RP:In The Still Of The Night

Summary: Elioyahazer has had enough of Lanara being distant, and as it's the fifth day of her leaving his bed in the middle of the night, to run to Taly's room and dissolve into tears, he decides to confront the witch. He heads into the room, to offer comfort after the loss of her beloved lion, and to ask her why she's been avoiding him for days. Lana explains that she's afraid to show her vulnerable side to anyone, and declares that they are not 'officially' a couple. The two confess their feelings for each other, and realize that they've turned into a couple, without ever having need of a relationship discussion. Later, the assassin takes his witch into the forest, and they lie beneath the stars, as he points out the constellations and fills her tapered ears with children's stories. The couple comforts each other, and talks long into the night.

It’s the fifth night in a row that the witch had slipped from Eli’s arms, and snuck across the hall and into Talyara’s bedroom. The loss of the lion had affected Lana harder than most would expect, though to her, it all makes perfect sense. King was the first rescue at the sanctuary, its mascot, and the fierce reminder of a new beginning to what was an ordinary life. Lana’s dream was always to open an animal sanctuary, and that had become a reality, much to her delight. The woman had roamed the lands, lost for years. She had loved and lost, she had died twice, sacrificed her empathic powers towards people, struggled with her own demons, and some would have said that Lanara was nothing more than a beautiful shell. Her soul had dimmed long ago, and that spark to ignite her life once more, was the rescue mission of King. The first moment she stepped into the sanctuary that Taly had built. The fundraisers. The masquerade ball which pulled in donations that would keep them afloat for the next decade. Lana realized how quickly this dream could be torn in two, when that lion died with his head atop her lap. The dream seemed more like a nightmare. Her magic wasn’t powerful enough to save him, and she had failed Venin, the honor of her sanctuary, and Eli. It was hard to look at the man every morning, and know that he likely saw a failure looking back at him. Lana also didn’t want to show him any vulnerability, as in the past, no one was ever there to help piece her back together. Why would the assassin be any different? Clutching Taly’s pillow, she allows the familiar pang in her heart to consume her, and within minutes, her loud sobbing can be heard throughout the small cottage.

Elioyahazer || Another night where Lanara returns to the void of her own room. To the darkness - the empty space bereft of another presence. He could see her slipping. Struggling. Kings passing was eating her alive. Instead of seeking out the comfort of Eli, she chose to remove herself from the room. Night after night. Even their own conversations were growing quieter. Distant. The situation is frustrating to say the least. Not to mention fragile. Did she hate him for what he had done? Was she choosing to leave at night because she couldn’t confide in him? These thoughts were enough to eat the man alive. And then the sound of muffled sobs reach his ears. He couldn’t handle this anymore. The distance. Nor does he understand why she chooses to cry in the other room away from him. The assassin lets out a long breath, building the confidence to sleepily stand. Five times he had heard this. Five times she chose to walk away within the night. Five times. Suddenly, there’s nothing left; the fear is gone. This is the last time he would hear those heartstrings come undone. The last time he would leave his songbird in a cage alone. Before he even knew it, a light tapping is placed upon Talyara’s room, and the Sandman enters regardless of response. The assassin makes his way across the room, to the bed where Lanara sobs. “Come here,” His voice is soothing. It’s cool and collected despite the inner turmoil. “Why do you keep doing this?” A hand reaches for Lanara, but would not grab her without her consent. “I thought I was here for you? That you were mine? My girlfriend?” His words might come across as odd, considering there wasn’t ever any discussion about such a topic. Eli had just assumed. “Yet, you run from me every night.” His last sentence betrays his inner world. The hurt he feels in seeing her like this. “Lana, I’m here for you.”

