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strangetrip2018-10-11 08:15 pm
st_ingofthehundred) wrote in strangetrip2018-10-11 08:15 pm
Entry tags:
[ Log ] Recovery: Kash x Zahra
After the rescue, Kash and Zahra take a few days off for Zahra to recover.
When: March
Warning: trauma, NSFWish toward the end
Zahra held it in until they were in their room. She had looked more or less poised and together despite her current state. But when the door to their room closed, she couldn't seem to breathe. A hand went to her belly and her other hand reached out to steady herself on a wall. She closed her eyes and tried to fight the urge to cry and run and scream all at the same time.
Every step of the trip back to the Inn, he'd watched her. There'd been nothing remotely subtle about it either. He rested a hand at her lower back to support her, but otherwise kept clear of her moving limbs so not to make her feel trapped. With someone else, he might not have known, but with Z, what to do had been clear--up until now. He placed a hand lightly on her upper arm. "Talk to me. Are you hurting still?"
She opened her eyes and looked around the room, feeling as if it were hard to breathe. "...I don't think I can stay here. Not right now." And yet she also desperately wanted a shower and a change of clothes...
As soon as she said it, Kash understood it. "We'll camp." Just the two of them, like they did when they were hunting. "Space to breathe." Hand on her lower back, he steered her gently to the bath. "I can stay with you while you bathe, if you want not to feel alone, or I can pack so you don't feel like you're a bug under glass, but you'll feel better if you wash that place off you."
"I'll shower, you pack." Zahra just needed to see an expanse in front of her for a while. She pushed through the bathroom door and left the door open, moving to the shower and undressing, which wasn't exactly hard considering a lot of her clothing was half off anyways.
The shower wasn't long, but it was thorough. Had she not red skin, she would perhaps have scrubbed to hard in some areas, but her skin tone helped cover any of that up. Soon, she emerged, naked, and moved with purpose to her clothing, opting for her armour that had been cleaned and repaired, but had sat idle for so long since she arrived. She also reached for her staff.
Kash had anticipated she'd want her armor and had slipped on after he'd packed. There wasn't much to pack, so it happened quickly and Kash was glad to see her moving with a purpose. It wouldn't hurt for them to find something to kill, but the desert didn't supply anything worth fighting very often. Maybe they'd get lucky, but just being outside would help. "Just got to roll up blankets and pillows and I'm ready to go." He'd Send to Lillith and let her know the situation so she could let the others know.
"I should have listened to you, my love. I'm sorry." She meant because she had pushed for the adventure when Kash had been the one to see through the bellhop's ruse.
"Don't you dare apologize to me for some assholes putting you in a cage. Don't you dare," Kash growled, his own temper finally slipping his control. "Maybe in a week I'll want to wring your neck for being stubborn and brave and fierce and beautiful, but I promised you no one would ever cage you again. The only ones who need to be apologizing here are them, and me." His mismatched eyes were at once red-rimmed and fierce as hell. "I'm sorry, Z. I should've..."
His fists clenched and all his careful blanket-rolling went to nothing. He struck out blindly at the bedpost, and the rage became a ragged whisper with the impact of his fists. "I'm sorry I wasn't there when you needed me most."
Zahra closed the distance between them quickly and she reached out to cup his chin, to draw his gaze to her gently. To help focus him with her pupil-less, but somehow just as warm gaze. "You gave me my freedom more times than I can ask. You got me out from that place, though the odds were stacked against us. There is no fault in your actions, love of my life."
"Yeah, well it doesn't feel that way," he snapped and snarled as ineffectually as a muzzled bear, and then just reached out to put his arms around her and draw her against him. He didn't hold her tightly, making his arms more of a loose loop than a cage, one she could easily break free from.
Kash's arms were, perhaps, the one place she didn't feel like she was ever caged. The warmth he seemed to exude brought her a feeling of peace she couldn't quite feel anywhere else. "If you feel the need to make it up to me... then let's find a way for that to happen, shall we?" Zahra didn't know how that could happen, but she'd give the love of her life some closure if he needed it.
