TRP: Azriel and Larkin (Letters)

prelude vignette: To Serve Your Needs (NSFW)

JEN

Larkin sat up straighter on Azriel's lap to observe her work, smug and satisfied. Azriel looked fantastic; all come apart at the seams, so soft and vulnerable just because of her.

She touched his cheek, then shifted to stand. "Don't be up so long, alright?"

IZZY

"Ah." He caught the hand on his cheek. Was she -- leaving? He was flustered, still, his higher brain functions somewhat ... inhibited. But she appeared to be leaving a bit too soon. "Well, don't ..."

Don't run off so fast. That was what he started to say. Now, now. Stay here. Sit down, my love. Let me ...

But he cut a glance at his desk. He had to write letters to his parents, and to Gabriel, and as backup to the towns around the city, in effort to deal with them directly rather than with Moorland. It was a dreadful lot of work, and it needed to be done tonight or early tomorrow morning in order to arrive promptly.

Azriel winced and looked back to her. "I'm sorry, love. It's just ... work. I'll make it up to you."

JEN

"Don't need to make up for anything," Larkin said. She'd been about to pull up her pants but she was about to fall into bed anyway, so why bother. "You're welcome." She kissed his forehead and winked.

IZZY

He scoffed lightly. "Yes, thank you, indeed. I will, though," he promised.

JEN

"I know. You always do."

IZZY

"Yes, well." He preened a bit. "Of course."

JEN

"I mean-" Larkin paused with her pants in hand. "You know you don't have to, right?"

IZZY

He scoffed, again. It didn't seem his brain had quite recovered, yet. He was still slouching in a quite comfortable but also terribly undignified manner, as well. This was what Larkin did to him, frankly.

JEN

"Not tonight, anyway," she continued. "I'm fucking dead." She frowned and ran a hand over the top of his head. "I'd rather you'd get some sleep, too."

IZZY

Azriel closed his eyes contentedly at the touch, but only for a moment. It occurred to him to be concerned. That was odd, wasn't it? Truthfully, everything about this relationship had been odd to him at one point or another, but he had acclimated to most of it -- it was largely ripple effects from no longer being in Moorland, entangled with his family and their machinations. Fresh machinations. His own. And now, Larkin's.

All of which was perfectly delightful, but there was a small niggling worry in his chest, at that. "You'd rather I sleep?"

JEN

"Yeah." She tilted her head. "Don't tell me you're not done, too."

IZZY

"Well, I mean." He blinked at her. Hm. There was an elegant way to phrase this; he straightened his back to get into the proper mindset. "A gentleman's work is never done until his lady is satisfied."

JEN

"I see." Larkin chuckled, then bowed down to kiss his forehead. "I'm quite satisfied. Thank you."

IZZY

"Oh." Azriel tried to sound pleased, or -- satisfied as well. He concealed his troubled confusion. "Well, marvelous, then."

But the confusion was there, concealed or no, and the worry amplified. Larkin seemed quite content to simply go to sleep. One of the things he had needed to acclimate to was the non-transactionable nature of their relationship -- they weren't business partners, or at least not merely business partners, and he wasn't accustomed to having that dynamic with anyone besides his siblings. And, obviously, there were extra layers to his relationship with Larkin that weren't present in fraternal relationships.

Larkin was happy for him to simply be around. She wasn't using him, and he wasn't using her. He had eased himself into this, and didn't force himself to be on with her anymore, constantly performing. It was relaxing, frankly. It was comfortable and strange and pleasing.

He was dreadfully afraid he might lose it.

Azriel was good at bullshit, but bullshit earned him no points with Larkin -- lost them, in fact -- and he didn't have any desire to lie to her, anyway. But it was his first instinct, when threatened. He toyed with his pen and tried to work out why he felt uneasy, deconstruct his own bullshit so that he could be honest and forthright with her. He was quiet, for a time, letting her go about her business of getting to bed.

"Did I do something wrong?" he blurted finally, not entirely sure where it had come from at first.

JEN

"What?" Larkin stopped in detangling her weapon belt from her pants to turn his way. "No. Why?"

IZZY

"Well. Just." He wobbled his pen back and forth between his first and second finger, hesitating. Larkin could bluff, but outright lying wasn't her style. Perhaps she would do it to spare his feelings, though? He couldn't be sure. "If you don't ... want me, I would have to assume ..."

