Just Two Drops....
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Metas asked once more as he held the ornate vial in his hand. "I don't want to force you to do anything you aren't certain of."
"I was about to slap you back in the hovel, honestly. I was more than miffed that you spoke for me," Myranda returned bitterly.
"I'm sorry, Mandy. It's just my desire to protect you. You don't understand....You're my everything. You're all I have. To lose you, would be devastating."
"I know, Metas. I understand, honestly I do. I just... I want to feel like I am allowed to be myself and not dependent on what others say for me. We're equals, right? Let me be that equal."
His expression crumpled a little as her words saturated his ears. He hadn't meant to make her feel so frail or small.
"I know you want me safe, my Alpha" she started with softness in her voice and reached up to put her hand to his face tenderly. "However, if you do that, I can't be the Queen you need me to be. I don't want to be a silent puppet. I want to rule next to you. Together. Otherwise, you're just doing it all on your own, and I'm a little doll for you to take out when you need."
Metas' eyes widened at her last comment and every part of his face and body language showed that he felt terrible for having not thought about how Myranda would have felt regarding his over-care for her.
"I'm sorry," was all he could manage to say. He had nothing else he could muster up otherwise.
"It's fine."
"No, it's not. I keep telling you that you are strong and worthy, but then treat you like a flower," Metas admitted.
"I understand why you would the past few days, I have silver-blueish lips. I'd be the same way. I just want to actually be what I want to be," she said with desperation in her voice.
"I will do better by you, Mandy. I swear it," he promised with shame layered in each syllable.
"I believe you. Now, that being said... Give me some space as I take this, okay? Veltar said it would be uncomfortable, but not painful," she affirmed with a smile, and held her hands out until he placed the beautiful glass in her hands
"As you wish. I'll be standing nearby if you need me," he offered and leaned against a nearby tree, but looked away as if to become 'aloof' and invisible.
"I know. Thank you, Metas" she replied towards him, and then looked to the bottle in her hands. They shook a little as she worried about over-dosing herself, or worse...
Myranda dipped the little tigella into the liquid and tilted her head back with a wide-open mouth. The instant the two drops soaked into to the back of her tongue, she felt warm and tasted something metallic, but sweet like a fruit tart - but without sugar. It was disgusting, but palatable all at the same time.
The heat from her tongue seemed to travel down her body and saturate her shoulders, chest, then thighs, and feet. That wasn't the weird part, though....the weird part was the feeling of little beads running up her body and towards her mouth.
Some of the beads were larger than others, and it felt like bugs running under her skin. Veltar had told the truth - it did not hurt. It felt beyond uncomfortable, though - it was unreal; something you'd read in a book, or hear about in an old myth.
The small collections of silver wriggled their way up towards her head, and as each one rolled up her body, the heat she had felt followed with them. Unsure of what to do as the bitter metal began to leak from her eyes, nose, and mouth, she merely got down on her hands and knees as if to make the trip to the ground easier on the poison leaving her body.
"Urhk.." was all she could let out as she blinked rapidly to try to clear her vision from the foggy gray that kept wiping over her eyes, but 'slipping down' as though it were rain on glass.
"Mandy?" The Alpha couldn't help but ask with concern as he turned her attention towards her.
Having no idea how terrifying she looked, Myranda turned her face towards his with a confused expression, that looked more like a pathetic, silent plea for help as a pretty silver liquid practically covered her lips and cheeks.
His reaction was just as concerning to the Luna who saw her husband's mouth gape open and his eyes bulge with what looked like a mix of terror and shock.
"Is it bad? Am I dying?"
Metas wasn't sure what to say, in his haste to try to answer her, he blurted out the first thing that came to his mind,
"No? Yes? I have no idea.What... what is going on? Does it hurt?"
"No...it's.. weird.. I hate it, and I don't want to do it again. You look like I'm about to die, though. Your face is twisted up in a way I've never seen it before," she confessed, and grinned a little bit to ease him rather than herself.
"Can I approach?"
"Yes, please. What does it look like?" She couldn't help but wonder out loud, for she had to know what caused such a reaction.
"It looks like you're leaking liquid silver. I want to touch it, but I don't want to take whatever it is you just had to. Painless or not, I don't want to be you right now, my love" he jested to return the favor she had given him just moments ago.
They both chuckled briefly, and he watched as the silver continued to drop from her face like little wriggling worms. It looked alive more than it looked like a metal. As soon as it hit the grass, though - the little masses turned into tiny bits of pulverized silver that mimicked what we humans know as mica powder.
It was breathtakingly beautiful, even if poisonous. It would seem some of the most gorgeous and luscious-looking things in life were forbidden to be near or to be touched.
"It's looking better the more it hits the ground," Metas followed up with a brighter tone.
"Oh, good. I was worried that you'd look like that forever," she returned with a crooked smile and a snarky tone.
"Goddess, I love you. You keep up with me. I like that a lot, you know - keeping me on my paws" he quipped back in a lower tone as if to tease her in another way.
"What's with the velvet tone there, Alpha King?" Myranda asked with a matching sound that harmonized with his smooth words.
"I suppose it's a bit hard to stay sober in the moment when you're on your hands and knees...." he began and trailed off as his eyes rolled towards hers knowingly.
It sounded good to her heart, and far more pleasant for the moment to want to allow this scene to roll into something far more sensual and fitting - but the idea of the two of them making love in the woods didn't seem right as the rest of the pack were preparing for war.
Being ever responsible - and not wanting to be let down again by someone barging in on them - she put her hand to his face and smiled gently. "As good as this sounds right now, don't you think we should be setting an example?"
She turned on her hip and although not in her wolf form, she still shook her head as though to remove the rest of the remnants off of her face, and followed up innocently, "also... is it gone?"
Metas didn't answer with words, but he leaned in and kissed her instead, which was a might fine affirmation for the wife who loved him so much.
"I think so," he said once he pulled his lips from hers, sporting a very cocky grin.
"Maybe check again?"
"Very thorough as always, my Luna" Metas obliged her wish and once again, graced his firth against hers, but this time he pulled her in towards his crouched position and ran his fingers through her hair.