[color=#c10300]“Love’s funny like that though, it’s not somethin’ anyone can control,”[/color] he found himself mumbling out, eyes widening as the words fell. [color=#c10300]“Um. Yeah, plus dogs I think see more than folks do. People got their masks up, makes it hard sometimes.”[/color] Colt shivered as her ear traced along the skin of his neck, and as the glass shattered to spook her, Colt’s arms tightened around her briefly before releasing back to its previous tension. A grin spread across his face as he pressed his chin against her head. [color=#c10300]“You’re really snuggly, you know that?”[/color] A brow rose, even if she couldn’t see it, grin curling further for a moment.
He didn’t pay attention to the murmurings downstairs, that was wrapped up with all of tomorrow’s business and at this moment he was perfectly content as he was. Though at the back of his mind, Colt knew he’d be harassed the whole way back once on the road. He wouldn’t tell a soul about their night. It wasn’t anyone’s business but theirs. Though his bright pink face would give the lads plenty to quibble about and muse over, as long as they kept it respectful no-one would lose a tooth or two. [color=#c10300]“Probably his way of sayin’ folks always need someone like that in their corner,”[/color] he’d muse, shoulders giving the slightest of shrugs.
Feeling the cold of her nose, Colt’s head tilted towards hers, brows concerned,[color=#c10300] “Still cold?” [/color]He’d draw her extended hand back into the folds of the blanket, releasing it to tuck the fabric higher across her nose. Chiding himself internally for his stupidity, he should’ve taken more care, brought more blankets, if she came down with something cos of him he’d hear no end of it from the healer. And Ruth didn’t get to spoil this and come out as the saviour, not this time.
[color=#c10300]“Afraid I don’t know much about him, only that he was an elf and he helped the wee wifey. Mabari’s are smart though, bet they were on good terms,”[/color] Colt knew bits and pieces from what his mother had tried to teach him, but he didn’t really care about it enough to be invested. If the Maker had any power he’d have spared him and his mother years of abuse at the hands of his drunk for a father. But he didn’t, so Colt was content to believe that fate was their own to forge and live as he pleased. His mothers kindness however, was something that couldn’t be extinguished in him, no matter how much his father tried to beat it out of him.
[color=#c10300]“Some,” [/color]he’d nod, [color=#c10300]“A lot of them were silly ones, for children, that my Ma would tell me to get me to sleep. I’ve… not been back there for a long time now, maybe she’s got more, I dunno.”[/color] Truth be told he was scared of what he might find if he did. [color=#c10300]“I got heaps of Coterie ones and no I ain’t gonna tell you a heap about them. They ain’t stargazin’ talk.” [/color]
Mina was secretly pleased as all get out that he liked to hold her, there was something about it, later, when she realized that Colt was helping her figure out that not all touch had to be sexual, that felt pure to her, felt right, as if it was supposed to be that she could touch and be touched by others and it not have to be inherently sexual. And one day she would realize that it was those sorts of touched that she liked the most, especially from Colt. Being held, and being able to be held by him, there was something to it that just made things feel better. Good, like there was some hope in the world that she'd have something after the Old Man passed -- that she could potentially be something more than just a whore.
Not that she wanted to social climb, hell no, she had no aspirations beyond living a relatively peaceful life until she met her end. What ever end that happened to be for her. And soon enough, the sounds downstairs faded away, and she was back listening to the beat of his heart, felt it thudding against her back as he wrapped his arms around her, and squeezed. And with it, her knees went back together, for a moment, before she told herself again, there wasn't anything gonna happen this evening, she was good to enjoy just being his companion for the evening.
"[color=#2ecc40]A little, it's chilly out here at night, but you're nice and warm, and your heart beat is relaxing.[/color]" But then the blanket was over the bottom half of her face, and she laughed, hugging his arm back to her middle as she moved to slot her fingers with his there under the blanket. "[color=#2ecc40]They wouldn't have let them near her if he had had bad intentions, so I know they were friends.[/color]"
She wasn't a believer, in well, much of anything, but she could feel the comfort the stories tried to offer. She wanted to be able to give herself over to the belief of the Old Man, because it felt like it would be welcoming, like she would finally have a place, maybe a little more so than she did there at the Back Water. Or, she could leave and maybe be captured and then branded and owned by someone. She had heard tales, she knew the world could be unkind.
