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:

hellorhighwater

Before she could finish the statement, Neil's hand lifted to gently cover her mouth without strength--lay there, not to stifle her but simply to call for silence.

"Perfect conquest through perfect submission." he replied quietly, almost a whisper. "Not magic and salvation--dahgo is a choice, not a destiny--a trial, not a test. What I give to you, I give without promise of redemption, without expectation...without hope."

Letting his hand drop from her mouth, he covered one of the hands on his chest and slid it up so he could grip her fingers with the hand that protruded from his sling.

"I'm not waiting to hear it, Regina. I don't need to, I don't want to. Say it when you're ready, when I try to shut you up and you say it anyway. Don't say it out of obligation, say it it out of spite. When you say it...don't say it because I love you. Say it because you love me."

From:

fondofapples

Before Neil could drop his fingers away from her mouth, she bit them. Hard. And then she waited for him to finish talking to say, "Don't ever tell me what to say and what not to say," she snapped, raw emotion and physicality-invoked memories of her mother a bad combination.

Her hands trembled, both from her frustration at her own reaction and from his finally saying words she hadn't realized she'd been waiting for. She knew he loved her. Knew she loved him, too. But hearing it...

She shook her head and gave him a softer look, apologetic, while her free hand stroked his chest over his heart. "I wasn't going to say it, Neil. I was going to say that I didn't know what to say, but I didn't have the words for that, either."

It was too much, this conversation in the halls that led to the rock springs. They weren't alone. They were exposed. And she felt impossibly vulnerable. By now he knew her well enough that even if he couldn't read the gesture magic, he had to expect the teleportation mist and the temporary disorientation and relocation that left them in a private, quiet area of the springs.

From:

hellorhighwater

The bite made him hiss, but all he did was curl his fingers in loosely to soothe the sting. He'd obviously hit a button of some kind--one he made a mental note not to push again.

And he felt kind of stupid for making assumptions...but she was still here. Not freaking out, not running away. He wasn't sure what to expect, but when he caught the channeling gesture she used to teleport, he didn't hesitate to slide his arm around her--to make it easier, and out of a small sense of relief. Obviously, if she wanted to be alone with him, she wasn't going anywhere, right?

When the mist of her spell cleared and he saw where they were, he relaxed a little and leaned forward to press his nose against her hairline, just to breathe her in.

"Sorry I pushed a button--and I'm sorry I made assumptions." he sighed, drawing back with a smile. "I just...I guess I jumped to conclusions 'cause I already know it's true. So..."

He trailed off, looking into her eyes with hope, despite what he said before.

"Did I push too hard? Am I gettin' in that water alone? Or...are we good, and you'll keep tryin' to take care of me while I try to seduce you?"

From:

fondofapples

Because she'd told him not to, she didn't reach up to stop his mouth. Let him say the things he needed to say, because sometimes hurt and fear needed out, not just soothed. She knew that better than almost anyone.

When he'd finished, that was when she took her hand to his jaw and murmured, "Apology for button-pushing accepted. Not for assuming something that's always in my eyes and in my touch." And riding her tongue more often than not. She loved him, but for a little while longer, she needed to remember those words being for Robin. She needed not to say them until she wasn't afraid it would mean him being ripped away from her.

"We're good, Neil. I just didn't want a possible audience anymore. I wanted to be alone with you."

From:

hellorhighwater

"Okay." he replied softly, leaning into the touch of her hand on his jaw. That, he needed more than anything, the reassurances he'd come to look for that had precisely those words hidden in their depths: every kiss, every sweep of her fingers or caress of her knuckles, every moment when she looked at him with that wide-eyed light in her gaze.

Shutting his eyes, he reached up to catch her hand, to press his lips against the center of her palm, centering himself at the same time. He gave himself a moment to stop looking, to let go of even the fear of pushing too far too soon. That wasn't the point--the point was to trust it, to accept it...to anticipate nothing, even inevitable rejection or suffering. A clean cut, a surgical separation, a removal of the heart.

It was a hard thing to do...but easier, knowing her hands were outstretched and waiting to take that heart from him.

It was just a couple of seconds before he lifted his head, released her hand--then scowled down at his sling, shifting to try and slide it off so he could slide into the water. Regina's charm had faded enough that he was definitely feeling it again.

"Fucking stupid--aren't these things supposed to ease pain? Ember's Balls..."

