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[nikolaigray]

where. lupercalia who. @destinedgray note. before the alpha fighting

The last time they had spoke, Nikolai had inquired about learning how to fight. A concept that hadn't blossomed in his first life, nor followed him through the many others. From what he could recall. While he had once learned how to wield a sword, had followed others on adventures, fighting had never been a pleasant taste upon his tongue. He had always been better suited in an advisement position than anything else. Or rather, would have, before his mind had shattered and splintered. Even being amid the fighting set him at an unease, but he knew that he had needed to attend. If only so that he could cheer on Davheira from the stands. Which is where he had been, before the sight of Aren caught his attention. Aren, Andreas, Perseus; one day a singular name would win out above the rest. "Are you rooting for anyone in particular?"

[nikolaigray]

where. lupercalia who. @davheira notes. after the fight

Fighting had never been a want of Nikolai's, even through the many lifetimes that had settled before this one. Even when he'd been the son of a king, born with a sword in his hand. The days had come of its necessity, but a carefree life had always been what the druid had sought. Within the forest, across the open seas, new destinations always ready to be explored. And others within that needed his assistance, even if they didn't know it or ask for it. Yet this moment would be different than all of those. Because Davheira had signed up for the alpha fight. And through the several fights that outlined his path towards this goal, Niko had sat within the stands. On the edge of his seat, with his breath held within his lungs.

And then the fight had been over, with Davheira not progressing to the final round. It had been immediate, the druid up and out of his seat, pushing through those that stood in his way. Until he had reached the elve, until he could see for himself that the wounds would heal and that he'd be alright. "Are you disappointed?" It was the first thing that popped into the druid's mind, as he stood before the other now. The noises of the festivity still echoed around them, but Niko's gaze focused solely upon Davheira.

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"I'll always be here, waiting for you, my love. No matter how long it took— a hundred years, a thousand years, ten thousand years. I will never stop looking."

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"Of course I have," words stated with ease, for Nikolai had nothing to hide from his brother. "Once my memories started to come back, I reached out to them. Yes, they're still alive. They're doing good, too." Though, he doubted Asher would care for the last comment. "I won't condone what they did, but they are still our parents, Ash."

Asher looked at the other, reading the expression on his twin's face. They were never good at hiding it. "Don't tell me you've had contact with mom and dad, wherever the hell they are. Are they still alive? Druids are fucking annoying to get rid of." They didn't die, for centuries, then they just came back. "Don't look at me like that, I haven't talked to them since I got turned. I have no soul, remember?"

[nikolaigray]

Eren or Esme; Niko would have to commit those names to memory. If he did decide to work towards retrieving his lost memories. A part of him knew that he needed them, to understand who he was; but another part of him worried over what would come up. Konstantin had not seemed worried when Niko had returned, nor had Asher when they'd crossed paths. A life with one brother was partially remembered, while the other was not; yet neither seemed put off by his sudden return to being... well, human, in a sense. "But what if I'm not myself without them? What if I'm missing something by not having them back?"

"One of the keepers are a good place to start, maybe Eren or Esme or something." He'd heard the former might be able to help with that sort of stuff but the other seemed to know a lot about everything related to the druids. "They're your memories, though," Atlas said with a shrug; he was pretty sure if it was him and it was something painful, he'd prefer to leave it behind. Life didn't always give you that opportunity, so when it did, it felt like it was worth taking it. "you don't have to get them back if you're fine without."

[nikolaigray]

Nikolai, the name slipped off the elf's tongue so effortlessly. Before Niko's lips crashed against his, cutting off any other word that may have been spoken. Yet, in the back of the druid's mind, he wondered what other names Davhy would have called him. How many times had their lives been tangled together? How many times had the elf waited patiently for the druid's return? For memories that should have come back, of a previous life, or several. The cool air slipped across his exposed torso, moments before Davhy's hands found purchase upon his shoulders. And just like that, Niko had been once more drawn from his thoughts, brought back into the present moment.

