Summary:After individual challenges, Keiko and Piotr talk. Piotr works out that Keiko is probably more like a Cat. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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Limbo: Year 2
Learning that Keiko was in their chambers, Piotr made his way directly to the room that has become their home. When he opens the door, he's covered in dried ichor, his skin is dirty and bruised from what hits he did take that were hard enough to damage his armor - namely his right arm, and the soul-steel sword is on his back.
He drops the horn of the creature he defeated where Keiko is unceremoniously. A gift for his Queen, before he is growling at a demon to draw him a bath as he works on undressing.
It's strange how time and distance work in Limbo. Keiko hadn't been back long even though she'd been much much closer to the citadel.
When Piotr comes in, she's dabbing at the wound on her side. He would have seen the demon she impaled on the wall by their door. The leader of the assassins that had come for her.
The small tattooed woman looks at the head and then back up at Piotr, a small feral smile crossing her face. Moving to his side, she starts to assist remove the armour.
"What have you done with the body?" she asks quietly. She's thinking, he can see that.
"It is being dragged back here to be our new sentinel. He will have some purpose to us still." Piotr starts to say when he notes her wound. "I saw the creature in the hall." he growls, reaching down to place his hand over Keiko's wound, not caring that she bleeds on him. "You had an adventure?" he asks her with a lift of his brow.
he is clearly waiting for an answer so he knows who to punish for harming her.
"Good. It will send a message to those that stand against you." Keiko growls, holding still when Piotrs hand closes around her side. Her waist is thickening slightly, her figure … fuller … that's the only indication of her condition for the moment.
"I did. They followed me from The Citadel and tried to ambush me. Incite my spirits to rebel and kill me." Her eyes now glow almost constantly, as does that brand (if dully).
"Bella was mortally injured during the fight and I took her wounds when she returned to the tattoo." beat "The one by the door is the leader. I'm deciding what I want to do him. He is now my slave."
"They think I am weak and unfit to be Queen. I proved them wrong. But still they said about Blood in water." Her fingers toy idly with that scrap of skin he wears on his wrist.
"They will try more now that they can no longer doubt that you are with our child." Piotr responds, a frown on his features. "We will have to be more diligent." There's a satisfied nod at what Keiko has made a decision on. And when she presses his hand, his other hand comes around to pull her up into a kiss, heated and hard, before releasing her.
"Join me." It's not a question of her; instead, he's pulling away as he finishes undressing to head to the bath. He's gotten leaner in his time here. His muscular definition is stronger, more wiry. He doesn't take in the same calories he did back home - but he's only gotten stronger, at least from what she can see. The tattoos that snake up his right arm are more obvious now, the demonic bear that he summoned having not made an appearance in a while.
"And your spirits. Did they rebel?" he asks her as he moves to settle into the heated pool with a contented noise.
"And I will have to be strong." Keiko agrees, watching the frown as Piotr speaks. "And I will beat any that come against me or challenge you." She sounds confident but that would be because she doesn't know what to expect in the coming months.
She returns the kiss just as heatedly though the affection that would accompany it normally, seems lacking.
It certainly doesn't stop her looking as the man heads to the pool. She notes the changes, and while they should worry her, they just don't.
Thinking nothing of the command, Keiko follows him, stripping her own clothes and laying them on the couch - they'll need to be washed, somehow. She's more scars now - the ones on her belly from earlier still fading and there's the new gouges on her arm from earlier.
"In a way." she answers, taking up the soap she'd bullied K'nert into getting and sinking into the water behind Piotr. She starts to wash his shoulders without being asked. "Onyxia refused to leave me. Bella tried to attack the herd beast. But they fought as they usually do."
He can feel her pause for a moment as she thinks on that. "Koa told me to … bond with them more." For just that moment, it's a slightly more human Keiko who speaks. The memory of the Agent recalling that part of her. Then it's gone. "It's difficult here. Playing with them, getting close."
There is that lack of affection. He's grown accustomed to her ebbing and flowing when it comes to her wants and desires. It's something that Piotr has had to get used to. Being trapped together in Limbo does wonders for relationship negotiation.
Feeling the press of her small hands into his back, he closes his eyes with a grunt. "They are loyal to you. But are they loyal out of fear that you will not summon them, or loyal to you because they want to help you?" he asks her.
"You can hit puppy with strap. Will grow into dog that will be fierce. But not loyal. You pay too much attention, you get dog that is loyal, but not effective. You have to find balance. Train them. Have them want to be part of you."
If anything, Keiko is comfortable with Piotr. She's fallen naturally into the role of follower. It's almost like she never left the Nightfall.
Or rather all strides that she made in her three years of freedom.