Something about the tone of his voice, made her decide not to ask about his mother, not yet at least. Some hesitation had been there, and it sounded like he hadn't seen her in a while, if he didn't know if she had new takes or not. That was something that someone in touch with a person would know, tales were shared back and forth, so, she wouldn't press. But his Coterie days, "[color=#2ecc40]Aww, but one day you'll tell them, right? Not while we're stargazing, or when we go and lay out under the sun and watch the clouds, because once you do stargazing, you have cloud gazing next, you know, and the beach. Maybe after you take me to the beach, you can tell me a story or three. Three dates is when we start telling tragic backstories to one another, right?[/color]"
She was teasing, and she made sure he knew as she squeezed his hand with her own, turning and placing a small kiss to his cheek. "[color=#2ecc40]I only want what you'll give to me, Colt. I won't go prying in something you don't wanna tell me. Only right, besides, I know there are some things in my past you wouldn't wanna hear about, so I won't ever tell em.[/color]" She turned her face back partially to his neck, eyes closed as she just let him hold her. let him keep her warm there in the blanket, together. "[color=#2ecc40]Unless you ask about em, I wanna do, what ever this is, right, yeah? I ain't saying I'll stop being a whore over night, I got a mouth I got to make sure has food going into it, but if we're gonna do this, I wanna try and do it right, if there's something from my past you wanna know, I'll tell it. And if there's something you want to keep in the past, then we keep it in the past.[/color]"
She fit there, nestled into him all tucked away in his arms. It didn’t matter how they reached around, the way they fell around her small body, they felt made for her, like the perfect lock surrounding its key. Protecting her not just from the cold, or Frank and any shit like him, but everything else that would seek to take the easy smile spreading across her face and the way her body eventually relaxed, enjoying the attention. This was more his speed, and while the Coterie kept him busy, he’d have no qualms about investing every bit of his spare time in wowing her with the places on his list to show her.
Colt’s brow furrowed, hearing her confirm the chill, hand pulling hers back under and adjusting the fabric to mitigate it as best he could. [color=#c10300]“C’mere.”[/color] He pulled her a little higher, chin now resting over her shoulder, cheeks tinged rosy as he stared up at the sky and not, what admittedly would be an equally nice view, down at the valley of her chest. He instead squeezed her hand as her fingers slid through his, thumb beginning to draw idle circles across skin.
Quiet amusement curled at his lip when asked about his stories, his gaze shifted off somewhere, thinking about it before beginning an answer. He could tell her things, nothing in detail of course, just the stupid close calls or fuck ups, nothing too hairy, nothing where he had to stick someone. He didn’t like those stories, those ones reminding him all too well that he did have a temper and where it stemmed from. [color=#c10300]“Maybe one or two, might be somethin’ in the clouds reminds me of some.”[/color] His brow perked though at the question of tragic backstories, a ripple of tension coursed through him despite she meant it in jest.
[color=#c10300]“You think I got a tragic story?”[/color] he’d ask, following it up with a slight snort. [color=#c10300]“Na, na. Loads of folks worse off than towering Colton. I got all I need and more right now.”[/color] With that said, he returned her kiss though again, planted it on her head and not her cheek, shifting his head to her opposite shoulder. [color=#c10300]“You can ask,”[/color] he’d eventually offer, [color=#c10300]“I ain’t got some terrible gruesome tale, it’s a pretty common one honestly.”[/color] He wasn’t the only kid beaten around by their guardians, many became rats like him, but few managed to get a leg up in the Coterie and made the cut.
He goes quiet for a short while, mind digesting her words and what they might mean. [color=#008e02]Whatever this is…[/color] This unspoken thing, unknown thing. He just understood there was an attraction there that went beyond the physical. Her wellbeing mattered to him. [color=#c10300]“I like hearin’ you talkin’ and I’d say I’m game for most things to gibber about… just not the wee ankle-biting healer.”[/color] The smirk across his face was comical, and Colt happily took his shoots where he could, but when they were off doing things, he didn't want to be reminded of the blonde shit-head that consumed her every time he passed through.
Maker help her, she thought, quietly to herself as he pulled her tighter to him, closed to the warmth he radiated there in the blanket, but admittedly, he was much warmer with more of his body pressed to hers. And that thought made her gulp down a breath of cold air, her cheeks heating through, down her neck and chest even. What would it feel like to have him over her, all warmth and lean muscle, with those hands that made her skin goose-bump with each touch of a digit drug down her skin, feather light and enough to make the small hairs on her stand on end. And it excited her that one day she might get to find that part out.
