Sundowning

"Sundowning" is a [SEASON NUMBER] thread written on [IRL DATE].
==Summary==
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==Full Text==
Dario woke uncharacteristically earlier than Milae, taking great caution to ensure that he didn’t wake the goat as he slipped out of their bed. He was certain that he only managed an hour of sleep at most… the words of the night before plagued him. 
Was that real?… is it true?…
The dining portion of their home was already adorned with flowers and vegetation, not unlike that of what surrounded them during their first date. He swept around the hearth, providing a meticulous effort into making things look as proper as possible. It was going to be a very important day for the two of them, and it had to be perfect.
Milae, having been used to sleeping for full days at a time, didn’t wake up until the sun had almost reached its peak over the island. He tucked in his hooves tighter and tiredly pulled his blanket further over his shoulders, wincing as the sheets rubbed against the cuts that were still fresh under his bandages. Then he realized that the bed was cooler than usual, and he lifted his head, squinting as craned his neck to look around the room. 
Dario caught the slight movement out of his peripheral vision, and made his way to the entrance of their bedroom. He felt a warmth in his stomach seeing Milae so tiredly trying to understand what was going on.
“Morning, sleepy head.” He walked over to the goat’s side of the bed and took a seat next to him; Milae was radiating heat from being encased in the bedding for so long. Dario placed a hand on the side of Milae’s face and gave him a quick kiss. “You’ve been out for a good minute.”
“Mmm.” He groggily looked up at Dario, trying to focus on him. “What…day is it?”
Dario stifled his laughter at the question. “You’re being dramatic. Get up and get dressed, I’ve got something I need to talk to you about.” He walked to the door frame, looking behind him to check that Milae was, in fact, getting out of bed. He leaned against the door with a grin. “Don’t make me have to force you.”
He yawned and waved a hoof at Dario, rolling out of bed and accidentally taking a blanket or two with him. “Let me…wake up, first. I’m not used to this.” He started fumbling through the room, looking for where he left his clothes.
“I’ve got you, come here.”
He grabbed one of his own shirts that had been neatly tucked away, turning to the goat and lifting his arms. “It’s going to be a little big, but I think you’ll look handsome all the same.” Pulling the shirt over Milae’s head, it draped down to his knees and seemed quite oversized at the neck and arm holes… but it didn’t matter.
You look amazing.
With another stretch and an undignified yawn, Milae leaned slightly on Dario, hugging him around his middle while he still struggled to wake up. “Shirts aside, what did you…want to say?”
The stag could feel his fingers tapping against one another, but with a more positive connotation. He wanted this to be everything he envisioned in his head.
“Come with me, you dork.”
He softly took Milae’s hoof and led him into the newly-adorned living space, standing enough out of the way to give a full view of the hard work he put into it. The deer was so nervous that his grand gesture would fall flat, or that Milae would be too tired to truly appreciate the spectacle.
“…do- do you like it?”
Milae’s ears perked up, and he stepped forward, taking in all the hard work that Dario had put into sprucing up their front room. He made a full circle, inspecting everything, and then he faced Dario, a small smile gracing his muzzle. 
“This is the best our house has ever looked,” he joked, but he was tenderly touched. “You did this all while I was asleep?”
“I did!” Dario experienced a wave of relief and euphoria – he hadn’t seen Milae genuinely smile in quite a bit of time.”I mean, I know I could have done more, and it’s not your usual decor so I was kind of worried that you were going to just say you liked it and then you would want to take it down later an-”
He caught himself in a typical ramble, and didn’t want to dwell too long on what he could have done.
“I… there’s a lot to talk about. Let’s have a seat.”
“Alright, then.” Milae was amused with Dario’s antics; he loved seeing the deer so excited about something he was planning. He lifted himself up into one of the chairs, tucking his legs underneath him properly and folding his forearms on his table. He lifted his brows and looked expectantly at Dario.
The deer took to another chair, placing it next to Milae and sitting with his hands still actively fidgeting.
“You said something last night, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it… you said ‘no more timelines’. What does that mean?” 
To demonstrate, Milae lifted his forearms and placed them against his chest, but nothing happened. There was no flash of light, and he didn’t vanish. “I cannot use my powers any more,” he explained. “I cannot reach any other timelines. And I intend to keep it that way.” 
