Memory Share (Banner Night)

[unbreakable_king]

[CW: Referenced character death, alcohol abuse, minor home invasion, possible dubious consent to make-outs, also a very long post.]

Rhy stood before the mirror, fastening the gleaming buttons of his tunic. Beyond the shuttered balcony, the sounds of celebration were rising off the cold night like steam. Carriages and laughter, footsteps and music. He was running late, and he knew it, but he couldn't seem to get his nerves under control, wrangle his fears. It was getting dark, and the darkness leaned against the palace, and against him, the weight settling on his chest.

He poured himself a drink--his third--and forced a smile at his reflection. Where was the prince who relished such festivities, who loved nothing better than to be the contagious joy at the center of the room.

Dead, thought Rhy, drily, before he could stop himself, and he was glad, not for the first time, that Kell could not read his mind as well as feel his pain. Luckily, other people still seemed to look at Rhy and see what he'd been instead of what he was. He didn't know if that meant he was good at hiding the difference, or that they weren't paying attention to begin with. Kell looked, and RHy was sure he saw the change, but he had the sense not to say anything. There was nothing to be said.

He downed the drink, hoping it would render him in better spirits, but it fulled the world without ever touching his thought. He touched the gleaming buttons and adjusted his crown for the dozenth time, shivering as a gust of cold air brushed against his neck.

"I fear you haven't enough gold," came a voice from the balcony doors.

Rhy stiffened. "What are guards for," he said slowly, "when they let even pirates pass?"

The man took a step forward, and then another, silver on him ringing like muffled chimes. "Privateer's the term these days."

Rhy swallowed and turned to face Alucard Emery. "As for the gold," he said evenly, "it is a fine balance. The more I wear, the more likely one is to try and rob me of it."

"Such a dilemma," said Alucard, stealing another stride. He was dressed in clothes that had clearly never seen the sea. A dark blue suit, accented by a silver cloak, his rich brown hair groomed and threaded with gems to match. A single sapphire sparkled over his right eye. Those eyes, like night lilies caught in moonlight. He used to smell like them too. Now he smelled like sea breeze and spice, and other things Rhy could not place, from lands he'd never seen.

"What brings a rogue like you to my chambers?" he asked.

"A rogue," Alucard rolled the word over his tongue. "Better a rogue than a bored royal."

Rhy felt Alucard's eyes wandering slowly, hungrily, over him, and he blushed. The heat started in his face and spread down, through his collar, his chest, beneath shirt and belt. It was disconcerting; Rhy might not have magic, but when it came to conquests, he was used to holding the power--things happened at his whim, and at his pleasure. Now he felt that power falter, slip. In all of Arnes, there was only one person capable of flustering the prince, of reducing him from a proud royal to a nervous youth, and that was Alucard Emery. Misfit. Rogue. Privateer. And royal. Removed from the throne by a stretch of tangled bloodlines, sure, but still. Alucard Emery could have had a crest and a place in court. Instead he fled.

"You've come for the tournament," said Rhy, making small talk.

Alucard pursed his lips at the attempt. "Among other things."

Rhy hesitated, unsure what to say next. With anyone else, he would have had a flirtatious retort, but standing there, a mere stride away from Alucard, he felt short of breath, let alone words. He turned away, fidgeting with his cuffs. He heard the chime of silver and a moment later, Alucard snaked an arm possessively around his shoulders and brought his lips to the prince's neck, just below his ear. Rhy actually shivered.

"You are too familiar with your prince," he warned.

"So you confess it, then?" He brushed his lips against Rhy's throat. "That you are mine?"

He bit the lobe of Rhy's ear, and hte prince gasped, back arching. Alucard always did know what to say--what to do--to tilt the world beneath his feet. Rhy turned to say something, but Alucard's mouth was already there on his. Hands tangled in hair, clutched at coats. They were a collision, spurred by the force of three years apart.

"You missed me," said Alucard. It was not a question, but there was a confession in it, because everything about Alucard--the tension in his back, the way his hips pressed into Rhy's, the race of his heart and the tremor in his voice--said that the missing had been mutual.

"I'm a prince," said Rhy, striving for composure. "I know how to keep myself entertained."

The sapphire glinted in Alucard's brow. "I can be very entertaining." He was already leaning in as he spoke, and Rhy found himself closing the distance, but at the last moment Alucard tangled his fingers in Rhy's hair and pulled his head back, exposing the prince's throat. He pressed his lips to the slope below Rhy's jaw.

Rhy clenched his teeth, fighting back a groan, but his stillness must have betrayed him; he felt Alucard smile against his skin. The man's fingers drifted to his tunic, deftly unbuttoning his collar so his kisses could continue downward, but Rhy felt him hesitate at the sight of the scar over his heart. "Someone has wounded you," he whispered into Rhy's collarbone. "Shall I make it better?"

Rhy pulled Alucard's face back into his, desperate to draw his attention from the mark, and hte questions it might bring. He bit Alucard's lip, and delighted in the small victory of the gasp it earned him as--

The bells rang out.

He was late. They were late.

Alucard laughed softly, sadly. Rhy closed his eyes and swallowed.

"Sanct," he cursed, hating the world that waited beyond his doors and his place in it.

Alucard was already pulling away, and for an instant all Rhy wanted to do was pull him back, hold fast, terrified that if he let go, Alucard would vanish again, not just from the room but from London, from him, slip out into the night and the sea as he'd done three years before. Alucard must have seen the panic in his eyes, because he turned back, and drew Rhy in, and pressed his lips to Rhy's one last time, a gentle, lingering kiss.