It had been a part of her dreams for a long while, how he'd take her, eyes held with hers, forehead to forehead so that when she did come, because she knew he would get her there, he could watch it in her face. And so while he cuddled her up closer, she let herself dream about the beach, about going somewhere with him, and not have to be pressured into a performance. He... he wanted her. She could tell, she wasn't blind, and she certainly wasn't stupid, but it was the first time that someone had wanted her, and not just the idea of her, the performance of "her", but actually her. Mina who wasn't a slave, but might as well be one, Mina who sold herself to get enough money to keep the only home she had ever known going once the old man was gone, because he would be gone, and she'd be all alone. Mina who had dreamed of him more times than she could count, had used her fingers at the thought of him, in so many scenarios, but had never thought he'd look past her just being the whore at the bar.
"[color=#2ecc40]Right now? Not before hand? Only once you had little Mina in your arms, and blankets, with good ale, and a cold night to look at stars. Dressed in your shirt and nothing else?[/color]" She grinned wider than before, teasing as her lips moved against the skin of his neck with her words. She had promised, she reminded herself, as she kept herself from going in to nibble along the line of his throat, and as much as her mind wanted to race ahead to their eventual coupling, because she was certain it would happen, she didn't want to miss the in-between. Too many firsts for her, that she was going to get to experience with him. It was a struggle, to keep herself present, in the moment, and not, the past and future. She hadn't lived in the moment in a long time, and she was finding that she wanted to experience more of "in the moment". So she tried to still herself once again, get herself out of her mind, and into his arms.
[color=#2ecc40]"We all got stories to tell and share, and one day I wanna hear yours, but when we ain't having a good night. Not the first time someone told me the story of Sirius, not the first time that I have your arms around me, truly around me."[/color] She could feel the sleep sneaking in when she finally surrendered herself to the now; after such a long day of cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the shits down stairs, once she let the background noise in her own head go, it was all she could do not to doze off there, safe on his chest. She had redone the bathing room today too, fifty trips back and forth with the bucket to get enough water into two of the tubs, and then another fifty to empty the other two out into the back garden where she was waiting for the spring time vegetables to come up so they'd have more color in the stews and tarts she cooked and baked. So to have this quiet moment with him, to be peeled off from the constant chore of the Water, it was a treat. A huge one, one she was coming to realize exactly how huge.
"[color=#2ecc40]Okay, okay, none of the healer, not with my Colt here, willing to see where all this goes, together with me[/color]."
All they needed was a small fire, and they could’ve stayed out there all night, he thought, but no. Even wrapped up in his shirt along with the blanket and his arm, body keeping the cold air at bay, she’d likely catch some chill and that wasn’t what Colt wished to leave her with. Idly his fingers trailed a soothing caress against her skin, in an almost silent worship of her form without crossing the delicate line between innocent and carnal.
He wanted her to enjoy the freedoms the rest of them had. To be themselves without the overhanging expectation to be, say and do what someone else wanted, to be herself beneath the title she’d assumed out of the lack of choice. Had he stayed, endured his father for a while longer, could they have met earlier? It was a thought he hadn’t entertained till now, and Colt would only let his mind linger on it for a short few tens of seconds, quickly forgotten in a blink against the sky above. Maybe it was something he dream about later, of them meeting before, of them courting earlier and them both saving the other, cutting out the lonely years spent adrift.
Colt’s chuckle rumbled out of him, deep and warm, his cheeks deepening with what he’d say.[color=#c10300] “Be pretty shit if I was having the same dream again, though it never began with me hittin’ Frank… and he’s got an easy face to hit.” [/color]He’d grin, though it faltered as she nibbled against his skin, shuddering and gently, playfully nudging her head with his own, [color=#c10300]“See, told you. Wee snuggler.” [/color]
He’d nod, chin rubbing against her shoulder at them sharing stories, the grin softening into a small smile, [color=#c10300]“That’s fair."[/color] While he was open about most things, Colt understood his temper, channelling it into his work instead of letting people bait him, draw him into a conflict that few understood the consequences of. There was a reason he didn't want to go back to the farm, not knowing was better.
He couldn't describe the myriad of feelings that flooded through him as she called him, [color=#008e02]my Colt[/color], the grin across his face inexcusable. His ears felt hot, that was about all he could really tell, squeezing her gently before letting up and tilting his head at her. [color=#c10300]“...Good. Our dates don’t include the blonde bawbag. He’s not the one I want to spend time with. That time’s for us.”[/color] Though, judging from how her eyes drooped and how she’d likely been running around from dawn now into the dark, an early night was ahead for the two. He withdrew a hand to push back a skewed hair.