Lanara lifts her head at the sound of the tapping against the door, and thinking its Scoundrel, she chooses to bury her head against the pillow and continue in her wailing. Her heart was broken. The –last- thing she wanted was to pull another critter into her arms and share that despair. Especially with her empathic abilities! Scoundrel would feel immense loss and heartache, even though he had never encountered King, and she couldn’t allow him to endure that pain. The turning of the knob, the footsteps against the floorboards, and the gentle order of going to him, are all enough to have her cheeks turning red, and Lana curling into a tight ball. “I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to wake you with my crying.” Adding ‘mortified’ to her list of emotions at this moment, she tries to cry quietly, thinking that the assassin would leave. He does not leave, however he extends a hand, and speaks so softly, that she has to strain to hear his words. One word in particular reaches those slightly tapered ears, and has her springing up in bed like a rocket launching into space. “Wait! Why did you think –I- was your girlfriend? We… We never talked about making this official.” Lanara claimed him as her own, in a sense, though she never pushed for a title. He was so new to the physical aspects of a relationship that she didn’t want to shock his system by introducing the emotional aspects that were meant to go along with it. They were… Friends with benefits? Possibly on their way to becoming more? This whole time… Eli thought they were an item?! Lana blinks, sitting campfire style on the bed, with a blanket wrapped around her form. She’s wearing a pair of booty shorts and one of Eli’s shirts, and it dawns on her, as a cool draft inches up her spine. Sure, the room was chilly thanks to a certain raccoon that keeps making holes in the walls, but it’s also the realization that she was embarking on a new romantic endeavor with this desert man. She wore his clothes. Shared meals and her home with him. Introduced him to the guild and her sanctuary. They had several intimate evenings. Lana took his first kiss, his first date, and his first moment of pure attraction to another. And in turn, he had allowed her to take the lead in things, he had accepted her perfections and her flaws, and he had offered her undying protection and a unique friendship she hadn’t found with another. They were falling in love. Eli can see the gears turning in her head, the moment where Lana knows they are much more than friends, and without a word, she takes his hand and gently rubs his inner wrist. Her pulse quickens, as she feels his own heartbeat, and those dark eyes lift to lock onto that unique gaze she’d come to adore. “Sandman… I’m not running –from- you. I’m running from letting you see this side of me. Most men wouldn’t want to deal with tears, or even understand why I feel so broken. I let King down, the sanctuary, my employees, you, and most of all… Myself. And… I don’t want to push you into feeling like you have to be there for me. I wouldn’t force myself on anyone. In the lands, we do things differently. The man usually asks the woman to be his one and only, and then they get the title of a relationship. Normally, they go on a few dates, and then they… Become boyfriend and girlfriend. I figured you’d want to date around a little, since this is all so new to you. And… You asked me to sleep in there the first night we, uh, did –that- and you didn’t ask me to again. I took your words literal.” A slew of fresh tears spill onto her cheeks now, as she leans in and places a chase kiss to his lips, “We are doing this so out of order, aren’t we? I… I want you to be my boyfriend. And when you are ready to ask, you know my answer.”

Elioyahazer is silent through all of Lanara’s expressions and words. He doesn’t once put in a rebuttal or a remark. He knew why she was weeping, at least on some level. But watching her like this had been troublesome. She didn’t want to force him? What about this has been forced? It certainly felt like she was running. What about their circumstances would lead her to believe that he wasn’t hers already? These things he needed to talk about? She needed to know what was going on inside of him - the things in his mind. But when that chaste kiss comes to his lips, Lanara is snatched up in his arms. His left hand reaches behind her head, to have her forehead rest atop his shoulder. The other arm wraps around her waist. “Lana,” that accented voice is smooth, and she might perhaps believe that a question is about to be presented. However, this is not the case. “Do you remember our first kiss?” The silence after his question should be enough time for her to recall. “The passion you displayed, the way you came to life and expressed that inner world of yours in just moments. You were free. Do you know what I thought, even drugged up as I was?” Admittedly, he did have three times the recommended dose. “Your whole world had been a cage, for a beautiful songbird. In that moment with me, our worlds met and you were truly free. I realized then and there, that I needed you. I needed you like I need sustenance to survive. When you and I dove further, it only served to aid these thoughts. Whether I’ve asked you officially or not, I’m already yours... “ He still hasn’t let her go from this hug. “And you are my Canary. Who brings song into this dull assassins life. You paint it with colors. Of course I thought you were mine.” Finally he lets her go, his eyes shifting from her own, to the clothes she wore. After a moment he breaks the silence, “Come with me, I want to show you something.” Eli snatches a blanket and begins to head outside into the dark, hoping that she follows.

