Front Porch Light

"Front Porch Light" is a [SEASON NUMBER] thread written on [IRL DATE].
==Summary==
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==Full Text==
Dario sat with legs crossed in front of the well, plucking petals from the varying flowers before him. It had been a short time since his doppelganger departed, and he was no closer to returning home than when he first arrived.
This sucks.
He felt more confidence, having spent quality time self-reflecting in the most literal sense. The deer stared down at his hands and examined them closely; there was much he could do, if given the opportunity. He threw his head back and sighed, ready to shut his eyes and wait things out until he was rescued.
Rescued. Sounds about right.
akkeyagentofhelheim
“I look away for one damn minute and all this shit’s happened already in the Golden timeline, and now there’s your other you dropping in like crap out of a deadly nadder–” Boots scuffed hurriedly across the ground, kicking up dust and dirt as a lanky man with a scarf around his neck and long blond bangs sweeping over his forehead, passed in front of Dario. He was very engrossed in writing in his notebook while mumbling worriedly to himself, and almost completely disappeared from the half breed’s sight before stopping cold in his tracks and turning on his heel to gawk a little.
“Ah! There you are!” He came up to the deer a little too quickly and a little too forcefully, not really looking at him carefully, “Okay, so where’d he go? I want to talk to him–” He rambled for a second before he finally flicked his eyes up to get a good glance at him, and realized his mistake. A furious blush burst across his cheeks, “Y-you’re not ‘Rio.”
dario-the-deer
Dario had no clue who this man was, but it was blatantly obvious that the opposite was true. The stranger knew all too well who he was, based on his body language and seemingly high level of comfort around the deer.
“I- I mean, I am Dario… if that’s what you mean.”
akkeyagentofhelheim
“R-right… no yeah, you are. You’re Dario.” The man straightened sheepishly and took a respectful step back so that he wasn’t in the deer’s personal space, slender fingers covering his mouth in some embarrassment at his mistake. His face was still slightly pink. He flicked his amber eyes to the side before meeting Dario’s gaze once more, “Sorry. Hi, Dario. Glad to see you made it safely here… although it could be in better circumstances…” 
He quirked his lips to the side humourlessly, rather almost in annoyance at the situation Dario was forced into, before reaching his hand out for a greeting, “My name’s Juro, but you can call me J.”
dario-the-deer
He noticed the charming intricacies displayed by Juro immediately – it was quite the spectacle. Dario felt his own eyes locked with the eyes of the man in front of him, moving with every sporadic motion. It was almost mesmerizing to observe his energy.
“Oh- yes, it’s really good to meet you, J.” He met the extended hand and gave it a firm shake. “I… can agree about the circumstances, or what I know of them, anyway. Just kind of… here, right now.”
akkeyagentofhelheim
J unknowingly held the hand in his and the gaze locked in his for another breath, but it was long enough for it to raise a metaphorical brow. He expelled a thin breath, thinking very carefully to himself, before taking a seat on the ground beside the deer. He tucked a golden strand of hair behind an ear, and asked him in a serious tone, “Would you like to know more?”
dario-the-deer
“I- I would.”
He almost couldn’t believe that his responses fell from his mouth without any thought; something caused him to be transfixed on each syllable that drifted to his ears. Dario looked away from the man, staring off into the distance. There wasn’t a whole lot to lose at this point… no sign of Milae, and even if the goat were to come back, the last interaction between the two was not inherently a positive one.
“I’m not sure what brought you here, but I can’t just stay here and hope that my friends are going to be alright. I need to figure something out.”
akkeyagentofhelheim
He gave a sigh, then reached into a small pouch on his hip, pulling out a journal that was impossibly too large for the size of the bag. He opened it and flipped towards the end of the book, filled with familiar scribbles in the deer’s language across one page and empty parchment on another.
