Private Tales Money Talks

[Lailah]

Once again, the anger she'd expected wasn't forthcoming. She dropped the basket and bow and wrapped her arms around him to hug him back just as tightly and sighed at his words. She'd been just as worried, but she was ashamed to think about what she'd imagined finding.

"I'm sorry.." she breathed, her chest rising and falling quickly with panted breaths and she tried to slow them down and allow his embrace to calm her. They were both safe.

She nodded with a soft smile and looked up at him, her white hair clinging to her rain soaked face. Sickness was, annoyingly, a real possibility and it'd been the second time she'd been soaked through today. "A bath sounds nice.." she shuddered and followed him upstairs.

"I got bacon."

 

[Vincent]

”What’d you skin for it?” They stepped into the room, and Vincent gazed over her lithe frame and the way her soaked clothes clung to her like a second skin. Sniffing, he hurried to prepare the water.

”Should be warm soon.” He turned to her.

 

[Lailah]

Lailah laughed under her breath and started stripping off her clothes. She winced slightly as she pulled her shirt up over her head, a few extra bruises between her spar with Van and today's misfortunes. "I didn't skin anything, what sort of savage do you take me for?.." she smirked, hooking her thumbs into her leggings to wriggle out of them. She felt her cheeks warm a little, realising she still felt slightly nervous being naked around him. It was new..

"I did intend on going out for just a bow, but I saw an opportunity for a little coin and I wanted to buy you some sweet breads. I picked the wrong pocket." she groaned sheepishly and hugged her arms as she waited on the water warming.

 

[Vincent]

Vincent stared as she struggled to pull her leggings down. Stared longer as she stood there, bare and pale and shivering.

”You’re all kinds of savage,” he pulled his shirt over his head with a smile and dropped his trousers, stepping out of them as they bunched around his feet. He glanced at the tub. Room for two, but just barely. ”Sweet bread, eh? How thoughtful.”

He wolfishly narrowed his eyes at her.

 

[Lailah]

Lailah looked too, and she bit on her lip as she did so.

Her lips curled and her head tilted at him.. "I am thoughtful.." she answered, standing up onto her tiptoes and taking a slow stride over to him, her cool fingertips trailing down his chest and stomach as she looked up at him with a jerk of her chin in gesture for him to get in.

She had intended on telling him about the day's events, but that could most definitely wait until she'd warmed up at least.

 

[Vincent]

Vincent quietly gasped as frigid fingertips danced down his chest.

He stepped in the bath first and pulled Lailah in behind him. They settled in the wooden tub, with Lailah resting against his chest. Vincent wrapped his arms around her waist.

”Have you eaten anything at all today?”

 

[Lailah]

She audibly groaned as she sank into the warm water, it seemed to sting pleasantly at her freezing cold skin and she laid back against him to cup a few handfuls over her chest and arms.

"Mh, no.. I'm sorry, I intended on being back much sooner. I didn't mean to worry you." she frowned as she settled back against him and hugged his arms a little tighter around her and let her head fall back.

"Were you alright?.." she asked with a gentle frown, her thumbs brushing over his knuckles.

 

[Vincent]

”I thought something happened. That you wouldn’t come back.” Vincent admitted his fear after a long silence. He rested his chin on her shoulder and let out a quiet sigh. ”I was scared.”

His hands locked together as he held her, as if she could suddenly slip from his grasp.

”What kept you?”

 

[Lailah]

Lailah felt her heart sink at his words and her throat ached. Her brow furrowed and she shook her head, swallowing down the pain.. "I really hate that you thought that. I won't leave you, Van." she assured him firmly. But she'd been scared too, and although neither of their fears were exactly irrational, they were unnecessary.

"I ran into a ghost from the past." she told him and her lips twisted. "I was seen by someone who wanted to take me to Alvaro's men for some sort of fucking reward. He grabbed me, and Caliane showed up. I remembered her from Thysari.. She let me lay low for a little while, I was too afraid of being followed back here, I had to be sure I wasn't." she rested her head against his.

