[ P ] With You

The evening was cool but not unpleasant, the sky clear save for a sliver of moon and flickering stars. Monarch took in a deep breath of the fresh air, feeling strangely buoyant, light on his feet. He was not sure where exactly they were going, but the crowds were evident, as was the lambent orange of the fires, casting the trees and the earth with a warm glow. He turned to look over his shoulder, eyes opposite of their usual hardness, the barest of smiles turning his lips. ”Am I going the right way?” he asked, keeping his voice soft, as if he might wake something in the trees.

He turned forward again, slowing his walk, scanning around and trying to get a sense of the place. A bit of a frown returned as began to feel a bit uncertain. Monarch stopped once the raging fire itself was in view, lingering in the dancing shadows. He looked to Ara again. ”Are you sure it’s okay I’m here?” he asked, not with apprehension necessarily but wanting to be sure. He had kept out of social and political circles most of his life, so he had only the barest sense of the political landscape but knew that things were tense. With Monarch’s family, he wasn’t sure how welcome he might be here.

But he couldn’t help staring at the fire, at the wolves milling around, the energy in the air. His frown smoothed without him even realizing, but still he didn’t move forward, waiting for Ara, what she would say. ”It’s beautiful,” he said, turning to look at her instead. A quirk of a smile. ”Not the only beautiful thing though.”

Monarch Vanadium

@Ara

ARA SNOW

"..."

She loved Samhain—it was the greatest holiday in her personal opinion. For it was the one day that the fae were sure to walk among them. Perhaps as sparks, dandelion tufts, fireflies, or even wolves disguised among them. It was an evening that requested not logic but feeling. A moment in which belief was allowed to be suspended. The morning after, amidst hangover cures and leftover meats, was when one could take stock of their lives again and set things to order.

”Am I going the right way?”
Ara turned her gaze from the stars to her companion's face. A warm smile bloomed upon her lips and her pale lashes framed blue-red eyes that seemed to glow with affection. His face had always been handsome—a detail she had taken stock of and then tried to ignore throughout the majority of their friendship. But, now that she had unlocked the kindness in him, he had become incomparably dashing. His eyes were not the color of ice but of the first clear, shock of blue in the morning sky.

Rather than answer him, she quickened her pace to place a kiss upon his cheek before taking the lead and racing up the path to the fire. Ara giggled as she slipped past those trudging up the mild incline, eager to get there "first" whilst enjoying the childish game of chase that brought them to the fire's clearing.

When he caught up to her, she folded herself into his side like a puzzle piece clicking into place.
”Are you sure it’s okay I’m here?”
Ara tore her gaze from the fire to look up at him. The contrast of the warmth against her neck and the cool breeze against her brow was exhilarating.
"Let's see... do you have a heartbeat?" She pressed an ear to his chest, listened for a moment, then nodded. "Do you breathe?" Ara then lifted a paw up near his lips and felt his breath upon her fur. "Yes, and yes. So the answer is yes."

Her heart still hammered in her chest whenever she was with him.
It was a symptom she had yet to overcome.

After a moment of silence, he commented in the bonfire's beauty and she hummed agreement. She then felt his eyes on her and his next comment caused her shuffle her paws—a nervous tick that she'd developed. It was odd how she could touch him just as she had before—a tap on the shoulder, a pat on the back—and yet now they released a host of butterflies within her stomach.

And he seemed to know. And torment her with them.

"Do tell me," she said at last, meeting his gaze with a mischievous light in her own. "What else compares to this bonfire, Mon?"

Delicate as a fairy's wing

@Monarch

Watching her ghostly form the dim light, Monarch couldn’t help the slight shiver that ran through his body, surprise and delight at seeing her there behind him. It didn’t get old, the suffusion of joy he felt whenever he saw Ara now, knowing that they were together, that she was his. He wanted to freeze every moment in amber but then was too excited for whatever was next. Instead of answering his question she raced over, sneaking a kiss on his cheek before taking off again, and Monarch felt the surprise deep in his belly, a soft snort of surprise leaving his mouth as his ears twitched to catch Ara’s giggle. His slight smile widened fully after that, shaking his head at his own foolish self, before turning to catch up.

