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+---- Thread: [RA] hold for a moment (/showthread.php?tid=11645)
hold for a moment - Deimos - 07-02-2025
The morning hours were still dark; not yet obscured or beholden by the sun. Erebos wouldn’t be awake for a few more hours, given his own toddler routine. But early to rise as ever, Deimos had still rested his head against the pillow, the light rumble in his tone purposefully meant for Evie's ears alone, striving to explain exactly what had occurred and happened amidst Torchline. Eyes towards the wooden beams of their ceiling, his hands pressed against his brow, kneading away any potential headache as the descriptions began. [say]“And that was it,” [/say]he surmised at the end, brows furrowed, as if still waiting for something to fall. For the other shoe to drop. For the messes to stay, brewing below isles and brewing around Starfall.
For all those responsibilities to come crashing down around him, again and again – and then suddenly disperse and disappear. Looming and alarming one second, and then gone the next. Relief was a strong word for it, and he still wanted to check, verify, for himself amidst the Tundra or elsewhere, but he couldn’t help that faint glimmer of hope residing in his chest. [say]“Quite a way to start the season,”[/say] came along a snort, and another shake of his head.
RE: hold for a moment - Evie - 07-03-2025
It's best he tells her now in the early dawn of their preferred hours, because what he shares is of such magnitude that she'll need the remainder of the day to grapple with it. Maybe an entire season, because it's enormous. Not so much ripples in a lake from a large stone as a tsunami from a volcanic eruption. [say]"If I say any of the expletives I'm currently thinking I'll never get an answer at a shrine again,"[/say] she blurts after a long stretch of silence spent wrangling all of those phrases.
She's afraid to hope after so long under cover of darkness and fear, but the Grounds in her blood has never needed hope to persevere in bleak circumstances. If the feeling comes with time she will embrace it with open arms. For now, it is a cautious thing that she keeps in the corner of her heart. Evie doesn't doubt her husband feels the same.
[say]"I don't know how long it will take to feel like I believe it. But I don't want to live like this didn't happen, you know?"[/say] Because then what would be the worth of all that risk and pain? What would success be worth if they didn't at least try to reclaim their lives and happiness?
RE: hold for a moment - Deimos - 07-03-2025
[say]“Mm,”[/say] he rumbled thereafter, half on a quiet laugh so as not to disturb any of the other dwellers in the house, but amidst the sheer absurdity of the situation too. If it had only taken one slip of a thorn into Dahlia, then the notions that they could’ve ended things so much sooner grappled in the back of his mind – even if it scarcely mattered. Maybe they’d spend seasons and years and decades trying to surmise the precarious balance – going from being threatened and hunted, to fighting back, to constant defiance, and then nothing – the aftermath an uncertain, unsteady glow they were all too shaken to touch.
Not that that stopped him from reaching out to her – head purposefully coming to rest in the crook of her neck while she struggled and grappled with the same notions. She’d be someone he thought a firm believer in hope, in the confidence of trying despite the darknesses, the thresholds, the absolute treacherous decrees and degrees. He was no Grounder though – too pointed, too experienced in worlds of battle to always wonder what else lingered around the corner. Nor would he be able to forget. [say]“Of course not. There is something to be learned from it.”[/say] And hopefully not repeated, whenever they found the glaring lesson.
Purposefully blowing a portion of air to move her crimson tresses by mere teasing gestures alone, he sighed, weighed the quandaries and circumstances in his head. [say]“Feels different from the previous war.”[/say] Maybe because they’d been fighting amongst themselves then, rather than a common enemy exploiting everything they could. They’d been altered since then too – but the same missions always in mind.
RE: hold for a moment - Evie - 07-07-2025
There’s no way they could have known the solution, but Evie is grateful for the tentative conclusion, no matter how late in the game. An end before any grievous losses is an end she’ll take any day - all the more now because of the contrasting end of the war. Evie is a hopeful woman at heart, but there are some things that run too deep, and her first instinct to feel it is buried by storied losses. When she feels it now, she doesn’t say it aloud.
