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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


    [mature]  I'm obsessed with you but you'll never work me out; Nashua
    #1

    With the scent of cold wind still in her tangled locks, Noel walks slowly, weaving through the wide trunk and glowing mushrooms of the Taigan woods. She had left the triplets with their elder sisters, needing the freedom of the skies for at least a moment. She had never imagined the possibility of having three children all at one time. Though Noel has never been given to worrying overly much, even she found herself taxed under the weight of such responsibility.

    She sincerely hopes Nash will return soon. She is not certain she could ever have managed to remain as strong as she had without him to lean on.

    Beneath all that however, a thread of guilt thrives. She knows his responsibilities are great. How he manages them on top of her and their brood of children, she’s never quite certain. And the guilt grows, because she is quite certain she has not shouldered nearly as much of it as she should have.

    When she has drawn close enough to hear giggling through the trees, Noel draws to a halt, the glowing impression of her footsteps fading slowly behind her. Gaze lifting, she stares almost helplessly into the trees before releasing a sigh drawn from deep in her soul. Her own mother had seemed to handle having children year after year with far more aplomb that she has. It might have been pleasant to wonder how she’d done it, but she’s positive she already knows. She had only to think back on her own childhood to recall.

    And if it weren’t for Nash, it would have been so very easy to let them run as wild as Ryatah had let her and her siblings.

    As she stares into the canopy, she finds herself wishing once more that he would return soon. Not for their children’s sake, but for her own. It is a terribly selfish thought, but in that moment, she finds herself wanting nothing more than to curl into his warm embrace. And if she were not so lost in that longing, she might have easily found herself just as terrified at how much she was growing to need him.

    - noel



    @[Nashua]
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    #2

    Where had the day gone?

    Nashua had been certain that there still had been plenty of it to find this morning. It had been cold and the winter air had been brisk but there had been enough of spring - a slight, uplifting current to it - that had made the Hersir hopeful for warmer days. Leilan had asked a few things of Nash - (a polite practicality, Nash thinks; what was there really to ask when he could just summon the answers?) - and at the first available moment, the striped pegasus had gone racing for the clouds.

    The journey home is always longer than he wishes and by the time he lands near the Taigan coast, the day is already half-over.

    How?

    Shaking the salt and sea from his dark wings, the pegasus goes in search of his family. Winding through the trails that he has known from birth, Nashua made a mental list of things that he needed to get done before departing for the Isle again: another trip to Hyaline with Bolder, speak with Yanhua about an upcoming visit of Tephra, spend more time with his children and the thought of his brood always makes him think of @[Noel]. He peered through the dense forest, as if just thinking of his pale mate might make her materialize from thin air.

    It helps that he is nearly there - near the small copse of Silvergreens that houses all five of his children and their mother. One copper ear swivels as it catches the sound of faint giggling and Nashua stops, expecting one of the triplets to break the other-worldly silence that emanated through the ancient forest. A shimmer of white distracts him and Nash turns his head to see Noel looking at the snow-covered canopy above them, like she was reciting a prayer. Did she know how lovely she looked? Surrounding by the midwinter snow and the stark green of the woods, she looked like the answer to his. "Excuse me Miss," the Hersir calls out to her with a lopsided grin already tugging at the edges of his pale lips, "You look lost."

    The winged stallion dips his head and takes a few steps towards her (though one ear still flicks, listening for any of their children) before he comes to stop directly in front of her with a smile that reaches his green eyes, where a warmth burns that keeps out the winter cold. "Can I help you find something?"

    NASHUA
    [Image: jCdBK6.png]
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    #3

    The sound of his voice brings a smile to her lips, small and brief enough one could almost believe they’d imagined it, but a true one nonetheless. Head dipping into a more natural position, her dark eyes lift to find him coming towards her with that familiar lopsided grin of his on his lips. For a moment, she is struck by the urge to reach out and touch the corners of his lips in a familiar gesture, but a lifetime of caution stays her urge.

    Instead she allows her own lips to lift once more in amusement, eyes warming as she peers up at him in unconscious welcome.

    “I think I may be,” she replies demurely, playing into his teasing question with a heart made lighter by his presence. “I seem to have misplaced someone. He’s very handsome.” Her eyes light with a teasing glint of their own. “With eyes the color of new pines and wings like a falcon.” She takes a step closer then, features turning up slightly as she holds his gaze. “You wouldn’t happen to know where to find him, would you?”

    She is close enough now that she can nearly feel the warmth of his skin. Can imagine the sound of his heart as though she were pressed against his ribcage, the comforting weight of his wing draped over hers. But she doesn’t close the narrow space that remains between, instead keeping her eyes on his face.

    Waiting and watching. As though this might be the time she had feared above all others. The time that he would not choose her as he had so many times before. Her logical brain knows what a foolish fear it is. But ancient and long buried memories of rejection and pain always seem to rise in the moments like these. The moments she waits, heart in her throat, staring at him with carefully muted hope.

