fateandfortune | Just two vampires, traveling the galaxy... [For Todd the Wraith]

He cocked his head in return. "All right then." he agreed, found where they left, and began.

Todd didn't read as quickly as she did but written English was not his first language so it took some getting used to to pronounce some words. After a chapter however, he got the hang of it and read almost as smoothly as Rogue did.

Despite his unfamiliarity with written English, his skill with reading was incredibly impressive, especially with the rate of improvement with each page.

It was at the end of the third chapter that she leaned in closer to him, resting a bit of her weight against him as she set her cheek on his shoulder. During the pause between the chapters, she asked him, "Do wraith kiss the way humans do?"

He allowed her to lean against him, feeling her warmth through the fabric of his robe. He forgot what it was like having a human in bed with him. Small gestures, a lot of simple touching...a lot more foreplay...

Todd opened his mouth to start the next chapter when she asked him that and he chuckled again. "Yes, we do. And before you ask, yes, sex works the same too" he said, looking at her with a grin.

She rolled her eyes a bit at the last part. "Well, I figured that," she informed him with a smirk. "Though it is nice to know, I should have been more specific. Not all human cultures kiss as part of sex, at least not on my Earth. With those crazy sharp teeth of yours, I wasn't sure if things would work a little differently."

She liked being able to touch him like this, for him to be letting her do it. Wraith didn't have much casual contact, but apparently their new arrangement brought with it some enjoyable allowances.

"We'll manage" he said and returned to reading.

True, touching, caressing and so on was rare between wraith, but between wraith and humans, many, like Todd, were far more relaxed. It was hard to say why. Perhaps because there wasn't the pressure of showing weakness for an ambitious underling to exploit it.

The wraith resumed reading a little longer, getting into the tale, though needing to remind himself that this was fiction, not a real story.

It was nice that Todd was more relaxed about the little touches, because those would be the ones that would mean the most to Rogue. Just physically being close to someone had always been a gift, something shared only with those closest to her, the friends who didn't fear even her gloved touch. Yes, she wanted to share every kind of touch with Todd, but this was a good place to start.

As he continued reading, she moved just a little closer to him, her side against his while her cheek stayed on his shoulder. She was comfortable in that closeness, the nervousness from earlier completely gone for now. The cadence of his voice wrapped around her like a blanket and she sighed in contentment.

Edited 2015-12-24 04:33 (UTC)

Todd continued to read to Rogue, perfectly conscious of her settling against him, and he continued to allow it.

After another couple chapters however, he decided to stop, not wanting to plow through the book too quickly, though he supposed when they did finish it, he could always read her something from his collection. Most of it was history and various human cultures but she no doubt would find it interesting.

The wraith set the book on the floor beside the bed and a touch of the knob nearby that faded the lights, leaving only the star studded black of the sky above them.

He settled further down in the bed on his back, letting her get comfortable against him however she wanted.

Edited 2015-12-25 04:17 (UTC)

She nestled in against his side, a line of contact between them offering a level of comfort she couldn't put words to. What she really wanted to do was completely wrap herself around him, but she wasn't quite sure how he'd take that. Her hand settled onto the arm she was closest to, and she trailed her fingers along the robe that covered his skin down toward his own hand.

"Do you mind me being this close?" she asked him quietly, a calm settling in her from his closeness and the familiar stars above them. She did miss that skylight when she was in her own quarters.

Todd glanced to her in the dark as she caressed his feeding arm but didn't object to it, closing his eyes again.

"Its very different than being next to a fellow wraith." he stated "But, no, I don't mind."

He liked it very much in fact. It'd been some time since he had someone in his bed. "Get some rest" he advised.

Well, if he didn't mind. She curled in a bit closer on her side, her right arm moving to rest on his chest, her hand just below his heart. He reminded her slightly of a stuffed teddy bear for a moment, but she'd never tell him that.

It felt wonderful being beside him, touching him, just having someone right there. With the quiet of the ship and the tiny bits of light from the stars, it was all she could manage to murmur, "Goodnight, Commander."

