If It Means A Lot To You
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2022 10:20 pm
If It Means A Lot To You 
Searing 53rd, 122nd Year, A.o.S.
He very well could've just teleported himself back inside his own home, but the wolf wanted to take the extra time to enjoy the air. Now that his heart had been relieved of all his pent-up emotions, his head felt clearer now and for the better to say the least. The creation of the crystal tree within the mountain range was a sight to see, but even so, Rickter deemed it only necessary to show his loved ones its creation when a certain day would finally come.
Until then he had much to do, so much that he figured he'd be kept busy for the time being. He had to figure out how to bring those left in the Imperium back here, as well as find another way of saving Talon from his own fate. Whether that meant going back to Gel'grandal himself, well, that remained an uncertainty to the wolf for the time being. There was so much up in the air now that they had all finally made it back home, and even if he felt underlying stress from the totality of everything... Nothing could top the feeling of wanting to go back home even more.
He was tired to be sure, ready to unwind for the rest of the evening. There was, however, something else that he needed to do before all that would actually happen. Thus, when Rickter turned the corner onto the street where his old abode resided within the Commons, he found that the lights shining through the window were a welcome sight to behold. Undoubtedly, Telion had put the children to rest with Hannah, and the pair were waiting for him to come back home. When he'd left before he'd given them notice that he'd needed air, and time to clear his head before zipping his way into the mountains with Traversion.
Now that he'd returned though, he could smell the scent of home right as he walked in front of the door. The ladies had already prepped dinner and likely had leftovers saved for him in turn. Which was perfectly fine, he always did eat considerably when everyone else had their fill. Besides, he had other intentions that were far more important than food, intentions that he intended to carry out as soon as he walked through the door. Once he entered the threshold of his abode, Rickter paused a moment before shutting the door silently, the creak of its hinges enough to just alert the quietest of sleepers in the other room.
He'd definitely have to get that fixed if he didn't want the boys to wake up, that is, if they developed super sensitive hearing as he did growing up. Regardless, the sure tell sign he'd made it home brought the mother of their children to exit their bedroom, as Telion walked out still in that usual robin's egg blue dress she wore. The color of it always accentuated her own beauty, while gently hugging at every curve and signature of her stature when she walked. "Rickter!" Her voice was gentle as the air and sweeter than honey, leading the wolf to walk right up to her as she looked into his eyes. "I need to talk-"
There was no chance for that talk quite yet though. The wolf could not contain the feelings inside himself much longer, not when everything he'd kept pent up had finally been released in those mountains. Rickter felt his beloved stiffen but then she loosened into his arms, nearly melting within his embrace as her hands pressed along his upper torso. Gods he had missed this, missed being with her so intimately. He tasted her lips and thanked the very stars for the fact they were still together, because for the past several months he had been nothing but difficult as a partner.
Pushing her away at arm's length was already hard enough before, but Rickter no longer had any such reason for wanting to do such a thing. His family was here, in Kalzasi, waiting for him to act as he would. So naturally, he did the first thing he'd been wanting to do since their reunion back in the Imperium. As their lips danced with one another and the pair's breathing grew yearnful, the wolf felt the hands around his jaw gently slide down his neck, toward the top of his collar where his fur-padded vestment remained. It became quickly obvious where things were going to go between them, and as much as Rickter did want to hear what Telion had to say, he knew that once their initial feelings of passion were out of the way; they would both have enough thought to spare for such conversation.
Thus, Rickter lifted her into his arms as Telion gently giggled, the blonde quick to straddle him as he did the march of romance toward their bedroom door.
The lanterns of their bedroom dimly lit up the walls and corners with amber glows, as Rickter and Telion lay together under the comfort of the sheets. A light sheen of sweat covered his forehead but the northern chill had already started to cool him off, as he and his beloved cuddled closely within one another with Telion wrapped in his arms. Their breathing still elevated from the exertions they shared, the wolf could feel the palpable beats in his alpha's chest as she rested; her fingers trailing along his upper arm as well as the contours of his chest. "Where'd that come?" She teased in regard to their heated exchange just minutes ago, leading Rickter to quietly laugh before he looked upward.
His gaze rested on the ceiling as he thought for a moment, before his grin grew playful and his eyes focused on her affectionately. "It's been something I should've done for a while now. Since we found each other in the Imperium at the very least..." He had to admit he had been a fool for a while yet, caught up in his own heartache and turmoil, that he hadn't the foresight necessary to focus on everything around him at the time. Now though? He felt much more clear-headed than before, and that clarity in itself was what led up to where they were now. "You said," He murmured with a curious tone, "that you needed to talk earlier. Was it something important?"
