div class="chapter preface group" style="border-width: 1px 0px 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.5em 3em; padding: 0.643em 0.643em 0px; visibility: visible; float: none; box-shadow: none; color: #2a2a2a; border-style: solid initial initial initial;" role="complementary"
h3 class="title" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: 400; font-style: inherit; font-size: 1.286em; font-family: Georgia, serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0.5375em 0px; padding: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1; word-break: break-word; background: transparent; text-align: center; box-shadow: none;"a style="color: #666666; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 17.1469px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; box-shadow: none;" href=" /works/31032419/chapters/99522156"Chapter 9/a: Pain, Play; Hurt, Heal/h3
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div class="userstuff module" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 287.844px; float: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; box-shadow: none; color: #2a2a2a;" role="article"
h3 id="work" class="landmark heading" style="border-width: 0px 0px 0.25em; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; font-weight: 500; font-style: inherit; font-size: 0px; font-family: Georgia, serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0.125em; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 0; word-break: break-word; opacity: 0; height: 0px; clear: both; color: transparent; box-shadow: none; border-color: initial initial #333333 initial; border-style: initial initial double initial;"Chapter Text/h3
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Sykkuno was having a horrible day. It seemed like everyone and their grandma was signing different petitions against him and/or his policies./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He wondered how long before the town's people would match down to his office and ask him to step down./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He had known since day one that has was not cut out to do this. His mom had been ill during the election and had filled him in as her successor./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"She had forced him to cancel his collab with Tadashi Shoji to stay for the entire electoral process. He had nearly lost his mind./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He probably might never get that opportunity again./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"There was a fashion show at his agency today and he was not in the right state of mind to attend. It didn't particularly help that Roman hadn't recovered yet. The healers had doused him with Schmoozing and sent him to a mundane hospital./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He had learnt from Poki that the bullet had punctured his lungs and his werewolf healing was failing./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"This was not going according to plan. He wanted to put fear in the hearts of The Darkling, probably make Roman join him in his quest not incapacitate the werewolf./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"And anger the whole of The Darkling clan by extension./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He had included extra security for himself and he never went anywhere alone./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He did not notice he was having a panic attack till his office phone rang and he noticed his hands were shaking./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""Toast, what's up?" he asked as soon as he picked up, trying to feign composure./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""Um... Sykkuno? Your mom called. She says she wants to see you right away," Toast informed./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Sykkuno dropped the receiver and ran his hands through his hair. This was the worst thing that could happen to him./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"On the other side of town, Sasha was scratching behind Finn's ears. The latter was in wolf form. They both had a running joke between them that she didn't need to adopt a pet when she had him./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"She had even refused to get a pet when he was away. She felt it wouldn't be the same./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He nuzzled in her lap./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"She laughed, "don't ruin my outfit."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He snorted. She half wished she'd joined The Darkling so she could understand everything he said when he was in werewolf form. She could understand a bit and she knew certain gestures. And she could always tell when he was in pain./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Other than that, it was a guessing game./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He sniffed around for a moment before letting out what sounded like a scoff. Few moments later she heard the sound of a car pulling into their driveway./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He hopped down from her legs./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He was most likely going to change into his outfit for the after party of the fashion show./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"She adjusted and dusted down her outfit. The doorbell rang and she went to open it./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Corpse looked her up and down and groaned./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Sasha already knew where he was going so she simply moved aside to let him in./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""Nice to see you too, Corpse."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"She had not meant it to come out sarcastic but there it was./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Corpse sighed tiredly, "I don't mean it like that. It's just... I'm tired, ok?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He collapsed on the sofa./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"She sat next to him and took his hand in hers. He breathed heavily and rested his head on her shoulder./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He shuddered a little as she caressed her fingers through his hair, the way she knew he liked./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""You know the dress code is formal, right? Not casual formal," he whispered./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"She chuckled. She was currently wearing a silver metallic turtle neck jumpsuit with blue ankle boots and a wig of the same color./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""This isn't even casual formal..."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""I'm not a fashionista, you are," Corpse cut in./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""You going to tell me what's wrong or do I have to call the elders of the Brood?" she asked./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Corpse laughed, "it wouldn't be the first time."