I've been planning that damn pantry scene in my head for ages AND I STILL HAVEN'T GOTTEN LUCANIS IN THE FIC YET
so! Here's spoilers for the current dialogue idea lmao
So, it starts off with Taash having gotten Nyla to deal with Spite in the pantry, obvs
And so, Lucanis is standing there, glowing eyes and all.
Spite is super pleased, naturally, since he's been wanting to talk with Nyla for a while now
"Now. We get to talk." He grins, too much teeth for Lucanis' normal, restrained smile.
"Sure thing! Been meaning to for a while now-- What did you need, baby?" Nyla smiles, pretty damn sure that Spite wasn't currently threatening to her. He looked pleased at least.
"We had. A deal. And Lucanis won't! Keep it!" He complained with a snarl.
"That doesn't sound like him, he's very particular about his word. But it would explain the issues you two have been having. What'd he promise? Maybe I can help?" If it was possible, Spite would be preening right now.
"Yes! Help! He promised!" Spite barked. "Break our chains. Kill. Escape our prison. And live."
Nyla wanted to protest that they did that, but... She looked around the pantry.
"Ah... I imagine Lucanis understood that more literally than you did. And while you're both living, this can hardly be considered really living, can it? Sleeping in a pantry? Food is great, but sleeping with the cheese wheel is usually considered beneath someone." Nyla sighed with a shake of her head.
Spite snarled, throwing up his hands in frustration.
"I want! Out!" Spite nearly screamed.
"Hey, easy there baby, I get it. This isn't ideal for anyone!" Nyla hesitantly reached out, shocked that Spite let her approach. Allowed her to place her hands on his face soothingly, leaning into the affection. "Oh, honey. This has to be so rough, people saying things but meaning something else. And when you try to explain how bullshit it is, they get offended!" Spite nodded, almost drunk as his breathing leveled out.
"Lucanis. Won't listen!" Spite hissed.
"Yeah? And you two can't just walk away to cool off, either. He doesn't understand what's got you so riled up, assumes you just want to rip everything apart because you're a 'demon'. And anytime you try to explain, it doesn't get through to him either, does it, baby?" Nyla asked softly. "I know it's hard, and you're certainly not used to it, but you're going to have to be more patient with each other as you find a middle ground. Unless we find a solution to your... Living arrangement, you've got the rest of Lucanis' life stuck together. That's quite a while to be at each other's throats, dear."
Spite's lip curled in a low hiss.
"He. Promised!" Spite narrowed his eyes at her, hands gripping her wrists harshly. "I. Want. Out!" Nyla winced at the bruising grip and Spite froze, letting go of her and stepping back suddenly. Expression at war between frustration and disgust. A snarl rising in his throat as his anger overwhelmed him.
"TELL HIM! MAKE HIM--!"
Despite clearly losing control, Spite maintained a healthy distance from her until it all suddenly disappeared. Tension lifting from his bent frame all at once, Lucanis looking up with confused brown eyes. Utterly perplexed to see her standing there.
"Wh-What? Nyla, why... Was I...?"
"You were sleepwalking. And I suppose Spite sleep talking? Nothing happened though, I promise. Taash noticed and got me as quick as they could." Nyla reassured him, but Lucanis looked horrified.
"Mierda. I-I... I didn't want you to see that. Again." Lucanis breathed out heavily, looking down in shame.
"Oh, love, there's nothing to be ashamed of. I'll always come see you, even if you didn't ask, technically--in fact, you'll have to try a lot harder than that if you want to get rid of me." Nyla smiled.
Lucanis looked up at her in surprise.
"How do you always do that?"
"Do what? Be stubborn? I'm not the one literally carrying 'Spite', thought you'd know more about that than I do." She joked, but Lucanis shook his head, lips quirked in a crooked smile.
"No. Dispell my carefully gathered clouds of doom." He looked so resigned about it all as he spoke, like he was already certain, "You deserve better than to deal with my mess."
Nyla laughed at that, her mouth running from her without thought.
"Haven't you heard, baby? Every cloud has a silver lining--and lucky for you, you look utterly dashing in silver. So wear those dark clouds all you want, it only makes you more handsome when you do." Nyla teased, watching his expression shift in a way she hadn't seen before.
Almost... Sultry.
Which was weird. Because she'd certainly never had someone look at her like that before.
Lucanis didn't speak as he slowly crossed the distance between them, bracing himself on the wall beside her. Leaning in a little closer than she'd ever had him outside of a fight. Coffee and expensive cologne drifting around her in a gentle haze.
