I am rather certain its ingrained into the Noodle Boy's DNA to be a thorn in my side with my work at every turn. Even when we're on the same side, he must always be my nemesis.
[There's definitely a crackle of fire when he huffs. The sound of clinking glass and rustling paper.]
He is very much a puppy. A very, very, very energetic puppy. Not that its a surprise, he's always had far too much energy.
Even when we met, he couldn't focus for more than ten seconds. Who gets distracted from the person threatening to incinerate them?
Frankly, I don't know where he and the Dragon Girl get all that energy. I don't even need to sleep that much, but a day with them, and I was always out like a light.
[Listen, he wasn't lying when he said he wouldn't get anywhere if he saw her.]
They're tiring.
And yet its charming. Stupidly charming. It was ridiculous and infuriating. I knew they were a bad idea. I knew letting them in was only going to lead to pain, but then they kept insisting on how much of a help I was, how much they wanted me on their side, and then started throwing the word friend around like it was that easy.
Like there were no way we wouldn't be on opposite sides again. My entertaining them was on the edge of treachery, but they just made it easy and I kept responding when they reached out. Not everytime, but enough that they still kept trying.
It was getting to the point I felt I would have no choice, but to admit to my treachery to ask my parents for a century. They're mortal. They'd be dead and I'd have no conflict, I just-
I just needed to believe my parents would love me enough to put aside their ambitions and their anger at my weakness to grant me that.
[The rustling of the paper stops. A longer pause this time.]
But they were at the beach. According to the Noodle Boy. Its still hard to believe, but even if Noodle Boy can lie, I don't think he would lie to me about that.
[ god is she really going to counsel him through this? Is she the right one to do so? But he called her, so evidently she is. Even if some part of her, instincts she hates which are just as selfish as Red Son insists he is, will probably hiss at her from their shadowed corners. She'll shut them up as she usually does. ]
[ She blatantly encouraged MK before, so it's not as though she has any doubt about where her feelings ultimately are. It's just as things always are, the dark and light of her clashing. ]
He's like me. We suck at lying, especially to people we care about. [ So no, not a lie. Red Son just has to stop being afraid of it and in disbelief about it and all the other things and accept it. Easy to say, perhaps not easy to do. ]
You've said this a few times. How knowing that changed things.
Oh, he can definitely lie to my face. He tricked me to let him stay in my home so he could steal from my father and did it with a smile. [He knows MK is definitely a capable liar when he decides to be. Its one of the more surprising things about him. But there had definitely been a plan that night.]
I just don't believe he would lie about something like this. I don't think he's so idiotic as to think such a lie wouldn't absolutely shatter my trust in him.
Whatever my reasons my parents had to be there at the beach, its enough to know I could have that century. Maybe longer if it turns out there is cause for them to live longer. As long as Wukong doesn't royally screw something up, its now a viable path. It means I don't need to hold them at a distance.
The heart ache will just be the limitations of their mortality. Still a pain, but a different pain from having to fight them.
And now thoughts I never entertained for what little guard I could keep around my heart have...started to bubble, as it were.
It's different when we get it in our head that it's for some grand reason. That's the one time I can harden my heart too. [ Face it Red Son you've got a Type. ]
[ She doesn't love that reference to Wukong but she expects that bitterness. Red Son earned that bitterness. So she accepts it despite her personal feelings (feelings Red Son would despise, so he'll never hear them). ]
It's only natural. You have options you never had before. Don't try to fight it.
I wouldn't call it a grand reason. Just...a sensible reason. Any relationship had a time limit from my point of view. I couldn't resist them entirely, it had just proven to be a fool's errand.
But I could hold back, at least. [He chuckles, a bit dryly.] Its how my emotions are. Its pointless to repress them entirely. So better to let them vent, a pressure valve so I could control how and when it shows itself. [Like how his fire will flare in his anger. Anger that made itself known, but never did anything he didn't want done.]
But now that the relationship doesn't have a time limit beyond mortality...
[There is a long pause.]
There is a Venn Diagram. With a rather large middle circle.
Of my feelings for you.
And my feelings for the Dragon Girl.
[Because of course he's not gonna talk about MK, he's not really to deal with THAT so directly.]
I've noticed. [ She likes the release. Especially now that she's got her own fire abilities. But that's not the point here. ]
[ She's slightly dismayed when he moves to talking about charts, even if the stuff about Mei isn't at all unanticipated. Red Son ain't slick about these things, he's too new to them to be. But this is how he explains the world to himself, and apparently explains himself to himself. So okay, a Venn Diagram. ]
And obviously I don't know my exact feelings. I'm figuring things out, but also I'm not so naive as to not see some writing on the wall.
