I've gone to bed telling myself that same stupid shtick for about five days now, that whole 'I can't worry about tomorrow when I don't know what it'll be'. It worked fine at first, but things have also flattened in terms of intensity lately. That's largely in part due to the sudden burst of construction work that invaded life for about four of those five days, but it's enough to have been noticeable. Frankly, I'm just glad Smith got on making the renovations happen so fast, even if according to her it's just because the government had allocated a budget for this stuff and it was going mostly unused. Whatever made it happen, it covered a lot more than just an expansion of the home's main bath. They also expanded more than one of the hallways, the laundry room (which was practically a closet until now), and, most importantly, the kitchen and living room. In fact, the space in the living room was great enough now that a much better table could be put in the living room and we'd still have enough free space for the whole couch and TV to fit, too. They even expanded Miia's room a bit along the way.
That being said, as my alarm for eight in the morning begins to blast shrill beeps into my ear, I notice that while trying to turn over and turn it off that Miia didn't sleep in her newly-expanded room. Maybe she did, I don't know for sure, but what I do know is that as I wake up, she's coiled the entire length of her tail from my upper torso all the way down to my shins, constricting me firmly to the bed in the center of her grasp. I luckily stopped sleeping in just my underwear one or two nights ago, but that is a very paltry silver lining with how literally tied up I am. I only barely manage to get one of my hands loose enough to turn off the damn alarm clock, but somehow that movement appears to be enough to wake her up. Her amber eyes flutter awake, quaking at the pupils as they adjust to the light sneaking in through the window above the bed. "Mmm~, good morning, Darling," she coos, practically right into my ear.
"M-Miia?" I sputter out. Not an intelligent response, I know, but one I couldn't hold back right now with the mounting concerns I'm having. All she does in response is smile at me like my dumb vocalization was a compliment of some kind. "I-It's time to get up, could you..."
"Mmmmm~ hmmhmm~, nope! I'm so tired and you're so warm," she sighs, her tail tightening further around my body on all sides and her arms scooting me directly against her body with no intent of allowing a way out.
"Nothing a hot bath can't fix," I mutter nervously, trying to think of something that'll help get her off me.
"But the bath can't give me emotional warmth, too, can it?" retorts Miia, slowly repositioning herself to keep me as close to her as possible. At first, it looks like it's going to result in my head tucking against her shoulder and under her cheek, but that path quickly morphs into snuggling my head under her chin just far enough that the lower half of my face is enveloped entirely between her nightgown's open cleavage. I find it hard to figure out what an appropriate reaction would be, although trying to get out of the coiled grasp of her tail doesn't prove to be a viable idea and, if anything, seems to just amuse Miia.
Maybe that amusement is what pushes her into it, but regardless of what causes it, Miia intentionally stretches the opening at the chest of her nightgown, letting the mass of her breasts slide past the fabric and cradle my face bare. I make a noise that I'm not quite sure how to describe, similar to a fox trying to express disbelief as I feel her perked-up nipples brush against my face, her tail getting tighter bit by bit with every passing moment. "I could stay like this forever, Darling," she giggles like she's taunting my complete lack of progress in getting out, as if she knows that's all I'm pondering right now.
My neck isn't in a great position to move around, but I manage to crane it in a way that frees my mouth from her chest just enough to communicate. "I-I'm going to fucking suffocate in minutes, though," I wheeze out through the force.
"What was that, Darling?" she softly asks down to me as she runs her fingers into my hair, clearly having not actually heard what I said at all.
"I!... CAN'T! BREATHE!" I squawk loudly with what little oxygen I have left to use. I'll admit, it was louder than I was expecting it to come out, but with my vision starting to blur and tremble, I can only feel so bad about it.
"Oh! Oh gosh, I'm so sorry!" she squeals, letting me go suddenly, her tail loosening up more than enough to let me breathe again before sliding out from around me entirely. "You're not hurt, are you?" I can see her expression sour as she slides out of the bed.
I have to take a moment or two to let my body catch up on breathing before I can speak again, but to buy myself a moment, I shake my head. "I'll be okay, I... don't think I'm hurt or anything, but please, you've gotta pay attention to your own strength."
She looks at me like a dejected dog, but nods. "I'll… try to get better at that."
With a deep breath, I push myself out of bed and onto my legs. "Thank you," I say. "Now, I'm going to go draw the bath and then figure out breakfast." Without looking back at her to gauge her response, I set off out the door and down to the first floor. It's not the nicest way this morning could have gone, but I'm just glad I managed to get to her before she choked my lights out. Still, I try not to let it bother me and fall back into what's slowly beginning to emerge as the usual routine, hoping this day might fit back into something describable as 'normal' before it's over if I do.
The downside to these renovations are few and far between but the one that I've noticed the most above all the others is how much longer it takes to draw the bath. I'm not sure how big a creature they were told to accommodate for, but it's now the size of roughly five or six adult-sized home bathtubs merged into one massive basin. It's hard to complain, especially given Miia's penchant for early bathing on account of her reptilian body heat issue, but it's still hard to get past the exponential increase in waiting for it to actually be ready.
At the very least, if all works as it should, Miia wouldn't be falling asleep standing up for the next few hours. That's not a bad take with how bad the noise of the construction itself got at certain points. Apparently, we aren't a part of the negotiations on when these things happen, so they started at five AM every morning. Of course, I can't say I've gotten much more sleep now that they've left, either, but that's definitely from a completely separate source. I really need to mark down to call a doctor later and get something that isn't mediocre over-the-counter temporary-solutions crap.
As my mind finally idly drifts away from earlier, the bathtub slowly fills up to its rim. I maintain my attention just enough to catch it, although given how home bathing works in Japan, it wouldn't matter all that much if I didn't outside of getting my pants wet. The water settles and I start to push myself up from the tub's edge to leave when the door abruptly opens.
Miia doesn't hesitate to come in as soon as the door is out of her way and I suddenly find myself staring at her completely naked body, something she only barely seems interested in covering up. My mouth opens and the beginning of a sound comes out, but that's likely when my internal workings realize I have nothing to say.
Her chest is something I've already seen most of a few times now, but this is the first time almost everything is out of the way of them. Her hands are busy tying her hair up and her tail's very end has a towel curled into its grip and is vaguely holding it around her lower half in an attempt to block any view of her crotch. The shifting remains of her hair dangling off the sides of her head only barely covers her nipples and, when it manages to obscure them completely, only manages to do so for moments at a time, and not even well enough to hide their apparent stiffness. At her shapely, excitedly swaying waist, the scales of her snake portion slowly run up her sides, leaving room to smoothly make sure the portion of anatomy that would usually be between her legs sits in effectively the same place, marking the last part of the human section of her body and even accentuating it to a degree.
I would be lying if I said my legs aren't suddenly numb below the knees, but that's not the sudden reaction I'm most worried about because at least that's one that you can't clearly see. I shift my stance a bit as she approaches the bath which is visibly steaming beside me. "I can feel it from the doorway," she muses with a grin while she moves to push herself into the water. Her process splashes water out of the tub on one side for the most part, but small flicks of water fall as the rest of her tail's length follows behind her with less precision. Within moments, she finds a spot to settle herself down in. "Thank you, Darling!"
"Glad it's, uh... warm," I put out, looking away. "That's everything I needed to do in here, take your time and all, no rush." Once again, I power walk towards the door without the intention of looking back in the process, but that apparently isn't going to work twice in such a short time. "GUH!" I heave as Miia's tail wraps around my body right above the pelvis, not only putting my motion in her control but also squeezing the wind out of me very suddenly.
"Daaaaaaaarling," she calls provocatively, slowly and forcefully dragging my body over the tub's rim and pulling me right into the water. My head submerges for a moment or two before her tail hoists me up and out. I am now, however, firmly wrapped in her arms at the upper torso as well, and with one soft lean towards me I can feel her breasts pressing into my back. "I'm a woman of my word, and now that we have all the room for it, we can bathe together every morning~!"
