Private Tales Money Talks

[Lailah]

Lailah let out a quiet grumble as the morning slowly started to pull her back into consciousness. She was holding onto the arm that had been draped over her, and her brow furrowed as it took her a moment to realise where she was and recall their awkward clash in the middle of the night. Her eyes opened as she realised that she was once again, little-spooned. She smiled, stretched out and curled back up against him, sensing that he was awake.

"Hmh..." was as vocal a 'good morning' as he was getting from her right now. She was far too relaxed to trouble her vocal cords with such efforts. She sighed and nuzzled her face into the pillow with a sleepy grumble, pulling his arm tightly against her.

 

[Vincent]

Vincent answered by burying his face deeper into her shoulder. He liked how perfectly she fit against him. He liked how their legs tangled together, and the way she tightly clung to his arm. He liked the smell of her hair- the warmth of her body.

For the first time, perhaps because they were so close now, he noticed her ears sticking out from her hair.

”You never told me that you were a half-elf,” he groggily remarked.

 

[Lailah]

A grin split her face at the feeling of his face nuzzling into her shoulder and she had to bite down on her lip to stop it growing any wider.. “What’ryoudoin?..” she murmured with a sigh and her chuckle was muffled into the pillow.

“What?.” Her throat cleared and her smile fell. Her fingers pulled at her hair to cover the slight tips again and she attempted to shove his arm away and drag herself out of bed.

“I am not.” She grumbled.

 

[Vincent]

”Wh- wait, Lai,” Vincent reached for her wrist, panicked by her response, ”sorry, I didn’t know. I just thought... ears. Come back.”

 

[Lailah]

Again she tensed as he grabbed hold of her wrist and again she mentally scolded herself. She had a terrible habit of running away whenever she felt afraid or angry or uncomfortable.

Lailah had put a lot of effort into trying to blend in, trying to hide what she was and leave that part of her life behind her. She wanted desperately to avoid the explanation. She wasn’t technically an elf, or even a half elf, but without her wings that’s exactly what she looked like and to think of what she had been brought her nothing but shame.

She looked at him with an apologetic frown, and slowly climbed back in next to him to pull his arm back around her and drape herself in comfort. “Sorry..”

It wasn’t lost on her that he didn’t seem at all annoyed that she’d hidden the fact that she wasn’t exactly human. “It’s just a little complicated.” She answered and hoped that would be enough.

 

[Vincent]

”Isn’t all of this a bit complicated?” he quietly chuckled and traced small circles over her stomach with his hand, ”you can tell me about it when you’re ready.”

How much more about her was a secret? He hadn’t much to hide. His past, his life- she knew it all. His last secret, his eyes, had even been told. Did he really know Lailah?

Vincent nuzzled her shoulder again, pushing the doubt out of his mind.

 

[Lailah]

His answer was met with a deep and thoughtful sigh and she gave a slow nod, her stormy gaze glazing over. She knew she'd have to tell him sooner or later, it'd been both her own shame, the fear of him rejecting her in some sort of way that'd kept her from telling him everything. And yet every time he'd been nothing but understanding and reassuring.

Her lips twitched, and her stomach muscles shuddered ticklishly under his touch. She'd felt close to him, closer every day in fact, but how could he be close to her if he didn't know everything about her. Could he know who she was if he didn't know what she was? The nuzzle forced another small smile to warm her face and she shifted and turned around in his arms to face him.

Lailah was a particularly fragile thing, her mind had been pushed to the very limit on several occasions, and although the cracks had healed they had left their marks and only made her even more prone to breaking. He was so gentle with her.

"I'm not quite sure what I am anymore.." she told him, her eyes studying his face now that she was so close, but she avoided staring directly into the icy waters of his eyes for fear of drowning in them.

"What I once was, I.. they're called Avariels.." she hesitated, and swallowed back the rising nausea.

 

[Vincent]

"Avariels?" Vincent echoed, "they're folklore. You're not pulling one over on me, are you?"

He didn't think she would lie, at least not to him. But... Avariels were, well, myth as far as the regular person was concerned.

Coupled with her revelation was the close proximity in which her face was to his. Electric blues swept up and down, falling to her lips for a moment, before rising back to try and meet her gaze. It was hard to discuss anything so seriously when she looked so nice.

