shri | FADE RIFT [INBOX]

[ Her hand hovers when she speaks. Oh, what was that name? Nothing. Except not a lie. Not false. But the name of a dead woman, a girl turned into a Queen. Tugged on by family and no more - what was she thinking?

You weren't, is the thick, heavy reminder. You were trying to do anything but think. Lest that young woman make you weep. Cutting off her own limbs to feed something implacable. A balancing act. ]

Then do so when we are alone. It is no false name, I did not lie to you. But that name has no place in daylight, or anywhere else where I must be, save behind closed doors.

[ Explains nothing of what it means. Gives her permission but nothing else. Good enough, hungry beast? Let this softness be enough. ]

( A quiet sound of acknowledgment, as she watches. The hesitation in that hand, the effect the name carries in its bearer. She almost wondered if she might be met with anger or retribution of some kind, and instead—

Magni watches Lakshmi, watches Manu, and reaches out to gently brush the tips of her fingers along the back of Lakshmi’s wrist. )

I will only use it if the use of it does not do you injury.

( Quietly, honestly. )

[ She might as well have struck her with lightning so far as so little that touch feels. Her eyes lowering, watching it. How terrifying it is to put something so much of herself into someone else's hands. How hard it is not to yank it all back. There must a middle ground-, like all things were battlefields.

Better to not acknowledge that for the fear that she might have, that she is long past looking at - ]

Are you going to stand there? Sit, if it pleases you. I cannot drink this all by myself.

( She stands for a long moment, watching Lakshmi in a way that is not insignificant, does not let her off the hook of this, before compliantly going to sit. Sit, consider, wait.

There is so much that she is trying to hold back, desperately trying not to give away or allow others to see. She wonders jus this sacred a secret all that she saw that night was, when it so clearly had not been meant for someone she’d ever speak to again.

After a long pause, )

Thank you, Manu.

[ She diverts herself with the small tasks in front of her. Easier than knowing she is being watched. Easier than muddling through what this all meant, to reach for the bottle and uncork it with a faint pop, letting the bottle air for a moment.

Then leaning over to pour, once Magni is seated, a full glass for her, and another full glass for Lakshmi. There. That ought to make everything else smooth. ]

Whatever for? You did bring the wine.

( Magni keeps her watch, quiet, forearm resting against the table, leaning against the back of the chair.

Her head tilts very slight, one eyebrow quirked. This has nothing to do with the wine, and her expression says as much. It is a braid of different elements, but she is not sure she should seek to discern the source of each strand, or if that will lead to some destructive unravelling. Her interest has no relentless drive, no desire to keel into the selfish seeking of information. Understanding, though, that is important.

Absently, her fingers run over the scar, jagged across her throat.

No, she simply stays quiet, waits for Lakshmi to drink or to speak. )

[ She busies herself then, with taking a sip of her wine. Not meeting her eye, that twitched way she scans any room - even one that is arguably her own - at this point. Before she settles back, placing the cup down back on the table with her fingers lose around it, arm resting comfortably in front of her. ]

Have you been well - ? Do you have anyone, caught the other side of Tevinter?

[ Potentially captured. She means. ]

( The evasion might be telling enough, but she has no desire to embarrass Lakshmi, nor put her on the spot. She did that quite enough at dinner, and now she feels a little sheepish. The reflex was perhaps petty, childish. )

Not to my knowledge. But— we are all of the Inquisition.

( How has she been? Seems less necessary to address, with the latter question so weighty, and she takes a sip of wine, gaze moving from Lakshmi to rest on the opposite wall, to set her better at ease. ) You?

[ There's an unhappy look, a deep mouthful she takes with her eyes elsewhere. Maybe that's it - she's pent up. Pressing there up against bars and frustrations. ]

Are we? Are we truly all?

[ It's bitter - bitterer than she means, and she closes her eyes. Shakes her head with a sucked in breath, knows better than to admit such things even to mild company. To let her frustration show at this point. It helped no one, let alone herself. ] Forgive me that was not...

[ For her, for anyone, to be said at all. ]

Edited 2018-08-21 04:15 (UTC)

( Magni's gaze is drawn back to her, and she takes a long draw of wine, before her hand drops to the base of Lakshmi's chair, and drags it so they are not so separated by the corner, but more facing each other, the legs making sounds of protests against the floor before Magni releases the chair and straightens up to study her expression. Even if her gaze does not meet Magni's own, she studies. )

I miss my home and it is a distance that can be travelled on horseback. Yours, you are separated from your lands by the Fade.

( A little shrug, as she takes Lakshmi's wrist in her hand, feels her pulse. )

We have cause to be afraid of rifters, but... I am glad you are here. I am glad your heart beats strong. The Chantry, these lowlanders, they can be fools. They are not all that the Inquisition is, or represents.

Edited 2018-08-21 04:30 (UTC)

[ Oof- The chair skids and she stops closer than she meant to be. Looking directly up to her briefly - hard not to want too. Hard not to feel that pulse like the beat of a drum. Taking slow, long, breaths to settle herself.

