Lie to me tonight

MAEA

Carry me through this world alive
I feel no more, this suffering

He smiled back at her, and it was enough to make the last of her tension fall away. While still a very strange situation, the man didn't look like he had lost all his marbles and would try anything overtly stupid, and since effort had become her theme word of the season (thank you for that, Amun) Maea decided to try and forget the bad things for a while. Raising a brow at his hidden dagger - she had none to flaunt, alas, so it was a win for him there - she picked it up from the tabletop and looked at the sharp prongs along the edge. Not quite anything like she had seen before.

"Well. If you say it like that, then I might just take you up on it." The girl leaped on the challenge, on the chance to prolong the inevitable for a while more, and most of all at this small, incredible miracle; he wanted to prove something. Sunjata actually showed signs of wanting to do anything at all! Payback was not even on her mind when Maea chose a piece of rope at random - a few feet of supple, roughly twisted hemp in middling thickness - and stepped away from the table.

"Am I supposed to catch you first?" she drawled, voice thick with a dry humor that hid her uncertainty quite well; she tied a quick lassoo loop at the edge of the rope, as if she hadn't done anything else in her life. Ah, farmgirls. So competent. "Or do you surrender?"

Bury me in this cold light
I feed the wolf, and shed my skin

SuNjATA

the flood

She inspects the hidden blade, the edges sharp and well taken care of, the handle worn as though he’d used it quite a bit as well. But his smile grows a bit wider when she accepts the challenge, a slight grin forming along his face at that. “Great.” He begins with a knowing glance. “It’s been awhile so I could definitely use the practice.” He snorts, shaking his head as she picks from the options laid out and steps away from the table.

She begins to make a lasso, and he can’t help the quiet chuckle that leaves him as he eyes her. “I’m afraid that I promised my doctor I’d take it easy.” He informs her, pulling a chair away from the table beside him and bringing it to the open before he sits in it. “So I suppose I’ll have to surrender.” He feigns a small amount of dramatics, horned head tilting back with amusement, placing his hands clasped behind him along the back of the chair, wrists facing up.

“Do your worst, Valair.” He adds, using it to suppress any other sort of ideas in his head, choosing a joking, humorous tone instead.

if i let go, would you hold on?
would we fly?

MAEA

Carry me through this world alive
I feel no more, this suffering

Snorting her amusement at his retort, Maea twisted the rope between her hands as she approached until the lassoo had been doubled into a figure eight. Slipping in behind his back, she sat down on her heels and took his hand in her own, slightly cold fingers. Each in turn she feed them through  the hoops, but as she was about to draw them tight, her fingers felt a slight bump on one of his wrists, and she looked more closely at it. Just to see that there wasn't anything that could get irritated by the rope.

"What is this?" she asked him over his shoulder, frowning down at what she saw. It looked almost like a snake bite; two puncures spaced at even distance from each other, surrounded by minimal amounts of swelling. Only... it was the biggest snake bite she'd ever seen, If she hadn't touched him, had her fingers already against his skin, she never would have noticed.

"Does it hurt? Maybe I shouldn't be tying ropes over it..." Maea didn't want to hurt him, not in the slightest.

Bury me in this cold light
I feed the wolf, and shed my skin

SuNjATA

the flood

He settles in the chair, arms folded behind him as she approaches, gaze following her until he can’t anymore. But he can feel her fingertips, light and gentle on his arm and he shivers briefly, clenching his teeth slightly. “Your hands are cold.” He offers quietly — and they were compared to the furnace that he was. But he remains silent, letting her loop his hands through the rope that she makes slightly tighter, before her voice is heard over his shoulder.

He tilts his head back slightly, head turning to not hit her if she’s too close with the horns surrounding his head. “From my blood test. It’s fine.” He assures her, giving her a half smile over his shoulder. “It doesn’t hurt. Tie them tighter.” A slight shrug as he makes a show of how loose the ropes are over his wrists, twisting them slightly before he settles again and waits.

He’d offered to prove it to her, and he can’t if she’s hesitant and reluctant to actually try to restrain him. He’s got to prove that he can, wounds or not, even if the feeling distinctly gives him two memories — cuffed before his father in that stupid foyer, and cuffed to a bed by Hotaru’s magic.

if i let go, would you hold on?
would we fly?