He curled his lips at himself, hating how pathetic and insecure he sounded. He was still fairly sure he despised sincerity.

JEN

Larkin tiled her head at him, confused, before it clicked. "Oh. Oh, no. Hey." She dropped the belt and went over to hug his head to her chest. "You did nothing wrong. I just want you to not expend yourself so much. Y'know, because, uh-" Her fingers drummed against his horn. "it's important to me. That you're alright."

IZZY

He narrowed his eyes and made an undignified ehhhn? sound. He ... supposed that was reasonable. On an intellectual level, he was aware that Larkin cared about him. Certainly she demonstrated it. It was just -- it filled him with unease, the idea of not repaying her. Well, no, it wasn't payment, because he wasn't ...

Ah, well, fuck. This was going to be an entire thing, wasn't it? He didn't have time for an entire thing. He didn't have time for even half of a thing. He had letters to write, and a partner to assert his -- well, there he went again.

Azriel made a frustrated, muffled sound. He really didn't have time for it, but here he was with absolutely no desire to move a hairsbreadth away from Larkin. Perhaps if he --.

"You know, if I just -- I would be able to concentrate on my work better, knowing you were taken care of," he said, near wheedling, which was mortifying, because Azriel Melaine did not beg for sex. (And yet, here he was.)

JEN

Larkin hummed, unsatisfied with that. Riding him early had been fun but now- she was just tired. Curling up in bed with Azriel to warm her cold feet, that would take care of her well enough.

That wasn't the point, though, was it?

She stroked Azriel's hair, still cradling his head, thinking about making a joke about how she should rather deny it to him then, so he'd have to go to sleep, but Azriel seemed to be having trouble here, and she didn't want to make fun of him for it.

Instead, Larkin rested her face on his head and murmured into his hair. "You know I love you even when you don't do things for me, don't you?`"

IZZY

Azriel made a sort of delicate pff sound, because this seemed like something he did in fact -- or, at least, was supposed to -- know. "Yes, well. You know, I ... hm."

No, he wanted to say, no, you see, I have to be sure my job is done. I have to do a good job. It's vital. Everything depends on it; I am the responsible one, the dependable one. I am, at least, the one who's left.

None of that was really applicable, however. Clearly.

"I'm -- sorry, love," he said, rather haltingly. "I, ah -- mm. I don't quite ..." He looked down at his papers, but this simply wasn't happening tonight. If he tried now, he'd only scribble gibberish, and that was of no use to anyone. "Let's just ... go to bed, yes. You're right."

JEN

"Hey, wait." She let go of his head so she could scowl at him properly. "Don't you fucking try to appease me. What's wrong?"

IZZY

He tsked and tried to brush it off slightly. "Don't make that face at me. I'm tired."

He forced himself up and curled his arms around her, resting his chin on her shoulder, and then just ... sort of stayed there, although it hadn't been his intention. He really did mean to peel his clothes off and go settle down in bed, and think this over some more if he was able to, but, ah -- this was very nice. He could just keep doing this for a bit.

JEN

Larkin stroked his back, gently, feeling Azriel sink into her. That was good. He needed to relax and just... give up some of the load.

Sometimes it was hard to see through his mask of confidence and bullshittery. He took it off more and more around her, though. She had noticed that. It made her feel odd, like she was witnessing something secret only meant for her. Made her feel very special, too.

Sometimes, though, he just seemed to... close up about something. And then there wasn't any act she could see through, just him trying to hide what was going on inside, any way he thought could work. It hurt to seem him like that, because the pain was still visible through the cover.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't wanna push you. Just- eh, I don't know. I want you to be alright."

IZZY

Pfff. Seemed unrealistic, frankly. Unlikely. Implausible. Unheard of.

Azriel kind of believed her, though.

"I -- I know, love." He made himself regretfully pull away, if only to slip off his already-unbuttoned vest and make quick work of the shirt, tossing them both lightly over the back of his desk chair and stepping out of his shoes and pants on the way to the bed, where he flopped face down into the mattress.

The sheets smelled vaguely of Larkin. He always enjoyed that, especially when she wasn't spending the night for whatever reason -- working, or simply holed up in her odd dingy attic. Perhaps she would move in with him. It wasn't as if he didn't have the room.

