Rory told the rest of his story up until when he had arrived at Elphina’s… their shop that first time. He told her every single thing. The woman mumbled something about karma when he told her about and then summoned the treant. And now it was just one last hesitance to push past.
“So you wanted to see my constructs,” he said hesitantly. “I’ve been delaying because I’m scared. Do you see now, Elphina, why I didn’t want to?”
Her face demonstrated her struggle. She was probably bouncing around between a lot of emotions. He certainly was. Firming his resolve, Rory held his hands out. “Here they are.” And his black and white serpents materialized on them.
She gasped for the umpteenth time and leaned closer to them. She studied them closely for many minutes, moving his hands and wrists to examine them from different angles and perspectives, never touching them herself.
Eventually, she backed up from them and nodded at him. He recalled them while watching her. “Do you think you can make me something?” he asked. “Or you could sell what I just told you and my presence to the Walshes. I’m sure they’d pay well enough to solve your money problems and make me and my mum disappear finally. I doubt anyone, Sutherland included, would notice. I can only guess by now they assume we’re dead… or of too little threat to be worth their time. I figure they’d have acted already if they knew I was better from what they did. It can’t be hard to make nobodies like me and my mum disappear. Like I said, I still don’t know whey they didn’t in the first place.”
The woman's face looked at Rory with such pity he had to turn his away. Pity didn’t help. “Do you want revenge?” she asked him.
Rory sighed. He’d asked himself that very question for years. The answer had always been a furious “yes!” But more recently he’d been asking again, and the answer wasn’t as clear.
“Maybe?” he said, turning back to her. “I don’t know. I think I want to be strong enough to not be afraid of them. I’m not sure if that means I want revenge or not. Right now I just want to feel free.”
Slowly, wrinkled hands lay atop his. “I know you don’t want to hear this,” she said softly to him. “but I will say it anyway because I’m old and old people get to say whatever they want.” Rory huffed a single laugh at that statement, appreciating her attempt at lifting the somber mood. She patted his hands and spoke in a gentle tone. “I’m so sorry for everything that has happened to you. Your friend Lucifer was right. You, Ruari Sheehan, are a good man.” Rory’s eyes closed tightly and he covered his face with his hands, failing to hold in yet more tears.
After a minute of silence, he heard her say, “I think I can make something for you, Rory and it will be most complicated creation I have ever made. I have a few ideas already, although I may need some things from you. Even if I don’t, you will be the most interesting ingredient I have ever built a product around and I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
He caught his breath, wiped his face with this sleeve for the umpteenth time, and looked at her. She wore a kind smile as she told him. “For now, why don’t you wash your face in the sink and then go to the armorers to get measured and spend some time with your lady friend?”
He laughed lightly and did just that.
***
For all that he had told himself he was going to tell Steph he wanted to slow down, Rory didn’t realize how happy he would feel walking up to her and seeing her smile back. “Hey,” he said to her. “Here to get measured.”
Once again they were both ignoring whatshisname… Edward? Edmond? Whatever. It exited his mind when she smiled a beautiful smile and then led him to the same measuring station as last time. When they arrived he looked up and down the hall, just as he had done before.
“Only one person is allowed at a time and it’s enforced by a sensor lock,” she told him softly. “They’d need access and there would be a warning. You don’t have to worry.”
Gathering his courage, he opened his mouth to tell her he wanted to slow things down when she crossed her arms under her breasts and looked up at him with a stunning sly smile. “Gotta take off your clothes to get measured, Rory.”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
His mind kind of clunked, and he blinked down at her. What was I saying again?
“Need help with your shirt?” she asked, still grinning.
He shook his head quickly and took off his shirt, dropping it in the basket. Steph was watching every move. Sighing, he sat on the stool and untied his boots, put them aside, put his socks in the basket. Then he stood up. He saw she was biting her lip.
“Umm,” was all he could come with to say.
She slowly lifted her hand and reached forward.
Now’s your chance Rory. Tell her you want to slow things down.
