Common

“It is a pleasure, Ofelia.” He began, as he gestured in offering himself as a brace. With the snow accumulating beneath the pressure of Winter's snow, it seemed like the good thing to do. A good thing. He had never been a stranger to being the Good Samaritan, yet in that moment, it surprised him at how swiftly he'd rose to action. He found himself building a smile in his words and on the darkened edges of his mouth. Their corners were pulled, out of some unknowable generosity. The pair, it seemed, had been granted such luck in finding one another at a time they seemed to need it most. Ofelia. She had spoke, and her name hung in his mind encased by fire. A hearth in the darken recesses of his ache and loss.

“My name is Nicholas, shorten however you wish.” He'd done nothing to urge her; no, it was not desperation spurning them into action. He was patient, expecting her travel to have been arduous enough.

She needn't not for him to push the limit even further. No, Nicholas was prepared to go at the pace she willed them to go. His part, was simply to ensure they would not get lost on the final leg of her journey.

“I'll take you to my home on Atlantis.” he began, his voice lifted above the heavy pulse of wintry wind. He meant not to shout or invite the hasted aggression of less savory company, only for her to hear him best. His steps were not quick, and instead moved to match Ofelia's. He dared not to lose her in the unkind weather, nor to see her injured in their sojourn towards his (no, their) home. Pausing to match the mare's stride, his lips moved nearer to her.

Nicholas was scarcely one to author long-winded sermons, though in that moment he suspected it would be a boone for her to be distracted by the cold, and the brewing tempest on the Commons. “The Shore has not been touched yet by this horrid weather, it'll be more hospitable, safe.” Come.


three shades of black is where i come from
SMOKY GRULLO / TERSK MUTT / LYOV X MAGDALENA