"I shouldn't have got so close to the city..I'm sorry."

 

[Vincent]

Vincent fell silent. Now there was a price on Lailah's head. Would they ever see peace?

"There's nothing to be sorry for. It's lucky you found her." he gently kissed her nape, "But word will spread."

She'd been seen outside of Alliria. They would inevitably find this village.

"Still interested in Oban?"

 

[Lailah]

The silence made her tense, but the kiss to her neck was an instant cure and her tension melted. She sighed deeply and let her head fall back against his shoulder so that she could look up at him.

"It's like the other side of the world, Van." Lailah laughed under her breath and slowly shook her head. "I don't want to leave here. I can't keep running, and I won't drag you out of your home." she frowned, reaching a hand to massage at the back of his neck with a sigh. "I'll figure something out.." she assured quietly and chewed on her lip in thought.

"Maybe Caliane can help. She seems to hold some guilt over what happened to me, like she owes me something.." she muttered quietly. "She might even be able to help me progress my abilities a little more, since I can't practise on you.." she smirked, her fingers idly curling into his hair.

"If I can get to Vigo on his own I could convince him to let us be."

 

[Vincent]

Vincent nuzzled Lailah's shoulder as he listened. His hold on her tightened.

"You're not alone in this," he muttered, "you don't have to do all of this by yourself."

He had broken down. That much had been clear. But he'd healed. She helped him heal.

"I'm not so fragile that I need to be protected from every little thing, Lai. We're in all of this together. Where you go, I go. Your fights are mine. Let me help you."

 

[Lailah]

Her eyes closed as he nuzzled at her and that tight hold he had on her caused her lips to curl.

Meeting him was a fate, being his friend; a choice. And falling so fucking madly in love with him, was bound to happen. She would quite willingly die a thousand times for him in repentance for the hurt she'd indirectly caused him, and yet here he sat, holding onto her as though she was his hope. His pain was hers, and she'd felt it raging in her soul and turning her veins to ash. She couldn't bear to cause him any more grief. It was simple fact that they needed one another, but she was more selfishly worried about losing him than him losing her. She wasn't alone and it'd take some time to get used to.

"You're right. I'm sorry." she frowned at herself.. "Just, it's my mess to clean up, and I had trouble enough living with myself after the trouble I caused you with it the last time." she grazed the tip of her nose along his jaw and rested her head in the crook of his neck with a deep sigh.

"I don't know what I'd do without you. And when these people want to hurt someone they don't just kill them, they go after the people they care about. They went to the bordello because you and Georgiana protected me. Because you cared. It's the worst thing they could have done to teach me the lesson they felt I needed to learn." she frowned.

 

[Vincent]

"You're not hearing me, Lai. It's not your mess. It's not your burden. All of this is ours to deal with."

Let them come. Let them try to take the last thing he cares about. Vincent stared at the wall across from there. He hadn't met La Puta Madre before. But he did meet Vigo, the oaf. He could see Vigo's face painted on the wall. A calm seething swirled in Vincent's gut as he thought about the man that raided the bordello.

What they did to Lailah? To him? What about their lesson? Who would teach them?

"I'm not going anywhere," he calmly assured her.

 

[Lailah]

Lailah's lips curled ever-so-slightly as he took on her burden to share and she sighed, deciding not to argue with him. As calm as he appeared, she could feel the anger that burned in him. She wasn't sure if it was another gift, some sort of empathic bond, or whether she'd simply spent enough time altering people's feelings and emotions that she simply knew it was there.

"I know.." she answered softly and shifted in his arms onto her side, fingertips drawing tiny circles on his chest as she looked up at him.

"You know, my own parents didn't even stick by me like you do.." her gaze narrowed, and the love she felt for him swelled so fast that her chest ached. Lailah's luck had been terrible for the past few years, but right now she felt incredibly lucky to have him, but she wouldn't risk saying so. She knew better than to tempt fate.

