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It was cold.
That was the first thing Ishmael noticed as she opened her bleary eyes and sat up in her bed. The sheets were comfortable- Likely in no small part thanks to the fact that she had not left it in nearly a week. For the first few days, a few sinners came in to check on her, but now, only Dante came back to make sure she was at least still alive and not freezing to death in her quarters. They rarely said much, something she was glad for- Not like she’d answer anyway. She was happy for the loneliness. It helped process… everything that had happened in U Corp, the derelict L. Corp branch, inside the very pallid whale. The events replayed in her waking moments and in her nightmares. It didn’t make sense to her- It was her goal, completed, her closure, proof of her growth past her own desire for vengeance. So why? Why did she feel so hollow, now?
She sighed, and noticed an intense growl in her stomach. Despite the time-altering effects of Mephistopheles' pocket dimension, a week without eating or drinking took a toll. With a groan, she got up and stretched, shivering in the freezing air. She didn’t even bother getting dressed in her uniform before making her way to where she thought the small kitchenette would be.
The halls were empty. She had no clue what time it was, but most of the other sinners must be either asleep or out on mission. She was glad for the solitary peace the absence granted. The outside of her room was warmer- No surprise there, and she shouldered open the door to the kitchenette, surprised she wasn’t the only one inside.
Rodion turned around, her humming stopping as she sampled some kind of soup she was cooking.
“Ishy? Jeez, been days since I saw you step outside that room. You’ve gotta be hungry, then?”
She gestured to the pot bubbling on the stove. Ishmael took a whiff- It smelled delicious, though she supposed anything would now. Rodion smiled and set out a second bowl at the table, gesturing for Ishmael to sit.
“C’mon, siddown. I’ve been gettin’ peckish, too. Worried about you, y’know? Even Yi Sang’s been askin’, that’s how you know it’s bad, heh.”
She smiled, setting out a simple sandwich of smoked cheese and sausage before Ishmael.
“Have a bite while I finish the soup. It’ll only be a few minutes. Maybe tell me what’s got ya blue, while you’re at it?”
Ishmael didn’t look up from her sandwich, but scarfed it down without a word, wiping the crumbs from her lips between quick bites. It was probably meant to be something savored, eaten slowly, but she didn’t much care. Hunger was the best spice, or something like that. She never understood that saying- Bad food was always bad, hunger or not.
Her reminiscing was cut short by the sound of soup being ladled into her bowl. Up close, the smell of sausage dumplings, carrots, and curry spices hit her nose, and almost made her drool; But that was far from the only distraction.
Rodion sat down across from her with her own bowl, and leaned over on her crossed arms. Despite herself, Ishmael had only now noticed how sparsely dressed she was. Her usual coat was seemingly worn with nothing underneath, thrown over her and buttoned with just enough effort so she appeared decent, but the result left her more revealed than was appropriate, and the sailor felt her lips twitch as she raised her spoon to her mouth.
“Come on, Ishy, spill it. We’re all worried about ya- I wanted to pay you a visit, but, jeez, I couldn’t find the courage. At least talk to me? Burden shared’s a burden halved, ya know?”
She leaned closer, her messy hair draping over the bowl, almost spilling in. Ishmael met her eyes, swallowing spoonful after spoonful of soup. When her bowl was nearly empty, she sighed.
“It’s… Difficult. You were there, with Ahab, and… Everything. Thought it’d make me feel better. Thought it’d-”
“-Give you closure, right?” Rodion finished, with a sad smile and nodded. Ishmael returned a slow nod. She remembered what had happened in- and under- J. Corp’s establishments. Rodion sighed, suddenly seeming very, very tired.
“It ain’t ever that easy, is it? Ya do all that to feel somethin’, and then ya come away feelin’ worse than ya started, like it was all for nothin’. I’m sorry, Ishy. Really.”
She reached a hand across the table, laying it on Ishmael’s shoulder and patting her warmly, before starting on her own soup.
Ishmael remarked on the flavor in her mind. It was comfort in a bowl- The spices were not overdone, soaking into the sausage and dumplings to create an utterly pleasant sensation. She felt it all the way down her throat, with the warmth spreading outwards once it hit her empty stomach. She shuddered, and a faint smile curled the edges of her lips, distorting her freckles just a little bit.
Rodion noticed the slight improvement in mood, and grinned.
