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Post by Ruby on Jan 23, 2013 1:37:23 GMT -5
Warm. It was the first feeling her mind supplied her, it was heavenly, blissful, she could not remember the last time she had felt so weightless. To be free of that dreadful cold that chipped at her skin and tried to drag her down into its icy depths...death had been waiting in its wings, grinning with malicious intent and cruelty. It had watched her breath grow ragged and harsher, watched as she exploited her love for her lover one last time. Laughed as her broken ribs vibrated painfully against her lungs as she sunk further into the snow, cackled at her sorrow, even on her death bed, at her lovers warm tears. Her thoughts paused... that troll, that monstrous beast, it had crushed her. Had snapped several bones numerous times and quite possibly collapsed one of her lungs... but she felt no pain. It was impossible.
She forced herself to arouse from the dismal haze of the her deep slumber and slowly, slowly but surely she came back to the real world. There was no snow beneath her, no bitter chill seeping beneath her flesh... she was lying on something soft and something just as equally as divine rested a top her. She groaned softly blinking open emerald greens and closing them quickly at the intense glare of the sun. Blinking furiously she fought against the blinding sun and glanced about the opulance of the room. Beauty was carved in every wall and the blankets that lie upon her were of the most expensive materials and they glided across her flesh like water.
Pulling back the blanket her eyes roved the heavy, thick, white bandages that coiled around her chest and her leg. It was all she wore and even that hurt, but it was a dull pain, easily ignored... but how? Dorian was no medic, no doctor... he could not have healed her so well, but she knew this manor, she knew this room, knew the strong scent of cedar pines and something wickedly sinful that sent shivers down her spine. But how was she alive? It wasn't possible... was it?
"Dorian." Her voice sounded foreign to her own ears. Dry and cracking and her hand shot to her throat wincing slightly at how utterly pathetic his name had sounded. She forced herself to sit up, now beginning to panic slightly. "Dorian!"
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Post by Dorian Gray on Jan 23, 2013 21:15:46 GMT -5
Dorian sat in the corner of his bed chambers, close to the window but far enough removed from it so as not to be in the light that it cast into the room. He sat with a book in his hand, a writing by an old Protestant Reform humanist, Erasmus, and it made him think. It had been a long time since he'd been a student of the secular learning; it had been since before he was... transformed. He had once been a thinker and a youthful schoolboy, but that had been no more once he'd been blockaded from his soul by his mind. Now, this whole world had been opened once more to him, and he reveled in the newfound knowledge. It was a wonderful experience and a terrible thing, too, for ideas and knowledge were frightening.
Dorian had been keeping careful, loving watch over Ruby, occasionally looking up just to see her beautiful form breathing and wishing he'd not been so stupid as to never see that before. He would always hide his feelings from her, he would, but she at least needed to know that he cared. And he did not ever dare get angry with her again, for he'd seen near-death and had made a deal that affrighted him, all for the... love... of her. But he was not going to fret and not going to blame Ruby. It was his choice. And he was not going to let her know how much he hurt.
She awoke but he kept silent. He'd let her figure out he was here on her own time. He had decked her infinery, and he planned on continuing. "Sweetheart," he answered from the corner, voice low and playful. He grinned, wondering if she could see him. "I'm right here, darling," he mused, and closed his book. He placed it on the sill and stood up slowly, making his way to the bed, where he sat beside her and pulled the sheets back over her. "Lie thou there," he nodded gently. He wanted her to relax. He would take the greatest care of her from now on, if she'd allow. And if not... He stroked her face and said on a serious note, "Do you want to live with me? Do you love me enough to stay here for a... long time?" Or did she still love them at all?
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Post by Ruby on Jan 23, 2013 22:14:25 GMT -5
The cynical part of her brain scolded her for calling out to such a wicked creature? He had destroyed her, wounded her spirit and her heart in a way that she hadn't been entirely sure could ever be repaired. She thought he hated her, hated her for loving him, hated her for making him weak, for knowing his secrets, it was why she had set her mind to leaving in the first place. She had never wanted his hatred and if leaving him brought him the peace that she thought it would she would willing do it again.
She should have died, alone and shivering in the bitter ice of the snow. Her injuries had been so devastating, there was no way she should have survived... but he had followed her... but why, he hated her. So why... why... why... had he trailed her? Why had he sat beside her, why was he crying? And God did she remember his tears. They had snapped what little pieces of her heart had still clung to her. Why was she in his bedroom, why was she in his mansion, nothing made sense, and she was sore, but she had slept too long and she knew... she knew she needed to find him, and so the first words she had spoken from her almost death were most assuredly his name.
Sweetheart.
