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 Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2014 4:31 pm
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Nergui had woken on the soft pile of furs that made up the guardian's floor. She'd woken up alone, momentarily puzzled as to why, until her eyes fell on the chess board and everything came rushing back like a blow to the chest, sharp and lethal. It was with trembling fingers she opened to door and slipped out, hurrying away.
If Soren had ever made it back to his hut that evening he'd find it empty. Nergui was gone. She'd left the chess board, any other personal effects she might of had there, and left. She felt hollow, numb, lost in a way she had not felt since the isles had fallen and they'd been forced to seek refuge in a foreign land. Now she walked blindly through the reserve on bare feet without a trace of the usual grace she carried herself with. She was a broken thing, and even the glow of her eye seemed dimmed. She felt cold and empty, barren, desolate, and all the while the voices murmured harshly. Berating and belittling. They tore at every raw insecurity.
By the time the mare had made it back to her own home she was in tears again, though this time they were silent. If one didn't catch the shine on her cheeks they wouldn't even have known.
In her fragile emotional state the priestess had forgotten that her cousin was staying her home. A silly thing to forget, but she was surprised when she slipped inside to find him sitting at her low table. It made her freeze just beyond the door, red rimmed eyes widening before she hastily turned away to hide the tear tracks from him. It was too soon, she didn't want to talk to anyone, didn't want to see anyone, least of all Bastion. He who never bothered to hide his disapproval of the guardian.
Nergui didn't think she could take any I told you so's.
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Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2014 2:45 pm
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Bastion heard the footsteps behind him just as she'd noticed him, and he turned, gasping in surprise. "Noni, yes! Perfect! I was going to try and find you soon, but how blessed I am that you've come here instead. Such timing." His voice sounded feverish, and just a little mad. He looked disheveled, as if he hadn't moved from the spot he'd been at for months. In front of him was a low table, with several tools and something hidden beneath a black cloth.
He scrambled up to his feet, wiped his brow with the back of his arm, and moved to gather her up in a welcoming hug. "Ah, I've missed you! But it's been a productive few weeks-"
It was here that he realized, pulling away to look at her face, that she'd been crying. Everything he'd meant to say fled in lieu of this new, terrible realization.
"Who hurt you?"
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Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2014 10:48 am
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He scrambled to his feet, and Nergui had to fight the sudden panic driven urge to run back out the door. The best she could do was freeze in place, and when his arms looped around her in what would have normally been a welcome hug, she stiffened, remaining tense in his arms until he drew back enough to look at her face and the drying tear tracks. She looked up at him with wide, red-rimmed eyes. Startled, maybe even a little vacant.
"I'm alright," she lied, then regretted it instantly, because she didn't lie to Bastion. Not him. Never him. "I mean.." She was in shock, visibly. Shaky and unfocused. She blinked up into her cousin's worried eyes, and once again she broke down.
Because here was someone that loved her, had always loved her. Even when she had been cold and distant.
Her chest hurt, it ached, it felt like her chest was crumbling into tiny jagged pieces. It was a foreign pain, like nothing she had ever felt before, not even when her sister's love had turned to hate. Not even from the fall of the isles.
She stood there, and she cried, and she clung to Bastion's arms where they wrapped around her, and she din't want to tell him why, because she didn't want it to be real. If she didn't talk about it, it wasn't really. It hadn't happened. If she just pretended hard enough, she could make it not true.
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Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2014 12:42 am
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"You are NOT all right!" Bastion cried out, brushing his hands against her cheeks to wipe away the tears. "Something awful has happened, and you are going to sit here and tell me exactly what happened, who did it, and where can I find them!" Bastion settled her down gently, and then moved to sit in front of her, holding both of her hands clasped within his.
"Noni. Cousin. Sister. You are dearest to my heart, and you hurt me by holding back." His hands squeezed hers. "Please, will you tell me what happened, so that I may find a way to make you smile again?"
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Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2014 10:28 am
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He wiped the tears from her face, and she didn't resist when he led her to the table and sat her down on one of the cushions before taking a seat himself and reaching for her hands. Her's were a touch cool, but when he squeezed she returned the pressure. Those pleading eyes hurt to see, but it was lost in the sea of every other pain.
She still didn't want to answer, admitting it made it real, but she knew Bastion. He was as stubborn as she was, and he would get the answers one way or another. Drawing a deep breath, she let it out slowly, shaking, and lowered her gaze to the table so she wouldn't have to see the look on his face. "I asked Soren to be my bond guardian."
The lump in her throat rose again, and she had to swallow it back before she could continue. "We were playing chess, and I asked him." that soft voice was thick with emotion, and she'd have wiped away the new fall of tears had she not been holding onto Bastion's hands as if they were a lifeline now. "And he just walked out." Features crumbled. "I ruined it. I ruined everything."
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Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2014 11:31 pm
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It was like he'd known, somehow, that this was what had happened; but he had to hear it for himself before he let the anger rise up in him. Still, something clouded his judgement, and tempered his anger just long enough to ask.
"You asked him," Bastion murmured quietly, "And he walked out." He wanted to be mad, because Soren was a cad, but..
"He didn't actually say anything? He just walked out?"
It was too difficult, perhaps, for Bastion to readily accept that anyone would ever say no to the honor of being bonded with his cousin. She was divine perfection - even Soren must have known that. So for the only time ever, he gave the man the benefit of the doubt.
He would not do it again. But. Just this once..
