Topic: Promise

Ember Wilson

Date: 2014-09-12 09:19 EST
((Contains material of an adult nature.

Several hours passed, though it seemed like nothing to Ethan, asleep as he was, thanks to the potion Ember had made to help him rest and heal. It had just been a bump on the head, or so he thought, but the ache in his head had made it almost feel like it was about to explode. When he awoke several hours later after a dreamless sleep, the pain was miraculously gone. He reached around to the back of his head to feel where the goose egg had once been, and sure enough, it was still there, but the tenderness had lessened considerably.

Lunch had evidently been and gone, but Ember had obviously taken steps to make sure he ate something. On the table had been laid his portion of the food on a makeshift plate, the meat already cut into edible portions before the knife was taken away. And Ember herself was curled up next to him, fast asleep. She hadn't changed out of his shirt, the material draped over her slender form as she nestled beside him, blonde hair spread over the pillow behind her head. She had promised she wouldn't be far when he woke, and she had kept that promise.

Though he was hungry, the first thing on his mind wasn't food - it was the woman beside him, sensing her presence without even looking. He turned slowly, carefully, to face her, finding there was only a minor ache when he moved that was easily managed. He smiled at the sight of her, right there beside him, like she had promised, so peaceful and quiet in her sleep. He lifted a hand to touch her cheek and brush some blonde locks away from her face. She was so beautiful it made his heart ache with longing, though it seemed there was nothing he needed to long for. She was right there beside him, and she belonged to him.

She stirred as he touched her, drawing in a slow, deep breath as eyes the color of the summer sky blinked open to find him smiling at her. Lazy with sleep, her answering smile lit her face like the sunrise, warm as she stretched out her legs, wetting her lips to speak. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," he said, pulling his fingers away now that she was awake, though he doubted she'd protest. "How long was I sleeping?" he asked curiously. It had felt like practically no time at all, though he clearly remembered his vision getting fuzzy just before everything faded. From the amount of light in the room, it seemed to be daylight, but he had no idea how much time had passed. Evidently, lunch had come and gone, though it seemed she had saved his portion for when he awoke.

"A few hours," she murmured, her tone surprisingly tender as she shifted, tucking one hand beneath her head as the other reached across to touch his cheek affectionately. "You needed it."

"Only because I was clumsy," he said, berating himself again. What had they been talking about when he'd slipped and fell" He couldn't remember. She was asking if he wanted her or something, wasn't she" Well, of course he wanted her! "Ember," he started, a serious look on his face. "I'm sorry about before. It's not that I don't want you. I just....If something happens..."

"Shh ..." Her fingertip gently touched his lips, stilling his rambling apology. She knew he wanted her now. She knew he loved her. "Don't be sorry. I know why you're worrying." She hesitated, biting her lip as though giving herself a boost of courage before continuing. "If something happens, we'll be gone before even we know about it," she said softly. She didn't want to put any pressure on him, but he seemed to be forgetting the natural way of things when compared with their timeline.

He understood all that, had finally wrapped his head around it. There was something else that was bothering him. "Yes, but....if it does happen, even if we don't know it yet, and something happens to you or me or..." He let the rest of that thought dangle, reluctant to mention the word "baby", for some reason, though it wasn't a given she'd get pregnant that quickly.

She frowned faintly, not entirely sure what she should say to this. He was so concerned, so worried, but ....there was no guarantee either of them would actually succeed in escaping the valley. That thought made her impatient, yet wanting to please him kept her from saying it. She sighed quietly, resigned to doing as he wanted. "I'm not trying to be difficult, Ethan," she promised him. "I trust you. What you say goes."

He frowned, almost feeling like they'd gone full circle and were back where they'd started. "Maybe we shouldn't worry about it so much and just take things as they come," he suggested, which meant he needed to stop worrying and thinking so much, though he was only trying to do that right thing, whatever that was.

She nodded, her frown smoothing out into a soft smile once again. "You should eat something," she told him, care for his well-being foremost in her mind, and glanced down at herself with a soft blush. "And I should probably put some clothes on." She giggled quietly, her toes curling against the quilt she was lying atop.

Once again, he couldn't argue with that. He frowned a little, even as she giggled, though he'd just got finished berating himself for worrying so much. He had told her once that he was likely to go crazy if he was cooped up here too long, and it was true that he was starting to feel antsy, anxious to leave, but at least, now they had a time frame and something of a plan and knew they wouldn't be here much longer. That, however, raised a whole new set of worries. Despite all that, he couldn't deny she was adorable in his shirt, giggling as though she didn't have a care in the world. "You look cute in my shirt."

"I do?" She looked surprised by the unexpected compliment, rolling onto her back to examine herself in better detail. Cute wasn't a word she'd come across very often, certainly not in relation to herself. "Maybe I'll just put some panties on, then."