The endearment had been breathed in her ear, in her hair, along the length of her spine so many times, it was a second name to her. She knew that voice though both playful and coy and she smiled despite herself, her Dorian was back. Her head snapped in his direction, wincing slightly at the sudden movement but never closing her eyes, as his lithe form strode towards her, it was all she could do not to drool. She had never thought to see him again, and he being the first visage that graced her after her brush with death was a bit overwhelming.
"Dori...Dorian..." She breathed his name much softer now that he drew so close, willing her scattered thoughts to stop their incessant buzzing and focus. He pulled the sheets back up around her and panic quickly consumed her bright green eyes and she lunged forward. Tangling her fingers in his clothes and pulling her own body against his. She didn't want him to leave her, she had never wanted to leave. She buried her face in his chest, ignoring the shooting pains along her ribs and her leg. She needed his scent to ground her, his heart beat to chase away the growing panic within her, his warmth to chase away the numbness that had set about her soul... but then he was speaking and his words were enough to freeze her.
"But..."[/color] She pulled away, allowing herself just enough room to see those twin pools of onyx. "Love you? I love you too much, I have tortured you with it. I never meant to get...crushed... by trolls. I only meant to free you, I was the reason you were so angry, but if I stayed I could not keep away from you. You are like a drug to me I would never have been able to let you go... but you saved me."[/color] She realized she was rambling and probably not making a vast deal of sense and quickly shut her mouth. Shutting her eyes for a very brief moment to collect herself chewing her bottom lip thoughtfully.
"I love you. I meant it when I said I would forever. There's something about you... you call to me like a succubus. I love you too much to forfeit your happiness for my own. Do you truly want me to stay?"[/color]
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Post by Dorian Gray on Jan 23, 2013 22:45:12 GMT -5
"But I make such good use of human ignorance and imbecility, playing sometimes on forgetfulness of evils and other times on hope of good, sprinkling in a bit of pleasure here and there, that I bring mankind some relief from their accumulated woes."* Thus were the words he'd been reading. He knew these truths, he saw them in himself like a mirror. And as he stood here, before the woman who'd turned his life to another path, albeit he didn't know what kind, Dorian could not help but bite his lip in contemplation. He wanted to know what was going on, but there was no way for him to place it. All he knew right now was Ruby. All he knew was that he wouldn't be leaving by the same road that he'd come by. All he knew was that he was still an absolute mess who was determined to hold himself up in front of Ruby's careful eyes, and not tell her what he'd done to keep her here.
He was going to be the charismatic, charming man that she had fallen for now. Should she ask about what had saved her, he would have to dodge and find a way around the question. She did not need to know, at least until she was better. But it was fair to say that he'd made a deal he was scared to follow through with. He smiled upon her, willing her to be calm and not worry. But she was frantic, she was scared, and he had to be ready to help her, had to be here for her.
She pulled herself up to him and he muttered some quiet words to calm her, trying to get her to lay back down. "Stop, sweetheart. Lay down or you'll break, and then it will be longer until you can have your wicked ways with me again." He knew it was one thing that would at least get her attention. He touched her face with the side of his finger, gently caressing her and trying to calm her. He did not need her to be any worse off than she was; she was in his care now and forever he would be her servant. And he did not dare tell her the things that he'd done to make it so.
"You have not hurt me beyond reasonable repair," Dorian said, a bit too casually. "And you need not speak to me like that, sweetheart; you have saved me and I finally understand." He smiled at her, ran his fingers gently through her silky hair. Her emerald eyes reflected the sun and the light of a new day; Dorian took a deep breath. "I'm glad to hear that." He looked away. There was something he'd been wondering if he ought to ask her, but he shied away and instead said, "You may stay here with me as long as you so desire." He'd had union on his mind but doubt clouded it and he knew that he could never be the faithful, good man a wife would need.
*In Praise of Folly, Erasmus
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Post by Ruby on Jan 23, 2013 23:31:23 GMT -5
Red felt so lost, so distant in this world so familiar to her. For years she had lived alone, with naught but her grandmother for company and she had maintained that lifestyle with absolute strength. Numerous times suitors had come calling for her and numerous times she had shot them down. She didn't want attachments, attachments were weakness... until Dorian. The moment Dorian had beckoned to her, she had been damned. He made her blood boil in the most delicious of ways. He made her body sing with just the softest of caress, he embedded his scent, the touch of his skin, the memory of his kisses and the length of his body pressed so deeply into her own... that not even the most gorgeous of men so much as caught her glance. Her love for him was absolute. It consumed her and she had been willing to abandon her home all for the sake of his happiness. Damned indeed.