I swallow quietly as my dick comes to full attention in my thoroughly soaked pants, leaving only hope she won't go looking for it again. "Miia, that's... really flattering and all, but I'm really not sure- I don't think that's something I'm prepared to do at all right now, let alone this early in the morning."
"It's okay," she whispers tenderly in my ear. "I may be a virgin, but I know enough to get us started."
"Jesus Christ," I mumble through my teeth. "Miia, that's not the issue I'm trying to bring up, this is a personal view issue, it's-"
This time she doesn't even bother letting me finish before cutting in again. "I wouldn't worry about any of that, Darling. I want you to be my first. In fact, I don't think I'll settle for anyone else anymore."
Barring the natural hormones that would rage in any adult man's head in a moment like this, the number of sirens going off in my head is not going down. First and foremost, though, is the prospect of taking a Liminal girl's 'sexual innocence or chastity, regardless of their adulthood or consent', a combination of words I saw somewhere under the 'currently highly prohibited' section of the contract I signed onto at the beginning of all this. I'm not sure how large the penalty is but I'd also rather not find out because it undoubtedly involves deportation for both me and Miia, and I can't imagine how poorly she'd take that.
Without warning, in an odd panic response of sorts to the influx of anxious thoughts, I suddenly try to use my loose arms to grab the shower head's cord and yank it down and, while she clearly didn't see it coming, I also don't manage a good grip on it in time. I do somehow manage the slightest bit of a grip, though, and when Miia's tail tightens around my waist and tries to pull me back over, I try my best to keep it. It only provides resistance for a moment, but that's apparently all I needed. Rather than just managing to slide out free, the shower head snaps one side of its plastic holder and pulls directly towards me, only barely too fast for me to react. Things suddenly flash red, then white, and finally fall on black for a little bit before I realize my eyes are shut. I can feel a light ringing in my forehead right over its center, clearly the point of impact. "Fuckin'" I croak, opening my eyes and trying to orient myself. I was somehow propped up against the tub's edge facing the wall.
The feeling of Miia's tail holding me slowly lets up for a moment, and without thinking I grab the side of the tub and yank myself out with everything I can give. I can see her tail clench up behind me in an attempt to stop me but either she wasn't fast enough or her tail is too wet because I manage to slip by and fall onto the floor. I can't say falling out and hitting the bare floor of the bathroom feels good, but adrenaline has invaded all my senses and I quickly flip around and use one hand to crank the knob for the shower to its absolute coldest setting.
I hadn't noticed where the shower head had fallen after hitting me directly in the face, but as soon as the water's flow begins spitting from the shower head, I get a clear picture. I mean that entirely metaphorically, though, because it happened to be pointing up at my head from just outside of what stable vision I had. In one instant, the numerous small trails of water project right into my face, catching me with my eyes open. With a completely blind wave of my hand, I manage to knock the showerhead's blast radius away, but I have to take another moment to wipe the excess water out of my eyes, and then several more on top of that to figure out where I am again.
As soon as I could see straight again, my vision quickly falls up toward the edge of the tub, now above me. Miia's arms support her body looking over the edge of the bathtub. "A-Are you okay, Darling?" she asks, clearly descending quickly from confusion to concern the longer she watches. I can't blame her given how fast that all happened.
At first, I only manage to let out a groan, but that's mostly a result of putting my effort first and foremost into getting off the floor. At this point, Miia just lets it happen, although that may be in part related to how worried she still looks. Regardless, I start heading toward the door again before I get out an actual answer to her question. "I'm alright... Just, I grew up in America where public bathing isn't a thing and baths and showers tend to involve only one person far more often than not, so while I'm here, that's what I'm gonna do, okay?"
"It's meant to be a sensual moment just between us! It doesn't matter if it's not normal!" whines Miia like a pouting child.
