Welcome to Gaia! ::

Time was a fleeting thing when engrossed in a mundane task such as sorting through an assortment of stones and crystals that had no name or magical properties but were collected just the same to be put into the display case she had built for her office. Each sample had been collected from the rift and carried back, some tossed in the tumbler while others still had dirt stuck in the crevices.

Her treasured stone, however, remained with her always. The black crystal given to her by the mysterious merchant almost two years ago which resonated with energy that should have by now been depleted.

Vexing that she still hadn’t found more of it. But hopefully, that would soon change with her next expedition into the Rift.

When the last rock was carefully placed, and the lid was closed securely, Lavendulan took a step back to admire her work. What had once been an empty office space turned research lab, was now a place where she felt more or less comfortable leaving her door open when she was there working.

But for now, it was time to call it for the day, lock up, and head home where Laven planned on finishing her leftovers from lunch, taking a long hot shower before heading to bed just so she could do this all over again when she woke up the next day.

That was the plan… but as most plans tend to go this too went sideways when she teleported herself to the ruins where she and Wolframite had built their home.

At the end of the walkway, Lavendulan stood in stunned silence, pupils pulled into tight slits as she focused on an aura that did not belong. Laven had always known that simply having a lock on the door would only prevent a Lieutenant from breaking in, that it would do nothing to protect their belongings from a Captain or General with greedy fingers who could just teleport inside especially since she spent sometimes weeks at a time in the Rift because their home was too quiet to stay in at times.

This foolish ******** probably thought she was gone again and was raiding them of what few belongings they had. A low growl emanated from her while her hands balled into tight fists, claws poking at the pal of her hands.

Whoever was inside would bleed for this transgression before she handed them to a Sovereign for further punishment.

In an instant, she teleported from her place outside to a spot in the kitchen that would put her in arm's reach of the cutting block and the clean, recently sharpened, knives that were kept in it. “How dare you!” She snarled as she pulled the 9-inch chef knife from its place in the block and lunged at the intruder. Her arm swung wide but was followed through with her clawed hand that was aimed at their throat.

Emotions ran high and as such she spared no time to consider the Captian’s features; upon seeing him in the kitchen with her dinner in hand and a full bag on the ground beside him. All Lavendulan saw was red as she was instantly filled with rage and intent to kill the ******** who thought it wise to break into her home, her sanctuary.

If Wolframite were home this shithead would no doubt be dead on the floor already.

Lavendulan threw her weight into the intruder with enough force to knock them both to the ground. Them on their backside, her straddling their hips with her one free hand holding their throat firmly.

It was her youma instincts that gripped her own awareness so fiercely, so much so that she was unable to recognize the features of who was in her home, helping themselves to her food as if it was the cafeteria in the barracks. No different than when she was in the rift with Tallulah and an unknown youma wandered into their camp looking to help themselves to an unsuspecting treat.

As a Captain, the intruder was less of a threat than she’d become accustomed to over the last year. But which their ability to teleport, to flee without repercussions or consequence to their audacious actions- Laven’s other hand moved to press the sharp blade against the side of their face that was half covered by a thick coarse beard.

His arm moved and the fingers around his throat curled. Her claws, pinpricks against his skin; served as a warning of what would happen if she suddenly pulled her hand away.

Eyes the color of soft yellow new moons looked up at her and Laven felt her heart ache. But she was no fool. She knew well enough of the powers a Rugose Pendant held. How it would give an agent, or corrupt, a youma-like appearance, most were monstrous in nature, but it left little room to doubt that it may have the ability to mimic a half-youma instead.

It left her wanting to bite his hand, or ear even, just to prove that this was nothing more than a disguise meant to deceive or disarm her if they got caught.

Beautiful.

Lavendulan recoiled away as if she’d suddenly been touched by fire. Burned by a memory long since forgotten; of a moment when she had, out of fear rather than anger, attacked Wolframite in a very similar manner.

Pupils more visible than their previous slits, she could feel her more feral instincts subside as rational thought flowed in slowly. Her angered expression softened slowly, eyebrows drawing together in confusion because she had been so sure that this was some trick because she did not engage with many other officers. But then her gaze fell to the knife in hand and she saw there a smear of black across its sharpened edge.