"This isn't a good idea." Lucanis informed her softly, voice low and very pleasing with a soft, gravely rumble.
"You know, of all the things I've been called, 'sensible' isn't one of them." Nyla pointed out curiously.
Lucanis meant being his friend, right? Because, yeah, being close friends with a master assassin was objectively a bad idea.
But Nyla wouldn't trade him for anything! All of her friends here--she never wanted to let them go.
Rook, a soft, distant voice, sighed in the back of Nyla's head. A heartfelt curse in Antivan somewhere between 'Andraste's knickers' and 'why must I suffer fools'.
Which was weird, because while Rook usually didn't comment much, it usually made more sense when she did.
Lucanis jerked, a restrained snort catching her sensitive ears.
His dark eyes considering her closely. Even more so than before.
"You like to walk a little close to the edge."
His words caught in her head.
He didn't mean--she knew that.
Nyla knew he couldn't mean that. Had no way of knowing--Nyla smiled, all too practiced at distraction on that topic.
"Is that worry I hear? From the master assassin? You live on the edge, it's only fitting that I'm comfortable there too." Nyla said, the words tasting like ash on her tongue.
Three quarters of an inch had never felt so far that day.
"At least I know I'm doing it." Lucanis countered, his eyes drifting lower. His body leaning in closer...
She was all too aware--
Then, something happened.
Nyla realized how close Lucanis was.
It was silly to think now of all times. He'd been well in arm's reach for a good bit now. His handsome face suddenly feeling too close. Far closer than he, or anyone else, had ever been to Nyla. The warmth of his breath and body settling onto her like a comforting blanket, scented of coffee and expensive hygiene products befitting a wealthy assassin with pride in his appearance.
But rather than be utterly repelled, wanting her personal space back, Nyla bizarrely wanted Lucanis closer. A sudden desire that she'd never felt before. So ridiculous, in fact, that it left her frozen, staring into his soft, heated brown eyes until there was a flash of something in them.
A flicker of pink.
"I... Need to clear my head." Lucanis jerked back suddenly, hand coming up to his nose as he retreated from the room.
"A-Ah! Lucanis! Wait a second--Honey, this is your room?!? Why are you--" but he was already gone. Nyla left with the lingering heat of his breath on her lips and face flushed.
"You're an IDIOT! HE WAS TRYING TO KISS YOU!!!" Rook screamed in her head, Nyla jerking back from the sheer volume.
"What? No--that doesn't sound right. I can't kiss him, this is your body that would be wrong!" Nyla protested.
"Oh? So you also wanted to kiss him, hmm? Because I was talking about him, not you!" Nyla froze, sitting with that challenge for a moment.
Slowly, her fingers pressed onto her lips.
"Oh..."
"Yeah, 'oh'! Andraste's flaming knickers, how did you not realize that?!?"
"... I never wanted to kiss someone before. Oh no... I did want him to kiss me, didn't I?" Nyla's heart sank. "Oh, honey... What a mess I've gotten myself into! I can't! I can't possibly do that!"
"Why the fuck not?! I say, go find that dumbass and grab him by the lapels and kiss the shit out of him!" Rook declared with fire.
"Rook, baby, I can't do that in your body!"
"Why not?! I say go for it! What's holding you back?! I promise I don't care--at least he's easy on the eyes and a damn good assassin! I've slept with worse!" Rook swore.
"I--No! Absolutely not!" Nyla protested. "I can't... I can't have my first kiss like this. As someone else! Or even more than that--only to go back home and wonder if I'd ever had a chance as myself. I can't... I can't do that to myself, Rook. And I won't disrespect you by trying anyway when you can't stop me!" She hissed.
Rook fell silent.
"Oh, hermana... I'm so sorry. I promise it's okay if you do, but... Alright. I won't push... Now get out of the damn pantry before he realizes he ran out of his own room." Rook huffed.
Nyla laughed wetly and nodded. Suddenly realizing her wrists ached, the tanned skin coloring darker with bruises.
"Ah, beans... I should take care of those before someone makes assumptions." Nyla mused.
What if your FO is someone whos status makes them important and doesnt allow them to have a romantic partner, like a celebrity or some public official. You go on dates and maybe get intimate often, but they keeps insisting 'you're just friends'. They know you like them, and you know they like you too, but you just can't get together, the fact they deny it and attempt to claim you're just friends is just all the more painful. Maybe they're in denial. But are you gonna get in the way of their job?