MAEA

Carry me through this world alive
I feel no more, this suffering

"Hmm... never heard of healers testing blood that way before," Maea commented, but did not protest; it seemed far more reasonable than the snake theory and she knew he was getting treatments for his illness. "Some of the shadier ones put leeches on to draw the bad things out... I always hated when they were the ones who came around to help me."  She made a disgusted sound, shuddering at the memory.

Trusting that he knew best, the girl returned to her task and tightened the coils of rope around Sunjata's wrists, locking them in place one over the other. Then she proceeded to wind the rest of the length over and around his arms, back and forth from every direction as though lashing together crossed poles rather than a pair of arms. Though trying to be mindful not to cut off too much bloodflow to his fingers, she also wanted to make it sufficiently difficult for him to get loose and kept the rope tight, tugging on it occasionally to see if there was any slack.  

Once done, Maea tied off the ends where he wouldn't be able to reach them with his fingers, stood and considered the man, the ropes, the chair with pursed lips.

"Done. I have to admit Sunjata, this is the strangest thing I've ever done. Are you really going to get out of that?"

Easing herself up beside him so she could see both his hands and actually speak to him at the same time, she picked up his serrated knife again, fingers worrying over the blade as she waited to see what he would do.

Bury me in this cold light
I feed the wolf, and shed my skin

SuNjATA

the flood

She comments on healers, and he offers a small nod in response. “Ascended healer.” He explains, a bit indifferently. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy the test, because he absolutely did – despite it leaving him frustrated, flushed in the face, seeking an outlet that he can’t get with Nate. But it was better that way, easier to prevent worse stories from coming out if it stopped then. And that’s what he did.

Though any feelings the thought of the Ascended doctor might bring effectively die when she comments about leeches, enough to cause a slight sneer on his face. “That doesn’t work at all.” He rumbles with a small amount of agreement in the hatred toward them. Silence overcomes him however, feeling how she tightens the ropes around his wrist, tying them up his arms and looping them through the chair as well.

She’s pretty good at it, he determines, with some amount of amusement. But he focuses on her when she eases up to look down at him. He chuckles softly to her with a roll of his shoulders, about all he can do aside from the light tapping of his boot against the floor. “I think I can. If not, you’ll have to help me out and we’ll consider the lesson done based off of my pride alone.” A quiet chuckle to that.

He shifts in the chair slightly, leaning forward about as much as he can – which isn’t a lot – and with it, he shifts his hands the most he can, unclasping them from one another feeling for weak points or knots, something that if he were to break through, it would loosen the rest of the ropes tying him to that chair. After a few long moments of searching and figuring it out, he leans back against the wood of the chair until there’s pressure applied to the joints of the wood, alleviating some of the pressure of his upper arms.

Partially shifting his hands to the claws of the panther form, he begins to saw at the figure eight between his wrists that connect both sides of the rope to it, muscles flexing in his shoulders as he wiggles his arms a small amount, fraying some of the rope beneath his claws. He keeps at it until the rope breaks between his wrists, and he can flex his arms out a small amount with the pressure relieved. He twists his wrists to get some more of the blood flow back to them, lowering his head slightly and over his shoulder back toward Maea, claws trailing up his forearms in a pattern much like she had when she was tying him down, a snip here and a snip there, until the rope falls away and he leans forward to rub at his reddened forearms with his hands shifted back to normal. “Ah, I’ve still got it.” He chuckles, elbows on his thighs as he focuses on rubbing the muscles of his arms.

if i let go, would you hold on?
would we fly?

MAEA

Carry me through this world alive
I feel no more, this suffering

His quiet explanation, the casual shrug as he said 'Ascended' did nothing to lessen the impact it had on her. She could feel the blood drain away from her face, blood chilling as understanding bloomed within her mind. And when she realized that it had not been a snake but a person that had made those marks, she felt nauseous.

So much for never taking blood from people. So much for only biting in self defense, or as a last resort. Had it all been lies, then? From Rexanna, from Amun... did that mean Sam, too...? Oh, gods.

