no vacancy

save your eyes for someone brighter than i will ever be

Her arms find their place along his neck, and he gives into her as she nears her head close to his to where he can feel the soft skin of her face along his stubbled cheek. He buries his face into her neck gently, brushing his nose against the side of her neck above the waves. Her question hits him and he hums thoughtfully, trying to figure out what exactly it is he’s doing.

“Soon, once I get everyone together. We’re hunting a white dragon for Safrin.” He manages before squeezing her gently and withdrawing his head to capture her gaze. “Safrin needs the heart of a rare creature… And I thought to get everyone I know who’s attuned through her to join in. So once I hear back from everyone, that’s where I’ll be.” He offers with a soft smile.

don't hesitate to bring me to my knees

SUNJATA

You're so cold

but you feel alive

Breathing a slow, deep sigh, she touched his hair as he leaned into her. Let him stay there against her neck, and tried to ignore the tingling response that trilled down her neck and spine. Focusing on his voice helped, but only a little.

Hearing the reply, her grip tightened around him. Grew quite still, until he withdrew enough to look at her, to explain. Worry mingled with sadness in a complicated dance across her face at the news, and a slight frown appeared to crease her brows.

"Do you really have to kill it?" she asked, almost pleading. She'd always had a soft spot for dragons. "It's so dangerous, and it seems awfully cruel... Is it for the shrine?"

The awfulness of the idea that Sunjata would be doing such a horrible thing was second only to the concern that he might get injured doing it. What a strange thing, for a goddess of life to need death in order to do anything.

lay your hands on me

one last time

MAEA

save your eyes for someone brighter than i will ever be

He can see the worry and sorrow dance across her face, and he simply squeezes her a small amount closer. He needs his head by hers once more to bury his face into her neck at the concern, a smile sparking along his face despite the danger. Danger was something he was used to, something that he’d come to terms with. And for Safrin? He’d do anything.

“We’re going to try to convince it or capture it.” He hums into her neck, eyes closing against the spray of salt and water as a wave hits his back. “But… if I have to, I will have to kill it.” He admits — if it endangers anyone, if it fights anyone… He’s going to do what it takes to get it. Regardless of what Amalia wants. “It is for the shrine. She needs something alive that was once dead, something dead that was once alive, and the heart of a rare creature.”

don't hesitate to bring me to my knees

SUNJATA

You're so cold

but you feel alive

If it hadn't been a task set by a god, she would have been far more vocal in her protests. But would she not do the same if Ludo set her a task? So in the end, she let his assurance that he would try to convince it first settle some of the unease, and just hugged him tighter.

"Please be careful. If you don't come back... I'll have to go look for you." Half promise, half threat, she didn't know what might be more efficient. Not for the first time she raged against being abandoned, against not being attuned so she could come with him. As if she somehow could keep him more safe than anyone else.

"Have you thought of what else to bring?" she wondered, leaning her chin against the top of his head as he kept nuzzling her neck. Her chest tightened at the feel of his breath against her skin, so warm and real... it was a sweet pain, so strong and brought on so fiercely that she had to breathe to contain it. Smiling, despite it all. Her mind was already working on solving the riddle, but wanted to hear his thoughts first.

lay your hands on me

one last time

MAEA

save your eyes for someone brighter than i will ever be

Her threat is granted with a smile against her neck and her shoulder, a soft enough one that she’d be able to feel the bunch of his cheeks against her jaw. “Mmm, I will.” Its a half promise because he’s not sure if he will or won’t either. But for the sake of keeping things normal, as normal as he can until he departs, he agrees. “Though if I don’t please feel free to have Delphia grab my spirit so you can give me a verbal ass kick to last eternity.” He muses, a huff of a laugh leaving him as he locks his arms around her.

He leans further into her at her comment, feeling her head rest along the top of his head, her hands in his hair. “Amalia is coming as one of them. The dead brought back to life. I suppose for the other it could be anything. A flower that’s died, an animal…” He shrugs with a rise and fall of tattooed shoulders to that.

don't hesitate to bring me to my knees

SUNJATA

You're so cold

but you feel alive

Her responding hum was a little suspicious, as she did not entirely believe his claim to be careful. Perhaps she knew him a little bit too well for that. But Maea didn't argue.

