He is glad to see it replaced, that single bloom. Different than the last, but no less in symbolism or purpose.
A sentiment forgotten the moment her hand is upon him, digging and drawing coarse fabric away from scarred skin— yielding quickly to it, lending his own effort by way of reaching high to disentangle when he pulls dark knit over his head, ruining the last of that floral gift.
It is traded, in a sense. For beneath those heavy layers, the only thing that remains is a single locket, strung through with a bright green ribbon. Silver glinting in the moonlight against the bow of his notched collarbone.
He is so beautiful, this wild thing that many would see simplified. Certainly, he wears the raiment of a tamed man, but Jone loves him for his excess, his anger, his passion. All match hers, so far as she sees it. She could melt into it.
She touches the silly little locket. I love you.
She's unbuttoning her gambeson, slow and one-handed. The seams of her pants come next. "You'll have to hold me up," she says, "against a tree? Oh, my back will be a wreck..."
Who is he to deny her the satisfaction of lingering pain? It is— by his own skewed estimation— hardly different from the bruising or marks that cling after a sparring match, a battle, and they have made themselves strangers to neither.
And while it may be dangerous for him to walk the narrow line between harm and want, he trusts her now, fully: she is strong enough to be his match— to curb the worst of his gnashing teeth and ravenous hatred— if he runs too far, hurts her too much, she’ll put an end to it as she cares to.
Or she’ll return it.
Impatience thrives within him, however. Where she works one-handed to free herself, he settles in close to finish what she has begun, bracing her body while the rest of her clothing is drawn away with little mercy— and from there, he gathers her into his arms, strong enough to leverage her muscle. Her height.
As he laces her legs about his waist, his face buries itself within the heart of her chest, mouthing at her, biting at her. Affectionate and yet untamed, perhaps no less gentle than the bark digging in between her shoulder blades.
And bare to him, there is no barrier between the friction he provides. Rutting slow, yet desiring more.
She lets her head knock back into the tree. Her good arm loops around his shoulder casually, lightly. "Fuck," she says, letting it sink in. This slow pace is somewhat new, and she finds she likes it just as well as when he's heedless and quick.
As has become a habit for her, she lets him know. "S'good," she murmurs into the air-- fresh with woodland scent, and only slightly spoilt by the city nearby. "Keep going like this."
She feels that twinge of guilt, that she's doing nothing for him in return, but she'll get to it. Tall as they both are, she hasn't the reach.
He asks for nothing in turn, surely she knows this. Nothing more than the way she clings furiously to him, the rise of her breath until it catches in her throat— culminating in faint cursing or the hoarser sound of his muttered name. To be wanted.
To be wanted.
That’s what he strives for, the goal he chases down to the marrow, sinking into it with the endpoint of every heavy roll of his hips. Inspiring a flicker of vivid electricity, sparking a stutter in the pacing he's working to maintain. One turned to his— their— advantage as he uses that moment of faltering to bear himself against her, edging in against slick heat, taut muscle.
A sound, not quite his name, though she makes a true effort for it. Her hips rock with his. "Yes," she says, "slow, I like this-"
The rest is, predictably, swearing, but it's of a different species than their usual heated intensity. Her words are stretched by this new pace, her voice more of a whine. Praise comes not as encouragement, but appreciation.
He can feel the drag of her blunted nails, spurring fresh lines across his skin. No one will see them, no one will know of what transpired here, or how they fit their bodies together as though they are the exact map of one another— driven to fill the emptier spaces, the painful gaps, the welling of feverish need. An eternity to find her.
A short while to have her.
He intends to make it count.
Slow, he stays true to that word; slow, when he bears himself into her fully; slow, when he grits out a groan from between set teeth, trembling from lingering restraint as he resumes indulging the way she rocks against him, his breathing a shuddering thing, thready and lost.
Her good hand finds the junction of her thighs, leaving Gabranth to balance her in totality. Some part of her thinks he'll enjoy that, the power over the situation. The rest is too lost in her own pleasured satisfaction, slowly rutting with him against a tree.
"Harder," she whispers into his ear, "but not faster."
What he sates himself with is more than the control she offers freely— but it would be a lie to claim some part of him does not revel in it, does not hunger and strain for the sight of her pinned and lost to it, brow knitted tight, bruised muscle straining as she works herself towards oblivion at his mercy. Or he at hers.
And there in the shallows of that ember-hot rise of sensation, it proves more difficult than ever to exercise control. Restraint. There is no mistaking the way he shivers with it, the slow snap of every thrust that forces her further back against biting bark. Sharp, no doubt clawing into her skin. Were it not for the time they’ve spent together already over the last few weeks, this— his teeth at her throat, working over those marks, fingertips curled under the curvature of her hips— would be a withered performance by comparison.