What was the point of getting dressed, anyway' They rarely had any guests, other than those who delivered their food and the occasional and unpleasant visit from her mother. Other than that, they only ever saw each other. It was as good as being in prison, though he had no complaints regarding his roommate. He smiled at look of surprise on her face, realizing she'd probably never heard that before, or at least, not in a very long time. "Yeah, you do. Is that so hard to believe?" he asked, slowly and carefully sitting up and looking over at the tray of good she'd left on the table nearby.

"Yes," she answered him honestly, following his gaze to the food on the table. With a swift, supple motion, she slid off the bed and onto her feet, tugging the back of the shirt down over her bare backside as she went to collect the food she had saved for him. "I'm short and skinny, after all." Bringing the tray over to the bed, she set it down within his reach, curling up once again.

Ember Wilson

Date: 2014-09-12 09:20 EST
"And I'm tall and skinny," he countered with a smile, a little amused at the attempt to cover herself when he had already seen everything she was trying to hide more than once.

"You're handsome," she corrected him. "Tall and handsome, and sweet and kind and intelligent and strong, and you look like a little boy when you're sleeping. In a good way," she hurried to add, not wanting him to think she thought of him in any way but as a man.

He arched a brow, more than a little surprised to hear such praise. "And....you're beautiful, kind, caring, and smart. And you have a mean right hook." Okay, so maybe she had almost connected with him once or twice, but he had been a little too fast for her. He reached for some of the meat, his stomach growing to remind him that he hadn't eaten in a few hours and even then, he hadn't eaten much.

She laughed, crossing her legs and tucking the hem of the shirt between her thighs modestly. "You don't know that for certain," she pointed out, finding it all too easy to simply gloss over the praise he heaped on her. "You ducked."

He laughed, feeling a little better so long as the topic of conversation didn't get too serious. "Did you really think I was just going to let you hit me?" he asked as he took up another slice of some sort of meat - he thought it might be chicken.

"I let you hit me," she pointed out sweetly. He'd pulled that punch, of course, and deliberately aimed for her shoulder rather than her face, but she'd still held her ground and taken the blow. "Maybe I'm more of a gentleman than you are."

"Or maybe I'm just faster than you," he countered. He'd felt horrible about that punch, and it had taken hours for her to talk him out of feeling guilty and convince him to stop apologizing. They'd been sparring on a regular basis ever since, but he'd been careful not to hurt her.

"We'll just have to prove it then, won't we?" she suggested, grinning with a startling amount of mischief on the face he seemed to think was angelic. "Next time we spar, no more playing nice."

"What do you mean?" he asked, in mid-chew, looking a little worried again. If she wanted to go all out, it was likely she'd deck him, as he had obviously started easing up on her lately. He didn't think he was in any shape to spar today though, so maybe she'd give him a reprieve.

She giggled at the worry on his face. "You need to stop going easy on me," she told him. "We both need to be as good as we can be before the time comes. So starting tomorrow, I'm going to beat the crap out of you. And then kiss it better."

"Ember, I'll be fine. My father is with the militia. I learned how to shoot a gun before I learned how to read." Oh, how his mother had hated that. "I was raised to be a soldier. It's not something you forget." Truth be told, he would have preferred being a healer, like his mother, but the village needed more soldiers than it needed healers to keep them safe, and he had answered that call first.

"You're telling me no, aren't you?" she asked, a lopsided smile on her lips as she eyed him thoughtfully. "Maybe I should just attack you at random, so you can't say no. Would that work?" There was just enough wickedness in her gaze to warn him of the tease. She enjoyed sparring with him, not just because it was fun, but because of the number of touches it took to defeat her in a single round.

"Not no, just..." He sighed, seeing the look on her face and knowing he wasn't going to win this battle, no matter how hard he tried. "I don't want to hurt you." He wasn't really worried about himself. He could handle a few punches, though all it had taken was a little clumsiness to take him down today.

"You wouldn't hurt me," she promised him, and she truly believed it. He wouldn't hurt her, even if she asked him to. She didn't think he was going to stop going easy on her, but he needed to make it more of a challenge. Just like she needed to stop letting him win. They were both trained soldiers, after all; they could handle it. "Don't sulk."

"I'm not sulking!" he told her, though clearly he was. "I just wish we were away from here. Sometimes I feel like I'm going out of my mind. I don't know how you've managed it for so long." He finished off the last of the lunch meat and washed it all down with a glass of water.

"Because I don't know anywhere else," she said softly. "Everyone I know is here. And I know myself well enough to understand that if I went alone, I wouldn't last five minutes beyond our borders. I'm sorry it's so awful for you. But it won't be long now."

He was frowning again, feeling a little guilty for admitting to his own weakness, but though this might be home to her, to him it was little more than a prison cell. Granted, all his needs were met, he was comfortable, and he couldn't complain about his roommate, but a locked door was still a locked door. "I'm sorry. I'm just being selfish. You have to understand, I'm just not used to being cooped up for so long." Even back home, he liked being out on patrol, sleeping with the stars overhead and waking with the dawn. Even given all the hardships endured away frm the comforts of the village, he felt more alive, more free when he was roaming the wild and living off the land.

