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Uncommon Bonds [Kat & Dani, Closed] - Printable Version

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Uncommon Bonds [Kat & Dani, Closed] - Kat - 02-04-2015

No amount of gels and creams and medical applications to her extremities seemed to extinguish the fire her eyes possessed. Sharp greens like the aloe being applied set in their light lashed beds looked over her keeper with contempt. There was no question she was angry. Beyond anger, there was a betrayal she couldn't explain over what he said. In the last few hours, Connor had gone from the hero of this story to her owner. The tyrant holding the leash. No amount of coaxing had breached her wariness, and even with his direct demand that she move closer, the woman remained firmly seated where she was. Valesport was a long way from home - longer still without verification he hadn't just thrown out whatever location came to mind. Posture straightened, similar to a bird ruffling it's feathers, though in a very human way. Her disapproval was palpable.

"All you've done is assure me you're no better than your father." Lethargically, her eyes moved elsewhere, anywhere so not to be sucked into his square features and emerald gaze. "So what now? You keep feeding me practiced lines concerning the others. I'm not the first, not the last? Fuck, what does that make me? Expendable?" A wry laugh escaped the waif of a woman, her hands moving uneasily to push back the still wet cascade of her hair. Finger tips paused over her split ends, silently judgmental of the lack of care she had received during her time in captivity. Her overall condition was atrocious; a grain of truth to his statements concerning his family.

Piper's chin dipped weakly as her attention finally fell to the ligature marks spread over her ankles and knees, the nausea she initially felt returning with the addition of a meal in her system. "I'm not an animal." Even as quietly as she protested, the message didn't lose it's weight. "I am not here for your amusement. In this building, or anywhere else on God's green earth. If you think even for a second..." Chapped lips spread in a very unamused way, "t-that I am somehow your property, you're wrong. You might as well throw me out the fucking window, you sick fuck. I'm not your property. You don't command me, you don't order me- You certainly don't tell me where the fuck I can and can't go!"

As she finished, so too did she kicked her legs with a violent dash in his direction, likely sending a few of the dishes flying off the bed. It was, in the simplest terms, a tantrum. Not that Connor hadn't seen something of this nature before, but the way Piper so adamantly fought and demanded things of him could be seen as humorous. She certainly couldn't hurt him. As slender and petite as she was, the red head was more of a risk to herself than she was to her companion, no matter how violently she reacted. Hers was a self damaging, self punishing regiment, and as she thrashed about, it became apparent by old scabs being pulled open through the strain.

Blood on the bedspread was almost inevitable.

"Fuck you, Connor! You're nothing more than another fucking goon!" Piper screamed while trying to yank herself from his grip entirely, lips spitting venom through the whole ordeal. "Stop trying to be my fucking friend! We're not friends! We're nothing, and I want to GO HOME!" Snatching her bowl, her hand reared back so the ceramic could be chucked at her company, who it would probably miss, despite only having four of so feet between them.

"JUST TAKE ME FUCKING HOME! NOW! FUCKING NOW CONNOR TAKE ME HOME NOW!"


<in starbucks so no coding atm. qq>

Uncommon Bonds [Kat & Dani, Closed] - danixiewrites - 02-05-2015

She wouldn't let him hold her. It was her choice, and one that drew his lips into a frown. He stifled a wince as she hurled insults fueled by fear, anger, hatred. Of him, the entire fucked up situation. Reminders flitted through his head that she had reached her limit. She was panicking.

"Sure, I'm not a damn Sunday school teacher, but I am nothing like my father." Connor refused to believe he was anywhere near the old man's circle of Hell. Each statement she refuted bent his willpower like a willow branch. "And you're not expendable. Look, everyone under this roof is mine. They aren't animals either--fuck, Piper. I'm not a damned monster."

She wasn't listening. Wrapped up in her fear and anger and honest-to-God beliefs. He couldn't blame her and the reminder that she'd been at the mercy of his father's men helped him battle the urge to prove her wrong. She wasn't ready, and she needed to get this out of her system. She simply needed to calm. Further and further he weathered it as she worked herself up to a screech, bending until his ferocious hold on that branch of sense nearly bled. It became brittle with a wild strike of her legs.

"Piper." He grabbed her ankle tightly, instinct he regretted as she flailed at him. As she hurt herself. He hadn't been prepared for that. An attack against him, sure. But moving around like that in her current state had to be painful. He'd sworn not to harm her--and now that promise included keeping her from harming herself. Command entered his tone. "Piper. Stop this."

A droplet of soup caught on the pale, 5 o'clock shadow on his jaw when she hurled her dish past his head. He swiped it away with his free hand. Frightening her by forcing her to still wasn't yet on the menu. He wasn't a monster. Wouldn't make her right. The bowl must've hit the end table or the head of the bed; he heard the tinkle of broken shards mixed in with her curses. Her foot connected with his kidney and Connor didn't hide the wince this time. His grip eased and he even considered letting her go, if only to keep her from kicking or hitting something that would scatter more purple and blue smudges across her skin.

Except. Fresh blossoms of scarlet sprouted through her clothes. Instead of relenting for the night as he'd planned, instead of giving her space post-dinner, he could do neither. The taut branch of his willpower snapped.

"I ALREADY HAVE." The words ripped from his throat. Connor grabbed her other foot as she howled at him and kicked out, then he hauled her wriggling body gracelessly across the coverlet. Heedless of fists and feet and knees and elbows and words and teeth, he wrestled her toward the pillows. They could both be matching shades of purple come morning. Would, if straddling her thighs and pinning her legs with his didn't keep her from trying to buck him off.

Let her hate me. She's fucking bleeding. This is for her own good. The resolve twisted in his chest. He didn't want that. He didn't want Piper to look at him with the kind of fire that lit her eyes now.

Leaving her hands free probably wasn't smart but he did it anyway, letting her burn through her energy with as minimal damage to herself as possible. Every inch of him wanted to finish off the position by pinning her wrists over her fiery little head. The desire to push her to that limit burned into his mind like a brand. Not like this. He would not. It's bad enough I have to...He leaned over her, his voice low. "What, you don't care who gets hurt, so long as you go back to your life? You want everyone you care for to die, is that it?"