From:

fondofapples

When he closed his eyes, she used those seconds to pull herself back together, regather her poise as much as she could, but she found with his lips pressed to her palm and his breathing slowing as he found dahgo that it wasn't much at all. Every time he needed her, it stripped another layer of her defenses and her resistance, the polish that covered her sheer terror that if she admitted out loud she loved him, it would be like Robin and Marian and her all over again only it would be Robin she couldn't save and Neil she had to leave. That, or he would simply be gone in the night and she would be alone again.

But his impotent anger at the sling, that gave her back a bit of herself. She rapped her knuckles lightly on his forehead. He was in pain again, so there was no smile to accompany it, just a gently chiding, "Quit struggling like a rabbit in a snare and relax a minute," and then she walked around behind him to untie the knot that held the sling in place.

From:

hellorhighwater

Neil opened his mouth to insist he could get it on his own--but shut his mouth after a moment, remembering his promise to let her help, even leaned back a little so she didn't have to stretch.

Once she got it loose, Neil eased the sling off and tossed it off to one side--then impatiently called a tongue of dragon fire to life from his fingertip and flicked it onto the sling, which burned like flash paper, leaving no ash behind.

"That was incredibly satisfying." he declared aloud, arm cradled protectively against his stomach with a sigh as he looked over his shoulder at Regina with a smile. "You were right about comin' down here--feel better already."

From:

fondofapples

"Already?"

Regina waited until he turned back to slip off the sarong, and then she stepped out in front of him. No, it wasn't a bikini and men did tend to prefer them, but she knew what she looked like in a form-fitting shadow of black and sheer mesh.

"Here I thought I was going to have to work for that, at least a little."

From:

hellorhighwater

Taking her in when he turned around, Neil was pretty sure she had no fucking idea what she looked like--because 'hot' didn't begin to cover it.

"Better--not perfect." he corrected, moving closer to slide his good arm around her waist. "Perfect just happened--fuck, I'm a lucky bastard to be on your arm, have I mentioned that?"

From:

fondofapples

"You're not on my arm. I'm in yours," she protested, oddly embarrassed by the sentiment, as though it somehow turned him into eye candy or a trophy consort just by the saying.

She shoved him lightly in the ribs. "Quit making time and get in the water. I'm as seduced as I'm going to get." Probably. "And we haven't had a bath together yet."

From:

hellorhighwater

Neil narrowed his eyes with a smile, and a raised eyebrow after getting shoved.

"Spoilsport." he teased out of the corner of his mouth, turning to slip into the water with a sigh. "Well, if you're not gonna get any more seduced? There goes my fun--maybe I'll just rest. Bad arm and all, probably shouldn't strain myself..."

From:

fondofapples

As soon as he'd settled onto a stone ledge, Regina slipped into the water to join him. Except that she didn't sit on the ledge, but draped herself over his lap, careful not to jostle his injured arm. "I said I was as seduced as I was going to get. Not as sated," she murmured and then took the deep, sweet kiss she'd been wanting.

From:

hellorhighwater

With his good arm, Neil eased himself into the water, hissing in appreciation of the heat until he was seated comfortably where he could lean back--

--and end up with a lapful of Regina, kissing him, drinking him down in a greedy, gentle kiss that made all the parts of him the water couldn't reach melt.

With a hum of pleasure, he kissed her back, good arm lifting so he could curl his hand around the back of her neck to keep her close, even when they had to part for air. He shifted his bad arm without thinking, making him wince for a moment, but the pain only served to remind him where he'd be if she hadn't come to chew him out: wide staring awake, spots in the edges of his vision--alone and paranoid, like he was every other time this shit went down. Be it his arm or his knee or some other lingering injury from a lifetime spent in combat, it was always his and never different.

It didn't hit him, until his arm twinged, safely tucked between their bodies, that dealing with the pain reminded him a lot of his old life in Queens.

Instead of upsetting him, though, it made him smile as his hand slid away to cradle her cheek.

"Hey," he murmured, brushing his mouth against the scar on her upper lip, "I didn't say it yet, but...thanks for savin' me from..."

He wiggled the fingers of his bad arm--and immediately regretted it as it sent a lance of pain up the whole damn thing.

