Never Skip Leg Day

His returning teasing comment elicited a wider grin from her. “Is that so?” she said as he informed her that she wasn’t that much of a challenge. “Well, I guess I’ll just have to step up my game then.” A simple threat, but one he could be sure she would more than fulfill. If he wanted to sass back -- and she loved when he did -- then Mercury was only going to use it as an excuse to be even worse than she already was.

And he wouldn’t have to wait terribly long for that particular shoe to drop, as Mercury inquired as to whether or not he was going to join her in fully indulging the setting or not. The mention of the chains got exactly the expression she had been hoping for out of him, his stony gaze quickly darting away as his cheeks turned a little pink. Themesycia and Simon both fed on the tidbit of information like starved beasts, his mother gasping in shock and voicing her pleasure over the insight into Vandrad’s naughty side that she probably assumed he didn’t even have after all this time. Simon was equally as impressed by the notion, going so far as to comment about how he and Themesycia apparently shared a kink.

That seemed to be the cue for him to make a decision. Curly agreeing to the teased request, he did his usual schtick of grumbling and pulling her away, complete with calling her “woman” which Mercury had long since deemed a term of endearment, even though he definitely didn’t mean it to be. What was weird about it was that he actually took her by the hand, rather than dragging her firmly by her arm or elbow. It wasn’t something that she made a comment on or even thought too overly hard about, but she did make a mental note of it, tucking it away in the same corner of her brain that she’d stored all the other weird occurances away for later contemplation.

She’d gotten ready and emerged from the station, proudly clad in her new attire and firmly expecting him to be brooding against a wall somewhere waiting for her to come out. Instead, Vandrad caught her by complete and utter surprise by having taken the time to don himself in an outfit that almost exactly matched how he’d looked the day Mercury kidnapping. Her green eyes went fully wide for a brief moment before she erupted in a deep, belly clutching laughter that almost caused her to lose her balance in her heels. Stumbling just a bit, she rested her hand on the nearest surface to steady herself, her torso bent over as she continued to laugh and laugh until one or two small tears dripped out of her eyes.

“Oh my fucking stars,” she breathed, doing her best to collect and compose herself. It was the hardest she’d laughed around him before. Actually, it was probably the hardest she’d ever laughed at all, given that she was rarely if ever prone to boisterous displays of emotion. Normally all of her mannerisms were very subdued, even her flirts and grins and teases, but it seemed he’d found the right strategy to get a rather uncharacteristic reaction out of her.

And he wasn’t the only one. While she had been busy laughing, apparently he had been busy admiring her own attire, and his satisfaction of it was nearly impossible to miss. Similarly unmistakable was the teasing look on her face when she noticed it, giving him a cheshire grin that was even wider than usual given how hard she’d just been laughing. He dryly congratulated her on fitting in with the locals, though the comment was a pretty feeble cover up. Vandrad must have recognized that because he didn’t even give her a chance to say anything about it, quickly turning and heading back up toward his family with her following in his wake, smiling wickedly.

He somehow managed to get himself under control by then, probably pretty desperate to keep his family from making comments. Now Mercury was in a conundrum, however. Since the moment she realized what she was in for with this after party, she’d had it pretty set in her head that she was going to use every conceivable opportunity to keep stringing Themesycia and Simon along, curious to see how far she could push one or both of them before they exploded. And while she still greatly wanted to do that, there was also a part of her that was equally as interested in turning more of her focus on Vandrad.

Not necessarily in an attempt to get him to sleep with her again; they’d already played that game, and she highly doubted he was very interested in a round two, betraying bodily reactions aside. Rather, it was the mild streak of sadism in Mercury that was greatly titillated by the idea of getting further such embarrassing reactions out of him in front of his family, feuling them with just as much dirt and gossip as they had done with her about the surly man. The idea sounded more than delightful to her.

Well, she’d play it by ear.