Since she settled against him, he held her a little tighter. Because underneath the raging fury was the pure, black terror of ever losing her again. "Yeah, we'll do that, baby. Not here, though. Let's get out of here." He found he, too, needed to be somewhere that was not this room, this Inn, surrounded by people, even those people that mattered. They needed to alone, just the two of them.
* * *
They hadn't consciously picked a direction when they set out, at least, Kash hadn't been aware of doing it. But they rather quickly came upon a large cage that had belonged to some animal or other during the Madonna Inn's history. Inside the cage, a small deer herd had arranged themselves in a sleeping semi-circle of shade beneath the roof. From the fact half of the bunch grazed outside the cage and those that were inside slept because they had nothing to eat, it became, quickly, obvious that the herd had wandered in on their own and only then somehow become split apart and caged.
"Z, your fingers itching to do what mine fingers are itching to do?" he asked as they drew near enough to see the sharp blades of pronounced ribs pressing against hunger-thinned deer skins.
Her expression was somewhat grim at the sight before them. Her eyes moved the whole length of the cage. "The whole thing needs to be destroyed." Releasing them was one thing, but Zahra didn't want other animals to get trapped either.
Kash knew the cage would be right back here again tomorrow, but it would do Z good to have somewhere to vent her frustration. It might even be good for them to destroy it again on their way back around. And checking on it after that might help her feel... more in control. "How do you want to do this?"
"I figure we let the deer out first. Perhaps I can speak with them if they seem reluctant. And then I say we destroy the fence like we would some creature for the Take." Eldritch blast all the way. Zahra felt the need to blow some things up.
Kash looked at the animals and wondered if they were too dehydrated to survive. They'd need to eat, but there was grass not more than five steps out of the cage. "They look weak. You're going to have to convince them to get to their feet or we'll end up carrying them out." He lifted a hand to stroke her cheek. "Use your best mom voice, and I'll see about creating some water for them."
She moved closer to the animals and cast 'Speak with animals' so that she may talk with them. She crouched, to make herself look less of a threat, and spoke with them softly, but sternly. "You need to leave this place if you wish to survive. Follow me. Just beyond the gate there is food and water and you can rest safely, I guarantee it." She said a few more things, mostly to the older ones about the younger ones in the herd and then she waited. There was a moment when she wondered if the animals were going to do anything, but then one of the older ones struggled, but managed to climb to its weak, unstable feet. Many of the others began to do the same, though there appeared to be a least one younger deer who was to weak to do so.
By the time Kash had finished his spell, most of the deer had made their way out of the cage. A fawn, quite a bit younger than the rest, kept trying to stand, but couldn't. "Give me a second and I'll grab the little one." Under normal circumstances, Z could probably lift the little one, but not pregnant, and especially not after what she'd been through. So he ducked into the cage before she could protest and said, "Tell it I'm not going to hurt it."
Zahra relayed the message which seemed, at least to some degree, help the small animal calm down. And while Kash did what he did, she couldn't help but watch fondly. For a man so concerned about how he would handle a child, he did so well with animals and that was telling enough for her.
Kash lifted the fawn and while he carried her, he cast a Healing Word on her. Without it, she'd never make it back to her feet. But even so, he set her down by the water he'd put in the old trough so that she wouldn't have to go far to get it. Then he jogged back to Z. "Let's light this thing up."
It took a moment for her to let the swelling of pride and love she felt while watching Kash dissipate before she could bring her attention to the inanimate object that was the symbol for so many things right now. Somewhere deep inside Zahra knew this wasn't going to solve anything, but its destruction, she knew, would be deeply satisfying.
Staff in-hand, Zahra took a step back and spoke the incantation for Eldritch Blast. Part of the fence blew up with spectacular force.
When the blast went off, Kash shot Z a bright grin. She was never sexier than when she was destroying things that deserved it. "Damn, you're hot, baby," he told her before he aimed a bolt of Sacred Flame at the cage, lit it up, and brought the roof down with a satisfying crash.
