(SE) die a little to survive

Breathe in now, do what you can

The tone of her voice changes and it does spark another rumbling chuckle from him, a small sigh leaving him as his lips twist in a hint more of a crooked smirk. “Some things have changed.” He rolls a shoulder in a small shrug, before he boldly tugs her close against him. His offer is on the table and he meets her gaze with a raise of that scarred brow, waiting to see just how she’d take the offer.

There’s a hum of agreement that leaves him with her comment of a good time, though his arm loosens from where he tugs her in, letting her have a bit more freedom to move around. He still watches her, though, curious to see whether or not she things it’s a good idea. Sunjata doesn’t care one way or the other, and if nothing else it does provide a good distraction for himself tonight where nobody else is aware of what’s happening.

He watches her as she moves, rising onto her tiptoes, her lips pressed to the corner of his lips and he smirks, his hand rising to thread through her dark hair as he smirks down to her. “What else do you need for shopping?” He asks, before letting her go. “Forgive me if I look forward to the swim and the rest.” His own voice drops down with a hint more of a tease.

the flood

And fuck the rest, you know it's all beside you now

totally sniped from odd ilu

Maeve

"Like what?" Maeve asks with an arch of her brow, head tilting to the side, curls falling over her shoulder in loose waves. He tugs her forward and she goes willingly, lithe frame curving to fit against his, spine arching gracefully even as her arm loops around his neck. He allows her to move, encouraging it almost, seeming just as willing to get lost in this tonight as she is. It seems they both have plenty to be distracted from.

Fingers thread through her curls, pressing the tips of them into the back of her skull, almost cradling her as she presses that kiss to the corner of his lips. Maeve laughs, the sound an exhale against his skin before she slips back down, feet flat on the ground once more. "Not much. I have most of what I need." She hums, fingers trailing down his chest, plucking at the top button of his shirt and managing to pop it open in one smooth movement. "Oh don't worry. I look forward to it too." It's been a while and though she doesn't have Ascended bites helping her along, they aren't necessary.

Finally, Maeve draws away from him, but her arm loops back through his to tug him along. True to her word, it takes her only a little bit longer to get all she needs for her lantern and soon they're able to slip from the market place entirely. There are better places to make a lantern than the beach, but then again, Adam had loved it despite the sun. She finds a relatively flat rock close to her favored alcove, hidden from the sight of others, nothing to see them except the stars. "You know, it's been almost two years since we met." Maeve muses softly, beginning to wrap a few pieces of the colored glass with wire, intending to hang them from the bottom of the lantern so they might catch the light.

Fight so dirty, but your love's so sweet
Talk so pretty, but your heart got teeth

Breathe in now, do what you can

“I’m trying to be a little more assertive.” He muses, that crooked smile growing on his face again. “Getting closer to Frey has taught me a few things about myself.” The idea that he can put his foot down, that he can do whatever he wanted and tell the consequences to go fuck themselves. All in all, better, brighter things in Sunjata’s future, to care less of the past and simply live.

She drops back down and in the process undoes a button of his shirt and he snorts, the already mostly unbuttoned shirt seeming like it’s hanging on by a thread. Not that he cares, he’s warm despite the slow creeping chill of Leafchange. The more open his shirt is, too, the more his scars are displayed, most notably how far down the gargoyle’s claws had gotten into his chest, where they’d torn out a few of his tattoos.

He’s content to follow her along, though, and she was right about it not taking long. The demigod following her lead as she guides them to the beach, to the water he’s always loved. She finds a flat rock and Sunjata’s dropped to the sand, onto his back with his arms behind his head, staring up at the sky. “Has it?” He asks curiously. “I’ve had so many near death experiences now that it’s hard to keep track.” He hums, a small tidbit he leaves open for her to comment on or not.

Still, he squints at the stars all the same. “Did you finish your quest for Safrin?” The one that had brought them here to the water, for him to pay her back in some way. His head tilts up from where he’s planted himself, moonlit steel focusing on where she works at her makeshift table.

the flood

And fuck the rest, you know it's all beside you now

totally sniped from odd ilu

Maeve

That earns him an arched brow and a hum of approval, "Is that right? Perhaps I'll get a look at that tonight." It's a suggestion. Permission even. To test things out and push boundaries. To take what he wants if only because he could. She'd let him and give it all willingly. There was little that Maeve had control over these days. This? She had complete control over the decision and it felt good to know she could hand it all over to him. That he'd take care of it. Take care of her. Even if it was just for tonight.

