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+---- Thread: it's just a bloodstain (/showthread.php?tid=9866)
RE: it's just a bloodstain - Flora - 08-02-2024
The beginning flushes of her orgasm appear not between her thighs or against the balls of her feet, but around her throat. Like pudgy fingers that she has to breathe around, Flora finds her breath catching as her hips momentarily stutter, torn between following the rhythm she'd established and pressing herself further against the captain's fingers. Arching until her lower back threatened to cramp, the queen focused the entirety of her thoughts on where her fingers were threaded tightly through Jack's, where beads of sweat had appeared on her neck from the heat of him, and where, in her chest, the tension was slowing beginning to ease.
Cracking open one of her eyes, it takes Flora a moment to realize what Jack is referring to, but once she does, the phantom sensations loosen around her throat as she gives her head a small shake. [say]"No,"[/say] she whispers, sounding almost panicked at the idea. [say]"..I...I don't think I can."[/say] Not with her red-rimmed eyes, her sniffles, the tears that were sure to come.
RE: it's just a bloodstain - Jack - 08-02-2024
It isn't often that the captain needs to berate himself for a misstep especially in moments like this, but there's a first time for everything, and as the heat he can feel flooding the Doubletake's thoughts threatens to gutter out, he clutches her all the closer and noses his way back in against her neck. [say]"Alright,[/say] he concedes in a rough whisper. [say]"However you think you look, though, you're everything I want."[/say] Whether or not it's a lie is irrelevant, because when it comes to the amber whorls of fire and pulses of slow, building pleasure that sets his magic alight, it's true enough for Jack.
And so he continues to allow Flora to set the pace, to meet each buck of her hips with his own, to punctuate each thrust with the pressure of his fingers in a rhythm that's almost sensual between her legs. Following the Doubletake's lead, Jack will remain silent, wisely perhaps, though the sweat beading down his back and against all the places they are pressed together, along with the roughness of his breathing is proof that even the infamous captain is not immune to base pleasure.
RE: it's just a bloodstain - Flora - 08-02-2024
Thank the gods she'd taken off her ring.
Not able to fake it with Jack as she might have done at this point with Tall Man, there's nothing for Flora to do but try and hone her thoughts on the things that felt good (his rough cheek against her face, his clever fingers between her thighs) and block out all others that didn't (words she didn't believe, the way she still felt wildly alone). Determined to try, the queen took a deep breath as if to fan the coals still pulsing with heat in her belly as her fingertips scratched their way through his dark hair again.
But then Jack was moving against her—and even if she'd only told him to stay still for a minute and now he considered that minute up—gods but it was a flashback to earlier that evening she couldn't ignore. Flinching sharply away from him, her fingers and body uncoiling from around his, Jack would feel the Doubletake's panic as a bite-shaped rings of fire that obliterated her every thought.
Clutching at the sheets to pull herself away and across the bed where squares of moonlight glowed on the untouched sheets, Flora sits up, drawing her knees against her chest as she'd done in the fountain before properly beginning to cry.
RE: it's just a bloodstain - Jack - 08-02-2024
Just about able to lose himself in Flora, both mentally and physically, Jack is utterly unprepared for what's about to come. (And it isn't either of them). As the blaze of pleasure is torn away by sudden flashes of something all too similar to trauma, Jack stutters in a breath and releases Flora immediately. Given how intricately his magic has twined itself through her psyche, her panic slices and cuts into his mind sharper than any razor. [say]"Fuck, what--"[/say] Blinking hard and rolling to sit up, her panic hits like a heavy strike against his chest, caving it in with darkness and sorrow.
Jack doesn't begin to properly cry, but the feelings that roar out of the Doubletake have something dark and cold sloshing against the back of his mind, scraping through his throat and stealing the silver from his tongue for a second or two. [say]"Gods, I'm sorry--"[/say] Has Jack ever apologised to her before, and unprompted as well? [say]"I didn't know."[/say]
Likely surprising them both, he shifts across the bed enough to draw a blanket around her shoulders, lifting an arm in an offer for her to sit against him if she wants to.
RE: it's just a bloodstain - Flora - 08-02-2024
Flora's cries turn into sobs, which, as she tries to bite them back, turn into a wracking sort of convulsion that has her shoulders rounding forward as she chokes out a breath. Hugging her shins tightly which forces her breathing to be even more shallow, the queen glances sharply over her shoulder at the captain as if surprised to see him. Her eyes are wide and far away, too focused on the images in her mind. She'd asked him to stay put (him? Asta? or Jack?) and when he'd moved, gods there had already been blood, but then there had been pain, real pain, and—get off of me, Flora—then everything had gone cold.
[say]"No it's fine—"[/say] Flora says far too brightly to be anything but bordering on hysterical. [say]"It's fine,"[/say] I'm fine. Everything's fine.
Okay, so maybe Flora isn't fine with how things had gone.