"Delphia? Oh, believe me, if I have to do anything of the sort I will go straight to Ludo. I'm sure it would be open to listen if I explain things." She grabbed one of his ears between her fingers and tugged at it playfully. She'd threatened to do the same thing once before, and seemed quite willing to hold to it, if he tried her.

At the mention of Amalia's name however, the girl stiffened. Quite suddenly, and there was a new tension in her that had nothing to do with Sunjata or the riddle.

"Is she well enough to travel, then?" There was something tight in her voice as she asked, a note of unusual anger that clashed with the softness of the night around them. The waters around them grew decidedly chilly, a touch of frost to the air at her next breath.

lay your hands on me

one last time

MAEA

save your eyes for someone brighter than i will ever be

There’s a chuckle that leaves him at the threat of Ludo, a shrug granted. “I suppose that’s fai—” He’s cut off as she grabs his ear to tug, and his head slightly bounces into hers. “Hey, careful now. One of those earrings is special.” There’s a teasing tone of honestly that laces it’s way through his voice, smiling still against her neck.

At least until she stiffens, and the water around them grows colder. Goosebumps rise against his skin as he withdraws from her to focus on her face, unlocking his arms around her to reach up with a slick hand to cup her face gently. “She can’t walk, but she can fly.” He says quietly, searching her face for something. “Deimos is coming with. And Adam and Peter, if I can get them.” He searches her with a dark brow raised, unsure and uncertain of what the problem is.

don't hesitate to bring me to my knees

SUNJATA

You're so cold

but you feel alive

She didn't quite process the significance of the earrings at that moment, too busy getting worked up about Amalia. The face that met Sunjata's gaze was all kinds of stony, lips pressed together under flared nostrils while her eyes fairly flashed. Not at him, of course, but at the woman.

"I understand. Well, when you see her, tell her I'm still waiting for an apology. I did not quite hear it last time I spoke to her."

Her jaw was tight under his hand, muscles working quite like his used to do when he chewed on things, on thoughts, on unpleasant things. A little habit she had picked up, quite without realizing it.

The cold was sharpening. On the surface just around the girl's skin, a thin sheet of ice was beginning to settle.

lay your hands on me

one last time

MAEA

save your eyes for someone brighter than i will ever be

She’s pissed, and he can’t figure it out. But he tries to soothe her where he can, searching her face as her jaw works beneath his warm hands, as the ice along her spreads and shifts into the waters that writhe against them. His brows raise in form of surprise at the comment, and his fingers trace her jaw by her ear, trying to soothe the tension.

“What happened?” He asks quietly, the arm still around her pulling her closer to his warmth despite the ice that coats her, despite how much he hates the cold.  The partial shift moves up against his torso somewhat to ward off the chill, splotching him with white and black.

don't hesitate to bring me to my knees

SUNJATA

You're so cold

but you feel alive

Maea seemed oblivious to the ice, the frost, the discomfort of her companion; apparenlty she felt none of it, at least not yet. She tolerated his touch, but it did little to soothe her temper. The question made her eyes flash again, lids narrowing into a look that might have seemed dangerous, had it not come from such a small woman.

"I went to visit her, at the infirmary," she said, a little too calm. There was an edge to the words though, as though she was biting them off and tried very hard not to spit them out. "After I gave her treats and asked how she was doing, she had the nerve to imply that I ran away from the Grounds for a year because I could not stand failure, even though I had no control over that. As if I wouldn't have stayed if I'd been give the choice!

"Then she suggested that I was happy my family died, as so many good things seems to have come my way ever since. Just because I wouldn't trade this life for an impossible thing, like returning everything to the way it was and take all the suffering of the world on myself. Like she would."

