#leila the apprentice

[nyxivy]

Meet my Arcana apprentice, Leila!!! :)

[poetic-emptiness-fanfic]

(ง'̀-'́)ง whoever hurts Hande better get ready to get struck by lightning —leila-of-ravens

“Thanks, Leila! Now I have the power of water, earth AND thunder on my side!”

[sisi-halloway]

Kiss me? (Asra x Leila)

Here’s a piece for @localhierophant! This is for her apprentice Leila. I had a lot of fun writing this piece, trying to show off your wonderful character through writing, so thank you for asking me to write it! I really hope you like it!

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The doorbell rang sporadically as a large woman came in, holding a basket and the ear of a child. Leila the apprentice almost rolls her eyes. She had a bad feeling about this one, and she was just one more bad customer away from losing it.

“Hoy! You’re a pretty lil’ pumpkin, aren’t you? Don’t mind me son, here.”

Leila was surprised with the woman’s boisterous attitude. Her deep, resonant voice echoed throughout the front part of the shop, seeming to rattle all the bottles and flasks on the shelves. She left her boy at the door, squatting in shame, and approached the counter.

“Skink! It doesn’ matter what part of it. Jus’ somethin’ I can use for a potion. I know you have that.”

Leila sighed, nodding her head and going to check one particular shelf with all the reptilian parts on it. Her slender fingers fished through the different vials, mugs, mortars... searching for at least a single part of one. Asra normally kept the feet, the tails, the entrails stocked here, sometimes they’d even have whole skinks. Leila wasn’t seeing any.

“And dear, when someone is talkin’ to ya, you best answer.”

“Especially, when they’re your elder...” Leila muttered under her breath. This woman was really disturbing her peace. The woman didn’t hear her over the racket she had promptly started with her son.

Leila searched one more time, figuring she had missed something. But in fact, there was no skink. 

Probably because Asra ate it all.

“I’m sorry. We don’t have anymore skink. Would salamander or lizard do?”

Leila was almost afraid to tell her the truth. The way she turned around said it all. Her fleshy face was already beet red.

“Don’ have anymore skink? You mus’ be overlookin’ it! Pretty you are, but you can’t seem to do your job. Just dumb eye candy, if you ask me! Where’s Asra?”

Leila realized what the woman was getting at. She couldn’t have been talking to her like that! Why would she be so rude? This made Leila feel angry... and quite powerless to do anything about it.

“Asra’s not here... he stepped out to get some things.” Leila wrung her hands in her apron, made nervous by the confrontation, a flame burning up inside her. She really wished the woman would give up and go away.... Just so Leila could be left alone. The shop owner resumed her place behind the counter, as if it would protect her from the woman’s heavy barrage of insults and blame.

“Oh, sure! The one thing I need isn’t here, and Asra’s not even here to get it for me! Curse you and this stupid shop. Where is Asra? I want to talk to him, immediately!”

The door bell twinkled again, lightly this time as Asra slipped into the store, causing the boy to step aside. The magician held a cheesecloth and a few other things in a basket. The aroma of fresh bread followed him in and Leila couldn’t help but light up. She held her smile quietly to herself as Asra looked between his apprentice and the customer. 

“Asra is here... what’s the matter?” He says, setting all the things on the counter.

“I want some skink, but the tramp here says ye don’ have any!”

Asra’s eyes go wide in surprise at her choice of words. He comes up beside Leila protectively, shifting in front of her. Leila gladly steps into his shadow. All her nerves released. Being around Asra meant she was safe and taken care of. It meant nobody would mess with her. And he always handled things so well.

“She’s not a tramp, her name is Leila. I would appreciate it if you used that when addressing her. I suggest you use it now to apologize.”

Asra didn’t continue speaking until the woman acknowledged his apprentice. When she did so, Leila slipped her hand into Asra’s, which dangled at his side. It was warm and tense... leading Leila to believe that he was angry. Yet, he sounded so calm.

“And about the skink... Leila is right. We don’t have any.”

The woman’s mouth dropped to the floor. Asra had just pointed out her foolishness and rubbed that woman’s face in it. With a furious huff, she was out the door, slamming it behind her.

Leila decompressed, finally able to take a breath. She groaned, slumping against Asra’s chest. 

Asra smiled softly, running a hand through his apprentice’s hair, wrapping her in a hug. Leila warmed up to it, trying to hide the blush on her face. Asra’s hands were always so relaxing... Like this morning when he had taken a glance at her palm. 

