• Mature • Tea

[Elyna]

The young woman only moved to sit up and pull together the torn pieces of her shirt. She watched the light on the line of his back and on the musculature of his strong arms. Elyna swallowed her pride and drew her own legs up. Elsie's scream was insistant and demanding, Varas little claw scrabbled on the wooden floor.

"You once accused me of only wanting to touch you when I'd been drinking," her voice remained soft and distant as she stared into the darkness. "I'm going to accuse you Mal, of only wanting to touch me when your angry." And it made her feel terrible, to need his fury to take what she had wanted all evening. A comforting embrace of a lover who desired her no matter what. All the smoke had fled from the flame and they were left empty and alone.

She put her legs over the edge of the bed and stood. "This isn't a game..." She assured him. "I don't want to fight with you anymore." She couldn't think of them as a family, but in other relationships surely the expectation of a new life wouldn't be so devastating? Wouldn't be met with such doubt and disgust. The evening had started to slide and she didn't think it could get worse. So she asked her question and turned back to face him, sinking into the edge of the bed.

"Are you happy Malcolm?" It was the second time she'd asked that night.

[Malcolm]

Malcolm exhaled with a sigh and got to his feet, collecting his trousers on the way out of the room. He dressed and went to find Elsie, greeting the baby with a kiss before holding her against his shoulder so that he could rub her back. The child stopped crying for the most part, but every now and then she would suck in an uneasy breath.
The candle was taken from the room and reignited by the low burning fire in the living room, and as Malcolm returned to the bedroom, he put the candle down and looked at Elyna.
“I’m happy,” he told her, because he was, in general. It would be a lie to admit to being happy right now, but despite what Elyna had convinced herself, Malcolm was content with the idea of a second child; a younger sibling to Elsie.
The warden twisted from side to side slowly in an attempt to rock his daughter to sleep. It was impossible to discuss things with Elyna with a screaming baby in the background. He had to be up early the next day, and was thus mindful of the short hours between now and dawn, on what was to be the final day of Cylus for the year, and hopefully the end of the cold weather.
Elsie felt so delicate in his arms, and holding her always made him think of the first time he had picked her up. They had been so happy that day, what had changed?
“I'm sorry,” he mouthed, and held an arm out to Elyna, Malcolm wanted to hold both of his girls. “I'm sorry I keep reminding you of things that don't matter. It hurt me, and I don't think I got over it, I didn't deal with it the way I should have.”

[Elyna]

Feeling, perhaps like the worst mother in the history of Idalos, Elyna followed behind Malcolm and hung back. First at the doorway to their bedroom as he collected the baby and then sinking into the shadows of the room as he moved around the house. She should have been quicker to collect the screaming child. A quick glance around the room and she spotted Vara sat beside the cradle, tail thumping the floor as she whined. With a sigh, the Skyrider collected the puppy and cuddled her, before setting her deliberately outside the bedroom door when Malcolm returned and sending her back to her own bed. The small dog had a tendency to try and sleep alongside Elsie and it wasn’t a habit that anyone wanted to encourage.

Elyna lent against the doorframe, skin raised to gooseflesh in the chill air that slipped beneath the doorways and the tiny cracks between windowpanes. He beckoned and she hesitated before approaching. Her feet led her across the floorboards, wary of the unexpected offer of peace. She wasn’t sure that he’d ever apologised to her before, not in the exact words; I’m sorry. Her arm wrapped around his waist as she pressed close, body fit alongside his as she looked down at her green-eyed daughter; monster that she was.

“I’m sorry for the reasons you’ve had to doubt me,” the young woman conceded and reached up again, touching a gentle hand to his temple and pushing the hair back from his face. He was so tall that her head fit comfortably against the curve of his shoulder as they stood. “I want to find a way to heal things,” she spoke softly and the corner of her mouth twitched in a hesitant smile, shy and uncertain. How would she be received? Elyna moved onto her toes and pressed a kiss to the stubble on his cheek before offering to take Elsie, “I have a later start…” she nodded to the bed, “why don’t you get some sleep?”

[Malcolm]

Elsie sniffed, a pathetic little sound that marked the end of her bid for attention, satisfied now that she had both parents with her. “She's all right,” he decided to hold on to their daughter a while longer. “You shouldn't feed her so late or we will never break these bad habits.” He had chosen to steer the chat away from the negatives that had worked their way to the surface this night, neither of them needed reminding of their wrong doings.
After pacing back and forth for a while in no real hurry, Elsie had soon drifted off to sleep again and Malcolm bowed to return her to the cot. Her little arms flinched as the back of her hands touched the sheets that had gone cold with her absence, but she soon settled once she was tucked in. Malcolm remained adamant that the child was to sleep in her own bed, and not share their bed with them. In some ways he remained very old fashioned, though Elyna had done well to chip away at the chinks in his armour.
Once returned to the bed, Malcolm shut both eyes, only to pull one open, as if to ask if it was safe to sleep, and check that there were no more glasses of cold water waiting for him. Satisfied that it was safe, he shut his eyes once more, with the intention to keep them closed until dawn. There was something he wanted to say to Elyna, to tell her that he loved her, but it didn't seem fair after tearing chunks out of each other. And so he reached out before drifting off, and held one hand against her hip.
“Sleep well.”

[Ent]

Name: Elyna

Knowledge:
Caregiving: Helping your baby to sleep
Detection: Recognising the devastation that a mobile baby and young puppy can cause
Detection: Hearing a child crying from a different room
Elsie: Is making you feel exhausted
Elsie: Is difficult to get to sleep
Malcolm: Helped Elsie to sleep when you were too tired
Malcolm: Will not leave you alone with the news
Malcolm: Was happy to hear you are pregnant
Malcolm: Not the type to sit by and watch the world pass him by
Malcolm: Is not completely sure the children are his own
Malcolm: Has lost his trust in you
Malcolm: Only wants to touch you when he is angry

Loot: N/A
Injuries: N/A
Fame: N/A
Devotion: N/A

Story: 5/5
Collaboration: 5/5
Structure: 5/5
Magic: N/A

Name: Malcolm

Knowledge:
Animal husbandry: caring for an injured horse
Tanning: How to skin a wolf
Caregiving: Helping your baby to sleep
Elsie: Something about her relaxes and wears you out
Elsie: Grows fast
Elyna: Had fallen asleep on the floor
Elyna: Beautiful even with sick on her shoulder
Elyna: More beautiful than you give her credit for
Elyna: Is pregnant again
Elyna: Threw water at you and started to question your trust in her
Elyna: Doesn't fully trust you
Elyna: is considering resigning from the iron hand

Loot: N/A
Injuries: N/A
Fame: N/A
Devotion: N/A

Story: 5/5
Collaboration: 5/5
Structure: 5/5
Magic: N/A

Comment: Well well, this was a fun thread to read and review and wow it was lengthy (not a bad thing). The relationship these two share is a wild one and I feel sorry for the pain the two have and the difficulty for them to fix something that was once beautiful. You do a great job of portraying the two's feelings and explaining the reasons for their actions and feelings towards one another. Sorry this review took so long, IRL got in the way and it was quite long but still I should have reviewed it sooner so please forgive my tardiness. Enjoy your rewards and if you think I missed anything feel free to send me a PM and I will take a look at it.

Thanks for your patience folks and I apologise again, enjoy!