“I’m glad the soup’s helping. Take as much as you want, but don’t push yourself- It’ll only make ya feel sick later, okay? I’ll keep it warm on the stove. Not like it can go bad, hm? We can always get more later…”
Her voice trailed off as their eyes locked onto each other’s. The hand stayed on her shoulder, but slowly trailed upwards, brushing Ishmael’s cheek. They stayed like that for a few moments, before seemingly snapping out of it.
“Jeez, sorry, Ishy, I dunno what- Just, sorry.”
Ishmael shook her head.
“It… Wasn’t a problem. I didn’t mind it.”
Despite her desire, she couldn’t raise her eyes to Rodion again. Thus, she didn’t see as the girl stood up and leaned over her, hair spilling onto hers.
“Hey, Ishy, you… Want any help gettin’ that cold out?”
As a reaction, almost, Ishmael looked up, and the warm, yet cold, beauty of Rodion’s eyes pierced her own. She dropped her spoon into her bowl with a clatter and got up wordlessly, her own hand slowly floating to Rodion’s cheek. She swallowed, and nodded.
With a strength she hadn’t expected, Rodion lifted Ishmael against the wall, leveling the two, and roughly kissed her, half-missing her mouth, repeating the gesture over and over until Ishmael felt Rodya’s lip gloss all over her face. She shook, barely able to move, even as Rodion moved down her neck and onto her shoulder, pulling the shirt aside to get a better vantage. The roughness was comforting, the desire evident in each kiss and playful bite. Whimpers and gasps forcefully made their way from Ishmael’s lips, and she clutched Rodion’s back, pressing themselves closer together. When Rodion finally released Ishmael, both of them shaking, she took Ishmael’s hand, throwing the door to the kitchen open and almost draggin Ishmael to her room. She dodged a sleepy-looking Don Quixote, who tried to stop them, but was silenced by the tomato-red blush covering Ishmael’s face and hesitant eyes. She tried to come up with some kind of excuse, but couldn’t choke one out before being tossed into Rodion’s room with the door slammed onto her face.
Rodion threw her onto the bed almost immediately, straddling her legs and beginning to roughly kiss her again, trying to lean Ishmael over.
“R-rodya- Please, a moment, I-”
Ishmael’s claws dug into Rodya’s hips- Now bare, the coat thrown off into a pile of discarded clothes- eliciting a yip from the other girl’s mouth.
“Sorry, Ishy… I think I got a bit carried away. Been a while since I… Y’know…”
Ishmael shook her head.
“It’s- It’s not that. I just- I might not exactly be… What you expect, if you catch my meaning?”
The blush felt even hotter against her cheek.
Rodya smiled, her tongue dancing across her teeth.
“I don’t mind what you’ve got goin’ on, Ishy. I wanna eat you up no matter what~”
She caressed Ishmael’s cheek, her other hand moving around her back to undo her bra before that, too, was discarded. Ishmael followed suit, undoing her own shirt- She had neglected to wear anything under it- and let herself be forced down, covered by Rodion’s soft warmth. She felt, more than saw, Rodion sliding her hands down her belly, her hips, and finally down her boxers, a soft laugh escaping her lips at what she found.
“Oh, you’re gonna be fun, Ishy~”
Ishmael, sensing a cue, raised her legs and all but tore her boxers off, revealing her cock, already twitching and wet with expectation.
“Damn, Ishy… If I had known you had this kinda deal, I mighta taken you sooner, huh?
She slid down further, her tongue and teeth playing over Ishmael’s thighs and belly, stopping over her crotch and letting saliva leak down from her mouth, before winking directly at Ishmael and taking the girl’s cock into her mouth all the way.
Ishmael couldn’t hold this moan back, and she let it slip from her mouth.
God, I sound fucking pathetic.
Rodion was being utterly ruthless, using her hands and mouth in ways Ishmael had never so much as considered possible. She was quivering like an utter mess, losing herself to the shivering waves of heat and passion pulsing out from her heart and cock.
“R-Rodya… Please, d-don’t, keep going, I want you, god, I- Please, please, please-”
Rodion chuckled, giving Ishmael’s cock another lick before releasing it with a string of saliva and precum dripping down from her lips.
“Beggin’ already? Good girl~ Glad to know my skills are just as sharp. Be as loud as you want, ‘kay? I don’t care who hears us, darlin’~”
Rodya crawled up the bed, straddling Ishmael and caressing her cheek. She left her sleepwear behind as she left, leaving the two completely naked, their sweat-slicked bodies pressed together.
