Entry tags:
closed πͺΆ i'm in the end, just what you made me.
Who: Benedikta Harman & others.
Status: Closed.
Where: Around.
What: Catch-all log for November.
Warnings: FFXVI spoilers. Definitely lots of foul language.
[If you would like a closed starter, please feel free to poke me over at my plotting post and we can plot something! π]
Status: Closed.
Where: Around.
What: Catch-all log for November.
Warnings: FFXVI spoilers. Definitely lots of foul language.
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[It's in the middle of his half-grumbling that her lips quiet him, and for a moment he lies there stunned.
And then in the next his lips rub against hers, the hand at her neck firming against her as if to naturally pull her in.
But then it's not long after that he furrows his brows and pulls back, frowning a little.]
Wait—as enjoyable as this is—and I'm not really protesting, mind—this can't be your only solution.
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She knows. She knows that this isn't the solution that she needs. It works, but for how long? He will have to leave eventually, and when he does, Garuda will rear her head all over again with all sorts of new things to taunt her with. It's enough that she has been hurt by his betrayal too, and enough that she seeks nothing but blood and vengeance...
She lowers herself until her forehead bumps his, and she closes her eyes.]
... I don't know what else to do.
[Fingers trail from his chest down his arm until she finds his hand and can grab on. Tight.
And from her fingertips comes a small trickle of aether, a light wind that brushes against the inside of his palm.]
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...
Still, there must be something, he can do, and when he feels her wind, he'll gently squeeze her fingers with his own and let his levin gently buzz and hum against her own palm, a secret, quiet storm forming between them.]
This is fine for now... You can always come to me if you need it. Or even if you don't.
[Just saying. But continuing to be serious—]
I have some thoughts...but if you don't feel up to it now, we can talk about it again later.
[He shifts his head, nose gently brushing against hers before he drops a kiss against her lips.]
I'll still help you.
[He knows she's exhausted, and this isn't going to be an easy talk, especially with what he has in mind. And even then it won't be an easy thing for her to do. So for now, if comfort is what she needs to at least temporarily quell the beast, then that's what he'll do.]
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[But is there anything he can say right now that would crush her voice? Anything that he could do to help quiet her for just a little longer?
Benedikta values Garuda, she does. She wishes that she could be glad that she is back, prepared to sweep in at a moment's notice, but since that day... since knowing what happened to her the last time she yielded to Garuda's voice, she has crumpled under her power instead. She does not want a repeat, does not want to lose herself to the Eikon.
She feels like that young girl, terrified, sobbing and gasping for air as she clutches at her chest when it became too much, collapsed in the shadows.
Weak...
Benedikta closes her eyes against it, feeling that swell in aether again, the wind at her fingertips spreading to meet the lightning that he discharges from his...
...
....?
But that's when she feels it, as a single purple ribbon of static grazes against her palm, firing up the nerves and sending that familiar ripple of heat all the way through her arm. With a sharp, quiet gasp, she snaps her eyes open to stare at their palms inches apart, andβ]
Do that again.
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Sorry, what?
[Do what again? Kiss???]
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Your... spark.
[Must she always tell him!?!?
But before he can, she slides her fingers down so that they wrap around his wrist instead, and slowly, she shifts it so that it's pressing to her chest.]
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Hm... Like this?
[He pushes more of his aether into her skin, a stronger pulse that will dance over her skin before it burrows deep and spreads out like veins just beneath her skin and travel down her breast, in a space over her heart. Safe enough...but close enough to be felt and send that heat and thrill along with it.]
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[A soft moan escapes her then, that pulse of static spreading like a web that burrows deep, deep, deeper through her nerves until it reaches her aether, and though it is as soft and controlled as it always is, it scatters it, like lightning could splinter the wood of a tree awaiting that inevitable strike.
She arches up into it, spreading open and allowing it more room to ripple.
And there is a violent burst of aether that follows, Garuda stirring, screeching, and clawing at her insides to get out, reaching for him...]
Cidolfus...
[For a moment, she can't tell her own voice from the Eikons...
...
...before she goes silent again, and all of that aether dissipates as fast as it had formed in that narrow space between them.]
Did you...feel that?
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—!?
[He felt it.
That low pulse, a rumble deep within his core reacting to those winds that ripped between them that make his eyes widen in surprise.
...No.
Nononononono—
Cid is... Not sure how to respond as he just stares at her before finally finding his voice.]
I did.
[And then a lengthy pause.]
He did, too.
[As if it wasn't bad enough that her Eikon may be getting off from his aether, but Ramuh? Really??? Oh he is so hoping he's wrong about this and it's something else, but given the current circumstances hard not to think it.
