Closed The Weight Of Sight (Naiya)

[Colt]

She chased after him, undeterred still, and captured his retreating hand.

"Shahar," she said, baffled. “I love you. I don't want to forget," Love, desire to help, "I want to help you Shahar, I want to spend my life with you." She paused, watching for his reaction. "I am happy with you, you encourage me to be better, I want to do the same for you."

She was pulling at him now, trying to bring him back to her. He was resistant, initially; why was she saying this? Didn’t she know that he was too wrong? Why did she yet insist that… that he wasn’t? That he was worth something?

"Please, don't push me away,” she asked of him. "I love you, I will always love you." Heart, soul, together as one.

His resistance was weakening. He didn’t slide back into a tight embrace, but he let her claim his hand, and then his arm followed. He began to lean just a little bit closer, listening intently until the past caught up to him again. He blinked and looked away from her; even in the darkness of the tent, Naiya’s face, her words, her signs, they were all to bright. To look at her was to look at the sun; it was easy to mistake for burning. In darkness he could rationalize. In darkness he could be alone with his pain, because his pain might have been deep, but it was familiar. He had held his pain close for all the years he could remember, and his grip had been so tight that he couldn’t uncurl it. He couldn’t separate himself from the pain, because then where else would that pain go?

Don’t push me away. Was that what he was doing? Wouldn’t it be safer that way? Wasn’t it her that was supposed to push him away, with his past unearthed? Wasn’t she the one who was supposed to be disgusted, betrayed, escaping?

She was too vehement. She was too certain. Her forgiveness was too complete, her love too pure. She was too hopeful. Too kind. Too… Naiya.

I want to spend my life with you.

“Even with this,” pain, past, wound, broken, “You still want that? Knowing that you would have it with something like me?” It couldn’t be true. It didn’t make sense. How did she love someone who didn’t know how to be loved? How did she build a future with a man who didn’t know how to let go of his past? How did she heal a creature that didn’t know how to abandon its pain?

“How?” he asked, no end in sight. “How do you want me still? How do we move forward? If it was even possible, where would we even begin?”

[Naiya]

He relented some, allowing her contact, first his hand which she tucked against her chest tucking it beneath her chin. Then his arm, tracing simple, child-like signs into his skin, love, family, always together the gentle shapes reassurances despite his obvious hesitance.

He turned his face away, looking for all the world as though he couldn't bear to look at her.

“Even with this,” pain, past, wound, broken, “You still want that? Knowing that you would have it with something like me?” She shook her head, a cascade of hair reminding her that the night air was cold around them.

"Not something," She told him, falling back on spoken word since he had turned his eyes to the dark, "Someone, my husband, my savior, my only love." She would stay, work through anything they came across, be as patient with him as he had been with her.

"I want a life with you, a powerful hunter, an able provider, a gentle soul." She turned her face so that she could kiss his hand where it lay tucked beneath her cheek.

“How?” He asked no end in sight accompanying the question. He really thought there was no recovering, no healing the damage wrought in his past. “How do you want me still? How do we move forward? If it was even possible, where would we even begin?” She touched his face, trying to bring his eyes back to hers.

"We start here, now, together. Like hunters, patient, ready to face the struggle together." She sought the words that would bring him back to her, the word that were in her heart, clear as day, but unable to reach him. She had to make him understand that his past didn't make him less, she needed the words that would bring him to her, to show him that he was worth the effort.

"Do you love me?" She asked him, she knew the answer, didn't have to wait for him to respond to know, "Would you love me any less if that man had had his way with me that first time we met? Would you think less of me if I needed your help?" She knew those answers too, or she was fairly sure of his answer anyway.

"I love you. Unconditionally, forever, no matter what has happened, what may come."

She was cold, the heat of her passion, her words, doing nothing to fend off the chill night air. Shahar's warmth had saved her from the chill before, and he was likely just as cold as she.

She picked up the blankets, draping it over herself, and scooting across their bed to drape the blanket across him as well, should he allow her, then she would wrap him both in blankets and her arms, tucking her head on his shoulder.

"Maybe you aren't whole, Shahar, but neither am I. We need each other."

.
.
.

[Colt]

She traced simplicity into his body with her hands as she listened, infinitely patient.

"Not something," she responded. "Someone, my husband, my savior, my only love. I want a life with you, a powerful hunter, an able provider, a gentle soul."

Her words held him so high… the way Naiya described him, they hurt him with their beauty and their certainty. She spoke as if his past didn’t matter, as if his wounds were a puzzle aside, as if the unwounded part of him was what mattered more than the wounded part.

"We start here,” she said, “now, together. Like hunters, patient, ready to face the struggle together."