Or something he clearly needed to know, just didn't give the time in that moment. Either way, Rickter wasn't intent to let things distract him from his pack, and he'd go out of his way to understand everything that each one of them had to say. The look in his beloved's eyes widened before they lulled to a peaceful close, and the wolf could hear the deep breath that she had to take before opening them once more. From the seriousness in her gaze, he knew it had to be important, something she'd likely been wanting to bring up for a while at the very least. "Yeah, actually, its something that I've should've told you shortly after we had met..." The blonde twisted to her back so that she could proceed to lay in his embrace.
"There's been... something I've been afraid to say since the night we met." Rickter's head tilted into the pillow out of curiosity, before he lifted it at an angle to draw closer to his beloved. "Before I came to Kalzasi... and before I met Hannah, I never really thought about doing much outside of where I lived. Loras... was my home." Loras sounded like something he had been familiar with, though, the wolf knew it had been Telion's home shortly after they met. What she was getting to though, felt reminiscent of something he'd experienced once. Maybe even once upon a dream. "I never imagined leaving it until the day I did actually meet Hannah, but, I had always wondered what would happen if I did decide to."
"Well, why was that?"
"Because I would sometimes have dreams, well, nightmares when I look back on them." She elaborated with a turn of her head to see his eyes, one of her hands gently brushing across the fur of his cheek. "I used to have these dreams where, if only for a moment, I'd see what was going on around me before something happened. That something... would usually be me dying in some fashion." The admittance was enough to spark genuine concern out of Rickter, leading the mother to quickly add on to the conversation before he might've interrupted. "I don't know how to explain it, but I would have dreams where I had known you. In them, though, I would always be at Wraeden's doorstep."
"So... you left because you had these grim nightmares?" He inquired still with a deeply concerned gaze, having remembered the night that the twins were born; and that particular dream that still haunted him yet.
"I left because I had reason to. If I had stayed then... well, maybe we would've met differently. But it was the dreams of you, in general, that gave me the courage I needed to leave." Telion elaborated with a worried look in her eyes, likely because she'd been meaning to share this long ago. "I wanted to tell you then, after you had my ukulele fixed, but I never found the right time to do so. And..." She trailed off in thought for a bit, leading the wolf to bring a hand up to her cheek, cupping the curvature of her jawline as he stared intimately into her eyes.
"Have you had any more of these dreams since?" It was a sincere and honest question, considering it could've been an omen he needed to bear in mind for the future. Yet his beloved gently shook her head in his hand, her smile faint but still wrought with worry.
"Not since what happened during the Merry Behemoth Expedition. During Glacial Dusk I had one or two of them, of the moment where a dark figure approached me... and then unleashed darkness from his hands." That sounded exactly like what happened to Rickter himself, until he realized that what she described had to be that particular moment. "Ever since I met you, every time I've had such a dream, you've been the one to change it somehow."
"Me?" He pondered inquisitively in thought.
"When you took charge and pulled all that darkness into you... I thought I had either been a curse brought unto you, or that by not saying anything, I had doomed you from the moment you and I crossed paths." The wolf pondered strongly at that point what all this could've meant, and why it was Telion had the dreams prior, but as of now didn't seem to have anything like them again. He could see the worry in her eyes though, and forced himself to smile at her gently, if only to pull her as close as possible and warm her with their embrace.
"You could never have done such a thing." He reassured her sternly as though it were a promise. "I'm sorry, you've carried this burden of knowing for so long, and I've been too caught up to even realize what had really troubled you." He felt her fingers press into his chest and when they pulled away several inches, her eyes had glossed over as though she were holding back tears. "No matter what you think, Telion, you are the woman who brought love and life into my world. The rest we'll figure out in our own time. Together."
"Thank you." She held onto him tighter and for once, the smile he wore felt ever more genuine than it could. He did not know what to expect with the future, not anymore, only that his focus would remain on the present at best.
"Just promise me one thing." She responded with a quiet moan rather than a full response, leading him to brush his fingers through her tangled hair in turn. "You'll tell me if something like this, anything really, comes up in the future?"
