ooc: Set the night of the Bonfire Festival thread

The Bonfire Festival was Ember's favorite time of the year. Not only was it a major event for her family and the Hallows, but it was made even more special for the Carpathian girl having Erik in attendance with her. It was no secret that the Viking boy held a special and important place in the princess' heart. Seeing him happy and whole, his throat well on the way to healing from the lifelong illness he'd been able to overcome, it brought her profound joy and satisfaction. It had brought the pair together in ways Em had never even dreamed of.

As the festival began to wind down and many of the guests headed home and the Hallows' wolves returned to the castle, the midnight-furred fae led her Hemlock friends towards Hearthstone to settle in for the night. Her parents had graciously offered the guest rooms in the castle to their farthest friends so they could sleep off the party and head home in the morning. But while the rest headed down the hall to their rooms, Em caught Erik with a nudge of her side against his and nodded wordlessly towards the stairs, an inviting smirk on her lips. He wasn't going to the guest rooms. Getting to share the bonfire with Erik was significant to Ember—but it didn't hold a candle to what she had in mind for the rest of their night.

Ember led the way up the many flights of stairs of Hearthstone, up, up, up to the fourth floor. She paused halfway up the last set of stairs to shoot a playful grin back at Erik, flicking her tail up at his nose, the long fur still neatly tied up in Viking-style braids. "Ready for your VIP treatment, Viking boy?" she teased him with lyrical tones. "It's a rare treat to see a princess' room, y'know." Em giggled with a knowing look to Erik, remembering the stormy night he'd snuck up to her room to visit her. This time would be a little different.

"Ember Carpathius" | "Carpathian"

He knows that it’s important to her, and he knows that it’s important he’s putting on a good show for Hemlock. Hell, it’s good that he’s out of the house, off the mountain, when things are in such a state. It’s left him more reliant on Ember than he’d care to admit, especially in the midst of his recovery. Especially in the midst of the turmoil that had taken over his life, as of late. A waypoint in the storm, but he’d say it’s more than a trauma bond. Well, he’d say that if he wasn’t so tripped up over his own words, still.

Trailing her into the castle, handling the chaos of getting the pups settled, doing what he needed to as world’s okayest older brother– it’s exhausting, but he’s doing his best. A tired smile to Ember as he sends them off with Henbane, following silently to the stairs with a little quirk of his brow. Tail wagging loosely at his haunches, grateful for the privacy that lay ahead. Grateful for more than that, but hell, can’t get too ahead of himself.

Taking the stairs two at a time, long legs eating the ground beneath him. “Leave it to you, making me feel important.” Rakish grin, though the words are genuine Gently reaching to tug at one of the braids in her tail, playful. More playful, more genuine than he dared to be in front of anyone else. She’s worth it, and he has half an idea of what lay ahead. Still hazy from the night’s festivities, and pleased with the way things had played out. Pleased with himself, with the evening, and what he could only hope lay ahead.

"Erik"

What he had considered was doing "okay" was actually highly impressive to Ember. Erik had stepped up to help raise his half-siblings after Tenshi died and he continued to hold a prominent place in his pack. To any girl, these would have all been major green flags, and Em saw Erik in a special kind of light. Devoted, supportive, compassionate—paternal, even. It made butterflies rise in her belly watching him care for the pups with Henbane. The reasons why were lost on her, maybe it was because he was very cute like this, or maybe it's because she's also a little hazy from the night's events, but those other thoughts would be getting too far ahead of herself.

Halfway up the stairs, Em felt the playful nip and tug of teeth on her braided tail, earning him a yip of surprise and a teasing leer back at him, flicking her tail at his nose again. "You’re gonna get to play with my tail in a minute, silly boy. And you are important to me," she replied with the same earnestly in her voice. She chided him in jest, but really Em loved to see Erik in his natural, playful, raw self. It was a side of him she’d only gotten to see when they were alone. He made her feel special knowing how few wolves ever got to see the real Erik like she knew him. Talk about feeling important!

Ember looked back at Erik with a bold grin and flicked her tail at him again, brushing his chin and nose with her silky fur. "You wanna unbraid my tail, Erik?" Em’s words spoken with a lyrical tone to them, tempting him, before giggling and adding, "Better keep up then!" And then Ember was off, prancing down the corridor towards her room, leading Erik on a play chase. Every so often she would glance back to see how close he was to catching her, her long legs making short work of the path to her bedroom with her runic necklace bouncing against her chest. She leaned against the bedroom door and when Erik got close, she pushed it open and stepped inside, inviting her Viking man in with a quick kiss to his lips and sultry bedroom eyes.