It's true, his shirt was barely buttoned in the first place, but now? Well now it's nearly obscene. Maeve let's her gaze trail over his chest, making note of the new scars there, promising herself to explore them thoroughly later the way she used to. They're still shiny and pink, having not fully faded into that pale silver sheen that old scars typically take on and she's curious what exactly left them behind.

"It has. This upcoming Longnight, actually." Maeve hums, jade eyes flicking to where he's lounging in the sand without a care in the world. "Is that right? Jata, darling, I'm starting to think you have a death wish." She accuses playfully, shaking her head as she clicks her tongue at him, moving on to the next piece of glass.

At his question, Maeve toes off her shoes, lifting the leg of her pants to show off the bangle made of starlight that's glowing softly around her ankle. It sits delicately against her skin, casting it in a pale glow, "I did." It wasn't the only thing she'd done for Safrin, though. "I also found the Flowerbirth deity for her. He was hidden away in the desert under the Sunshine Pools."

Fight so dirty, but your love's so sweet
Talk so pretty, but your heart got teeth

Breathe in now, do what you can

Perhaps she will get a better look at it tonight. Never mind the fact he’s still pent up from the Ascended bites, never mind the fact that having twins back home was another fact in and of itself. So now? Now he lounges, he waits, he bides his time listening as the glass moves and she puts together the lantern while Sunjata’s half torn between the conversation and glaring up at the stars as if daring them.

“A lot has happened in two years.” He muses, before he pushes himself up onto his side, reaching up to unbutton the last button of his shirt and shrugs out of it, balling it up into some sort of pillow. The scars take out his compass tattoos, only the edges of them visible, and out of his sleeve tattoos only the one on his left arm remained in whirls of waves. The Safrin tattoo that had sat dead center in his chest was gone now too, and aside from the new scars almost made him seem like a blank slate. “Mm well, you wouldn’t be the first to tell me so.”

His gaze lingers on her, though, as she reveals the bracelet, his hand rising to touch it in his curiosity, fingers lingering against the pale skin of her leg briefly before he withdraws, his attention lifting to her face. “Oh?” He pauses, working his jaw enough that the scar moves slightly that crosses half his face. “My, you’ve been busy.” It’s a hint amused if it weren’t slightly annoyed by the idea of Safrin, tainted in his mind. “I’m sure Safrin is pleased.” He drawls, the steel of his gaze never leaving her face.

the flood

And fuck the rest, you know it's all beside you now

totally sniped from odd ilu

Maeve

A lot has happened in two years. Both of them became parents. Both of them had been hurt. Maeve hasn't nearly died, but sometimes if felt that way. Jade eyes occasionally flick down to him, the green of her irises almost mercurial in the moonlight, catching the way he simply glares up at the stars. She can't blame him. Not when she knows how badly things went with Safrin. The goddess hates him now and Maeve knows that all too well.

She watches as he removes his shirt, gaze edging on hungry as she lets it trail across his skin, noting how bare it is now. Maeve knew that there were many removed from him when things fell apart with Safrin. When Frey burned her from his bones. Still, the scares are new and she itches to run her hands across his skin, but Maeve does her best to focus on her lantern.

That's until calloused fingertips trace across her ankle, drawing a shiver down her spine and goosebumps across her skin, but she looks back down at him. A smile curling on her lips, "I have been and she is, but let's not talk about her right now. We were having such a good time." Maeve steers the conversation away from the starry goddess, unwilling to let the night be ruined by this when it's clear they so desperately need a distraction.

Fight so dirty, but your love's so sweet
Talk so pretty, but your heart got teeth

Breathe in now, do what you can

He can’t help but to relish in the effect he still has on her. Even if the conversation steers toward Safrin and how much he despises the starry goddess, he’s here for other reasons of his own. He doesn’t need her to add to his dour mood. He’s looking for a distraction, isn’t he?

It seems like he distracts her, though, with his touch. His gaze dropping to the goosebumps that spread before he’s lifting his gaze to her face from where he sits nestled in the sand. “You’re right.” He hums, shaking his head, the dangle earrings he wears brush by his scarred shoulders with the movement. It’s like he’s trying to reset his mind away from it.