"Hmm..." [/color]She hummed against his chest, releasing her death grip on his clothing and slowly shifting so the pressure relieved itself from her side. She would not release him though. she kept her hands upon him. Gliding over his shoulders, across his pectorals, his abdominals, she had never believed he would offer her such impossibilities especially after the last two times they had met and it seemed now she could not let her senses fill enough of him. She snaked up the side of his body and nuzzled her nose into the slender column of his neck, nuzzling the soft flesh and laughing as his fingers traced a sensitive nerve along her jaw. "Wicked ways? I did not realize you detested my methods of seducing you... I would do so now if you did not think I was some fragile doll. I do not break so easily... unless of course you happen to be a troll."[/color] An aforementioned "wicked" purr rumbled through her vocals, and rather playfully, the wicked grin curling against his flesh, she gently trailed her tongue along the sensitive bit of skin just behind his ear before nipping it gently. "I already told you... I heal quickly."[/color]
She did not pull away from him as he answered her confession. She trailed her mouth almost lazily against the skin that she could reach and when she ran out of flesh to kiss and reached the edge of his clothing she pulled it out of the way until she could reach whatever else was barred to her. Pain or no pain she never could resist him.
"You should not make such dangerous promises Dori."[/color] Lazily she trailed her soft love bites back up his neck still speaking in that low purr she knew drove him to madness. She was tempting him and she knew it... how she did love to tempt him. "If it were my choice I would never leave you." [/color] A gentle bite to his Adams apple. "If it was my choice I would never stop tasting your skin."[/color] Her playful tongue traced the underside of his chin and her lips kissed the space between it and his lips. "If it were my choice I would build you a shrine... of course that would be composed of me anywhere you so chose, spread eagle and naked."[/color] And with wicked... wicked intent burning in emerald eyes she kissed him. This was not the burning, searing kisses of their past, her lips were saturated with the love she felt for him and she let him taste it, let him feel that she harbored no ill feelings for him. That she would love him, until her dying day.
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Post by Dorian Gray on Jan 24, 2013 21:33:34 GMT -5
Dorian wanted to go back, sometimes. He wanted to remember how it was to feel pleasure without emotion, because it had been a safe place. It had been somewhere where no one knew he was, where he could say anything and everyone would roll their eyes and know that Dorian was a whorish beauty. They didn't care about him. But that was the fourth wall; it was what Ruby had broken down and what had caused him to become so obsessed with melancholy. Such a thing was now gone, however.
He looked at Ruby and shook his head. She would not change; she would always be a constant in his life. He needed her, more than he would ever be willing or able to admit, and it pained him to watch her try and seduce him. His heart yearned to help her, but she didn't seem to want help. His body was drawn, as always, to her, and it was so hard to tell her what he did. "Ruby, you must stop." He tried to be forceful enough, but his voice was hollow with want. Not the same want, lust that first he'd felt with her. But now he felt something deeper, more... caring.
He continued to caress her cheek and though he was burning inside, he tried to think more of what would be best for her. She was not healed yet, and if he decided to do as she wanted and take her now, there was a good chance it would take her much longer to heal. He could not give into the whims that had once been his life. Gold had Dorian in his crafty, wicked hands now, and it had taught Dorian who he was. He was Ruby's caretaker, her protector. And he was not going to hurt her. A short sound escaped him and it should not have, but he ignored it. "Ruby, I will not do this to you right now, and you need to get better." Would he be able to stand against her, what with all this lucious, lovely teasing? He wanted to kiss her back, so, so much! But no--no, no, he couldn't.
"You don't understand how much I'd like to have you right now, Ruby, you don't, but I am not going to do that to you. I'm going to be a better man to you now, and that's not what you deserve." Dorian tried to beckon her to lay back down, even gave her a gentle kiss on the lips as persuasion. He wanted to be good. Not bad anymore, like he'd always been.
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Post by Ruby on Jan 24, 2013 22:10:25 GMT -5
Ruby frowned against his mouth when he did not indulge her kiss. She had expected him to groan to claim her, take her with a wild burning passion that she had so grown to love and in the morning, he forgot the promises he made to her. Those impossible impossibilities and they would make small talk, he would, more than likely, help her walk back to the Inn and then he would vanish, only to reappear when next he needed to vent. It was routine, it was the way their relationship worked. He would not change, he could not love, no matter how much she adored him and worshipped his body, she had long since come to terms with the knowledge that he would never love her... not like she craved him and after she had gotten over that initial heartache, she was fine, she loved him too much to ask him to change and she loved him too much to leave. A vicious, wicked circle, but one she had come to terms with.
But he would not kiss her back and suddenly a new panic blossomed in her chest, had he grown so tired of her that he no longer even wished for her body? Had she done something wrong? To displease him? He had never before rejected her even in his darkest of hours, pleasure was never something Dorian Grey halted, but before she could speak he beat her too it. She pulled back away from him, ceasing her forward actions, feeling ashamed for having thought so low of him. Guilt clouded her mind before she could stop it, and mimicking the habit she had learned from him, she captured her bottom lip between her teeth.
