The sheets were strewn haphazardly across her, concealing a bit but leaving considerable swaths of creamy skin exposed. Normally, she'd have either arranged them on her properly or thrown them off altogether. Right now she just couldn't bring herself to care about them. Her breath came in deep, shallow pants as she laid there, basking in the afterglow and feeling so satisfyingly sore.

Once they'd gotten back to her room...there hadn't exactly been much talking before clothes fell to the floor and bodies fell to the mattress. And he'd been a bit...cautious at first, timid. But then he tried taking the initiative, tried getting a bit rough with her. She'd responded favorably, insistently, and...wow, had he ever responded. The power and grace to his movements, the sheer endurance displayed. Some small part of her mind noted that he simply had to have honed. A much bigger part said to stop worrying about whatever active spells he may or may not have and enjoy herself.

Which she did immensely. Bending to the whims of the Hierarch as he finally took charge of her in that bedroom, quite eagerly doing whatever he wanted as long as he wanted to do it until distinct memories gave way to one long climactic haze.

And as long as he wanted to do it had been a long time indeed. In the end, he proved to be the one to wear her out. Something she could rcall happening...ever. Eventually she'd needed a break; to catch her breath, regain her senses, and let nerves fast becoming overstimulated rest.

Which brought her to where she was now; tangled slightly in the sheets, voice beginning to grow hoarse from *ahem* voicing her approval, sore with a few singing scratches...and with the unmistakable look of a woman who'd just had her world rocked.

And for now...she simply can't quite seem to find the words, opting to simply lie there beside him.

It still seemed almost too perfect to be happening, but he had quickly stopped caring. Past and future became lost, both stopped mattering next to the now and its pleasures. Several times, his animal mannerisms had come to the fore, becoming more frequent as time progressed. And now, he lays in silence for a moment, soaking in the various dull aches and sharper pains from numerous scratches, basking in the closeness of her life force.

Finally, he rolls over, his gaze passing up and down her body, noting the similar state. Smiling slightly at the few bite marks he could pick out. A moment later, he reaches out to tousle her hair, not that the action changes much. "Suddenly, this place feels a lot less empty. Where did you learn to play so rough?"

She shifts slightly as his hand is felt in her air, head rolling to the side to look at him. Her tone conveying the beginnings of exhaustion, and a deep-seated content. "Mmm...didn't realize it was something that has to be learned." Her eyes play along both their bodies, comparing the number of marks before one finger rises to idly trace one of the bite marks on her shoulder. "And I was just following your lead." She scooted a bit closer to him, lips pressing briefly to one of the little reminders she'd left him at the junction of his neck and shoulder. "I think you need to take charge like that more often..."

Fingers absently trace down her ear and along a particularly deep scratch along her cheek as he turns sorrowful eyes to her. "I know, and I try to, but ... I guess once you get burned enough times you start subconsciously expecting every surface to be scalding. Tonight was the first time I've been able to let go of that for a bit since before ... " But he seems to shy away from giving voice to what had happened, instead drawing his fingers to the same bite mark she had probed so recently. A bittersweet smile briefly flickers into existance. "Last time I roughhoused, it involved getting mauled by a polar bear."

A finger flicks down to press against the tip of his nose. "Nuh uh, no getting all mopey on me now." Her back arched as she stretches beside him, sheets shifting across her body. "You'll make a girl think she's not any good at that sort of thing."

She settled back down on the bed, nuzzling up against his side as her first grew a bit softer. "And any wound heals, if you let it. You can't keep poking at it."

Her eyebrows do arch briefly in surprise at his last sentence. "Bitten by a bear?" Her teeth nip playfully at his shoulder, "I hope that wasn't the same kind of roughhousing..."

A grin appears instantly, almost as if hardwired to the nose-tap. "You've already helped me start feeling again. Isn't that enough of a confirmation?"

The smile grows at the nuzzling, and again at the nip. Fingers trace down her arm to explore the lines of her hand. "No, it was a different kind." An amused chuckle backs his voice, before being replaced by a sudden intensity. "Have you ever wondered how animals experience life, what it would feel like to be one?" He curls her fingers into the shape of a claw, before bringing her hand to his lips for a quick peck.

A satisfied smile grows on her own face as she notes the grin on his. "Never enough confirmation for that."

