Topic: Under the Lights Majestic (Possible NSFW)

Fleetwolf

Date: 2015-07-05 22:22 EST
(Considered happening on the 4th of July in the Seaside District during the Fireworks Show.)

Fleet had found a nice spot on the beach where driftwood supplied seating and a nice depression in the sand. He collected rocks from the beach and soon had a small, beach wood fire going with several skewers of sausages and kabobs roasting on the fire. He dug around in a picnic basket and soon had a soda in hand that he sipped. He sat and turned the food waiting for Ammy to arrive.

He watched the horizon as it began to tinge pink. Twilight was coming and soon the fireworks would go off. As he waited he stared into the fires with his red glowing eyes. Alone time with Ammy, it was almost a foreign concept to him. How had he pushed her so far away from him over the years?

It was easy to push loved ones away when you can't remember them. When your head is so full of lies that lead you to doubt whether you're alive or dead? She was a strong willed woman. He had to agree to that. One of few things that drew him to her was her strong will. A will he'd watch snap a few times but always remade and reworked into fine, resilient steel. Her mind as well. He could woo and adore that mind of hers for eternity, sharp as it was and ever growing sharper. The fact that she was red headed and curvacious was icing on the cake.

He never thought himself a vain, shallow male only looking at females as just breeding stock. The typical eye for good birthing hips and strong body. His father would disagree with that point by pointing out the several wives he has. Fleet rubbed his face with the realization many may find him loose, a female collector, one who liked harems. Far from the truth. Each life he loved and brought to his home, his bed and even closer; into the inner circle of his tender heart.

They all were special to him, even the one he lost in the wars. Out of all of them though, Ammy had still captured his heart, and he found himself driven to hang on to her. He couldn't quite put a finger on it, but he had a distinct feeling that she had come close to leaving him to rot in a mind with more passages than the Minotaurs Lair in that one mythology tale.

He turned some of the sausages over the flames to brown them evenly. She loved kids too. He loved kids. It is impossible to look at their family and say otherwise. Six, healthy kids with Ammy and a seventh with Tairen. Grand kids even. He had so much going for him and yet every day, he never realized it. Never knew or enjoyed it until recently. He suddenly felt like a man in a vast ocean swimming without direction.

Was that why Ammy's love for him faltered and began to fade? Was he not doing enough as the Alpha of the household? Or did she resent him for coming back and taking over, placing her as second in command?

Up the beach past the flames of the fire he saw Ammy approaching. A cloudy and bleak his mind was getting her site was brightening to his mind.

Ammy Spiritor

Date: 2015-07-05 22:44 EST
Ammy's cheeks were red with a blush under her fur having read his texts to meet her for fireworks. Her heart skipped and raced a bit. It'd been so long since they had been together without children or family present. Not since the long nights working for Lord Brutin at the Lupinossai Compound. She didn't let her mind wander to far. Twilight would be soon and she'd need to get moving quickly.

She went about her laboratory in the Alchemist's Fire and put current projects brewing or bubbling on simmer or switched them off to cure. Her reagents were tucked away neatly and any mess swept up. Soon she headed to the front of her shop where the drink coolers and liquor stands were set up. She grabbed a black bottle of Nagrah and some of the fizzy soda drinks to help dilute the strong Lupe whiskey. A quick check that everything was off and safely warded, Ammy then locked the front door for the night and headed off for the Seaside District, humming a tune.

She could finally have a heart to heart with him. Let him know how proud she was of him. Though a glimmer of darkness touched upon her thoughts. She was also upset and a bit disappointed with him on several points, but she did her best not to let those thoughts kill her mood. The could talk, grow close again and work out the rifts that lay open between them. There was much at stake to keep him firmly in her life. He may not have been there for her in all the hardships, and left her often to raise their children alone, but he held something loving and desirable close to his being.

She could see he loved her, loved Mirius and loved the children they had, but some days, she felt cold towards him and often felt he didn't know how to treat her. She blew red locks out of her face and continued to walk soon reaching the beach. She saw the campfire after a decent walk and saw him waiting for her, the fire shining in his eyes and warming the tones of his fur. She looked at him with a longing and a joy that baffled her due to the prior thoughts racing in her mind.

Here he was, a male that often frustrated her and yet she ached for him and his company. She drew up to the fire and took a seat.

"Hello Fleet. I brought the drinks." She gave a worn smile.

Fleetwolf

Date: 2015-07-10 10:27 EST
Fleet gave her a smile and his red eyes glowed with a touch of longing and familiarity.

