with teeth

Wave goodbye to what you were.

[vuldak-juneau]

Being looked at like some sort of a ghost wasn’t a novel experience to Juneau. Alder had looked at her like some sort of a cursed phantom, a look of understanding rather than pity. She was not sure how to describe how Julian had looked at her once he learned she was a Vuldak; surprised and unsurprised, with an understanding that she was a dead thing but devoid of disgust. Adrian had looked as haunted as she had felt in those early days. In those days, she was alive, but on borrowed time with a toll to pay every month. If there was another shoe to drop in her second attempt at a life on the edge of the Elvhen’s blade, Juneau was still waiting for it. And she chose to live in the comfort of ignorance. And she did that–she lived, no longer a consciousness haunting a corpse in stasis. 

Jamie was likely as averse to acts of affection as she was, but she set Ness down and approached Jamie anyway. Juneau leaned into him, an awkward and stiff hug between two individuals who had hardly had reason to practice such embraces in their lives. But it wasn’t about comforting him with the hug, but rather the reassurance that she was material and real, and not paper thin. 

“I’ll keep coming back,” she promised, her tone similar to that of a petulant adolescent begging for additional trust and freedom. She knew Jamie would grant it to her, but she didn’t want it to come at the cost of his worry. “I will be. There are people out there I can trust. And I always come back.” Her arms crossed and she cocked one hip to the side. Juneau did not mean to dismiss or minimize what had happened on the ship, but it seemed it would take some sort of cosmic force to wipe her from the face of Taravell for good. “You would have been fine. You would have looked out for Adrian. But I did come back, and not just to have to struggle against a fate I never asked for.” But then again, Juneau had not asked to be enlightened that some power existed out there that could cleanse the Blight from a soul–and as much as she hated the idea of being a hero, she couldn’t stop thinking about whether or not it was possible to find a way to spare others of the Blight, too. "But if you're that worried and you want to lock me in this room and this is all just an elaborate trap, no time like the present."

[jamieprice]

For once it doesn't take a second, the moment she's shuffled up to him, he's putting an arm around her just as stiffly. If Adrian had been home to see, he was sure it would have been a laughable sight. But it worked for them. She's there and she's solid and he can hear a heart beating in her chest. It was funny to think that he'd never once thought the lack of it was a problem until he realized the familiarity in the silence was gone. It'd become a complete cold stranger to him on that boat. He'd never really lost anyone, not really. Now in a way, her being there beside him really meant that was true. "I've never really had much tae lose before ye an' him." Jamie admits, lips pursed into a thin line, his hand on her shoulder offering the most tentative squeeze. "Nae something I'd like tae experience again." But he is young yet by vampire standards. Loss was part of it, the penance for what he was. "Ye'll come back, I know ye will." "Besides," Looking to the little black furball in the middle of the floor, his brow raised. "He's actually the trap."

[adrianvoll]

“You want me to sleep in a coffin with you?” The question is deadpanned pretty harshly before the witch's lips are twitching into the smallest and most sincere smile likely ever witnessed on Adrian. The expression is devastatingly soft for the reference of coffins being built for two feels almost completely absurd. 

Jamie had stopped just before Adrian, hands behind his back as though it's the last standing barrier between them. It wasn't often that Adrian jumped forth on his own wanton, he liked to simmer and level with Jamie's own, but there's this - almost nauseating - sweetness between them, an earnest shared, which allows the witch to dip forward and kiss Jamie deeply.

[jamieprice]

It takes him a second to realize what's happening. Jamie wasn't quite sure what kind of reaction the insinuation was going to get him, but it wasn't this. Shock aside, his fingers find the front of the witch's shirt as he returned the kiss. Jamie has a limit on these things, every single time they touch he's hyper aware of Adrian's heartbeat, knows how many beats should pass before he pulls away. The time had gotten longer and longer, allowing him to linger more and more. It's strange in a way, like his brain has finally decided that the witch is truly friend and not food. The urge to bite is still there, but it almost feels more playful in nature. Maybe he had a lot in common with the cats. But he's still the one to pull away first, a hand snaking from the front of the witch's shirt to cup the back of his neck. He swears he can actually feel the beating heart hammering against his own chest and he's no poet, but sometimes he wonders if Adrian knows his heart beats for two. "I am saying I am nae opposed tae the idea but I was nae expecting that kind of reaction."

