[center][h2][color=dodgerblue]⚜[/color] [color=a36209]Syphax[/color] [b]&[/b] [color=dodgerblue]Eve[/color]  [color=a36209]⚜[/color][/h2][/center]
Many described death differently in the Nexus.  Some say it's like being awoken from a peaceful slumber back into a warzone, others have called it nightmarish and painful.  Syphax landed on the nightmarish and painful end of it, like a dream sequence dead set on shaking him to his core...

[i]Wings clipped and bleeding, he ran through a burning forest, not unlike the one he had died in hours ago.  He was totally unarmed and naked, vulnerable in every sense of the word without even his wings to cover his modesty.  Things were bad as it was, but there was another factor that crippled him more than anything had before.  Everywhere were the mutilated bodies of his people, burnt to crisps, impaled on trees, trapped in nets of razor wire.  Everywhere was a sense of total hopelessness, like everything he had spent his life working for had been reversed, in some twisted dimension where the good were punished and evil prospered.  [color=a36209]"Eve, Aquila..."[/color]  His clawed hands closed into tight fists, a seething hatred cascading over him in every sense of the word.  He could feel it, feathers turning as black as the umbra of an eclipse and his eyes turned a shade of red akin to the flames surrounding him.  Just as this transformation started, it was as if his mind left his body and wandered off, leaving a body separate from a soul.[/i]

And in a moment, he felt the connection between the two break like a tree in a hurricane.

[color=dodgerblue]"WAKE THE FUCK UP!"[/color] yelled Eve as she splashed an entire bucket of water onto Syphax. He was not having a great time in his dreams, it would clearly seem, and it scared the pants off of Eve. She didn't like seeing him twitch from nightmares, and it wasn't surprising that her method of waking him up was so... so blunt. Eve tried shaking him awake about a minute ago, however that was to no avail, so naturally the next step was the bucket of water. On the plus side, if he pissed himself because of the nightmare that he was having because of his respawn, Eve wouldn't know that he did. [color=dodgerblue]"Are you dead? You had me scared for a second."[/color]

As the water hit him, the Knight of the Southern Winds shot up like a bullet, exposing him to the elements of his poorly lit room within Celestia.  It took him a moment to realize there was someone else within the room, at which point he scrambled to grab the sheets underneath him and cover himself up to his waist at least.  [color=a36209]"Yes I died, but what the hell Eve!?  Did you really have to dump that on me?"[/color]  One hand still on the scrap of cloth covering himself, he shuffled over to the armor stand that his gear had returned to.  In the bottom right side of his chestplate, there was a wide gash where Ira's blade had penetrated and eventually killed him.  For a second, he looked down and noticed a fresh scar exactly where he had been impaled.  He shoved the thought to the side quickly and took the bottom half of his armor from the stand, slipping into it as quickly as he could.

[color=dodgerblue]"You know you liked it,"[/color] snickered Eve, giving Syphax the comfort of not being watched while he put on his pants. [color=dodgerblue]"Seriously though I did have to do it. I tried shaking you awake earlier and you responded... exactly how you'd expect."[/color] Eve was seriously wondering why he was putting on pants anyway. She'd seen it earlier, and she wasn't wearing pants at the time. Well... she had feathers to cover her lower half, but she didn't really care if he wasn't wearing pants. A quick ruffle of her feathers happened as she turned around to face Syphax once he had pants on. [color=dodgerblue]"How'd the fight go? I mean, aside from you dying and all."[/color]

 [color=a36209]"Well, it was going fine at first,"[/color] he started as he moved to sit down on the edge of the bed, stretching his sore wings despite the limited space.   [color=a36209]"Hell's new queen, Ira, went to the battlefield.  One of the Machina launched a suicide attack on her, did some heavy damage to her.  I came in and tried to talk her down at first, then she came at me.  I swear, it was an even match and I would've come out on top if Hildr hadn't come in and fucked me over."[/color]  He leaned forward and rested his elbows in his knees, wiry muscles stretching and flexing in the mean time.   [color=a36209]"So she send her flying into an island and leave me picking for scraps like some kind of vulture.  Soon enough Ira gets tossed back to me and she ends up stabbing me in midair... and she fucking breaks her neck to stop me from killing her.  We ended up falling through some trees, I took the brunt of the branches and broke everything, and I end up getting killed slowly by fire.  So it sucked."[/color]  He finished, claws tracing the new scar in his collection.  This wasn't the first time his recklessness had gotten him injured, but it was one of the few times it had gotten him killed.

