Warm in your bed, my dear [Ark/Jessan][FIN]

[nozomi]

Machi would not die. That, in itself, came as the major relief to Jessan. She came to Warden's in order to free her brother - all other fancies had to wait, come after she made sure that her poor brother would live; the poor thing had half of his face scratched up, one eye utterly ruined, and the dears nose would probably never be the same. His pretty features had been destroyed (at least as far as Jessan considered).

So extensive were the injuries and so worried the Mindhealer that Jessan barely caught more than a glimpse or two of Arkady or any of the others she knew those first few days. On the third night, Machi cared for and asleep in their own small carved out niche, Jessan went to find Arkady.

Oh, Arkady. Ark, Ark, Ark, Jessan's little pet, her favorite. Being a sociopath would have been so much easier but, alas. She had to have a soul. Souls meant that she had to take care of relatives, then friends - or whatever it was the machete wielding crazy man counted as. Machi slept, and Jessan went to Arkady, slipping through the tunnels and into what cave she believed to be his... and how lucky! She was right!

Maybe. Jessan didn't go inside once she reached that entrance, the night and exhaustion settled on her shoulder in the same manner of a wet blanket. She felt it in her bones, and Jessan disliked that.

"Arkady." Jess cleared her throat in as delicate a manner as she could, a small basket of 'glows at her hip. Whoever raided a sharding storeroom and took with them glows would be met with hugs and kisses from a pleased Mindhealer. "If you're asleep, wake up."

[tuathade]

He had a cave now. It was a reasonably nice cave. Arkady had selected one of the smaller ones – nice smooth walls and floor, more-or-less devoid of disconcerting dripping – but not large enough for two or more people to want to gang up on him to claim it. And thus far no one had been stupid enough to take on Arkady on their lonesome. Not when he still wore his bloodstained prison jumpsuit and carried the machete everywhere.

First impressions were important.

He’d had little time to grab anything in the way of supplies. The Harper had been too busy providing a distraction, in the form of letting the detoxing prisoners free of their bonds – and killing a guard or two, okay there was that as well. Arkady had just made it to the runners in time as it was, and had little with him save the clothes on his back and that fantastic blade Jessan had given him. Still, it wasn’t the first time he’d had to survive. When he was on the run from the Watch, he hadn’t always had the luxury of sleeping in a Hold. He’d slept in worse places than the floor of a cave, supplemented with what grasses and leaves he could pile into a makeshift sleeping spot. (Nesting like a wherry. What had he come to?) At least the climate in the cave was more-or-less tolerable in temperature, and more-or-less dry. Later on, he’d have to get some people organized, try to get food gathering expeditions together. Nothing like a Harper to motivate a group of people. And nothing like a psychotic murderer to keep them motivated, right?

He hadn’t seen Jessan, though. Oh, he suspected why. She was probably looking after the other psychopath, the one who needed her more. Couldn’t exactly miss the bloody wreck that was Machi’s face. That was the price he paid for taking the Warden down… Impressive work, nonetheless. In the privacy of his head, Arkady quietly sorted both Machi and the rogue goldhandler who’d come with them into the same category – ‘do not piss off unless absolutely necessary.’

He was not precisely asleep when she came to the entrance of his cave. Arkady was drifting in and out of a restless half-doze, the proverbial one-eye-open of a man still half-expecting to have his throat slit in his sleep. The light of the glows was enough to wake him, and for a moment he was a coiled shape ready to strike… Then Jessan spoke, and the brilliant smile came back, and he was up on his feet and closing the distance between them. “Jessan,” he lilted fondly, and if he sounded bone-tired it was buried well under a layer of affection. “It’s good to see you. I missed you.”

[nozomi]

Faranath forbid she attempt to take his cave. Jessan roomed with her brother, at least until he got back onto his feet with it all. Theirs had little of Arkady's, er, charm to it, lacking the blood-splattered uniform and the machete. They had Machi's knife and Warden's dagger, a few bits of clothing for bedding, and quite contented at that. But no machete, sadly enough.

She smiled back, slow and probably genuine. One hand remained on the small basket, the low light casting even more severe shadows on Arkady's face. Or in general, not that the jumpsuit gave much leeway on that. "Sorry for not being around a bit sooner. Eyes getting gouged out, noses being broken. I'm sure you know how it is."

To lean? Not to lean? Jessan settled for fingertips against the curve of his cheek before finding a random abrasion on his pretty face. Each touch had a gentleness to it, dark eyes ghosting over the random bumps and bruises along the visible parts of the young man. Her hand flattened, fingers and palm sliding over Arkady's throat and curling on the back of his neck. That soft, small smile remained anyway, and she looked back to Arkady's eyes.

"You look as if you survived without any major damage, Arkady. Did you truly, or are you hiding something more serious?" A single eyebrow arched, and the corner of her mouth curled upward in an echo of the twitch. "... Poor Arkady, you haven't slept much at all, have you? Still on edge? I just come bearing glows, dear. I promise."