Uncommon Bonds [Kat & Dani, Closed] - Kat - 03-23-2015

His commentary was fueling the well of rage, from justified mention of his people to the concept Connor couldn't possibly be like his father. How different, with silk to replace cement and youth to replace savagery. As she had heard before, 'Beatings would continue until moral improved...' Internally, the woman was wrestling the urge to scream at the top of her lungs to release all these growing waves of utter despair she was left gagging down, and as the sobs came messy and quick, she was all but unable to speak. Shifting again to jerk back the foot that injured her captor, Piper released a whimper of anguish and scrunched herself into a ball on the covers like a quivering beast, no longer able to keep up the tantrum when he managed to grab her foot. The spirit was still willing, but the body was fatigued and encased in a series of hard knocks her last benefactor's bodyguards left. Presents from her previous life, still giving.

Sliding along to where she was being pulled, her features twitched and winced, the pain intensified by all the movements she had been making previously. All this energy expended, she had eaten up what little stores had been reserved for her. Now left to wallow while he asked of her loved ones, she bit her bottom lip and shook her head. Of course she didn't want them to be harmed over her sake. The question was a loaded one, and she knew it. A cheap, awful thing to ask someone. Piper tilted into the bed, half seeing where he was, closer now than he had been to her since she was carried to his tower in the sky. An Autumn Rapunzel, locked in the dark to be kept safe, no matter how she felt about this safety.

Defeat was a taste like copper, like blood from gums and bile from a restless stomach. Piper swallowed and achingly rose onto her elbows to sit again, compliant only out of necessity, as fear had long since worn itself to dust along the grain of her anger. "I do care!" The need to keep swallowing was evident, and likely to do with her dehydration, but her mind had other things to linger over. Grappling with the concepts she had spent hours confused by, only to find that strange sort of peace one often finds when they're walked the line and it ends. Death, eternity, captivity. The place hope peters off to when you're inches from the ground after a half minute plunge from the top of a very tall building. "Don't think I don't."

He had her pinned before she could add more. Deny more.

Wringing her fists where they rested to either side of her body, emerald orbs searched the damages she had caused in her excited state, but no apology came. Only staring passed his incredibly close visage, her own seeming stiff and hollow like the chucked husk of a long dead Oak. What beauty she held within was ravished by lingering disappointment of her life as it was seen through those green eyes. Bouncing over broken glass, dancing across the remnants of soup that threatened to stain the walls like her blood covered the sheet. The details Piper had missed, like how all those tight scabs would split when strained too much, were suddenly in the foreground - coupled with his weight ensuring she didn't escape again, even if it were only to the opposite side of the bed.

"Go ahead." She whispered hoarse, still crying without giving her body the green flag to do so. "Be fucking rough with me- I couldn't possibly think less of you than I already do!"

Uncommon Bonds [Kat & Dani, Closed] - danixiewrites - 03-29-2015

Connor didn't stop even out of consideration of her present condition, pushing her further even as he dragged her under him. Knowing that she was at his mercy, but still unable to stop himself from driving the point home. He'd let her throw her tantrum, let her rail against her own fear, and now she'd gone and hurt herself. It was time to remind her who was in charge. Who held the cards. Soon, she'd hold her own against him. He'd let it go too far. Now was not that time. "I'm curious. Do you imagine you'll march outside and catch a cab, then? Remain indoors and make desperate phone calls? Fling yourself from a window in an effort to get news coverage?" His thighs tightened around her hips. "No. You will stay here, with me, where I can keep you safe." He almost said 'fucking safe'. Almost. The strands of concern for her bled with irritation, and he had the feeling swearing at her to that degree wouldn't help. "I know you don't believe me. And I don't care."

His expression turned grim. "I also know you want your family safe, Piper. I think you'd like me to die--and I hate to disappoint you on that score, but I do what I must. I think you want everyone who touched you since you were taken to die--there I can oblige a little. Have. But your family? Strangers you speak to on the street? No, Piper. Your freedom, the guilt, it would eat you alive." She was splayed underneath him. Livid, but at his mercy. And God help him, but his cock liked her there. Carefully, gently, he brushed the bright locks from around her face. "You want to make a different choice."

"So damn sure of it, in fact, I'll offer you another one." He reached back for the tube of gel then suspended it over her nose. "For the bruises. Stop fighting me and put the cream on yourself, or I do it for you."

Except when she capitulated and whispered so brokenly to him, he couldn't help feeling every inch the sick fuck she'd proclaimed him to be. Connor was more than half-hard in this position and she couldn't possibly miss it. The loaned clothes were too thin, the blood too raw, for him to control himself. Concern for her tangled with frustration, rage at his father and the Pit, a sense of helplessness that she was trapped in this at all that had been twisted up with anger.

Connor dropped the tube beside her hands and gripped her wrists. Eyelids shuttered over emerald and he breathed through his nose. Without opening his eyes, he said, "Sweetling, you're bleeding. I can't stand you like this. No," he corrected, his eyes snapping open and focusing solely on hers, "that came out wrong, because it's not you at all. I can't stand that you're in this mess. I know you think I'm sick, that I'm a monster, and an asshole. But I need to help you, Piper. Let me. Please."

He shook his head. "I'm trying to..." His thumbs began moving in circles along the outsides of her wrists as his eyes started a slow rove down her front, button by button, scanning for more blood. "I'm going to need to tend to your wounds. I'm not asking."

If only to keep himself sane, so he wasn't watching the torn skin continue to seep, each bloody spot, each bruise that marred what should have been damn near porcelain perfection reminding him of what she'd been through at the hands of his own accursed family.

"I need more supplies. Bandages." His fingers danced over her forehead as if he couldn't stop touching her, now that he had her here, nearly at his mercy. Connor leaned back suddenly, narrowing his eyes. "Can I trust you to be here when I get back?"

Uncommon Bonds [Kat & Dani, Closed] - Kat - 03-30-2015

Even if the woman did manage pulling off some fashion of grandiose escape, where did she expect to end up?

