"But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura
She and Zoryn had somehow managed to get Dovev back into the Pampas. It had been a long journey getting him from one place to the other. Getting him across the river that cut through the land had been a fucking nightmare. But they had done it. And then there was the trek across the the damn ocean. Overall it had been an annoying sort of adventure and just the thing she had needed to settle herself back into this place. There had been some coaxing from her and some cursing from Zoryn and a whole lot of nonsense from Dovev. She had left them to their family.
Rather, she had stayed long enough for Dovev to get stolen and then find herself trekking along the path from the Island to the Pampas. By this point she was starting to feel rather…..under the weather. Her body was starting to ache, and her skin felt like she was on fire. Her breathing became more labored the longer she moved and there was times she really didn’t want to
But she continued on, until she makes it into the Pampas.
By the time she makes it, it is obvious that she is sick. Her eyes are glassy. Her coat is dull and seems to hang off her bones. Her body trembles now and again as she feels cold and hot all at the same time. She sighs, lowering herself to the ground. She will work on finding Dovev...after she rests for a while.
He fuckin' hated it here. He hated having to see Leliana with her family, hated being anywhere near them. Hated being anywhere near her goddamn pathetic excuse of a husband, too. Stupid bastard didn't deserve her. Not that Dov did either, but fuck.
It was the blend of red and white in the corner of his eye that caught his attention, painted and toned similar to his little twins. His black eyes flicked over. But, no. She wasn't either of his kids, though he still felt as if he knew her from somewhere. His memories this time weren't lost, only vague and confusing with partial glimpses through a plague-ridden fever. He frowned and watched her lower herself to the ground, clearly ill.
Without thought or hesitation, he angled towards her and approached, his steps even and deliberate. She really was familiar in some way and it nagged at the back of his mind, made his facial muscles twitch beneath his mask of bone. Who the hell was she? How did he know her? He did know her. The sweet smell of her only confirmed it, quickened his steps until he was standing over her and blotting out the sun with his blood-dribbling body.
His eyes were stone hard as he looked over her, impassively surveying her thinning frame. Her coat lacked the sheen and glow of vitality, her eyes dimmed and glassy. And she trembled. His muzzle lowered to breathe over her side, hovering above the natural swell of her belly and tracing towards her shoulder, her neck. He checked her eyes again before dipping slightly lower, scraping the edge of his bone at the tip of his nose along her muscle. With a slowly dragging sweep, he drew it up to her jaw and nipped once only sharp enough to demand her attention, then straightened.
She smelled like the Island where he'd come from.
"You followed me," he claimed evenly, his cold gaze lacking emotion. After a beat, he spoke again. "Do you know my name?" Because, as was his way, that would tell him more than any other question he could've asked.
She had closed her eyes, the relentless sun glaring into her eyes making her head pound with the rhythm of her heartbeat. And it wouldn’t stop, not even when something taller blocked the sun from her body. She breathed a sigh of relief, that was quickly replaced with a body that shuddered with the loss of warmth. She doesn’t even both to look up right away, figuring if it was someone going to kill her all they would do would give her a respite from this horrible sickness eating away at her.
Not even when the smell of blood reached her nostrils did she flinch, did her eyes open.
But when she did, she was surprised to see him, the very guy she was looking for. And it’s with a small smile she says so. “Oh, it’s you.” Her attention wavers, her eyes heavy, wanting to close and to sleep. Her body wanted her to rest so she could fight this illness.
His boney nose scrapes lightly across her body, then up under her chin, his teeth gathering her attention back to him. She blinks wearily. “Sure, it’s Dovev…” She trails, laughs a little, glassy eyes blinking as she tries to keep him in focus. “You thought I was an angel of death and wanted me to take you away instead of Zoryn.” Her laugh ends on a cough, her lungs gasping for air, her body heaving afterwards. “Instead we just took you home.” Well mostly, she listened to Zoryn as he bossed her around.
Unwilling to sit up any longer and perhaps a bit unable she leans back and stretches out along the grass. “I wanted…-” Her voice raspy and out of breath. “...to make sure you were okay.” Her brown eyes blinking back open as she forced herself to stay awake.
She greeted him with a soft smile and his eyes traced it. So strange when someone smiled at him that way. She must not have known him, and his appearance must not be too revolting to her. The blood and bone jutting viciously out of his body was often warning enough to stay the hell away.
The soft and brave interested him, too foolish and trusting to heed intuition.
There was a time when he would continue touching her, when he'd call her body to answer him, her master. He loved to make them quiver with hot pleasure and need, then shock them with a dunk into his icy hostility. Back and forth, bring them back up again and tear them down until the pain was just as begged for, just as desired. He was the master of both.
He caught his name on her lips, and his eyes flicked back to hers, black and glinting. Right. His angel of death. His mouth twisted up in one corner, held a moment, then fell into a frown. Had he gotten her sick? Ugh, likely yes. He scanned her body again, this time searching for further injuries.
She wanted to make sure he was okay, she rasped, and his dark gaze flew to hers again.
"You're barely alive," he pointed out sharply as if she were a complete idiot. He tempered his hostility slightly as he continued. "I'm always fine. Even when I die, I'll be fine." His stare faltered, almost slid in the direction he knew Leliana was. But no. He was fine. He'd pay this price and get the hell home.
