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Post by Deleted on Aug 17, 2023 15:09:54 GMT -5
The half-Fae's pulse was thundering in her head, and echoing through every bit of muscle and bone that the woman possessed. She slammed a glass onto the counter in Nappa's kitchen, a crack splitting up the bottom. The glass didn't shatter, thankfully, but it was still ruined, nonetheless. She waved her hand over the automatic trashcan, and threw it in, before opening the freezer and pushing her face towards the cool air that trickled from it in an attempt to calm her warm cheeks.
The night before, Nappa had told her that he didn't want her to take a contract.
Not just any contract, but a contract to kill the next heir of the Summer Court - it was going to be enough money for her to not only buy a home for herself, but also retire from the business completely. She had gotten the message while foraging for some herbs for dinner the previous night, and had rushed home to tell him the news, only for his expression to darken, and him to simply say,
"We've talked about this."
Ember had blanched, and forced a grim smile, before walking back to the kitchen and continuing to work on their meal, taking her anger out on the herbs by nearly chopping them into dust.
This morning, though, the anger had returned with a vengeance, and the half-Fae had simply walked past Nappa, ignoring his greetings and starting on the sink of dishes she had been too angry to finish the night before.
Shutting the fridge door with a smack!, Ember walked towards the sink, jerking the hot water on and running her fingers over it, ignoring the heat searing through the pads of her fingers. She dropped a small, compact tablet of soap (a strange invention, but one that made cleaning much easier) into the water and grabbed the cloth hanging on the ledge, starting to scrub at the assortment of cutlery and dishes with a renewed anger in her chest. She didn't deign to respond to her partner when she heard his footsteps behind her, but merely bit her tongue to prevent the vitriol from spewing from her lips. |
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Nappa
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Post by Nappa on Aug 18, 2023 1:19:20 GMT -5
For a while, he didn’t say anything.
An old pair of pants was slung over his shoulder - Ember’s, of course - and he still wore his baby blue pajamas from the night before, a matching set that he’d purchased partially for the aesthetic but mostly because its material was surprisingly stretchy enough to tolerate both his wide upper frame and narrow lower half.
The hiss of the water seemed to whisper threats of violence, hint at secret loathing, and gossip about acts of vengeance. The Fae scrubbed as though she were trying to wipe away the sins of the world. Perhaps she was trying to wipe away her own sins.
Nappa knew better, though.
He brought his hand up to his chin, gently cracking his neck on both sides of his face; he didn’t want to start the day off with a fight, and had hoped she would simply calm down through a good night’s rest, but it was wishful thinking - the woman was far too hot-blooded to let things go, and especially not when it came to their one big, constant argument.
He inhaled, chest filling with the cool oxygen he’d need to set it off... and just deflated.
The Saiyan trudged over into the kitchen, unconcerned with her ability to hear his feet dragging; she typically greeted him before he even got down the stairs, so he knew that she sensed his presence. If she hadn’t spoken yet, then he was in the clear - for now. Opening the jet-black door to the refrigerator, Nappa pulled out a decent-sized animal leg resting on a plate, and quickly unwrapped the clear wrapping paper, before taking the leg off the plate and throwing it into the oven next to the fridge.
He set the oven to ‘Reheat,’ and a couple loud, piercing beeps broke through the monotonous sounds of rushing water and breathing. Once he was done, he turned, leaning against the space between the oven and the refrigerator. He couldn’t keep stalling, but Yamoshi... his eyes were so heavy, and he could tell just from her posture she’d been awake already long enough to keep the fight going indefinitely. Maybe if he eased into it, he would be able to keep up with her angsty ramblings.
Finally, with a quiet huff, he took the plunge.
“Why don’t you just use the dishwasher? It saves so much time.”
Word Count: 406
Nappa Word Count: 406
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Post by Deleted on Aug 18, 2023 1:32:42 GMT -5
"Why don't you just use the dishwasher? It saves so much time."