When they got back to the dais, Simon had supposedly run off somewhere. The two of them sat at the behest of Vandrad’s mother, with Mercury between the two of them. The prince inquired as to his uncle’s whereabouts, to which Themesycia explained that she was fairly certain he’d spotted another pair of relatives that Mercury had yet to meet. Knowing that the Silver Wolf mage would be without context, the duchess elaborated to say that the other uncle and aunt, Dudley and Everance, apparently were known for never coming to the formal galas but always showing up in time for the party that followed after.

“I can’t say I blame them,” Mercury chirped. “Not that the gala wasn’t fun, because I did greatly enjoy it. It was the nicest event I’ve ever been to. However, this is much more exciting.” It took almost no time at all for the duchess to slip an arm around Mercury’s back and start trailing her fingers down her thigh, commenting on how much she enjoyed the change in attire, as well as to the woman’s hair, which was now much easier to hold onto. “Uh oh,” Mercury purred back teasingly, “She’s catching onto my ploys. I think I’m in trouble.”

Themesycia reached for her drink only to find it conveniently empty. Glancing to her son, she asked him to fetch her another glass, and one for Mercury as well. No one was fooled by the tactic, least of all Vandrad, who narrowed his eyes suspiciously at his mother and wondered aloud why she couldn’t do it herself. She easily replied that it was kinder that he do the favor for his mother as a gesture of love, as well as saying how it would be rude for him to expect his guest to service herself in his own home.

Whatever he did or did not take away from her words, it seemed it was enough to persuade him. He stood, confirming Themesycia’s drink request before looking to Mercury and asking if she wanted anything. “A beer of some kind would be lovely,” she told him. “Preferably something on the darker side if it’s available.” With that, he turned and made his way through the crowd and toward the bar, leaving Mercury grinning as she watched him go, entertained by how obedient he was at home. Not that she’d ever ordered him around before, so to speak, but she was fairly certain if she tried he’d just tell her to fuck off for the sake of being stubborn. There was only one time she could think of that he’d ever taken a suggestion or order from her without resistance, and that had been during a very real life or death situation.

But of course, now the two women were alone again, and her attention could only stay so long on his taut, barely concealed ass before it was pulled back in the direction of his equally attractive mother. Mercury’s eyes twinkled with mirth and mischief as the duchess stated her open opinion of what the Silver Wolf’s attire was doing for her, feeling the woman’s hand squeeze a bit tighter on her leg. But rather than allow herself to be so easily baited into that kind of talk, she gave the older woman a wicked smirk and innocently remarked, “Well, it certainly wasn’t a reaction he was capable of hiding in that loin cloth.”

Then, just as innocently, she allowed herself to follow up with a bit of verbal teasing of her own toward the duchess. “Though if I may, nothing was sexier tonight than you taking that self absorbed bimbo to task.” Mercury gave a dreamy sigh, turning her head up slightly toward the ceiling as though fondly reminiscing over the still recent memory. “I’ll admit I’m a little disappointed that my chance to take revenge and ridicule her myself was taken away, but honestly it was probably better that you and Vandrad stepped in before I could. Otherwise, they’d still be mopping the blood off the floor, and I’d hate to cause that kind of scene in your own home when you and your family have been so generous to me all night. Besides, it’s not like I was the only one of your guests she was harping on, so you had more cause to let loose than I did, and I greatly appreciated the show.”

Mercury had known there was some kind of scheme happening. She could feel it in her bones. Vandrad probably did, too, but he at least seemed pretty confident that he could out play it. The empty drink in the duchess’ hand had been much too convenient, particularly when it had been practically full only a couple minutes ago when they’d first arrived. From what she’d observed of Themesycia throughout the night thus far, she wasn’t the type to get rip roaring drunk and chug her drinks like a freshman girl at a frat party. No, she seemed more like Mercury, willing to enjoy alcohol but not to the extent that it hindered her ability to be in control of her body or mind. Thus, the contents of her glass disappearing so quickly was suspect.

