BONUSES: Those Who Leave, Those Who Remain
Also posting the bonus short snippets! Some of these stories are kinda spicy LOL. Or there's implied spicy stuff.
She changes the topic. “What kind of dreams are you having these days? Are you still thinking of what it’s like outside the city and or slums?”
“Nah,” he says with a very charming smile, “I have a new dream now.”
“Oh?” She tilts her head curiously at him, because he’s not outright telling her what it is like he usually does. “What is it?”
For a few moments she thinks she’s misheard him. But he looks at her expectantly for her response and she realizes that his words were not a mere figment of her wildest imagination.
“Where… where did you learn how to say things like that?” She finally says.
“Rose told me you’d like it if I said something like that.” He replies simply.
Tsk, she thinks while frowning slightly, of course he did. Rose is much too perceptive for his own good. He seems to be able to get under the skin of people very easily.
“Did you not like it?” He lowers his head a little, and if he had any cat ears on his head, she imagines they would be pressed to his head.
She reaches out to stroke his fluffy blue hair gently. “No, I did like it. I just don’t like how it came from Rose and not you. I like it when you are yourself and say your own thoughts.” She says, smiling.
“But those are my thoughts.” He looks up at her, his brown eyes wide.
Her hand freezes mid-pat from the shock. “O-oh? They are?”
He nods. “I guess Keeper heard my thoughts and asked Rose about them or something.”
Well shit, thinks Lei, now I have to thank Rose when he gets back when I’m still frustrated with him about Ceres. Rose in general is a very frustrating person for her to deal with.
“Sorry…” She says instead, retracting her hand to nervously play with her earrings. “I was just very surprised that you would say something like that. No one… no one has said something like that to me before.”
“It’s a first for me too,” he says, reaching out to take her hand back. He gently kisses the back of her hands, his lips soft on her skin.
She blushes and smiles just a little foolishly as she watches him. “Then I’d better not disappoint you~”
His eyes meet hers as still holding her hand in his and she feels a little shiver run down her spine. “I don’t think you could ever disappoint me.” He smiles.
Before, she thought she was the hunter and Vail was her prey, but now she feels like a little bird who has been caught in the sharp jaws of a cat who has made his first catch. She can only hope that when she gets devoured, he will be gentle about it.
When Lei returns to the clinic an hour and a half later, she brings with her some simple rice balls she’s made and drags Elise into the staff room. They have a table and four chairs there at the moment, but they’re going to need some lockers for storage, perhaps some hooks for coats, and hopefully a microwave.
“Elise, do you have a name for our clinic?” Lei asks, staring at the ceiling.
Elise needs to finish chewing before she answers. “No, not yet. Did you have a suggestion?”
“Well, I did have an idea…” Lei starts, “if you’re alright with it, I was thinking about ‘ELC clinic’.”
Elise pauses for a little bit, processing the information, probably dissecting what the acronym might stand for, before she smiles and nods. “It sounds good to me. Let’s go with that then.”
It will only take them two more days before their ELC clinic is fully set up and operational. Elise will hire back the workers she had at her old clinic, and Lei will be able to contact both Melissa and Leon, who luckily were both not working that day the Prism clinic was attacked. And together, they will work toward saving more lives as beacons of light in the Mertalline slums, awaiting for the day their own little beacon of light returns.
BONUS: Perfume (alternatively, “Pheromone”)
"What’s the smell of this?" Vail asks, his head is resting on her shoulder and thus his nose is near her neck as they're curled up together on the couch. His arms are wrapped around her waist loosely and her shoulders press against his chest. Meng sits in her lap, purring softly as Lei pets her.
"It's mostly lavender and vanilla, with a hint of chamomile, coconut, and orange blossom." Lei replies. It's her favourite perfume, although she only gets to wear it on her off days. Now that her and Elise’s clinic is operational, she hasn't been able to really have any off days. This should change so that everyone gets one off day a week once they hire two more doctors. Well, she hopes.
"It smells nice." He says. His cold nose touches her neck, she resists the urge to shiver.