Ember froze, stopping her assault on the cup that now had the cheap foil coating flaking off of it. Her fingers were burning from the effort of scouring the dish, attempting to wash off the four words that Nappa had told her the night before - the words that continued to echo through her mind.
We've talked about this.
It felt like she were a volcano, and her stomach had magma inside of it that was threatening to erupt at any moment in the form of vitriol towards the male that she was so fond of. She swallowed down the words that flew through her mind in jagged, broken curses, and reached her hand from within the water, slamming the handle to the 'off' position.
She turned towards the Saiyan, taking in his appearance briefly. He was wearing those stupid silk pajamas. The ones that reminded her of the clear skies within the heart of the Day realm; the ones that reminded her of the waters of Caerula in the Summer realm; the ones that felt like home. Right now, she wanted to tell him to change into everyday clothes and take those pajamas to the fireplace and burn them - to watch them catch fire and burn into ash.
She didn't quite understand why her anger was bubbling up so quickly, but she forced most of it down, attempting to keep the peace.
Unfortunately, the vitriol brewing in her throat didn't stay down - it only came out in her tone, thankfully.
"I prefer to wash dishes. You know I hate using the humans' technology."
She surveyed the stove, which was now blinking a reminder that there was food within it, and stared at it for a moment.
"A limb of meat isn't breakfast. Do you not want me to cook for you, now, as well? Since we're controlling each other."
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Nappa
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Post by Nappa on Aug 18, 2023 1:58:22 GMT -5
The sound of water abruptly stopped. For a moment, Nappa wondered if he’d miscalculated - maybe her silence wasn’t anger, but sadness, or weariness. Maybe she had woken up and decided to reluctantly go along with what he’d said the day before, and had merely been washing the dishes in silence, hoping that he would be the first to offer the olive branch.
A twinge of regret turned over in his gut, and he began to take a step back - to leave the kitchen, leave her to her thoughts, and let the emotions die.
For a moment.
“...know I hate using the humans’ technology.”
What an infuriating, blatant lie! Hating Earth’s tech? He’d be sure to remind her of that the next time she came home with anything from a Capsule Corp Superstore, or she hopped into her spaceship built with Earth tech to be able to train in artificial gravity-- another human advancement. His fists clenched and unclenched on reflex, and he felt his temper flare up as easily as it always did.
Anger... why did he worry about not having the energy for this fight? Anger fed him, gave him fuel, made him alert. He could physically feel his pulse grow stronger, saw more shades of color, and could better smell the seasonings on his dinosaur leg as it warmed up. Speaking of his breakfast, though:
“A limb of meat isn’t breakfast.”
So she was angry. She’d known he was going to eat the leg for breakfast, because he’d said so as he was wrapping it up the day before. But all of a sudden, it was going to be bad for his health, or something. She continued.
“Do you not want me to cook for you...”
Even before she got to her little barb, he could feel it coming a mile away. So small, so petty, to tie him simply grabbing food to him not allowing her freedom. Which was rich, anyway, considering she still worked for an actual slave trade, but that was an entirely separate issue.
“...controlling each other.”
No, he had no intentions of leaving things off the table. Not if three seconds into talking to him she was already going for low blows.
“Sorry,” he said, so quiet that it almost sounded sincere. He was only so quiet to control the pounding in his heart, though. “Just figured, he continued, voice shaking, “that maybe I could work for you... saw a PTO pamphlet that talked about HOW TO GET YOUR NEW PLANET UNDER CONTROL and figured I’d try the tenets out on you, first.”
“Or is that a problem for you?”
Word Count: 446
Nappa Word Count: 852
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Post by Deleted on Aug 18, 2023 2:24:10 GMT -5
Droplets of water rained across the kitchen as she whirled, fury overtaking her features. The bubbling in her stomach had grown into a full boil now, and she was more than happy to oblige the male in front of her, and grace him with her fury.
"You know damned good and well that that wasn't me!"
