A Question Of Comfort (Talvas)

 Stephen and I like this rare-pair and all its anxiety ridden hurt/comfort potential chaos a normal healthy amount and yall are just along for the ride.

Thanks for the commission Stephen buddy!

 

OTP Challenge Spooning

The ash from the recent storm had settled, and seeing no use in wasting an opportunity for practice Kit and I stand out in the area close to the entrance to the main tower of Tel Mithryn. While we would never truly hurt each other, or at least I hope we wouldn't…the practice is beneficial.

Slowly we circle around and around, both hesitant to make the first move, until Kit unleashes a ball of magic in my direction that I easily dodge. We continue, now that the first shot has been fired in this round, and we’ve been at this for a few hours…yet neither of us wants to be the one to give in and call it quits first. Moving forward Kit quickly approaches me, taking me off guard with a quick and not particularly soft hit to the ribs before taking a few paces back and throwing another bit of magic with enough force to send me flying back right into an ash pile.

“Right then, I win.” The Breton smirks at me “We said no hand to hand combat.” I point out, managing to stand up. My ribs will be fine, but that wasn’t an overly pleasant feeling. “You cheated.” Kit simply shrugs “Oh Talvas, I’m a thief, of course I cheat. If it really upsets you that much go tell Teldryn about it” Maybe I will tell him, Kit, maybe I will. He begins to walk away when I realize something is missing from my person-

“Hey, give me back my wallet!!” I cry, scrambling after him as the Breton begins to walk toward Raven Rock, holding it on display as if to say “come and get me!” without a single regret.

…I did eventually manage to get my wallet back.


By the time I get to Raven Rock night has fallen and Kit manages to remarkably disappear even in the tiny town. Most likely he is either with Yuuri who is in town for some reason, or paying a visit to Glover Mallory. The latter is after all a member or former member of the thieves guild. Finding Teldryn is no difficult matter though, I find him in one of his usual spots- this time on the first floor of the inn sitting close to the fire. Noticing my entrance though he gets up, and walks downstairs to the main floor, silently motioning for me to follow, and eventually takes a seat at a quiet table away from prying eyes. “You alright?” Teldryn asks, brushing some ash off my shoulder. “Me?” I shrug “Yeah…I’m alright. Just practicing with Kit, we’d agreed no hand to hand combat, but then he decided to hit me in the ribs and send me flying into an ash pile.” I trail off toward the end, I should have seen it coming. Teldryn folds his arms and leans on the table “If you two made a deal he should have stuck to it. Good thing he doesn’t work for Eno or he would never get away with that behavior.” He pauses “You feel okay now?” Teldryn asks, and again I shrug. “I’ll take that as a no. The problem is not the sparring though, is it?” Damn you Teldryn Sero and your ability to read emotions well. “He didn’t have to be an asshole about it.” I mumble “Pickpocketed me too, had to chase him to get my wallet back…” I look up briefly to see Teldryn looking at me with a fond smile “Poor thing, think you’d be used to people being assholes by now, you deal with Neloth all the time after all.” I frown “But Neloth is also the more verbal degradation kind of asshole rather than pick your pocket kind of asshole.” Teldryn corrects himself. “The little mage just needs some comfort, is that it?” I’m not little I think to myself, but am too tired to protest the wording…and comfort in whatever form is offered would be nice.

Trying not to cry, I nod. Teldryn puts a hand against my cheek briefly before retracting it. “Is that it?” I ask, attempting to keep my voice from breaking. “Of course not.” He gets up and takes one of my hands, pulling me up too “Come on, this way.” Taking me by the hand I’m led back to the room he rents from Geldis and the door is opened, and then closed and locked behind us.

Privacy thankfully allows for the dropping of pretenses needed to be kept up as to not make a fool of oneself in public. “Alright, come here.” Having taken off his boots Teldryn holds his arms open and pulls me into a tight hug, whispering things quietly even when I begin to cry, and only let’s go when I’m ready. “Feel better?” Wiping away the few remaining tears I shake my head. Sure, the hug and being able to cry helped, but it doesn’t change the fact that I still feel awful. As a result Teldryn crosses his arms and looks at me for a moment, seemingly thinking. Being stared at is slightly uncomfortable, even if it’s not in a negative context. Before I realize however my hand is grabbed and I’m led into the adjoining room where the bath is, I guess it’s a good thing I brought spare clothes with me after all.

