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+---- Thread: bending and breaking and tearing apart (/showthread.php?tid=11668)
bending and breaking and tearing apart - Alys - 07-04-2025
It was a beautiful Leafchange evening in Meadowreach. The flowers might have been beginning to wilt with the changing season, but the grass shone golden in the light of the dying sun. A cool breeze promised a chilly night to come, but just now, the temperature was perfect enough that Alys had left the windows open. Curtains drifted idly, billowing into the living room. A few lamps and candles flickered throughout the open space, highlighting the fact that it appeared, at first glance, to be very much an empty room.
Alys herself stood by the door, cloaked in invisibility thanks to her illusion magic, waiting for it to open. It was the appointed day and time, and Tal was due to come home at any moment. She had to be ready. He was stronger and faster than she, and if she missed the first time...
Well, she just couldn't miss.
So she banked on the hope that he wouldn't be suspicious and that his Goggles would be around his neck rather than over his eyes. If he couldn't see her coming, she might have a chance to prick him with the Vi's Rose held in her hand before he even realized what was happening.
A low rumble came from the bedroom; Sascha trundled out into the hall, padding into the living room, where she could act as a distraction. And that was how they waited: poised, ready, and hopeful that this nightmare was about to be over.
RE: bending and breaking and tearing apart - Talyson - 07-07-2025
He should have been more excited to be coming home. He missed the hail out of Alys and Sascha, sure, but King's End? It just hadn't felt as right once he'd settled into a rhythm in Stormbreak. Stormbreak, where he didn't have just one or two friends, but lots of Friends! Where the newest of Caido's critters could bloom and frolic and hunt without prejudice or the risk of overhunting, and the benevolent hand of the Family kept things running smoothly--
Well, they had done, for a few glorious weeks. Now, though... Tal sighed as he headed up the stairs, trying to shake off the sense of abandonment and despair that threaded through his violet-veined heart. His travel bag was slung over his shoulder, bumping lightly against his back as he plodded up the stairs of his house and tried to focus on the good that remained in his life. Seeing Alys again was enough to put a little more energy in his step, and he hurried up the last few risers, clutching the bouquet of end-of-Longheat roses in his hand as he hurried to push the door open and step inside.
"Alys? I'm home!" he called, his voice tinged with hope and longing for his partner. He saw Sascha and his eyes lit up - and he almost stumbled as Boreal shoved past him to romp forward in greeting for her little sister, crooning. Of his partner, though he didn't see any sign (though his Goggles were, indeed, around his neck), and he looked around in bewilderment as she failed to appear. "Sascha, where's Alys?"
RE: bending and breaking and tearing apart - Alys - 07-07-2025
Alys waited until she heard footsteps on the stairs. Then she tensed, clutching the rose in her hand with renewed conviction. This was it. This was her shot. Perhaps she should have employed Sunjata or someone similarly strong to help her - just in case she failed in her duplicity - but in the end, it had felt like something she had to do herself.
Sascha played her part well, barreling towards dragon and man with a rumble of excitement to see them both. With both Tal and Boreal distracted by the little ursur, Alys used her illusion magic to mask her footsteps, sneaking behind her partner in silence. In a stroke of brilliance, she cast her magic towards the bedroom, throwing her voice as she called, [say]"In here, my love."[/say] Hopefully, that would be enough for Tal to turn towards the bedroom, none the wiser for the danger creeping up on him from behind.
And then, when she hoped he'd least expect it, she crept behind him to attempt to prick his arm with the Vi's Rose, praying that this was all about to be over.
RE: bending and breaking and tearing apart - Talyson - 07-08-2025
The voice from the bedroom answered his question and released the tension from his chest before it had time to build at his beloved's absence. He grinned to himself and straightened, glancing down at his flowers to make sure they were ready for delivery--
"Ouch! What the fu--?!" He gasped as something sharp pierced the skin of his arm, unprotected by his Vest. He jerked away, slapping at his skin as if to brush away a bug and then staggered as the purple haze washed from his vision. An odd noise escaped Boreal, somewhere between a strangled rumble and a whine as she scrambled back to his side while he sank to the floor. He looked--
Dazed. Confused. And then horror dawned across his expressive face, blooming as understanding rushed in to fill the now-empty spaces where the Void had pulsed beneath and between his thoughts. "Fuck... fuck. Alys? Alys are you... I didn't know... are you okay?" Lost, confused, torn between laughing and retching and tucked firmly into a growing hysteria he looked around for his partner as he hugged his dragon. Boreal pressed tightly against him, rumbling the same way she used to when Sascha was tiny and needed reassurance as he held on to her like she was a lifeline to his sanity.
RE: bending and breaking and tearing apart - Alys - 07-08-2025
Alys dodged out of the way, still cloaked in her illusion magic, as Tal slapped reflexively at his arm and staggered away. The seer gripped the rose, prepared to pounce again, as Boreal came scrambling back to her bonded’s side. But as Tal sank to the floor, Alys recognized that look on his face, that complete bewilderment and horror, and she shed her illusion, shimmering into visibility as she dropped the wilting remains of the rose upon the floor.
