Dynamite with a laser beam

"I feel a bit bad for your next few partners," he murmured, amused. "I don't think they could possibly measure up, from what it sounds like." Not that Edy wasn't clearly capable of finding - and making - her own fun! Probably for the best that she did for a little while, at least, so whoever she enjoyed an interlude with next wouldn't let her down quite so far in comparison to a god of sex and fertility.

He arched the usual brow at hearing that she had wanted to speak to him, but simply waited quietly while she got her thoughts in order. He noted how she reached for Bobi, an uncharacteristically nervous gesture from the confident young mage, and braced himself to hear that she had to throw him in prison after all. The information she dropped a few moments later was met with a simple nod, though inwardly his mind was racing at the implications of Zariah teaming up with the Voice. Hell. That was something Ronin and Amalia needed to know, so history - what they knew of it, at least - didn't go about repeating itself.

"Here you are," he agreed, a bit bemused, but silenced further comment as she found the words he suspected she had been searching for in Bobi's fur. He politely refrained from agreeing with her statement on the lack of diplomacy, but he tilted his head in wry acknowledgment that she wasn't wrong, even if he wouldn't come straight out and say that she was right. She was impulsively honest, but her temper ran hot and fast, and what made her a good friend would not necessarily translate into being a good leader. Especially if she needed to deal with Delah or Arduinna...

The question caught him by surprise, but he found himself grinning at the familiar wink. In spite of her state of undress and all the goods that were on display, both new and old young, he leaned forward a bit in his chair, blue eyes fixed on her face and the wicked mischief usually there. "I have," he agreed, a wry smirk on his lips. "But you probably guessed that. What do you have in mind, oh red-hot regent of the barrierlands?"

Edy fuck you <3 "Mmm. I don't." She cackled happily, though it was his ascent that he had in fact played chess before that made her clap her hands together. "Come here, indulge me for a second." Edy purred, reaching out for Jigano if he'd let her, and if not, merely indicating that he ought to stand with his back towards the bed. "Alright then clever man. Here goes nothing." She began, moving to place her hands on either side of his shoulders. Though her grip was strong as always, there was something decidedly un-Edy about the whole thing. Probably because her fingers weren't trying to creep their way down the front of his shirt or otherwise make the physical contact more indulgent (if in fact, he had stood for it). "I dunno if you can understand it, and I know it isn't the way things normally go, but Z can't come back and find out that I've failed." Edy said in low and unguarded tone. "So I need your help."

He stood, curious, but didn't approach the bed, and if she approached him he would take an instinctive step back towards the window, raising a placating hand. "In words, dear Edy, I'm more than happy to indulge. I'm just not much one for touching without good reason," he reminded her, his wry smile still remaining though a questioning look had come into his eyes. "Especially when you are as, ah, distractingly unclothed as you are at the moment," he added, diplomatically not pointing out that her hands had recently been places that were a bit more intimate than he wanted to contemplate with anyone other than Rory, and even if they weren't still sticky, there was a part of him that very much didn't want them on him until she had a good wash.

For once, he knew exactly where those hands had been, and he was going to keep a healthy distance until he knew otherwise.

"So you need advice?" he asked curiously from his place out of reach. "Or do you need to throw me in jail to satisfy her temper tantrum? I thought the late sign-up punishment was just a fine, so I was kind of hoping we could work that out and you could show her that you'd managed to track me down in her absence, and we could pretend you had threatened me into obeying." Not an entirely implausible story, given the way Edrei had threatened Rory in the past for being on the wrong side of Roana after all.

Edy fuck you <3 "It is for a good reason." Edy sulked, crossing her arms across her chest which only succeeded in emphasizing her breasts (unhelpfully). Then, raising a brow, she huffed and bent down. Grabbing at a robe that apparently lived in the bed, she quickly threw it on, tying it snuggly around her waist so that all of her more distracting bits were safely hidden. "There. Happy now?" "No, no, nothing like that." Edy said with a dismissive wave of her hand at the mention of jail time. Looking properly disappointed now, Edy pursed her lips. " Can you please just come here and let me do this my way?" She nearly begged. Certainly, there was enough whine lacing her tone that it bordered on grovelling.

