#lonelyfade

{ PRECIOUS BABIES }

{ just take care of papa egg for me, trip probs doesn’t approve but the two of you are just too cute lol }

i.

she’d always admired the surrealistic  atmospherethe fade tended to provide.       even in a place like this, a glorified memory of columbia,           there issomething that renders it unreal. easier.      simpler.there are no people  around  other  than  the  mani-festations of the fade, and they don’t pay attentionas elizabeth and solas sit side by side on the  edgeof the pier.    it’s almost like their first time going to the fade together,   but this time there’s something…different about the atmosphere.          they’ve been talking back and  forth  for  what  must  have  beenhours but feels like minutes, and it seems as if theywill never run out of things to say. even so,        a silence falls over them as the fade’s version of the sun  sinks  below  a  blurred  horizon. she turns to him,    and the light upon his face is soperfect that something –           some driving force in the heavens,          in the earth,      she doesn’t know –compels her to turn solas’s face towards hers.   it’sa quiet moment,       their noses touching and warmbreath on each others’ faces,       before she closesthe gap and presses her  lips  to  his  for  a  fleetingfew seconds. as   soon   as   regret   blossoms  over  her  face  in tandem with a deep flush,    she compels herself towake up. 

ii. 

it seems he’s fallen asleep in  the  courtyard  again. on restless nights like this, when every noise threat-end to wake her from slumber,   elizabeth finds her-self wandering empty halls, watching the moonlightbathe the gardens in liquid silver.     it’s a bonus, ofcourse, if she finds whatever absurd spot solas hasdecided to rest in. he marks the center of the  gaze-bo as if he were tiled in mosaic on  the  floor  to  doso, but one thing about his position bothers her. if living in the tower as she did  has  taught  the  girlone thing, it’s that sleeping with your  head  at  thatangle will bring nothing but regrets  in  the  morning. she crouches by him,         hair tickling his forehead,and slides her hands under his neck to position  hishead in a more forgiving way.     light illuminates hisface now, and it occurs for the first time conscious-ly that he is handsome in the  way  his  cheekbonesare set high on his face,    in the way that his skin isfaintly but abundantly freckled. it’s almost divine, insome sense. but she smiles to herself, shaking her head,   for it’sa silly thought. if you like them enough, anyone canseem divine, after all.     she brushes her ponytail tothe side and leans down to press  a  gentle  kiss  to solas’s cheek before returning to wander  the  hallslike a ghost once more. 

iii. 

the heat of summer presses  down  on  the  exaltedplains, suffocating and lifeless.           the halla have bunched in the shade of  whatever  trees  they  can find, the fennecs  scurrying  around  in  the  dust  toavoid the wrath of predators. elizabeth and solas travel alone between  inquisitioncamps,  sharing  stories  and  water  along  the  way. perhaps the heat has contributed to electricity in theatmosphere, but this time around they’ve picked  upan argument.    it’s about her tears, quite a common topic for the fights they have.       they stand under a tree having argued for at least twenty minutes,    thetone of  both  of  their  voices  rising  steadily  in  thenear-flammably dry air.     it honestly feels as if staticpulses within the few inches  of  air  separating  theirfaces. the wheel turns.       the conversation goes on. neither can reach a satisfying conclusion.  why is heso insufferable?the kiss is compulsory. one moment,      she’s rolling her eyes and preparing   an  argument  back  to  him,but he just won’t shut up,              and the next she’s grabbed his face in  both  of  her  hands  and  pulledhim down towards her to smash  their  lips  together. it was, in retrospect, her subconscious’s way of shut-ting him up,      but a mental note was taken that day that sometimes,   kissing is a good outlet for pent-upfrustration for both parties, seeing as he returned thekiss with a hand in her hair and  another  around  herwaist.she’ll have to remember to do it more often. 

iv.

unfortunately,   her body’s alarm clock failed her thistime; he knows of her presence,          given his armswrapped around her in an iron grip.   despite the factthat she can’t move,         a smile spreads across herface and  she  cranes  her  neck  to  kiss  his  jawline. "solas." and his chin.   "solas, i have to get up."  andthe corner of his mouth.      it is to no avail, of course,just half-asleep mumbles from him as  he  holds  hereven tighter. god damn it, solas.why did she visit him last night?     it’s hazy, but she vaguely remembers crying. a dream,    probably one of the ones that always fades away  in  the  morningno matter what she does to try to remember it.   shehadn’t been able to sleep after that,   and so soughtout the only one able to quell her fears.   it didn’t ma-tter that he was already asleep.  elizabeth had cometo sleep beside him, anyway,     which was preciselywhat she’d done. something brings her back into the present –       thefeeling of a gentle kiss to her eyelid,  and then anoth-er to her cheek, and another to her neck.     her eyesflutter open to be faced with a final kiss  to  the  lips. when he pulls away he gives a devious smile.      thesneaky bastard.      elizabeth gives him a tired scowlbefore turning her head to the  side  to  rest  against his shoulder.

"… just a little longer, then,"     she murmurs into hissweater, and he hums in agreement.

v.