Slowly her grip loosened enough to pull her hand away and there too, on each of her claws, like a perfect quill, was dipped in blood the color of ink.

“Wol- framite?” Laven’s voice cracked in disbelief.

The knife clamored to the ground beside his head as she then reached forward to cup his face. The contour was unfamiliar with the thick beard he had grown but beneath it-

She knew.

One hot tear rolled down the side of his face and brushed her finger. “Wolframite-” a whimper of hurt escaped her unbidden causing her heart to ache fiercely as if it expected this illusion to suddenly fade and to be left on the floor with a half-eaten sandwich and a kitchen utensil to serve as a reminder she’d finally lost her mind. Her eyes slid closed to stop the tears she had held at bay for the last year and a half since he had left on his mission.

In the hours when the barracks were most quiet. A time of night when agents roamed Destiny City fulfilling their quotas or in their rooms sleeping, or when the lone sound in the castle hallways was nothing more than the soft footfalls of a single officer delivering paperwork to a General or Sovereign.

It was in these moments of silence that Lavendulan’s worrying thoughts were most loud. Whispering words of danger, failed missions, and yes- too many times to count… death. For all the faith she had in Wolframite coming back alive, that little light of hope she held out for him flickered more fiercely the longer time went on; as if she were standing in the snowstorm that had clouded his mind the day he toed the edge of death after being shot.

So she built walls around herself, around her heart. Affixed a mask of indifference so that nobody knew how much his absence or the silence affected her.

Their home was abandoned for weeks at a time while she and Tallulah ventured into the Rift in search of more of the mineral the Mysterious Merchant had given her nearly two years ago. Or when she would sleep in her office after analyzing different samples brought back from their recent deployment.

Anything to get away from the place that felt more haunted than the house of urban legend that they had ventured into. Floorboards creaked loudly as the home settled into their foundation yet not another soul could be felt wandering the hallways.

There were a few photos of them in a picture frame placed on the bookshelf in the living room; dust-covered having not been picked up in months. But that was all she had of him.

No voicemail recording to playback, no video on her phone or tablet. Her memory could recall the sound of his tail thumping against the wall, sharp claws tapping on the counter annoyed because it was time to go patrol and she was dragging her feet.

But his voice, the sound of his laugh as she rested her head against his chest before falling asleep… Gone.

It made this moment feel as of it were nothing more than a very lucid dream.

But the hot kisses against her skin and scales, the heavy weight of his arms crushing her against his chest as if he was afraid she’d fly away if he so much as let go even just a little. It was as real as the scent of old-growth forest, pine trees, or Douglas fir, damp spoil with an air of freshness that was found nowhere near Destiny City nor the Dark Kingdom.

It was him.

Wolframite was finally home.

Her hand slid down to rest against his chest as she buried her face against the side of his neck and drew in a ragged deep breath as the reality of this moment settled in. His heartbeat, wild as her own, was felt beneath her fingertips as his breath stirred the hair beside her face.

His voice- God how she’d missed the sound of it.

For all the times she had hoped his return would be more like the videos she’d seen on social media when soldiers came back from war to surprise their loved ones. A moment of surprise, with joyful tears and warm embraces. Perhaps they had achieved the latter but not without her harming him first.

“I’m sorry-” she whimpered, her own tail, a noticeable weight draped across his legs, remained unmoving while hot tears spilled onto his wirey beard and uniform, darkening the fabric where they fell. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t- I didn’t know. I didn’t mean-” words fell into fragmented sentences, thoughts half-formed, cut off by overwhelming regret and guilt knowing she had hurt him physically, treated him as an intruder in his own home instead of welcoming him as she should have.

“I’m sorry…”

His words were like a soothing salve on her weary soul, carefully unwinding the worried knots and anxieties with undeserved praises and sweet sweet promises she’d longed to hear. Skillfully guiding her more feral tendencies through the rapid shift of emotions into a silent calm as Lavendulan settled against his chest comfortably

Her face, a myriad of colors, splotchy red-rimmed eyes fading to a light lavender hue where her skin was naturally a light blue tone. An ugly sight to behold, surely, but she was unashamed especially since Wolframite seemed unbothered.