"You have every right to be selfish, not to enjoy your time here," Ember assured him. "I don't enjoy my time here, I would never expect someone else to even begin to like it. I know every inch of these rooms, but I haven't set foot past that door since last winter. That's why I have so many ways of using up my energy - anything to make the time pass."

"There's so much I want to show you, so much I want you to see," he told her, reaching for her hand. "You won't have to stay here much longer. In a few weeks, we'll be free to go wherever we want and do whatever we want." Relatively speaking, anyway. There were certainly places that weren't safe. There would always be mutants to contend with and the Amazons, but most of the other villages and tribes and clans lived in relative peace.

Provided your village doesn't lock me up. She kept that thought to herself, hiding her natural fear of the people her mother had been stealing from for years as Ethan took her hand. "You're not going to stay in Pax when we go back?"

Ember Wilson

Date: 2014-09-12 09:21 EST
"Pax will always be home, but that doesn't mean we have to stay there. There are other villages, other places to go." It all depended on the reception she received when they got here, though he expected once they heard her story, they'd welcome her with open arms. "They might have a lot of questions back home," he admitted with a frown. "There's been talk about organizing an attack against....against your people for some time now." And against the mutants, too, but so far, the numbers were not in their favor.

For a brief moment, Ember wrestled with a sense of what was right and what was wrong. "You shouldn't attack the valley," she said finally. "If I wanted to break this place ....I'd ally with every other village surrounding the valley. Box the women in, deny them the opportunity to use the ways in and out of the valley. In the end, they would have to make peace terms, and keep to them, or they'd die out." Guilt flared in her eyes as she offered this insider's perspective on how to win the unspoken war. Was she a traitor to her own people, just for telling him this"

He sighed, about to agree with her, realizing she would never betray her own people despite her mother's cruelty, but then she continued, and he realized he was wrong. "What are you suggesting?" he asked, curiously. He wasn't really interested in breaking that place or the people who lived there, but it was better for everyone if they learned to cooperate and live in peace, rather than competing with each other. It just made sense.

"If we - they - can't steal men for labor and breeding, it's only a matter of time before they have to sue for peace," she explained quietly. "Reinforcing one village, changing one village's approach wouldn't do it. All of the villages around the valley would have to cooperate with one another, change the way things are done. But it would work. In a year, maybe two, the women in this valley would have to sue for peace, or resign themselves to extinction."

"Do you really think your mother will ever allow that?" he asked, a little incredulously. It was a good plan, but so long as Marka was in power, he wasn't sure it would work.

"She wouldn't have a choice," Ember pointed out reluctantly. "Even with her guards, there are too many women here to completely control. And once it becomes clear that they've lost their ability to intimidate the people outside the valley, how long do you think it will be before the men start to rebel" It would work."

"When we get back, you should be the one to suggest it," he told her matter-of-factly. That way, she'd be almost certain to gain the villagers' trust, once they realized she was on their side and willing to help them. Unless they thought it was a trap, but he'd be there to help convince them.

"Are you sure?" she asked, the worry clear on her face. In the space of a single conversation, she had cut all ties to the valley she had been born and raised in, knowing that if she didn't find a place outside it, she would be an outcast for the rest of her life. She didn't want to drag him down with her.

"Are you sure?" he countered, needing to know this was really what she wanted. Another thought occurred to him; one that wouldn't put her at so much risk. "We could lie. They don't have to know you're Marka's daughter. You're as much a prisoner here as I am, Ember." In the end, whatever was best for her was what he wanted.

"I don't want to lie," she shook her head. "Besides, it would come out eventually, you know it would. If I wasn't recognized by the hunting patrols, I'd be recognized by the peace party when they came to settle terms. If your people know everything from the start, they won't blame you if something goes wrong."

"I suppose you're right," he admitted with a small frown. In fact, he knew she was right. He just didn't like the idea of putting her in any danger. "I wish my mother was still alive," he murmured, out of the blue. He'd been thinking about her a lot the last few days. He had a feeling she would have liked Ember, if she'd lived long enough to have met her.

Deep sympathy replaced the worry in Ember's eyes as she looked at him, crawling closer to gently touch his hand. "What was she like?" she asked softly, envious of his obvious love for a woman he had lost.

He frowned a little at the thought of his mother. He'd had her with him longer than Ember had her father. He didn't think his loss could quite compare to hers, and yet, a loss was still a loss. He thought he'd at least been lucky to have both his parents - whether they'd been his own blood or not - for all of his childhood. "She was....special. They found me in the clearing when I was a baby." He was pretty sure he'd already told her that. "They couldn't have any children of their own, I guess, but they never made me feel any less loved because I wasn't really theirs."