She had given herself a splinter while moving a shelf and Asra took a long while examining her hands, turning them over in his and washing magic over them. The splinter was long gone by that time and she had the feeling that Asra had just wanted to hold hands for a bit. He pressed his mouth to her hand to “kiss the splinter better”. Leila’s stomach did a flip just thinking about it.

Leila wasn’t surprised because those things happened often, little heartfelt things like that, with how close the two of them had come to be. However, Leila wanted to get a little closer... but she didn’t know how to tell the magician. She had been dropping hints all day, trying to see if he would notice. It wasn’t in her nature to just be upfront about her feelings for him.

That morning, while they were hurrying to open the shop because he let her sleep in late, they nearly bumped into each other. They were chest to chest, centimeters apart, a hair away from disaster. Each of them had something glass in their hands. Leila didn’t make an effort to get away from him, and Asra wasn’t in a hurry to part either. They just stood there, staring at each other, until Asra began to laugh. Leila’s blush darted across her cheeks at their closeness, but she was definitely enjoying it. 

“Close call, huh?” Asra said, looking down at his apprentice with warm, sensual eyes. Leila pressed her hot to the touch. Leila could feel his heartbeat quicken as she touched him.

“Yep, definitely a close one, master.”

Asra was left dumbfounded as she walked away, putting the glass on its respective shelf. There seemed to be a lot more in that touch than she was letting on. Asra could feel it.

Anytime they were working side by side that day, Leila couldn’t help but touch her master is some way. Whether they were shoulder to shoulder, or her foot found a way to touch his, she took the chance. She caught glimpses of Asra smiling to himself, letting her know her feeble attempts at communicating her feelings weren’t in vain. 

When he had left the shop to go get dinner, he pinched her cheeks and told her that they could close early if she wanted. It was all up to her. She hadn’t wanted to originally, but now after that problem customer, all she wanted to do was go outside, find her, kick her ass, close the shop and go to bed. 

“I hope that cranky lady trips in some mud on her way to bother someone else,” Leila mutters, taking a deep breath of Asra’s calming scent. It made her stomach light. Asra lets out a boyish giggle. “Ouch. You know, you are a magician... you could make it happen if you wanted.”

The two laugh together, still tucked into their close embrace. Leila looks up at Asra, the swelling of emotion for him threatening to come out of her chest in the form of a confession... but she just couldn’t bring herself to say anything. Asra seemed to finally want to address the topic, placing a hand at the back of her neck. His eye contact was very intense, but comforting... intimate.

“Leila... did you want to tell me something?” Asra’s hand cupped her cheek now, rubbing a bit of loose powder away. (It was from the powdered bat’s milk she was helping a customer get some while ago). 

Asra was really nervous. She could be this hesitant for two reasons: She loved him and was too afraid to tell him. 

Or she didn’t love him and was too afraid to break his heart.

For Asra, the decisions always depended on her. His feelings for her were sure. He just wanted her to feel the same way... on her own.

Leila bit her lip, casting her eyes away. “Um... I- uh...” She couldn’t look her master in the eye right then. She wanted him to be so much more than that.

“Don’t look so nervous. It’s just me... Here, I bet you’re hungry. Go close up really fast and I’ll have dinner ready for you when you’re done. Good deal?”

“Good deal. I’ll race you.”

“You’ll lose, Leila.”

Asra winked and nearly sent the apprentice into hyperspace. With that he grabbed the basket of goodies and bolted toward the kitchen, leaving her to do the few closing duties. Leila was thankful for the rescue. 

Only Asra could ever save her from... Asra? No that wasn’t it. He was saving her from her own embarrassment. He has to know, Leila thinks as she flips the open sign to closed and locked the shop door. All the times her and Asra had nearly done it, confessed their feelings, crossed her mind as she wiped down the counters. His eyes, his hair, his perfect smile seemed to taunt her as she covered some ingredients with cloths. How could she be so close to someone, but not comfortable enough to tell him how she felt?

Leila comes into the kitchen, sure that she had beat Asra in the race. She was shocked at what she saw.

“Told you you’d lose,” Asra says, leaning back in his chair. He pats the seat next to him, rather than across from him, telling Leila to sit. They always ate side by side... it was always closer.

“So this is where all the skink went,” Leila laughs, looking at a seasoned bowl of meat in the center of the table. Beside it were some vegetables, turnips Leila presumed they were, and a grained pasta. All the food smelled delicious.