From:

fondofapples

The clutch around her heart eased with the yielding sweetness in their kiss, both of them needing to reconnect and slaking the need at once. It lasted a long spell, though not nearly long enough for the other needs he stirred in her heart to be soothed; those, she thought, might never be truly eased. She'd had too little of this and craved it too much.

Still, she shifted to tuck herself more closely against him after, moving carefully to avoid further hurting his arm, since she'd felt but didn't remark on the wince--the first time. But when the idiot wiggled his fingers while trying to thank her, her expression became a glare. "Put that arm in the water and leave it there. It needs the heat." And because he wasn't listening fast enough, she lay her hand over the arm and recast the pain relief charm, adding a kiss of magical heat this time.

"It's the dragon fire that does it. Makes the bone cold and brittle when it steals your body heat." She sounded and felt aggrieved by it, that something dared to hurt him, while she had her hands on him even.

From:

hellorhighwater

Neil couldn't quite stop himself from raising an eyebrow at her ire, but lost his battle with accepting her protective fussing when she cast her spell again, adding heat that sank deeper than the water, making his eyes shut and his breath rush out of him on a low rumble of pleasure and relief that bordered on a purr.

Until she assessed his condition--with surprising accuracy--both startling him pleasantly with her grasp of his power and...something else he couldn't name, something uncomfortable that rose at the knowledge that she was upset for reasons he couldn't control.

Shifting a little so he could more comfortably keep his arm submerged, he nodded a little at her reasoning. "Hell of it is, the fire also speeds healing. They told me I'd need surgery when I broke it--pins and shit to fix it--but a few hours later the bone was already knitting. They wrote it off as a bad diagnosis...it's a pain in the ass, yeah. The fire steals my body heat, spikes fevers--even gets in my head sometimes, fuels rage and bloodlust. But the gods gave me this power for a reason--and they balance it out. I knit broken bones faster, disease can't live in my blood, and no man can bleed me against my will. The fire cauterizes any wound."

From:

fondofapples

"All of which I hope I never need to be grateful for," Regina replied, definitely not thinking about anything that might give her cause to be glad of his enhanced physical defenses. She was already agitated enough about him being in sufficient pain that he couldn't sleep.

Not quite frowning, she ran her fingers over his chest and the countless scars there and on his abdomen. "Tell me how you got them? Maybe not all of them right now, but I need to know the things that put holes in you." So that she could know what to protect him from. Not the specifics, but the general class of things. She didn't doubt that anything that had put a hole in him that he had survived was already long since dead.

From:

hellorhighwater

The feel of her hands sliding over his chest and stomach was more than a little distracting, but her request kept his mind from wandering too far afield (and too far below the belt) as her fingers mapped his scars. Add to that the vaguely discontent expression she wore, and that uncomfortable feeling rose in him again.

With a small, fond smile, he caught her hand and guided it across his chest, over his stomach, and down to his side, giving her the start to his story, if not the whole tale.

"These came from a storm lion--assassination in the mountains of Torrel, I made camp too close to a den. Tough as nails, and their roar is like thunder, it can split stone. This one was the dagger of Tiberius of the Deep, youngest son of the Triton king--in all fairness, I was trying to kill him. These were the talons of a Loran guard--nature dragon country, but they're a non-issue now, there's a price on my head in the kingdom of Lora and my king has never sent me back. And this one...reach around there, couple inches above the kidney?...that's the one I told you about on our first date. Caught a barb on the tail of an ice dragon rendering aid to the resistance in Isa, ran me through. Ice dragons are one of the few things that can keep me from sealing a wound--if the bastard hadn't thrown me off, I'd have bled out."

From:

fondofapples

"Ice magic," Regina murmured unhappily, not quite meeting his eyes while her fingers mapped the nasty scar on his back. From today forward, she would hate that wound but love that scar, in particular: the wound for nearly killing him, the scar for the proof he'd survived it.

"It would have to be, wouldn't it?" She lay her head on his shoulder and drew her legs up so that all of her rested in his lap with the water to support most of her weight. "It was an ice spell that threatened Marian's life. Had I mentioned that?"

From:

hellorhighwater

"You just did." Neil half teased, testing his arm and finding enough relief to slide between her drawn up legs and her stomach, just resting while submerged while he lifted his good arm to stroke her hair as her head settled on his shoulder. Resting his cheek against her forehead, he drew a deep breath and shut his eyes for a second, trying to let himself relax a little.

With her curled up in his lap, it was surprisingly easy.