    - noel



    @[Nashua]
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    #4

    He's always loved those best about her, those ghosts of a smile. Those fleeting things that draw Nash always closer, that bring her near to her because he is a man who would starve himself for them. Nashua - who has explored many parts of Beqanna - finds himself back here time and time again (always), searching for the cusp of one of @[Noel]'s flickering smiles. They haunt him, wherever he goes.

    Her deep eyes beckon him closer and Nashua replies silently with an answer that could be found in his green gaze.

    The smile that twitches against his pale lips lifts - bounding up much like his speckled wings do when he takes off for the sky - and reaches his verdant eyes. "I suppose a gallant like me couldn't tempt you," his voice rumbles from somewhere in his copper chest. He takes a chance at it, playing the knave that he has never been (and never will be). The white pegasus takes a step closer and Nashua follows, pulled closer like the moon begs the tide to come near. She peers up at him and the pegasus lowers his blazed face to murmur quietly in her delicate ear, "I suppose that I couldn't persuade you to run off with me instead?"

    There is enough space between them that Nashua can still feel the cold Northern breeze blow past them. That won't do, he thinks. He takes another step closer, reaching for the graceful curve of her white neck. Reaching for the clouds. Looking at him with all that hope gleaming in her dark eyes and how else could Nash respond but bring her close? To lift them both with it?

    "But if you insist," the Northern stallion admits quietly into the silk of her cloud-spun mane, "I would do whatever my lady requires."

    NASHUA
    [Image: jCdBK6.png]
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    #5

    Her breath hitches as he steps closer, lips lifting to whisper softly in her ear. The rush of heat that rises is nearly enough to drown out his words. Might have been, except that she’s quite positive she would always hear him, even in the highest altitudes where the wind whips words away before they could even leave one's throat.

    She nearly smiles at that. But with shivers racing down her spine as his touch moves to the windswept tangles of her pale mane, it feels impossible to do anything but lean closer. She decides in that moment that she rather likes this side of him.

    Her own lips move to his shoulder, tracing the soft, feathered bend of his wing with a playful hesitancy. Though she can no longer look into his eyes, she can feel the way in which they would be warmly teasing in the heat of his skin and steadiness of his pulse. “You know,” she replies, her voice muted in playful speculation. “There is a chance I could be persuaded.”

    She grows bolder then, her touch leaving the downy-soft feathers to trace barely perceptible lines along the hollow of his shoulder, following the vulnerable line where his pulse beats so strongly until she reaches the dip beneath his jaw. Then she withdraws ever so slightly, eyes fluttering down until she can peer at him from beneath her lashes, an unconscious, almost satisfied smile toying with the corners of her lips.

    “Tell me, how would you persuade me?” she asks demurely then, heart beating a wild thrum of anticipation inside her chest despite the serenity of her pale features.

    - noel



    @[Nashua]
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    #6

    It never ceases to amaze him that despite the length of time (which has become longer of late), Noel always feels like home. It doesn't matter if he is on the loneliest corner of the barren Isle, a thought of her suddenly fills with him a fierce and sudden warmth. It doesn't matter if he trekking after one of their brood or on a mission for the former Freyr, wherever he goes, all it takes is a memory of moments like these, and Nashua's restless spirit finds peace.

    Hyaline might be home to the highest of Beqanna's mountains (save for the sacred one) and though Gale has spoken about the view more than once, as Nash traces the ridge of her elegant neck, the striped pegasus still thinks the best one to be found is right here.

    Noel moves into him, reaching to trace his speckled feathers and he happily returns the favor to lightly touch hers.

    He'd also be more than happy to move on to other things but his pale mate moves away and he grins, though his green eyes linger a moment too long on her mouth. "Hm," he prompts the pale mare, unable to stop himself from reaching for her again. Nash only manages because he remembers what their youngest daughter brought home during his last visit to Taiga. "What if I told you about the Wolf Spiders that roam in packs here?" he tells @Noel, "they carry their child on their backs."

    The striped stallion does shiver then (and not from the crackling electricity building between them), wondering if his mate recalled the encounter as clearly as he did. How they had told Bravely to leave the furry creatures in their burrows (and reminding Bolder that no, they would not be keeping one as his companion animal; at telling Saffron no, he could not have two).

    Shaking his head lightly to chase the thought away, Nashua moves to press his lips over the lovely curve of her cheek. It works because all thoughts of the eight-legged terrors are gone when he darkly murmurs, "want to run away with me now?"

    NASHUA
    [Image: jCdBK6.png]
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    #7

    She laughs. She cannot help the way it seems to escape her throat. She recalls the story of the wolf spiders, though her recollection is perhaps a little different, coming from the children as it had. But then, she had never found the spiders particularly fearsome either. It seems that their children had gotten that from her. And the way they had known it was their father they must beg it from and not her.

    If it had been her, they would undoubtedly each have their very own as a companion right now. Though, in hindsight, she realizes just how chaotic that might have made things. It is likely better they did not.

    “Do packs of furry spiders really make such a brave and handsome and noble protector so nervous?” she murmurs, dark eyes alight with her humor. “I would never have thought it.” Another laugh, a soft chuckle this time as she peers at him, falsely demure.