She had long since explained to Nappa about the darkness roiling inside of her, and he had told her it didn't change how he felt for her. She had tried to warn him - to tell him that it was much more obscured than he knew it to be - but of course, he didn't listen.
"You said," she snarled, jabbing a finger into his muscled pec, "that you were fine with her doing what she wanted to do. You didn't care what she did as long as I came home to you!"
She backed away, clenching her jaw and staring at his face with a wrath that would make a normal male turn into jello.
"I don't know what your problem is, but I've been doing contracts for years. It is the only way I know to make money! What do you expect from me, Nappa? Do you expect me to sit at home, cooking and cleaning all day while you explore the cosmos and partake in your little spars?!"
She stomped her foot, closing her eyes and shaking her head as her voice grew louder.
"...I guess if I don't like being a housewife, you can just go pick anyone. Saiyans don't have to worry about who they choose."
A low blow. She knew that he was sensitive about their history with fated mates, but she was so infuriated with him at that moment, that she didn't care. She just wanted him to understand how hurt she was.
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Nappa
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Post by Nappa on Aug 18, 2023 16:43:12 GMT -5
Nappa’s jaw worked as she went on.
So that’s what this was all about. He’d finally gotten to the bottom of it all. Why she kept insisting on trying to have her own career, why she demanded he respect her mental split, why she got so ridiculous about his trips for work. It always came back to that stupid soulmates thing. The worst part was he couldn’t even just gather a team to murder Noon and simplify the problem, because he actually still liked Zabor.
“You know, for someone who doesn’t want to stay at home and cook for me, you sure seem to be doing a lot of cleaning and trying to cook for me.”
It was an empty attack, and he knew it. There wasn’t nearly as much sting behind his words as he’d wanted there to be. But her hypocrisy in the argument wasn’t going to be skipped over just because there was no quippy way to win points bringing it up.
“And despite how perfect and timeless and fairy tale the Fae Realms are, as you constantly remind me, Saiyans DO have to worry about who we choose. Actually, everyone has to worry about that besides you!”
“You’re the one who grew up where people just trip and fall into people for a lifetime. I-- we-- in the real world, relationships take work! You have to want to make it work with someone!” The oven began beeping incessantly, informing him that the dinosaur leg was done reheating.
Harshly, he opened the door and grabbed the leftovers right by the bone with his bare hand. The heat barely even caught his attention, and he slammed the oven back shut. “Maybe just like everything else in this relationship, one of us is trying to make it work, and the other one is just looking for a way out.”
He turned on his heel and raised his hand as he started to leave her in the kitchen, ripping a chunk of meat with his teeth and chewing.
He couldn’t focus enough to taste - let alone enjoy - a single seasoning on its skin.
Word Count: 363
Nappa Word Count: 1215
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Post by Deleted on Aug 18, 2023 17:03:38 GMT -5
Ember could feel tears of fury spilling from her eyes as he spoke. Her fingers were hot and cold at the same time, and she truly believed that if she looked down at her fingers, steam would be billowing off of them. Her nerves were on fire, and she felt her hands shake as she fought for a reply.
"...just looking for a way out."
He turned to leave, and her hand shot out, gripping his free wrist. She knew better than to come between the male and his food - that was a mistake she had made before, and she didn't feel like arguing about that, too.
Her voice shook when she spoke, and the angry tears bubbled up from her throat, causing something like a sob to escape.
"I've told you how badly the fucking Fae realm treated me. If things were perfect, I wouldn't be murdering people for gold. I would have been born in a ca-astle, being waited on hand and foot."
She took a breath, lips pursing into a tight line, before the next words came out as a strangled shout.
"Don't you dare accuse me of not wanting to be in this all the way. I was the one who pushed for this relationship."
She released his hand, and stepped in front of him to block his path.
"You don't get to tell me that I'm not working on this as hard as I can! I'm trying, Nappa! You're the one who doesn't want me to take the contract because you want to preserve your image of me being kind and pure!"