"I only wish to see you happy Dorian. I cannot bear to see you as melancholy as you were, and I know... I know it was my fault and I thought..." She trailed off, voice soft, gentle and she left the thought unfinished. Thought I would offer you my body , remained unsaid. Her mind whirled with thoughts and impossibilities and she willed it to focus, she was so utterly confused and his behavior was so utterly strange.
"I am sorry...I think..." She doubted even her own thoughts as she leaned into the hand caressing her cheek, her eyes fluttering shut as she obeyed lying back down and removing the pressure completely from her healing ribs. "Please... don't leave me. Lie with me?"
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Post by Dorian Gray on Jan 24, 2013 22:45:13 GMT -5
Dorian felt like he had disappointed her; like he had hurt her feelings. But it was not as it was before; He was only denying her physical pleasure because he did not want to give her any more emotional trauma, and he was going to be a good man to her as long as he could bear it. Ruby was special to him; she had a part of him in her hands and he knew that she couldn't ever be less than special in his eyes. What it was she'd done, he could not point out, but something. And he was apparently the better for it.
Of course, he coudn't shake his narcissistic tendencies, couldn't be someone entirely different. But Dorian was going to try to be better. He looked at her benevolently, his thumb on her jawbone, and tried to be at least a little unaffected by the lust that he was allowing to pass through his body. It was difficult for him to do, he'd give her that. She looked so worried and he felt for her. No, no, he did not wish to displease her! But she had to be healed, and he knew it was all forher own good, in her own interest, to do so.
"Och, no! No, Ruby. It was not at all your fault. It was actually my own, but... now I understand better." The whole time he had been hoping she would not remember Gold, nor ask of the deal he'd made. He wasn't going to tell her for her own well-being, because he knew that her poor heart would not be accepting of it, if she did love him. and he was certain she did. "Don't you ever think you've done me wrong." His face was serious but his voice was soft, promoting care and maybe even love in the tone. But he wouldn't say anything to her about his heart, either. That was his own secret now.
She did finally lay back down. He smiled and joined her as she'd asked, saying, "Tell me what's on your mind, sweetheart. What all do you recall?"
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Post by Ruby on Jan 24, 2013 23:16:13 GMT -5
She chewed her bottom lip, her lashes falling to rest on her cheeks as she contemplated his words, mulling them over in her brain. This entire situation was so surreal. She should have died. She knew that.. was it perhaps something to do with the curse? It had transported them to another realm...so why could it not do the same to an alternate reality? A world that reflected their own but was different. She opened her eyes seeking something in the ebony pools of his gaze, no... it was impossible. This was her Dorian. She knew those eyes, they were far too familiar too her. This was her Dorian. So why the change of heart?
"I may not have done you wrong, but still I have wounded you." She traced his bottom lip with her pointer finger and ran it down his neck, pausing on his chest and tapping it lightly, his tone was so soft, so vulnerable, she would say no more. The fact that he was showing restraint around her was leaps and bounds from where he had been the last time and she would not push him. She was serious, the movement was not meant to be playful. She knew something had to have happened, he must have seen something... done something she was not so foolish. "How long...have I been unconscious, I know my advanced healing helps but other than a little tenderness the bones to crackle or vibrate when I breathe." She winced slightly as if she could still feel the pain, it was not a feeling she ever wished to experience again.
"You... mainly... but then again you always linger in my thoughts." A gentle smile pulled at her mouth, but it quickly vanished as she thought of his next question. She wasn't particularly thrilled with reliving it... but she was loathe to disappoint him. Inhaling sharply she focused. "I remember realizing that the civilians stood no chance against the trolls. I challenged them, distracting them, the first was an easy...kill. But the second caught my leg with a club, cracked something, the second I got a good grip on and was in the process of ending him and then... I just remember hearing the cracking of my ribs, and then...nothing. I remember you... you were crying, I can remember wanting to make you stop, it was breaking my heart and then..." She frowned scanning her memory, she had been in so much pain, so much agony, it had been hard for her to keep breathing, much less focus on anything else, but it came to her now... like a god damned freight train and her eyes blew wide, the color drained from her face and her spine tensed. She quivered, true fear gleaming in her eyes. "I remember... I remember. Rumple. Rumple was there and Dori you didn't, you couldn't..."
Panic and fear, they rose in her faster than anything she would ever experience. Fear for his life, fear for his safety, Rumple had a nasty habit of destroying things, breaking them down and robbing them of their most precious belongings. Dorian could not lose his painting, he was dead without it and she could not live knowing that he was dead... especially not for her own sake.
