Private Tales Equinox

[Petrus Ritus Iskandar]

Petrus would give a low hum at being called a poet. Saving his retort to that particular comment for later. It was not until she called herself a phoenix that he would arch a brow and give her a.... dubious look. Though it was not a harsh one. Instead he would feather his fingers along her jaw and chin, murmuring into her ear softly.

"Then allow me to pluck you from the ash and watch you take flight."

As her companion returned and Elinyra, bound by motherly duty, would peel herself away and suggest their continuation later. Petrus, picking up the bowls in hand already, would stack them atop one another before walking past Elinyra to the kitchen. Murmuring for her to hear.

"If you can wait that long. I believe this manor possesses a pool. You can find me there."

Pretending to walk past her, finished with the conversation, Elinyra would feel a swat to her rear before he continued walking. Acting as if nothing at all happened.

Elinyra Derwinthir​

 

[Elinyra Derwinthir]

She gave Petrus a look of mock annoyance before she, Fwysog and Fielynn disappeared through the kitchen's threshold.

As Elinyra went through the motions of getting her daughter ready for slumber, she couldn't help but feel a burden of guilt that forced her into more profound considerations than her emotions could answer.

Fielynn doesn't have a father. Elinyra had told herself repeatedly that it didn't matter. That she could be everything her daughter needed all by herself. She just hadn't convinced herself of it yet. If she really did have feelings for this man, she had to take into account that her daughter's needs superceded her own. Even if she wanted a lover, what she needed was a partner.

Petrus had been good with Fielynn so far. Whether it was from genuine paternal instinct or simply a show put on to impress Elinyra, she couldn't yet say, but it gave her a sliver of hope that she hadn't had before. Only time would tell.

And whether Petrus's thoughts on Fielynn had been true or not... seeing her child's sleepy, cherubic face in her arms put it out of her mind. Fielynn was her daughter. That was a fact that could never be refuted.

Elinyra paused in the midst of deciding where to put Fielynn down to sleep when Fwysog took a firm hold on her tunic and pulled her into what appeared to be a sitting room. The chelonian caretaker had been busy, it seemed: an entire corner of the room had been turned into something between a bed and a small fortress. A chaise lounge had been turned on its side, enclosing pillows and blankets like a padded courtyard between it and a similarly upturned table. Fwysog had even managed to run a long window curtain over the mess like a sort of little roof.

"Fwysog, no. Where did you even get all this-" Elinyra started to protest, but was interrupted when Fwysog took Fielynn from her and stomped over to the pillow fort determinately. The creature set down the child and turned to just stare at her with its beady, unreadable eyes.

Fielynn rubbed her eyes as she rolled over into the scattering of pillows and blankets with a contented yawn. Elinyra quickly decided to cede this battle.

"I'll just have to clean this up tomorrow. Please don't touch anything else," she instructed Fwysog before giving Fielynn a kiss goodnight and going to find this supposed pool Petrus spoke of.

Of course, she didn't know where it was, so she had to do a bit of wandering through the expansive house. All of the luxury around her -- from the elaborate tapestries on the walls to the finely-woven rugs running up the hallways -- made her feel out of place. It was another aspect of Petrus's life that was as foreign to her as the far side of the world. Though it seemed that every time she'd been around him, she'd felt oddly both underdressed and overdressed at the same time.

A soft splash caught her ear. Moonlight poured onto the floor as she pushed open a heavy oak door and looked outside.

Petrus Ritus Iskandar

 

[Petrus Ritus Iskandar]

The scene that Elinyra merged into was not a pool in the industrial sense. It was no marbled fixture of immaculate construction and hydrodynamics. Instead it looked like a small pond that might be found in the deepest, most primordial groves of the forest. Albeit with the plant life being unnaturally tamed and the water a crystalline blue from how clear and life-free it was. The small splash Elinyra heard earlier seem to be an enchanted stone being dropped into the water. The stone radiated a blue light from the bottom of the pool, gently illuminating the entire scenery.

Petrus stood on a small stone pavilion beside the pool. His back to Elinyra for the moment as he idly unbuttoned his shirt button by button, leaving it hang open away from her before he reached over to a table beside himself to sip from a small glass of wine. Only then did he pull his shirt off his arms and fold it atop the table, seemingly unaware of Elinyra's presence at all.

