A Hearth and Home

"A Hearth and Home" is a BOTGD 2 Act 1 thread written on June 24, 2019. 
==Summary==
Milae comes home to be with Dario for the night, and the two of them share about their days and enjoy each other's company. 
==Full Text==
Yun Milae: The door to the spare house–or Dario’s house, rather, now that the deer was integrating himself with the island–slowly swung open, filling the room with the light of the sunset, and Milae stepped through the threshold, rubbing his eyes and trying to cut off a huge yawn. His attempts to force his way into the pockets of time, as Frigga had put it, had left him exhausted but satisfied, and instead of crashing in his home, he had come back to the golden timeline and decided to wait for Dario to return. The warm comfort his partner brought sounded more promising than a cold dead night waking up to an ashen, silent sky. 
From underneath his cloak, he pulled out a heavy iron kettle and three teacups made with the same material and style–some of the few possessions he could call his own. He was rather fond of them. He lifted it up onto the table, hearing the water sloshing inside from where he filled it up outside, and leaned down to the long fire pit, using his flint to try and re-start the dying embers.
Dario Hjort: The final rays of light were falling on the horizon as Dario approached the home graciously offered to him while he was on Haligan. The island had been full of ups and downs since his arrival, but he knew of his one constant that he could look forward to…
…Milae.
He pushed his way inside, more physically exhausted than he was typically accustomed to. The amount of magick he had utilized in one day was more than his body was expecting; he knew he would pay for it in the morning. Entering the threshold, he could hear a scratching sound from another room. He felt his ears perk in it’s direction, with a smile now gracing his face.
“…I really hope there’s a cute goat in here, or I’m probably in some real danger.”
Milae: Milae chuckled and stood from his kneeling position, a small fire licking at the cool coals. “If the goat was rather homely, does that still make him dangerous?” he said playfully, turning to untie the neck of his cloak and wait for Dario to enter the room. He wrinkled his nose; it needed a washing. Actually, his entire wardrobe could use a rinse. What about himself? Ah, gods, it’s been days… He mussed the fur of his head worriedly.
Dario: The deer entered to see a fire beginning to grow; mimicking the heat he felt in his chest each time he saw the goat, and this was no different. He looked almost frantic, but in a way that also presented as incredibly tired. It was a new look that Dario wasn’t used to, but loved all the same.
“You’re plenty dangerous the way you are. Not a fan of homely, but I don’t think you could ever be.” He moved in close, wrapping his arms around Milae and leaning down to kiss the goat’s head. “Glad you’re here. It’s been a day.”
Milae: “A good day, hopefully.” Milae folded his cloak over his arm and laid it across the back of one of the chairs, and then took his kettle and hung it on the peg of one of the iron lattices hanging over the slowly-growing fire. He sat at the table, but rather oddly; since normal chairs didn’t accommodate for his oddly-shaped legs, he tucked both hooves under himself and sat like a gangly fawn would rest by its mother in the woods. He began unwinding his bandages, tut-tutting when he saw that the scars were still raw. “Tell me about it, while an old man tends to his frailties.” He looked up at Dario, his eyes shining with admiration. 
Dario: Dario felt a twinge in his chest when he observed Milae’s scars. He didn’t understand the complexities of his abilities, but he knew that they didn’t look great. 
“Hey, hey… can I help? It kind of ties into my day, so let’s knock two things out at once.”
Dario gently placed a hand on one of the goat’s arms, careful not to apply too much pressure in fear that he would cause discomfort. He knew he wasn’t up to completely healing them to their typical state, but he could at least expedite the process. The slight glow was soft, but the deer hoped it would have any semblance of effectiveness in at least providing relief.
“Been working on a few… things. I’m sure once you’re feeling up to it, you’ll be quite impressed with me.”
Milae: Milae hissed gently at the touch, feeling his scars throb, but the feeling was quickly replaced with a soothing wash of strong warmth. His shoulders relaxed in relief and he gently pressed his face to Dario’s as the half-breed used his magic. “Don’t get your hands too dirty,” he murmured, resting his eyes for a moment. “Bleeding hasn’t stopped…” He blinked his eyes open and watched Dario’s fingers light the space between them, catching his fur and the glistening edges of his wounds. He saw the light reflected in Dario’s eyes, as well, and got lost in the beauty of his knit, focused expression. “Is this one of the things? This is different than your reincarnation.”