Like hunters. Planning. Overcoming. Triumphing. Together.

"Do you love me?" she asked of him.

“Yes,” he whispered.

"Would you love me any less if that man had had his way with me that first time we met? Would you think less of me if I needed your help?"

Help. That was the great question of the night. Of course Shahar would think no less of her if he needed help. He would think no less of Seirei, or of Khida, or of Snow, or of any of their family. At a word, he would be there for all of them, ready to help ease their burdens if they asked it.

But would it be the same if he needed theirs? Shahar wasn’t accustomed to being helped. Shouldering the burdens of others was an easy decision; letting others shoulder his was not.

"I love you. Unconditionally, forever, no matter what has happened, what may come." She picked up the blanket, wrapped it around herself, then moved closer to wrap it around him, and then around both of them. Arms laced around him, her chin came to rest in the crook of his shoulder. "Maybe you aren't whole, Shahar, but neither am I. We need each other." She lay her head on his shoulder,

He was silent for a moment. His mind wasn’t racing anymore, though. No, his choice was made clear, lain before him to chose as he would: he needed help. He needed her help. It was easy to pretend he didn’t need help, and it was what he had done for a long time. But now Naiya knew. And now he knew, and he couldn’t forget it anymore. He needed help, and she wanted to help him; she wasn’t repulsed, her judgement was nonexistent. She was certain in her convictions, a solid stone against his churning sea of uncertainty and doubt.

She wanted to help him with his burden. We need each other.

“We need each other,” he repeated. Turning, Shahar returned her gesture and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer and feeling the thin chill that had settled over her skin. “I need you, Naiya. I need help. I want help. I don’t know what it is. I don’t know what I need.” There was unease and uncertainty, but there was also acceptance, desire to move forward. He didn’t know what he needed, but he knew that he needed something, and he knew that Naiya would help him. Unconditionally, forever, no matter what had happened or what might come.

And that was enough. It wouldn’t be tonight, it wouldn’t be tomorrow, but it didn’t have to be; she was there, and he was there, and they had time. They had a future, a future they would defend and preserve for the sake of their family and for each other.

Unconditionally. Forever. No matter what might come.

- End -

[Azmere]

A note for both of you: This was a really fun read. Your characters (and writers) have a real chemistry that can felt by anyone with strings attached to his heart.

There is something I'd like to challenge you both to try. When there is a drawn out conversation, it can seem natural to directly quote one another in your posts. This is used to keep the conversation in time and on track. However, there is another way to achieve these things. You both did a bit of paraphrasing each other's words and signs towards the end but it was only when the signs were rushed. There's an art to discreetly marked conversations where direct quotation is not necessary and it's absolutely beautiful.

You two have an established history of writing together. I think with some experimentation, you may enjoy the change of style and also see the way it can smooth out the redundancy of quoting your partner. Please, please don't misunderstand me. I loved this thread and enjoyed every word of it. I'm merely making a suggestion that was passed on to me a while back.

 

Shahar

Experience

• Massage: +1
• Interrogation: +1
• Logic: +1
• Storytelling: +2
• Wrestling: +2

Lore

• Naiya: Fire-wife
• Massage: Deliberate movements
• Caiyha: Speaks in riddles
• Shahar: Open to having kids but unsure
• Shahar: Black bag of secrets
• Love can trick a man
• Shahar: Scars inside and out
• Zith: A cruel mistress
• Naiya: Loves without doubt
• Shahar: Fears his weakness
• Naiya: Unrelenting nurturer
• Shahar: Comfortable in his darkness
• Naiya: A loving fire in the dark

Notes

It's been a real treat to grade this thread. It's not one I would have read otherwise but the story is just fantastic. Great job! Let me know if you think I missed anything. I'm new to grading.

 

Naiya

Experience

• Observation : +4
• Wrestling: +2
• Storytelling: +1
• Acrobatics: +1
• Rhetoric: +1
• Flirting: +1
• Massage: +1
• Logic: +1

Lore

• Shahar: Lonely eyes
• Not all answers to prayer are good news.
• Naiya: Baby fever
• Shahar: Dodger of questions
• Sharing a husband comes with doubts
• It’s hard to read signs in the dark
• Zith: Terrifying
• Shahar: A Zith’s pet
• Naiya: Love makes her strong
• Naiya: Doesn’t give up
• Naiya: Understands that past is only part of the whole

Notes

This was a really fun read. You paint such a vivid picture of a loving wife when she's having a deep conversation that I drew direct correlations to my own wife! (That's a good thing.) Very well done. Let me know if I missed anything. I'm still a newb grader.