& OPEN NSFW POST ( i. )

[aeneia]

NSFW OPEN POST ( I. )
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[komarran]

Perhaps not in the way you're used to. It makes it easier to wield for those unaccustomed to weaponry, meaning more have access to protection should they desire it. [ Not that many walk around carrying stunners, but they were the allowed nonlethal option to be carried.

He shrugs and holds out his hand to take the stunner back. ] I can show you a vid tomorrow that demonstrates what happens when it's used.

[mahalakshmi]

There is not much argument to be made against that, is there?

[ It's said in grim satisfaction, more protection for people so that they don't have to rely on people like her, or him. Were she younger, there might be a tip of objection to it. But time hadn't left her that naive anymore. ]

Tomorrow then. [ She gives it back to him, before she settles back to his chest, her eyes shutting and finally it seems, she yawns a little. Exhaustion catching up to her. ]

[komarran]

[ The stunner is deposited back into its drawer, still within easy reach. He'd have to get one for her side of the bed if she decided she wanted to use the weapon for self-defense. ]

I could show you how to use our firearms too if you prefer the heft of those.

[mahalakshmi]

[ she thinks about it for awhile, and if it came down to preference? ]

Whatever there is to learn, I wish to know it. Politics doesn't seem to have gotten kinder in a thousand years. I do not want to be left defenceless in the wake of that.

[komarran]

[ He nods, understanding. ]

I have smaller firearms issued to me that I could demonstrate the basics with. Anything else we would have to borrow at the firing range.

[mahalakshmi]

A ... firing range?

[ She scrunches her nose up, a little confused. ]

Is this to do with the... laws about the kind of weapons that can be carried? [ that she both appreciates but not when it's applied to her. ]

[komarran]

It does. It's a place one can practice or use firearms safely, [ he explains, fingertips idly stroking down her arm. ]

[mahalakshmi]

... Well, if that is where we must go, then that is where we must go.

[ Stupid security guards that don't let her carry her sword around. Ruined an otherwise nice afternoon in a museum. ]

[komarran]

It is. I assure you it makes for safer travel.

[ He squeezes her shoulder in what he hopes is reassuring. Laws were there for a damn good reason. ]

[mahalakshmi]

So you say. I have yet to feel so.

[ It's a mild grumble, as polite as she could be - because she couldn't lift a finger right now to true discontent settled right now. ]

I must be very strange to you, sometimes.

[komarran]

As strange as I must be to you. [ Which is to say yes, he does find her strange at times, but doesn't mind it. ]

I wish I could do more to have this world make sense to you.

[mahalakshmi]

I belong to a time that does not exist anymore. [ Her fingers smooth against him, looking to explain something that settles so odd at times. ] But it is no more or less than anyone else will go through in a lifetime. We are all born to world's that don't exist anymore.

[ Not her words, Sir Bor, when she had asked him how he managed such length, so many centuries. ] It is those that help us, that make those changes bearable. Believe me, Duv, you make such things very understandable, even when you are as prideful and stubborn as someone like myself.

[komarran]

Wise, but not as applicable universally as you may hope. [ Even in his lifetime the Nexus around him had changed greatly, but not nearly on the scale she had experienced. The sentiment however is understood and he's smiling softly. ]

Anything I can do to help, I will. All you need to do is ask.

[mahalakshmi]

[ She sighs, - he needs to stop saying that to her, it curls warmth so low in her limbs, she was going to get drunker than the champagne on it. Pressing that little more into him, stretching out over him. ]

You will make me dizzy, if you keep saying that.

[komarran]

So I should take care not to repeat it while you're standing? [ A light tease as she tucks her beneath his chin. It's a comfortable fit and it's surprising to him how quickly he could grow accustomed to this. ]

[mahalakshmi]

[ She muffles laughter into his skin, her shoulders bunching with it as she does. ] I could be like the English Ladies, go into a swoon when you do.

[komarran]

[ Her laughter never fails to make him smile. ] Please don't. I wouldn't trust my reflexes to save you from an unfortunate fall.

[mahalakshmi]

[ She starts laughing more, turning into giggles more than anything loud and sharp. ] I hope not. I do not think I could stand to be that kind of lady at all.

[komarran]

[ He presses his smile into the top of her head. ] I much prefer the kind you are now.

[mahalakshmi]

As long as we are agreed upon that, then, as I like you quite the way you are too.

[ That smile rattles all the way down her spine in a contentment. ] I suppose I should let you sleep if you have work tomorrow.

[komarran]

I do though I was given leave to come in later. [ Which he would not be mentioning if this development hadn't happened. He would have shown up to work bright and early if they weren't sharing a bed now. ]

Sleep well, [ he murmurs and kisses her hair before his hold on her loosens and he allows himself to drift off. ]

[mahalakshmi]

[ She doesn't sleep as immediately as that. Though she stays there, for a good long while, letting her breathing settle not to disturb him. It's enough - and if her battle-soaked mind can't let her believe it's real and there and hers at all, after all these years - it's something she can work up to. Counting each and every one of his breaths like it'll be gone too soon. Some dazed fever dream she had sunk into like a warm bath, so hard to drag herself out of it.

Stays, until she's sure he's asleep and deeply so before she lifts up that little to fish out the blackwater on it's chain from around her neck, hidden below the line of her nightgown, and gently uncapped it in a flick of her thumb. Puts it to her lips, and drinks the same sip of it that is enough that as ever, shudders through her body - her hand coming up to cup her mouth to keep herself quiet. But with nothing serious to heal aside from sore feet, it's not much more than a shuddering breath. Tomorrow, it will need to be refilled, but that's easily done away from his sight. To be worried about him seeing and asking just what it was she was drinking.

After it's drunk, she settles back to him, watching his face carefully for a minute as she braids her hair. Leaning up to kiss him softly the once and last when she's donee before she lets herself finally go to sleep beside him.

Doesn't stray from there, really, the rest of the night, the same way she held to her pillows, most nights, was the same way she holds to him. Her face into his shoulder pressed in close against his side, arm wrapped around him and sleeping deeply and well past dawn for the first time in months. ]

[komarran]

[ His sleep is never heavy. It hasn't been since he was a child, having to be ready to move at a moment's notice either in the presence of real danger or the whim of his father. Her movements aren't enough to wake him, though his brows furrow and he murmurs nonsense to himself in his sleep. None of what happened this evening felt real nor would it be until he woke up with her still in his arms.

It's later than normal when he awakes, bleary eyed and with limbs heavy from sleep. More restful than he normally has though the weight on top of him is surprising. It takes a second before he remembers what happened the evening before and smiles softly down at her.

Deciding work could wait a while longer, he gently cards his fingers through her hair as he waits for the sleep to shake off of him. ]

[mahalakshmi]

[ She doesn't open her eyes, not even a little when she feels his fingers brush into her hair. A half-moment, where she stills to be sure that it's not something worse in sleep fogged confusion, but when it's nothing but gentle and warm, she settles again. Not enough to wake her fully, but enough to have her half murmur something that might be good morning, that as she stretches up, is mouthed into her curve of his neck. So pleasantly heavily draped, all her limbs pulled her down and deep. ]

[komarran]

Good morning, [ he says far more audibly, but still calm and quiet. He has no desire to jolt her to wakefulness. That could come on it's own. It's not often he takes a lazy morning, but it's something they could both use. ]