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    COTY

    Assailant -- Year 226

    QOTY

    "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


    Elysteria, Any; [Holiday Party]
    #1
    Ruan

    it's not by bone but yet by blade
    can break the magic that the devil made

    It felt strange to be out with a woman at his side. They were acquaintances only, a pair of friends getting out of their dark home to attend a party. Not a date. Even still, it was strange. It was not his wife. Ex-wife.

    Little Rian stayed tight to his side. The purple-spotted boy had lost his clumsy confidence and had gradually become an anxious child, wide eyes staring out at everything, silently searching the faces and the shadows and flitting to new movements. She wasn't here, he wanted to tell him. His mother was not here. But she would come back to him as soon as she could.

    Polaris was with them as well, his precious daughter of glass. Light shined through her as they crossed the twilight bridge, bursting in prismatic rays from her skin, printing constellations from her scratched and nicked surface into the ground at her feet and outward from her sides. She was extraordinary, impossible.

    As they progressed deeper into the island, both children remained close to his side. He led them to the outskirts where it was quieter, less active but easily visible, and settled them in together. "I have a few people I'd like you to meet. But first, Elysteria and I are going to talk with some adults." He leaned down to nuzzle them both, leave a tender kiss on each of their foreheads and an extra to Polaris' cheek. 

    Then he straightened, his eyes a little sharper as the thought of parting from them in a strange land clawed his gut and put a fierce edge to his magic pressing against his insides. They'd be fine though. They were safe. He would keep them that way.

    "I'll be near," he promised firmly, then softened a little. "Try to have a good time. Make some friends."

    He turned from them and led Elysteria into the festivities, halting abruptly as some rambunctious children bolted across in front of them. With a smirk and an ache in his chest, he watched them go. His days of having children were gone. His own children, at least. He'd likely never stop finding little ones in need of a home or protection, an unconditional love for those that just didn't quite fit in with the rest of the world. Like him.

    "Do you have children?" he asked Elysteria, not aware that it could be considered rude to some. He'd seen the way she looked at them sometimes and thought maybe there was a longing buried deep in her eyes the way it was embedded in his chest. He couldn't help but be curious where hers have gone, if she'd had them.

    and it's not by fire but what's forged in flame
    can drown the sorrows of a huntsman's pain




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    #2

    There's blood on your tongue
    when you kiss me goodbye

    She’d been surprised when he asked her to join them for this trip. To attend a winter gathering with him. It has been so long since she’s been to a social gathering like this, but she had readily agreed. Once she might’ve been one of the first to know about such a thing. But those days are long behind her, left behind when the land and heaved and the kingdom’s she had known disappeared.

    She is happy though, for perhaps the first time in a very long time. She has been troubled for so long, and though those troubles have not disappeared, having a home and having a purpose in life, even one so small, is a balm to her wearied soul.

    The children are with them, his two beautiful souls and another with her, a boy she had brought home so recently. He may not truly be an orphan, but he is hers now as much as her other children are hers. Just watching him brings a smile to her lips and a glow to her eyes. She had missed this, so very much. It makes her impossibly happy to have him here with her. With them.

    As Ruan encourages his children to go and play, she does the same for Fraction. Here he would be safe at least, surrounded by the protective force of those who wished only cheer and healing. He could play like any other child, and she could worry just a little less.

    Her gaze trails after them for a long moment, watching them leap and play and in the snow, enjoying this rare moment. She only draws her eyes away when Ruan turns them towards the festivities, drawing her along that they might enjoy some time with those who are less interested in play and childish ventures.

    She halts alongside him when another set of rambunctious children dash in front of them, an amused smile touching her own lips as she watches them. When Ruan speaks however, she turns to peer at him, bright gaze curious and intuitive. She finds the question not at all odd or rude, especially given the little ones they had just sent off to play. And though Fraction might be easily enough mistaken for hers, given his color, Ruan would know he was not. Even if his sudden appearance were not a clue, her rather obvious lack of pregnancy would no doubt be telling.

    “I do have children,” she replies easily, though a faint hint of sadness tinges her words. Even now, she misses them greatly. “But they all grew up a very long time ago.” Even her youngest, her beautiful twins, were long since grown and gone, living their own lives. Perhaps if she hadn’t slept, she might have been able to keep track of them better. But now, though she has tried looking, it seems none of them are to be so easily found.

    Elysteria

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    #3
    Ruan

    it's not by bone but yet by blade
    can break the magic that the devil made

    "I do have children," she answered him, her voice shadowed with sadness. "But they all grew up a very long time ago."

    He nodded his understanding. "Mine as well." His eyes drifted outward, falling into a long-earned habit of watchfulness as he studied all the happenings nearby. "I have two," he added, but then gave a wry smile. "And many more. I tend to bring them home when I find them left alone." Although, he'd only adopted when he'd had a family to welcome them into. His smile faded and he fell quiet.

    The only one he'd adopted outside of his marriage was Polaris. And now Rian, a little accidentally but not unwelcome.

    "I haven't in a long while," he admitted, his voice dropping. "It was easier with my wife. Having a family for them." He shrugged, glancing at her then away again. "It doesn't feel right anymore." As a single father and caregiver of the Taigans, he doesn't have time to offer another child. He loved them, but it wouldn't be fair for them. It wouldn't be enough. They deserved better.

    He shifted his weight a little, worried that he may have overstepped. She had a boy with her after all, and he hadn't meant that it was wrong to adopt. Just that it was not so simple for him anymore. "Better that they have a mother," he clarified, clearing his voice. And they wouldn't with him.

    and it's not by fire but what's forged in flame
    can drown the sorrows of a huntsman's pain




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