Trembling, the queen tries to catch her breath, but the waves of cold guilt and panic have her fighting for air. [say]"I'm sorry—"[/say] She whispers, her cheeks shiny in the silvery light as she stares at the open space at his side before shakily letting herself fill it.
RE: it's just a bloodstain - Jack - 08-02-2024
Doing his best not to be that gif of Chris Hemsworth is it tho? immediately disagree with Flora's (albeit hysterical) insistence, it's only as the apology breaks through her lips and she tucks herself against his side that he lets himself even consider a response. Sitting up enough now to shift back and lean against her headboard, Jack's arm folds around her, and he'll draw her into his lap providing she doesn't object to it.
[say]"Don't be,"[/say] he rumbles. Sorry, he means. Not to him, anyway. [say]"He hurt you, didn't he?"[/say] He doesn't care if Asta meant it, doesn't care about the complicated threads of guilt and desire and need to be enough that tangle around each other in Flora's thoughts. He doesn't even care from a perspective of revenge - not yet anyway, Asta. Jack just needs to know.
[say]"I'll just sit, if you don't want to talk,"[/say] he adds. Not that it matters with the whole mind reader thing, but equally, Jack doesn't have to respond.
RE: it's just a bloodstain - Flora - 08-02-2024
It's everything Asta had done post-bite as well—the apology, drawing her into his lap, speaking in a soothing voice—only Flora is still too shaken by the initial trigger to draw too many parallels, and so rather than flinching away from the captain again, she moves without resistance.
At first the queen is limp in Jack's arms, boneless—lifeless—before she's shivering despite the warmth of him and the blanket he's drawn around her. [say]"It was my fault."[/say] Flora says again, just as she had when he'd asked before; but yes, he had. [say]"I thought...he didn't say it would be like that, and—"[/say] Blood is what finishes it, darling. It was her fault for not asking how much. Her fault for thinking she could control a situation she didn't even fully understand. Her fault for asking him to obey and then being surprised when he didn't.
Glancing down at herself, expecting to see blood covering her breasts and bubbling between her thighs, Flora stifles a small sound as she buries her face against Jack's chest.
[say]"And the way he looked at me after...like..."[/say] Like she was some trick that he'd fallen for, and in better lighting he'd realized the error of his ways, not unlike eating a cheap bit of chocolate that at the time looks good, but later leaves you feeling disappointed for wasting the calories on it because it hadn't even been that tasty.
[say]"Fuck."[/say] The word rasps from her lips as she shakes her head against the captain's warm skin.
RE: it's just a bloodstain - Jack - 08-02-2024
He hadn't asked whose fault it had been, and the confirmation, whether internal or spoken aloud, is enough for Jack to finally build up a solid picture of what had happened. His blue eyes are dark as his arms move around the Doubletake, drawing her tightly against his chest and feeling utterly useless in this; a foreign feeling, and he can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times it's burned in his throat.
[say]"I don't think it was your fault,"[/say] he says tentatively, even after - or especially after- the full explanation, where the captain can see the crimson streaming across her skin in his mind's eye, can visualise the torn flesh, the honey dark eyes and the bleak disappointment in them. [say]"You're not responsible for someone not bein' able to control themselves. You didn't consent to what happened to you."[/say]
Much as it might surprise anyone who knows the captain and the truly heinous things he's done in his life, Jack finds little joy in forced pleasure, for all the reasons Flora now understands better than anyone else. Fuck, though, is about right, and he lifts a hand to gently push her curls back from her face. [say]"I won't kill him,"[/say] he adds, in case her thoughts ricochet that way, but he does suddenly very much resent the shirt he'd helped her hang up in her closet.
RE: it's just a bloodstain - Flora - 08-02-2024
[say]"I told him I could handle it."[/say] Flora says lamely; in a way, she had, though. Asta had made her promise to say something if it got too much, and while she certainly hadn't managed to say something, she had managed to stop him before things got worse. [say]"I don't like pain."[/say] She whispers guiltily against his chest, fitting her cheek over his heart and letting the drumbeat of it shake some of the strength out of her too-tense muscles.
Lifting her chin slightly, Flora presses her lips softly against the palm of his hand as his fingers comb through her curls. [say]"I'd never want you to."[/say] She says simply, not thinking she needed to reiterate any more firmly what the captain would already have seen in her mind. For all of her panic and hurt and dejection, she wasn't angry at Asta. Sure, in a petulant and childish way she might have been upset at him for not trusting her, for not listening, for not letting her try again and for looking at her with such disconsolate eyes, but she wasn't angry. Certainly, she didn't want any harm to come to him because of what had happened.
[say]"I'm sorry for all of..this."[/say] The yelling. The storming off. The broken-off sex. The crying in his arms. [say]"I guess that guy really wasn't what I wanted, huh?"[/say] She says with a sniffle, nudging him ever so gently with her shoulder.
RE: it's just a bloodstain - Jack - 08-02-2024
[say]"You thought you could."[/say] Jack shrugs a shoulder. [say]"It's easy to know how to handle somethin' when you're not in the middle of it."[/say] Like being choked to death by a void vine and deciding to tell the Queen of Torchline that you're a mindreader. Or, you know, any other number of arguably foolish things the captain has done in his life.
