Smothered in Smoke

NATE

Nate didn’t move a muscle as he was considered, his hand watched like a snake that might turn and bite at any moment. He understands the fear, on some level, they are star where, despite the connection between them, the man standing just to the side. Nate doesn’t let his eyes move back towards Sunjata, a similar kind of jealousy in him, and the sense that this is not a choice he’d come out on top with.

So it’s one he tries to ignore, because really, he has no right.

It’s a task that’s made easier when Maea places her trembling hand in his. Nate folds his thumb over her palm, rubbing at the cold fingers like he’s trying to warm them up, to soothe feeling back into them, and shifts so he’s a touch closer, so if something happens it’s not a stretch for anyone to push him away. It’s not going to come to that, not that he thinks the soft words were for him, but he wants to earn them.

”If you want to stop at any point, squeeze my hand. I’m going to be as fast as I can though.” With his last bit of reassurance given, Nate leans in, sinking his teeth into her wrist. He stays very still again, doing everything in his power to not react to the sudden rush of feeling through him, save for a stiffening of his body, and a sharp breath dragged in through his nose that isn’t technically needed.

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MAEA

Everything shrunk to the most basic, pure sensations after she relinquished her hand, and all form of control over what would happen from now on. Even with the quiet reassurence from Nate that he would stop at the press of her hand, it wasn't that simple. This was something terrifying, new, potentially wonderful and entirely unexplored, and the worst (and best?) part was that Maea had no idea what her own reactions to it might be.

So to keep herself from backing out, jerking away and running for the woods, she focused on the simple things. The soothing motion of Sunjata's thumb stroking the back of her hand. Nate's similar rubbing of her other hand, no doubt trying to coax some blood and warmth back into the pale digits (it sort of worked, and she appreciated the gesture immensely). Then a warm, strong arm wrapped around her shoulders; with a trembling sigh Maea pressed herself into Sunjata's side, her eyes fixed on Nate as he leaned in, opened his mouth... and bit down on her wrist. Hard.

There was pain. For a brief instant, there was a flash of it, an exquisit stab that shot up through her before her nerves could register the substance secreted from the Ascended fangs, before it was fully injected into her system. Following, she experienced a heartbeat of utter numbness; all the pain from all the bruises and strains and wear faded away, and then..? Then.  Came the surge. The pleasure.

It wasn't the slow, steady buildup of it she'd experienced so briefly with Sunjata on that sunny day by the river. Nor the guilt-ridden explorations of a teenager late at night before stupid boys ruined everything with their cruel games, and she chose to forget everything about the secrets of her own body. This was not slow, not gentle and not kind in the least, it was savage. A roil of pure utter sensation that flooded through her body and her mind and left no room for thought or escape.

Maea had no point of reference for this kind of sensation, no experience to lean back on and control it with. Her reaction was instantaneous and entirely instinctual. A sharp intake of breath colored by her voice, a moan she neither could nor knew how to stifle. Helpless, she arched her back and pressed herself into the chair, into the warm, firm body beside her, mind entirely sweeping away all the fear, all the questions and hesitations. Pale eyes remained fixed on Nate, on the spot where his mouth connected to her skin, teeth buried inside her and the onslaught of lust he induced in her brought color to her irises. Touched them with the barest hint of lavender as her pupils dialated, expanding into dark, hungry pits.

The fingers in his hand twitched, flexed... but did not close.

It felt good. Really good.

The hand connecting her to Sunjata grew limp in his grip. Seemed about to slip, threatening to let go entirely. If he let it.

Light is easy to love
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SuNjATA

the flood

Maea squeezes into him, and he reciprocated with gentle circles along her shoulder to give her something else to focus on, like the soft dragging of his fingers along her own as they remain in his hand. But his gaze focuses on Nate then, watching the Ascended prepare her hand before the bite. And at first? He thinks it’ll all be fine, over and quick and done.

And then he’s wrong.

Nate bites down, and as Maea reacts, he can’t help the slight shuddering of his gaze, knowing intimately well what it feels like, what Maea’s never experienced. Is part of it jealousy? That Nate got to experience this first instead of him? He’s not sure. All he knows is that Maea’s back arches, and he keeps her close, and she pushes back into him, and he’s absolutely stuck, unsure of what to do. He thinks it’s the moan that undoes him, and his arm that’s wrapped around her lifts somewhat, to run his fingers along her jaw gently, his other hand laces his fingers with her limp one, keeping her as close as he can.

“Good, Maea.” He tries to praise her but the voice that comes out is hoarse and somewhat husky, stormy gaze slipping toward Nate with a look the Ascended knows well, wondering if the man has got enough to diagnose before Sunjata dives in too far, before the flush creeping along his neck goes too far too.