Ember smiled gently, glad to know that he had been loved by his mother, and envious of the close bond he had obviously formed with the woman. "She must have been very special indeed," she agreed with him gently, careful not to show her surprise at the revelation that he was one of the babies rejected by the valley.

"I never knew who my real parents were, but it never seemed to matter. I don't expect I'll ever find out, and I'm not sure I even want to. My real mother didn't want me, but there were other people who did." He shrugged as if this was unimportant; something he'd come to grips with long ago. His parents had never lied to him about his origins, but it had been his mother who'd told him not to hate those who'd abandoned him, that if it hadn't been for them, he wouldn't have come to be their son.

"How can you bear to even look at me?" she asked, heart-sore for his rejection, even if he had been taken in by a wonderful couple and raised well. "Knowing that if you'd been born female, like me, you would not have been abandoned?"

"How is it your fault, Ember?" he asked, a puzzled expression on his face, not really understanding how he could ask her something like that, especially knowing he loved her. "Do you know what my mother used to say when I was little?"

She knew that for every baby boy that was saved, three died. But she couldn't bear to tell him that, despite how keenly she obviously felt those losses. She shook her head, wet eyes confused as he spoke. "What?"

Ember Wilson

Date: 2014-09-12 09:21 EST
Her baby brother might have died, but he had lived, and no matter how many sons they had in the future, gods willing, every one of them would be raised with love and affection. He smiled a little at the memory of his mother's words, his own eyes growing a little misty. "She used to say the angels delivered me from heaven. Of course, I knew that wasn't true, but she liked to say it. She never hated anyone, Ember. She used to thank the woman who gave me up. It was because of her that my parents had a son. I know that sounds crazy, but that was my mom."

"It sounds wonderful. I wish all the boys could have that. You were blessed." She nodded, wiping a stray tear away. No wonder he thought she was delicate; she had cried more in front of him than she had in years before they'd met. "I wish I could thank her."

He wondered if talking about her mother made her feel bad about her brother. He thought it might and wondered if it was selfish of him to talk about a woman he'd loved and who had obviously loved him, when she so obviously detested her own mother. He wondered, too, if it had always been that way. Somehow, he got the feeling that she'd always been closer to Gia than to her own mother and at least, he was glad for that. "I still am," he told he quietly, alluding to the fact that he was still lucky because of her. He brushed a finger against her cheek, though she'd already wiped away that errant tear, wishing there was some way he could make her feel better. He hadn't meant to make her cry.

She closed her eyes, leaning into his touch with a soft sigh that shook with longing. Just one touch, and her sadness lifted, overwhelmed by the desire that both of them seemed to apt to sabotage at the worst possible moment. A gentle flush of pink brightened her skin as her eyes opened once again, meeting his gaze with tender trust. "Will we raise our children together, Ethan?"

He seemed a little surprised by that question, both brows arching upwards, his fingers lingering against her cheek just because. "Of course we will. Why wouldn't we?" The question confused him, unsure why she'd ask it. Once they were free of this place, they were free to live their lives however they wished, and that including the raising of their children.

She shook her head, not wanting to admit to the things she had been taught as a child - that men were savages who would plant a child and move on to the next woman without a second thought. She didn't believe it, but that didn't stop her from needing a little reassurance. "It's nothing," she assured him. "Just an old story that isn't true."

"What story?" he asked, crossing his legs beneath him as he turned to face her. If he was in any pain, it didn't show. He felt rested, the only reminder of his fall, a vague ache at the back of his head where the bump had yet to heal.

She fidgeted awkwardly. "It's called The Fool," she said quietly. "It was a bedtime story that my father had to read to me. He didn't make any secret of how much he disagreed with it. It's about a woman who falls in love with a man, who promises to be always by his side and never to betray him, only to have him plant a child in her belly and move on to another woman. He never goes back to her, and she becomes harder and angry, and leaves the village to found this settlement with her daughter, in this valley. It has a moral, too - love is for fools."

He wondered if that was really how the settlement in the valley had started. Somehow, he had his doubts. What he'd read told a different story, but he didn't want to argue with her about that. "What do you believe?" he asked, not really caring about some silly story told to make her distrust men and try and control her. What he wanted was to know what she really thought. It seemed she had truly loved her father, and it had been her mother who'd seen to his death, not the other way around.

"I think that neither of them truly loved one another," she said quietly, as though afraid someone might overhear her, all evidence to the contrary. "If he had loved her, he wouldn't have left. If she had loved him, she wouldn't have taken his child away where he could not follow. I think it is a silly myth made up to indoctrinate us when we are young, to make us afraid of men and the power we could give them by falling in love. Even more so now, I think it is just a story, and not a very good one, either."

"What about love?" he prompted further. "Do you think love is for fools?" he asked, though he was pretty sure he already knew the answer to that question. She had told him she loved him. If she really believed love was for fools, as her people seemed to think, then they were both fools.

