Third Time’s The Charm

S

he’d felt the spectre draw nearer to her before she’d flickered her gaze upon her again. The sorrowful creature stood close enough to her to touch now. Nimue noted the starved look in her expression before she let out her huff of annoyance.

The tale of this shadow of a being was vastly intriguing to her and she wanted to find out as much as she could about the stranger she was sharing living quarters with. With each cause of death she listed off, Nimue’s eyebrows rose a few centimeters more. It was quite an impressive feat, to have taken all of those foes out before someone had been able to capture and lock her away.

“Mmm…” She hummed thoughtfully, as a gust of wind swept through the dungeon reminding her of winter’s chill. Nimue shivered lightly and then shook her coat to rid the sensation, peering around once more at this cell and then once more to its inhabitant.

Now it was she who took the steps that drew them closer together, until were breaths apart. “The cold has proved to be brutal this season…would you fancy sharing your warmth?” She inquired tentatively, before quickly adding, “Provided you don’t silt my throat as I sleep, of course…”

@Third

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck

The ghostly echo of the remnant's voice rattled and whispered in the hollow corners of the dismal dungeon. The familiar shadows pressed closer, bringing with them the evening's chill. Cold seeped slowly into blood and bone, but Third had long since learned to weather the cold. Years had passed since she'd last seen the sun; her flesh was numb, her fingers were frigid, and the memory of warmth was a sick, sullen sort of torture.

And then temptation teased too close; the earthen woman stepped closer, and Third needed no further invitation than this. She pressed her cold, cracked nose into the other's fur. Silken strands brushed across her muzzle, her breath stirring the flesh kept captive by the gentle pressure. A hum of pleasure echoed behind her teeth, coiling over her tongue. This time, when she spoke, her voice was a quiet croon.

"What use would be a ruby necklace
On a woman rare and feckless?
If I had a gift so dear
I'd grant it waking, don't you fear.
For tonight, at least, you're safe with me
Though tomorrow brings no guarantee."

She offered what she thought, perhaps, was a reassuring smile. It had the unfortunate side effect of baring her teeth against the other's neck - but she behaved herself, and closed her cracking lips over her fangs after a long, languid moment. Touch and taste and the tangled, tepid torture of warmth; she sighed, and pressed forward, until they were chest to chest, and her head draped over the other's shoulders in a parody of a loving embrace.

T

he proposition had hardly left her mouth before Third swept in, curling in against her taller frame with what felt like the intent to devour her whole. Nimue held fast and did not flinch or turn away, remaining resolute in her stance to press back against the dungeon's shadow. Electricity rolled down her spine, the hair there prickling and standing on end in response to the heated breath against the skin beneath her fur.

The internal hum of the flesh-starved woman was as as tantalizing as it was unsettling, especially when followed by the lowered murmur to rival the previous rattle of her haggard voice. Nim tilted her head angling it towards the tentatively weaved words that burned into her neck. She had to chuckle at the cleverly meticulous way Third weaved them which roused her own muse once more.

"I've never much cared for jewels,
Nor promises empty crafted for fools,
Though the sentiment, darling, I do appreciate,
And as for tomorrow, it's always been left to fate,
Solitude has been cruel to you, isolation unrelenting,
I could only hope that I would be so tempting,
Why look to the future, when the warmth is here,
So tonight, allow me to hold you near...

Teeth were bared at her neck in what felt like a twisted smile before she increased their contact, the women finding each other chest to chest. Nimue suddenly found amusement in this scenario in that it reminded her of her mother's warnings to never invite malevolent spirits in, yet here she was with a wraith wrapped up in her embrace.


@Third

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck

A promise offered, a partner prized from the pinnacle of potential. Third clung close to the other, spindly fingers grasping desperately to the warmth inherent of flesh and blood and bone. She could feel Nimue's heart beat under her ear, could imagine the sweet rush of hot blood beneath the delicate surface of silken skin. Was this what life felt like? Was this what warmth could be? She had been alone for so long - cold for so long. Nimue's body burned in comparison to the frigid cell, and Third whimpered as she pressed closer, compressing her revenant form as far into the other's figure as possible. Dust and grime and grey moss were crushed in betwixt their bodies, a corpse-rot blanket that crunched in the slim space between.

She wanted....she was not sure what she wanted. To crawl inside of her, maybe. To skin her and wear her like a cloak. To weep and wail and beg her not to leave. To push her away, lest she grow addicted to the memory of her touch, her voice, her smell. To kiss, or to kill? She couldn't choose. Being greedy and grabbing for both would leave her with neither and nothing at all. But to deprive herself of either....well, that was just another sort of torture. Fortunately, she had quite a lot of experience with that.

Tomorrow....tomorrow, she would remember that her guests were always temporary. That life and warmth were fickle and fruitless. Tomorrow, she would discard the promise to do no harm, and start the game anew. But for now, she'd revel in the warmth. In mingled breath, and beating hearts that pulsed in tandem. She exhaled into Nimue's fur, hot and humid and real - and with ghostly, velvet touches, drew the younger girl down into the corner, where she made her nest. Nestled in amongst the stone and straw, the wraith curled around the earthen other, offering in equal what she craved. Moonlight and cobweb entwined with loam and chocolate, and Third crooned wordless, out of tune encouragement, physically adjusting the other's body just so. She made no intimate overture, offered no threat - but her teeth periodically ghosted over the other's pulse and into her pelt, her blunted claws trailing delicate lines across flesh and fur. Third curled around and held the other close, until sleep came at last to claim them both.

[Exit Third via sleep]

S

he began to question whatever had enticed her to offer herself up to the to the creature that lived in the depths of shadow when Third latched on to her. Nimue tucked her head to one side, her nostrils flaring as she took in the acrid scent of this female’s sedentary existence beneath the brittle shell of dirt that seemed to cake her coat.

It was the small whimper that escaped the woman on a breath, that reminded her of the raw hunger that teetered back and forth upon the fragile tightrope of sanity. All she knew was that she wanted to fill that need, provide relief for the desire turned to desperation. Was the reason?

It was not pity that she felt, but was more of the weight of the reality that Third was doomed never to step foot into the glare of true sun light outside of this forsaken place. Were she in her place, Nimue likely would’ve been in the same state, wanting the same things. Things she could not have.

She fell in step with the other woman, drifting along with her only inches apart as she was led to the corner where a bed had been made. Between their quickened breaths as they clung to one another, she felt sharp teeth and hard claws against her skin, sighing a whisper at the base of Third’s ear.

“Whatever you need…” What did she have to lose after all? In the end, exhaustion took them both this night, leaving Nimue huddled as closely as she could into the other’s frame while she was whisked into a dreamless slumber.

[Exit Nim]

@Third

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck