The Feathers
Tormod rolled from his back to his side, lifting his head and dropping it back down again onto his furry pillow. 'I don't know if my head has gotten bigger, or Muarim's paw smaller.' he moved his hand with the intention of fluffing the laguz' paw as he would a normal pillow, but stopped himself before doing so to avoid waking his guardian up. 'I guess paws don't shrink. Gah, this used to be so much more comfortable!'
He turned to his other side, facing the entrance of the cave that was serving as shelter that night. Instead of his eyes being met by tall grass and a distant, starry sky, they found the figure of Vika's back blocking the exit. One of her wings was draped over her upper body like a blanket and the other was folded underneath her head for cushioning. Tormod huffed something between a sigh and a groan.
'She looks way more comfortable than Muarim...' his eyes widened at his own thought and he shook his head lightly, mentally correcting himself, 'Ah, I mean me! She looks more comfortable than me, the way she's sleeping!' The implication had subconsciously been made, however, and Tormod could not bring himself to stop his eyes as they looked upon Vika as a female instead of an ally. From the front her shirt, although fitting, kept the raven's skin covered; as Tormod pleasantly noted then, from behind the fabric ended at the centre of her back and allowed anyone looking to enjoy her curves as they dipped into her small waist and spread out over rounded hips. Defying his will to end the thoughts, his curiosity urged him to continue searching down her legs, thighs fitting well in tight jeans, calves bare and toned (and he wondered how, as she always chose flying over walking), and feet naturally arched as though she were wearing her regular heeled sandals as she slept.
Tormod moved onto his back again and urged himself, 'Stop... stop...' but his eyes defied him as they shifted their gaze to Vika and scanned over her again. A sigh slipped through Tormod's nose, both distraught and satisfied with himself. Catching a flick of Vika's wings, these thoughts turned into anxiety.
She shifted her position into one similar to his. "Boss?" Her voice came out raspy, not quite conscious enough to muster an elegant whisper. "Y'awake?"
"Uh..." he scrambled for an answer, but after uttering the stammer realized that he had already given one, "...yeah."
Silence was all that existed for a few moments, nothing at all. Tormod inwardly wondered if she had slipped back into sleep. "What's keepin' you up?" Vika piped up, still noticeably drowsy but also somewhat more alert.
That was when Tormod concluded that the cause of his sleeplessness had switched from Muarim's uncomfortable nature to Vika's tempting allure; he would not admit that to her, though, "Muarim's not as good a pillow as I remember him being." A low giggle rose from Vika's throat, somewhat subdued. Her amusement in his observation brought a smile and encouragement to Tormod. "Any suggestions on how to improve that?" he asked.
Vika moved to lie on her side, facing Tomod. "Hmm..." she pondered aloud. When Tormod looked over, he saw that her eyes were closed. "You could... try using my wings instead." The mage felt his skin warm up as much as it did when he chanted a fire spell. "They work for me, anyway. Really comfy."
Sitting up to keep any of his future movements from disturbing Muarim, Tormod gave a speechless nod and scooted closer to Vika. Before he could lie down, she fluffed up her wings to ensure that they would keep up to their promise of being cozier than Muarim's fur. Just as modest as he was with his words, Tormod lowered himself next to the laguz with as much distance between them as he could keep while getting the cushioning of Vika's feathers.
His eyes closed, Tormod agreed that her wings were indeed a better pillow than Muarim's paw; it would have been even more preferable had he not settled for lying on his back, but he was too anxious to move. 'Just clear my mind and I'll fall asleep...' It was after that thought when he felt an abundance of soft, tickling feathers drift onto his chest. He snapped his eyes opened and glanced down, Vika's second wing draped over him and the first still beneath. Turning his head to the side, his nose brushed against Vika's causing him to shrink back with a gasp. With slightly more distance between their faces, he could see that her eyes were closed and lips straight and indifferent.
