Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
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02-13-2024, 09:32 PM (This post was last modified: 02-13-2024, 10:02 PM by Dahlia.)
Plans trickle into place, like a clock approaching the turn of the hour, or poison spreading through blood. Dahlia need not know what Dorian has done - and continues to do - to know this, and so she walks through Stormbreak's nooks and crannies as though already drawing and quartering her, assigning value to those parts where she might get the most use. This is a good part of why her feet take her through the quiet corridors of Judgement's Needle... but it isn't the only reason.
Who could prove useful to us; the phrase dances through her mind like synapses firing in time with Dorian's pulse, and Dahlia has just the man for the job. It helps that he is already a member of her the council, and it's pure entertainment that he is who he is.
And so, like a predator on soft paws, she walks the Needle in search of a man and his notebook.
let me put my lips to something
let me wrap my teeth around the world
The Needle was a place that served as the landscape for many of the aviator's nightmares as a boy. He'd known only vaguely what had happened to his father year when he was young, and that lack of knowledge had grown teeth (horns, scales, and wings too), making what was a horrific miscarriage of justice into something truly horrifying in the mind of a child. Even now as a man here on official business, Ever found the urge to hasten his work almost as overwhelming as his anxiety was.
But then, Everest was never one to rush, no matter how much discomfort it caused him.
With a visitor's badge (did you bring that yourself, Everest?) around his neck and a notebook in hand, Ever passed by the (unattended, he noted) main desk and into one of the administration rooms in order to log what materials the Needle might be in need of and what they could spare for Torchline.
even if i had to lose you to know you, i'd still be that temporary phase that you grow through
"Ah - there you are." Dahlia appears in the doorway to the room like a ghost, long fingers grasping the frame, dark curls left loose and carefree in the Longheat weather. "You are the Spyglass, are you not?" With a smile, she straightens up and beckons him with her. "I was told to come and look for you. There's something I need to show you."
Without waiting for a response - she has spied enough of the Hart boy to know that compliance is all but stitched into the fabric of his being (it's something she's counting on, for now and for the future, in fact) - she disappears down the corridor and into what, at a first glance, seems to be one of the supply closets for the Needle.
let me put my lips to something
let me wrap my teeth around the world
Turning, the picture of politely confused and entirely unaware of the danger he was in, stood Everest. "Hello, yes I am." He answered immediately, and though the tasks he had to complete tugged insatiably at his mind, they were promptly ignored in lieu of the stranger's request. Having not been privy to the letters sent around, it was with nothing more than an eager-to-please nod that Everest followed obediently in Dahlia's wake.
Unsure where she was headed, the aviator stopped in the middle of the hall, glancing around. "Sorry, are you—" Unsure where she'd gone, Everest glanced into the closet. Furrowing his brow, he reached a hand into the darkness, fumbling for the light.
even if i had to lose you to know you, i'd still be that temporary phase that you grow through
"I am, yes." The voice from the closet is little more than a sultry purr, though it might be more fitting in a young man's nightmares than fantasies. And thus Everest Hart takes, perhaps not his first step, but certainly a significant one in following the string of tragedies that began with his father. Hands, porcelain white and dangerously strong, reach out to snatch him by the front of his shirt, dragging him into the enclosed space whether or not he has managed yet to fumble for the light.
"So tightly wound." Dahlia whispers, turning and pinning the aviator up against the wall of the cupboard. "Doesn't it exhaust you?" One hand slithers up from his shirt to grip his jaw, and in the twilight, cerulean eyes burn with desire and ambition. "You will be so much more, by the time I am done."
Has the world ever forced itself on Ever quite in this way? It isn't something Dahlia can answer, but there's force and then some in the press of her body, and she leans up to inject him with the taste of her lips and the sting of her teeth.
let me put my lips to something
let me wrap my teeth around the world
Already a touch hesitant to go boldly into dark places in the Needle, Dahlia's voice certainly provides no reassurance. Still, she'd asked something of him and Everest could find no logical reason not to follow, no matter the discomfort in his body and mind.
"Ahh—!" Ever cries, somewhat comically, as he stutter-steps forward and toward Dahlia. The hands on his shirt cause strings of fire to pull at the back of his eyelids, widening them and quickening his pulse. "-sorry." He mumbles as if this might be his fault, before trying to back away only to find his back against a solid surface.
"It, I mean, sometimes it does, but—' Lifting his chin away from the heat of her to try and clear his thoughts while also answering her questions, Ever's hands rise both to push her away as much as block her from continuing to touch him. Of course it's no good against her sheer strength, and though never would anyone have believed the aviator's first kiss would come quite like this, that didn't make it any less true.
It's an alien and overwhelming (ly bad) feeling to have someone so close to him like this, to sense the saliva from someone else's lips, slippery against his own, to smell the sharp tang of blood and not know where it came from.
And then..
In the darkness something began to stir. Something that moved from one mouth to the other. Something so vast and defeaning that Everest could no longer hear the alarm bells of his own body; in that moment of confusion, he let his palms come to rest against Dahlia, entirely without issue for having touched another, for the first time in his life.
even if i had to lose you to know you, i'd still be that temporary phase that you grow through
Some say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. In Dahlia's experience of this world thus far, people will happily trot down the steps to ruin if it means they can feel good and right, for even just one moment. And while the void can be deafening, she might have told Everest, it can also be welcome; a vast, endless nothing, obliterating uncertainty, filling all the spaces where doubt festers and grows.
