Toge Means Thorn

A night spent in Cor'ethil's embrace saw Karasu and Cor'ethil waking up together in the serenity of the morning, with Daeus's light coming through the windows. Corey had been more than happy to try and calm Karasu's nerves with some tea and a light breakfast, but the man hadn't spoken much since the revelation of the kitsune.

At some point in the morning, when the breakfast has been cleared and sent away, Cor'ethil is curled up next to Karasu on the floor, where the other man is used to sitting. "So... Is it time to ask?" Corey says gently, his arm around Karasu's waist. "Or do you need a bit longer still?" It's a set of questions he always asks when Karasu's upset and needs time to process something, even if the assassin doesn't let his hurt show much.

Karasu, seated on the floor for comfort and the fact that he is simply unused to the manner of beds which are used by the people of Alexandria even after all these years of traveling far from his homeland. Cor'ethil's fingers on his waist are a comfort, but he knows even before the paladin speaks that the other man will do so. He's been quiet too long. Even breakfast with its usual rituals had not drawn him into conversation and now... Cor'ethil has a right to his questions, even if Karasu is uncertain that he can respond to all of them. Any of them.

"Ask." He knows that the word is cold, that it lacks the emotion that it should hold, but he has nothing inside of him to offer. He feels empty inside, which normally would not bother him, but now he finds it too quiet. Like a house with all the people gone from it and the echoing silence that they leave in their wake. Dark eyes open, but they're just as empty as he is inside.

That word is everything Cor'ethil knows to be the depth of his beloved's pain. Usually, it's him who's suffering, not Karasu. Karasu has, at times, regarded his emotional displays as almost amusing, which comforted Cor'ethil in an odd way, that his emotions are a delight to this man who he loves, despite their differences... Because of their differences. He is the sun to Karasu's still waters, warming the pond that is his beloved nightingale every day that passes, every hour that passes.

Now is no different.

"Can you tell me about kitsune?" Corey asks gently. "I want to help you come to terms with what was told to us, but... It would help me to help you, if I knew more about them."

Karasu doesn't answer right away, as is his way. He almost always thinks about his actions before he performs them. Impulse is not something that comes easily to Karasu. Eventually he finds his words however and explains to his beloved heart - the man who carries it for him - what he knows of kitsune. "There are many kitsune in the lands I hail from. They are beings of trickery and illusion. They are known for pulling pranks of small design on people. Yet once every hundred years a kitsune develops true magic of its own. These kitsune are rare, and even rarer are the kitsune who live to mark their thousandth. These divine kitsune have nine tails and great power. If this Kiku-no-musoku is a divine kitsune, then they are not unlike the divine servitors which your people know of, and thus not to be trifled with."

Corey tries to parse that information in the way that he understands the world. It helps that beings of trickery and illusion are something he already knows in the form of fae. Perhaps fae are not far removed from these kitsune--or the kitsune are not far removed from them. The idea of one being a divine servitor, however, makes him raise an eyebrow.

"I understand," he says softly. "That... Frankly, that would terrify me. If I found out some distant ancestor of mine was a powerful kitsune, I would feel lost. As though everything I'd ever done might not be because of my own efforts and the favor I have worked so hard to earn, or the oaths that I had sworn, but because of something else entirely."

His arm around Karasu curls in a little more. "Or that... they might come looking for me, and the idea of being close to that is _also_ terrifying. How do you feel about it right now?"

Karasu gives Cor'ethil a small look. It's a question that Cor'ethil knows better than to ask. Karasu does not 'feel'. Not the way that Cor'ethil does. Not the way that most people do. Yet he answers in the best manner that he can. "I am cautious that the words that Sori spoke are not truths. That this is another means of distraction from the actions that he took. I think that regardless of Kiku's existence that we must dismantle the organization that Sori built so that he does not try to kill what remains of my brother, so that he does not try to harm you or your mother in retribution. He will be cautious now that she ended his life once. He will send his best after her, and us."

There is a moment of silence. "I do not understand their caution in dealing with this Kiku. Why should he care one way or another about my existence" He looks at Cor'ethil and the other man knows that this is true, that Karasu can not understand this simple thing.

Corey lifts up his free hand to take Karasu's hand in it, fingers gently stroking the skin of Karasu's fingers. He smiles just a little. "Because he's your ancestor, and... Think of it like how my mother loves me, Karasu. He may never have met you, but he might care for you deeply on account of being your ancestor... And he might be even more motivated to find you because of Raiden." He looks around to see if Wuya's up as he mentions the bird's true identity.

"I agree we should absolutely stop Sori. But... Kiku might be an ally, and..."

Cor'ethil takes Karasu's hand and brings it up to his mouth, stopping just short of kissing it. "Forgive me for my boldness, my love, but... if there is _one_ person in your family line who cares for you that is not your brother, I would love to meet them. To understand where the nightingale who sings me to rest came from. To know what nest led to your birth."

