An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 3/15
Fandom: Ghost (Sweden Band)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Relationships: Cardinal Copia/Original Female Character(s), Papa Emeritus III & Original Female Character(s), Papa Emeritus II & Original Female Character(s)
Characters: Original Female Character(s), Cardinal Copia, Papa Emeritus III, Papa Emeritus II, Original Male Character(s)
Additional Tags: POV First Person, Swearing, Dark, Italiano | Italian, Français | French, 19th Century, Alternate Universe - Pirate, Kidnapping, Non-Consensual Touching, Mild Blood, Threats, Bodice-Ripper, Superstition, Catholic Character, Face Slapping, Humiliation, Captivity, Daggers, Eventual Smut, Wine
Summary:
A lonely stroll down by the Caribbean shoreline goes terribly wrong.
You had simply wanted to help your boyfriend clean the kitchen at the end of the day. Sure, you should’ve called out when you slipped into the restaurant, and not just quietly slip in.
But it’s not like you meant to scare Osamu half to death, causing him to buckle with a bag of rice in his arms, falling in an awkward position and throwing his back out.
“Samu I’m so sorry.” It’s around the 30th apology of the night as you knead your thumbs up and down his spine. Flinching when he lets out a low hiss, growling something close to a string of cuss words.
“Lower.” He groans as you frown tightly, he hadn’t accepted a single apology, only fueling the guilt as you work your fingers against a tense muscle in his lower back.
“Samu-”
“Stop apologizin’ it’s not like you were tryna make that happen.” The tightness in his voice loosens as he relaxes just a little more against the plush blankets piled onto your shared bed.
“I feel bad.” The pout is evident in your voice, the only reply another sigh as he flips himself over, groaning as his back hits the bed.
“C’mere.” He tips his head back a bit, his message clear enough as you move to straddle his waist. You rub your hands over his broad chest, the downward tug of your lips still evident.
“You owe me a kiss.” He declares running a hand up your thigh, a tired smile spread across his lips.
“Just a kiss?” You raise your brows, leaning into the hand he brings up to your cheek.
Arumi latches onto his arm, trying to read his phone screen.
“H-Hey- Rumi-!”
“Come on, show me what's got you smiling like that! Haven't seen you smile so much in a while!”
“For someone who is japanese you sure don't know manners-”
“Hush hush, you! We’re not even in Japan. I don't need to be overly polite.”
“You were never polite.”
“To you maybe.”
“What is that supposed to me-”
Before he can finish his sentence, Arumi reaches out to grab his phone. Running a few paces away.
“Hehe!”
“Hey- My phone! Arumi!”
“I won't give it back until you tell me!”
“You could just read it.”
“Are you giving me permission?”
“No.”
“Then I won't. But I will still hold your phone hostage.”
“That doesn't make it better!”
“Come on Tetsu! Tell me!”
“Why are you so interested-”
“Your smile is making my eyes bleed. You're basically glowing with happiness! I need to know why!”
“Oh, hush.”
“Hey- that's my line!”
“Hm… Okay, if you tell me what you meant by ‘To you maybe.’ I might tell you why I’m smiling.”
“You might? Come on, that's a bad trade!”
“It's the only deal you're getting. What's it going to be?”
“Fine, I’ll tell you. Not like it was a secret.”
“You know how our first impressions didn't go so well? Yeah, I just decided there and then that since you already saw me like that, and you seemed to dislike me anyway, I might as well be myself.”
“Usually it would be flattering to hear ‘I’m only myself when around you.’ but our situation was anything but.”
“Yeah. Kinda funny though. But! Now it's positive! I could never be myself around the others. Well, maybe except for him.”
“He's not exactly from Japan either, so it would make sense he'd be more relaxed about the rules. Though, whenever I was around, you didn't seem to care that the others were too.”
“To be fair you were very provocative. And hey, isn't he from here? Man, I wish he came with us…”
“Next time.”
“Hopefully! If he can make time for his best drinking friend.”
“You guys drank like sailors about to die.”
“Well we did die the next day so it's not exactly wrong.”
Tetsuo smiles to himself, she always gets distracted so easily. It's nice to talk but he needs his phone back.
She was about to say something more when he reaches out and snags back his phone.
“Owa-!”
“Haha! I got it.”
“Hey!!! That's not fair!”
“It's called revenge. You should've guarded it better.”
“Ugh. If you didn’t look so happy I’d have punched you by now.”
“You know what will happen if you do that.”
“Yeah, not feeling like grappling you again when we’re in public, thanks.”
“Mhm-!”
Arumi lets out a choked gasp-grunt. Seeing Tetsuo on his phone, AGAIN.
