#inshozalea

“You’re making me upset.” ”And you knew what you were getting yourself into when you accepted me despite my name and my position. I’m sorry that you don’t like the hours I have to keep some days, but I told you that there would be days when my oaths to the City will trump the oaths I made to you as a bond-mate. Now, either back off and sever the link so I can get on with my mission, or I will collar you until I get back.”

“You’re mean.” He reached out to spank her as she moved from the room, a soft signal passing at the contact. “Only because you occasionally like it when I play hard to get.”

“You’re not as bad of a person as you think you are.” If only I could believe that, he thought, his legs dangling over the edge of the landing platform that stuck out from the side of the Tower on the AXR’s residence level.

“You’re not going to lose me.” ”That won’t stop me from worrying,” and he kissed her lightly before curling over her on the bed. “Just promise me that if anything happens and you have orders to get to a shelter or out with a guard, you’re not going to try and come find me, okay?”

“You’re really good at this…” Maybe I’ve had a lot of time to think about what I want to do to you, he responded through his signals, altogether too pleased with the sounds he was getting out of her.

“You’re so attractive.” ”That doesn’t explain why other women keep looking at me like that,” and he considered his drink for a moment. “Or is being bond-sworn not enough of a reason to discourage wandering eyes?”

“You’re so weird.” ”Thank you!” he responded cheerily, not at all put off by her comment.

“You’re under arrest.” ”But officer,” he exclaimed, barely holding back wanting signals as Azalea pulled his arms behind his back and cuffed him, “whatever in Light’s name am I under arrest for?” and he shifted just enough to graze his hand against her thigh, the desire-laden signal carrying a message of just how good he thought she looked in uniform. They needed to play games like this more often.

“You’ve done enough already.” ”It’ll never be enough, I have to do more, I can’t let myself become complacent, not after what I allowed to happen,” and he pushed her away as she tried to pull him into a hug, tried to comfort him, not caring how many days it had been since he’d last slept.

((“Okay, so Mids and I had a small oops here, in that we may have actually written the responses for eight of these a few days ago, but somehow managed to misplace them. Given that the posts thus far have been in alphabetical order, we wanted to let you know in case you noticed that these were a tad out of order.”)) [[I had an oops moment with Word, I think. My bad.]]

“You’ll be alright; no one can hurt you now.” Jet black optics took a moment to focus, the alien but familiar light blues and greens around him confusing him at first. When his mind finally caught up with the rest of him, he bolted upright, his arms winding around his wife. When he finally spoke some long moments later, it was with a voice broken by happy tears, the Cyber Elf unwilling to let her go after having been separated for so long. “By Light, I’ve missed you.” ((“Mids, you basically repeated an earlier one.”)) [[I know. It’s good feels.]]

“You’re a liar and a cheat.” ”All part of the game, mate,” he responded, “or didn’ya know that a pirate never plays fair?” He smirked at her, gathering up his dice. “Care fer another round?”

“You’re a spy?” ”Uh, not…not exactly,” he answered, glancing to Azalea before looking back to her coworkers. “At least, not by the romantic idea of spies that you’d get from the movies. Undercover operations aren’t nearly so…Bond.”

“You’re all out of tea.” ”We what now?” and Inshou pulled down the jars he kept his tea supplies in, more than a little surprised that they were empty. “Huh. I guess I should make a trip out, grab some fresh supplies.”

“You’re always so hard on yourself.” ”Comes with being a general and a Light,” he said with a shrug. “If you’re worried about yourself or any kids we have, don’t. I have no intention of being anywhere near as hard on my family as my father was with us.”

“You’re always welcome here.” He nodded to Azalea at her comment, considering his future in-laws for a moment before moving to give Josephene a warm hug, a handshake offered to Lewis. “It’s been a pleasure,” he said, “and I look forward to the next time we’re able to get together,” his smile warming as Azalea leaned into him.

“You’re an idiot.” ”Yes, but I’m your idiot.”

