@sunweaves asked: 🛀 she immediately covers her eyes with her hand and apologises profusely
Gortash is not altogether unlike his precious machines.
With every morsel of power he draws into his grip, there is yet more work to be done. People to manage, decisions to be made. Everywhere he looks there are inadequacies and inefficiencies just waiting to be corrected—as if the whole world is a tangled wreck that can only be rectified by his careful hands. Any other man might be crushed by the sheer weight of the expectations thrust upon him, but Gortash? He lives and breathes for the work. As it piles upon him, he consumes it wholly, letting it occupy the deepest recesses of his over-eager brain.
He still feels the persistent drag of exhaustion—the twinge of strained muscles in his neck and shoulders from too many long hours poring over books and missives. Despite every effort to stay awake and retain his focus, his thoughts drift and choke like ice upon a frozen river. He is tired. He aches. He needs to rest—for all his eager mind resists.
He savors the scalding heat of bathwater as it seeps into tired flesh, soothing hard muscle. But the pains are still there, like the growing echo in an emptying room. A sigh escapes him as he tries once more to focus on the folio of paperwork in front of him, a disorganized sheaf of loose pages assembled for his review. These things need his attention. But he seems to have little attention left to give.
His exhaustion is interrupted by a gasp from the door, the floundering of a familiar redhead as she moves to escape.
“Stop.” That singular word comes as a command, authoritative and immutable despite the frayed edges of his voice. He sets aside the folio of papers, leaning back against the tiled wall of the elaborate bath.
“Marcella,” he purrs, resting his elbows on the edge. “Dear Marcella. You’ve got talented hands. Come, give me a massage.”