07-24-2019, 11:03 AM
OPHANIM
It had been easy for him to leave each time because he never let himself get attached to anyone. Not like he was with Starsin, anyway. He can’t remember their names or their faces unless he thinks for a while, stares into his children’s faces and studies them. Maybe that’s why Malone has always been so special in his heart – the way he laughs just like Starsin or offers up knowing stares when he picks through someone’s mind. Ophanim watches their son from afar today as he continues to shadow Meraxes despite no longer being a clumsy child. He wonders what they would ever do without each other and it makes him smile. His own brother is too young to leave Jenova’s side like that just yet but he hopes they have a similar bond.
He is plucked from these hopes and dreams when he feels her touch his side while she sidles up to him. His bright blue eyes continue to watch their shimmering boy but some part of him briefly tenses when she touches her lips to his skin. Normally she plays her parts so well that the line between the real her and the actress is seamless, imperceptible to anyone watching her. But today the pacing of her words is slightly off and he feels an ear swivel in her direction to catch it.
When he turns his head to finally face her, he cannot feign confidence in even the slightest. Ophanim is meek, belly-up like a sick dog to its master. There is love abundant within him and it still shows in the corners of his sad angel eyes but he doesn’t know what to do with it or the other hurricane of emotions in him. He lets it all just collect there in the back of his throat and suffocate him instead. When she speaks again, he swallows nervously and looks back ahead of them. This time, though, his focus remains on the horizon and not the boys, like they’re too bright to stare at for now.
He takes a deep breath and when he exhales, it shakes across his tongue.
“I.. don’t think that’s a good idea,” he finally says, struggling to put words to his thoughts. There was never a day that he regretted following her, even now, but today his gut is twisting and turning in on itself at the thought of living in Sylva for even a day. Where would his children go? Would her twins be there too? His jaw clenches and his teeth briefly turn to points behind his lips before settling to their blunt shape once more. “You couldn’t pick someone worse to lead with you.”
Then he laughs, a sound that is warm and melancholy all at once, like a funeral pyre some dreary autumn day. He turns to look at her again, halo slowly orbiting his head.
“You couldn’t pick someone worse than me.”
He is plucked from these hopes and dreams when he feels her touch his side while she sidles up to him. His bright blue eyes continue to watch their shimmering boy but some part of him briefly tenses when she touches her lips to his skin. Normally she plays her parts so well that the line between the real her and the actress is seamless, imperceptible to anyone watching her. But today the pacing of her words is slightly off and he feels an ear swivel in her direction to catch it.
When he turns his head to finally face her, he cannot feign confidence in even the slightest. Ophanim is meek, belly-up like a sick dog to its master. There is love abundant within him and it still shows in the corners of his sad angel eyes but he doesn’t know what to do with it or the other hurricane of emotions in him. He lets it all just collect there in the back of his throat and suffocate him instead. When she speaks again, he swallows nervously and looks back ahead of them. This time, though, his focus remains on the horizon and not the boys, like they’re too bright to stare at for now.
He takes a deep breath and when he exhales, it shakes across his tongue.
“I.. don’t think that’s a good idea,” he finally says, struggling to put words to his thoughts. There was never a day that he regretted following her, even now, but today his gut is twisting and turning in on itself at the thought of living in Sylva for even a day. Where would his children go? Would her twins be there too? His jaw clenches and his teeth briefly turn to points behind his lips before settling to their blunt shape once more. “You couldn’t pick someone worse to lead with you.”
Then he laughs, a sound that is warm and melancholy all at once, like a funeral pyre some dreary autumn day. He turns to look at her again, halo slowly orbiting his head.
“You couldn’t pick someone worse than me.”
you could drown in those eyes, i said.