Connor asked, but Piper had no answer to give; no forthright retort to throw attention off her back about what freedom really meant. In all this, was there something she meant to say? Did he need to hear her explain that she could go on the run, and seek help through Women's centers and homeless shelters? Perhaps there was someone she trusted enough to house her in secrecy while her affairs were taken care of. Her family could be alerted, moved, kept in hiding until they were completely severed from their grim past, forsaking a name she now assumed was better left unspoken. Her name. It would inevitably remain valuable to those who sought to keep their labyrinth of secrets hidden. There had to be something to offer, if only to prove her captor wrong.

Only there was no safe haven to hide within, nor was there a treasured friend to confide in. Her opinions were as thin in their spread as the clothing she had been given.

So under both the weight of his figure and that of his words, Piper fell into practiced silence. Even anger wasn't enough to wrench free a rebuttal. Some would see defeat in these matters, but at this point, it allotted Connor an opportunity to study the types of reactions Piper standardized midst discussion. One never knew the full future, but they could gleam bits and pieces through their interactions with others. Just as she had done when they first met, Piper returned to reading what Connor was really saying by taking in the language of his body. Musculature-based words seemed to seep through with every shift his torso made over her, manageable in it's own right, but not overlooked. She couldn't afford to skim his details if she was going to remain in his company for an undisclosed length of time.

Possibly, his affections had become more tender where the skin she bared made it difficult not to find opposing flesh flattened over fabric, but this didn't earn him any more respect than the rest of his bravado might have. What it awoke in her gaze was attention, her eyes returning to investigate his features further while he spoke.

There were still crossroads Piper wasn't brave enough to cross yet- even if the signs all ushered that she hurry.

"Fine." A single word seethed. Maybe the woman would have spit such things earlier during the tirade, but she was calmer. Just irritated, and in such, mildly irate.

Still touching her, running digits against wrists and shoulders, they ascended to her forehead where still damp ringlets decorated ivory flesh. There was impatience in the way he talked; he was dancing on eggshells for his captive. The humor wasn't lost on Piper as Connor finally explained the necessity of supplies, of bandages and ointments and such medical paraphernalia he required to ensure she would get better. Better than she was then. It would take more than that if he was investing in the long term, both knew the truth of the matter and could guarantee it wouldn't be easy. Nothing of value was meant to be easily obtained.

Sarcastically, Piper shrugged as best she could from where Connor kept her contained. "Depends. How many places can someone my size hide while you're gone?" In her state, it wasn't likely she'd try and play Search and Destroy with the blonde, but she couldn't make his life easy. That was out of the question.

Uncommon Bonds [Kat & Dani, Closed] - danixiewrites - 04-01-2015

"Fine?" Connor asked. "Good. See? You can make good choices after all."

If the words came out condescending, he didn't notice, too busy thinking through how he was going to check to make sure she'd done as he asked when he returned to the suite. All that petal-soft skin roughened by blood vessels and--he curled a length of damp cinnamon locks around his index finger. Son of a bitch. It was going to be bad enough having to wrap her up. "I'm trusting you to do this thing."

Only because seeing that his command was followed involved smoothing his hands over her skin. And he wasn't sure he could avoid it. Resist it. Her. Tonight, he may yet thrust himself even more firmly in the monster category.

His free hand curled into a fist as if to keep those fingers from preemptive motion.

He shifted back and at her question, one blond eyebrow rose. Connor's lips curved at the tone in her voice, the dimple digging deep. "Perhaps far more than they'll be able to the second time." He tugged lightly at the hair he'd kept hostage. "But maybe you'll surprise me."

The words were out before he had a chance to really think them through, and when he did, he wasn't altogether certain he knew what he'd meant. Surprise him by sitting still? Using her obviously intelligent mind to secure a hiding place he'd have to work to find? That he'd let her have a 'second time'? He shifted off the bed in one smooth motion, one palm up to deflect any more personal shots against his body. Piper seemed as though she'd expended her frustrated energy, but he knew all too well the power of deceiving your enemy into believing you were weaker than you actually were.

He didn't bother warning her what might happen if she wasn't on the bed when he returned. He didn't bother reassuring her that he'd be back. Connor simply collected the mess on the bed with economic movements, leaving the medical supplies from the tray on the bedside table then balancing the tray on one arm as he padded toward the door with bare feet. His body shielded a keypad that he used to unlock the door and slip through.

The fingers of his free hand grabbed a caramel from the basket that looped around the banister, out of habit unwrapping it as he took the steps two at a time. "Lilly?" he asked as he passed the second landing. "What are you still doing up?"

"I was hoping you would get me an update before you turned in for the night." Lilly rubbed the corner of one eye and frowned at him. "Do you require my services?"

"Bandages." He popped the caramel in his mouth and dragged in its flavor like a balm. He'd thought to spar with the guards tonight, but with the need to protect the new mistress of the house riding him so hard, it was obvious he wasn't going to be able to leave Piper alone.

Her eyes went into thin slits as she relieved him of the tray. "She is bleeding, then?"

Connor sighed and answered around the candy, "It's my fault." He paused when Lilly's eyes closed, then filled her in on what had happened in the room since he'd arrived home. He added quickly, "I couldn't stop Piper from--I didn't hurt her--"

"I would never think that, cub." She got that expression on her face that always said if her hands weren't full she'd be smacking him upside the head. "I am glad you were able to convince her to wash up." There was no censure in the statement; Lillian didn't offer to help on that front the next time, should assistance be needed. Piper was his. Under his roof, he took care of what was his, and she would never presume to step past that boundary. "The things your Family must have put her through...I imagine she's quite distressed." Lilly hummed in irritation. "I have a mind to head over there with my knife block."

He chuckled. "You'd put fear in them, too." He pushed the swinging door open, his arm over her head. "It's handled. What I need is you here, Lil, so the Mistress can meet you at breakfast."

"Ah. I thought it might be like that. Only...why her?" she asked, a curious tone in her voice as she walked to the second pantry in the kitchen--a fully stocked first aid station.

The thing was like a stationary ambulance. Floor to ceiling every size bandage, brace, ointment, and emergency medical device was in storage. Befitting, for a former combat nurse. Lilly had emptied out such inane bachelor necessities as instant coffee makers and dozens of small "quick cook" appliances that she didn't allow in her kitchen and replaced them with oxygen masks and tanks, bags of saline, needles, blood testing kits.

