Alistair awoke in what appeared to be a stable, one that still smelled faintly of Mabari. And horse, of course, but that was more expected. He was also being poked in the bare back by itchy prickly straw. He jumped to his feet.
"Well, this is...horrifyingly familiar. Next I'll be swarmed by a large group of hounds, just you wait."
He did. Wait, that is. Nothing happened.
"O-okay then, maybe not. I haven't regressed to ten years old, have I?" He poked his own cheek, which was still fairly bristly, and glanced down at himself, half-clothed as he was in just the trousers he'd worn to sleep in. "Nope, never mind, still myself. How peculiar. I haven't dreamt of Redcliffe in years, but then this doesn't look much like Redcliffe, does it? It smells like Redcliffe. Hrm."
He wrinkled his nose and headed out of the stable, into what sort of looked like daylight, accidentally kicking some kind of book halfway across the stable floor as he did so. He muttered an apology to the thing and scooped it up, for lack of anything better to do with it.
"Well, this is...horrifyingly familiar. Next I'll be swarmed by a large group of hounds, just you wait."
He did. Wait, that is. Nothing happened.
"O-okay then, maybe not. I haven't regressed to ten years old, have I?" He poked his own cheek, which was still fairly bristly, and glanced down at himself, half-clothed as he was in just the trousers he'd worn to sleep in. "Nope, never mind, still myself. How peculiar. I haven't dreamt of Redcliffe in years, but then this doesn't look much like Redcliffe, does it? It smells like Redcliffe. Hrm."
He wrinkled his nose and headed out of the stable, into what sort of looked like daylight, accidentally kicking some kind of book halfway across the stable floor as he did so. He muttered an apology to the thing and scooped it up, for lack of anything better to do with it.
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Date: 2015-08-19 08:32 pm (UTC)From:"Alistair, this is amazing! Congratulations!!" she kissed him, tender "After Adamant you deserve it, undoubtedly."
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Date: 2015-08-19 08:41 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2015-08-19 08:51 pm (UTC)From:Neria caressed his back, voice dropping.
"Besides, I should've been there, to oppose Clarel by your side. To stop her from collecting our brothers and sisters for her sick blood magic circus. I failed as a Grey Warden... as a mage and even as a person. I just allowed my personal feelings to get in the way, to blind and damp me to what was wrong. I'm not worthy of any of my titles, and I'm certainly not worthy of you."
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Date: 2015-08-19 09:29 pm (UTC)From:At her quieter words, he frowned, sharp and swift.
"Hey." He took her face in both his hands, rubbing his thumbs over her cheekbones. "You could not have known what would happen. We agreed - both of us - that the work you are doing, this search for the Cure, was too important to ignore. You could change the very foundation of the Order - make it a vocation, not a death sentence - even find some new way to combat the Blights. What Clarel let fear drive her to, that was no doing of yours. You are - you have always been a light in the darkness, my love, no matter what madness we face."
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Date: 2015-08-19 09:48 pm (UTC)From:She closed her eyes, sighing.
"Joining forces with Avernus and the Architect... I'm no light in the darkness, vhenan. I'm glad you see me this way, but I'm not." then she smiled, caressing his cheek with her knuckles "My only chance of redemption is to find the Cure, make my absence worthy, make sure all those lives weren't lost for nothing. To transform my desperate fear of losing you for the taint in something greater."
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Date: 2015-08-20 04:24 am (UTC)From:When he looked at her again, it was with a small, sad smile. He cupped her cheek.
"You've been away too long, Neria. You know I - you're never going to persuade me that you are anything less than amazing, and I haven't been around to tell you so every day, but I fully intend to rectify that from now on, all right?" He bent down to kiss her, not soft and gentle like most of his earlier kisses, but needy this time, insistent. He gripped her waist and pulled her to him, and when he pulled back from her lips it was only to get far enough to say, "I love you," fiercely, and brush his lips against hers again, swiping his tongue over her lower lip this time.
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Date: 2015-08-20 04:45 am (UTC)From:But his kiss cut through her words, his tight grip on her waist sending shivers down her spine. An involuntary moan erupted from her throat, muffled by his lips. One of her hands roamed his scalp, nails lightly scrapping his nape, the other roaming the skin of his back, under his shirt.