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Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2014 2:38 pm
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She lifted her head to peg her cousin with an empty look, golden glow shining through a fall of silver finge that she hadn't bothered to brush to the side. "What does it matter if he didn't verbalize it? He left." There was a warmth to her voice, the first stirrings of anger, or frustration. "The result is the same." If it had been anyone else asking these questions she'd have pulled her hands away, turned away from them, but this was Bastion, her other half, closer than a brother. She didn't pull away, but her grip on his hands loosened until it was only him that held on.
She wanted to be angry, to pull that old cold arrogance around herself like a shield, but the hot flare of her temper barely smoldered before cooling into ash. She felt as if she were drowning and there was no escape.
"He knew what it meant to leave me kneeling there with out a word of comfort." Even to her it sounded sullen, but she didn't care. She had let him in, she had bore her heart on her sleeve and lay herself bare and vulnerable--for the first time--and her had turned away from her.
Left you. Alone. Alone.
She closed her eyes, features pinching in irritation on top of the sorrow she wore like a veil.
Veil..
"Where is my Veil, Bastion?"
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 3:18 am
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It mattered, but she was also right - the result had surely been the same. Soren's actions were still unacceptable, and Bastion felt he could freely hate the man now. Still, there was a small part of him that wondered if this was not the end of the story between his beloved cousin and the cur who broke her heart.
He would relent, surely. Would she take him back?
She asked for her veil, and he moved to bring it to her obediently. He settled it over her head, and let it fall down. "He must have hit his head one too many times with his own muscles." The snappy insult made no sense, but Bastion was still really bitter about how big that horseman was.. "Probably punched himself in the face so many times he went blind, and dumb, and temporarily forgot what a gem you are. He will loathe himself in the morning, I am sure of it."
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Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2014 5:40 pm
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As Bastion fell quiet, so too did the priestess. Quiet was easy, there were no expectations, no demands, no questions. Her mind was a buzz of ugliness, insecurities and frustrations, but just below was the familiar static of the voices that never quite ceased. A constant background noise that she had grown used to over time.
A feat she might not have managed had Soren not been by her side..
He calmed the clamor of murmurs, quieted her mind, and in his presences, for the first time since the isles had fallen, she had been at peace.
Now? Now that background static was growing louder. Those old paranoid insecurities were growing stronger. She had not hidden her blight behind the sheer lace of the veil in months now, but she did now as Bastion handed it to her. She draped it over her head, pulled it so it hung over the right side of her face, over that glow, but not hiding it, not really.
It never really had, but she did carry the Insanity.
She looked up at Bastion as he listed the reasons the stallion had walked away from her, trying to reassure her. She listened to him, and it was love for her cousin that kept her in that seat, let him talk nonsensical scenarios. Hearing that Soren was a fool did not reverse the damage that had been done. "I hope you're right," she muttered softly, though did not have much faith in it being true.
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Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2014 4:09 am
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"Of course I'm right!" Bastion cried out, moved thoroughly by the mere idea that he could be wrong. He shifted himself beside her and wrapped his arms around her tightly, pulling her into them. He was no strapping, thick gentlemen like her guardian had been, and he knew he was a poor excuse for a hugger, but that did not stop him from trying his hardest to be a pillar for his cousin to rest upon as she healed from such a painful wound. No one had ever abandoned him, before - he'd never allowed himself to get close enough to the only woman he'd loved, so she never had a chance to abandon him. He was starting to think that he'd made the right decisions concerning her, all along.
Love had a bit too much power for his tastes. At least with Sophie, things seemed light hearted and gentle. He knew she would out-grow him, or move on, and yet she enjoyed his company for now. It was nice, to be enjoyed. But being in love meant this, in the end, did it not?
He hugged his cousin even tighter. He would be there for her, because he would never abandon her. This was the kind of love that neither of them would ever need to be scared of.
"If I had been born with the strength and prowess of my brothers, I believe I would have offered to be your guardian, Noni." He leaned in, and gave her a serious look. "Of the platonic variety, to be sure, but - yes, I think I would have chosen that if I had not been so inadequately formed. And perhaps you would not have to suffer, if I could have been there to protect you. I apologize, my Noni. You deserve so much better."
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Posted: Mon May 05, 2014 7:45 pm
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No, these were not Soren's strong arms, but these were familiar. Arms she had felt a thousand time over. Her cousin, her shadow, the one thing in life she could always count on. He loved her, and he would always love her. Until the oceans swallowed the sun, he would love her. This time she melted into his tight hold, leaning into him as she turned enough to press her face into the warmth of his neck. Hiding from the world.
His soft voice helped to lay a wash of calm over her. Temporary, perhaps, but she appreciated it, and him. Anything to chase back that awful emptiness. Everyone feared pain, and rightly so, but that at least let you know you were alive. Numbness, that was the real hell.
Clinging, she turned her head enough so she could speak without her voice muffling against his skin. "I would have let you," she reassured him in turn, one small hand moving to slide through dark hair at the back of his head. "And you would have been perfect. My perfect shadow, always. My dark knight." This wasn't his fault. Hearing him apologize for a pain he didn't cause brought a whole other ache to her heart that had little to do with Soren's apparent rejection, and everything to do with her beloved cousin's perceived inadequacies, and how very much she loved him.
"I can always depend on you, Bastion. Always." She lay a kiss on his throat, continuing to pet his hair. Giving comfort as she received it. How thankful she was that he'd survived the fall of the islands. Of all her family, he would have been mourned the longest.
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