#thread 10

You blink and there is magic, so much magic, and you're of no such magical hand. It bedazzles you. Captivates you entirely with its silvers and crystalline decor, and you stand only in wonder amid the swirling mists and towering pillars of ivory. 

And there is thud at your back, for you've been standing there too long, and you look aside to another masked face. 

"My apologies," You hum softly, smiling though it's lost behind your mask. "I was awed by the sights. I normally see rather well in dark places." And your voice is bolder now that you are hidden, and neither quiver nor quaver deters it. 

Judith lands on the island taking her stuff holding the letter in her hand. “So this is the school Jody went to……not a bad place at all. Though with how big it is its going to take forever to find him.” She was here and now she has to find her brother. She heads towards the campus impressed by the size and beauty of the school. She never thought another school would look or feel this big but that wasnt important right now. She has to get herself settled and hopefully run into Jody eventually.

She looks around hoping someone would help her and as she finally found the person she walks up to them trying to catch their attention. “Um excuse me! Excuse me! I need some help looking for my room can you help me?”

“Hello...” Wat gave the young woman a smile. He wasn’t terribly good with faces, being as old as he was, he tended to forget those unimportant rather quickly. And while Jody was a good friend with a lovely looking family, Wat hardly felt the need to recall what they looked like. He doubted he’d be brought home for a family Thanksgiving or whatnot. She did look a bit older than most students, though if she were supernatural it wouldn’t be surprising.

@xscottlandenbergx

“I’ve got you under my skin.” Sonya sang softly while she was browsing the racks at one of the clothing shops. The employees were used to her appearance so she enjoyed going here. “Still haven’t shopped for me, have you Scott?” She sighed. “Not even sure why you need to take a backseat but thank you, it’s nice to be out. Still wishing you boys would get a manicure every now and then.” Her thoughts spoken out to herself with a glance down at the nails, which was the one trait all three had in common, talking to themselves. She gave herself a look over in the mirror after trying on a dress. “Too bad these shoes really don’t match. Hello?” Looking around she didn’t see any of the employees around. “Good service is so hard to find.”

“Well, I think they look good. But I’m not one to talk about fashion, now-a-days,” Dhani said, commenting on his regular style of dress and what he was in now, plain tan boxers with thin red stripes. Hardly a fashion statement, though it did seem to match the cut against his lower lip and yellowing bruise against his jaw. Other bruise were visible but fading, places where Warren could get a good grip on him, not necessarily beating on him.

But Dhani made this comment clearly as a joke, smiling to Sonya from the mirror behind her. She was lovely and Dhani had never really notice was marvelous bone structure Scott had until seeing Sonya. It was a bit of a surprise, but a remarkably nice one. Dhani hadn’t realized how much he had been looking forward to meeting Sonya, everything he’d heard about her, the rules that had been placed with the intended claim. Dhani confessing actually being excited that Sonya would get to dress him however she please was something he didn’t think he needed to repeat, surely she already knew.

“Who’s an excited boy, huh?” Jody spoke excitedly to the little sandy colored chihuahua trotting next to him. Mouse overtook Jody’s stride quickly, nearly pulling at the harness. Jody scolded him a little and Mouse slowed down. For a moment. Jody’s grip had loosened on the leash a little to grip it properly and the chihuahua took off, realizing the lease was free of his human’s hand.

“Mouse!” Jody called after the dog, heaving a sigh and jogging to catch up with him.

“ you can take control. ” his voice was soft and quiet, volume lost in tenderness or timidness or a combination of both, as uncertain eyes watched for instruction. in the military, and in his household, andrei was a natural born leader —- a man of intelligence, trained for greatness, educated in such a way that uncertainty was meant to be no part of his constitution. except here —- except in this one place where he had almost no education, where his training was meaningless. in this one place, in his bed that for so long had only had one occupant, he could not command, but preferred to follow —- to submit himself fully to the wants of his companion.

and so he would do just that. andrei was already sitting on the edge of the bed, having let his suspenders fall from his shoulders. his shirt was open, exposing beneath the scars that crept up from his hip and into the center of chest from two different wars. he was not proud of his appearance —- he was modest —- but that fear he might have felt was mitigated by the trust in her, by the faith that she would not mock his inexperience or chastise his uncertainty. the prospect of her command brought him comfort, and though he could not be sure in his ability to follow through on any of this, he wanted to try for her. because andrei wanted to show through his actions those affections that seized his heart.

