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Private  - Laid Bare [Reichenbach]

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Camdis
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#1

Camdis Lohir


His tread wasn't careful or quiet, but neither did it demand attention.

No, it was the comfortable movement of one who was home. 

The flickering light that lined the arched corridors leading to the throne room was like an embrace, the shadows that deepened along the high ceilings and swept along the floors, devouring his hooves and blackened locks even moreso. It was refreshing, the return to the keep nestled in the lands that Calligo had carved out for them, her gift to her devoted, wild children. Camdis could not help the smile that curved at his lips and the joy that brightened his eyes, the delicious sense of belonging that wrapped loving arms about his shoulders. 

He wondered if Calligo was as happy to have him as he was to have her. 

Passing by a bay of open-air windows, their glassless lengths stretching from floor to ceiling, the healer-to-be paused to admire the endless blanket of stars that filled the skies. In his youth, Camdis had been fascinated by the differing shades of night, the way the moon could blot out the stars with her light, or narrow herself to a sliver, a winking eye in a sea of fireflies. Now he wondered if he had been drawn to them because he was destined to be here, in the Court of his beloved Calligo, if his wounded heart had always known where he would end up. 

Maybe when he again made the trek to that mountain temple, his goddess would tell him whether his suspicions were true. 

Continuing on, thick mane and tail swish swishing along the polished floors, the horned stallion at last came upon the massive entryway into the throne room, the seat of Calligo's chosen sovereign. Camdis had heard his name whispered through the halls and the courtyards of the palace, and his curiosity had washed over him in a wave - who was the great King of Night? Would he accept Camdis, stained as he was with past mistakes that were not his own to claim, but his all the same?

Slowing to a stop before the empty dais, Camdis waited, feeling as if a cry out would be disrespectful at the least and blasphemous at the worst. 

It was time for the Exile King to bow before his superior. 
                                                                                                                                                                                                      

 
 @Reichenbach hi! just wanting to make an official introduction and have Cam solidify his place here at Night Court<333









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Reichenbach
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#2


R E I C H E N B A C H

[Image: UFckO5G.png]

LIKE ICARUS LOVED THE SUN -


He was not royalty. He was wildness, chaos and stars - he was flame and heat and burning, but he was not royalty. He was an orphan boy, built from whatever pieces his calloused hands had managed to hold onto (the inferno, the stars, the ink of a moonless sky) - he was not royalty. So it had taken him completely and utterly by surprise when he had been asked to step into the role of Sovereign for his beloved court. Certainly, there was no one more dedicated, more in love with Denocte than he but... he had never expected this. Despite his consternation he had taken up the mantle, now standing quietly in the shadows at the left end of the throne room, staring out and downward at the brilliance of Vitreus Lake. It's surface was set afire in silver light, an unending, depthless mirror matching the abyss of his own silver eyes. 

He heard Camdis approaching long before he entered the room, the echoing of empty rooms and hallways haunting his usually keen ears. The Keep couldn't stay like this for long - Reichenbach adored all things life, dancing, music, art, company... not the silence that reigned in the long empty castle, a silence so profound he felt even the thrum of his great heart. An ear flicked back at the arrival of his horned guest and he melted into shadow, argent eyes burning bright as he turned that keen gaze toward the patient man, watching him as he no doubt awaited the arrival of the Sovereign, of him. 

Reichenbach already knew of Camdis' arrival into Denocte, his choice to follow their bountiful, loving Calligo - and he more than approved of the subtle, polite way the newcomer had made himself known in their city and now the throne room. The whisper of wild ebony curls echoed through the quiet chamber as Reich shifted, tilting his head to regard Camdis fully. He was a capable warrior - or had the build to be one, and no doubt the girls of Denocte had already made a note to "accidentally" run into the crimson man. The thought brought a pleasant, humoured smile to his black lips and he slipped from the shadow and into the flickering torch light with a simple;

"Camdis Lohir... Welcome to the Night Court"

His voice was a lullaby, a sonnet, a song so deep and musical it seemed to linger in the air between them. He gazed at the new member of his Court with bright, long lashed eyes, a crooked smile on his black lips.


@Camdis ahhh!!! I love Cam!










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#3

Camdis Lohir


The whisper of locks upon skin and stone preceded the arrival of his monarch, the shadows dripping from his frame like molasses - like they were reluctant to let him go. It seemed fitting, then, that the King of Night be wreathed in his namesake, in the darkness that sang it's siren song to Calligo's ilk. As the stallion neared, ebony curls full bodied and shining in the faint light of the moon and torches that adorned the walls, it took all it was within Camdis to not stare in open awe.

No one had said that the stallion he was to swear his fealty to was the most stunning creature to walk the face of the planet.