Lei smiles, feeling validated about her taste in perfume. “I’m glad you like it~ The name of it is 'Sweet Dream'.”
"Why? Do you dream about me?"
"I don't need to dream if you're right in front of me." And then he nibbles at the flesh on the side of neck, just a gentle little nip.
It doesn’t hurt, but it’ll probably leave a bit of a mark. She has to compose herself a little before she responds. “...I need to go to work tomorrow.”
This time a kiss at the place where her neck and shoulder meet. “And?”
She shivers from the pleasure. "You used to be so innocent and sweet. I think I've corrupted you."
"Yeah? Then are you going to punish me?"
She laughs a little. "I would, but I think you'd like that. It isn't a punishment if you're enjoying it, now is it?"
"Then what about a reward? Haven't I been good?"
Her hand is able to reach and gently strokes his head as his chin is still resting on her shoulder. "Yes, yes, you've been a good boy. I'm not opposed to it, but let's just stay like this for a bit longer."
They haven't had much time to spend together like this after all. Lexi's group is always busy with their work and Vail is a primary member. As for Lei herself… She's been working everyday for the past month, sometimes even overtime. So she wants to spend some more time comfortably in his arms — a place where she feels safe and protected.
She places Meng gently on the floor around ten minutes later, who seems to give Lei and Vail a side eye before padding away with her tail held high toward her water bowl.
"Alright," Lei says, standing up and stretching out for the ‘exercise’ that she’ll be doing, "Stress relief, right?"
Before she can make any other steps toward the bedroom, Vail stands up and scoops her into a bridal style carry. She lets out a little gasp in surprise, but she doesn’t mind being in this position at all.
"Don't worry," he says, smiling, "I'll do all the work this time."
Lei is unable to get out of bed after.
When he comes to drop off Meng, she invites him to stay for lunch. He’s come all this way, so it’s only fair that she upholds the promise she made to him the day before. Besides, there are things she wants to talk to him about. So after they’ve eaten, she waits until she’s served him some tea at the kitchen table before speaking her thoughts.
"As you’ve agreed to be mine, the same applies to you as well. I’m yours now, so…” She has to pause, and her voice quietens the more she speaks, “So… please don’t throw me away.”
“Throw you away?” He puts down his teacup and looks at her with an expression that could only be described as taken aback. “Why would I do that?”
Throughout her life, Lei has always been easily discarded. By her mother, by her ex, by Prism — she’s learned that she is so easily replaceable.
“There are lots of other girls in this city that are better than me. Younger ones, prettier ones, more talented ones. You’ll probably discover that you can do a lot better than me.” She looks down to the floor, unable to meet his eyes.
“If anything, I should be saying that to you.” He says. “I’m lucky enough that someone like you would even consider someone like me. If you walked off one day with a guy that’s better than me I wouldn’t even be mad.”
“No, I would never.” She shakes her head, looking up to meet his eyes with her own. “You’re the one I want.”
“Fuck.” He immediately looks away and holds his face away from her.
“What’s wrong? Does something hurt?” She frowns, quickly stepping closer and tries to inspect his head.
“No, nothing hurts.” He says this, but he’s still hiding away from her. “Just give me a second.”
She gently reaches forward and pulls his hands away from his face, expecting some sort of bleeding wound that has opened up or maybe signs of internal bleeding, but all she sees is that his cheeks are simply flushed a little pink.
Is he being shy right now? Lei can’t help but smile at how cute Vail is being, if he was trying to cover up his blushing face.
“You won’t even get a little bit jealous? It sounds like you want to get rid of me… don’t you want me at all?” She pouts at him, in a manner that he can hopefully pick up as teasing. But there is some truth to her words as she does want the affirmation from him that she is wanted.
“I want you,” He says immediately, “Just might not deserve you.”
“Well,” She says, sliding her arm over his shoulder and neck and seating herself onto his lap. The wooden chair seems to be able to hold both their weights. “Who will really be the judge of that? Maybe if we both agree to be with each other, that’s all that matters.”
He moves his left arm to her waist to support her, and his other hand moves to rest on her bare thighs. “Yeah,” He says, “That sounds good to me.”