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Post by Dorian Gray on Jan 25, 2013 12:32:43 GMT -5
What was his beauty thinking about? Her eyes looked contemplative, and surely there were thoughts lurking there that she wasn't sharing. Was she worried about his changing? He was still the same man, because he could never change, but he might have seemed a little... softer now. It was because he now knew the pain that he could feel, and when he'd thought that Ruby was dead, that pain had been too much to bear. Now he knew, so now he was going to be better. He was going to never hurt her again.
His shook his head and wondered if he even wanted to know. "Wounds heal," he told her, and then proceeded to elaborate. "And even if you did, I have gotten better. And I have learned what it means to..." Oh, hell. He didn't want to say that. So he stopped, trying not to let her hear the words he'd sworn never to use. No. He would not. He bit his tongue until it bled, the familiar taste of iron in his mouth. He caught her hand when it was on her chest and brought it to his lips so that he could kiss it. He smiled over at her with his dark eyes and answered lowly, "Two days." He'd been with her the whole time, too, reading quietly in the dark corner of the room and sleeping in his chair. It did not bother him. He liked to watch her sleep, and liked to watch her breathe.
"As do you in mine," He smiled darkly, but it was all very true. And he had not meant to make her uncomfortable or worrisome, but the pain and discomfort in her face were clear. He felt a little sinking in his chest, but heard her out. What a thing to relive, it was! He recalled it all too clearly himself, and it made him quiver at the thoughts. "Shhh," he quieted her, laying down beside her and stroking her hair. He did not want her to have to relive it anymore, and he wished he'd not asked the question.
Oh, but then she remembered something that he was afraid she would. It was what he didn't want her to remember, and though it might be detrimental later on, he was going to take the easy way out this time. He had to lie to her, as much as he'd been through lately, and he would have to be afraid of Gold's consequences himself. "No, Ruby, no. I have done nothing. You are fine, I am fine. Don't you worry your pretty little head." He kissed her on the forehead and tried to keep his eyes and voice steady enough to make the lie convincing. Because he did not dare to let her find out what he had done for her. She looked so worried, and he wanted that look to vanish from her face.
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Post by Ruby on Jan 25, 2013 12:59:11 GMT -5
Her whole body was wire tense, her mind flying as speeds it never had as a thousand scenarios crashed through her brain. She had to get up, she couldn't lay here regenerating. She had to find Rumple. Had to reverse whatever it was Dorian had done. But what else could she offer him, she already owed him one favor, dare she risk another? Perhaps he would settle on control... she could reverse her deal, instead of granting her control of the beast, she could grant it to Rumple. A monstrous beast at his every beck and call? That just might be enough to persuade him to release Dorian of his chains it might- His words stopped her thoughts and she slowly released her tension, unable to look anywhere but those twin pools of black.
He wasn't telling her something. She was not some insipid harlot without a brain, she knew not even her healing could have saved her life he had to have done something... or at least someone had, but what? She hated this, being left in the dark, it left the door open for too many things, her imagination ran wild and with a soft sigh she released it all from her mind. For now... she would let him be. For now, she would not pester or prod at him, for some reason he had trailed her, saved her life. He had gone completely out his realm of comfort and had saved her life. He loved her to some degree, he didn't have to say it for her to know. She could remember there whispered conversation in the snow and she could still remember his tears.
With a small grunt of pain she dragged herself closer to him, rose to meet his mouth and kissed him as gently as she dared, not wishing to torture him anymore. She buried her face in his neck and coiled an arm around his waist until he lay flush against her. Even through the layer of his clothes his body heat still felt divine.
"I wish... I could accurately express just how much I love you Dorian Gray." She murmured softly against his skin. "I wish you could know how much you mean to me... I would stay at your side forever if you would allow it."
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Post by Dorian Gray on Jan 25, 2013 14:46:41 GMT -5
Dorian watched closely the emotions of her face as they danced, played in a curious wonder of spinning colours. He knew she was thinking again, and given his not-so-perfect attempt at lying began to wonder if she did suspect. If she called him out, he would have to dance around the truth until he could convince her, because he did not want her to know this time. She had found the picture once, and that was all over and done with, but she could not just stumble upon the trust about the deal he'd made with Gold to save her life. He had owed her, and now that the debt was paid it was all even in his mind. He was still the cold, calculating Dorian he'd always been. It was just that now, he knew the power of emotion.
It came as a great surprise to him when that look faded from her emerald eyes and she seemed to drop the subject. He was relieved more than anything, and it took great restraint for him not to let that show in his pale face. He looked at her, sighing with something akin to affection, and continued to run his fingers gingerly through her long brown hair. A faraway look then developed in her face, and she seemed to remember something that she was more fond of. He would not ask, but her actions took him a bit by surprise.