It seemed to take an age for her to answer, to construct her response in a way that made sense without pretending that she truly understood. "If it is, then I am a fool," she told him, her eyes soft as she held his gaze. "Because I love you, Ethan. And I don't want that to change."

"I'd rather be a fool for loving you than be all alone," he told her softly. He knew what she'd been told wasn't true. His parents were a prime example of a couple who had loved each other deeply, and though his mother had died too soon, it had been illness that had taken her life, not heartbreak. His parents had been devoted to each other and equal in all things. If only her people knew what they were missing. It didn't seem there was much else to say on the subject, and he leaned forward to touch his lips to hers, as it to prove his point.

Just a kiss, and her fear fell away once again, blown to the four winds by the very real presence of him, right there, loving her as she loved him. It seemed to banish her shyness, too, her lips parting to taste him as she inched ever closer, unwilling to allow that kiss to end. If she had known the word, she would have believed herself intoxicated by everything he was - from the deepest part of her soul to the unsteady beat of her heart.

He hadn't meant to fall in love with her or to make her fall in love with him; nor had he meant to seduce her or be seduced, but there was something about her that he couldn't resist. She had found her way to his heart and planted herself there, the seed of loving growing until it bloomed to life. She was everything he wanted and needed, everything he could have ever hoped for. He put all of that into his kiss, hoping she understood how he felt without words.

Ember Wilson

Date: 2014-09-12 09:22 EST
Now that she knew her own confused feelings were returned, she didn't need him to say the words. She could feel them in his touch, taste them in his kiss, yearning to return those unspoken words and assure him beyond any shadow of any doubt that her love was deep and loyal, and would never leave him. Somehow, she found her way into his arms, her knees settling either side of his hips as they traded kisses back and forth, her fingers teasing in and out of his hair as she gasped softly against his lips, breathless with need for him, in every aspect of her life.

They had talked and talked until there was nothing more to discuss. The time for talk was over. He had other things on his mind. Now that he knew she loved him, that they'd be leaving soon to start a life together, the nerves he felt earlier seemed to subside. He knew what he wanted, and he wanted her. He drew her hair back from her face, savoring kiss after kiss, at long last ready to take the next step with her, if that's what she wanted.

She shivered as his hands swept through her hair, tender and sweet in his arms, eager not to lose this feeling again. It seemed as though each time they had reached this point before, there had been interruptions, or one of them had changed the subject, and yet here and now, she couldn't have thought of a single word to say. But one word did ghost from her lips as she rocked against him, obeying the instincts telling her to draw ever closer. "Ethan ..."

He opened his arms to her, as well as his heart, ready to take the next step, whether it was foolish or not. The hell with her mother. He loved her, and that was all that mattered. His lips moved against hers, kissing her softly, even as she whispered his name, and he drew back a moment to look into her eyes, as if asking permission. They were quickly reaching the point of no return. He didn't want to turn back, but he needed to make sure this was what she wanted.

She whimpered as his lips left hers - a sweet sound that protested the loss of those kisses, even as her eyes opened to gaze into his. Her answer was writ large in the darkness of her eyes, stormy with want, with desire, with a need to know what it was to love and to be loved so completely. "Please," she breathed against his lips, inching ever closer, until her body fit snug to his, until there were no secrets between them, the only barrier the clothes he wore.

That single word was all he needed to tell him what she wanted and to give him permission to continue. He had been with other women before and knew what to do, but it was different with her. With her, he wanted to take his time. He needed to take his time. Though she had already broken the barrier that made her a virgin, he knew she had never been with a man, and he wanted her first time to be something to remember.

He eased his hands beneath the shirt she had borrowed from him, palms sliding against her bare flesh as he slowly drew the fabric up and over her head to reveal the soft curves that he'd already seen but not really had much of a chance to study and admire. She was just as lovely unclothed, perhaps even lovelier, certainly more lovely than he could have ever imagined. His fingers found the scar on her right side where she'd been shot helping Niles escape, and lingered there a moment, tracing the shape of the indention. Though some might think it an imperfection, to him, it only enhanced her beauty, a reminder of what she had suffered in order to help a friend.

Though he had seen her so vulnerable before, Ember had not felt so exposed, nor so protected, as she did when the shirt fell to the floor, leaving her bare beneath his touch. She trembled as his hands traced her skin, biting her lip when he paused to touch the scar that marred her flesh. Hesitant, uncertain what to do but desperate not to derail it this time, she let her hands fall to his chest, fingertips stroking tentatively through his shirt as she caught his lips in a new kiss, hiding her soft embarrassment in a fresh wave of desire.

He tried to follow her cues, but found himself mostly taking the lead, as though they were in the middle of some elaborate dance where there were no set moves, all of it improvised, one step at a time. His fingers didn't linger on that scar too long, moving on to explore the rest of her - the lush but simple curves and valleys of her form that made her so exquisitely female. He laid her back upon the bed as he slowly explored her with hands and mouth, lingering when he heard her breath catch before moving on to explore new territory.

