Fire Your Guns

[adeptible]

Who; adeptible, suaveleather, neverabard, staynoble
What; Starwind is waking up~
Where; THE MAGIC TREEHOUSE
When; Thursday, evening
Rating; PG - there are children present
Status; Ongoing, closed

Comments

[suaveleather]

The room was unnaturally quiet and after days residing in it, barely moving except for a slow pace when muscles needed to stretch, Zevran felt he was going to go mad. He had spent plenty of time thinking in the eerie silence, watching the slow rise and fall of his lover's chest. It had given him too much time to accept what he had been afraid of. He was oh so very attached to this man and he would not recover if Starwind would never wake up.

When the others had joined him in the room he had allowed himself to take up a relaxing position and only his quick reflexes had given him away. As soon as the tablet hit the floor Zevran was by Starwind's side, leaning slightly over so his blonde hair fell forward, forming a curtain so only his lover could see the concern on his face. Soon it was replaced with a wide grin of relief.

"Good morning." His voice was soft and he had to remember the others were in the room as well. Oh well, they would have to deal with it. He placed a soft, adoring kiss on Starwind's lips before stepping back to let the others greet him.

[neverabard]

Vanyel's head jerked up at the voice that broke what felt like a never ending silence. Relief flooded through him. Aerie hadn't been sure when he would wake up, and after days Vanyel was beginning to doubt...

"Starwind..." He got to his feet, waiting until Zevran broke away before moving closer, hovering awkwardly near the bed.

[staynoble]

As soon as she heard Starwind's voice, Utena looked up from the roses she brought for him. She went up to Starwind and was about to speak up but Zevran beat her to it. The silence had been awkward for the most part, since she had no idea of the relationships between those in the room with her.

The kiss she just witnessed had her for a surprise, but she quietly smiled at that, her face clearly saying, "Oh, they're together."

[adeptible]

He saw all of the concern, and he didn't really know what he should say to assuage it all. Somehow, he managed a small smile for Zevran as the elf pulled back, but then his eyes drifted around the room again, looking at everyone who watched him. He'd made all of them worry, and some seemed to be taking it harder than others. Selfish, and he closed his eyes again, trying to push himself into a sitting position, finding himself too exhausted to make it there and eventually collapsing back onto the pillows.

"I am sorry."

[suaveleather]

After several days of being by Starwind's side it had become second nature to watch his blond lover at all times. A trait that seemed beneficial at the moment as he took in Starwind's small smile which soon faded away. No, he did not like it when his lover was sad. Not at all. Zevran smirked, raising an eyebrow.

"Ah yes, how dare you fall victim due to your love for others? Shame on you." He scoffed lightly before taking Starwind's hand in his, tan fingers threading through pale ones. "There is nothing to be sorry for, my Starwind. You were taken advantage of and it is wrong to blame the victim."

[neverabard]

Vanyel raised an eyebrow at Utena' reaction, but said nothing else. He had imagined the things he would say to Starwind when he finally awoke, but none of it left his mouth. Zevran seemed to be handling the speaking part fine.

Everything that Van wanted to say or ask about Brightstar would have to wait until Starwind was more recovered.

[staynoble]

"You don't have to apologize." Utena replied after Zevran. "We're all glad that you're okay." And she still felt bad, not knowing that the son was a demon. How could she have known? No idea, but she could have at least kept up with the conversation.

She glanced over at Van, wondering why he was being so quiet.

[adeptible]

Zevran's hand in his own felt just a little too warm--but then, that could have been that he felt himself just a little too cold. Still, he managed another small smile at the joke, but as he looked around the room again, and remembered what had happened and why he was lying in the bed, it again dropped.

"I should have known. It was not him and I should have known."

[suaveleather]

Starwind's hands were entirely too cold so Zevran placed another over the one in his hand, fingers rubbing of the covering hand rubbing the captured pale hand in order to create heat. He kept smiling as he looked around the room, waiting for Utena and Vanyel to speak. Vanyel appeared to have something on his mind yet Zevran had no intention of leaving his lover's side.

[neverabard]

The others were noticing his silence, and so he looked down at Starwind and shook his head.

"You weren't the only one tricked. I knew there was something wrong with him... it, but I couldn't attack either..." And, because he's feeling watched and slightly uncomfortable for it--

:We can't lose you. Please don't ever do that again.:

[staynoble]

"A demon came to me too. There was something about it that made me hesitate to attack it until I had help." Utena said as she shuffled her feet. "What I mean is...you couldn't have known, not at first. I don't know much about these demons but nobody had an easy time with them."

[adeptible]

If he weren't so exhausted, he might have squeezed Zevran's hand in some attempt to be reassuring, but as it was, all that happened when he tried was a kind of pathetic twitch as he closed his eyes again, responding first verbally, still feeling guilty despite reassurances.

"I should have known."

And then he had to respond to Vanyel, taking the hint from his student and using Mind instead of voice.

:I will make no promises I cannot keep, ke'chara. You know as well as I what duty often requires.:

[suaveleather]

Zevran chuckled, almost bitterly though it was mostly masked with his normal amusement. "No, my dear Starwind, there was no way you would have known. I have encountered these demons before, they are native to my home, so believe me when I say that many good men have fallen to their manipulations. They saw what was important to you and used it as a weakness. It is not your fault."

[neverabard]

Van's expression had that slightly glazed over look of someone having a Mindspeak conversation, but his brow is furrowed.

:And you should know that there's no reason for needless sacrifice.:

There was more he wanted to say, but he shook his head, trying to catch what the other two were saying. He looked at Utena as she mentioned dealing with a demon herself, and then back to Starwind.

"Listen to them." Since you won't listen to me.

[staynoble]

Zevran knew of them too? Utena had briefly talked to Fenris about them. Were they that common, wherever they're from? Euugh. She couldn't imagine having to deal with that every day, if so. How Zevran laughed things off like that, she will never know. She was perhaps the least aware in this room. She felt like she was missing something but...

"Well. You're all right now, so that's the most important thing," she said with a reassuring smile.

[adeptible]

He couldn't quite bring himself to believe that, but he fell silent instead of trying to come up with some answer--anything they wanted to hear would have been a lie, as far as he was concerned--he should have been able to tell the difference between a demon and his son. He didn't even answer Vanyel's "silent" sentence--he couldn't lie mind-to-mind anyway, and nothing that he had to say Vanyel would have enjoyed hearing.

He settled for raising his blue eyes to Zevran's face and, extremely slowly, raising his other hand to the elf's cheek; thankfully, they were warming the longer he stayed awake.