Dario: He momentarily froze at the last sentence; he hadn’t mentioned that before… but he didn’t have to.
“You have to stop doing that.” Dario chuckled softly, trying not to move his hand too much to avoid any harm. “You forget that I’m still fairly new to all of… whatever you’ve got going on.”
He returned his focus to the task at hand, and could feel Milae instinctively try to pull his arm away, but the deer held it in place. He was nearly finished with one arm. “This is just basic healing. I taught myself this from old books my family used to keep around the house. The reincarnation… that’s a lot like this, but it takes a lot more focus and skill.” He rested a hand under the goat’s arm, allowing it to fall slowly. He softly ran his opposing hand through the fur on Milae’s neck as he spoke. “I used to be a lot better at this stuff, but I’m most definitely out of practice. Had some help today, though.” 
Milae: He hummed in a soft laugh. “Force of habit. Sorry. You brought it up in three different timelines. I forget that this was not one of them.” He rubbed his hoof over his forearm, which already felt much better. “Who was your mentor today?”
Dario: “Akkey, if you can believe it. Vox had told me all about her over the years, and it didn’t click to me who she was until just today.” He moved his hand from Milae’s neck to his shoulder, and down his arm. He made sure to run the length as gently as possible. “She’s incredibly intelligent, and broke the mental block I had when it came to what I can do with my magick.”
He realized as he looked upon the newly-healed scars on Milae that his healing went far smoother than typically expected. It seems that the confidence boost from earlier translated to more than just a water spell.
“I was telling her… I want to be able to help, you know? You’ve got this incredible power, and much of the Rebellion have fought for so long that they’ve developed their own skills. For me, I have always just been along for the ride, so I feel accomplished in my own right.” He knew he was talking a lot. “Even if it’s just healing and throwing some water around, I’m content with that. I’m sure I can be of assistance to somebody with what I’ve got.”
Milae: Milae tenderly took Dario’s hands in his own. “That’s wonderful. I am very proud of you, and grateful to her.” Kissing his forehead, he added, “But please, don’t use me as your standard to measure by. What I have…it is powerful, but I would not wish it on anyone else. Use yourself to see how you have grown. That will make me just as pleased.”
Dario: “If you insist. It just… it feels good, to be able to do all of this again, without fear. I had to watch my back constantly when I was a kid, and now, I’ve got people willing to help me grow. It’s amazing.”
He played with the hooves that took his own hands, still thinking of Akkey’s offer. His healing was the one bit of magick he was most confident in, and the idea of being able to improve on it excited him.
“She mentioned another man… Hunter, I think his name was. Akkey said she would put in a word for me to work with him on some of my abilities.”
Milae: Milae looked a little somber at the mention of the man’s name. “I think that would be wise. But he is in poor condition…Hel only recently saved his soul from capture. But Akkey told me she would inform me if his condition improves.”
The kettle whistled, and he pulled away and used his staff to swing it away from the fire, searching for a bucket in the still-bare kitchen area. “I should have supposed you would continue on the path of a healer,” he said over his shoulder, bending down to look under the table against the wall. “Hunter is a great man. When he wakes, he will be a great teacher.”
Dario: His eyes followed the goat through his expedition; he felt a pain in his chest, ashamed to have mentioned such a touchy subject.
“I didn’t know… I’m sorry, Milae. I hope things turn out for him.” He let his head drop a little; Akkey never let on the man’s condition. Dario’s words got the better of him. “Yeah, I like to think I’m pretty good at it, but I know I can be better. Not only for myself, but those I can help. I don’t want to feel like I’m not contributing to the world.”
He didn’t realize he had still been following Milae with his eyes. He was locked onto him, watching the goat searching for something.
“How about you? Any excitement to your day? Your scars… I feel like you’ve had an eventful one.”
Milae: “Well,” he grunted, pulling out a bucket a little too big for him and hefting it over to the kettle, “I did some experimenting…here and there…” He set it on the floor and used his staff to tip the kettle from where it hung, pouring boiling water inside. It splashed and steamed and filled about a third of the way. “And…I managed quite a breakthrough, you see,” he continued, opening his pack on the table and pulling out a stack of clean bandages. “Frigga is hiding in the spaces between time, and for the past few days…past day, for you…” The bandages splashed inside the bucket and he prodded them around with the top end of his staff. “I tried to find one of these spaces, and I did it!” He was quite pleased with himself. “I tore a hole in the fabric of something and though it drained all of my energy to be there,” and here he tapped his scars, still a bit raw, “I still made it. Another of my lives is a small thing to lose. But I dare not explore those areas without some guidance, so!”