This did not stop his hands from undoing his belt, the click of the buckle and slide of the leather profoundly loud in the otherwise quiet, isolated grove they had to themselves. The only companions for them now being the lazy passing of late evening clouds above. Whether Elinyra wished to make herself known or not remained entirely up to her.

Elinyra Derwinthir​

 

[Elinyra Derwinthir]

She slipped off her boots and, silent as the clouds above, walked towards Petrus's back. Her pace was unhurried, almost floating above the cool earth with each step as she removed the belt that secured her tunic. Her gaze, equally unhurried, took in every detail of his form; the way the moonlight painted a masterful, silvery portrait on his body; the way his movements spoke to her in a language she couldn't decipher, but with a melody she innately knew.

By the time she reached him, she was left with only her long tunic flowing loosely over her frame. Even if he continued to pretend he didn't see her there, he might notice the soft hues of magenta, violet, indigo and green that limned her hands as she slipped them around his waist.

Petrus Ritus Iskandar

 

[Petrus Ritus Iskandar]

Past a certain point indeed was it a game for him to pretend to not be aware of her presence. Like the shadow of a phoenix cast from above with the sun high overhead. But when her arms encircled him the game was over and he glanced back at her with a long, heavy glance. He would then turn in her embrace, peering down at her, and without a word he would embrace her as well.

Slow, purposeful, strong arms would squeeze around Elinyra's sides, snaking over her hips, before gripping her rear with both hands. This grip was used to pull in and up, lifting her to the tips of her toes as he leans down to engulf her lips with his. No words were needed now, only the firm press of his body down and into hers, only the firm, continual insistence of his lips onto hers.

Only the flickering of a slowly-building flame that may very well be capable of scorching even a phoenix if she was not careful.

But of course he thought of that as well. Deepening the kiss to something just a bit hungrier, a bit more ravenous, he would gently slide his hands beneath her tunic. Fingertips would skim her skin in soft touches before moving around to her stomach, then up her body, avoiding her chest on purpose, he would disentangle her arms from around him and hold her hands in his. The kiss breaking as her pressed his forehead into hers and asked.

"Are you prepared, my daring phoenix, or will you be the hermit crab tonight?"

Elinyra Derwinthir​

 

[Elinyra Derwinthir]

She met his kiss with equal zeal, tracing faint trails of fairie fire up his back and shoulders with her fingertips before wrapping her arms around his neck. She pulled him closer, daring his inner fire to kindle on this cool autumn night that carried the sweet scent of jasmine.

Just as she felt her flame come to life at the behest of his bewitching touch. She parted from him only reluctantly when he pulled away, her breaths quickened in expectation. She entwined her fingers with his momentarily, until he asked his question.

Still, she did not speak. Rather, she pushed away from him and, with a playful, come-hither expression, fell backwards into the pool with a luminescent splash and the billowing of her loose tunic.

Petrus Ritus Iskandar

 

[Petrus Ritus Iskandar]

He watched her with idle amusement as Elinyra fell backwards into the pool. With slow, idle motions would he disrobe himself entire and join her, though he did not jump into the pool, did not hurry. He got in slowly, purposefully, and would scoop beneath Elinyra's floating body with his arms, holding her. One hand gripping her thigh and the other her shoulder he would sweep his gaze down her form and then meet her eyes with a challenge.

"It seems you have me at a disadvantage..... what should we do about this?"

His voice would drop to a murmur, setting Elinyra down so she could stand, and as she removed her 'advantage' he would be ready to kindle her flame. To ignite a phoenix's fire with nothing but the heat of his soul and desire. For her.

Elinyra Derwinthir​

 

[Elinyra Derwinthir]

That equinox night, when darkness and light stood as equals, Elinyra truly felt that she had left the ashes of her old self behind in the crucible of their passion. She relinquished the shell that bound her heart into his care, just as she relinquished all pretense of control, of forethought, to the rhythms of that most primal dance.

And when the grey morning crept into the window of the bedroom they'd retreated to, she rolled over to rest her head on her lover's chest and feel its slow rise and fall as he breathed. When she saw that he was awake, she traced her fingertips up his stomach and chest before pulling herself up to his lips to give him a kiss.

She started to say something, but thought it was best to wait until the haze of infatuation and ecstacy loosened its hold on her.

"Good morning," she murmured instead.

Petrus Ritus Iskandar