eyemeandering | {you’ll be in my heart forever}

Navi’s announcement creeps into Jon’s hazy half-awareness but doesn’t fully wake him yet. There’s no rush to resurface to consciousness, no urgent warning of imminent danger in Navi’s words; Jon is warm and comfortable and relaxed like he’s rarely felt in his life. No work piled up waiting for him, no cosmic catastrophe to avert, not even anyone trying to kill him at the moment. Tim’s here, but that problem’s as sorted as it can be, under the circumstances.

And there’d been no nightmares - Murmur’s doing, no doubt. Not something Jon ever asked him for, but he was grateful for the gift all the same. Even if Murmur didn’t actually sleep as well, or breathe, Jon always rested easier with the angel at his side.

“You let me sleep,” he mumbles quietly, and hides a yawn behind his hand. There’s a thank you somewhere in those words, evident in the small smile that curves Jon’s mouth as he finally blinks open his eyes.

Edited 2023-02-13 04:49 (UTC)

While Murmur may not sleep he wasn't against resting, though he'd never do it on his own. Having an excuse, like watching over Jon, helped to mitigate that workaholic drive of his. There was something precious and intimate about quiet moments shared in the security of each other's arms. Or as the case was for Jon, tucked under a wing. Hidden away from the troubles of the waking day, before barriers went up and they had to put on their dealing with people faces.

As for the dreams Jon would be glad to know that took no real effort on Murmur's part. There were some perks to sharing your space with an angel, despite all of their strange and alien habits and behaviors they by nature had something of a calming aura. One that when exposed long enough, could even help sooth Jon's particularly aggressive nightmares. Besides, Jon needed the sleep, he barely got enough as it was.

"Of course," He murmured softly, keeping his wing tucked tightly around the man for the moment, not quite wanting to disturb the moment. Just a little longer, then they can find out what this planet is all about. Murmur leaned in to punctuate Jon's yawn with a kiss to his forehead. "There's no rush." They could even wallow around and be late to the festivities if they really wanted.

That warm wing wrapped securely around him is more of a comfort than Jon believes he deserves, but he relishes the sense of security all the same. There’s still a nagging voice that whispers to him from the dark, remote corners of his mind, but Jon does his best to keep it shoved to the side. He has seen himself through Murmur’s eyes, felt the love and heartbreak the angel has felt for him, and Jon is trying to incorporate that into his sense of self. It’s difficult to uproot the stubborn weed of self loathing that has grown deep inside of him for so long, but … Jon is trying.

“You’re too kind,” he says, quietly, with a leap of his heart at the kiss to his forehead. Will that gesture ever stop feeling like such a personal benediction? Jon hopes not. He smiles softly and leans in to place a kiss in return at the angel’s mouth, soft and lingering, fondly tracing the line of his jaw with the side of his thumb. No rush indeed, and Jon is all too glad for it.

“I suppose … we don’t even have to leave the ship. We could just stay here,” he muses aloud - joking, but only in part.

Breaking down long-held beliefs about oneself took time. Murmur understood this, and had ample time to spare to the cause. It would be hypocritical to expect Jon to adopt such a drastic change so quickly, as he himself had more than his fair share of hang-ups he largely didn't express. Why would he? Angels were proud, and even he was not immune to his nature. To express an imperfection was... difficult. In the end he was glad Jon was trying. All of this was very new to both of them in very different ways, at least they didn't have to learn alone.

"Hardly," It's almost chastising, but not really. Jon deserves a lot more than he's getting, as Murmur's absolutely emotionally stunted, but he's glad the man is willing to put up with his quirks all the same. The kiss earned one of those strange rumbling coos from the angel, and he squeezed Jon lightly in his wing as a tighter hug.

"We could," He agreed, amused. "But it would be nice to feel sunlight again." Even he gets a bit stir crazy on Navi away from land, water, and sky.

Jon feigns a playful air of befuddlement. “What is this … sunshine you speak of?” Then he laughs softly against Murmur’s shoulder, curling in around him a little bit tighter. “You do know I come from an island that only averages around 1400 hours of sunshine per year, right?” Thank you, Beholding, for that little factoid.

Joke played out, Jon leans in and brushes his lips against Murmur’s cheekbone, leaving another light kiss behind. “I suppose you could talk me into going out to see the village. I think … Navi said something about a café?”

Oh. Oh, that’s an idea crackling to life in his mind. Jon props his arm underneath his head, still making no move to disentangle himself from the angel’s embrace. “Actually,” he begins, then hesitates for half a second before continuing: “Mm, maybe this will seem silly given - well, everything.” How they’d met, how they’d bonded and fallen in love, the ordeal of Jon’s death and resurrection. #justeyemonsterthings. “But, erm - would you like to go on a date? With - with me, I mean. A proper first date.”