Ember’s room was still very much the way she’d left it—a unique blend of passions, like perfumes and fur oils on the same desk as designs for weapons and steel samples. Her canopy bed had been made up with fresh linens and fluffed pillows. Her balcony door was opened to allow a coastal breeze to waft in and cool the bedroom from the summer heat. "Make yourself at home." Ember quietly closed the door behind them, sliding the latch into place to ensure their privacy. Now it was just the two of them alone for the first time tonight. The candles in sconces keeping the room lit a dim orange light. It made Erik’s eyes and crystals seem to blaze with a fiery life all the more prominently, captivating, alluring.

Sauntering slowly over to him with a gentle sway to her hips, Em looked up at Erik’s ruggedly handsome face with an affectionate smile, just happy to be with him and have him in her room again. "Would you like to help me unbraid my tail now, Erik?" Em turned her rump towards Erik, offering him her tail braided up in his family’s style. Sure, she could’ve done it herself, but it was much more fun to have him help her.

"Ember & Erik"

Doomed boy, at war with his sense of duty, his sense of obligation, and a burning desire to not be the hypocrite his father was. Either of his fathers, both absent as they were. He’s his mother’s son, raised wild and strong by his mother’s calloused hands. Really, he has Sedna to thank for all of this. It’s his mother that weighs heavily on his mind and on his heart, though Fuji had returned with word that she was alright. She’s with Halo, they’re okay. Word enough to put his mind at ease, to make him feel less guilty about enjoying himself, living his life. Absolve him of his sins.

What are sins to a heathen, after all?

“As you are, to me.” The words are tender while they hang in the space between them for a moment, before he allows his stoic expression to break. Rakish grin splitting his dark lips, eyebrows wiggling, he can’t help himself. Indulging Ember in a game of chase, bounding after her on long legs. The girl is light and agile, quicker than he’d even pretend to be, but the bruiser is quick on her heels. She knows these halls far better, has the advantage, but Erik is determined to at least keep up.

Skidding through the open door, Erik feels his hind legs slipping– caught on one of the rugs in the hall. Sliding into Ember and pressing in for an unintentionally aggressive kiss, he’d take it as the gods smiling on him in the moment. That, or blame the booze. Either would do– no wait. Fuck it. He doesn’t need an excuse, he likes Ember and she likes him. That’s all he needs. If his paws would fucking cooperate, that is. Regaining his balance and pulling back to kiss the middle of her forehead, before making himself comfortable in the space.

While Erik still felt largely out of place in this environment, finding it all too grand, he’s too wrapped up in Ember to be intimidated. In an easy, fluid movement, he climbs up onto her bed. Allowing his long legs to splay before him, marveling at how soft it is. Watching as she crosses to latch the door, knowing that he needs to keep their activities relatively quiet with the proximity of basically the entire family. “How th’hell do you get any privacy ‘n this house, everyone bein’ so close?” The light catching in his brilliant gaze, letting it linger long on Ember as she moved. He’d make no secret of the way he looked at her.

“Commere,” he speaks gently, beckoning her closer, beginning to gently unwind the intricate braids. Erik would take the request seriously, his touch as tender but loaded. Leaning from his perch on the bed to snag a brush from her bedside table, settling back to carefully detangle Ember’s silken fur. Every touch lingering, Erik takes more time than he needs to. “Th’skjaldmær look suits you,” The smile on his face bleeds into his tone, the last of the braids falling away. A careful pile of the adornments that had been woven into them sat beside him on the bed, beads threaded carefully into chain so nothing would get tangled or lost. Running the brush through her fur, likely far longer than he needs to, there’s something therapeutic about it.

Finally considering it a job well done, he sets the brush aside and leans forward to press a kiss to the side of her neck. “Your people do know how to party,” a breathy chuckle, wine still thick on his breath, words pressed close to her ear. Erik lingers for a beat, before stretching out comfortably on the bed. Reaching to pull the girl closer– make himself at home? Don’t mind if he does.


"Speech"

There's something about Erik that has always drawn Ember to him. A calamitous sense of genuinity that was very much him, true and beautiful. He was a thunderstorm at night, a volcanic eruption given flesh and bone. Ember never wanted to stop seeing how incredible he was. The pair, wine-drunk and giggling as they raced each other down the halls, collide into an aggressive kiss, one that flares the fire in her belly for this wonderful viking bastard like stepping on a forge's billows too hard. She would burn for him all day, every day. She kissed him back, fierce and eager, like the fire she was named after, paws gripping at the thick fur on his chest while their lips remained connected. Fuck, he was so hot.