He debates between sitting up more and laying down more fully, eventually choosing the latter as he uses his shirt as a pillow, his gaze drifting back to the stars before he closes his eyes, trying to relax himself from the stress of everything as of late. “I missed nights like these. Relaxing by the ocean in the middle of the night.” He muses, their faces aglow by the moon and the bioluminescent waves that lap toward his feet, still a fair length away given how inland they are.

the flood

And fuck the rest, you know it's all beside you now

totally sniped from odd ilu

Maeve

There is a flicker in his gaze as he follows the goosebumps up her leg and she knows his mind is in a similar place as hers. How is it they still have this pull between them? How has nothing changed and yet everything has all at once? They're thoughts to focus on another time as she takes a breath, rolling back her slender shoulders to focus on her lantern, attempting to ignore the distraction he was currently providing. Stretched out on the beach with moonlight and bioluminescence dancing across his skin, looking exactly as Frey had the first time she saw them, minus the horns curling from his hair.

"I usually am, beastie." Maeve purrs in response, huffing a quiet laugh as she finishes wrapping a final piece of glass, moving to affix them to the bottom of the lantern with a delicate bit of chain so they might dangle freely. It won't take her long from this point. Provided he keeps his hands to himself.

Something he seems intent on doing for the time being as his eyes slip closed instead and he takes a deep breath. "I find myself down here a lot. It's strange, really. I was always so afraid of the water before. Of being overwhelmed by it. Yet I crave being close." It's a sirens song in the night, drawing her down to its edge time and time again, coaxing her to walk out into its depths. Her lips twitch, a thought popping into her head of something he said the first time they met when they became tangled up in each other, neither crossing the line yet. "I think that's what I want sometimes." She murmurs, jade eyes flicking back down to him, watching the way his chest rises and falls. "To be overwhelmed."

Fight so dirty, but your love's so sweet
Talk so pretty, but your heart got teeth

Breathe in now, do what you can

There’s a hum that leaves him but nothing else committal when she speaks, the Flood content to listen to the pieces of glass as they scrape against the stone, as the wire is moved along and tied, his hEARS coming in handy to hear any other quieter whispers — though she doesn’t whisper. So instead, his eyes slip shut, he keeps his hands to himself, avoids glaring at the stars to close his eyes and focus on the water that he can hear crash against the beach.

“You were.” Comes his accented rumble, remembering just how much she’d hated the ocean. How he’d convinced her to give it a second chance. Not unlike her experience with the gods too, something Sunjata had helped point her in the direction, and now look at her?

But she repeats one of the things he said all those years ago and the demigod can’t help but to snort, broad shoulders rising and falling in a shrug, sand falling from where it’s clung to bronze skin. “It’s one of the least forgiving ways to be overwhelmed.” He begins, summoning that pocket of water again to let it loop languidly once, twice, three times around where she sat to make her lantern, narrowing in closer to circle around her neck as he glances up to make sure he’s not going to give her a face full of water. “But I think that’s part of the appeal.” He stills it as if it’s some kind of mobile choker, a ring of water that surrounds her neck, before he pushes it away, letting the string of it fall into the waves down below.

the flood

And fuck the rest, you know it's all beside you now

totally sniped from odd ilu

Maeve

"Unless you have something to cling to." How many times had she clung to him? How many times had they fallen apart together? Been overwhelmed and caught in the flood? She's lost count. Maeve hears the water before she realizes what it is he's doing exactly and her eyes lift to meet his, movements stilling as he loops the water around her neck, keeping her still and in place. Her breath catches, pulse rabbiting against the side of her throat, heated skin cooled slightly by the water that presses there instead. "It is." She concedes, voice dipping down to mix with the waves, but she knows he can hear her despite the breathy quality it's taken on.

Maeve attaches one final chain to the bottom of the lantern, giving it a look over once he releases her, setting it down with a nod of satisfaction. With that done, Maeve stands and lets her hands drop down to the hem of her shirt, fingers curling there with the intent of pulling the loose linen top over her head. She pauses, however, lips twitching into a coy smile as she looks down at him. The rock isn't too much higher than he is, but it would be enough to make almost a head taller than him should he be standing. "Do you wish to do the honors?" Maeve questions with an arched brow, head cocking to the side curiously as she waits for his choice.