He loved her, just as fiercely as his last kiss, just as fiercely as on the day he declared his love, just as fiercely as when he accepted the dark ritual. And for a selfish lover like her, that was all she needed.
Her eyes remained locked on his when she bit his lower lip, provocatively. "I love you too, my foolish man."
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Date: 2015-08-20 05:06 am (UTC)From:All of this he ignored in favor of nuzzling his nose into her cheek.
"That's settled, then," he mumbled, his lips brushing her skin as he spoke.
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Date: 2015-08-20 05:12 am (UTC)From:She tilted her head, not quite following him, slightly breathless from all the kissing-biting-moaning thing, without letting him go from her embrace.
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Date: 2015-08-20 05:27 am (UTC)From:"Ah. Yes. The, ah, I'm-in-love-with-you,-you-gorgeous-woman thing? And then you're in love with me, and with that settled again, hm, I might be able to be persuaded to spend the next...oh, several hours...convincing you how wonderful you are all over again."
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Date: 2015-08-20 05:35 am (UTC)From:And she ran her thumb over his lower lip."Don't you dare, ever again, to think that my insecurities might affect the way I feel for you. This won't change."
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Date: 2015-08-20 05:42 am (UTC)From:"That wasn't what I meant," he said. "You are...the one constant in my life, my love. I could never doubt you. Nevertheless..." He nipped at her thumb. "Your desire is my command."
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Date: 2015-08-20 05:51 am (UTC)From:"Creators, I swear I'm tryimg to be strong, but my resolve is just crumbling. I'm trying to be careful, to make the right decisions but... Ugh...!"
She gripped the front of his shirt, forehead nuzzling the middle of his chest. Few seconds later she turned her chin up, looking back at him.
"Make me forget this place, and how tired I am and the time we've been apart. Please."
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Date: 2015-08-20 06:07 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2015-08-20 06:22 am (UTC)From:Neria locked her heels around his waist, heat boiling under her stomach with his kiss, the touch of his calloused hands against her soft skin making her shiver. She tilted her head to deepen their kiss, hand slightly gripping the hair on the back of his neck. The only thought crossing her mind was the longing, the growing need of feeling his bare skin against hers, to trail the freckles on his back with the tip of her tongue, just as he loved.
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Date: 2015-08-20 06:32 am (UTC)From:Alistair hummed his appreciation of her fingers in his hair, just there on the nape of his neck, because Maker, that had always been a particular weakness of his. His long strides ate up the rest of the distance between them and the guest room where they'd grabbed his shirt, and he pressed her against the doorjamb and moved to support her weight with one hand, fumbling for the doorknob with the other without breaking their kiss.
"Neria," he groaned, desperate, against her lips, all the long months of longing and loneliness and shivering, aching need poured into that one word.
By the time the door was open he very nearly fell through it, catching his balance at the last moment and kicking it shut behind him.
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Date: 2015-08-20 06:52 am (UTC)From:Neria moaned when pressed against the door, the warmth and weight of his body simply delicious against hers. She couldn't even remember how many nights she had dreamt with him, needed him during her search, waking up all alone and frustrated.
At the sound of the door closing behind them she started to pull his shirt off, eager and breathless, breaking their kisses only to remove the piece of clothing. She kissed his neck, sucking his pulsing point, nails running the planes of his chest softly. Her voice reverberated against his throat as she repeated "I missed you" almost like a mantra.
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Date: 2015-08-20 07:14 am (UTC)From:Alistair set her on the floor when she moved to tug off his shirt, lifting his arms so she could pull it off him. He leaned in quickly and kissed her again, a brief, sloppy thing before he turned and threw the bolt behind them. And then he was back, crowding into her, his hands pulling her flush against him, gripping her and lifting her again.
When she sucked at his neck, he shuddered, and suddenly none of this was enough, not the weight of her in his arms or the scrape of her nails against his chest. He needed her skin bare against his, needed the layers of cloth still between them gone. He needed, and he nearly tripped over his feet in his haste to make it to the bed.
He deposited her on the end of the bed, gentle despite his rush, and went to his knees in front of her.
"Maker, I missed you," he answered, the pads of his fingers caressing her face, his voice gravelly. He dragged calloused fingers down over her collarbones and slipped her robe off one shoulder, surging forward to kiss her skin there.
