Hans Bellmer, Untitled (Hands Triptych)

Hans Bellmer, Untitled (Hands Triptych)

Edith Södergran, from Love & Solitude: The Selected Poems of E. S.; "Love,"

"Does it hurt?", Hovhannes Grigoryan (translated by Tathev Simonyan)

Since meeting Rafayel, Dolasach has been feeling quite a lot of new emotions. Right now, as she watches him try to bond with one of her wolves, a new type of warmth envelops her heart.

Cute.

She wasn’t too worried when he began trying to feed the wolf a bit of meat—her commands were final for these creatures, and if she said to not attack him, then they wouldn’t… Save of course if he provokes them in any way.

Another smile takes over her features as she sees the wolf take the offered meat. It was hard not to—impossible, even, for how sweet the sight is.

The wolf sniffs a little more at Rafayel, visibly curious. Her tail wags slowly, as if tentative on whether to fully consider him a friend or not.

She gives it about a few more visits before they’re fully on him.

"See? I told you they’d appreciate it more if you gave them the meat yourself,” she says, her smile creeping into how she spoke.

A few of the sleeping wolves begin to stir, having sensed that both Dolasach and a meal were in their presence. Dolasach turns to see a few poking their heads out to investigate, one of them yawning away his drowse. One comes out, ignores both gods, and makes a beeline for the meat that had been laid out.

She chuckles, amused and not really that surprised.

“And now it seems you’ve managed to get the attention of the others.” The smile hasn’t faded from her features, and there’s a certain peacefulness to her expression.

“Let a few more greet you, but then we’ll need to continue onward—daylight is burning.”

₊❏❜ ⋮ i'll chase you to the ends of the earth. ⚬𓂂

@dolasach

He is used to it; however, that didn't mean he accepted it.

Rafayel sighed as he let his head rest against his palm, the same thing being drilled into his mind by the endless sea of words spewing the history of Lemuria and the world on the surface repeated like a broken record from the elders. He seemed to be falling asleep and was immediately scolded for not paying attention.

Evidently, something came up that had the elders leave the vicinity for the time being and this served as an opportunity for Rafayel to escape. He had attempted in doing so a few times, but he was sure that this time he would be able to be successful. 

A blue fish swam around him and held his hand out, allowing the fish to swim over his palm. 

"Shall we head to the surface? It's a little boring right now and I'm tired of hearing the elders saying the same thing over and over again." 

The fish continued swimming over his palm before seemingly directing him toward an opening to which he was able to squeeze through. It was then he realized that he was out of the city walls of Whalefall City and was able to swim to the surface.

He thanked the fish before it disappeared back through the city walls and Rafayel didn't have to think twice as he turned away from Whalefall City to swim up to the surface; however, before he allowed himself to fully come out, he swam slowly as the damn words from the elders rang in his head. 

"The world on the surface is dangerous, even if those people worship our Sea God, there is a chance that someone will try to capture him."

"As the previous Lemurians have..." 

"Rafayel, you must never venture out to the surface world. Your people are here, that is all that should concern you." 

And the annoying part of all. "The Sea God will one day meet the Goddess of the Forest, and when that day comes, should he fall in love with her, it will be the beginning of the downfall of Lemuria."

Rafayel always thought it to be those stories to be something a parent would tell to their child to make them listen. And besides, Rafayel had always been, not only a rebellious soul, but one of sheer curiosity. 

Once he peeked out from the water, he spotted a woman by the shore. And he had seen a few other humans before, but something about her was different and he couldn't help but to swim towards the shore, closer to her. Who could she be? For some reason... he needed to know and while he doesn't know why he needs to, he simply just has to try; in a way, it felt as though there were residual feelings, feelings that weren't from him and that in itself baffled him.

So without thinking, his mouth opened to speak.

"Who might you be? You don't seem... human to me, although you do appear to be." He tilted his head briefly before letting out a laugh. "Ah, apologies. This is bold of me, I will admit."

Dolasach pondered the logistics of helping Rafayel see his first sunrise on the surface. He'd already see the sunset—would it be difficult to have him witness its counterpart at the start of the day?

