fondofapples | Inbox -- Genessia

Regina Mills
~~Queen~~ ~~Mayor~~ Mother
Sorceress
Fond of Plants

"You've reached the inbox of Regina Mills. Leave a message. If it's urgent, it's probably too late."

(text, voice, video, action, ooc planning if necessary for Genessia only)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

fondofapples

[ It's a little after eleven and Regina's still poring over the history of Schnee's Feyren branch. She pushes her glasses up to rub her eyes and rolls her head on her shoulders to stretch her neck. For the last ten minutes, she's felt uncommonly fidgety for no reason she can think of--

Until a text notification lights up her phone and she realizes: she's been waiting for some kind of contact from Neil. Her neck and shoulders pop when she reaches for the phone, and she smiles to see the familiar greeting.

After pausing to put lotion on her hands -- glamours are for disguises, not for living in; her appearance is a product of care -- and rub it in, she picks up the phone to text back. ]

Hello, my knight. I've missed you today.

From:

hellorhighwater

[Neil lets out a breath he didn't realize he was holding until she answers him. He didn't realize he was waiting, that he was tense, that he was steeling himself for the usual grind and the idea that he might not see her for a couple days while he muscled through this.

But she responds, and something in his chest unknots, and there's that little leap of surprise in his chest that comes with every reminder that he's not alone anymore.

His responses are the usual--single line, no use of grammar save for spelling, but tonight there's more time between each of his messages instead of the usual rapid fire string. Typing with one hand is hard, okay?]

missed you too

sorry i was kinda absent

just sorta busy

sorry to text so late

just cant sleep

From:

fondofapples

[ Regina purses her lips at the single message. It's not like him to-- ah, there's another. She frowns. It's slow. And another, still slow, not like he's been interrupted. Her gaze narrows and her stomach knots a little, even though he texted her.

By the time he gets to 'just can't sleep,' she's officially upset. ]

Neil, what's wrong? What aren't you telling me?

[ Now she just has to wait. Regina hates waiting. ]

From:

hellorhighwater

[She does have to wait, but not long. She thinks something's wrong, and it's not (he's got this, he's always had this, he's the left hand of the Dragon and he's strong enough to handle his shit) so he grits his teeth and uses both hands to text this time.

The messages come quicker, but still aren't normal.]

nothig imokay

just innsomna

itsar eal bitc

did wake yo

From:

fondofapples

[ It could be a fluke, she reasons. Even she has been known to make the odd typo. But the second is worse, and the third...

He's not stupid enough to text her with someone else in his bed, and she can't make herself believe that's possible. He could be drunk, but why would he hide it?

Regina shakes her head and her glasses slip back down her nose. Something's wrong, and he's not telling her. Teeth gritted, she texts back, fingers flying ]

You have one chance to tell me what's wrong 
before I come find out for myself.
Trust me when I say you want to tell me.

From:

hellorhighwater

[...yeah, Neil knows this is bad. But she'll just fuss and he's fine, so he goes back to texting one handed and a slow flow of messages he sits up in bed, summoning some street clothes to change into so he can go by her place.]

its nothing

ill even prove it

it ok if i come by

just gonna yawn all over you cause i havent been sleeping real well

which is pretty much the problem and thats it seriously

From:

fondofapples

Too late, Neil. Far too late. Regina didn't even remove her glasses before she summoned the whirling purple smoke.

When she arrived in his room, she hadn't even refreshed the lipstick that had long since been smeared off onto a coffee cup. Her hair was still tied back in a casual ponytail. But mercifully her eyeliner and mascara were waterproof and hadn't smudged, or the look she directed at him would've been about as impressive as an angry raccoon.

She planted her hands on her hips and glared at him. "Tell me, or I swear I'll hang you upside down and shake it out of you."

From:

hellorhighwater

He had some jeans and a shirt on the bed beside him when she just showed up--and goddamn edible, just her natural beauty and hair bound back, making him itch to pull it loose and run his fingers through it...

The combination of being in too much pain for sex--and being in enough pain that she caught him off guard only served to make him cranky as he glared right back up at her.

"Go ahead--might help my back." he snarked back as he got to his feet, visibly favoring his right arm, tucked closer to the side of his body than the left. "Used to be some guys in my regiment that'd go hang from trees by their feet after a training session to work out the kinks--and by the way, do I look dead to you? The teleportation thing's dangerous without a warning, you know what I do back home."