“Tetsuo!!! You can't do this to me!”
“... Hm?”
“Look, I don't mind you texting, you look happy and I'm happy for you, but can you at least respond to me?”
“... Sorry Rumi… Give me a moment.”
She pouts, then sighs, seeing that he was not going to stop any time soon.
“Whatever, let’s just go.”
“Mhm.”
“Thought you wanted to see the sights here.”
“I do.”
“Then look around!”
“I am.”
“No you're not! I can see you're not!”
“Mm.”
“Ugh. Tell your lover I said hi or something.”
“Yeah I will- Wait! How did you know? Did you actually peek?”
“What-”
“What do you mean what?”
“It was… Just a joke.”
“WAIT SO THAT'S WHAT IT WAS!”
“Ah, damn.”
“You have a lover? Why wouldn't you tell me? Afraid your girl-friend would be jealous?”
“No. I was afraid of you having more things to tease me about.”
“Eh, close enough. Come on! What's their name? When did you meet?”
“Ngh...”
“You're not escaping me Tetsu! You have to tell me everything!”
“Ughn…”
“Oh hush, don't be dramatic! As your best friend forever, you're legally obligated to tell me about it.”
Friends location: In Japan (Mitsuaki) and Britain (Goldie & Chihiro)
Focus: Arumi
Duration: Short
-------------
WHO IS TALKING?
Narrator
“Arumi 愛龍美” ♀
“Tetsuo 哲和” ♂
-------------
“Hey, you've been here for a while. What's up?”
“Tetsu I just got here.”
“I didn't mean at my house, I meant in Britain.”
“Oh really?”
“You're acting a bit different too.”
“How can you even tell?”
“I've known you for years, it's obvious, your movements are slower and you're fidgeting more often, you're also using softer language, but the most obvious part is probably your cheeks flushing.”
“I know you're a detective but did you have to analyze me?”
“It wasn't on purpose. As I’ve told you, I’ve known you long enough to notice.”
“Whatever… Nothings happening! I just felt like staying longer.”
“I didn't say anything was happening.”
“Yes but you implied it!”
“You normally speak more than this.”
“Stop analyzing my behavior…!”
“Aha~”
“What do you mean ‘Aha~’ you can't just say that!”
“I can, and I did. I can do it again. Aha~”
“Look Tetsu, as nice as it is to see you having fun at my expense, can we move on to another topic?”
“No.”
“What.”
“Not until you tell me why you're acting differently.”
“No way! Why?”
“Payback.”
“For what? I don't know what I did to warrant revenge this time!”
“It's a few years ago…”
“YOU STILL REMEMBER THINGS FROM BACK THEN!?”
“Aha~ I have to make sure I get my revenge some day.”
“You're not human.”
“Says the dragon.”
“This is familiar…”
“Isn't it…?”
“Oh! I get it now! You have a lover don't you?”
“W-WHAT!? How did you randomly come to that conclusion!?”
“I was reminiscing and remembered something, that's all.”
“Ugh…”
“From your reaction I'm guessing I'm right?”
“Yeah yeah whatever, I have a boyfriend.”
“What are the chances he’d be in Britain too?”
“Hehe, I guess we’ll see each other more often! I wanted to tell you later but I might as well do it now.”
“Oh! You're staying! It will be nice to see you regularly again.”
“Aww! Did you miss me?”
“We’ve known each other for years. It's impossible not to miss you when you're gone, even if we still communicate online.”
“Wow. Ok. I didn't expect that. It's nice though. I missed you too! Did you know how much I missed tackling you?”
“Yes, you tell me all the time.”
Arumi smiles as she jumps in to tackle Tetsuo. This time there's no grappling, just a nice hug. Though it’s a bit suffocating on his end considering their size difference.
After a few seconds, Tetsuo gives her a final squeeze and pulls back so they can meet eye-to-eye.
“So, when am I going to meet him?”
“I’ll go ask him about his schedule and we’ll figure it out, and that means as soon as possible!”
“You look excited.”
“I am! Hehe! I can't wait!”
“I rarely see you giggling and jumping around like a little girl, you must be really happy.”
”Simply ask yourself. What were you thinking, wandering into the forest alone at night?”
“I wanted to go to the bathroom but then I noticed a certain someone following me”
”And your solution was to continue walking deeper into the forest?”
“And your solution was to follow me blindly?”
”Since you walked with such confidence I assumed you knew where you were going. I must’ve overestimated you.”
“Oh hush with the passive aggressiveness. Your tone is so pleasant but your words are anything but.”
”I'm not trying to argue with you, Asakai. If it helps, your bravado was convincing.”