As was Simon’s own disappearance. The man had known that Mercury was going to return in a new get up that he was surely looking forward to, and had been hoping for since the moment he’d first laid eyes on her that night. Yet, now he was conspicuously absent to go speak with other family members rather than at least wait a couple minutes to witness her return? No, something was definitely up here, and frankly Mercury was just excited to see what it was. Or rather, she had a few theories of what, but it was the how that greatly interested her. The Silver Wolf mage had a feeling that she was presenting as more of a challenge than either Themesycia or her brother had been given in a while, clearly interested but not falling too quickly or easily into their arms.

The duchess chuckled at her poor son’s shame, if one could call it that, and found honest entertainment in the fact that Mercury had managed to convince Vandrad to actually dress up for the party for the first time ever, only to tease him rather cruelly with her own choice in attire. For her part, she could only give a knowing grin because, while torturing Vandrad was also fun, it really hadn’t been him that she was looking to make squirm. Although she would probably try to do that, too.

The duchess admitted that she’d wanted to let either of the two younger mages handle the situation with Sabine, but in interest of not starting a war had decided it was best to take care of it politically, rather than physically. She even went so far as to state that there was only so many times one could go to war with the same enemy before it got stale. It was the first statement the duchess had made that Mercury didn’t quite agree with, but the lavender haired woman understood the jesting intent of the comment and thus didn’t react outside of an honest chuckle. While she had fairly strong views on actual warfare, that didn’t mean that she couldn’t appreciate jokes regarding its nature, even ones that didn’t fully align with her opinions.

And speaking of warfare, it seemed that Mercury was in for a first hand experience in the Ashen Dread’s tactical mind as the woman directed her attention toward Vandrad at the bar, baited and ready for a trap to be sprung upon him. She explained that he would be fully out of his element in this space due to the fact that he spent years avoiding it, and thus was none the wiser to just how elaborate his family’s schemes could get in trying to get what they want.

Mercury watched with vested interest as the woman laid out the scene as it played out before them. Simon conveniently appeared before Vandrad could walk away from the bar, calling out to him and pointing him out to another couple. A man who rivaled Gangting on size and musculature approached, along with a gorgeous dark haired woman that was much smaller than her counterpart, but even from here Mercury could tell that she was taller than herself. The couple wandered over to greet the prince, with the man pulling him in for a hug that appeared to be more like a vice grip than anything else.

She couldn’t help but snort her entertainment by the surprise and discomfort on Vandrad’s face as his uncle kept him in a firm headlock. Then they did exactly as Themesycia described, pulling him away to another corner to chat and catch up in a spot that just so happened to be out of eye sight of the pair of ladies up on the dais. A trick that Themesycia seemed very convinced wouldn’t cause any suspicion in her otherwise overly suspicious son, as the behaviors being put on by Dudley and Everance were standard fare.

All this, the duchess said, was to supply the two of them with roughly thirty uninterrupted minutes of relative privacy. And even as she whispered it right into Mercury’s ear, Themesycia gave a slight tug on the Silver Wolf wizard’s lobe with her teeth, sending a number of goosebumps across her neck. Mercury turned to fix a very knowing smirk on the older woman, clearly both pleased and impressed by the efforts she had taken just to get some alone time with her.

“Well,” Mercury purred, her tone for the first time that night dropping into something a little more deeper and silky, still teasing but now with a bit more open seduction. “I do seem to recall giving you the green light to be as bold with me as you wish.” How easily Mercury pulled from their first meeting only hours ago to flirt back with the other woman.

She turned in her seat a bit to face Themesycia more fully, causing their legs to touch a bit more fully while her eyes made more of a show of looking over the attire that didn’t cover much of the duchess. But still, Mercury did not make any physical moves to push the line of touching they’d done so far, feasting with her eyes but showing immense discipline in not electing to be too forward with her own hands and thus showcasing just how dedicated and easily she was at committing to play hard to get.