Reeling from the revelation, the slender girl stood very still and watched as Sunjata worked at the ropes. Part of her was astounded that he was able to reach the ropes at all with his claws - she had tried to ensure that wouldn't be possible - but after some wriggling and shifting he had the rope falling away, and saw rubbing his arms as if it had been no effort at all.
Unfortunately, the other part was still too occupied with sorting through every word and every interaction she'd ever had with The Voice's Bright ones to have paid full attention to what he actually did.

"Well done," she said, though her voice was a little numb, a little off... She didn't want to ask about the mark on his wrist again. Didn't want to show off her deeply rooted prejudice and fear when Sunjata clearly wasn't bothered. But the pallor of her lips betrayed her, even as she leaned back against the bar. "How did you do that?"

Bury me in this cold light
I feed the wolf, and shed my skin

SuNjATA

the flood

She remains quiet, at least until he’s rubbing his arms and she leans against the bar. A compliment, but an almost cold one at that, and he can’t help but to lift his gaze to her where she is as he continues to run hands along his arms until he gets to his wrists, rubbing one side before the other, brushing against the bite marks. “Applied some pressure to the back of the chair and it loosened the rope a small amount.” He offers, before his brow lifts quietly.

“Are you alright?” He tries to think of whether it was something he’d said, cataloguing what he’d all remarked on. She wasn’t flushed, so it likely wasn’t any of the amusing tones he’d implied. So it must have been the healer he’d mentioned, flitting through the thoughts in his mind until it’s the only one that seems to make sense. He keeps his hand around his wrist briefly as he goes to stand, letting it go to collect the rope that had fallen to the floor before he returns to her side, to place it atop the bar.

“It’s the only way to find out what’s wrong.” He informs her, with a small tilt of his head as he looks down to her. “He’s got something that lets him find out what’s wrong with the blood. That’s it.” A small shrug, indifferent again, swallowing slightly hard against the memory.

if i let go, would you hold on?
would we fly?

MAEA

Carry me through this world alive
I feel no more, this suffering

"Ah, I see."

Maea frowned softly, not sure she liked how easily he was able to pick up when something was wrong... or indeed that he hit the spot right away, answering his own question. Almost defensively she shook her head and set the knife aside, busying her wandering fingers with rubbing the muscles of the palm instead. Not so much restless as nervois. Anxious even.

"I'm fine, it's just..." Sucking in a breath, she tried to find a reference, some analogy that might wrap up her intolerance and make it look less ugly. Made her feel less like a hypocritical ass. "I've never been able to stand the leeches. And the idea of people doing the exact same thing... It just gets to me."

But it was more than that, and it showed in her eyes as she her gaze fell to the floor by her feet. It was more than unease too; her hands were actually trembling, though she did her best to hide it, and that glint in her eyes was one of genuine fear.

How disappointed Amun would be, if he knew how little progress she was making on this.

Bury me in this cold light
I feed the wolf, and shed my skin

SuNjATA

the flood

Ah, so he was correct in his assumptions. And he watches her curiously when she shakes her head, sets the knife aside, and he grabs it to slip back into his boot. His gaze seeks her face again, spotting the nervousness and the worried way she fidgets. He listens to her fear, can feel it in the air and the tension surrounding the room, and he lifts his arms to rest along the top of the bar.

“It’s a bit weird, I agree.” He rumbles, looking to the bite marks on his arm. “But he asked me about three times before he did it the first time if I wanted to. I didn’t know what the bite did at the time.” His gaze flits over the bar with some small amount of awkwardness, landing on the ring that sits atop the drying rack and he swallows hard.

“It’s actually pretty enjoyable.” He chuckles lightly before he shakes his head, seeing her anxiety as her eyes drop to the floor. “Difficult given what the rings do, and I paid for that already… But.” A brief exhale of a sigh at that, reaching up to rub at the back of his neck. “I’ve been around a lot of Ascendeds in my time here, Nate’s the only one that’s bit me. And it was entirely based off of a professional standpoint.” He gestures to the bar around them. “Like this training is.” A dark brow raises.

Perhaps not the best thing to relate it to, based off the flush of her features, the awkwardness around it. And yet, he does it anyway. It’s all he really knows how to compare it to, anyway.

if i let go, would you hold on?
would we fly?