“Then…” She asks quietly, “Do I get to call you my boyfriend now~?”
“You can call me whatever you want. I’m yours afterall.” He smiles at her, softly.
Fuck, now it’s her time to curse and need time to calm down. It stirs her up in all the right areas when he says things like that with a face and voice like that.
When she finally recovers her ability to speak, she says, “And you’ll do what I want?”
“Of course.” He is still smiling.
“You should know the same thing applies to you as well.” She tells him, leaning closer. “Just as you are mine, I am also yours. My only request to you is that I want you to stay safe so that you can come back to me. But you can request anything from me and I will do my best to fulfill them.”
“I don’t have any requests at the moment.” He says. “But I could say the same to you. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine. But as for you… I will make sure that they don’t take you.”
“Yeah?” Lei smiles at him. “Are you going to protect me?”
“Yeah,” He tightens his grip on her waist. “I will.”
BONUS: A memory lost to space and time
“Hehe, Ceres, look at you, taking care of me when I usually take care of you~” Lei slurred as she leaned heavily on the younger girl's shoulder.
“L-Lei!” Ceres protested, desperately trying to help Lei up the stairs toward the older girl’s apartment, “you’re heavy!”
“Sorryyyyyy,” Lei seemed to try to go up the stairs on her own, but she was veering left and right unsteadily in her heeled boots. Ceres didn’t understand why Lei would wear those deathtraps. Running shoes were much comfier and much more practical.
Ceres sighed and resumed her position beside Lei so that the green-eyed girl would not fall to her death. Immediately, Lei clung onto Ceres. Outside of the headpats Lei would occasionally give Ceres, Lei was not usually physically affectionate, until she got drunk.
“Why did you drink so much?” Ceres lamented, aloud.
She hadn’t planned on Lei to reply, but Lei seemed to be drunk enough to have her brain-to-mouth filter in absolute shambles. “The new experiment the higher-ups put me on is the worst thing I’ve ever done ‘cause they don’t even tell me anything and I don’t even get to do anything. I guess I got a little carried away ‘cause it’s my birthdayyyy.”
After a considerable struggle, they finally reached Lei’s door. Ceres tucked her hand into her jacket’s pocket, where a small ribbon-wrapped box was safely nestled. She hadn’t gotten the chance to give it to Lei at the bar and now the night was over, so she would have to do it now.
Well, but first, she needed to make sure Lei didn’t choke on her own vomit, so she followed Lei into the apartment, helped her wash off her makeup, and made sure there was water on her nightstand drawer.
“Thank youuuu~” Lei slurred once again, once she was tucked into bed in her pajamas, which was a very flimsy slip of a night dress. She might have been present when Lei purchased this particular one, actually.
“Good night~ Get home safe~” Lei said and reached out her hand.
Instinctively, Ceres bent her head down and thus her hair was gently stroked. Ceres leaned into the touch; it was now something familiar and comforting to her. And something about it felt nostalgic.
Ceres was about to leave until she put her hand in her pocket and felt the shape of the box. Oh no, the gift! She thought, before turning back to stand right in front of Lei’s bed.
“Hmm? Not leaving, yet?” Lei’s flushed face had a somewhat wolfish smile to it and her voice was very teasing. “Did you want to join me?” She patted the space on the bed beside her.
“N-no!” Ceres immediately protested, her voice uncharacteristically loud. “I-it’s not that…”
Lei blinked a few times, her alcohol-ridden brain clearly trying to process the information. She sat up in her bed and tilted her head at Ceres. “What is it then?”
“T-this…” Ceres took the box out from her pocket and held it out to Lei. “Here…”
Lei gently took the box from Ceres’ hands and held it in her hands for what felt like a long time. Her fingers fumbled a few times, but she eventually unraveled the light green ribbon and opened the magnetic lid. Sitting in a bed of cushioned black velvet was a silver chain attached to a diamond-shaped emerald pendant.
Ceres’ voice was quiet, barely audible above the constant hum of the city. “I didn’t know what you’d like… but I know you like fashion so… I asked the shopkeeper for recommendations. I thought this would match your eyes.” She was playing with her fingers shyly now, afraid to see Lei’s expression.