"That's not the point and I'm not negotiating, Miia, please," I beg. After that, I start turning to leave again. I only stop for a moment to grab a towel so I can dry myself off, although along the way I can see her giving me that pouty, melancholy look again. It doesn't make me feel good, but I also can't say I don't feel justified to some degree, too.
As if it's going to work, I once again try to push all of that out of my head and quietly make my way straight to the kitchen. My first move is to put my kettle on to boil, but I quickly transition to making breakfast. Taking out two pans in the morning is becoming routine at this point, and although my choice of what I actually make has only evolved a little bit over the time I've had to cook for two people multiple times a day, my capacity to care has, in turn, slowly shriveled up alongside it. At this point, I'm just glad I've gotten any better at all.
I take a mostly empty carton of eggs out of the refrigerator alongside a name-brand package of dry ramen and a few small vegetables. It's not what most people would recommend for breakfast, I'm aware, but having to already manage a pan of nearly half a dozen eggs, I didn't want anything more complicated than boiling things until they're one product. That being said, I still have to actually cut the vegetables up, so I turn on the TV next to me and grab the nearest knife.
The TV's picture spirals to life and I'm greeted by another average regional morning newscast. Something about the initiative to let musical groups with extraspecies people into the country having net multiple major idol pop groups made up entirely of non-humans. All I can see before I start carefully chopping a large carrot into small discs is some text that mentions the expansion of some related regulations, but even with what little I've seen after turning on the TV, I can't help but feel like I'm in some bizarre pocket of this whole interspecies exchange thing, a situation that nobody would have seen coming and likely won't ever be aware of. As I finish the carrot, I look back up to give the news another chance, but I'm immediately rewarded by hearing "polls have articulated that most citizens, despite the massive influx of new visitors, don't feel like their daily lives have changed in any significant capacity."
I scoot the small pile of carrot pieces to the side and move on to a stalk of celery with a rough sigh. "Whoever found the participants for that survey needs to get fired," I utter, angrily bringing the blade down on the helpless idle vegetable in front of me in rhythm with the throbbing of my forehead.
"From what I've heard, they probably were," a voice suddenly responds from behind me. I almost fling the knife directly upwards but I manage to keep my grip on it well enough to prevent that. That only matters so much, though, because either way, it scared the shit out of me. The fear starts to blend with irritation as I realize the voice behind it and I quickly spin around to face the kitchen's new, much larger table. Smith is sitting at the far end, legs crossed but not still, and with a look on her face like she's aware of what happened this morning and she's laughing about it on the inside. There's a cardboard cup of coffee steaming idly in her hand, which at least tells me she's listened to something I've said, contrary to what I've started to suspect, but that obviously doesn't stop me from being put off that she's here in general.
"What the hell are you doing in my house?" I demand bluntly. "You couldn't have rung the doorbell again?"
"I could have, but if you don't answer, I still need to make sure I know how your homestay is going, so..." She shrugs and flashes me a smile like this is all semantics anyway.
"... But I would have answered if-" I stop myself about halfway and take a deep breath. Clearly, this line of questioning isn't that important anymore, at least in comparison to why she's here. "Let's just go back to the first question, then. Why are you here, Smith-san?" Despite trying to get back into the formal language, my delivery still winds up being a little coarse and irritated.
She laughs like I asked something stupid and takes another sip of her coffee. "I'm just here to make sure you haven't broken any boundary rules, you know?" she presents. I raise an eyebrow, still not seeing how this constitutes grounds for breaking and entering. "Oh, and also the place I got my coffee serves the worst pastries, so I couldn't get anything to eat this morning."
As a flood of cold, unkind feelings comes over me, I turn back to the counter and take a few steady, deep breaths. "That's... I'm so tired and it's not even ten in the morning..." I had no anger left to project now, which is a shame because the noise of the kettle starts hissing into the room within another few moments. If I had just a bit more in me I could have timed it alongside the noise.