MAEA

Carry me through this world alive
I feel no more, this suffering

Even with her eyes down she still listened to the reasoning he offered, heard his counter and alternative views. It soothed her enough from the worst of the misgivings - especially hearing it was the only time this had ever happened, and that Sunjata had been so thoroughly given a choice in the matter - but... fear was ever unreasonable. She could straighten all she want, run her icy hands over her face in an attempt to calm down as much as she was able... but at the core of her, doubt still nibbled away.

"I don't understand how having your skin ripped open and blood drained off could be enjoyable," she admitted, while tucking her hands in under Ludo's shawl in the hope that it might make them feel warmer. Strangely enough, they were cold, just like Sunjata had said, and that was... not right. It should not be possible. "But I know I'm being unreasonable about this. Don't mind me, I'm just acting silly."

The way he said 'proffessional' while just casually slapping it onto this training made her feel silly too. Maea realized she might have been jumping to conclusions earlier, when she thought he might have anything on his mind beside actually teaching this lesson. It was quite presumptuous, when she thought about it. One time he had kissed her, just once, and perhaps she just took more note of it than she should. Because it had been the first time for her. But... perhaps it just didn't really mean anything to him? Much as it hurt to think it, the idea came with a little bit of relief too. Her own thoughts she could conquer, eventually. They were far easier to control than another person's feelings - and in this case, probable lack of them.

"My turn, then?" Forcing a smile back to her face until it almost felt natural again, the girl pulled her dark rags from the shoulders and set them aside on the bar. Without it, she shuddered as if a sudden chill had gone through her, but it settled when she moved for the chair.

"What did you mean about your rings 'doing something'?" she asked as she sat down. Maea had not seen Frey lick them; she had been watching everything except the god, too worked up about the things she saw in them to dare.

Bury me in this cold light
I feed the wolf, and shed my skin

SuNjATA

the flood

Her admission is granted with quiet confusion over her description of what happens. But he’s still willing to explain it, even if it makes him awkward, flushes him slightly, but the way she looks so awkward and terrified does nothing more than make him want to go to her, a bleeding heart beneath the layers of defenses he so carefully puts up. So he sighs, running a hand through his hair and carefully trying to avoid nicking himself on the point of a horn. She’d had her first kiss with him, and likely while she knows about it, she hasn’t done any of it.

He clenches his jaw briefly, shaking his head with a quiet rumble. “It’s like a snakebite just without any pain.” He says, pausing when she comments that she’s being silly about it – and he explains it further as professional – despite the fact that the last time hadn’t been professional at all, and he can’t quite bring himself to the feeling of the cold wall at his back, Nate’s lips and teeth at his wrist, body pressed against the stone and caged in. He swallows hard again, nodding when she comments that it’s her turn, grabbing a new section of rope and letting her settle in the chair.

Coming around to the other side to guide her hands behind the chair just as he had done for her, he ensures his touch is light, going to clasp her hands together as he had done as well, fingers tracing delicately as he forms the rope in a sort of similar style to hers, but going for placing them together rather than the space in the middle of the lasso she’d created. His hands falter slightly when she questions what the rings do, and he focuses enough to try and recover.

“If the inside of the band is rubbed, the other band wearer can feel it. Just, sexually.” He decides, no need to beat around the bush. “And if someone is experiencing it, the other can too. And it sort of rebounds.” He pauses, cheeks flushing slightly as he continues to tie her hands together behind the back of the chair with practiced ease. “So the reason my last checkup with Nate was difficult, is because the Ascended bites cause that sexual feeling. Just… Intensely. And when I was bit, it transferred to her, and transferred back to me and enhanced it. It just bounced between us, and she wasn’t there, didn’t know what was happening so.” He ties the rope at the top by her forearms, taking the edges and doing the same as she had done and feeds them through the legs of the chair as well.

When he’s done and she’s tied up, he comes around to stand before her, a dark haze to his gaze at the conversation topic. “It’s easier to take the ring off and feel it for the brief moment that it is. If I put it back on right now… Well.” He gives a slight weak smile to her. “It would be incredibly difficult to keep it a professional lesson for me.” So saying, he stretches a hand out toward her to wave her to try and get out of the restraints.

if i let go, would you hold on?
would we fly?