“So when you say ‘get to know one another’...” she said, the words rolling delicately off her tongue even as she eyed Themesycia. “Is this as a mother investing an interest into the random woman that popped up in her son’s life to shake it around a little, or did you have something in mind that was focused more on… immediate company?” Mercury smirked up at the woman, her eyes dancing even as she posed the seemingly innocent question like there was even a possibility that Themesycia had anything else on her mind other than what they both knew she wanted.

But that wasn’t her only question. Deepening her wry expression of amusement, she added, “And at what point is Simon making an appearance to get his chance to… know me better?” Mercury wasn’t a fool. The siblings had been challenging one another all night to vye for the Silver Wolf mage’s interest, and the only way that the dark man would concede to a ploy to give Themesycia time alone with Mercury was if the gesture was intended to be reciprocated. They'd made a deal or pact of some kind to ensure they both came out winners in some way, or at the very least that they both got an equal chance to try, and that wasn't something that had gone over Mercury's head.

The duchess gave the answer that Mercury had been honestly expecting, that the woman was interested in both getting to know the Silver Wolf mage for herself and in the interest of looking out for her son. But when Mercury brought up the tidbit about wondering when Simon was going to reappear, the grin that spread across Themesycia’s face was well worth calling the strategy out aloud. Knowing that she had essentially been given a green light to press forward if she dared, the duchess leaned in toward Mercury, very much moving as if to kiss her this time as she started to answer the question regarding her brother.

And then the world stopped, quite literally.

Mercury frowned and blinked in confusion. The duchess, the music, the crowd was totally frozen, all except for the dark man himself, coyly wandering his way toward her where she sat on the couch. Her eyes narrowed on him suspiciously, though still very much dancing with interest at this sudden and unexpected turn of events as he confidently explained to her the things that Themesycia herself was about to relay: That Simon’s magic was the ability to freeze time for himself and whomever he chose.

Mercury couldn’t help the way her brow quirked in interest, and not just for the obvious reasons. The scientist in her was also heavily curious about this phenomenon. “That’s a handy trick,” she offered, turning once more in her seat to face him this time as he approached. Mercury could think of a number of ways she would use an ability like that, some of which certainly fell in line with the way the duke seemed to make good of it. He explained to her that he had agreed to help with the scheme so that both of them could have their fair chance at attempting to woo the woman out of her clothing.

He advised that he could keep time frozen for them for two hours, which was more than enough time for the two of them to make use of, stating that once they were done he could trigger the world back into operation and no one would be the wiser. She gave him the most wicked of smirks, and it was clear that his sneaky methodology had impressed her quite a bit, her eyes roving over his form openly. “Oh, I see,” Mercury said, her voice ripe with playfulness. “So you made the deal, but still fully intend on using this ability of yours to ensure that you got to lay claim to me first, hrm? I must say, I both admire and am extremely flattered by the underhanded tactics.”

She watched as he reached out to trail his fingers along her shoulder, making no effort to stop him. And as he touched, her Mercury felt a rather odd sensation ripple across her flesh, like he’d sent a tickling of energy through her. Clearly she felt it as was evidenced by the way she shivered a bit and flicked her gaze to his hand briefly from the corner of her eyes. She wasn’t sure what he’d done. It had felt pretty good…

...though perhaps, not as good as he had intended it to.

The only problem was, Mercury didn’t exactly realize that something hadn’t gone to plan for him. Not knowing what kind of magic he’d tried to enact, and in fact knowing very little about any magic at all, there was no way for her to understand that his spell didn’t quite have the effect he’d mean for it to have on her. “Mm, what was that?” she asked him, giving him a playful look that was certainly intrigued but not leading her to be any more hot and bothered than she already had been.

He seemed quite happy with her calling him out on his tactics, admitting up front to being a winner and how his sister probably was more than aware that he was going to do something like this. The duchess had apparently just hoped to at least get a kiss in beforehand, but it seems Simon had been watching like a hawk and took a perfect moment to strike to steal even that from her. Or at least, so he hoped. Unlike Themesycia, Simon had yet to get any verbal green lights from her to do as he pleased, though of course the unspoken affirmation had been more than apparent.

