RP:Where You Belong
Summary: Guided by Leralynn, Larewen is brought to the Thorne Estate to check on Shishi's current state. The same, age-old, heartache continues between the pair of vampires.
The Thorne Estate
A neatly paved path wends through native weeping hemlock trees, leading to a pair of wrought-iron gates decorated with a distinctive thorn design. Beyond the gates is a subdued but stately manse set among banks of trumpet lilies and oleanders. The entrance hall double doors lead directly to a parlour. This room, comfortable but with an air of business about it, is furnished with antique high-backed armchairs, their faded scarlet bright against walls panelled in black pine. Large windows, barred with scrolled ironwork, look out onto the perpetually moonlit garden. Beside a leather chaise lounge, potted begonias bloom on a claw-footed table on which are also stacked various eldred tomes of lesser necromancy. Immense bookshelves, set on either side of a dark marble hearth, are laden with magical works; several are heavily locked and possibly guarded by creatures of the owner's unique reanimatory design. Toward the kitchen lies a trapdoor that opens to a narrow set of descending stairs. What the rest of the lower floor might be employed for is a mystery; its doors are also locked and most often remain so, though several upper floor rooms of the eastern and western wings appear to be accessible. Guests should be warned, however, that wandering about uninvited may prove hazardous to one's health.
Larewen approached the Thorne Estate with Leralynn in tow, and lingered in the courtyard for a few long moments. Seeing Shishi was not on the top of her to-do list, especially after their most recent exchanges. The fact Leralynn was concerned for him, on the other hand, trumped that. Part of Larewen still considered Shishi and his children to be her family. Normally it was others that called upon her, and yet this time it was Larewen that called up Shishi. Her hand lifted to knock upon the door.
Shishi barely had time to move at the knock of the door, and would have taken even more time via laziness had it not been for the actions of Leralynn. "It's our house, Green..." the girl says after the knock and unceremoniously pushes the doors open. Shishi is visible as soon as the doors to the home are opened. The vampire is seated in an awkward position on one of the armchairs in the parlour, his legs over the side of one arm, and his back leaning over the other. Yellow must be asleep already after a long day out with the Blue Demon on one of those trips Orange had venomously described earlier to Larewen in the Tavern. Wakka is at the top of the back of the chair and the pair seen to be involved in one of their seemingly one sided conversations as Shishi can be heard finishing a sentence, "-you get it then." Azure eyes blink Orange and Green into view and the assassin is left rolling and turning in the seat to get his feet onto the ground, "Shut up..." is muttered so softly under his breath it might be a wonder if even the bat it was meant for heard it. The necromancer might have been able to predict the first thing that comes out of his mouth while his hands are nervously fidgeting with the tie at his neck, "Lar..." there's a twinge of something in his wavering voice, likely false hope, but who can know for sure? An equally predictable question leaves his lips next, "What are you doing here?" Leralynn is sent a glance as he approaches the pair of Colors, maybe she had a better answer to that question than the elf.
Larewen tilted her head slightly, the gesture meant to indicate to Leralynn that she wanted to speak with Shishi privately. Here, there were not so many enchantments that would guide her sight, and thus her dark eyes lift toward Shishi's voice, not his eyes. She could send out a wave of magic, if she so wished, but given where they were... Larewen was not familiar enough with the estate to know if that was a good idea. "Shishi?" she said, with equal uncertainty. She'd wait until she hoped the girl was gone. "Leralynn said something that made me wonder if you were alright."
Shishi lets that glance towards his daughter linger into a questioning blue stare. The girl catches Larewen's hint and begins creeping towards the kitchen. Towards her father she sends a lie in the form of a shrug and soon enough she is gone, later replaced by the smell of red meat being cooked. The assassin remains silent on purpose as he approaches, light footsteps the only indication of where he is while he moves past his first wife to shut the door Orange had left open behind her. It is from there that he finally speaks, the momentary lapse in composure from her showing up at his doorstep is gone from his voice now, "Aye? What'd she say that's got you so worried, Lar?"
Larewen smelled the meat and took that as a cue that the girl had moved on. "Talk to me, Shi," she said softly. She turned toward where she heard him step, and those blind eyes missed him entirely. "Really, talk to me. I want to know what you're feeling." Her own voice waivered and her chest ached. It was not easy, being near him. She would love him, always.
Shishi continues to move, though now his steps are out of pity seeing how far off she was in guessing his location. He stands in front of her to make himself impossible to miss and seeks eye contact, but that may be more wishful thinking. "I'm not sure what you came here looking for. You already know what I'm feeling..." He pauses and puffs out his cheeks, making use of that same expression his daughter had earlier in the night, "... You feel it too. Do you want me to say it? Really? Do you want me to tell you to stay here with me because it's where you belong just so you can tell me 'no' again?" The old habit of testing the sharpness of his top right fang is practiced here before he adds, "There's no mystery to solve here, Lar."
Larewen was better able to gauge his position when he spoke again, and her head lifted accordingly in an attempt to find his eyes. Again she missed, but not by too much. Her lips pressed into a thin line and a gloved hand reached upward, seeking to caress his cheek. If he allowed it, the touch would betray the emotions she would not so readily admit: gentle, caring, loving. "I belong in House Dragana, my love," she whispered softly. "It would be unfair to him..." Had this been how she had made him feel?
