[RQ] water you want

Hold fast till the brink of daylight

The longma braced again instinctively, hooves widening in a steady, grounded stance as the next wave rolled under him. This one was larger, purposeful, tugging not just at his balance but at the bucket hanging between his teeth. Through the bond, a warm thread of laughter unfurled—good-natured, breathless, entirely entertained. The buclet sloshed and clanged against his teeth and he gripped it tighter, tail lashing with amusement and taunt alike. Grunting, he dipped it again to fill it to the brim. 

He stepped forward just as Deimos retrieved his own bucket—and just as Iskra’s flick of heat kissed the air near the Sword’s elbow. With a deliberate, showy delicacy, he set his now-full bucket beside the others, releasing the handle from his teeth. He looked over them with the pride of their work swelling in his chest deespite the teasing and playing and taunting. This task was only amplified in joy by it, in the end, and he figured they all needed it. Even if it wasn't the full-on water war Deimos may have been looking for.

Then, turning, he lifted his head toward both men..

Where the shadow proves the sunshine

Deimos

walked from revelation to revelation
came back storm-drenched

Snorting, Deimos maneuvered his bucket underneath the water once more, watching as it filled while antics unfurled without his full notice. The sudden and sharp burning at his elbow gave him pause, brows furrowing as he lifted only that arm – inspecting, but seeing nothing that would be causing the orchestrated heat. When it diminished thereafter, his eyes narrowed, figuring he could let Evie look at it, or something else was afoot.

Though Iskra seemed to be innocently filling his buckets up, nor had Noah noticed anything unfurled by the Sword. While it hadn’t been the full rush of amusement he’d been seeking, it’d broken up the time spent on the task, and they were that much closer to fulfilling the goal. “All right, we can start bringing these home.” Lugging the buckets would be another prospective challenge. “I still think I should have first dibs,” given that, yeah, he’d been purposefully bothering the other vessels and containers, but he offered a juvenile smile, awareness of his antics. “But we can all head that way.” An acknowledgment of skills, even if he’d also race them to the front of the line.

[FIN]

through shattered mountains and aching famine
stronger than all of it