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

NATE

Whatever reaction Nate had been expecting, it’s clear this is not it. Not after the all the trepidation especially. He shifts, angling Maea’s arm as he does, and chances a glance up towards her, towards Sunjata. Both of them are looking back at him, eyes saying different things, shouting lust and hunger and danger. This is a dangerous like to toe again, to let himself be pulled into, despite his preferences and tastes its markedly harder to say no to a moan, an arching body than he’d thought, so he closes his eyes against them and focuses, wanting to help right now. Whatever happens next will happen then.

It’s not what he tastes, but rather what he doesn’t taste that gives him pause, sparks concern in his chest. Nate doesn’t pull away quite yet, wants to be sure of what he’s thinking before he passes that concern on to anyone else. When he finally does pull away, after feels like slightly too long, he doesn’t move, his lips still pressed to the bite mark like somehow he can soothe it that way.

Finally, Nate shifts properly, leaning back so he can speak. His hand is still wrapped around Maea’s, thumb still rubbing over her fingers, but his other hand comes up to cover the bite, to keep any blood from making a mess. ”You’re okay.” He rumbles, the same lie he’d said to Sunjata in the doctors office, what feels like a lifetime ago now. ”Just breathe.”

The worry in his eyes has to give him away though, battling with the hunger for more when he looks up at Sunjata. Like somehow, Nate can wordlessly communicate the seriousness of it, push it through the haze of lust that’s settled in the hideout, that makes it feel stuffy and close. There’s no room for jealousy right now, though it threatens to tear its ugly head in the back of Nate’s mind when his eyes slip over how close the other two are, how Sunjata is all but cradling Maea. He doesn’t even know who or what he’s jealous of.

It's a bitch convincing people to like you

BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3

MAEA

Nate shifted and the teeth buried in her arm moved ever so slightly, and she writhed under the onlaught of new sensation it induced. Later she would know it was all a chemical reaction, that it was as not real as he had said, but in that moment? Gods, she couldn't even string to words together. Lights were flaring like Rexanna's fireworks before her eyes and as Sunjata shifted her closer, let his fingers trail her jaw the girl whimpered and pressed her head back, exposing the pale, slender neck. Begging for more, for the sizzling electricity his touch caused to continue. Something molten and hot was burning through her core, sweet and demanding, suggesting there might be even more to come from this. Sunjata's hoarse voice in her ear egging her on suggested it, the lingering, delayed bite from Nate was half a promise.

But then, he let go. And it was like a bucket of cold water thrown over a blazing pyre, the fuel pulled away and left her to sizzle and steam all on her own.

"No," she moaned, pleading. She was still fairly humming with the pleasure, lust long since in charge over her rational mind and too far gone to feel even a shred of embarrassment. She ached and the fangs were no longer in her, and she felt empty. Hollow, restless and so very needy. Breathe? Why would she need to breathe when her head was spinning so wildly from these shallow, rapid breaths?

She moved her head, rached up for the man that cradled over her, soft lips parting as she searched for his mouth. Desperate for a kiss she couldn't quite remember having ever been afraid of.

Light is easy to love
Show me your darkness

BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3

SuNjATA

the flood

A gentle praise of getting over her fear, of giving into it for Nate to find out what’s going on, but he can see the tilt and squirm of her body, the way she angles just right and reveals her neck to them, and he finds he has to look away. And so his gaze slips back toward Nate as the Ascended begins to withdraw, a breath of fresh air inhaled sharply with that. The very same instruction given to him at the College… In the Ruins… And he swallows he’d against the memory, focusing on the look that Nate gives him.

It’s good enough to douse any fire within him.

But Maea wants it to continue, and he’s been there before, and when he turns his head to look at her and see if she’s ready, she’s reaching for him, searching him, lips finding his in a far less timid way. And he can’t help but to return it, chaste and swift, because Nate’s found something and that’s ultimately way more important. He pulls away with his arm around her shoulder, clarity to his steel gaze.

“Yes.” He responds, some demand in his voice. Those same finger tips rise to brush the hair from her face, from the hungry eyes, and he offers her a soft smile. “He’s found something. That’s more important.” He can’t help the roughness to his voice, but he tries to convey the urgency within it, turning his head to look back toward Nate — the fog lifted and eyes clear.

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

NATE

Nate takes a deep breath, more to steady himself than anything else as he watched Sunjata calm Maea, talk her down from the dizzying high the bite had sent her. His own cool fingers still rub small circles over her palm and wrist, trying to be soothing without overstepping, without inserting himself into whatever was happening any more than he had already.

Though his eyes drop just before her seeking kiss connects, Nate can’t help but chuckle softly at Sunjatas tone. He knows it well, knows how easy it is to break it down, but Maea doesn’t seem the type to try and fight against it.

The diagnosis is more important than wandering thoughts, what ifs and memories twisting together into something that Nate waves away. He pulls from a well of professionalism, apparently still intact, fed by what he’s tasted in her blood, the concern it brings. He waits until both pairs of eyes are on him, are clear enough to understand what he says.