She mmms at his words, though as she watched him create destruction again and she felt the similar pride and attraction swell up in her. There was no question as to why they both often ended up in bed after a big fight. Zahra flashed Kash a wicked grin. "You're not too shabby yourself." She just wished, perhaps, there was more to fight, but this was satisfying enough.
* * *
Out of an instinct to give Z the broadest skyline, Kash led her toward the ocean. Together, they made camp and, after a dinner of roasted fish, rice, and beans, they relaxed (as much as Z could) by a steady fire that kept back the night. Kash dug into his pack for a bag of pastries he'd grabbed on their way out of the Inn. "Fruit tart or eclair?" he offered when he came up with them. As far as he was concerned she could have both twice over, but even with pastries (and hard conversations) you had to start somewhere.
"Eclair." The choice was made almost instantly. She took the eclair and bit into it, giving Kash a bit of a sultry look as she licked the access cream from her lips. She couldn't quite help it and it was natural for her to distract with how attracted she was to him than deal with things occasionally.
"I definitely prefer this over a floating metal box in space."
"I've got something else you'd prefer," he muttered, watching her very clearly playing with him. Yeah, they shagged after battles and almost dying, but she'd been in a cage and that was different.
...okay maybe not that different. "Let me know when you're done fellating that eclair."
"My love, are you jealous of a pastry?" There was a hint of amusement in her voice - the first time since he found her. The sound was almost foreign to her and she momentarily looked surprised as how easily it had come out as a retort to his comment. Perhaps it was one of the best signs how good they were together. Kash healed, even without his powers.
"No." He gave her a meaningful look, one that said don't try me, wench but meant something more like no, I just need to claim you back. Or something. It might've been No, I'm just turned on, too. But he'd settle for no. "I'm just not used to sharing you with it after a battle."
Zahra's lips pressed into a small smile and she put the half eaten pastry back into the small package Kash had brought it in. She closed the distance between them, her pupilless white eyes fond on him. "I wouldn't want you to feel as though you had to share, love." She brought her hand up lightly to caress Kash's jaw.
"Fuck what I feel," he growled as he put his arm around her and drew her closer until their bodies pressed together. "I wouldn't share. I don't. Not you. Not with anyone. Not ever." At least not like this. He'd share her with their friends and their children and her cousin in other ways, but not sexually. He couldn't. And why was he even thinking about this right now?
The thought hit him in the solar plexus and right between the eyes. "Z, baby..." He looked into her eyes and caught her hand. "Are you okay? They didn't touch you did they?"
The question cause her to pause and her body to innately tense from memories long past. She took a moment before she responded, inhaling softly and then swallowing to collect herself. "Thankfully they only seemed interested in me as a fighter." While they had beat her in an attempt at submission, no one had attempted anything else which she had been eternally grateful for.
With her free hand, she reached up to cup his jaw. "Still and forever only yours, my love."
Kash let out a breath and pressed his lips to her temple. "Wasn't worried for me, and it wouldn't have changed anything except how painfully they died," he told her, because he needed her to know that nothing and no one could ever make her less his or him less hers. "I was, am, worried for you. I didn't want to assume sex was what you need, just because it's how we usually are, and I didn't want you to pretend it was okay if you weren't."
"I'm comfortable enough with you never to feel like I have to pretend with something like that." Zahra was confident that Kash would understand if she needed to stop or wasn't interested. She knew what kind of man he was. As if to assure him further of her confidence in him, her tail tucked around his back lovingly in a gentle hug.
"Because I tell you it's okay not to be okay," he observed, but instead of continuing the conversation, tipped his mouth to hers and kissed her soundly. It began gently, just a sharing of love, but it wasn't long before his tongue sought entrance to her mouth, heedless of her fangs. He'd almost lost her again, and this was always how they dealt with that.
When Kash deepened the kiss, it was her tail that responded after her tongue met his. It found its way around his torso and tugged him gently towards her as she pressed closer. Even after everything she had just gone through, this was what she needed, and that it was out in the wilderness was even better. Here, with Kash, doing what came natural and freely to them - that was the ultimate way to feel free. Kash knew how to make her whole again, knew how to free her in ways she hadn't known she had still be captive until they had met.