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""Get a room you two," Finn said with a mischievous grin on his face./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Corpse chuckled again but his voice had a strange timbre to it./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"The Werewolf looked at him quizzically as he sat up, let go of Sasha and assumed a defensive position./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""Can you tell the Bloodline to stop bothering me, please? It's not my fault Roman got shot, I did not send those cops after him. And I know what every single supernatural creature in Moonlight falls is thinking... If I had run for mayor, none of this would've happened. I do not want to be mayor, I never did. This whole thing, this whole debacle," Corpse made a circle motion with his hands, "is killing me mentally more than anything I've ever experienced in my life. It's bad enough I have to lead The Brood as well as handle my businesses and stuff. Do not add your aggressions to it for the love of God."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Finn and Sasha were stunned. The latter had her mouth agape./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"She was used to Corpse moping about and bottling stuff up till they had sex where he'd take it all out then. It was where the "calling The Brood elders thing" came from./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Most times he wouldn't talk about his problems, he'd give her an attitude as a result. So she'd call them to find out what was wrong./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Valkyrae had told her it was a very "mate" thing to do. She would just ignore it./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Finn on the other hand had known Corpse since when they were kids. He had simply never heard Corpse speak up for himself./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Speak up for other people, sure. But when it came to his own issues and faults. He just took it silently./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Finn had always found it extremely phony the "put together" front Corpse had. Honestly in this moment, Finn respected The Brood leader more than he'd ever done in his life./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""You're right," Finn stated, "this isn't your fault, it's Sykkuno's. I'll bring it up at the next full moon."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Corpse took a deep breath./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Sasha's phone rang just then. It was Poki./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""Hey... We'll be there soon..." she laughed and glanced at Finn who rolled his eyes just then, "maybe you should try to tell him yourself... You'll never know."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""I don't think so," Finn said./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""Come on. She's a good looking Fae lady," Sasha returned./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""There are no bad looking Fae people," Corpse and Finn chorused, drawing a laugh from Sasha./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""I did my best Poki," Sasha spoke into her phone then hung up about a minute later./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""Here's your purse."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Sasha saw the purse in the air before she heard him say it. She caught it rolling her eyes./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"It was a "think fast" strategy he'd come up with./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""You could pass for a supernatural creature very easily," Corpse commented./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Sasha silently headed to the door, "we're getting really late."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""They're front row seats, they're not going anywhere," Finn called after her./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"She ignored him and walked out the style="box-shadow: none;" /~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~br style="box-shadow: none;" /Sykkuno pulled into his mom's home with a heavy sigh. He knew what he was in for but unlike usual, he hadn't had the time to mentally prepare./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He was going through so much stress, he would've cried if he could./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He sighed again before alighting from his car. He simply nodded at the bodyguards who greeted him before he entered the house./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He walked upstairs to the second floor room where the indoor mini swingset was. It was where she liked to hang out even when no one else was around./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He bit his inside jaw when she came into view. She was sitting on the swingset wearing a pink shirt and a light blue dress over it./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"She was barefooted and currently one of her two pairs of 'punishment gloves'. This one had Pain and play, one on each hand. The other glove had Hurt and Heal.../p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He guessed he'd handled the situation maturely. Seeing the massive fuck up that had caused the whole issue to begin with./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""Sykkuno, welcome," she said with a smile that could easily be mistaken as warm and inviting from anyone except him. She took the tray of cupcakes and ambrosia from the maid then waved her away./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"The bashful young maid curtseyed then smiled sweetly at Sykkuno. He had to keep himself from scoffing out loud./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He knew every flirtation tactic in the book... She wasn't his type./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He instead gave her a blank stare that was almost hostile and she scurried off./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""Don't be mean to her, Sykkuno. She's a sweet girl," Alexa stated, her smile dropping each and every second that went by./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""She's a mundane, mom," Sykkuno muttered./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"She let out one of those her laughs that others said sounded cute but to him sounded maniacal./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"She was looking up at him but he felt really small./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"She always made him feel small even though in his adulthood he was 5 foot 7 and she was barely 5 feet tall./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""Maybe you need a mundane to straighten you out," she said and just like that, the