Only as she feels his hands relax against her does she part from him, lips painted red with his blood, the fingers that only seconds ago gripped his jaw now cradling his cheek like a lover. "Isn't that better?" she murmurs, looking him over appreciatively, and not only because of how useful he has just become to their plans. "Just let it in. We'll take care of the rest from here."
let me put my lips to something
let me wrap my teeth around the world
Though he isn't at all sure what to do with his mouth despite the lengthy lectures Mateo has given him, Everest tries to reciprocate as best he can. Not only does he feel compelled to, but what he doesn't feel, perhaps most importantly, is anything telling him not to. His body has gone tense, yes, but not out of a self-conscious dread and need not to be touched. Though she's pressed against him, he can't hear the scream of his cotton shirt against his skin and how the warmth of her body is causing it to crease. His lips are slippery from blood and saliva, and while perhaps he'll go see Tobi for a tetanus shot, he isn't revulted by the idea.
Or rather, he can no longer hear the part of himself that is.
"It...yes, I think so." Ever whispers, dumbfounded and all the more cowed for it. "I suppose I should say thank you?" Confused and feeling as though there was far more room in his body suddenly than he knew what to do with, he nodded slowly at her words.
"I'm sorry, I don't think I understand..?"
even if i had to lose you to know you, i'd still be that temporary phase that you grow through
"Good. You're very welcome," Dahlia croons, letting her free hand smooth out the scrunches she's put in the aviator's shirt, even if she makes no move to step away from him just yet. (Why would she? Despite whatever social anxieties he possessesd, Everest is not unattractive). "It isn't your job to understand," she continues with a gentle pat of his chest. "But since you've been so polite..."
Smiling up at Stormbreak's Spyglass, Dahlia lets out a content sigh. "Your Luminary has had to take a step back from her leadership duties. I will be taking over from her in the meantime, and you are the perfect person to help me. Even more so now that you have a clear head." She even gives his cheek a little pinch for good measure. "How do you feel?"
let me put my lips to something
let me wrap my teeth around the world
02-13-2024, 10:56 PM (This post was last modified: 02-13-2024, 10:56 PM by Everest.)
Everest
It's the first hand to press against his body without any sort of medical necessity, and without the blaring concerns of the man buried and rendered silent by violet sleep, Everest can't quite recall what he previously found that sort of thing to be so upsetting. "Oh." He says, blinking into the darkness, but before he can apologize for overstepping, she's explaining.
"I did wonder, I haven't seen her recently. I was worried." The blood on his lips has started to dry, and without thought, he licks absently at the split Dahlia's teeth had left. "Is she alright?"
As for helping? Looking down at the woman tucked neatly against his chest, it's with an immediate and obedient nod that he agrees with her. Her words strike lilac chords of logic in his mind, and though everything still felt very vast, so long as he kept himself tethered to her lavender touch, he was sure it would work out alright.
"I feel..." Frowning, Ever wasn't quite sure how to answer that question. "I've never been kissed before. I...normally I don't like..this. Looking down he gestures with his eyebrows to her; her hands on his chest, the nearness of her body.
even if i had to lose you to know you, i'd still be that temporary phase that you grow through
"She is perfectly taken care of," Dahlia assures him. "And between the two of us - and the rest of the council, if they so choose - we will take care of Stormbreak as well." And all will fall into place, like dominoes stacked and made ready by hands not of this world. "We ought to have a meeting, to explain. Do you think you could arrange that, Everest?"
As for kisses and touches and the thrillingly personal aspects of this little aquisition, Dahlia tilts her head coquettishly to the side. "Is that so? Perhaps you'll find that the things you didn't used to enjoy aren't so bad now. But I could always give you your space, if that's what you would prefer." Dahlia would not prefer, of course, but the illusion of choice can be an exhilarating thing, especially when so recently discovered.
let me put my lips to something
let me wrap my teeth around the world
"Oh. Well...that sounds..." It sounded purple; radiantly and explosively purple. "Yes, of course I can." He agreed, blinking, and already feeling his fingers itch to write the letters he'd send to Anju and Lena.
Whatever might yet further change within the aviator, at present he still had a job to do. 'I don't even know your name.' He whispered, apologetically. "But perhaps space for now, only so that I can finish what I was doing here and write those letters?" That he quite literally didn't know what he was missing or turning down would not be lost on him later, but for now, despite being told he was allowed finally to have dessert after years going without, Ever still thought it best to eat his dinner first.
even if i had to lose you to know you, i'd still be that temporary phase that you grow through
"Wonderful," she praises, her smile radiant, and at his whispered admission, she breathes the apology against his cheek and delivers a kiss there for good measure. "Dahlia," she tells him. "That's what you can call me." Smoothing a hand through his hair and down the back of his neck, she spends a second or two fixing his collar before peeling herself away and into the cool darkness between them.
"We'll see each other very soon," she promises him. "You can find me in the Tower, if you want to speak to me." And so, with her work done and the foundations laid for Stormbreak's future, Dahlia abandons her new project to his tasks without so much as a glance over her shoulder. Well... perhaps a small glance, for luck.
~FIN
let me put my lips to something
let me wrap my teeth around the world
