Running

[rhiannon_lee]

Nighttime in Cottonwood Cove was a spectacle: a pale, pebble-strewn ground underfoot, ghostly Joshua trees twisting against a barren landscape, and a sky so black and velvety that Rhiannon longed to touch it. The moon hung low and full as she knocked at the front door of Cian’s little cottage, which had been built by a wealthy contractor as a getaway spot for his family during the construction of the Hoover Dam in the 1930s. With all that was temporary or mobile in this part of Clark County, Rhiannon appreciated the historical aspects of its framework, and how it lent a sense of time and place to an otherwise transient community.

The slayer’s dark hair was combed into a ponytail. After the sun went down, the desert temperature dropped sharply, and so she wore a loosely knit sweater over her tank top, jeans, and boots. A delicate crucifix glinted on her collarbone. She crossed her ankles and slipped her thumbs into her hip pockets as she waited for the Were to answer.

Comments

Running

[cian_oneill]

Even with the drop in temperatures Cian didn't feel the need to wear anything to protect from the cold, his clothing consisting of only a t-shirt and shorts when he answered the door, barefoot. He had a towel in his hand, clearly having been drying his hair after a shower.

"C'mon in," he said simply, standing back to make way for Rhiannon to enter the cabin. The room was comfortably furnished, a leather sofa defining a boundary between the living room and dining area. The floor in front of the couch was covered with a large handwoven Turkish rug, clearly worn in spots. A single arm chair was on the opposite side of the room, a lamp standing behind it, a small side table holding a couple of books and letter writing pad and pen. On the wall behind the armchair were some shelves, some containing books, others a collection of jars which to the unknowing eye would appear to be just a collection of decoratively eclectic shaped and coloured glass bottles, each with a stopper of a different type and size. Next to them were some bunches of dried flowers, or at least that's what they looked like to the ignorant observer.

The wooden dining table was large, the surface worn and full of character, small dents and marks carrying stories that would remain untold, unless tables were made to talk. The chairs that surrounded it were mismatched, some with cushions, some with arms, some simple wooden backed and basic.

The kitchen, at the far end of the open space, a bench forming the island barrier between it and the dining table, was the only sign of 'modern' life. A large refrigerator sat in the corner, a gas range lined the far wall, and a double stainless steel sink finished up the triangle, set into the bench that ran the full width of the kitchen, and swept around the corner to complete the area. Copper pots and a large frypan were hung from hooks and glass-fronted cupboards revealed a larder and a collection of crockery.

Against the wall to the left of the front door was a large sideboard, two framed pictures being the only items on it's surface. One was an older picture, a young family, mother, father and three children, clearly posing for a family portrait. The other one held a more recent, but still older photo of a older woman and Cian, flanked by a young man and woman.

Re: Running

[rhiannon_lee]

Rhiannon was met with a rush of warm air and the scent of magics, or at least, a scent that she associated with them. In her housing in England, there were rooms where cabinets held jars of musky roots and dried leaves, and compartmentalized boxes were filled to the brim with rough-edged minerals. Incense burned as watchers experimented with new warding spells. What didn’t stink of magic stank of wilting books and dust, or worse, old sweat in the room where the first months of physical training occurred. A modern London pulsed outside; an ancient history dwelled within the stone walls. Rhiannon had taken long runs in the morning, while the light was low, breathing deep to cleanse her lungs, then lit a cigarette and undid it.

Here, it was softer, less calamitous.

It also smelled of Cian.

She stepped across the threshold. “Hey.” Rhiannon placed a gentle palm on his stomach and scratched lightly as she passed him. “Been a while.” That bit, she said with an uplifted eyebrow and a little curve at the corner of her mouth. The brunette touched the back of the couch. There was a lot to be learned in his belongings, things that Cian did not offer aloud, not unless he was asked. She supposed it was true of her, too. What would he think of her living space? She took in as much as possible in one sweep of the room, including photographs of his family. A younger Cian, a brighter smile, already a little cocky, she thought.

Re: Running

[cian_oneill]

He left the door open, the cooler night air of the desert allowed to enter and cool the interior of the cabin. His eyes followed her as she crossed the room, the towel in his hand scrubbing at the back of his neck, collecting the last of the water droplets that had collected in the strands of hair. He slung the towel over his shoulder as he walked across to where she was standing, leaning down to kiss her, a soft purr felt, rather than heard. As mouths parted his eyes met hers. "It has."

