"I'm not...not scared, myself. I dunno what that means for our potential kids, y'know? Half-elves? Dhampir? A new thing I've never even heard of? But...I'm ready to take what comes. They're gonna be la Croix, the whole family is freaks and necromancers already, they'll be in good company."
"I can't help but worry about the unknown." Including worry about her, and what carrying children from him might do to her. But the goddesses wouldn't suggest such a thing if it would be her doom. A friend wouldn't do that.
"They will be very well cared for. There is no doubt. They will be loved unconditionally."
He grips her hand in his now, and moves from off the couch to the floor, down on one knee. He looks up into her eyes with an expression of deep love and gratitude... and also a fair bit of anxiety.
"If the children will be la Croix, then I, too, would like to bear that name. River, will you marry me and bestow your family name upon me?"
"I - are you sure? What about...Chris, or...I - I mean -"
So, Erik. You've been a Lord, and a whore. Both professions should have given you experience with someone who clearly wants to just say yes but is having a brief crisis of conscience, yes?
He chuckles and lifts off his knees enough to brush a kiss against her cheek.
"I'm not suggesting we cut Chris out of things in any way. So long as neither you nor they have a problem with being part of an open marriage."
He's been with her long enough to read the signs, even without his years of experience. He settles beside her on the sofa again, still gripping her hand.
"I'd like to keep my title, but the name Osborne has no greater meaning to me. Yours does. Say yes, River, please? We'll attend to the details as they come."
Her first answer is a fierce kiss, pulling Erik tight to her body; her teeth bite his lip, her breathing is hard, her heart pounding. She comes away red in the face, her ears flat against her head with sheer emotion.
Positive stress is, after all, still stress.
"Welcome to the family, Lord la Croix," she whispers, tears standing out in the corners of her eyes. "Yes, absolutely yes!"
He revels in the heat of her mouth, and her body so tight against his. He craves it, and he's certain he always will. His arms wrap around her as a hungry growl lifts from his throat at the sensation of her teeth in his lip. He could listen to the sound of her heart pounding for an eternity. He intends to. For as long as they live.
"That has a lovely ring to it," he whispers back into her ear. "Thank you, my beloved, for making it possible for me to have a family."
"We have so much research to do now," River murmurs to him, stopping to nip at Erik's ear. "Local marriage laws, wedding traditions, we gotta figure out...I mean, my people do torcs as signs of marriage but that'd make casual feeding at least a little annoying for you."
Not that River minds being bitten on the inner thigh, but the wrist is a no-go thanks to her sigils and putting an obstacle on her neck...
The nip of her teeth tempts him to stop talking in favor of other activities but... the words of River's visiting sister float into his mind then.
"When you say your people, do you mean your birth family, River? Is that a tradition they have?" He's not too worried about the obstacle. It's no worse than a necktie, and with neckties, he has to be careful about stains.
"The closest equivalent I have is exchanging wedding rings."
"...What is it with pale humans specifically and wedding rings..." She grins, a little shyly, and clears her throat. "It's uh, shared, in a sense? The elves in Greenwald kinda ended up passing torcs on as a tradition to the humans there, but according to Robert our family had a similar tradition goin' all the way back to the deserts from which we originally hailed. Still, the styles are pretty different..."
"Different how? I have heard of torcs, but the ones I am familiar with are thin metal, and lay against the collar bones. I take it the ones you mean are not so?"
He steeples his hands together in front of him, his brow furrowed in concern. It isn't the potential inconvenience that gives him trepidation, though he will find that annoying too. There's something else about it that sits not quite right for him.
"River, in vampire culture, human servants wear a collar from their Master in public settings to indicated they are... owned."
River droops. Her disappointment could not be less hidden. She understands where Erik is coming from here, but to have that taste of home teased and then snatched away...it wrings her heart.
"I um. I don't suppose the bit where I'm not human fixes that at all?" A half-hearted half-a-joke. She suspects it won't.
It breaks his heart to see the way she droops but he could not, in good conscience, keep this fact from her. She knows him too well. She would know by his reactions to seeing it that something has been left unsaid.
"Not... entirely."
This, he tells himself, will be one of just many cultural differences they are going to have to navigate if they are serious. It's only the beginning.
"I don't want to take something important from you. And this is important. But I need you to know in case I... react a certain way. I never liked that custom in vampire culture. I was forced to wear a collar, myself, when I was still human. It made me feel sick every time I asked Max to put his on. I don't know how easily I can put such emotions aside, even though I know it does not mean the same thing. For you, I would try."
"It's not worth making you feel like that," River asserts, quietly. "...But maybe worth trying low-stakes? Like. It's not a collar, it really isn't, I...no, I'm reaching." Her eyes flick away. "...I don't wear earrings, you know? My people have a history with fucking slavers, and they clip our ears and put rings in them because we used to do that to our exiles. I. No, I get it..."
Warm fingers trace Erik's neck. "That's certainly a thought," she murmurs. "Iron for the chain, I think, gold and silver for the pendants...what brings your thoughts there though, love?"
"They hang from the neck," he says, feeling a little like that's too simple of an answer. "It would favor that side of your tradition over a ring on a finger."