Ember couldn't help the sultry smirk on her lips when she turned from locking the door to see Erik sprawled out across her bed, looking the picture of comfort. She loved how good he looked lying there, like he was always meant to be there. A tall, chiseled viking model all to herself, looking like a pornstar in her bed. The bed that had always felt a little too big on her own. She doubted it would feel that way now. He questioned how anyone got privacy around the castle and Em giggled as she approached the bed, a knowing grin on her muzzle. If her parents could fuck each other silly and not alert half the castle, they had nothing to worry about. "The walls and floors are thick, and the stone dampens out a lot of sound. That, and door locks, and we're pretty much in our own world here. So, while you probably shouldn't make me scream too loud, you don't have to worry about holding back either," she explained, her own oceanic eyes shimmering with naughtiness, moving with languid strides and a sway to her hips, knowing how he's looking at her—loving how he's looking at her. She never felt more beautiful than when she was with Erik.

He beckoned her closer and Ember was quick to obey, moving along the side of the bed and turning her rump towards him with an intentional little shake. He took her request seriously, but Em was absolutely teasing and playing with him in the meantime. His touch is gentle yet insistent, working out the braids of long silken fur and almost reverentially removing the beads and accessories from her tail and begins brushing out her tail. It's soothing letting him do this, intimate and borderline erotic for the princess as well. She relishes in his touch, giving no cares that he takes as long as he liked. She was enjoying every second thoroughly, as the little smile on her face showed, the occasional soft sigh of delight slipping from her. "You're a maestro with that brush," she purred to her viking brute, showing him just how much she enjoyed his work on her. Erik's compliment makes her blush, Em's cheeks warming and her smile widening. "You think so?" she asked, looking over her shoulder to meet his smile with hers. "It's a very beautiful way of braiding. I'm glad you like it too. Guess that means I should wear it more often." Everything to catch the eye of her bastard prince. She liked showing off for Erik.

As the last braid falls loose and Ember's tail cascades in a waterfall of midnight black fur, Em gathered up the beads he'd collected and chained for her, setting them aside on the nightstand. She felt his lips on the side of her neck before she could turn back to him, coaxing a soft gasping breath from her as his lips left tingles of fire against her skin. Em sighed happily, her smile shifting into an amorous grin as a dainty paw lifts to caress his cheek before he can retreat. "The bonfire is very special to us. It's our biggest celebration, and we always go all out for it," she replied, leaning over to press her side closer to him. Half-lidded eyes glazed with desire and the wine looked into his smoldering fiery ones as she added, "You'll have to show me how your people party now." Still grinning with wanton need, Em happily leans herself into Erik's grasp, letting him pull her up onto the bed to join him, giggling all the while. Had Ember ever been as happy as she was when she was with Erik? Maybe it was the wine, but she couldn't recall any time.

On the bed with her hulking viking prince, Ember shifted herself around to lie with her belly pressed to him, facing him so she can bring her paws up to stroke over his broad chest, claws delicately tracing the lines of his muscles beneath his coat, gliding up to caress his jaw and cheeks. Em lost herself in Erik's eyes, unable to keep the big silly smile off her face while she leaned in to plant a slow, deep kiss to his lips, passion simmering as her mouth moved tenderly against his. Quiet needy whines escaped her, and Em's body pressed closer into his, yearning to be even closer still. Gods, she wanted him so badly! Parting their lips for just long enough to speak, the Carpathian princess whispered against his muzzle, "Don't you dare hold back." A simple request. Ember wanted all of Erik—all of him, exactly as he was. She still had more things she wanted to talk to him about, and something extremely important to give him, but more than anything she wanted her viking right now.


"Ember & Erik"

A tornado meets a volcano– that’s what happens, right? This is what happens? He’s enchanted, pure and simple. For a boy that needs to stop making excuses for himself, it’s probably a good thing. Ember is good for him, in more ways than he can understand given the circumstances. A rakish grin, resting back on his hip. “I won’t make any promises,” cheeky. Erik knows he’ll have to make eye contact with her father in the morning regardless, but he’s prepared to take that one on the chin. The rewards far outweighed any risks, after all.

Raw. Emotionally raw– come into this world a bruise, he’ll be a raw wound for as long as he lives. Ember sees him as he is, and for once, he’s comfortable with that. There’s something lingering here, in the space between them, that he won’t put words to. Not yet. Hell, he barely has words. Where words fail, he allows the physicality to take over. Erik can rely on that, rely on the way he touches her. A trail of sparks everywhere they make contact, near visible for as searing as they are.