Wuya shifts his feathers uncomfortably, betraying his wakefulness, but he doesn't join the conversation other than to watch with dark eyes as they talk to one another. Karasu shakes his head at Cor'ethil. "I believe you if you say it is true, but I can not say that I understand it. But Kiku, whoever they are, is not where I come from. Sori is the one that birthed what I am today, until Vardama taught me the error of my ways and Wuya-Raiden - in both forms - taught me another path. If not for their existence I would likely be very like Sori myself now."

He looks at Cor'ethil a touch sadly. "I was once a true believer Cor'ethil. I thought that his way was the way of the world. That my father would reshape everywhere to an image of beauty through the path of my blade."

"I don't know Kiku enough to say that he has any resemblance to you, because I don't know him at all," Cor'ethil says, still holding Karasu's hand. "I know you don't understand, but... You don't have to understand it right now. Just like when I confessed my feelings for you in the first place, and that I wanted to travel the world with you instead of letting you walk away from me forever, back in Llyranost--you don't have to understand now, but you will in time. I just..."

He chuckles a little. "I just _feel_ it's important. You could even say I believe it, like how I believe in the White Stag. Or that I know it, like how I know I have the White Stag's blessing. And... you came to me after having endured everything, and..."

Corey doesn't have the right words. "I don't really know what I'm saying at this point," he says. "Other than I love _you_, the way you are now, because it is you. And maybe in another life... I might have loved the you that would have been like him, and hurt my heart on all the barbs that would come of that love. But the gods are kind. They let me meet you as you are now. In my eyes: you are perfection."

Karasu squeezes Cor'ethil's hand. "Well, if you believe that it is important then it surely is. I have faith in you Cor'ethil, and in your faith." He does not add that he is just as blessed to have Cor'ethil in his life. It doesn't bear thinking what his life would be without both Wuya and Corey in his life. "As the designs of the gods are beyond my knowing or understanding, so are yours my kokoro. How your love can be so great I will never comprehend. That you bless me with it is a thing I will never earn."

His heart had truly found the most perfect of vessels to dwell within.

Cor'ethil could say a dozen things to Karasu. He could say that Karasu's heart is the strongest between them, to have endured so much trauma and hardship, but Karasu would not understand--and Cor'ethil would love him anyway, just as Karasu would love him even though Cor'ethil is a creature that is confusing, vexing, and all of the other things. No, he knows words aren't sufficient. Karasu receives these things best through other means.

"I want to be married on a beautiful sunny day," he says softly. "I would pray to Daeus to make it half as bright as I feel for you in my heart, because I want it to be a bright day forever in your mind. I want it to touch all the dark corners in your mind and heart, and to banish all the shadows. I want you to know, the moment that we speak the vows... You would be my husband forever."

He smiles tenderly at Karasu as he kisses Karasu's hand at last. He releases it only an inch away from his mouth before he adds, "You are mine, and I am yours, and may all the gods witness it. May all the spirits witness it. May all the people witness it. But I'd love to secure things by getting Sori taken care of first, so... I'd like to reach out to the Archmage Lupecyll-Atlon and see if he's located Kiku yet?"

There's a soft sound of amusement in Karasu's mouth at the kiss and Cor'ethil's words. "If the day were so bright as half your feelings then we would need to wed in a desert underneath the noon. Worry not my heart, your love does all that and more, and I am yours."

He leans forward then, and kisses Cor'ethil gently. "Yes, we will go to the mage soon. But first..." Karasu kisses Corey again and rises to his feet. "I have a thorn for your beauty to hold."

The assassin draws a dagger from somewhere on himself, and offers it to Cor'ethil "It is called Toge, and it is the twin of my own. I know you have swords, but a warrior should have a secreted weapon which to use in the most dire of situations, and I want you to have something that is mine." Unspoken in that is the knowledge that one day that Karasu will not be here. That he wants for Cor'ethil to have some part of him to carry into the future. "One day they will both be yours."

Cor'ethil is visibly taken aback at the offering, and his silver eyes glitter a little with the smallest indications of tears. "I... It is wonderful." He does not complain, not even a little. "I will keep it somewhere safe on me, so I can draw it if all else fails, or... If something's simply out of reach." While he can call upon Gilead to give him wings to fly, this dagger is not only a practical solution... It means something to him. It's the dagger that will, one day, be joined by Karasu's own, and he will keep them both forever.

He takes the dagger carefully, tears falling down his face now as he smiles brightly at Karasu. It's the way he always smiles at Karasu. So full of light and joy. "I will not pray for that day to arrive soon, but I will pray that, when the time comes... I will keep them both safe. Just as I keep your heart safe." It is all he can ask for in life. He cannot ask the world to make Karasu immortal. He can only enjoy the life that is given.

-End