At least the possibilities.
If I can fall in love with you, and there are numerous intense and similar feelings for the Dragon Girl, if not for the same reasons, just the general....sensation of feelings, it stands to reason that, given time...
What if I did fall for her too?
And that is the tangentially related because...
Well, I know our boundaries when it comes to flings and the like, but honestly, I never really thought I would have a serious interest in someone else and what that means.
I know you have people you love that aren't me, but also just assuming that its the same for me feels like poor form.
[ This is only a little bit where she thought this was heading. But it's not a difficult answer, at least. ]
If you fall for her too, then I'd support you. I'd be happy for you.
I have a good deal of experience with this. My instincts are what they are, but I manage them. [ "I'm possessive as hell but I've trained myself out of reacting most of the time". ]
What I want most is your happiness. I'd like to be part of that happiness, but I've never assumed I'd be the only piece of it. When I said I consider you an equal, I meant it in all ways. I love more than one person, and I'd never restrict you from that.
[ Royals get harems, them's the rules. If Mei (OR WHOEVER) tried to force Saya out of things there might be problems, but that's a bridge no one can possibly cross right now. If it happens, they'll deal with it. MK already said he wouldn't want Saya to give up what she and Red Son have, incidentally enough, so that's good to have in her back pocket. ]
I don't need to know about flings. [ In fact she almost prefers not to, but sometimes things crop up. ] More serious ones, I'd prefer to know when you do. And my husband is absolutely off limits for romantic entanglements -- not that it's a worry, he doesn't get involved with others in that way, that's not how our arrangement works. [ Bless him. ]
[His voice is soft. Genuine. Easier to say when he doesn't have to look at her, when his flustered embarrassment might make it hard when he's dealing with. Other feelings.]
But also with the rate people from home are showing up, and if the Dragon Girl showed up, and then she starts blindsiding me as she tends to do...
I didn't want to be in it before I could try to counter it.
If I have a reason to resist, I could, but it would have been harder to try after the fact and...
I didn't want to hurt you.
[A pause.]
Romantic entanglements are just romantic feelings, or does that include flings?
[ That is nice to hear. Incredibly nice. He really does better when he's not looking at her, and probably while his hands are busy. Duly noted. ]
I'd never give you a reason to resist your feelings for anyone else. Especially not someone you have such a bond with. As long as you don't shut me out, I never will. [ It's that easy. And he's made her feel quite the opposite of neglected so far. ]
As far as not hurting me... don't put up walls between us. That's all it takes, for the big picture. And I'm quite good by now at asking for what I want and need, so you won't have to wonder about the small things.
[ She laughs a bit. ] You're fine. Flings with Kantera are okay -- meaning, anything where romantic feelings aren't involved is permissible -- I just can't really talk about it much. I mean, I can, obviously we are right now, but if my possessiveness is going to flare up anywhere, it'd be about him. If it happens to come up casually then that's okay, just...
I can banter about a lot, but not about him and someone else.
[ She sort of expects that Red Son will get this. He has a claiming instinct too, and you can't get more claimed than being married. ]
I could never shut you out. [A pause.] As a longterm thing. My grace when it comes to emotions is...at times erratic, but it would not be a shift in the relationship paradigm. Just...my not dealing with something well.
It would be a temporary state of being.
[Listen, his family didn't deal with grief well and frankly its good she's a bully because he'll need it sometimes.]
[There is a sigh of relief.] All right. I just wished to check. And I wouldn't ask you to barter about him. Obviously he is always yours. I just wanted clarity.
...as well as the...
Dragon Girl situation. Which may not even come to pass, I can hardly claim to know of her own interests. I would say it would be a ludicrous possibility, but considering her choice of friendships, her taste may genuinely be that bad.
Which is not disparaging at myself, but usually murder attempts is not a love language.
I know. You've been quite clear about that. [ She hasn't seen it, but she knows it's accurate. ] I've told you, I also have a temper. Less so now, but if I come around to being a hatchling again I'm quicker on the draw.
I've learned how to cope with such moments by the way I was handled, thankfully. [ She can be taught! With time and a dump truck of patience. Fortunately Red Son missed the tutorial stage and now he's attached so he might actually not be driven to the brink of sanity by her ridiculousness. ]
[ She laughs again. Wryly. ] You're talking to someone whose natural mates are her enemies. I understand wanting to worship someone and murder them at once all too well. And if my understanding of mortal relationships is anything resembling accurate then it seems fairly normal there, too.
And given how you've reacted to seeing me fight in the past... [ she's just saying, there's precedent. ]
[Admittedly, Saya gets to sidestep a majority of them by getting around his worries about living up to his status and what his parents would think by being a powerful vampire queen and not literal former mortal enemies. That goes a very long way.]
Noted. Though I can usually deal with tempers. [Well, from other people. Maybe it will be harder from Saya, always hard to say when he's Personally Invested.]
Admittedly, there are a great many love stories that start on the battlefield. My parents met on the battlefield, but after that battle, father grew very uninterested in the fight with mother in his view.
And violence is less commonplace these days. Mortals are much softer, even demons.
Killing people is treated more severely than it was even a century before.
Also you've never tried to kill me and strength is always attractive.
[ She'll take a Cheat Code now and then when it gets her what she wants. Thinking that his parents would approve of her honestly delights her, she hopes she gets to meet them as herself and not as a glowing chrysalis that represents more time stolen from their son. ]
There's a reason for that. Violence and attraction kick up many of the same hormones. There's a reason I prefer the blood of those who have been fighting or who I've gotten in a different sort of ruffled state.
--Speaking of strength and attraction. I might have found something of interest to you. A topical treatment that suppresses otherworldly abilities, temporarily. I wanted you to test it before we actually try it, but...
[ She got it from a customer of all things, but went to the shop herself and it's not counterfeit or anything. Just highly kink-specific. ]
If the store owner is to be believed, one could control how long marks stay on me. Spring powers would still work on them, and it wears off eventually, depending on how much you use.
[ If she's going under in 6 weeks or so, she wants him to have some memories of that time with her that aren't just work. ]
Glad to hear it.
Want me to run the thing by sometime so you can make sure it's safe? [ She'd offer to leave it on his doorstep or something but with his luck the monkeys will find it and ask questions and then the house will be a smoking crater. ]
I must admit, this is on the short list of things I want to do before my next test. It's been on my mind for days. Different sort of trouble sleeping than you're having. [ Maybe not so different at this point, though. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: Aug. 17th, 2023 07:54 pm (UTC)[There's definitely a crackle of fire when he huffs. The sound of clinking glass and rustling paper.]
(no subject)
Date: Aug. 17th, 2023 07:56 pm (UTC)He's doing his best to show care in the way he knows how. He's like a puppy. It's charming.
(no subject)
Date: Aug. 17th, 2023 08:00 pm (UTC)Even when we met, he couldn't focus for more than ten seconds. Who gets distracted from the person threatening to incinerate them?
Frankly, I don't know where he and the Dragon Girl get all that energy. I don't even need to sleep that much, but a day with them, and I was always out like a light.
(no subject)
Date: Aug. 17th, 2023 08:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: Aug. 17th, 2023 08:14 pm (UTC)They're tiring.
And yet its charming. Stupidly charming. It was ridiculous and infuriating. I knew they were a bad idea. I knew letting them in was only going to lead to pain, but then they kept insisting on how much of a help I was, how much they wanted me on their side, and then started throwing the word friend around like it was that easy.
Like there were no way we wouldn't be on opposite sides again. My entertaining them was on the edge of treachery, but they just made it easy and I kept responding when they reached out. Not everytime, but enough that they still kept trying.
It was getting to the point I felt I would have no choice, but to admit to my treachery to ask my parents for a century. They're mortal. They'd be dead and I'd have no conflict, I just-
I just needed to believe my parents would love me enough to put aside their ambitions and their anger at my weakness to grant me that.
[The rustling of the paper stops. A longer pause this time.]
But they were at the beach. According to the Noodle Boy. Its still hard to believe, but even if Noodle Boy can lie, I don't think he would lie to me about that.
(no subject)
Date: Aug. 17th, 2023 08:23 pm (UTC)[ She blatantly encouraged MK before, so it's not as though she has any doubt about where her feelings ultimately are. It's just as things always are, the dark and light of her clashing. ]
He's like me. We suck at lying, especially to people we care about. [ So no, not a lie. Red Son just has to stop being afraid of it and in disbelief about it and all the other things and accept it. Easy to say, perhaps not easy to do. ]
You've said this a few times. How knowing that changed things.
(no subject)
Date: Aug. 17th, 2023 08:33 pm (UTC)I just don't believe he would lie about something like this. I don't think he's so idiotic as to think such a lie wouldn't absolutely shatter my trust in him.
Whatever my reasons my parents had to be there at the beach, its enough to know I could have that century. Maybe longer if it turns out there is cause for them to live longer. As long as Wukong doesn't royally screw something up, its now a viable path. It means I don't need to hold them at a distance.