He opened his eyes again when she rested her hand on his chest, but tolerated that too, too worn by the last few days and too comfortable to change things. He smiled at the goodnight and drifted off soon himself, lulled by the stars and Rogue's warmth beside him.

Todd was woken by his second in his head telling him that they were ready to jump into hyperspace. Sleepily, he approved the order, shifting to sit up and carefully setting Rogue's arm comfortably at her side.

She had slept the whole night through without incident or nightmare, which was something of a miracle really, and could likely be attributed to the safety she felt in Todd's presence. She stirred slightly when he moved, though, protesting with a quiet noise when he wasn't right in her reach any longer.

"Do you have to go?" she murmured in sleepy manner, not even opening her eyes yet because she didn't want to lose the peaceful languidness. It registered somewhere at the back of her mind that it was likely morning and he would have to make his usual rounds, but she'd much rather he stay in bed with her just a little while longer.

"Indeed so, we're about to jump back into hyperspace so I need to make the main rounds. I'll be back after that." he promised, disappearing into the bathroom to pull his clothes on. "You can decide what we're going to do with our extra time today" he said, coming back inside and sitting in the chair to pull his boots on.

Without the need to train for an hour or hours on end working to control her ability, it did free up a little more of the day.

Todd secured his boots and then left to check on the main systems before giving the go to jump into hyperspace. Normally this check wasn't necessary but it paid to be overly careful about sabotage. Thus far, this crew had not given him trouble when in the past-since his escape from the Genii-he'd usually end up with one bad egg in the bunch. Perhaps he'd finally regained the loyalty he once had.

Until he could be certain however, these rounds would continue to be made.

The commander was not gone long, barely an hour had passed before he returned to his quarters.

Rogue stayed laying there in bed for quite a while after he'd left, dozing in and out while she savored the lingering sleepy peacefulness. She did eventually roll out of bed, straightening the pillows and sheets before getting dressed, but leaving her boots off.

What to do with their extra time. The thought hadn't even occurred to her the day before, she'd been so preoccupied with other things. She did want to work on her timing for turning her power on and off again, but that could be taken slowly as she wasn't likely to be in a situation that needed such a quick shift. And since her power hadn't switched on in the middle of the night and killed Todd in his sleep, she figured it safe to assume that it took a conscious effort to switch between the two states.

She chose a book from his collection to peruse, not knowing how long he might be gone, and curled up on the bed to wait. It was only maybe ten minutes later that he returned, and she gave him a big, genuine smile. "Everything alright out there?" she asked, carefully setting the book aside and sitting up from the nest of pillows.

Whether the thought that perhaps she'd kill him in his sleep crossed his mind or not, hard to say. Maybe he'd taken the risk to see if that switch was something that needed her actual effort to do now. And apparently he'd been right.

"Yes, it is." he answered. "We'll be jumping back into hyperspace in a moment. Our first stop is the worshiper and our cultivation world. We'll be dropping supplies off with the wraith who'd learned how to farm and learning what they have discovered in turn. Fruit trees will take time to grow but the general harvest of...annual?...food should be ready, or close to. We'll also be looking into livestock and if necessary recruiting some of the worshipers to help raise and take care of them and pass that knowledge onto the wraith."

Cooking food was one thing, gardening...or large scale farming was another. At least they had the benefit of not having to deal with companies or worrying about profits, just ensuring the harvests are good enough to supply wraith. Once the drones were given the gene therapy, they could do the more menial work with only a few supervisors needed.

Todd came over and sat beside her on the bed. "Sleep any more after I left?"

Rogue wished she could be of use with the farming aspect of things, offer advice or general information, but none of the helpful minds within her own knew anything about farming, and the extent of their combined gardening knowledge covered roses and other pretty but generally useless flora.

She leaned toward him slightly as he sat beside her, like he was a magnet pulling her in. Smiling, she admitted, "A little, yeah. It wasn't as easy after you left. Last night... It was amazing. I haven't slept that well in years."

And all they had done was sleep. He made her feel safe enough to let her guard down, and with him so close, she knew nothing would harm her. There had been no anxiety of someone breaking down the door, no memories of being hunted in the night. There had just been Todd, with his strength and the little ways he looked after her.