Silver eyes widening as he faced his king, Camdis couldn't help but return the grin that the beautiful male offered him, noting each and every detail, adoring each and every detail; the chiseled, square jaw, the sharp cheekbones, the elegant slopes and lines of his face that, in spite of their delicacy, combined into a crescendo of rugged masculinity. The King in Camdis demanded the stallion before him, commanded the he be Camdis' to love and dote on and care for in all avenues. He wanted to provide for the sovereign that stood so breathtaking and regal before him.

Yet, it did not seem as if the unnamed King of Night wore the mantle of royalty with ease. No, for Camdis Lohir had met enough reigning stallions and mares in his short time on the throne, and the heart of the young man wore no crown of gold or bloodline. He wasn't draped with opulence or dripping with the twisted promises that politicians so loved to favor.

No, he was a battle cry, a warrior defiant in the face of a bloody dawn, he was tempest and star fall and strength and faith all roped into a body honed by strife.

He was the King that would wrest prosperity from the clutches of fate with a grin on his lips and a glint in his eye, a bruised and brilliant fist striking to the heart of all things glorious.

And he knew Camdis by name.

The bay stag's grin could only grow as he lowered himself into a bow before his monarch, pride and adoration and awe warring over his features while his lips skimmed the marbled floor. Holding his bow for a moment longer than necessary - a show of subservience and loyalty - Camdis Lohir straightened and perked his ears forward, all attention focused upon Calligo's Chosen.

"It is an honor and a pleasure, my Lord," A pause, a beat of silence where Camdis decided that simple honesty was the best policy in all situations, "I have heard of your coronation, yet I do not know your name." 
                                                                                                                                                                                                     


 @Reichenbach well Cam has decided he has a crush. <333









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#4


R E I C H E N B A C H

[Image: UFckO5G.png]

LIKE ICARUS LOVED THE SUN -


In a rustle of silk and ebony tresses, Camdis lowered his vast and muscular frame to the cold marble floor. Reichenbach watched with an amused smile, shaking his great head and murmuring like honey;

"You never need bow before me, Camdis. I am not that kind of King"

As the words left his mouth he smiled - a warm, brash kind of thing that bloomed like heat in the colossal chamber. Reichenbach would never stand in opulence and wealth while his people toiled, never allow his hands to grow soft and weak while theirs were dirty and calloused. No, what wealth came to Denocte would be made from the sweat of his brow, the strength of his back and the bloodied fists he wielded like swords. His gaze was positively wolfish as he listened to Camdis Lohir, a pleased expression crossing his handsome face as he weighed the other mans words.

"The pleasure is mine -"

The word pleasure rolled off his tongue dangerously, a smoke filled promise of what, exactly, his war-worn, rough hands could do. 

"It's Reichenbach, Reich to friends... which now involves you, if you should choose to stay with us." 

His voice rolled through the room like far off thunder, a gleam entering his argent gaze as he cast a keen eye over the man before him. He would soon need to fill all the positions of his court, and finding the right members of Denocte to lead alongside him was a task Reichenbach did not take lightly. The men and women of his court were to be leaders of their society - the lives of Denocte depended on how they handled situations both dire and fortunate. Camdis Lohir did not look like a man that would weaken in times of darkness. 

"Camdis.." he began, turning to gaze out at the starlit sky for a moment before continuing "What was it that brought you to Denocte? I don't ask for your history, you can keep those secrets to yourself -" a swift wink and grin "-but I'd like to know why you chose to live here - the city of starlight."

The city of dreams, of gypsies and thieves and fire-dancers, of starlight, shadows and smoke. It was a question he would ask all of the candidates he spoke to - did their heart thrum with the beat of this city as his did?

@Camdis IN LOVE <3 










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#5

Camdis Lohir


You never need bow before me, Camdis...

It was an effort not to furrow his brow in confusion and surprise, the sentiment of a sovereign not wanting physical shows of subservience a far cry from tradition; but then again, it seemed that this bruised boy with coins in his ears and gold in his teeth was a far cry from tradition in every sense one could fathom. He was a champion of his people, a man elected not from his blood or his ability to conquer, but from the way he looked at Denocte as an extension of his own heart. 

He was a righteous stallion without the pomp and arrogance of one that claimed such a title; religion made flesh. 

One that Camdis Lohir would follow all too quickly if he were to make the choice. 

The grin that he was offered warmed him to his bitter, smoke stained bones, the expression that flashed over his patriarch's face searing it's way into the horned stag's mind with all the force of starlight; gentle enough to appreciate without pain, but wondrous in that they could never be forgotten. If not for his training, his years of tutelage beneath the hooves and whips of his advisors, the stallion may have crumbled before this godlike King with his bloodied beauty and rugged regality, but if Camdis knew a single thing, it was how to wear a mask of surety in the face of doubt. 