[color=dodgerblue]"You went toe-to-toe against the new queen of Hell? Damn."[/color] She knew the power of a male harpy but she didn't know that it would amount to that power. Then again, Hell is in a bit of crap right now, so the leader not really being such a strong combatant isn't surprising. [color=dodgerblue]"Sorry I didn't participate in Arcadia. A lot of the recruits were having trouble with the recent task I had them put through. I dunno how they're even standing, let alone fighting, when a lot of them can't swing a sword with good technique. There are a few promising harpies in the fray, but a bunch of them need a bit more elbow-grease to get into shape with."[/color] Eve walked over to sit beside Syphax as she explained, and it seemed like she was agitated while she spoke. The recruits must be kind of... lackluster if they put this much stress on her.

The male harpy took a moment to chuckle, pulling the female in with his left wing.   [color=a36209]"Don't need me to go in and whip them into shape, do you?  And what'd you even tell them to do?"[/color]  he inquired, comforting her with a few bushes of feathers against her side.

Eve seemed to relax as she explained what she had planned for the recruits she was training. [color=dodgerblue]"I told a few of them to pick up rocks with their feet and drop them onto targets, like bombs. None of them could even lift a rock up. A few of them pulled a muscle trying.""[/color] Eve leaned back onto Syphax as she spoke, slowly becoming more malleable to him as time passed.

 [color=a36209]"Hmph, either those years in Hell have really left everyone weak, or they're not ready for a war... I could swap off with you for the next battle, I need some time to rest up before I go back out.  You kick some ass, I get people ready to kick ass,"[/color]  he joked, letting his arms gently close around Eve's midsection.  With her trapped, he laid back on the bed, pulling her down with him.

[color=dodgerblue]"I'm down with that... although you better be rested for at least a few minutes,"[/color] she said as she allowed herself to be pulled down to the bed, feeling like she knew where this would be going, and she was perfectly fine with what was happening.

 [color=a36209]"Well I am pretty beat, coming back to life and immediately having a nightmare takes a lot out of you,"[/color]  he replied.  For a moment he sat in silence, simply enjoying the feel of someone else's body against his.  Until now it had meant some kind of hollow longing, like an itch that could never be scratched.   [color=a36209]"Y'know, I never thought I'd get everyone out of that hole.  We owe everything to Hoho now, is the only problem,"[/color] he sighed, hot breath grazing against Eve's ear.

[color=dodgerblue]"I never thought we'd get out either, but then you came along and everything changed..."[/color] Eve said as she turned around in Syphax's arms, her chest in his as she wrapped her arms around his back. Her body slowly became warmer as the two stayed together, however it never escalated to a point where it gave either of the harpies any feeling of discomfort. [color=dodgerblue]"Thank you for that..."[/color]

Syphax loosened his hold on Eve just long enough for her to flip over, the two coming face to face.   [color=a36209]"Well, I'd do it all again.  Every wound, every death was worth it."[/color]  He wasn't sure if it was intentional, but his head was drifting upwards towards hers, tilting slightly to the side in preparation.  Sure, they'd done something similar before, but this one felt... different, somehow.

Eve lowered her head towards Syphax's, tilting it in the opposite way. At first, she couldn't believe she was actually doing this, but what started out as feeling so wrong began to feel completely right. It wasn't but for a few more moments until the two [url=https://public.etherpad-mozilla.org/p/dlmrVNyF5O]locked lips,[/url] still in each other's arms.

[center][@Mega Birb][@Banana][@KoL][/center]