Consequences

This was a very humbling moment for Vandrad – something he didn’t experience very often. Realizing that his control wasn’t as tight and firm as he thought it had been had shaken him to his core. In truth, it wasn’t even really the sex that bothered him – it was the fact that he had acted outside of his senses. There was some carnal, wild part of him that had broken through and left him in a mind numbing unconsciousness. As he watched the video and let his mind repeat the images in his head, he could feel tidbits of memory starting to seep through the darkness. Correlating images that played from both her direct vision and his. They were brief but they were returning, which meant at some point they’d be back in full.

But that wasn’t the problem. The problem was still the unchecked rage monster that had broken through. Vandrad was a lot of things – a grump, standoffish and certainly proud – but he was not a slave to his emotions. Yet that seemed to be the problem, hadn’t it? He’d bottled up so many different emotions that he probably could have felt and worked through and it had created this beast inside. It was horrifying to imagine, let alone experience from the other side. Though based on how Mercury seemed, she was rather pleased with the results. Yet her was working through it and apparently felt the need to voice it out loud for her to hear. Why, he couldn’t honestly say but he wasn’t about to halt it when it was, in fact, easing some of the stress.

And the truth was, bringing Morli back had meant a decent amount to him. He didn’t particularly care for the boy as a friend or even as a younger sibling but there was still something about knowing someone during their growth. One still felt protective of them and it had wormed its way inside of Vandrad’s heart without his consent but not without meaning. Knowing that one of his people had been reunited with his family was an uplifting feeling he honestly hadn’t experienced since his own tribulations with liberating slave camps with the Bellum army. He was so moved that he found the ability to properly thank her without stumbling over the words like he didn’t even know what they meant. And in doing so, he had brought her to a sudden standstill.

He waited for a long, long moment that seemed to tick by in hours. He expected a lot of things to come from it – some smartass remark, a simple brush off of the action as nothing more than a job… but he wasn’t prepared for her sincere honesty. In a moment of introspection much like his, she talked about her lack of sensitivity when it came to other people’s plights. Much like he believed, life wasn’t a caring and hopeful existence and many were on the dark side of it. One could either make it work for them or they get destroyed by it. But she admitted that Morli wasn’t born into his situation. He had been taken against his will, forced into a predicament he was neither prepared or stable for. And therein lay her answer to why she had taken the job in the first place.

It was the perfect opportunity to jump on and give her a sharp remark, turning the war of words they seemed to be eternally locked in to his favor. And yet he didn’t; he simply stood there and listened, even as she rummaged around inside, deciding just how much she was willing to share. Frankly what she had said already was quiet the knowledge bomb but it was only a second later that she decided to reveal why she had started this entire charade in the first place. She admitted that doing the job alone would have been difficult, if not impossible. And she needed someone she knew would work with her plans, even if they were unaware of them. He apparently was someone she could count on – durable, deep words that seemed outside of lexicon’s scope. She continued, citing how his capture was necessary because trying to pull a fast one could have endangered the entire job. So she had decided to kidnap him for real and sell her story hard enough that even the Prince of Bellum believed it. He snorted at the insinuation that he wasn’t that great of a liar but a look of amusement passed over his features. "I’m certainly not a fan of sneaking around… but I can craft a decent lie when I try hard enough,” he said, casting her a look and a small smirk. She’d met him when he was off balance and he was sure he could fool her if he really tried. Whether that was true or not was up for debate.

She continued, lamenting her choice as being less than nice and that she, herself, wasn’t exactly the avatar of goodness either, as she had gotten good laughs and amusement out of the whole situation. But she had done everything she could to make things as believable as possible without pushing the envelope too far, so that they even had a chance to get to Morli. He glanced down at the clothes she held, recognizing them as made for a man. Replacement articles for the ones she had clearly taken off of him at some point in his capture. She spoke up one final time, offering him a bit of wisdom over his lack of emotional and psychological freedom. He’d stifled himself for years and the result had been the creation of a beast that overwhelmed him and acted beyond what he would do himself. She seemed fairly certain on his feelings of her and figured this was where they parted for good.

Yet she figured aloud that sleeping with her was certainly not the worse result of his blind outrage. She went as far as to assume that he’d had a good time along with her and he got the opportunity to work out his more animalistic instincts and anger in a fashion that didn’t result in anyone getting hurt. She concluded by saying he was allowed to have fun and even threw in one last jibe in saying that he had more than enough with her. He met her gaze evenly, even as she smirked up at him with the barest of amusement. He brought his hands up and touched the clothes, taking them from her offered hands.

For a long moment he held her stare before the slightest of smirks returned to his face. "Well look at that. A warrior and a sage. Are you sure you’re not a monk from Midi?” He asked her offhandedly, his tone conveying his own humor. "I’ll take your words into consideration. After all, we wouldn’t want me to get angry again and results in another session of a perverse nature, would we?” He intentionally left the question open, making it sound like perhaps it wouldn’t be the worst result.

In this moment of sudden awareness, he noticed a few things too. She was presenting him with clothes that she had packed for him but he saw no sign of ones for herself. A sliver of compassion for him or not, he figured she would have taken out a set for herself. But he had come at her hard right after she had escaped, probably too fast for her to prepare clothing for herself. The shreds and pieces she had picked up were probably all that she had. He glanced down at clothing in his hands and then gruffly pulled the shirt off the top, handing it back to her. "Since I’m the reason you’re lacking an outfit,” he explained why simply. Once she had taken it, he took a moment to pull the pants on and finally regain some sense of modesty.

There didn’t seem much left for them to do or talk about. Everything that could be explained or said had already come out and, outside of sitting there and staring at one another, the oasis only offered as much as a place for a quick rinse. Getting back to Magnolia from here was going to be fun but he’d worry about that once he was up in the air. Proving yet again that he wasn’t great at saying goodbye, he started for the door and prepared to leave without another word. But he paused in the frame, his hand resting against the wall. "Mercury,” he spoke her name for the first time since they’d introduced themselves. He turned back to her slightly, enough to look over his shoulder and meet her gaze. "If you were to come across another job that you think could require my assistance… it would not be the worst thing if you reached out. So long as it provides a proper challenge.”

It was a huge step and Mercury, even in the short amount of time she had known him, would certainly pick up on that. It wasn’t the Prince asking for help with his own mission or even inviting her on any jobs that he planned on taking. It was him offering something more; he was putting himself out there, saying that he was willing to work with her again. In spite of the anger she had made in him, despite the fact that he was suspicious of who or what she was, there was still enough of a tangible trust and respect for her that he set aside his boorish attitude and extended an olive branch. Friendship – not so much.

But ally? Well, it seemed he was willing to consider it.