The heart ache will just be the limitations of their mortality. Still a pain, but a different pain from having to fight them.
And now thoughts I never entertained for what little guard I could keep around my heart have...started to bubble, as it were.
(no subject)
Date: Aug. 17th, 2023 08:40 pm (UTC)[ She doesn't love that reference to Wukong but she expects that bitterness. Red Son earned that bitterness. So she accepts it despite her personal feelings (feelings Red Son would despise, so he'll never hear them). ]
It's only natural. You have options you never had before. Don't try to fight it.
(no subject)
Date: Aug. 17th, 2023 08:48 pm (UTC)But I could hold back, at least. [He chuckles, a bit dryly.] Its how my emotions are. Its pointless to repress them entirely. So better to let them vent, a pressure valve so I could control how and when it shows itself. [Like how his fire will flare in his anger. Anger that made itself known, but never did anything he didn't want done.]
But now that the relationship doesn't have a time limit beyond mortality...
[There is a long pause.]
There is a Venn Diagram. With a rather large middle circle.
Of my feelings for you.
And my feelings for the Dragon Girl.
[Because of course he's not gonna talk about MK, he's not really to deal with THAT so directly.]
(no subject)
Date: Aug. 17th, 2023 08:53 pm (UTC)[ She's slightly dismayed when he moves to talking about charts, even if the stuff about Mei isn't at all unanticipated. Red Son ain't slick about these things, he's too new to them to be.
But this is how he explains the world to himself, and apparently explains himself to himself. So okay, a Venn Diagram. ]
Okay...
(no subject)
Date: Aug. 17th, 2023 09:03 pm (UTC)At least the possibilities.
If I can fall in love with you, and there are numerous intense and similar feelings for the Dragon Girl, if not for the same reasons, just the general....sensation of feelings, it stands to reason that, given time...
What if I did fall for her too?
And that is the tangentially related because...
Well, I know our boundaries when it comes to flings and the like, but honestly, I never really thought I would have a serious interest in someone else and what that means.
I know you have people you love that aren't me, but also just assuming that its the same for me feels like poor form.
(no subject)
Date: Aug. 17th, 2023 09:14 pm (UTC)If you fall for her too, then I'd support you. I'd be happy for you.
I have a good deal of experience with this. My instincts are what they are, but I manage them. [ "I'm possessive as hell but I've trained myself out of reacting most of the time". ]
What I want most is your happiness. I'd like to be part of that happiness, but I've never assumed I'd be the only piece of it. When I said I consider you an equal, I meant it in all ways. I love more than one person, and I'd never restrict you from that.
[ Royals get harems, them's the rules. If Mei (OR WHOEVER) tried to force Saya out of things there might be problems, but that's a bridge no one can possibly cross right now. If it happens, they'll deal with it. MK already said he wouldn't want Saya to give up what she and Red Son have, incidentally enough, so that's good to have in her back pocket. ]
I don't need to know about flings. [ In fact she almost prefers not to, but sometimes things crop up. ] More serious ones, I'd prefer to know when you do. And my husband is absolutely off limits for romantic entanglements -- not that it's a worry, he doesn't get involved with others in that way, that's not how our arrangement works. [ Bless him. ]
(no subject)
Date: Aug. 17th, 2023 09:27 pm (UTC)[His voice is soft. Genuine. Easier to say when he doesn't have to look at her, when his flustered embarrassment might make it hard when he's dealing with. Other feelings.]
But also with the rate people from home are showing up, and if the Dragon Girl showed up, and then she starts blindsiding me as she tends to do...
I didn't want to be in it before I could try to counter it.
If I have a reason to resist, I could, but it would have been harder to try after the fact and...
I didn't want to hurt you.
[A pause.]
Romantic entanglements are just romantic feelings, or does that include flings?
[WAS THERE]
[A MISCALCULATION THERE]
(no subject)
Date: Aug. 17th, 2023 09:41 pm (UTC)I'd never give you a reason to resist your feelings for anyone else. Especially not someone you have such a bond with. As long as you don't shut me out, I never will. [ It's that easy. And he's made her feel quite the opposite of neglected so far. ]
As far as not hurting me... don't put up walls between us. That's all it takes, for the big picture. And I'm quite good by now at asking for what I want and need, so you won't have to wonder about the small things.
[ She laughs a bit. ] You're fine. Flings with Kantera are okay -- meaning, anything where romantic feelings aren't involved is permissible -- I just can't really talk about it much. I mean, I can, obviously we are right now, but if my possessiveness is going to flare up anywhere, it'd be about him. If it happens to come up casually then that's okay, just...
I can banter about a lot, but not about him and someone else.