She slammed her fists into her sides, stomping her foot again - it was quite childlike, but at the moment, it was the only way she could get her anger out without destroying his property. |
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Nappa
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Post by Nappa on Aug 19, 2023 18:30:28 GMT -5
Nappa took another chomp out of the leg meat, juices flowing down his chin. He didn’t mean for it to be quite so... primitive; he used his thumb to daintily swipe away some of the rivulets flowing down his face. Perhaps it was her words, and perhaps it was his stomach being satiated from its hunger pains, but he was feeling less hot-blooded.
Not that he felt forgiving; he just held himself back from physically pushing past Ember to leave the kitchen.
“I grew up in an Empire, too, Ember.” He waved a hand vaguely at the air around them and added, “I still live in the world where it exists. I was eight when...” The Saiyan went silent. He’d talked about his time as a child, and didn’t want to get into it again.
“I’ve had it with your pity party. You could have had a royal life, but became a killer. Fine. That doesn’t explain why you still need to do it.” He stared for a second at her, and his voice quavered as his next line came out, a nearly imperceptible admission that he wasn’t actually dismissive of her words.
“Nothing has stopped you from learning a new skill... except that you don’t want to.”
Word Count: 215
Nappa Word Count: 1430
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Post by Deleted on Aug 19, 2023 18:41:07 GMT -5
Ember watched Nappa start in on the limb, and swiped away the tears from her eyes with two of her fingers. She was ashamed she had started crying - she had been doing well - not crying at the drop of a hat, or a sad scene on television; but this argument was more than she could safely compartmentalize at the moment.
He began to speak about his own childhood, and she went pale. She knew that he'd had a rough upbringing - he'd told her about it in the darkness one night when the lights went out, all while a tempest was raging outside, lashing the windows with its furious wails.
"...you could've had a royal life..."
She blanched, and the wrath started anew.
"How could I have had a royal life, Nappa? I have no connections to any of the High Lords, and I'm completely and totally alone within the Fae realm! You can't fault me for that!" She took a breath, building up for a reply to his next sentence.
"I don't know where to learn a new skill! You're always off at the Lunar Base! When you are home I-" She took a deep breath and turned her head away, angry that she was going to let her feelings take over the conversation again. "When you're home, I just want to spend as much time as I can with you before you have to leave again! It feels so empty in this house!"
She wiped away the fresh saltwater that was leaking from her eyes, and looked up into the Saiyan's face, trying to catch his gaze.
"I need you to help me. I don't know how to do these things on my own, Nappa. You do, so if you want me to change, help me."
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Nappa
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Post by Nappa on Aug 20, 2023 2:13:37 GMT -5
“If you want to spend so much time with me while I’m home, why are you also complaining about not wanting to be a homemaker and begging to be able to go out and do contract killings when I’m here?”
He waited a beat, before taking another step closer to her. “If you came and did your... contracts... while I was away from home, I’d never have even known they happened; you wouldn’t have to ask permission, and we wouldn’t have ever argued about it. Instead, you insist on trying to leave to go murder people only when I’m at home to know you’re gone and think about it.”
He wrinkled his nose as though there was an acrid smell in the air, but continued. “You have to decide what you want to do with your life for me to help show you how to get there. You have passions - things you like - so just pick one of them.” He grasped at straws for a second, trying to remember a couple of them.
“You always like picking and preparing your herbs and tonics, so you could be like a chef, or a gardener, or a holistic doctor... I always remind you that you could be a martial artist. It pays well,” he added. “I know how you feel about Master Roshi, but he wouldn’t be able to afford a private island if being a martial artist wasn’t a good way to get paid.
I tried to get you to apply for a job that one time with the brainiacs over at Kelioux. You like reading those dusty old scrolls just as much as they do - but you insisted that--” He paused at this, taking a deep inhale before raising his arms to his sides and doing a sort of lifeless T-Rex impression with his hands as he spoke: “Dark Ember doesn’t want to do that.”
