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 Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2014 12:03 pm
Who: Cesc and Anya
Where: Zeke's new place
When: Evening
Weather: Partly cloudy
Cesc had, of course, called to make sure his visit would be welcomed. He also knew that his call was some months late. But then again, his calls to everyone were some months late.
This one, though. This one he hoped more than most would be alright.
It had been too long since he'd seen the spider queen. He'd worried for her when he last saw her, but his worry had shifted from concern into faith in Anya's inner strength -- and now, as he floated on the doorstep, one hand holding a bag with a quite-belated housewarming gift, was slowly drifting back into its original state. She was well, wasn't she? Certainly Zeke would have tried to reach out if any regressions had occurred. Wouldn't he?
A thought popped into his head as he pushed the doorbell. What if she had grown as well? It was a fact he'd neglected to mention on the phone. What if she opened the door and they stood there, two sigels, staring at each other?
The thought brought a faint grin to his face. It would serve them both right.
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Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2014 1:04 pm
The phone call had been a welcome surprise. How long had it been since she had last seen Cesc? Months, most definitely, several long months. It wasn't just the time apart that made the Frei so quickly say yes to the Stag's request. Not only did she have something long overdue to give him but Brad and Zeke were out on one of their signature unplanned date nights so that meant a few precious hours with a Frei she thought so well of.
From the moment she hung up Anastacia was a whirlwind. Suddenly there was so much to do and not enough time to do it. The thing she had been working on all these months needed to be wrapped. What was a present if it wasn't wrapped, after all? However, all of the wrapping paper in the house was either Christmas or birthday themed and Anya was left hunting for a suitable bag and tissue paper instead. When that was taken care of, the Frei found herself looking in her bedroom mirror, frowning at her appearance. The day up until this point had been spent lounging for the most part; a slow, comfortable day that had suited the Virus Frei quite well. After a sudden burst of energy and the promise of a guest to come, a few stray hairs were surmount to a tangled mess in her opinion. This certainly wouldn't do.
The doorbell rang and set Altair off, with only a couple booming barks from Faust before the big old Pyrenees went quiet again. Anya ran her hands over the thick braid she had woven before slipping it over her shoulder to fall down her partial back, floating out from her room thereafter. As she set her sight on the front door, her nerves started to tingle. The closer she got to it, the more the sensation increased until she was floating before it feeling as though she was hit with a live wire. As she reached for the knob her hand shook and she made a sound of displeasure at herself for it. Why was she so nervous all of a sudden? It was Cesc behind the door. Cesc, the one who had once stopped by and helped her find some part of herself again. Cesc, the one who had helped to pull her out of the jungle's lingering clutches. Cesc, the one who had sat next to her in relative silence for hours one November afternoon and watched her start something that now waited for him in a sturdy cream-colored paper bag from some fashion depot in Durem proper tucked beneath some leftover red tissue paper.
Cesc, the patron saint of patience and understanding, a beacon of hope in a world darkened by self-hatred and loathing. Cesc, one of the only ones Anya could ever consider to be--
My friend is here. She took hold of the doorknob, and when she did she found the shaking in her hand went away. A bloom of confidence opened within her and the door quickly followed. She only needed to see the pink of his hair. "Good evening,"
A smile could have been on her face. There could have been joyous light in her eyes at the sight of him floating there, waiting ever so patiently for her to get around to doing whatever it was she was doing. But when the door opened fully and Anastacia saw a Sigel floating there in place of a Frei, any standard pleasant expression was lost for one of shock. The pink hair was there, oh yes indeed, but crowned by larger antlers and ears. Beneath his bangs was a more mature face - a stronger jaw, masculine features - and below that still a striking yellow coat over a midriff - a stomach, a middle, a more to his being - that had most certainly not been there the last they had met.
As she so often found herself doing these days, Anastacia shook her head to clear her vision as if this was but a trick of the quickly dying light. But no, this Stag did not change nor differ when she looked at him a second time. The antlers, the jaw, the coat, the stomach...This was indeed the one she had been expecting, but how?
"Cesc?!"
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Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2014 4:18 pm
There was a moment -- a brief one, but still there -- where Anya was pleased to see him and Cesc pleased to see her, and all was pleasant and normal. For that moment, Cesc could see that the woman who opened the door was the self-same Anya he'd longed to see, the beautiful spider queen in all her regality.
And then the moment passed, and Anya's crown flew open as her eyes widened and Cesc's hands went out as if to brace her from whatever had garnered the expression from her. It took him until his own gasped name to realize that what had surprised her was him.