Despite being aggravated for no reason, Neil still moved over to kiss her forehead in greeting.

"So fuck you. And hi--ignore me, I'm sore 'n strung out. I told you, I can't sleep. That's it."

From:

fondofapples

He moved to kiss her forehead and she snarled wordlessly at him. Her hand shot out, not for his face to stop the kiss, but to grab the right arm he was clearly favoring.

The woman she used to be would have dug her thumb into the old injury, just to be cruel. And the rage bleeding into her vision wanted an outlet. For several heartbeats, the blankets on his bed shivered and slithered, edges poking out into heads like snakes. But her free hand sliced through the air and they stopped. The charge in the air snapped and stopped.

"Do you think you could kill me faster than I could turn your weapons against you?" she seethed, then closed her eyes and shook her head, trying to banish the darkness clawing at her heart.

"Don't scare me, Neil. Bad things happen when I feel threatened."

From:

hellorhighwater

The reaction was immediate as she grabbed his arm: his jaw ticked, a brief clench half hidden by his beard.

Aside from that, there was absolutely nothing--his expression closed off, he went perfectly still, and the skin beneath her hand began to heat up. It took effort, but he stopped his body temperature from climbing more than a few degrees, and he looked her dead in the eye without hesitation.

It was easier, because it was Regina--her fingers were strong and solid, but lacked the talons that could pierce skin with too deep a breath that would dance over open wounds on his back and chest from the lashes he had taken when punishment for a failure was warranted.

Her magic was pure passion, even at its blackest, just like the rest of her--it wasn't a slow creeping shadow, darkness inching forward with every beat of his heart, drawing light and heat from torches that sputtered and flickered and smoked as they fought to stay alive, as the encroaching nothingness pleaded with the fire in his veins and began that seductive dance to coaxed his power to the surface, to slip its leash and soar, run, consume.

It was Regina, so it was easier to remember that he was in his own space, with the woman he loved, and not standing before the Night Dragon in his throne room, riding his fury in hopes of escaping with his life.

That vital reminder was the thing that let him nod, as if in understanding--then grit his teeth and wrenched his bad arm free, catching her wrist in his hand with a firm, even painful grip.

"Do I think I could get the drop on you? If you were a stranger to me, yeah, I do." he replied, voice deadly calm and shaking only a little with the effort it took to hold on while the edges of his vision turned fuzzy. "I have had men try to kill me in my sleep, Regina, as I have killed others--my first lesson in basic training, I was worked nearly to the point of death, then had to defend myself in trial by combat, and make no mistake: boys died in that session. If I don't know you're coming, do not teleport into my room."

The moment he stopped talking, Neil let go of her wrist and cradled his arm against his stomach, breathing like he'd just run a marathon. Doubling over to rest his good hand on his knee, he tried to ride out the agony while his vision grayed, threatening to make him pass out.

From:

fondofapples

Between them, they could tear this building down, and Neil's skill with battle magic far exceeded hers. But she knew now how he'd felt when she had her hand around his heart, at least in part. Because though her pulse sped and it took an act of will not to fling him across the room when he grabbed her wrist, she was never once afraid. She stood strong, shoulders square and jaw as tense as his. They could have this fight, not with her cowering from his strength like she had her mother's, because she trusted him.

Neil wouldn't harm her. Not even though he held her wrist firmly enough to bruise it, and angrily enough to summon memories of Mother capturing her time and again, binding her up in plants or whatever allies she had handy. She didn't flinch, even though she remembered like it was yesterday pleading, I'll be good, at a softer grip.

Because Neil wouldn't harm her.

Not willingly, which was the point. And why when he threw down his gauntlet, she nodded, not with fear but with respect. "I won't."

And then she broke the spell of that moment, stepped forward and slipped her arm around his broad, shaking shoulders to guide him to his bed. "And don't pull that macho 'I'm fine' bullshit on me when 'I'm hurting' is what you mean."

Sighing, she lifted her hand to stroke his hair and then slipped down to her knees on the floor in front of him, to gently take his arm into her hands and stabilize it. "Stupid, stubborn knights and their stupid fucking pride. Why text me because you can't sleep if you don't want me here? Don't you know I want to be what you need?"