And from here on he wasn’t able to stop himself from rambling. “I also need Hunter to wake soon, for he houses…used to house…an Eir, a the goddess of healing, but only one of them, the last surviving facet, but now Frigga has her because the Eir is technically part of Frigga, and I have spoken with her before but in a different timeline, years earlier, so I must confirm what I know with Hunter and then continue searching for a way to access Frigga safely to question her about Duri because apparently Frigga has Duri but she’s not supposed to–” He threw his hooves up in bemused dismay. “And between all this, assisting the Chief with Castaway, and Verdandi with her new powers, and hopefully not have an accident there where she accidentally manages to get herself stranded somewhere in time.” He took a deep breath and mussed his hair, looking at Dario in a mixture of excitement and exhaustion.
“Uh…it has been an eventful…” He counted on his hooves, having to start over for every six that he counted due to his limited number of digits. “Gods, it’s been almost two weeks, actually.”
Dario: …I am in over my head.
Dario took a few seconds to look at the tired, tired goat after his short story had concluded, and was having great difficulty processing the sheer immensity of the information presented to him – but it didn’t matter. He loved listening to him talk, even if the words didn’t quite land.
“I will pretend that I understood… ten percent of that.” He couldn’t help but laugh; it was a sturdy laugh that carried for a few seconds. He wiped what was the beginning of tears from his eyes. “You’re adorable. I could listen to you talk about your work forever. I promise, I’ll catch up at some point and this won’t all sound so foreign to me.”
Milae: Milae’s blush wasn’t visible under his fur but he felt it anyways. Dario’s laugh made his heart flutter and he had the sudden urge to make it happen again, although he had no idea how. “I’m so sorry. There is just…so much happening right now. More than has happened in…decades.” He used his staff to pull the soaking bandages from the bucket and lay them on the bar over the fire, the water hissing softly as it dripped onto the hot coals below, and then the goat set his staff down and moved over to Dario’s seat, using the table to help jump up into his lap and hug Dario’s arms around himself. “I will…” He yawned. “…try to explain it better, next time. There is a lot. I should teach you to read my notes at home.” He shook his head. “That would be…a monumental task. But everything I know is stored there.”
Dario: He allowed the goat to settle into his embrace, and performed a sympathy yawn at the sight of Milae’s own. It had been a long day, but this was the perfect night cap.
“Like I said, I love hearing you talk about it, even if I don’t quite get what’s going on. I would love to see your notes; if they explain even half of the beings you’re referencing, I’ll be content.” Dario rested his head atop Milae, fearing that closing his eyes would effectively end the conversation, as sleep would take him soon after. “You’re okay though, right? Do I need to be worried about you?”
Milae: “I’ll be just fine,” he said easily, though the continued threat of Frigga weighed down on his heart. But he and Akkey were working on a solution. That gave him hope. “I’ve been fine for almost two hundred years. No reason for that to start changing.” 
His eyes lingered on the bandages drying over the fire, and he knew he had to get up and retrieve them soon, but he was too comfortable for the moment. “Do you need anything, Dario? I feel my work keeps me away from you too often. But I am glad you are finding company in developing yourself, at least.”
Dario: “I have everything I need here. At least, with you I do. My magick will hopefully improve with time and effort.”
He shuffled slightly to balance the weight of himself and Milae more evenly. He could sit here for a lifetime. He felt his head grow heavy and begin falling forward involuntarily, followed by a hearty yawn.
“I’ve definitely pushed myself harder than I have in the past. I’m going to need a lot more practice. My stamina isn’t keeping up.”
Milae: Milae chuckled and reached up to pat Dario’s cheek to wake him. “Go lay down. You are exhausted. I will turn in shortly, after I finish with my own care.”
Dario: The deer would typically try to fight the idea of going to sleep without Milae, but he was so exhausted. He couldn’t keep his eyes open.
“If you insist… please, let me know if… yawn… I can help.”
Not before giving the goat one last kiss on the cheek, Dario stumbled away from the fire, and retreated to where he would crash for the remainder of the night. He was certain he had fallen asleep before he even hit the bed.
Category:BOTGD
Category:Act I
Category:Events
Category:Yun Milae
Category:Dario Hjort