“Here,” J pushed the book into Dario’s hands, before pointing a thin finger on a part of the page, “This would probably interest you the most. That’s where Milae is right now…”
dario-the-deer
He moved his face closer to the book laid before him, taking note of the goat’s current whereabouts… they didn’t surprise him. He almost felt anger – he had conveyed his desire to be there alongside him through all of this. He couldn’t help but think back on the anger the goat threw at him so vehemently. The words still echoing around in his head like shards of glass. 
“I wouldn’t say interest as much as I would say… it’s expected.” Dario continued to study the book with great intrigue, hoping to find a use for it that involved returning to his home.
foresight-botgd
“I think–yes, this way–”
“Thank you, I can…I can take it from here.”
“M-m-milae–”
The sound of footsteps approached, and out of Haligan’s village, there was a small entourage of people, keeping up while still offering a respectable distance to the person leading them. He stopped a ways off from J and Dario, and behind him, a few faces, both familiar and unfamiliar, especially the one with a pair of antlers and an anxious expression. 
Yun Milae lowered his hood upon seeing Dario, and after standing mutely for several seconds, he dipped his chin and slowly lowered himself to one knee. The shame and guilt he felt was almost burning him alive. But he forced himself to feel it and accept it. Dario could see, on patterns of fur that he was already so familiar with, that the black stripes on his face and the back of his neck had thickened and grown over more of the lighter auburn. His eyes were heavy.
“I…” His voice came out as a whisper, and he swallowed and tried again. “I came to take you back.”
dario-the-deer
If there was a proper term for the cacophony of internal struggling Dario was enduring, he certainly didn’t know it. Everything in him wanted to grab Milae by the shoulders and yell. He wanted so badly to turn and walk away again; to show him just show remarkably infuriated he had become. He wanted the tears in his eyes to dissipate so he could appear strong in front of the goat. He so badly desired the strength to stop shaking. He dreamed of not feeling vulnerable when Milae was in close proximity…
…he wished he didn’t feel an intrinsic safety in him.
“Milae…” the deer fought himself; he could do it right now. He could tell him how horribly distraught he was after their last encounter.
“I- I am so…”
He was right there. The words formed neatly at the tip of his tongue, ready to fire off like a burning arrow from a bow… if he could keep his hands and voice from shaking.
“I-”
He fell to his knees in a similar fashion to Milae’s current stance, and threw himself into a tight embrace around the goat. He buried his head into the fur of his neck, holding in fear of losing him again. This was home.
“I am so glad you’re here.”
foresight-botgd
Ever the same, Milae leaned his head back like a bewildered heron, and he had a temptation of throwing Dario off of him again, only because it just felt so wrong. But the reality was that he hadn’t felt Dario’s embrace in hundreds of decades. And even while he practically begged– “No…stop…you’re not supposed to…” –he was already losing his composure, falling over completely on the side of his legs and folding into Dario, how was he so small and narrow and sharp, and the deer so much larger and softer and gentler, how was he so in love with someone that had every right to hate him?
Instead, he let Dario hold him while he tried to stifle his own cries. This was absolutely not about him. “Are you…Dario, I…”
He didn’t make any honest attempt to pull himself away. For the deer, Milae hadn’t been gone for more than an afternoon… but upon seeing him, he knew without question that time had passed, and not by any small amount. His partner looked tired beyond recognition, and Dario could tell that his own anger paled in comparison to the pain that Milae was enduring.
“I- you’re in a lot of shit, Milae.” He scratched the back of the goat’s head with his fingers as he spoke, tenderly prioritizing around his ears where the fur seemed to have just slightly outpaced the rest in growth.. “We’ve got a lot to talk about, but it can wait. I’m glad you’re okay.”
foresight-botgd
With an enormous effort, Milae pulled himself together again. “We can sort it out when we get back. I’m…” His gut turned. “I have every intention of bringing you home, but the cost is high. I won’t leave you in the dark again…have they already told you the requirements for me bringing someone through timelines?”