He flapped a hand at her gracelessly to ask her to join, without removing his face from firmly planted in the bed.

JEN

It was a good sight, Azriel in bed. For several reasons. Larkin couldn't help but smile while she viewed him, taking a little longer to snuff out the candles and lamps than strictly necessary.

In the dark, she found the edge of the bed and crawled in with him. Faint street light from outside shone in through the window, making it easier to see her target. Larkin snuggled close to his side, so close she was almost lying on top of him, and buried her face in the crook of his neck.

IZZY

Azriel gave a pleased mm and fumbled until he found the edge of a blanket to pull over them. He really was exhausted, but he knew that the persistent niggle in the back of his head wasn't going to let him rest. He shifted a little so that he could speak without being muffled, keeping his voice quiet regardless in the still darkness of the room.

"It occurs to me that I never properly explained what my role was, back in Moorland. Did I?"

JEN

"Hmm." Larkin tried to recall but couldn't. She had her theories, though. "Guess you didn't, no."

IZZY

"Mm." He closed his eyes and sighed out through his nose. Truthfully, he had no real opinion on the job his mother had set him to; it was needed, of course, and he was skilled at it, and that was all well and good. He suspected, though, that Larkin may have opinions -- opinions in a violent, potentially matricidal vein. "Hmm.

"Well, you know," he said, "I was raised to be my very charming and socially-adept self in order to woo and entertain assorted nobles and politicians and the like. Gabriel received no such training, nor did Jasper, and Abel not particularly. I was selected for it, by my mother. I'm not sure why it was me, frankly."

Well, he had his suspicions. He'd been a child, after all, so there had been no assurance that he would be an attractive adult, and it had begun even before his bardic abilities had become apparent, so it wasn't to do with magic. No, he rather suspected -- these days -- that it was because he was the middle child, and Jade Melaine had known he would struggle for her attention; she loved her oldest and her youngest, her tieflings, and their father loved Gabriel and Jasper, his humans, but then, unfortunately, there was Azriel. Planned, potentially from birth, to be a desperate people-pleaser.

Azriel didn't say all of that. It seemed rather heavy to lay on Larkin all at once.

"At any rate, though, it became my lot in life. There were a great many expectations placed upon me. It's more complicated than hitting things with an axe, you know? Not to denigrate my dear sister," he added, "but ... it is. It takes finesse, and improvisation, and ... emotional distances."

He shifted, then, onto his side, to cuddle against her. Emotional distances he'd not really been aware of until he'd met her -- ones he'd had a flash of, once in his life, until his mother quashed it.

JEN

Larkin wrapped her arms around him and pulled him in, saying nothing.

IZZY

Mm. That was nice. Azriel was quiet for a moment, enjoying the closeness -- the lack of distance, now, the physical aspect highlighting the emotional. He'd gotten terribly used to it, and missed it awfully when he'd been -- well, he kept saying back home, but Moorland wasn't home. No, he was home now.

"You know, there was this one time --," he started, and stopped. "Hm. It -- doesn't matter." He nestled closer to her. "Anyway, as soon as I could play the viol, I was entertaining guests, and as I grew, I took on more of the wooing. My mother would coach me, you know."

Larkin had never heard Jade Melaine's voice -- when they were very small, he supposed, and his family had visited Skyport, but she wouldn't remember such a detail. Azriel mimicked his mother's chill, measured tone regardless.

"She would tell me, Keep your back straight, Azriel. You're slouching. Don't frown, it's not fetching. You're smiling too widely; it will wrinkle your face. You aren't a common whore, Azriel, be more demure." He fell silence and mulled it over. "But you know, I was already flirting with the guests, with our allies, with prospective allies. I left very little to their imaginations, and at some point --."

There was crude phrase he'd heard when he was younger, from Gabriel and some of his Masked Militia cronies. Don't let your mouth write checks your ass can't cash.

"Well, one can only tease for so long before they have to pony up, so to speak," he said.

JEN

Yeah. Right. An entertainer, of the very adult sort, she'd known that but Larkin hadn't really guessed how Azriel had become this. Or when it had started.