Connor scrubbed a hand over the shadow of scruff on his jaw. "Would you believe I don't know? I can't explain it. I just...She's smart. Real smart." He cocked a grin at the chef. "Definitely a firecracker."

Lillian studied him closely, this woman who knew him like a mother and took him to task when he needed, but somehow never stepped past the boundaries of house rules. "You are certain this is not because you're seeing her as a broken toy? Someone to be fixed, Connor?"

He'd wondered the very thing himself, but no. His gut raged against that thought, rejected it outright. "Piper is far from broken."

She loaded his arms with material and tape. Far more than he actually needed. "She's not bleeding to death, old woman. Just some scabs that came open."

A sound of disgust. "Patch up our Mistress and then restock your own shelves, fool boy. You're saving someone else a trip. Plus, this way I don't need to win a hand of poker to get one of the maids to do it."

"You wouldn't need to," Connor pointed out. "They all want to meet her."

"But there'll be other chores that need done more. Like as she's bleeding, no doubt laundry will come up. And the poor thing needs clothes. You hauled her here in a blanket."

"You called the Tailor?"

"Of course. As soon as I saw what had gone wrong."

He nodded tightly, hugging the supplies to his chest. "She won't like him. At all."

"From the look on your face, I can't say you'll fancy it much either." She gave him a warm smile that crinkled the corners of her eyes. "Perhaps a bit of hazard pay wouldn't be amiss. Or you can work out that fine body of yours while he gets business done."

"I would never leave her alone with him." His lips twitched. "Anyone, really. So I suppose we'll need an impartial third party."

Lilly snorted loudly. "You think any one of your family will be any more enamored with that session?"

"No," Connor admitted, "but they might at least consider holding me back." The Tailor could be very...hands on. He was a mad genius in the clothing world, worth every dollar, but he wasn't what the mundane populace would call "normal". Not many incubuses were. Connor turned to go, the caramel a distant memory as he thought about the injured woman several floors over his head, saw red again. "We'll get through it."

"You'll have to."

Uncommon Bonds [Kat & Dani, Closed] - Kat - 04-24-2015

Piper didn't actually respond to his commentary, though she accepted he was far wittier than she was on the fly, and that prompted the woman to shoot a smile her captor's way. The smallest, most obnoxiously placed half smile she could manage -- but a smile nonetheless. When Connor left, it wasn't as though she planned to follow through with the implied threat, though she did slip off the bed very briefly to test how decent her legs were doing. The answer, in the form of an unceremonious flop to the carpeting, seemed to give enough details on her general state. The limb weren't broken, but there was damage to the muscles from lack of use, and those injuries would take time to fix. It felt like she had pulled something in her left leg, whereas the right shivered in it's attempt to buckle under the additional weight it took over carrying.

"Obviously I won't be making my daring escape any time soon." Piper joked to no one, as no one was present, but it felt good to speak at any length. Even with Connor as her sole company, despite everything she felt, she appreciated human contact. Being held in the pit of despair had done a number on her senses, and everything about her new environment seemed too bright and clean. It was like being held in a hospital, those looming halogens and that sterile smell, but it was more relateable to living a life in the wild, then entering a house for the first time. His house that he so happened to mention being her house as well. Even her hearing seemed keener than it was before her initial abduction, so the barest movements around the room had her gaze flickering to find the source.

To say the woman was testy would be an understatement, but for all his flaws, Connor seemed capable of tending to this particular shortcoming. Not that Piper appreciated him for it, but it was recognized. Accepted to some extent. Perhaps she would come to give him the credit he deserved, though tonight certainly wasn't the time for such things.

Clambering back onto the high standing mattresses, hands rose to comb through drying strands of auburn, idly fluffing them to give volume she wasn't allotted in the basement. While the grime was gone, Piper found herself double checking beneath her nails on both hands and feet, almost frightened some might have been missed. Thought were elsewhere, not so invested in her search as her actions seemed to prove; instead finding time to think about home. Farmland with wide open skies void of light pollution, towns that didn't suffer from over population or strange vagrants who begged for change at every corner.

Valesport was awful even before she was a prisoner. A ghastly example of why pretty girls like her were warned to just stay home and find a nice man to marry. Had she followed those sage words of advice, she wouldn't be a prisoner of a rich philanthropist who's family ran a mob of sex obsessed meat heads. While it was all very tragic in context, Piper couldn't help laughing to herself, head shaking off the warnings, as they were already too late to do any real good. "Bet Boomer wonders where I went off to... Sure he misses me."

Benjamin "Boomer" Peters had been her high school sweetheart. Boomer inevitably slept with three of the cheerleaders on the cheer team, but he was a decent fellow otherwise, and in a strange way, Piper missed his goofy face. One could dwell in odd places when they were given too much free time, and Piper was no exception, riding wave after wave of idle thought. Did her Dad check this far from home? Did her sister Jenna end up passing Algebra? Did her neighbor ever fix his garage door so it didn't look like a steer had ripped holes through the paneling? Piper's body slumped backwards into the pillows so she could stare upwards, be it at the canopy, or seemingly through it, pondering.

What was life for her now that she had to recreate every detail she once knew. Who was she now? Tired lids closed while a deep breath was taken, the slow inhale clearing her sinuses. "Who who who who..."

Uncommon Bonds [Kat & Dani, Closed] - danixiewrites - 04-26-2015

Connor made it to the third story landing--his arms laden with first aid materials that Lilly had continued to stack until it damn near reached his nose--when Ransom intercepted him, the lacy frills along the bottom of his cliched black dress swishing around his thighs. The slim man planted himself before him and waited a beat, then began offloading half of the haul into his own arms.

"Fine," Connor warned in response to the automatic motions. He recognized the eager movement for what it was, and it wasn't merely to be helpful. "But you stay outside the bedroom until I return for the rest."

A violent shake of wavy lengths of brown hair. "It'd be faster for you to accept my help, Master."

"She doesn't need this tonight."