    As his lips find her cheek, she presses close. After a breathless moment, her own mouth finds the hollow of his throat, gentle and teasing. And more. So much more. “Perhaps it is I who should be saving you,” she whispers into his throat, smiling against his skin where he could feel it rather than see it. Her breath is warm, heart thudding inside her chest, made wild by his nearness. “And convincing you to run away with me.”

    - noel



    @[Nashua]
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    #8
    He loves the sound of her laughter. It is a bright, chiming sound in his world, and each time that Nashua hears it, it knells that everything in their little world (the little sphere that they have created together, a kingdom far richer than the one that Nash actually rules) is alright. His wing has lifted up and the pegasus drapes it lovingly over his mate who presses herself closely against him.

    They've done this dance a thousand times and each time she does this, Nashua knows he would do this a thousand times more.

    "Ask Yanhua," he murmurs with his pale lips not subtly moving up her lovely neck. "He put those horns to good use when we were young." His brother had cleared out the larger webs (though Yan had always been careful to not harm any living creature and the spiders were often put in a place where they wouldn't be stumbled across). He laughs then, a deep rumbling sound that echoes thunderclaps. "Perhaps you could make me think of something else."

    That wild heart of hers is humming and Nash is so close that he can hear it; can feel the way that his own heart sings in reply.

    Nash wants to tell her that she has saved him, many times. Each time that he returns to Taiga and finds her here is another saving grace. Each quiet moment they share with their children is a weight being anchored in his soul and while Nashua had once wanted to see the world, during those moments, he is glad that he didn't. Those moments - precious, beloved memories - became like the mare entwined with him; his world.

    "Oh, I'm not sure you could convince me to go anywhere right now." He's half-teasing. The pegasus would fly to whatever sky she asked of him, to whatever corner of Beqanna she requested. He presses another fervent kiss before a husky confession follows, "but if you want to run, just tell me where."

    @[Noel]
    [Image: jCdBK6.png]
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    #9

    He makes it so incredibly easy to lose herself to these moments. To give herself over with a whole-heartedness she struggles to achieve any other time. There is something magic in the way that he touches her, whispering teasingly against her skin, drawing her away from the reality of the world.

    She laughs again when he shares his humorous anecdote about his twin, unable to help herself. The image of him prodding his brother to clear the spiders is a picture too amusing to resist. His next words make her forget all of that entirely however, the laughter fading in her throat as it is replaced by something else. Something far more pleasant.

    “Do you think so?” she asks, trailing her mouth along the skin of his shoulder to his spine. Her touch is deceptively light, her exhales soft and warm, dark eyes gleaming with something far more wicked. Noel had never imagined herself this woman. Had never imagined she would wish to be. Had never imagined finding Nash. Until she had found him. Until she had become all of those things.

    As he presses hungry kisses to her skin in return, she is delighted to know he is just as caught as she is. That she can affect him as much as he does her. Her breath growing short, she presses closer, until her lips hover over the dip in his spine. She wants so much more, but it is something she struggles to put into words.

    “I’m not sure I could run anywhere if I tried,” she breathes into his skin. And it’s true. How could she run when her limbs feel rooted to this spot, waiting impatiently to know what he would do next? Knowing exactly what she wants him to do and hoping he does too.

    - noel



    @Nashua
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    #10

    "Shocking," Nashua murmurs into the warmth of her white neck. "I know." His pale lips keep moving up and up, lovingly brushing away the silken strands of her mane as he continues. The Freyr is still teasing but as a pair of parents to five children, he thinks Noel understands very well what he is thinking.

    They are parents to five and as he continues to lose himself in her skin, Nash thinks of the possibility of another come spring. (But he isn't the one to carry them and after two pregnancies with multiples, Nash wouldn't want to impose another her. If the pattern continued, their next clutch could easily be quadruplets.)

    He continues to work his way up the curve of her neck and then down, trying to fight that way his body wants to forgo restraint altogether. The white mare finds the dip in his shoulders and his speckled wings twitch as she presses her mouth there and Nashua's own attentions turn more ardent. He could never tire of this want for her, he thinks. There are so many other thoughts lingering in the back of his mind but the white woman banishes them away and Nashua is more than happy to lose himself in her instead.

    In another life that he sometimes dreams, Nashua wasn't given a kingdom and the two of them were able to roam across every world as they pleased. But in this one, he tries to make it up to her by the way he explores the length of her slender body and by the way that he tries to give her anything she might ask of him. "You tell me where to go, love." The chestnut stallion says hoarsely and then continues to move along the length of her body, his lips moving fervently down her spine until he finally reaches her haunch. And then there is no holding him back and he lifts himself above her, burying himself into the cloud-like softness of his pale mate.

    Only after does he laugh again, long after they are both satisfied and he has slid off her back. He moves alongside side, mingling an auburn wing with her light-colored one and reaches to kiss her lovely cheek. "See?" he says devilishly, "you made me think of something else."

    NASHUA


    @Noel
    [Image: jCdBK6.png]
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