Lanara doesn’t fight him as he pulls her into his arms, her head pressing against his shoulder, and she sighs softly. She needed this comfort. She needed his reassuring words, leading to an affirmation of his feelings. The little witch needed the big, strong, assassin, this entire time, yet she never realized it until this very moment. Vulnerability was kept beneath a cloak, wrapping tightly about the woman’s shoulders, and it was so rare that she’d shed her clothing, and allow someone inside. Her mind was a beautiful mess to bask in, her heart a twisted organ of solitude and incessant worries, and her spirit a conglomeration of magic, scars from the past, and hopes for the future. For –their- future. Shifting in his arms, she climbs onto his lap, and wraps herself up tightly against his chest. Lana was weak around this man. She was letting him into her world, into her heart, and he was peeking into her head, and he hadn’t run for the hills. Eli ran towards Lana, when she had run away from all, even herself. The gilded cage, the shaking canary, the feeling of being trapped… It all fades when in his embrace. “Sandman… You –are- mine. And I am yours… I have been since that first kiss. I just never realized it, and we never made it official.” Tightening her grasp on him, she realizes that the tears stop falling, and for the first time all week, she feels whole. The canary sits straight on her perch, as Lana sits up to look into those blue-speckled eyes, their song leaving her lips without the fear of rejection, “You weren’t wrong to assume that I was yours, Elioyahazer.” His name is the most beautiful tune a canary could ever hope to carry, music to the man’s ears as she pronounces it perfectly, and pressing her lush lips against his, the little songbird allows herself to be free, to fly from her cage, and to accept this man into her heart, her home, and her life. Birds mate for life, she knows, though he’s certainly not as fragile as a canary, so she doesn’t give him a nickname. The only term that comes to mind when thinking of the assassin… Mine. The kiss deepens and she lingers in the embrace, silently thanking him for the comfort after losing King, and apologizing for being distant, and for the need to hear his affections voiced. Eli snatches up the blanket and heads outside, and after slipping a pair of sweatpants over her bottom, she follows him into the night.

Elioyahazer can’t help but provide a smirk at the use of his name, and how easily it rolls from those lips. She really is his Canary. For breathless moments, their worlds collide in that kiss she presents him, and he knows all of those little hidden words. He can taste them like honey upon his tongue. His eyes shift back to Lanara mid walk to discover that she is indeed following him out into the night. “I came out here the second night you disappeared into your sisters room.” He shifts a hand out for her to hold in the dark. He wanted to give her that touch - the physical reminder that she isn’t alone. But their walk continues on for a while longer yet, until they hit a clearing. “It was my first time wandering through a forest at night, but I found this spot.” The blanket he had snatched is laid out for the two of them to lie upon. Eli, takes the spot first, and then offers a spot right next to him for her. His eyes shift to the star riddled sky. “When I was a child, Jez often spoke of the stars. Like they were all spirits that had existed at one time. Their stories became legends which birthed the night sky. Whether it’s true or not I wanted you to see this.” When she settles in next to him, a finger raises to point at a constellation. After a moment of struggling, she might find the target of which he was pointing too. “If you attach each star in that grouping with a line, you get a Lion.” He had a story for her, from Jez about this Lion. “His story falls into one of betrayal and then hope.” He doesn’t really know why he’s telling this to her, but perhaps it might help her own mind. Just a little. If not, it's a good way to pass a little time together. “The Nameless Lion had found himself without a home. Taken by his brother. For a time he wandered the world alone, in search of a pride all his own. He encountered many creatures. Some friendly, others not so. It wasn’t until he met the scorpion.” His hand switches to another constellation, “That his life was truly in jeopardy. The creature had lied to him, and ensnared the lion within his pincers, ready to lay its piercing sting into the body of the noble Lion. He had been trapped. But the hawk.” His hand moves to point to another constellation, “Had come to his rescue, ripping the eyes out of the scorpion. The lion had been freed, despite his injuries. In his exhausted state, he unknowingly made his way back to his brothers pride. Where they were leaderless. The lion had found home once again.” His little story stops, even if it's ridiculous and for children. “Basically, the story means that no matter what happens to you, you’ll pull through in the end. And that home, will always be home.” His gaze turns to Lanara, “I believe King called your sanctuary home. And you Mother. No matter how hard it is, remember, he’s in the stars. And he had a home.” She isn’t a failure.