But as she reacted to his touch, purring with mild delight over the sensation, there was only a brief moment before the man’s face was overcome with confusion and surprise. Mercury raised a brow at him as if to silently ask if something was the matter, only for him to explain that what he’d just attempted to do was utilize a secondary magic on her that apparently was all about pleasuring the one subjected to his touch. According to him, that simple gesture was usually enough to send most women into some kind of lusty fog, and yet for some reason it hadn’t appeared to have the same effect on her.

Not that he seemed displeased by this, of course. Simon actually went on to say that it actually made her all the more desirable to him, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to have the easy way and would have to work to get any rewards out of her -- something he hadn’t had to do in a long time. And Mercury herself only fixed a playful, narrow eyed gaze on him. “Oh, so you were trying to cheat your way into my pants, were you?” she asked him teasingly, clearly not as upset as most women arguably should have been by the notion of having a pleasure spell used on them without their consent.

As he leaned down and placed a kiss on her neck, once more sending a delightful little shiver through her body, he posed the question: Were they going to do this? “Hmm..” Mercury hummed thoughtfully out loud, still not quite ready to cave to his touch no matter how delightful his lips felt on her neck. And given her track record throughout the day so far, he probably assumed that she was continuing to play hard to get. Perhaps a part of her was. She was still slightly on the cusp of deciding whether or not she should take the risk to sleep with any of Vandrad’s family members. After all, she was quite fond of how friendly the two of them were now, and it would be a shame to throw that away just for a one night stand with his uncle or mom.

But then again, Vandrad knew Mercury and while he had certainly done his best to keep the three of them apart, there had certainly been a number of times throughout the night that he could have pushed harder but didn’t. What he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him anyway, right? Simon and Themesycia both seemed the type more than capable of holding a secret when they really wanted to, despite the ghastly level of juicy gossip that had been spread amongst all of them tonight. Mercury had only known the du Wolffs for a few hours, but they had already done more than enough to earn a great deal of her trust.

If only it were that simple, however. Mercury just couldn’t get out of her head which of the two she wanted to sleep with more. Both were equally tempting, but she got the feeling that once the current distraction being laid on Vandrad was over, she wasn’t going to get many more chances to make good on any of this. A wicked scheme of her own was churning through her mind. Would they do it, she wondered? A part of her greatly wanted to know, devilishly pleased by the robust notion that would probably either make or break this tryst triangle.

“On one condition,” she finally said, her tone the most soft and suggestive it had been all night as she turned her face as if to kiss him. But before their mouths could meet, Mercury gently placed the pad of a single finger upon his lips to say him, there faces barely an inch apart as her emerald eyes looked deep into his with an equal mixture of want and mischief.

“Themesycia joins us… and you both get me, at the same time.”

Equal winners. Everyone could be happy, right? But her gaze danced with pure impishness. Mercury fully understood the sheer boldness of what she had just asked of him. Most people wouldn’t be so audacious as to suggest that a brother and sister get into bed together, but if any pair of siblings were going to be up for it, it would be this pair. Plus, it wasn’t like they necessarily needed to fool around with each other. They both could put their attention on her, and she could simply play both fields.

“Vandrad may have been caught off guard by this delightful little plan once tonight, but he won’t let it happen again once he starts to suspect that it resulted in anything. And even if he’s never going to be able to confirm it, he will suspect. He knows both of you, and me, far too well, and he is far more observant than he lets on. I don’t settle for less than the best in any area of my life, and you have both more than earned a bit of playtime… but I suspect this is going to be the only chance I get, for either of you. So, if this happens… it happens with both of you.”

Her explanation given, she waited patiently to see how he would react and what he would do, all without ever removing her face from its close proximity to his own. No, Mercury would continue to stare him down with her heated little gaze, applying a bit of her own peer pressure to see what he would do. Would he agree and partake in what was sure to be on hell of a scandal, or relent their little game and admit defeat?