The seer was by Tal’s side in a moment, on her knees before him as she reached over Boreal to cup Tal’s face in her hands. [say]”Tal,”[/say] she said, her voice breaking with relief and regret and fury and joy. [say]”I’m here, I’m fine -“[/say] More than fine, if her plan had worked, though she almost wished the Family were still here so she could rip their hearts out with her bare hands.
Sascha was there, suddenly, curling against Tal’s back and sticking her head under one of his arms, as though trying to prop him up. Alys began to look him over, searching for any sign of injury. Panic-tinged concern colored her dark gaze as her eyes found his once more. [say]”Are you alright? Did they - are you hurt?”[/say]
RE: bending and breaking and tearing apart - Talyson - 07-15-2025
Strong, slender fingers slid over his face, helping to ground him in the moment. His gaze focused with effort on his partner's eyes as she came down to his level, and he drew in a breath that was half sob. One hand groped for her shoulder, shaking, and he squeezed it as if to reassure himself that she was real. The sudden furry warmth at his back was nearly as familiar as the scaly head pressed against his ribs, Boreal's horns painfully indenting his flesh through his Vest though he didn't seem to mind.
"I'm... I'm okay. I'm okay now. I was..." He trailed off, shuddering as the weight of what had happened finally settled across his shoulders and bowed them until it seemed like only Boreal and Sascha were holding him up. The companions, and Alys's hands cupping his cheeks, stopping him from hiding his face in shame and guilt and regret. "...I wasn't. But I'm not... it's like they got in my head, Alys. Twisted up right an' wrong an' hate an' love an'..." He swallowed back bile and then tugged at her shoulder, tentatively at first, trying to pull her into his arms so he could bury his face in her hair. "... 'm so, so sorry, love. Y'were right. Right about everythin', an' I let y'down. Left y'behind. An' I'm sorry, Alys. I love you an' I'm sorry for ever leavin.'"
RE: bending and breaking and tearing apart - Alys - 07-15-2025
Tal was shaking, his emotions in disarray, and Alys fought to keep herself calm amidst the onslaught. She would have time later for fury, for daydreams of revenge - for now, she focused on her relief that Tal was here, back where he belonged.
[say]"No, my love,"[/say] she whispered, shaking her head against his apologies. [say]"It wasn't your fault."[/say] Because it wasn't. It was Vox's, and the Family's, and hers, for not having been close enough to protect him that day at the pool party. For not having teleported them out as soon as things started to go downhill.
Tal buried his face in her hair, and she held him tightly, rubbing soothing circles on his back. [say]"You've never let me down,"[/say] she told him fiercely. [say]"Not even once, so don't - don't say that. I was the one who left you on the beach, love. If anyone should be apologizing, it's me."[/say] She'd left him, she'd taken so long to cure him, she'd tricked him to get him home - and yes, perhaps the latter had been a necessary evil, but it still felt bitter on her tongue all the same.
RE: bending and breaking and tearing apart - Talyson - 07-15-2025
He'd believe her someday. In the future, when they both had time to calm down and to grow past what had happened he would place the blame where it belonged. But for tonight, in this moment, there was only the sick memory of leaving her alone while he dove forward to try - and fail - to protect Sunjata. Everything that she had been afraid of, his recklessness and pride, had come true and he had lost her in the purple poison of Vox's hug.
He leaned into her strength, needing the support she provided with her arms around his shoulders and the hand on his back. He clung to the words she uttered, the reassurances and the forgiveness, and he breathed in the scent of her, woven about with the heavenly fragrance of the Rose that she had carried for him--
"You never left me," he protested, but instead of pulling away he held her more tightly. "Y'did what we agreed, an' if you'd been caught, too, tryin' t'save me... We'd both've been lost." He shook his head, pressing his forehead to her ear as his voice dropped, rough and low. "Y'did th'hard thing, love. Th'smart thing, gettin' away so at least one o' us was free. I know how much y'love me. An' I can't imagine how much courage it took t'leave me so y'could save me later. Thank you, Alys. For savin' my heart an' my soul, an' carryin' that pain all alone for so long."
RE: bending and breaking and tearing apart - Alys - 07-17-2025
Alys's own worries had slipped out before she could stop herself, and as the tide of conversation turned to Tal reassuring her instead of the other way around, she cursed herself. This wasn't about her; she should be here now for Tal, who she knew well enough to know that this turn of events was something he would struggle with for many seasons to come. Still, she listened with a lump in her throat as he told her she'd done the right thing. She knew that he was right, but that didn't make it any easier to bear.
But at least her plan had worked, and they were together again. This - the guilt, the shame - was a storm they could weather. Hadn't Tal been there for her when her hubris had killed Sascha? She would be here for him now, as he recovered from the infection that had poisoned his mind - not for as long as some of the others, perhaps, but for long enough that Alys wasn't sure what to expect.