She pulled herself up to kiss him, despite all the effort and pain it must have cost her. Of course, a few minutes ago she'd tried to seduce him into laying with her again, but he knew that there was a special strength resesrved for things like this. He was a slave to her whims normally, but today he had to control what he felt. He did allow himself to be brought down at her side, and so long as she did not begin to remove his clothing, he would oblige her, humor her. Her words seemed foreign to him still, those words of love, but he took them in stride. As sincerely as he was able, his body sinking for a moment into more melacholy, he told her, "I wish love was one of my attributes so that I could return your favors. But I will tell you what I can; I would like to see you often in my life. You've done something incredible to me, Ruby, and I cannot express it but you may have tamed a part of me. Not to say I've changed; I'm not certain that would even be possible."
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Post by Ruby on Jan 25, 2013 15:32:24 GMT -5
Dorian, before he had met her, had been a creature of action whether he realized it or not. Emotions had been so utterly foreign to him that the only logic he saw in the world was by touching, tasting, experiencing... pleasure and euphoria he had allowed to consume him. He was not necessarily tainted by violence, but merely to seek the next pleasure filled encounter... or at least it was what Red had surmised. She probably knew him better than he thought she did. While she hated the idea of him drifting away from her to find warmth within another creature brought her blood to a boiling rage and turned her eyes hateful with jealousy... she would never ask him to change. She loved him because of all his flaws not instead of them, what his true intentions were... would remain a mystery to her for now. But she had no desire to irritate him. She was so comfortable, so utterly relaxed in his embrace.
His words were so soft, so gentle, and despite herself, her lips curled up into a smile against his shoulder and she squeezed him ever so gently to assure him she had heard his tender words. It was incredible when one stopped to think about it. A curse had dragged him from his world, stretching not only across space, but time as well. he was a demon carved from the throes of society molded into a being of sinful pleasure. She was a monster whose soul was owned by an unstoppable force of nature whose very being was molded from violence and death and yet... they had somehow collided in the most unusual of ways. He had betrayed his own nature, to selflessly save her life, and she laughed lightly as she realized it no longer hurt to breathe.
"Do not force it. If love is not one of your attributes then I will sleep soundly knowing you accept mine. To be loved by someone whether platonic or not is one of most beautiful things in the world." Her voice was low, a soft murmur, she could remember Granny telling her such things when she was a little girl. She would have to tell her about Dorian one of these days...
"Tamed you? I highly doubt that's possible. Your passion, when unleashed, is an indescribable thing to witness. You are exquisite when you break your bond with societies rules." She knew how much his pride swelled at her compliments, but as she had told him the first time they had met. She had never been one for lies, and she very rarely with held her thoughts... and then, quite suddenly she laughed.
"You do realize darling that this is considered snuggling by societies standards?" Her voice was light and carefree, filled with laughter and poorly suppressed amusement. Dorian Gray... snuggling... what was this world coming too?
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Post by Dorian Gray on Jan 25, 2013 20:01:39 GMT -5
Dorian had blindly gotten himself into this relationship with Ruby, wanting that first time only someone with whom he could release a bit of pent-up hunger for another's body, so bored had he become with being a recluse, but this was not what he would have ever expected from it. Shakespeare should have warned him; his past with Sibyl should have taught him better. He had once been immortal but still somewhat innocent, falling in love with her, but thereafter something had changed and he was no more good.
He could not pinpoint the day at which he'd become so unfeeling and so callous, because for a long time, the pleasure had only been a way to spend a youth, before he had to grow up. But Sibyl, then the painting, then Basil, had slowly chipped away at his hideous soul, and the more that he did the emptier he'd become, losing his sanity and humanity to paint on a canvas. It was eventual that he became hardened and cold. Now, feeling the sting of emotions once again, he felt like he'd near reverted, and was glad for it. There had been times he'd wanted to stab the painting with the same knife that had killed Basil Hallworth, or take his own life, but he had refrained.
"It was once," Dorian admitted bitterly. He blinked a couple of times before adding more gently, "I would imagine it is. It was. I just don't remember it." He had walked through the Valley of the Shadow of Death but he'd never been pulled out, never been shown the light of love again. And he could never, because he had made a deal with the devil--twice, now.
"I don't live by society's rules, nor am I like them, and thus capable only of great passion. The passion is fueled by eternal youth, though. Not by love or hate or anything like that. Of those I am incapable." He hated to hear himself say those things, as he'd already proved capable of both. But he would not admit it ever again. He looked at her and smiled sweetly, if there was such a way, taking a deep breath and stroking her face. "I don't follow their rules, as I said; and this I call restraint. Admiration of beauty with the capacity to refrain from breaking it."
