wethecrack | Special Edition Event-Focused Kinkmeme

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kinkmeme

Special Edition Event-Focused Kinkmeme

I'm not the only one looking at all Dark Days and thinking of the potential, am I?

Hop to it. Just, uh, remember content warnings.

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At the beginning she had confused him, then intimidated him, but when she bowed over his broken artificial body with tears in her eyes, she was nothing but gentle. Her hands had shaken as she felt the breaks in his frame, mending them with what she had on-hand as he was too heavy for her to move herself with her own injuries plaguing her. What she knew chilled him, but she had taken his blows and biting words and still tried to mend him no matter how he'd hurt her.

When his day of madness had passed, Kain had wanted to die from the shame of it. Ice water seemed to fill his stomach, the shakes overwhelming him, and the first thing he had brought himself to do was wish for his own body back. The dragoon couldn't bring himself to face Mika after what he'd done, but found he could not escape her, either. She was there, tears in her eyes as she turned a pebble over in her hands, and she hadn't turned to face him as he drew close to the pond. Kain made his wish and fled, ignoring how she called after him as the shame burned hot in his throat and stomach.

Were they even real sensations or more fabrications? He still felt ill when he laid awake at night, staring at his ceiling. It took Zephyr two days before Kain awoke to the drawing in his mailbox, both days were agonizing with the worry that the young god would be too weak to grant his request gnawing at the back of his mind. The first deep breath he took once he'd felt Zephyr's magic take hold had made his eyes sting with a dizzying mixture of emotions, relief no small part of it.

"Kain?" His name had been spoken softly--almost anxiously--but had knocked the breath from his lungs as his stomach plummeted. He spun to face her, Zephyr's drawing still clutched tightly in his hand as he swallowed around a thick lump in his throat only to feel a new kind of guilt as he watched her. Her mouth was set in a thin, wobbling line of someone trying to reign in their anxiety, and her hands were shoved deep in her pockets to keep from fidgeting. "Are you okay?"

Mika watched him as if she had been afraid to ask the question, ready to back away if he retaliated. He felt like a fool for it, his expression softening as he held out a hand to her.

"Yes, I am now." It was not wholly a lie, at least. "I am sorry for worrying you, amongst the other troubles I have caused." For a closer look had revealed she still bore the marks of his blow, her lips still swollen and freshly healed, with light scratches marring her cheekbone. Mika simply shook her head, her tail wagging.

"It's fine, we all have our bad days. I'm just glad you're safe." Hesitantly she'd reached out to take his outstretched hand, her thumb stroked his fingers. "Did your wish work?" Her head cocked as she watched him, and when Kain unconsciously drew her closer she either didn't notice or simply didn't mind.

"It did," he nodded, his heart thudding heavily against his ribs while Mika seemed to be thinking over something to say, sucking idly on her bottom lip. His stomach twinged again, half tempted to tell her not to as it might make it sore again.

"What did you wish for?" Pointed ears shifted, angling forward, and Kain quickly stifled a foolish desire to reach out and stroke one to see how soft it was. He found himself looking at their hands instead of meeting her gaze, somehow hesitant to look her in the eye.

"I wished for my own body." To see her nod in understanding without questioning him made it a little easier, but not by much.

"Does it help?" She cocked her head, then clarified as she noticed the puzzled look on his face. "Does it feel better now that you've got it back again?"

Kain paused for a long moment, considering her words before he took a deep breath and sighed. "Yes, it does help."

Being human again was e relief, but also a burden he hadn't entirely expected to bear. Suddenly heat and cold felt far more intense, textures strange as if experiencing them for the first time, and physical contact was foreign and nervewracking. And as always, as if she was intentionally going out of her way to distress him, Mika seemed to do it all the time, Her fingers brushing across his hand, touching his arm or his back to attract his attention, the way she would brush his hair from his face after deftly tying his scarf. The way her touch seemed to linger when she was adjusting his clothes, straightening them for him after she caught him out training or on his way back from investigating the wall. As the month dragged on her touches grew more distressed, a subtle desperation in the way she would hold his hand or grip his arm. He could see the fear hiding in the back of her eyes no matter how she tried to hide it, the dragoon realizing he had begun to hold her hands tightly as if to reassure her.

It turned out there was nothing he could do to reassure her, as a few days after she'd pressed a roll of red tape into his hands and told him how to use it with terror in her eyes, she was left hanging from the village bulletin board, blood caked so heavily on her face that he couldn't make out her features. Her hair was matted solid with the stuff, the white stained and filthy, and the screams and sobbing sounds she'd made had him waking in the night drenched in a cold sweat. If it hadn't been for the tape and her faithful hound, Kain knew he would not have succeeded in escaping.

He also discovered it was difficult to find Mika after that. Her home was a ruin, venturing too close to it made him physically ill, Zita had gone missing, and for all the times she had imposed upon him he realized that he had no true ideas as to where she would have gone to. The Meadous was not a vast place by any means, but with the very gods toying with them it would not be safe for anyone, much less someone with Mika's poor health.