"You're telling the truth, aren't you?" Vincent's voice trailed, and he thought of the best possible way to ask what was in his mind. No other way of going about it than to be direct, he concluded."What about- aren't Avariel's supposed to be... winged?"

 

[Lailah]

Lailah’s teeth latched on to her lower lip to chew anxiously. She didn’t answer, she simply allowed her silence and her lack of any semblance of joking or amusement assure him that she was speaking truth.

The way he was looking at her though.. She wasn’t sure what the fuck was going on between them but the shift was growing more obvious by the second. She looked back.

There wasn’t one feature in particular that made Van so handsome, though his eyes came close. People often spoke of the colour of eyes, as if that were of importance, and his technically were and yet they would be beautiful in any shade. They held an intensity, an honesty, a gentleness. What he was, what was beautiful about him, seemed to come from deep within him; it made her want to feel how his lips move in a kiss, how his hands might feel following the curves of her body. She swallowed at the thought.

She was silent except for the sigh that escaped her nose at his observation and she pressed a hand against his chest and pushed herself away again, but rather than get up, she sat on the edge of the bed and dropped her gaze. She was still for a short moment before her fingers slowly unfastened the shirt she was wearing... she was certain her pulse was audible.

She slipped the shirt back and let it slide from her inked shoulders and it slipped down to her waist. She dropped her gaze, unable to look back at him, and she let the thick scars on her back tell their own story.

 

[Vincent]

Vincent remained quiet as she retreated from him and sat at the edge of the bed. Quiet still as the shirt fell from her shoulders and piled around her.

"Oh, Lai," he cooed and scooted towards her, carefully pressing the palm of his hand against her scar, gently smoothing over it with his hand and moving to the next one. Vincent's lips pressed into a thin line. He couldn't imagine her pain, and the trauma she's carried from it. He rested his cheek against her back and wrapped his arms around her bare waist.

"I'm sorry."

 

[Lailah]

Sympathy. It was the first she'd ever had from anyone about her wings. Nobody understood what she'd lost, nobody cared. She tensed and suppressed a slight shudder as she felt his hand on her scarred flesh. Her throat ached, and she was trying desperately not to cry, but as he chose to comfort her once again the tears spilled and she let her head fall back with a deep breath.

It was strange to feel his bare skin against hers, and she was acutely aware that she had virtually nothing on other than the shirt that only sat around her hips. Her hands ran over his arms and settled over his hands, hugging them back..

"I should've told you.." she croaked out finally and cleared her throat. "I just. I'd rather forget." she tried to explain, aware of how ridiculous it was to forget ones race.

 

[Vincent]

"Thanks for telling me now." Vincent could feel welted, roughly-healed skin under his cheek, "there's lots we would like to forget, right? The scars that are visible; the ones that are not. We carry them with us."

Vincent smiled and lifted his cheek off of her back, only to plant a gentle kiss on one of the scars. His heart raced. "Are you ashamed of them?" he whispered and kissed the other, "I think they're beautiful. Like small imperfections on an otherwise perfect piece of art."

 

[Lailah]

Lailah's brow furrowed at his talk of scars, and her eyes fell to her arms, the scars that ran from wrists to the crooks of her elbows still about the only thing still covered with his shirt. She was, somewhat, more ashamed of them than those on her back.

The feeling of his lips on her back dragged her out of those thoughts and her skin bloomed with goosebumps as shivers danced across her spine. Her fingers tightened on his arms and a quiet gasp caught in her chest.

Another kiss. Gods..

"Van.." She whispered the word under her breath without meaning to. Her tone was both uncertain and yet clearly spoken with need.

Her eyes rolled back as her lids closed, and her chest rose and fell a little heavier.. "Yes.." she said in a soft groan, though it wasn't clear if it had been an answer to his question or a request for more.

 

[Vincent]

After hearing his name pass under a heavy breath, everything else fell on deaf ears. Her ragged, quickening breathing only inspired him to take a step further. Vincent's lips met her skin again. And again, and again as he trailed up her back and onto the base of her neck. How many times had he stolen glances at this same neck, its pale tone tempting him each time?

