all you have is your fire

to be lit up from within

vein by vein

Victory; no matter how miniscule or pathetic, crowed along her soul. Standing amidst the dampened sands, the widening dunes, her feral intricacies lost a part of their might, as she bent forward, hands on her knees, panting. While her locks beat crimson curls rampantly, twisted, and turned over her face, stuck partly to her cheek, she beamed up at him. “I try,” which then bellowed into a coughing fit. Fangorn managed to find her again, grumbling and hissing all the while, moderately concerned he’d been left behind and that she seemed to be completely exhausted. As she leaned over, hastening breath back into her lungs, wherewithal back into her bones, aching muscles, she scratched at the little gourd’s head. Then, she admitted some strangled essence of defeat, slower, plodding steps, before dramatically falling to the drier, hotter portions of embankments, the heat already warming, soothing her limbs and joints. “All right. I need a break.”

to be the sun

MELITA

i try to keep it in line, maybe i'm just not the one

The sand is reached beneath their feet, and he trudges up it with hints of exhaustion, pearls still clutched within the oyster in his hand as he goes to sit beside her while she coughs and reigns her victory. Fangorn arrives, and he moves a small amount to make way for the griffin that follows soon after, setting the oyster beside him as he leans back to lay among the sand as well, head propped up by sand flecked arms.

“A worthy reward.” He teases her, tilting his head toward his niece. A raise of his brow is granted before he snickers quietly to himself, resting to catch his breath and relax the muscles that had grown taught from swimming.

but you know i would

SuNJATA

to be lit up from within

vein by vein

She stared up at the sky, arms spread out in an ungracious flop and heap, sand clinging to every soused inch of her, content with the revelation. The heat from the sun and the dunes was an enriching entanglement, and the youth sighed happily with the notion, with the parameters, with pretending, for an instant, that this could be the Dragon’s Throat. It only lasted for those mere, minute seconds, because she didn’t live here, because she wasn’t born here, because instead of dragons along the horizon, she could see the Hels floating aloft, and the sea extended too far – no oasis.

Fangorn curled along her hip and she sighed. “What’s your next plan?” She proffered to Sunjata, knowing full well he wasn’t going to cease and desist at opening bars or boxing rings.

to be the sun

MELITA

i try to keep it in line, maybe i'm just not the one

The Hels continue to cry out above them, and out of sheer curiosity, Sunjata reaches out to a few parrots nearby – to watch the way the multicolored avians flit in and interact with the Hels that circle for a meal. They swerve around the Hels at first, before diving toward them to try and push them away with a bit of a fight. An interesting sight, he imagines, before Melita’s question catches him somewhat off guard.

Haai nears and nudges her way beneath his head, giving him a pillow of sorts before resting her head beside Fangorn to puff a breath at the gourd. “Well, the Halo bar should be worked on and opened soon.” He muses, though he’s sure he’s told her that before – he’s just repeating himself for the sake of it. “And I think… I think I like it up here by the lighthouse. There’s a shrine to Safrin here. I think I might try to build a home up here.” He says, tilting his head away from the parrot tango in the air to look back up at the lighthouse above them.

but you know i would

SuNJATA

to be lit up from within

vein by vein

Her eyes caught the telltale feathers, the bright plumage, watching as the parrots mingled in amongst the Hels, snorting, shaking her head. She slid her attention to Sunjata briefly, to see him immersed in deep concentration, then peeling them back to the birds. “Are you doing that too?” Powers to maneuver animals, to control them, and shifting? She could see the appeal of so many ambling towards shrines and begging to be altered, changed. She just never had.

Fangorn grumbled back and forth at Haai, though it wasn’t a disgruntled set, friendly, amiable, amicable, shuffling over in their shared expanse of sand. Melita listened to his answer, billowing a soft sigh while the hot dunes worked their own magic on her figure, unwinding all the tenuous knots and the mercurial fatigue. A Halo bar – expansions of his craft – and then the notions of the lighthouse, her gaze following along to see its point jutting out from cliffs. “That sounds nice.” To be beside the ocean every day, to watch and bear witness to the waves undulating, the roll of the surf.

