countthecats | IC Inbox

countthecats

Leave a message, and try not to bore me.

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From:

knowmyplace

He holds out the note. "Why did I get this through your fucking warden?"

He isn't going to mince words.

From:

countthecats

"Because he's a meddling idiot who can't follow instructions." He thought that would be obvious.

From:

knowmyplace

He stands up. "We should talk out of the public view."

There's an empty cabin a little ways down and Iago heads for it, opening the door as he stares at the wooden walls. Pushing down his worries. His fears. The sighs of CK is...troublesome, but Iago cannot yet bring himself to comfort him.

From:

countthecats

"If you insist." He doesn't want to come off as too eager. Desperate for any positive attention. Devastated by this time they've spent apart. He trots along, slipping through the open door once Iago opens it. It seems he has no intention of changing shape - not for the moment, at least.

From:

knowmyplace

Iago sits in a chair, leaning back, after ensuring the door is locked. He doesn't mind CK's form; he's so used to it now.

"Why did you save these pretty words for when the damage had been done for so long?"

From:

countthecats

"Because it wouldn't change anything, obviously. You need this. As loathe as I am to admit it, my world has little to offer a man like you. And I will always be bound to it." He studies his paws, which have apparently become quite fascinating.

From:

knowmyplace

"I will not accept that. You let me hang there, think it would all end in flowers and roses, and then left me there. I gave you my pretty words and you walked out."

He sets his jaw. "You do not tell me what I need."

From:

countthecats

"I was never going to end in flowers and roses for me. I was always going to die centuries after you, whether you stayed or went. And whatever you might think of me? I'm not so selfish as to want to watch you rot instead of becoming the great man you were so obviously meant to be."

From:

knowmyplace

Iago is silent for a long moment, ruminating over this as he scratches his beard.

"What do you want?" he wonders. "Take out your desires to be humble and selfless. Take out your fear. What do you want?"

From:

countthecats

The Cat King paces in a circle, ears back, agitated and upset.

"I want..."

Putting his feelings, his real feelings, into words has never been easy.

"I want... to be the Cat King my Court deserves. My Goddess deserves. And I want... to feel anything but fear and loneliness and misery. And I want... to be yours. And you to be mine. And I cannot be all of those things."

From:

knowmyplace

Those words hit him like a blade in his heart. His lungs hurt. His whole body hurts. He feels like he's drowning as the water roars in his ears.

He gives nothing away outwardly, but he does move from the chair to the floor and sits, legs crossed. One hand reaches out for CK.

"You were always mine and I was always yours. And I am - sorry. About Sokie. I didn't realize how deep I was until I could not claw my way out. But I would choose you over her. If you would allow me to make my own fucking choices."

From:

countthecats

The Cat King hesitates, then he surges forward. Ignoring the hand completely to launch himself into Iago's lap, curling into a small, trembling ball.

"I have nothing to offer you but myself."

From:

knowmyplace

"You stupid fool," he mutters, pulling him up against his chest. "I have no qualms with that. I never did. I may have my fun here. I may allow myself to feel for others, but I want to find a way for you to happily come with me. Only you."

From:

countthecats

"And if I cannot? If I never graduate, if I can never find a way to be both a Cat King and yours?" He presses himself close to Iago, breathing him in. Still shaking.

From:

knowmyplace

"That isn't a possibility we need to think of now," he points out, fingers in his fur. "Right now, I want you back home. You and the court. There is no point in giving up before we have even started the fight."

From:

countthecats

"It'd be a far easier fight without me. Alone you could do anything, be anything."

From:

knowmyplace

He snorts. "I intend on doing that anyway. Once I have spent time in my new position, I have my eye on my warden's job. And the only way to secure it is to ensure he can no longer claim it," he laughs and stands up, balancing CK in his arms as he has for months.

From:

countthecats

Well. The Cat King isn't convinced that Iago's plans will all work. That he'll ever be able to leave his home in a capacity that leaves him still... himself.

But he can pretend again. Make the emptiness of his life feel a little more distant for a while.

"I love you."

From:

knowmyplace

He pauses by the door, one hand on the handle.

Maybe it won't work. Maybe it can't.

But he isn't taking that as a definite answer. Not after those words.

"And I love you," he admits, voice trembling just a little. Then the walls come down and he's back out in the corridor, back out in public because only CK is privy to his true feelings right now.

"You need a moment of rest and I need to study. I think I may be able to focus better now."

From:

countthecats

"I believe you this time. I'm sorry I didn't before." He wants to believe, anyway. Maybe real belief will come later. Maybe he'll be someone worthy of love, by then.

"And I promise to rest only if I can stay in your lap."

From:

knowmyplace

"I have been without you for weeks, tesoro. I will insist."

He doesn't know if he can forgive him everything just yet. Iago has never been good with forgiveness. But he wants to try, at least.

"My warden has given me piles of work, new assignments, as punishment for - well, being selfish. So I spend much of my time studying. It would be good to have company now."

From:

countthecats

"Well... good." If it were anyone else, he might rankle at the insisting. But it's not anyone else. It's Iago. And... he likes demands from Iago more than he ever thought possible.

"Rest, then. But I get to insist when it's time for dinner."