I've learned to live with these fatal gifts
and still you're mine
As their family grew, Ether could only revel in the impossible perfection of life with her. He frets when she carries their children - he cannot seem to help himself - but as with their siblings before them, they come into this world without complication. The pair had been a surprise, though he supposes it should not have been. Not when they have always been so prevalent in his family.
Just as Briseis had grown lost in their haven, so too had he. He had noticed the changes to the outside world (it would have been impossible not to), but darkness had never frightened him. In many ways, it had proven pleasant. Were it not for the unnatural creatures that had risen from the earth in tandem with the eternal night, he would have been perfectly content to ignore the disappearance of the sun.
But he had recognized the hunger in the beasts and had taken steps to ensure his family need not fear them. They proven uninterested in the creatures like him, lacking in what they crave, but they would have gladly taken Briseis. Something he would never allow. And so, when she slept, he did what was necessary to keep them safe, flinging them unwillingly to the farthest reaches he could find. Though more always came, they were met with the same welcome.
His thoughts are distant when Briseis returns to his side (he is never far, but he fears if he clung too close she might worry why. A worry that might bring her nightmares back). He is swiftly attentive, his faint alarm replaced by amusement at her exasperated request. Trying to contain the twin shadows is much like trying to contain the wind. Though he worries for them in this uncertain world, the inherent protection of their shadowy forms is a comfort.
Brushing his lips against her cheek, he murmurs softly, “I’ll be back in a moment.”
True to his word, he is. Erebos and Charisma, though daring and talented, are too young to have fully mastered their abilities. It is a simple enough task to locate them and return them (no doubt slightly less than willingly), to their mother’s side. Charisma huffs, pouting into her brother’s side as she avoids looking at her mother. She is perfectly cognizant of their disobedience, but with Erebos (ever the leader of their escapades), it’s so easy to ignore consequence.
@[jenger] @[Briseis]