Lips moved so hungrily against those of the other, as his hands clung to the thighs that pressed against his sides. This would all be relatively new to Nikolai, who had barely had any time in this life for such endeavors. He could only hope that Davhy enjoyed it, that he did not grow bored with the exploration that seized the druid. Whose lips moved much quicker than his hands did, as they slipped along his thighs until they found the hem of his shirt. Here they lingered, for a brief moment, before he pulled back just slightly. "Can I --," words spoken against the other's lips halted, if only because now he second guessed even asking. Should he have simply done it? Pushed and pulled at the shirt until it could be tossed off into the forest somewhere. But now he had put it out there, and his fractured mind couldn't seem to come to a conclusion on his own.

Memories fight to resurface as he leans into the kiss, but he pushes them back, desperate to sink into the here and now. He remembers kissing his amata just like this through the centuries, pressing his body against the other and memorizing the every dip of his skin, imprint his warm against his very soul. It serves to make the experience better, the knowledge that he is on his arms once more bringing yet another wave of relief as he presses himself closer to the druid, desperate to reassure himself that he is there and that he had not lost him as he feared. The reminder, brief as it is, drives him closer to him, near mad at the remembrance of having lost him once more.

As Niko pulls away, he grunts in annoyance but he is quickly shut up as he is treated by the most delightful sight.

"Nikolai," he says breathlessly just as the druid's lips crash against his and his thighs are pulled closer. He doesn't fight the pull, going as far as wrapping his legs around his hips and grinding up in encouragement as he opens his mouth once more. His hands move to Niko's shoulder's as he takes the time to reacquaint himself with every inch, promising himself that he will enjoy every second of this Elysium for allow as it lasts.

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How intriguing, that another human should be born within their family. Though, Niko supposed that it wouldn't be unheard of. Given how many generations it now spanned. Well, he actually wasn't certain how many there were now. "You --- you had brain surgery?" That had not been common before his curse, nor even successful. So there was a tad more concern in his voice than perhaps should have been. "And you're fine?" Though he supposed Alek standing before him, talking normally should have been all the answer he needed.

"Human? Yeah, yeah." Alek was inadvertently getting more and more information about the family tree than he wanted to hear about. He remembered something about an Asher, an uncle or grandpa or great something. That made Niko his- fuck it was happening again. "Damn man, you're making my head hurt. Did you know I just had brain surgery, you're gonna send me back to the doctors again."

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Did he want to remember? Niko hadn't really considered that before. He had always figured that eventually his memories would right themselves, and they'd be restored properly to him. Of this life, and perhaps several that had come before it. Though he supposed that some druids didn't remember much of their past lives, sometimes only one or two. His hand lifted, so that fingers could scratch at the back of his neck, "I think so, yeah." Because remembering would help him in the future, wouldn't it? To prevent him from making perhaps the same mistake. "I think it would be better if I did."

Because a century-long curse was just a bad experience. This guy was... Pretty, definitely pretty. "Well bless your heart." Atlas said as he tried to be as authentic as possible for Niko's benefit. "Did you want to remember?" That was maybe an important piece of the puzzle, Keepers worked with memories all the time, the good ones anyways. Though Atlas wasn't sure about letting any of them root around in his head, sometimes he thought the archdruids, except for Octavian, didn't know what they were doing.

[nikolaigray]

Only family; it was comical, given that they indeed had other family within the city of Rome. But it seemed Asher had no intention of meeting them, or even acknowledging them. That was fine by Niko, for he'd do the task for the both of them. "Of course I'm stuck with you, I've always been. You're my twin, remember?" He offered as a soft grin slipped onto his lips. Stuck had always been the wrong word, but he'd play along with it this time.

The tables were starting to turn, Asher feeling more and more like a shitty brother. Niko had showed up anyway, ready to talk about it all, and Asher had bared his teeth. Now, though, he looked down at his hands, drumming his fingers against the drink in his hand, "Well we're here now, yeah? And you're the only family I have left in this place. And I'm not dyin, and you'll always reincarnate, so....I guess you're stuck with me, yeah?" His hatred for druids had only waned slightly, but not too much – Niko was helping him along.

