JL | Lt Merlin, Xue'Daio | "Like A Diamond In The Sky" pt 3

Posted on Wed Nov 29th, 2017 @ 4:20am by Xue'Daio Nox Tr'Verelan & Commander Evan Merlin
Edited on on Sat Dec 2nd, 2017 @ 5:19am

Mission: The Round Table

Evan rose, guiding her up as he moved. It was an odd dance (but then, they were an odd couple), where neither really lead nor followed, those roles switched naturally between them if the situation or the music asked for it. They danced, in the dimly lit room, by the light of the stars and the music of the spheres, the music they both could hear. In time, the room around them, the floor beneath them seemed to fade away, until there was only music, stars, and the two of them.

And where she touched him, he glowed.

"They say the moon governs the tides... But what governs the moon?" She asked against his chest, at a foot and a half shorter than he she was given little choice in the matter - but she wouldn't complain. The softness of the robes made for a lovely anchor when they weren't spinning and jiving to the wildness of the universe, her heart thumping without restraint with the wickedly delicious adrenaline that came with excitement and enjoyment and the release of endorphins that came with it. "The planet it orbits? The one that holds the sea? Doesn't that mean that the tides technically control the moon?"

"Mutual attractions on so many levels," he replied softly, his voice a gentle hum which resonated within his chest. "We are not the only ones to dance to the music of the stars, they all dance… moons and satellites and planets, asteroids and comets, stars dance and twirl around each other, all the way down to atoms and beyond…" He closed his eyes, for he no longer needed eyes to see. Everything around him stood out with crystal clarity, from the rare star in his arms to the lines of gravity which guided their dances. Never before had he felt this alive, this deep in touch with everything around him, and the greatest joy was that here he was with somebody who understood him, shared this with him, so close that they were almost, but not quite, one.

The snowy one nodded emphatically, partially in triumph knowing that he understood exactly where she was coming from and that the weird science behind her words was, in fact, sound no matter how crazy it came across. To her it was a time for joy and celebration, a chance to let her hair down and simply be the wide eyed child she'd never had the chance to be and he embraced it without much question at all. Best of all... He understood it and she, in turn, understood him. Mutual attractions on so many levels... Indeed. "There's more..." She nodded, peering up with a smile genuine and bright, "There's so much more... You know it, perhaps you've already seen it, but it's here." Her hands grabbed his, holding them tightly as she spared the connection for a chance invitation to show him something rare and precious. The question now was whether or not he was ready to see and experience that great wonder of the ancestral universe.

"If I have seen it," he whispered, "that has been before, but this is now, and now is all there is…" He was wide awake and aware and open, a child experiencing the universe for the first time, and at the same time as ancient as time itself. He breathed out and in, his breath mingling with hers, touching, sharing.

"If you don't know, then you haven't." The smile grew as she released his hands, and found the sash tied about his waist, "Awa o mektet oum irawo eruku, Evan." We are all made of star dust, Evan, she breathed as the raw silk slipped through her fingers and away from his body, allowing the top of his folded robes to fall open and the sash to sink to the pillow covered deck, under the weight of gravity. "Jesset yaknan matinen." Some more than others. The smooth skin of his chest bore no trace of the stars or star dust she spoke of. Whole. Spotless. Soft. It seemed more human than some would care to believe - but she knew better. Beneath the pads of her fingers she could feel the four rhythmic beats of his twin hearts, proof enough that she was on the right track, though begging question of whether he would follow. Looking up at him, an eyebrow quirked in silent question of whether or not he'd caught on, yet, to her insinuation. There was more, though, so much more and whether or not he'd survive it became another question entirely. Four beats promised yes.

Again, the touch of her fingers awoke an answering glow, warm and gold like summer sunlight to offset her starlike radiance. He looked at it in wonder, sadness and joy in equal measures on his face. His own hand reached out for her, and with glowing fingertips he traced the patterns on her skin. 'Evan' is not my name, he said, not noticing that he no longer used his voice. I have no name…

This I know, too. She seemed to hum, reaching to grasp his chin in her fingers, basking in the bronze of his illumination as it worked to weave within the blue and silver. The sun had met the moon and the stars and instead of fighting for supremacy, it chose to blend and hold and dance with one another through the half-lights of the world they'd taken for their own. She could feel him working along the spotting of what little skin was exposed, and half a mind paid attention to whether or not he was simply touching them or whether he was following while the rest of her gently worked to guide him to his knees, the robes simply discarded by a hand that pushed them from his well-built shoulders, before her. This wasn't an act of forcing him to kneel to her - but rather an evening and leveling of their playing field that allowed her to study his eyes far better, But there is so much more to know than names... They're simply titles, the stars and suns and planets all have numerous... Infinite versions. Her own were half lidded, shrouded by frost, as they watched his world begin to light, and could see within the thirst for true illumination. The question of whether or not he was ready for such burden, such weight against his soul, raged through her with niggles of doubt and questions including his worth.