"Oh!" Cesc's hands went to the cravat he'd retied for the occasion. He'd taken the outfit off the evening of his growth, hung everything specially in his closet beside his suits, but tonight he decided to restore the outfit to its original glory. Anya, he thought, would like to see it.
He smoothed his vest and looked back at the black widow with a good-natured smile. "I'm sorry if I startled you. I guess I forgot to mention. I was anxious to see you." He tugged on the end of his suit coat. "Does it -- do I have your approval?"
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Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2014 4:55 pm
Anastacia could not stop staring at the Stag before her, the Sigel decked out in colors as warm as his disposition. He had reached out as though to stop her from falling but quickly recoiled, his hands going to his cravat - which now had a shiny amber jewel cushioned in the topmost ruffle. Then he spoke and proved he was indeed dear Cesc.
"You," she began, the awe heavy even though the word was breathed. Anastacia's lavender eyes flicked here, there, and everywhere trying to process even though this was indeed the Stag and that, yes, he had undergone a serious change in their time apart. Finally she settled them on his face. "You look amazing."
The words were tumbled out in a slack jawed manner most unlike the Widow previously but they were genuine. Cesc had always been held in the highest regard by Anya, and his born-in attire was part of that. Fitting colors aside, his vest and cravat had suited him and his nature to a T. His growth had not changed that in any way, shape, or form but instead intensified it.
The fact she was floating at the threshold with the front door wide open was missed. Suddenly the world wasn't spinning. Time had stopped. They were the only two people in the here and now and nothing else mattered.
He asked her if she approved. He showed off just a little as if he needed to. Anastacia worked to pull her crown back from the lengths it had gone in her surprise and close her wings to her back at the same time. Both sets of appendages rattled. Slowly she shook her head, but this time not to try and correct her vision.
"Of course you do." The shock slipped from her features and the line her lips made when pressed together lengthened and pulled back. "I can't believe..." If she hadn't still been gripping the knob, she would have gestured. There were so many questions, so much to catch up on. "When? How?" As tenuously - shakily - posed as they were, at the very least they could start with that.
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Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2014 11:49 am
"I was hoping you'd like it. It was just two days ago," said Cesc with a smile. He shook his head. He didn't particularly want to go into the details, really, but he know that many people would be asking similar questions of him as time went on. "It's been a strange past few months... but they're over now. And I couldn't wait to show you."
His smile warmed as he looked up at Anya. She looked as beautiful, as self-possessed, as regal as ever. And yet now there was something more. Her beauty before -- he remembered it vividly. There was a coldness, a distance to it, like admiring the stars, ethereally gorgeous but forever out of reach. Somehow, now, she had warmed, ever so slightly. It had added a living, natural grace to her.
"Actually," he amended. "I couldn't wait to see you." His smile became fond. "How are you? You look beautiful. Amazingly well. I hope the look is not far from the truth."
He was still floating at the threshold, the conversation having halted all the normal stages of politeness. But he hardly noticed. He was too relieved to see the spider well.
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Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2014 8:52 pm
Two days ago he had grown. That meant three days past he had still been a Frei. The fact it was so soon was almost dizzying and Anya gawked once more. She parted her lips to speak - the 'how' again ready to be spoken - but Cesc shook his head and Anastacia bit back the word.
"I see," she nodded, though the action was more an automatic bob of her chin than anything else. He continued on from there, questioning her in turn, telling her she looked beautiful. There was no blood to pinken her cheeks, but Anastacia could now show 'flustered' well enough without a blush. Her lavender eyes ticked down to the stoop briefly and she finally released the doorknob in order to cup her hands and lace her fingers together. The latter action did not hold for long before Anya pulled her hands apart and slipped both behind her back, taking hold of her left arm in her right hand.
She was becoming quite aware that her nerves had started to tingle again. She didn't know and thus couldn't say why this was; Zeke and Brad told her she looked beautiful all the time and the part of her that knew she was still lingered, but it was different coming from Cesc. Perhaps it simply meant more coming from him. He had seen her at her lowest and helped to pull her up from it, after all.
"Thank you. I'm--Ah!"
A distinctly canine whine pierced the air, causing Anya to turn around. Altair stood behind her, tail a blur with how fast it was going, stopped from greeting the familiar guest only by the sharp edges and prickly points of the Widow's ribbon. Seeing the Samoyed there jogged Anya back to the here and now, and she was suddenly quite aware that she and the Dawn Sigel were still outside her home rather than in it.