The stray amusing thought makes me chuckle to myself before I quickly grab the kettle off of the stove and kill the flame. I pour my tea and set it to steep in the hot water before further addressing what's on my mind, though. "If this is really something that's going to happen, can we at least get the first part of that out of the way?" I request.
"Of course we can!" she chimes with that same satisfied grin. Her legs slowly cross the other way, something I try to stop myself from observing directly, lest it make me forget who those legs actually belong to. "I just figured, I forgot to mention it, there are certain limits to how you can behave with a homestay."
"I'm... glad there is?" I comment, only vaguely aware of where she's going with this despite the many obvious routes she could be taking.
"I'm sure you'd think so without looking that far into it, but it's much more than just hurting them or neglecting them," she continues. "There's also the issue of 'corrupting' them. You know, taking a poor young woman's innocence without her knowing how much it stands for?"
"I-... I'm aware of that, too, Smith-san," I tell her, holding back the urge to divulge any more details than I have to. "In fact, I'd say that I'm more constantly aware of that than ninety percent of people, at the least."
"Right, right," she waves me off. "So have you fucked her yet?"
"No, I haven't," I deadpan. "And I sure don't intend to start trying." Admittedly, if things continue going the way they have today, I wouldn't need to start trying to if I wanted it, but that was also a detail I'm intentionally trying to dodge for the time being.
"Really? Haven't copped a feel or let her have a stroke?" she adds, completely abandoning further subtlety, clearly. "Haven't even thought about it?"
"I mean, it's hard not to have thoughts about it in general," I admit, grabbing my mug and setting it on the table before sitting down on the side of the table to her left. "But this is far bigger than me. This is about her and about the countries that are trying to make this work. America has enough bastards that think being attracted to someone is enough reason to forget everything else. I don't want Miia to have to deal with one of those people, I don't want to be one of those people and I also don't want to force an entirely separate nation, the one I'm actually related to by blood, to share the fallout. And that's not even mentioning the stress it would put on Miia herself. There's just so much beyond sexual attraction and satisfaction."
"How cute," Smith giggles. It comes off as condescending, and while I can't say whether it's intentional or not that it comes off that way, I wouldn't put it past her to do that on purpose. "But I'm glad you're open that you've thought about it. I was pretty sure you would have totally given in by now and just gone for it!"
I bite my lip closed and squeeze my eyes shut tightly in an attempt to calm down again rather than getting worked up again. "No, I haven't. Because I'm aware of all of these rules. Because I read all the documentation online and understand what this is all meant to be for... You know, like someone is supposed to do in this kind of situation?"
Smith's hands raise defensively. "Okay! Okay, you did read all of that stuff! Good, I'm glad someone with a homestay did! Most people see all that legal stuff and just stop trying." she returns with a completely carefree tone. "I just feel the need to make absolutely sure."
"Why?" I ask. "I mean, I understand these are important rules on a diplomatic level and all, but... When you push the question this hard it just makes it seem like you don't have any faith in me." The sentiment of lacking faith in me is something I find a little ironic to be emanating so much from Smith, but by the same token, it could be a response to my lack of faith in her. That's also something I wouldn't put past her.
"I wouldn't say that, but I would also say I've got plenty of good reasons to be worrying about something like that going on here," she retorts confidently.
"Can you explain what those reasons are?" I inquire with an impatient rising tone. "Just so it feels less like I'm being touted as completely incompetent. Please?"
"Well, for starters, Miia's a Lamia," Smith starts, setting her coffee cup down on the table beside her and nudging it toward the center. "They're a very sexually open species and they're all incredibly gorgeous women by natural biology. And you..." Her legs uncross again and she slowly removes the sunglasses from her face, shaking her long, straight black hair out a little to accentuate how well-kept it is. Her eyes flutter open and lock onto mine with a potent sultry look and she leans forward towards me, putting her at an angle where I can easily see the curve in both her chest and hips. Most mesmerizing are her eyes, though, their diluted pale brown color seeming to read me like a neon sign. "You just seem so... willing~," she says softly, bringing a finely-pedicured hand up to gently caress my face, brushing her thumb and forefinger across my cheek and chin together. "You wouldn't even be able to say no to me forever, would you?"
