1. Aarno

    Private Snow Melt

    Too much? He was left with his smiles and tease, properly deservedly, but hardly sorry for it. The trees gave way to something rather storybook and though a change in subject occurred, unbidden it was not. They’d earned a wealth of traveling for today and the dark here fell fast after the Sun...
  2. Aarno

    Private Objects, Affections

    Frayed as himself was at the edges, he tensed up against the heft come leaning against him. From her clutches he’d free but the one hand, more for him than for her, that he may wrap an arm around her shoulders. It was hard to listen to the sobbing, beneath which he merely exhaled, long and weary...
  3. Aarno

    Private Objects, Affections

    He felt at the way she gripped him in turn, tips of his fingers brushing over her taut knuckles in a whisper of a touch. Something idle as she spoke, a meager bit of comfort to make up for how he failed to hold her gaze, letting his own dip away to the sliver of space betwixt them. Suppose she...
  4. Aarno

    Private Snow Melt

    It was so. And he affirmed with a nod of the head, small and easily forgotten to the bob of the ride. Her words though — he’d remember those, the last notion drawing him to relent, to gaze at her again. Not dull, not boring, not drab. That was most of his worries gone now wasn’t it. With that...
  5. Aarno

    Private Snow Melt

    No objection, truly? He let himself sink back to the depth of his seat with new temperance, one he was want to force upon himself. Made an effort to nod in understanding, despite his lack of it. What was there to take, but the words and the smiles as they were, even if he’d perhaps hoped for...
  6. Aarno

    Private Snow Melt

    The quiet wasn’t for long, made shorter by not having a word for how he felt about it. Suppose it had been peaceful enough, the type that could bear being left to it’s devices. From it, two emerged all too soon. The hint of that thought was in the arch of the brows from beneath which he peered...
  7. Aarno

    Private Snow Melt

    Success enough, the jest. He could listen to that laugh all day. But it didn’t do to fill the belly with merely a sweet thing — had never satisfied him either, not entirely. A dash of something else was there when she gave response and urged her horse ahead once more, so certain in both. All...
  8. Aarno

    Private Snow Melt

    Funny, is it? His face contorted to a dog’s grin at the word, seriousness banished and tension bleeding out from every fiber. “ Why — Because I build them? “ He inclined his chin proudly, sat a little taller. “ Or are you perhaps supernaturally privy to my ardent fancy for breaching them? With...
  9. Aarno

    Private Snow Melt

    Fine report. The terribly professional praise had him bring a gloved palm to his heart, a pronounced pat like that of a man thoroughly flattered. The smile he took on was solemn, almost repentant, eyes pointed somewhere away. Like hers were. “ Thank you, Captain. I should be very glad indeed. “...
  10. Aarno

    Private Snow Melt

    Svala picked up on the slowing pace ahead before he did, its mouth working the bit and head arching, ears twisted back. He didn’t have to urge it to do anything, just shifted posture back from where he’d been hovering on instinct and muttered his easy affirmations as the gallop ground down. It...
  11. Aarno

    Private Snow Melt

    He was too old for this, surely. Frivolity, wind in his hair. And yet— “ Yes, Helena! You do. ” He answered, honesty in his eyes and the twist of a grin in his mouth, baring the sliver of sharp teeth. Baited breath catching in his throat as lungs pulled in huffs of the fast passing air. “...
  12. Aarno

    Private Objects, Affections

    Confuses me? Despite himself, he kept his sombre expression exactly as it were. This time he could bear the accusation. Not let it settle on his shoulders, but instead shrug it away as one did any which feeble thing. Just words, his own remaining low and patient as he spoke in turn. “ Yes. I am...
  13. Aarno

    Private Objects, Affections

    He didn’t leave any of his things behind. Just pulled the bedclothes to a bundle, scraped together the remaining parts of himself and picked up the mattress off the bed. Thankfully, it was not just straw with a sheet over it. He didn’t look at anyone on his way, just marched on with the thing...
  14. Aarno

    Private Snow Melt

    Quest and graces — thrill lurched in his chest, twisting the heart in a way that was both pleasant and unnerving. He huffed out a breath through his nose, half a laugh, head tossing with feigned daring and pride. “ Maybe! But my curiosity reigns over my worry. “ He shouted to the wind, blind to...
  15. Aarno

    Private Objects, Affections

    He didn’t know what it was he felt, watching her come closer with her thanks and then away again, extending invitation. With that bit of crucial detail added in at the very end. What was there but to nod to that, all of it, grave-faced despite the tension unspooling in his chest. Still, what he...
  16. Aarno

    Private Objects, Affections

    No. No one has to be anything. He almost said it out loud too, but restrained himself. Merely hovered there, eyeing her shape in the gloom as it remained clutching the doorhandle. Almost thankful he couldn’t see her expression, nor she his. He stared, terribly aware of the depth of his own...
  17. Aarno

    Private Where the Light Returns

    His smile didn’t falter, just grew sharper in the eyes as the man went on. Called him out, all in good fun. Unsheathing the small knife at his belt he slashed into the butter and scooped up an unruly square of it. Spread it haphazardly on the slice of bread in hand, shrugging. “ One to speak of...
  18. Aarno

    Private Objects, Affections

    No pleasant memories. He watched as she stood, bobbing his head just the once. Slid his arm off the table and levered himself up, slinging his pack over one shoulder. As they went, meandering past the revelry and the waking of a too damn early morning, he kept to her side. The mere inch apart...
  19. Aarno

    Private Objects, Affections

    It was terribly pleasant until it wasn’t. The dumb fucks sure dared to stir like he wasn’t even there, right next to her, and that rankled almost as much as what they actually did. He’d rotated on his seat and swung one leg over the bench in an instant, about to get up and go acquaint the most...
  20. Aarno

    Private Objects, Affections

    The lads have their nets out, alright. Obnoxious. He stared at her drink as she offered it, or rather, passed it over. Shifted his look to middle distance and leaned his shoulder against hers, playing the pretense of casual conversation. “ Let’s. “ And simple as that, he put his tankard down...
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