"Would you...like to come in?" Nabbing Altair's collar so the pup wouldn't bolt, Anya moved out of Cesc's way and stretched her free hand toward the condo's interior. The dog protested her entrapment, but the femme refused to let her go until Cesc was inside and the door shut behind him. Anya took charge of the latter action, but in doing so stole a glance at the Stag's back as he passed by. His wings were bigger. She pressed her own to her back.
"I'm...I'm better." Altair might have caused her to stop before but Anya wasn't about to let her reply die, even if she had to pause a second to think on her answer. There was a lightness in her tone as she spoke: in spite of the bumps along the way and the odd hiccup now and then, it was the truth and it felt damn good to say. "I've been much better, really, ever since you helped me."
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Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2014 9:53 pm
If Cesc had known what thoughts were dwelling in Anya's head about the timeline of his growth, he would have agreed. The sudden burst that was the hallmark of Raevan growth came just as strangely to him as it must have to her. While Frei, there had been changes in his appearance -- his antlers grew slowly, lost their velvet, but they had always remained two-pronged. He'd eventually grown facial hair, gained pounds of muscle, but all on the same frame, the same face.
Now, now he felt older. His body was broader, his hands bigger, his limbs longer. His jaw was more defined. He'd lost baby fat in his face. It was strange, he'd thought of himself as plenty 'grown' at Frei... but now he saw his body catching up to him, quick as it could. It brought power with it. He was so much stronger now. His magic came so much easier to him than before. It was a truly bizarre experience.
He wanted it for Anya, he noticed suddenly as she drew back and allowed him access to the house. He wanted to take her hands and somehow draw her through a threshold into her own growth, make her into a Sigel and give her all that extra beauty and extra power and resilience. To take her on the same journey of self-discovery he, himself, was on.
Just... without the pain.
The spider queen had suffered enough.
"I'm really happy to hear that," said Cesc. His smile was bright and earnest as he noticed the levity in her tone. "I mean -- you look it, but I was hoping to hear exactly that..."
He tilted down, starting to set the bag he'd brought on the ground, but then he thought better of it. The stag straightened again, and this time offered it to Anya. "A little late, but a housewarming present. I had to hear you were faring well first, just in case. I hope you like it."
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Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2014 11:48 pm
"Do I?"
She had looked at herself in the mirror before, during, and after she had gotten ready. She had thought she looked pretty when she was all said and done, which alone was a milestone long since made, but it was clear Cesc wasn't commenting on those sorts of looks now.
Do I really look better? More like myself?
She wished there was a mirror in the foyer, or something that would bare a good enough reflection so she could catch a glimpse what the Stag saw. Alas, there was none. Looking at her companion, she couldn't even begin to think he would lie about that. If Cesc was anything - and to her the Stag was many and more - he was honest. With that in mind and even without confirmation, his words made a pleased little jolt go up her spine.
"It hasn't been easy like you said, and I still have some days where...I guess you could say I have an off day now and again, but I'm nowhere near like I was before. I think moving helped a lot too."
She gestured to the room they now lingered in. The condo was larger than most by far, but very open, clean, and comfortable. Having been lived in for almost a whole year now, the place felt like a home, but still retained some of its new place polish.
The old place had a stain on it. She wanted to say that to Cesc, to ask if he understood what she meant, but the Widow refrained. It would sound weird, surely, and right now the last thing she wanted to see on his face was a weird or strained look in her direction. Regardless, moving had been like a breath of fresh air. Anya didn't feel stifled here and there was no lingering remnant of the jungle like in the four walls of her old room. There wasn't a trace of it at all. The condo was clean. "I'm happy here."
She hadn't noticed the bag, too encompassed by the Sigel's being as she was. When he started to bend at his newly formed waist did Anastacia notice it and puzzlement at the parcel became surprise when he held it out to her.
"For me?" The two words were jerky at best, her eyes a touch wide. Anya had been given presents over the course of the last year - Brad and Zeke were generous Guardians and their respective families were just as openhanded - but she hadn't expected anything from Cesc but the Sigel himself. She reached out slowly with the barest tremble to her fingers and took the bag in hand. Whatever was inside wasn't too heavy a thing, but there was enough to it that the bottom of the bag sagged beneath it.
"Is it alright if I open it?" She looked from him to the gift and then back again, the creeping feeling of being on the spot coming upon her suddenly. She wanted to, but she didn't want to seem rude in her perceived haste. But if she didn't, he could be disappointed by that, couldn't he?