I don't want to admit she's right, but it's hard not to at least consider the possibility when I'm so suddenly slack-jawed and speechless, furiously blushing as she gets my internal reaction going full force with so little. Maybe she has a good reason to be questioning this after all; I'm pretty easy to captivate like this and she just proved it. She bites at her lip loosely and raises an eyebrow like she's waiting for a response. "I... I don't-"
Before I can even articulate a vague idea, a crushing force wraps around my arm from the opposite side of the table, locking me in its grasp and harshly pulling me out of my seat. I can barely see Smith yank her coffee out of the way of my body as I tumble face-first onto the table, only barely missing my tea which lurches to and fro with the tabletop. I only keep going, though, as I'm dragged all the way over the table and right into Miia's arms on the other side. She pulls me slightly to her side, putting most of her upright body between me and Smith. "How dare you!" Miia shouts. "You keep your hands off my Darling!"
There's little room to move with her tail quickly repositioning itself snugly around my midsection, but I have enough range of motion with my neck that I can turn and see Smith out of the corner of my eye. Naturally, she's laughing, although quietly to herself, and she leans back in her chair, narrowly-saved coffee in hand. "I think I get it, now," she comments smugly. "Looks like I don't need to give you a hard time, anyways."
"Bit late for that," I mumble, twisting my neck back to face forwards. That leaves me staring at a wall, admittedly, but I don't really have it in me to care that much anymore.
It doesn't matter that much anyway because I hear Smith get up out of the chair and stretch her arms out. "I guess that covers everything I came for, though," she sighs. "Or at least all of it I'm actually going to get."
From my position next to her, I can hear Miia grumble and growl with hostility, in addition to the sudden tensing of her tail around my body, but that's something Smith quickly notices, too. "Don't worry, Miia-san, I'm not gonna 'steal' your Darling-kun from you or anything," she says, sauntering past Miia as if she poses no threat. As she passes into the living room, she stops and turns to me just enough that she can peek at me directly from under her sunglasses. "Oh, and Koruto-san? How would Americans say it? Oh yeah, keep your 'head' out of places it doesn't belong, alright?" With a wink, she turns and leaves with no further interruptions on the way.
The sound of the door closing reverberates into the kitchen where Miia keeps me restrained in her grasp and seated on the floor next to her. Even after the sound dies away, she doesn't move or add anything for at least two minutes, although her tail's coiled vice on my body seems to tighten a little bit further once or twice in that time. Finally, just as I can feel the grip go from uncomfortable to a little outright painful, Miia speaks up, although with a very solemn, dejected tone in her voice. "Is... Is the prohibition on making love really that big of a deal?"
"Wh-What?"
"It's just words on a paper somewhere, isn't it?... They don't need to know. Nobody needs to know," she continues, flipping the human portion of herself back to face me as the rest of her length pins me against the floor in one sudden motion. "Why does it even matter, anyway? If it was just a human from a different place here, I bet nobody would care!"
"It's... It doesn't make a lot of sense, yeah," I admit. "But there's plenty of reasons why it's gotta be this way, at least for a little while."
"Like what? What reasons?" she demands, her tail lurching even tighter again.
"Ack! I'll... I'll tell you later," I wince while trying to still remain calm. It isn't the best way to approach it, but at the moment all that's on my mind is getting her to let go so I can breathe right. "Like I said, it's a lot."
"I'm willing to listen!" she counters as she moves on top of me. She puts our eyes at a perfectly level position with her lips no more than four or five centimeters away from mine. "I want to understand, Darling. I was so afraid of being housed with someone who would be afraid of me because of my Lamia heritage, because I'm part snake and so many humans are scared of them, but you've been nothing but nice to me since I got here in every way, even though you weren't even supposed to take a homestay! You're everything I could want, so why do you have to stick to it so hard?" She lays her head on my chest just underneath my chin. "It won't hurt me, it won't make me worth less or break any of the rules my homeland has. I want my Darling to be my first time... So why is this law so meaningful that it can take that away?"
