Do I know why this is happening? Absolutely not. I thought "haha, give Karim therapy and a support system to deal with the death of his culture and don't let him and Miyana too close to each other and we'll see what happens in the Different Paths AU" and somehow one of my OCs showed up to insert himself. And now Karim might have a boyfriend, if he can get his head out of his own ass.
Karim looked away when the Moonshadow elf caught him squinting, but curiosity overrode him and he asked the question going through his mind anyway. "Most of your people seem to wear short hair or keep braids. Why don't you?"
Verace blinked at him for a moment, fluttering darkened lashes, and purred, "At least take me to dinner first, moon above."
Startled by this response, Karim recoiled a bit and sputtered at him. "I beg your pardon?"
"Then beg," came the swift reply, Verace arching his delicate white brows at him, and Karim rallied in offense.
Familiar rage clawed at his chest and he scowled. "Ze prince of ze Sunfire Kingdom will not beg from you."
"Well if you want it the other way round, you'll have to do the work," Verace shot back, tone still suggestive, one of those tattooed hands trailing over his own hip before just resting there.
Karim gaped at him, shocked - he just wasn't giving up!
"Oh, don't look at me like that, you left the door open for that one!" Verace sputtered.
Summary: Runaan is out of the coin and Ethari is on his way to him at the Moon Nexus! But Runaan needs a shirt before he's fit to meet his husband again. Luckily, he has some help deciding what to wear.
I'm doing this instead of writing Different Path Taken. I have no excuse.
People keep asking about Ethari's history with the Drake Riders at Moonshadow Market. Have a snippet about that. This isn't the first incident, and it won't be the last one.
Ethari twitched, and that was the only warning anyone got before he had jumped his own market stand and had the Rider by the wrist, twisting the big man's elbow to yank him several steps away from Runaan. The sound that erupted from the stranger's throat might have been called a yelp in a slighter man, and he snarled to follow it up, quickly regaining his balance and demanding, "Hey, what's your fucking problem?"
"I don't like it when people touch my things." Ethari's responding snarl was lower, deadlier, and he was showing teeth, looming over the stranger. He wasn't built as broad as the Earthblood elf, but he stood taller, and years of labor had given him enough musculature to make up for his relatively slender build.
It was an abrupt reminder to anyone who might have forgotten that their kind, soft-spoken smith was also likely one of the deadliest warriors in Moonshadow Forest when he chose to be.
The stranger, unfortunately, didn't seem to grasp that, yanking at the arm in Ethari's grip and failing to free it, baring his own teeth right back. "And what's he think about that?" He sneered back. "Men aren't property."
Runaan was blinking, looking over the scene, visibly taken by surprise by how violent things had abruptly become, tension simmering in the air and a wide berth forming around the pair. Something about the way that was phrased made him wrinkle his nose irritably - knowing from experience that in the Ddrake Riders' eyes women were property - but he made no move to intervene. "I don't care for it any more than he does." He replied silkily.
The Earthblood growled at him, putting his teeth away at least, but even that brief softness was enough to draw Ethari's ire, prompting the smith to twist his arm again, adjusting his grip to wrench the stranger's wrist in a way that sent him to his knees. "I don't think I like you looking at my things."
The stranger responded to that by aiming a kick at Ethari's legs, and from there, the violence exploded. Ethari wasn't holding back, and neither was the stranger. It was broad daylight on the edge of the Forest, but that didn't seem to slow the smith down at all. Runaan kept sharp eyes on the fight but even when Ethari took blows he didn't seem fazed by them, the two men relying entirely on fists, feet, and teeth rather than going for weapons.
Ethari's teeth left bigger marks, where he used them. As quickly as the fight began, it ended, with Ethari's teeth at the stranger's throat as a very plain threat and both smeared with each other's blood. One of the Rider's wrists was clearly bent out of shape, dislocated or broken, and Ethari's skirt and trousers were torn to expose a nasty set of scratches down his thigh, but when they froze it was with Ethari's hands digging into his shoulders and his fangs set to an artery while the stranger grappled at his bicep. They both froze there.
Ethari's jaw flexed and the stranger hissed, eyes flashing with real panic. Runaan finally got his mind to stop fixating on the way the blood on his lover's cheek had smeared along the lines of his facial markings, and cleared his throat. "Ethari." He called, pitching his voice low and serious, but soothing. "Enough. I think the lesson's learned."