She neither mocked, nor so much as thought about judging. This was a show of trust she never expected to receive, affection she never thought she’d want. “If I do something you don’t like, tell me to stop.” Izolda had told him this already, but she wanted to ensure that he knew -- that even if she took control, he still had the final say. His comfort mattered more than her pleasure, always.

Saru had more experience fighting his own fears than your average second officer. It was what allowed him to keep his head when everything began to crumble, when Georgiou was dead and Michael Burnham had started a war with the Klingon empire. He bit back the grief rising up in his throat and kept his tone steady.

Dhani sat out on the beach, take a deep, clear breath before he placed the joint to his lips, embracing the burning sensation in his chest, listening to the faint crackle of embers burning paper and Abbi’s very own strain of weed. He listened to the crash of the ocean, waves colliding with the sand, the white foam drifting backward as the water rushed toward him, inches away from his bare feet. He tried to concentrate on right now, being present. He had been doing that far more consciously and far more sincerely than he ever had before. Dad practically preached it, especially in times of Dhani’s anxiety getting the better of him. Living with Warren, being aware was something Dhani had to get used to and very quickly. The tide was predictable. Warren never was.

He’d started to close himself off. And lie. But he didn’t think it was a bad thing, not really. What good was being honest when it only caused people to worry? What did it matter when they could do nothing for you but regret being able to do nothing for you? It was better not to bother them. But Warren made sure everyone knew, the bruises he left on Dhani’s skin let everyone knew. Occasionally beaten, but always marks of being held down. The thing Dhani had been so horrifically ashamed of a year ago seemed ...so small a thing now. Now that it was common place in Warren’s home. If he thought too much about it, he’d do something crazy and stupid.

He exhaled, smoke pouring from his nose and mouth. Be here now. Accept that things will be awful. But not in every moment. Right now is pretty okay.

Dhani let himself fall back against the sand.

[ mood music for this post ]

@may-sandor

Mayabelle moved off of the boat, letting out a slow breath and running a hand through her blonde locks. A year away… and this place looked exactly the same. She saw grant students, recognizing them was easy as not too long ago, she’d been in their place. She saw masters and mistresses; professors and guards move past her and none of them seemed to stop and notice her. Not how they noticed new ‘slaves.’

For May had returned but not as a grant student. She’d reconnected with her father and she considered herself extremely lucky to be in the position she was now in. Now she could pay her own way and with any luck at all, help other grant students.

She lifted her bag again and started to head towards the Masters’ suites, humming quietly to herself before she felt someone ram into her. The small blonde stumbled back a bit, dropping her bag and gasping softly, but her gaze quickly flashed to the other.

“Are you alright?” She murmured, her voice laced with kindness.

Dhani nearly fell over himself, his courier bag swinging forward to aid with that momentum. He managed to find his footing again, standing up and turning, aiming to apologize to the voice he didn’t immediately recognize.

“May!” His brown eyes grew even larger with surprise before he dropped his bag and closed the space between them to hug her. And then realized she  wasn’t wearing a collar. He took a step back, a sleepless night making his reflexes and thinking rather slow, making sure he wasn’t fooling himself. There was really no collar and he gave a sigh of relief and a smile.

“It’s good to see you.”

Dhani looked tired. And more than that he was half naked, only wearing a pair of dark blue boxer shorts and his shoes. There was a collar around his own neck, marking him as claimed. It was a thin vine motif of thorns and he had about a half dozen bruises against his dark skin to go with it. A bruise around his neck, his cheek, half hidden by his beard, one against both shoulders, one more healed than the other, two more at his waist. Not from being beaten, but held down.

“Welcome back,” And yet he smiled.