"But you do." With that, the man swiveled about, the cheeky bow above his ass twitching with each step up the staircase. "You've faced down your father and been down in that hellhole of his all in one day. You're exhausted. Sometimes, you do have the right to think about more than your foundlings, you know."

Connor sighed. This was becoming a trend, certain members of his staff getting far too cozy with taking notes on his emotional state--and how to remedy it. It was soothing in its own right, though, comfortable. Familial in the right way, if he was to be honest with himself, and it took the edge off of the murderous thoughts he'd had regarding the next day's tailoring session. This image that his maid had built up though, he had to do something about that. "I'm not sure where you got the notion I'm a selfless saint, but I assure you, I'm not."

Ransom shot a look down the stairs, over his shoulder. "Mmm. Yeah, the master of the house is pretty greedy."

That got him a snort. "You've been up in those romp rooms more than me lately. Also: louder."

"And I do appreciate having so many toys at my disposal. Really. Bonnnnn~~ Tres, tres bon."

They reached the master suite and Connor entered the code. Despite his belligerent words, Ransom did indeed halt at the threshold as Connor stepped into the room. Disobedience was met with consequences even the kinky "maid" in the doorway didn't want to test.

"Piper," he said under his breath.

She was still on the bed.

He wasn't sure if he was relieved or disappointed. Relieved that she hadn't sought to run from this, from him. Disappointed that she hadn't tried--or that she didn't yet have the strength to act on her petulant threats. Perhaps, he considered as he wordlessly stalked to the bathroom to put things away, she was just as drained from the day's events as he was. A good night's sleep would do them both good.

Putting things away as swiftly as he could, Connor heard a voice from the outer room.

"Are you asleep?" Ransom's question was muffled from the bathroom. "How is the Master treating you, chéri? Is there anything you need for the morning?"

He should've known the man wouldn't play the reserved and silently helpful type. All the same, he found his ears perked for her responses, and by the time he returned to collect the rest from Ransom, he'd forgiven the breech. "We will see you both for breakfast?" Ransom asked, his expression a little rueful.

"See to it there is an extra place at the table for Piper."

"Of course, Master. Mistress," he added over Connor's shoulder. "Sleep well." An audacious wink, then Ransom pulled the door shut and activated the locks.

Connor finished putting things away, then brought bandages to the nightstand. Settling on the edge of the mattress, he sent her a slight smile. "He's not really French. He's not even much of a maid. But that's Ransom. And no, don't look to him to collude with you about an escape." He lifted a bandage. The specks of blood on her shirt had begun to turn rust colored, which he took for a good sign. Clotting, if nothing else, but he still had to ensure they wouldn't come open again in the night. "I said I would trust you to do as I asked, so I won't check to see that you've taken care of your bruises. But I will need you to remove the shirt, so I can patch you up."

It would be swift. Exacting. Wash the wound, bandage against further injury. No lingering. None.

He hoped.

But somewhere in the back of his mind he had a feeling nothing about his hands on Piper's skin would be entirely clinical.

Uncommon Bonds [Kat & Dani, Closed] - Kat - 04-29-2015

Piper may have had something entirely clever to say, given he was gone long enough that such things could have been given time to flourish in that overactive mind, but the words were stifled to nothing more than an agitated scoff as soon as the door opened. This time, Connor brought company with him. That meant, in politer diction than the injured woman was capable of in her current state, she kept her mouth shut. No answer was given to Connor, nor did she answer the questions from his strangely dressed maid, nor did she even flutter her lashes as a sign of cognizance. As she was, on the bed, she remained. Still, breathing, but otherwise dead to the audience. Only when Ransom was gone and Connor began his explanation did emerald gaze flicker back to where her captor stood, disapproving.

"I'm not a show-" Piper said with the shadow of a frown darkening her features. "I really don't like all these visitors. Do you honestly live in a house full of room mates?" Had she fallen into the clutches of some spoiled college boy? Was this just another sick game of smash and pass? Pursing her lips briefly, she edged back up onto her elbows and dipped her features forward to send auburn mane flying every which way. Then, straightening, legs crossed so she was once more seated on the bed with Connor, wearing a mask of a mild amusement. "I think your 'maid' is a faggot." The term didn't even seem offensive as it rolled off her tongue, but it was, and she meant it. Whether it struck the woman as an awful thing to say to someone looking to assist her, one couldn't be certain. This was nothing like home, after all. Fairies and twinks came and went all the time.

Regardless the commentary, Piper was reasonably compliant to his demands. Fingers began to work the buttons back through their assigned holes, freeing each one with inaudible pops. Every one undone exposed a bit more of that creamy flesh, lower and lower until the button up split to either side of her slender frame. As he had been witness to before, she was of excellent shape, with breasts round and firm; nipples a shade of peach that complimented her freckles. Piper's restless orbs never really left Connor's features as this display was made, though her expression softened to one of neutrality. This was anything he hadn't seen, so the shame wasn't quite so intense the second time around. Piper could hide it behind forced calm, and when the top had been removed completely, she appeared just so. Calm.

"I guess if you're quick about it, I can sleep?" The question was more of a half implied 'You should let me sleep' than it was a real question, but such minuscule details were breezed over in her fatigued state. One could certainly find themselves crankier than the norm when they were over exhausted-- Case in point, Piper, with her apathetic approach to this examination of his. Hands rested on her knees, the grip idle so long as she wasn't in pain. Just waiting on him to make the first move.

Uncommon Bonds [Kat & Dani, Closed] - danixiewrites - 05-06-2015

A single blond eyebrow went up at her complaints. "You have run of the largest suite in the house, yet one maid comes by to assist me and somehow you think you've become some kind of exhibition? I think you're overestimating your importance." He shook his head with a wry grin then and ripped open an alcohol swab. "So many visitors," he murmured as he rolled out a length of gauze next. "Roommates? Honestly? Heaven forbid someone ask if you're alright. Did a parade occur while I was downstairs? Did I miss the part where he paid for a ticket? Threw confetti? Took pictures for posterity? They're curious, yeah. Because they want to help, not because they want to watch."