Nate wishes something could be done for the roughness of his voice, but it’s something they all just have to deal with for the moment. ”There’s... I guess bad and worse, but it’s all manageable.” He starts with, internally wincing that it doesn’t come out how he wants, not soothing in the least. ”You’re sick, or getting there, so I’d recommend relaxing a few days, taking it easy.” The words come out stern, and he can’t help how his eyes drift to solely Sunjata, like a playful accusation. ”I’m not too worried about that, as long as you take care of it. I’m worried about why you’re getting sick.”

Ha pauses, tries to steady himself all over, tries to not step into his past, into a real hospital room where he’d been powerless, and continues. ”There’s something wrong with your immune system. I don’t... I mean, I’d need to do more testing to be absolutely certain, once you’ve recovered a little bit. It’s not... it’s not as serious as it could be.” He takes a deep breath, then squeezes her hand. ”I’m going to help you with this, okay?”

It's a bitch convincing people to like you

BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3

MAEA

She found his mouth, got her kiss, but it was far too brief and Maea was left more frustrated than sated by it, still hungry for more. But something in Sunjata's tone as he contradicted her made her listen. There was a demand there she'd never heard before, bordering on an order, and it was so unusual that she actually sucked in that deeper breath. Forced it down into starving lungs, a bit too quickly... and coughed, like she had when they were training last. Dry, wheezy, but unrelenting.

That grounded her. Enough to straighten up, look at Nate and actually try to understand what he was saying. A scowl appeared on her face as he went on, and something... uneasy twisted in her stomach as he spoke of becoming sick. Old anxiety, of having confirmed what she so desperately had tried to ignore.

"Not again..." It was a hoarse complaint, faint and weak but so very weary. Like she'd lived this story a hundred times and knew it far too intimately for it to be fun anymore. Not the biting, mind, not the need for more tests because frankly that was setting her blood on fire again, doing nothing to ease her internal ache, but the rest? And there seemed to be holes in her education still, because she did not know what he meant by the terms he used. Immune system?

"What... does that mean?" Squeezing Nate's hand right back, she seemed to have forgotten her fears for the moment. Too dazed to care, too caught up in the moment to remember anything about before. All that mattered was the arm around her shoulders, the gentle stroke of fingers on her wrist, over the bite - it made her shudder, and the smile she offered him was sweet, slow, inviting.

It was all too clear to her now why Sunjata couldn't stay away from this. Maea didn't blame him. It was... addictive.

Light is easy to love
Show me your darkness

BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3

SuNjATA

the flood

The hoarseness of Nate’s voice fights against the instinct within him, but the somber hint of his tone beneath it. He focuses, clear and a hint predatory with the information that falls from his lips. A frown finds his own, squeezing Maea’s shoulders lightly. And he understands fully what Nate’s saying, though the look to him with bed rest is met with a brief smirk.

It fades as the Ascended continues and Sunjata exhales a slow sigh with Maea’s question. Both him and Nate had come from places where immune systems and the like were simply common knowledge, and he does his best to lay it out for her. “There’s things in your body that protect you against getting sick. Like… little soldiers of a sort, fending off sickness when it gets in you. What he’s saying is that yours doesn’t work as well as it should.” He looks to Nate to see if he’s close to it, in a way that Maea may understand better than the scientifically appropriate functions.

His gaze flits back to Maea, fingers delicately brushing along her shoulder in a soothing way, to quell the fire that he can feel where there’s usually ice. The steel of his eyes scans her moonlit face, seeing the inviting smile, ignoring it the best he can to focus on her beneath it all.

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

NATE

A flicker of sympathy flash across Nate’s face at Maea’s complaint. She had said, when they’d first met, how long she had spent sick, in and out of healers care, and he didn’t envy having to tell her it would be happening again. But he could have smacked himself for not remembering she’d also said she was learning, probably would have if both his hands weren’t occupied.

Sunjata picks up his slack, and he flashes a grateful smile at the attuned for it, for putting it in simpler terms than what he would have come up with. ”That’s essentially it.” Nate nods, turning back to Maea. ”But in your case, it’s more like... the soldiers start off good, but start slacking, and don’t do their jobs anymore.” Really, it’s a little more complicated than that, but trying to explain more isn’t going to do anyone any favours.

Nate blinks as she smiles, slow and languid at him, because by this point he still half expects her to pull away. His fingers don’t stop their slow motion though, and after a quick moment of thought, this is not the time, not the place, she’s not even really his type, Nate smiles back, a grin that Sunjata might recognize, half teasing and half hungry. He is a thief, and he’d never turn down an unlocked door.

He does have enough sense to not actually make a move though, to still be mostly focused on the serious, on her health before her (their) pleasure.

