sandalphon | inbox / recourt

That is your Phainon!

[He dissolves the mask and yells at Mydei, wide-eyed, crumbling heart beating so fast he thinks Mydei would be able to hear it.]

I have bathed in rivers of your spilt blood. Of everyone else's. I have condemned billions of lives. Destroyed our home for the smallest - sliver of-

[Are they the same? Dragging themselves through the muck for an infinitesimal chance? No. Phainon's worse, he's far more worse, every moment Mydei spends in his orbit is a terror waiting to happen.]

There is nothing for you here! Nothing left for either of us!

I know that!

[He yells back in a frustrated roar, eyes burning but completely unwilling to give Phainon even an inch of space.]

It is because you are a different Phainon that I'm standing here right now, you fool! You said you've given every Mydeimos a quick death, didn't you!? If that's true, then my Phainon will outpace you in only a few millenia more!

I have been made into a conscious doll! I have had my skin flayed from my flesh! I have been burnt in the flames of my own library, saved only to be left to die from the dirt in my wounds! I have been fucked in holes that did not exist until minutes before the deed was done!

Once, I was chained with my innards wrapped around my neck, dying again and again from infection, from thirst, from the insects and wild beasts come to feed on my wounds. For months while he plotted the death of the reality we'd landed in. I could do nothing but plead in futility when he came to enjoy the spectacle and make use of my body!

There is nothing you can tell me now that will convince me not to want you! In this place there is still you. There is still me. If there is nothing else left for us, then let us become something ourselves!

What?

[Phainon's already lifting his hands to cradle Mydei's face. He doesn't know if he should cover Mydei's mouth or pull him close or shove him away, paralyzed by the mere thought that Phainon could - that he had the capacity for cruelty like that - that he'd hurt Mydei like that, just for the sake of what? Hurting him?]

Mydei, what? [His eyes burn wet. He doesn't notice the tears, his hands shaking violently where they're cupped against Mydei's jaw.] You went through all of - he - I would never-- [Phainon's voice cracks. He knows he should rebuke that last statement, he should say no, but all he can do now is gasp and pull Mydei into a horrified embrace.]

I know you wouldn't.

[A Phainon that has lived through millions of Mydeis and still cares for their pain couldn't possibly become like his own, right?

He leans his face against Phainon's hands until he's been pulled into that warm embrace. Then he melts into it, taking the opportunity to cling tightly with equally shaky hands. His voice goes soft and vulnerable, as he buries his face in Phainon's shoulder.]

You're different. So... Even if I am a blight, please don't throw me away.

No! You're not a blight, I'm not throwing you away!

[He says, after, you know, leaving him to wallow in post resurrection misery. Phainon seems loathe to separate them, at least, pressing his protests against Mydei's hair.]

What made you think that? I was just trying to protect you! If anything I'm the blight!

You left.

[That's what really matters, as far as he's concerned.]

He always leaves when he's done. In my eyes, that is the worst thing you can do to me.

[There's a pause. Phainon draws back just enough to look Mydei in the face.]

I left because I was scared. Mydei. There was a moment I was happy I killed you, because for the first time in eons, I did so without taking you out of the cycle. That I could live, and somewhere under a sky we share, you could live too.

I see no point in living if there is no version of you near me.

[Maybe that's madness in itself, but it's how he feels. Still, he ought to be more considerate of Phainon's feelings. He needs comfort even more than Mydei.]

...You don't deserve the burden you carry, Phainon. Your heart is too kind for such loneliness.

[WHY ARE YOU THE ONE COMFORTING HIM AFTER YOU JUST SAID YOU WENT THROUGH TORTURE BONANZA 9000]

I could say the same of you.

[He sighs, though, curling a hand around Mydei's nape.]

I think we're going to be stubborn about this until the end of time.

[Mydei isn't capable of believing Phainon's reassurance right now. Not after what he learned last night. But... It feels good to hear anyway, so he doesn't say so.

Instead he meets Phainon's eyes with uncharacteristic nervousness and an overflowing of affection. They've technically known eachother for only a few days, but Phainon is Phainon and Mydei is Mydei. Their souls will call for eachother in any timeline, in any cycle, even when they're enemies.]

Perhaps.

[He grounds his hands on Phainon's hips, holding just a little too tight to be comfortable.]

You might as well accept my curse on you. No matter how far you run or how many fights I lose, I will never let you escape me.

Is that a promise?

