i ain't fake cuz my money aint

[pyrafect]

[ When Mythra had told him that she wanted him to be their servant, both she and Pyra hand't expected him to go so above and beyond what they imagined.

He leads her to a slightly secluded but safe place within the forest, an area that has the sweet and sensual mix of candlewax burning and natural lilacs blooming, all bathed in the sultry waning light of the afternoon... He must have thought this through, he must have planned for something like this, planned to impress her and make her experience as his "master", so to speak, as good as it should be.

(Mythra might be still disgruntled that he doesn't feel too bad about his punishment of serving them, but right now she's just as silent.)

She takes a few steps into the clearing, spotting the plush mat and pillows that lies in the center, the few sheets there as well. A massage, she had asked for. One with hot stones and bamboo. She doubts he knows how to use either or that he's found any, but that he's put together this much is...

Actually just a little flattering, flattering enough to cause her cheeks to color little more, a dryness occurring in her mouth. Her body aches already, just anticipating that the energy within will be soothed with a massage soon. (He'd do this for any woman, she has to remind herself.) She swallows, composing herself before turning to him with a smile. ] Oh, Tristan. It's lovely.

[ She turns once more from him, walking towards the mat as her hands link behind her back. ] You really are an astounding knight.

Comments

[pyrafect]

[ She feels the energy within her flutter like butterflies in summer when he smiles like that at her. He seems so-- joyous, relieved and happy, in the afterglow of their coupling, as if this is how he is truly meant to be: to be with someone, in their arms.

...It doesn't need to be her, she realizes. He simply deserves something like this, something that can bring him this relief, pleasure, and that smile.

This is something she can see doing again, if only for him.

She closes her eyes, letting those thoughts fall from her mind as she smiles. ] I... I'm glad. I wasn't... expecting that, either. If, If I knew-- [ Her cheeks flush further.

Actually, how would she stop the affinity link from forming, if this were to happen again? Ah, well. ] This was my first time, having something like this.

[noholdsbard]

It was mine as well.

[ He leans down to press their foreheads together, feeling a surge of contentment in the simple act of staying together with her like this. Yet he also feels hollow—spent and empty, one would say, in the Buddhist way. Like he’d let go of something more than just his inhibitions.

He sighs. Ultimately, this is not something he cares to think too deeply upon. The day is still young and he still has his very important services to perform as her servant, after all, though he doubts that either of them will have the energy for another massage for a while. ]

But no matter. There will be other times.

[ And that’s a promise. ]

[pyrafect]

[ She settles into his embrace, breathing in as his forehead presses to hers. Idly, her hands move up and down his bare back, fingertips still warm. During their coupling, everything had happened so fast that she didn't get to truly feel him like this. Now that it is over, she feels as if she's finally indulging in the way that she can appreciate.

....He's a good lover, one with experience, she supposes. He had clearly intended to do more during, but it wasn't meant to be. Although at the mention of "other times"-- ] I... wouldn't mind that. [ She whispers quietly to him; she's still unused to voicing what her needs and wants her. It had literally taken his hands upon her for a goddamn massage, that connection to be formed that gave them away to him, for her to actually tell him what she had wanted.

....But perhaps this is also not the healthiest thing in the world, either. This-- it's most certainly just a means to fill how empty and lonely she feels. A fleeting, temporary distraction. A dream. But isn't it good enough? ] Ah, and if you are wondering... I cannot carry children. [ JUST. HOPING TO PUT HIS MIND AT EASE, if he's actually worried about that since they didn't use protection. Yah yah she knows he's a dead? heroic spirit but uh, just in case, she wanted to clarify it! ]

[noholdsbard]

[ He can’t help a little laugh at that. Of all the things to bring up at a time like this…! ]

I only want you, Pyra.

