[ The instant your hand touches the lantern, the small flame blooms into a something huge and bright like an unfolding star, light flooding the Haven as well as your mind.
In that moment, the world disappears into that flash of light and it feels like fresh air and the crunch of snow, light glittering thorough bare branches as you pick your way up a mountain path in a world that feels like you own, for you are the only two people in it, and it's more beautiful than you could have ever imagined — your fingers tangle with theirs and your smile is so big it threatens to split your face in two, and your joy is so absolute it threatens to light you on fire from within, such is the power and energy and heat you somehow manage to contain;
it feels like a cramped and dingy apartment bright with too many lamps and overflowing with the smell of old paperbacks with tattered covers, you flop onto a squeaky bed with a pleasant drowsiness in your eyes, drape an arm across their waist and press your face into their side, and the rest of the world melts away because everything you need and care about in life is here, and the safety you feel is absolute;
it feels like hot water across your bare shoulders, the sting of that new weight in your ear that hurts but you embrace it with both hands and your whole heart, as you do as well for the person in front of you, and the water disguises the tears of joy that streak your face;
it feels like the smell of leaves on a hot summer day, the droning of cicadas and the feel of starched fabric, your face is hot not from the sun but from the force of overwhelming emotion as you slip a ring on that small finger that's crisscrossed with tiny silvery scars, as you bind your heart to theirs, you have never been so certain of anything in your life, that this is the light you want to bask in for the rest of your days, and you're so happy you could weep;
it feels like smoke and dust in a strip mall office firm, coffee and fresh-baked bread, glossy fanart prints and the weight of a fine golden chain around your neck, like dancing under a yawning, star-dappled sky and picnics and improbable fields of flowers, like the depth and conviction of an ocean, like devotion as hot and steadfast as the sun, like the press of a small shoulder leaning against yours, and the smell of their hair, and kisses that could burn you straight to the ground and you'd thank them for it with every breath you take for the rest of your life;
it feels like love.
It feels like all your love, now until forever.
Your eyes adjust to the light and the Haven resolves back into place, right where you left it. The newly brightened lantern illuminates an even greater radius than before.]
Re: Haven
In that moment, the world disappears into that flash of light and it feels like fresh air and the crunch of snow, light glittering thorough bare branches as you pick your way up a mountain path in a world that feels like you own, for you are the only two people in it, and it's more beautiful than you could have ever imagined — your fingers tangle with theirs and your smile is so big it threatens to split your face in two, and your joy is so absolute it threatens to light you on fire from within, such is the power and energy and heat you somehow manage to contain;
it feels like a cramped and dingy apartment bright with too many lamps and overflowing with the smell of old paperbacks with tattered covers, you flop onto a squeaky bed with a pleasant drowsiness in your eyes, drape an arm across their waist and press your face into their side, and the rest of the world melts away because everything you need and care about in life is here, and the safety you feel is absolute;
it feels like hot water across your bare shoulders, the sting of that new weight in your ear that hurts but you embrace it with both hands and your whole heart, as you do as well for the person in front of you, and the water disguises the tears of joy that streak your face;
it feels like the smell of leaves on a hot summer day, the droning of cicadas and the feel of starched fabric, your face is hot not from the sun but from the force of overwhelming emotion as you slip a ring on that small finger that's crisscrossed with tiny silvery scars, as you bind your heart to theirs, you have never been so certain of anything in your life, that this is the light you want to bask in for the rest of your days, and you're so happy you could weep;
it feels like smoke and dust in a strip mall office firm, coffee and fresh-baked bread, glossy fanart prints and the weight of a fine golden chain around your neck, like dancing under a yawning, star-dappled sky and picnics and improbable fields of flowers, like the depth and conviction of an ocean, like devotion as hot and steadfast as the sun, like the press of a small shoulder leaning against yours, and the smell of their hair, and kisses that could burn you straight to the ground and you'd thank them for it with every breath you take for the rest of your life;
it feels like love.
It feels like all your love, now until forever.
Your eyes adjust to the light and the Haven resolves back into place, right where you left it. The newly brightened lantern illuminates an even greater radius than before.]