"Thank you for giving me a chance." her brow furrowed. He could've turned her away on his doorstep when she'd showed up. Troubles aside, it was the happiest she could remember ever having been. Another thought she kept locked behind her teeth, but her smile spoke for itself as she drew his face toward her and captured his lips with hers.

 

[Vincent]

Lailah's touch and the way it feathered over his skin, the softness of her lips. It was exhilarating. Intoxicating. There wasn't a drug nor drink so addicting as her love was. He could take his fill of it and then some and still crave more. Vincent's response to her thanks was to return her kiss with vehemence to match hers.

Vincent's hands descended down the curve of her back before settling on her hips. He pulled her closer and closer until she could feel the cadence of his beating heart.

As Vincent pulled away to catch his breath, his lips fluttered over her neck. It was slender, just like the rest of her.

"I feel like you could break," he murmured into her neck, "at any moment."

 

[Lailah]

Lailah let out a soft sigh at the frenzy of static that followed in wake of his hands running down her back. The second she felt his breath on her neck her spine shuddered with that familiar rush of endorphin and she crumbled, her intoxicated mind already lost to the head rush it inflicted. Her head tilted, giving him more room to let his lips explore, and her fingers curled tightly into his dark hair to anchor her.

His words were met with a breathy laugh and her eyes closed.. "I'm not as fragile as I seem.." she answered, and her teeth dragged over her lower lip to pin it down, fighting a grin as she moved with purpose. She opened her eyes to lock with with his. A brief warning that she had no wish to tease him, she had no desire to draw matters out, and that what she wanted she was about to take.

 

[Vincent]

Vincent gruffly breathed against Lailah's neck. His fingers dug into flesh. The water sloshed in the tub, and as the pair became more and more energetic, some spilled over onto the stone floor.

"I-I get it. Not fragile..."

The pair melted into each other, keeping themselves well occupied through the stormy night. They kept each other warm from the cold, unforgiving world just outside of the door.

You could still smell rain in the air. Water puddled in the cobbled paths that lead down to the beach.

Ffft!

The bowstring snapped as Vincent let an arrow fly. Lailah had set up a couple targets along the beach.

Thok!

The arrow hit. The wooden shack behind the targets. Again. For the fourth time.

Vincent's chest slowly rose and slowly fell as he let a deep breath out through his nostrils. He cast a frigid glance at Lailah, his cheeks and ears flushed. It was embarrassing.

 

[Lailah]

Lailah didn't have to be an empath to feel his embarrassment, she was trying not to smile at how red his ears were, but it was difficult not to. She unfolded her arms and wandered over to him, trying to be gentle knowing how fragile a thing a man's pride could be.

"Look the arrow is going somewhere. It's a good start, don't be so hard on yourself." she smiled at him and rested one hand on the small of his back and the other on his waist. "Alright. Bend your knees just a little." she told him and reached out a foot to tap his feet until they were shoulder width. She twisted his hips "Hips should be parallel to the arrow, as should your collar bone." she looked up and handed him an arrow to nock.

"The elbow of your draw arm should be facing directly away from the target, don't let it sag or hold it too high." she told him as she gently positioned his arm. "Head up straight and look downrange. Both eyes open, none of that winky shit." she smirked. "Your anchor point should be around here." she added, positioning the drawn hand to his jaw line.

"Alright." she stepped back, looking over his posture and checking the target with a light nod. "Try that. Don't rush it, breathe in and loose it as you breathe back out, keep your back straight." she nodded and folded her arms to watch again.

 

[Vincent]

"Yeah, the arrow is going way over the-oh..." Vincent's voice trailed as she fixed his stance. She was close. And he couldn't pry his eyes off of her little neck. He stared down at her but didn't hear much of what she had to say as he thought instead of unbuttoning her shir-

"Alright. Try that."