[ And Mythra, of course, but really, there’s a reason why he’s closer to one and not the other, though he would not miss the opportunity to embrace both. Anyway who knows if Heroic Spirits can get anyone pregnant the usual way Shut up Merlin ]

[pyrafect]

[ Hey hey! This is probably something they should have considered beforehand as two adults! But it seem that she’s prone to being swept away by passions and wants just as everyone else. ....Actually she wonders if she should be offended that he seems so amused that she’s brought it up at all. Take responsibility! ]

I’m... [ She blushes further. ] I’m being serious, you know.

[ Which... sort of implies that she doesn’t believe him entirely. ]

[noholdsbard]

[ He’s trying, okay!! He can’t help it if he hasn’t had to do the human thing like worry about siring more bastards!!! ]

I know. And I am telling you that you need not worry.

[ Not just for the pregnancy stuff, but…everything. But he knows that that alone won’t make him feel any better. ]

But whatever happens, you will not go through it alone.

[pyrafect]

[ She seems to settle down with that, relaxing beneath him.

But also. Where do they go from here? What even are they, together? Or is this just a one-off encounter, a tryst set within a demichrome fairy tale world, surrounded by the scent of lavender? Can she even look at him again without thinking how he has kissed her...?

Can she have this again, can she pretend that someone feels so attentive to her, affectionate, loving, without feeling guilt and sorrow for having it at all?

She should talk, instead... She takes a breath, and lets her troubles rise like the smoke of the candles around them.

I only want you, he said.

Her hands settle between his shoulder blades, pulling him down into an embrace. ] ...You have me.

For as long as we’re here [ For as long as they’re both still in Chroma. ] for as long as you want me [ Because she’ll— she’ll be okay, if he doesn’t anymore. ] I’ll be.... We’ll be yours. [ Is he starting to realize that he’s essentially going to have a mini harem... ]

[noholdsbard]

[ He’d felt her want and need clearly enough through that affinity link. It will take some time to process, sure, but that’s what this world’s given them—time aplenty, and away from the troubles that plague their own lands and histories.

Even if there’s still Mythra to worry about. He flushes a little when she refers to herself in the plural, realizing that Mythra had felt that after all. And that conversations with her are likely going to be awkward. Had Mythra even consented to this? They aren’t exactly of one mind, and yet…

He feels tired. Boneless in her embrace, though he winds his arms around her still, pulling her close but taking care not to crush her underneath his weight. Even if he feels weightless himself, still buoyed by the intense heat of their earlier coupling. ]

I would not have it any other way, Pyra…Mythra. After all this…I cannot say that I can merely call myself your servant anymore.

[pyrafect]

[ Not her servant... but something else. Something— more, maybe? Something nebulously defined, that they might be able to unite again? She’s almost afraid to ask. But she likes the idea of that, and her smile seems to betray a little hope. Try as she might to tell herself that she doesn’t deserve or shouldn’t have something like this, it seems she can’t hide what’s in her heart after all they’ve shared together. ]

You’ve... always felt much more than that to me. Even to Mythra, before you met her. [ ...Perhaps in part, because, they both had someone they had fallen for and lost. And as the flames of passion cool further, yet again she wonders if this is all just a temporary balm upon the scars of their hearts.

How long have they been lying like this, with his chest upon hers, with her legs still on either side of him, with everything so sticky and slick between them? She almost wishes they could have done this in either of their homes, where it would be safe to fall asleep next to him without concern for forest-beasts to attack them. ]

And I... I think that.... [ She feels she must warn him at least, that she feels her (metaphorical) heart aching for him. ] You could become so much more to us.

[ Yeaaaaah Mythra is going to be very embarrassed the next time they meet. “Hi, so, you don’t know it, but it felt like you were fucking me even when you weren’t here.” It just seems so awkward to say!! (If she will admit it at all.) ]

[noholdsbard]

[ Mythra will have her little surprise in due time. Right now, this confession is a little…it certainly makes him ache, but within his breast rather than between his legs.

If he’d still been human, perhaps… ]

That is a dangerous way to think.