He found her huddled beneath a felled tree in the forest clutching Zita to her chest, heedless of the cold and wet or the mud that had caked her clothing as she sobbed and shivered. She had a look about her that he'd seen on soldiers who had seen too much combat, a blank-faced terror that bordered on madness and the dark shadows that hinted that sleep came rarely if it had come for her at all. Coaxing her out of her hiding place took patience, and when she finally moved she nearly flung herself at him, clutching his shoulders and sobbing against his polished armor. A month's worth of anguish filled her tears, desperate and broken sobs with a throat that was still raw and had a new, ugly scar across it. Kain didn't want to remember how wide her throat had yawned or the color of the vile blood that had spilled from her wounds, one arm rising to brace her against him and shield her from further harm. Now he could see how fragile she was, skin and bone wrapped in bloodied rags, and that it was easy to lift her and carry her back.

Mika had been right, it was safer to come in out of the rain.

After he'd brought her back to his own home, he found she had lapsed into a melancholy silence, slumped against him with no signs of consciousness save for tears that silently spilled down her cheeks. Attempts to get her to rest led to hysterical fits, and the fact that she still had blood matted into her hair had made even his stomach churn. Steeling himself for what he knew he would have to do, Kain swallowed a lump of anxiety down before collecting Mika and carrying her to the bath. Small blessings came in the form of Mika being able to help undress herself, though the motions were halting and she turned away from him quickly, Not out of a sense of modesty he found, but rather a sense of shame, trying to hide the worst of her scars from him while keeping her face hidden behind her filthy hair. It was simple enough to see why she didn't want him looking, Her scars were horrific and easily explained her weakness in her right side.

It hardly was enough to stop him, and since she had once done the same to him in winter, he owed her that much at the very least. The dried blood was resilient, yet Kain had plenty of hot water and determination and eventually it had all been washed free of her hair and face. The month had not been kind to her, he could see the broken bones and old bruises plain as day against her skin, and helped bathe her with extra care. Huge patches of fur fell out, wet and stinking and clinging to everything as he worked the soap deep into the dense tufts that had yet to fall loose. The entire time he worked Mika stared blankly at a wall, her silence unnerving after her months of boisterous nagging. Pouring water over her only made her look more emaciated, her wet fur enhancing her bony look as she stood there shivering in a way that Kain wasn't certain was from the chill.

Once he had her settled in the warm bath, Kain had turned to leave, only to be halted by the sounds of her distressed keening. Even if her state of undress made the both of them uncomfortable, he could tell she was more distraught at the thought of being alone. So he turned back to sit at the edge of the tub, startled into momentary silence when she rested her head against him. Awkward silence fell on the dragoon, uncertain of what to do until he slowly reached out a hand to rest between her ears. When that brought little response, he began to rub one of them between his fingers and the faintest flicker of a smile passed over his features as Mika began to grumble low in her throat, her eyes slowly closing as she relaxed.

Her ears really were quite soft, though he surmised they would be even softer when they were clean and dry.

Drying her was an arduous task at the least, her loose fur getting everywhere and the damp smell lingered long after she seemed to be fully dry. Kain had done his best to brush her, but after the third time he was immobilized by explosive sneezes, Mika had to take over. While he struggled to dry his watering eyes, she unraveled the tangled nest her hair had become and swept herself clean of most of her remaining winter coat. With that done, she cleaned the brush only to hand it back to him
with her head turned to hide her flushed cheeks.

"Could you do the rest? Twisting is..." She fell silent, her mouth twisting in embarrassment, but he could understand why she was reluctant. Her injuries still plagued her and had made simply brushing her hair a herculean task of its own, let alone twisting to reach behind her. With a small sense of trepidation, Kain took her tail in hand and slowly ran the brush across the damp fur, nervous about pulling it by accident. Apparently he needn't have worried, as Mika quietly told him that it wouldn't fall off if he brushed it properly. He could feel the heat in his face as he bent over her then, which allowed him to notice exactly the moment that her back began to arch. The change was surprisingly subtle, a straightening of her shoulders, her hips shifting slightly, movements so minute he would never have seen them had he not been so intent on watching what his hands were doing.

Another sweep of the brush and it became more pronounced, by the third pass he realized it was when the brush passed over the base of the tail itself, the completed motion actually relaxing Mika instead of creating more of the subtle tension. When he could no longer continue to brush her tail without it seeming suspicious he set the brush aside and reached out to touch where the fur began to thin near her spine. The only signs that Mika noticed was the faintest huffing sound she made, and how her ears flicked back toward him as if to simply listen. Heartened by this, he began to scratch the base of her tail in earnest, and sure enough her spine arched and her tail stuck out straight behind her almost as if she'd been petrified. Fascinated by this response, it wasn't until he'd noticed the way her breathing had grown ragged, coming out in heavy huffs or how she gripped her knee that he realized her reaction might not be entirely appropriate. Jerking his hand back as if scalded, apologies spilled out of his mouth until he realized the look Mika was giving him was actually one of disappointment.