She'd missed him. The stupid bright smile, how there was that edge of not quite right to him, how he always seemed a bit too... Too Arkady to her. Jessan enjoyed that. So she moved in closer, and those fingers flexed lightly. Her fingers kneaded at the back of Arkady's neck, her head tilted to the side.

Outside of the Flightlust, who knew how the man would react. She touched him anyway. because she wanted to. Silly Arkady.

[tuathade]

The smile faded somewhat – it did not vanish, but it turned from a toothy grin into a tired, absent upward curve of the mouth. He was happy to see her, but the frenetic adrenaline-fueled intensity he’d had during the escape could not be sustained forever. Even Arkady had his quieter moments. “So I heard. Is he going to be all right?” His voice was laced with just a subtle note of concern; Arkady didn’t really care about Machi, but Jessan did (for reasons of her own that he didn’t care to speculate on) and Arkady cared about Jessan, so Machi got a sort of cursory secondhand attention. That, and it was always useful to know whether the other dangerous folks were in fighting shape.

Shards, though, it was nice to have her hands on him – that gentle touch, not the same as the Flightlust from before but still Jessan, still full of soft inviting warmth. He closed his eyes and leaned into the caress just slightly, letting himself relax under the slight pressure of her kneading fingers. When was the last time anyone had… well, no matter the ending of that sentence, the answer was too long.

He slid his arms around her waist, pulling her in towards him, and let his head bow forward slightly; his voice when he spoke was a barely audible murmur, lips so close to the skin of her neck that any closer and they would touch her. “Even if I were hiding it, love, you’d never know… I have to be careful here. They don’t know me yet. You should be careful too.”

Never mind that any ungrateful fool who laid a finger on the Mindhealer would be torn to ribbons. Better to prevent any damage from being done in the first place.

[nozomi]

Arkady leaned into her touch, appeared to soak up the affection like a dried sponge in a bowl of water. Jessan fanned her fingers out to spread the feeling, and even made sure to not scrape her nails against his skin. Teeth on lips while in the midst of flightlust could not be further from nails on the neck when paranoid killer had a machete if one even tried. So she stroked, with just the smallest brush of the pads of her fingertips.

"You need to sleep at some point." She squeezed, affectionate, and then he had to go and ask about Machi. Jessan chortled then, lips curling into that quiet soft smile of hers. "Yes, yes. My darling baby brother isn't going to be pretty anymore, but he'll be alive. Lost an eye, part of his cheek, broke a nose and an arm, probably, but." Jessan shrugged. "Being tough runs in the family, I think."

Much as she had allowed Jiruyno to pull her in during the brief few moments in the prison, Jessan let Arkady wrap himself around her, tighten his grip to send her in closer. Both of her arms went up and looped over his shoulders. Her hands flattened, both of them rubbing against Arkady and his not-quite-bald head. A tilt of her head and it meant her cheek against his, eyes closing when Arkady continued to talk.

The words took their time sinking in, Jessan leaning into the embrace. He had the machete on him somewhere, she'd seen it when she came into the room, but nevermind that. Never mind the basket of glows she just realized hand tumbled to the floor, protected in their basket and the binding that kept them there. This was comfortable, shardit. "Mm?" she hummed, oh so articulate, and tightened her grip when she finally figured out he was trying to warn her against other people. Silly Arkady.

"I'm not hurt at all. They know him, if nothing else. And they'll know you too." Another shift in the angle of her head had the Mindhealers lips brushing against Arkady's ear, voice an answering thrumming murmur. "Tell me if you're badly hurt, darling. No one else will know about it, and I can help." A squeeze of her arms and, surprising even herself, a quiet chuckle. "I say that as Jessan. Not your Mindhealer."

[tuathade]

Baby brother?

Well. That was interesting.

You were probably supposed to frown sympathetically when other people talked about the horrible disfiguring facial injuries their family members had received. Intrigued smiles were probably not the appropriate facial expression. Oops. Maybe, tangled in an embrace as they were, she wouldn’t notice before he wiped away the look and replaced it with a more suitable one. Still… Before, well, he’d just sort of figured she had some kind of inexplicable Mindhealer fetish for murderers – either that, or she was one of those girls who enjoyed feeling like she had a vicious dog on a leash to set on people at will. This new information changed things.

The machete had been left behind when Arkady saw it was Jessan. It lay with the rest of his meager supplies where he’d been dozing. Then the basket of glows tumbled from her grasp as well, and everyone’s hands were free for more important things. Maybe he was as easily led as a canine, to trust her so readily. Maybe one day it would be him lying in the caves, one-eyed and bloodied, and she wouldn’t come. But that didn’t really have any bearing on the very enticing woman in his arms right now, did it. A hand roamed lightly over her back – gentlemanly, of course. No one ever caught anything of value by rushing. The other arm stayed loosely wrapped around her waist, a snare not yet pulled taut.