And right then, standing before his Boy King with eyes of moonfall and hair of darkest shadow, Camdis was filled with self doubt - for how could he not bend to this wild, reckless creature? How could he be expected not to crumble at every heated glance, every carefully constructed smirk, every honeyed syllable that fell from Reichenbach's lips? The scarlet stained male felt his lips tug upward in response, eyes flashing as he read - too far? Had he read too much into the tone of his sovereign? - into the suggestion that dripped from the ebony and chocolate stallion's lips. 

The pleasure is mine.
The pleasure.
Mine.

My pleasure is his. To take. To receive. To give.

Camdis' grin turned lazy, subtly inviting, carefully and languidly enticing as he struggled to keep his eyes glued to his King's arresting gaze and to not hang himself up on every tiny detail that he was sure marked the sovereign's skin. 

Emperor of Our Night Skies. Heavenly Caliph. Prince of All Things Dark and Beautiful.

He is all things Dark and Beautiful
.

Great skull cocked to the side, albeit slowly, as the monarch - Reichenbach, such a strong name, one that could inspire fear and adoration in equal terms, though the bay currently erred on the side of adoration - stated that Camdis was counted amongst his friends. The assertion came as a surprise to the Exile King, how factual the tone of his King - his friend? - was, how candidly the words slip from his tongue, and how his own heart thundered with something akin to gratitude. 

If you should choose to stay with us.
Choose to stay. With us.

Stay. With. Me.


Camdis Lohir swallowed thickly, his smile dropping from his face as shock overtook him, for once in his short life at a loss for words. What was it to be a friend to something beautiful and holy? What was it to feel at ease, to feel at home, with another creature without fear of judgement or abandonment? He could feel the potential of it on his tongue, taste the freedom of affection and true camaraderie upon his blackened lips; Honeysuckle and woodsmoke, jasmine and ocean mist, sweat and salt and blood and something to live for at last. 

His expression, once returned, was something to behold and something to cherish. Camdis had never been told that he was handsome, never been complimented on physicality or traits that were otherwise unnecessary in ruling a nation. He had never been given affection, been coddled or held or sang to on nights where his soul could not rest for fear of retribution from a sacrificed sister. He had been starved by others of matters of the heart, and in turn he had then starved himself, part in punishment of self and part in force of habit. Yet, the way his silvery eyes glowed, his lips lifted into a smile, the way his entire demeanor metamorphosed from a manner of distance and thinly veiled bitterness into one of absolute joy, it was almost as if the caustic man forged from the broken pieces of a boy's lost childhood had never existed. 

In his place stood something, someone, else entirely.

Someone filled with hope. 

So as Reichenbach - Reich, Reich, Reich, his friend. His beautiful, breathtaking, painfully astounding friend - continued on, Camdis hung on each and every word with a childlike wonder, a careful glee. 

His reply came easily and without thought, as natural as the breath that whistled in his lungs, "If you are to know the reasons why, then you must know parts of the past, my f-friend," He had never spoken the word aloud, though he knew it would come easier in time. Camdis took a deep breath, shook his head, dismissed the shame, forged on, "I was born to be a half to a whole - my sister and I, we were born to rule together as all those that came before us, but... I was born weak. Blind and wretched. Worthless." Brows knitted together and lips twitched, a sliver of rage and loathing slipping through the cracks, "My sister - Camdis, for that was her name - was the victim of our parent's hubris and a witch's darkness, and her life was sacrificed so that mine could flourish."

He found that he did not want to hold the gaze of his sovereign, he did not want pity or sympathy to flash across the stallion's face. 

He did not deserve that, not with who he was and what he had done. 
                                                                                                  
A bitter smile twisted his lips, a hateful laugh falling to the marbled floor, "And flourish it did, into a Boy King hated by his own people, hated by his own throne." He paused, a bit of that loathing slipping away as the bay considered his place among the living, and what his presence here meant, "I think... I think that is why Calligo called to me. I think she knows exactly what it is to be hated by those that you love the most, by those that you want to make proud." A little more of that rancor crumpled as he lost himself in thought, voice becoming softer, as if he were no longer admitting these things to his Sovereign, but to himself, "She wrapped her fist about my heart, she tugged me here, she pulled me home. It did not matter to her that I am a failed king on a self-imposed exile, it does not matter to her that my life began as an atrocity, for she loves me still."

