gm: He does not seem at ease with her change of topic. "I've drenched the bedclothes with sweat. It can't have been that pleasant." He is searching her face. Come, you're scaring me with this. What is it that you saw?"

Jess: She holds her breath, afraid to speak... she remembers what the apparation foretold, "You must not speak of it."
"... I saw death... and black power..." she hedges. She watches him with pleading eyes, hoping he heard her.

gm: He nods. "As in my dream." He watches her; he knows there is something further.

Jess: She shifts uncomfortably, knowing what happened was true, and uncertain how to share it with him so he, too, will know. She searches his amber eyes, "I've visited the Tower..." she utters quietly.

gm: His eyes widen, but he does not interrupt.

Jess: "Not in a dream. It was real... and I've seen it's inner walls", it is painful to choose her words so carefully.

gm: He still waits. She senses his discomfort with this, but he is trying to hear out her words.

Jess: She watches carefully, "Are you hearing my tale, now?"

gm: "You claim you have been inside the Tower?" He repeats it carefully.

Jess: She nods, "...And, I was not alone..." She looks into his eyes meaningfully. She smiles at him, "You strengthened me. Helped my resolve."

gm: He smiles, not sure how these things all fit together, but pleased in some way to have helped her.

Jess: "... There's tremendous power... chaotic power... within its walls."

gm: He nods. "As we imagine it must be so."

Jess: "We all suffered it last night."

gm: "In what way? What do you mean? I was here, with you."

Jess: "As you were with me in my wanderings last night. Even if you don't recall it." She sighs.

gm: "It sounds like your dreams were no kinder than mine. But at least we were together in yours." He looks at her hopefully.

Jess: She nods. It was alright that he thought it was nothing more than a dream... it was better than him not hearing her or believing her.

"In my dream," she begins, "I opened myself to the power... when none would dare... to see the possibilities that fate dared to make real."

gm: "Go on," he prompts, getting the idea that she needs encouragement from him to continue.

Jess: "Many were nothing but darkness, others found our friends, here, broken...

"Some brought promise of infinite knowledge... the price never ending madness and suffering.

"And one was to release a tormented soul from its immortal bonds.

"The last was to make it all go away, to be unknowing and unaware of what may threaten us all."

gm: Verhain nods slowly. So far he seems to have followed everything she has said.

Jess: "...And it was mine to choose..." she whispers, closing her eyes.

gm: He holds her closer, warmer, waiting.

Jess: She leans into his harms, melting a little... "I released the spirit of her bonds... to what end," she trembles again, "I don't know."

gm: "Did it feel wrong?"

Jess: She looks at her hands, at the scarring, "No. It was worth the pain I endured."

gm: "Then you were brave, yes?"

Jess: She nods into his chest, "Or foolish. I sometimes have difficulty telling one apart from the other..." she tries to make light of their mood.

gm: He chuckles a little. "Yes, well. I think one only knows long after it is too late, most times." He leans over and kisses her mouth. "We still smell of sex." He smiles.

Jess: She wraps her arms around his neck, "Then let me bathe you like a king." She is thankful for the change in subject... afraid he didn't believe her at all...

gm: Verhain raises his eyebrows. "If your will is that I submit to such tortures, I can't deny you."

Jess: She smiles, leaving the bed long enough to start a bath. She returns, sliding behind him and working the muscles in his neck and shoulders. She continues to give him a massage, occassionally wrapping her arms about his chest and hugging him tightly, until time for the tap to be turned off.

gm: Ah. He has fine shoulders, sinewed and strong, and he relaxes into her touch willingly.

Jess: She will lead him to the bath, where she will bathe him with tenderness (she's in the tub, too), scrubbing his hair; nurturing him. She needs the pleasant distraction.

gm: He seems willing to provide it.

Jess: Feeding into her hedonistic wants through nurturing him seems as good a distraction as any other.

gm: He eventually turns, and turns Muirne so that he is behind her, and slowly, thoroughly, washes and rinses her hair. Then he slicks his hands again with soap and pulls her shoulders back, helping her stretch. He massages her chest, and then the tone changes and he is feeling out the outline of her breasts.

Very suddenly he is hard against her back, and with only a slight hesitation to be sure she is not resisting, he slides his hand down her belly and presses his fingers between her legs. He lifts her a little in the water, and guides himself into her.

Jess: She shifts only to accommodate him completely and with great enthusiasm

gm: A moment later she finds herself face-first over the edge of the tub. His strong arms hold up her torso as he takes her from behind. There is an edge to him this morning, as though he, too, is forgetting something, driving himself into her. He is not quiet, and it is her name that comes to his lips in a repeated cry for his last strokes.

He lifts her to him and wraps his arms around her arms, and buries his head in the back of her neck.

Jess: She closes her eyes, resting heavy on his chest.

gm: He stays there a long moment, letting his ragged breathing return to normal. As sense returns to him, one hand trails down her front, back to her sex where he is still buried, and he fingers her languidly.

If she shows any sign of responding, he puts his mind to the puzzle of making her come. Otherwise he is content to let himself explore her with his hands as he gradually shrinks from inside her.

Jess: She stirs with his touch. And will convulse appropriately when brought to climax

gm: "What do dreams mean in the light of day?" Verhain breathes into her hair.

Jess: She turns in the water, straddling his lap, "Perhaps then they cease to be dreams and become real..." she offers wit a smile.

gm: Her smile is returned, an easy open smile from him at last. "This dream is better than those I have at night."

Jess: She kisses him fully, deeply and with great emotion.