Edited Date: 2018-09-15 03:19 am (UTC)

From:

hellorhighwater

Neil couldn't have stopped her even if he wanted to--and if he was honest, he didn't want to as she steered him over to the bed before he could hit the floor. Her touch was gentle, light, protective as she steadied his arm and knelt in front of him, chiding him like a child...at least he thought that was what it might have been like.

That uncertainty answered her question for him as he swallowed past the bile still trying to rise in his throat, his arm shifting this way and that under her touch, as if he could twist away from the constant, stabbing lance of pain radiating through his bones.

"It's not pride, it's...just how this works. How it's worked." he admitted softly, eyes still on the floor as he slowly pushed the gray out of his field of vision. "Told you, broke the damn thing when I was a kid. Been to Everglade a lot recently, gets damp over there. Too much moisture in the air and these...flare ups happen."

He finally lifted his gaze to meet hers, sufficiently chastened.

"I don't know...how to do this. To have--that. I'm not even sure I know what I need sometimes, I just know how to survive it. I couldn't sleep, I won't take anything that'll fuck with my head, so I...texted."

From:

fondofapples

"How you do this is simple," she began, voice gentling almost to the tones she'd use with Henry if he were sick and scared.

Closing her eyes briefly to focus herself, she drew on the white-hot burn within her--deep, below the black magic that jumped to her fingertips at the slightest call, and wove her hands back and forth over his wounded arm. There was nothing to heal, because the wound was too old and she had no skill with healing magic, but white magic, love's magic, could soothe an ache for a little while, and she willed it to now.

"You text or call, and say 'Regina, my arm aches from the damp' and I come." Because I love you. She bent her head and pressed a soft kiss of apology to his wrist and another to where she'd so unkindly held his arm.

From:

hellorhighwater

Neil watched, openly wary as she started casting some spell--fearful of its effects, of that loss of awareness or control...but as the power worked, it didn't go anywhere near his mind. It felt like no magic he'd ever seen or felt, even from her.

And it took some of the pain. A good deal of the pain, actually. He flexed his fingers experimentally, and sighed around a dull throb--not unlike the early stages, when it was little more than a nuisance.

She followed by kissing his wrist, his arm--she told him to ask, and she'd come...it was everything he'd ever suspected, every time the Night Dragon called his work a failure because some thread of that was there. Sparing a life in the name of mercy, going back for a comrade in the heat of battle, even warping his magic to try and do things like heal. They were acts of rebellion, they were fresh battles and skirmishes to fight.

He was good at fighting. He wasn't sure how to handle being fought for.

For a long while he just sat, testing his grip, rubbing his forearm from elbow to wrist and back again, staring at it as he tried the idea in his head, just to see how it fit--to feel pain, to reach out...to ride out the storm without fighting. It didn't fit, it refused...but oh, he wanted it to, wanted it so bad he could taste it, feel his thoughts drawn back to waking up in her arms on the grass, sunk so deep into sleep he wasn't sure where he was...

He finally nodded in understanding, then lifted his gaze to meet hers and nodded again. "Okay...okay. Then...I will."

From:

fondofapples

Tipping forward, she slid her arms around his waist and hugged him from her position on the ground. But she didn't stay there, resting where she interposed between his thighs and him resting his arm. After she'd embraced him, she stood and cast her gaze around his room, picked out the hundred and some ways it was inadequate for her dragon knight in pain. No, it wouldn't do.

"Tell me what you need for tomorrow. I'll gather it while you put on the bare minimum of clothes. I'm taking you home with me where you can have warmth, a soft bed, me to watch over you so you can actually sleep." Because half of why he didn't sleep when he hurt wasn't the pain, but the wariness he needed to stay alive when he was this vulnerable.

She wound her arms gently around his shoulders and drew him in against her stomach, stroked her fingers tenderly through his hair to ease the referred pain she knew had to throbbing in his skull. "Neil, sweetheart, let me take care of you."

From:

hellorhighwater

When she slid in close to hug him, his good arm wrapped around her shoulders in return before she was standing up and taking charge, tossing off orders like the queen she was...and then she was there again, all soft touches and and fingers in his hair--

Which was his undoing, and she fucking knew it, too. His head did hurt, but that soothing caress, the kiss of fingertips and nails along his scalp had him sagging forward just a little with a hum of pleasure, letting his head fall to rest against her abdomen for a second while the touch melted away some of the tension that came with his discomfort.