[adrianvoll]

His Iskaran home had always been rather rustic, deep within a village near the Ironwoods. The word home had been tethered to this looming anxiety and inquietude, a witch would would inevitably weave much like any witch, but one who still felt paralyzed at the very idea for a long, long time. Adrian didn't have much to his name, all that he'd come to gather had been on this whirlwind of Iskaldrik collapsing and Lysara becoming his new home. What he'd collected over the past year or so had been a haphazard collection of mostly trinkets, hardly any valuables - yet as Jamie leaned in the doorway Adrian cracked a smile. The strigoi represented a true gemstone amongst ruins, Adrian had never held much in his hands, but he'd held the other, and that was something vital to him.

"Well there had been quite a few months I'd gotten used to a lack of bed also," cold floors, frigid dirt, reverting back to a bed had felt strange; at least the bed in the Tower had been unnaturally rigid, as if made of stone. "There's not much left to unpack," his tone is quiet; it was safer here, as tensions within the world came to an apex once more, Adrian was happier to be far away from the inside of the Tower once more.

[jamieprice]

Jamie grimaces at the witches response and he has a fair point, it's not like they'd had proper beds at Nornwatch. He was probably more comfortable in his hole in the ground than Adrian had been on the floor of the keep. That'd just been one place, they'd camped more than they they'd had a roof over their heads. And yet he's worried about sleeping arrangements in an actual home. So he just rips open the wound. Thou only lived once or whatever the people of Eterna were saying lately. "Ye know, coffins can be built fer tae. Pretty common, actually." He keeps it light, lest he lose his nerve or worse make himself look like the blushing mortal. Striding into the room, hands behind his back, Jamie stops just short of the witch.

[vuldak-juneau]

“Not all of us are originally from Lysara.” she reminded him in response to his lifted brow. The last year of her life her main concern had been trying to evade her fate tied to the Dark One. Now that that was effectively settled, she was concerned about things that were banal in comparison. Like where to live, how to make money, and what she actually wanted as she was liberated from the weight of what she didn’t want. “Can I get two very, very small beds and set up a bedroom for the cats?” she asked, scratching the little void in her arm’s belly. 

Juneau would arrange for small beds for the cats to use while she was away. But what would most likely happen in the room is that it would begin as a sparse room with a mostly neglected bed and overtime the walls would become papered with specimens of ornate moths, exemplary leaves, and every surface would hold some sort of rock or crystal.  “I can take care of myself,” Juneau stated quietly, though she wasn’t convinced that’s what Jamie was insinuating. She knew what had been done with her body on the Kossith ship had been brutal. Jamie seemed to have had a strong reaction. She might have insisted that things were fine now and there was nothing to worry about, but she doubted Jamie would forget all that had transpired so quickly. “And I’m not going. I’m just… wandering around.” Drifting might have been a better word–from one place to the next, one person to the next. But never with the intention of not returning. 

[jamieprice]

He looks at her in the nearly empty room, looks to the sun shining from the window into it, casting her in a soft sort of glow. Looking at her hurts in a way, like he had to convince herself she was really there. Even after they'd gotten off the island, he thought he had to be hallucinating, Adrian too. Jamie watched her like he was waiting for her to disappear again. Like he was going to turn around and see her up on the boat again, strung up and bloodied. "Juneau." It's soft, it's uncharacteristically soft for the way he speaks to her. He hadn't even spoken to her in such a way when they'd been on that ship, when he was certain they'd never see one another again. "I know it's none of my business lass, but I want tae know yer safe." Jamie thinks he actually needs to know, her and Adrian, he has nothing, he's never had anything, but he has them now and he was pretty sure if he could breathe, if he had to, he'd be hyperventilating. "Seeing ye, like that, I din...." Trailing off, he looks from her to the floor. "I din know what would have happened if ye hadnae come back."

