Colonizing the Dark Continent (For Weiss Ritter)

[Xatarias]

Claire quirks her head to the side and looks at you, unblinking.


"You broke the surface at an approximate interval of 13 seconds. When I observed your latest submergence to last far longer than usual, I surmised that you may be experiencing difficulties. Not wanting you to drown, I... Helped."


She nods, as if her explanation was more than satisfactory and begin to scan up and down the nearby beach.


"I believe I lost a sock."


Clearly if you desire a more detailed account of the maidservant's motivations, you'll have to be more specific.

 

[Weiss Ritter]

Nathaniel blinked and stared at Claire. Was she being deliberately obtuse? The maid wasn't exactly emotive or forthcoming before, but she had feelings! Or at least desires...their minds had touched before and he was fairly certain she was more than a fleshy automaton, anyway.


The young man took a breath and forced his body to sit up. His chestnut eyes swept the beach for her errant sock as he pondered how to "properly" phrase his question now that he wasn't starved for oxygen.


"How long have you been following me for? Did Cynthia command it, or are you acting entirely on your own initiative?"

 

[Xatarias]

"Cynthia told me to watch you if ever you left your compound and report about your activities. I followed you from the rooftops until you entered the water and-" She frowns, "I was forced to swim after you. I don't like water much, though."


The woman shivers. The air is hot enough that the thin fabric of her underclothes have begin to dry, but her slim body probably isn't the best for retaining heat. The edge of her billowy top swirls in the wind, framing her silhouette in the moonlight, reminding you of how smooth and taut her skin felt while-


"Is something wrong?" She asks, oblivious.

 

[Weiss Ritter]

Nathaniel felt his heart sink. He'd expected that Cynthia would take precautions against this sort of subterfuge, or perhaps even anticipate a plan along these lines entirely. Their negotiations had left her with a decent notion of how thinly stretched his expedition's supplies were likely to be...but this? He'd refrained from a psychic scan out of the fear Claire might sense his roaming mind. He'd assumed that between he, Telai, and Milly from her perch, any Lentani countermeasure could be spotted if not bypassed...but no. In addition to everything else, Claire was adept enough at moving in the shadows to go unnoticed by them all.


...Dear gods, what was she?!


Nathaniel's eyes flickered over her body almost warily. Her slight, fae-like build belied strength that he was fairly certain most of his soldiers dreamed they had. Her skin was soft and perfect, free of any blemishes or scars despite the apparent physical requirements of her position as Cynthia's right hand. Her clothes were drying, but for the moment they still seemed to cling tightly enough to her form for him to see it all, yet not so much that it stopped her top from being gently lifted by the wind, framing everything about her in the most majestic and sensuous of ways.


"Uh, uh....no!" The young man felt his face starting to heat up as he swiftly averted his gaze.


Smooth. The striking image of an dignified Avalonian gentleman...


The only silver lining was that his face didn't feel quite as hot as some of the other times he'd been flustered. Was it just the coldness of the air and water, or was he actually starting to develop a thicker skin to this sort of thing? If so, it was scant comfort.


"W-well...congratulations on a job well done, then..." Nathaniel said dryly and moved to try his luck at standing with the sack again. Assuming he had been able to drag it out of the sea with him.

 

[Xatarias]

You indeed managed to haul the sack of money along with you. Shouldering it isn't easy for your weary body, but you somehow manage and begin staggering towards the rendezvous you arranged with Telai and Milly during the planning phase of this little fiasco.


"I don't have to tell Cynthia about the coins," Claires says as you turn to go. "If... If you'll do something for me."


If you turn to face her, you might detect the barest hint of a blush on the woman's face. No doubt the result of her recent exertions, but she hadn't seemed all that out of breath coming out the ocean.

 

[Weiss Ritter]

"Ngh..." The sack was heavy, his body was sore, and now he had a cut leg he needed to favor on top of it all. Still, he was somewhat mobile and only needed to rendezvous with Telai and Milly to have his load lightened. If he planned a quick and safe route through Newport, his brain might even be able to mitigate some of the work for him.