Cautionary. This was not how this was supposed to end up. Meant to take space, not solace in the comfort of another, perhaps just to drink and maybe she even meant to drag this out even longer but she is tired, and she is trapped, and her bones are arching and Magni at least - ]

I never asked you to care for me.

[ And she leant in to follow it - because she does not hate that she might and she cannot acknowledge it. There is no space for such things. But there is plenty for impulse, demand, and closing her mouth on Magni's softly, carefully, testing it like deep water to wade into. ]

( She really is stubborn. That isn't a problem, really. Magni's eyes close with the kiss, and she stays close, hands anchoring at Lakshmi's elbows, as she murmurs against her lips. )

And I don't bend to the whims of others.

( Her caring is her own, not to be summoned or commanded by royalty or any other. And, then: ) Or expect them to bend to mine.

( She can be glad of Lakshmi's existence; that does not mean she is composing sonnets, or expecting Lakshmi to swoon at the sight of her. It simply means she enjoys another person, and that enjoyment is why she pulls her in for a kiss that is considerably less careful. )

[ It's a breath, a mutter, murmured against her mouth. ] Good. This wouldn't be enjoyable if you did.

[ Lines in the sand, and if Magni wanted to walk away, she still could. But she hadn't, and she seemed content where she was and that's -

What she needs right now. The door is shut and she has no other business to see to for the day. Besides worrying, winding herself up, and up, and up. Enough that even she knew it would get her nowhere, past a certain point. She pushes up as she leans into the kiss. That sort of forwarding motion she can give into and knows the steps of. Not so different from the first time. Moving to half crawl into Magni's lap because at least that way, they won't be straining either of their necks trying to reach each other. ]

( Her hands grip Lakshmi's hips, and tug her closer, as she laughs quietly, barely more than a breath. )

Are you certain, your Majesty?

( She may pay for that. She certainly hopes she pays for that, as she bites down on Lakshmi's lip.

Genuinely, all that she had come to do was deliver the wine and an apology, but she couldn't really point to an issue with this. )

[ She most certainly will. She draws her hand out of Magni's hold and presses it flat to her chest. Pushing her back hard into her chest to press her into the chair so she can swing both her legs over her to sit comfortably across her lap. ]

Quite certain.

[ Her hands stay fixed, but by this, she curls them into her shirt. Tugging her again to return that bite, but this one to Magni's jaw. Teeth flat and pinching the skin between them. ]

Did I not warn you about that?

( A quiet sound as she pushed back into the chair, amused and pleased. )

You said if I called you Rani I would get more pleasant bites, but I am enjoying these already.

( She leans back and looks up with an entirely relaxed smile, at ease. ) Your reprimands are...

( A waiver of her hand, so-so. )

[ Her eyebrow raises, head tilting. Oh really, is the flat challenge and she pulls up. Looking at her square in the eyes, deliberate in the way she stretches out. Extending her neck, both her hands reaching up to the pin that held all her hair in place and tugging it loose so her hair unwound. Long, thick and richly dark in the half-light of burning low candles. ]

Is that so?

[ She leans in, and this time, when she plants both her hands, it is to balance the rest of her body. So that she can come close,close,close but before there is contact she stops. Hovering over where she had bitten with a softly chuckled breath. Tracing up, around the line of her face to her jaw. ] If you do not think well enough, I must try to do better, mustn't I?

[ And any twitch, any movement closer, she jolts, pulling back and away from her before contact was made. ]

( Magni hums a quiet agreement, distracted by the tumble of long hair, watching, distracted from considering the repercussions of her words as it unravels.

Her head tilts with the contact tracing her jaw, smiling very slightly, and leans forward—

to be thwarted. A slight furrow of her brow, and she leans forward again, before leaning back to catch Lakshmi's gaze. Well.

A lunge forward, bracing one hand at the small of her back, one behind her knee, as she pushes upwards and twists to set Lakshmi down on her desk, shoving papers backwards and off it with one hand, and leaning over. Not kissing her, just going close, maintaining that difficult distance. )

Manu.

[ She lands heavy. Fingers curled up in her shirt to catch herself from slipping, her leg riding up hard against Magni's hip in an effort to make sure she's not left there.

But her laughter is light, easy as a breeze. That smug satisfaction of feeling wanted. Even if she must.. Swallow on a dry throat, because there is something to that she would not quite admit. For as strong as she is, and all she might do, being moved around with the strength of her like she could not help herself.

Being wanted was such a dizzying thing. ]

Eager, aren't we?

( Her brow quirks very slightly. )

Would you prefer otherwise?

( But there is a faint smile at her lips as well, in response to that laugh, and she bumps Lakshmi's jaw with her nose. She can feel the weight of her knee at her hip, the paper still under her palms, and she can taste wine on her tongue. )

My apologies, your majesty.

No, I guess not.

[ She slides a hand over her neck, latching fingers around her nap and pulling her down once more with a heavy hand. Almost - almost - but she leans just enough to make sure that it isn't too close. Isn't too near. ]

A champion's place is not to ask questions, Saawariya. Do you not have better uses for your tongue? [ It's laughed, again, like she intends to muzzle her. But even so, there is just so much in wrapping around her. That leg that curls around, bare feet hooking against her back, toes against her belt. Hovering here with a precipice between them. Deep as a cavern, slight as a needle.