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Post by Ruby on Jan 25, 2013 21:40:22 GMT -5
She sobered quickly as his tone grew much more serious, the bitterness that lingered in those breathy tones. Even in a serious state he was flawless to her. She was powerless against him. Even if she lost complete control of her monster, she doubted it would harm him. Bewitched did not even begin to describe the control he held above her. She listened, silently as he spoke to her in the quiet of his bedroom, contemplating her words carefully. She was not scared to speak her mind, but words were often difficult for her. She was a creature of spontaneity and great emotions, not normally of conversation and eloquence of speech, but it seemed Dorian had changed more than just her feelings. She lifted her head for its warm den at his shoulder so she could see those onyx pools of black, one of her hands toyed with his hair, twirling the inky black strands playfully.
"Then let me help you. Let me fight away the dark thoughts that linger in your mind, let me chase away the loneliness in your eyes, let me be your slave. Let me love you. I just want you to be happy." She whispered against his mouth. Her breath, warm and soothing brushing back against her own cheeks. One day... she would be beyond his age, one day she would be too old for him and one day she would have no choice but to leave him, but she was young, barely twenty and she still looked like she was in her teens. She aged slower than most, but she still aged. He never would, but that day was far off and she tried not to think on such things... she could not save him forever.
"Hmm..." She smiled wickedly down at him. "I would take your passions over societies standards any day of the week." She laughed against his mouth. She had never thought to gaze him upon him again and having almost just died the dull pain in her side was nothing compared to gazing into his eyes. "Beauty? You think I am beautiful? Isn't that a bit of the pot calling the kettle black?" Her eyes sparkled with humor, her bottom lip caught between straight white teeth, when they released a gentle smile spread across her face. God did she love him.
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Post by Dorian Gray on Jan 25, 2013 23:38:02 GMT -5
A charming, boyish innocence lit Dorian's eyes for a second, and for that short, beautiful moment he remembered who he was, once. He was pure beauty, wrapped up in the body of a man who was verging on meeting someone who would change his whole life, who would bring him to his knees--without letting him realize. The hedonism that characterized Dorian's life had come from two places: One, Lord Henry Wotton, with whom he'd always been a bit... obsessive (intellectually and on occasions physically) and who had said that one could inherit sins, if there were such things from influence of another; Two, that damned book that Lord Henry had given him. It had opened his eyes to the underground. Opium. Sex. Dark magic.
The painting may have seemed lucky once. But now it seemed useless; for had Dorian the chance to age and lose his beauty, maybe he would have learned his lessons. The sad poetic justice rippled as blood and worms on that painting. And he was stuck being this callous man. Ruby was good to him, he knew, and she was the smallest drop of redemption, if there was such thing, in his pools of misgivings. He smiled at her thoughtfully as she toyed with his hair. He shook his head. "You've already made me happy. Happier than I could have otherwise been. I've been reintroduced to feelings I thought I'd lost. I'm so old, I've grown cold. And hell, I'm still young." He tried to make light of it unsuccessfully. It really just wasn't that funny anymore. He was old and he was unfeeling, but his youth was seeping back in. Perhaps this was what learning one's lesson felt like.
He grinned a little. He'd rather have his innocence again, and be old. But he was cursed. He cleared the thoughts and turned to her other piece of chatter, answering with reignited charm to hide the fear in his eyes, "I think you're gorgeous and it is I who is unpleasant. But you seem to always think otherwise."
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Post by Ruby on Jan 26, 2013 0:45:05 GMT -5
She watched the trickle of emotions play across his face. When he lost himself, deep within the crevices of his own mind, he grew careless with what breeched his features. Pain, sorrow, sadness, regret... Dorian put up a magnificently wonderful front and she had imagined that was partially due to the fact that he believed so strongly that he was in fact the demon, but there was a side to him... granted a very small side that held a vast deal of sadness for the acts he had committed and she wondered, when he was all alone if he let that regret bubble to the surface or if he buried it beneath his wicked pleasures and alcohol. Wanting to drag him from whatever darkness his mind had ventured off too, she nipped the tip of his chin in punishment.
"I can see you thinking love." She murmured softly, willing him to come back to her. "Come back to me and tell me all of the sinful things you will do to me once I heal." If nothing else she wished to distract him. Such darkness etched upon the lines of his face should never be there, and could at least distract him for a little while. She intended to make good on her word. But she frowned at his words, worrying about his own curse once again... she had thought to speak to Gold about such things numerous times, but the trick was how to ask if it were even possible without telling him the whole story. Gold was not completely anti-social and he visited her Inn often chatting absentmindedly with her on more than one occasion, of course she would never tell Dorian this, he would more than likely forbid her from ever returning.