Nathaniel was resigned to enjoying what victory he could from this before Cynthia almost certainly found some way to punish him for it when Claire's words made him halt in his tracks. "Oh?"


He sat the sack down with a grunt and glanced over his shoulder. Both his tone and his expression were curious at first, but then he caught her hesitation and the beginnings of a tiny, tiny blush on the normally reserved woman's face.


He swallowed and part of him hoped she wasn't going to ask what he thought she was going to ask. Nathaniel was up to his elbows in trouble with the women in his life already. Other parts of him thought...differently. Primal, thoughtless, possibly self-destructive parts he sometimes wished he could completely banish from his mind...but parts all the same.

 

[Xatarias]

"Being with you and Cynthia was... Nice. But when I touched your mind, I felt..." She bites her lip, clearly trying to articulate something she doesn't quite understand. "I understood some of what you were feeling. Things I normally don't take note of. I usually have a hard time taking the feelings of other into account, but I'd never met anyone like me until now and..."


You haven't had many interactions with Claire, but this earnestness still manages to surprise you. It seems to surprise her too an she stares at her feet for a moment before continuing.


"Cynthia has always looked out for me. She says my... Emotional state is refreshing and that normal people are "needlessly complicated". But... But I don't want to be refreshing. I-I'd rather be complicated! Like everyone else! And since you can show rather than tell me what people feel when they say and do certain things, maybe... You could..."

 

[Weiss Ritter]

"A-ah, I see..." Nathaniel tried not to exhale in relief. Then he actually considered what Claire actually requested. A slight frown took root on his features. "I think I do, anyway...these powers and the joining of minds is quite new to me. I'm honestly not sure how helpful I can be here, but I'll be glad to try,"


Back in his former quarters, when Claire reached into his mind to prove that he was telling the truth about the Syndicate...how had that worked, exactly? The...erm...mindset the two women so expertly worked to keep him in at the time precluded any serious examination of the techniques the maid used. Had she "merely" confirmed his intent or was the actual viewing of memories involved? Had the Song's unique nature spoiled him on that front?


Regardless, Nathaniel turned to face Claire properly and opened his mind to her with as few reservations as could be expected of him. If this...process was memory based, then gently guided Claire away from the more intense and compromising experiences he'd had the last few days would probably be called for. He didn't want to see her overwhelmed by such a crushing emotional tide, after all. If not...well, hopefully the soreness and stress of this entire operation wouldn't ruin the inquisitive maid either.

 

[Xatarias]

Lowering your mental defenses is a bit like extending your neck before the executioner's blade. Claire is a formidable adversary even on equal footing, in this compromised position, she could shred your consciousness with ease...


But no assault comes. You feel Claire brush against your mind hesitantly, almost gently, probing to be sure it's safe before reaching for what you offer her.


What must only take a few minutes feels like an eternity. Claire is careful, but having someone rustling around your brain can hardly be called a pleasant experience. You watch the maid's face become animated with wonder as she ping pongs about, giving one emotionally charged insight a cursory inspection before becoming distracted by something else. Between your own experience, and the massive reservoir of memories  inherited from the siren, there's a lot to explore.


She retracts with some reluctance.


"There's more than I thought." She says simply, "I'll present myself for the next lesson tomorrow."


Very few experiences in your life have been as intimate as the last few minutes, but Claire doesn't spare it another word as she makes tracks in the wet sand- one barefooted and the other clad in her remaining sock.

 

[Weiss Ritter]

With as few reservations as could be expected...yes, he hadn't forgotten the efficiency and vigor of Claire's mental assault during their brief clash on the battlefield. It was impossible for his mind and body to not tense when he felt her consciousness join with his. It was all blind survival instinct, though. If the maid truly wanted him dead or "merely" helpless to her inspection, she could have almost certainly accomplished either while he was halfway drowned and weighed down by his stolen treasure.


Nathaniel observed Claire's experience with almost as much interest as she seemed to feel poking about his mind. His memories, the veritable deluge of the song...it wasn't comfortable having her so casually view either and part of him wondered if it was wise to let her do so, but the fact that she took it all in stride was fascinating. Was her ability to do so the result of her emotional stunting or superior training? How many such emotionally charged memories could she savor like a child in a candy store before even she began to tire? It felt like they had been here for hours already!