Something curled and gnarled its way through her stomach then – because she’d been amongst them, those tempestuous ethers and whimsical delights, and a part of her wondered if it was a mistake. If her relishing for adventure, for purpose, for ruin, was just peeling her away from everyone she’d come to enjoy and cherish. If it was running off, and the rest of the world would forget her again. “Look for me out there, okay?” A quiet whisper – so that maybe she was secure in someone’s memory, as more and more of them seemed to drift off into the ethers.

to be the sun

MELITA

i try to keep it in line, maybe i'm just not the one

“Am I doing what?” He teases back toward her, though he knows full well as the parrots and Hels dance back and forth that he absolutely is. “Yeah, that’s me.” He rumbles, lifting a hand to gesture to the parrots that mimic the feathers beneath his skin in varying shades. He continues to watch them idly before explaining what his plans were – tilting his head back to look at the lighthouse and the hills it settled within.

“I think so.” He reiterates with a soft smile to that. It seems fine, everything seems like it’s going normally, until her next comment almost takes him off guard and he can feel his heart thundering in his chest at the implication it brings. Because he’s forgotten once while everything else was going on. This time? This time things would be different, he’d always make space and room for her – gods knew the home and the ones that lived beside it would be available (minus one for Ronin and Remi) should she ever want a more permanent place.

His head tilts toward her then, a seriousness to his steel gaze as the parrots go back about their business with the loss of his concentration. “I will.” He quietly vows, shifting to roll onto his scarred side and look down at her. “I hope you know I might make an appearance when the ship’s in town. Whale or bird form. Give you that true pirate look while you man the cannons.” A toothy fanged grin is given toward her with a wink, hoping it might lighten the mood.

but you know i would

SuNJATA

to be lit up from within

vein by vein

What was it like – a wondering, a question on the tip of her tongue that she wouldn’t ask. Afraid, maybe, of the answer, of the things she might crave, of the things that would turn her into something she wasn’t. So she refrained, watching the parrots dance along the sky instead, their feathers bright and vivid, stark and absolute against the blue horizon.

Thereafter though, she wanted to crumble and crumple into a ball, hide herself from the wake of pain suddenly bombarding. It ached, to be forgotten, to think of stretching her own wings and hastening along the sea without some brethren, some family, some friends attached. She once wished and chanted for new adventures, beautiful shards of audacious, wondrous splendor, and now it sunk, in the pits of her stomach, in the walls of her heart. She’d dealt her own crushing blow, in believing she was capable of leaving other worlds behind, when they’d so readily done the same to her. Her breathing tightened, lungs welling, eyes brimming, and she tucked her arm over her eyes, as if shielding herself from the sun, when it was really his gaze she couldn’t bear, and the words pressing on her soul that she didn’t want to face. “Okay,” she laughed through an impending sniffle, imagining him appearing on the waves, or a bird on her shoulders. “I’ll hold you to that.”

to be the sun

MELITA

i try to keep it in line, maybe i'm just not the one

He doesn’t expect the reaction he gets to his words to be… Well, this. And there’s concern that crosses his face as she presses the crook of her elbow to her eyes, avoiding the sun and his gaze as he leans over her, storm cloud gaze searching for something to help make it better. But he’s not entirely sure what to do, so he pauses briefly before she laughs through the tightness of her throat, and he chews on the inside of his cheek, watching her face for anything else amiss.

“Good. Now come here.” He offers quietly, a softer smile crossing his face before he sits up a bit more, reaching for her with both hands to pull her in for a hug – arms wrapping tight around her, bracing her against his tattooed chest. His head hovers over her shoulder, mixed in with the wild red locks, the scent of the ocean mixed with steel and the crackling of a fire. “Here’s an idea. I’ll make you that short sword before you go off on your big adventure.” He rumbles to her. “And I’ll keep one of the pearls so that way whenever I see it I’ll think of you.” He pulls back from the hug, steel searching her gilded gaze. "How does that sound?"

but you know i would

SuNJATA

to be lit up from within

vein by vein

She didn’t want her emotions to be noticed; preferred to let them quietly simmer and burn against her. Because they were stupid and feral, caused only by her own insecurities, apprehensions, and experiences, closing her eyes, willing the tears to simply cease and desist. The youth didn’t expect the embrace to follow, but he must’ve heard, must’ve known, and her jaw clenched, tight against the backdrop of salt threatening to overwhelm and consume. Her head sunk somewhere along his shoulder, breath hitching, hands curling into fists as she fought herself. Melita was stronger than this, and hadn’t survived hardship after hardship to be waylaid by her own efforts. But gods, it hurt.