They've come so far, and Noah knows her body better. He knows where to his, what to touch, how to make her shiver under his hands. The pain of her injuries, her back into a rough old tree, only speeds her further on.
A whimper becomes his name, before she becomes undone in his hands. She barely keeps the sound small, biting into his neck to hide the worst of it as she strains herself, back arched.
"My beautiful Noah," she murmurs. "Have what you like, love, you've finished me."
Instantaneous, almost, that switch— from the moment that she comes undone, fitting her mouth to his throat in a way that heats his blood, from the way she grants permission— how his demeanor is so quick to shift, as vivid and heady as the snap of lost temperament in battle: a veering turn from restraint to fire-blooded lust, thrusting unbridled, fragments of bark and fallen branch scattering to the forest floor. Her back will be a mess for this, scratched as deep and soundly as the rest of her battle-won injuries.
He bites, and he pants, and he moans and he ruts— and it is no shorter affair this time, before he eventually stumbles, slips, drowns for falling into his own climax. Left shuddering violently against her, locket cold where it snaps against her skin.
She lets out one long, slow moan, an uninterrupted syllable. He's so grand, the feel and the heat of him, overwhelming. Waves of further pleasure spur her on, until she's clinging to him, legs and arm. She nuzzles her face into a sweaty shoulder.
All she can say, panting heavily, is his name, over and over. Noah, Noah, my Noah...
He chases the sound of his name with his own mouth, drawing the breath from her lips in a merciless kiss.
When it breaks, the pattern of his breathing is slower, yet unsteady with listless satisfaction. The exertion of being briefly disentangled from the world itself for a flicker of a beat. He kisses her jaw, flush with heat and reddened from too much sun, and leaves his face there to linger when at last he speaks.
“You are all I have chosen. All that I would take for myself.” Shallow and soft, devoid of fervor and fury, Noah’s voice is a surprisingly quiet thing in this moment.
Intended only for her.
“If this world thinks you lesser for all your divergences, then I damn their blindness and their folly.”
Jone buries her head in the crook of his neck, unable to stand what he says otherwise. It isn't bad. It's just the thing you lie around at night, alone and young, imagining someone will say to you. She never prepared for this feeling, of being so loved, so precious in someone else's eyes. She doesn't know how to tolerate it.
She feels so light.
"I love you," she says, pressed into his side. "I haven't your fine words, but I love you, and I always shall."
Even if ruin meets them, even if bitterness parts them, he will always have a part of her heart. The largest part.
Doting confessions given in the wilds, still pinned against a crooked tree. His and hers, weighted both with gravity— and a poorer sense of timing.
Yet for them, it suits.
And in the wake of it his expression wavers, the faintest fragment of a past no longer within reach. Eased by her promise. By the insignificant hang of an inexpensive curio slung around his neck with simple ribbon.
He lifts her into his arms, rather than leaving her braced against that tree, granting one last kiss across her temple before setting her down and retrieving her shed gambeson. Speaking only once he fits it round her shoulders, knuckles pressed against its hem.
"I love you, Jone of Denerim. Do not dare to forget this."
Slowly, inexpertly, she fits her clothing back on, around the mess of her arm. It now blooms with thundering pain, from such rough treatment. She doesn't regret it. She feels as though she could rip a tree in half, if she so liked.
She doesn't. She fits her clothes in place, if sloppy and sweaty.
All the while, she looks at him with utter adoration. "Could almost ask you to carry me back," she says, a sloppy half-grin on her face. "Did a number on me."
"You need not ask." He counters, seeing to the last of his own regalia and its myriad ties and fasteners. The last at his wrist, fiddled with by coarse leather gloves until the ties sit flush, and his helmeted stare rests upon her, as eyeless and unfaltering as ever.
She may fight him if she wishes. His intent is clear enough when he strides ever closer, crushing white petals underfoot with heavy steps— hands quick to outstretch, reaching for her uninjured arm first.
Her laughter spikes, ugly and throaty, but no less joyful. She hides her face in his plate, and whispers dirty things they may do if they return to their room hastily.
"Have you ever wanted me with my hands tied back? At your mercy, utterly."
It is torment, given the distance they’ve yet to travel.
It is also not undesired, how she seems to brighten in his arms, troublesome as she is. The sound of his voice within the helm is...locked with tensity, just at the edges. Something perhaps undetectable to someone that does not know him, yet bright as day to Jone herself, who has seen him without guard or armor acting as a bulwark against the rise of easily stoked heat.
Somewhere against her side, one of his fingers twitches.
“Your arms cannot be tied behind your back until they are healed, Daughter of Denerim.”