Vincent returned to reality and blinked. "Right." He, awkward as it was, took the stance. At least his body remembered how it felt when Lailah had corrected his stance. He rubbed his nose with the palm of his hand before taking a sharp breath in as he drew the arrow back. "Phew..." he breathed out as he let the arrow go.

Thok- the arrow hit the target, though it was far from the center.

"Oh!" Vincent exclaimed, surprised with himself.

 

[Lailah]

Lailah's face lit up with a proud, beaming smile as he hit the target, her arms shooting straight into the air and she twirled in the sand with a "Yessss.." and chuckled to herself.

"Good! Again." she nodded firmly. "Take your time a little more and get it closer to the centre." her lips twisted in amusement.

 

[Vincent]

"Will I get anything if I manage to hit the center?" Vincent squinted at her, his vivid eyes flashing with excitement as he smugly grinned at her. He let his gaze linger on her for a moment longer before taking his stance once more. He grabbed one of the arrows stabbed into the sand next to him.

He made doubly sure that his lower half was set before softly huffing, then raising the bow to draw the arrow back. Deep breath. Steady. And...

Thuk!

Both the sound and placement had been far more satisfying. Still quite aways from the center, he managed to get farther from the edge at least. Vincent practiced for a while longer before taking a break. While never coming too close to the center, he at least managed to consistently hit the target.

Vincent sat on the hull of an overturned fishing boat and looked out towards a gray sky and rolling waves. He pulled his cloak around him a bit tighter as a breeze rolled over the beach.

"I thought about revenge for the first time last night," he suddenly admitted to Lailah.

 

[Lailah]

She could only grin and roll her eyes, but she felt just as smug as he did. Whether he did or didn't hit the centre of the target was irrelevant..

~~~
​

Lailah had sat herself against the old boat, her arms draped over her knees and her toes curling into the wet sand as she stared off out to the moody horizon in thought. She blinked as he spoke and looked up at him and she pulled herself to her feet to go join him inside his cloak for a little extra warmth. Her arms wrapped around him as she leaned against the boat and rested her head against his chest.

She pulled in a deep breath and let it tumble back out in a sigh as she considered how to answer. Frankly she was surprised it was the first time he'd thought about it. "What made you think about it now?.." her brow furrowed curiously and she closed her eyes, listening to his heart beating in his chest under her pointed ear.

 

[Vincent]

"I just thought that I didn't want anyone to take you from me," his gaze remained fixed on the horizon where the gray sky met deep the blue sea. "But also that they don't deserve to get away with what they did."

If he had any sense, he would take what he had now and just live in peace. Lailah was more than he deserved, and to seek revenge would just throw it all away. To set out on a vengeance-fueled warpath was just as self-destructive and addicting as any drug he could take. There was no noble reason for it. His friends, people he considered family, were taken from him.

Vincent wanted to take something back. He couldn't forgive himself for not being there, no matter how hard he tried. But he could settle for the next best thing.

His arms tightly wrapped around Lailah's waist.

"Sorry. It's a little unpleasant to talk about."

 

[Lailah]

“I’m not going anywhere.” Lailah assured him softly and a small smile tugged at the corners of her lips. She couldn’t deny that it felt nice to be cared about in such a way.

Lailah listened to him speak and frowned at his apology with a shake of her head.. “It’s better to speak about it than to keep it locked in your mind to fester. They don’t deserve to get away with what they did, no... At least, two of them didn’t.”

She let out a sigh and frowned as she watched the slow ebb and flow of the foamy water that caressed the sand. “It’s only natural that you’d want revenge. I know what that feels like, but vengeance ruined my life. It’s why my people took my wings, why they cast me out. But there isn’t a person alive who could have convinced me that what I did wasn’t the right thing to do..”

She looked up at him. “Vengeance won’t solve anything... But, I understand why it seems so appealing,”