It's a bitch convincing people to like you

BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3

MAEA

Their explanations were fumbling and inaccurate, but she appreciated the attempt to coax understanding into her befuddled mind. Had she not been drunk on this demanding new experience, she would probably have had an easier time following the terms, grasping the essence if perhaps not the finer details... but as it was, she at least got the gist. She got sick easily. Hurray.

"Can... anything be done to fix it?" she thought to ask. Focusing was difficult, Sunjata's fingers on her shoulder was more distracting than soothing, and the answering grin on Nate's lips made electrical zips spark down her spine so that she shuddered, chest tightening in anticipation.

There was a touch of guilt then. At feeling such things. At them not being caused by Sunjata, at least not entirely. Tilting her head back, she looked up at him, pale moonlight eyes seeking the storm in his to see what he was thinking, what all this might be doing to him. They had talked about commitments before, of not making promises... but she'd also told him about her own budding feelings for him.

Did this make her a traitor to those words? Because if it did... perhaps now was the time to stop. Before she lost her ability to think again. Before she could hurt any of them.

Light is easy to love
Show me your darkness

BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3

SuNjATA

the flood

The grateful smile from the Ascended is returned with a slight nod of his head, until they both turn toward the pale woman they’re focused on. Nate adds in a bit more of a true explanation, and at the smile that Maea offers Sunjata can feel himself tiptoeing that line again. He can see it when he glances to Nate briefly and sees an all too familiar look crossing his own too, and he sucks in a breath as Maea’s attention flits back to him.

His fingers continue their gentle strokes, unable to answer the question that she asks. And he can feel her shudder beneath his touch, pale yet hungry eyes seeking for something, and well… Sunjata had his moments. But he certainly didn’t think her a traitor, not when the gouges in the wood of the desk had anything to say about it. Instead, he offers her a small smirk of a smile. “You did very well.” He offers her instead, keeping her close within his warmth, tilting his head toward Nate and letting the steel of his own meet the Ascended’s electric blues.

There’s a part of him that wants to convey to Nate that she’s never done anything like this before – that it was different from Sunjata’s first time with Nate because at least he’d had some experience. But he refrains, only seeks out the Ascended’s with what he’s thinking behind his mind as well.

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

NATE

Maea's next question nearly made Nate wince, though he had the good sense to not let his face slip at all. "It depends." He said softly, trying to find a simple way to explain. "I won't know for sure until we've done more work, but depending on what it is, there's ways to manage." The thought that she's made a liar out of him comes to mind. Their first conversation, he'd said there was nothing he missed about his old world, but now, Nate wasn't sure how true that was. He misses the modern medicine, the fact that he knew there was a way to ease this.

He's still lost in his own head as the silent drama unfolds between the other two, not that he would understand it anyway. He looks up just as the attuned whispers out a reassurance, and feels the curve of his smile growing warmer, the sly edge leaving it. Nate catches the steel eyes as they turn to him, and he find himself wondering about the depth in them, wondering what's going on in his head. If he's feeling as strange about this arrangement as Nate himself is.

Feeling strange about it doesn't make him pull away though, Nate's hands still on Maea's arm. If anything, he does the opposite, and shifts so he's closer to the chair, the reasoning that its to avoid strain on Maea's arm, which ignores the point that he's still holding her. His eyes are still on Sunjata, almost daring him to say something, to stop Nate before he makes himself a space here. Nate's always been good at that, his presence in the bar, the advocates a generous example.

It's a bitch convincing people to like you

BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3

MAEA

She chewed on that for a moment. Nate sounded a bit too cautious for her tastes, and even though she was not aware of the serious glances passed between the men, she knew a bracing for bad news when she saw one.

It did not quite occur to her yet how this scenario might end up playing out. Surrounded by wolves, she had settled into the trust they offered her as though they might never turn on her, as if there was no line that couldn't be crossed. There was, of course, she just... didn't know where it went anymore. And with every second that passed to let her blood cool, she became more uncertain. If she had hoped for some sign of disapproval in Sunjata's eyes the girl did not find them. Only encouragement, approval. Was this how it was supposed to be, then? Intimacy, letting go, trust. It felt more like she was throwing herself headfirst off the cliff rather than easing down from it, but if Sunjata said it was fine, then...

Her attention refocused on Nate as he inched closer, settling deeper into her space by the chair. The fingers intwined with Sunjata's let go for a moment, reached out to unbutton the cuffs of her dress sleeve, to give Nate better access to her arm, the pale skin beneath the cloth. Leaning back into Sunjata, she searched for his hand again, breath coming quicker as she nodded, relinquishing control once more... leaving herself at their mercy. It was necessary, right? Nothing to feel bad about.

"Alright," she said, soft a quiet murmur. Drowzy, expectant. Trusting. "Go ahead."

Light is easy to love
Show me your darkness

BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3