Minutes later, Claire's mind untangled itself from his, causing him to withdraw awkwardly.


"A-ah...yes...certainly," Nathaniel cleared his throat and stood as tall and dignified as he could while Claire departed. Every part of him felt...tingly. The maid claimed there was so much more she wished to see, yet right now he wasn't sure if there was a part of his consciousness she had left untouched.


With some difficulty and a strained grunt, the young man heft the bulging bag of silver over his shoulder once again and moved to meet with his lieutenants. Depending on Claire's ability to deceive Cynthia, he just might have ensured the mission's success with that bargain. He could sort out all these odd...feelings of his own once he didn't have to worry about stray pirates catching sight of him.

 

[Xatarias]

You don't make it far down the beach before a familiar black-clad figure descends from the rocky scrub.


"Hey there, pretty boy! Lost sight of you back there. The whale must have spit you back out, huh?"


Milly frowns, seeing you favoring one leg. She squats, taking a better look at your wound and whistles.


"Jeez, you're building quite the collection. Keep it up and no lady at the ball is going to look twice at you. Let's get this taken care of."


Soon you are seated on a rock with Milly carefully washing your wound with seawater ("don't be a baby"), and binding it up in her bandana. The cut is shallow, but it wouldn't do to let it fester. You'd best give it more scrupulous treatment with your medical supplies available.


Leaning on Milly, you manage a walking pace towards the lantern lights of Newport. Telai likely is busy disposing of the man she rendered unconscious and will meet you back at the fort. You have a few minutes alone with your pirate lover.

 

[Weiss Ritter]

"Something like that," Nathaniel replied dryly. He wasn't entirely sure how to begin discussing the potential complication that was Claire and her lessons in basic human emotion. Milly made it a bit of a moot point when she squatted down to examine his wound.


"I thought women liked scars!" The young man feigned exaggerated surprise and horror as he sat the sack down long enough to hop onto the rock. "Don't tell me you aren't pleased by the notion that I might be forever banned from elaborate ballroom dancing, dinners with no less than six sets of silverware, and ladies pressured into looking at my family first and me second!"


Nathaniel wasn't entirely sure if the stinging saltwater and unsympathetic remarks were punishment for a joke gone awry.


"I managed to get the weapons you put in the safe as well," The young man tried to break the ice on the way back towards safety with the good news. "They're...soggy now, but still usable once they dry, right?"


Nathaniel glanced at Milly swiftly, eager for some kind of approval. He had a lot to make up to her. Perhaps even more than she believed he owed.

 

[Xatarias]

"Well I'd be sad if they were the reason you ended up weighted to the bottom of the ocean, but thank you," she answers, smirking, "Never thought I'd see my Mugnion pistol again. It's a breachloader, a real beaut too. I'll have to show you some time. Mark my words, this business of ramming bits of metal down the fronts of barrels is going to go out of style in short order."


The long barrel of her flintlock jostles and lightly bops you on the head, as if protesting Milly's statement.


"More importantly, your little dolphin routine gives us a little breathing space... Which really was caused by my mistake. Seems like you're always cleaning up my messes. I came here thinking all my problems would go away if I could stomach putting one pretty little tree-jumper in a cage, and then you came to perch on my shoulder like my gods damned conscience... Not that I didn't turn the situation my way in the end."


You don't need to turn your head towards the woman to know that her face is curled into that characteristic predatory smile.

 

[Weiss Ritter]

"Oh?" Nathaniel perked up with genuine interest even as he winced and silently thanked whatever forces watched over him that the barrel hadn't hit him harder or on the lump Oliver had left on his head. He may not have been a true scholar of war, but the more recent trends in Avalon's advancing technology were always of interest. Especially given his own proficiency, even reliance, on firearms during this expedition. "I would like to see. Actually, I've been curious about trying to combine my powers with more conventional forms of fighting. I'm not entirely sure how to practice it with firearms, but..."