Re: Running

[rhiannon_lee]

Rhiannon tilted her head and the soft ends of her ponytail danced on her shoulder. She fiddled with the neck of his t-shirt, where his hair had dripped and left a damp spot that his towel didn’t catch. “I thought about you. A little. Once.” She tapped his chin and then, with fascination, she traced her index finger down to his Adam’s apple and the hollow above his clavicle, searching out and finding the source of the vibration. Cupping a hand around the base of his scalp, Rhiannon leaned into the shelter underneath his chin and kissed the muscles nearest his voice box. Tongue’s tip grazed the shaven skin, which tasted of his soap.

She withdrew.

Re: Running

[cian_oneill]

His eyelids lowered a little, hiding the flecks of gold that appeared then faded just as quickly. The cool of the evening air highlighting the trail her tongue had taken. His head lowered again, this time the kiss carrying an edge to it, lips pressing a little more firmly, tongue seeking access, tasting, claiming and inviting, as his fingers cradled the back of her head.

Re: Running

[rhiannon_lee]

Breathless. A sudden urge to climb up Cian’s torso and curl her knees around his ribcage.

No. No no, she thought. Bad.

Rhiannon strained away from the kiss, which wasn’t an easy feat. “I would say it was smart to leave the door open, but knowing us?” It didn’t matter. She slapped the seat of his shorts. “C’mon, we’re supposed to… fuck, what are we supposed to do? I can’t think.” She closed her eyes.

Re: Running

[cian_oneill]

"Run," he said simply. Already every nerve and sense in his body was heightened, and the kiss had only magnified that. He walked past her, padding bare foot across the living room and into the hall that led down past two bedrooms to a bathroom at the end. He hung the towel up, flicked off the light and returned to the living room.

Re: Running

[rhiannon_lee]

“Right. Where is my mind?” she murmured and leaned against the back of the leather couch. Fingernails tapped rhythmically on the smooth fabric as her ankles crossed for the second time; perhaps she should stand that way always. Squeeze her legs until reason returned.

‘Now you look like you have to pee.’

Rhiannon determined that she needed a decent fight; that’s why she was wound so tight.

“I’m ready when you are.”

Re: Running

[cian_oneill]

Just before reaching the living room Cian stripped off his shirt and shorts, dropping them on a chair just next to the hallway entrance. His head leaned from one side to the other, stretching his neck and his eyes flickered. A soft thud could be heard as large paws landed on the wooden floor, a slight hiss of breath as lungs shifted inside changing ribcage, spine changing and skin encasing it all become encased in fur.

Siofra padded around the end of the lounge, eyes now gold, with tiny flecks of green.

Re: Running

[rhiannon_lee]

“Hey, you.” Rhiannon watched the cat slink ever closer. She kept her fingers open and loose at her sides, in case he wanted to sniff her hand. Again she was struck by the oddity of having Cian one moment and this magnificent animal the next, and while there was some overlap between them, they also existed distinctly from one another. Not for the first time, she wondered how it would be to slice all that made her a slayer away from her normal self and stand them side by side. But she wasn’t sure the latter existed anymore.

“You ready to go?”

She waited for the animal to take the lead this time.

Re: Running

[cian_oneill]

The large head turned, an ear flicked, and he padded across to the screen door. A push of a nose and the door opened, the shoulders pushing forward and body following, down the stairs and across into the shadow of the tree just near the front door. With barely any movement of his head, just a light swiveling of ears, Siofra started moving, a trot that covered the ground steadily, heading across the road and through the scrubby bushes and rocks that littered that side of the road. With a couple of leaps the ridge was soon topped, and there he paused, looking over his shoulder. An indiscernible twitching of his nose assessed the wind and movements of life nearby as eyes scanned the surrounding area.

Re: Running

[rhiannon_lee]

Rhiannon’s sweater was comfortable now, but it wouldn’t be when she began to run. Her slender arms carried it overhead and dropped it on his couch. Making note of the Cougar’s direction through the screen door, she tugged off her jeans and worked them over her boots. A pair of tight, thin shorts kept her decent. The hiking boots were a recent purchase for the local terrain and she kept them on for the run, because she knew that several of the native snakes were poisonous and running shoes were no protection.