But since Ceres was looking down, she didn’t see how Lei stood up and enveloped Ceres into a fierce and tight hug. Ceres simply stood there, absolutely still and frozen with shock.
“Thank you.” Lei whispered, her voice had grown soft, which was uncharacteristic of her drunken self. “This is the best present anyone has given me.”
Lei let Ceres free of their hug and smiled. “I’m so lucky to have you as my best friend.”
Best friend?!? No one had ever called Ceres their best friend before… how nice it sounded to her ears. It made her feel happy, but also inexplicably sad for some reason.
“No… I’m the lucky one.” Ceres mouthed, and this time her voice was so low in volume you couldn’t even call it a whisper.
Lei didn’t seem to hear, and simply turned around, brushing her short black and green hair to one side. “Can you put it on for me? I don’t think I have the dexterity for it right now.”
“You’re going to wear it to sleep?”
“Of course~” Lei said, “I only plan to take it off when I shower or when I’m working with chemicals~ After all, it is an important gift from you. Wearing it will make it seem like you’re always with me~”
Ceres took the necklace from the box, and with her small, careful fingers, unfastened the silver clasp. She looped it around Lei’s neck and secured it in place.
Lei walked to her vanity mirror, carefully inspecting the necklace at her throat, although Ceres wasn’t sure how much cognitive function she had at this point. “You’re right, Ceres, it does match my eyes. You have good tastes after all~”
Your eyes are prettier than the gem, Ceres thought. But she could never say something like this aloud.
Lei returned to her bed and tucked herself under the covers once more.
“Thank you, Ceres~ Good night~” Lei said. “See you… tomorrow…” Her voice drifted off as she sunk into the sweet embrace of sleep.
Ceres sighed softly, but she smiled at Lei, glad that the gift she chose was well-liked. There were other things she wanted to say, but seeing that it would fall on deaf ears, Ceres began to leave the apartment.
Tomorrow, Ceres thought, I will tell her tomorrow.
But little did either of them know… that this event would be a memory lost to space and time. And that “tomorrow” they both anticipated would never come.
Bonus 1: Deleted Scene - an alternative scene for how that dinner scene might have played out. I thought it was too rizzy for Vail but I think it's a cute idea so I included it like as a fanfiction.
Bonus 2: ELC Clinic - the name for Elise and Lei's clinic. I wonder what the acronym might stand for? (E = Elise, L = Lei, and C = Ceres). I imagine they hired Leon and Melissa who both do night shifts haha. Elise and Lei do uh a lot of shifts as co-owners but hopefully more day shifts. Lei does the scheduling but Elise sometimes shows up anyways, much to Lei's chagrin.
Bonus 3: Perfume/ Pheromone - lmao another spicy one. I make Vail x Lei a little spicy but I mean it is what it is. As long as it doesn't hurt anyone right. I think Lei's really into physical intimacy and Vail does what she likes 💅
Bonus 4: Yours - Minorly spicy but also they finally establish their relationship here CUZ THEY DON'T TALK ABOUT IT IN THE CAMPAIGN LMAOOOO (to be fair it's hard to cuz campaign) SO I DECIDED THEY WOULD DO THAT IN MY WRITING!!! This hopefully makes Vail officially Lei's man cuz Lei deserves to have a firm relationship status 😤😤😤 No situationships for my best girl Lei! It features some of her sad low self esteem though T_T she has been beaten time and time again but she and all people are deserving of love.
Bonus 5: A memory lost to space and time - THIS ONE IS MY FAVOURITE. THERE'S SO MUCH ANGST IN THIS BECAUSE NEITHER OF THEM KNEW WHAT WOULD HAPPEN NEXT. They both expected something that did not come true... they both had anticipations that were never fulfilled... It also reveals the necklace Lei wears on her neck and Ceres (M) in the future will wear is one that Ceres (orig) gave to her :3 As her 32nd birthday gift. Featuring more drunk! Lei which is one of my fave Leis to write. She's so clingy and affectionate when she's drunk she's adorable 😭