"Come, sit my love. I've got sausage and kabobs cooking." He patted the spot on the log right next to him.

Ammy moved over to him and took a seat. She looked to the increasing twilight in the sky and smiled. She handed Fleet a fizzy soda and left the bottle of Nagrah unopened by her feet.

"You know, Fleet, I can't remember clearly the last time it was just us having a night to ourselves. Do you remember a time?" Ammy said.

Fleet chuckled softly. "I think that would be somewhere during our brief, one night honeymoon with Orion finally fell asleep during his honorary mating watch."

Ammy started giggled slowly thinking about that night years ago. "I think Orion just wanted to make sure you knew where to stick it and not get slapped upside the head by a red head." She gave Fleet a wink.

He started laugh hard hearing her. He settled some, took a sip of his fizzy soda and stared at the fire. "Oh I knew where to stick it. Every male learns that from his father or sometimes his mother back in the Dens. I think he just wanted to make sure the most powerful Spiritor he'd met didn't rip out his younger brothers throat during a moment of passion.

"You realize that we could've told him no to the watching? That we could've had a wedding like you have been wanting for a long, long time. Why didn't we do that?" He asked.

Ammy smiled a little and opened her own bottle of fizzy soda. "Back then we were young and stupid. Love had a very strong hold on us then. Now?" she went silent a moment.

Fleet stared at her and decided to let her have the first stab at what gnawed at them both.

Ammy Spiritor

Date: 2015-07-23 09:41 EST
Ammy felt the silence grow heavy between them. He really wanted her to shove the first knife into this close moment? She sighed, sipped her fizzy soda for a moment then spoke.

"I know people look at us Fleet, and smile wishing they could be all love and caring like we are. That public image is damn shallow. We barely warm each others beds, your off in the arms of others and so am I. Did I do something to drive you off? Offend you in some way to forget about me often?"

Fleet tilted his head at her in thought quietly and answered. "No. It was never you. It was me. I could say it was the De-Aging spell that hit Rhy'Din years ago that started it. But that wasn't it, or at least not the starting point. It was me taking up being an angel for both our gods and stealing some of their powers to see the future. I saw what was coming.... and desperately wanted my family safe by any means. So.... I tried to mess with the present to get the best future possible."

Ammy's hand was quick and the open handed slap sent him off the log to land in the sand. "You idiot!"

Fleet took a moment to get his bearings and the ringing out of his ears. The woman could hit like a truck. He felt something warm trickle from his nose and he wiped the blood away on reflex. He soon rejoined her on the log, tempting fate for another lashing.

"Fleet, you put us all through heartache and disasters to try and get us a better future? Didn't you study time line theories and future resilience? We could have had a better life and a closer family if nothing was altered. The future changes as soon as you see it." She said in frustration and sat apart from him.

"Ammy..." Fleet began to say.

"No. Shut up for now. You've brought so much pain to me, my kids and our shared mates doing what you thought was right without consulting anyone. Was getting knocked up by Tairen part of that future? Part of your plan? Or was that a bonus to work in while you messed with us more? Do you know how many nights I cried myself to sleep waiting for you to come home? Praying for you to return to your children so I wouldn't have to tell them one more time that 'Daddy is coming home soon' knowing it was a lie?

You know that because of your absence dear that I was happy Mirius came into my life and filled my bed. Took me close and told me things would be alright during the nightmares and the battles that still happened. Things could have been perfect I suppose had you stayed gone. Yet, you showed up suddenly wanting your family back in your life and that hurt Mirius. She's loved me more than you ever have and suddenly an unknown male pushes her out of the way. You.... you are the main reason she shot herself in the head and spent months in a coma."

Fleet flinched as she laid down a heavy blow of words.

Fleetwolf

Date: 2015-07-24 20:12 EST
"Ammy, I am not the main reason Mirius shot herself. Don't you dare put that suicide attempt on me. She was messed up beyond mentally stable when she met you. You even admit that.

Don't be blind by anger at what I did to coat over the fact that you accepted into your life a broken woman. I have accepted her into mine as well and I love her fiercely as I love you, but her decision to eat a bullet was not because of me.

Hell, she tried to kill you on the first meeting, running around with dingbat Igneous on some stupid dream of Spiritor conquest of the realm." Fleet said.

Ammy stared at him hotly. "Are you accusing me of being stupid with who I take into my bed?"