"Mm...that you did. Although, are you sure I didn't manage to do the same? Rather than being ransomed off or sold to the Lentani on the spot, I managed to get the most dashing sailor I've ever met to turn her guns on my enemies and hear out every harebrained scheme I've put together during this venture," The young man turned his head towards the buxom pirate with a faint but clear smile of his own.


"...In all seriousness, I'm not sure how much of this was truly your mistake. As far as I can tell, Cynthia made a point of claiming my quarters for her own the moment she secured Newport. Can you imagine trying to burgle this much silver right right out from under her nose?"

 

[Xatarias]

"Mmm dashing, I like the sound of that," Milly muses, "I suppose you're right, everything up until now is your fault. Luckily you have my infallible ass to bail you out of the tight situations... Although last time I checked, you didn't mind getting into tight spots, huh Nat? You never did tell me why you left your pampered villa. Maybe its because all those highborn snoots didn't know how to cater to your dirty, dirty tastes."


Well it seems like you've managed to rekindle the friendly banter that had been absent after Milly's discovery of your two-timing escapades. She's as raunchy as ever, but you're beginning to realize that that's never going to go away.

 

[Weiss Ritter]

"Or maybe I just didn't realize I had dirty, dirty tastes to be catered to. You might be surprised by what can happen behind a manor's closed doors." Actually, Nathaniel was hardly in a better position than Milly to make guesses about that. Still, he was fairly certain he hadn't been delivered into a cradle by a giant bird or that Cynthia Lentani had only discovered her expertise in tormenting securely bound pretty boys once she arrived on the Dark Continent.


"...That's actually not completely a joke. I wanted to see more of the world. It's one thing reading books and reports in the family library. It's another thing entirely to actually see all these new frontiers for myself and truly discover something new rather than enjoying someone else's intellectual scraps," Nathaniel sighed wistfully and looked up to the countless stars above.


"Coming here seemed a good way to do that and advance my family's interests at the same time. An entire new continent to explore. New flora, new fauna...entire new species of sapient beings, even! It just seemed like there was so much more to be accomplished here than by playing with ledgers in a counting house."


The young man paused for a moment. Some of Telai's words in the Hillfolks' bath sprang to mind. Cynthia's too, come to think of it. "...There is a certain amount of freedom here that I didn't give much thought to before as well. I'm not sure if it compares with owning your own ship and going on whatever adventures seem financially viable, but...well, I'm not sure if a lot of what has happened since I came here would have been possible anywhere close to Avalon itself."

 

[Xatarias]

"So it all boils down to you being bored?," Milly asks, eyes twinkling. She jostles you, causing a stab of pain in your leg. "Sorry... I can respect wanting to be your own man, wanting to see the world up close and not from the lofty heights of your ivory tower."


You trudge along, skirting the shanty town of Newport. The treeline is close by, normally a wary prospect with the myriad of deadly fauna native to these lands. But with the stars spread out like so many pearls in a blackened sea and the wind whispering through the leaves, it's as if the world has offered you a gracious respite from your recent woes... You're further comforted by Milly's armament which would no doubt lay low all but the most large and feral of creatures.


"Do you miss them? Your family, I mean." 

 

[Weiss Ritter]

Nathaniel gave Milly a flat look in response to her flippant, if not inaccurate, summation of why he felt the need to cross an entire ocean just to take up residence in a rickety inn He opened his mouth to respond, but the sudden pressure the pirate's affectionate gesture put on his leg preempted his words with a pained hiss. "Ngh...I'm so relieved my life has the Milly stamp of approval, then. I'm not sure how I could have gone on without it."


"Hm..." Her next question gave him enough pause to almost stop walking. His family...now there was a subject he both loved and loathed thinking about. The fear for their lives that had helped make him crack before Milly and Telai not so long ago couldn't have existed without a genuine familial bond. Family dinners, avidly discussing things he'd read in the library as if they were new discoveries when he was too young to know any better, training and studying alongside siblings and more distant relations his age, confiding in his parents whenever he was uncertain or doubtful about some aspect of life as the scion of a sprawling merchant clan...


