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+--- Thread: Connections (/thread-1946.html)
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RE: Connections - Oriena - 09-10-2026
He was tiptoeing around her, and she hated that, knowing that he was spending the silence berating himself, and worse, trying to fathom how best to placate her. Nox was always malleable. He’d be whatever he thought others most wanted him to be, and probably feel sorry for himself while he was doing it. That made a different sort of anger swell in her chest; she had very little patience for that kind of pandering. But she kept herself turned away, busy watching the kettle boil, or the snow falling beyond the window above the sink. She’d let him in, which was more than anyone else could have expected, but it didn’t mean she had to make nice just so that his feelings didn’t get hurt in the process. If the silence bothered him and he ran away with his tail between his legs… well, he’d hardly be the first.
“What happened to the nice Russian boy?” Dezhda said instead of acknowledging the apology. Ori had no idea whether she even considered it an intrusion or not; she rarely knew exactly what was going on inside her mother’s head. Which was probably for the best. The woman didn’t wait for an answer, just grunted and shrugged away her own question, and Ori didn’t give one anyway. Presumably she had meant Mik. That had been a bad day for delusions; she was surprised her mother remembered him at all.
The first cup of tea Oriena left on the counter, tucked beside the oven, with a few murmured words in Russian. Apology to the domovoi and placation for her mother, who eased a fraction in her chair when she heard, and continued to eyeball Nox with interest. Or maybe it was suspicion – hard to say, depending on who she actually thought Nox was given his unusual entrance. Ori didn’t bring people home, never had. “This storm is going to be bad,” she told him matter-of-factly. Despite all the forecasts to the contrary, Dezhda was adamant of that.
RE: Connections - Nox - 09-10-2026
There was maybe a real smile that crossed his face when Oriena's mother asked about the nice Russian boy. There was a slight minor and most annoying tinge of jealousy but it was mostly amusement that passed his face. Oriena had brought home a boy.
He doubted it was anything of the sort, but Nox sat forward and smiled very interested in the answer that never came. But he didn't pry -- he could needle Ori later. And probably get a beat down for it -- but it might be worth it. He'd come with the expectation of violence. He hadn't expected to be invited inside her mother's house.
Nox glanced at the door another time and at the cup sitting by the stove. He wondered if he watched it long enough if whatever she thought was here would show up? It wouldn't be the first time he'd hunted strange little gremlins. It intrigued him.
"This storm is going to be bad," she said in English. That was good a one sided conversation is never fun. Specially when you might be the butt of the joke. And with Oriena he likely would be more than the butt.
"I feel it already," he replied. Rubbing a new scar on his left shoulder. His whole body ached -- every new scar that hadn't quite healed properly was twinging in this weather. He looked out the window, the smile dropped as a memory crept in. "I remember one winter in the mountains, we were hunting a Harpy, my dad underestimated the snow fall and the time it would take to drive up to the village where the Harpy was hunting -- middle of the night and a blizzard hit. Buried the car in snow. Nothing like freezing to death." Nothing like being eaten alive -- or burning to death either. Though he can't say he felt the burning part though the screams kept him awake at night. As did everything else.
Nox placed his hands on the wall and pulled the power through his body. Through the slime that still coated the power and pushed into into the walls. The building was shit. It could use some repairs. Ezekiel hadn't particularly liked his meddling with the church infrastructure, but he doubted anyone here would care -- much less know what he was doing. "Your friend." Nox nodded to the cup. "Only comes out at night? Or only when we aren't looking? I could keep the cup warm for it if you wanted." The words came out normal but Ori knew him well enough to know what he was doing, but he wanted to keep her mother entertained while he delved into the bowels and bones of the building. Last thing Nox wanted was to be buried alive under rubble in the freezing cold.
RE: Connections - Oriena - 09-19-2026
Oriena was perfectly capable of playing a good hostess, but as the awkward moment trickled on, belligerence reared itself instead. She folded her arms and leaned against the counter. Trapped inside with her mother sounded like hell, but the weird weather was exactly why she was here. Nothing unusual was forecast, and mostly Dezhda was delusional with her fears, but until it passed by Ori would stay. Alone would have been preferable, but Nox’s company wasn’t the worst thing if it took Dezhda’s attention off her fears. But then he opened his fucking mouth.
Dezhda wound the rosary beads around her fingers as she listened. Ori sensed the tension of her mood shift, and she glared over her head at its cause, knowing Nox had no reason to know how fragile a woman he was dealing with. Still, she’d imagined Nox might just play the part, placate in the way he was always placating her, but apparently his life was so far removed from ordinary he didn’t know the difference. Harpies? Fucking really? That was the opening gambit of his conversation?
Ori’s hand slammed the knife drawer shut just as Dezhda reached over and snatched desperately to yank it open. Talk of monsters had stiffened her into an alert fear, but it was the revelation of Nox’s own powers by his offer to warm the fucking tea that opened the floodgates. Dezhda launched herself, the rosary flying with her pummelling fists. “Demon!”