But this has never happened before... Why...
THEIR EIKONS BETTER NOT RUIN A REALLY GOOD THING THEY HAD GOING OR SO HELP HIM]
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But... she would be lying if she said she didn't feel that... whatever that was. Garuda always calmed in the storms, which was part of how Benedikta came to love them so much, but what she felt when that spark had electrified her skin was different. Unusual, though not... terrible.
Almost as if the Eikon herself was drawn to that burst of shared aether.
It still doesn't make it any less strange, or slightly awkward when she realizes that Garuda might have actually enjoyed that feeling as much as she had...
The harpy can't have everything. ESPECIALLY NOT THIS.
But when he says thatβ]
He?
[βshe snaps her eyes open to stare at him, her confusion mirroring his.]
You felt Ramuh, too?
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[He's again trying to process this...]
Not...a lot, but there was some kind of reaction to... That reaction.
[The burst of aether.
Just going to rub his face for a moment.]
Was that really Garuda?
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Yes. That much I know.
[And while some of it was Benedikta, she is absolutely certain on that part. She doesn't know what it means, entirely, but she's not sure she wants to know what that flutter was.]
A swell of aether, and then... [Her heart comes to her chest, her brow furrowing.] She's gone. ... And? What of Ramuh?
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[Low mutter before he furrows his brows.]
But I'm not sure. It was more of a pulse, a small tap of his presence before it was gone.
[He rubs his chin, thinking.]
Only other time I felt something like that was when you almost primed before.
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[Benedikta lifts herself up again, propping herself on her elbow to look down at him.]
Ramuh is not often so impulsive, is he? Reacting to Garuda is not something I recall ever happening before.
[And Garuda reacting to Ramuh, or Cidolfus in such a way, either. She knows that she shares aether with the Eikon, but to have it be so much? He has used his levin to calm her before, but it never came with that burst of her energy that it did this time, nor has it ever called forth a wind.]
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[And a little disturbing, really.]
Is it because we're in a different world...?
[That's the only thing he can think of. Well, and both of them having died once before. But that shouldn't affect their Eikons reacting to each other...]
Or should we try and see if they react to the others?
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[Her answer is immediate, her hand reaching for his again to wrap around it, a light tickle of wind spilling from her fingertips as she presses his to her chest once more, her eyes sparking with just a touch of possessiveness.]
Just us, Cidolfus.
[Just her. No one else.]
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Just us, then.
[Cute.]
I could still ask Clive and Jill, see if they have a similar reaction with their own Eikons.
[Is she going to protest that, too—maybe he wants her to, with the way his eyes gleam as if he's deliberately trying to provoke her.]
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No.
[Whether or not those two know of this reaction of their Eikons didn't matter, she would rather it remain a secret between them... much like the wind and the lightning dancing together between their fingertips. Never mind that she doesn't want them, especially, to know of her and Cidolfus.
Even less so that she wants themβor anyoneβto know that Garuda had that sort of reaction to him. It's horrifying and embarrassing, and she moves to bury her face back into his neck, scowling when she feels a flush at the realization.
Garuda had liked it.
Which has her even more ashamed and just a little annoyed...]
...Should it happen again, could I...?
[Her voice trails off, the implication there but not voiced.]
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And ignoring Garuda's own reactions.
But his expression softens just a bit as he strokes the back of her head.]
Of course. [And then moving his face closer to continue in a low voice.] And if it doesn't.
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Until her lips met his, and the storm inside her finally simmered.
What it means, she has no idea, but she thinks she might be better off not asking questions... lest Garuda reawaken long enough to answer them, and she will find she doesn't like what she has to say.
That he would be the only person who could do anything about it, though...
More and more, she realizes how much he had been a crutch to her in the past, and as much as she absolutely despises it, he still is. That resentment still makes it difficult for her to fully reach out to him, to give herself fully to his levin, but...
No.
She screws her eyes shut and tries not to think it.
Peaches, peaches, peaches...]
We should get up.
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Sure you don't want to try again...? See if something else can happens?
[And another pulse to trickle further down the length of her body.]
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You are not doing this to see if something else happens...
[Cheater.]
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And if I am?
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I suppose that depends on the sort of reaction you are looking for...
[A trembling sigh against his neck, and she tries to rein it all back in.]
We cannot stay here forever.
[That is her way of saying that they really should get up. That she should get up because she is feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment, not by Garuda, but by the realizations that have come forth because of her.]
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I think otherwise, but. I'll let you win. This time.
[Just another smirk before he runs his hands over her one last time before he lets her free. Well, she does have to get off of him first given that she's half on him.]
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ππ fin.