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 Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 11:33 am
Tantalus wasn't entirely sure how long he had been gone for. By his guess, perhaps a bit over a week, but he could have been entirely wrong. The battles on that horrible hellplanet had been bad enough - so much death and agony, all for the amusement of a man driven by nothing but a sick desire for revenge on people who had been dead for a thousand years.
He had considered, briefly, scouring the city for Damocles because surely he would find him eventually, but he was exhausted. Beaten down and in pain. So instead of stumbling around and hoping he found Damocles somewhere, he went to the one place his fiance would undoubtedly turn up eventually.
The front door to their townhouse looked unchanged - a comfort, that; it meant he couldn't have been gone too long. He let go of his powered form for the first time since he'd been dragged off, and fumbled in his pocket for his keys. They worked, thank god, and he slid inside, leaned against the door, and found that he had to make a visceral physical effort to stay upright.
God, it was good to be home, even if there was - as far as he could tell, at the moment - no Lance.
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Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2015 1:23 pm
Some how, Lance had managed to keep them all in the house that night. Even Rumi. So there they were. Five girls and one lone guy all asleep on the floor in a giant mass of limbs and clothing, with Lance on the very bottom.
Quinn had practically claimed the entire span of his back and was all too happily sprawled out across it like she was queen of the world. Cass was at a weird angle between sleeping on Quinn and having claimed one of Lance's arms as her own. Someone was tangled up in his legs. Avacyn, he thought at one point, his only clue was the hair that was also tangled around it. Not that it was much of a guess. Both Rumi and Annebelle also had long hair. In fact they all did. But he was pretty sure it was Avacyn. Rumi bounced from spot to spot, never in one place too long. Annabelle had at one point claimed his other arm but given the fact it was shoved under his head like a pillow, she had moved elsewhere in the pile. Maybe she was just... sleeping on top of them all. The blonde vaguely recalled something like that coming up once. But he couldn't quite remember who had brought it up.
He and Quinn had been drinking earlier that night. All the henshin pens had been collected, and the key... well he couldn't remember where the key was. Not that he cared at the moment. No one was going anywhere. The blonde was pretty sure no one could walk a straight line anyway. Even the sober ones.
He was just on the verge of finally falling asleep when all of a sudden there was a thing shoved in his face. A very..wet.. and cold thing.
Lady.
"Laaaady." He whined, trying to gently shove the puppy away. "Stoooop. Go to bed. Go find Ava and sleeeeep. Jeez." It was like the dog got her second wind at midnight and she was up all night. The tiny creature just continued to shove its nose in his face, and lick at him for another few moments before it bound off towards the hallway.
Thank god. Peace. Finally. Lance sighed, shifting ever so slightly to get comfortable before trying to go back to sleep. But, unfortunately for Lance, the tiny brown creature came thundering back into the living room and thoroughly crashed head first right into Lance's face. "LADY! Come on!" He grumbled, causing the girls to groan and shift, Quinn waking up long enough to sit up and tell Lance to royally go fall off a pier and ...screw off. Or something, before falling off in some random direction and pulling Cass with her.
Detangling himself was a mess, it was in fact Avacyn who was tangled up in his legs, in more ways then one. He ended up stepping on her hand. Lance tripped over Annabelle in the process, which caused her to kick him in the shin, and Lance was pretty sure Rumi had bit him at some point that night. Whatever. He scowled as he made a dive to scoop up the tiny pup and deposit her in their laundry room. "Training." He murmured, as if she could understand him. "First hing in the morning." The blonde stopped walking long enough to try and put himself back together before walking into the wall.
No dice. He clipped it anyway.
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Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2015 3:57 pm
There was a distant scrabbling sound - a dog's paws on the ground. Lance must have brought home a foster while he was gone - not exactly a terrible idea. At this point, it didn't exactly feel assumptive to think that Lance had probably missed him and been worried for him.
He started away from the door, but when the first sound of Lance's voice came from the living room, he froze. It felt like forever since he's heard it, even though it couldn't have been nearly as long as it seemed. He couldn't make out the words, not properly, but it was still familiar - sleepy and maybe annoyed, but it was Lance, and part of him wanted to cry just from hearing it again.
He couldn't even make himself call his fiancé'so name, not for a long moment while he listened to more movement, and unhappy noises that sounded like they came from other people (definitely Quinn's voice, which meant, undoubtedly, Cassandra, at the least.)
And finally, there was a small thump - Lance bumping some wall or another in his half-awake state.