Instinct could not make up for innocence; for that awful fear that whatever she did, it would be wrong. Caught beneath him, all she could do was savor the experience, enjoy each touch, each kiss, slowly but surely learning how to tell him what was right and what was perfect just in the cadence of her voice. And finally, she dared to touch him in return, shy hands skimming over his back, clenching in his shirt, silently demanding that those barriers to his skin be removed even as she squirmed impatiently under his tender ministrations.

He seemed to sense what she wanted without words to tell him, with only her actions and reactions to guide him. He paused in his tender ministrations to tug his shirt off, tossing it heedlessly aside before moving to kiss her lips, allowing her to touch all she wanted.

With no experience, no previous guidance at all, Ember didn't know that she was allowed to speak in such an intimate moment, sighing happily as he sank into her arms once again, greedily devouring his kiss as her hands traced over his skin. She tried to replicate the way he touched her, to learn what he liked, her lips daring to trail from his mouth to the strong line of his neck as her legs wrapped about his hips, preventing any chance of his moving away from her at all.

As soon as her legs wrapped around his hips, it became all too apparent how much he wanted and needed her, even through the shorts he was wearing the still kept them separate. His own breath caught in his throat and he exhaled with a soft groan as he pulled her closer, tighter against his body, shuddering at the touch of her mouth against his flesh.

Breathless and trembling still, she let her head fall back, that sweet, shy smile playing at her lips as her fingers began to trace a teasing trail down his sides. Every moment gave her confidence to touch and try, trusting in him to stop her if she did anything he did not want her to do. Her eyes seemed to darken as her fingers slid just beneath the band of his shorts, hesitating once again as she breathed his name.

Ember Wilson

Date: 2014-09-12 09:23 EST
He shuddered in anticipation when he felt her fingers hesitate, as if either afraid or nervous. He was just as nervous, worried she might not like what she saw or that it might be too much too soon, and yet, he could not stop now, not without causing himself pain and frustration. He whispered her name, pleading quietly for her to keep going, though he didn't want her to do anything she was not yet ready for. He turned his gaze toward her, his own eyes dark with desire, chest heaving for breath. If they didn't turn back now, there would be no turning back.

The sound of her name on his lips was all the encouragement she needed, her shy smile deepening as she raised her head to kiss him with hungry lips, pushing at the material in her grasp until his shorts slid down. That flexibility definitely came in handy when the fabric was out of her reach - her toes took over where her fingers left off, slipping his shorts off his legs and over the edge of the bed as she moaned softly for him.

"Ember," he whispered, speaking for the first time since they'd both fallen silent, needing to make sure she wanted this as much as he did and that she wasn't just doing this because she thought it was what he wanted. "Are you sure?" he asked, unable to hide his own readiness and desire for her now that she'd removed the last of his clothes, and he was completely naked to her sight.

She hesitated once again, caught off guard by a question she thought he already knew the answer to. Her hands splayed against his back, not wanting him to roll away and leave her bereft, not now. Gazing into his eyes, she swallowed, nodding. "Yes," she whispered to him. "Yes, I'm sure, Ethan. Please, I ....I want you."

He seemed relieved by her answer, as well as aroused. The question now was how. It wasn't that he didn't know how to make love to a woman; he'd had enough experience to know that. It was just that he thought it might be easier for her if she was in control of her own body, rather than him. She didn't have to beg. He was more than willing to let her do whatever she wanted. He touched her cheek with gentle fingers, offering encouragement with that soft caress. This was the awkward part. It would have been easy for him to roll her onto her back and take her as he wanted, but he didn't want that for her. He wanted her to discover this for herself and go as slowly as she needed to. He smiled encouragement at her, touched by her shy innocence. "Do what you want, Ember. I'll be as patient as I can."

She knew the theory, but theory and practice were two very different things. "You have to tell me if I'm doing it wrong," she warned him, softly concerned that he would not enjoy this coupling if he left it entirely up to her.

He smiled again, convinced he would enjoy it just fine, so long as he knew she was in no pain. He had read once a long time ago that making love was an art. He hadn't believed it at the time, but as the years passed and he'd had a few lovers, he'd realized it wasn't so much an art as it was a dance, dependent on one partner to take the lead, and the other to follow. He was adept at either role, and like most men, preferred to take the lead, but this partner was new to the dance, and there was no better way to learn than experience.

There was something rather adorable about the studious look that came over her face at his encouraging smile, the way she genuinely seemed to be considering the best method of approaching this. There was no lack of love in the gentle skim of her hands down his chest as she sat back, despite the thoughtful expression on her face. Given no further guidance, it was entirely up to her, which no doubt explained just how long it took her to work out she was going to have to touch him to make sure he ended up where he was going.

He watched her quietly and patiently, gently stroking her skin while she seemed to contemplate what to do. It was almost amusing how intent she looked, how puzzled, worried, even. "It's not that hard, Ember. You just....you know....get on top and do whatever feels good," he explained, though it seemed fairly obvious to him.