Shishi let's his blue eyes shut for a moment when she reaches out to touch his face. Briefly they can see the same thing; nothing. Clearly their roles from years ago are reversed here and that is what gives him the confidence to claim to know what she is feeling. The words the elf says now may very well have left his mouth back then. 'Unfair' Surely leaving Aarika with Orange and Yellow would have been described as such. Finally his own hand rises to his cheek and takes hold of Larewen's pulling it down and away, but not letting go once he's done so. Blue eyes open once more and he almost forces eye contact now with a slight tilt of his head. Again he asks, "Then why are you here now?"
Larewen felt his hand over hers and there was the faintest flicker of sadness as he drew hers away. She made no attempt to free it from his grasp. The necromancer was not privy to his thoughts, but her own were along the same path. Yes, the roles were reversed. "Because your daughter is concerned, and because I love you, Shishi. I will never stop loving you."
Shishi dismisses the first thing Larewen says. When wasn't Leralynn concerned? She was concerned after White left and Shishi was murdering people at every turn and now she was concerned because he wasn't doing that? He flinches at the rest of what she says though. He's already told her before that he wouldn't stop her from going down the path he had in the past and let her make the same 'mistakes' he had... But now that they're here he's wavering on the brink of taking a selfish action. The hand he's holding onto is pulled down slightly and towards him, "Enough..." is all he gets out before closing the distance between them and kissing the the elf he has turned into a vampire. He's not curious as to how she will react he's curious to know how he would have reacted if she had done the same thing to him all those years ago...
Larewen felt the pull on her hand, and it had been unexpected. The movement drew her forward just as he closed the distance. That single word, the beginning of a thought, was almost entirely unheard as he eclipsed those words with that kiss. She stiffened, for her first thought was that of guilt: Emrith. But then... then she tasted his mouth, that familiarity of over a decade. Something within her melted, and that aching in her chest was soothed, much against her own will. Her other hand, the one that was free, rose to the side of his face and the elf found herself returning the kiss with little thought. Tears stung at her eyes and quickly found their way down her cheeks, their contents a mixture of longing and horrible, horrible guilt.
Shishi seems to appear from out of nowhere, spontaneously generating next to you. Shishi thinks he might have reacted the same way she does now and it is strange to think where they would have ended up if the elf had tried something like this back then. Still he must know the guilt she's combating now and just chooses to put her through it anyway. Selfish was the right word to describe what he's done after all. It felt like he's waited ages for this, even when she had returned previously it felt as if they hadn't shared a moment like this one... Maybe she had been too preoccupied trying to kill him... It is impossible to make up for all the lost time, but Damn him if he doesn't try and when they finally break away from each other and he sees the tears in her eyes and she senses the crimson family's curse in his he feels one more thing... Fear... It's there on his face plain as day... But could she - see- it?
Larewen couldn't see it. In fact, thanks to her emotions, she couldn't see anything because her magic had dampened. There was overwhelming heartache in her breast, and when their lips parted, the necromancer's first instinct was to draw her hands away from his and then move to step back him, with every intent of fleeing.
Shishi kind of gasps unnecessarily when the elf pulls her hands away and steps backwards. That fear is put to the test immediately when he tells her to do what he said he wouldn't tell her to do tonight, "Stay here, where you belong." Now crimson eyes wait for her reaction all the while the voices of the shadows in the Thorne Estate pick at his psyche, adding doubt to that fear he's already showing, 'She'll run. I think.' 'You were right before. She'll say no and you'll be left here alone again.' The Blue Demon flinches and the dark corners of the room do too...
A vicious demon scampered into view from the north.
Larewen's hand found the door, with quite a bit of trouble, and she made to pull it open. His request would have stopped her heart, were it still beating. "I... I can't Shishi," she murmured, without turning to look at him. She could feel the shift in the shadows, and it slowly lit up the room. "As much as part of me wants to, I belong to someone else now. I did not save his life so that I could throw him away. I... I'm sorry." Her dark, sightless eyes stared out into the courtyard as she moved to depart.
Shishi lets his mouth drop open. She's done it again, the same way she had when she told him to leave to find the twins mother. Larewen has hurt the assassin once more. The shadows descend on Blue from all across the room, some lashing out towards the elf as she makes her escape only to be reduced to a harmless, fine black mist by some unseen force put out by The Blue Demon to keep the woman from harm. The darkness coils up around Shishi's ankles, curling up and embracing the once again defeated self-proclaimed calamity. With the fear he had shown realized the necromancer is allowed to leave, but she should be able to hear his last question through the torrent of shadow he's given life to, "Why'd you come here, Lar? How many times do you need to do this?"
Larewen felt the shadows faintly, Shishi's own will preventing them from actually touching her and glanced briefly over her shoulder at the darkened figure that was her ex-husband. "Because I love you, Shishi. I don't know how many times this will happen or continue; I have a duty and a promise to keep, and none of that is to you." Except there was a greater promise to Shishi, one bound in a marriage over a decade ago. Until death do them part, and yet, while they were undead, they were both still among the waking world. With those words, the elf departed in hurried, stumbling steps.