There was hesitation but not of reluctance, rather, Telion seemed to consider the weight of that promise. Surely, she must've felt more than willing to trust such a future to him now, rather than letting them both blunder about with no direction in facing it. "I promise." She assured him. The words were enough to fill him with hope, and a silent promise that he too would do everything in his power to keep their family together.
Until then he had much to do, so much that he figured he'd be kept busy for the time being. He had to figure out how to bring those left in the Imperium back here, as well as find another way of saving Talon from his own fate. Whether that meant going back to Gel'grandal himself, well, that remained an uncertainty to the wolf for the time being. There was so much up in the air now that they had all finally made it back home, and even if he felt underlying stress from the totality of everything... Nothing could top the feeling of wanting to go back home even more.
He was tired to be sure, ready to unwind for the rest of the evening. There was, however, something else that he needed to do before all that would actually happen. Thus, when Rickter turned the corner onto the street where his old abode resided within the Commons, he found that the lights shining through the window were a welcome sight to behold. Undoubtedly, Telion had put the children to rest with Hannah, and the pair were waiting for him to come back home. When he'd left before he'd given them notice that he'd needed air, and time to clear his head before zipping his way into the mountains with Traversion.
Now that he'd returned though, he could smell the scent of home right as he walked in front of the door. The ladies had already prepped dinner and likely had leftovers saved for him in turn. Which was perfectly fine, he always did eat considerably when everyone else had their fill. Besides, he had other intentions that were far more important than food, intentions that he intended to carry out as soon as he walked through the door. Once he entered the threshold of his abode, Rickter paused a moment before shutting the door silently, the creak of its hinges enough to just alert the quietest of sleepers in the other room.
He'd definitely have to get that fixed if he didn't want the boys to wake up, that is, if they developed super sensitive hearing as he did growing up. Regardless, the sure tell sign he'd made it home brought the mother of their children to exit their bedroom, as Telion walked out still in that usual robin's egg blue dress she wore. The color of it always accentuated her own beauty, while gently hugging at every curve and signature of her stature when she walked. "Rickter!" Her voice was gentle as the air and sweeter than honey, leading the wolf to walk right up to her as she looked into his eyes. "I need to talk-"
There was no chance for that talk quite yet though. The wolf could not contain the feelings inside himself much longer, not when everything he'd kept pent up had finally been released in those mountains. Rickter felt his beloved stiffen but then she loosened into his arms, nearly melting within his embrace as her hands pressed along his upper torso. Gods he had missed this, missed being with her so intimately. He tasted her lips and thanked the very stars for the fact they were still together, because for the past several months he had been nothing but difficult as a partner.
Pushing her away at arm's length was already hard enough before, but Rickter no longer had any such reason for wanting to do such a thing. His family was here, in Kalzasi, waiting for him to act as he would. So naturally, he did the first thing he'd been wanting to do since their reunion back in the Imperium. As their lips danced with one another and the pair's breathing grew yearnful, the wolf felt the hands around his jaw gently slide down his neck, toward the top of his collar where his fur-padded vestment remained. It became quickly obvious where things were going to go between them, and as much as Rickter did want to hear what Telion had to say, he knew that once their initial feelings of passion were out of the way; they would both have enough thought to spare for such conversation.
Thus, Rickter lifted her into his arms as Telion gently giggled, the blonde quick to straddle him as he did the march of romance toward their bedroom door.
The lanterns of their bedroom dimly lit up the walls and corners with amber glows, as Rickter and Telion lay together under the comfort of the sheets. A light sheen of sweat covered his forehead but the northern chill had already started to cool him off, as he and his beloved cuddled closely within one another with Telion wrapped in his arms. Their breathing still elevated from the exertions they shared, the wolf could feel the palpable beats in his alpha's chest as she rested; her fingers trailing along his upper arm as well as the contours of his chest. "Where'd that come?" She teased in regard to their heated exchange just minutes ago, leading Rickter to quietly laugh before he looked upward.
His gaze rested on the ceiling as he thought for a moment, before his grin grew playful and his eyes focused on her affectionately. "It's been something I should've done for a while now. Since we found each other in the Imperium at the very least..." He had to admit he had been a fool for a while yet, caught up in his own heartache and turmoil, that he hadn't the foresight necessary to focus on everything around him at the time. Now though? He felt much more clear-headed than before, and that clarity in itself was what led up to where they were now. "You said," He murmured with a curious tone, "that you needed to talk earlier. Was it something important?"