"It's... I'll tell you when I can feel anything below my knees again, Miia," I croak, her tail's grip slowly increasing again despite how tight it already is around me, like a child squeezing a stuffed animal.
"When you what?" she asks, once again like she was outright not listening to me.
"When I can feel anything below-" A thunderous popping noise bursts from right under my hips and suddenly I can feel below my knee on the left side again. The problem is that all I can feel along my left leg is sharp, ravaging pain radiating viciously from the center outward. "SON OF A FUCKING BITCH!" I screech. "GOD, I NEED TO JUST STAPLE MY FUCKING MOUTH SHUT!"
"Ohgodohgod! Nononono, I didn't mean to! I'm so sorry, Darling!" Miia squeals in a sudden panic, quickly trying to uncoil her tail from me again. "What do I do?! Should I set it back in place?! I don't know how!"
"Don't touch it, please!" I beg her, tears welling up in my eyes involuntarily. "We need someone who knows what they're doing to do that!"
Before anything else can go wrong, the doorbell rings beyond the living room. "Should I get it?" Miia asks, still flustering about.
"I heard a classy English lesson going on in here! Everything okay?" I hear from the front hallway as the door opens on its own. It's Smith again, apparently having not actually left, although for once I'm immensely grateful for that.
"No, my leg feels like it's been run over by a garbage truck," I groan, trying not to just start screaming again as even the smallest movement makes it feel like someone's sprinkling salt into an open wound in my hip joint.
"I'm so sorry!" Miia repeats. "I really didn't mean to!"
"Oh, brother," Smith sighs, walking back into view and shooting me a sympathetic look before it promptly turns into an amused one. "It's a good thing you're an artist, not an athlete, huh?"
I glare death at her, pain overcoming any of my previous will to remain civil. "Very fucking funny," I spout, this time coming out in English on purpose.
She kneels down next to me and takes my leg in hand on the higher side. I bite my lip and pound my fist on the floor below me as it drives more searing sensory blasts all the way up. "Well, the good news is this is definitely not broken. It's just dislocated, and not by a lot, either. Bad news is..." Another snapping sound flashes through the room, but despite the sudden burst of additional pain that accompanies it, as soon as the sound fades so does the dull, scalding sensation in my leg, being entirely placed by relief. Or, at least, it feels like relief with how much pain I suddenly don't feel. "Just a simple dislocation is surprisingly painful."
"... Thank you," I manage, taking in a deep breath as my entire body sprawls out relaxed on the floor. If this had happened before the renovations, I'd likely be halfway under the table, but there's quite a lot of room for me to stretch out for the moment.
"No problem, I'm certainly glad I hadn't taken off yet," Smith replies with that same carefree tone. Even with that underlying relaxed nature to her voice, though, I could see that look in her eyes like she felt a little bad for me in a way. It's almost like she's finally starting to get just what I'm up against. But, as many things do, her pity fades away, and with it fades my conviction that things might get easier.
A/N: And we're off! Man, look at me go, writing words and shit and then coming back to edit them! Yeah, it took a lot longer to get here than I thought it would, but honestly, I'm still digging where this is going right now, and more than I usually do when I come back to edit stuff.
Also, shoutout to 54godamora, glad you appreciate the artistic representation here. I always work to make my characters invested in the things they do on a realistic plane and, while I'm not a traditional artist by trade, I've got a major appreciation for... art as a whole, mostly, but I'm a total sucker for good traditional artwork, too.
Hopefully I'll be able to get some more work done on this soon. If I don't, you can send your complaints to my college professors. It won't actually change anything but it would probably be annoying to them and that's pretty cool.
Anyways, I need to limit my author's notes, so I'll leave it there. Remember to Rfollow and Rfavorite.