Zahra's hands smoothed over his shoulders and down his chest. He had too much clothes of. Her hands pulled against the fabric of his shirt as she kissed him again, more hungrily.
When: March
Warning: trauma, NSFWish toward the end
Zahra held it in until they were in their room. She had looked more or less poised and together despite her current state. But when the door to their room closed, she couldn't seem to breathe. A hand went to her belly and her other hand reached out to steady herself on a wall. She closed her eyes and tried to fight the urge to cry and run and scream all at the same time.
Every step of the trip back to the Inn, he'd watched her. There'd been nothing remotely subtle about it either. He rested a hand at her lower back to support her, but otherwise kept clear of her moving limbs so not to make her feel trapped. With someone else, he might not have known, but with Z, what to do had been clear--up until now. He placed a hand lightly on her upper arm. "Talk to me. Are you hurting still?"
She opened her eyes and looked around the room, feeling as if it were hard to breathe. "...I don't think I can stay here. Not right now." And yet she also desperately wanted a shower and a change of clothes...
As soon as she said it, Kash understood it. "We'll camp." Just the two of them, like they did when they were hunting. "Space to breathe." Hand on her lower back, he steered her gently to the bath. "I can stay with you while you bathe, if you want not to feel alone, or I can pack so you don't feel like you're a bug under glass, but you'll feel better if you wash that place off you."
"I'll shower, you pack." Zahra just needed to see an expanse in front of her for a while. She pushed through the bathroom door and left the door open, moving to the shower and undressing, which wasn't exactly hard considering a lot of her clothing was half off anyways.
The shower wasn't long, but it was thorough. Had she not red skin, she would perhaps have scrubbed to hard in some areas, but her skin tone helped cover any of that up. Soon, she emerged, naked, and moved with purpose to her clothing, opting for her armour that had been cleaned and repaired, but had sat idle for so long since she arrived. She also reached for her staff.
Kash had anticipated she'd want her armor and had slipped on after he'd packed. There wasn't much to pack, so it happened quickly and Kash was glad to see her moving with a purpose. It wouldn't hurt for them to find something to kill, but the desert didn't supply anything worth fighting very often. Maybe they'd get lucky, but just being outside would help. "Just got to roll up blankets and pillows and I'm ready to go." He'd Send to Lillith and let her know the situation so she could let the others know.
"I should have listened to you, my love. I'm sorry." She meant because she had pushed for the adventure when Kash had been the one to see through the bellhop's ruse.
"Don't you dare apologize to me for some assholes putting you in a cage. Don't you dare," Kash growled, his own temper finally slipping his control. "Maybe in a week I'll want to wring your neck for being stubborn and brave and fierce and beautiful, but I promised you no one would ever cage you again. The only ones who need to be apologizing here are them, and me." His mismatched eyes were at once red-rimmed and fierce as hell. "I'm sorry, Z. I should've..."
His fists clenched and all his careful blanket-rolling went to nothing. He struck out blindly at the bedpost, and the rage became a ragged whisper with the impact of his fists. "I'm sorry I wasn't there when you needed me most."
Zahra closed the distance between them quickly and she reached out to cup his chin, to draw his gaze to her gently. To help focus him with her pupil-less, but somehow just as warm gaze. "You gave me my freedom more times than I can ask. You got me out from that place, though the odds were stacked against us. There is no fault in your actions, love of my life."
"Yeah, well it doesn't feel that way," he snapped and snarled as ineffectually as a muzzled bear, and then just reached out to put his arms around her and draw her against him. He didn't hold her tightly, making his arms more of a loose loop than a cage, one she could easily break free from.
Kash's arms were, perhaps, the one place she didn't feel like she was ever caged. The warmth he seemed to exude brought her a feeling of peace she couldn't quite feel anywhere else. "If you feel the need to make it up to me... then let's find a way for that to happen, shall we?" Zahra didn't know how that could happen, but she'd give the love of her life some closure if he needed it.
Since she settled against him, he held her a little tighter. Because underneath the raging fury was the pure, black terror of ever losing her again. "Yeah, we'll do that, baby. Not here, though. Let's get out of here." He found he, too, needed to be somewhere that was not this room, this Inn, surrounded by people, even those people that mattered. They needed to alone, just the two of them.