"Why did you stop?" Her tone of voice was almost plaintive, and it ground his words to a stuttered stop, leaving Kain standing there and staring down at her dumbly. He found that he honestly had no answer for that, feeling as if his face were burning brightly as he pressed a fist to his mouth.

Part 5

Unable to bring himself to answer her question, Kain forced a change of subject and simply bundled her into a towel to avoid her gaze. Not that this eased his discomfort either, for it brought back memories of a very thorough toweling that Mika had given him. As well as the night she'd spent grumbling to herself about idiot dragoons while she had buried herself deeper under the blankets next to him that had followed. Had she been so frail then as well? How had he never noticed her poor health before?

Clothes. How she had carried herself and what she had worn had been intended from the very start to disguise every flaw. Never in his time at the Meadous had he seen more than her face and hands exposed even when she had slid into his bed beside him to keep him warm. Exactly as Mika had intended, from the looks of it. His hands went still in mid-motion, gazing at nothing until he snapped himself out of his daze and gently squeezed her good shoulder.

"Perhaps we should have someone see to your wounds soon. Once you are dry, of course." He added hurriedly, relieved at Mika's silent nod of consent.

With her clean and carefully bundled in a towel, her own clothes looked all the more ragged and filthy, and he left them to soak in a basin before he returned to her side. By then she had sat at the edge of his bed, almost completely hidden beneath the towel as she huddled for warmth. Soon he held out a neatly folded stack to her, and he was rewarded with the first sight of her face without even a hint of her anxieties. How long had it been since she'd had a moment without cares? Kain couldn't be certain, and that thought upset him greatly.

"It is not much, but it should suit you well enough for the moment." He tried to smile, yet found it difficult when she was in such a poor state. "The trousers are likely a poor fit." Mika stared in dumb silence until she shifted, both hands appearing from the towel's depths to accept the clothing. For a long moment she simply sat and stared at them, before she finally hugged them close, her face pressed against the clean, soft linen of one of Kain's shirts. The warou took a deep breath and sighed, relaxing as she kept her face pressed to the bundle.

Kain almost didn't hear her murmured thanks, or how she seemed to mention how nice his clothes smelled as she sighed softly into the bundle in her arms. Distracted and exhausted as she was, Mika didn't notice how his face suddenly turned scarlet, and after assuring her that she was welcome to them, Kain hurriedly excused himself and fled the room with as much dignity as he could muster.

Returning to seeing her lacing his tunic tighter and wearing his trousers backwards so her tail would have someplace to go had left him covering his mouth so she couldn't see the way he had bitten his lip. His shirt was long enough on her that it hung past her hips, and she had then confessed that the only reason she'd bothered with the trousers at all was because her tail tended to lift dresses and shirts that had no accommodations for it. Even still, she had to regularly reach back to tug his shirt lower or the trousers higher, and her little sounds of frustration hadn't helped. In the end, she'd given his hand a gentle tug and leaned against him in a loose, one-armed embrace that caught him off-guard before he could return it.

"Thanks. For everything, I mean." Her head was bowed and she gave him a lopsided shrug, while he waved it off.

"Think nothing of it. You've done the same for me before, returning the favor was the least I could do." While his words hadn't had the effect of lightening her mood much, she had smiled a little, Considering the rest of their month, it was a start, and one that she desperately needed. Taking her by her uninjured hand, Kain studied her face, his concern outweighing his earlier embarrassments. "We'll take you to one of the mages to have you healed, but for now you need your strength and rest."

His heart hammered against his ribs in a way that seemed completely alien to him now, even as he watched her halting nod. Why had asking her to sleep in his bed been so easy before? Had it been because he had not been fully human? "Would...would you like to stay here for the evening? Or is there somewhere else you'd wish to stay? If so I will take you there myself."

"Here's fine." Her voice had been so soft he had almost missed her words, though it was impossible to miss the way she gripped his hand as she let her brow rest against his chest. "I don't....I don't want to be alone right now. Please stay with me, I know it's a really terrible-sounding request but I don't think me being alone is safe right now." Mika was almost visibly shaking, and he could feel her tremors in the hand he held.

"No, I understand." It was a feeling he could understand all too well, and he wrapped an arm protectively around her injured side to hold her in a loose embrace as she began to cry. Sleep came surprisingly quickly for the both of them, deep and without the usual nightmares, and was better rest than either of them had had in a long, long time.

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Special Edition Event-Focused Kinkmeme

part 1/??? cw: violence

part 2/??? cw: violence, injury, mentions of death, haunted!Mika

part 3/??? cw: mention of blood, body image, injuries/scarring, PTSD-like symptoms

part 4/??? cw: wet animeeple fur everywhere, kain being a huge dumb

part 5/??? cw: huge nerds

part 6/??? cw: PTSD symptoms,