Jone cradles her broken arm against his armor, feeling the seething pain, and ignoring it in favor of getting Gabranth worked up. What a fantastic power that is, to pull him along with just her words. What a grand thing, to be a temptation.
"If you tied it securely," she murmurs, "it'd be greater than a sling. Or perhaps you'd rather a tie across my throat?"
It is not a lingering pause, nor an overwhelming one, but something clearly directly sparked by her own mischievous digging; his defenses weak against the pressure she provides— both grating and desired all at once.
How dare she remind him of how he’d sought to hurt her so sincerely.
How dare she— and yet it was his own fingertips that’ve reached for her throat again since in devious, thoughtless wanting. Can he blame her for such depraved suggestion, when he himself set that standard?
No. And therein lies acceptance of it, however grudging.
“Continue speaking thusly and we shall not make it back.”
He does indeed notice, though that helm shifts only a little. His grip far from faltering as he holds her there at the edge of the forest, armor smelling of staler sweat.
The perfume he would trade for no other; a testament to their entanglement.
“What I desire is to keep this hidden no longer.”
Perhaps he does still dwell on Beth’s own wording. The accusation that he craved discretion out of shame.
She's sure Gabranth can feel her go stiff. It takes a moment to make up her mind, though fear still lingers. "Alright," she says, making motions that she'd like to be let down. "No more secrets. I'm not embarrassed of you, love, I never have been."
Something about the tail end of her promise stings. A nail scratching at his skin beneath the armor, the unintended catch of teeth against his tongue— that’s all he can compare it to. Discomfort. He had never been ashamed of her, but to guard oneself, and to keep such truths locked away....
How narrow is the difference?
Her heels touch the earth, he lets her down gently, minding the scuff of her broken arm across his armor and all its jutting contours.
“Tell her for me. The girl.” He mutters low, like an animal sinking its head in self-abnegation.
“She is free to speak as she cares to. I’ll hound her for it no longer.”
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no subject
A sentiment forgotten the moment her hand is upon him, digging and drawing coarse fabric away from scarred skin— yielding quickly to it, lending his own effort by way of reaching high to disentangle when he pulls dark knit over his head, ruining the last of that floral gift.
It is traded, in a sense. For beneath those heavy layers, the only thing that remains is a single locket, strung through with a bright green ribbon. Silver glinting in the moonlight against the bow of his notched collarbone.
The favor he'd fought for, above all else.
no subject
She touches the silly little locket. I love you.
She's unbuttoning her gambeson, slow and one-handed. The seams of her pants come next. "You'll have to hold me up," she says, "against a tree? Oh, my back will be a wreck..."
She sounds more excited than anything.
no subject
And while it may be dangerous for him to walk the narrow line between harm and want, he trusts her now, fully: she is strong enough to be his match— to curb the worst of his gnashing teeth and ravenous hatred— if he runs too far, hurts her too much, she’ll put an end to it as she cares to.
Or she’ll return it.
Impatience thrives within him, however. Where she works one-handed to free herself, he settles in close to finish what she has begun, bracing her body while the rest of her clothing is drawn away with little mercy— and from there, he gathers her into his arms, strong enough to leverage her muscle. Her height.
As he laces her legs about his waist, his face buries itself within the heart of her chest, mouthing at her, biting at her. Affectionate and yet untamed, perhaps no less gentle than the bark digging in between her shoulder blades.
And bare to him, there is no barrier between the friction he provides. Rutting slow, yet desiring more.
no subject
As has become a habit for her, she lets him know. "S'good," she murmurs into the air-- fresh with woodland scent, and only slightly spoilt by the city nearby. "Keep going like this."
She feels that twinge of guilt, that she's doing nothing for him in return, but she'll get to it. Tall as they both are, she hasn't the reach.
no subject
To be wanted.
That’s what he strives for, the goal he chases down to the marrow, sinking into it with the endpoint of every heavy roll of his hips. Inspiring a flicker of vivid electricity, sparking a stutter in the pacing he's working to maintain. One turned to his— their— advantage as he uses that moment of faltering to bear himself against her, edging in against slick heat, taut muscle.
no subject
The rest is, predictably, swearing, but it's of a different species than their usual heated intensity. Her words are stretched by this new pace, her voice more of a whine. Praise comes not as encouragement, but appreciation.
Her good hand rakes across his spine.
no subject
A short while to have her.
He intends to make it count.
Slow, he stays true to that word; slow, when he bears himself into her fully; slow, when he grits out a groan from between set teeth, trembling from lingering restraint as he resumes indulging the way she rocks against him, his breathing a shuddering thing, thready and lost.
no subject
"Harder," she whispers into his ear, "but not faster."
no subject
And there in the shallows of that ember-hot rise of sensation, it proves more difficult than ever to exercise control. Restraint. There is no mistaking the way he shivers with it, the slow snap of every thrust that forces her further back against biting bark. Sharp, no doubt clawing into her skin. Were it not for the time they’ve spent together already over the last few weeks, this— his teeth at her throat, working over those marks, fingertips curled under the curvature of her hips— would be a withered performance by comparison.