Thinking about those things made it that much harder for him to stand contemplating how they would react when he inevitably saw him again. Consorting with pirates, exotic mercenaries, a Lentani maid, and the Lentani dominatrix herself! All at once! Without even laying eyes on a "proper" bachelorrete and securing things on the political front before seeing what arrangements could be made in regards to his personal feelings?!


Things must have been getting a little awkward for Milly as the silence dragged on.


And then there was how to explain his powers and the Patron...oh yeah, he could add the siren to the "consort" list as well! The former would be fairly simple to demonstrate, assuming the Brightland clan wasn't already perfectly aware of such abilities, Maybe if he could share his memories that would lend at least a little credence to the Syndicate's existence...


"I...yes. I enjoy their company and there have been many occasions since I've come here where their counsel would have been welcome, but...I'm also worried about what the future may hold. What seeing them again might mean..."


.

 

[Xatarias]

Milly stares at the sky for a moment before murmuring.


"I'd give a whole lot just to see Da again."


She flinches, glancing warily towards you. Beyond boasting of her past swashbuckling escapades, Milly hasn't revealed much about her formative years. No doubt her image as a swaggering sea captain doesn't allow for many tender heart-to-hearts. Still, it's a glimpse at the woman underneath all that bravado, similar to when she nearly lost it after Cynthia cut her down to size.


"Didn't mean to put you on the spot like that, getting all sentimental and such," She says, diverting the conversation, "I always liked the idea of an older sister, or a younger brother to boss about. You said Avalonians are polygamous? Does that mean you have more than one Ma? Did you have a favorite?"

 

[Weiss Ritter]

Nathaniel cocked his head inquisitively at Milly's sudden change in demeanor. He actually had intended to ask what brought her out here in turn. The pirate's desire to be free seemed clear enough but he was certain there was insight to be gained by hearing it put in her own words.


Once again, though, she beat him to the metaphorical punch.


"You're sorry about putting me on the spot...so you're going to ask me another question to put me in a different spot?" The young man raised a brow but there was a ghost of a smile tugging at his lips. "You are the cruelest, Captain Milly."


...It wasn't a bad question, come to think of it. Just a tricky one that he probably would have only discussed with enough people to count on one, maybe two, hands.


"We are. And I do...it seems I may have inherited more than some of my father's looks, hm?" Nathaniel smiled wryly yet tension remained in his body, as if he half-expected Milly to punish him for making light of the relationship tangle he'd helped create. "...I think I do, actually. She read to me when I was too young to. She helped me learn how when the tutors weren't enough or I was stuck on a particularly tricky problem I just needed to talk out. We made my first garden together when I started to experiment with alchemy. I even got some useful fencing advice from her before I came here. Hrm...actually, it sounds kind of selfish when I say it like that, doesn't it? That's not what I mean, though. We just spent that much more time together and appreciated the other's company."

 

[Xatarias]

"She sounds nice, it makes sense why you would have a special bond. It's not selfish, just... Well, honest... I learned a lot of what I know from my Da. Working the ropes, navigating, and shooting... He's gone now, as you probably guessed," She tries to keep her jovial tone, but you sense a certain depth of emotion when Milly speaks about the man who raised her. "Sometimes I wonder what he'd think of me, given what I've become. Smuggling and the occasional privateering aren't exactly admirable accomplishments, ya know?"


The fort is nearly in sight now. The men must have recovered somewhat from their sobering revelation, because you can hear their familiar evening raucous as they gather in the barracks to socialize. Only now the laughter of men is mingled with the odd ruk ruk noises of your Hillfolk speech.


"You mean it, don't you? About Telai, I mean," Milly says, "That you have feelings for her. I get that you were raised with a different set of expectations for this sort of thing, but... Well, I can't help but feel less of myself after you went and find someone else- even if that someone isn't necessarily going to replace me... It just seems unfair, me having to share you. What if I went off and found some other guy, Nat? Is that okay?... How did your moms make it work? You said it yourself, people can't help but give more of themselves to some rather than others..."