"Peace," he said, pulling slowly free. I am not a ghost." And then he smiled, and smoothed his coat, and turned away. "Fix your crown, my prince," he called back as he reached the door. "It's crooked."

Comments

Audio - UN: detwatts

[gadaboutdetective]

[Llewellyn can’t help but wish he hadn’t seen this memory... For one, it was something so very personal to Rhy... Something that he shouldn’t have to worry about being thrown across the network for all to see.

For another... It made his heart ache. Ache for the pain Rhy so clearly was in at the start, and ache to see what (who) the man was missing as the memory unfolded.

It left him feeling mixed of emotions. Upset, naturally, given Rhy’s discussion the night they’d gotten engaged. About how he’d been left by this very man. But it also left him feeling... somewhat inadequate by comparison.

And really, the nagging voice in the back of his mind chimed in, didn’t Rhy deserve better than an inexperienced and somewhat damaged man like himself?

His voice is quiet, and he only opens the audio feed.]

I’m sorry, Rhy. For...

[For seeing what he’d had no right to see, and for what the man he loved had lost.]

For the pain you’ve been in.

[unbreakable_king]

Llewellyn, my love, please don't say that. I have suffered much in my life, but you give me more pleasure than I can say.

[Sure, he still feels like death in the mornings, part of his curse he supposes. There are some days he wishes he wasn't living like he was. But once he sees Watt's face, it's better.]

And Luc was an ass that night.

[gadaboutdetective]

[It warmed him some, despite his inner turmoil, to hear that... To feel reassured that he at least provided some form of happiness to the one so dear to him. Llewellyn only hated to see those he cared about in pain (physical or emotional) and yet so often that was the case. It was what drove him forward, with a single-minded need to help. To make things... better somehow.

But he felt so clumsy now, so unsure of his words. Rhy had been hurting then, and Alucard had...]

I’m glad that I can, Rhy... If I can continue to bring you pleasure, to protect you from more— or at least ease further pain... [He knows this world too well now, he knew one day there would be more suffering of some kind.] I’ll consider myself a very lucky man.

[unbreakable_king]

You are already a lucky man in that you provide me with luck. A lot of it.

[gadaboutdetective]

Do I...?

[What a curious, but nice, idea. To be lucky in a way he hadn’t considered, like a charm or some such... Llewellyn had never considered himself lucky before, not in his own world by any stretch of the imagination.

But he found himself far luckier here, at least in that he had met Rhy.

Still, his mind tended to dwell, to focus on something so solidly... He wouldn’t be forgetting what he saw anytime soon (he forgot things he wished he could remember instead), but it was always easier to shift gears to what was more important to him. Rhy was important to him, and memory shares were always hard.]

Can I... Can I do anything now, my love?

[The usual, the fussing with food and talking until things seemed... not better perhaps but less of a weight on the mind.]

[unbreakable_king]

Please never mention this again.

[Oh Watts, he doesn't wish to think of Alucard of the sorrow of his life before he arrived here.]

[gadaboutdetective]

[A quiet hum is heard over the feed, Llewellyn could understand that... Wanting to put life from before behind, he’d been trying much the same. Different, but...]

Yes, um— if that’s what you wish. I won’t.

[unbreakable_king]

[Oh Watts, it's so much more than that. He's been through so much.]

Thank you. I... That was not a good month, dear.

[gadaboutdetective]

Of course, love...

[He knows what a string of bad months can do. It’s why he tries to be careful and mindful of what Rhy needs.]

I’m sorry it wasn’t... It’s too often that bad things fall close together like dominos.

text; un-defrag

[blindpuppet]

You should do that to Watts.

[unbreakable_king]

Which thing in particular?

[blindpuppet]

The teasing, the kissing but more.
He needs to loosen up.

[unbreakable_king]

I have a very different dynamic with Watts than I had with Emery.

[blindpuppet]

That's a shame.
Either way, you should bring it up to him or he'll worry himself into a panic attack.

[unbreakable_king]

Do not worry. He is very aware of my history with Alucard Emery and why it is just that. History.

[blindpuppet]

I wasn't talking about your history.

[unbreakable_king]

Then what were you speaking of?

audio; un: vegas

[architector]

[It's a pain Antonio isn't unfamiliar with, loss, knowing time is fleeting. It's defined his life.]

I am sorry. There is nothing more painful than duty and circumstance pulling you apart.

Re: audio; un: vegas

[unbreakable_king]

[Oh Antonio, it's nowhere near that simple. There is a cold, unimpressed edge to his voice when Rhy finally responds.]

It was not duty that had Alucard leave me. Just a fickle man who thought he could expect to break a young man's heart and return to find himself welcomed with open arms. I corrected this idea later.

audio;

[architector]

Ah, my mistake. Still, the emotion seemed real enough on your end. His callousness only makes it worse.

[unbreakable_king]

If you understood my history with him, you would understand the reason that my heart has complicated feelings and lingering emotion.

[And he does not wish to speak on it too deeply.]

I knew Alucard when I was young. Too young.

[architector]

Those are always the harshest lessons, aren't they?

[Antonio could understand and respect that.]

[unbreakable_king]

Often enough they are.

[Falling in love so young, so deeply. And being left so broken by it.]

He was the man I needed at that time. And also the one I didn't.

[architector]

Every person is who we need at the time, and often taken to excess ruins us.

[unbreakable_king]

What an interesting philosophy.