Still in a bit of a daze I eventually come to while in the process of being partly undressed, the multiple outer layers in various states of removal, and begin to help until I’m undressed to the point of only my shirt and trousers. Teldryn then begins to work on his own layers of clothing, most of the armor had already been removed earlier in the evening as he hadn’t done much during the day, but regardless there are still a few pieces that need to be taken off with all their respective clasps and laces and whatever other manner of object keeps them together. I reach out my hand in an attempt to help only to have it batted away “You try to do too much, sit down, this won’t take long.” The strong suggestion is accompanied by a hand gesturing to a nearby stool, and so I quietly sit, fidget, and watch as everything comes off piece by piece by piece.

By the time that’s done the bath has been filled and the tap turned off. On my own accord I finish getting undressed and step into the warm water, Teldryn follows suit, the bath is not extremely large but it’s big enough to fit the both of us comfortably. Originally I sit on one end with my knees drawn up toward my chest silently, but by the end find myself curled up next to Teldryn with an arm around my shoulder and rambling all about my bottled up emotions ranging from Kit throwind me in that ash pile to Neloth and his insanity to how desperately I need a day off and other topics. He gets out first and after drying off and getting dressed sits by the edge as I still sit, moving my hand through the water and watching it ripple and eventually fade until it happens again. “It’s interesting that you like to play with the water even if you can’t swim.” Teldryn points out and I look up at him “What can I say? Dunmer and water don't mix.” I reply with a slight grin and he smiles, messing up my hair “Yes yes I know I hear the Redoran guard muttering about it all the time. ‘Dunmer weren’t meant to ride on water’ too.” He replies. I wonder if Kit can swim then, my guess is probably, Bretons and Redguards are known for their seafaring skills around the iliac bay and beyond. Perhaps I’ll have to find out one of these days.

After a few more minutes of talking and splashing around I get out of the bath and get dressed after drying off. “I need to convince Neloth to fix the hot water one of these days. Can’t take a nice long bath without it becoming freezing a quarter of the way through. Heating it with a flame spell only turns it from freezing to boiling so it's not much help either.” I say pulling on my shirt, in response I’m reminded that I’m always welcome here when I’m in the area. If only I were in the area more often, I think to myself. With a brief kiss against my cheek I’m left to finish getting dressed with Teldryn going back to the other room where once completely dressed I find him laying on the bed, arms tucked behind his head. One arm comes away from its spot and pats the place next to him. I go to move to the other side in order to lay down where directed, but stop part way through and instead climb on the bed and into his lap. “That works too I guess.” Teldryn muses pulling me down and kissing my cheek again “Tired yet?” I’m asked as a hand runs through my hair repetitively “A little.” I mumble when in reality I can barely keep my eyes open. Teldryn sits up with me in his arms still and briefly stands, picking me up, in order to move so we are under the covers instead of laying on top of them. “Why did Kit cheat?” I ask in a state of half asleep curiosity. “Probably because he’s a thief, it’s in his nature. I can ask Yuuri about it when I see him tomorrow. Do you feel better about things now?” Cuddling closer I nod, the warmth and affection is comforting. With a hand still carding through my hair I peacefully fall asleep.

“Hey, Talvas, wake up.” I’m prodded lightly in my still sore ribs and brought out of sleep “What is it?” I grumble, rubbing my eyes, still tired. “Time to wake up.” With a groan I fall face first against the pillows, I’m not getting up just yet. “Talvas…” I can hear a foot tapping against the floor too now, and as a result cover my head with the pillow. It’s too early for sound and getting up and doing things, I’d much rather continue to sleep. Unfortunately for me life has a way of not considering what I want and the covers are pulled back much to my annoyance “What time is it anyways?” I groan from my spot beneath the pillow. “Time to get up and eat something.” I’m not even hungry- why can’t I just sleep peacefully for once in my life? With an exasperated sigh of annoyance I sit up and attempt to fix my messy hair before getting out of bed and over to the small table across the room. Breakfast is typical, rice porridge and tea, it’s a bit bland, but it's alright as I’m not particularly hungry anyways. In the middle of breakfast there's a knock at the door which Teldryn answers and talks to whoever is outside, I can’t quite see because he’s blocking the view, but it seems to be another Dunmer based on the glimpses I can catch and the fact they’re speaking in Daedric- though it’s not Geldis as they’re speaking a dialect mostly spoken on the Mainland…it wouldn’t be Neloth then, either, or Valan. Perhaps it’s Yuuri, or Eno if he happened to be in the area for some reason with Valan? While they talk quietly I continue to poke at my breakfast, not eating it as much as playing with it, at least I drink my tea.