Fleet groaned and rubbed his forehead. "Gods, woman, you are daft. Maybe the sun powers have baked your brain. I simply mean she was screwed up beyond what we all could see. That's all. As for me and Tairen, that was a wonderful chance happening..."

"Chance happening? To go flirt with another woman's mate and get pregnant? How is that working for you by the way? Being a herm and raising a herm child? She ever get confused by have two fathers and maybe a mother?" Ammy snarled.

"Hey, stop it. You are not opening those wounds again. It's taken me a long time to soothe Fi'im into accepting me and Caolite in the house without dumping Tairen." Fleet said.

"Oh, worried about Fi'im but not in soothing me, your first wife, you damn male." Ammy retorted.

"Hey. I'm not that one that got into bed with another woman when I turned into a puppy against my will. Nor was I the one that hooked up with a deer and married him. Or how about the nice little fling you did on that other planet and married that other woman? Hmm? Who's the whore in this family? Not me." His words cut like steel and burned like iodine.

"Really? You're going to jump on relationships that we both agreed on. Tairen was never agreed on. You just suddenly announced your pregnant now we a pup in the family that wasn't planned and belonging to someone outside of our trinity of mates. As to Nicky, I solved that issue and gave Dante his own life to be her husband instead of me, so don't hang onto that tryst to hurt me. You know, if the real Fleet was alive, I wouldn't have this problem. But no. I lost my one true love that gave me hope, back in another realm to a bunch of stupid civil wars that I was dragged into." Ammy said. Her words dripped at first with fire and seeped with emotional acid then ended in bitter sobs as she put her face into her hands.

Fleet slowly moved to her side and rubbed her back. "I know I am not the Fleet you loved. I am not even worthy of that name wrapped up in lies to keep me safe as a child. If I could, I would give you him back and let you be happy but that would not solve or sooth our troubles either. The simple truth is we loved each other and married for who we thought we were. Now, we see the truth in the light. We are not perfect beings."

Ammy looked up at him, tears glittering in her eyes and making tracks down her cheek fur.

Ammy Spiritor

Date: 2015-07-29 19:18 EST
"So what do you suggest then? Turn a blind eye again to how broken we are as a couple? Keep up this farce of a mating? Raise more children that wont know if they are truly loved by both parents? Leave me wondering some days if you even care about me or the others?" Ammy said. She wiped at the tears in her eyes wishing she was stronger than the emotions tearing her apart.

Fleety continued to rub her back. "Ignore the issues, I would say not. Accept them would be the better course. I often get caught up in my own small world, and commit to too many things that takes me from you all. I am also want to erratic bouts of love and romance. I do flirt from time to time. I love you and Mirius equally and romance you both as much as you two allow or are available. I love our children, Ammy. I want so desperately to be there with them in all things but our family isn't exactly unified like it we thought it was.

Myrlene is her own person, I am happy for that, but soon she will be out, on her own with her mates creating that kingdom of hers. Caolite.... just hates me because I am not around her enough. Merlin is becoming more and more of a handful being so filled with Chaos energy, and gods Gwynevere ... I still don't know how to make heads or tail of her. The most recent lot, Ruby, Mabel and Jake ... Leroy sees them more than me. I mean to see them more, do more things with them, but what have I done? Get obsessed with starting my stupid general store. I always have good intentions but the implementation just, sucks." He sighed.

Ammy shrugged off his back rubbing and gave him a hard stare. "That's... a lot of admission coming out of you." She stared at the fire and the roasting food. "I... I know you make the best effort to follow your intentions Fleet, Merlin, husband.... but I need more than just good intentions. I need more actions to know you truly love this family. I know the store has seemed to obsess you. You're fiercely proud in trying to support the family. I get it after you recoiled from my offer to let you use some space in the Alchemist Fire. You don't want to tread on my territory or feel like you are only doing well because of hand outs. I'm the same way, but Fleet, some days you have to take that hand given you to get out of the quicksand.

Though I have to admit, bitterly and truthfully to you that I am not perfect nor have I been a good mate to you either. You're right. When you became a puppy suddenly and wandered off into Rhy'Din city for months, lost to me, I was hurt deeply. I thought we were finally settling down to relax after your son started running Den City. Suddenly, you're gone, you're son is looking for guidance and hates my guts because of my damn last name happens to be 'Spiritor'. The city isn't doing well, Myrlene is framed for murders, then rendered blind. I'm chased out of my own city. The city I started. The city I died for, turned on me and exiled me with intent to kill me. I could've used support, strength, a hug, anything to let me know it'd be alright.