She felt a pang of anger at his mother for this. To use her own child up like that and make him... make him what? Larkin didn't care that Azriel was a prostitute. She also didn't mind that he had trouble being open and himself at times- cared, yes, but she loved him despite it. Or maybe because. Larkin couldn't tell, and who was to say she had only fallen in love with the not-broken parts of Azriel? There was so much more to him and all his issues and insecurities were part of the deal. Larkin wouldn't want it to be otherwise.

She'd started to stroke his hair, gently twisting strands of it between her fingers. She wondered how many people had gripped it while they used him. If any of them had gone too far.

"How old?" She asked lowly.

IZZY

"Oh, no, it isn't --." Azriel started and stopped again. His instinct was to smooth it over, but that was likely one of the things that was not so much instinct as ingrained. It isn't like that, he wanted to say. He'd not been a child. He'd been forced into nothing.

But what was he attempting with such assertions? Who was he spinning the narrative to defend? It wasn't himself; Larkin was holding him and playing idly with his hair, not attacking him.

"It isn't like that," he said, anyway, but said it more gently. He didn't want her to think him ... damaged. "I was sixteen. Old enough. And I chose to, you know -- it was just ... a new tactic. A new weapon with which to arm myself."

He had been proud of himself, really. Less so in the moment, on his knees, but he'd focused on that pride, and on the job well done. Of course it wasn't necessary; if it were necessary, he would have been pressured, and he hadn't been. It was of his own volition, naturally, and his own idea, because he was terribly clever and dedicated.

And his mother, he'd told himself, would be pleased with him.

JEN

"Ah," Larkin murmured. "Alright." Not too young then. At least she didn't have to be mad at his mother for forcing a child into prostitution (whores though- she'd need to talk to Jonn about old theirs would have to be).

Knowing Azriel had chosen this method for himself when he was old enough was almost a relief- if there hadn't been a feeling of unease still, a feeling that maybe, on some level, it hadn't been his free will at all. Rather what counted as free will when your options were either to please and succeed, or to disappoint and fail. She couldn't know that, though, and it seemed presumptuous  to say, so she didn't.

IZZY

He gave a pleased murmur at this passing judgement. No gang wars would be started between the Melaines and Bashas this night, then.

"Anyway," he said, "it was, you know. A job. For someone of my station, it wasn't ... appropriate to indulge myself in any sort of pleasant relationship -- I had to remain available. There could be no one objecting to my business, no one turned away by the notion that I was taken. And certainly I couldn't be sleeping with the rabble for my own enjoyment," he added. "It would sully my image."

He paused, thinking.

"I do remember Gabriel being ... annoyed by it. He doesn't backtalk Mother, but he did introduce me to this girl -- one of his Masked Militia, a wood elf girl -- he told me that she liked me, and would, ah. Well, he was crude about it, because he does tend to be. He said she'd sleep with me, and make sure I had a good time, and that she knew how to keep her mouth shut. Mother wouldn't find out. I found the idea rather embarrassing and intimidating, though," he admitted. "I didn't take them up on it.

"So ... well, until you, you know -- it's never ..." He trailed off, trying to decide how to say this. "It's not that I never enjoyed myself, sort of -- mechanically-speaking, I suppose. But it has always been work. A job. Transactional, you understand, and never -- never -- about me. I feel very different with you," he said softly. "I'm just ... not used to it, yet."

JEN

"I don't want sex that's not also about you," Larkin said and meant it. In a way, her encounters had also mostly been transactional. Two people who needed each other to get what they wanted, and each took it without much consideration for whether the other got their end of the deal of not. Of course, thought, that was different. Larkin had only her own expectations to live up to. It hadn't been her job.

This here, with Azriel was new to her, too, but it seemed she had less trouble easing into it than he did. Maybe this was what she'd been looking for all along while he... had never been allowed such a vision.

IZZY

"Absurd," he murmured, cozy. "Who says things like that, really."

JEN

"Me, I say things like that." Larkin snuggled him closer and nipped at his skin. "Try to make me stop. I dare you."

IZZY

"I wouldn't dare." Azriel leaned his head into her and blinked at her lazily. "I'm sure I'm powerless to stop you. Terrible fate."

JEN

Larkin kissed the skin she'd bitten. "Hmm. Yes. Good." She just hoped it'd registered as more than just a phrase to make him feel better. It would take more than just hearing the words to make Azriel feel them she guessed. But saying it was a start.

"I love you."