After some time Teldryn turns to me “Someone is here to see you.” he tells me, still holding the door partially open. Huh, I wonder if it is Yuuri after all. I get up and approach the door and confirm my suspicions. Yuuri stands in the doorway, dressed in his usual attire, shirt and trousers with a jacket and boots that seem to rotate between three pairs with a bag stuffed with papers around his shoulder that sits against his side. “Heard you had a rough day of it yesterday thanks to a certain Breton thief, am I right?” He asks and I nod in confirmation, which results in a sigh from Yuuri and he begins to search through his bag for something, pulling out a small velvet pouch “Well, seeing as he is still asleep and will probably sneak off somewhere to steal something before I get back I apologize on his behalf and will attempt to convince him to apologize in person if I can. In the meantime, here's this for the trouble he caused you.” Yuuri hands me the small bag and I look inside, it’s money. “Also, he somehow managed to get his thieving little hands on this too and I have no clue how or what but is this yours?” He pulls out a heavily annotated book and a few pieces of carved wood wrapped together with a piece of rope. “That’s the book with all the spells and enchantments I use for Neloths staff enchanter and the one I was working on.” I manage to get out, slightly shocked at the sight of the objects. How in the world did he get his hands on them? Yuuri looks visibly unhappy. “I’m now glad I carry a key to the lab, because he is never allowed up there again.” I hear Yuuri mutter to himself. “Anyways, here you go, I’m sorry about the other thing and especially about this, won’t happen again, I promise. If it does tell me and I’ll talk to him…or have Eno give him a lecture on honor and the rules of combat and how thievery from certain factions is a very bad idea, I don’t know…I’ll figure something out.” I take the staff pieces and the book from him and Yuuri bids us farewell before heading off, likely to deal with Kit and his problematic behavior, leaving Teldryn and I alone. As I set aside the objects Teldryn closes the door again and sits down to finish his tea, which now requires a bit more hot water. “How did he find out about yesterday?” I ask, pouring some more hot water in my own cup. “Ah, a little birdie told him” Tedlryn jokes as he stretches and cracks his neck “No, I told him last night, he stopped by the inn for a drink after you had already fallen asleep.” I guess that explains it then, and satisfied with the answer don’t ask more questions. “Feeling better now that you have an apology from the more honest of the pair and your stuff back?” Teldryn questions as I focus on drinking my tea and trying not to burn myself. “In the scheme of things yes, but if that ever happens again I may need you to prevent me from committing homicide.” Teldryn simply nods “Good, I’m glad you’re feeling better, and don’t worry about it I’ll stop you if you decide murder looks like a potential necessity. After all, I did formerly murder people for money, I am well versed in its tactics even if they involve magic.” with a barely noticeable smile he gets up and clears his dishes, messing up my hair again as he passes by and sits down on the bed once done with everything. Curious, I look over at him and he gestures for me to come over, but I need to finish my now lukewarm breakfast. By the time I am almost finished it seems Teldryns patience has run out, as he gets up, takes the spoon out of my grasp and simply picks me up much to my surprise, and walks back over to the bed. We wind up in a similar position to last night with me sitting on his lap. “What are we doing now?” I ask, looking over at my bowl on the table when suddenly Teldryn lays down, taking me with him so I end up with my head resting against his shoulder until we change position again. “You said you were still tired, so here’s your opportunity. I’ve got nothing to do today, and you’ve had a rough week. So the question of comfort was asked by the universe and the answer is you absolutely need it, as a result you’ll get as many cuddles and whatever else in reason you want.” That makes me smile, cuddles sound nice. Mostly I just want a nap, and lucky me I get one wrapped up against someone warm and surrounded by soft blankets…I’ll take this over my bedroll on the floor any day.

…I really need to convince Neloth to let me have a day off, don’t I?