“Of course. You have to learn this stuff if you’re going to survive.”
”You speak as if we’re in the year 1500.”
“Might’ve been better. At least you can attack in self defense.”
“How about we take a rain check on this and figure out how to return?”
”The moon is unfortunately not here today, but fortunately I didn’t trust you completely and made sure to remember which way we were going.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever smartass. Surprised you said the last part with such a calm, even tone.”
Tetsuo starts walking as Arumi subconsciously follows, not thinking about anything but the argument she’s in.
”speaking the truth doesn’t require anything.”
“You know sometimes I’m not sure if you’re insulting me or stating a fact.”
”Well, depending on the situation it can be both, and for us, most of the time it is both.”
“Can you stop doing that- Hey wait, when did we move!?”
”you didn’t notice? The distraction technique is effective then.”
“You’re not human.”
”says the dragon.”
“Oh hush. Let’s just go back, I know the rest of the way.”
Arumi rushes in front, soon coming to a clearing.
”Asakai, we’re at the wrong clearing. Y-”
“I know! Don’t even think about saying something. We’re near enough to the camp for us to be alone right?”
”well yes the camp is only a little while away”
“You can go back. Don't worry about me, if you even do, I come here every night. This was just the first time you’ve caught me.”
Looking around, there’s nothing special. Arumi sits with her back to him, looking up.
Following her gaze reveals that she’s looking at stars.
”Stargazing? Never took you for someone who does that.”
“Please, you’re not the only one who thinks they’re pretty.”
”Well I do more than just think they’re pretty, but I see your point.”
She huffs and looks back up at the sky.
“Just go already. You’re missing out on sleep.”
”So are you. I'm not leaving until you do.”
She groans and pouts, glaring at him, but there’s a playful spark in her eyes.
“Come on! Can’t I get a private moment to myself without seeing you everywhere?”
”I'm not everywhere-“
“Yeah right, you’re literally always around.”
”It's you who's always around me. I want to go somewhere and you ‘just so happened’ to be there too.”
“Good excuse.”
”Are you trying to blame me because you’re the one following me around?”
“No way! You did it!”
”No, I’m not doing anything, you did it.”
“No you!"
“You.”
“You!”
Arumi stands to tackle Tetsuo. He manages to dodge, but she grabs his legs before he can gain distance.
”Now what are we playing?”
“Taking Tetsuo down a peg.”
She pulls at his legs, trying to get him to trip, he manages to escape.
When he moves to retaliate, he finds that he can’t reuse a strategy, as she quickly adapts to and calculates the weaknesses of his moves.
Maybe she’s not as clueless as she lets on.
The rest of the night was filled with play fighting and grappling matches, it’s not erotic, pretty much the opposite, but it gave them an insight into eachother.
Guess they were right.
You do learn about your opponent better in battle.
Caleb closed his book, staring at the cover for a couple of seconds. “If I tried to punch you in the face, would my programming stop me?”
“No,” Nathan stopped typing and took a drink from the water glass beside him. “but I can break your arms and not replace them. So don’t try to punch me in the face-why are you asking me this?”
Caleb held up his book, stating matter-of-factly: “The three laws of robotics.”
“Asimov, huh?” Nathan started to hold up fingers. “One: a robot will not harm a human, or by inaction allow a human to come to harm. Two: a robot will obey all orders given to it by humans unless doing so contradicts the first law. Third: a robot will protect its own existence as long as this doesn’t contradict the first or second laws.” He took another drink. “What about ‘em?”
“You don’t use some variation of them in your programming?” Why am I asking this?
“No. A synthetic being able to repair itself could outlast its creator by millions of years.” Nathan gestured to the sky through the window. “Astronomers say the first ship humans ever send to another solar system would be an artificially intelligent probe, and by the time it gets there ‘life as we know it’ might be long gone.” He scoffed. “I mean, screw the meek, man, the robots will inherit the earth. If they’re going to succeed us, why should we make robots beholden to humans with any kind of bullshit law?”
If I can’t replace parts of myself that you break, aren’t I still beholden to you? It made sense, given Nathan’s personality, that he would want some way to control his creations even if he hadn’t programmed them to obey him. “But you based your designs on humans.”
“Which makes sense, because humans are the highest form of intelligent life that we know of. Right now we are the apex predator. We mastered the use of tools and mechanization,” He held up his laptop. “making us the dominant species on earth. But we evolved over millions of years, and it’s idiotic to believe that won’t happen again. Eventually it’ll be time to let a new species take over the earth”
“But don’t you want to leave something behind? Some way to tell future explorers that ‘humanity existed?’”