Perhaps still stunned in disbelief, her mind ran through everything she wanted to say, should have said, and yet not a word passed through her lips.

A lithe hand lifted from his chest, webbing between her fingers gone but sharp claws remained as she moved aside stray strands of hair from his face. Long and disheveled, mostly from their recent tumble, her hand traveled further up to trace along the edge of one soft pointed ear. “I missed you,” her voice was quiet, but with everything else quieter still it perhaps sounded a bit louder than a whisper.

Laven shifted atop him, not to tend to his wounds that she should show some concern over, but to take from him another kiss; longer and deeper than the one he had given her.

Her head dipped slowly to where their breaths mingled between them, lingered there a moment to take in every detail of his rugged appearance from small scars both new and old to how his face seemed a slightly darker tone from where the sun had touched his moon kissed skin.

His lips appeared dry from the arid climate; high altitude or desert, maybe.

From the edge of his ear, her hand moved to cup his bearded cheek tenderly before lowering herself enough to capture his lips with her own.

It was a chaste kiss. Gentle at first. But as her eyes slid shut, her fingers combed through his hair still tied at the nape of his neck, claws scraping of his scalp lightly as she swiped her tongue over his lower lip, salty from the tears he has kissed away. A silent request for more, for him, to satiate the need to have, to hold, to taste.

She nipped him once in warning so that he knew she would not beg.

Glacial blue eyes gazed down into pools of liquid gold. “I have missed you so much,” she breathed again.

A long time sounded like a reasonable timeframe but forever sounded better. Even so- “Promise you won’t leave me like that again. If you get sent out on another mission, take me with you.” She was a General now, although without a team, she wasn’t useless as she had been in previous years. However, she wasn’t sure if she’d survive another deployment like this again; in that one regard, she was still vulnerable.

“Don’t leave me here like this again.”

Eyes alight with a glint of amusement that shone like a morning sun shining off a sheet of ice, as her lips pulled into a small smirk and tail moved in tandem to match her expression.

There it was, that playful inkling to push, to play. A kiss, a n**. Little bits of affection, acute reminders of what he left behind. A test him and see how long he could last before finally taking what he wanted or begging, which sounded much sweeter since she did outranked him. At least in title only, when it came to tenure, Laven couldn’t a flame to him.

“I will hold you to that promise.” More so since one of the first ones he had ever made to her had already been broken. Wolframite was not here for her promotion, however, circumstances surrounding the necessity of it and his absence were out of both of their control so she couldn't really hold it against him overlong.

Lavendulan leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his brow then shifted her weight as to get off of him. The knife with black blood smeared across the silver surface was picked up and placed on the countertop before she offered a hand out to Wolframite.
“You didn’t survive a year and a half-long mission just to die here. You win for now.” Because later she’d claim her own victory.

“Things have changed since you’ve been gone. I’ve changed.” Not just physically with her tail or temporary absence of webbing between her fingers. But even her own magic had changed some which was perhaps one reason she seemed unconcerned by the cuts on his arms or small puncture marks on his neck.

A temporary pain she could wholly erase now that she had the ability to heal such wounds. “Trust me.”

Laven chuckled and shook her head slowly. “I think you should clean up first.” He’d feel better for it at the very least. Maybe even eat something since she kind of rudely interrupted his snack which had been dropped and smeared on the floor in their fall. Then again she wasn’t sure he cared much about that now that she was home now with him.

“Let me take care of this first though.” She gestured to his arms and guided him over to the sink where she turned the faucet on to a low stream. She shifted then into her watery form and extended a hand out to him.

For all the times she’d done something similar in the past, it was usually in the form of a spar or fight with some Knight. Her magic had, in the past, helped her evade taking physical damage while wielding water around her in the form of a whip or ball. Both he’d been hit by before but this time she had no intention to harm him further.“It won’t hurt, promise.”