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Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 12:00 pm
Cesc nodded. He understood what she meant, although Anya didn't explain herself. Moving must have helped. It took Cesc a while to enjoy the bakery again after the jungle, and he wasn't... wholly... certain how long it would take again now for him to truly feel comfortable in his living quarters again. Moving, for them, wasn't really an option. Living above the bakery was cost-effective and easy, even if the air had gotten stale with unsavory memories.
Well. No matter, he thought. They could make new memories.
"It's hard to really refresh a place..." mused the stag. He shook his head, dropping his eyes. "It's great you got to just get away. This place is wonderful -- it's got enough room for everyone to really be able to make their mark and have their space." He smiled. "I'm glad it's made you better."
Rhedefre bent then, offering his hand to the dog. He looked up as Anya spoke and his smile became broader. "Of course, go ahead. There's not really a holiday you should be waiting for or anything." His voice was good-humored, and just faintly teasing.
Inside the bag, folded neatly, were two runs of lace -- one black and one white. They were beautiful, well-crafted pieces. There were only a few yards of each, but enough to craft with.
"For your art," Cesc said, simply.
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Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 1:15 pm
She relaxed her wings a touch, softening in her own way. Yes it was true, her new home had more than enough room. In fact, she had two, all to herself.
When Cesc gave his blessing - his words were playful, but even now teasing and jokes were still largely lost on the Widow - Anastacia set the bag down on the nearest surface and slipped her hand inside. One became two as there was more than one thing in here and her crown expanded as she pulled both things free.
Lace. He had gotten her lace.
She held the two runs close to her chest as she turned around, her expression queer. She neither smiled nor looked as if she would weep, but there was delight in all six of her eyes and her red lips quivered.
"Thank you, Cesc." Black and white were perfect colors for lace. They went with just about everything. "They're beautiful."
The things she could use these for! She would have started to imagine just what to do with them and how, but she stopped herself before she even started. Now wasn't the time for that, especially in light of the fact it was his turn to receive.
"I actually...I have something for you too." Anya was uncertain if it was too soon to give the Stag his gift from her, but it felt right to do it now. Besides, as Zeke would say, if something felt right, go ahead and do it. "It's in my room."
She pointed to the vicinity of her bedroom at first but then floated away from him, still holding the well-crafted runs near.
"Follow me."
She took him straight there, only going around the obstacles that lay in her path. She nudged the door open with a wing, not having shut it entirely so that the knob was required instead. Behind the door Anya's room was a pretty thing, most certainly befitting the spider queen. Her walls were light purple, though the color might have been lightened more by the sunlight pouring in from the open windows at the back, giving a lovely view of the backyard and garden. The space was larger than her old room had been, but still cozy. Her bureau was opposite her bed; the former littered with odds and ends, the latter made up neatly with a black comforter and a few throw pillows too. Touches of the spider's hobby were apparent - fashion magazines on one of the side tables, a few assorted sewing supplies here and there, her knitting needles and some yarn sticking out of her old canvas bag next to her bed. But there were other things too; a group of shells and pretty stones collected on a shelf, a few books in a small case, a window box garden, a medium size tank with sandy soil and a small hollowed out log in it, even the papasan she had settled in when Cesc last visited was in here too.
Anya bypassed almost all of them, her sights on the cream bag she had temporarily abandoned in here. It waited patiently on her bureau for her which, having a mirror, afforded her a quick glance at herself as she took hold of the bag's handles.
I do look better. It was but a lingering moment, and it was enough. She turned around and immediately held out the gift to her friend.
"This is for you...and yes, you may open it now." She would say more when he pulled out what was inside. It was by no means perfect - some stitches were tight in places, some missed altogether - but Anya had worked a long time on it and he was to thank for that. She had never given anyone a gift before, but this one thing had been his long before she had even finished. It was only right.
Inside the red tissue paper, folded with care, was an afghan blanket. A simple one in design, more like 'beginner's first blanket' than anything else, in a triad of colors that fit the Stag before and especially now - soft pink, warm orange, and bright yellow.
"I hope you like it."
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Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2014 2:00 pm
Cesc's smile grew as he saw Anya's reaction. The expression on her face was strange, partly pleased, touched, and perhaps -- was it moved? Her lips trembled, but there was nothing sad in the way that she looked or sounded, and the stag had to fight with himself to keep from reaching out to her. Anyone else, he may have placed a friendly hand on their shoulder, a light touch to their arm. But Anya, Anya was not the sort that desired or welcomed physical closeness.