Her eyes are drawn to her hand as Animus toys with it, manipulating her fingers. A slight look of puzzlement clouding her features not so much because of the question, but because of the sudden intensity he asks it with. "Yeah, I always thought it was something everyone linked to the Primal Wilds like we are must wonder about." Her hand twists slightly, the back of her fingers stroking his cheek. "Why did you ask me that all of a sudden?"

The words are an electric spark flashing through his being, smoothing out muscles that he hadn't realized had tensed up. She understands. She has to. He sinks down, snuggling against her as an animal character creeps out in his movements. He opens his mouth to speak ...

... and suddenly the wall hits. Flashes of Ruby's voice, casualy dismissing the core of his being. Doubt, hesitation, fear. What if he'd misjudged Triquetra, as well? Finally he pushes through, nervousness mixing with the intensity in his voice. "Not all of us have to wonder. And there really is nothing like it." His free hand moves to trace along her arm, imagining it's fur beneath his touch. Another hesitation. Back away now, and you've little chance of ever being fully understood. "And it's the direction my soul has taken. The emulation of a specific animal. The wolf."

The tracing has stopped. Breath comes in shallow pants as he gazes directly into her eyes with an intensity poised between hope and fear.

It seems to take her several seconds to figure out what he's talking about, slightly vague as his statements are. And then it hits her, Legacies. He's telling her about a Legacy, about his Legacy, quite literally baring his soul to her. He trusted her enough to tell her such intimate information. And it was that, moreso than the actual insight as to what his Legacy is, that stuns her into several more seconds of silence.

She can practically feel her gaze softening, his vulnerability tugging at heart strings. And it was almost without conscious decision that she all but threw herself into him, arms wrapping around his heck as her lips caught his in a searing kiss. It wasn't until her lungs started to burn for want of air that she pulled back, her expression one of awe and deep affection as she gazed down at him. "I," she seemed almost at a loss for a moment, burying her face into the crook of his neck. "I can't believe you trust me enough to tell me about your Legacy..."

He waits tensely through the silence, doubts flashing through him. Was I wrong about her understanding? Did I reveal too much and ruin what could have been? But then, suddenly, she lunges into him, and all he can do is hold her close, tears of relief springing to his eyes as they kiss. How did I get so lucky?

Even after they break off, he's silent for a long moment, feeling her warmth against him, the flood of emotions beginning to coalesce into a bond. When he does finally speak, his voice is soft yet charged with a surprising depth of emotion. "It's a need. For someone I can trust fully." His arms tighten about her almost painfully before relaxing again. "Who can understand me fully." Fingers wander about her back, tracing intricate patterns. "And ever since I lost that, it's been ripping me apart."

He pauses, grinning slightly as fingernails suddenly slash down the length of her back. "Or maybe you just have a knack for pulling off my masks."

She simply lay there in his arms. Letting him have the moment, sensing how very important it was to him. As his grip slackens she rises slightly, propping herself up on her arms as she gazes down at him. "I'm not going to burn you, Andrew." Though she can feel a tumult of her own thoughts swirling in her mind. He'd trusted her with some of the most important information a Mage could give. Should see do the same? Could she do the same, already, living as she did with the additional veils of secrecy that permeated the life of a Guardian?

Those inner thoughts are, however, abruptly interrupted as his nails drag suddenly down her back. Eliciting a delighted gasp from her as she arches against him. "Maybe I do," her eyes play down the length of his body before coming back up to his face, a wicked grin on her face, "But I seem to have even more of a knack for getting a rise out of you..."

Animus chuckles softly. 'That's just a name I use in front of Sleepers. It isn't mine, really. And I know you won't, intellectually." As he says the words, his fingers move upward to rap lightly on her head. "It's just ... so difficult to break out of those thought-patterns, no matter what my mind tells me." Suddenly he grins impishly. "But who knows? Maybe you'll manage to tame the beast yet." As soon as the sentence ends, he turns and bites at her shoulder, just barely soft enough to be playful.

One of her hands rises, playfully swatting at his hand as it raps o her head. Another soft moan is elicited as his teeth find her shoulder. And she leans forward, using her weight to press him down against the mattress beneath her. "Hmm...trouble breaking out of some thought patterns." Her voice drops to a sultry purr as she shifts just so atop him. "Perhaps if I knock you up against the headboard enough times..."

His glance rapidly flicks back and forth, looking for all the world like a cornered animal seeking some means of escape. But then again, he doesn't seem to be trying very hard ...

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