smile was gone./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He bit down on his bottom lip, hard enough to draw blood. It wasn't an empty threat, she had loaned him to thirsty, savage mundane men and women to "straighten" him out when he misbehaved./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"These mundanes always tried to push him to the limit of his abilities. Then she'd wipe the memory of said mundanes when the time was up./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He was not down for that right now./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Alexa held the gloves up to under her chin and Sykkuno was instantly filled with trepidation./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He begun to shake and cry. Not wanting to even look up at her anymore./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"The last time she'd picked "Play" was when she'd first introduced those set of gloves when he was 9 years old and she took him out to get ice cream./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""Pain" meant abuse that ranged from talking down to him or making him do something extremely embarrassing to ruin his already very delicate to any form of physical and psychological abuse imaginable./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He knew what she was capable of./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He lifted his head slowly and saw her with a grin on her face./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He gasped but he could not form words, he wiped his blurry eyes from the tears./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"She had the "Play" hand up./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""W-what?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""Well your little mess up made me realize something. We've dealt with all this way too long. I miss the chaos and I miss ruling," she leaned in closer to his ears, "we need to overthrow the system."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Sykkuno's eyes lit up, "that's what I've been saying. Thank you!"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He was relieved and embraced her. She chuckled./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"All he ever wanted to do was please her and it had always seemed he never could./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""C-can we go out for ice cream?" he asked./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Alexa smiled, "sure. I'll summon the elders on Saturday."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Sykkuno let out a long sigh of style="box-shadow: none;" /~~~~~~~~~~~~~~br style="box-shadow: none;" /Sasha laughed excitedly from across the room as she watched Finn and Poki on the dancefloor. She was sitting at the bar of the strictly reserved club area for the after party of the fashion show./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Corpse was engaged in conversation with some mundanes in one of the VIP areas./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"She hummed happily as she sipped her wine, ignoring the requests from men and women alike asking her to dance./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"The DJ changed the song, the lights dimmed and it was slow dance time. "Skin" by Rihanna was playing./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Sasha watched with glee as she observed Finn and Poki beginning to get hot and heavy. Poki had liked the werewolf for a long time and she'd begged Sasha to "hook her up"./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Finn never listened to Sasha on matters of love and relationships so that was out of the question. Sasha always felt it would be better if Poki just directly went up to him and expressed her feelings./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Finn always said he liked a bold woman./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Sasha squinted as she watched Finn leave and Poki followed shortly after. She grinned in realization./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Poki was a huge softie. If there was anyone she trusted with her, it was Finn./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"And vice versa./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"She heard an all too familiar 'woosh' settle next to her a few minutes as she took another sip from the glass, "you're going to get caught."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Corpse chuckled, "it's really dark in here. The only ones that could have seen me are creatures themselves."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Corpse scanned the room./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""Where are Finn and Pokimane?" he asked./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Sasha chuckled, "well. Let's just say, they went to get a room."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Corpse had his mask on but she could see the wide smile in his eyes. She smiled back./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""I never thought I'd see the day," Corpse commented./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""Me neither," Sasha returned and downed the remaining contents of her glass./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Sasha yawned and stretched, "I'm going to have to call it a night."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""Oh?" Corpse was about to pat his trouser pockets for his keys but Sasha stopped him./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""I know you're not done here. I'll get home myself," Sasha stated./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""But... But..."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Sasha held his hand to herself, "I had a lot of fun today, thanks to you... You don't have to do much, I'll be fine."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Corpse sighed, "okay fine. I have some people to meet tonight before I go home."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""Can I at least walk you to get an Uber?" he inquired./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"She nodded with a smile./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He called the Uber as they approached to the quiet lobby. It was five minutes away./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He hugged her when they got outside in the darkness. It was about 2 in the morning./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He kissed her softly then nuzzled his nose against hers. Enjoying the sound of her giggles./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He kissed her again, "be my mate, Sasha."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"She froze and backed away from him. Her eyes blazing./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Corpse knew he'd fucked up./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Unfortunately for him, the car pulled up behind them and she scurried off, ignoring the sounds of him calling her name as the car drove off./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""Fuck."/p