* * *
They hadn't consciously picked a direction when they set out, at least, Kash hadn't been aware of doing it. But they rather quickly came upon a large cage that had belonged to some animal or other during the Madonna Inn's history. Inside the cage, a small deer herd had arranged themselves in a sleeping semi-circle of shade beneath the roof. From the fact half of the bunch grazed outside the cage and those that were inside slept because they had nothing to eat, it became, quickly, obvious that the herd had wandered in on their own and only then somehow become split apart and caged.
"Z, your fingers itching to do what mine fingers are itching to do?" he asked as they drew near enough to see the sharp blades of pronounced ribs pressing against hunger-thinned deer skins.
Her expression was somewhat grim at the sight before them. Her eyes moved the whole length of the cage. "The whole thing needs to be destroyed." Releasing them was one thing, but Zahra didn't want other animals to get trapped either.
Kash knew the cage would be right back here again tomorrow, but it would do Z good to have somewhere to vent her frustration. It might even be good for them to destroy it again on their way back around. And checking on it after that might help her feel... more in control. "How do you want to do this?"
"I figure we let the deer out first. Perhaps I can speak with them if they seem reluctant. And then I say we destroy the fence like we would some creature for the Take." Eldritch blast all the way. Zahra felt the need to blow some things up.
Kash looked at the animals and wondered if they were too dehydrated to survive. They'd need to eat, but there was grass not more than five steps out of the cage. "They look weak. You're going to have to convince them to get to their feet or we'll end up carrying them out." He lifted a hand to stroke her cheek. "Use your best mom voice, and I'll see about creating some water for them."
She moved closer to the animals and cast 'Speak with animals' so that she may talk with them. She crouched, to make herself look less of a threat, and spoke with them softly, but sternly. "You need to leave this place if you wish to survive. Follow me. Just beyond the gate there is food and water and you can rest safely, I guarantee it." She said a few more things, mostly to the older ones about the younger ones in the herd and then she waited. There was a moment when she wondered if the animals were going to do anything, but then one of the older ones struggled, but managed to climb to its weak, unstable feet. Many of the others began to do the same, though there appeared to be a least one younger deer who was to weak to do so.
By the time Kash had finished his spell, most of the deer had made their way out of the cage. A fawn, quite a bit younger than the rest, kept trying to stand, but couldn't. "Give me a second and I'll grab the little one." Under normal circumstances, Z could probably lift the little one, but not pregnant, and especially not after what she'd been through. So he ducked into the cage before she could protest and said, "Tell it I'm not going to hurt it."
Zahra relayed the message which seemed, at least to some degree, help the small animal calm down. And while Kash did what he did, she couldn't help but watch fondly. For a man so concerned about how he would handle a child, he did so well with animals and that was telling enough for her.
Kash lifted the fawn and while he carried her, he cast a Healing Word on her. Without it, she'd never make it back to her feet. But even so, he set her down by the water he'd put in the old trough so that she wouldn't have to go far to get it. Then he jogged back to Z. "Let's light this thing up."
It took a moment for her to let the swelling of pride and love she felt while watching Kash dissipate before she could bring her attention to the inanimate object that was the symbol for so many things right now. Somewhere deep inside Zahra knew this wasn't going to solve anything, but its destruction, she knew, would be deeply satisfying.
Staff in-hand, Zahra took a step back and spoke the incantation for Eldritch Blast. Part of the fence blew up with spectacular force.
When the blast went off, Kash shot Z a bright grin. She was never sexier than when she was destroying things that deserved it. "Damn, you're hot, baby," he told her before he aimed a bolt of Sacred Flame at the cage, lit it up, and brought the roof down with a satisfying crash.
She mmms at his words, though as she watched him create destruction again and she felt the similar pride and attraction swell up in her. There was no question as to why they both often ended up in bed after a big fight. Zahra flashed Kash a wicked grin. "You're not too shabby yourself." She just wished, perhaps, there was more to fight, but this was satisfying enough.