By the time Simon released his spell and brought the three of them back in sync with the rest of the world, it was once again just Mercury and Themesycia sitting idly on the couch seemingly as before, talking and flirting, and perhaps looking a little more smug than they did before. Simon had returned to wherever he’d been before time had stopped, careful not to be seen up on the dais with the two women so that no suspicions of illicit activities would be aroused.

Mercury had been more than shocked by how quickly the two had agreed to join in on a group effort together, and even more shocked to learn a truth that even Vandrad didn’t know: Themesycia and Simon weren’t actually siblings. They hadn’t told her much just yet, as they had been far more focused on other activities, but they had made sure to give her at least a quick confirmation on the matter so that she wouldn’t be thrown off by the two being arguably much more intimate than any brother and sister should be. They promised that one of them would explain everything to her soon, once there was a more appropriate setting to do so, before the three of them made the most of their two hours with one another.

And the Silver Wolf mage was greatly curious about the story behind all that. The more time she spent with the du Wolff family, the more she liked them. They were a fierce group of people with as many secrets and quirks as she did… but somehow it seemed to have drawn them closer together as a family. Despite the way they picked and teased on one another, and despite their lascivious lifestyles, it was obvious that they loved and cared for one another deeply. It was a strange thing for Mercury to observe, as someone who had never had that, who didn’t even know what it looked like or meant.

It had given her a lot to think about, though perhaps not right at this moment. For the time being, she and Themesycia needed to busy themselves looking for all the world as though no extra amount of time at all had passed, so that when Vandrad returned he wouldn’t be suspicious. Or at least, immediately so. As she had stated before, Mercury knew that underestimating the prince was a bad idea. He was sharp, and it probably wouldn’t take long for him to start wondering if his uncle had already managed to make some kind of move on the woman. They had all agreed never to tell him, of course -- just as Mercury had made it very clear she would not betray the secret about Simon and Themesycia’s lack of relation to one another.

But to keep up appearances, Mercury turned herself fully onto the couch to face the duchess, her legs tucked up beneath her bottom on the sofa. She was practically snuggled up against the older woman as though currently in the process of being heavily wooed by her, staring deep into her eyes with a playful and teasing gaze. “Well, now that we’ve gotten to know one another so well,” she murmured, having first made sure that Vandrad wasn’t around to hear them just yet, “We should probably find something to talk about, shouldn’t we?” She lightly trailed her fingers along the duchess’ thigh, caressing the limb as though she were hoping it would lead to something fun.

Or well, another round of fun.

Ah, Silver Wolf. That was certainly a worthwhile discussion, and an honest interest that the duchess probably had. Themesycia admitted she had done research, if only a little, into the Fairy Tail guild that Vandrad had joined, but she hadn’t really heard much of anything regarding Mercury’s own guild up until meeting the wizard herself. She inquired as to what kind of stuff they researched, curious as to whether their work was focused only on magic or if there was also any interest in technology. While Bellum as a country seemed to have some issued with anything non-magical, Themesycia herself saw it for the useful tool that it was. Clearly, as she gestured broadly toward the room.

Before Mercury could get the chance to answer, however, Vandrad had already returned. His mother masked her surprise well, as did Mercury but only because her sensors had warned her that someone was approaching them on the dais ahead of time. Still, he had come back much quicker than the alleged thirty minutes that the duchess seemed convinced her sister and brother-in-law would be able to buy them. He commented on how cozy they seemed, his expression as deadpan and suspicious as ever, and Mercury gave him an impish little grin like he’d caught her red handed letting herself get talked out of the rest of her clothing.

The duchess played it off coolly, wondering why he hadn’t returned with any drinks and talking about how she’d been spending the last couple minutes getting to know Mercury better. There was no hiding the continued teasing desire in her voice, which was very much not faked. She had a feeling Themesycia had wanted more than two hours with the lithe mage, and could have gone on for longer, but had to make due with what she could get.