“You’re bad for me.” He smirked up at her, the curls of his lips not fading even as she pressed herself down against him and kissed him. “Maybe I am,” he said, his tone teasing as his hands caressed her thighs, “but I’m such a delicious addiction, aren’t I?”

“You’re cute.” ”Cute.” The word was repeated, his tone and expression both flat. “Cute,” he repeated. “Almost four decades old and I’m somehow still cute.”

“You drive me crazy!” ”Because of what I do as a prankster,” he asked, that smirk so very suggestive, “or because of what I do in the bedroom?”

“You have ten minutes, so make it quick.” ”Okay,” and his body was suddenly against hers, pinning her to the wall, his hands pressed into the wall at either side of her as his lips claimed hers.

“You hurt your leg?” ”Huh?” and he looked up from where he was sitting on the table in his maintenance room, nearly all of the inner mechanisms of his right thigh exposed or in pieces around him, before shaking his head. “Didn’t hurt it. Few too many auto-repairs in the area, though, so I wanted to see what kept demanding repairs. Ended up deciding to fully replace everything but the bone,” and it was more than a little disconcerting to see him so nonchalant about disassembling himself.

“You know I won’t judge you.” ”Not you I’m worried about.”

“You lied to me!” ”I had no choice!” he fired back. “Had you known from the beginning who I was, what would you have done?! You’d have been like all the others, so content to see me as something I’m not because of my surname!”

“You look handsome, but you don’t look fine.” His hands shook as he pulled the robes of state over the rest of his outfit, the light blue fabric zipping itself up along the nanoanchors on either edge of the cloth, and he looked to her, a strange mix of hope and loss in his gaze. “It’s my first time making a public address as Beacon City’s Commander. I’m nervous as hell and wondering if I can even begin to fill my father’s boots.”

“You look like you’re in pain.” ”Blasted calf hydraulic locked up on me,” he replied, intensive scans running over the affected leg, trying to figure out why the synthetic musculature wasn’t operating properly. “I have no idea how humans can handle Charlie horses.”

“You mean everything to me.” ”Only for the next couple of years,” he whispered, coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her, one hand teasingly grazing over her belly, knowing she’d get the message even if they weren’t capable of replicating that particular facet of organic life.

“You owe me.” ”And how would you like to be repaid, mistress?” he replied, pinning her down on the bed.

“You can’t just leave me like this.” ”I think I can,” and he smirked, her bound and suspended frame the picture of illicit bliss. “After all, with how bad you’ve been lately, I think a quick break for me to step away for some tea will give you time to consider your…position.”

“You changed.” ”I’m not going out in anything obviously Arcadian, are you kidding? I’m a ninja; I don’t like drawing attention, especially when we’re going out.”

“You could have died!” ”Yeah, maybe,” he said with a lopsided grin, “but I didn’t, and that’s what’s important here.”

“You could have killed someone!” There was no answer he could give, no defense he could raise to her complaint, that would make her understand the weight of his oaths to the City, to all that he and his family held dear. Without the knowledge of all that he had lived through, without having seen what he had over his long years of service, there was no way to truly convey that he couldn’t afford to care when the safety of the City and her people was at risk.

“You coward.” ”Take that back,” he snarled. “You don’t know anything of the kind of threat he presents. Or would you rather I die out there to prove to you that I have no issue sacrificing myself?”

“You do know that I would do anything for you, right?” ”And I, you,” he said, pulling her into a warm embrace, one hand tangling into her hair.

“You don’t have to be alone.” Perched on the highest point of the Tower roof’s wall, some thirty feet above her, Inshou only shook his head in reply. After his grand failure, all he wanted to be was left alone.

“You don’t need to act so tough and then not say something when you get hurt like this.” ”I can’t afford to show weakness,” he challenged. “Show your hand to the enemy and you forfeit not only the battle but your life as well. Do not lecture me on how to be a soldier, Azalea.”

“You don’t need to be so gentle.” ”Maybe I want to be,” he answered, barely-there touches and ghosting kisses teasing her tactile array with ephemeral signals.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” ”Am I not allowed to admire a beautiful woman half-naked on my bed?” he replied, scooting closer to her and nuzzling against her shoulder. “Love you, baby.”

