[ P ] Art Deco

you're so art deco, you're out on the floor
shining like gunmetal, cold and unsure
baby, you're so ghetto, you're lookin' to score
they all say hello, you try to ignore them
cause you want more
It had been a long time since he'd set foot in Yorkshire... hell, he hadn't been here since he'd been imprisoned after the protests. So why was he here now? Well that was a more complicated answer. He was looking for Arran, but he wasn't so sure he actually wanted to find his brother. With school and their nephew missing and mother falling sick he'd been quite busy but he felt like these things were things his brother should know about so here he was -- looking for the man who'd betrayed him so long ago. They hadn't seen each other since the protests and he didn't even remember how long ago that had been. It seemed like a lifetime, before the war... before everything. He shook his head as he continued trailing the dark streets of Yorkshire, a man on a mission until he spotted a figure shivering in the dark. At first he thought it was just the shadows playing tricks but then he heard a noise.

It sounded almost like... crying? Gwydion blinked and headed towards the bridge that the figure stood upon, a small creek flowing just beneath it. Once he got close enough to the quivering shadow he realized it was a girl and no trick of the mind. "Are you okay?" he asked. She seemed to have quieted with his approach and he hoped he hadn't frightened her. If she was in distress or danger, he wanted to help...
"..."

art from raven

She didn't get far from the jail before learning that Sullivan had escaped, and she was certain she knew how it had happened. Everything was becoming too overwhelming, and just as she thought she had the strength to visit Sullivan, she learned that he had escaped and that Reuben had helped him. It was like reopening old wounds. The thought that he had been so close—perhaps a day, maybe even just hours away—felt like a cruel joke from fate. Despite her efforts to honor his wishes, she couldn't stop thinking about him.

And he was right; thinking about him only brought her pain. It could have been different. She could have let go of her anger and feelings of betrayal and found happiness with him, but he wouldn’t have it. She understood now. He had to save Sullivan; he had to fix what was broken.

Rayne was not part of his future.

She huddled into a corner of a Yorkshire alley, making herself as small as possible, while the world moved on around her. She sobbed, hoping the tears might ease her pain, but they only seemed to deepen it, even though there was nothing left to break. It wasn’t until the sound of another’s voice pierced her sorrow that she wiped her tears away and looked up, meeting eyes as blue as her own.

“Yeah, yeah... Sorry,” she said between sniffles, “I’ll be on my way. I’m sorry.” She didn’t want a stranger to worry about her.

art by alz

The woman's blue eyes were bleary with tears and he frowned at her when she tried her best to brush him off, saying that she was okay. "Don't be sorry," he said ,wishing he had something to wipe away her tears with. But they were out in the streets, he had no rags or anything. "It's okay." he said. She wasn't bothering him with her tears, he only felt sad for her. "Is there anything I can help you with...?" he asked, uncertain on just what he should do. It seemed to be just the two of them out in the street tonight, there was hardly anyone else around besides the occasional pedestrian walking down the way.

As he looked her over he thought about what could have upset her so much that she'd have to cry like this. Had someone been here just before him, fighting with her perhaps? He wasn't sure. He felt a little nosey butting into her business but that didn't stop him from offering her a kind smile to try and lift her spirits some.
"..."

art from raven

She had expected him to leave, but when he didn’t, she found herself confused. His words were surprisingly kind, given that he had no idea why she was crying or why she was huddled in a desolate ball in the middle of the alleyway. Was there anything he could do to help her? Her crying had stopped momentarily, though she was still gasping for breath in short bursts. As she pondered his question, she realized that there was nothing he could say or do that would truly alleviate the whirlwind of emotions she was feeling. Perhaps it wasn’t about what he could do, but rather what she needed from him.

Slowly, she rose and inched closer to him, her movements careful and unthreatening, conveying a desperate need for comfort rather than confrontation. If he allowed it, she would press herself into the empty spaces of his chest, burying her face in the softness of his crimson fur. She longed to cry out the sadness that still clung to her, to let the last remnants of her sorrow flow into the warmth of his embrace.

art by alz

She appeared confused for a moment and Gwydion had to wonder why. Had nobody yet offered to help her? He couldn't believe that someone would just walk by a crying woman but then again his mentality was not shared by some in the populace. He was about to open his mouth to say something else when she rose to her paws slowly and took a few steps closer to him. He stiffened a little, surprised by her close proximity but once she pressed against his chest he would find his arms wrapping around her shoulders as he held her while she cried.

"Hey, hey... I'm sure it'll be alright." he said quietly into the crook of her neck. He didn't know this woman from Eve but he felt for her all the same. His heart ached with her; for her. Whatever had happened must've been terrible for he to be affected by it so much. The stiff feeling of awkwardness melted away more quickly than he anticipated and he pulled her closer, closing his eyes and taking a moment to just be there for her if that was what she needed.
"..."

art from raven

Her heart hammered against the confining walls of her chest, feeling as though it was constricted to the point where every sob only deepened the painful ache within. The rhythmic thudding in her chest felt like a relentless reminder of her isolation, a prison of despair that she could never escape. She had lost herself in the moment, so overwhelmed by the weight of her sorrow that she almost forgot he was there. His voice, a gentle whisper in the storm of her anguish, cut through her despair and she felt him pull her closer. This gesture of kindness only seemed to amplify her pain, making her sobs grow deeper and more ragged. She curled herself into him, into this stranger who, in that moment, seemed to offer a fragile semblance of solace. His presence was a stark contrast to the emptiness she felt inside, yet it also highlighted the chasm of her loneliness.