"Lance?" His voice was soft, so as not to disturb anyone else, but hopefully still audible.
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Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2015 7:46 pm
Half awake had nothing to do with it. ... Well, not entirely anyway. It was more of him being hungover. Hungover and half awake was not a fun combination. The blonde staggered and swayed as he tried not to drop the puppy or trip... and drop the puppy, or crush it, if he fell.
Then someone was calling his name and Lance frowned as he turned back towards the living room. "What." He grumbled loudly, which resulted in someone picking up a shoe and throwing it at him, accompanied by another loud ******** off from Quinn.
"Girls are violent Lady. And mean."
But whatever. Lady wriggled in his arms and she tried to free herself, which resulted in a decent tumble to the ground, but the dog seemed to pay no mind as she literally bounced over to where Alistair was standing.
Aw ********. Now he was hallucinating. "Great. Faaaan ******** tastic. That's the last time I drink." Slow steps where taken as he tried not to crash into the stair banister that led to the second floor. "Go away hallucination. I don't have the time or the energy for this." Came the grumble as he waved one hand listlessly, as if to blow away the smoke and mirrors. The Lance became slightly confused when his hand seemed to come in contact with it.
Okay, so it was just a very vivid hallucination.
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Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2015 8:23 pm
Despite the very insistent puppy at his feet, all of Alistair's attention was on Lance. Lady was definitely interested in evaluating the new addition to the household, and she was sniffing and nudging at his legs to try and get Alistair's attention, but the brunet was far more interested in the man who had been holding her.
Who was apparently a little drunk, and thought he was a hallucination. Alistair took a step forward, and reached out to gently take the hand Lance was waving at him.
"I promise, I'm not a hallucination. I'm home," he said. "I'm not sure how long I was gone for, and it wasn't by choice, and it's a very long story, but I'm here now and I am so happy to be back."He wanted to cry, or throw himself in Lance's arms, but that seemed like a particularly bad idea when Lance was probably not entirely steady on his feet. So instead he just ran his thumb over Lance's fingers, staring up at him and praying that was enough to make the other man realize he was definitely real.
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Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2015 10:18 pm
"That's what a hallucination would want me to think." The blonde sighed, sitting right there in the middle of the hallway. This hallucination was annoyingly vivid. Maybe he was just dreaming? Ugh, who knew.
"Hallucination, Lady. Lady, Hallucination. But you've already met it seems." Lady wriggled and barked, looking between the two of them. "How are you even seeing that, Lady." He grumbled, holding his head. He'd always heard animals had some sort of 'connection' to seeing things that weren't there, but he'd never experienced it first hand. "Lady you need to stop barking or else Quinn is gonna come out here and skin me. Either that or Rumi's gonna bite me. Again."
Poor girl had not had it easy. Between nightmares and spending countless hours out looking for Magiore, Lance considered himself lucky that he could even talk her into coming back to the house. "You try to make her stop, cause clearly she's not listening to me."
Noir Songbird He's talking to a 'hallucination'.
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Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2015 11:07 pm
Alistair frowned, eyes narrowing slightly. "I wasn't gone that long, was I?" He asked, and even though he hadn't meant it to, hurt leaked into his voice. That Lance's first thought was that he wasn't real, and that he stubbornly refused to accept it...had this happened before? Had Lance been having hallucinations of his presence?
"Lady seems to think I'm real," he said, and he knelt down to pet the dog, who was all too happy with his affections. As soon as he was within her range, she started licking his face, wriggling happily under his pets. But as much as he would have loved to just pet what he suspected was their latest foster, Lance was more important. So Alistair sat down too, and reached over to rest a hand on his fiancé's leg. He wasn't sure if this would work, but it was worth a try.
"Lance Damien Grayson,"' he said, and his tone was firm, "you are my partner in life and my one true love. I will cherish our union and love you more each day than I did the day before. I will trust you and respect you, laugh with you and cry with you, loving you faithfully through good times and bad, regardless of the obstacles we may face together. I give you my hand, my heart, and my love, from this day forward until the end of time."
Their wedding vows. Or at least, his half. "It's me, Lance. I'm home."
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Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2015 10:47 am
"I dunno. A week or so maybe." Lance shrugged and tried not to think about it. It hurt more and more as each day passed and Alistair never came home.