* * *
Out of an instinct to give Z the broadest skyline, Kash led her toward the ocean. Together, they made camp and, after a dinner of roasted fish, rice, and beans, they relaxed (as much as Z could) by a steady fire that kept back the night. Kash dug into his pack for a bag of pastries he'd grabbed on their way out of the Inn. "Fruit tart or eclair?" he offered when he came up with them. As far as he was concerned she could have both twice over, but even with pastries (and hard conversations) you had to start somewhere.
"Eclair." The choice was made almost instantly. She took the eclair and bit into it, giving Kash a bit of a sultry look as she licked the access cream from her lips. She couldn't quite help it and it was natural for her to distract with how attracted she was to him than deal with things occasionally.
"I definitely prefer this over a floating metal box in space."
"I've got something else you'd prefer," he muttered, watching her very clearly playing with him. Yeah, they shagged after battles and almost dying, but she'd been in a cage and that was different.
...okay maybe not that different. "Let me know when you're done fellating that eclair."
"My love, are you jealous of a pastry?" There was a hint of amusement in her voice - the first time since he found her. The sound was almost foreign to her and she momentarily looked surprised as how easily it had come out as a retort to his comment. Perhaps it was one of the best signs how good they were together. Kash healed, even without his powers.
"No." He gave her a meaningful look, one that said don't try me, wench but meant something more like no, I just need to claim you back. Or something. It might've been No, I'm just turned on, too. But he'd settle for no. "I'm just not used to sharing you with it after a battle."
Zahra's lips pressed into a small smile and she put the half eaten pastry back into the small package Kash had brought it in. She closed the distance between them, her pupilless white eyes fond on him. "I wouldn't want you to feel as though you had to share, love." She brought her hand up lightly to caress Kash's jaw.
"Fuck what I feel," he growled as he put his arm around her and drew her closer until their bodies pressed together. "I wouldn't share. I don't. Not you. Not with anyone. Not ever." At least not like this. He'd share her with their friends and their children and her cousin in other ways, but not sexually. He couldn't. And why was he even thinking about this right now?
The thought hit him in the solar plexus and right between the eyes. "Z, baby..." He looked into her eyes and caught her hand. "Are you okay? They didn't touch you did they?"
The question cause her to pause and her body to innately tense from memories long past. She took a moment before she responded, inhaling softly and then swallowing to collect herself. "Thankfully they only seemed interested in me as a fighter." While they had beat her in an attempt at submission, no one had attempted anything else which she had been eternally grateful for.
With her free hand, she reached up to cup his jaw. "Still and forever only yours, my love."
Kash let out a breath and pressed his lips to her temple. "Wasn't worried for me, and it wouldn't have changed anything except how painfully they died," he told her, because he needed her to know that nothing and no one could ever make her less his or him less hers. "I was, am, worried for you. I didn't want to assume sex was what you need, just because it's how we usually are, and I didn't want you to pretend it was okay if you weren't."
"I'm comfortable enough with you never to feel like I have to pretend with something like that." Zahra was confident that Kash would understand if she needed to stop or wasn't interested. She knew what kind of man he was. As if to assure him further of her confidence in him, her tail tucked around his back lovingly in a gentle hug.
"Because I tell you it's okay not to be okay," he observed, but instead of continuing the conversation, tipped his mouth to hers and kissed her soundly. It began gently, just a sharing of love, but it wasn't long before his tongue sought entrance to her mouth, heedless of her fangs. He'd almost lost her again, and this was always how they dealt with that.
When Kash deepened the kiss, it was her tail that responded after her tongue met his. It found its way around his torso and tugged him gently towards her as she pressed closer. Even after everything she had just gone through, this was what she needed, and that it was out in the wilderness was even better. Here, with Kash, doing what came natural and freely to them - that was the ultimate way to feel free. Kash knew how to make her whole again, knew how to free her in ways she hadn't known she had still be captive until they had met.
Zahra's hands smoothed over his shoulders and down his chest. He had too much clothes of. Her hands pulled against the fabric of his shirt as she kissed him again, more hungrily.