[What a luxury to ask! What a delusion. What a grand dream. Phainon knows it would take more than one conversation to work through it, the both of them splintered in their own way.

But this Mydei knows how to tread in the footsteps Phainon leaves behind. A god tempered by countless threads of fate, by a million deaths, and maybe, just maybe, Phainon would let that hope in, let it settle in the cracks of himself.]

Hey. Look at me. Just so you know, when we first met here, I already wanted to marry you too.

I would accept your proposal in a billion lives.

[He can't imagine ever wanting otherwise. This Mydei has long since become a satellite caught in Phainon's gravity. He will go with him anywhere, love him in every imaginable way, and endure anything to stay by his side.

Of course the details are a mess. They don't agree on everything, and they're bound to clash while they gradually figure eachother out. But those troubles seem insignificant to him in the face of his obsession.]

Even if you make me want to drown you in the lake.

[Phainon winces. Squirms a little in Mydei's grasp, having the grace to look abashed.]

...I'm taking you didn't like the pajamas.

I did not. I still wore them, though.

[Mydei refuses to let go of Phainon just yet, but he needs to punish him a little... He considers, then leans in and bites his ear almost hard enough to draw blood.]

[That rips out a confused yelp from Phainon, who digs blunt nails into his biceps, holding him fast.]

Listen! I didn't think- I thought - okay, I wasn't thinking! How are you feeling? Are you all healed? Have you been hydrating?

[Oh, he likes that sound. He kinda wants to cause it again...

He doesn't just yet, but he isn't merciful either. Instead of another bite, he just runs his tongue over the existing one, breath hot in Phainon's ear before he pulls back to talk.]

I'm fine, Phainon. Your teacher assisted with payment for healing from the theater.

Edited 2025-07-13 19:39 (UTC)

Ahwuh?

[Sorry, NeiKos496.exe has frozen and has to restart??? How long has it been since Mydei evoked this sort of reaction from a Phainon?]

He's going to be so pissed at me... later... [He Sort Of Stood Him Up rip him] Did you have to do that. Can you punch me.

[It's been Awhile!]

I can punch you. But you might run if I release you, so I won't.

I'm not going to run!

[He lies, like a liar, his hand punching Mydei lightly in the shoulder.]

I want to... [He pauses.] How can I make it up to you?

By not lying or running.

[You belong to him now, sorry.]

I meant everything I just said just now. Did you?

[There's a long pause, before Phainon lowers his head. His hand curls warm over Mydei's breast, a scant few inches away from his beating heart.]

I want to say yes. [He says, hesitantly.] But I don't know if I won't run again. I'm not all here. Or anywhere. Most of me has already burned out. If -

[It's clear in his voice, the way it rasps, the way he doesn't meet Mydei's eyes, how much it takes out of him to ask.]

If I could. If I could have your patience. I could try.

Then you shall have it.

[Phainon struggles so hard to ask, and Mydei responds as easily as breathing. There's no question and no limit to his loyalty -- he will do anything to earn the right to be at Phainon's side.]

My patience and my persistence, and all of me with it, so long as we are here.

[Phainon looks up, bewildered. He's so used to fighting for the barest of scraps that this seems too good to be true.]

Just like that?

I do not make empty promises.

[As a show of faith, Mydei lets go of Phainon's hip with one hand, and pinches his cheek with it instead.]

If you run, I will just have to hunt you down again.

[Mydei would be able to feel with his other hand, see it even - the way Phainon tenses with his entire body as he lets go. The several moments where he angles himself, static thick in the air, like he's going to call a portal open and slip away.]

If I...

[He hesitates.]

Even if I hurt you again? Even if I lose myself? [He hates how needy he sounds.] Even if there's nothing left of me but the hatred?

inbox / recourt

Re: Day 33, dawn

Re: Day 33, dawn

Re: Day 33, dawn

Re: Day 33, dawn

Re: Day 33, dawn

Re: Day 33, dawn

Re: Day 33, dawn

Re: Day 33, dawn

Re: Day 33, dawn

Re: Day 33, dawn

Re: Day 33, dawn

Re: Day 33, dawn

Re: Day 33, dawn

Re: Day 33, dawn

Re: Day 33, dawn

Re: Day 33, dawn

Re: Day 33, dawn

Re: Day 33, dawn

Re: Day 33, dawn

Re: Day 33, dawn

Re: Day 33, dawn

Re: Day 33, dawn

Re: Day 33, dawn

Re: Day 33, dawn

Re: Day 33, dawn