"I don't know. I can't explain Lady. She's always doing things. Sometimes I think she's really a human with some of the things she's gotten into." The blonde snorted quietly. "Maybe she is just a mauvian who got the short end the stick and reincarnated as a dog. That figures really. The one time I bring home a animal that's not a foster. Would that be great to tell him. 'Surprise Alistair. Here's a puppy. I think its got magical powers.'." The blonde threw his hands up as he grumped. "But, oh wait, you weren't here."
The tiny pup didn't seem the slightest bit phased that now she had to climb over the boys legs to get the attention she wanted. Infact she seemed to take it as a challenged. Lady darted back and forth between them, making small attempts at jumping in their laps, and only getting about half way. Then the hallucination, vision, dream... Whatever it was started talking again, this time reciting words he knew all to well.
"I give you my heart. I promise to be your lover, companion and friend.
Your ally in conflict. Your greatest fan and your toughest adversary. Your comrade in adventure, your accomplice in mischief. Your consolation in disappointment, your encouragement in success. I will walk with you, hand in hand. Wherever our journey leas us. Living, learning, loving. Together.
Until the end of time. I promise this to you." By the time Lance had finished his half, tears were ruinning silently down his face.
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Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2015 11:20 am
Alistair held his breath for a long moment. If this didn't work, he didn't know what to try except maybe pinching Lance, which, wasn't that the way you usually convinced someone they weren't dreaming? It would have been much simpler, but Alistair Holmes never took the easy way if he could find another one.
And besides, this seemed to have finally broken through, because Lance was reciting his half - and for the moment Lady was forgotten, even though part of his brain was rejoicing over "not a foster", which meant the adorable spaniel was staying and that was glorious. He climbed into Lance's lap and placed his hands on either side of his fiancé's face, gently brushing away the tears. He was crying, himself, but he didn't really realize it, and it didn't matter anyway.
He kisses Lance, slowly and gently, even though he wanted it to be hungry and desperate because it had been so painful to not have Damocles to reach for, in those dark cells and in that terrible arena. And then he pulled back, and buried his head in Lance's shoulder, and cried, clinging to his fiancé like a life raft in a terrible storm.
"I'm so sorry, all I could think about was how much I wanted to come home, and how I needed to survive so I could see you again..."
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Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2015 10:37 pm
Lance didn't seem to mind, or care that he was being kissed. He was just far to tired for whatever was going on right now. So when Alistair dropped his head, Lance mirrored the action with a shaky sigh. ******** it. If this was a cruel dream, he'd take it. The blonde just closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around the others waist. "I'm tired." He mumbled... "I just wanna sleep..." But it had been so hard to during the past week. Most times he'd just tossed and turned, getting a few minutes here or there. Other times he found himself cat napping in various parts of the house. Lance shifted slightly, hissing lightly in the process. This hallucination was heavy for being not real. That, and because the image was in his lap, he was now aware of a minor pain that he hadn't quite noticed while sleeping on the floor. "Ow...." He mumbled.
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Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2015 12:42 am
Alistair nodded against Lance's shoulder, smiling faintly. It was so good to be home.
"Let's sleep. I'm tired too," he said, and his voice was soft and gentle and warm. Even though he was definitely crying. He was strung out to no end, and he loved the idea of just going to bed and curling up in Lance's arms, finally, and sleeping. Forever, maybe.
"Can you make it upstairs?" He asked. "Or are we going to collapse on the couch?"
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Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2015 1:25 pm
"The couch is already pulled out and occupied. ...Or rather it was. The girls and I were on it earlier... Some how we managed to just move to the floor. Don't wanna take it away from them." He muttered. Lance was seriously content to once again fall asleep on the floor. Right there in the entry way to the house. He didn't even care if the girls stepped on him to get out or if they smacked the door into his head. The blonde groaned. Maybe he should to upstairs. Ugh. But moving meant getting up. Getting up meant effort.
Effort.
Ugh.Noir Songbird Time to drag a 6'6'' blond up the stairs on your own ali.
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Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2015 5:27 pm
"Okay," Alistair said, and he stood up and reached out to pull Lance up. "Then we'll go upstairs, and we'll sleep." He smiled, faintly.
"I'll be there when you wake up. I promise." Because he would be, even if Lance didn't quite seem to believe he was real yet. Maybe he would after a good night's sleep, sobriety, and all the rest of that kicked in - until then he would be content to curl up in Lance's arms and sleep.
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![[Mistress Morbid]'s avatar](https://a1cdn.gaiaonline.com/dress-up/avatar/ava/3e/dd/5052589139dd3e_flip.png?t=1545372613_6.00_11)