Instead I was out on the lamb, seeking safe haven from your son and Igneous who wanted me either dead or captured to serve him. Mirius was there for me. Yeah, she tried to kill me the first meeting, but it was by chance I found her ill and dying. I healed her. I opened my scarred and hurt heart to someone else hurt and she thanked me for it. She didn't sneer at me or treat me like another female. She wasn't perfect right away. I had to keep hammering away at the good I saw in her until the evil crumbled off finally. I put so much effort into loving her that ... I forgot about you for the first time in years. You were no longer important to me."

Fleety moved the kabobs and the sausages off of the fire without saying a word. His emotions, raw and jagged from the thought of simply being forgotten after years of being with Ammy erupted between them over the bond link. Ammy shifted uncomfortably on the log as she felt the tension. Fleety gazed at Ammy for a long moment, twilight was deepening more and they both could hear speakers rattling the voices of the MC for the coming fireworks show.

"I understand, Ammy. I do. We are not getting any further towards mending our mistrust. Let me ask you the simplest question and we build from there. Why did you marry me?" He asked.

Ammy took a long sip of her fizzy soda and wouldn't look at him in the eyes. "You were there."

Fleety tilted his head confused. "What?"

She leaned forward, elbows on knees, chin resting in her hands as she stared at him now. "You were there for me Fleet. I'd been in this hell of a realm for two months and going down a bad path of serving a slaver and getting caught up in being a tool for him with my powers. My heart was shattered after being removed from my own realm by the gods I once worshiped and my lover who bore your same name died to let me escape the gods wrath through a portal to another hellish realm. I was alone. Orion came along a week or two before you, but he felt no love for me. I was just another young idiot bound to die in this world and he had himself a wounded heart.

You were there. Young looking, wise, full of fire and energy, ready to lead, ready to do things. I felt if I had you, you'd fan the dying ember of passion and hope for living in my bosom again. My heart was broken but ready to be put back together if someone just took the time to care and do it. You did that. You spent time with me and fixed me. Maybe that's why you cooled towards me. I wasn't broken anymore. Was that why you started to distance yourself? I was no longer a broken thing to invest in like a hobby? No longer getting that thrill of being the 'man fixing things and providing support for his babe' kind of mentality? Or did you finally start to hate me just like your son did for the family I was born into?"

Fleetwolf

Date: 2015-08-08 13:21 EST
Fleet took one of the sausages off the fire, used his claws to split it in two and gave Ammy half. He chewed on his own half when accepted the offer with a look encouraging him to bear it all after she did so. He chewed on the sausage buying time to sort out his mind and his reasons for marrying Ammy. Fleet swallowed and sipped more soda before he spoke.

"I never viewed you as a broken thing, Ammy. Not once in the six years we've shared our bed and time together. You've given me a lot of gray hairs, I'll admit that much. Every time you came home weak from spilling your own blood to do things for Brutin; every night a new bruise, broken bone or wound from a rough night in Rhy'Din City getting into fights. The constant threats leveled against you.

Ammy, you say I fixed you. I didn't glue one piece of your heart back together. You did. You worked through all of your trials with or without me. Often when I was with you, what is said or advised you to do, you ignored. You ran you're own course love like you didn't trust anyone holding your heart or you hand for fear of someone seeing it as weakness and attacking you more. I... was on the sidelines often.

I actually know now how Mirius feels when you get into these epic disasters. You blaze in, all powered up and coming out worse for wear but still a winner. Mirius or I try... we're left broken and damaged for months. I... I loved you because you were the strong roll model I'd been lacking my whole life. Didn't make sense to me back then when I met you, but now with all my memories intact, I barely knew my father outside of him being an insane mage out to live forever.

Wolf did what he could to raise me as his own son though I and mother were not his. He tried to instill in me respect, kindness and compassion. Even gave me the softer, wiser name of Fleet. He intended it to mean I'd know when to fight and when to flee as a wiser action. Some of the raising took, most of it failed. I am too much my fathers son. Vicious, calculating and hot tempered Spiritor blood pumps in me. That is why I latched onto you Ammy. You have the fire, the vibrant energy and command of a real Spiritor. Not a simple female foisted off to arrange territorial peace or to gain wealth. You were a real honest to gods strong woman. You still are. I craved to be like you. I've failed repeatedly.

