A string of musical language leaves River's mouth in shock when she's touched, followed quickly by: "Gods of my mothers Erik you're fucking cold - gimmie -" before she takes his hands in her too-warm ones and squeezes them together, tight. And then she listens, her ears twitching, then drooping in guilt.
She nuzzles her nose into their joined hands.
"...We gotta talk," River murmurs. "I. Cut you pretty deep and then just fucked off. Realized it less than an hour after...but..." she sighs.
Hangs her head.
"...'m sorry, Erik. Sometimes I forget that you don't like being what you are. And that's. Cruel of me. To forget."
That wasn't another snicker you heard, River, that's just your imagination. Cold hands are the burden she signed up for. Oh, but the heat of her hands, the press of them too, awakens such warmth inside him that he can let himself believe that spark of life Mortanne told him about could take shape.
He leans to press his nose to hers (it's cold too.) "You were right that I should have talked to you, first. I sometimes forget that I am not a lord in his castle any longer. For that, I am sorry too. You deserve consideration."
He nuzzles her lightly, "River, I do not hate all of what I am. But I resent that I wasn't given a choice. It hangs over me, always. But now, here, with you I have the power to become what and who I want. I should have had better faith in you and not a demon. The way you crave me, all of me ...puts me more at peace with it."
And she will never have revenge for the cold hands because her being too hot in summer is strictly a River problem. Thus is the indifferent cruelty of the universe.
"...I was scared," she admits, in a very small voice. "I'm still scared. I don't think I'll stop being scared until I see that deer-headed prick on a pyre. For you, yeah, but...also for me? That it was turning out I can't be enough after all."
"I may have accepted his gift, River, but that won't stop me from throwing him on that pyre myself. He will be dead when all is said and done." For what he's done to his own daughter, Erik cannot forgive him.
"I'm sorry, River. I never meant to make you feel inadequate. I didn't do this because you aren't enough. I did it because I wanted more than I was physically capable of. I wanted this to bring us closer. I can taste you now. The salt of your sweat, the cinders on your breath. I was missing those parts of life. I can taste the world in a way I haven't in centuries. When you let me into your body, you showed me exactly what I'd been missing. An entire sense dead to the world. I told myself it wasn't important but... it was. It is. But it isn't more important than you."
"Gods. It's like the fuckin' bottle imps. Swap to being a vampire from my joint - you keep the sense of taste but look out, plague dog!" She makes a long, gently frustrated sound, and bundles Erik's hands over her heart. Its beat is slow, steady. Comforted, despite the back pain and also the lack of coffee that will, very soon, make River cease being the person Mister Rogers knows she can be.
"...What do we need to do so we don't go at each other like that again, d'ya think?" the elf murmurs. "'cause I don't wanna do that again in front of the kids, and, well, I'm on a bit of a window to significantly shift the population demographics on half-elves. Necromancers don't die old."
He can practically feel a timer ticking down through her chest, one that has a little coffee icon in front of it. Good thing he's well stocked now.
"I like that my kind of vampirism poses no threat of infecting you. I don't want that to change, either. I do not think I could abide wearing fang condoms." A little joke for her, there, to lighten the mood before diving into the crux of things.
"We both failed to communicate as we should. We've been engaged in name, but I fear my actions haven't been that of a committed betrothed. Because of that, I made you insecure. From here on out, I will not make such monumental decisions without you. No matter how long or short the span of your life, so long as you are with me, I will ask and honor your wishes as equal to mine."
"I...think I gotta be. More secure about. Y'know." She gestures, vaguely, to All Of Herself. "...You, Annabelle, I keep hurting people because I'm not...okay with being me. For dumb reasons. If you wanted an elegant lady in a high manor you'd have one, y'know? At some point I'm just insulting your good taste. It's just hard for it to feel real sometimes..."
He frees one of his hands so he can sling it around her, over the cloak so she's spared the cold. "I am a vain man, and I do like my fashion. But you, River, are like a fresh breeze in my stuffy life. I've been with elegant women and I have not found the happiness that I feel with you. Ophelia was an elegant woman. And she was cruel in ways you never could be. Ways you'd never know how to be."