Fight so dirty, but your love's so sweet
Talk so pretty, but your heart got teeth

Breathe in now, do what you can

It has the desired effect, his playfulness, the magic at work. “A lifeboat.” He muses, pulling the water away until it’s vanished again, until he remains in the sand, lounging as though he doesn’t have a care in the world. He does, but he tries to make it seem like it isn’t bothering him. And for the moment? It doesn’t.

Instead, he can hear her move now, and his gaze finds it way back to her — the two of them awash in a deep blue from the moonlight and the bioluminescence, colors that dance and streak across their skin as he watches her fiddle with her shirt. And then she poises the question to him, and the demigod can’t help the small smirk that crosses his face.

Usually he would, but tonight? “I think tonight I’d like for you to strip for me.” He purrs, readjusting to roll onto his side again, bracing himself on an elbow to look up at her as she fiddles with the hem of her shirt, his steel gaze swallowing her up.

the flood

And fuck the rest, you know it's all beside you now

totally sniped from odd ilu

Maeve

Since becoming queen, Maeve hasn't taken clients. She hasn't played this role. Yet it's a role that she'll always be able to slip in to. For him? For him she's more willing than most. His voice vibrates through the air, words curling through her veins and bringing a heat to her stomach as he makes his request. No, his demand. It isn't a question. It's a direction, pure and simple. As he rolls to lounge on his side, bracing against his elbow as steel drinks her in, Maeve dips her chin and almost appears demure. They both know she's anything but.

The Nightshade doesn't have music. No other beat aside from that of her heart against her ribs and the waves against the shore. She doesn't need it, though. Delicately she begins to draw the fabric up, revealing inch after inch of pale skin, awash in the glow of the world around them. Her hips sway minutely to a rhythm her body and the waves conjure. The shirt in her grasp finally revealing the dark lace that covers her breasts, maintaining a hint of modesty as she flicks her eyes down to him, a sweet smile playing on her lips.

Playfully she tosses the shirt in his direction, letting it fall into the sand before him before her palms skate down her torso, the tips of her fingers pausing to tease at the button of her pants. She doesn't move further. Not yet.

Fight so dirty, but your love's so sweet
Talk so pretty, but your heart got teeth

Breathe in now, do what you can

Some things just remain the same regardless of the passage of time. Some things are just ingrained in a way that sparks muscle memory. Tonight, though, it’s a bit of both, a bit of pretending in ways that don’t affect anyone or anything else. And so he watches, drinks her in to a rhythm only she can hear, but he doesn’t mind. The steel starts to darken a fraction, the swirling hue of metal greedy as she reveals pale skin, as her hands slide along her bare skin, revealing those dark little lacy underclothes that he’s somewhat annoyed that he can’t partially shift to rip them off anymore.

The shirt is tossed in his direction and he lets it fall just short of him, plopping into the sand as his eyes remain on her as her fingers play at the button of her pants. “Well don’t slow down now.” He purrs, a small smirk twitching on the corner of his lips that lifts the scar. He sits up a bit more, now, drawing up to sit on his knees and beckon her closer, an arm reaching out to brush his fingertips across the pale silk of her skin, aiming to draw her more into his space. “You were doing so well.” This is said in a deeper purr, a hint of a whine slipping from his throat.

the flood

And fuck the rest, you know it's all beside you now

totally sniped from odd ilu

Maeve

It's always been fun to tease and Sunjata was one of her favorites to play this game with. Her movements have the desired affect. His eyes grow darker and his breathing picks up just enough to be noticeable though he stays in complete control of his actions. He doesn't move. Not yet. Not until she stops. Her fingers teasing at the button of her pants, head cocking to the side and causing a cascade of dark curls to fall over her shoulder, the silver tips of her hair brushing against her ribs. Maeve's denial draws him closer as he rises to his knees. He doesn't have to reach far to touch her, but his head is just below her navel like this and Maeve allows herself to be drawn into his orbit.

The praise and encouragement are like a drug, drawing her towards a high she's not had in more time than she'd like to acknowledge, bringing a light flush to her cheeks. The experience of being someone's object of desire is freeing. It's a power unlike any other. Maeve finally pops the button on her pants, tugging the zipper down with a rasp and letting her thumbs hook into the waistband, hips shimmying slightly as she begins to work them down her legs. "I think you're just impatient." She drawls, voice honey sweet and teasing, jade eyes holding onto steel.

Fight so dirty, but your love's so sweet
Talk so pretty, but your heart got teeth