But they’ve come far, now.
no subject
A whimper becomes his name, before she becomes undone in his hands. She barely keeps the sound small, biting into his neck to hide the worst of it as she strains herself, back arched.
"My beautiful Noah," she murmurs. "Have what you like, love, you've finished me."
no subject
He bites, and he pants, and he moans and he ruts— and it is no shorter affair this time, before he eventually stumbles, slips, drowns for falling into his own climax. Left shuddering violently against her, locket cold where it snaps against her skin.
no subject
All she can say, panting heavily, is his name, over and over. Noah, Noah, my Noah...
no subject
When it breaks, the pattern of his breathing is slower, yet unsteady with listless satisfaction. The exertion of being briefly disentangled from the world itself for a flicker of a beat. He kisses her jaw, flush with heat and reddened from too much sun, and leaves his face there to linger when at last he speaks.
“You are all I have chosen. All that I would take for myself.” Shallow and soft, devoid of fervor and fury, Noah’s voice is a surprisingly quiet thing in this moment.
Intended only for her.
“If this world thinks you lesser for all your divergences, then I damn their blindness and their folly.”
It is not for their sake that he fights.
no subject
She feels so light.
"I love you," she says, pressed into his side. "I haven't your fine words, but I love you, and I always shall."
Even if ruin meets them, even if bitterness parts them, he will always have a part of her heart. The largest part.
no subject
Yet for them, it suits.
And in the wake of it his expression wavers, the faintest fragment of a past no longer within reach. Eased by her promise. By the insignificant hang of an inexpensive curio slung around his neck with simple ribbon.
He lifts her into his arms, rather than leaving her braced against that tree, granting one last kiss across her temple before setting her down and retrieving her shed gambeson. Speaking only once he fits it round her shoulders, knuckles pressed against its hem.
"I love you, Jone of Denerim. Do not dare to forget this."
no subject
Slowly, inexpertly, she fits her clothing back on, around the mess of her arm. It now blooms with thundering pain, from such rough treatment. She doesn't regret it. She feels as though she could rip a tree in half, if she so liked.
She doesn't. She fits her clothes in place, if sloppy and sweaty.
All the while, she looks at him with utter adoration. "Could almost ask you to carry me back," she says, a sloppy half-grin on her face. "Did a number on me."
no subject
She may fight him if she wishes. His intent is clear enough when he strides ever closer, crushing white petals underfoot with heavy steps— hands quick to outstretch, reaching for her uninjured arm first.
And, if she fails to deter him, her legs next.
no subject
"Have you ever wanted me with my hands tied back? At your mercy, utterly."
no subject
It is also not undesired, how she seems to brighten in his arms, troublesome as she is. The sound of his voice within the helm is...locked with tensity, just at the edges. Something perhaps undetectable to someone that does not know him, yet bright as day to Jone herself, who has seen him without guard or armor acting as a bulwark against the rise of easily stoked heat.
Somewhere against her side, one of his fingers twitches.
“Your arms cannot be tied behind your back until they are healed, Daughter of Denerim.”
That is not a no.
no subject
"If you tied it securely," she murmurs, "it'd be greater than a sling. Or perhaps you'd rather a tie across my throat?"
no subject
It is not a lingering pause, nor an overwhelming one, but something clearly directly sparked by her own mischievous digging; his defenses weak against the pressure she provides— both grating and desired all at once.
How dare she remind him of how he’d sought to hurt her so sincerely.
How dare she— and yet it was his own fingertips that’ve reached for her throat again since in devious, thoughtless wanting. Can he blame her for such depraved suggestion, when he himself set that standard?
No. And therein lies acceptance of it, however grudging.
“Continue speaking thusly and we shall not make it back.”
no subject
A kiss pressed to his help. She hopes he notices.
no subject
The perfume he would trade for no other; a testament to their entanglement.
“What I desire is to keep this hidden no longer.”
Perhaps he does still dwell on Beth’s own wording. The accusation that he craved discretion out of shame.
no subject
no subject
How narrow is the difference?
Her heels touch the earth, he lets her down gently, minding the scuff of her broken arm across his armor and all its jutting contours.
“Tell her for me. The girl.” He mutters low, like an animal sinking its head in self-abnegation.
“She is free to speak as she cares to. I’ll hound her for it no longer.”
(no subject)
sends u these tags and lowers myself into my fuckin grave
gets shovel.