Or something he clearly needed to know, just didn't give the time in that moment. Either way, Rickter wasn't intent to let things distract him from his pack, and he'd go out of his way to understand everything that each one of them had to say. The look in his beloved's eyes widened before they lulled to a peaceful close, and the wolf could hear the deep breath that she had to take before opening them once more. From the seriousness in her gaze, he knew it had to be important, something she'd likely been wanting to bring up for a while at the very least. "Yeah, actually, its something that I've should've told you shortly after we had met..." The blonde twisted to her back so that she could proceed to lay in his embrace.
"There's been... something I've been afraid to say since the night we met." Rickter's head tilted into the pillow out of curiosity, before he lifted it at an angle to draw closer to his beloved. "Before I came to Kalzasi... and before I met Hannah, I never really thought about doing much outside of where I lived. Loras... was my home." Loras sounded like something he had been familiar with, though, the wolf knew it had been Telion's home shortly after they met. What she was getting to though, felt reminiscent of something he'd experienced once. Maybe even once upon a dream. "I never imagined leaving it until the day I did actually meet Hannah, but, I had always wondered what would happen if I did decide to."
"Well, why was that?"
"Because I would sometimes have dreams, well, nightmares when I look back on them." She elaborated with a turn of her head to see his eyes, one of her hands gently brushing across the fur of his cheek. "I used to have these dreams where, if only for a moment, I'd see what was going on around me before something happened. That something... would usually be me dying in some fashion." The admittance was enough to spark genuine concern out of Rickter, leading the mother to quickly add on to the conversation before he might've interrupted. "I don't know how to explain it, but I would have dreams where I had known you. In them, though, I would always be at Wraeden's doorstep."
"So... you left because you had these grim nightmares?" He inquired still with a deeply concerned gaze, having remembered the night that the twins were born; and that particular dream that still haunted him yet.
"I left because I had reason to. If I had stayed then... well, maybe we would've met differently. But it was the dreams of you, in general, that gave me the courage I needed to leave." Telion elaborated with a worried look in her eyes, likely because she'd been meaning to share this long ago. "I wanted to tell you then, after you had my ukulele fixed, but I never found the right time to do so. And..." She trailed off in thought for a bit, leading the wolf to bring a hand up to her cheek, cupping the curvature of her jawline as he stared intimately into her eyes.
"Have you had any more of these dreams since?" It was a sincere and honest question, considering it could've been an omen he needed to bear in mind for the future. Yet his beloved gently shook her head in his hand, her smile faint but still wrought with worry.
"Not since what happened during the Merry Behemoth Expedition. During Glacial Dusk I had one or two of them, of the moment where a dark figure approached me... and then unleashed darkness from his hands." That sounded exactly like what happened to Rickter himself, until he realized that what she described had to be that particular moment. "Ever since I met you, every time I've had such a dream, you've been the one to change it somehow."
"Me?" He pondered inquisitively in thought.
"When you took charge and pulled all that darkness into you... I thought I had either been a curse brought unto you, or that by not saying anything, I had doomed you from the moment you and I crossed paths." The wolf pondered strongly at that point what all this could've meant, and why it was Telion had the dreams prior, but as of now didn't seem to have anything like them again. He could see the worry in her eyes though, and forced himself to smile at her gently, if only to pull her as close as possible and warm her with their embrace.
"You could never have done such a thing." He reassured her sternly as though it were a promise. "I'm sorry, you've carried this burden of knowing for so long, and I've been too caught up to even realize what had really troubled you." He felt her fingers press into his chest and when they pulled away several inches, her eyes had glossed over as though she were holding back tears. "No matter what you think, Telion, you are the woman who brought love and life into my world. The rest we'll figure out in our own time. Together."
"Thank you." She held onto him tighter and for once, the smile he wore felt ever more genuine than it could. He did not know what to expect with the future, not anymore, only that his focus would remain on the present at best.
"Just promise me one thing." She responded with a quiet moan rather than a full response, leading him to brush his fingers through her tangled hair in turn. "You'll tell me if something like this, anything really, comes up in the future?"
There was hesitation but not of reluctance, rather, Telion seemed to consider the weight of that promise. Surely, she must've felt more than willing to trust such a future to him now, rather than letting them both blunder about with no direction in facing it. "I promise." She assured him. The words were enough to fill him with hope, and a silent promise that he too would do everything in his power to keep their family together.
"Common" "Synskrit" "Norvaegan"
"Rickter" "Telion"
"Rickter" "Telion"
"Every side attacks you when you don't pick sides."