[say] “Only so much, though - we couldn’t have prepared for enemies from space. I don’t want us to beat ourselves up for not knowing how to prepare or outmaneuver an enemy like them.”[/say] Hindsight provides clarity that can too easily be used to diminish the efforts they’d all put forth. The Evergreen would rather rejoice in their tentative victory than pore over past choices - at least for now. It’s the first day she’s felt like she’ll have energy to spare now that it won’t be spent fretting and preparing and she doesn’t want to spare a single moment on scrutiny if she can help it. Hopefully her husband won’t want to either today.
Huffing a laugh when he blows at her fringe, the weight of his head in the crook of her neck pleasantly grounding, Evie closes her eyes and tilts her cheek closer both to linger in the feeling and to remove some of his access to her hair. Not that it would impede him if he chose to use his magic of course. [say] “Very different. For all they tried, the Family weren’t very sympathetic enemies like the Voice could be. And we were capable of bringing back anyone infected.”[/say] The same couldn’t be said of the Ascended - no matter how some of them had tried. It makes an old, scarred pain ache in her chest to remember, but it’s the sort of grief that doesn’t linger long these days.
RE: hold for a moment - Deimos - 07-07-2025
Perhaps enemies within had been that much easier to deal with – figuratively, certainly not emotionally. Not when some Ascended had been part of families. Not when a goddess’s manipulation unraveled others at the very heart and soul of their entities. The Family had been cunning and deceitful, but parasitic as well – leeching and stealing, overt and cruel. And still, through it all, maybe in the embittered portions of relief, he had to laugh quietly at the thought of opponents from space. [say]“I suppose,”[/say] as he sighed, ghosting his mouth near her ear, intentionally biting at it when she strived to maneuver out of his teasing range. [say]“Still, more thoughts for the future,”[/say] about what potentially could linger and lurk out of every corner. [say]“Never believed we would have so many uses for flowers.”[/say] Which he thought might spark some amusement out of her; considering her dedication to plant life.
Taking another pointed huff of a breath and aiming it at her skin, maybe to distract and deflect, maybe to taunt and tease, maybe to rouse and revitalize, he listened, the key aspects of their thoughts drifting on intermingled contortions. [say]“True. Only seemed to inspire ire and fear.”[/say] And determination, resolution, and resolve soon after. [say]“I am not fond of parasites.”[/say]
RE: hold for a moment - Evie - 07-08-2025
A strangled union of yelp and laugh emerges when he bites her ear, mood torn between contemplation, relief, and heightening mischief with the convergence of spoken news and physical closeness.
[say]“I was clearly ahead of the game in my flower-touting lifestyle,”[/say] she preens, lifting a hand to flick her hair across the pillow - clearly meant to have been tossed over her shoulder if they weren’t still cuddled up in bed. If only they could grow Vi’s roses any faster than Amhran had already been pursuing, though that would contest their rarity and usefulness.
Turning and squirming onto her side when the assaults continue, the Evergreen pokes a finger into his ribs. [say]“You could’ve fooled me with our clingy child and companions. They’re rather parasitic in their own ways.”[/say] Mirth dances in her blue eyes, warming up slowly to this new dawn that has given her tentative optimism and, at the very least, room to breathe and relax for at least this day.
RE: hold for a moment - Deimos - 07-08-2025
[say]“Always,”[/say] he murmured with a vague wrinkle to his nose, as if he’d been plagued with such information and had listened to multitudes of lectures on the subjects. When she only responded to his mischievous and potentially, purposefully devious advances, other than a poke to his ribs, he sighed, lingering along pretenses as he playfully squirmed away from her finger. [say]“Yes, but we wanted them here, which I think is a stark difference.”[/say] Though, one could make an argument in the case of Belial, who had simply bonded with the Sword because he could.
The relief seemed to cling further into his bones now though – not the weight of it, but the tangibility, the potential, the prowess, of not needing to rush headlong into battle or worry for his family the moment they stepped foot out the door. More so than any residual trepidations, anyway.
Bordering on another lure and taunt, he sighed, purposefully sounding put upon, sinking further back into the pillow. [say]“I suppose if you do not deign to spend more time here,”[/say] heavily implied on ‘in bed with him’ and more worthwhile distractions, [say]“we can start breakfast and those Ludo costumes.” [/say]
RE: hold for a moment - Evie - 07-21-2025
He's certainly weathered more of her rants, rambling theories, impassioned project updates, and general plant-praise than any other living (or at least sentient, as she talks to her plants constantly) being in Caido. For that, she kindly allows the wrinkle of his nose alongside his dry praise. This time.
