Private Tales Foosty Gobshytes

[Riley]

Riley sighed and looked after his back as he disappeared.

She knew their worlds didn't coexist well. And she wanted to change that so much so that it ached in her bones. She wished things were different. Maybe one day she could prove her trust to everyone in Arwyl's band. Even if she saw her brother and Zana.

Setting her axe down, she rummaged around the small cabin. There were a few jars of food they could eat. Some blankets. It would be strange having a bed to sleep in for a change. A roof over their heads. Even if it was just for a night.

Picking up her axe, she strapped it to her back and headed outside.

"Any dinner requests? Rabbit...or squirrels? And Kaius," She walked over to the elf and stopped at his side, fingers reaching for his hand to still his work. Just for a moment. To tug him gently toward her. "Whatever happens in the future, we'll face it together. Until then, let's not miss out on what we're given."

 

[Kaius]

Kaius was busy trying to wrap his head around everything she'd told him, trying to think of a way to make it work without causing trouble. There simply wasn't a way. His brow furrowed and he huffed to himself as she spoke, but the hand that touched him caused him to still and look down at her.

She could break him and he knew it. Already he felt so fragile, and he knew if she left him he'd fall apart. Like a confused child, part of him wanted to withdraw, to disengage from her, to save himself an even worse heartache at some point down the line. But the thought hurt too much, and he disregarded the unwelcome thoughts as his arms found themselves wrapping around her shoulders and holding her against him to stroke over her hair.

"I can't lose you.." he frowned and sighed deeply. She'd tell him he wouldn't lose her, she wasn't going anywhere, but it wouldn't stop him worrying. With the risk she was running, anything could happen, and if Arwyl found out.. Well that wouldn't go well either.

 

[Riley]

She didn't hesitate this time. As he pulled her close, her own arms went around his torso. She pressed against him.

Stubborn elf with a stubborn arse girl.

Arms squeezed a little more tightly around him. Nose breathing in his scent, body lingering against his warmth. Head lifted, hazels circled with gold tilted to his face. "We'll figure it out," she said more firmly. "One day at a time." And she knew how he felt because that's how she'd felt when he hadn't run. When she'd barked at him to go. Every time he got hurt...

"I think we need to get you better armor. Do you know what it does to me every time you get hurt?"

Dark brows lofted at him. She knew he understood.

 

[Kaius]

"Alright.." Kaius sighed deeply at her and pressed a firm kiss to her forehead. She was right, but it was difficult not to let his worry on the matter consume his thoughts. He tried to shift it to the back of his mind.

He looked down at her with a half smirk at her question, entirely at the mercy of those hazel pools of hers, and at once his worries were drowned. He didn't like armour, but he dipped his chin in a brief nod "Aye, I have an idea of what it does to you. I'll be more careful if you will." he bargained, his eyes creasing with a smile as he pressed a kiss to the tip of her nose.

"Come on. Lets get inside and get a fire going.." he sighed and cast his gaze around the forest once more before leading her back inside the little cabin.

 

[Riley]

If she could freeze time and let herself be wrapped in his arms for days, she would. She paused before getting to the cabin's door. Her fingers squeezed along his side.

"Wait a minute. You never said what you wanted to eat. I should do a quick hunting run before it gets dark. And I think your choices are squirrel or rabbit. Pheasant if we're lucky. Aren't you hungry?" Her hand lifted along his side until her fingers made it up his neck and gently through his beard along his jaw.

This was an elf who'd seen kingdoms rise and fall. Who'd lost much, like her. One who still had much to lose and Riley realized she did too. She hadn't before she'd met Kaius. Before she'd found out her brother was alive. Just months ago she'd firmly decided she hadn't had much to lose. And as she looked into the forest greens of Kaius' eyes she realized how that had changed.

 

[Kaius]

The touch of her hand lingered on his side long after she'd removed it. He groaned quietly, eager to get inside and get a fire started.

Kaius had quite honestly forgotten about his own hunger, worry had settled in his mind instead. He sighed at her insistence that she hunt and he frowned down at her, his hand settling on top of hers to lean into her touch. His eyes closed briefly and he let out a sigh.. "I'll come with you. I'm not letting you wander around on your own." he rumbled and took her hand to press a kiss into her palm.

