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one900.livejournal.com) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fellowshippers2004-03-22 03:20 pm
one900.livejournal.com) wrote in fellowshippers2004-03-22 03:20 pm
(no subject)
Nature
PG-13
DM/EW
Part of the "detached/hallucinating Dom" thing I seem to have going on. You can read other things that are along the same vein here and here.
*
Dom skates his palms over the rough bark and glances up admiringly.
"Why trees?"
The voice comes suddenly from his right. He thought he was alone, but he's not startled.
"Because." He looks over and sees Elijah slouching casually against a nearby oak. With a face divided into waves of black shadows and pale skin, he looks strangely like an unfinished oil painting. Dom turns his attention back to his tree and gently picks at the bark with his fingernails.
"Because?"
He hears the whip-crack of a match being struck and a frown crosses his face. "Because you cultivate them. Because you take pride in watching something grow and flourish. Because they're keeping us alive. And why the hell are you smoking out here anyway? It's a fucking forest---" His voice trails off as he realizes that Elijah is gone.
"Lij?" He carefully steps out from under the cloak of shade. Sunlight filters through the full branches, highlighting floating particles of dust that hang lazily in the air. A bird chirps somewhere off in the distance.
"Elijah?"
His feet crunch through dead leaves. He finds only the final wisps of arid smoke.
*
"Why are you so detached all the time," Dom mumbles, the rise of the question getting lost in the depths of Elijah's mouth. He runs his hands through kitten-soft hair and the strands stick up like trees in their wake.
Elijah's reply comes as soft as the static in Dom's head. "You're never here either."
*
"Have you ever read 'The Giving Tree'?"
The busy sounds of the marina fade into the background, and Dom is only aware of the two pairs of feet that swing off the edge of the dock like opposing pendulums.
Elijah continues. "It's about this kid and his tree. And the tree gives the kid everything it has to offer. Shade. Bark. Wood. A place to sit." He sighs and flicks his dead cigarette into the gloomy waters.
Dom looks out into the horizon and tries to pinpoint the exact latitude at which the ocean melts into the sky. A single finger makes its way down his forearm, like a thin river.
"Tracing your lifeline, I am," Elijah giggles softly. His rough fingertips scrape over Dom's skin, keeping in time with his murmuring. He takes a solemn breath and whispers.
"What do you have to offer me, Dom?"
Dom silently captures Elijah's hand with his own. Cultivation, he thinks, as he molds the fragile bones and muscles like mud in the curve of his palm. Life.
*
"Can't you ever give a clear answer?" The question lacks conviction somehow.
A slow shrug that nudges Dom's diaphragm. "Diem perdidi."
*
"What would you do if you could do anything, like, right now?"
The question slips absently from sluggish lips. Elijah stares up at the dotted black sky as he speaks, a fresh cigarette in one sprawled hand and an abandoned lighter in the other.
Dom shifts his head, stirring loose bits of gravel into his hair. He never knew that the sidewalk outside of a bar was so comfortable. "I think I'd live in a treehouse. Get away from the city for awhile."
"Sounds good," Elijah responds with a voice as pallid as the moonlight that washes over his features.
Dom wraps his hand around Elijah's wrist. He can't seem to find a pulse and so he jumps his fingers across the skin like heartbeats, pitter pat, pitter pat.
"Hold on to me, Dom," Elijah breathes.
He doesn't question the action and tightens his grip as if Elijah's body will crumble and fall apart if he ever lets go.
*
"Is this real?" Dom holds his breath and the internal sigh that shifts through his body seems to shrivel his lungs. He finds himself inhaling sharply for air.
Elijah doesn't answer.
*
Diem perdidi - I have lost the day
*
Thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
elven_freckles for the beta. :)
PG-13
DM/EW
Part of the "detached/hallucinating Dom" thing I seem to have going on. You can read other things that are along the same vein here and here.
*
Dom skates his palms over the rough bark and glances up admiringly.
"Why trees?"
The voice comes suddenly from his right. He thought he was alone, but he's not startled.
"Because." He looks over and sees Elijah slouching casually against a nearby oak. With a face divided into waves of black shadows and pale skin, he looks strangely like an unfinished oil painting. Dom turns his attention back to his tree and gently picks at the bark with his fingernails.
"Because?"
He hears the whip-crack of a match being struck and a frown crosses his face. "Because you cultivate them. Because you take pride in watching something grow and flourish. Because they're keeping us alive. And why the hell are you smoking out here anyway? It's a fucking forest---" His voice trails off as he realizes that Elijah is gone.
"Lij?" He carefully steps out from under the cloak of shade. Sunlight filters through the full branches, highlighting floating particles of dust that hang lazily in the air. A bird chirps somewhere off in the distance.
"Elijah?"
His feet crunch through dead leaves. He finds only the final wisps of arid smoke.
*
"Why are you so detached all the time," Dom mumbles, the rise of the question getting lost in the depths of Elijah's mouth. He runs his hands through kitten-soft hair and the strands stick up like trees in their wake.
Elijah's reply comes as soft as the static in Dom's head. "You're never here either."
*
"Have you ever read 'The Giving Tree'?"
The busy sounds of the marina fade into the background, and Dom is only aware of the two pairs of feet that swing off the edge of the dock like opposing pendulums.
Elijah continues. "It's about this kid and his tree. And the tree gives the kid everything it has to offer. Shade. Bark. Wood. A place to sit." He sighs and flicks his dead cigarette into the gloomy waters.
Dom looks out into the horizon and tries to pinpoint the exact latitude at which the ocean melts into the sky. A single finger makes its way down his forearm, like a thin river.
"Tracing your lifeline, I am," Elijah giggles softly. His rough fingertips scrape over Dom's skin, keeping in time with his murmuring. He takes a solemn breath and whispers.
"What do you have to offer me, Dom?"
Dom silently captures Elijah's hand with his own. Cultivation, he thinks, as he molds the fragile bones and muscles like mud in the curve of his palm. Life.
*
"Can't you ever give a clear answer?" The question lacks conviction somehow.
A slow shrug that nudges Dom's diaphragm. "Diem perdidi."
*
"What would you do if you could do anything, like, right now?"
The question slips absently from sluggish lips. Elijah stares up at the dotted black sky as he speaks, a fresh cigarette in one sprawled hand and an abandoned lighter in the other.
Dom shifts his head, stirring loose bits of gravel into his hair. He never knew that the sidewalk outside of a bar was so comfortable. "I think I'd live in a treehouse. Get away from the city for awhile."
"Sounds good," Elijah responds with a voice as pallid as the moonlight that washes over his features.
Dom wraps his hand around Elijah's wrist. He can't seem to find a pulse and so he jumps his fingers across the skin like heartbeats, pitter pat, pitter pat.
"Hold on to me, Dom," Elijah breathes.
He doesn't question the action and tightens his grip as if Elijah's body will crumble and fall apart if he ever lets go.
*
"Is this real?" Dom holds his breath and the internal sigh that shifts through his body seems to shrivel his lungs. He finds himself inhaling sharply for air.
Elijah doesn't answer.
*
Diem perdidi - I have lost the day
*
Thanks to
elven_freckles for the beta. :)
no subject
no subject
You set the scene, and the mood, very well.
Nice.
no subject