ᴛᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜɪs sɪɴᴋɪɴɢ ʙᴏᴀᴛ ᴀɴᴅ ᴘᴏɪɴᴛ ɪᴛ ʜᴏᴍᴇ

[impetuous]

Morgana.

[ He doesn't think she will need anything else. ]

Comments

[impetuous]

[ For a moment, he sees the woman who had kept him prisoner. He is clean now and dressed in clean clothes. But he still bears the half-healed bruises and cuts and scratches that came from days of being her toy.

Then she's on him and he catches her and holds her to him. He kisses her temple and hugs her tightly. ]

[scinlae]

[ They haven't escaped her notice, now she can see him clearly and not covered by fog, she thinks to ask but at the same time she knows she needn't. She knows those wounds intimately, she knows who is responsible for them.

For now she pushes them aside, the wounds and the knowledge and the questions on the tip of her tongue, focusing instead on his smell, his warmth. ]

You came back. [ She whispers, half in tears. ]

[impetuous]

[ Teasing: ] You still have something of mine.

[scinlae]

Are you asking for it back?

[impetuous]

I need it as it turns out. Feel strangely naked without it.

[scinlae]

[ She takes a step back, hesitantly letting him go to reach around and remove the chain around her neck. It feels odd no having it no longer hang there, she almost feels as naked as he does, she will simply have to find something else she thinks. ]

Here.

[impetuous]

[ He feigns surprise. ]

Oh, right. You had this too. I had almost forgot.

[scinlae]

[ She blinks, narrowing her gaze a little. ]

What is the other thing then?

[impetuous]

If I remember right, you have my heart still.

[scinlae]

[ She grins, trying very very hard not to roll her eyes. You hopeless idiot. ]

I'm afraid I cannot return that.

[impetuous]

[ He sighs heavily. Woe, what is his life. ]

I'll settle for this then.

[ He lets go of her in order to put the necklace on. Immediately, he feels better. ]

[scinlae]

[ Once it's own she reaches up, ghosting her fingers over the still heading wounds on his face. ]

You know now, don't you?

[impetuous]

[ There's no point in lying. ]

The bread wasn't all that good. Could have got a better show if you'd had cheese too.

[scinlae]

I would apologize but empty words cannot do anything to heal wounds.

[impetuous]

I'd rather not talk about it out here. [ Or anywhere. ] I'm still cold, you know. This is all Allen could give me.

...Well. All I could borrow without him knowing.

[scinlae]

[ She takes a hold of his wrist without really thinking. ]

I have a fire already stoked, come with me. [ She nods towards the castle, yeah she's actually staying in her own bloody room... for the moment anyway. ]

[impetuous]

[ He'd joke about preferring someone else's fire, but he has a feeling that won't go over well. Instead, he offers his arm gallantly. ]

Of course. Shall we, my lady?

[scinlae]

[ She takes it without hesitation, leading him into the castle, through the lobby and towards her room. The door she opens with magic and closes with it, letting go of his arm once inside.

It is only then that she realizes she has no idea where to go from here. She removes her cloak to brush the snow and mud from the edge, hanging it over on of the chairs.

Much has changed since he left and so has he. ]

[impetuous]

[ He mimics her actions, stepping up behind her to leave his cloak over hers. He touches her shoulder. ]

Come here.

[scinlae]

[ She shifts her weight, turning her face him. It feels as if all the relief and joy that had filled her chest drained away for uncertainty to twist her stomach uncomfortably. ]

[impetuous]

[ He pushes her chin up. ]

I'm still yours, you know. That's not changed.

[scinlae]

It hasn't? Even after... [ She trails off, he knows what he speaks of. He has experienced it now, that long week of fighting for meager scrapes so his friends don't starve. He heard Elyan's screams when she tortured him with the Nathair.

And still he is hers? ]

[impetuous]

[ There's still an ugly twisting each time he remembers. Elyan is his friend. He'd been tortured; they both had been humiliated. All for Morgana's pleasure.

But he's always been a selfish idiot and he cannot help but crave her company. The woman he met so many months ago was not the same he had seen gloating at him. If not for her insistence at bringing it up, it'd be too easy to picture them as wholly separate. ]

I promised you, didn't I? [ He opts for not answering her question. ] I'm a man of my word.

[scinlae]

[ She can't ignore it, no more than she can ignore her own selfish feelings for him. They may no longer be the same person (torn, fractured, two factions waring over who she is supposed to be) but those acts were committed by her hands.

Her hands find his chest, fingers curling around fabric. ]

I am sorry. [ The words will not change things, they will not fix the wounds she had inflicted but she says them anyway. Resting her forehead on his chest. ] I am sorry.

[impetuous]

I know.

[ only reason he has not stabbed her, lbr here. wait until someone drops the bomb later.

He rests his cheek on top of her head and breathes deeply. Uncomfortable, he tries for levity. ]

What a lovely picture we must make, hmm? I have to say, considering all the times this place has dropped me in your bed, I am sorely disappointed today it didn't.