So she listened instead, about short swords, about pearls, about being remembered (sometimes, she wondered, down in the pit of her stomach, if anything she ever did ever mattered, if it left a line, a scorch mark on the horizon, or if she simply was nothing after all). Then he pulled back, and she couldn’t hide her tear-streaked cheeks, try as she might as she drew one hand to dash them all away. “Okay,” the girl breathed slowly, in and out, watery, gilded gaze meeting his.

to be the sun

MELITA

i try to keep it in line, maybe i'm just not the one

One thing that Sunjata would actively tell is that there’s always a need to break at some point – to be unable to hold it together. You just needed someone around that would be the support in the meantime. And while he believed this, truly, it hadn’t been something he’d sought out either. So instead, he had chosen to keep things bottled up, to break at the least forgiving times. At this moment, however, he gives her his strength.

As he pulls away from the hug, not caring if salty tears streak along his shoulder, he watches as she dashes her tears away – one of his hands reaching up to cup at her cheek to search her gilded gaze again. “I’ll be sure whatever house I find has more than one room just so you can come back and tell me all about your travels. Specifically yours, this time.” A small grin is given toward her. “Deal?” A home, a family to return to when back in town, a space for her treasures she doesn't have to worry about like at the VlamVloed.

but you know i would

SuNJATA

to be lit up from within

vein by vein

Melita was not fond of breaking. It didn’t happen very often, not with her stalwart heart, not with her compassionate, boundless tenacity, not with her obstinate insurrection of all life had to offer her. But everything wore and eroded eventually, and apparently she wasn’t any different, even as he lifted her gaze to his, and she could feel those damned tears threatening again. She wondered where she’d earned or deserved those offerings, striving to bite down on her lip to stop it from trembling. Home had never been a stable word or phrase; once, along the fringes of sand and dunes, of dragons and oasis, only to be destroyed. Everything else thereafter always seemed so fleeting, as if she were running to catch up to everyone else’s abilities, their ways, their strength, their might. As they settled into routines, as they spun themselves into life-altering events, and she presided with her staff, her knives, her bow, trying to find a place to angle and wedge herself in. “Deal,” she uttered, quiet, pondering over those dreams in the distance, where she had multiple places to go, instead of nowhere at all.

to be the sun

MELITA

i try to keep it in line, maybe i'm just not the one

It had been something she’d gone without for so long – an oversight on his part to have forgotten to include her for a variety of things. This time, though, this time he’d try to be better about it. To change to be better for those that were closest to him. And he’d do his damnedest to prevent anything from happening to Melita, whether here or wherever he was. If he could outfit her with weaponry and the ability to use them to their fullest potential, then it was better than nothing when he wasn’t around to help her.

But that was always his problem in the end, wasn’t it? Not trusting them to care for themselves enough?

Those thoughts scatter as soon as she finds his gaze and quietly utters the agreed upon deal – and he leans forward again to tangle his hand at her cheek in her red locks, pulling her in for another tight hug as if to cement the fact. “I can bring the lantern for Clementine over if you want, when I find a place?” He asks quietly, unsure what she wanted to do with it. But if she planned on staying a smuggler or a pirate, perhaps having it closer to her would be easier.

but you know i would

SuNJATA

to be lit up from within

vein by vein

In some portion or kernel of truth, she wasn’t his responsibility. She was more than capable of taking care of herself, of waging her wars and skirmishes across the earth, of tenderly and warmly striving to be something in this world of constant fluxes and alterations. It was just the nuances of nothing thereafter, as everyone else moved along she was still stuck, left behind, clawing her way to eroded embankments, where so many others had already crossed. The youth just wanted others nearby, around, to protect, to shield, and to do the same in return.

It just never seemed to work out that way.

Taken back into his hold, she breathed again, attempting to instill calm, some act of composure that didn’t quite meet her limbs. Muffled in his chest, her voice took on that quiet sort of fortitude, traipsing about in strength and might. “Sure.” Because Clementine’s lantern should be safe, and she wasn’t certain the seas would be.

to be the sun

MELITA

i try to keep it in line, maybe i'm just not the one

Her head rests against his chest and he keeps her near as the question of the lantern rises, and her agreement on the subject has his mind churning. He thinks of ways he might be able to shift and adjust the room in whichever house he decides. Outfitting it with weapons and other things that seemed to scream the fiery girl in his arms.

He’s content to remain there for a small amount, until she feels better. Until he feels like he can withdraw and have her breathe easy – somewhat protective in the way he wants to ensure that she knows everything will be okay, that nobody would forget her. He’d ensure it as well, to the best that he could. So when he withdraws, he looks to her again but keeps her within his arms, a dark brow raising thoughtfully. “Are you hungry?”

but you know i would

SuNJATA