Camdis Lohir swallowed past the lump that had risen in his throat, thankful for his dark coloring so that Reich would not see the heat crawling up his neck and face as he murmured, "I serve Denocte because it is Hers. I serve this city of dreams and starlight because it is Hers. I love her people and her country with everything that I am, because they are Hers, and they might learn to love me back."      

Briefly, he hoped that the answer that he had given, even though it was the honest one, remained the right one.  

 
 @Reichenbach OH. OKAY CAM WE'RE FEELING PARTICULARLY DRAMATIC TODAY.









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#6


R E I C H E N B A C H

[Image: UFckO5G.png]

LIKE ICARUS LOVED THE SUN -


Silence reigned for a long moment, the cavernous room echoing every scrape, every silken rustle. Then Camdis began to speak, and the new Sovereign of the Night Court felt his chest rise and fall with emotion - anger, disbelief, understanding. It was all reflected there for whomever wanted to see, fury mixed with starlight, disbelief with shadow and understanding a mix of the two. His bones ached at the self-hatred that clawed at every word that fell from Camdis' velvet lips, even as he wound the bay's voice around a rib, two, storing it there for safe keeping. Had Camdis been watching his King, he would have seen Reichenbach's silent snarl at the word "worthless", and the slight widening of his long lashed eyes as he discovered the origin of Camdis' true name. 

He hated that laugh, so coarse and full of heartbreak, wanted to scoop it up from where it lay, desolate and broken on the floor. He wanted to nourish that laugh, inject it with vitality and love, show Camdis a night under the stars, a night that would turn all of that hopelessness into something new and bright. Yet when Camdis spoke of Calligo, it was something else entirely. His voice filled with a colourful kind of desire, subtly hopeful despite the dark tinge of revulsion for himself that turned the words dull. Reichenbach let silence fall again, watching closely as Camdis kept his devastating eyes turned downward. 

He waited.

Waited for the man to raise his head, for when he did he would see a warm smile waiting for him. A serious smile, but one filled with promise - Camdis would be accepted here, it was Denocte's way. Theirs was a city filled with merchants and travellers, gypsies ran abound through the streets, even the exiled found a home under Calligo's heady embrace - all were welcome in the city of starlight. 

"I'm hosting a meeting of sorts tonight - It will be at the Lake." Reichenbach had never followed tradition - and he wasn't about to now. Why discuss important topics in the castle when the lakeshore would be so much more pleasant? Camdis was the last invite to his meeting - for now. 

"I hope you will attend" he murmured, silver gaze reflecting the torchlight as he waited for that great horned head to rise. 



@Camdis ugh bad ending BUT I was thinking once you reply we can close this thread and move onto his meeting where Cam will get his big news!!












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#7

Camdis Lohir


There was fear in the scarlet stallion, yes, fear that he would be rejected by his King, feat that he would be tossed out into the cold unknown once more. It was a primal sort of terror, one that shook at his bones and pierced his proud breast with a needle of ice. What would he do if the sovereign that stood before him, with his mottled skin that echoed with scraps lost and battles won, with those gypsy coins glittering at his ears, turned him away? Camdis would not let himself imagine the possibility, he would not allow that sort of baseless terror to take root. 

It would only serve to destroy him. 

As it were, though, he could not find the strength to remove his focus from the tiles at his hooves, pupils tracing the marbled waves and lines in the shining stone. Yet, as the silence stretched further, worrying at the bay's already frayed nerves, Camdis Lohir forced his silvery eyes up to meet a gaze that was neither cold nor spiteful. Indeed, Reichenbach wore a grin whose warmth would rival the heat of Solis' beloved sun. Cowed at the show of acceptance and grace with which his sovereign processed the rather grim details of Camdis' past, the stallion ducked his horned head a bit, though he did not avert his gaze, even as heat crept across his face. 

It was odd to feel like a child again, but it was in a way that did not leave the stallion feeling inexperienced and clumsy, rather the sensation was one of vibrancy and life. It was one that he could get used to feeling. 

He straightened as Reichenbach's request echoed throughout the shadowed chamber, the darkness seeming to writhe and dance at the sound of their chosen monarch's voice. Silvery eyes searching the face of his friend, Camdis found nothing of concern, no, the male that stood with such quiet pride displayed nothing that would hint at anything but honesty. Relief rushed over the exile, cooling his skin and calming his heart.

"I'd be honored, Reich," The grin that curled at blackened lips reached his eyes, their depths glinting in the starlight that filtered through the open air windows as he turned away, intent on exploring more of the fortress and hopefully finding a chamber to claim as his own, "I'll find you." 

                                                                                                              

 

WOWZA THIS POST IS SUCH GARBAGE WHAT IS GOING ON
Cam has been difficult for me in this thread >.>
@Reichenbach









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