Again another shiver of delight as Ara pressed into his side once they reached the fire, as if she had always fit there. Their mutual warm was battling with that of the fires, and Monarch felt hot all over in general these days. He asked about the fires, the celebration, and Ara teased him, listening to his heart and feeling his breath and saying that of course he was welcome. He let a laugh rumble through his mouth at that, before resting his chin on her head. ”Good. Cause I wasn’t going to leave anyway,” laughing again.

A few moments of comfortable silence as they watched the flickering of the fire and the other wolves around them. The contentment he felt was overwhelming him a little and Monarch opened his mouth to break the peaceful quiet. He watched her after his words, the shy shuffle of her paws making his grin spread even wider. Ara looked at him then with her blue-red eyes, flickering with firelight and play, and asked what compared to the bonfire. Grin remaining, he shrugged one shoulder, bumping her. ”Oh this one wolf I know. She’s as fierce as the fire, just as unafraid, white-hot bright, and so searingly beautiful it almost blinds me,” he said his voice low and in her ear, only for her, followed by another rumble of laughter and a kiss on the top of her head.

Monarch Vanadium

@Ara

ARA SNOW

"..."

"Good, because I wasn't going to leave anyway."
"Good." Her pale, blue-red eyes seemed to sparkle with warmth that rivaled even that of the bonfire—and it wasn't just the reflection of the sparks. Whenever they sat like this, their sides pressing together, she felt like she was finally tethered to this earth. It reminded her of something she had always assumed about the Fae: that they too were bound here. Why else would beings of such great power remain so richly within their land? And while she did not have a name for what held them, she now knew what kept her here. Despite not being a fatalist by any measure, she did understand now the urge to say that she had always been meant to find him.

There were also words that could be used to describe this feeling, that she knew as well. Love. But it was something she had yet to say—or hear, not that she begrudged Monarch for that. It was a struggle to know when love had manifested and she wanted to bes ure. But, if this was not love, then what was?

Ah—but there was not much time allotted for such musings. Ara met Monarch's little jest and chose to have him say, oh so deliberately, just what else was so beautiful. Rather than snort and turn away, he showed (what she would have mistaken as an uncharacterist amount of) mischievous bravery. He was this way though, he just kept it hidden from most. ”Oh this one wolf I know..." came his response and Ara rolled her eyes slightly.

Her ear tips burned as he described her, partially from her own nerves and partially from the heat of his breath. Then he laughed before planting a kiss on the top of her head, one that caused her eyes to narrow playfully. In this battle of butterflies, he was most certainly winning.

"Oh I'd love to meet her," Ara said haughtily as if she were jealous and this woman was one she didn't know. "But I tell you what, Mon, when you find a woman like that, you marry her one day."

The words left her mouth because of this game. But once they were said, she felt the weight of them.

Rather than let go though, Ara turned to catch his gaze more fully.

"So will you?"

And for some reason, she felt oddly transparent. Not blinding but... see-through.

Delicate as a fairy's wing

@Monarch

It was amazing the ways that being around her made Monarch more himself. If anyone could see him now they wouldn’t recognize him, the gruffness that was his persona entirely melted away. After their reconcile, after realizing that the trust he put in her had been earned, that everything he had been thinking was wrong… it only eroded his walls even further, more and more of his trueness leaking out between the cracks. He hadn’t been like this since he was a pup, the complicated nature of his family making Monarch hide more and more of what made him. He was never a dishonest wolf, but that didn’t mean that nothing was hidden, compressed and pushed down, to protect himself and his family. Honestly, it was something like relief to simple be, instead of pretending.

And he was even playful sometimes. Ara met him right there, her fake jealously zinging through him. He barked out a rough laugh at the reaction, a huffiness that obviously did not fit with Ara but was delightful all the same. And then she said something that caused a bit of surprise on his part, raised brows and all, as she alluded to marriage. It was still a game, but was it? Monarch’s smile softened, but did not fade, as he watched her profile with careful eyes, letting them hang in the air. He could feel that even though they might have started in jest, there was a seriousness to them he could see Ara taking in, even she turned to face him properly, fully.