IZZY

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm a little hard of hearing on that side. What was that?" He tried very, very slightly to not smile.

JEN

"I said fuck you."

IZZY

"Well, all right, then." He squirmed away to flop onto his back, spread-eagle, still smiling smugly. "Have your way with me, Madame Basha."

JEN

Larkin sat up, gathering the blanket around her, and shifted over to straddle him, letting the blanket fall down around them like a tent. "I have a better idea," she said. "Why don't you tell me what you want, Monsieur Melaine. "

IZZY

"Hmmm. Tantalizing concept."

This, he started to say. Just this.

Azriel drew his arms in to rest at her waist, running his hands up and down her sides, slightly, feeling the scars that punctuated the smoothness. Her hands were calloused from climbing walls and clinging to eaves, gripping knives, but the parts of her that she didn't care to let most people see or touch -- those parts were soft. It was very like her. He looked up at her for a long moment.

"Just this," he decided. Yes. "You know, I'm not sure that I ever really need anything else. Just this."

JEN

It felt like a hit right to her heart, painfully sweet. Larkin smiled and laughed, a tiny giggle that she quickly tried to stifle by burying her face in his shoulder.

Just this. Yeah, she could live with that. Just the two of them, close as two people could be, and nothing to draw them apart.

"Mask," she murmured. "You make me weak. I love you so much."

IZZY

"Hmm." He ran his hands up her sides and back, down again, enjoying the smoothness and the scars. The giggle that came out of her, so unexpected from a street tough, just like the belied softness of her body. "Well, I love you more."

JEN

"Oh yeah?" She nuzzled against him. "How do you know?"

IZZY

He gave another hmm, as if he were considering the matter very seriously. "Perhaps because I've read countless love poems, and romantic plays, and sonnets, and performed many songs waxing lyrical about the subject, and do you know, I always thought that they were silly, meaningless fluff primarily meant to get into the pants of whoever you exposed to them --" he tilted his head to whisper into her ear -- "but I've quite changed my mind on the matter. I believe I understand them now."

JEN

Larkin chuckled softly. She petted his head, running fingers through his hair and down his neck. "Alright, maybe I still think they're stupid. But why do I need fucking poems when I can show you how much I love you?"

IZZY

"How dare you insult my craft thusly," he said, feigning solemnity.

JEN

"Roses are red," she recited, "guess that's true, but violets are purple, not fucking blue."

IZZY

Azriel snickered despite his attempt to behave wounded. "Injury to insult, really. As if the bardic craft is all crude rhymes."

JEN

"Hmm I do like it when you sing for me." She thought of singing a little line herself then, but decided against it. Not to ruin the mood.

IZZY

"Do you, now?" His voice wasn't the most amazing in the land, when it came to singing. Gabriel had a rather nice baritone, which was deeply annoying, but Azriel preferred to hum or murmur and let his viol do the speaking for him. "I think you just like it when you make me scream," he teased.

JEN

"Both music to my ears." Larkin grinned and planted a kiss on his cheek.

IZZY

He smirked at her. "Well, perhaps you can hear both in the morning, my love."

- - -

Azriel was energized by resting for a spell, especially in Larkin's arms. Astonishing, really. If only someone could have told him. He woke early and went back to work on his letters with renewed fervor, finding the words coming more easily, more eloquently.

The wood elves they dealt with who lived outside Moorland, the tortles who preferred to be left be, the small settlements that dotted the fen -- he'd schmoozed with them all. His mother was an intimidating figure, but her menace had been cut by Morgan Wyn's complete undercutting of her power. Azriel's charm, however, had gone undiminished, and the name Basha was known outside of the ports.

Everything was finished, the ink dried, the ornate wax seals hardened by the time Larkin woke.

Azriel had slipped on a navy silk robe once he'd pulled himself away from her -- regretful, but mind too buzzing to stay in bed. He trotted back to the bed and laid down next to her when she stirred in the dawn light, watching her wake with a grin on his face. Once she was conscious enough to fix him with a groggy look, he whispered, "Would you do me the extreme honor of escorting me to the post office on this fine morning, my lovely lady?"

JEN

"Huh?" Larkin mumbled. The dream she'd woken from still clung to her, making it hard to distinguish reality. She reached for Azriel an touched his cheek. Felt real. Felt good. "Post... " She yawned. "Sure."