“Anything for you, princess.” The words come with a rakish look, grin replaced with something more primal. Want, need, and feelings coming unglued. Erik had behaved himself, maybe for too long. A low rumble in his chest, possessive nature kicking in. The kiss is searing, his head spinning with it. Sweet, giving way to harsh. A fire building in his chest, in his core, bubbling to the surface. A trail of kisses down her neck, giving way to his teeth scraping her tender skin. There’s no intent to harm, but gods, he needs her. He needs her to be his.

Pulling Ember closer, he’s maintaining control. Claws against her back, dragging the girl in closer. Drawing her closer, but it’s not close enough. In one movement, he takes control, putting the girl beneath him. Chest pressed against Ember’s, and holding her there. Heart pounding, as if holding her this close would take the girl directly into his ribcage, where Erik could keep her all to himself. The kiss he meets her with is fierce, needy, possessive. “No whining, use your words baby.” Tone deep, teasing as he pulls back for only a moment. Teeth back to her neck, a trail of bites as he teases.

"Speech"

Ember had never felt more beautiful than she did whenever she had Erik's eyes upon her. It was the way he looked at her, as if he had never seen anyone like her before. In a family of eleven, it's easy to feel overlooked, difficult to stand out. Erik makes her feel like the only wolf in the world when he's around; like she's a goddess given flesh with the way he stares, touches, kisses, claims her. Just as she sees him as he is, he sees her and wants her the way she is. There's no caveats, no exceptions or conditions. It's raw and primal desire coursing between them with every beat of their hearts. She doesn't have to be anyone but herself, wholly and unapologetically. Ember would never stop feeling free when she's with him. When he's hers.

She knows Erik isn't good with words, but he doesn't need to be. His paws, his lips, his teeth, his body does all the talking for him. As soon as she's on the bed with him, he's wrapping her up in his arms, pulling her close, not letting her go. His touch on her skin leaves fire in its wake and his kiss sends sparks through every nerve. He says anything for her and she believes him unequivocally. He shows it with his roaming paws, exploring her body as if she had always belonged to him, as reverential as it was possessive, like worshiping her as he claimed her. Erik stole Em's breath away in heated gasps, her dainty paws gliding down the side of his neck to rest on his chest again, claws combing through fur to feel the muscles beneath, a quiver of feminine lust lancing through her belly each time she felt him move under her digits.

His lips are on her neck, and Erik has her sighing as her head tips back, revealing more of her delicate throat to his mouth. Teeth on her flesh coaxed trembles from her body; gods, he loved her neck, and oh how it turned her on! Ember is in heaven with her viking king, letting the fire in her belly grow to consume her. Heavy eyelids flutter over hazy eyes, a sultry grin on her lips as she gives herself over to his control. He moves her with ease, showing off that incredible viking strength as she's placed beneath him. This has quickly become Em's favorite place to be—pinned between the bed and his body, covering her, holding her there. Her heart was pounding, fire coursing through her veins at the anticipation of what was to come. She can feel his heart beating against her where their chests press together, drums beating in time as their bodies entwined. Her hind legs spread for him, letting his body nestle between her toned thighs right where she wanted him. So close, yet never ever close enough.

Ember stares up into the smoldering depths of Erik's eyes, lost in the fire of those carnelian jewels. She doesn't see him the way others do. She sees Erik—her Erik. Their lips met in a possessive kiss, Em crushing her mouth hungrily to deepen their kiss. She's ravenous for him, needy and demanding. Her paws slid back up to wrap around the back of Erik's neck, claws tangling in his scruff to never let him go. She can feel him pressing against her belly, his arousal both intimately familiar and yet still new to the recently deflowered princess. That doesn't stop her from pushing her hips up to his, a slow roll and wiggle grinding herself against his hard length. Em moans softly into his mouth through their kiss, huffing a heated, frustrated breath when Erik teases her. No whines, he wants her words. She grins, knowing the game he's playing and contemplating biting him in that moment.

Another breathy gasp slips from her as his teeth find her throat and her pulse, head tipped back, a paw on the back of his head, silently urging him on. She's melting for him, heat between her legs ready to receive him, but he's so damned good at making her beg for him! "Erik…" Ember sighs out his name, lifting her hips towards his again, feeling him slide against her belly again. So wonderfully, agonizingly close…! Muzzle tilts so she can look him in the eyes, letting him see her urgent need blazing in those blue depths. "Fuck me, Erik… Claim your princess, my viking king."

"Ember & Erik"