"You're distracting me," she murmured, laying her hand over his where he stroked her skin to keep him from taking that hand away. A playful little smile twitched at her lips for a moment before she turned her attention to the task at hand, biting the bullet as it were. Slender fingers found purchase, and a tiny, shuddering gasp escaped her lips as she guided herself to him. Tense and nervous, she stopped quickly, looking down at him in alarm. "It doesn't fit!"

He couldn't help but chuckle a little at her distress. Had he taken the lead, it wouldn't have been a problem, but he might have caused her some pain. "Yes, it will. Just take your time and keep trying. Rock your hips back and forth," he instructed, placing his palms against her hips and slowly and gently pulling her closer. Was it really better for her this way, or should he have just done it himself" At least, that barrier was no longer there to cause her undue pain.

Ah, but if he had taken the lead, he would not have been in the perfect position to watch as her uncertainty was quite literally blasted away with the gentle rock of her hips under his hands. Each undulation brought with it a new level of surprised pleasure as, slowly but surely, they found each other in that most intimate of ways. Gasping, she fell forward, bracing herself against the bed, looking into his eyes in wonder as a low, tender moan found its way to freedom.

He wouldn't have missed that moment for the world, rewarded by the look of pure pleasure on her face as she started to understand, slowly taking him inside her to discover what wonders awaited her. He kept his eyes open, watching her quietly, as his own body responded to hers with equal pleasure. He slid his hands around her hips to grasp hold of her rear and pull her closer, lifting his own hips to drive himself deeper as he met her gaze, each undulation of her body against his driving him closer to heavenly release.

Just like that, whatever had been holding her back was brushed aside. She responded to him eagerly, no longer fighting to be silent and still, painting the air with the delight he showed her as she shuddered and moved with him. Her hair fell in a soft curtain about their faces as she kissed him, her hands hungry to touch him still, even as he drove her toward something that seemed to wind tighter and tighter, until it quite suddenly snapped, throwing her into his arms, helpless on a wave of overwhelming sensation.

He exchanged kisses with her, some deep and passionate, others short and sweet, until they were both panting and breathless. It didn't take long for her to find the right rhythm that would bring them both to release, though he tried to hold off as long as he could, allowing her to use him to bring herself to that brink, along with him, until he could hold off no longer. He wrapped her in his embrace, heart pounding in time with hers as that something inside them both snapped, sending them both over the precipice with mingled moans and sighs of pleasure.

Ember Wilson

Date: 2014-09-12 09:24 EST
Nothing could have prepared her for that feeling, yet what touched her most deeply was the wrap of his arms about her as she rose from the quivering darkness that had threatened to knock her out, finding herself held safe and protected by the man she loved. She pressed herself closer, burying her face against his neck as she murmured his name, adding once again the words she had only just learned were true. "I love you."

It took him a moment to catch his breath, looking up at her with eyes dark with passion, a soft expression on his face, feeling completely and utterly content. "I love you, too," he told her, hands moving up her back to hold her close in his embrace, fingers tracing slow, lazy circles against her back. He turned his head to breath her in, filling his senses with her presence - taste, touch, sight, and smell.

Ember truly had no idea what to say. What could she say to encompass everything she had felt and experienced in just one hour gone by' The stray thought crossed her mind that perhaps they had made a baby together, but she pushed it away. Even if they had, there was no way to tell. Raising her head, she looked down at him, the tip of her nose circling his tenderly. "Thank you," she whispered to him. "Thank you for showing me there is nothing to be afraid of."

He smiled up at her, touched by her words and the simple gesture of affection of her nose touching his. "There is nothing to be afraid of, Ember," he repeated, needing her to know that, and to believe and trust him, helping her to understand that everything her mother had taught her was wrong. But this was only the beginning. With any luck, it was only the beginning of a lifetime together.

She giggled softly at his reiteration, nuzzling close, and asked the first question that popped into her mind. "Is that something we can only do once a day?" The innocence was still there, wrapped about with genuine curiosity as her fingers played through his hair, the warm smile on her face just for him.

He chuckled at her question, not because he found it funny, so much as charming. "No, we can do it as much as we want....But if we do it too much, we might get sore." He didn't bother to explain that the more often they made love, the greater the chances she'd get pregnant. It kind of went without saying.

"Oh, I see." She giggled along with him, gently slipping from her perch atop him to cuddle into his side. Her fingers traced random patterns on his chest as a fresh thought occurred to her. "Why couldn't I make you fit?"

His arm went around her to curl her against him as she moved to his side, sighing contently, as if he could happily stay right there in her arms forever. "Hmm?" he murmured, fingers stroking her bare shoulder as he turned his head to brush a kiss against her forehead. "Because you're a virgin....were a virgin....and never had a man inside you before," he explained a little drowsily.