[say]"I'll always save you when you need saving,"[/say] she assured him in a whisper. [say]"You promised that you'd always come back to me, and you did. You're here. You're free. We're together, and that's all that matters."[/say]
RE: bending and breaking and tearing apart - Talyson - 07-28-2025
Leaning into her warmth and her strength, he let her whisper bear up beneath the weight of his folly. It couldn't carry it away, but it could make the burden a little easier for him to shoulder as he held her close and buried his face in the concealing cloud of her hair. Sascha and Boreal held him firmly sandwiched where Alys wasn't keeping him safe in her embrace, grounding him in a circle of love and family bonds that anchored him against the enormity of what he had become in the shadow of the Void's influence. He drew in a breath that was half sob, but there was a note of healing in the pain, and no doubt at all in the promise that Alys made him.
"We're together," he agreed, rough and jagged but so full of relief he almost seemed to break anew from the strength of it. "Because of you. Gods, y'really are th'best o' us both, love. I only ever played at bein' a hero, but you're th'real thing." He sniffed, eyes still tightly closed against the world, then tilted his head to nudge her cheek with his nose, fingers curling in the fabric of the back of her shirt. "An' I'm the luckiest guy on all Caido, bein' your partner. I'll never know what I did t'deserve you, but I'll spend my whole life thankin' all th' gods that y'love me enough t'save me, Alys Glasse. Even when y'have t'do it from myself an' my own stupid, selfish choices."
RE: bending and breaking and tearing apart - Alys - 08-01-2025
It was Alys's opinion that her partner had acted in a brave and selfless way at the pool party. And while, yes, it might have been a bit reckless, he'd acted as he had to protect those he cared about. The seer couldn't fault him for that.
So she held him, Sascha and Boreal propping him up where she couldn't reach to do so herself. And she listened, because no matter how much she might disagree - he was a hero, at least to her - it was important to let him get this out. For the first time since she'd found the magic that allowed her to feel others' emotions, she wished she could turn it off, if only to give Tal some privacy to work through this in his own way and in his own time.
He held her tightly, and she pressed as closely as their positioning and companions would allow, attempting to anchor him in the present. [say]"I will always be yours, Tal,"[/say] she whispered. [say]"And you will always be the best thing that ever happened to me."[/say] And though she knew it didn't feel like it to him, she added, [say]"You are the bravest, kindest, most selfless person I know, my love. And I'll be right here to remind you until you start to believe me again."[/say]
RE: bending and breaking and tearing apart - Talyson - 08-12-2025
She was his anchor, keeping him from sliding back into memories of Stormbreak and further still, to the beach on Torchline where he had lost himself. Lost her. His compass, his pole star, ripped from his heart and replaced with violet whispers in the dark. He had not stopped loving her - never that; not even the Infection could change that - but he had also known that the Family's needs came before his own. And if they had asked it of him--
But it hadn't come to that. And for that he held Alys close and shook with quiet tears as she whispered her love and her belief to him, lies that burned and comforted in the same breath. Words that he couldn't believe yet, that might take seasons and years before he could accept them without flinching... except for the ones at the beginning, and the ones at the end. Those not even his guilt and the aftermath of his infection could cast doubt on. He trusted their love and her steadfast devotion above all, and he clung to that even more tightly than he did to her arms. "...'ank you," he whispered into the cloud of her hair, voice rough with tears both falling and yet to be shed, "love. Thank you."
He couldn't say how long they stayed there, huddled together on the floor, humans and companions wrapped as tightly as they could be together. Their family was whole once more, if changed. But there would be time to heal now, time to fix some of what had been twisted out of shape. Thanks to Alys and her Rose, the recovery could begin.
And it began with a sniffle and a rough hiccup some time later, the courier biting his lip before admitting, reluctantly: "I think... my foot's gone numb. Boreal's been layin' on it this whole time..." The dragon rumbled agreement and shifted slightly so that she could bump her horned head gently against his ribs with affection before she finally pushed herself back just barely far enough to free him.
RE: bending and breaking and tearing apart - Alys - 08-18-2025
They were on the floor for a while; Alys lost track of time as she sat there with her partner, whispering sweet comforts into his ear and stroking soothing patterns upon his back. Eventually, though, the planks on which they sat grew uncomfortable, and their heap of humans and companions became untenable. Still, she wasn't going to move until Tal did. And so she sat, ignoring the pins and needles in her right leg, moving only slightly to lift her weight off her left ankle and sit it back down upon the floor instead.
Eventually, Tal stirred with a sniffle and a hiccup, and Alys reluctantly released him - though she didn't let him go far, not even as they stood, untangling themselves from the companions and rising on limbs long since gone numb. Once Sascha and Boreal were out of the way, Alys reached out to twine her fingers with Tal's, tugging him gently towards the kitchen. [say]"Come on,"[/say] she said gently. [say]"I think you're overdue for a meal at home and a night spent in our bed."[/say]
The seer paused only to scoop the discarded rose up, plucking a petal from its flower to tuck into the pages of a book, preserving a piece of the thing that had saved her partner forever.
fin