Asra laughs nervously and scratches his head sheepishly. “Sorry. I had a craving.”

As Leila sits down, she spots a glass bottle filled with deep red liquid. “Is that... what I think it is?” She asks excitedly. Asra nods, his white tuft of hair bobbing with him. “Sure is.”

Asra had brought some decadent fruit juice from the orchard not too far away from their shop. He knew it was one of her favorites, so of course he went out of his way to buy it for her. He loved buying things for her.

“You’re so sweet, Asra. It hurts, I swear.”

Their meal was very tasty, the bread sending them over the edge of pleasantly satisfied into the realm of dangerously full. 

After they eat, Asra begins the clean up, Leila close behind. Her hands are soon plunged into warm soapy water in the wash basin while Asra clears the table for her. 

“Thanks for today, Asra. The food was so good.” Leila says this appreciatively while lathering up the cookware and dishes, rinsing them and putting them on a towel to dry. 

“I’m glad you liked it, Leila. It’s always a treat to see you smile.”

Asra had come up behind his apprentice, rubbing warmth into her shoulders with soothing hands. He was making her warmer than he intended.

“I don’t want to make any assumptions... but you have something you want to talk about. It’s bothering you. I’m always here to listen, if you need me to.”

Asra’s words struck through Leila like an arrow of heat. He was leaving the door wide open for her to tell him. Wide. Open.

“I do... actually...” Leila’s voice was almost reduced to a whisper, and Asra had to poke his head around her shoulder to hear. His presence tickled her, causing her to laugh a little, and she playfully dodged his lips. He liked to blow air in her ears sometimes. This time she was too quick for him.

She turned around so that Asra was at her front and the sink was at her back. Their bodies were almost flush with each other, and Leila took care not to get her master wet with water.

“So what’s on your mind, Leila?”

Leila was totally entranced by her master’s face. There was something so soft, so gentle about his eyes. She loved him more right then than she ever really knew she did.

She decided to be braver right then than she ever really knew she could be. She said the word before she had the chance to take it back.

“You.”

Before Asra could make sure he was rearing correctly, Leila leaned forward and placed her hands on Asra’s cheeks. The soapy suds from her hands dripped down his face, hugging his jaw and dripping onto his shirt. Asra’s face resembled a mix of surprise, relief and pure joy. Leila had never seen him smile so genuinely before.

“I’ve had you on my mind too.”

Asra slides his hands around Leila’s waist, pressing her against him like he was trying to glue them together. He leans closer, closer, slowly so that she has time to pull away if she needs to. She doesn’t. 

“Really?” Leila asks. She didn’t know what she expected from her master, whether it was rejection or just something else, but she wasn’t expecting his response to be so... radiant. Asra looked like he was in seventh heaven. 

“Of course, Leila. You’re always on my mind.”

Asra is so close to Leila now, speaking in a calm murmur. She could feel the flutter of his long lashes as the two lidded their eyes. Asra could feel Leila’s soft, gasping breaths. She was so happy, exhilarated really. She was so happy that Asra shared her same feelings.

“Then... kiss me?”

Asra wasted no time. He pressed his lips to Leila’s softly, as she flung her arms around him. His hands travel up to her back, keeping her from falling into the sink. Her ponytail skimmed the surface of the water, the way Asra was dipping her. She wasn’t paying attention to any of that. All her focus was on him.

It wasn’t so much one kiss as it was a thousand little ones. Leila’s mouth stamped and re-stamped Asra’s as they affectionately turned their heads, exploring all the different ways their lips could meet. The magician reciprocated his apprentice’s ardor, kissing back as strongly as she dared to kiss him. She licked his lip, he licked her back. She sighed into his mouth, he moaned back to her. She pushed closer, he pushed back. There was no limit to how much he could give her. He would give until she said to stop. 

Asra’s hand was soon around her neck, enclosing it in a gentle grasp. Leila was smiling out of her mind, barely able to keep up with Asra now. He was kissing her like this was his only purpose... Leila couldn’t believe this was really happening. She broke away for only a second, sweeping the hair out of her master’s eyes. The purple gems shined like she had never seen them do before.

“Leila?”

“Y-yes, Asra?”

“Can I kiss you again?”

[nyxivy]

愛らしいキャラクターメーカー｜Picrew

Hi! Please have fun with my picrew! / 楽しんでください! There's a lot to do and to customize: ...

it's 12am, i have a lecture tomorrow morning and instead of sleeping i'm making Leila on picrew