A good reason for Edy wasn't necessarily the same as a good reason for people who weren't Edy, and Jigano's brow didn't lower an inch as she flouted two of her more well-rounded assets. They were, indeed, distracting and finely formed, but the aesthetics of his friend were currently overshadowed by the strange political minefield they found themselves walking.

The robe was a step in the right direction, but her insistence on whatever she had in mind was enough to prickle the bard's proverbial hackles. She was his friend... but she was also a Launceleyn, and before the world had become so much more complicated by the Tyrant Edy had told him enough that he knew she couldn't go against her cousin's wishes. Not directly, at least. And Zariah had taken far too much interest in him during that farce of a meeting.

Which, he had to admit, had been the plan. He just hadn't expected it to backfire quite so badly with Amalia trying to rescue the Guild.

He hated hearing the edge of not-quite-whining in Edrei's voice, all the more for how genuinely unhappy she looked, but his smile had faded as he thought, and he met her eyes soberly, all humor fled as he sighed. She couldn't fail... at what? What order of Zariah's had her so scared? He hid it well, but he was tensed to shift and flee, his mind silently questing for the winged associates from earlier, and a few more of their friends while he was at it. "What did she tell you to do to me, Edy?" he asked quietly. "What 'this' needs doing?"

Edy fuck you <3 "What?" Edy asked, confusion temporarily causing her pout to disappear as her brows knit together. "No, this is my idea." She clarified, wagging her hands in an over-the-top come here gesture. Impatience mixed with uncertainty, and for the first time since she'd considered all of this, she thought that Jigano might not play along. Feeling her bonded's unease, Bobi sat up slightly, her amber gaze flitting from the bard back towards Edy, and then back again.

Her genuine confusion was a relief to Jigano, and he relaxed a little as she waved off his initial suspicion that Zariah had ordered her to do something to him that she was afraid of disobeying. The mystery of it all still had him on edge, but his smile returned with a little quirk of his lips as he looked on his young friend with fond exasperation. "I'm glad to hear that, but I'd still like to know what that idea is," he reminded her gently. "Your cousin's reign had the unfortunate side effect of making people - myself especially - more than a little paranoid about any surprises. Hopefully yours will soothe some of that... but it will still take a little time to gain back that optimism. Especially when it sounds like you're going to hand things back to her when she returns. Please, Edy, what is it that you want to do?" Specifically to him - and not just sex stuff, either.

He wanted to trust her as he had before, when the world was still dangerous but at least less complicated. Times had changed, though, and they couldn't go back. They could still go forward... but it was trust that they would have to build each day, so long as the threat of Zariah's rule hung over the uneasy rebels of the Settlement.

Edy fuck you <3 Alright well. As Jigano well knew, Edy's patience was not particularly long, well-used, or easily offered (all things she couldn't say about her new cock, ayyooo). So, tapping her foot and raising a brow, the not-teenager merely huffed. "Either you trust me, or you don't. If you don't, flutter your ass right out that window. If you do, come here—" She said pointing to the (mostly clothing-free) area right before her bed. "—and turn around."

"Edy..." It was his turn to plead, anxious worry for her as his friend, and for what she might want to do to him as a Launceleyn, coiling and conflicting painfully like fighting serpents in his gut. To trust, or to run? And in running, crack a friendship that had already taken one harsh blow. The consequences to that choice were clear and terrible. For all that she had threatened Rory, he thought he knew her well enough to think that it hadn't been personal; Edy was, in many ways, a weapon that could be pointed and loosed like a crossbow bolt by those she saw as authority figures. While her own choices had consequences, he knew he was far more forgiving and lenient of her than he was of strangers like Ashetta. It was biased and unfair and emotional, but he was only kitsune human, after all, and his flaws were legion.

Remi, he hoped, would approve of him taking a page from the alchemist's book as he let his arms fall with a sigh. "Alright," he agreed quietly. "But under one condition: wipe your hands off, first, please. I know where they've been." He smiled wryly at her as he stepped forward and turned around as instructed, tossing a glance back over his shoulder at the young Queen as nervousness twisted fresh adrenaline through his blood. He might be making the conscious decision to trust her, but he was still tense at the unknown - and unhappy that she was't being upfront with him. "This is the part where I say 'be gentle, it's my first time' with whatever this is, right?"