She blushed just a little, cuddling closer as he kissed her forehead, any embarrassment over her nudity gone now that he shared that state with her. "Does it get easier?" she asked softly, sweetly amused that he seemed ready to sleep again so soon after waking in the first place. "I-I would like to be able to do it without help, someday."

It wasn't so much that he was sleepy as he was content, feeling as lazy and satisfied as a cat after a big meal. "Practice makes perfect," he murmured quietly something his father had once told him a long time ago. And this was something he was willing to practice again and again.

This brought a fresh giggle from the young woman curled into him, her blush lighting up her face as her thoughts lingered on the practical application of that platitude. "I hope I am never perfect at it, then," she murmured back to him, pressing a kiss over his heart.

"I don't think anyone ever stops practicing, Ember," he told her with a smile. Though he supposed some couples fell out of love eventually and stopped trying, he didn't think that would happen to them, or at least, he hoped it wouldn't. Another thought occurred to him as he quietly mulled that over. "Back home, when two people love each other and want to raise a family together, they-they get married." He wasn't sure if she'd ever heard of such a custom or knew what it meant.

She lifted her head to look down at him, propping herself up on one hand buried in her hair. There was more curiosity than confusion on her face. "Niles said something about his sister being married," she said quietly. "I didn't understand the word, but it seems very permanent. Something that she chose for herself."

"Yeah," Ethan confirmed. Though it might be a little too soon to be discussing marriage, there were those in other tribes and clans whose parents or elders arranged marriages while the children were still young, and there was no choice involved. The people who made up his village thought differently, believing marriage to be a sacred union between two people who were in love and wanted to spend their lives together. "It is supposed to be permanent, but sometimes it's not."

"What does it mean, married?" Ember asked him, unfailingly curious. It probably didn't help that she didn't seem to be able to keep her hand still, allowing her fingers to wander over his skin, retracing paths already taken without uncertainty this time.

He was all too aware of her touch, distracting his thoughts from her questions. If she continued that way, she was going to find out soon just how possible it was to make love more than once, not only in one day, but in a less than a few hours. "It means..." He had to think a minute to gather his distracted thoughts before forming a reply. "Promising to always love someone and always be with them for the rest of your life."

"But ....haven't we already done that?" she asked, still soft and quiet, watching as her fingertips stroked over his hip tenderly. "I told you I will never leave you, unless you have other plans. I love you. Does that mean we are married now?"

By that definition, it seemed like maybe they were. He knew he loved her and never wanted to be without her, even after only knowing her a few weeks. They'd spent nearly every moment together since he's arrived, and he could no longer imagine his life without her. "Yes and no," he replied, knowing it was a little more complicated than that.

"No?" She was distracting herself now, shifting to trail her lips over his chest, following the line her fingers had walked. Even her hair teased him, brushing over his skin in her wake. If he wanted to take control of the situation, he was going to have to do something fairly quickly.

Ember Wilson

Date: 2014-09-12 09:35 EST
If she wanted a straight answer, she was going to have to stop enticing and distracting him from the subject at hand. "No," he replied, flinching as she walked her fingers over his flesh, not because it was painful, but because he was ticklish.

She caught his flinch, and there was the mischievous little girl he had seen glimpses of in their time together. So mischievous, and so rarely set free, that she took immediately advantage of that fact, giggling with delight as her caresses changed to seeking passes, searching out where he was most ticklish.

She was never going to get answers to her questions that way, but he wasn't sure if it mattered. She'd find out soon enough, if they got out of here alive. He batted at her hands, pushing her away so that she couldn't find the spots where he was most ticklish, laughing as they wrestled for dominance.

The challenge was accepted, and soon Ember was on top of him once again, wrestling for dominance and the opportunity to tickle him in earnest as her laughter filled the room. It was so easy to guide her mood from low to high, from thoughtful to playful. Innocent she might be, but there was a well-formed mind in there that loved to stretch her limits whenever she could.

He laughed with her, enjoying the sound of her laughter. Right then and there, he made a promise to himself to make her laugh every day, if only for a little while. There was joy in laughter and healing. More than anything, he wanted to love her and make her happy, and making her laugh was part of that. But he only let her have the upper hand for so long, unable to withstand the tickling for too long. He rolled her onto her back, pinning her arms over her head and grinning down at her, pausing a moment to catch his breath. Should he return the favor and tickle her or torment her another way"

She squeaked as he took the upper hand with ease, grinning up at him as he trapped her with just one hand holding both her own above her head. "That was fun," she declared merrily to him, arching her neck as though inviting a kiss to reward her for teasing him so successfully for once.

Fun. He knew that was a word she had not heard or experienced very often in her life. He smiled softly before leaning down to kiss her again, accepting her invitation. If it was fun, she wanted, he would give her that. He would teach her how to laugh and have fun and make life worth living again. Today was the first day for those lessons, but if he had anything to say about it, there would be many more to come.

((Who didn't see that one coming" :grin: Many thanks to Ethan's player for being awesome!))