Her expression is fond and for once free of any strain or worry. Maybe the news is already sinking into her bones, bit by bit. It leaves her all the more open to the idea of languishing - or perhaps not languishing - in bed a while longer. The slow glow of mischief and intrigue rises in her blue eyes as the finger she'd poked into his ribs melts to settle her palm around the curve of it instead, fingers spanning comfortably across his side.
[say]"You suppose, hm?"[/say] Her lips twitch with building mirth. [say]"Hard to beat breakfast in a lineup y'know. I need to know what it might compete with."[/say] Though she surely knows - just as she knows it will most definitely require a far larger breakfast once they make it downstairs.
RE: hold for a moment - Deimos - 07-21-2025
Deimos would take the silence on those parts to be a little victorious celebration, mentally tallying it amidst the other jokes and tricks – pondering if he’d be able to add another to its judicious scales. He watched her with a keen arch to his brow, settled back upon his pillow with a darkened gaze keen with mischief and every other emotion he could ascribe in her presence, trying to forge onward without the wallowing melancholy. Without the overbearing tendencies. Without the impulse to conduct and commit to every waking maneuver all at once. They didn’t have to in the peace and serenity – and it fought over those sensibilities steeled within his mind.
Save for a few other potentials; of which he’d rallied behind and waited to see if she’d dabble, pick, and choose. The feel of her fingers lingering at his side was a nice touch, but he’d want more if they were getting anywhere, and the tease lingered there, as his gaze narrowed, neither dangerous nor hollowed, but piercing slate all its own. [say]“Would you like a demonstration? Could help you decide.”[/say] They could just as easily have both, but he had other semblances for the argument. His smile quirked into an amused grin, before strong muscles and enduring fortitude ensured he rose off the pillow, following her movements, her presence. Mouth instantly seeking hers, purposefully slow, drawn, hands gently along her cheeks, her neck, guiding her to him.
RE: hold for a moment - Evie - 08-15-2025
Neither are the type to linger on soft, whispering thresholds, or to drag out in painful aching moments what could instead explode in fragments of fire and ice. It doesn't make the game any less fun to know they won't hold out long. In fact given the way Evie's fingertips curl just slightly to turn her touch into a hint of dragging nails, it only adds more fuel to the fire.
[say]"Hands on demonstrations are my forte,"[/say] she murmurs, already losing her focus as his hands draw her in like a siren would to a wayward sailor. Pulling her down into endless dark - but this one is warm and familiar, all-encompassing in its might.
Evie gives back in return, thigh sliding between his legs as long fingers slip up his skin from hips to navel to chest. Sightless but eager in her renewed memorization of every bump and curve. Just as she seeks to do the same with her lips on his, crimson lashes sweeping against freckled cheeks as she falls headfirst into a deeper angle against his mouth.
RE: hold for a moment - Deimos - 08-16-2025
As a distraction, a taunt, and a tease, his words still curled and contorted over her, echoing grumbles to see if he could divert or deflect or amuse in one fell swoop. [say]“Where did you want to vacation in Deepfrost?”[/say] As he’d been told, numerous times by numerous people, that such notions should be considerations after all they’d been through. It’d been his aim all along, in multiple ways. Rather than wallow or be consumed by the pressures surrounding, by the gloom dissipating, they could simply bask in one another, here, now, and later – something he feared they didn’t get enough of when trial after trial hovered, loomed, and pierced. Balances had been delicate and certainly not infinite, but he intended to tip the scales far in the other direction – towards affection and all its wanton decrees and degrees, consuming, devouring, enthralling, ardent and sublime.
He laughed at her assured murmur, knowing well the art of all her hands-on demonstrations; letting the deep rumble echo and billow across her lips as she melded into his mouth. [say]“Mm. They have been some of my favorites.”[/say] She’d always been willing to share in their expansive natures, not dwelling, not latent, not listless, and he fed into it now, another content reverberation melding through his chest as her fingers began their drawn lines and fixtures. He’d quite eagerly take more, anywhere, but closed his eyes, followed the warm pinnacles of her angles into deeper ministrations, purposefully teasing and coy when his teeth dragged slowly over her bottom lip, followed by his tongue.