[ The responsible part of him argues that he should let her go then, if he must make such a point.

He doesn’t. He hasn’t told her the full story of what it means to be a Servant, but the fact that his existence is impermanent is…definitely something he needs to emphasize one of these days. Even if it breaks her—their—hearts. ]

But…whatever we are, in this moment, I am only content to call us “together.”

[pyrafect]

[ That is a dangerous way to think.

Of course it is, she knows it is. It hurts so much already. But at least with him, she'll know that he'll never fully love her. She knows what to expect, when tangled with him. Isn't that good enough? Isn't there a term for this, friends with benefits? Besides, they're from two different worlds, they don't have time... So she should just enjoy this as it lasts.

Pyra decides to... wiggle a bit underneath him, bringing back her hand to his shoulder to gently give him a nudge, as if she could signal for him to roll off of her. ] Mm, I understand.

I wish that... your life could have a little less of danger, though. [ In anything physical or heart-related or otherwise. ]

[noholdsbard]

[ He takes that cue to pull away from her at last, sitting up among the cushions as he looks out toward the forest around them.

The act of copulating is such an intimate affair…after the incredible heights they’ve reached earlier, only now is he beginning to feel that things are finally settling down, that the rest of the world has finally breached their little bubble of privacy. Sunlight continues to dapple the forest floor as the leaves shiver to a slight breeze and the sound of some unseen bird coos at them, perhaps disparagingly, perhaps not. The wind feels abnormally cool on his skin now, and he wonders if it’s the same for her—and the same for Mythra, in her paradise of the mind. ]

Love is not without its dangers, Pyra.

[ He would know, and he’ll even raise a hand to press it against his scar to make that point. ]

But that is a risk I would gladly take every time.

[pyrafect]

[ Could love ever be without its dangers? Could he have had his love all those years ago, without the tragedy?

She wishes that were the case for him, as her gaze follows his hand to his scar. His smile-- as it is now, is beautiful, but it must have been even more enchanting to behold when he would have smiled for Iseult. This man deserves to find a love like that again. She wishes that scar could only be a scar, and not a barrier that prevents him from finding it once more in all of its joy and glory.

Pyra sits up as well, still nude, still unaffected by the cool wind around her, her legs tucked beneath her. She still radiates heat, and her crystal still shines... and silently she draws nearer to him, one hand going to his thigh to support herself as she leans forward. She pauses only a moment to remove his hand from his chest. And then-- and then she dips her head, swiftly, to kiss him upon that scar, tender and slow.

She pulls away after a second or so, looking up at him. ] I promise you to make what we have together... as wonderful as possible for you.

[noholdsbard]

[ The gesture catches him off-guard, and before he can protest she pulls away, leaving only the lingering feeling of warmth deep within his breast.

It is not at all unpleasant, at least.

His gaze softens to her then, as he leans in to press a kiss—not upon her crystal, but upon her forehead since it’s the closest he can reach. ]

Really, you…

[ Always jumping the gun, this one. Always the first to do some heart-shattering thing, always the one with the ready smile, the kind heart…any other man would have fallen for her already, but even she cannot breach the barrier of his heart so easily.

He twines his fingers in hers, still slippery with lavender oil. Holds her tightly regardless. ]

Be it within the blink of an eye or the span of eternity, I will make certain that you do not regret it.

[pyrafect]

[ Her fingers linger upon his thigh as he pulls her to him, fingers curling inward as his lips press upon her forehead. That feels less like the intense passion involved in a summer tryst within the forest, surrounded my the haze of smoke and candles and the scent of lavender and lovemaking, and much more personal.

She had not meant the kiss upon his scar as a way to dispel its curse, but instead to respect what it means to him, and that-- she hopes-- she can somehow alleviate a part of its pain he carries within him to his day.

At the very least, this offers some sort of distraction to him.

...But that's a little too sentimental to say. So lightly, she responds: ]

The only thing I will regret, Tristan, ....it not having known your company sooner.