He gently bit down once, then a bit harder the second time, and kissed further up her neck to the corner of her jaw. He pulled her chin so she could face him, and his gaze locked with hers. He stared deeply into Lailah's eyes for a moment before leaning towards her, finally kissing her lips.

 

[Lailah]

The softest of moans escaped her lips as she felt his hot breath on her skin, then the tender brush of lips. The moment they imprinted on her neck, she lost all rational thought. Consumed. A single act seemed to ignite every nerve in her body and hitch her breath. The bite was less expected, and as he bit down harder her brow furrowed and she gave a throaty sound of approval and tilted her head a little to give him more room to roam.

Her eyes opened with a heavy blink as he turned her face toward his and she let out a shuddered breath as she fell into those glacial pools. Thoughts danced in infinite directions with the anticipation of being together in a way that was more than just words, in a way that's so completely tangible.

He kissed her. Her world fell away and her head spun as she kissed him back, softly first, with the right hint of passion before her resistance crumbled and she twisted her body to face him, reaching to take his face in her hands and she melted into his kiss with more fire and demand.
All previous thoughts were stopped in their tracks. Now there is only one desire, one wish, and a wave of inevitability crashed over her and dragged her on top of him.

 

[Vincent]

Where Lailah had unintentionally toed over the line the previous night, Vincent leapt over it completely. As her hands cupped his face, his found her back and he pulled her close to him. Her chest pressed against his; soft skin met taut muscle. That’s right, all she’d work to bed last night was one of his shirts. It was basically nothing.

Slowly, Vincent’s hands travelled down her back and latched onto her hips. He pulled her closer, and while he was completely relaxed and eased into their embraced, apart of him remained noticeably stiff.

It a fluid motion, Vincent pushed off the bed and switched their positions, with Lailah’s back on the bed and Vincent looking down at her. He lowered himself onto her, gently kissing her again.

”Just relax,” he whispered to her as the back of his hand traced a slow line down her chest, to her stomach, and proceeded lower, ”and leave everything to me.”

It had been several years since he last worked, but not terribly long since he laid with another woman. But never had he laid with somebody who stoked such a passionate flame in his heart.

Vincent gave all of himself to Lailah that morning and well into the afternoon, hardly allowing her even a moment of rest. Their day hadn’t even begun; they had plenty of things to do that day, but he’d already exhausted himself rather thoroughly with her.

Vincent rolled onto his back with a huff and after a moment to catch his breath, looked out the window at the mid-day sky. Then, his gaze fell back to the woman at his side.

”Is this the moment I tell you how I’m madly, hopelessly in love with you?” he chuckled. “Because, well, I am.”

 

[Lailah]

He really did mean leave 'everything' to him. Attentive would be putting it mildly, but Lailah put up no argument on the matter and did as he asked. Every touch caused her skin to tingle in a frenzy of static; her body thoroughly rocked into a transitory paralysis and her mind unable to process the pleasure of it all so fast.

By the time he'd rolled onto his back, her alabaster skin was dusted with dewy sweat that glistened with every heave of her chest as she desperately dragged in lungfuls of air, her naked body no longer cold and in any need of blankets or furs. Her hand dragged across her brow and raked into her hair to comb it back from her face and she stared up at the ceiling whilst dreamily tumbling back down from the heady heights of sheer ecstasy. He really did know how to treat a girl..Her entire body was still numb.

She turned her head to look at him after he'd spoken, a brief pause in her natural expression at the depth of his words before a wide grin spread itself across her face and she shifted herself onto her side to face him. "This would be a good moment..yes" she echoed his laugh and let her fingertips trail over his face, pushing back a few stray locks of dark hair and pressing an affectionate kiss to the corner of his mouth.

"I love you. Just as madly. Just as hopelessly." she answered with a smile that she couldn't contain. There was little question about it, she needed no time to think. It was simply fact that he was the best thing that had ever happened to her.

 

[Vincent]

Vincent smiled. Wider than ever before. He pulled Lailah on top of him and playfully nipped at her neck, quietly chuckling all the while.

"You were missing out all this time," he said into her neck, obviously big-headed from how things went.

His beaming smile dropped to a more solemn expression. He grabbed one of her wrists, now exposed after Vincent had confiscated the shirt from her. Holding her gaze, he kissed over the several scars on her arm.