[color=#c10300]“I think it might be time for someones bedtime? And, you gonna protest if I say I’ll carry you?”[/color]
"[color=#2ecc40]He does have a pretty punchable face, he's earned a place on my ready to punch at a moments notice list[/color]." She giggled softly against the side of his neck, her knees tucking a little as she felt more and more of the lethargy wash over her. "[color=#2ecc40]No one but the two of us. You're the one I want to spend that time with anyway.[/color]"
She didn't mean to be falling asleep on him, to be tired to begin with. This whole evening had been going to be about him. She was going to have tempted him into the bath tub, gotten him clean and not smelling like the job, and then had tempted him down into the big bed and had her lips wrapped around his cock -- both sets of lips -- at some point in the night. But he had put a stop to that, had disarmed her greatest tool she had to feel in control of a situation, and had pleasantly not done to her what so many others had in the past -- used that momentary opening in her defenses, to work their way in, and fortify the crack they'd caused.
Colt had done that. Colt had snuck in, over the weeks, of course, but finally tonight had been when the keystone had fallen into place and that arch holding the rest up had settled into place perfectly around it, leaving him an open pathway. He had free access to a part of her she hadn't realized was still in there, and the only person who had ever taken the time to figure out it was still there to begin with. The child-like wonder and happiness that didn't come with conditions. The last time she had felt that happy had been...
Had been before that night the Old Man had stood, dumbfounded as someone had dropped copper pieces into his hand and he hadn't told her not to do it again. At fourteen that had defined her self worth, and it had continued at barely registering for the past thirteen years. She had seen the look on his face, the shame as he had tucked the copper into his pocket, and would later give her a portion of it to do with as she wanted. After that, she had learned that if she stayed still and occasionally make a small moan or gasp. That was the day she had lost what Colt had found once again now.
"[color=#2ecc40]Ya asking ta marry me, so ya can carry me to bed, like a bride?[/color]" Her words slurred as her eyelids had long ago dropped closed, her fingers fisted in his shirt as she had curled up atop him, barely able to reply, she's too far gone into the sandman's realm. "[color=#2ecc40]He's gonna carry me ta bed,[/color]" and her fingers tightened into a tighter hold on his shirt, but she was asleep. The safest she had felt, since the Old Man had stopped letting her sleep on the edge of his bed when she was still a child.
Colt chuckled warmly, [color=#c10300]“Aye, he does that.”[/color] Arms cradled her close with her squirming about his lap, an approving sigh falling before, [color=#c10300]“Good. Just us then.” [/color]
He hadn’t minded what happened between them up in the privacy of the ‘big room,’ only had promised himself that he’d be unlike the rest, not seeking her company for the short term high, but the memory of how he’d got her to crack a genuine smile. That image would ease Colt into easy, pleasant dreaming till the next time he came by.
Her slowly drifting off made him smile, pleased that she didn’t have to hold up those walls, feel safe, content and relaxed for this first time in… whenever that had washed last over her. A small piece of him griped about how she shouldn’t ever not feel good, or safe, but life wasn’t a fairytale, there were monsters about. For now, he’d settle that concern with the knowledge that he had plans to make, ones that would bring him around more often to whisk her away on a new adventure. An increased presence would put his mind at ease, for the moment anyway.
Even as tired as she was her words managed to leave him scrambling to answer in between the [color=#c10300]“Um’s,”[/color] and [color=#c10300]“Ah’s,”[/color] that peppered the silence, until she reaffirmed his action. Colt settled for an awkward laugh that shifted to just humming a conformation. Neither a yes, or no to the first part, but maybe he’d get lucky and she’d forget about it in the morning. [color=#c10300]“Bedtime it is then.”[/color]
Carefully, so not to rouse her too much, he’d turn them around to plant his feet on the ground and allow him to cradle her better. He tucked her deeper into the crook of his neck, supporting her with one arm while the other helped pull him up to standing. The rest was relatively easy, her small form barely a strain on his long strong limbs that carried, tucked her in close before laying her down onto the soft mattress. He’d grab a new blanket from the chest before pulling off his boots and slipping onto the bed, drawing, folding her into his chest to be the small spoon.
A lazy grin settled across his lips as he curled the blankets around them, his voice lowered to a bare whisper, [color=#c10300]“He’s gonna keep you safe. That’s what Colt does. Any way you need it, I’ll do my best, I’ll do it.”[/color] For a while after, the locksmith simply listened to her breathing, felt the tension of days or weeks of constant work experience a brief respite as her muscles fully relaxed in his arms and the bed. No small cramped cubby.
Eventually sleep would claim him and a new day would unfortunately dawn after their night. He’d depart with the lads early, hanging back to remind her. [color=#c10300]He’d be back. He’d promised her a date.[/color] Then leaving her with a final wink and a wide red faced grin before running after an eavesdropping Danny, slapping the back of the Coterie whelps head for good measure.