He holds her tighter. "You are crass, and rough, and battle-weathered, but you are also sensitive, insightful, and very Romantic. These are the things I love about you. You remind me slow down to enjoy the small things in life when I have a tendency to overlook them. I see the passion you bring to every moment of your life and it inspires me to experience things the way you do, not floating above them but embroiled in the gritty reality of them. You speak your mind plainly and hold to your principles unwaveringly, but you are not above learning or admitting your faults. You are my wild flame. You terrify and excite me. You make me want to rise to meet you. River, my love, you are the most real thing in my life."
There is another trill of that musical language River lapses into oh-so-often, though this one she's said enough to be intelligible to Erik; it's "Wren damn my eyes", said with a blush high on her cheeks as she buries her face in her cloak. "...There is a lot to talk about," she admits. "Like. Do we move in together? Whack on a second house to one of our homes so we can keep our work separate? Just kinda keep technically living apart? Childcare's gonna be..."
...
"...Gods, actually. You don't sleep. I may be the first mother in living history to get a good night's sleep." She laughs, because it sounds great. However, the narrator would like to point out that she is, in fact, completely wrong about this and will be bitter about being wrong later, as is the way of the new mother. "...Fucksake there's so much to do and to discuss and to...we gotta take this seriously instead of just putting everything on the idea that affection alone gonna do it, right? I'm affectionate with my apprentices but I still gotta do fuckin' paperwork. And I need coffee. But..."
And here she turns and squirms until she can kiss Erik on the neck and nestle into him, confident that he's gotta be warming up to an acceptable temperature by now from her own excessive body heat. "...I kinda want affection too. I could go for a round of conversation and cooking breakfast while I get laid, if the domesticity won't hit your professional expectations and cause an energy explosion." She tilts her head up, grinning playfully. "You did keep the money, right?"
"Right," he affirms, "It's about time to start asking and answering some of these harder questions. At least we have the luxury of planning."
Erik can't bring himself to burst her bubble about new mothers and sleep--not when she sounds as cute as this. She'll find out on her own, as all mothers do. That much he's picked up on in his many years. But she is right that she shouldn't expect to go it alone. He will be at her side through all of it. He wouldn't be anywhere else for the world.
She kisses his neck and he returns it with a kiss on her forehead. The fire and her body heat are doing their work to bring him up from frozen tundra cold to just normal cold. Best he can do for now. But, at her desire for affection, he smiles with no small amount of heat.
"I kept the money. And, River, I think you severely under-estimate how much I enjoy the domesticity. It's a perk. Especially now when I can share it with you to the fullest."
"Then let's talk," River half-teases, wiggling her way free. She pads, half dressed, towards the kitchen to hunt for the coffee. The elf gently wiggles her ass while she gets everything around to begin grinding the beans, her ears flicking in affectionate lust.
"It'll be a nice challenge for you," she muses playfully. "Get me off without turning me nonverbal."
Let's talk, she says, while wiggling her half-dressed ass at him. Yes. Talk.... That's not what her ears are saying. Or her lips, moments later.
"I think that challenge is going to be yours," he purrs as he gets up to follow her, his stride smooth and predatory.
He hovers behind, trailing his cold fingers down her back until he gets a handful of the ass she's teasing him with. He knows better than to get in the way of her getting coffee, though. That's an essential part of the morning.
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lordoftheozarks) wrote2023-06-13 08:20 pm
no subject
She nuzzles her nose into their joined hands.
"...We gotta talk," River murmurs. "I. Cut you pretty deep and then just fucked off. Realized it less than an hour after...but..." she sighs.
Hangs her head.
"...'m sorry, Erik. Sometimes I forget that you don't like being what you are. And that's. Cruel of me. To forget."
no subject
He leans to press his nose to hers (it's cold too.) "You were right that I should have talked to you, first. I sometimes forget that I am not a lord in his castle any longer. For that, I am sorry too. You deserve consideration."