He turns his face to her, a rare and sheepish kind of smile on his lips, "And if it were a locket, I could carry a picture of you close to my unbeating heart."
River's face warms, and her smile is a little embarrassed, the result of many conflicting positive emotions; her ears flutter happily. "I need some wine for that cheese," she not-jokes, entirely through the moon at the idea. "...But where would we get an artist?"
It takes all the self-control he has not to reach for her ears every time they flutter like that. He can never tell her how deeply adorable he finds it or she may combust on the spot.
"I have someone in mind. Their skill is unmatched, and I have hope that they will be enthusiastic about the proposal."
"I like being able to surprise you some of the time," he says, coyly, as accused.
He reaches to take her hand and brings it to his lips, to brush a kiss to her knuckles.
"We will take it all one piece at a time, just as we always have. Vampires don't marry often so we have no cohesive ceremony of our own. It is usually left up to the individual based on the custom of their country."
Either wrap or the logical extension of what's about to happen here
River gasps, involuntarily, at the little kiss against her knuckles; her heart flutters, and when Erik is done explaining about the relative paucity of vampire marriage she steps into him and puts her hand on his chest, its warmth pulsing into him. "I want a preview of the wedding night," she murmurs. "Fuck me like I'm gonna be the mother of your children. A lot of your children. Fuck me like you wanna be sure no one else slips into the wrong hole and makes a half-sibling by accident."
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lordoftheozarks) wrote2023-06-13 08:20 pm
no subject
no subject
"They will be very well cared for. There is no doubt. They will be loved unconditionally."
He grips her hand in his now, and moves from off the couch to the floor, down on one knee. He looks up into her eyes with an expression of deep love and gratitude... and also a fair bit of anxiety.
"If the children will be la Croix, then I, too, would like to bear that name. River, will you marry me and bestow your family name upon me?"
1/3
2/3
3/3
So, Erik. You've been a Lord, and a whore. Both professions should have given you experience with someone who clearly wants to just say yes but is having a brief crisis of conscience, yes?
no subject
"I'm not suggesting we cut Chris out of things in any way. So long as neither you nor they have a problem with being part of an open marriage."
He's been with her long enough to read the signs, even without his years of experience. He settles beside her on the sofa again, still gripping her hand.
"I'd like to keep my title, but the name Osborne has no greater meaning to me. Yours does. Say yes, River, please? We'll attend to the details as they come."
no subject
Positive stress is, after all, still stress.
"Welcome to the family, Lord la Croix," she whispers, tears standing out in the corners of her eyes. "Yes, absolutely yes!"
no subject
"That has a lovely ring to it," he whispers back into her ear. "Thank you, my beloved, for making it possible for me to have a family."
no subject
Not that River minds being bitten on the inner thigh, but the wrist is a no-go thanks to her sigils and putting an obstacle on her neck...
no subject
"When you say your people, do you mean your birth family, River? Is that a tradition they have?" He's not too worried about the obstacle. It's no worse than a necktie, and with neckties, he has to be careful about stains.
"The closest equivalent I have is exchanging wedding rings."
no subject
no subject
"Different how? I have heard of torcs, but the ones I am familiar with are thin metal, and lay against the collar bones. I take it the ones you mean are not so?"
no subject
no subject
He steeples his hands together in front of him, his brow furrowed in concern. It isn't the potential inconvenience that gives him trepidation, though he will find that annoying too. There's something else about it that sits not quite right for him.
"River, in vampire culture, human servants wear a collar from their Master in public settings to indicated they are... owned."
no subject
River droops. Her disappointment could not be less hidden. She understands where Erik is coming from here, but to have that taste of home teased and then snatched away...it wrings her heart.
"I um. I don't suppose the bit where I'm not human fixes that at all?" A half-hearted half-a-joke. She suspects it won't.
no subject
"Not... entirely."
This, he tells himself, will be one of just many cultural differences they are going to have to navigate if they are serious. It's only the beginning.
"I don't want to take something important from you. And this is important. But I need you to know in case I... react a certain way. I never liked that custom in vampire culture. I was forced to wear a collar, myself, when I was still human. It made me feel sick every time I asked Max to put his on. I don't know how easily I can put such emotions aside, even though I know it does not mean the same thing. For you, I would try."
no subject
no subject
He leans closer to her, drawn to her warmth, ever a comfort for him. "What of a pendant? One for each of us? Perhaps specially crafted?"
no subject
no subject
He turns his face to her, a rare and sheepish kind of smile on his lips, "And if it were a locket, I could carry a picture of you close to my unbeating heart."
no subject
no subject
"I have someone in mind. Their skill is unmatched, and I have hope that they will be enthusiastic about the proposal."
no subject
"Playing coy huh..."
...
"Alright. Fund it, I'll get to work on the metal. Fuck if I know how the actual ceremony should go but I'm in no rush."
no subject
He reaches to take her hand and brings it to his lips, to brush a kiss to her knuckles.
"We will take it all one piece at a time, just as we always have. Vampires don't marry often so we have no cohesive ceremony of our own. It is usually left up to the individual based on the custom of their country."
Either wrap or the logical extension of what's about to happen here
FTB on this one, wrap!