One sad fact you must understand, Ammy, is that you all belong to me. By the rights of Lupe law unless you denounce me as Alpha of the family.... you're all property." Fleet said with a bitter taste in his mouth.

Ammy's brows ticked up a few degrees. "Property?"

Fleet flinched expecting her to take his head off this time. "Technically yes. Most of the Lupe laws that we married under were still holding to the old ways of conquer and arrangement rules. I... don't mean to say that I view you all as property. I know you hate slavery and ownership of a living beings life by another. I was very stupid when I came back and claimed you all again. I am not surprised it hurt Mirius a lot."

Ammy ate her sausage and chewed on it quietly as her mind mulled over what he just laid out.

"So you only loved me because you wanted to learn to act and be a stronger male, but failed at that? On top of that, you say I caused you undue grief from all the chaos that has and keeps happening to me?" Ammy said.

Fleet nodded once. Ammy sighed and stood up. "I may as well go then and spare you more grief."

Fleet stood and caught her by one wrist. "No. Don't go. I... wanted this to be a happy time together. Not an ending to something we both know can still work if we just..."

Ammy turned on him and glared. "If we just, what? Pretend we didn't say what we've said? Act like everything is roses and sunshine between us now? No. That wont happen. It's been made obvious that you didn't marry me for love and I hate to say it, but it seems neither did I. We used each other and didn't get what we bargained for. Now let go of my wrist or I'll make sure the kids will never have a father again."

Ammy Spiritor

Date: 2015-08-08 13:55 EST
"No, Ammy. I won't let go. Please... don't make me let go. If we stand any chance of working things out, we have to take the hits dealt and try to move forward into something we really believe." Fleet said, his grip tightening on her wrist painfully.

Ammy growled once and with a swift move forward, she twisted, pulled down and laid Fleet on his back in the sand. She heel kicked his stomach and he gasped letting go of her wrist as he wheezed for breath. Ammy stood over him, hardness in her golden eyes.

"You will not lay a hand on me again until I say you can. I hear what you're saying Fleet, but the damage has been done. I... I can't trust you now. Even our bond link is a jumble of emotions from all of this and giving me a headache. I don't see how we can even recover from this. I may as well say we don't exist as a couple now and divorce you. Let you find another woman that will build you up and make you more confident. I'd try but honestly, no one was there for me to comfort me when I needed it. So why should I be there now for you?

I'd say this is just punishment for you Fleet. To shove you out, exile you from the family and cast you into Rhy'Din's realm alone to start over." She was now crouched over Fleet like a feral predator ready to rip out his throat. Their noses almost touched.

Fleet was no longer wheezing for air but sobbing now. Ammy's ideal punishment slashed through his heart like ice cold blades.

"But.... I can't be that cruel." Ammy said and pulled away from him to stand again.

She began to struggle with something on her left hand. Fleet took the moment to sit up and compose himself. It didn't work. He was losing her, the fire of his life. He'd doused it tonight and he felt cold inside and heavy.

Something thumped into his chest and landed on the sand between his legs. He stared at the item for a long moment, clear and crisp at first then blurring rapidly and tears filled his eyes. He clutched at her wedding ring in the sand and sobbed hard.

Ammy crouched next to him, lifted his chin and looked him hard in the wet, luminescent red eyes of his. She brushed some of his blue hair out of his face. She had a hard, bitter look set upon her face as if she was trying to work up courage for something.

"Fleet.... Merlin. I know you meant much. I know you had good intentions, but the time of our union is over. We can't continue this marriage like it is. Take the ring, hold on to it for me. Let's walk away for a while and think really, really hard about us and what we really want for us. Okay? If we both agree our marriage is worth keeping, we'll meet up again soon." Ammy said, softness blunted her words.

Fleet pulled the ring to his chest, white sand falling away like dessicated tears in the night. Her words hurt more though they were soft. They were honest and sincere. He cried a bit more then subsided to sniffles. He nodded his head weakly to her in agreement.

Ammy worked a small smile for him to see. "Good. The healing may finally get a chance to start." She leaned in and placed a short kiss on his forehead.

The night lit up as the fireworks started, but Fleet payed little attention to the wondrous beauty. His eyes fell on Ammy as she drew away from him and walked down the beach into darkness, taking the sun of his world with him. The fireworks shimmered and sparkled in the sky beautifully. A wonder to many, delight to most, but to Fleet on that beach it was a colorful goodbye to someone he loved.

Memories of Life - FFIX
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((Photos courtesy of Sean Walley, Oklahoma 2015 4th of July))