 

[Weiss Ritter]

Nathaniel scrutinized Milly's expression out of the corner of his vision. Whatever circumstances had caused the memories of her father to become so emotionally charged, he feared they did not end pleasantly. "I don't know. The story where you single-handily devastated an entire vessel by slipping in through the gunports is the stuff of novels. I can't vouch for your ropework...yet, but you haven't crashed your ship yet and I thought I was seeing things when you nailed Oliver's pommel from the fort!"


He flashed Milly a encouraging smile, though it was not free of a hint of concern.


Nathaniel's eyes flickered towards the fort as they approached. The mixed laughter of his soldiers and the Hillfolk came as something of a relief. He had been concerned how the two groups might mix now that he was stuck with the former. It seemed he had one less problem to worry about...for now, anyway. The logistics of his mental bond with the hulking natives were bound to cause complications the moment he needed to speak with the Forest Folk or perhaps even return to Avalon itself.


"Ah..." Was all the young man could say at first in the wake of Milly's words. Was this what the entire discussion as building up to, or was she really just "innocently" shoving him through the emotional wringer? He could hardly blame the captain, though. He owed her an explanation for bringing Telai into this without even consulting her first and the point she made...damn it, it was a good one.


"That's not..." Nathaniel halted turned to face his redheaded lover properly, the load on his aching back and leg be damned. "...I understand what you're saying. What I've gone and done is unfair, and I am sorry about it. I want to do right by you and Telai, I'm just...trying to sort out how."


He took a breath to steady himself. It came out a bit too much like a sigh for his tastes. That wouldn't fair either. Yes, he was grappling with problems he had precious little experience with, but it was his fault and the last thing Milly needed was to think he was exasperated over "trivial" things like her feelings and their relationship.


"I don't know what it was like for my moms. I guess I just never thought to ask and everything seemed fine. I don't want to...neglect either of you...I just-...I will do my best. If all this hasn't ruined it for you. If...if there is another guy you're looking at...well, I owe you..."

 

[Xatarias]

"There's no other guy, you clod! I'm asking you to think of this from my perspective." She glares at you, hands on hips, "But answer me honestly, would you like seeing me with someone else? Not what you feel is owed to me, but your actual feelings."


She throws up her hands, running them through her braids.


"Gods Nathanial, this isn't some sort of feud between me and Telai. Don't go spreading it around, but I admire the way she can hold her own better than everyone in your employ. She and I are alike that way. What's at issue here is you making decisions by yourself- and don't give me that, she didn't pin you down, did she? I... I need to know I'm not just some girl you had fun with before moving onto something better."


Gods. Is Milly crying?

 

[Weiss Ritter]

"I didn't think so! I just-" Nathaniel fumed for a moment. Then Milly cut him off and shut him up. He was silent for a long moment and the frown tugging at the edges of his lips grew deeper. She wanted his "actual" feelings...without any consideration of justice or fair play in regards to her? How was he supposed to-? The notion of her getting involved with someone else caused a faint, instinctive twinge in his gut, but...he just couldn't expect her to put up with Telai if he couldn't stomach her doing the same damn thing to him! If that made her life better, then why shouldn't he be pleased?


"I want you to be happy..." He said with a surprising amount of firmness. Surprising because his own thoughts ravaged him for such a dubious, if not heartfelt, reply. Well then you should have stopped oogling Telai long enough to consider how Milly might have felt about it!


Even without any verbal lashing from the pirate, Nathaniel would have winced from the sharpness of his own mental retort.


"Absolutely not!" All the concern and uncertainty was beaten by by a surge of indignation and anger. But only for an instant. Nathaniel flinched and sighed with a apologetic expression. "I'm sorry. Milly, I made a hasty decision that hurt you. You're right to be upset with me. But I never intended to you like some...toy! I'd never..."


Gods, was that the sort of person Milly feared he might be? Had his actions hurt her that deeply? Oh gods...she was crying.


"Milly..." The sack slid off his back and onto the ground. One of his arms almost reflexively raised and extended to pull captain into an embrace but stopped well before reaching her. Was any physical contact with him really going to help things right now?