For some reason, it upset her that he had to enduring such longing for something that was so integral to her life. There was a bitter irony to it—dawn and dusk looked breathtaking over tbe sea, yet the God of the Tides himself would never have seen either if he didn't sneak out of Lemuria.

"If you'll be continuing to come up here to learn about Caspian," she said, unaware of how memories that weren't his were flashing through his mind, "then eventually you'll get to see it. When that happens, I know the perfect spot to watch it from."

Seeing him blurt out something that immediately rendered him bashful and embarrassed made Dolasach grin—she covered her mouth with her hand to spare his dignity as she tried not to laugh.

How cute. How terribly cute.

"It really shouldn't be," she agreed. Despite her efforts, her amusement was obvious in her voice. "Eolcha—erm, nevermind. They really were quite deeply in love."

No need to get into unnecessary detail that began to fluster her the moment she started thinking about them.

Her eyes were drawn to the flame he conjured, his words creating an image of him that reminded her just how integral the Sea God is to Lemuria. How long had it been between Caspian's death and Rafayel's creation? How did Lemuria survive however many years of darkness like that?

It was something that made her understand the reason why his handlers seemed to strict about what he did or where he went. If he were gone, then so would the light and warmth that made Lemuria thrive.

Yet there wasn't a single thing thay could justify to her how the elders treated Eolchaire and Caspian. And now, she wondered just what Caspian's fate meant for Rafayel, especially since it seemed that he wasn't all too different from the Sea God before him.

If he had to sneak out to come to the surface and return so quickly, then perhaps they treated him terribly.

She didn't like that.

“Then your mood must create the weather down there, doesn’t it?” she asked. “Perhaps you don’t control the dawn and dusk down there directly… But the Sea does listen to you.”

₊❏❜ ⋮ i'll chase you to the ends of the earth. ⚬𓂂

@dolasach

He is used to it; however, that didn't mean he accepted it.

Rafayel sighed as he let his head rest against his palm, the same thing being drilled into his mind by the endless sea of words spewing the history of Lemuria and the world on the surface repeated like a broken record from the elders. He seemed to be falling asleep and was immediately scolded for not paying attention.

Evidently, something came up that had the elders leave the vicinity for the time being and this served as an opportunity for Rafayel to escape. He had attempted in doing so a few times, but he was sure that this time he would be able to be successful. 

A blue fish swam around him and held his hand out, allowing the fish to swim over his palm. 

"Shall we head to the surface? It's a little boring right now and I'm tired of hearing the elders saying the same thing over and over again." 

The fish continued swimming over his palm before seemingly directing him toward an opening to which he was able to squeeze through. It was then he realized that he was out of the city walls of Whalefall City and was able to swim to the surface.

He thanked the fish before it disappeared back through the city walls and Rafayel didn't have to think twice as he turned away from Whalefall City to swim up to the surface; however, before he allowed himself to fully come out, he swam slowly as the damn words from the elders rang in his head. 

"The world on the surface is dangerous, even if those people worship our Sea God, there is a chance that someone will try to capture him."

"As the previous Lemurians have..." 

"Rafayel, you must never venture out to the surface world. Your people are here, that is all that should concern you." 

And the annoying part of all. "The Sea God will one day meet the Goddess of the Forest, and when that day comes, should he fall in love with her, it will be the beginning of the downfall of Lemuria."

Rafayel always thought it to be those stories to be something a parent would tell to their child to make them listen. And besides, Rafayel had always been, not only a rebellious soul, but one of sheer curiosity. 

Once he peeked out from the water, he spotted a woman by the shore. And he had seen a few other humans before, but something about her was different and he couldn't help but to swim towards the shore, closer to her. Who could she be? For some reason... he needed to know and while he doesn't know why he needs to, he simply just has to try; in a way, it felt as though there were residual feelings, feelings that weren't from him and that in itself baffled him.

So without thinking, his mouth opened to speak.

"Who might you be? You don't seem... human to me, although you do appear to be." He tilted his head briefly before letting out a laugh. "Ah, apologies. This is bold of me, I will admit."