[ She sort of expects that Red Son will get this. He has a claiming instinct too, and you can't get more claimed than being married. ]
(no subject)
Date: Aug. 17th, 2023 10:23 pm (UTC)It would be a temporary state of being.
[Listen, his family didn't deal with grief well and frankly its good she's a bully because he'll need it sometimes.]
[There is a sigh of relief.] All right. I just wished to check. And I wouldn't ask you to barter about him. Obviously he is always yours. I just wanted clarity.
...as well as the...
Dragon Girl situation. Which may not even come to pass, I can hardly claim to know of her own interests. I would say it would be a ludicrous possibility, but considering her choice of friendships, her taste may genuinely be that bad.
Which is not disparaging at myself, but usually murder attempts is not a love language.
(no subject)
Date: Aug. 17th, 2023 10:31 pm (UTC)I've learned how to cope with such moments by the way I was handled, thankfully. [ She can be taught! With time and a dump truck of patience. Fortunately Red Son missed the tutorial stage and now he's attached so he might actually not be driven to the brink of sanity by her ridiculousness. ]
[ She laughs again. Wryly. ] You're talking to someone whose natural mates are her enemies. I understand wanting to worship someone and murder them at once all too well. And if my understanding of mortal relationships is anything resembling accurate then it seems fairly normal there, too.
And given how you've reacted to seeing me fight in the past... [ she's just saying, there's precedent. ]
(no subject)
Date: Aug. 17th, 2023 11:05 pm (UTC)Noted. Though I can usually deal with tempers. [Well, from other people. Maybe it will be harder from Saya, always hard to say when he's Personally Invested.]
Admittedly, there are a great many love stories that start on the battlefield. My parents met on the battlefield, but after that battle, father grew very uninterested in the fight with mother in his view.
And violence is less commonplace these days. Mortals are much softer, even demons.
Killing people is treated more severely than it was even a century before.
Also you've never tried to kill me and strength is always attractive.
(no subject)
Date: Aug. 17th, 2023 11:16 pm (UTC)There's a reason for that. Violence and attraction kick up many of the same hormones. There's a reason I prefer the blood of those who have been fighting or who I've gotten in a different sort of ruffled state.
--Speaking of strength and attraction. I might have found something of interest to you. A topical treatment that suppresses otherworldly abilities, temporarily. I wanted you to test it before we actually try it, but...
[ She got it from a customer of all things, but went to the shop herself and it's not counterfeit or anything. Just highly kink-specific. ]
If the store owner is to be believed, one could control how long marks stay on me. Spring powers would still work on them, and it wears off eventually, depending on how much you use.
[ Interested? ]
(no subject)
Date: Aug. 17th, 2023 11:23 pm (UTC)[Excuse him, there may a crash of breaking glass and sudden cursing.]
(no subject)
Date: Aug. 17th, 2023 11:25 pm (UTC)My, I hope that wasn't anything important.
(no subject)
Date: Aug. 17th, 2023 11:31 pm (UTC)I can-
Easily remake it.
It's fine! [Oh his voice definitely raised a few octaves.]
I-
Would be interested.
(no subject)
Date: Aug. 17th, 2023 11:35 pm (UTC)I was hoping so. It seems perfect. Since it sits on the skin, it can only cause superficial injuries, no risk of anything serious.
[ And since it's meant for kinky stuff it's not toxic, not that it matters since he burns her blood off and anything else would be gone too. ]
I figure if anything could get you to stop working and relax for a little while this might do the trick. For a given definition of "relax".
(no subject)
Date: Aug. 17th, 2023 11:47 pm (UTC)[Work important. But also.]
[BUT ALSO]
I could-
Definitely work that into my schedule.
For sure.
(no subject)
Date: Aug. 17th, 2023 11:54 pm (UTC)Glad to hear it.
Want me to run the thing by sometime so you can make sure it's safe? [ She'd offer to leave it on his doorstep or something but with his luck the monkeys will find it and ask questions and then the house will be a smoking crater. ]
I must admit, this is on the short list of things I want to do before my next test. It's been on my mind for days. Different sort of trouble sleeping than you're having. [ Maybe not so different at this point, though. ]
(no subject)
Date: Aug. 18th, 2023 12:05 am (UTC)I-yes. I should also test how potent it is. Wouldn't want for it to put out the fire in my mouth. I can test with a blood bag.
[A definite fwoosh.] Yeah, I-I would like to use it before the next test.
[It may not make her hibernate, BUT IT MIGHT, and then it could be a long while until he figures things out.]
[It's a memory he'd like himself, just in case.]
(no subject)
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