She keeps working to wash the dirt and grime from Piotr's body as he speaks. "They are bound to me. I mastered them during my trials. The obey because I am strong." Which answers his questions and explains why they challenge her from time to time.
"Koa told me to play with them. To get them to like me. I had started before we were pulled here." Which might explain Onyxia. There's that human piece of her again.
Her hand trails down his arm over the tattoo that has formed there. "It is hard when you have to learn to control them and you're beaten for showing any compassion at all."
Closing his eyes as he feels the touch to his arm, Piotr closes his eyes and lets out a sigh. She may be a follower, but he has tried very hard to treat her as his equal. To be honest - if he had feelings for the woman, they're hard to show, because every time he has in the traditional sense.. it hasn't exactly worked.
"Do you miss him?" he asks her finally. "Koa that is. I know the two of you were close." he admits, glancing towards where their hands are.
"This place does not allow you to foister compassion. You can only take what you may get." he says with a shrug of his shoulders as he slips beneath the water to wash off, a brush against Keiko's body before he rises back up to lean against her, gently.
Piotr has had an uphill battle with Keiko. She's strong willed, stubborn and independent and when they got here, had a distinct lack of understanding that comes with … relationships.
They'd been thrust together in a place that meant she couldn't show weakness and admitting she didn't understand was a weakness. Then Piotr had … claimed … her before affection could truly blossom.
One thing is clear though. She's fiercely loyal and would give her life to protect him. So maybe there's feelings there, somewhere.
If there's one thing Piotr knows about Keiko she's blunt to a fault. That he asked the question directly means he knows what he's getting. "Yes. I miss many things about home but it's getting harder and harder to remember. When I think of him though, it's a little easier." Piotr had seen the matched collars they wore, he knows his sisters handiwork and he knows that Keiko's collar is part of her.
"It does not, you are right and I have to work with what I can." she lets the man sink in the water, settling her back against the edge of the tub when he leans back, arms over his shoulders, cheek against his head.
Is there really no affection? Or is it all the woman lets herself show?
Piotr doesn't know. He may never know. He's not had the type of experience that she's had. But when she speaks of Koa, she may feel just a slight tenseness in him. As if he interrupted something. "Then we will need to make sure you get back." he says finally as he moves to sit up.
He didn't mean to not let her develop feelings. And perhaps it will never be. But he owes her that much.
Pushing himself out of the bath, he gives a grunt. Is he just going to leave her in the tub?
Maybe Keiko's more like a cat. Had Piotr thought on that? Not a creature who needs constant petting and attention. It must be difficult for the man who has the soul of an artist - or at least had - to understand that another simply can't exhibit the same depth of feeling.
"I don't know if we're ever getting back, Piotr." Keiko says quietly, moving to stand in front of him when he sits up. As he stands she takes his hand and puts it on her stomach. "We're here, we're together and I'm carrying your heir and willingly. Can you accept that?"
She'll probably not mention Koa again given his response. Maybe as the years roll on, that feeling will be eaten by Limbo as well.
"Don't go."
"I want to help." Piotr responds. Perhaps it is the last vestiges of his own soul - that self-sacrifice - to step aside so that Keiko can be happy. If she's a cat, he is definitely a dog. A 500 pound metallic dog. "When you have our child…" he feels his hand on her stomach, and his fingers splay out over her flesh thoughtfully. "…we can convince K'nert to let us visit home. You would not have to come back."
He knows it's not true. K'nert is not going to let them stop at one child. He probably expects Keiko, like a cat, to have a whole litter of them.
"I will never go far from you." comes his promise to her. His hand moves up her stomach, over the side of her torso to cup her face, his fingers brushing over her cheek.
Piotr is definitely a dog. Who says she's not happy with the way things are? Except for the stuck in Limbo as a brood mare part, that is.
Poor Piotr. Paired with a woman who can't show affection. Or at least refuses to in the situation they're in.
"He won't let us, you know that. If Illyana isn't found, we're stuck here." Maybe K'nert will be happy with just one heir, but she doubts it as well. Demons don't seem to have a very good handle on human, or mutant, relations.
Turning her head into the caress, Keiko turns her glowing, cat slitted eyes up to the man. There's that heat he's become familiar with. "Then sit. Let me bathe you and enjoy the water while we can."
Can he live with what she's offering? At least for now?
Closing his eyes, Piotr considers the offer that Keiko has presented him. There are worse things than a lifetime with her. A lot worse things. Even if the situation is not ideal.
He can't believe Illyana is just gone. She has to return. Someday. He keeps that hope. Fading as it is.
And then she urges him gently, nudging him back. "As you wish, my Consort." he responds finally, slipping back into the water to bring her to him.
The answer seems to be yes.