"No more of these," he whispered to her, "right?"

 

[Lailah]

Lailah laughed as he dragged her back on top of him, and her eyes closed, enjoying the playful affection and she sighed deeply.

"I certainly was..But, you did make me sleep on the couch.." she murmured through a grin. Fuck she was happy.

Her smile melted too when she felt him take hold of her wrist, her lips pressing into a thin line as she watched him, expecting things to sour quickly. Expecting anger and shame and disgust. Not kisses.

Lailah's heart seemed to restart, and she reached to run her fingers into his hair, nodding firmly in agreement with him. "Right.." she whispered back, and lay down on top of him to nuzzle her face into the crook of his neck.

"I keep expecting you to be angry with me. But you never are." she frowned gently, her fingertips tracing small circles on his chest. The only time she'd ever seen him truly angry was when she'd taken his vials of blue powder. But that hadn't been him, not really.

 

[Vincent]

"Then stop expecting me to be angry," he chuckled under his breath, "Aren't I so cool and calm? Well?"

He rested his cheek against the top of Lailah's head and idly ran his fingers through her fluffy white hair.

"Your pain is my pain," he whispered to her, no small amount of sincerity in his tone. His chest rose as he took a heavy breath. "How about some breakfast- or lunch, I guess."

 

[Lailah]

Lai chewed on her lip and softly sighed.. "Mhmm.. I'll try." she agreed. She'd been around aggressive men for too long, and although she knew Van was nothing like them, nor was he anything like her family, there was still a subconscious level of fear that came with her past experience. She'd work on it..

Her head tilted back so that she could look up at him with an affectionate rumble, her lips peppering a trail of small kisses along the chiselled line of his jaw. "I could eat. But, I'll cook. You've done enough." she grinned coyly and stole one last, long kiss before rolling out of bed and yanking the sheets with her with a smirk.

 

[Vincent]

”You’re gonna cook like that?” Though she took the sheets, Vincent could still trace the outline of her body through it. He smiled and hopped up, following her. ”I winder what you’re gonna make me,” he dreamily sighed.

He followed her down the steps, a few paces behind her. He loved the way she bounced on her feet with every step, and the way her hips swayed and hair fluttered. It was midday, and two different types of hunger set over him.

 

[Lailah]

Lailah laughed and knotted the sheets above her chest with a flash of a grin over her shoulder at him as he followed.. It was nice, not having to hide her skin from him anymore, and since he hadn't been put off by her scars, she felt a little less ashamed of them. "If it makes you uncomfortable, I can put something else on." she mused, glancing over the couch she'd been sleeping on and the pile of fur on the floor, a small grin to herself. Conveniently, she hadn't checked the floor. She was glad that thought had slipped her sleepy mind.

"Hm.. Let's see. We have fish, or eggs.. or eggs or fish." her brow quirked as she got to the counter and turned to face him, her brow arching in mute question. She let her eyes wander, and linger, and again her teeth latched onto her lower lip.

"Mh."

 

[Vincent]

"I'd rather have more fish than egg," he folded his arms and raised his brow in return. "Hey," he clapped, "eyes are up here."

Vincent quietly snorted and one corner of his mouth slightly bent up in a little smirk. He stepped up to Lailah and kissed her forehead.

"I want to visit the market. Maybe we can see about getting some more clothes and blankets for the winter."

 

[Lailah]

Lailah gave him the most innocent of looks, but it didn't last. Her cheeks flushed a deeper shade of pink and she smiled brightly as he stepped closer to her. Like a magnet her hands were on his chests, fingers splaying over the sinewy flesh, drawing in his warmth.

"Hmm." she smiled softly and closed her eyes as he kissed her forehead so tenderly. "Alright.." she agreed and breathed him in to let out a sigh in contentment. Her hand travelled upward to the side of his neck and her thumb stroked along his jaw as she looked up at him. She let the happiness clearly etched on her face speak for her.

Everything had happened so slowly, and yet so quickly at the same time. Her head was still swimming and she was trying to process more emotions than she knew it was possible to feel. She was hopelessly hooked, and she gazed so intently at each divot of his lips, before casting her gaze further up to leave herself at the mercy of those eyes.

She was, on this very rare occasion, entirely lost for words.