Behind Milae, Rio met Dario’s gaze, and his face was grim.
dario-the-deer
Seeing the expression of his new friend as one of desolation began to worry Dario. The way Milae delivered the question was not comforting in the slightest.
“They haven’t… and by the sounds of it, I’m not going to like it.”
He turned his attention to the goat, who once again was unable to make eye contact with him. Dario pushed himself to maintain his composure.
“What do we have to do?”
foresight-botgd
Milae took a deep breath, but it was Rio who answered. “A sacrifice,” he said quietly. “A soul for a soul.”
Looking away briefly, Milae nodded. “We can take the time to find someone already on the line for their crimes…something to mitigate the act. I shouldn’t have let it come to this, I’m so sorry…”
dario-the-deer
He could play to his ignorance in the moment, but he knew in his heart what Rio’s words meant. The deer didn’t need a definition of ‘sacrifice’ in this case, because the tone of the word carried a weight he wasn’t prepared to bear. He shot Milae a bewildered look at the goat’s suggestion – he couldn’t believe it was even floated as an option.
“No. No, absolutely not. I won’t be complicit in this.” He took a step back, still trying to process the chain of events that lead him here. “There has to be something else that we can do. This can’t be the only way.”
foresight-botgd
Rio shook his head and looked aside, frustrated. “You shouldn’t have told him–”
Milae tried so hard not to get frustrated. “Dario, I can’t just leave you here. I still have to fix what I’ve done, and I’m willing to take care of it for you, it doesn’t have to be…like this.”
From the back of the small crowd, the older man that was present for their arrival took a step forward, his light blue eyes sharp through his glasses.
dario-the-deer
Dario was trying so hard to not yell at Milae – it was proving to be a futile endeavor.
“You always intend on taking care of things for me, that is my issue!… and how can it not be like this? I think it’s been made pretty clear what needs to be do-”
The stag lost his thoughts as he saw an older figure emerge from the group of onlookers that had assembled through his peripheral vision. The man’s aging features were unmistakable. He felt his heart racing, fixated on him and completely disregarding the goat he was quarreling with. 
“…why is he here?”
foresight-botgd
Before Milae could answer, he emerged from the watchful group behind Milae, and it was instantly clear that he had a limp, pronounced enough that he needed a semi-intricate mechanical splint for his knee. His cropped hair was more silver than pale blond, and he still carried the same scar of the same once-life-threatening injury from long ago. He extended a careful hand to Dario, to show he meant no harm by approaching.
“Milae,” Darien said in a low voice. “Just use me.” Tulli covered her mouth with a shocked squeak. “Get it over with–”
“I will not force his hand.” Milae got to his feet, still looking Dario balefully in the eyes. “This is your choice, but I don’t want to let you suffer the rest of your life–however long that is–out of place because of a choice I made for you. If we do this, we can put it behind us. If we don’t…” He looked pained. “There might be no recovery for us.”
dario-the-deer
“I do not care. I can’t.” Dario couldn’t believe the impossible situation Milae had him in. This is your choice…
“Darien.” He returned his focus to the man at the forefront of the crowd. “There are… many things… just so many things that I would love to say to you. Every fiber of my being wants me to wish for your demise, and yet…”
He knew he was crying. There was no way in Hel he wasn’t – this fought against everything he was ever raised to be morally. He could see the faces of his parents in Rio; he could see the disappointment at even considering a capital punishment by his own hand.
He spoke with surprising conviction, and though the tears decorated his face, there was no wavering in his voice.
“Milae, I won’t do it. I could never take a life, no matter my physical involvement, and no matter how they’ve wronged me.”
foresight-botgd
Milae nodded wearily. “I know. Your heart is better than mine. Then what we can do is wait until–”
The entire world locked up, froze, and shifted, like a clock that was suddenly oiled into motion. The same sensation the surrounding rebels felt when Milae jumped into the timeline struck everyone; a sickening vertigo, a temporary loss of vision. In the midst of the sudden lurch of time, Milae could almost physically feel several threads stretching and snapping and re-weaving, and he distinctly felt two twining threads form in his very being, across the void of the universe. 