RE: Connections - Nox - 09-21-2026
The glare coming from Oriena made him sigh inwardly, not alot he could do. And there wasn't a lot to talk about with a woman he hardly knew so when she lauched herself at the drawer and then at him with her rosary in his hands he was not only caught off guard by the wailing woman but he moved to get out of her patch and the chair screeched across the floor only to get caught in his movements and he tumbled backwards. A snap of wood sounding beneath him but he didn't have more time to reach before fits found his chest and one clocked him in the face before he could grapple her arms at the wrist and keep her from hurting herself more than him. He probably deserved the pummeling ten times over, but this was Oriena's mother and he didn't want her to hurt herself.
He took the hand with the rosary and the cross dangling from it and pressed it to his face. "I'm not a demon. No burning, no smell, no fire." He said calmly though his heart was pounding in his chest and the power was only a thought away, he hadn't lost his grip and it was suffused in the walls mending the weak points. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he fought with the woman and held the power. It wouldn't take much to let that control drift and let it carry him away into the afterlife. He'd thought about how easy it would be to draw upon the light and burn from the inside out. He let the power go -- and with it the temptation and the glorious power and sight with it. The world was dull and bland again, and the pain of the world settled in around where the euphoria had been. He longed for the numbing of the prior weeks, but he craved the power even more now than he had before. It was a dangerous slope.
He repeated himself again "Not a demon." He didn't say he wasn't possessed by one -- that would be a lie. The horde wasn't a demon, and it couldn't currently possess him -- at least it hadn't since he'd been healed, but that wasn't all that long ago. He didn't move but he held her wrists from him and herself. Waiting for her reaction, or Ori's or something. It was a very long few seconds of his life.
RE: Connections - Oriena - 10-13-2026
Nox would fall on his own sword before he hurt the woman currently trying to carve out his skull, and Oriena was so willing to bet on it that she didn’t move straight away. Her face was flat, but it was the hollow, sinking feeling inside that stilled her. He witnessed too much, far more than she was comfortable with. Not of her mother’s instability, but the proof of Ori’s own weakness. When she approached it wasn’t in haste or surprise, it was softly. The soothing movements of someone well practised in catering solely to another.
“That isn’t what she means,” she muttered under her breath. Her mother didn’t have a bestiary in her head, and she didn’t mean literally in the way Nox assumed. It was delusion. Fear of the same unnatural power her daughter wielded, of a world that had stopped making sense a long time ago. Oriena wore bruises like badges, but there were scars beneath too: evidence of her tumultuous relationship with a woman she remained loyal to and loved and protected with venom. Kneeling she reached for Dezhda’s cheek, ignoring the tear of nails in the first instinct of panic. Truth was she was as likely to turn on them both as settle.
“Shh, Mama,” she soothed. She didn’t flinch when the whip of the rosary caught the corner of her eye as Dezhda yanked it sharply from Nox’s cheek. “He’s an angel. A protector.” The latter she spoke in Russian, refusing to allow Nox to understand the explanation she gave. She continued repeating it as gently as she could while the woman thrashed. Ori had no idea if it ever sank in, but eventually Dezhda whimpered and threw herself off. Not into her daughter’s arms, but into escape. The door to the bedroom smacked shut behind her.
RE: Connections - Nox - 10-19-2026
It wasn't the first time Oriena had referred to him as an angel. She'd drawn a pair of wings on the name tag and Sage's party -- that Jaxen had taken over. Though there was more to it than that -- the Russian he hadn't understood.
Ori's mother fled, and there was a spot of blood at the corner of Oriena's eyes. Nox lay on the ground on the crumbled chair and closed his eyes. "Do you want me to leave?" He asked before rolling towards her and then sitting up not far from where she'd knelt to help her mother.
He collected the chair and examined the pieces both with his eyes and the power and pulled the pieces together and fused them back. Probably better than new from the looks of the others that sat in the small room. He then took a moment to look at Ori and dared to reach across the distance to the red cheek and the new blooded scratch from the rosary. He ran his finger across the spot and then dropped his hand. Tender wasn't their thing, not that he didn't feel it. He'd come for connection and while he found it.
He knew she'd be angry with the things he'd seen, so he didn't mention it. He gave her a shit eating grin. "So a nice Russian boy? Not some American slag like me." He teased raising his eyebrows a couple of times suggestively before insulting himself.
RE: Connections - Oriena - 10-22-2026
She didn’t deign to answer because she thought the question was fucking stupid. Nox was constantly trying to bail out. He would leave if she told him to, despite the white pane of the window suggesting the weather had only worsened, but it was exactly that which pissed her off. No response was like consent. It felt like a trap to make himself feel better. Ori didn’t care what he did – she just didn’t want it to be what she wanted. Or said she wanted anyway. Those weren’t always the same thing. So instead she shifted from her knees to her arse, back against the wall, and watched him with a hard edged stare which probably verged on sulky. It hid the mental exhaustion inside with something more customary. A dog deciding whether to bite.
He leaned to touch her face, and she didn’t stop him. That wouldn’t be a surprise to either of them by now, and he wouldn’t have tried if he feared rejection. Ori rested her head back, let the energy flee her limbs. Her eyes closed.
