escordvi | closed 🪶⚡ all the storms we have faced that tried to break our embrace...

[She chuckles, low and playful in her throat, the laugh transforming into a purr as she stretches out lazily to offer him a better view. There's something about that dark, possessive gleam in his eyes as they rake over her that does all sorts of wicked things to her, and she's preening, pleased with herself.]

I haven't. You make it hard to forget it, Cidolfus.

[Her fingers caress his cheek before she lets it drop, and so that she can turn them around, rolling him over onto his back again.]

Then you should just forget the phone... forget the work... It's not as if you need it right now.

[He lets her roll them over, his eyes still capturing her full self above him as his hand slides over her stomach, following that trail upwards.]

A tempting offer from an even more enchanting seductress.

[No really, it is hard. And as she likes to claim, it's not as if he works for anyone but himself. But he knows if he gives her an ilm she'll go the whole malm.]

But alas, this is one spell I have to break. [A swipe of his thumb over the dark peak of her breast.] For now.

[He doesn't need to give her an ilm at all. She'll go the whole malm all on her own, and she'll be quick about it too, moving so swiftly that she settles onto his lap, her legs and hips pinning his in place beneath her. Her fingers snap around his wrist to keep his hand where it is.]

And why do you have to?

[He half expected this, so he's not so surprised. Instead he'll just tease her further as he languidly grins.]

Call it practice?

[Her head falls back with a sigh at his continued teasing, her hips rocking ever so gently over his, but when she brings her gaze back, it's with a furrowed brow.]

Practice for what? I'd say you're specially practiced in the important things.

[Her words are punctuated with a sharper jolt of her hips, though she's only teasing, too.]

[There's a low grunt as he arches up into her, his restraint faltering. Damn this woman—]

And clearly not enough in trying to free myself.

[She smiles, her laughter as sweet and saccharine as that mischief that sparks in her eyes at his reaction.]

You are always the one asking me to stay, and suddenly you've changed your tune?

[She's making zero effort to set him free, so he'll have to work a little harder to convince her. Especially now that her hands have started to roam over the expanse of his stomach and up to his chest, nails raking lightly over his skin to tease him a little more. To lure him in and keep him.]

Well you don't have to leave...

[He does need to try harder. The problem is the will to do so is currently quite low AND.......it's not like this time is all that important. He's just getting suggestions and having idle conversations, so it's not like he's working...........]

All right, you have one point. I don't have to go anywhere now.

[His hands now move to her hips to pull her more over him.]

But if this is how it will be when I actually have schematics or research to do...

If this is how it will be...

[Now she looks at him a little more scornfully, and she fights his pull to him by sitting up again.]

... Then what?

[Oh here we go.

As she pulls back, he'll stare up at her, wondering how this will go.]

Then I'll have to make it so you're too tired to protest.

[...

....

Well. He's got her there, and who is she to protest that?

Even still.]

You say that as if having me around would be a hindrance.

No, course not. If anything this has been a very well welcomed reprieve, one I will happily take. Wouldn't mind having your company, either.

[He then leans up on one elbow, giving her a wry look.]

The question is, are you going to let me leave?

That depends.

[She glances away from him, that look he is giving her all too dangerous and she knows that.]

Do you want to leave?

Not really.

[Why would any sane man want to leave his ~~wife~~ love? But as he slowly runs his fingertips over her though, he just tilts his head just a little.]

You're still worried.

[Even seeing it out of the corner of her eye, she still hates what that tip of his head does, and how it reels her gaze right back in.]

Worried about what?

[She tries to force a confident smile, but it falters.]

I've got you right where I want you.

[Can't fool him anymore now.]

Ben-na.

[Said with a slow enunciation of each syllable as he leans up higher.]

Tell me what this is really about.

Edited 2024-02-09 07:03 (UTC)

[She tilts her head at him, but she remains steadfast, even as he leans up at her.]

Cid-ol-fus.

[But as soon as he's close, she falters again, the corners of her lips falling away from her grin.

Because that isn't what this is about. It hasn't been all this time. And while she was able to articulate some of her feelings, there were some that she couldn't give a voice to. Some that made her skin crawl just thinking of it. Gave her that horrible feeling that she is no longer wearing her own when she admits shit like that.]

I already have. ... You know how you get, and someone needs to remind you to put it all down.

[ ... ]

[He'll gently reach up and brush her hair, fingertips ghosting against her skin.]

I believe that... But you seem quite adamant about it.

[He's also not sure how to voice his current thoughts. He has no doubt that what happened last month is what triggered this, but something about it feels off. There's her being stubborn and adamant about it, and... This. This that seems there is more than just his well-being, proven by her current faltering expressions.]

Are you really that worried about me?

Of course I am.

[She says it defensively, offended that he would even doubt her.]

Why would I not be?

[Things are different now. So, so many things are different from what they used to be, and she isn't quite sure how to take it all in.]

That's not what I meant.

[He rolls his tongue over his teeth in thought, wondering how to best voice this.]

It just feels that there's something else.

[Well, there is something else. There are a lot of something else's, but like him, she struggles with how to voice them. How to voice her wants, her concerns...

How to voice the fact that she is still stuck somewhere in their bitter past.

...

Slowly, her expression droops, and she descends over him, lowering herself until her body is flush to his, her arms around his shoulders, and her face is buried against his neck so she can cling to him tight.]

I never liked when you buried yourself in your work...

[As she comes back towards him, he leans back so they can be both be comfortable, an arm around her shoulders as he gently strokes her back with the other.]

Define "buried." I haven't even begun and you're already like this.

[She's quiet, besides the small sound that she makes in his ear—a sound of discomfort as she shifts over him.

She hates the way he needles through her like this.]

You used to work late into the night... until your candles nearly burned out sometimes...

[Those nights where she lay in his bed waiting for him to finish. She had been patient then because she thought that they had all the time in the world, but... fate would have other things to say about that.

Especially in the later months, as she spent more and more time away, that distance between them only grew. She knows why now, but back then, she hadn't realized. Neither of them had, and perhaps seeing all of this now, seeing him so eager to get back to it sends her to that time. Resurfaces memories she'd rather leave buried. Reopens that scar again.

And that isn't even the worst of it, but she's working through her thoughts. Slowly.]

Edited 2024-02-09 17:46 (UTC)

Those were different times then...

[A small sigh as he strokes her hair, thinking back. But then again, he did the same even after he left. Stayed up reading reports, working out plans.]

What I do here is on a much smaller scale.

[She closes her eyes at his hand in her hair, her chest rising and falling with a steadying breath. Already, she's feeling so... unlike herself.]

And?

[Sure, those are different, but—]

What's going to stop you from doing the same?

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