[vuldak-juneau]

Despite the fact that Juneau was looking for some sort of permanent residence–or rather a property to own–of her own, it had not crossed her mind that Jamie might be looking to upsize his own home. She supposed it made sense when she stopped to think about it. Juneau did not stay in one place long enough to be precious or particular about her lodgings, but Jamie and Adrian both seemed to warm to the idea of permanence more than she did. 

Juneau stood in the middle of the primarily empty room, Loch–or maybe Ness–scooped up and cradled within her arms. She would have to explain the presence of another cat’s scent to Marigold later, but it was a price she was willing to pay. “Are you sure you want to give me that much creative control?” Juneau asked with a quirked brow. “You’ll still see me around here and there. I’m just… figuring some other stuff out.”

She might have her own place in Hestia’s Cove soon. She didn’t expect to spend the majority of her time there. Or with Jamie. Or with Julian–which might further be split between the cabin in Haven and the small apartment in Eterna. But she had promised Julian she would make an intentional effort to be around and determine if that proximity felt right. “I don’t like sticking around anywhere,” she reiterated, “but I like coming and going.” If Jamie was willing to set the space aside for the purposes of her sporadic appearances, she would accept it.

[jamieprice]

His brow raised at the idea of her figuring things out but he wasn't one to pry. Or at least, not with her. There were no secrets he could get out of her that he could use to his advantage, as hers were safe with him. That and they had a habit of telling each other things when they had space. "Ye can do what ye want wae it, even if it's jus' storage." That's how he'd treated just about every other home he'd ever had after he'd shipped out of Veilcrest. Jamie's lips purse for just a moment and so he has to speak quickly before he changes his mind. "I cannae say it's gonnae be easy tae see ye go after all that." His tone is soft but casual, vulnerable but without getting too deep. Addressing it without entirely bringing it up, because he doesn't think he can get to it directly. When he laid down in that plush, velvet lined coffin in the room over each night that they'd been back to being landlocked, he could see her. There on the ship and crucified for the lot of them to see.

[jamieprice]

Person: @vuldak-juneau Location: The New Haus It's not just Adrian he wants the house to look good for. Juneau also deserved a home, a real one, as much of one as she wanted. He himself related to constantly moving, but he also loved having a home base. But home base was not just where his coffin was now, home was two beating hearts, too. "So I figure ye can do whatever ye want wae this one...." Jamie nodded towards the mostly empty room that he'd reserved as a kind of....He'd like to say it was meant to be a guest room, but it was her room, it was her space, her own home base, with himself and Adrian just down the hall. If she wanted. "If ye want it." He adds, trying to remain completely casual about the fact that the idea of her being more than two miles from him after they'd been on that boat didn't make him ridiculously uneasy. "Depending on how long ye plan on sticking around."

[jamieprice]

Person: @adrianvoll Location: New Haus Turns out there was a lot more to getting a home with someone than just picking out the actual place and curtains. Room by room Jamie had painstakingly made sure the place felt human, alive, cozy even. Adrian had lost a home when Iskaldrik fell and he had half a mind that the witch had never really had somewhere all that nice. Bedrooms were important to normal people, having a space that was comfortable and familiar was something everyone needed. He'd had a coffin for decades now, didn't have much use for an actual bed aside from leisure. And now he was looking at one in the center of an otherwise unpacked room that was definitely too big for just one person. Clearing his throat, he leaned against the wooden doorway, he looked to where the other man was going through trunks and boxes, and he was once again somewhat nervous. "Ye know, I've never actually really slept one of those." Tipping his head, his chin pointed towards the unmade, four poster bed.