His lover freed the stranger's throat with a distasteful glare down and another baring of his fangs. "Have you?" He growled.
The stranger nodded tightly, red marks welling up from where Ethari's fangs had dug into his neck. He didn't speak.
Ethari cupped his jaw in one hand and squeezed at the hinge until it made the stranger wince with pain. "Answer me."
"Lesson learned," The stranger replied immediately, though he grimaced.
Finally the smith got up off of him, stepping down on his intact arm and driving it further into the dirt with one foot. "Remember it." He crooned cruelly, and let his full weight fall on that foot to walk away. Nothing broke under the weight, but it caused the stranger to grunt with pain still.
Runaan's breath was coming quick as his lover stalked back over to him, bloodied with clothing torn but otherwise unharmed. He couldn't decide where to look - at the exposed thigh and the scratches that weren't his down Ethari's dark skin? The purple and red markings on his beautiful face? The blood that still dripped from his lips? Fiery amber eyes, the calloused hands that were relatively unharmed, the bite mark that again wasn't his on Ethari's tricep from when his love had grabbed the stranger by the horn -
Those hands slid around his waist and Ethari bent nearly close enough to touch but didn't quite kiss him. "Are you all right, my shade?" He murmured roughly. "You're quiet."
"Kiss me," Runaan pleaded, eyes fixing on the stains on Ethari's lips, and he groaned with satisfaction when Ethari kissed him obediently, sharing the taste of the stranger's blood. He wound his arms around his beloved's neck and purred for him, going soft and easy in Ethari's arms, welcoming the possessive force of him. A successful hunt, his instincts sang, the blood mingling on their tongues. He trailed kisses over Ethari's jaw when released from that, finding a new bruise and spitefully setting his own teeth to it to leave a more permanent mark over top of it.
He barely noticed they were moving backwards until his back was pressed roughly against a tree and he made a noise of surprise into Ethari's shoulder as his love bit possessively at his unmarked neck. "Ethari!" He cried softly, unsure if he was begging for more or to move first.
"Mine," Ethari growled after leaving bite that would probably scar on Runaan's lower neck.
"Yours," Runaan agreed, threading his fingers through his beloved's beautiful hair. "Thank you, beloved." Just thinking about the unwelcome hand attempting to sneak between his legs from behind -
The tension in his back had Ethari growling again, his hands parting behind Runaan's back - one went low, cupping his ass and holding him close, and the other hand went above, to his shoulders as he kissed Runaan's jaw, cheek, and face. "And I protect what's mine," He rumbled warmly.
"Very effectively," Runaan successfully drawled back, smirking faintly when it made Ethari chuckle and kiss him quiet again. "Fuck, love, I need you."
"You like me violent?"
"I like you protective." Runaan purred it against his lips and licked the blood from his chin. "Do not clean up first, I want to taste your victory on your skin."
Ethari chuckled darkly and sank his teeth into Runaan's neck again, on the other side this time. "I'm not hearin' reasons to move."
Runaan made a weak noise in the back of his throat, his own mind skittering, losing track of reasons to move himself. What did he care if they were seen? If everyone in the Market was there to watch his beloved stake his claim -
"Ethari, Runaan." Orion - the head of the Market guards - barked at them and Runaan let his horns thud against the tree in resignation as Ethari growled reluctantly. "Take it somewhere else, please. People are trying to work here."
"Of course," there was still a rumble in Ethari's voice that wasn't always present and it sent a thrill through Runaan's gut - and other places - as he finally let up his fierce, pinning grip a bit. "Let's go, darling."
They vanished from the Market in a fever, hand-in-hand, leaving the smith's stand unattended.
After all, Ethari could remake anything that the guards couldn't keep from being stolen. He couldn't reproduce the way Runaan was begging for his touch if he didn't give it to him now.
“I’m your what now?” Lain asked, huffing as he sprinted to keep up with Runaan.
His friend glanced askance at him for a bare moment as they dashed through flickering boughs thin with the last golden leaves of autumn. “Backup.”
Lain bounded to the ground and cleared a small stream in a single leap before springing ahead to the next tree. “Since when does the almighty Runaan need backup?”
But Runaan looked aside and didn’t answer. Lain took three glances before he spotted the faint blush on the younger assassin’s cheeks.