IZZY

"We should hurry, before the morning couriers depart. I'll treat you to a wonderful breakfast on the way home," he wheedled.

JEN

"Uh-huh." She hooked both hands behind his neck so she could pull them together for a kiss. That much time they had.

IZZY

He made a pleased sound and completely failed to pull away, despite knowing that he should.

JEN

"Okay," she said against his lips. "Lemme just... " She let go and yawned. "Just need to get up." She rolled around, regretful to leave the bed for a moment, then shoved her feet out of the bed. Once they touched the chill floor, standing up wasn't too hard either.

Larkin toed a piece of clothing on the ground, then started collecting them to get dressed.

IZZY

Azriel stretched out lazily on the bed in his robe, watching her appreciatively for a moment before rousing himself again and going to the wardrobe to select his own clothes for the day -- nice fitted black slacks, a crisp white button-down which he cuffed to the sleeves (a practice he'd only adopted upon coming to Skyport), and a slightly cinched black vest with gold embroidery. Then he sat down to lace on the braces that allowed his hooves to fit into standard shoes.

"You know," he said, as he went about his task, "I'm quite confident that we don't even need my mother. If she refuses to do business with us, I'll simply steal all of her contacts, and she can go fuck herself." He said it in a very careless way that belied his nerves. "I suppose Gabriel is the heir, now, and he's still as fond of me as he ever was. Perhaps the old bat will die off."

JEN

Larkin cast him a skeptical look between picking up her shirt and pulling it over her head. "Y'know I'd rather we didn't fuck over too many people this early on. Especially those that could help us."

Gabriel hadn't struck her as a person with a lot of... fond emotions to act upon. Azriel knew his brother better, no doubt, but he could be wrong, too.

IZZY

"Oh, certainly. I'll make it clear to her that we don't need her," he said, "and hopefully that will force her to come around. She's been quite impossible to deal with nicely," he added bitterly.

JEN

Larkin just shrugged. He'd had to know what he was talking about.

IZZY

Azriel looked up at her for another moment, watching. "Well," he said, looking back down to his shoes. "I suppose I don't have to tell you what it's like, being the family disappointment."

He, at least, was merely joining Abel and Jasper as wayward Melaines. Larkin had been singled out for abandonment by her uncle. At least she still had her father.

JEN

That stung. She knew he'd not meant to hurt her but it did. Larkin scowled and hid it by turning around to fasten her belt.

IZZY

"We don't need them," Azriel said firmly, watching her again. "They're fools to turn their backs, and we'll prove it, my love."

JEN

Larkin huffed, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

Maybe Azriel was right. But would they see? Jade Melaine, maybe. But Renar had just cut her off. Gone back to Calimport, taken everyone left of her old life with him. Even if he heard about the Redbirds rising to power (if they did), and figured out it was her... would he even care? Or did he still think Larkin had betrayed her family?

It ate at her that she couldn't contact him. Mask knew she'd tried but even travelling to Calimport- nothing. No one had been able or willing to get her in touch with him.

She paused in her dressing for a moment, staring at her feet. Wondering, why they even bothered. Sometimes she thought Goro had a point, about them just getting the fuck out of Skyport and coming to live in the castle. But it felt wrong. Not like it was meant for her. Like a fish pondering moving to the desert.

IZZY

Azriel paused just long enough to finish with his laces, then pushed up to cross over to her, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind and kissing a short line across her shoulder. He cut his eyes up to her face, lips still down.

"We will, you know. They'll come crawling back. Your uncle will see how wrong he was to leave you behind." A couple more kisses, just for good measure. "He'll be forced to answer to you, then." Then he propped his chin on her shoulder, closing his eyes. "And if you like, I'll play a little song and he'll dance for you like a puppet. We'll make him feel every bit of the pain he's put you through." He tightened his arms around her. "More, if you like."

JEN

"No..." she said lowly. She rested her head against his and closed her eyes for a moment, sighing. She didn't want revenge, she wanted... something. Something that was better than getting back at Renar. Back to how it had been, maybe, except... it hadn't been all good back then either, had it?