[adrianvoll]

There's this frightening and clear vulnerability that Jamie has never once lent himself to, it bleeds into the kiss, soft and inviting, striking and lethal. Adrian was certain that Jamie never had kissed him for so long, and though Adrian would never admit to counting the seconds, there's a sense of relief in the witch that comes with the fact that Jamie suddenly leans even closer, flush against him, fingers brushing beneath his ear. His own arms relax, though his fingers are still knuckle-white, crumpled up upon the fabric of Jamie's tattered shirt.

Feverish, doomed, but somehow peaceful, the chattering sound of the forest melts away behind him, the slow rush of the ocean fades away and Adrian sighs, his heart slowed, defenses down; feeling completely safe for the first time in months.

[jamieprice]

He loves him. Jamie knows he does. Or at least he feels for Adrian the closest he's ever gotten to the feeling before. If there was ever a person who thought of him beyond what he could do for them, it was Adrian. If there was anyone he could trust at this point, it was Adrian. He can't say it though, would never know how to say it out loud and make it sound sincere and so instead he's desperately clinging to the witch, mouth moving against his. There's fangs in his mouth but there's the need he has to devour doesn't have anything to do with bloodlust. For once. But Adrian has to breathe and just to keep from being too sheepish, Jamie's lips leave his only to press to the tip of the witch's nose, the top of his right cheekbone, the edge of his jaw. "Nice big bedroom, expensive sheets, a very large fireplace...." Jamie trails off, forehead pressed to the other man's, his lips curved. Inevitably he was going to panic about proximity and boundaries, but he found himself looking forward to it as long as they got off this damn island together.

[vuldak-juneau]

In almost any other circumstance Juneau would have been downright surly at the idea of being wedged between the two men’s bodies in a tight group hug. Each of them a head and shoulder taller than her easily, she felt somewhat compressed, but she didn’t care. She didn’t care how they all stunk of the wilds and sweat, she didn’t care that she was still breathless from her hike and that they still had a fair amount of the mountain to descend. She was just happy they were both there, one breathing and the other in his state of casual undead. Both of them were fine–or as fine as they could be. 

“Nothing worthwhile on that side of the island,” Juneau reported curtly, her own arms crossing. The gesture wasn’t meant to mirror or copy Jamie, but it likely would have been a humorous sight for Adrian–to watch these two who cared so deeply for him pretend to be nonplussed and above the confines of emotion. It was not so, and it likely never would be again.

Juneau looked up to Jamie and quickly stated, “Someone is coming. Soon, too. Someone found me on the other side of the mountain, but he was alone.” And Juneau would not have dared to leave the island with Casimir once she learned it was also inhabited by Jamie and Adrian, and possibly others. “We just need to wait, but they’ll come to this side of the island. We can manage another day or two in the meantime.” Of this much, Juneau was confident. She looked to Adrian, and then down the slope to the beach, “Are you exhausted enough that you need a ride or can you manage?” Juneau did well in settings like this–young as she was, it had been the makings of her career for nearly a decade and she took a sort of command and lead in these environments without realizing it.

[jamieprice]

Jamie looked immediately from Juneau to Adrian and back, brows raised as his weight shifted from foot to foot. Perhaps this was indeed purgatory or something and at least they were all together if they were in hell. "Ye missed me asking if he wanted me tae throw him over my shoulder. Could probably only do that wae one of ye." Juneau would be like picking up nothing at all though, he was certain of it. "Should we make camp then?" He'd find them something to eat, there had to be some deer or other small mammal hanging around. Worst case scenario they could fish. Stepping about a foot away from the both of them, Jamie put his hands on his hips and looked out, listened. People, there were indeed other people on the island, he could hear them not too far off. As much as he didn't care for crowds, he couldn't say he wouldn't be open to getting as many people in one place as possible. Even if said people had watched him viciously tear into their fellow captives. And then the Kossith. @adrianvoll