(Post 1 of 2) Lanara takes his hand and gives it a gentle squeeze, her eyes adjusting to the darkness of the forest. She had walked through Sage many times, and taken its beauty for granted, but as she hears Eli stating that he traversed this forest on his own, she begins to see it in a new light. Lana had come from a land that was mostly made of elves, humans, and occasionally, a dirty drow. Autumn was everlasting, so she was spoiled with fields of oranges, reds, and gold. Forests were all she knew, and she knew them all by heart. The customs were very different from the lands she now inhabited. Her dark eyes look up at Eli’s face, and she almost frowns, knowing that he had missed out on so much in his sheltered youth. All he had known was his training with weapons, discipline, and murder. He hadn’t even been raised by his own kin. And he had been hunted by a powerful group of assassin’s since the tender age of ten. Feeling the need to reassure, she gives his hand another squeeze, “I like seeing your eyes light up when you discover something, or we share a new experience. Seeing your ‘firsts’ makes me appreciate the things that are so common to me… When I first came to the lands, about four or five years ago, Sage was the main area that I frequented. It reminded me of home, despite the chill in the winter, and the heat in the summer. I eventually was brave enough to explore the unknown, and the first time I entered Frostmaw, it was delightful! Snow was everywhere! I had only read about snow, or made it from my magic, but I’ve never made a snow angel, or had a ball fight, or stayed out so long that I almost died of hypothermia. I was enchanted. I had fallen in love with snowflakes, the fog that escaped when I exhaled, and the chill in my bones, no matter how many layers of clothing I was wearing.” She laughs faintly, and as he lies out the blanket, she sits between his legs, and leans back in his arms, rather than lie at his side. She craved closeness, and knowing that she could lean on him, and that it was okay to cling when one was mourning, she finds herself giving in. Their heads lift to peer up at the stars, and she follows his fingertip to the exact location, trying to see the pattern that he was describing. His words are sharp in her ear, despite the whisper, and her eyes brim with tears. Lana was well educated, wise beyond her years, and she’s making the connection before he even voices the explanation. The story of the constellations is so beautiful, that the elf has a newfound respect for Jez, and as his words conclude, she turns in his arms and she gazes into his eyes. The stars and moon reflect, mingling with the brown and blue of his gaze, and she’s never felt so breathless, in all her years.

(Post 2 of 2) Finally, after what seems like an eternity of merely staring at the desert man, she speaks, a hint of nervousness in her tone. “Sandman… Thank you. For everything… For coming into my life, and for sharing pieces of yourself with me, and with me, alone. Thank you for trusting me with your heart, and at times, your life. And… Thank you for performing the mercy kill on King, when I could not. I feel that he entrusted me to you, so that his ‘mother’ would have someone else to care for, and he’d know that she was protected. And… Thank you for tonight. For telling me everything I needed to hear, for sharing your past, and for being brave enough to try new things.” She waits a beat, before continuing, “I still keep some of my old traditions from Kelvar. And you should, too, from the desert. Maybe… Maybe I can arrange some experiences for you to share, with me, and you can do the same. There’s no reason we have to adjust to –everything- this land has to offer, or give up the things that are familiar. We can learn from each other, and share in our ‘first’ new experiences. I… I know that I’m your first in a lot of things, and I cherish that, but maybe you can be my last…” Her words hang in the air, as she voices her intentions, and for the first time, admits to her true feelings for the male, whereas in the past, she’d only reciprocated his words.

Elioyahazer has found himself with a lot of new experiences. Not -all- of them belonged to Lanara, but a vast majority of them did. When she speaks of her own past in Kelvar, he’s reminded of the eternal autumn it experienced. “I’d like that.” He answers her comments of sharing their past with one another and exploring new things in this way. When she turns around and faces him, Eli offers a smile but no words as she continues to explain her thoughts. Her feelings. But why is she thanking him? Is this what people do when they care? He’s astonished that she’s even saying all of this. “I plan to be.” This sappy moment between the two ends with a simple statement. He isn’t going anywhere. She wasn’t a game to him. Dating isn’t something to be taken lightly, and he was already beginning to find a new home outside of the deserts. A digit lifts that chin of hers for a simple kiss. And the two would find themselves beneath the stars for a while longer, Eli regaling her with more children's stories.