"Your age matters little to me, besides love if you wish to split hairs... our entire world was cursed, banished far away to a place called Earth. Stripped of not only our surroundings, but also our memories and our era. When we arrived it was 1986? I can't recall. The curse was simple. No happy endings, anything that could, would go wrong. The King, trapped in a coma, the Queen became a timid soft thing. I lost my wolf became shy and a bit of an introvert... and added red streaks to my hair with a peculiar invention called hair dye. We lost everything. Relationships, friends, enemies... and to top it all off, time ceased to move. Stuck, forever, in a never-ending circle of age, for roughly twenty-five years.,, so by that logic I should be fifty?" The people of this world, did not often think on Storybrooke. It was in that strange town that Red had taken up the mantle of Ruby. It seemed now like a second name to her, but her true name was Red. Her eyes narrowed into a glare as he downgraded himself.
"You are beautiful, flawless, gorgeous, perfect, intelligent, witty, and the most talented lover in the world along with a thousand other compliments you already know to be true and I love you... and if you say one more unpleasant thing about your person, I will do something rather unpleasant... werewolves are known for their devious nature you know." She smiled playfully at that last bit.
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Post by Dorian Gray on Jan 26, 2013 9:45:18 GMT -5
Dorian was snapped out of his entrancing memories by a voice that he knew all too well, and he blinked several times. Yes, she'd caught him. Thinking too much, as usual, of those he'd left behind. He smiled stealthily at her and answered casually, "As too often I find myself doing." Her next words struck a wary chord in his heart, as he was already having to refrain from taking her right here and now, and this was not helping his self-control. But he would try not to think too much about specific parts of his anatomy that longed for her more than others, and said with all the casual tone of a tired patron at the end of a long day, "I will do as I please to you. I will taste you again--I will give you more pleasure and more pain than you've ever seen from me, and then I will be the most gentle lover you've ever had." He smiled, satisfied with himself but still aching for her. He had to get his mind off of it, had to find something else to occupy his one-track male mind.
He grinned at her after she told him her story. Sure, it wasn't a very happy happy one, but the ending of it was either a very well-crafted lie or a wonderful coincidence. Should they be around the same age, it was a very lucky relationship; their finding eachother had been the intervention of either dark magic or some other power. And Dorian did not doubt that in the least. Curses, curses everywhere. "I do believe you made that all up," he said jokingly. He'd known it was more than likely true. "And if you're telling me that you might be possibly even older than I am...." He teased, a wary eye watching her as he reclined beside her.
"I could say many unpleasant things, and tell you all of the reasons that picture you saw is so atrocious. But I will spare you from the night terrors. For your sake, I suppose I would learn to keep my lips sealed." He locked her compliments in the back of his narcissistic mind and vowed he would use them in his favor should ever the time arise. She knew he was an egomaniac; she knew that that was part of the reason he could not love her like she loved him. It was tragic, possibly a bit ironic, but he could not change it. Taking a piece of her hair in his fingers, Dorian assured her, "Do something, then. Whatever you want. When you heal, you can have all of me to yourself." It was a short promise, for he did not know if he could be that faithful to her forever.
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Post by Ruby on Jan 26, 2013 13:13:27 GMT -5
He was adorable when he meant not to be in the throes of his surprise. It was, perhaps, the driving force behind her to stun him whenever she could. He blinked childishly, his eyes clouded only for a moment in confusion and the smallest of frowns painted upon his face. She realized how pathetic that was, that she could recall and crave so many of his expressions almost subconsciously. He was her greatest weakness, and it scared her a little over how much power he truly had over her. But she was rewarded for snapping him out of his darkening thoughts by a mere taste of his fantasies and despite herself she groaned burying her face in his neck to fight down her own desires. Damn. Trolls.
"When I get better... you will be lucky if you can limp out of this room, I plan on keeping you here for a good... week? Yes... that seems about fair. Your poor servants will think you are deceased by the time you gain the strength to leave." Her words were a playful purr, but her body trembled in anticipation. She always wanted him and she willed her body to focus solely on the aspect of healing so she might have him again soon. Her eyes nearly rolled into the back of her head as she remembered the divine feeling of his length inside of her. He hadn't so much as touched her and already liquid fire pooled in her abdomen. She forced herself to focus, draw away on such delicious thoughts.
"I swear on my love for you that the story is true! And the clothing we had during that time! So scandalous! Remind me later, I have pictures back at the Inn, I fear you will laugh horribly at my choice of attire..." That is, if of course he did not jump her where she stood. Something that world had called a mini skirt and a top that did not cover her midriff. She had laughed for days once she regained her memory... it was bizarre, having the memories of two completely opposing personalities but it served her well on some occasions. "And yes I do suppose, if we are splitting hairs I would be older than you. I guess you don't feel quite so bad about tainting me no?" She laughed against his skin and his next words made her smile even if he did not mean them. "I intend to take whatever part of you, you will let me have. I miss the feel of you inside of me."
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