She closed the front door and eased the screen shut, as well. In a few short moments, she gained the ridge and looked across the desert at Siofra’s side. A brisk wind whistled past her ears. Although the cat was likely to scent sufficient pray for himself, there was no trace of hers, and for now that was fine. Rhiannon smiled and made the leap. The soles of her boots gripped the scraggly plants and shifting sediment as she started to run, darting around the larger boulders, leaping over those small enough to top without breaking her speed. Her leg muscles stretched pleasantly as she lengthened her stride. It wasn’t the towering cityscapes she had grown used to, but she felt the same freedom from the world.

The moon peeked from behind a smattering of high, icy clouds.

Re: Running

[cian_oneill]

He turned to watch her run, a flicker of green illuminating the golden irises, black slits accentuated by both. Muscle, bone and fur melded into movement that saw the cat start into a long steady lope, keeping pace behind the Slayer, at times diverting from the path she'd taken to take a slightly different one, then later converging on it again, after sensing the area around them.

[rhiannon_lee]

As she ran, a strange thing began to happen to her. This was release of her abilities – strength, agility, speed, endurance – that had nothing to do with violence, a manner of releasing steam that did not call upon the slow poisoning of her body through substance. She was alive and in darkness. Alone and yet not. No conflict and no pain. Faster she chased the long shadows of the desert, stopping only to climb another rock. A sheen of sweat made the air feel icy on her arms, legs, and neck.

She wanted to fly.

Rhiannon ran until her lungs burned and her skin prickled. Always within earshot or eyesight there was Siofra. Cian.

The nocturnal animals of the desert stilled as the pair passed them. The bottom of Rhiannon’s boot grazed the back of a jackrabbit as she climbed a summit and stopped long enough to listen to a coyote baying.

[cian_oneill]

The moonlight bathed the scenery, nocturnal creatures emerging into the brightness for them, only to scurry back into the protective snug of the shadows as the large cat and Slayer crossed the terrain as if owning it.

Lizards, needing the warmth of the sun for their energy remained in their hides as the vibrations came and went, the steady 2-beat of the human's boots, accompanied by the underlying 4-beat of the cat's paws from time to time. Siofra's eyes would be caught from time to time by the darting movement of a startled squirrel, or cottontail rabbit caught in the open by the speed of the two runners.

Siofra climbed to the summit where the Slayer stood, coming to a stop on the rock at the top, eyes half open as nostrils tested the air and ears swiveled for news on their surroundings.

[rhiannon_lee]

She lowered herself to haunches beside the cat, but her eyes were trained on the dry land that stretched before them. “What do you want?” she asked, just quiet enough for those flicking ears. She wondered what the cougar would do if she weren’t at his side, hunt a nocturnal creature and rend flesh from the bone? Run and run until he left the cove and its lake far behind? There were pieces of themselves they shared, and perhaps others that weren’t quite ready for one another’s eyes. Rhiannon didn’t know what she would do if Cian stumbled across her ripping a demon limb from limb, the way she sometimes needed to do, emerging from the battle covered in blood and slime and looking unusually happy about it.

Her fingers dug into the fur at Siofra’s neck and massaged it.

Running

[cian_oneill]

Siofra's head turned, eyes hooded but seeing, as the Slayer's fingers worked into the thick coat at the back of the big cat's neck. Slowly the mouth opened a little, the shape of the tongue becoming visible as the jaw continued to lower and a soft yawn was emitted. There was no tiredness evident, but instead an expression of relaxation only possible in those who could be alert in a heartbeat.

A few minutes passed and as if saying it had had sufficient Siofra stood and startd to make its way down the rocky face of the ridge, carefully traversing the scree and reaching the level surface before breaking into a trot, as if waiting for the Slayer to follow, but not stopping to do so.

Re: Running

[rhiannon_lee]

She held still to watch the descent of the cat because of its grace and musculature. Then Rhiannon stood and picked a path down the jagged hillside, and once her feet touched the gravelly earth at its base, she began to run alongside the cat in a pace not so urgent this time. A low rattle came from the underside of a nearby rock, but it was paid no mind as they were long out of range. The wind was at their backs now and it pressed them onward.

‘If only we were telepathic,’ thought Rhiannon as she watched all four of the animal’s legs leave the ground over and over again.

Re: Running

[cian_oneill]

Siofra's ear flicked and for a moment the animal's head turned, as if understanding what the Slayer had said in that moment. But attention was quickly returned to the path he was following winding up through a saddle of the small foothills, climbing up and down into another valley, the hills now hiding any evidence of civilisation from view, and them from any possible watchers.