"But you beat that spell, or else Roland wouldn't have his mom." Neil pointed out, reluctant to mention Robin not out of jealousy, but out of fear of causing her greater pain. "So if an Isan dragon that's seen my face arrives? You're my backup, 'kay?"

From:

fondofapples

"I didn't," she told him, but it didn't sound nearly as broken or plaintive as it would have even two weeks ago. She still, definitely, had her hard days and the moments where the thought of never seeing Robin (and Henry and Roland) made her want to scream until she'd scoured the pain from her lungs. But today was a day where it was a quiet sorrow, one that Neil's presence soothed considerably.

"I studied all of my books. Tried everything I could think of or even imagine. I saved her by taking her heart and putting her in stasis until I knew there wasn't any other choice but to take her out of Storybrooke into the Land without Magic where the spell would die because there was no magic to feed it. But once she left, she couldn't come back, and she wouldn't have survived there alone. She didn't know anything. At least Robin knew how to use a cell phone and money that wasn't pine cones."

From:

hellorhighwater

"You still beat it." Neil pointed out, lifting his head to kiss her forehead before he laid his cheek there again with a sigh. "Magic's not always the solution--sometimes to beat death, you gotta lose a limb. I've done that...not lose a limb, but came close once on the coast of the Opal Sea."

He huffed out a sigh, shaking his head a little as he shifted to get his bad arm more comfortable, slip a little further into the water without dislodging Regina from her place in his lap.

"Point is, you understand that. You gave up your mate to save a rival because there was no other choice--and there was no other choice because it was right. Very few people would have the balls to do what you did...that's some flat out heroic shit. It's nothing I could have ever done, that's for fucking sure, and knowing you've got that kind of strength? Ember's Balls, the more I learn about you the more certain I am you're way outta my league. You are too damn good for me."

From:

fondofapples

"I didn't do it for her," Regina protested at first, but then she just didn't care, and sought out his mouth for a quiet kiss.

It felt good to have Neil praising her for doing something that had been unbelievably hard. She hadn't done it for recognition, or even really to make amends, although she'd have been responsible for Marian's death twice over since Swan saved her from Regina's prison. She'd done it because she didn't know what else to do. Because not doing it wouldn't have been better, her guilt and Robin's would've killed what they had as surely as sending him away. It had hurt, worse than losing Daniel, to do it--except that this time it had been her choice. And no one else really understood that. No one but Neil.

When she released him from the soft, lingering kiss, she caught his face in her hands. "There is no league, Neil. There's you. Just you."

From:

hellorhighwater

Neil wasn't sure if she meant it as an I love you--but man, it fucking felt like one. Seeing it in her eyes, how narrow the world became...feeling it in those soft, endless kisses where he forgot things like needing air...and it was a fucking terrifying feeling.

He never wanted it to end.

Running his fingers along her jaw, he spoke without thinking in the tongue of the dragons--and when he realized it, he translated.

"Unto the death of the stars, and the reign of night over all the realms."

From:

fondofapples

Her eyes slipped closed, not to shut him out, but to feel the weight of his words in contrast with the giddy lightness of his touch, the way the two spun, dancing over her skin like deepest night paired with the kiss of flame. It was a peculiar sensation, heavy and heady and frightening, but beautiful.

"You don't usually translate." Her voice came soft and breathless, her head dipped and her lips brushed against his chest over his heart. "Is it always vows that bind you to me for all eternity?"

From:

hellorhighwater

Neil sighed and shut his eyes at the gentle brush of her mouth, swearing as he always did to himself that he could feel it, beneath skin, branding that beating muscle with the warmth of her touch. It made him smile as he shook his head.

"Nah. Not always." he admitted. "Sometimes they're prayers of thanks to the Ember, expressions of emotion that don't translate into English..."

He paused, then ran a hand through her hair and spoke the same words he'd whispered to her on their first date, standing in the middle of his room with her head against his chest and the smoke of her teleportation spell only just vanishing around them. Once he was done, he translated.

"I turn from the sun and surrender myself to the darkness I have seen upon my soul. I consecrate myself to shadow with the screams of your enemy, anoint my heart with the viscera of your pain. If your blood be shed, your tears fall, your sorrow reign, let me turn from my final journey to the sky and carve my name upon the lungs of those who dare take you from the light. This I pledge, this I pray."