"I always sleep like this," she muttered an explanation without having to see Tormod's shock. "Hope ya don't mind. Might as well share the warmth with you, right?" Vika opened her eyes and raised a brow as she observed that Tormod was barely even on her wing, just at the edge. "Tsk, that can't be comfortable. Come closer, Boss." She drowsily tossed an arm around him and pulled him close to her with more force than Tormod would have expected her to have. Chests together, Vika was suddenly aware of the alarming speed that her leader's heart was beating at. As an understanding of Tormod's distance sank in, she felt her own heartbeat accelerating as much as his was.
She thought of moving away a little, giving him some space and letting him calm down... but that thought was quickly overridden by the fact that she didn't want to move away. Feeling his heart thump against her breast made her want to scoot closer, if anything. Still, it was her boss... "Do you want me to back off a little?" she asked in a whisper, awake enough to consider the sleeping tiger laguz a few feet away.
Tormod parted his lips to answer, but his response remained pending for sometime as he struggled between 'yes' and 'no'. He decided on one and worded it in the least extreme way possible: "N-Not really."
"Do you want me to come closer?"
As soon as she spoke the words, she began to inwardly chide herself. When he didn't immediately object, however, she decided to wait for his reaction before cursing herself out anymore.
Again, Tormod found the most moderate way of giving a yes-or-no answer. "...Kind of."
A grin broke out on Vika's face, but she tried to conceal it by ducking her head down until she could muster a more apathetic expression. Settling for a more subtle smile, she lifted her gaze to Tormod and tightened the hold that her arm still had around him. "Well if you're that insistent..." she murmured coolly as she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his, hoping that he'd mistake her rapidly beating heart for his own.
He hardly noticed the heartbeats, though, too distracted by the situation he had gotten himself into—a desirable situation, but one that was bound to be thought of as awkward the next morning nonetheless.
The way that his lips moved sloppily against hers as she prompted more fervour into their kiss was somehow endearing. She suppressed a smile to focus on guiding him through the action, reminded that despite how he looked so much older than when she had first met him, he was still so young. It reminded her of her own youthful experiences and made her stomach leap around with the eager thought of how enjoyable things could be as he learned more...
Her wings began fluttering against his face and he regrettably found himself sputtering a laugh at the feather-touch instead of impressing her with his learn-as-he-went skills. "Sorry," Vika said, the word muffled as she refused to actually part her lips from his. She let out a snicker as she added, "I'm getting too excited." She rolled onto her back and guided his hands on either side of her, over her wings. "Here. Hold them down."
Without a word or nod of understanding, Tormod laced his fingers into her feathers and leaned in to kiss her again. He found the new arrangement of himself over her easier to adjust to and easier to let his regular confident demeanour to translate into his actions. Vika let her lips curve up with amusement and, when she felt Tormod's teeth revealed briefly in a grin, she knew that he had felt her smile.
A sluggish growl from the deeper part of the cave caused all traces of Tormod's confidence to dissipate in an instant; he practically jumped off of Vika and lied stiffly on the ground next to her, daring only to let his eyes move in the direction of his guardian. When the tiger did not move at all, he concluded that he had apparently been growling in his sleep. Vika remained on her back, vision met with a rocky ceiling, and let out a laugh before commenting, "Wow, what a tough guy you are, Boss."
"I-I—" Tormod groaned and placed a hand over his forehead with exasperation, "I'm a moron."
She rolled her eyes to herself, and then rolled her body to its side to let her wing, as well as her arm, drape over Tormod as it had before. "Yeah," she agreed and gave him a final peck on his lips, "but it was fun before you got spooked."
He heaved a sigh as she nuzzled her face in the crook of his neck and shut her eyes. "I guess it's time to sleep, then?"
"I guess," she answered without a hint of reluctance in her tone, although the kiss that she left on his neck and the words that followed it hinted otherwise: "Let's do this again sometime."
R&R people!