Edy fuck you <3 Edy beamed as his acceptance, though wilted with childish angst at his request. "Didn't you like...sleep in the dirt for a while?" She scoffed unhappily, making a show of jumping off the bed, sashaying towards her washbowl and floundering her hands in it like two drowning fish. "Clean, clean, clean." She tittered. "Besides, I've got great sexual hygiene." She added a touch defensively. Hopping back onto the bed and wiggling her fingers as she lowered them, giving Jigano every chance to flail away should he choose that, Edy trilled triumphantly. "Yeah, gentle sounds like me. Ready?"

"The dirt was dry, and not sticky," he pointed out with mock-primness, falling into their more usual banter on reflex, as much to keep his nervousness of the unknown at bay as to entertain his fiery friend. "And now, with those condoms, it will be even better," he added, nodding in thanks as she cleaned herself up... well. At least she made a (small) effort at it. It was the thought that counted, he supposed as he let her settle back in behind him.

"Ready as I'll ever be, since you won't let me in on the secret," he agreed with forced cheer, reluctant but having made his decision. "If I don't like what's happening, though, I reserve the right to run away screaming like a scalded cat," he warned her, only half-joking.

Edy fuck you <3 "Yeah, yeah, yeah." Edy agreed hastily, her fingers finding Jigano's shoulders and wrapping around them. "Daaaaang. Someone's been working out." She noted sounding entirely pleased, though her grip was more for balance than actually mapping out Jigano's body. Sucking in a breath and having absolutely no idea whether this was the right call, but of course now absolutely committed to it, Edy bent her knees, bounced twice on the bed before pressing down against Jigano and elegantly vaulting over him. He was tall, but the bed helped with that, as did her athleticism. Landing on the other side, Edy spun around, arms held out from her sides. "Tadaaaa. Get it?" She asked, beaming.

"It's all those heavy books I lift," he quipped modestly - or tried to, an edge of tension underlying his voice in spite of the brave face he tried to put on it. It had taken no small amount of courage to come to the Manor when he had half-suspected Zariah was still there, baiting a trap with rumors of her absence. Most of that had been soothed when Edy had confirmed the notice board message; she might lie to him under orders from her cousin, but he didn't think she could hide it so well if she did. Still, he wasn't used to allowing anyone to have his back after the target that had been painted on it in the past. Rory was one thing. Amalia had worked hard to earn his trust, too. Before the Tyrant claimed rulership he would have had no problem with what Edy asked of him. Now... her allegiance to her family was strong enough to make him hesitate.

But his trust in her was strong enough to hold him still as she started bouncing behind him. It was a good thing he was braced, though, and not too relaxed as her weight pulled briefly down on his shoulders as she launched herself (and her flopping extra organ) over his head. She landed cat-like, poised and elegant (and thankfully still robed).

He hadn't known what to expect, but this was beyond both his best and worst half-formed guesses about what she had intended. He blinked at her, trying to figure out what had just happened - aside from the obvious game of leapfrog. What did jumping over him have to--

Checkers.

It took him a few seconds of puzzling before he relaxed, muscles turning to water as he let out a beathless chuckle, shaking his head at her antics. "Yes, you've captured me," he agreed, a broad grin breaking out over his face. "Queen jumps pawn. Now we just have to figure out what to do about it! Will a song in your honor satisfy the fine, do you think?" Gods, he'd been an idiot. He probably owed Remi a drink... and Edy, too, come to think of it. "So do you still have to run the Rathskeller and the country?"

Edy fuck you <3 "Shit." Edy murmured under her breath. She only knew of checkers. She'd never played. Games that didn't involve actual fighting weren't really allowed in the Launceleyn compound. Still, she wanted to make it right, only there was really one other thing she could think of... "Okay, okay, okay." She muttered, scrambling back onto the bed and indicating Jigano should take up the position he had before. "Pretend that didn't happen." Putting her hands on his shoulders again (assuming he'd endure this yet a second time, hopefully so, since nothing untoward had happened), Edy took a steadying breath. "Take two. Apologies, if I've got it right this time, you're gonna like it less." She quipped before basically attempt to jump onto of Jigano in a forced piggy-back ride.