Nevin stared at Eteri for a long minute. The woman fidgeted for a second, then he shook his head with a low laugh. “Honey. I've been yours since the day you decided to stay.” And - despite her sister accidentally drugging him, that was true. He'd made his goodbyes to the girls of the Lilly, because he wouldn't come back to them while he was with Eteri. Even when she'd gotten upset after their game in the restaurant, and held off for a while, Nevin hadn't even considered going back to them. He'd waited for her.
And now - now, she was nearly as eager for sex as he was. He didn't know if it was because of the soul inside of her, or if it was because he had finally gotten around to actually using his darker, dominant side, but whatever it was - they quite often went to sleep tangled together in the afterglow. Other women held no interest to him - his little Eteri was devoted to him in a way he doubted anyone else would ever match. “I am yours. Just as you are mine. I don't want you going to anyone else, ever. And I won't.” My words a certain promise. My heart had long been hers - I would reassure her that the rest of me was, too.
“Why want anyone else Eteri like Nevin. Eteri feel full. Want all of.. All the time…” She stepped closer to him, still barely dressed, and pressed herself against his tall frame. She breathed in deep. “No one else smells this good.”
He curled his arms around her, shaking his head before resting his chin on top of hers. “Careful, dear, or you're going to go to bed sore.” Nevin chuckled and gave her a squeeze. “Come on - we should go shower. And I mean, just, shower.” He didn't know if he was telling her that - or himself. A quick press of his lips against her forehead, and he pulled away, peeling off the remainder of his clothes as he headed towards the bathroom.
“What.” One single, flat, disbelieving word reached Eteri’s ears from the bathroom. “Honey, could you come here?” A pleasant tone. “Now?” She followed behind him, poking her head into the bathroom. “Yes?” A large coil of threads wrapped around her waist, and dragged her off the feet and into the bathroom. Nevin was smiling pleasantly at the sink. The white sink, currently stained a vivid red hue.
“What happened?”
“Oh...split dye..is why only one part hair red.”She didn’t seem too phased by it. She was more interested in the coils around her waist. She gently pat them affectionately as she looked up at Nevin, smiling. Damn woman.
Nevin brought her in close and stared at her, then took a very deep breath, and sighed. “And I take it you tried washing your hands, which is why my towel over there is stained pink.” She nodded brightly, running her hand back and forth along the threads that were holding her up.
“Yes. But is OK. Eteri can wash later maybe.” She was being bright and cheery, and here he was trying to be irritated at her over it. But he just - he couldn't.
He sighed. “Honey. Next time you want to dye your hair, talk to me. I am literally an Alchemist. I can make you hair dye that won't stain porcelain.” She tilted her head, and he tapped the basin of the sink. Her eyes lit up.
“Now. I'm going to take a shower. After that, I will get you something to repair the damage to your hair.” He took a deep breath. <”Clothing dye is more… Solid. Thicker. No. Denser. Love, what is the word for, there's more of it? In one spot?”> Her tail flicked and her ears perked up, as they always did when he tried speaking Akashiman. She smiled happily as she thought.
<”Concentrated?”>
Nevin frowned, thought, and nodded. “Yes. Ah. <Yes. Concentrated. Clothing dye is more concentrated than hair dye. Because of that, it hurts your hair. I happened to loving stroke my pet’s hair, so I would rather it no fall out because you using wrong .”> He shook his head.
“I'm sure I horribly mangled that. I'm sorry.” He flushed a bit, and his threads pulled away from her, making her grumble a bit at their absence. He ignored her pouting and turned on the water, cranking the heat up to his preferred, nearly scalding, temperature. He glanced over his shoulder, his hand still resting on the knob.
“Did you want to join me?” She nodded and went to duck into the shower with him, but paused, ears twitching as she watched the rising steam. She put one arm in and made a cute little alarmed mew as she realized how hot it is.
“Did you want me to turn down the-”
Before he could finish she shook her head and obstinately pushed herself into the shower with him. Nevin couldn't help the chuckle that came as she took shelter in the shower, using him as a shield against the hot water. Every so often she would slowly slide out into the rushing water, but then she would duck back in front of him as he let the hot water massage his back. He smiled down at her, shaking his head.
“You, my little love, are adorable.” She scowled up at him, just making him smile wider. Then he tilted his head back and let the water run through his hair and across his face, which he then promptly shook onto Eteri, who squeaked as water fell into her face. His mild amusement done, he reached past her and grabbed the soap then raised an eyebrow at her.
“Do - no no. Eteri,” He said sternly. “Turn around so I can wash your back.” She blinked, a bit unused to him being commanding when they weren't being sexual, then turned around, her tail flicking against him in the process.
“Good girl…” he murmured as he began gently scrubbing her. She purred at his touch, arching her back as he scrubbed her down. He picked back up the thread of the conversation from earlier, now that they had been, at least temporarily, sated.
“So. For now, the best idea I've had to extend your lifespan is to garner you life force. Simply put, my own would be the best - ah ah, shh, let me talk little one.” He had seen her immediately open her mouth again to reject this. He stared at her as she looked at him over her shoulder, and then she turned her head away, her tail lashing almost angrily. “Good. Now, my own would be best. We are already compatible because of the initial doses I've given you in the past. And with your new soul, you have an affinity to my magic, as we have both noticed.” He sighed. “But, your inherent desire not to hurt me, means you'd reject my life force in situations where I tried to give it to you.” She nodded, not looking at him.
“So. The second best option would be, to kill things, and I can use my blood Alchemy to harvest their life force. The biggest drawback to this is, we would need to kill either lot, and I do mean a lot, of small animals to get what you will need - or, more powerful entities would have higher life forces, which would extend that. Unfortunately, I can't think of a way of giving you a life span to match mine - not without somehow tying your life span to my own.” He hummed in thought as he began gently washing her hair. It was actually soothing for him, to be here showering with her and just - getting these thoughts off his chest. He'd been keeping these ideas trapped in his own head, and slowly going mad over it for so long. Talking with her felt - much, much better.
As he'd mentioned to her earlier. Nearly every problem that had come up, the two of them had faced together. It had been stupid of him not to talk with her - he'd been trying to handle this on his own, and while he was smart, so was she. And she thought of things in a different manner than he did. Two heads were definitely better than one in this case. He slowly massaged her head, gently rubbing her ears, and sighed.
“So dear. Any ideas on how you might live longer? The life force thing, at least the one from kills, is a temporary solution at best.” He was always better when he dealt with problems head on, rather than backing down and trying to hide from them.