[nikolaigray]

That had... been a lot to take in. Dating, but perhaps not dating. Doing couple like things, yet it remained undefined. Niko hadn't understood much of what had been told to him, though that may have been due to his lack of familiarity with Konstantin. "Well, if you are dating, then I'm happy for the both of you," that seemed like the right thing to say, right? If they were doing couple-y things, then surely that meant his brother was happy. Perhaps he'd need to find him and bring it up.

“Yeah, we are dating,” Zoey tells him brightly, squashing down the little voice in the back of her head wondering if the fact that Mushroom-tree boy doesn’t know about her means Kon doesn’t want to introduce her to his family. The voice is still enough for her to frown briefly and tilt her head in consideration. “Well, I think we are dating. We are definitely doing couple-y things but we have never actually defined anything, you know?”

[nikolaigray]

That persistent feeling of uncertain itched along his skin, of whether he was doing this right or not. Whether this was what Davheira wanted or not. There hadn't been much time to explore anything when he had been younger, to know what he liked or didn't before he'd been sent off to the Pyramid. Before he'd found himself within a curse that hadn't let him out of its grasp until recently. Everything he did now was new, was different in the sense that he was testing the waters for seemingly the first time. And Niko worried that everything he did was a misstep.

That is, until the elf responded to him. Fingers slipped into his unruly hair, gentle as they pressed against his head. Davhy's body arched against him, pressed into him as he settled between his legs. And then teeth caught his lower lip, quick and tenderly, which shifted a smile upon the edges. Perhaps that was all the incentive that Niko needed, as he pressed their lips more firmly together. As his lips parted, so that his tongue could snake out, as it swiped against the other's. Niko pushed every thought from his head as he let instinct take over. And oh, when he felt that cool touch of fingers against his skin, he couldn't help the shiver that cascaded down his spine. Nor did he stop to think as he pulled back, as his hands reached down so that he could remove the shirt completely, before he returned to Davhy. Before his lips crashed hungrily to the elf's, hands now on his thighs as he pulled him ever closer.

Delight bubbles as the keep continues for far longer than any of the previous ones and Davheira finds himself smiling against Nikolai's lips, a fond twist to his features as he sinks into the kiss. He is willing to keep still, to stop and allow for the druid to push the flow of their kisses, altogether too satisfied about getting to feel his lips against his to push him beyond what he is comfortable doing. The high elf doesn't expect anything than the slow all encompassing kisses, but a gasp escapes him as Niko moves.

A breathless laugh of joy escapes him as he finally reaches up, one hand sinking on his hair as he arches his back to keep himself pressed against the druid. A thread of mischief sparks on his chest and he nips at his lower lip playfully before opening his lips as a silent encouragement for Nikolai to open the kiss as his free hand buries itself underneath his shirt so he can feel his warmth against him.

[nikolaigray]

There was amusement here, of how this relative of his seemed to be as equally confused by the family tree as Niko was. Then again, he was being treated to it for the first time. Generations had seemed to pass, while he was trapped within a curse. "No, no lycan. That I'm aware of, at least. I was just curious, since Asher, my twin, was born human. Were you, too?"

"Please stop talking." Alek had just had brain surgery, again, he couldn't handle all these greats and what had to be the most convoluted family tree anyone had ever heard of. This guy had a twin too? It just felt this list was getting bigger and bigger "Bitten, why, do you have another family member that's a lycan that nobody ever told me about?"

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"Yeah, I don't see why one bad experience should turn me off of it," bad experience, as if being turned into a tree for a hundred years was a simple thing. Though Niko supposed that he'd be a little more cautious, hopefully, when he offered his help. "There's kind of a lot I don't remember. Everything got a little jumbled," his hand reached up, twirled a finger near his head, "and mixed around over the years."

"Do you still like helping people after the trouble it landed you in last time?" That felt highly relatable, unsolicited advice was kind of a running theme among the druids. "You don't remember? That's wild." That was probably something the druid should know, but maybe not knowing was part of the curse. Seemed like something they'd want Niko to remember but Atlas was kind of getting the impression that the druid's head was more in the clouds than anywhere else.