She asked again then, serious this time, and Monarch met her seriousness with his own, gaze intense and just as bright, even as brows came down into a considering frown. ”Marry you?” he asked, his voice soft, direct. As if to check she was sure. His heart stuttered over the thought, a concept he had not even reached yet, something Monarch had not even thought he’d come close to. The crackle of the bonfire settled over them as he looked at her, this light that had come into his life and flipped it upside down, but had shown him all the things that he had been missing, languishing without. He moved closer, pressing his forehead against hers and closing his eyes, the moment intense and quiet and between only them. ”If you’ll have me… yes,” he replied, whisper-sweet, and knew it to be true. Even if it scared him, and even if they had not thought of the logisitics, of their families and what the future would bring. Monarch knew he didn’t, wouldn’t, want anyone else.

Monarch Vanadium

@Ara

ARA SNOW

"..."

”Marry you?”
An electric current wound through her as he spoke the words. To keep herself from vibrating, she flexed her paws and dug her nails into the frosted ground. Her ears angled forward and she stared at him with round eyes that held onto every detail in his face. Although she was not adept at holding her breath, it seemed as though her lungs would survive forever on her last inhale.

”If you’ll have me… yes."

A smile cracked over her face. Small at first, then larger. Her tail was wagging a mile a minute as she hopped up on her paws before barking lightly. "Really?" She lightly pressed her left paw into the ground, then her right paw in an excited little dance. "Then I guess we're getting married, huh?" Her cheeks were burning as she stared up at him adoringly. Within her chest, her heart wouldn't stop tumbling and twirling as if it'd just picked up an acrobatics habit.

Easing back onto her hind legs, she did a small bunny hop toward him before resting her forepaws on his shoulders.

"There is one problem however."
At this, she adopted a mock expression of dire importance.

"You've still never kissed me."

And they had done things quite backward hadn't they? He'd moved in, but they'd lived like friends. Giddy friends, silly friends, but he'd never crossed that line. Neither had she, to be fair.

And now they were getting married, well and proper. They could wait longer, that was true... but... she finally had to confess that she wanted to finally know him in that way. If only a little bit.

Delicate as a fairy's wing

@Monarch

Ara seemed to be hanging on his every movement as she waited for his reply, though he wasn’t sure how she doubted what he would say. It was hard for him to even consider a ‘no’, whatever it was she asked of him. Not that he didn’t take this one seriously. Even so, he knew the answer. His eyes flicked to her claws digging into the ground, and a bit of his own smile lifted, as he answered.

Once he said yes Ara burst into life, grinning ear to ear, her paws dancing as she stood before him. Monarch couldn’t help but grin back at her, a small rumble of laughter in his chest at her delight. Warmth spread over him at the thought of how he was able to bring her that delight. He didn’t think he’d ever bring that to anyone after, but Ara seemed to revel in him, and even wanted to marry and stay with him forever? It was a crazy thought, but the commitment didn’t scare him. He nodded, and laughed. ”We’re getting married,” he repeated, his voice mock-solemn, shaking his head a little in disbelief. Even if this is not what he had envisioned for himself, it felt absolutely, utterly right.

Suddenly she was holding him, paws on his shoulders, and he leaned a bit into her touch even as he raised his brows, trying to read the teasing seriousness on her face. ”Oh, just one problem?” he asked, his lips smirking at her next words. ”That one is easy to fix…” he said, his grin turning into seriousness as he stared into her eyes, trailing his nose along hers before pressing forward into a real kiss. In the flickering warmth of the bonfire, kissing her deeper, if she let him, Monarch let the feeling of all it, of the future and of Ara with him, rush through his body.

Monarch Vanadium

@Ara

ARA SNOW

"..."

For a man that could be so stony and stern, like the one she'd met outside of the drunken seagull over two years ago, he was shockingly unpredictable. Surprisingly, Ara was still not used to it. From him taking the time to actually leaf through her book on fae mythology to his tenderness when she had been hurt from sun sickness, Monarch evaded all efforts to pin him down to just a handfull of archetypes. When she expected him to be surly, he was sweet. If she thought he might be embarassed, he was all too confident.

Just as he was now.

His blue eyes seemed to sparkle with affection and mirth as he smirked at her, suddenly looking like how she imagined a dark prince would. It caused her cheeks to turn red beneath her thin, white fur.

As he drew his nose along hers, Ara shivered, warmth racing through her chest and all the way down to her toes. She squeezed her eyes shut as the suspense made her heart jump, leap, and dive behind her ribs.

His lips finally met hers and she melted into him, all too happy to let him lead.

fade exit

Delicate as a fairy's wing