finalflight | OPEN POST; [ HERLOCK SHOLMES / TGAA ]

[ oh. look at him struggle. she unfurls her legs then, like a spider in a blossom, and braces her hands above each of his elbows. her tail, too, abandoning the stiff length of him and wending his waist instead.

she feels weak, but it remains she's still stronger than him. upsy-daisy. ]

[Allez hop, as both the French and NBA players say.

Up he goes, and her strength is just enough for him to half-stand, half-fall forward onto the chaise again. He all but melts into her, if not for how he manages to brace himself with one hand on the back of their seating, his knees on either side of her hips.]

...Thank you.

[ that's perfect, because she's melting into him, in turn. arms around, and tightly. she thinks. the drug makes it difficult to know. ]

Mmhhhh.

[ a low and sighing sound as she buries her face against him. ]

[Tight enough. The drug does make it difficult to know.

He relaxes the arm used to prop himself up, which means he further slumps forward as she buries her face against him. His own chin finds her shoulder, resting there.

There. Holding. She's so warm.

It's a bit... nice.]

Will you... tell me more about yourself, while we're like this?

[ it is... nice. almost as if they weren't high and halfway lust-ridden. she's acutely aware of the point of his chin on her shoulder, little tingles through her upper body, and shivers out a breath into the cut of his half-open collar. ]

I am scholar. Was scholar. Now... I do not know.

[Comfy... were it not for the lust, yes, still making him buzz warmly.]

Mm, I would be entranced by an acaedmic, yes.

[...]

Has your path taken you elsewhere?

It has taken me... [ a deep inhale, a deeper sigh. morose. the sound of someone languishing without purpose. he may know it well. ] I don't know. This remains to be seen.

[...He does know it. He's suddenly sorry to have brought up what seems to be a point of uncertainty in her life, though it seems silly to feel that way. He is her future husband, is he not?]

I hope I am helping you find that answer.

You are. [ Mammon, she hopes he believes that ] My life is coming back into colour.

…good.

[Murmured into her neck. He is glad to hear that.]

There’s nothing worse in life than stagnation.

[ he can't know what waits for him in a prison across worlds, but it still jars unpleasantly to think it. ]

Some things.

[And yet he might still make the argument that he met her there, even if he knew the details.]

Mm, like what?

Betrayal.

[Huh????]

Who would do such a thing?

[ something Reim once said to her...

a low, hot murmur against his neck, ] No accounting for family.

Family?

[It shouldn't be surprising, because family is often a source of conflict, especially in the upper circles of English society. Sholmes himself will soon be shipped off to Oxford, for example, so that he might fully integrate himself into the rank and file. The idea both compels and disgusts; he would like to study the sciences, but only on his own time, and not amid peers who would dull his mind. He is upset, in some ways, with his family because it is not ideal, and yet they'd see him remain there all the same.

(In the future, he will get an entire case out of the friends he makes at university, having to do something with a man named Musgrave and a ritual, but that's years and years from now.)

Still, even this is not on the same level as he would call a... betrayal.]

A jealous sibling...?

Edited (repetition!!!) 2025-06-30 16:19 (UTC)

[ would it not be seeking comfort and coddling to tell him? to this day she struggles so deeply with revealing this part of her life to those closest to her. always simpler when they are a stranger for whom knowing her is only a tiny fraction of their life, and whom she will never have to see again.

when it is Sholmes...

she's quiet at first, merely turning her face deeper into his neck as though seeking a hiding place, and hugs her thighs around his hips. in every way, folding up. ]

My father, my mother.

[ ...Oh. That's...

The way she becomes smaller, folded up against him, is so telling.

Broken relationships between parents and their children are also not unheard of, but they rarely revolve solely around betrayal and little else. He realizes that there may be more to the story, of course, and yet his gut instinct tells Sholmes that there is no love lost between his future wife and future in-laws.

Future in-laws. What a... terrible... notion...]

Unforgivable. Utterly selfish, to ruin a path you wished to tread.

[ she simmers with her anger. always, always. dully, even a little coldly: ] They wish to tread it first.

And why not be proud of what their own daughter can accomplish? How strange, to be treated like... competition.

I am given middle name of "Morosis". Herlock.

[It’s nearly hard to believe. To be given a name like that, it feels nearly… spiteful. Like there’s not an ounce of love.]

A name that I know does not apply.

[He’s known her for less than a day but this is an easy conclusion to make.]

Sweet boy.

[ suffused with exasperated warmth. how can he know? how can he know yet? ah, a teenage boy, truly. ]

Would you like to come inside me?

[O-oh.

A high and lustful teenager, already fascinated with her body, will of course reply in the affirmative with no thought of the consequences, if any. He had already suggested as much before, didn't he?]

Yes.

Say "please, Ms Vaux".

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retroductions - 2025-07-02 03:20 (UTC) - Expand