"Lets go Sparky." he huffed with a smirk.

 

[Riley]

She was about to utter a breath of protest about him insisting on coming along but it died quickly on her lips. She found herself gulping whenever he brushed his lips on her skin. Even on her palm. And she knew the sudden stutter in the beat of her heart betrayed her to his goddamned ears.

Unfair advantage to him.

"Well come on then," a wobbly smile on her lips as she tugged him with that same hand of hers. "This time I'd like to see you use your bow. Gotta make sure you stay in practice."

And that way he wouldn't be so distracting if she were to shoot.

This elf.

She was a goner already.

 

[Kaius]

Kai's lips twisted in amusement at her words.. "Alright." he rumbled in agreement and gave a husky laugh. He'd lived several times her lifetime and had learned to shoot when he was much younger than she was currently, he'd had plenty of practice, and he couldn't remember the last time he'd missed a target on a hunt.

They walked into the thicket and paused at a small clearing, and Kaius looked up at the trees and across the ground, seeing the deposited walnut and broken shells. He took his bow and nocked an arrow. He was entirely still and his breathing was silent, and he with a solidness about him as though a flood could wash around him without uprooting his feet. If Kaius could hear the crushing blades of grass under a trampling foot then so could rabbits, it'd been the first thing he'd been taught about hunting.

At the first sign of movement in the brush, he drew back his arrow to his jaw and waited, his mossy gaze settling on a large rabbit as it hopped unassumingly into the clearing.

 

[Riley]

They were downwind. And while she should've been watching around them for any sign of danger. Or for helping him spot game, she couldn't quite keep her eyes off the hunter. She saw it in the cords of his muscles and the set of his shoulders. The way he pulled that bow back and the concentration in his eyes. He'd done it a thousand times before.

And he'd be able to do it a thousand times again.

She breathed quietly, the wind carrying her scent to the nose of the elven archer. Finally, her head shifted as she stood next to Kaius, to look at that rabbit in the clearing. And as she did so, the very tips of her hair the breeze caught and tickled against the back of his arm holding that bow.

 

[Kaius]

The smell of her hair was distraction enough, and his jaw clenched and gaze narrowed slightly in focus. The rabbit hopped a little closer and Kaius aimed, drew in a breath and as he let it out, he felt the tickle of her hair fluttering against his arm and he let the arrow loose accidentally and missed dinner by a foot.

"Shit.." he cursed under his breath and growled as he watched the little creature scamper back into the brush. He turned to her, unable to be annoyed, and pressed her gently back against the tree with a quiet groan..

"Remember, when I said that you were a little distraction?.." he quirked a brow at her, his knuckles stroked down her cheek and under her chin to tilt her face up to study it. For as quiet and calm as it was, his heart raced as his thumb gently brushed over her lower lip.

"You would see me go hungry.." he laughed under his breath.

 

[Riley]

"Perhaps you are out of practice," she said, gently teasing though her voice hitched in her throat as his knuckles grazed her skin. His thumb along her lip. Oh how he undid her. And so easily!

Fingers came up, encircling the wrist of his hand that held his knuckles beneath her chin. Her other fingers grasped at the fabric of his shirt, giving him one sharp tug closer. "Would this help?" Voice was innocent but her gaze was anything but as she captured his mouth with her own. It was slow and longing.

Hungry.

 

[Kaius]

"Perhaps I am.." he muttered breathily. The tug of his shirt closed the gap that separated them and his honed body trapped her against the tree. The way she looked at him, with heat in her eyes, like she knew his desires. Kaius didn't dare move and subconsciously held his breath as his gaze wandered from her golden eyes to study each divot of her lips. He could feel his heart beating a cacophonous thrumming rhythm in his chest and his fingers ran into her hair to grip gently at the nape of her neck as their lips finally met.

He let out a throaty sound of approval as her lips burned against his, igniting and coursing heat throughout his entire body to conquer the militia of chills that marched down his spine. His breaths grew deeper by the second, and the bow fell from his grip to free his other hand and without authority it settled on the curve of her hip and gripped.

