but her words struggled to reach him among the roar of blood and wrath. his muscles seized, tensing as they felt an outside force. his ears flicked, but his lips quivered, a faint hiss escaping his throat as in his mind they tore out each others throats.

the oil soaked the back of his throat, and he choked, gagging on it, and it was only then that he gave a sputtering gasp of breath and felt the focus of the real world return.

he came to feeling her touch upon him, and he rounded on her, teeth bared.

"how DARE you."

Content Warning
This post contains potentially sensitive material:

abuse

specifically gaslighting

Elayne withdrew her envenomed paw as he rounded on her, and fixed him with a soft, sunshine-yellow stare that held none of the usual command in them.

"Uvie," she whispered, concern lacing her voice, "how dare I what? Are you alright?... You were having visions again." he was often plagued by them; those visions and whispers that led him to violence. he knew it, didn't he?

"I don't know what you heard or saw," she took a step forward on a half-numb, half-pain-striken paw without so much as flinching. "But whatever it was, it wasn't real." She waited just a breath to see him hesitate.

"I didn't want to strain you," she explained, worryingly, "so I figured we could experiment on these... less important stones," she nodded to the two little pieces buried in the floor. "... I could get another from the rubble outside, if you're still recovering from your changes..."

ultraviolet stared down at her as much as he could from his height, pelt bristling, body aching to tear her to pieces. but the look in her eyes sucked him in as it so often did, and his claws dug into the stone as she pointed out his weakness -- no --

he chuffed, as she reassured him that the vision wasn't real. if it was, they would both be bleeding out, sacrifices for the greater good. he knew that much. he knew what was real and what wasn't.

... right?

she brought his attention back to the stones; the reason for his anger, and a bitterness twisted in his guts as she remarked that he might not be ready.

"you should have asked me first," he snarled. "if i have to make a point, i'll kill them." he sized her up, and with a sweep of his tail, he bared his teeth. "they will belong to me as punishment," he decided abruptly. "and you will give me an heir."

he would not give her a choice. the small hand upon his back reached for his tail, and grasped at the stone upon it, tearing free a piece of oilstone with an agonizing jolt through his body. he thought he might be sent spiraling into another vision of gore: but he held steady, as he tossed the piece of oilstone at Elayne and swallowed the bile in the back of his throat.

he did not need her. she needed him.

Mmm, she wasn't about to agree to those terms... But she was getting what she wanted, so she bowed her head as she reached down to the stone.

She would let him believe what he wanted for now. It was easier that way, wasn't it? She could always talk him down another time. He was simply angry; it was his cross to bear.

"Next time," she said as she picked up the stone and approached him, until her form towered over his, and she tangled her mass of tendrils and tail around his own, pressing her body into his. "I will give you all the heirs you want, my dear."

If it satisfied him for now, it would do.

She let a trickle of her magic into the shard of oilstone, and reached to place it beside the others. Her eyes flicked over Ultraviolet again, and a gentle smile played across her lips.

"Now rest, dear, and I'll bring you something to eat," she told him sweetly, sweeping back toward the entrance of the great hall of the cathedral.

; elayne exit

elayne cooed and preened over him, the whole act making him feel as though he had been thoroughly irrational. he knew he hadn't been: there was a broiling frustration under his skin that made him feel almost childish for his behavior for the whole situation. but that couldn't have been right. he had-- she had-- it wasn't right.

unfortunately, his tongue did not catch up to him. elayne spoke circles around him, and left him behind without a chance to get a word in edge wise.

simmering, he grumbled as he looked upon the three wildly different pieces of stone, and felt true disgust.

two of them were not even oilstone. would they even survive this environment, or would they succumb to chaos and wither into nothing before they even began? he wanted to crush them, to kill them then and there...

but he had been a simple gembound once. and there had been a way forward for him. worst case, their flesh could feed his true child. that would have to suffice.

; uvie exit :3