Connor subsided then, realizing his conversation with Lilly and subsequent tolerance of Ransom had left him unsettled in more ways than one. He chose to not say a word as she made a sassy, decidedly unbroken move to sit and continued speaking, though he clenched his teeth together to keep it that way as she proceeded to break one of the cardinal rules of his house--a rule he would only allow her to be ignorant of once. And then he couldn't speak, his throat inexplicably dry as buttons came loose and revealed patches of cream among dark blues and fainter reds.

If she was nervous in disrobing before him now that she had some semblance of control over the situation, he couldn't see it in the steady motion of her fingers, the shift of her shoulders that dislodged the elegant fabric and discarded it on the comforter behind her. Cautiously, he met her gaze, green to green, assessing her mood and the decided lack of tells. If there'd been a sign of defiance to her movements, any sign at all other than this dispirited, almost bored mien, Connor would have pushed.

As punishment for breaking the rule he would have checked her bruises anyway. Instead, he shook his head again, lifted the alcohol swab, and got to work. "We will go to sleep when I'm done with you. And it will take," he added, his lips dipping into a disappointed frown, "as long as it takes."

"Ransom's not gay," he said after a long moment of tending, of trying not to look and failing miserably. He swiped at a scab across her forearm where it looked as though a chain had wrapped too deeply. A bandage was taped carefully down, his fingertips trailing unconsciously down her arm in its wake. The next cracked portion of skin was sought, continuing the trail across her midsection, carefully avoiding her breasts--though his forearm may have been remiss. More patches were made before he continued, "Kinky, yes. Sensitive, yes. Overly amused by the notion that the title of 'maid' should come with a costume...yes. Ransom has quirks."

He fit his hand around a pattern along the curve of her shoulder. Enduring bruises the shape of a meatier set of blunt digits. "Quirks that involve safewords sometimes but not...this. No one here is into this."

His grip changed, exacted light pressure that probably hurt and would continue to until this point was made, this rule made clear as crystal and unyielding as diamond. Lips dipped downward further as Connor spoke with more severity than he'd used with her thus far, "I am going to explain something to you. Once." Green eyes bored into hers, intense and determined. "You will never again insult a member of this household.

"Let me be clear, Piper. Everyone under this roof is mine. Mine to protect, as I am theirs. It is not a dictatorship. It is a partnership. There is a hierarchy, yes, but everyone in this house gets respect. No matter their role. No matter why they're here--and I promise you for most, it isn't for the reasons you think. Especially, no matter what you think to see as flaws. I promised to protect you, sweetling, but this," and he paused, smoothing the skin of her shoulder with his palm as if he'd just realized he'd come close to doing something he said he wouldn't do and couldn't figure out why.

Connor cleared his throat and moved on to the last injury of its kind on her other arm, detached from the action despite the temptation of promised flesh. There would be time for such things. Later. Right now, he had to sort out why he'd taken his scared, wounded, exhausted mistress to task so firmly, when he'd promised himself she'd get a pass on everything until morning.

The answer came in the form of a beautiful face. The last time a woman had occupied this very room, she'd been a rude, self-righteous princess--and he hadn't seen it at the start. Once she'd wormed her way into his home, she'd shown her colors to be those of a holier-than-thou bitch. She'd believed everyone in the estate beneath her, heaped sly insults upon them behind Connor's back, and saw to it she was served hand and foot. She'd had no interest in him at all, in the end. Only status. Money. She'd been thoroughly disappointed, and Connor had gained wounds of his own from placing his trust--so rarely, so carefully given--in such a selfish woman.

Piper's insult had pressed buttons forged during that woman's tenure, and he didn't care a whit that she knew it.

"This is non-negotiable. You have issue with me, and I can accept that, and we will work through it. You have an issue with one of them, you bring it to me, and we will work through that, too. But our household--no. They offer you respect, regardless of your proclivities, bloodline, or background. And I don't give a damn what bitter pill you think you have to swallow. You will repay that basic right in kind. If you cannot..."

Could he cast her out on her heels for looking down her pert little nose at those in his care? Not tonight, certainly. He just wouldn't accept history repeating itself. His heart couldn't take it. Worse, it would hurt everyone involved, again, the solid workings of his staff and the diva herself, who'd shut herself away from anyone seeking to be an ally, a friend, a confidante. After settling Piper in this suite, seeing something in a woman that called to him at this level for the first time in two long years, something he couldn't yet explain--if it turned out he was wrong about her...

"...then you may find yourself free of me after all," he found himself saying in a voice gone rough, still unsure if he actually meant he'd let her go. He should have done with his former mistress, that much was certain. "Handed straight back to my father. With the rest of the people who can't be assed to care about others."

About whose souls they might shatter in the process.

Those people--they fucking deserve each other.

He stood, gathering the scraps of the medical supplies into cupped palms and abandoning her on the bed to think. Or fall asleep. Whatever. Fuck. Dumping the trash into a small can by the sink and stripping off his shirt with one hand, he propped his palms on the counter for a long while, staring at nothing in the mirror. His biceps flexed hard, frustration from this whole debacle wearing him to the bone.

RE: Uncommon Bonds [Kat &amp; Dani, Closed] - Kat - 12-14-2015

Having spent a great deal of time listening to Connor over the course of their day together, it wasn't uncomfortable to do the same then; quietly taking in his words while her body winced and fidgeted with each poke and prod. Fingers found nooks and sloping curves, down patterned harshness towards swollen flesh. Piper was almost statuesque throughout the process, having receded back to a more placid mentality in her best attempt not to panic. This whole ordeal was a test on panic, and on remaining calm, though neither of these traits were inherently natural for the woman. On the contrary, even having Connor so close during his lecture had earned a tense shift from her. Lips pursing, Piper's lashes fluttered for a moment or two before she commented quietly, "I didn't mean to say that."

Perhaps she hadn't. She didn't linger on what was intentional, given how quick to anger her host seemed at times. Left to chew on his threat when Connor finally wandered away from the bed to fume, Piper scooted once again to the center and settled. Covers were coveted, and her slender figure curled small and delicate beneath the weight of the down comforter. Only freckled features remained available to see, staring off in the general direction of Connor, though not too closely to his current state of anger. Men, as Piper knew them, always had a temper - though to what extent was always in question. That was why she stared so broadly. If she was caught doing it, there was a chance of recourse, and that simply wasn't an option. Piper hadn't wanted to start a fight with Connor, despite instigating this one, and pale greens ventured across the suite several times over before settled on a shameful spot to the far flooring.

