08-21-2025, 03:58 PM
Oriena’s thoughts were a quiet stream, pleasantly slow, and hazy in the same way she usually found with drugs and alcohol. It was the best way to force herself to think about the things she didn’t want to think about, when the bite and sting of truth was diluted and it was more like looking in on someone else’s life. Undisturbed, she might have allowed herself to fall asleep once the contemplations ran their course. The warmth of release faded, and the ache of exhaustion pulled her down in its place. Nox was surprisingly quiet. There was no lingering affection, and aside from the fact they shared the same bed, she wasn’t laying close. She didn’t crave any more than what they had given each other already, and what was left was just a comfortable presence.
In the past she was largely absent from his post coital routines, either literally because she left, or because she paid little attention afterwards to what he did or didn’t do. One hunger always bled fast into another, and he had other itches to scratch in order to keep the horde subdued. She was just one outlet. And not that she’d given it any prior thought, but it didn’t occur to her that this time would be different. That now the only monster he might want to keep subdued was her.
The moment he opened his mouth she was aware he was beginning his usual tiptoe around her, navigating her reactions like a ship over hidden rocks, but today it wasn’t a game worth playing and she didn’t bother to remark on it. Whatever her response she knew it would draw nothing from him, so if she was in the mood for being alone she would have just left. She shifted, suppressing the wince that for once had nothing to do with their ministrations, and pillowed her head under her arms.
“Sure,” she said, not bothering to qualify which of his offers she was taking up beyond the slyest twitch of a smirk. Her eyes were still half lidded, though she was looking at him, not sleeping. Ironically, she might have actually listened had he talked. For a while anyway; she didn’t have a great deal of patience for other people’s problems, and Nox’s were usually the emotional sort.
In the past she was largely absent from his post coital routines, either literally because she left, or because she paid little attention afterwards to what he did or didn’t do. One hunger always bled fast into another, and he had other itches to scratch in order to keep the horde subdued. She was just one outlet. And not that she’d given it any prior thought, but it didn’t occur to her that this time would be different. That now the only monster he might want to keep subdued was her.
The moment he opened his mouth she was aware he was beginning his usual tiptoe around her, navigating her reactions like a ship over hidden rocks, but today it wasn’t a game worth playing and she didn’t bother to remark on it. Whatever her response she knew it would draw nothing from him, so if she was in the mood for being alone she would have just left. She shifted, suppressing the wince that for once had nothing to do with their ministrations, and pillowed her head under her arms.
“Sure,” she said, not bothering to qualify which of his offers she was taking up beyond the slyest twitch of a smirk. Her eyes were still half lidded, though she was looking at him, not sleeping. Ironically, she might have actually listened had he talked. For a while anyway; she didn’t have a great deal of patience for other people’s problems, and Nox’s were usually the emotional sort.
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