/div
h3 class="title" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: 400; font-style: inherit; font-size: 1.286em; font-family: Georgia, serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0.5375em 0px; padding: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1; word-break: break-word; background: transparent; text-align: center; box-shadow: none;"a style="color: #666666; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 17.1469px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; box-shadow: none;" href=" /works/31032419/chapters/99522156"Chapter 9/a: Pain, Play; Hurt, Heal/h3
/div
div class="userstuff module" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 287.844px; float: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; box-shadow: none; color: #2a2a2a;" role="article"
h3 id="work" class="landmark heading" style="border-width: 0px 0px 0.25em; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; font-weight: 500; font-style: inherit; font-size: 0px; font-family: Georgia, serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0.125em; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 0; word-break: break-word; opacity: 0; height: 0px; clear: both; color: transparent; box-shadow: none; border-color: initial initial #333333 initial; border-style: initial initial double initial;"Chapter Text/h3
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Sykkuno was having a horrible day. It seemed like everyone and their grandma was signing different petitions against him and/or his policies./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He wondered how long before the town's people would match down to his office and ask him to step down./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He had known since day one that has was not cut out to do this. His mom had been ill during the election and had filled him in as her successor./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"She had forced him to cancel his collab with Tadashi Shoji to stay for the entire electoral process. He had nearly lost his mind./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He probably might never get that opportunity again./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"There was a fashion show at his agency today and he was not in the right state of mind to attend. It didn't particularly help that Roman hadn't recovered yet. The healers had doused him with Schmoozing and sent him to a mundane hospital./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He had learnt from Poki that the bullet had punctured his lungs and his werewolf healing was failing./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"This was not going according to plan. He wanted to put fear in the hearts of The Darkling, probably make Roman join him in his quest not incapacitate the werewolf./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"And anger the whole of The Darkling clan by extension./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He had included extra security for himself and he never went anywhere alone./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He did not notice he was having a panic attack till his office phone rang and he noticed his hands were shaking./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""Toast, what's up?" he asked as soon as he picked up, trying to feign composure./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""Um... Sykkuno? Your mom called. She says she wants to see you right away," Toast informed./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Sykkuno dropped the receiver and ran his hands through his hair. This was the worst thing that could happen to him./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"On the other side of town, Sasha was scratching behind Finn's ears. The latter was in wolf form. They both had a running joke between them that she didn't need to adopt a pet when she had him./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"She had even refused to get a pet when he was away. She felt it wouldn't be the same./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He nuzzled in her lap./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"She laughed, "don't ruin my outfit."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He snorted. She half wished she'd joined The Darkling so she could understand everything he said when he was in werewolf form. She could understand a bit and she knew certain gestures. And she could always tell when he was in pain./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Other than that, it was a guessing game./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He sniffed around for a moment before letting out what sounded like a scoff. Few moments later she heard the sound of a car pulling into their driveway./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He hopped down from her legs./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He was most likely going to change into his outfit for the after party of the fashion show./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"She adjusted and dusted down her outfit. The doorbell rang and she went to open it./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Corpse looked her up and down and groaned./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Sasha already knew where he was going so she simply moved aside to let him in./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""Nice to see you too, Corpse."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"She had not meant it to come out sarcastic but there it was./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Corpse sighed tiredly, "I don't mean it like that. It's just... I'm tired, ok?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He collapsed on the sofa./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"She sat next to him and took his hand in hers. He breathed heavily and rested his head on her shoulder./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He shuddered a little as she caressed her fingers through his hair, the way she knew he liked./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""You know the dress code is formal, right? Not casual formal," he whispered./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"She chuckled. She was currently wearing a silver metallic turtle neck jumpsuit with blue ankle boots and a wig of the same color./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""This isn't even casual formal..."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""I'm not a fashionista, you are," Corpse cut in./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""You going to tell me what's wrong or do I have to call the elders of the Brood?" she asked./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Corpse laughed, "it wouldn't be the first time."