“I can sleep when I’m dead,” he chuckled fondly. “And… I’m all right. Honestly. Ran into a bit of scuffle with a guard with a sword, but I gave better than I got. Nothing that won’t mend cleanly.” Sharding woman with the sharding sword. He’d gotten off very lucky, though, and she… hadn’t. His meandering hand lifted to brush a few strands of hair back behind her ear, and he pressed a swift kiss to her temple. “Your concern is flattering, though.”

[nozomi]

"Ahh. Well, don't go dying anytime soon. I find myself rather fond of you." Jessan's lips curved into a grin of her own, fingertips dragging up over the curve of his scalp. Oh, and he had started to pet her back, all gentle fingers and warmth. Jessan leaned into him more, quite willing to put her weight onto Arkady and trusting his ability to hold her up. Arkady even got himself a pleased little sigh from the Mindhealer.

Warm lips on her temple, sending a quiet shiver through her. Trusting a man like Arkady, spider-webbed shattered and psychotic in his glee, wielding a machete and caked in blood... Trusting a man like Arkady would probably not be her smartest idea in the world. She half expected to have her throat slit in the middle of - activities - or ending up like Arkady's Lord Holders daughter one day. He was dangerous, likely more unstable then she guessed, and startlingly good at hiding his tendencies when he wanted to. Being used for a tumble or two and then being dropped like a rotten flit egg, she knew it as another possibility, that a Harper's talented hands and pretty tongue were often used for such wooing.

That was okay. Jessan hummed a soft tune when he stroked and talked, uncaring at the fact she was related to a man as dangerous as himself or that she happened to be the one that unleashed him, just as responsible for the deaths of the breakout as any other.

"I'm sure you often give better then you get." Jessan laughed, soft and low. Arkady started it up first, his lips met skin before hers did and so that meant the game was on. She twisted in his arms, just enough to tilt her head to the side and kiss the former prisoner. He sealed his fate as the object of her interest in the prison cell during that Flight, the poor man. She rocked closer, one hand curled around an ear as if to keep him closer to her. Then, a murmur against him: "I'm taking horrid advantage of you, aren't I?"

[tuathade]

Oh Jessan. Gorgeous, interesting, inexplicable Jessan, who got herself tangled up with criminals by design rather than by accident. A wolf in sheep’s clothing, perilous enough to hold Arkady’s interest, but safe enough that he could trust her. He would never let any of the other outlaws this close; oh, he’d use whatever words would get him the result he wanted, but not this physically close. Too much risk of a knife in the back. Not with Jessan, though.

He returned the kiss with interest. This wasn’t like the brief kiss they’d shared during the breakout, addled by the Opal’s rising influence… Not in the slightest. That had been hurried and distracted, desire warring against the urgency of the situation and muddled by outside influences. This was entirely deliberate, entirely unhurried, and Arkady intended to enjoy it. The hand that had brushed lightly against the side of her face now tangled in her hair, keeping her close, and the arm around her waist tightened as she leaned into him. Never letting go, he neatly maneuvered himself so he could lean back against the nearest cave wall even as she leaned her weight into him; an interesting position, for him to be the one pinned rather than the one doing the pinning. Who laid the trap, and who was the prey ensnared?

She broke away from him briefly to speak, and he let his lips trail down her throat to her collarbone. “Horrid advantage, yes,” he sighed against her, though the tone was all playful flirtation. “But I don’t mind. I am at your mercy, Jessan – by all means, use me.”

[nozomi]

His arm pulled down and Ark curled hands in her hair in a manner that felt just lovely. With Arkady leaning against the wall, Jessan leaned to her hearts content, entire weight on him and the cave. The last person who had a body part on her neck ended up dead with Machi's full rage behind the attack, and a small part of her said that the same could probably be very wise in this case. Run like no one ever had before when his lips touch skin, throat, the softly pounding vein. She had her tricks and ways to get what it was she wanted, but generally people did not go near to the softer parts of Jessan's body where they could do any actual damage.

Instead of fretting about the very dangerous man with his mouth to her collarbone, she cocked her head to the side. "You poor, dear man. Your mindhealer is using her authority or something that insinuates I have more power here then you do." Jessan chuckled, shifting her weight so she could wrap both arms around his waist. Fingers curled into the cloth of his prison uniform, the ugly red harsh against the wall of the cave.

The glows were far off, somewhere. The distance kept the blood and red from being too disturbing, if either of them cared at all. She sure as hell didn't. Jessan tucked her chin in to murmur against his ear. "The lack of a door is disappointing in more ways then one, alas." She walked one hand up his side, long fingers creeping up along cloth and whatever dried blood it came up against. Jessan dotted a kiss to his ear, her hips tilted closer against him. "Now. On a scale of one to ten, how upset would you be if I covered up those glows right there? Maybe then, Arkady, you'll be able to sleep." Jessan smiled, and hugged him, actually hugged with her body still leaning in close.

"I promise I can keep a good watch. Wouldn't let anyone hurt you."

[And this is where we fade to black, sprogglets.]