Kaius broke the kiss only to allow his lips to wander to her jaw and onto her neck where he let his lips explore, breathing her in, tasting her olive skin. He dipped slightly to run his hands down with a squeeze of her curves to grip hold of her thighs and lift her from her feet and wrap her legs around him. His lips gave pause to look at her, half expecting her to yell at him, but if she told him to stop now he was certain he might die.

 

[Riley]

A deep groan of longing bobbled up her throat as his hands ran over her. His body pressing her into the rough bark of the tree until she rested against him. Her legs wrapped tightly above his hips. His lips trailed fire wherever they touched along her skin.

Her fingers dug lightly into his hair. To the sides of his face, neck, and shoulders.

Heady breaths left her tightened chest as he paused and looked at her. Her nose brushed lightly against his own. Fingers tightened on the fabric of his shirt.

And she did yell at him. But not really.

“why...did you stop?” Riley finally remembered how to speak, fingers tugging at the fabric of his shirt in protest. In suggestion. She wanted ALL of him. Dinner be damned.

 

[Kaius]

His cheeks dimpled with the smile that grew on his lips at her words and that insistent tug on his shirt. He'd wanted to make sure, and he had his answer. They had a cabin nearby, a soft bed and a warm fire, but he was far too caught up in the moment to care and it was a bed of soft, riverbank grass and moss, speckled by the coppery light of the dying sun that he'd lay her down on.

His heart pounded with the anticipation of being together in a way that was more than words, in a way that was so completely tangible, to know her in every way that he possibly could. Through the twilight hours he gave himself entirely. They melted together so perfectly, sharing one mind with one goal and purpose, so utterly drunk on the heady euphoria and he savoured every moment and every touch and kiss until their bodies and tangled limbs were still once more.

 

[Riley]

Riley curled into his side even as the last rays of sun dipped well below the horizon. The coppery light turning violet and deep indigo, darkening further into the blacks above as stars began to show their faces. The gold that circled her hazel eyes seemed to glow, like a ring around the sun as she studied Kaius' face. One hand stroked idly along the plains of his chest. She was bare to the world. Bare to him. But her focus didn't waver. She wanted to memorize every inch of that face. Every freckle. Every scar.

And she didn't think she'd ever get tired of looking at that face.

Those vibrant green eyes of his. It was like exploring a never ending forest. The light always shifting. Her hand lifted and played with his hair, tucking it gently behind one of his pointed ears, her thumb crazing the sharpened top.

And for once, she didn't find the need to speak. She wanted to stay in this moment a little longer. Besides, she'd been plenty un-quiet just moments before. Heady breaths and gasps of pleasure that he seemed to elicit quite easily from her usually foul mouth.

 

[Kaius]

He took a while to tumble back down from the heady heights she'd taken him to. He felt like regardless of how many deep breaths he dragged into his starving lungs that he'd never be able to breathe normally or calm his racing heart again. If this was how he died, he'd die happy.

Kai's face warmed as she curled close to him and ran her hand across his chest. He normally didn't like skinship but this felt different. He longed for it; craved it. The way her nimble hands caressed his skin, his hair, or her gentle eyes met his own. Her beauty was incredible; and Kai's heart was falling for her more by the second.

He wore a gentle frown as he studied her right back, as though there were words dancing on the tip of his tongue that he kept locked behind his teeth for fear of saying the wrong thing and ruining the moment. There was so much going through his mind at that moment that he couldn't keep up with it enough to string a sentence together that would make any sort of sense.

Her golden gaze sent his mind into an uncontrolled, captivated spiral and her light touches lingered long after her hand lifted, branding his soul with her name and this memory. He sighed deeply and his lips curled into a lazy smile as his fingers played in her long, chestnut hair, and he leaned close to take a slow and gentle kiss from her soft lips.

"We should get inside.." he rumbled, having noticed his breaths forming small, misty plumes on the air as the temperature dropped, but his body was much too warm to register yet.

 

[Riley]

They should. They should move. But for a moment, she felt frozen even though she was plenty warm inside. She wanted to savor this because Riley knew anything could change in a moment. A big part of her had joined Arwyl, Kaius, and the others wanting to go down in a blaze of glory and rebellion fully expecting her life to be lost in the next few months. With all those skirmishes. And now?

Now she knew Kaius had changed her mindset. A little. Maybe a lot. But that didn’t change his dangerous the oath they’d all chosen was. Proven by running into that trap the other day.