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""Get a room you two," Finn said with a mischievous grin on his face./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Corpse chuckled again but his voice had a strange timbre to it./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"The Werewolf looked at him quizzically as he sat up, let go of Sasha and assumed a defensive position./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""Can you tell the Bloodline to stop bothering me, please? It's not my fault Roman got shot, I did not send those cops after him. And I know what every single supernatural creature in Moonlight falls is thinking... If I had run for mayor, none of this would've happened. I do not want to be mayor, I never did. This whole thing, this whole debacle," Corpse made a circle motion with his hands, "is killing me mentally more than anything I've ever experienced in my life. It's bad enough I have to lead The Brood as well as handle my businesses and stuff. Do not add your aggressions to it for the love of God."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Finn and Sasha were stunned. The latter had her mouth agape./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"She was used to Corpse moping about and bottling stuff up till they had sex where he'd take it all out then. It was where the "calling The Brood elders thing" came from./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Most times he wouldn't talk about his problems, he'd give her an attitude as a result. So she'd call them to find out what was wrong./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Valkyrae had told her it was a very "mate" thing to do. She would just ignore it./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Finn on the other hand had known Corpse since when they were kids. He had simply never heard Corpse speak up for himself./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Speak up for other people, sure. But when it came to his own issues and faults. He just took it silently./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Finn had always found it extremely phony the "put together" front Corpse had. Honestly in this moment, Finn respected The Brood leader more than he'd ever done in his life./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""You're right," Finn stated, "this isn't your fault, it's Sykkuno's. I'll bring it up at the next full moon."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Corpse took a deep breath./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Sasha's phone rang just then. It was Poki./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""Hey... We'll be there soon..." she laughed and glanced at Finn who rolled his eyes just then, "maybe you should try to tell him yourself... You'll never know."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""I don't think so," Finn said./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""Come on. She's a good looking Fae lady," Sasha returned./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""There are no bad looking Fae people," Corpse and Finn chorused, drawing a laugh from Sasha./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""I did my best Poki," Sasha spoke into her phone then hung up about a minute later./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""Here's your purse."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Sasha saw the purse in the air before she heard him say it. She caught it rolling her eyes./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"It was a "think fast" strategy he'd come up with./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""You could pass for a supernatural creature very easily," Corpse commented./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Sasha silently headed to the door, "we're getting really late."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""They're front row seats, they're not going anywhere," Finn called after her./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"She ignored him and walked out the style="box-shadow: none;" /~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~br style="box-shadow: none;" /Sykkuno pulled into his mom's home with a heavy sigh. He knew what he was in for but unlike usual, he hadn't had the time to mentally prepare./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He was going through so much stress, he would've cried if he could./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He sighed again before alighting from his car. He simply nodded at the bodyguards who greeted him before he entered the house./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He walked upstairs to the second floor room where the indoor mini swingset was. It was where she liked to hang out even when no one else was around./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He bit his inside jaw when she came into view. She was sitting on the swingset wearing a pink shirt and a light blue dress over it./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"She was barefooted and currently one of her two pairs of 'punishment gloves'. This one had Pain and play, one on each hand. The other glove had Hurt and Heal.../p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He guessed he'd handled the situation maturely. Seeing the massive fuck up that had caused the whole issue to begin with./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""Sykkuno, welcome," she said with a smile that could easily be mistaken as warm and inviting from anyone except him. She took the tray of cupcakes and ambrosia from the maid then waved her away./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"The bashful young maid curtseyed then smiled sweetly at Sykkuno. He had to keep himself from scoffing out loud./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He knew every flirtation tactic in the book... She wasn't his type./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He instead gave her a blank stare that was almost hostile and she scurried off./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""Don't be mean to her, Sykkuno. She's a sweet girl," Alexa stated, her smile dropping each and every second that went by./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""She's a mundane, mom," Sykkuno muttered./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"She let out one of those her laughs that others said sounded cute but to him sounded maniacal./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"She was looking up at him but he felt really small./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"She always made him feel small even though in his adulthood he was 5 foot 7 and she was barely 5 feet tall./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""Maybe you need a mundane to straighten you out," she said and just like that, the smile was gone./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He bit down on his bottom lip, hard enough to draw blood. It wasn't an empty threat, she had loaned him to thirsty, savage mundane men and