[pedrospascaled]

THOMAS DOHERTY as Walter De Ville | The Invitation (2022)

[adrianvoll]

It'd taken the third near-death experience for Jamie to truly kiss the witch with some conviction and Adrian is trying not to entirely spoil that by calling it out. When Adrian had first been initiated into the Tower there was this cruel thought that he'd never see the strigoi again, laced with a feeling that he was some worthless Iskaran that the mercenary would simply slip away from now that the worst had been over. He'd never imagined Jamie to have been waiting for him on the other side of it all, but that'd been on Adrian and how the witch saw himself, none of it had ever been a projection of Jamie. Not... entirely. He'd always known Jamie was something skittish, it was part of why the three of them had bonded so intently once they were all tossed together as Iskaldrik crumbled behind them.

Adrian finds himself flush against Jamie, his own hand coming to grip at whatever sundered fabric was left of the strigoi's shirt collar. Adrian hadn't thought that he'd see Jamie on the other side of this journey either. So much death had surrounded them, so much pain. Each time, somehow, Jamie was waiting on the other side of it all. Adrian wasn't sure how many chances they'd get to make it, but he silently vowed to himself to stop taking it for granted now. His mind, spinning with such thoughts, tries instead to focus on the chilled feeling of Jamie's parted lips on his, the faint yet familiar pinprick of Jamie's canines, the neutral warmth of his body pressed against Jamie's.

[jamieprice]

He cuts this act short all the time, kissing Adrian. Pecks are fine, he can place them and scurry away and play it off as cheeky, he's fast after all. Other kisses are kept relatively chaste and in the few events anything has even began getting heated, the moment he feels the familiar ache at the back of his throat, he breaks them apart. In a way, he thinks he's always blamed it on the bloodlust. But he can't this time, he's more than satiated, his shirt is still stained with the blood of those that'd captured them. And so he clings to the witch, one hand at the side of his neck and the other at the side of his face, fingers curling around his jaw just under his ear. Jamie kisses Adrian like he's wanted to time and time again only to hold himself back, but not this time. His mouth moves against the witch's slowly, his ears attuned to the sound of Adrian's heartbeat.

[vuldak-juneau]

Thank the gods she’d passed so of her life as an outlander. While others likely looked around the island where she had washed up and see nothing but another impossible circumstance to overcome, Juneau saw opportunity. Her knowledge of the local vegetation and animal life was limited, but she was confident she knew enough to survive for a handful of days. She had recovered on the shores of one side of the mountainous island, regaining her strength thanks to her retained abyssal constitution. But when that side of the island yielded no company and her own legs no lunger shook with weakness beneath her own weight, she knew it was time to search for others. 

Juneau had begun her ascent around dawn. She was resolved to take her time, to truly study her surroundings as she progressed so that no resource was left undiscovered. It was well past the middle of the day when she reached the ridgeline and she rested at the top overlooking the vast expanse of azure and the other islands that dotted what seemed like an endless sea scape. She felt like something of a mountain goat as she chewed whatever palatable roughage and weeds she had pulled on her way to the peak and pondered if she was the only soul on the island. But she was a soul–thus it was difficult to extinguish her spirits.

No more than a quarter of the way down the opposite side of the mountain, taking another rest, she heard a voice calling out to her. She shielded her eyes from the sun, but she did not need to look to recognize the voice as Jamie’s–but the presence of a second figure beside him in the distance doubled the promise of hearing Jamie alone. A wind came off of the sea and floated Adrian’s scent to her. “Your side of the mountain is better,” she shouted. “I’ll come to you.” And of the three of them, she was the most experienced little mountaineer. 

It took her some time to reach the pair of them, and which of the men she hugged first only came down to which of them was in arm’s reach first. Scraped up and dirty, Juneau was no worse for wear–she’d sustained worse injuries on more challenging hikes that she’d signed herself up for for the fun of it–but she worried it might not be the same for either of them. “Are you two alright?”

