05-13-2019, 10:50 PM
VulgariS
" i could be ugly in loving you. filthy and soft-mouthed. wolf-tongued and terrible.
i could carry my heart in my mouth like a bird dog to you, so gently i wouldn’t leave a mark. "
i could carry my heart in my mouth like a bird dog to you, so gently i wouldn’t leave a mark. "
He usually refuses to sleep, these days, but his sister insisted on watching the twins for a while. Vulgaris tries to fight it at first but it only takes a few minutes for him to drift off in the warmth beside the hot springs. In his dreams, it is always dark and he wanders alone through Loess beneath a starless sky. Everyone has left him to find a better life and he wishes them well. He dreams of the life he deserves in the home he has ruined.
But tonight there is someone walking toward him and he pauses, one leg still lifted in the air. When she finally comes into focus, he feels his brows furrow in confusion as he tries to make sense of her being here. Is he the Leliana that he loves or the one who took a crown and promised to bring war to his doorstep? Is she just part of his lonely mind or the real thing, come to destroy him when he is most vulnerable? His leg slowly lowers to the ground just to take a step back from her when she speaks his name.
He doesn’t even notice that the stars have returned to his empty skies to harken her return. Her eyes are not emptygold but he is wary of magicians. Always has been, really. But he can’t bring himself to move away from her when she steps close enough that he can feel her warmth radiating from her glowing body. The serpent doesn’t bridge the gap between them either, though.
“Have you come to bring the heavens down on me already?” His voice is cold and he keeps the emotion peeled away from his words as well as his face.
His heart, bruised and scabbed a hundred times over, rises and prepares itself to ram against the indifferent stone walls of her love again. Vulgaris is tired but there is not a shred of him that knows when to give in and go home. He will welcome outright defeat before he ever learns how to pronounce the word ‘forfeit’. Her eyes are soft and scared, though, something the war-hungry Leliana probably couldn’t replicate even with all her power.
“Why would you hurt yourself seeing me when you know what lies on the horizon? Go home, Leliana. Just this once, don’t waste your time on me.”
It hurts him to say but he means it. He kisses her face and sighs as he takes another step back.