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Date: 2015-08-20 07:29 am (UTC)From:A trail of gooseflesh was left by his fingers over her collarbones. She exposed the curve of her neck, inviting him, her hand working to free that arm from the Orlesian robe; one thing she had to admit, though: that freaking misplaced underbust corset, part of Madame de Fer's robes, would look too damn good now.
Neria sighed with his kisses, hands caressing his shoulder blades aimlessly. She pressed her thighs together, missing the friction between their bodies now that she was sitting.
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Date: 2015-08-20 07:46 am (UTC)From:Abruptly, he felt the urge to bury his face in her hair and inhale her, as if by surrounding himself with her scent he could ground himself here, in the moment, make this true somehow, and lasting. It hit him then, the sudden fear that this was not real, could not be real. Meeting Neria in some version of the Fade, where different possible versions of his future had all congregated at once? That simply wasn't possible, was it?
He groaned, and his eyes suddenly felt hot, because damn him, she felt so real and he wanted her so badly. Please, please, he thought. He buried his face in her lap and stopped undressing her to wrap his arms tightly around her waist.
"Please tell me this isn't a dream," he said thickly, voice muffled somewhat.
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Date: 2015-08-20 08:04 am (UTC)From:She spoke with a soft voice, heart aching at his muffled plea. Her hands reached for his face cupping his jaw and tilting his head so she could lock her eyes on his. The woman smiled and kissed the tip of his nose.
"This is real." she caressed his cheek, taking one of his hands into hers and intertwining their fingers together, planting a kiss to each of his knuckles "This is definitely real. And we are about to make love, to be together again after a long time. I know the Fade usually doesn't brings nothing good but... it brought us together now, so it can't be that bad after, can it?"
And then she kissed him, shy at first, slowly coaxing his mouth to open for her. Biting his upper lip, she had no hurry on that kiss, only deep passion and an attempt to make things more credible.
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Date: 2015-08-20 08:18 am (UTC)From:Even the best of his dreams of her had never had this much detail behind them. Her smell, her warmth, the noises she made and the shape of her lips against his, all of it was right. No one, not a demon or his subconscious, could have copied the curve of her smile so exactly.
And with that realization, he felt a surge of irrational hope and happiness fill him. His lips opened beneath hers with a groan, slipping his tongue into her mouth, deepening the kiss, one hand coming up to fist in the fabric of her robe between her shoulder blades.
"Neria...love..." he moaned.
(OOC: okay I am a terrible person to bow out here, but I do have to go in to work in the morning and really had better get some sleep. shall we continue this tomorrow?)
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Date: 2015-08-20 12:24 pm (UTC)From:"I'm here vhenan." this came out of her mouth as a whispered whimper. She moved her arms and shoulders, sliding out of the robe with easy since Alistair had a hold of it, pressing her bare breasts against his chest. The skin to skin contact only made her seek for more, hands desperately fumbling to undo the laces of her heeled boots.
Neria hadn't lived thr past three years without her own share of new scars, most of them nothing more than satin lines over her skin, thanks to healing spells. And despite she and Alistair had seen plenty of each other's naked bodies along the years, the new marks made her feel... naked. Blushing even. With a grunt, she finally took her boots away. Soon, her arms were all over him again, nails scraping his back, kisses' muffled moanings escaping her mouth at every change at the kiss' angle, her need now aching between her legs.
The woman motioned backwards in the mattress, opening room for him to follow. She needed his weight, his grounding, safe weight above her.
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Date: 2015-08-20 08:42 pm (UTC)From:"Beautiful," he breathed, and then blushed, like he hadn't quite meant to say that. He met her next kiss eagerly, reaching to cup her breasts, run his thumbs over the pebbled peaks of her nipples. He followed her onto the bed, chasing contact with her mouth, her warmth, her body, settling himself between her thighs before he let out a noise of frustration, almost a growl, and reached down to fumble at the ties of his trousers.
His body, too, as he struggled to kick off smalls and trousers, showed the marks of years apart. But his new scars were much uglier, a testament to the absence of a certain mage with healing spells in his life. There were new nicks on his hands and wrists, a scar over one forearm, a long, mostly well-healed gash along one thigh. Most noticeable, though, was a ropy scar just below his heart, long-healed but still red and ugly, like a blade had just missed its target.
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Date: 2015-08-20 09:25 pm (UTC)From:"So... I was once this close of losing you?"
Her voice was low and thoughtful, her trembling fingers still romaing his chest.
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