"Oh I know, a terribly foreign concept to be sure. That said, you should experience at least a few of those yearly hours. One would not want to mistake you for a vampire." Murmur does seem amused by it all, and content as he is to while the hours away cuddling, he is much more solar powered than Jon, and could do with a recharge. Perhaps it will help him stop the molting he's been going through since the last planet.

It worries him more than he's been willing to let on. It's hypocritical, he's aware, but of course he'd pull one of those it isn't something Jon needs to worry about excuses. Rather than dwell on that he'd prefer to coo, pressing a light kiss to Jon's cheek in return before finally stretching his wing out to begin the process of disentanglement. He is the one most in the way, after all. "A date? I have never been on a date. That sounds lovely." His first! Their first together! How exciting! It wasn't like they had to do things in the prescribed order anyway, that just wasn't in the cards for them.

The comment about being mistaken for a vampire earns Murmur a light chuckle from Jon. “I’d certainly hope not,” he answers, grinning in amusement. “Especially since they’re not at all as sophisticated as literature would have you believe.”

Besides, Jon’s already a monster, albeit a different kind altogether. And he still sometimes feels conflicted about the nature of his existence and how he’s changed since becoming The Archivist.

But at least now, even though he is a monster, he’s not alone.

“I haven’t been on many,” he admits, delighted at the fluttering feeling in his chest that the angel’s answer elicits. “Dates, that is. But, erm … I enjoy spending time with you. Very much.” So why not a date? It doesn’t need to be anything different than what they’d end up doing anyway. The important part is the intent to spend time together.

Now that was interesting. Murmur rose an eyebrow. "Oh, are they not in your world? Truth be told I am surprised you have knowledge enough of them to know they exist in your world. Tell me of your vampires."

Conflicted feelings are absolutely normal, nearly every formerly human tends to feel those once they have become something other. Nearly, after all there were always some who reveled in their newfound power. Those were the ones to watch out for.

"Well, some experience is far more than my no experience. I will entrust your judgement in what we should do. Anything you choose will be enjoyable, since it will be in your company." One day he'll learn to loosen up his speech more, maybe, or perhaps not. Sometimes he likes being verbose and annoying. It's the philosopher in him.

“Well, I haven’t personally encountered any vampires,” Jon begins, shifting to stretch and roll himself flat on his back. If they’re going to disentangle, he may as well get started. “But there have been statements about them that made their way to the Archive, and I have every reason to believe they’re true.” At some point, Jon began to Know which statements were related to the Powers, and Trevor Herbert’s fit the bill.

He inhales a deep, slow breath and folds his hands across his stomach. “They still appear human, but they don’t speak - they have some sort of telepathic way of communicating with their victims, and some sort of mesmeric ability to keep them docile and agreeable to being fed on. Sunlight doesn’t seem to be an issue for them, and there’s none of the traditional shapeshifting business - fog, bats, wolves, and what have you. They don’t seem to fear crosses, but fire is still a quite effective way to kill them.”

Jon turns his head toward the angel. “What about your vampires? Or should we save that conversation for when we’re out and about?”

And further on that subject, Jon continues:

“It’s not uncommon, where I’m from, for a first date to occur at a café - with coffee, or tea, as the individual preference aligns.” He grins, knowing quite well where Murmur’s preference stands. “I thought perhaps we could have our date at the café in town that Navi mentioned.”

"I see. That makes sense, meetings with vampires are not generally peaceful." They didn't usually hang out with mortals they weren't enthralling or eating, vampires tended to have a very insulated community after undeath.

With Jon working to disentangle Murmur finally picked up his wings to give them a few fluttering beats to shake out the feathers, which did result in sending a spray of down and molted plumes. This would result in some temporary distraction while Murmur pushed himself up to clean up his feathery mess. This was starting to look bad. "So they are more in the vein of a human mimic, rather than reanimated undead. Fascinating." Well, at least fire still worked.

"Up to you," He sounded distracted now, searching for each and every feather diligently. Careless as he could be about general clutter related to papers, books, and his tinkering experiments, this was something he was almost too focused about. One couldn't risk unattended angel feathers loose. Too risky. "Well, you do know how I feel about a good cup of tea. A café sounds delightful." He expects Jon will want to do some preening before they go. Murmur, likewise, needs to preen but for an entirely different reason.

{you’ll be in my heart forever}

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