His mouth didn’t seem to want to open and let him speak as she lifted his left hand and brought it closer to her face. She examined his inscriptions, turning his hand this way and that, looking at the detail. Then she ran the fingers of her other hand up his wrist, following the flowing curls and knots. She slowly swept over his arms and to his shoulder, stopping there for a moment where there was the largest of his knots, the tree of life. She traced her fingers over the leaves and roots and then continued running her hands onto the muscles of his chest, and down and onto his stomach. He sucked in quietly but didn’t pull away. Rory felt tingles wherever her fingers made contact. It was like a light burn, but, for the first time, a pleasant one. When her hands reached his pants, they stopped and she pulled back.
Yeah, screw slowing down.
She let her hands fall back to her sides and said, “Go ahead.”
He slowly reached forward and undid his pants, pulling them down and standing back up. He was in clean white boxers, which showed how her touching had affected him.
Rory saw a fire in her eyes when she looked at his middle. He cleared his throat and said, “I should get in.”
She reached her hand up to his head and ran it through his hair. He realized it was getting a little long.
As if reading his mind, she reached into her pocket with her other hand and held up her palm. On it was a black stretchy circle.
“The scans will work better if your hair is off your neck,” she explained. “May I?”
He smiled down at her and nodded.
“Turn around,” she ordered softly.
He did and felt her front touch his back briefly before she ran her hands through his hair a few times. A moment later he felt a few slight tugs and a gentle pulling. He was about to turn around when the burn was back as she ran her hand along his neck, down his shoulders, and back, eventually stopping at the band of his boxers, which her nails very slightly went inside of.
He gasped a breath in. Then he felt her lips gently caress his back and he heard a whispered, “Go on in.”
Taking a shuddering breath, he stepped forward and up. After taking a minute or two getting a hold of his emotions, he removed his boxers and started the scans.
The tests were exactly the same as the previous ones. A few minutes later, Rory picked up his boxers and put them on. He went out, finding that Steph was there with a tablet. She raised her eyes and did a once-over of him.
“Get dressed and let’s talk about your tests in private,” she said with a smile. “Same room.”
He did and she led him by the hand. Once inside, she guided him to the couch and patted her lap. He removed his boots and lay down, his head to the side facing her stomach because he still had the short ponytail still in.
“Your body is definitely changing,” she told him. “I wouldn’t say you’re getting much bigger though. At least not since the last test. It’s more a refinement. I would guess you’ve been adding points to vitality?”
She looked down at him and he shrugged. He never spoke of his ghost and she knew that. She rolled her eyes and went back to the tablet.
“Most of the changes aren’t going to be visible. I see an increase in fiber density all around, although minor, which is good because too much change in a short time is unhealthy. Your body needs to adapt.”
That was a similar warning to the one he had received from the Withdraw Soul technique.
“We still need a lot more data, so you need to come back in a few days.” Then she looked down at him and said, “Which is good. I get to see you again.”
“Yes,” he said with a chuckle. “I saw you seeing me.”
She giggled. “You were going to tell me we should slow down, weren’t you?”
He sighed and nodded. “Yeah. I don’t know, Steph. I’m not good with this sort of thing. Maybe we should slow down.” He exhaled again. “I’m not too proud to admit I’m scared. I like hanging out with you, but this just really isn’t me.”
“Did you like before, when I was touching your inscriptions?” she asked him.
“Yeah,” he answered. “Which is weird, because I don’t like being touched.” Years of pain had set kind of a mental switch that caused discomfort upon being touched by others.
She smiled down at him. “We’re just having a little fun. I’m not asking you to jump in my bed.” She laughed after saying that and Rory couldn’t help but chuckle along with her. “I get it. Physical stuff is a big deal for you. We can work with that. After all, there are plenty of ways to have fun without sex.”
He could feel his entire body burning with a blush. She giggled. “That blush is adorable.” He sighed, but couldn’t stop himself from smiling. She winked at him. “Just think about it okay? No pressure. I can wait. But kissing is okay, right? You said you wanted practice.”
He actually hadn’t, but nodded anyway and sat up. They did practice for a bit, him listening to her feedback and hopefully improving. But then she reminded both of them of the time and they exited.
He took himself out to a neat little diner, had some really good food along with a chocolate milkshake, sold the snake meat in his vault for £3,112, spent a third of it on shopping, and finally went home.