Nox now knew more about her life than anyone else in it. Even Mik only saw a shadowed, accidental glimpse. Nadezhda had been fairly normal that day, besides the yammering about burning men, and she’d whisked him out the door soon enough. That was the same night Rafael had had his throat ripped out. Last she’d seen of Mik, he’d been cosying up in Jaxen’s company. Not exactly endearing. But neither had she forgotten what he’d done the night Ryker had almost killed her.
She gave Nox the finger in response, though the edges of her lips relented in a smirk. When she opened her eyes it was another mask she wore, this one heated. “I like slutty boys,” she said, voice sultry soft just to drive the point home. There was nothing to say about Mik, even if she’d been inclined to discuss it. Which she wasn’t. But it was still deflection away from good Russian boys. That was somewhere her thoughts didn’t want to go. Or not consciously. Because it hovered there sometimes, like the fine mist and heat of the Almaz showers.
She glanced at the door, but offered nothing about her mother. Neither did she make any notion to go after her. Like as not Dezdha wouldn’t welcome it, if she even recognised who Oriena was.
RE: Connections - Nox - 10-22-2026
"Family." He knew she wouldn't talk about any of it. Her mother and what happened. The good Russian Boy. She never did. But she looked tired. He felt tired. He'd come her for connection. To be wanted. Though he was pretty sure he was only fucking things up. Real normal people were hard.
His smile never left as she flipped him off. He wouldn't press more.
Nox crawled over to her and put one and on either side of her leaning form. And got close. Face to face. Enough to share breath. "I don't need you for the horde anymore. But this, whatever it is. Violence or not. Your choice. I need." He was close enough to kiss her but he refrained for now. Waiting for her reaction.
RE: Connections - Oriena - 10-27-2026
He didn’t press, and she hadn’t honestly expected that he would try. Ori watched him crawl closer. The heat in her gaze had been a purposeful distraction, one she knew he’d pander to, but when he reacted the way she assumed he would she felt the seductive veneer cool. She wondered if it had been a mistake, sleeping together that last time, when emotions had tangled with touch. But sex had always been an easier language than words. It wasn’t romance, and she was hardly about to spout reassurances that their relationship remained unchanged; that it had shifted from a game to a mutual benefit to a genuine connection a long time ago. So far as she was concerned it didn’t need defining. Loyalty like that shouldn’t. But he was always poking at it, like he was afraid it’d puff away like smoke on a sharp breeze.
What Nox needed was someone, and she wasn’t under much illusion about her role in that. She was a habit he was afraid to kick because he’d lost almost everything else. And given his unusual greeting at the door, she expected something had happened to trigger off his neediness now. This was the first time he’d ever tracked her down without her consent. That wasn’t exactly normal for him.
She didn’t move away. If he closed the distance she wouldn’t stop him. From kissing her, at least; she wasn’t unmindful of her mother’s breakdown behind the bedroom door. But she didn’t move closer either. “What happened?” she said instead. Ori knew where they stood, not least because he’d told her before. She knew that the fact he’d resolved his issues with the horde didn’t mean they couldn’t enjoy one another in boredom or comfort or whatever other excuse they found. “You have an argument?”
RE: Connections - Nox - 10-27-2026
Nox cocked an eyebrow but that was the extent of his reaction other than to settle his placement in front of her, neither getting closer or moving away. Oriena was asking -- Oriena never asked if she didn't truly want the answer. And while her mother sat the other side of the closed door, he was pretty sure having sex right there and now might not be the best thing. But he wanted to closeness -- needed it. He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against hers briefly before pulling back and sitting on his heels.
"You were right." He smirked she was right a lot. He didn't say about what. "Came to a realization about the non-existent future. Felt sorry for myself and took it out on Hayden. Who like you set boundaries from the get go. Except he crosses them in little ways that make me doubt everything." He sighed. That was enough to say what went wrong -- why he was here, but he didn't stop. The rest he said in hushed whisper -- not ashamed, but like it was a secret he didn't want to share with anyone -- not even himself. "I needed to be with someone who I wasn't chasing." Not that he wouldn't chase her. If she wanted that. But romance and tenderness were far from their thing. He'd come with the horde in hand because that's what she liked -- wanted. What she'd offered to help him feed.
He didn't want her to think he didn't appreciate her. He added a little bit louder. "Someone who wanted to be here." With me. He didn't add out loud.
Though he doubted his words, coming here without her consent, interrupting her life and now stuck in the same room after things he should never have seen. It could all disappear.
And the same defeated feeling flooded his body though there was no fury in it anymore. He'd fucked up his life. But it wasn't just that, he was pretty sure that Raffe never really wanted the same thing and it would have died some other way. He growled and moved back to sit on his ass and took up a lotus pose resting his hands palm up on his knees and taking slow deep breathes. "I won't make things worse. I'll keep my mouth fucking shut. But you know that's hard. I've been working on some Russian dishes for Jules... To endear myself to your mother after my talk of monsters."