 

[Xatarias]

Surprisingly, your instinctive need to embrace your sobbing lover doesn't earn you a punch to the face. Milly utterly crumbles into your arms, staggering you with her weight and causing a your injured calf to flare with pain. She sobs into your chest while gripping your shirt tight.


"Y-you... You make me happy!" She blubbers, "But I don't- I don't know if you'll even want me!... I've never felt this way before and i-it's wonderful and... Godsdamned awful and the same time!..."


She looks up at you, an undignified strand of snot trailing from her nose and her eyes utterly puffy with tears. Milly has definitely looked better, but if you want to live, you'd best not mention it.


"Here I was thinking you'd be a nice distraction and next thing I know, I'm tramping through the jungle and I lose my ship... And the next thing I know, the reason I made so many stupid decisions is tramping around with someone who's known him longer and can take care of him in ways that I can't!..."

 

[Weiss Ritter]

"Ngh...!" His time on the Dark Continent had taught Nathaniel a thing or two about tolerating pain that a life in Avalon almost certainly could not. It didn't make resisting the urge to cry out as their combined weigh pressed down upon his wounded leg much easier.


Yet even that sharp agony was nothing compared to watching the once proud, swaggering captain who could probably clear entire decks single-handed with a good sharpshooting position be reduced to a sobbing wreck. His arms wrapped tightly around her body without hesitation and his he pressed down on top of her's. Milly's sobbing seemed contagious. He could feel trace amounts of water welling up in his own eyes.


"Milly," Nathaniel's voice was cracking but he tried to inject as much firmness as he could into it. "I'm not leaving you. This isn't some...competition. I chose to keep spending time with you because you're...you're special. I've never met anyone like you before, and yes that includes Telai. I don't want to lose you just because I did something stupid without even asking you first..."


One of his hands softly massages her back, the other tenderly combed through her hair. Or tried to. Nathaniel wasn't sure how soothing the gestures were or if it was stupid to even try to comfort Milly with them. It just didn't feel right to have his hands sit idle when she needed him.

 

[Xatarias]

Milly doesn't object to your affectionate gestures. You find yourself sitting with the sniffling redhead, your backs against the horizontal trunk of a tree felled in the recent storm. A long few minutes pass, your arms wrapped around Milly. Unwilling to abandon the companionship of either her or Telai, you find yourself in a position that you are utterly unprepared for.


The courtship of a second wife is a commonplace in Avalon, but the practice is wrapped in ceremony and tradition mutually well-understood by all parties involved. The man usually would take another partner only after a few years of, ideally, harmonious coexistence with his first spouse and only after receiving explicit consent. Simultaneous courtship is much frowned upon, reflecting poor control on the male's part and a lacking of self-respect for the women involved. Such a scandal would never have fallen upon the bookish Nathanial Brightland of half a year ago, whose only hope of marriage was at the arrangement of his affluent father and savvy mothers.


Every rule of etiquette drilled into your head woefully fails to address the nuances of your situation. Your own three mothers knew one another before their joining and were good friends still to this day. Their amicable, no- familial, commitment to one another is one of the main reasons why your household remains so strong. Whenever you had scraped a knee or became frightened, any one of three pairs of arms had been there to comfort you. It was just how things were...


Not that there hadn't been a certain moments of tension. You recall a moment in the gardens when your eldest mother gazed at her sister-wives playing with their many blonde-haired children, brushing back her raven locks, face tight with grief...


Your actions had pushed Telai and Milly together in a manner they never expected nor expressed any enthusiasm for. It might be easier for Telai since she entered the affair with Milly as a known quantity, but for Milly it is obviously wounding...

 

[Weiss Ritter]

Nathaniel's body melted into the embrace. His arms kept their bodies pressed close together while his head rested either atop her's or on her shoulder. Outwardly, things seemed to be finally calming down for the two lovers. Maybe, just maybe, it was completely true for Milly...but as tenuous silence reigned Nathaniel could feel his mind rushing to truly process everything for the first time. It almost made him wish for a band of Cynthia's mercenaries or some other crisis to come along and distract him from it all.