His hands slid lower, down the arches and curves of her back, her hips, finding the hem of her shirt, the band of her pants, hooking a finger along the upper fabric initially, fully intending to remove the barrier quickly, efficiently.
RE: hold for a moment - Evie - 08-19-2025
How is she meant to think of vacations and locations when the slow simmer of anticipation stands against it? Evie considers herself a sharp, bright woman on an average day, but her husband is notoriously adept at making her eyes glaze over and her thoughts stutter to a stop.
[say]“Maria Mundi? Anywhere on the ocean? I’ve seen so little of the open ocean outside of Torchline.”[/say] She’d never even dreamed of its vast, dark expanses until the barrier had fallen. It would be cold, yes, but winter sailing couldn’t be any colder than Halo, and they certainly have clothing abound to contend with it where magic could not.
Speaking of clothing, Evie’s back curves and her shoulders rise off the bed to facilitate the swift removal of her top, groan escaping naturally as she does so to brush against his mouth as his teeth press dimples into her lip. Her knee presses up to apply slow pressure between his legs, keeping them both drawn close while providing stimulation to rock and drag against. Boldly, she finds one of his hands blindly and brings it to her breast to mold his hand around it, silently demanding the portions she wants first.
RE: hold for a moment - Deimos - 08-20-2025
Half his point had been to rattle her, spark something against her mind while deliberating on wanton senses and covetous ends – given she’d granted some portion of a coherent answer, he intended to delve further. Trips on the ocean gave rise to speculation in his mind, but he pushed it back, leaving space for later, of ships that might careen around Torchline edges or King’s End bays, leaving his response a rumble across her skin as he dragged his mouth along the shell of her ear. [say]“Might be an option.” [/say]
But then there were other notions to explore, opportunities of discovery, routes he knew but could traverse over differently. As she made her point quite clear, he laughed, let the reverberations touch over her flesh – intending to sharpen the furor, stir the ardent, fervent perceptions, give and grant and let her take – wanting her panting, groaning, moaning, under his wake. Per the request, one of his hands touched, caressed, her breast, pebbled over the nipple, while he went one step further, lips traversing to meet the other, ghosts of breaths hovering and harboring, until his mouth and tongue, light touches of teeth, grazed.
Her hips rocking against his was a reminder of far too much fabric; he might’ve removed his sweatpants, had his other hand not been so diligent in removing the remains of her loungewear; fingers threatening to dip below regardless if she divested of them or not.
RE: hold for a moment - Evie - 08-20-2025
His words rippled across her skin like the tide before a storm—quiet promise and restless potential tangled in the press of his mouth and the weight of his hands. The thought of ships carving paths through dark, endless waves around them, sparked something in her; a wild flicker of intrigue beneath the building, distracting simmer. She leaned into the heat, the closeness, daring the unknown in the curve of his smile and the touch trailing fire along her ribs.
[say]“An option,”[/say] she echoed, voice low and rough, eyes half-lidded but burning with blue fire all the same.
It’s the last she speaks - of any coherent kind, at least - because there are far better things at hand. Both of theirs rove restlessly, arms crossing and maneuvering without tangling and bumping after so many years of enthusiastic practice. Her tongue flicks playfully at the seam of his lips, only to gasp lightly from anticipation alone as his fingertips slide past the waistband of her panties.
Maybe it’s the news, the freedom from fear and threat, but Evie’s body prickles and burns all over with pressing need. Not a great indicator of stamina frankly, but they have plenty of time for that on other days. Tilting her hips into his touch to encourage him - damn the fabric that remains, he can rip them off or burn them for all she cares right now - her hand descends to gracelessly shove his sweatpants down to get her hand around his cock. No time to be wasted - she wants him here and now. Her fingers curl around him, sliding and squeezing from base to tip in smooth, indulgent strokes as she nips at his mouth in return and twines her free hand into the spray of dark locks that cover their pillows.