Just once, he'd done it. Just in the jungle.
And they'd both put the jungle behind them.
"It's my pleasure," Rhedefre said. "I can't wait to see what you make out of them."
He would have continued, but then it was her turn to surprise him. He only made a soft noise of surprised assent as he rose and followed her, looking around himself at the house as he went. It was cozy, sweet, the house. A place clearly filled with love, commitment, and contentment. Cesc felt his heart swell for Anya. He was glad for her to have such a place.
The feeling only grew as she opened the door to her room. Her own space spoke of ease, comfort, and creativity. He smiled to see it. It had a beautiful aspect and view.
He pulled his eyes from the walls as Anya addressed him. Cesc smiled, taking the bag from her, and breathed a soft laugh as she reiterated his joke back at him. "I will open it straightaway, then."
The stag suited deed to word, pulling the afghan from the bag. Immediately, a quiet sound escaped him, pleased and stunned. He held the weight of it, turned it in his hands, his strong thumbs smoothing over the stitches.
It did not escape him that they had both thought of the same thing in their gifts. He had wanted her to create, and she had created for him. His eyes brightened and his smile grew wider. "Anya... this is gorgeous."
He spoke the question knowing the answer. "Did you... did you make this?" The part he meant to say was unspoken: did you make this for me?
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Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2014 3:24 pm
Her nerves flared up as Cesc took the bag. Anya clasped her hands together to stop them from visibly trembling, but that did not prevent every other bit of her being from firing off tiny jolts. She watched him closely, her crown scuttling around her face, watching for a sign of anything he might show.
But it wasn't a look. Not at first. As soon as the bag was opened the Stag made a strange little sound and pulled his present free, running his hands over it as if he couldn't believe what he was holding. Anya's lavender eyes watched his hands. Her unmoving four remained on his face.
He smiled widely. Her shoulders relaxed.
"I did." She nodded in affirmation and slowly floated closer to the other, reaching out a hand to touch upon an upward facing corner. The stitches in the pink yarn were the tightest of the lot by far. Perhaps they wouldn't be noticed for what they were by Cesc, but Anya had worked just about every day for a year on this and knew her starting point by heart.
His might not have asked the right question, but she still had an answer for him all the same: "You helped me start it, and I decided a long time ago that you should have it when I finished." She looked up from her handiwork, locking eyes with the Sigel. "I've finished it, Cesc. It's yours now."
There was pride in her voice and light in her eyes. Anastacia curled her fingers against those too-tight beginning stitches; her hand still trembling despite her efforts before, her heart hammering in her chest. If you want it, that is is what an increasingly smaller and smaller part of her wanted to say, as though the Stag would decline despite the happiness writ upon his face. Unlike times before now, Anya wouldn't let the words come. She physically bit her tongue to keep them from creeping past her lips, stretching her long wings out behind her in a legless person's way of putting their foot down.
No. There will be none of that.
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Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2014 3:38 pm
Cesc's smile stayed wide, but something added to it as Anya spoke. There was a certain wistfulness that played around the corners of his mouth. Yes, he remembered, he remembered lingering beside her chair with yarn in her hands as she started. She'd pulled herself out of the jungle with a skien of yarn and knitting needles and now creativity shone on her like gems in light. And here was the story of it, right here, given to him. "Anya, this..."
"You know," he began quietly, gratefully. "It's been a hard couple of months for me. We had a friend -- this girl -- come visit us in June. She was... really hard for me to take. She made me feel really... I don't know, lesser, I guess. And then she died, someone murdered her, and I didn't know what I was supposed to do." He paused, looking down at the stitches, at how they became more expert as time went on. "... and while I was looking for answers about who killed her, the murderer -- she nearly killed me. Me and Shepard and Vivi and Granny, all of us. I was so worried and preoccupied, I thought I didn't know myself, how to protect myself or who or what I loved."
He looked up, finding Anya's gaze. "It's why I didn't... really reach out to anyone while it was going on."
Slowly, his smile returned, small at first and then wider. His fingers were gentle on the afghan. "But I figured it out, I guess, at the end. I'm here, everyone's here. But I guess I've been worrying about things. How it'll all work out, how I'll feel at home again, now that all this stuff happened." The stag let out a faint laugh, shaking his head.
"I'm sorry -- this is all just long way around telling you, I guess. My house hasn't been a happy one for a while. And I'm glad you gave me this, because it's something I can keep there, in my room, to keep me happy again."
