infold

       her nails dug into his skin in sharpness and yet  • @lafaeys •
                     her eyes remained the thing that cut him deeper and carved him sharper than anything else.  he welcomed the throbbing of his wrist, it was less than he deserved for not being near her.   her words echoed in his mind, lingering guilt and regret suffocating him.   if only..
            
                   "the sea is not for the weak,  sybil.    yet, it is my duty, one I can't deny.."  he spoke, his tongue coming to a pause as her spared a glance to his wrist and then to her eyes, letting his feet step just a bit closer to her.  perhaps there was no greater law of attraction than that of a man with deep thirst for something just outside of his reach.  
             " no matter how much I [want] to."    he spoke the words clear enough for her ears as her let his hand raise her chin just a bit higher before letting go of it entirely, the back of his fingers traveling to her opposite cheek to wipe it clean just like he had done with the other. 
            
                   "the nightmares..are they persistent?"  he asked with the softness that still existed within him in between his lungs since back then.   perhaps it was too much to ask, yet he took the chance for worry was all he felt all these years, along with the inevitable tearing of his heart.     and now, her eyes spoke of tiredness, of exhaustion other than that of flesh and muscle and that made his worry once again crawl from the pit of his stomach, his jaw set tight as he thought of the time apart he had been inflicted upon.      fate could be quite a cruel thing.

⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⋆ ⠀he was neither a friend nor a lover. a creature, however, caught somewhere in the myriad of her pain and anguish.       the sapphire of her gaze traversed with a quickness she never knew she possessed. starkly, she observed him.       the curve of his shoulders to the breadth of his chest, and trickling past to his waist, then slowly, as if she were observing a wounded cat. sybil’s gaze lowered to his legs. all of /him/ felt vast, larger than life.       the face and the voice of the same man she had befriended since childhood, yet; he felt a stranger, a stagnant poise settling over him. he was /different,/ his voice had deepened, his cheeks had sharpened, and his eyes.. they were haunted.          sybil turned her face away from his sharp eyes. the cool press of his fingers on her chin made her flatten her lips, brows creasing into a narrow look; until she dragged her gaze back to him. ⋆
            
            ⠀⠀ ⠀is that all you have to say? ⠀ ⋆  the words cleaved out in a bitter breath of sound. without much vigor. she caught his wrist, unintentionally digging the sharp of her nails into the soft, fleshy flesh of it. she could barely wrap her fingers around it. ⋆

    The tremble of her voice came first  • @lafaeys •
                      and then came the overwhelming ache that pierced through his heart at the sight of her tear streaked face.      raven eyebrows knit together at the sight as silence engulfed the space between them, his hand twitching with the unbearable need to close this silence and gather her in his arms. to ease her worries, her pain, in ways their current relationship left no room for. in ways that could endanger them both, or...
            
                  matvey shook his head before swallowing the lump against his throat.  after a few moments of their extended silence he decided to close the distance. swift steps of his booted feet took him towards her, only to pause just a step away from her.  his eyes scanned her face in detail now as he carefully placed his hand underneath her chin to raise her head up and capture her gaze -oh what a gaze that was- with a gentleness he had forgotten he could possess.  he let his thumb pass over her left cheek, wiping the remnants of her tears away. as if that would be enough to erase her pain and sorrow. as if that could fix the problem.          his after the long moment of letting his gaze get lost into his, his lips moved.              "cruelty..  perhaps you are right.   I am my parent's child and we haven't seen each other in quite some time.   cruelty has become the only blanket on my shoulders."      he spoke, his voice softened nowat the edges.    he should let her go.   he should increase their distance once more and for all.  she was and is...too precious to be burdened by the burning ship his life has turned into.  they had been separated for far too long and he had hardened in ways even his own heart and soul did not expect.  yet now, he found himself glued into place, her chin in his hand, her gaze in possession.  he found himself what he had been ever since a long, long time before.  a hopeless prisoner.