He gave himself a few moments, then he lifted his head again to just look up at her with a small smile filled with a hesitant sort of gratitude--untested, still new, but it was good. It was really good.

"Black bag in the corner--force of habit, too many coastal assignments outta nowhere." he replied by way of agreement to let her do just that--help, take care of him, to let her be there without fighting it if he could help it. "Change of clothes, shaving and spellcraft kits--and full disclosure, my dagger's in there."

With a sigh, and heavy reluctance, he let her fingers slide out of his hair as he shifted to get to his feet, only gritting his teeth a little. He was fairly decent in gym shorts, but reached for the stack of clothes he'd grabbed himself before, passing them to Regina to add to the bag he'd indicated save for a tank top he managed to negotiate pulling on over his head. Sitting back on the bed, he reached under for his sneakers (a wonderful piece of his world he'd forgotten about for far too long) so he could pull them on.

From:

fondofapples

When he tipped his face up to smile at her, Regina's heart wanted to break for the sweetness of it. She caught his jaw in her palm and caressed his cheekbone with her thumb, as tender now as she'd been aggressive before, and the touch was both apology for her roughness and balm to sweep away his pain.

As he stood, she took his face in both hands and kissed his mouth softly. "A dagger's like American Express. Don't leave home without," she teased, and then immediately blushed both for the ridiculousness of it and the thought she could somehow brush aside the argument they'd had so simply.

Still, she collected the bag and packed the clothing he gave her into it, noting with pleasure that he'd included enough for several days (intentionally or otherwise, but either way she didn't intend to let him leave until the pain had faded and he'd had a chance physically and emotionally to heal). Although carrying bags was the opposite of a Regina thing to do, she hiked the strap over her shoulder easily, and when he'd slipped on his sneakers, she drew him up again, gently, into an embrace. "Do you have your phone to let Charlie know where you'll be?"

From:

hellorhighwater

It was a ridiculous remark--but it was things like that which made him so sure of what he felt for her. It was more than attractive, it was a beautiful reminder of the dark things that lived in her, things she had conquered, things he never would--but she got it. There was no looming sense of loss, or a risk she would learn to hate him for what he was. She'd seen his heart, she knew him and still she'd asked for that kiss after she put it back in his chest.

Leaning over to kiss her blushing cheek before he went back to pulling himself together, once he had his shoes on he started to stand--and there she was again, drawing him up, wrapping herself around him with such gentleness and care...it was still an ill fit but it shook something in him, something deep and so alien, something that made him ache and lose his breath and suddenly, overwhelmingly want to bury his face in her hair and just stay there for the rest of his life.

Instead of letting it trip him up, he just smiled and reached into the pocket of his shorts to show her his phone--then wiggled his fingers in silent request for the bag.

"I got one good arm--you're not carryin' that." he insisted. "You're travel, I can hold my own stuff. Isn't that what a knight would do or somethin'?"

From:

fondofapples

"I see, your magical taxicab is ill-tempered enough without having to be a porter, too," she murmured, somewhere between a tease and a protest, but she handed over the bag, carefully, nevertheless. She imagined that it was hard enough for him to let her fuss and care-take, so she could allow him this small indulgence of his dignity.

She held up a finger, though, and said, "If I see a single wince, I'm taking it back. No arguments." A safe enough statement, since in the next instant, she'd stepped close to put an arm around him, and wrap them both up in hissing swirls of purple teleportation mist. And a moment later, it left them in her suite, immaculate but for the stack of papers on her desk.

From:

hellorhighwater

"As you will it, Great Dragon." Neil replied with a roll of his eyes--leaning in to kiss her forehead as she stepped in and summoned her spell.

By the time his head lifted from kissing her, they were ho--in her suite.

He couldn't quite stop the sigh that escaped him as he let the bag drop beside him, or the way his shoulders drooped a little with a loss of tension. He couldn't help it--he liked being here because she was here. In every immaculate space, in the way it smelled like her...in the way he couldn't see her bed without picturing her naked in it...

The thought manifested only with a slow, broad smile that he would never explain as he reached up with both hands to rake them through his hair. That proved to be a mistake as his arm throbbed--which brought a telltale wince. He'd forgotten, for a moment, that it hurt. Not because he wasn't in pain, even with Regina's magic it still ached, but being with her had achieved what he'd hoped to get with texting her: he wasn't thinking about it.