She couldn't do everything. If he were the worrying type, Todd would worry if she did try to do or help out with everything. She was teaching them how to cook, that was quite a job in that of itself. Some things the wraith had to pick up from other humans, like the worshipers, or learn on their own.

He chuckled a little that. Indeed, all they'd done was sleep beside one another and yet both himself and she were well rested, Rogue especially apparently.

"I guess you're moving back in here, hm?" He grinned then looked to the skylight in the ceiling. A rumble and then the ship shifted into hyperspace, the black peaceful sky changing to the blue haze.

Edited 2015-12-27 06:34 (UTC)

Part of Rogue would always try to help with everything, to do anything she could to be useful, to be liked and accepted. Some part of her feared being rejected as she had when she was a child, and her method for combating that fear of being unwanted was to become indispensable. It was why she'd made such efforts to learn how to pilot a variety of aircraft and mastered so many fighting styles. It was something even Charles had struggled with helping her overcome.

She looked up at the changed view through the skylight and let her own smile grow at the sight. "If you'll let me, I'd love to," she told him truthfully. "The other space is nice, but I don't really feel... safe there. Not the way I do here with you."

Edited 2015-12-27 06:50 (UTC)

Charles had apparently tried many things with Rogue. But it seemed, life among beings who sucked the years out of you, was far better. It'd only been about four months, not even, since she came aboard that rainy night. But she'd grown incredibly, and he'd learned a lot from her too.

Todd inclined in his head. "I'd enjoy your company again." he said. Also, while her navigation on the hive had gotten considerably better, he still was not all too certain about letting her walk on her own between the chambers so he had to travel between her quarters and his own quite a lot.

Several drones were still about, their hunger only kept in check by their masters control. The remainder of them would need to be put into hibernation in the next week or so though, they'd been so long without nourishment that they were starting to weaken.

Rogue looked away from the beautiful blue haze to Todd, turning that smile on him. "I'm glad," she told him. And she was. Just being around him made her happy, set her at ease, and it would nice to have more of that in her days again.

"I've been thinking about what to do with our newfound free time," she continued, the smile turning more mischievous than anything. "I've got a few ideas of my own, but was wondering if you had anything you'd like to throw in for consideration first."

The wraith nodded, "One thing I thought of, we should consider writing a cookbook."

Rogue couldn't cook for everyone all the time and while the book they'd been given in the pallets of stock was helpful, it wasn't enough. Having an extra reference on board, written by someone who knew what wraith preferred, would be far more helpful. Also if a general book was written, it could be copied and distributed through other hives for use. Or, even better and save on paper, typed into the system and distributed digitally.

"I hadn't even thought of that," she admitted with a laugh, "but it's a really great idea. There are some things that are native to Pegasus and different from back on Earth, so it would be a lot more useful than the one Atlantis provided."

The more she thought of it, the more excited she became by the idea of it. A project, something that she could do that would be of help to the other wraith, both on Todd's ship and in the alliance. And it would take some time to put together and perfect - it really was a wonderful way to fill the time left open by her newfound control.

A grunt of approval. "Good, we'll start a database for recipes and the basics of cooking after each meal." he said. And she could further work on it when they weren't sparring or otherwise occupied. He'd have to get Rogue a portable screen to work on, but her wraith was still very choppy so-...oh they'd work out the details further down the road once they got it established.

"What did you have in mind before my suggestion?" he asked

She looked a bit sheepish when he asked that, and actually looked down at her lap to avoid his gaze that she swore at times could see right through her.

"Something a bit more short-term, and requiring far fewer clothes than most activities," she admitted quietly, half a smile in place even as she felt a flush of embarrassment creep up her neck. All of this was completely new to her, and she'd meant for that particular piece to come out quite a bit differently than it had.

Todd couldn't help but outright laugh at that.

"My apologies" he said with a grin when he finally did stop "At least you know what you want"

He shifted to turn and look at her better before taking the book she'd been reading and setting it on the floor and off the bed. "If that's what you want..."

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merry christmas <3

To you as well! Hope your holiday is lovely!

indeed so, hope you the same C:

<3 <3

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