What he'd done was beyond inconsiderate or poorly thought out. It went against some of the very fundamentals of his gentlemanly upbringing. Not arcane bits of etiquette like using the "proper" spoon to crack open an egg or wearing exact amount of finery to a party that would honor the host without upstaging them. He had violated moral understandings, rules based on theoretically common sense that he imagined even the poorest of laborers would have understood and supported. Telai and Alestra had played a part in what transpired, certainly, but as Milly so...eloquently said, the amazon had hardly pinned him down and forced him into even a tentative relationship at knifepoint.


Gods...what had happened to him over the course of the last six months or so?


Ha...


The very thought was almost enough to force a bitter laugh from Nathaniel's throat. That was taking the easy way out. 'The wild air of the Dark Continent changed me!' 'Maybe the harvest there increases libido, or the siren's song had other lingering effects on me!'. Shifting the blame around to try and absolve himself rather than even consider that perhaps he was always this way. What if all it took to change Nathaniel, the dutiful prodigy, into some sex-mad beast that legendary scandals were made of was to be plucked from where the rules were actually enforced and set in front of a pair of parted legs?


Nathaniel's embrace was already fairly tight, but now it might have started to get slightly painful for Milly. It was like he was afraid she'd be taken if he didn't hold on tight enough, or perhaps that he was going to fall apart without something binding him tightly together. Perhaps both.


Milly was hurt and frightened by all this. It was a monstrous situation she'd been forced in, and even if she could forgive him for it, could she actually live with it for any extended period of time? Could Telai? The southerner claimed that she knew what she was getting into, but more often than not practice was quite different from theory. And even if they prevailed over all of that...what awaited them once his family caught wind? A mercenary and a freelance captain...


Could such people be valued? Of course. Respected? Absolutely. Friends of the family? Perhaps so. Without the two women, there was a good chance he'd be dead or worse by this point. But wives? A secret affair with either would have been pushing it. The scandal likely to emerge if it was ever discovered would be damaging, if far from fatal, to the Brightland clan. The price for it would probably involve permanent assignment to some distant post far from probing eyes. But giving Milly and Telai the open relationship both deserved, brazenly courting that scandal and sacrificing whatever advantages could have been gained through a more "legitimate" pairing...


...Why did he always have to think of these things right after what should have been a triumph?

 

[Xatarias]

"Nat, ease up a bit."


Milly's voice is somewhat muffled with her face buried in your damp shirt. She emerges a little more composed, but still haggard from her recent cry. She wipes her face and takes a deep breath.


"If... If things can't go back to the way they were, then what are we going to do? H-how does this work, I mean... I'm not..."


You were almost expecting her previously voiced accusation If you can't leave that other woman... Maybe this was progress, but then again, Milly might just not want to get worked up again.


"Nat? What are you thinking about?"


Apparently you're not the only one taking notice of your overactive intellect.

 

[Weiss Ritter]

"S-sorry..." Nathaniel's body jumped a bit and stiffened but his tight grip relaxed almost immediately. This was becoming something of a habit for him, wasn't it?


"W-we'll find a way..." Nathaniel said with much more firm confidence than he actually felt. "Neither of would have gotten this far if we were complete fools who couldn't think their way out of a tricky mess to save their lives...right? Show me the woman who can clear entire decks with a brace of pistols, who could turn a stuffy Brightland pretty boy into a semi-competent scoundrel and burglar,"


He managed to echo the buxom pirate's pep-talk with a faint smile of his own. Yet whatever the effect it had on Milly, the forced quality of his expression didn't go completely unnoticed.


Nathaniel froze and was silent for a long moment when she asked what was on his mind. The absolute last thing Milly needed was more to worry about...but not keeping her informed in the first place was part of what led to this mess.What was the point of solving this crisis only if she was caught off-guard by another further down the road? All because he didn't feel like doing the right thing?


"...The future," He said quietly, barely above a whisper. "What happens if we get through all this. I'm...not sure when my family might find out about all this and how they'll react. What the Syndicate might do in regard to us all..."