“Okay.” Dario felt a twinge of guilt; though he wasn’t certain of the circumstances leading to this, he couldn’t help but wonder if his existence played a role in it. “I was thinking that was what you meant. I don’t know how you feel about it… I’m really sorry if that isn’t what you wanted.”
He took a deep breath and placed his hands in Milae’s lap.
“I want to see the good in this. There’s no way I could possibly know what this means for you, but I like to think that I know what this means… for us.”
Dario reached into a bouquet of flowers and retrieved a box haphazardly wrapped with cloth. He placed it gently into Milae’s possession, careful to keep a close eye on the goat’s reaction.
“I love you more than I’ve ever been able to love anything before, even myself. I don’t ever want you to forget that, and I’m hoping this helps.”
Milae gingerly took the box and carefully opened it. 
The goat immediately took note of a familiar object placed neatly in the box; a booklet… that he made. His eyes darted quickly from the present to the stag.
“Dario, I-”
The deer leaned in and gave Milae a kiss to keep him from speaking further. He didn’t quite yet understand.
“Let’s go through it. I know that these were a big part of you, and though you may not be able to be the goat you were before, you will always be who I believed you to be.”
Dario took one of Milae’s hooves in his hand and guided it to the booklet. Page by page, the two of them navigated a history that only Milae could visualize in his head. Times and places he could never return to; experiences known to Dario only in the finely crafted art decorating each page. They all spoke of memories that could never be truly lost to time…
…and then, a page he didn’t immediately recognize. The style of threads were… different. They didn’t align with any recognizable pattern or purpose, as though if accomplished with an untrained hand. It featured gold and teal weaves interlacing one another to spell out a phrase the goat had heard many times in his long life…
…here’s to the future, buddy.
“I know you can never go back to these other timelines…” Dario spoke softly, his voice cracking with tears running down the length of his face. “…but I really want to think that you got stuck in the best one, with me.”
Milae’s face was hidden by the sheet-pressed, messy tousle on his head, and he moved little while Dario spoke, but as he ended, and looked on the goat’s face, he could see shining tracks of moisture quickly moving down his cheeks, making his already-dark fur even darker. Without speaking, he folded himself into Dario’s lap, clutching at his lover tightly and burying his face in the comforting space between his arm and shoulder and chest. He stayed as he was for several minutes, his shoulders trembling briefly every once in a while, but eventually he leaned back far enough to choke out a few words.
“We’ll do it all,” Milae said through labored breaths, his face ruined with tears. “Anything you want, I–I lost so much, giving this up, but now, it–it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter any more.” He ran a hoof down the side of Dario’s face, looking him in the eyes. The gaping void of most of his life missing suddenly consumed him like a cloud passing over the sun. Somehow, his world being constricted to a single timeline left an infinite abyss of which he was terrified. “Please…please don’t leave me,” he whispered, another wave of tears coursing over his face. “You’re all I have left.”
Dario held him as close to his physical form as he could; an imitation of the proximity the goat felt to his heart. Hearing Milae’s words echoed the sentiment he felt since the moment his partner knelt by his side after an ill-fated brush with death. The two of them, isolated from a world that would forever treat them unfairly, could finally embrace a future that wasn’t entirely as uncertain as before. The deer gently pressed the goat’s head closer to him, tucking his face into the mess of fur.
“You gave up your world for me, seemingly without a second thought or hesitation. I’ve… never truly been a part of someone’s life in adulthood, even in my time spent with the Arnasons. I have always felt myself the outcast and burden to my friend and the those around him, and you gave me the greatest gifts of all.”
He buried his face into Milae’s head once more, trying with the strength of Gods not to cry.
“You gave me a home when I was running out of places to go. You gave me your heart when it was stretched beyond my perception of time… and you gave me a chance at a life worth living. I could never repay that, but I will spend the rest of my time with you trying.”
The two would remain intertwined in body and spirit for longer than either expected. The light through the window danced across the floor with each passing minute, and for just that precious moment in time, the idea of eternity didn’t scare the stag nearly as much as it did before.
Category:Events
Category:BOTGD 2
Category:Act II
Category:Yun Milae
Category:Dario Hjort