Well, maybe later. ]

( Lakshmi seems the very master of temptation. Despite experience, Magni leans forward, tries to close the distance to claim kisses - once, twice. Her queen is wrapped around her, even as she maintains a careful distance, and she hums an unhappy - dramatised unhappiness - sound in her throat and eases back.

A nod, acknowledging, and she dips her head down rather than chasing kisses, to press a kiss to the exposed line of Lakshmi's throat, just above the central dip between the collarbones. A slow flick of her tongue up the throat, and another kiss, this with just the barest suggestion of teeth.

Magni looks to Lakshmi, eyebrows raised. Her place is not to ask questions, but she seeks guidance as best she can, given the orders. )

[ And easy as falling, she tips her head up, gives her neck, the rabbit quick pulse in her throat. Hammering off beat at even so little of being touched, at how dearly she's craved it. Not that she ever believed much in those sorts of self-denial - but whenever did she ever have the time to allow it?

More frequently, now. Apparently.

Her fingers stay tense in their grip but weave deeper into her hair. Fine as it was, nicer now, she would insist, since Lakshmi had brushed it through in a feeble attempt at keeping a measured distance that maybe, even now, she is trying to keep up. It shouldn't matter, that Magni now knows who and what she is, but it does. Makes her fight to keep her breath even, keep her lips pressed together on fitful little noises - not so easy into the give as she had been. Quieter, sharper for it perhaps.

But like this, maybe she could keep it that way. Her nails scratched, her legs curled around her waist. Pressing soft and hard all at once. A familiar dance. Was this not how it went before? A kiss, a kiss that pressed her onto a table, the steady hands on her thighs, the wood that bites into the back of her legs when she was pressed further into the wood. All of it escalating from touch to needy sounds and sharp breaths far too quickly and like a good rhythm she supposes, it is the same now. That tilt that says if they don't get some sense, as she pulled and Magni moved in, she was going to end up on her back, with Magni on her knees and whatever control she pretends, it will be her that is the one begging.

Which is - enough of a pleasant thought to hang onto her half desperate in that image, where pressing her lips together isn't enough to quiet her, she has to pinch the skin of her lip between teeth. Merciful that Magni is such a tall woman, so much to hang onto, that she can hide her face easily away into her hair. The knowledge that no matter how hard she gripped, Magni would grip back and - she pushes into her mouth, those teeth, eagerly, cradling her into her body. That promise she wants so much. Don't treat me like I treat you, even if it isn't fair to ask it. Don't treat me like I treat you, because all those who drank the Blackwater were condemned to their own memories, but Magni wasn't. Magni didn't have to care.

Even if Rani, who is Lakshmi, who is Manu, must. ]

Bed.

[ Is the next order, given with a scrape of nails. Rasped thicked on a dry throat with a half mouthful of aching behind it. ]

( She is not so ready to follow instruction in all circumstances. There are many times when she might playfully challenge and retaliate, but here, now, that doesn't feel right. Now she feels like Lakshmi needs her own control and Magni's devotion. (Devotion, she thinks, is very different from submission. Care and attention over yielding alone. Champion, rather than subject.)

Lakshmi is holding onto her, wrapped about her, and Magni lets her lips linger at Lakshmi's neck, just below her ear and jaw. )

Whatever you wish.

( Murmured, very quietly, as she checks her hold on Lakshmi, and hitches her up - enough that she has to look up to her, the faintest smile at the corners of her mouth. Bed left a great deal open to interpretation, and she opts to sit, so that she still is looking up to her, still open to instruction if it should be offered, but slowly taking one of Lakshmi's wrists, gentle and careful despite the roughness and strength that make up her hands. A bracer, carefully unfastened, as Magni turns Lakshmi's hand and kisses the knuckles, eases it again to continue working away buckles, as she sucks one of her fingers into the heat of her mouth.

Better uses than questions had been requested, advised, after all. )

[ There's a certain joy to feeling her move under her hands. How Magni can lift her so effortlessly, move her about like nothing could be so easy. Leaves her hands free to respond in kind in the trust she has of that hold. Leaning in to drape both her arms over her shoulders. Leaning her head in those spare seconds to lip the curve of her ear, breathing warmly against it, still quiet. Little brushes that turn to firm kisses. Parting lips and teeth on her throat as her head lowers into it.

Until they're sat together, and she has that brief advantage of the position. Her knees nestling in close, perching high to watch - how she slowly takes her wrist, her hand, and unwinds the hard leather braces from her. Interspersed with things that feel almost more reverent then she knows she should allow. Not because it's against their mocked up rules, but that.

She can't take her eyes off her, as she does it. That her throat is drier and drier for each little touch. That she can feel the heat of Magni's mouth all the way down to her toes like a hard-wired current of a glittering machine. Something she can't help the urge when she presses them back into her mouth.

But she stays silent, hardly daring a word as she lets Magni continue as she sees fit. ]

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NSFW somewhere henceforth

I can't believe how cutsceney this

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