AURAUGUST - Day 29: Scales and Tails

Writing and collab au with @ryxmas 💙

It started off small. A quick brush over his forearm. A second extra rubbing your back. A bit of extra care with each other’s shed scales. Just small, brief touches that you both exchange to remind yourselves that your partner is still here. That despite everything, he is still alive.

Auri scales don’t heal quite the same as skin and flesh. They grow back slower. The divots are more pronounced. The discoloration never really fades. It leaves a canvas vibrant in triumphs and failures and everything in between.

You gently reach out to his broken horn. He carefully traces the scar patterning your shoulder and chest. A time where you couldn’t protect him. A time where you did. Both equal in the anguish and anger it caused the other.

But those times have passed. Your shoulder has more than healed and no longer hampers your arm. His horn, though it can’t grow back, has been stabilized and his hearing restored with the wraps you two created in Elpis.

AURAUGUST - Day 11: Duality

AURAUGUST - Day 30: Vibrant

AURAUGUST - Day 31: Golden

AURAUGUST - Day 20: Dance

Collab and AU with writing from @ryxmas

Dynamis as a whole is still unfamiliar to Solara. It does not permeate his very essence like it does for Yeke-Bukha and Meteion. His being instead beats with aether–heavy and dense and nearly overflowing in its abundance. Here, he is the odd one out, grasping at straws for a language he does not understand.

But if dynamis is to dictate every part of this cosmos, then he will have no choice but to communicate with it in turn. He has only one theory, one hope, on how he can bridge the vast chasm between him and Yeke-Bukha and Meteion. It will have to do. What more could be in the spirit of Ultima Thule than a leap of faith?

The thought that Solara will have to leave Yeke-Bukha as the last one yet again cuts against him like broken glass. But it was only a matter of time before it was his turn. He has been well aware of that fact for a while now. That he got to walk this long with Yeke-Bukha is a blessing in and of itself. It is so easy to wish for more. But they are not at the end yet, and this will not be a goodbye. This, Solara will engrave onto his own soul if he has to.

He turns to Yeke-Bukha and stretches out his hand with a grin.

“May I have this dance?”

Yeke-Bukha’s eyes widen, swapping back and forth between Solara’s hand and face, before settling on Solara’s hand. He keeps his gaze on Solara’s open hand, before gently lacing his own fingers in between.

“Stealing my lines huh?” the Xaela smiles, meeting Solara’s eyes again.

“Only borrowing them,” Solara teases back.

He takes his other hand and places it behind Yeke-Bukha’s torso, leading him into a waltz. Under normal circumstances, Solara would find himself in the opposite position. He prefers it that way–a step behind and to the right of Yeke-Bukha.

There are situations where he is better equipped to lead, though Solara wouldn’t consider dance to be one of them. Still, even with his apprentice abilities, Yeke-Bukha follows him flawlessly, being there every step of the way. Through turns and chassés and promenades, they weave a melody draped against the starlight. And as if rising to join the chorus, here, at existence’s edge, a singular white flower blooms from between their feet. Solara cannot help but beam at the sight. Chest bursting with hope, he glides around the bloom, leading Yeke-Bukha into an underarm turn. As his dance partner circles back, Solara does not bring him back into his fold. Instead, he guides Yeke-Bukha's arm out and places his connecting arm above Yeke-Bukha’s. He’s done his part, laying the foundation for Ultima Thule’s final bridge. The reins are back in Yeke-Bukha's hands, and Solara will follow wherever he will lead him.

*

It takes all of the strength in Yeke-Bukha’s body to keep himself together. He’s known that Solara would have to go too. He’s known since Estinien. But knowing hasn’t made any of this any easier. He doesn’t want to let Solara. Not yet.

The Elpis flower between them is as much a timer as it is Solara’s gift to him. Solara’s plans are already in motion, and Yeke-Bukha finds himself caught unprepared, surrounded by all of the things he never said.

Does Solara know that Yeke-Bukha wouldn’t have made it this far without him? Does he know how much he means to him? Does he know how hard it is to say goodbye each and every time?

Yeke-Bukha brings Solara a little closer to him, moving his hand lower on Solara’s back and shuffling Solara’s hand to his shoulder. He’s thought about a dance like this for so long. Slow and intimate and with Solara pressed against him.

Looking back at Solara’s face, Yeke-Bukha finds him a little flushed. Cute. He probably wasn’t expecting to get pulled in this close. But in between his blushing, Solara’s smile is as clear as day. The sight keeps Yeke-Bukha’s heart racing, warmth overtaking his feelings of dread. If he’s being given the dance of his dreams, he’s going to make it one Solara never forgets.

It begins at his fingertips. Waves of red and blue gently ripple out from where he and Solara meet, traveling out towards the rest of their bodies and enveloping them in a soft light. Wrapped in the very essence of Ultima Thule, their outfits transform into forms more complementary and vibrant.

Better dressed for the occasion, he takes Solara through a series of turns, rocks, and the occasional corte. And as if showing deference, the land follows. The stars shift with every turn and nebulas streak with the arc of their dips. It was always something he feared growing up, this invisible force that clawed inside him whenever he started to feel too much. But here, named and understood and ubiquitous, weaving dynamis is as easy as breathing.

As he leads Solara into an open fan, that selfsame energy recreates the world around them anew. They reach the peak of their step and the world erupts into a cascade of white. New growth stirs from beneath their feet, and where a single flower once stood, a garden vast and all-encompassing takes its place.

He pays no mind to that though. What instead captures Yeke-Bukha's attention is the glow on Solara’s face, his smile reaching from horn to horn amidst the flowers.

What he wouldn’t give to have this moment be eternal.

But it can’t be. And it won’t be. They will reach their concluding act soon, and Yeke-Bukha refuses to spend these last few moments lamenting for more time. They’ll have plenty of time soon after. But moments like these will be few and far between.

Yeke-Bukha has lived far too long in his own head with these feelings. These past few minutes proved that Solara has too. The words still escape him, but talking to each other was never their strong suit anyways.

With his last move, he dips Solara and leans over to kiss him. He wants as much of Solara as he can get these last few moments. And Solara meets him with equal measure.

When they finally part, he holds onto the dip and meets Solara’s eyes.

“I’ll bring you and everyone else back. I promise.”

“I know you will,” Solara smiles back. “I’ll see you soon, Yeke-Bukha. I love you.”

day thirty one golden

1: New Dawn

2: Maritime

3: Trade

4: Feast

5: Safe Harbour

6: Fluffy

7: Technology

8: Touch Grass

9: Journey

10: Dusk

11: Duality (Dual-wielding)

12: Flora and Fauna

13: Longing

14: Serpentine

15: Giant

16: Tiny

18: Decay

19: Soar

20: Dance

21: Picture Perfect

22: Map

23: Flex

24: Frontier

25: Myth

26: Standoff

27: Companion

28: Succession

29: Scales and Tails

30: Vibrant

31: Golden

Prompt List