Ten minutes later, in a small hidden valley, Siofra came to a halt and looked back over his shoulder as the Slayer came up beside him. Slowly he walked across the sandy floor toward a shadow that lay on the other wall, a ledge protruding from the wall of the valley creating the shadow which concealed the opening to a small cave. He continued inside, a short distance, just two of his body lengths, and the narrow passage opened into a small cavern. A ledge approximately three feet high, and four to five feet deep, traveled around the wall nearly eight feet. On the ledge lay scattered some crystals, various shapes and sizes, lit by the moon that was passing directly overhead a shaft that cut down through the rock over the ledge.

Re: Running

[rhiannon_lee]

The moonlight traveling into such a small, enclosed space meant that it had multiple planes to illuminate, and that light reflected onto her skin as well as the gemstones and minerals. It was beautiful. The wind whistled keenly between the narrow crevices of the cavern, one of many enclaves in a desert that had been settled for silver mining. Rhiannon’s fingers lit on the rock wall and traced a glistening vein from the cavern’s entrance until it disappeared in shadow. It was a special place. One of power, she thought, and traced the smallest of engraved shapes in the rock… one she couldn’t be certain was natural or manmade.

She lowered her hand and walked into the center of the room, where the view of the sky was best, and looked up to see a clutch of stars in a constellation she didn’t know.

"Cian," she said.

Re: Running

[cian_oneill]

The big cat was sitting, tail curled around his paws, when she spoke. As if understanding her the large furred head rolled from one side to the other, then lowered, shoulders hunching forward a fur receded. A few moments later the man was there, sitting on his haunches for a moment, before slowly standing, the moon washing down over him where he stood in the middle of the circle of light.

Re: Running

[rhiannon_lee]

Rhiannon heard the soft noises of his shift and turned around, her hiking boot scuffing on the sand that covered the rock floor. He was there. She placed her fingertips on his cheek and lifted herself on her toes to kiss him. It was a delicate gesture, feather-light, her guard not only lowered, but gone, and she didn’t think about it until her eyes opened.

“I trust you, too.”

That flipped her stomach inside out, and she had done it to herself, which made it no less true. The man had shown her his secret self, let her into his home, and shown her a place he had every sensible right to keep to himself. The least she could do was admit he had her faith.

Re: Running

[cian_oneill]

He nodded once, a small inclination of the head, the slightest of movements, but it carried the weight of knowledge that her words carried truth. His hands rose till they rested on her hips and his head bowed until his lips met hers. Eyes met and locked for a long moment as unspoken messages, questions, flew back and forth, received and being digested. As eyelids slowly lowered and removed that sense from them both, another was enabled, one that needed the purity of the moment to be born. This time it was answers that were exchanged, no visual flow, no words, no sounds, just the kinesthetic communication that came so rarely in such a pure form.

Re: Running

[rhiannon_lee]

Rhiannon swallowed hard. Eyes closed and wordless, yet she would swear that she knew what he was feeling – and that she was laid bare, too. More than that, Cian had heard her through Siofra’s ears. He was there. The slayer’s fingers curled into his biceps. “You’re undoing me.” It was his honesty, his connection to the earth, his simplicity, and how he removed the toxicity without lifting a finger to change her circumstances. Standing in this emotional proximity, it seemed so much more naked than skin or words. It was a dare to keep standing there, because there was a less-than-bold part of Rhiannon that wanted to run outside and keep going, high-tail it to her car, pull down the visor mirror, and slap herself back into reality.

Instead, she pressed her temple into his cheek and breathed out. “You have me.”

And then, quieter, “Shit.”

Re: Running

[cian_oneill]

There was no world outside at that moment, it had been suspended, rendered insignificant by the powers that ran through the earth and rock and night sky.

And the soft laugh that followed Rhiannon's utterance seemed to ripple through the dark to seal the moment for the three of them. "Lovely sentiment," came the soft lilt, the smile on his face clear, but no indication as to which of her utterances was drawing the descriptor. But the humour could be felt, like a warm wash across limbs and mind.

Cian himself wasn't exactly sure what had taken place, but the urgent need to bring her there, then, that night, had proven to be as important as he had felt it to be. He took her hand and turned toward the ledge, crossing toward it where the scattered crystals lay bathed in the cleansing moonlight, each a different size and shape. He ran his eyes over them, one drawing him to it. He picked it up and held it in his palm, looking at her briefly then at the crystals again.