MAEA

Carry me through this world alive
I feel no more, this suffering

The chair was comfortable, as expected of furniture in a place that was made to let people feel at ease. But it was still a bit warm after Sunjata had sat on it, and Maea felt everything but easy when he moved out of sight, into her space. She could feel him there, even before his hands caught her backturned wrists and began to lash them together. Telling herself that it didn't mean anything when the touch remained gentle - even despite the rope that tightened a little painfully around the wrist - and that this was just part of the lesson, she listened with increasing incredulity to his explanations.

Of course, Maea blushed. Even with her back turned, there should be no difficulty seeing the color flush her ears and the pale skin on the back of her neck. She wasn't sure the idea of that kind of sensation was better than the pain she'd expected of a bite, in truth. Actually, it made things quite a bit more terrible... because, imagine being bitten as an act of violence? Even in self defense, it seemed even worse of a violaiton than before, especially if the receiver had no choice but to experience it all. Unable to avoid it.

And as for the rings... she didn't even know where to begin. It had to be some trick of Frey's, no doubt about it. It made her all the more grateful of her own insistence that he should take it off that day, and a little... puzzled, even in the midst of raging embarrassment a she considered the implications of what that ring scuffing around on his finger by rope and instruction might... She coughed, lost for words for a long time.

"I see..." was the only faint response she could muster. For a while. But then, when he stepped back she braved a quick glance at him (quickly looking away again when she saw the flush on his own face).

"But then... why do you take it off at all?" she asked, and quickly added, before he could interpret her words the wrong way; "I mean, I know why now, here, because it would be... distracting... but otherwise? You've been rather clear that you want Phoebe to back out of the marriage. Wouldn't letting her think you're... well... wouldn't it just make her give up quicker?"

That was the thing she didn't get. He clearly wanted out of it, had told her repeatedly that it was what he wanted, and yet... actively working to break the agreement seemed too much?

Maea didn't understand it, and kept turning the thoughts over in her head as she began to test the ropes. Her cold fingers felt even icier with the bloodflow cut off. Sunjata had been thorough, if perhaps not as much as she when binding him, but the ropes still felt too tight to ever budge. There was practically no give at all, and she had not the strength in her arms to create any by simply pulling them apart, or pressing them closer, or trying to seesaw the wrists back and forth. Frustrated that she couldn't even see what she was doing, the girl kept struggling against the confines, with little success.

Bury me in this cold light
I feed the wolf, and shed my skin

SuNjATA

the flood

She’s quiet for a while, until he pulls away after restraining her, to stand before her – catching her glance to him and then away.  All he does is fold his arms along his chest, watching as she speaks – lips parting to comment at first, but he’d indeed misinterpreted what she’d said, and as she clarifies, he huffs a small sound akin to biting his tongue. A small nod is given, to the initial comment of distractions and professionalism, but the look that he gives her when it’s mentioned that keeping it on would make Phoebe give up quicker – well… It’s not like he hasn’t thought of it.

He pulls a chair up to sit across from her, settling in it as he watches her begin to try and work against the binds. He puffs out a quiet sigh, ruffling his hair, glancing around the bar to see if she uses her magic to her advantage rather than just her strength, and when he sees nothing he glances back to her. “I thought about it. It’s… Hard going back home after that.” As he’d found out the hard way. Hell, even the trip to Halo had been difficult and it was only words he’d said.

She’d still smacked him. Not hard, but. Still. “Use what you have at your disposal.” He tells her quietly, encouragingly, slipping that knife from his boot again and setting it along his knee, dark brow raised to her to the magic she’d told him she had. As if to give her an idea, a spark.

“The Halo trip was shitty enough and I didn’t even do anything.” He looks away from her then, voice taking a bit of a deeper tone, lip curling slightly. “Constantly on and on about how terrible I am to her.” He only thinks it’s fair, in the end. At least until she gets under his skin, and he breaks before her. Rinse, repeat. He clenches his jaw slightly before shaking his head and letting his gaze drift back to her to see if she’s made any progress.

if i let go, would you hold on?
would we fly?