"No," she said again, more firmly. "I just- let's just got going, alright?`"

IZZY

"Certainly." He gave her another quick squeeze and finished getting ready, tousling his hair back -- he'd styled it fastidiously, once, but the frequently-encountered ocean breeze that often came with living in Skyport really rendered his efforts useless. Besides which, he rather thought Larkin liked it better this way. Loose and clean, free of any product that would make it tacky or difficult to run her fingers though.

She was the sort to roll out of bed and out the door, but even with the rush, he paused to finger comb her hair for her, narrowing his eyes at it until it fell just so, at which point he proclaimed it ravishing and took her hand, kissing the back of it before leading her out.

They bid good morning and goodbye to Abel on the way out.

The day was still cool, this early, and pleasant to walk through. The post office wasn't far, and Azriel swung his and Larkin's hands between them, fingers interlaced, on the way. Once there, he charmed the postmaster into showing mercy and allowing a few minutes of leeway -- the couriers to Moorland hadn't left yet, after all, it was only that he'd just missed the intended cut-off time. What was the harm?

Afterwards, he stepped back outside and took a deep breath of the dewy morning air. It was a good day. He could feel it. "Well, then," he said. "Breakfast, love? Chipped Teacup?"

JEN

After being woken up early and dragged around town, Larkin could really go with some food. And coffee.

The Chipped Teacup, fortunately, opened early for just those cravings (and probably because the old owner couldn't sleep in anymore). Azriel and Larkin got their usual greeting and sat down in their usual window seats. It made Larkin slightly uncomfortable to be known like that, but somehow, it also had something soothing. Like coming home.

She ordered strong, black coffee and breakfast cakes with syrup. When Azriel had placed his order, she leaned back with a sigh and linked their legs together under the table.

"Did I tell you Jonn's going to open a brothel?" Larkin said, a bit suddenly. It'd just come to her mind thinking about their alliance with Moorland again.

IZZY

Their drinks had just arrived, and he'd taken a sip of his cocoa, when she decided to share this information. He choked on it slightly, then cleared his throat delicately and dabbed his napkin at his lips as he put his teacup back down.

"Is he? For the Redbirds, I assume? Or as his own venture?" It was rather difficult to imagine, either way. His only real experience with Jonn had been when they'd both been captured at the Sanctuary of Eldath, where he'd first seen Jonn as a brutally efficient assassin, but then a sniveling child on the long walk to the beach where they'd been reunited with their fellows.

JEN

"For the Redbirds. We figured we should get into some... side ventures." She shrugged. "It'll be an experiment. We also had some ideas to build up our image a bit. Aiming for tough but friends of the small folks."

IZZY

He nodded approvingly. Skyport was different from Moorland in many ways, and building from the ground up was different, as well. In her younger days, his mother had gone straight for the top, but that wasn't feasible in Skyport's infrastructure. He rather liked the notion of befriending the small people instead of crushing them under heel.

"If you like, I could offer training in the more refined aspects of the trade," he commented. "Escorts, you know, rather than mere prostitutes."

JEN

"You should talk to Jonn about that. It was his idea and I'm gonna let him do his thing."

IZZY

Azriel made a face.

JEN

"What?"

IZZY

He grumbled a bit. "I'm not sure what to make of that one, that's all."

JEN

"Yeah, me neither," Larkin said with a sigh. "I... god, I really hated his guts for a while, for fucking Goro over." Now it was her turn to grimace. "He's since been adopted into the family or some shit so I can't do anything and actually, I don't think I'm invested anymore. Anyway... point is, he's useful, and the whole brothel deal is his thing now."

IZZY

"Hmm." Azriel didn't frankly care for Goro particularly, but nor did he care for Finch, and Larkin was inseparable from them both. He truly didn't enjoy the company she kept. Perhaps her business would outgrow the need for them, but he rather doubted that she would. He shrugged. "Well, I can work with him." Then he bowed his head a little, gracefully. "Any fiery abyss for you, my love."

JEN

She laughed and nudged his foot under the table. "He's just a dude."

IZZY

He propped his chin on his hand, elbow on the table, to gaze at her. "How am I meant to prove my love, then?"

JEN

She mirrored him, batting eyelashes. "Let me have some of your cocoa."

IZZY

"As much as you like, my love." He slid the cup across to her, linking his pinky finger around her. "After all, the refills are free."

JEN

"I appreciate this great sacrifice," Larkin said as solemnly as she could. Then she grinned and hid it behind the cup.

[END]