@adrianvoll

[adrianvoll]

Jamie had stated that Juneau was indeed hidden somewhere in the density of the island, and with such fact Adrian had to presume that Juneau had some indication that they were within it as well. Throughout each night, he could hear the chittering of unknown animals off within the forests and the cruel thrashing of the ocean not far off from the shore. It hadn't been long since they'd been tucked away on this isle, but for Adrian it was long enough, and the sorcerer was itching to get back to true land quickly. That left the puzzle piece of Juneau, however, for Adrian - and certainly Jamie - would not leave this densely riddled isle without the blonde.

Adrian had felt a touch at a disadvantage; completely mortal in comparison to his companions, the thick canopy of trees above them provided the perfect cover for Jamie to not feel fatigued from the sun. Adrian still, even within the shadowy embrace of the tree cover, could tire easier than most, but the witch said nothing in truth to this despite how often Jamie slowed to ensure he kept pace or was simply okay to continue onward.

A small ascent of the mountain, Jamie well enough ahead, led them to who they were seeking. A sense of relief flooded Adrian, and the mortal witch easily took this as his moment of reprieve as Juneau wholly volunteered to cross the rest of the expanse to greet them. Adrian only stood again when he could hear the faint crumbling of earth beneath her feet, the clear and sharp grit of her footpath meeting the rocky terrain beneath her. Adrian smiled, standing tall, and even though she'd seen him worse for wear within the belly of the Kossith dreadnought, the island had not been much kinder to the witch; unkempt and out of his element.

Juneau met Jamie first, but Adrian was not far behind in attaching himself to the hug, squeezing them with a force even the witch was surprised to still possess all these days later with little food and sustenance thus far. "The days have been coming. And going," his polite way of saying he wished, as soon as possible, to be rid of this island but that with the two of them confirmed safe Adrian was, indeed, alright for now.

@jamieprice.

[jamieprice]

He thinks the two of them are getting better at it, the whole hugging thing, and Jamie doesn't hesitate in embracing the blonde as she reaches them. He releases a breath he does not need to take and his eyes met Adrian's briefly over the top of the blonde's head. "We're fine." Jamie adds, at least he is fine and Adrian, to Juneau, is fine, there's solidarity in providing a united front that they're all alive, he thinks. "What an' who have ye found?" Stepping back after the embrace, only a little sheepish, Jamie crosses his arms over his chest and looks to the expanse of ridged earth. His entire fortune to just be able to stroll down some green hills for once. "Step one is getting out of here. Step tae calming me down fae fully panicking that we're surrounded by water." He glances to both of them and shifts his weight from foot to foot, as if the mere thought has him wanting to bolt.

[adrianvoll]

"We've almost died and you feel now is just right to tease house-hunting at me?" Though Adrian did appreciate the levity of the situation, the witch struck with a strange sense of grounding freedom. No longer did he feel they were truly in danger any longer and for now this was their moment to simply be for Adrian was certain help would be on the way rather shortly; it had to be. "But, I accept - once we're on land that isn't surrounded by the Azure Sea, I'll be expecting this bridal carry," Adrian squeezed the others hand. He found great comfort in reminding himself of how far they'd come; dancing around a situationship, watching it bleed into something that resembled a relationship, to the strigoi now blindly reaching for his hand.

[jamieprice]

Jamie's step falter because yes, when Adrian puts it like that, it is all rather ridiculous. Not just in a morbidly amusing way, but the fact that this is what, their third near death experience? And yet there is still a hand in his, someone who knows his darkest parts and he is still there. His fingers squeeze the witch's and he turns on his heel to face him. It was ridiculous at this point to pretend this wasn't what it was any longer. His hands only slip out of Adrian's to reach for his face once more and his head tilts to press his lips to the other man's more properly this time, the one he wanted to give him on sight. There was no point in holding back now, there's blood under his fingernails, there would always be blood on his hands, and yet under them was still Adrian. And no judgement had been passed, not towards the vengeance he'd taken, not towards his human life, not towards the fact that he'd been at his side this long and has survived on fleeting touches from a skittish cat of a vampire.