“Why are you wearing that?” ”Pulled from duty today to fill in for Cubit. He wanted the day off and no one else from the Council opted to follow suit,” and Inshou ran his hands over the jacket of his Counselor’s uniform, smoothing away nonexistent wrinkles. “I volunteered to sit in,” and it wasn’t unheard of for the AXRs to do that, given that they were listed as Junior Counselors on top of all their other titles.

“Why do we have to say goodbye?” Inshou couldn’t bear to answer her question, simply pulling her into his arms to give her a shoulder to cry against, his own heart breaking at the pain in his wife’s voice. Because no one is meant to live forever, he thought to himself.

“Why do you think I’m here?” ”Work?” and Inshou motioned for her to stay back behind the barrier for a moment, glancing over his shoulder at the crime scene. “Verikar,” and he motioned to one of the lower-ranked Zan’ei on site, “we’ve got a responder for hazmat removal. How much longer before I can open up the scene for her?”

“Why yes, I am as think as you drunk I am.” Inshou plucked the bottle from her hands, easily vaulting over the counter to get out of her range, and he forced the cork back into the mouth of the bottle before darting up for the ceiling and into the vents. He’d be leaving this bottle with his father to ensure people stopped drinking it.

“You always try to act so tough.” ”Better than the other option, given what I see on a daily basis,” he returned with a shrug. “You have to have a thick skin in my line of work,” even if some of what he’d seen over the years had left him a sobbing mess against his father once the mission was over.

“You can’t blame yourself.” ”Yes, I can, and I do,” he insisted, pushing her away as she tried to hold him, his arms wrapping around himself as he moved through the too-cold hallways of the Tower. “It was my fault. I should have known. I should have been able to stop it before it went as far as it did.”

“You can’t deny you have feelings for me.” ”I’m not trying to, and I would never lie to you, hurt you like that,” and he leaned into her, resting his forehead against hers. “I just…don’t know how to…” and he made a helpless gesture. “And I sincerely doubt my father would approve of me taking a page from my uncle’s book in this regard,” given how forward Zach tended to be with Leto.

“You can’t die on me!” Harsh coughs wracked his frame, the AXR not at all surprised to see the splatter of warm red on the ground, and he managed to roll most of the way onto his stomach before another wave of coughing overtook him. “Shit,” he swore, eyes focusing on the addition of a oily blackish brown fluid to the coolant he was already coughing up. “That’s a burst hydraulic line somewhere,” and the trio of bullet wounds on his back were slow to heal, his nanites more focused at the moment with stopping the assault going on inside, struggling to stop whatever it was that the bullets had been laced with. He winced suddenly, one hand pressing to his chest, and he wasn’t surprised to feel her wrap her arms around his shoulders as yet another coughing fit claimed him. There was honest fear in his eyes this time, and he was sure her systems had just run as cold as his at the sight of electric blue hitting the ground. A damaged coolant or hydraulic line he could deal with. But a leaking subtank?

“What are you afraid of?” ”Myself, mostly,” and at her look, he clarified, “I know what people think of me, Azalea. You spend long enough lying to fit in and being this personable kid that looks like he’s just starting college, people start opening up about their lives and opinions. And I’m not…I’m not what this City’s people think of me.” His eyes flickered to a familiar sky blue for a moment, his vocal coding shifting as well. “It’s so much easier to be someone I’m not.”

“What are you touching?” ”You’ll see,” and the AXR finally found the small indent on the wall, applying just the slightest bit of pressure to it before a small section of the wall retracted, revealing a hidden jewelry armoire. “Wife of a ninja can’t leave her precious stones just anywhere, you know.”

