i've never fallen from quite this high | aquaria

[Pteron]

and since you’re the only one that matters,----------------
----------------tell me: who do i run to?

Loess, with its stone spires and deep canyons, is a world best appreciated from the sky. Tiercel had not been able to join the rest of them in the sky, and so some of their childhood games were played on the ground. It had not – does not – occur to Pteron that Tiercel might think himself unwelcome. No, the reason that Pteron reacts so has far more to do with Tiercels’ choice to abandon the family after Gale’s death.

Well, not death.

Does that change things, he wonders, knowing that the catalyst was not so great a tragedy as he’d once thought? Pteron has never been given to philosophical thoughts. IT doesn’t matter, he decides; Tiercel is back and not actively avoiding them. Pteron will have to ask Gale if he or Eyas have heard anything about their triplet. He weighs the value of asking Aquaria for more detail about their conversation when she continues to speak, and he stops thinking to listen.

“Monsters?” The thought of something out in the darkness, something numerous and powerful and unknown. Has the world just grown darker, he wonders, or is that simply the clouds of fear? Pteron pushes it away, and begins to infuse himself with a projection of happiness that he knows will be enough to keep his thoughts from shadows. And then he stops, because Aquaria is pressing herself against him and he’s no need for manufactured serotonin.

Pteron does not know what has changed, and he is too busy relearning the soft taste of her skin to think much of it. His touch is hungry and thorough, as though he might make up for their time apart with attention, and only when the loud pulse of his heartbeat struggles to drown out reason does he force it back, force it down. He pulls away, but only to press his forehead against hers.

“Aquaria.” Her name cracks as it leaves him, and he is grateful that the darkness hides the expression on his face. He is not entirely sure what it would be. ”This is what you want?” Pteron asks, unwilling to risk miscommunication over something like this.

@[Aquaria]

-- pteron --