Likely some of her blood, spilled. Tragic.

"They can be concerned if they want." Ginger brows furrowed and bunched while the woman worked on explaining what she meant. Less abrasively, with less intent to make him angry, because that goal had already been achieved. "But you can't treat me like trash as a response for you feeling like I wronged them." Piper's voice wavered ever so slightly as her face rested against the pillow, presenting her profile while shaky words were shared slightly louder this time. "You're going to send me back to your father for calling someone gay? Alright. Tell me fucking more about the correlation between the two. An insult made in private, and bodily injuries to someone. That's what you just did, right? Compared me to the men who raped me? Compared calling someone a faggot to rape? Is that it, Connor? That's what makes me so fucking worthless to you?"

Piper stopped because her voice was straining through a newfound tightness of her throat, and a horrid flash of heat had spread to her cheeks. She felt engulfed in that hodge podge of mixed emotions, and her expression bordered on one pain might induce, and she didn't dare move, save to curl back into herself as a false means of security. Nothing about the suite felt safe. Connor wasn't safe. His staff wasn't safe. Piper's eyes snapped shut while she managed a deep breath, her figure shaking beneath layers of bedding she thought equally foreign and panic worthy. Piece by piece, it was all weighing heavily on an incredibly delicate psyche, but there had been no way to express this to Connor without his anger showing itself. He wasn't a listener; this became apparent over time.

Unfortunately, Piper couldn't pretend to be okay for his sake. His broken heart wasn't her concern, given the extent of her injuries, and he was making comments far worse than what she could manage to spit. His venom was toxic, and she suffered from it at the distance he had left her in, buried. "My only issue with you is how you want to call this a partnership when you're a fucking dictator. This world you're in, where you have all the money in the world and power over other people, isn't fucking normal. This is a fantasy that you get to enjoy because you've exalted yourself away from the rest of humanity, in a tower, with a cast of people you hand picked." Clearing her throat, the woman sat up and continued with, "But you didn't get to pick me, and now you see what it's like to have someone with you who isn't hand fucking picked."

Exhaling deeply through widened nostrils, Piper added bitterly at the end, "And maybe you'll trash me because we don't get along- but don't fucking sit there and think you were a hero for doing so. If you weren't Richie Rich, you'd be in jail. Keep that in mind before you ride your high horse my way, Connor."

RE: Uncommon Bonds [Kat &amp; Dani, Closed] - danixiewrites - 01-03-2016


Connor steadied his breath, studying a werewolf-earned scar on his bare shoulder as he tried to cast aside other remnants of the past, remnants that could not join them in the bed tonight. Her near-whispered statement almost an apology, and even that, more than the former mistress would have deigned to utter. That it wasn't, that, along with the memories, was what had garnered a visit to the rules. Rules were crucial; rules were what made his household work. Rules. And loyalty so deep it was bloody. He stared at himself in the mirror, the pinched lines around his eyes reading of exhaustion, frustration, anger, regret.

He slid his belt from its moorings and undid the top button of his slacks, weighing every word. He'd been careful, the anger at his own ghost of a failure straining even now to escape, but he'd been careful. None of it should have been directed at the tiny thing bruised and not-broken on his bed. If his lecture had gotten loud, it was because he'd needed to make a point. Piper had to learn sooner, rather than later, where she stood. Where he wanted her to stand. His fingers flexed on the counter, and he found his teeth bracing too, baring back at him in the mirror when she finally spoke.

Trash. One fist clenched atop the counter. Far from trash, far from a body in a gutter, where she would have ended if not this very night than one quite soon. But her next words, they made him cold. His lungs felt the brush of ice, staggering to a halt as she bravely called him out on his threat, twisting it around with fear-words and derision. He turned, his forearm supporting his lean against the doorframe. Solemn green eyes took in the waif-like form currently burrowed into the center of his bed, a tragic sort of picture at odds with her words.

"Worthless? You are like the deepest, blackest diamond," he said quietly into her silence, a line borne of truth, his and hers. "A gem that sparkles only when put to light." And such light. Such fire. Connor felt it in his gut, knew she'd shine if they could one day come to terms with what had happened to her.

He held up his other hand, turned it palm up. "There was another woman years before you. She sought to be mine," he began, clearing his throat. Explaining, returning there, because she'd asked. She needed. "She shouldn't have bothered. She wanted money, status, things that she would have been better to get from another man. I need...no, it doesn't matter. She was hateful, like them, in little ways that cut like daggers. She turned our home to poison around us with each snub, each word spoken without respect, each order given without consideration for personal cost or undermining effect. It's slow, a destruction like that, hardly a torture-fuck in the dark, but no less brutal when the scales are filled."

Words carved out the soul, could either mend it as well as a healer's touch or shred it with carelessness and evil. Piper was not evil. Her insult hadn't been a calculated weight to add to a breaking point. Just more fear. He made a fist, rubbed a spot under his collarbone, not quite over his heart. "You are correct; Ransom did not hear you. But to let insult lie--then I would not be filling my own role, and you would be ignorant of our rules here."

Shoving himself back into the bathroom he brushed his teeth while she chewed on his lecture, part two. He was shuffling through the cabinet for a wrapped toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste for Piper when she exploded. He squeezed one in each fist as he filled the doorway again. Shoving down the anger, though it had to be visible in the tension that rode his muscles. Her vision of what he had, what they could have...she'd warped it so utterly that for the first time Connor felt an edge of doubt. Come morning, she'd still see the same things. Come the Tailor, she'd have an even lower opinion of his values, he was certain. But this could only continue in a circular pattern. Piper needed time. Distance from the terrible actions taken against her. Space to heal, though by acknowledging that Connor only conceded to space within his home, not space from himself.