“What are you?” Four optics focused on her, the lower set Inshou’s actual eyes—hidden by the visor of his helmet—and the upper set tracking her heat signature, and the ring of blades around the AXR shifted, soft mechanical whirrs and the subtle hum of thrusters the only response to her question, the eight free-floating blades moving to positions that eerily mimicked both the position and movement of an arachnid, especially so as Inshou moved closer to her. “I’m the one that weaves and keeps the web intact,” he said in a low, teasing tone. “A master of information, and the Shadow Guardian.” His body dipped down as he drew close, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. “So what do you think of my Phenomenon?”

“What do you need?” ”Uh…” and Inshou considered the scattering of pieces around him for a moment before, “a mid-gauge condenser ring and a new power cell.”

“What happened to you?” ”A little bit of everything I didn’t want,” and he flinched as he stumbled into the Tower plaza where she had been sitting and tending to the flowers, and his hand flew up to wrap tightly around the stub of his other arm, trying desperately to ignore the pain and sparking wires that weren’t responding to his mental commands, that were flooding his systems with pain. “Help me to the lifts, and send a message up to my father to let him know we’re inbound; my wireless got fried.”

“What have I done this time?” ”You jumped the gun,” and Inshou paused the simulation, rewinding it just a bit and leaving it paused as he pointed to a section of troops she’d ordered to push the forward defense line. “With the amount of opposition they’re facing, you’d need at least one other team with them, just in case the first line falls, as it did.”

“What if someone catches us?” ”I think it best if we avoid that,” Inshou purred into her ear, not at all stopping the way his hands were wandering over her frame. “Maybe we should see how quiet you can be, hmm?”

“What sort of noise was that?” The shade of red currently taking over his face near to rivaled the hue of Zach’s armor, and night-black optics turned to the floor. “A very, very embarrassed one.”

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” ”Decorating!” and for the first time since they’d started dating, he had actually meant that in an innocent context, he and Endea currently turning the outer deck of the conjoined apartments into a festive Hallo’een-themed room. Complete with a rope spiderweb, which was what had played such a large part in Azalea’s outburst. Given the less-than-innocent reasons he’d made webs of rope before, it certainly was a surprise to see their daughter helping.

“Want to hear a secret?” ”Ooh, what kind of secret? I’m good at keeping secrets!” and Inshou leaned down so that his daughter could whisper her ‘secret’ to him.

“Warn me before you do that again. That hurt.” ”Stun rods are kind of painful to train with, but it’s either this or quarterstaffs. I’m not letting you train with a beam saber until I know you’re not going to hurt yourself with an active blade.”

“We need to talk.” ”What about?” Inshou asked, glancing up from his paperwork, his stylus clattering to the floor when he caught sight of what Azalea was wearing. Or, rather, how little she was wearing. Paperwork could wait; this kind of ‘talk’ took precedence.

“We’re moving too fast.” ’If you think this is fast,’ Inshou replied over their link, ‘I think you might want to hold on tighter,’ and that was all the warning Azalea got before the unit geared on the secondary set of thrusters on his Chaser.

“Welcome.” Inshou was busy in the small kitchen area when he heard Azalea’s voice, followed only moments later by that of her parents, and he considered trying to carry both platters into their living room before deciding that it’d be safer to take the sandwiches in and then come back for the platter that had all their tea supplies on it.

“Welcome home.” ”Glad to be home,” and Inshou gave Azalea a quick kiss before moving to drop onto the bed, a touch exhausted after his shift. “Been one hell of—“ ”Daddy, you’re home!” Well, there went any chance for him to get a quick nap in.

“Welcome to my world.” He leaned in close to her, nuzzling her but not daring any more than that while they were out with her friends, and he whispered, “I think I like it here. The ivory tower’s far too cold.”

“Well, just lay here with me until you have to go?” ”If you don’t mind me sharing a bed while in full armor,” and he slid onto the bed, his arm curling around her waist as he pulled himself against her back. “You should try to get to sleep. You’ve got an early morning yourself.”

“Well, that was unexpected.” ”I wonder who this is from,” and Inshou glanced at the box, a quick scan assuring him that there was nothing volatile inside, and he took a moment to look down the hallway before picking the package up. “Depending on the contents, it’s either from Father or someone asked a Greyface to help out with a delivery.”