women to "straighten" him out when he misbehaved./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"These mundanes always tried to push him to the limit of his abilities. Then she'd wipe the memory of said mundanes when the time was up./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He was not down for that right now./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Alexa held the gloves up to under her chin and Sykkuno was instantly filled with trepidation./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He begun to shake and cry. Not wanting to even look up at her anymore./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"The last time she'd picked "Play" was when she'd first introduced those set of gloves when he was 9 years old and she took him out to get ice cream./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""Pain" meant abuse that ranged from talking down to him or making him do something extremely embarrassing to ruin his already very delicate to any form of physical and psychological abuse imaginable./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He knew what she was capable of./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He lifted his head slowly and saw her with a grin on her face./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He gasped but he could not form words, he wiped his blurry eyes from the tears./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"She had the "Play" hand up./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""W-what?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""Well your little mess up made me realize something. We've dealt with all this way too long. I miss the chaos and I miss ruling," she leaned in closer to his ears, "we need to overthrow the system."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Sykkuno's eyes lit up, "that's what I've been saying. Thank you!"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He was relieved and embraced her. She chuckled./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"All he ever wanted to do was please her and it had always seemed he never could./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""C-can we go out for ice cream?" he asked./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Alexa smiled, "sure. I'll summon the elders on Saturday."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Sykkuno let out a long sigh of style="box-shadow: none;" /~~~~~~~~~~~~~~br style="box-shadow: none;" /Sasha laughed excitedly from across the room as she watched Finn and Poki on the dancefloor. She was sitting at the bar of the strictly reserved club area for the after party of the fashion show./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Corpse was engaged in conversation with some mundanes in one of the VIP areas./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"She hummed happily as she sipped her wine, ignoring the requests from men and women alike asking her to dance./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"The DJ changed the song, the lights dimmed and it was slow dance time. "Skin" by Rihanna was playing./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Sasha watched with glee as she observed Finn and Poki beginning to get hot and heavy. Poki had liked the werewolf for a long time and she'd begged Sasha to "hook her up"./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Finn never listened to Sasha on matters of love and relationships so that was out of the question. Sasha always felt it would be better if Poki just directly went up to him and expressed her feelings./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Finn always said he liked a bold woman./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Sasha squinted as she watched Finn leave and Poki followed shortly after. She grinned in realization./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Poki was a huge softie. If there was anyone she trusted with her, it was Finn./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"And vice versa./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"She heard an all too familiar 'woosh' settle next to her a few minutes as she took another sip from the glass, "you're going to get caught."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Corpse chuckled, "it's really dark in here. The only ones that could have seen me are creatures themselves."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Corpse scanned the room./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""Where are Finn and Pokimane?" he asked./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Sasha chuckled, "well. Let's just say, they went to get a room."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Corpse had his mask on but she could see the wide smile in his eyes. She smiled back./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""I never thought I'd see the day," Corpse commented./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""Me neither," Sasha returned and downed the remaining contents of her glass./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Sasha yawned and stretched, "I'm going to have to call it a night."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""Oh?" Corpse was about to pat his trouser pockets for his keys but Sasha stopped him./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""I know you're not done here. I'll get home myself," Sasha stated./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""But... But..."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Sasha held his hand to herself, "I had a lot of fun today, thanks to you... You don't have to do much, I'll be fine."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Corpse sighed, "okay fine. I have some people to meet tonight before I go home."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""Can I at least walk you to get an Uber?" he inquired./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"She nodded with a smile./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He called the Uber as they approached to the quiet lobby. It was five minutes away./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He hugged her when they got outside in the darkness. It was about 2 in the morning./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He kissed her softly then nuzzled his nose against hers. Enjoying the sound of her giggles./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"He kissed her again, "be my mate, Sasha."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"She froze and backed away from him. Her eyes blazing./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Corpse knew he'd fucked up./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;"Unfortunately for him, the car pulled up behind them and she scurried off, ignoring the sounds of him calling her name as the car drove off./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.7592px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; box-shadow: none;""Fuck."/p
/div