Setting her straight, especially in her present condition, was only going to prolong their argument, neither caving on either side, anger building until it either sputtered out or he wound up downstairs sparring. And Connor didn't want to spend the night with his guards. He wanted to soothe the rough edges in his chest by holding the shaking, terrified woman in his arms.

Which would almost certainly make things worse, and he didn't fucking care.

"It's late," he said abruptly, finally, her last spewing of words sitting between them for too long. "Did you care to brush your teeth, or would you rather I just turn out the lights so you can sleep?"

Dictators didn't give choices.

RE: Uncommon Bonds [Kat &amp; Dani, Closed] - Kat - 07-26-2016

At this point, after what had been hours of confusion and disgust, Piper didn't have the energy left to put up a decent fight. Murmuring a small sigh, her head shook to respond to the last of his words. "No, I just want to sleep..." Though she would have preferred to argue were she not so exhausted, but Connor hadn't given her much ammo she hadn't already covered in her previous tirade. Having known one another for only a few hours, it was surprising to recap the events between them, yet she could appreciate his rescue of sorts, and then disapprove of what that actually meant. To safety, but confinement, and to wounds being tended to, but feelings being hurt. Connor seemed like someone she wanted to know, but their situation wasn't naturally comfortable, even when played out in his lavish penthouse hidden in uptown Valesport.

When she had slipped back into the top he had loaned her, she couldn't remember. Much of this was starting to blur from exhaustion, their altercation and her slip up. Her whole reason for being angry muting over time. Now it was just strain behind her eyes that caused them to close so as she re-buttoned the shirt and shifted against the sheets, she appeared as sanguine as Connor would expect to find her tonight. It wasn't a question of whether he intended to sleep with her; that much was already clear. Piper just wondered if she could sleep easily with a partial stranger by her side. Laying awake to think over her circumstances was the last thing she wished to do, but knowing how much there was to think about, she expected a struggle. Even so, she put forth her best efforts to block out the rest of her dealings for the sake of rest.

Whether she deserved being able to dodge Connor's unsaid thoughts remained a mystery.

At least the bed was comfortable, despite the bedding having been kicked and tussled around with her tantrum. Piper would regret that, too, when she wasn't so thoroughly distraught, but there would be no taking back the events of their first encounter and what regret was felt in the pit of her stomach was well earned, at the very least. Curling up, she pulled the comforter up to her nose as though seeking security beneath it's layers, her pale features half protruding from where she lay. Only peeking at Connor when she knew he wasn't looking, the ache in her limbs seemed all too familiar as she waited to see what he would do. Part of her thought that assuring she wouldn't lash out at him while he slept was the polite way to prove she wasn't crazy, but even thinking that needed to be brought up seemed outlandish - and there had been enough outlandishness between them in the past few hours without anymore added to the fray.

Silence might prove to be the best option for the two of them, because for what it was worth, they didn't have much left to be said. At least, Piper didn't. All the venom had been spit quite effectively, and even after such hurtful things had escaped her, Connor had been sure to compliment his guest. A black diamond, he called her. A gem that sparkles only when put to light. Piper had never heard someone use that phrase. Especially not about her. Now it was hitting her, weighty and frightening, that it wasn't Connor who was being cruel in the face of changes to her life. On the contrary, she was an outsider coming to live with someone who wanted nothing more than to help her out of a dire situation. How much crueler could she have been than to attack his acceptance? When her eyes shut to the sight of his back, they shut for the last time. Guilt didn't seem interested in letting up, and the best she could do was sleep it off.

An apology would be best when the day was new, and there wasn't still the bitter taste of aggression filling her mouth.

RE: Uncommon Bonds [Kat &amp; Dani, Closed] - danixiewrites - 08-19-2016

"Hmm," he grunted more than spoke, turning his back to the bed. Connor almost shook with it, the frustration with his father, her treatment, the unfairness of the worlds in which they lived. As it was, his muscles were strained against his skin as he set the toiletries back in the bathroom with more control than he thought he had left. They remained by the side of the sink in case she decided to use them in the morning. His lips tightened. The morning. That was going to be a fresh hell for her.

Fucking incubi.

With luck though, recovery would be easier from there. Save her freedom--which thanks to his father, she'd never enjoy again--perhaps she'd yet thrive. With a soft curse, he reached out an elegant index finger to flip off the vanity lights, leaving a light blue glow to emanate along the edges of the sink. When the main room lights were out as well, it was enough light to keep one from knocking shins and toes into everything in their path--but barely more than that. A glance was spared toward the bed just before he flipped those switches as well, the bright, damp curls licking like flames across pillows he hadn't truly shared for too long. Home, perhaps. One day.

Only, he had no right to presume it at all--not when she saw him as a monster, not when they had so far to go, not when she could prove to be history on repeat. Embellished, but resulting the same anyway. Better that he go on playing that the building he'd forged, the family he'd created and kept safe within its walls, by itself could be home.

He stifled a groan and stalked across the room to the walk-in closet. There, he hung the black leather belt on the back of the door before stripping and tossing the rest of his clothes down the narrow laundry chute. Nude, Connor finally leaned back against the wall, the wood paneling inside the closet cool against his bare skin. He scrubbed his palms over his cheeks, scruff abrading his hands, reminding him nothing stayed unchanged forever. How long he stood there with the door cracked, a glimmer of light shining into the master suite while he let the frustration seep from his skin into the wall, he didn't know.

But he had to go to her, their bed an uneasy space for an uneasy truce. Connor straightened and emerged into the suite. He didn't need the bathroom light, not with the path to the bed free of obstacles, but he was grateful for it now. His normal human eyes could pick out colors and features in the soft gleam--Piper's hair a muted gleam of sunlight in an otherwise grayscale of night. Her tresses had barely moved once she'd snuggled down, her breaths coming even, deep. Connor felt relief take up a rhythm inside his chest. He took a corner of the overfluffed comforter and slid in behind her.

He didn't want to wake her, so the brief rustling of blankets was done as gently as a man of his stature could...and one arm locked around her waist.

It wouldn't take him long to find a dreamless sleep, one that would be broken with a chime from the intercom, a far-too-chipper announcement of "Master? Breakfast is ready.", and would find his face pressed into the elegant, sweet curve of Piper's neck.