DEIMOS
ache first, but then let the cuts close
spit out the blood
spit out the blood
Hearing the semblances had been difficult enough; acting upon them would be difficult. For multiple lifetimes, he hadn’t given a damn about himself – evident to see, where they sat now, striving to overcome the years of neglecting his own needs, supports, and ramparts. Strength in the body and mind didn’t perhaps lend itself to the heart and soul, and filling it with rain and stars hadn’t lasted. Not when they ceased and dimmed.
He knew what she was doing with the following comment – so he did permit a light laugh that caught somewhere in his chest. Not as wild, not as exuberant, but there just the same, a bounding notion that meant he was listening, could be teased, could be scolded, could be cast in those shades of joviality. Rising over the tides of the weariness, the exhaustion, and the strain, he shook his head in their handhold. He had promises and duties to uphold, convictions from when he’d arrived, body sunken into the snow.
But she saw through his deflection, which did manage to instigate a deeper chuckle. “I will listen just the same.” And his form made no move to pack yet, not away from the edges of the fire, from Zuriel’s resting breaths laden at their feet, nor from Belial’s continued existence in the corner of the room, completely blending in at his leisure. He didn’t move away from the hallowed sanctions down hallways, where steel continued to volley and ricochet against one another, sliding tempered and forged mindsets together to collide and whittle and fade. And he certainly didn’t move away from her, who needed the rest, the relaxation, as well.
They hadn’t been permitted to do so in Helovia. War upon war, skirmish upon skirmish, stolen ventures and people and livelihoods after the next. His head tilted, lowering, piercing eyes searching for hers where they desperately didn’t want to be found. Not fair he might’ve said, with a childish smirk, had she been able to hear those congruent, inward thoughts.
He knew what she was doing with the following comment – so he did permit a light laugh that caught somewhere in his chest. Not as wild, not as exuberant, but there just the same, a bounding notion that meant he was listening, could be teased, could be scolded, could be cast in those shades of joviality. Rising over the tides of the weariness, the exhaustion, and the strain, he shook his head in their handhold. He had promises and duties to uphold, convictions from when he’d arrived, body sunken into the snow.
But she saw through his deflection, which did manage to instigate a deeper chuckle. “I will listen just the same.” And his form made no move to pack yet, not away from the edges of the fire, from Zuriel’s resting breaths laden at their feet, nor from Belial’s continued existence in the corner of the room, completely blending in at his leisure. He didn’t move away from the hallowed sanctions down hallways, where steel continued to volley and ricochet against one another, sliding tempered and forged mindsets together to collide and whittle and fade. And he certainly didn’t move away from her, who needed the rest, the relaxation, as well.
They hadn’t been permitted to do so in Helovia. War upon war, skirmish upon skirmish, stolen ventures and people and livelihoods after the next. His head tilted, lowering, piercing eyes searching for hers where they desperately didn’t want to be found. Not fair he might’ve said, with a childish smirk, had she been able to hear those congruent, inward thoughts.
watch your body pull itself back together
then let your soul do the same
then let your soul do the same