Names… words… coats on the coatrack of that object… or persons… His finger traced lines from spot to spot, a pattern spiraling inward from its point of origin, then, via a different route out again, to finally return to the place where he began. Then he withdrew a hand and looked at her with a radiant smile. The interconnectedness of things… In and out and out and in… His chest was bare, but for the simple pendant he wore, made of interlocking rings. It reflected the silver and golden glow, casting tiny rays around it.

And he opened wide, unfolding like a flower about to bloom.

Not unlike a mobius... Again she conceded, reaching to toy with the pendant. There was approval there as she let it rest on her tiny, silky, alabaster fingers - giving it measure with her eyes as much as she did with the rest of her self before pressing it back to the heat of his flesh, No end, no beginning, no escape - just the so called new. He was there, an iris waiting for the touch of life - in this case acceptance and the imparting of knowledge - and she poised on the chance to bring it to him in some deeper way. The implications were real, she knew, but so had others that had come before her. Bending slightly she brushed her lips against his forehead and then each of his temples as if to bless him. "Close your eyes," she whispered, drawing her fingers over his face as if to impart the query and follow it home to fruition. If he were to die, it would be the will of the universe... The same will that had drawn him to her across the promenade. It would be a death of his own design, but to survive would yield something greater; answers and adventure. The new.

Her fingers rested over his face in no particular order, simply being. She watched him, choosing a moment between breaths and heartbeats before truly touching him. The tingle of energy, so often used to hurt, charged at a frequency so often unused that she barely recognized it from the times of training so many years ago. She could feel his body go rigid beneath the jolt, feel his breath catch, his heart pause for longer than its natural rhythm, and then - sinking as she caught his limp body - she directed him to the pillows below with gentle ease. I haven't shared with any, not this... Not even Maec... she shivered at the thought of her husband, their bond had come as an accident and drew her in, ensnaring her with a mind meld not even he knew was a possibility - but it had lead to their mutual understanding of one another and that had lead to a form of love and salvation she would never deny. Maec, dark and brooding, would always be a significant part of her. But I share with you because you see what cannot be seen, hear what cannot be heard, and let it guide you in your existence so far from anything and everything you've ever known. Your choice now is to return and know or slip away. Laying beside him, propped up on a pillow and an arm, she let her fingers trail along the warmth of his skin. The glow persisted, following each and every spiral of her digits, insisting on his life while the struggle within waged. So frail... So not Stenellis... And yet such a worthy candidate for such things - she could only watch encourage, wait... Don't fade away.

It all hung in the balance. The interconnectedness of things… Shapes within shapes, thoughts within thoughts, dreams within dreams… Interlocking rings reflecting light refracting light. And one moment where three hearts beat in synch, a perfect waltz, echoing the music which held them in its embrace. A flower unfurling – then, a sudden shift, a deeper layer, and suddenly the circuit was closed, an answering stream from him to her, completing the bond on a whole different level. He drew in a deep breath, released it slowly, inhaled another. His eyes opened again, eyes of the deepest blue, the darkest ocean, the deep void of space in a summer night. In and out and out and in… Energy flowing from her to him from him to her in a steady cycle, visible even to the naked eye.

"Welcome back." Xue chuffed softly, her fingers stilling against his abdomen as she felt the rise and fall of the act of breathing. The opening of his eyes, so dark, fathomless, promised that he was very much alive. The pupils took their time to focus, but they focused all the same - and that was enough to tell her that he'd do more than simply survive... He'd live. She could sense him, more than just a simple acknowledgment of his being, but a true sense of him, his status, the budding of his mind as he connected two and two and began to calibrate with his consciousness. "What do you feel?" She asked, not how, but what. What could he pick up from her? What was it that he now saw when he gazed upon her. There were questions, emotions, feelings that defied definition - and they were all swirling, gold and bronze and warm, the very essence of the strange man resting beside her.

There were so many... layers, emotions, feelings, thoughts. It took him a long time to find where one ended and the other began. Then there was speech, the challence of putting into words all that could be seen or felt or sensed, many things which had no words: how could you describe what the taste of purple was, the smell of a whisper in the dark, the sound of a touch? Everything... he replied, staring at and through and inside her with eyes as timeless as the stars. Energy still bound the two of them together, not as intense as it had been, but still perceptible, a faint tingling. He had always been alone, from his moment of awakening. He had been found adrift, and once freed from the stasis pod he had been drifting still, always looking for something, either for knowledge or just for a connection.

He was still adrift, but - at least for now - no longer alone. He smiled. "I know how it feels to glow."

---

Lieutenant Evan Merlin
Chief Strategic Operations Officer
COLD STATION THETA, SB-1170

Empress Xue'Daio Nox
Queen of Apsha
Ruler of Aleine
Stenellian Ascendancy