With Our Arms Unbound (Marcus/Esca,R)

[ariadnes_string]

Inadvertently, carmarthen got me to write my first Marcus/Esca fic since March. It’s a sequel to “In Any Tongue,” and pretty self-indulgent on a number of level. (written fast and un-beta’d

Comments

[carmarthen]

Eeeeeeeee, I am glad you are writing this fandom again. This is fantastic.

Marcus shied away from him abruptly. “No-Esca-no-I-.” He stood and stared at Esca, eyes wide, lips parted, like a cruelly-broken horse that panics at the bit.

Oh god, poor Marcus. This is--yeah. Ow.

But Marcus seemed satisfied by the sight. “Are there words?” he asked, holding his bleeding arm parallel to Esca’s. “Do we say words?”

He would ask about words.

This whole thing is just gorgeous, and it feels like a beginning, like even though it will be hard they will find a way to work everything out.

[ariadnes_string]

Aw, thank you for the jumpstart--I love the characters, but thought I had run out of ideas for them. And I'm glad Marcus's reactions rang somewhat true. I hope it could be a beginning for them--I love that their feelings for each other are so strong.

[carmarthen]

I hope you will find more ideas for them!

[ariadnes_string]

me too!

[robanybody]

Oh, your writing is so beautiful and lyrical. There's so much tangible feeling between Marcus and Esca, whether it's fear or love or anger, and even their smallest actions have so much weight and meaning with the way you write them. God, and the description of the blood bond was so quiet and raw and poignant. When Esca leaned his head down and pressed his mouth to Marcus's wound, my heart ached because it was such a tender gesture and said more about their love for each other than actual words.

Absolutely gorgeous and I love it. I'm always happy when you write in this fandom because it's always an amazing story that touches my heart. ♥

[ariadnes_string]

thank you so much for the lovely comment! All the lyricism and similes were part of the self-indulgence, so I'm glad they weren't too annoying. And one of the things I love about these characters is how deep, deep, deep their feelings are for one another--so that everything is so charged.

I'm so glad you enjoyed the fic--thanks for reading!

[ladytiferet]

That was beautiful, this mix of desperation, pain and affection :)

[ariadnes_string]

thank you so much--I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[linaerys]

I love this, and like all the best stories, it leave me wanting more, of how they deal with everything from here.

I especially love the ship metaphor working through this, and not just in what they say to each other. It nicely foreshadows their journey to Spain.

[ariadnes_string]

Thank you! It is interesting to think about how they might deal with things--both of them being more stoic than patient, so to speak....

I was a little slap happy with the metaphors here, so I'm glad that one worked okay. I do love the idea of them in Spain. There's a great set-piece about horse fairs in Iberia in Sutcliff's Sword at Sunset (the Arthur character goes to buy bigger warhorses)--it's insanely slashy, and I just imagine Marcus and Esca there :)

[flwrpwr_vampyre]

This is a fantastic sequel. I love how they deal with what happened before without ever actually dealing with it, if that makes sense.

[ariadnes_string]

Thank you! That makes perfect sense, and I'm glad it worked okay--I couldn't imagine them sitting down to talk things through--but they care so much about each other they'd have to do something.

Thanks for reading and commenting!