#gxntille

guinevere never minded RAIN. she adored thunderous nights  &  stormy mornings. her CHILDHOOD by the sea in henis wyren was LITTERED with striking lightning  &  rolling thunder, with DARK skies  &  wild waves,  &&  she had loved the mentality such WEATHER brought over the castle. so she simply smiled at the girl beside her with TRANQUIL happiness.    ❛ if it pleases you. ❜    she dug her heels into her MARE’S sides, sending her into a pounding gallop across the muddying  &  swiftly FLOODING fields towards the shelter of the forest. 

            ❛    oh. it’s you. how nice. you did come to the ball.   ❜

A cold sweat covered his form as he trembled in their bed, the young man gasping for air as if he had only just been suffocated. The dream was in pieces, but the images that flashed in his mind was more than enough to frighten him even now. Most of Ella’s words went unheard by the frantic man, but the softness that held them gradually soothed him bit by bit.

At least, enough to bring him back down to reality.

Wide emerald eyes flickered up to the blonde woman, his shoulders still shaking, but at least his hurried, gasping breaths had calmed. He stared at her for a moment as if surprised to see her there before he suddenly pulled her into a tight embrace, a shaky, uneven breath leaving him as he did so.

There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that the Queen’s beloved lion would live far longer than most would ever expect from a lion, but there was no denying that he was growing old.

Taka no longer held that light, springy step in his paws; his coat had grown darker and duller, lacking the glossy sheen it had held in his youth. His movements were slow and it was hardly anything of a rare occurrence now to hear the popping of his old, worn joints as he moved about. But, despite all of that, his brilliantly green eyes still held onto their brightness. Despite his aching joints and his heightened interest in sleep, Taka never lost that playful gleam in his gaze and it was because of that that many were certain that he still had a good pawful of years left for him.

Steven Universe Starters || NOT ACCEPTING ~ !!!

@gxntille​

Taka stiffened at the blonde’s words, emerald eyes wide as he simply stared at her in silence. It would have been an understatement to say he was only just taken aback by her words. Is that what she really thought? Is that what she thought of herself?

Ella had always seemed like one who was always so confident in herself…Had he really been that blind to not see how little she may have thought of herself?

“…Ella..” the scarred man began, her name soft and gentle as it passed his lips. “Don’t say something like that.”

It was a weak protest; of that Taka was absolutely sure about, but his mind was scrambling for the right thing to say to her as his hands gently reached up to cup her face.

                                                            HURT 

  “ I don’t GIVE UP that EASILY “ he says through gritted teeth, his hand clenched into a WHITE HOT fist as she worked on the wound that had sent blood STREAKING down his arm, creating a macabre work of art out of it. He’s braved the pain more than once in his life, has taken risks, risks that could end up with him MAIMED or even DEAD. Though the PAIN was unbearable, so bad that Anakin thought he might succumb to it, it was WORTH the lives he had saved in the chaos of it all.

 He was a protector, it was what he was trained to do, to protect those who were unable to protect himself. He was supposed to hold the lives of others above his own and embrace death if it had happened to fall upon him. Flesh wounds, loosing his arm, and other ailments wouldn’t keep him from doing what was RIGHT

@gxntille

The slumbering lion had hardly moved from his place since the moment Ella had left that morning, the adolescent lion waiting for her to return. Of course, had it been up to him he would have gladly joined the woman to her trip to the market. Unfortunately, although many were well aware of his presence in the castle, that didn’t mean he was openly accepted by everyone and the last thing anyone wanted was a panic caused by a lion wandering into the market.

So, he had sat there, patiently waiting until he simply dozed off.

Of course, the moment her voice had reached his ears, the young lion’s head popped up, ears pressing forward from around the thin beginnings of his ebony mane before a wide smile stretched onto his muzzle. A surprise? For him?!

Bubbling with a sense of excitement, Taka all but jumped up onto his paws, bounding over to the woman. A deep, purr-like growl rumbled in his throat as he practically ran into her side the growing lion having tripled his size since he had found a home with Ella. He was nowhere near the size he would later reach within the next few years, but there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that he would be able to knock down the blonde woman before him if he truly tried.

His chest rose and fell with each uneven breath, head bowed forward and pressing against Ella’s. It was a confession he hadn’t quite meant to give away, but the words had simply tumbled from his lips before he could stop them.

That didn’t make them any less true, though.

Ahadi had always pointed out his flaws, his failures. It was something the young man had grown used to over the years, unaware of what it was truly doing to him. His flaws had become a source of scorn and self-hatred; it had all festered into a dark, soured bitterness in his heart and mind that had never left him regardless of how much he might have tried. And with each time that those flaws had revealed themselves, the more Taka had come to hate them; had come to hate himself.