It was several minutes before she managed to contain herself, though her breaths still came in shuddering gasps as she struggled to regain control. The tears that had streamed down her face now left traces of wetness on her cheeks. As she pulled away, she wiped a trembling paw across her eyes, trying in vain to compose herself. An embarrassed laugh escaped her lips, a hollow sound that barely masked her deep-seated sadness. Rayne was a whirlwind of emotions, and she didn’t know which one to grasp onto to in a desperate attempt to find some semblance of stability.

"Thank you, I'm so sorry this is so embarrassing," she managed, her voice thick with a mix of gratitude and self-reproach. Her cheeks flushed with a heat that seemed to burn from the inside out, her gaze falling away as she struggled to meet his eyes. "I shouldn't have let myself get so carried away," she said, her voice faltering slightly as she cleared her throat in an attempt to steady herself. When she finally looked at him again, her eyes were swollen and red from crying, her hair a disheveled mess against her nape.

"I'm Rayne," she offered, her voice a whisper of its former self, hoping that in the midst of her emotional unraveling, she hadn’t made herself out as too much a fool.

art by alz

Gwydion could not fathom what she had lost to cause her to cry like this. He'd never experienced the loss of a family member or the loss of a lover unless you count losing his brother to the Army. Even though that was the case, Arran was alive and presumably well. That was what mattered. So he held her in his arms when it seemed nobody else would and he hoped he could take away even a shred of her pain and suffering. After a few minutes, she finally began to compose herself but she was still a mess visibly. Tear-streaked eyes, mussed fur.

Apologies fell from her lips and he shook his head with a smile. "Don't worry about it, really." he said. "I'm Gwydion," he offered in response to her offering her name. He didn't want her to feel like her emotions were stupid, maybe someone else had had her feeling that way and that was why she was so apologetic.

"Do you want to talk about what happened or...?" he trailed off, giving her the chance to explain herself should she feel the need. "If you don't, that's also fine."

"..."

art from raven

Did she want to talk about what happened?

Rayne inhaled a slow, steady breath as she contemplated his question. She felt as though she had already talked about it so much, when in reality, she hadn’t. The entire conflict was between her and Reuben, but he would never understand her side, just as she would never understand his. The difference was that she wanted to, whereas he only wished to push her further away. She could understand his desire for distance, but selfishly, she wished he hadn’t gone through with it, because she knew she might have done something reckless—like follow him into his dark world.

Maybe that made him selfless after all, but he was also the reason she was in this mess to begin with.

The whole thing was a mind game, if she was being honest. Every step they took together only led them both deeper into a hole. Her bright blue gaze mirrored his as she shook her head softly. "It doesn’t matter in the end," she said quietly. She shrugged her shoulders, trying to convince herself that it didn’t mean as much to him as it did to her. "He lived a complicated life that he dragged me into, but I also didn’t make it easy for him to walk away. Not until it mattered, anyway." Her lips tugged into a slight frown. "But, it’s over now, and I don’t think I’ll ever see him again. So, I guess it’s time for me to start moving on." She tried to offer a smile, but her heart felt heavy, as if it were sinking further into the abyss she was trying to escape.

art by alz

Gwydion listened to her speak and assumed that perhaps this was a boyfriend or something that she was talking about from the context. He simply listened to her speak, noting the sad smile she gave him when she finished. He nodded his head empathetically and then rolled his shoulders. "I don't know his side of the story, but maybe he didn't deserve you in the long run," he said thoughtfully. If his life was so complicated that he couldn't be with her that was one thing, but if it was something else then who was to say he hadn't been in the wrong? He didn't know all of the details but that didn't matter -- he didn't need to, really.

"As horrible as you feel now, I think you'll feel better once you've moved on. It'll feel nice to get the weight of everything off your shoulders and find someone else you can share your time with --" he said, trailing off slightly. "Not that I'd really know, I've never been in a relationship!" he said with a small laugh. He shrugged then and look at her, hoping his words could ease her pain somehow. He did truly believe time would heal her wounds and if it didn't, someone else surely would.

"..."

art from raven

Rayne paused, letting his words sink in. Did Reuben not deserve her? She prided herself on many things, but never on feeling superior to others. Reuben was entangled in a situation he could have avoided, yet she understood why he chose the path he did. His predicament was unfortunate, but he had used her as a much-needed escape, a breath of fresh air in his stifling world. Though his actions had hurt her, she believed the one genuine thing about him was how he truly felt about her. Rayne swallowed hard, struggling to hold back tears. Instead of adding more to the conversation, she simply nodded in response.

“Relationships are complicated,” she said softly when he mentioned never having been in one. “Sometimes I wonder if it’s easier just to avoid them.” Her admission carried a tinge of sadness. She genuinely believed everyone deserved happiness, yet it seemed that everyone came with their own set of baggage.

“Have you ever liked someone?” she asked, shifting the focus away from her own troubles. She wanted to know more about him. She found that while she often circled back to her own issues, it never led to resolution. Perhaps what she needed was an outlet, a friend, someone else to focus on so that the spotlight could shift away from her, even if just for a moment.

art by alz