He nuzzles her lightly, "River, I do not hate all of what I am. But I resent that I wasn't given a choice. It hangs over me, always. But now, here, with you I have the power to become what and who I want. I should have had better faith in you and not a demon. The way you crave me, all of me ...puts me more at peace with it."
no subject
"...I was scared," she admits, in a very small voice. "I'm still scared. I don't think I'll stop being scared until I see that deer-headed prick on a pyre. For you, yeah, but...also for me? That it was turning out I can't be enough after all."
no subject
"I'm sorry, River. I never meant to make you feel inadequate. I didn't do this because you aren't enough. I did it because I wanted more than I was physically capable of. I wanted this to bring us closer. I can taste you now. The salt of your sweat, the cinders on your breath. I was missing those parts of life. I can taste the world in a way I haven't in centuries. When you let me into your body, you showed me exactly what I'd been missing. An entire sense dead to the world. I told myself it wasn't important but... it was. It is. But it isn't more important than you."
no subject
"...What do we need to do so we don't go at each other like that again, d'ya think?" the elf murmurs. "'cause I don't wanna do that again in front of the kids, and, well, I'm on a bit of a window to significantly shift the population demographics on half-elves. Necromancers don't die old."
no subject
"I like that my kind of vampirism poses no threat of infecting you. I don't want that to change, either. I do not think I could abide wearing fang condoms." A little joke for her, there, to lighten the mood before diving into the crux of things.
"We both failed to communicate as we should. We've been engaged in name, but I fear my actions haven't been that of a committed betrothed. Because of that, I made you insecure. From here on out, I will not make such monumental decisions without you. No matter how long or short the span of your life, so long as you are with me, I will ask and honor your wishes as equal to mine."
no subject
no subject
He holds her tighter. "You are crass, and rough, and battle-weathered, but you are also sensitive, insightful, and very Romantic. These are the things I love about you. You remind me slow down to enjoy the small things in life when I have a tendency to overlook them. I see the passion you bring to every moment of your life and it inspires me to experience things the way you do, not floating above them but embroiled in the gritty reality of them. You speak your mind plainly and hold to your principles unwaveringly, but you are not above learning or admitting your faults. You are my wild flame. You terrify and excite me. You make me want to rise to meet you. River, my love, you are the most real thing in my life."
no subject
...
"...Gods, actually. You don't sleep. I may be the first mother in living history to get a good night's sleep." She laughs, because it sounds great. However, the narrator would like to point out that she is, in fact, completely wrong about this and will be bitter about being wrong later, as is the way of the new mother. "...Fucksake there's so much to do and to discuss and to...we gotta take this seriously instead of just putting everything on the idea that affection alone gonna do it, right? I'm affectionate with my apprentices but I still gotta do fuckin' paperwork. And I need coffee. But..."
And here she turns and squirms until she can kiss Erik on the neck and nestle into him, confident that he's gotta be warming up to an acceptable temperature by now from her own excessive body heat. "...I kinda want affection too. I could go for a round of conversation and cooking breakfast while I get laid, if the domesticity won't hit your professional expectations and cause an energy explosion." She tilts her head up, grinning playfully. "You did keep the money, right?"
no subject
Erik can't bring himself to burst her bubble about new mothers and sleep--not when she sounds as cute as this. She'll find out on her own, as all mothers do. That much he's picked up on in his many years. But she is right that she shouldn't expect to go it alone. He will be at her side through all of it. He wouldn't be anywhere else for the world.
She kisses his neck and he returns it with a kiss on her forehead. The fire and her body heat are doing their work to bring him up from frozen tundra cold to just normal cold. Best he can do for now. But, at her desire for affection, he smiles with no small amount of heat.
"I kept the money. And, River, I think you severely under-estimate how much I enjoy the domesticity. It's a perk. Especially now when I can share it with you to the fullest."
no subject
"It'll be a nice challenge for you," she muses playfully. "Get me off without turning me nonverbal."
no subject
"I think that challenge is going to be yours," he purrs as he gets up to follow her, his stride smooth and predatory.
He hovers behind, trailing his cold fingers down her back until he gets a handful of the ass she's teasing him with. He knows better than to get in the way of her getting coffee, though. That's an essential part of the morning.