that were gentle because that was her nature, gentleness came easily with distance, but warmed by her affection for him. Finally, she smiled softly, perhaps a little sad, and said, "I'm sorry."

Her words were punctuated by a soft, calm sigh. She took a few steps back, head just tilted to the side and very still. "Rest and let me tell you a story."

Another step until she was back where they had lain and she settled back onto the ground with an easy, unconscious grace, legs folded underneath her. She smiled again, in that faint and quiet way of hers, asking him to join her.

Ruriska

Only the best kind. Last Night is sorry for scaring you, Nose!

 

[Ruriska]

When he saw who was waiting for him, Nose looked thoroughly abashed. His heart had already stopped racing, soothed by her calming presence.

It wasn’t the first time he had woken to the smell of blood, but she wasn’t to know that sometimes he opened his eyes to blood and green and a nasty grin and each time it made him want to weep. He smiled back, made a shrugging gesture and settled beside her without comment.

His side pressed against hers, he placed his head along the back of her neck and waited for her story to begin.

Amorpheous

<3