[adrianvoll]

Adrian shook his head after a moment of truly pondering the question. His hands were still somewhat mangled, thick callouses and first degree burns etched into the flesh; hours of strenuous and unyielding work from the Kossith forge. But he'd felt the same as when Freydis asked him; so long as he'd known his friends were safe, Adrian would be okay, he'd endure. "I'm fine, though if a white lie meant you'd throw me over your shoulder ala Princess Bride, I might take the low blow at my dignity," there's a small smile there as if the flirtatious banter is enough to prove he's indeed alright.

[jamieprice]

"I'm partial tae carrying bodies over thresholds." The shrug Jamie offers as he turns towards the wilderness around them is casual. His hand finds the witch's without meaning to, before he can even process that he's lacing their fingers together as he takes everything in. Juneau's scent led East, they're not alone on the island, there's other heartbeats, plenty of them, and he doesn't know if that brings him any sort of peace or not. "Think we need tae get an actual house fer that tae count though." As he leads them forward, he can't help but still feel like this was some sort of hallucination, that he was just disassociating on the boat again. It felt like such a ridiculous situation, they were stranded on an island and he was thinking about getting them a home back in Eterna.

[theonxepialos]

"I wasn't expecting a bloodsucker, really," there's this apologetic shrug, but really, a strigoi or dhampir was the last of what he'd expected to find stranded on any of the Isles. "Boat I've got can only hold myself and one other, but -" there was a pause, desires told plenty things and even the faintest of one could creep through and be translated to Theon, "- you're looking for someone, too, so I take it you're not entirely interested in heading back right away."

[jamieprice]

"An' yer smart enough tae know that using me tae sniff someone oot fer ye is gonnae cost ye." Still soaked and arms crossed over his chest, Jamie wasn't about to do anything for free, boat or no boat, this wouldn't be the only person out here looking for them all. If anything he thinks it has more to do with the fact that they're both mercenaries, there was honor in that. An eye for an eye, favor for a favor and all that. "I'm nae gonnae do anything fer anyone oot of the goodness oot of my heart after all of this." Jamie's kidding for the most part, he's not out of the proverbial woods yet.

[thefluffersblog]

Thomas Doherty

[adrianvoll]

There's some breath of relief that follows at Jamie's statement, it doesn't have to be condemning, it would simply be what was; a fragile truth, that they were together if indeed it was the end. No a'dam's polluting their mind, no Kossith over their shoulders, simply each other at the end of it. The chill of Jamie's fingers on his cheekbones is a comfort, and Adrian's head is bowed, lingering the the touch, wishing to live in this small sliver of time for as long as could be feasible for a mortal such as he.

The exhaustion caught up to Adrian, he's leaning into each touch and tender kiss with more weight, but there's still a bright smile at the thought. They'd lost Juneau once, couldn't save her, mourned her; Adrian couldn't fathom the idea of losing her again when they'd just gotten her back so soon. "What are we waiting for then?" If Jamie had a hunch, Adrian preferred to see it through, no matter how battered and bruised he may be.

[jamieprice]

Stepping away but only by a foot or so, Jamie looks to Adrian and resists the urge to put his hands on his hips as he takes it all in. The water had washed away a lot of the blood and ash and dirt and whatever other fluids had been spilled on the ship at least. The witch's heartbeat is normal for him, gradually slowing after physical exertion, but normal. A far cry from how rapid it'd been earlier. "Yer nae hurt, are ye? Because while I am more than capable of carrying yer fine arse over my shoulder, I think ye'd prefer tae keep yer dignity." It's a ridiculous bit of banter for the situation but Jamie raises a brow in question because he's actually quite serious about it.