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 Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2016 6:49 pm
 It had been years since she last visited this place.
Vienna circled the pool carefully, peering into its clear depths. Even after all the time that had passed it hardly had changed; despite the draining passage of time in the Inbetween very little was different in the human world. Perhaps her favorite lounging location was a little wider than it used to be- erosion, maybe- but other than thicker undergrowth that had long been left untended it was very much the same.
Her eyes narrowed for a moment, talons digging into the soft moss that covered the forest floor like a thick carpet here. It was humid and far too hot for her liking... and she had come here for a purpose, after all.
Taking care not to make too much noise she slid headfirst into the pool with a grace that belied her size, barely disturbing the surface of the water. When she surfaced again Vienna shook her slick mane back from her face, coming to rest on the old, submerged log that she had often perched on in the past. After a moment of settling her balance she rested her chin against the portion that protruded from the water with a slow, tired sigh.
Despite her best efforts, her heart ached.
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Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2016 10:43 pm
 How often had he been here?
How often had he left...?
Kayin blinked, slowly rousing himself. He had been lost in contemplation, memories, and regrets. The dappled dark elder lay in shade in a bank of soft clover and ferns at the edge of a clearing he knew all too well. A wooded trail snaked off through thicket behind him, one he had traveled many times. It came down from the Blackwood. Had he been there today? Possibly. Gwen was not exactly the wise old lady of the wood... but she was a bit of old times he had trouble quitting.
Rumpled and disheveled, he sighed and heaved himself up like an old bear emerging from hibernation. The large form had grown thinner these last years, the pelt dulled, the gleam of humor was long gone from the deep liquid eyes. Some days he wondered if it was really she that was missing or if it was he. Gwen assured him he was not dead, but... he wondered. He felt it. All this time he had gone on searching, wandering. Yet he always ended up back at that beach of ever-setting sun...or here by the pool. He tried to shake the stiffness from his legs with little success.
There were so many times he saw her light graceful lines, or stooped to take a drink only to pause, remembering her pale reflection in the pool. Beautiful inky eyes haunted his thoughts. Kayin paced toward the far edge of the water slowly, as he had done a hundred times before. It was not healthy, this obsession to find what was lost. But he had no closure, if he could learn anything at all... He sat back on his haunches, graceless and weary, and stared forlornly at the mirage on the log of the only demon to ever make his heart flutter. It only gave a hollow ache now though.
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Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2016 11:56 am
Vienna had been content to simply soak in the water until her thoughts had been washed away or the sun had sunk completely below the horizon... or both. Her eyes slipped closed for a few minutes as she focused on the cool water soaking through to her bones and the hum of cicadas someplace in the woods around her. Quiet. It was not like her to sit in contemplation for too long, but the familiar location fanned a soft breath of nostalgia she could feel coiling in her chest.
A shuffling sound caught her attention and her eyes snapped open, gaze leveling in the direction of the offending visitor. A biting remark died on her tongue, mouth parted in disbelief. He looked gaunt and unkempt; clearly the passage of time had not been kind to the other demon. How long had he even been there?
Without removing her eyes from him- lest he only be a vision- she clawed her way up the log and out of the water, soaking the carpet of moss as rivulets streamed down her sides and dripped from her mane.
"Kayin?"
She barely recognized her own voice as she spoke. Was she just seeing things?
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Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2016 10:00 pm
Kayin sat there bemusedly, letting the dream play out despite the depression he'd have to face later. Watching the nearly real figure pull herself from the water, he felt another pang. So beautiful... she had always been so striking, so graceful. Her eyes pierced his own glazed contemplation though, and he blinked a bit. Very REAL eyes... and... he could hear the liquid water sounds, the droplets as she rose.
And then she spoke.
"OH s**t" He startled back, something between a scoot and leap, almost flailing in his shock. All the times he had wistfully imagined her existence, she had never spoke. Dreams did not speak. This was no daydream, no imagined mirage. And belatedly, he realized you don't say 'oh s**t' to dreams come to life!
"I... uh...I mean... Vi? Vienna? It's really you then...?" So soft, barely above a whisper, too shocked to move as he questioned the dripping figure that had spoke to him. He took a deep breath, trying to steady himself. She had spooked the crap out of him, his heart pounded, but also a rising excitement was flitting around the edges of his being. Could it be true?
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Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2016 9:52 pm
His sudden movement spooked her almost as much as she had spooked him; Vienna startled, sitting back on her haunches as she tried to assess what was going on here. He looked terrible, honestly. She had nearly assumed he was some sort of specter and his voice- loud and clear- had certainly not been expected.
"Yeah," she replied slowly, still sitting in the same position, "It... it is."
Urgency seized her in the next moment and she stood, closing the distance between them. She realized she must have looked quite a picture, standing there dripping with water and looking considerably surprised. It was just Kayin though... and he had never seemed to mind the moments where she was a little rougher around the edges.
Vienna opened and closed her mouth several times as if struggling to find something else to say, eyes dipping to look at the ground. All of her usual snark seemed to evaporate before she could find the words.
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Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2016 9:45 am
It was true, it was her... Kayin blinked, trying to reconcile the imagined and the reality of it. No dream ever looked so startled and so ...drippy before though. Watching her movements, her familiarity and confusion, it made his heart swell immediately. He could find no words of his own, he didn't even try. His brain felt detached from his body, and he stepped forward before he could really give it any thought. In all his time of looking, all the aftermath of the war and all the uncertainty, there had been little time to think about the actual reunion. Especially after this long.
But she was HERE...real in the flesh. He had a million questions, a million emotions. Suddenly the only thing that mattered was his need to feel her, to assure himself she really WAS there. With a smooth dip of his head, Kayin butted his forehead against her cheek gently in a silent cat-like gesture, conveying all his emotions he could not begin to put into words. His eyes closed in overwhelmed relief and tenderness. She was both cold and warm, getting his own dusty fur wet from her dripping pelt, and he couldn't have cared less.
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Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2016 8:58 pm
Vienna leaned easily into him as he dipped his head to hers, a half-formed sound ghosting from her throat as she continued to fumble for an appropriate response. It had been far, far too long and even after a hundred imagined meetings she simply could not find the words she wanted. Instead she allowed her eyes to slide closed and simply pressed her cheek back against him.
She let out a low, soft sigh of breath, shoulders nearly sagging as she released tension she hadn't realized she'd been carrying.
"Where have you been?" she murmured quietly, tilting her head back far enough to look him in the eye, "It feels like a lifetime ago since..."
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