As for the pain, Jack leans in a little closer to Flora as if he's about to impart a great secret to her. [say]"Neither do I,"[/say] he whispers, though there's not an ounce of guilt in his tone. Granted, she'd already know as much about him, and whilst there's flexibility within those thresholds given the nature of Jack's magic, on the whole it's a no from him thanks.
It's true that he doesn't need the reiteration about Asta, and though he can appreciate that the Doubletake harbours no ill will towards him, Jack is not about to let it go entirely. [say]"If I run into him in Torchline I will fire a cannon at his head, though,"[/say] he tells her, and maybe the exaggeration will make it funnier when he actually goes ahead and does it.
Not expecting, after all of this, for Flora to come back with succinct wit about the situation, Jack scoffs out a quiet laugh before he can help himself. [say]"You'd have eaten him alive,"[/say] he agrees.
RE: it's just a bloodstain - Flora - 08-02-2024
Maybe it was just because of the prickly exterior Jack portrayed so much of the time, but it was actually a bit surprising to hear that the captain was averse to pain. Maybe it was because being an asshole and being a masochist normally went hand in hand (looking at you, Remi), but something about knowing that, on its own, it wasn't one of the captain's kinks, had Flora smiling to herself against his chest.
[say]"No you won't."[/say] The queen says softly, and while she appreciates the sentiment, she sits up enough to raise a brow and fix the captain with an admittedly very weepy, but stern stare. Rather than punctuating her words with thoughts of I'm ur queen and u have to listen Jack, instead Flora merely noses softly at the bottom of his jaw before tugging the blanket more fully around them both.
Laughing under her breath, Flora relaxes more and more in the captain's arms until she's no longer trembling and her breathing has been steadied by the beat of his heart. [say]"Will you still stay?"[/say] She doesn't look up at him, but only because she's suddenly exhausted and her place in his arms feels far too comfortable to shift out of just yet. [say]"I'd like it if you did."[/say] Even if I yelled, then cried, then we had weird sex, and then I cried some more.
RE: it's just a bloodstain - Jack - 08-03-2024
Meeting Flora's stern stare with one of his own, Jack backs down at least (for now) as she tells him again that he won't be turning the Ancient into bits of bloody shrapnel. There's a time and a place for so anyway, fuck that guy though? and evidently it isn't here and now. Sighing and relaxing further back against the headboard, Jack shifts enough for Flora to fuss with the blankets and get comfortable herself, and he only realises that she's stepped back from the brink of panic when the tempest of her thoughts has settled into calmer waters.
[say]"I'll still stay,"[/say] he says, letting his own eyes slip shut. [say]"I might be an asshole, but can you imagine if I just upped and left after this?"[/say] Scoffing, he shakes his head - that would be the cherry on the top of a night that he's really not been able to predict from one minute to the next. [say]"Get some sleep. I'll be around when you wake up."[/say]
RE: it's just a bloodstain - Flora - 08-03-2024
[say]"There was a time when you would have."[/say] Flora sighs softly, though if anything the distance between that Jack and the one she was tangled up against only had her melting against him all the more.
The queen falls asleep almost instantly; it had been a long day and her eyes were just as exhausted from all the tears as her body had been from all the tension. Depending on how long the captain stayed awake or what the precise limits of his magic was, he might be treated to the kaleidoscopic array of Flora's dreams wherein too-bright tableaus sparkled fictitiously.
—A young man with copper skin and copper eyes glancing at the sleeping silhouette of Flora in this exact room, before slipping out of her window.
—A white wedding dress, Flora's laughter, the Ark cluttered with people and merriment. Vows exchanged, I love you now and forever, and a searing flash of heat on her finger.
—A pair of bright green eyes being tugged back through a shining golden gateway, leaving Flora alone in a cabin filled with tea leaves and sunlight.
Too hot from the combination of Jack's body heat and the morning's warmth slipping in through the windowpanes, the queen kicks off the blankets so that her bare skin might find some reprieve.
RE: it's just a bloodstain - Jack - 08-03-2024
There really was, and Jack is left frowning at the realisation as Flora relaxes in his arms with the dead weight of the sleeping, finally leaving the captain alone with his own thoughts. (As well as the Doubletake's, of course, but the swaying melody of her dreams is a blessed relief after the thorns of her waking mind). He doesn't know when he succumbs to sleep as well, only that his own slumber is dreamless, as it usually is, and when he awakens once more it's to the mild surprise of these same four walls painted in shades of morning sunlight.
Having shifted to lay down at some point in the night, as Flora kicks the blankets away Jack does nothing to stop her, though a cool breeze does rise up within the room to circle the bed and dance across their bare skin. With eyes already trying to grow heavy a second time and only (he imagines, anyway) landmines of complex thought to navigate once Flora is properly conscious again, it's of little surprise that Jack is tempted to heed the call of sleep again.