(SE) when the nighttime comes, say yes

SUNJATA

i'm drowning in all these voices in the sea
and meeting all my vices in the ring

A weight has been lifted for the time being – both physically and mentally. He knows he’ll have to keep the ring, that he has to speak to Phoebe about it, about whether something had occurred when he’d taken it off, though he doesn’t know what he’ll tell her, because he can’t see how this ends, can’t focus on that when the sound of the ring hitting the sand rebounds in his ears, and he looks at her with the very same look he sees in her colorless ones.

All it was, was awkwardness and fear and frustration at being trapped in the first place – at having that shackle to his arm connected to a woman that claimed she loved him and yet made him do all the things he wanted the least. So when the smile crosses Maea’s face, a trembling hand granted to him, his legs feel like lead as he realizes what she’s doing. That she won’t run, claws and horns and all, at least not yet.

He finds it within him to take the steps to her, taking her pale hand in his sunkissed one, getting into her space enough that he can place the other hand once more at the small of her back, trying his best to will the claws away but unable to at the present moment, to pull her close again and embrace her in what little bit of light he can find among the dark swallowing him whole. He looks down to her then, hand that holds her own, leaving it to cradle the back of her head, in the pale tresses that are still damp but drying in the heat, how his have dried in waves along the horns that protrude.

All he wants to do is kiss her again, embrace her, pull her body against his and give in.

so step inside, i ain't afraid to bleed
there ain't a casket strong enough for me