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Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2014 5:39 pm
When he told her his tale, she listened. Not once did she speak, though her face relayed what her voice did not. When Cesc spoke of this person making him feel "lesser", the spider queen's brow furrowed and her lips pulled down at the corners in a frown. When he said that this person died, surprise was there, and it grew when the Stag admitted he and the rest of his family nearly ended up the same. Anya gaped a little at that note; purple eyes wide, lips parted with the barest showing of her teeth and tongue.
He caught her eye and slowly she closed her mouth, setting it into a thin line and letting him continue to the end of his tale. His smile returned then but Anya wasn't sure what to say on her turn to speak - her brain felt scrambled by all the things it just had to process.
"I'm glad you figured it out," she began with that. It was a genuine and true statement. His laughter puzzled her and then he apologized. She shook her head again, brushing her own fingers against the blanket. "And I'm glad you're okay and that this will help, even a little." It put another ounce of pride in her being, hearing that, even in lieu of everything else. "But you know...You've never been lesser."
She 'put her foot down' again with a stretch of her wings at that statement she deigned as fact. Oddly enough, it felt good to do.
"You're the exact opposite. I don't know what made this girl tell you that, but she's wrong." Anastacia said, looking from Cesc to the blanket and then back to the Stag. This wasn't about her right now but what better example did she have to give? "If you hadn't come by when you did...who knows where I'd be right now. You helped me, Cesc. I'm better now because of you."
There was room to tell him that he could have called anyone - her included - and that they would have come to help him, no questions asked. But she didn't want to chide him or seem as if she was trying to. He had made his choices and - as the smile showed - everything was okay now in that respect. Past was past and there was only the here, the now, and the future. He had shown her that.
"It's not perfect, but...I worked really hard on it and it's just a small way for me to say..." Her human eyes had flicked down to the blanket again, looking at her handiwork, when she fell suddenly silent.
Before the jungle she had abhorred being touched. Her skin stained so easily and it was far too easy for people to have something on their hands without knowing it or having forgotten. Not only that, but there was just something about skin on skin contact that had made her own flesh crawl. But that was before. The past.
The past was past, wasn't it?
Her fingers rested near the Stag's own, which she now saw how his growth had changed them too.
His hand certainly looked clean...
Perhaps...
The clock in the room ticked away a minute. The fingertips of her right hand twitched, grazed across the stitches, lifted, and then settled over the back of the Stag's hand where the metacarpals lay. Old habits - Anya winced as though expecting to suddenly combust with the contact. Perhaps she was expecting a dampness or something else unpleasant to be there that she didn't outwardly notice.
Nothing of the sort. Warmth. Softness. His skin was dry but only in the sense that it was not wet.
Slowly the rest of her fingers followed down the line of his digits, her palm coming down last; all aspects still trembling. She drew a quiet breath and looked up again. He was not lesser as she was not a monster. He had shown her that she was so much and more. He was the exact same, in that regard.
"Thank you, Cesc."
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Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2014 9:33 pm
You've never been lesser.
Cesc looked at Anya with a strange expression on his face. It was not unbecoming, the look, his lips parted and his brow just gently drawn. The color was high on his cheeks. It was something like wonder mixed with half-bashful pride, the look of a man discovering something wholly unknown. Cerise's voice, the harshness in his memories, faded under the strength of the spider queen's sureness. Months of self-doubt he could feel melting. Anya kept speaking and Cesc kept looking, and slowly the expression faded, mixed, and became something else.
It became admiration. Grateful, quiet, earnest.
It had never been a question that Anya had hidden depths. She was once still and clear water at midnight, the surface reflective and lovely and cold. He had respected her then, stayed back and polite and maintained the distance he knew she wanted. And since the jungle, since that water had eddied, he had worried for her. He'd worried but believed in her strengths, in those depths he knew existed but was never explicitly shown.
But now? Now it was as though the sun had risen for her. She had warmed. And she was not afraid to show that warmth, to draw power and conviction and strength from it. And he was awed to see it.
She was better.
And more than that.
She slotted her hand over his, still uncomfortable but yet determined, and Cesc's face bloomed into a stunned smile. The expression lit his features, his eyes gentle. He slowly flipped his hand and gently held onto hers, conveying his gratitude.
They were, really, truly, and honestly -- they were friends.
"Thank you, Anya," he breathed back. "I cannot tell you how good it is to see you." His smile lost some of its shock, becoming more amiable. "Let's not go another few months like that. It's not right to only see your friends after something alarming has happened."
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