“Ya know, I never noticed how fuckin’ pretty you are when your face’s all red, Ishy~ I wonder why that is?”
She ran a teasing fingernail down Ishmael’s neck, in between her perky chest, and all the way to her crotch again, slowly beginning to stroke the girl’s sopping-wet cock.
“Say… Wanna feel even better, sweet thing?”
She licked her teeth again, forcing Ishmael to give a shaky nod in between gasps and moans. She had been biting down on her own hand so hard it had started to soften and bruise, but still, she bit down.
Rodya slowly began grinding herself against Ishmael, letting out soft gasps and proud chuckles as she saw the shivers run through her love. It wasn’t quite interesting enough for her, though- Easily solved, she supposed. Moving quickly and roughly, she pinned down Ishmael’s hands above her head, earning a surprised yelp as a trophy, and sank her teeth into her shoulder, hard enough to draw blood. Ishmael moaned in a combination of pain and ecstasy, her hips bucking under Rodion and nails scraping down her back, leaving scratches that wept droplets of blood on the tall girl’s shoulders.
“Fuhu~ God, you’re fuckin’ perfect. I’m never gonna let ya leave my bed when we’re off-mission
now, y’know that?”
Ishmael couldn’t even form words anymore, her cheeks utterly flushed and her heart beating like a drum. Rodion still wasn’t done with her, though.
She rose up on her knees slightly, taking Ishmael’s member in her hands again and licking her teeth on instinct before slipping it inside her. She shuddered and softly moaned with the near-forgotten sensation of it, leaning back for just a moment to appreciate the feeling before slowly starting to ride Ishmael, holding the girl’s cheeks in her hands as the two kissed, licked, and gasped their way through each shared heartbeat. Even the stink of sweat and stinging scratches left on both their bodies didn’t bother them- if they noticed it at all- as Rodion let her weight down on Ishmael time and time again between breaths and bites into Ishmael’s soft, pale shoulder. She moved the focus of her teeth lower and lower, flexing her body in ways she hadn’t in far too long, making it evident to anyone who so much as glanced at Ishmael that she was hers and hers alone.
“God, Ishy… You taste fuckin’ delicious when you’re beggin’ for me, you know? I can feel you twitching inside me, gettin’ hotter… You must be lovin’ this even more than I am, hm?”
Rodion cut off any response with another rough kiss, her tongue writhing and worming its way around Ishmael’s mouth and throat, her free hand grabbing at the girl’s shoulder, still tender from the bite, and squeezing down, eliciting another whimpered moan from Ishy’s mouth. They parted again, saliva glazed across all of Ishmael’s lower face, and Rodion could feel her hips bucking under her own as Ishmael’s hands, finally freed, grasped onto Rodion’s hips.
“Oh, good girl, just like that… Come on, come on, cum for me, darlin’, warm me up like I warmed you up. You want it, don’tcha? Come on, sweetheart, cum for me~”
She pressed herself as tightly as she could against Ishmael, moving her hips up and down faster and faster until she could barely tell the difference between her own bouncing hips and Ishmael’s. Shivers overtook Ishmael’s body, and her grip briefly tightened to steel as she moaned pathetically, forcing herself as deep inside Rodion as she could.
Rodya felt Ishmael finish in her deepest parts, filling her up with a sensation she had missed for years. They both shook in perfect synchronicity, breath escaping two sets of lips- One arrayed in a satisfied grin, the other breathing ragged and heavy exhalations that each spoke of passion never expressed through words.
Rodion slumped over, rolling off of Ishmael, and letting the other girl cuddle into her chest as her quaking body calmed itself. Her hips still twitched, but less and less so, and for a long minute the girls could do nothing but breathe together.
Almost instinctively, Rodion hugged Ishmael closer into her own chest, softly running her fingers through the girl’s long, copper-colored hair and whispering sweet nothings into her ear as their heartbeats slowed and their breaths returned to normal once again.
“...Thank you…”
It was a whispered remark, barely audible as Ishmael snuggled closer, and Rodion smiled, giggling softly at it.
“Any time, Ishy. Just… Let me know when you want to stay warm, okay? Here for a reason, you know.”
With that final smile, Rodion pulled a slight sheet over both of them, stroking Ishmael’s hair until she felt her enter a deep, restful sleep, followed shortly by herself.
In that moment, one thing was certain when no others were- These new dreams wouldn’t be nearly as cold. Not anymore.