Giving a quiet sigh, she withdrew from Kaius and stood, scooping up her clothes, weapons, and boots. But not bothering to put anything on.

“Wouldn’t want to give the rabbits anymore of a show than we already did,” a lazy smirk across her mouth. “C’mon. I think I saw some jarred plums in the cabin.” Turning, she tiptoed across the grass, Kaius getting a different kind of moon for the night.

 

[Kaius]

His heart refused to slow, and the moment she left his side the cold washed over him like a bucket of frigid water and already his body craved her skin against it. He sat up, watching her with a roguish smirk that dimpled his cheeks, his eyes making his thoughts no secret as they wandered over her bare flesh. The sight of her robbed him of breath for a moment. Gods she was stunning. He knew she would change how he looked at life, she already had, and he felt his heart stumble over itself as she smirked at him.

He didn't take his eyes off of her as she tiptoed back toward the cabin, and he stood, pulling on his pants and bundling the rest of his clothes and weapons in his arms. It wasn't often he was stunned to silence, but he watched on in awe, his eyes roaming over her soft curves, dappled by the silvery moonlight that shone through the canopy.

"God fukin dammit." he mused to himself in her words, and followed her inside.

 

[Riley]

The next morning she awoke, sharing a bed with an elf.

If only the proctors could see her now.

Her stomach rumbled quietly. Right. They'd had a few jars of something or another, deciding to enjoy each other more than food the night before. And the activity of enjoying each other, fuk she was hungry.

"Mornin' sleepy head," she rumbled into his pointed ear and pressed a quick kiss against the tip. "Tomorrow we'll make it back to camp so I guess you better get all your secret looks and kisses in now Kai." Her tone was playful and teasing but they both knew she was right. He didn't want to tell Arwyl about it yet. And that meant probably hiding it from everyone else as well.

"It includes arse grabs as well." A single click of her tongue as she grinned like the rogue she was.

 

[Kaius]

"Mh.." Kai's brow furrowed as she woke him, but the kiss caused his lips to curl and he rumbled a sleepy approval. He'd slept so deeply, so comfortably in their tangle of limbs, the feeling of soft skin to skin. They'd spent much of the night in all their carnal fervour, and in the end the sound of her breaths had aided exhaustion in pulling him into a deep and contented sleep.

Had it been anyone else waking him from such a sleep they'd have felt the lash of his tongue, but to her his eyes blinked slowly open and his cheeks dimpled at her playful taunting.. "Oh don't worry. I don't intend on keeping my hands to myself until then." he winked at her, his voice gritty from sleep. Mossy greens fixated on her face, appreciating how beautiful a sight she was to wake up to. His hands sailed slowly down her arms, onto her waist and over the curves of her hips to settle and knead at her backside with a roguish grin of his own before turning and rolling her on top of him with a husky laugh.

"As you wish.." he murmured and sighed deeply. "Perhaps we should just stay.." he smirked, and laughed under his breath.. "At least for a couple more days.." he huffed, taking hold of her hand and bringing her palm to his lips to press a gentle kiss to it's centre...

"I'm not ready to go back just yet." he frowned, studying her slender hand in his own.

 

[Riley]

A small gasp then her own huff of laughter as his reverberated through her core. Even his lips against her palm sent sparks through her skin. Mussed-up hair dripped down a bare shoulder, tickling against his own skin. Her eyes scanned his torso, wondering at scars she saw. Wanting to know more of the life he'd lived and those stories behind each one. But he always seemed to capture her attention back in his eyes. The way his mouth quirked when he huffed.

His own crooked grin.

The way the corners of his eyes crinkled as he smiled and the freckles on his skin shifted ever-so-slightly.

"I could get used to this," she admitted before she could take it back but knowing she wouldn't take it back anyway. A vulnerable, small smile to Kaius this time as she fondly looked down at him. She'd felt so safe in his arms; with him. And she hadn't felt that way...maybe ever.

"We might be able to stay one more day and night but after that I imagine Arwyl would send Riz to find us." She smirked, picturing Riz blundering into this cabin and finding them in bed together. Legs shifted against his own and she leaned down, letting her lips wander over his, teeth capturing his lower lip and tugging lightly. And Riley wondered if she would be able to stand not to touch him for long periods of time when they made it back to that camp.