The last few words were all but spat out, and in a sudden flare of temper Maea thrashed the water with a hand. The ice vanished quite suddenly, and steam began to rise into the chilled air as the temperature reversed dramatically.

lay your hands on me

one last time

MAEA

save your eyes for someone brighter than i will ever be

She speaks, and he doesn’t interrupt her. The bite to her tone falls on his ears and he focuses on her, on the fury and rage that settles beneath a cold exterior. It reminds him of Loren in some way, but rather than add to it, he continued to stroke her cheek gently, softly as she continues — his own gaze narrowing slightly at the accusations.

But he doesn’t know Amalia all that well — can’t begin to imagine the woman that had given him some small amount of information, some question as to Safrin and his own love for their shared goddess, would do something like that. But he supposes anything is possible.

As she lashes out, he can feel the warmth and the heat, and he completely shifts back into himself, legs brushing against hers as he keeps them there and the water temperature continues to rise. The hand at her back lifts to reach for the other side of her face, trying to keep her focus on him rather than the rage that wars within her. “I’m sorry Maea.” He hums to her, letting her see the sorrow in the storms of his eyes.

“I wouldn’t put too much stock into what she thinks.” He offers her with a small shrug, trying to keep her close despite the waves around them and the heat. “If she wants to be miserable and take everything onto herself, then let her. She’ll see how well that works out for her eventually.” He tries to offer her a small smile to that. Perhaps Sunjata would just rather be a bit more selfish than most — but that didn’t mean that he was a bad person in the end.

don't hesitate to bring me to my knees

SUNJATA

You're so cold

but you feel alive

He caught her eyes, caught her face, caught her attention with the soft words, the gentle support. It finally made her aware of the havoc she was wreaking upon the waters around them; with a slight grimace she drew a breath and tried to calm down. Breathed, like Loren had taught her, and let Sunjata become her anchor. Gradually the temperature settled, steam and ice alike melting away into the rolling, bobbing waves.

"I try not to," she said, "but it hurts. We're supposed to be friends, how can she even think like that?" The rage gave way, replaced by a deep hurt that was the true root of her outburst. That too was a good indicator of how deeply the words had cut. Maea usually just swallowed pain and anger, buried them deep within herself until they either became dust or began to fester.

It showed how far her trust for Sunjata went too, that she would let her emotions take over like this.

"Sorry... about the water. Did I burn you?"

lay your hands on me

one last time

MAEA

save your eyes for someone brighter than i will ever be

He strokes her face as she releases her tension, and his smile remains the same as it was. Soft and gentle and kind despite the fury that she’d shown. “Maybe you aren’t supposed to be friends?” He asks with a casual shrug. But Sunjata had a habit in Korofi of cutting those out that had caused him issues… A fact he thinks that he should pick back up here — it would be easier that way. “Friends that treat you like you’re a pain to be with, shouldn’t be a friend at all.” He explains, hands lowering to rest along her shoulders as her concern flares through.

His skin is a bit red from both the cold and the heat, but all in all he’s in one piece. “I’m fine.” He offers, kicking himself a bit closer toward her to pull her into him again. “You’ve sure got the heat part of your water magic nice and toasty though.” He teases her gently, softly, testing the water of her mood.

don't hesitate to bring me to my knees

SUNJATA

You're so cold

but you feel alive

She scowled a little at that, but let his fingers smooth the tension away, relaxing into his touch. "That would leave me with a grand total of zero friends. Well, save you, of course." Sunjata had always been beyond kind. And maybe Jigano too, though she wasn't so sure about that anymore. She seemed to have a knack for straining their relationship by making rash decisions.

He came back to her, reached out for her again and Maea slipped back into his embrace. Touching the scalded skin gently to see if it was as bad as it looked, she gave him a rueful grimace, mood slowly settling back into the calm he so wished for. "Seems I only struggle with the ice. Maybe because it's too comfortable... It's way easier to shut things out than let them in." It was the best way she could describe the sensation - though voicing out loud, she found it made little sense.

"I guess, if you ever need a bath, you only have to say the word?" A sly sideways glance at him, the hint of a smile touching the corner of her mouth.

lay your hands on me

one last time

MAEA