He may not stay here, Yun Milae.
There was a massive groaning noise, and suddenly Milae slammed back into his own body, and he was holding his naginata in a ready stance. The blade was already wet. Darien was standing before him, in the same worried pose, but he suddenly frowned and lifted a hand to his stomach, where a red stain was slowly spreading. “How…?” he said hoarsely, slowly falling to his bad knee while Tulli and the others watched with gaping mouths. Milae hadn’t moved. He was simply…dropped into his current position.
“I didn’t,” he heard himself say faintly. The beginnings of rage were building up inside of him. He hadn’t. He was going to respect Dario’s wishes. He knew who had decided for him. 
And in that very instance, he understood exactly what he had put Dario through. It was utterly horrifying.
“It doesn’t matter,” Darien wheezed, folding over further. “Use it. Get out of here.”
Milae was very, very tempted not to, out of pure spite. But the deed had already been done. He didn’t want the man’s fading life to be for nothing.
“I’m sorry…I didn’t want t–”
Darien shook his head. “Payment.” A brief drop of blood spilled over his chin. “For Dario. For Tezz. For Sven. Make it count.” He dropped to all fours.
Milae lowered his weapon, scooped off the blood from the iron blade and immediately turned around, grasping Dario by the wrist. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” There were numb tears on his face. “I wasn’t going to, I–something happened, I’ll explain. I swear. Ég gef upp þessa sál, nornir, til að fara í næsta þráð.”
He stood on his tiptoes, pressed his bloody thumb to the back of Dario’s neck, and in less than a breath, the sunny scene around them was gone, and they were standing several feet away from a clearing, in the late evening in the last wake of Haligan’s destruction. Milae let go of Dario’s arm and immediately tossed his weapon into the underbrush, fluidly cursing in Caprinae. How DARE they get away with this.
dario-the-deer
There was no time for Dario to retain any of the events unfolding before him, with the exception of one image burned into his brain – Milae, with blade in hand, taking the life of the one man who did the same of his.
Amidst the grim atmosphere of Haligan, Dario stared ahead in a stunned silence. He could hear Milae’s infuriated swearing, but couldn’t find the strength to move or speak. The deer tried to move his mouth; he needed anything to come out, but it was a wasted effort…
…he could feel his hands trembling. The only sign of movement from the half-breed who may have just experienced one of the worst days of his life.
foresight-botgd
Turning on his heel, Milae approached Dario and sighed, taking his hands and pressing them to his lips. “Dario?” he said softly. “Talk to me, please…”
dario-the-deer
He could feel his jaw opening, wanting to convey his disbelief and inability to comprehend the events of the day, but he was still at a loss for words. He felt the tears burning his eyes and falling down his cheeks. The goat gazed into his eyes with genuine concern; a welcomed familiarity that was missing from their dynamic as of late.
“Wh- what…” The deer pushed to say anything. “…what was that, Milae?”
He knew. The unforgettable sight of Milae and Darien would stay with him forever. There was no room for ignorance here, and yet, he was ready to shut out everything for the chance to just feel safe again. Dario lifted his arms and placed his hands behind Milae’s neck, while lowering his head to meet the goat’s. He closed his eyes, allowing himself to rest for a moment.
“Please tell me we are safe here… at least for now.”
foresight-botgd
“We’re back…we’ll be safe.” Milae pushed his hands up into Dario’s hair, soaking him in–he missed him so much–before turning to look at the righteously angry noises coming from the clearing, his ears twitching. 
“The danger has passed. Rhenco is broken.”
Category:BOTGD 2
Category:Events
Category:Act I
Category:Yun Milae
Category:Dario Hjort
Category:Juro Jaejin
Category:Darien Whiteland (Right)
Category:Tulli (Right)