 

[Kaius]

His brow arched in consideration and his fingers traced small circles on her sides “Well…We did end up in a cell… Lost the horses and had to walk on foot for some time…We have some legitimate excuses.”

A grin broke his innocent smile and his hand reached up to cup her face as she leaned toward him, his thumb grazing over her cheek as he spoke against her lips. “They’d never find us here..” Her kisses roused a throaty sound of indulgence as he returned them, each one making his pulse race a little faster.

He felt guilty for even thinking about it, but he couldn't deny how much simpler life would be if they just stayed in this little cabin in the woods. Was it so selfish to think about? She was the one thing he allowed himself, it'd been over thirty years since he'd allowed himself to care for anyone the way he cared for her. His life was devoted to fulfilling his oath to a Queen he'd once loved, and he'd once told himself he'd never give his heart to another... And yet, here she was, mending it, and it was entirely hers.

"Just one more day." he reasoned. One more day for them and nobody else, to be happy and live in peace, pretending their lives were normal.

 

[Riley]

A mixture of surprise and anticipation crossed her face as he agreed on a day.

One day.

They could do a lot in a day. She pulled back slightly so she could look into those eyes of his. Her thumb traced lightly across a scar over his skin. "Tell me about this one," she asked quietly. They had time for these conversations.

One day.

And she wanted all of him. To get as much of him as she could. Hear his voice rumble against her chest. Feel those hands across her skin. Study those different looks that crossed his face. Not have to worry about being seen or caught. Or being questioned.

They could just...be.

 

[Kaius]

He sat up a little, sheets tangled around his waist and he looked down at the scar that she inquired about with a small smirk at her question, assuming it was the first of many. The scars were both a source of pride for what he had overcome and a map of the road he'd travelled, the narrow threads of silver from the slashes of blades and lashes of whips, others thick and mottled marks of the wounds he'd been lucky to overcome.

And so he told her. Of the times he'd been wounded in battle, of the times he'd been caught and whipped, of his younger days as a thief and the marks his father had left upon him, of the night Arwyl's home had crumbled to ashes.. There wasn't a single scar that he didn't remember. "And you've already seen the one on my arse - from that time you distracted me on the battlefield.." he grinned at her and drew her into a soft kiss.

"But now I want to know everything.." he sighed deeply and looked up at her, his heart stumbling over itself as he studied her. She was, quite simply and undeniably, stunning. He'd thought so from the second he'd set eyes upon her, any man with eyes in his head would have. It wasn't often Kaius felt in any way lucky, but the way she looked at him made him feel otherwise. It made him so uncharacteristically happy. There was something in those hazel eyes that was so beautiful, so safe and warm that a single look soothed him to his core. He couldn't help but wonder what she saw in him when she looked at him like that. He wasn't worthy, a broken man with nothing in this world but an oath to follow.. he only hoped she'd never realise how completely unworthy of her he was.

 

[Riley]

She remained in his lap, legs entwined around his waist. Hair shifting along olive skin. She had her own scars. Just like him even though she'd lived less than half his years. But she couldn't stop the twist of her lips at his protest.

"Oh-ho. Me distracting you?" Head shook, her fingers brushing some of his hair back from his face. A soft click of her tongue. "Was it as much of a distraction as this?" She leaned in and let her lips wander of his, stealing a deep kiss between softer ones. Then she'd pull back slightly, sighing and looking at her own marks. Scars that flecked upon her skin.

"Where to begin," she murmured. She told him about the duels she'd been forced to do with her fellow students at the Academy since she was ten. She had a burn mark down one thigh from a student who could wield fire. Sword slashes from those and raids. She winced at that. Some raids had been against rebels that included elves. Old frostbite along some toes from the time she refused to execute a prisoner and they'd left her to freeze in the courtyard. A broken finger that hadn't set right in another duel.

But no whip marks.

And she wondered again how he could love her at all. She'd killed. Been forced to follow orders. Done...terrible things. How could he see her as anything other than a monster? She'd realized it the second day she'd been with Arwyl, Kaius, and their rebels. Even though they whispered their distrust. She knew she'd die for them. Because that was the penance she needed.