RING OF GOLD

Disappear. That's what these things did, they took people and made them disappear. Turned them to ash. To less than ash. To nothing.

Arawn remembered standing outside a building that used to be a cottage, in a place that used to be a town, tasting soot on his tongue and wondering where everyone had went. Not again. He wouldn't let it happen again.

If Loras wanted to leave, that was one thing. But if these time guards wanted to take him from Arawn? They'd have one hell of a fight.

Loras reached for his face and Arawn leaned into the touch. He took a long breath. "I know, but I also know that you want to go home. And you have a chance here." He was not bitter. If Loras wanted to go home, he had no right to stop him. "This might be the only chance you ever get. You'd be an idiot not to take it."

“ don't say that. ” loras chided, however softly, half to arawn and half to himself for making arawn say something like that. “ don't act all magnanimous and selfless now. that's my trick. ”

he laughed a bit dryly, stroking arawn's face and bringing him in close.

“ how can i think of myself when you're terrified like this? ” behind him was a life he had built over centuries, a garden of blood and sweat that he had only began to see flourish when it was burnt to the ground before his eyes. had he wanted it back? when the possibility was so real within reach, loras couldn't help but feel the wavering of his feet. and yet, with arawn's face in his hand, he saw the palpable fear in the man's eyes.

“ i do want to go home ... ” loras sighed, cupping arawn's face in both hands to fix their gazes against one another's. “ ... with you. my home is here ... where you and rhia are. ”

"You think I don't fucking know that?" Arawn snapped before visibily reigning himself in. It wasn't Loras he was angry with. Not really. It was the unknowable entities that were trying to tear them apart.

It was difficult to seperate the two sometimes, especially when Loras seemed to waffle between wanting to stay with him, in this life they built, in this life they'd bled and scraped and killed for, and wanting to go back to his old life. The life of a fancy Age of Arcanum magocrat, with all the frills and decadence that Arawn would never be able to give him.

He understood. Kind of. Loras wanted to go home, and that would....never be with Arawn....not really. He understood, and if he'd had the chance to get his parents and his village back he would take it. So why is he so angry at Loras for considering the same offer?

"Look, all the planning in the world isn't going to change the fact that these are basically gods, and we are not. We can't fight them," Though Arawn wasn't above throwing a few punches if it came to that. "We're going to have to try to trick them."

“ arawn ... ” loras didn't flinch at the palpable anger radiating off the warlock. but he did look away from arawn's bitter interrogation about his commitment to their life together. the mage drew up his arms, hugging them close to his chest as he licked his lips.

his robes were much humbler now, in muted colors common around the pious and hardy folks of vasselheim. he had trimmed a few inches off his hair so it fell somewhere around the middle of the middle of his back and easier to manage. there were virtually no gold on him save for the ring around his neck that never came off. even his mask looked more porcelain than pearlescent like it used to be ( a touch of magic helped them avoid too much attention ).

“ they are not gods. ” loras muttered softly, trying to take the focus away from the elephant in the room when it came to the beings' ultimatum. “ they are ... time guards. they work for gods. or they used to. but it seems that since the divergence they have gone ... freelance. which might play in our favor. in the old days we were taught that if they found you disturbing the stream of time too far they will erase you and everyone you come in contact with – we won't let that happen. ”