"That came after I put the bag down." he pointed out. "So that doesn't count."

From:

fondofapples

"It counts," she told him firmly and in a tone that suggested he had entered her domain now and she would brook no arguments. But since the bad had already hit the floor, she was free to also smile.

Being with him in his space was different than having him here in hers, in ways that made her at once more vulnerable to his every tiny twitch and smile, and more powerful in her own right, more in control. Whatever the specifics, for a few heartbeats, the hair on her arms stood on end in pure awareness of his presence.

The frisson of sensual alert passed into a small, feminine smile as she ran her hands up his chest--gently, no pressure put on him that might upset his arm, but still with obvious sexual appreciation. "And just for that, I'm going to have to stuff you into the hot springs for a nice long soak."

From:

hellorhighwater

"The indignities I must endure to serve my queen." he joked, his good arm going around her waist as her hands slid up his chest, coaxing a sigh out of him. The longer he stood there, the faster his tension drained away--he wasn't well made for allowing someone to care for him, but this? This felt like something he could handle, just being here and letting the comfort of her presence, her rooms, her little slice of the world restore his sense of well being.

Maybe that was where it began, like she'd said: just letting her be what he needed.

"Okay, okay. I can do a soak in the hot springs." he relented more seriously, bending to kiss the bridge of her nose--then stopping short with a frown at her glasses and releasing his hold on her in favor of reaching up to pluck them from her face so he could complete his chosen task.

"The 'sexy librarian' look is not, but if you really need these? I could try to fix the problem for you." he pointed out, peering through her glasses himself to gauge her eyesight. "It's not in my wheelhouse, so the spellwork would take time, but it is possible. Wore glasses myself 'till the Night Dragon found me. Had the palace healers correct my vision so I'd be a better fighter."

From:

fondofapples

That little frown was appallingly cute, Regina decided. So much so that she almost told him to go ahead with the democracy just for the pleasure of watching him frown and sigh over it. Almost.

"Sexy mayor," she corrected/reminded him, then floated the glasses from his fingers to her desk. "And thank you for the offer, but I correct my eyesight with a simple spell most of the time. I just don't when I'll be doing a lot of close reading. Even with the spell I can get a wicked headache. So, glasses. They're a good check on my vanity."

Her playful smile softened as she ran her hands over his side's to his hips. "Come on, my dragon knight. Let's get you warm and wet."

From:

hellorhighwater

"I wanna see that spell--I know I can get rid of the headaches." He insisted with a put out little glare when she snagged the glasses from him with magic. "As for vanity, the glasses don't work. With or without, you're still so beautiful it fuckin' hurts."

He'd have said more, but she was touching him again, making Neil hum low in his chest as her hands slid down over his hips. His good hand lifted to run fingers through her hair while he bent to kiss that warm, lighthearted smile, which he didn't see it nearly often enough for his liking. After a fight like the one they just had, it was a welcome balm on his soul, a reminder that the jagged edges they both sported only cut when they fell out of alignment. When they came together properly, they fit like puzzle pieces: barbed daggers whose teeth meshed as one.

"Gonna fight you on that if I'm the only one getting warm and wet." He murmured against her mouth with a smirk. "If we get any privacy in the springs...I got one good arm still, I mentioned that, right?"

From:

fondofapples

It had been decades since Leopold had humiliated her by calling Snow the most beautiful woman in all the realms, decades since Sidney had found her by her apple tree and she'd twisted his appreciation of her own womanly beauty into an assassin-to-hand. She knew without looking in a mirror that she was an attractive woman, even exceptionally so. And yet every time Neil called her beautiful or told her she was beautiful, Regina couldn't help the small, pleased smile and the way her breathing eased for a minute. Especially after they'd fought so viciously (if briefly), his appreciation soothed her, assuring her she hadn't broken anything, or even bent it badly.

The smile she gave him in response, small and intimate, invited another kiss, deeper and more sensual than the one he'd just pressed to her mouth. It could wait, though, until they were ensconced in the hot, muscle-easing water of the springs and he could hold her without injuring himself further.

When his thoughts trended the same direction as hers, she chuckled warmly and inserted a finger between their mouths to tap his lips with a 'now, now' and a finger wag of 'hold your horses, handsome.' "You might have mentioned that, yes." She drew her hands back up his hips to his mid back. "Healing first, holding after. I want you well, Neil."