[nikolaigray]

MAX THIERIOT as Clay Spenser SEAL Team (2017)

[nikolaigray]

There was a mild case of shock, confusion, given that Niko had not been alive for that long in this life. Though, he supposed that being cursed to a hundred years as a tree would warp that sense of time. He wouldn't have known how many generations had followed after his youngest brother. It would be an interesting, albeit confusing thought, with all things considered. "I have two siblings, brothers. I guess one would be your great, great... well, you might know better than me how many, grandfather. The other is my twin, Asher. He's in town, but is a little more... apprehensive about the family tree." Well, apprehensive might not be the best term for it, but Niko wouldn't want to get into all that at the moment. "So, you're a lycan? Born, or were you bitten?"

"Fuck me man." Alek moved to scratch at the back of his head, first Rowan, now this guy too. "Yeah, we're a dime a dozen. My brother mentioned something about you and-" he shrugged, if anyone had a breeding kink it had to be the archdruid who just threw his load all over the place. "I don't know, sounded like a bunch of people. You have any siblings I should know about? Extended cousins? Uncles? Aunts? Sisters once removed?"

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Thoughts slipped into his mind in the form of doubts, of whether this was what he should be doing. There was still so much that Niko didn't remember, that he didn't understand about what the pair of them meant to each other. Perhaps he had been missing something. Or perhaps there was something so glaringly obvious that he should have known before he had so hungrily attacked Davhy. It were those thoughts that he tampered down, that he shoved to the far recesses of his mind so that this moment was not ruined. So that he did not pull back, nor create even more doubt within the mind of the other.

The kiss was returned with a similar intensity, which helped to ease those worries and doubts that hovered at the edges of his mind. Niko could do this, he could allow himself to just relax into what was happening. To allow instinct to take over, even if he found himself fumbling. For a moment, he stayed where he was, with his lips pressed to Davhy's and his hands still firm against his cheeks. Until he sought a better angle, until he shifted to place himself between the elf's legs.

Davheira gets no definition, not framework to follow from his druid. What he gets instead is a gift that he takes greedily, nearly desperately. The feeling of Niko's lips against his is not quite victory, not yet, but it is closer than he has felt it for months. It's a confirmation that he had not lost his druid, that despite the confusion and the barriers between what it had been and what it is and what he wants it to be, this is more than he had expected after the war. More than he had hoped for, stuck on his restless unmoving daydream.

Kissing Niko feels like waking up, and he surges into the kiss with a desperation born from having lost him more times than he would care to count. He keeps his hands to his sides, movements measured and slow, letting Niko take the lead and basking on the reassurance that it had not been only him desiring the other.

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Memories were important to druids. They were the foundation of the lives previously lived, of the traits that were special to each of them. And so many found themselves connected in various ways to those around them. Druids, and other species alike. It was precisely why Niko had been struggling to retrieve his for so long. Pushing himself harder to catch upon the fleeting memories as they slipped by, to draw them out so that he could understand who he had been. And who had made an impact upon the lives that he had lived.

"You were my father, weren't you? Once upon a time," he stated as his head canted. Konstantin had once alluded to the fact that he and Andreas knew each other, that there was something beyond just that. And then Niko had pressed for more, to understand more. "I want to be better at this, the traits and fighting. When I came to the Pyramid before, I hadn't been given enough time to learn before... well, before I was a tree."

They hadn't been able to finish their talk and the war had seperated them to a point that had ended with the worst type of loss. Aren had known the loss of children in many lifetimes but it never got any less difficult to bare. He'd taken Nikolai's body along with the rest of his family to Prometheus' graveyard and he remembered that. The majority of his memories of the useless, agonizing 5 years Aren permitted to fade away, but not what was important to remember. Finally gathering the courage to come up to Nikolai again after losing him, the Archdruid didn't expect to hear what he did.

"Memories," he repeated, almost too afraid to hope. Too afraid to ask if he remembered his very first life or what the Archdruid was to him. Instead, Aren glanced away and out towards the other acolytes training. "You can ask me for anything, Nikolai. I was the one that Blessed you... I don't know if you remember but you were even more important than that to me. If it's in my power than I'll always want to help you."