“What does this Ember want? Cuz it seems to me like all you ever want to do is kill people, regardless of how many different personalities you supposedly have.”
Word Count: 354
Nappa Word Count: 1784
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2023 8:23:50 GMT -5
By the time Nappa had finished speaking, Ember's tears of fury had turned into tears of guilt and sorrow. She swallowed, wrapping her arms around her chest, and looking up into Nappa's eyes.
"I think...I'm just afraid to let go. Contracts have been the only thing that I've...I've known, and it's the last connection I have to the Fae realm."
She bit her lip, struggling to remember everything he had said over the pounding in her ears.
"As...as far as contracts when you're here...I only do them when you're here because I don't want you to think I'm... some weakling."
She cast her eyes downward, trying her best to come up with more words to speak. Nappa was right - she loved working with herbs. She wouldn't mind being an herbalist for the locals, but she didn't know if there was a need for it. She decided to bring up this next.
"I...I love picking and preparing my herbs, you're right - but there's... there's so many new inventions in medicine now, that I don't really know if there's enough demand for my skills," She continued, trying to ignore his last biting comment as she addressed what she really, truly wanted.
"I think... I do want to be a housewife," She let out a wet chuckle, wiping a tear from her neck that had started to tickle the flesh there. "I want to... I don't know. I want to be able to feel useful to you, and I figured that if I took this contract, you'd...we'd be set for life."
Ember realized how it must have sounded, but she didn't allow herself to balk or apologize.
"You don't want me to take it. Fine, I won't. I just...I need you to tell me what to do. How can I open my own botanical shop when I don't even have the money to buy dinner?"
She rubbed her face, almost as if she were trying to scrub the tears away.
"I'm...I love you, and I want to make this work."
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Nappa
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Post by Nappa on Aug 20, 2023 17:30:04 GMT -5
He waited until Ember was done speaking, and for a while just looked at her. He let her words sink in, as the air between them remained thick with everything they’d shouted over the past few minutes. It felt different in the room, as though both had sucked snake venom from each other’s wounds, and were now slowly starting to bandage the bites to allow them to heal.
Perhaps he should have seen her better when she spoke, and understood what she was honestly asking for. Nappa wasn’t good with subtext; he’d always been trained to be straightforward with the things he said and did. Most people weren’t like that, and every day he learned more and more about how to get better at the skills of reading people.
People lied about what they wanted, hid things they were embarrassed about, used coded language to test the waters on things they weren’t comfortable bringing to the forefront. Ember fit that bill. She had wanted to be his, but worried about his reaction if she chose to simply do and be nothing of financial value.
The Saiyan had never worried about what sort of financial value she brought to the table - he wasn’t even that concerned with his own financial value, seeing as he waited years longer than he needed to before getting the promotions at his job that he’d rightfully earned as a teenager and young adult.
She didn’t see that... or maybe she saw it, but didn’t trust what she was seeing. Either way, he finally knew how to communicate with her on their most troubling disagreements over the course of their relationship.
“There are programs that I can get you to apply for, things that can offer grants, classes, and personal aid in the beginning stages of starting your own business. As far as where the market is, I wouldn’t worry about that. There may not be a market for it here in the big city, but Earth is chock full of rinky dink towns where local herbalist methods would be highly appreciated over large scale hospitals. You’d be more affordable, more trustworthy, and far more reliable.”
He smiled.
“It’ll help us to travel to plenty of places here, and see all the sights that Earth has to offer. I may never see enough of this beautiful planet, so I’d actually love to help you with it.”
A long, uninterrupted screech filled the kitchen, immediately causing Nappa to start in fear; the oven’s temperature was still on! He rushed over and pressed the off button, before turning back to face Ember, chuckling with embarrassment. “Well, that explains the burning smell in the room,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck.
Word Count: 468
Nappa Word Count: 2252
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