Usually she was pretty good at thinking things through before she did them. Taking wandering into Pangea. Normally she would have probably stayed far, far away from the place that had smelt wrong, looked wrong, felt wrong. But something, probably that fickle creature fate, had pulled her in. No doubt the moment she stepped foot into the land she had gotten the same thing that Dovev had. She wouldn’t blame him, hadn’t even thought of it really. She had seen enough dark magic from her father and she knew the feel of it.
Although, dragging Dovev home probably had ensured that she was sick.
She had no further injuries, unless he saw some of the thinner spots of hair along her side where his bone armor had rubbed against her on the way to taking him home. Thankfully even though that had been sore it hadn’t broken skin.
He scolds her and she wants to laugh, her wandering thoughts brought back to their conversation. “Mmm, but I’m not dead.” An amused hum, her eye flickering back open to look at him. Amusement countering against the bite of his words. Her family had already prepared her for guys like him. All prickly on the outside and soft deep down where it counted. Unwillingly he had shown bits of it in his feverish state. “Glad you’re better….gives me hope.” Another small smile. “Furia.” A small pause and she pushes herself back into a sitting position. Her body protesting as she does so. “But my family causes me Fury, if you’re so inclined.” Her words are a bit slower than normal but she gets them all out. The ice surges through her bones again and she shivers but she doesn’t look away from him.
"Mmm, but I'm not dead," she hummed in clear amusement. Her eyes opened to look up at him again, and his frown turned subtly into puzzlement as he studied her. "Glad you're better....gives me hope." She was glad he was alright? His brows tightened more firmly.
"Furia." She struggled to push herself up and continued, adding that her family calls her Fury and offered it to him as well. He already preferred Furia to Fury for whatever reason, and knew she'd likely never hear the nickname from him. His black eyes fell to her legs, catching the small shiver tremble through her, then back to her eyes again.
She was a puzzle. He didn't understand her or what her motives might be. Maybe he was meant to play along until he found out.
The muscle in his jaw pulsed as he grit his teeth then loosened them, stepping forward with a hard look and lowering himself beside her. "I'm not better," he corrected her as the heat from his high fever radiated outward. "And I'm not likely to be staying long." He sure as hell didn't like the leader's response to his children getting dragged into this by his lackey. What else was he supposed to do? Leave them on their own? They were far too little for that. He was given no other choice.
"Should I expect you'll be returning home with me? Back to the island we came from." Island Resort, where she'd helped Zoryn carry him. Where his family lived in safety from the disease. Where he could be near them and harmless to them.
"I tend to attract trouble," he warned her flatly. Basically everywhere he went, something bad happened to the people or the place. He was a catalyst to tragedies and danger. It was only a matter of time before it came for the Island too.
He certainly was gruff. Her eyes blinking back up at him and he talks about not staying long. Well, even though his rather bulky frame is hovering near her prone form she pushes herself up back on her hooves. A couple of uneasy steps and she steadies herself against his solid form briefly before easing back. The fact that he was still sick but steady still gave her hope. The last time she had seen him he had been worse than she was now. Feverish and unable to do more than barely stand, they had staggered and stumbled under his weight. But he was better, if not still sick.
“I expect yes.” She says dragging her eyes up to meet his again. Her weight shifted uneasily away from him and she manages to steady herself back up before falling over. “I don’t have any where else to go or to annoy.” A smile curls her lips. “I expect you and Zoryn will be plenty of fun.” She steadies her body again by placing her hooves out slightly wider than they had been.
She debates briefly into shifting into a bird but one can’t speak to others in a different animal form. Takes all the fun outta it really. But now her and Luna can go on flying adventures! Wait, what did he say?
She backtracks on the conversation, replaying what he had just said she snorts out in laughter. She almost falls into him again as she laughs, the whole thing shaking her weakened body. “Oh...Oh that’s great.” She continues to laugh some more, this time her body leaning into his despite her trying to keep herself steady. And then she leans solidly against him until her laughter subsides. “Trouble.” She says, laughing again just a little more before she staggers off him. “Oh, you’re cute.” Genuine mirth is clear in her eyes, clearing away the sick just a bit. “I can handle your kind of trouble Dovev.”
"I expect yes," she answered him, "I don't have any where else to go or to annoy." He snorted with amusement and smirked. She hadn't annoyed him yet, only gained his interest whether that was a good or bad thing. "I expect you and Zoryn will be plenty of fun."
Hah. More than she knew.
And then she was laughing at him and his brows turned downward. She found his tendency to bring trouble amusing, clearly. Her little body leaned in against him as she continued and he held strong, not entirely convinced she didn't need the support just then with the sickness hitting her so hard. It came and went for him at times, and he'd likely be leaning on her again too at some point.
Plus, he really didn't mind the smell of her. He was only half-listening at that point, his attention once again getting a little too one-track minded. He blinked and refocused. "Oh, you're cute. I can handle your kind of trouble Dovev." His ears flicked back and he glanced away, but he kept his thoughts to himself and looked to her again, his face blank if not subtly softer beneath the mask of bone.
"I guess we'll see," he challenged back, his lips twisting in a weak smirk before it fell away again. "C'mon. We're getting out of here."
He turned them to hunt down his little twins, subtly supporting her any time she might need it, and met up with Heartfire coming to fetch them on the way out. Good. Bout damn time he got home. At least he hadn't had to stay long.