Vandrad seemed unimpressed, which was par for the course. He turned to look at Mercury, inviting her to come with him to meet his other aunt and uncle, who were demanding to hear about his time in Fiore. Mercury already knew this, of course -- that had been the plan the whole time. What hadn’t been the plan was for Vandrad to decide to slip away long enough to come grab Mercury and bring her back with him, rather than leave her alone and out of his sight with his mother for too long.

“You make it sound like you don’t enjoy my relentless harping,” she told him with a smirk. Turning to Themesycia, Mercury said, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think he doesn’t trust us to be alone. This, despite the fact that I told him I could probably hold out against your charms for at least ten minutes. I guess he’s not as willing to test that claim as I am.” With a lamented sigh, she gave one last look over the bikini clad woman, fondly remembering the way it had looked without the metal coverings. “Alas. It seems I am being taken away. We’ll just have to find some other time to… bond.”

Giving the woman a wicked look, she pulled herself away and took Vandrad’s offered hand, letting him help her to her feet and escort her through the crowds once more. They made only one stop at Mercury’s request to get that beer she’d asked for. A drink she’d already been brought by Simon, of course, but that had been a couple hours ago for her and she was more than ready for another. Then he brought her to the booth in the corner where sat a gargantuan man and his sultry wife.

Dudley stood to his feet when they arrived with a chuckle, his first words commenting on his apparent understanding of why Vandrad wanted Mercury around. “He said he wanted me close by, did he?” she asked innocently, shooting the prince a teasing look. “That’s a first. Careful, your highness. I think people are starting to catch on that you actually like me.”

Dudley confirmed her name before warning her that he was a hugger. Mercury chuckled, not at all upset over the idea of a man that big wrapping his arms around her, though she didn’t say so out loud in front of his wife. Such a comment probably wouldn’t have been an issue given what she’d observed of the du Wolff family so far, but better safe than sorry when it came to married couples, even married couples partaking in an orgy. The man gave her a great big hug, eliciting a small squeak of surprise and enjoyment from him basically having to pull her up off her feet to make it work properly.

She did her best to hug him back, of course. She was far too small to wrap both her arms around him, and one hand held a beer bottle anyway, but she still tried. He set her down and then Everance came and introduced herself, inquiring as to the wellbeing of her sister whom she hadn’t gotten the chance to say hello to yet. But the way she worded it, and the hidden little wink that accompanied it when Vandrad wasn’t watching them, more than betrayed the woman was looking for some kind of confirmation on if the scheme had been successful.

Mercury liked this woman already. “Well, I think she’s a little disappointed that Vandrad pulled me away when we were just starting to get comfortable,” she said innocently, “But overall she seems to have been enjoying herself quite thoroughly.” The Silver Wolf wizard ensured that she returned the knowing wink on the side of her face that Vandrad couldn’t see, then sat next to the prince when beckoned by Dudley for them to do so.

“Something exciting, huh?” she mused, settling into her seat comfortably as she thought. “We’ve got a few of those stories. Ghost pirates, clones, gargantuan sea snakes… let’s see… Oh, we took down a cult not very long ago. That’s a fun one.” Mercury grinned wide, shooting a glance at Vandrad to see what he made of the adventure she’d chosen. It was, of course, another somewhat embarrassing one for him as he had fallen victim temporarily to brain washing and accidentally revealed his true heritage to her which he’d been trying to keep a secret.

She took a couple drinks from her beer bottle before going into it. “This was actually the second job we ever worked together, and he wasn’t terribly pleased with me after the first one. Poor man was pretty certain, or at least hopeful, that he’d never see me again but unfortunately for him our guilds are allies and I rather enjoy the way his brow twitches when he’s irritated.”

“So when I got a job posting I knew would intrigue him, I decided to surprise him at his guildhall. Found him brooding in a corner, staring at their own postings to try and find something worthwhile, and he wasn’t thrilled to see me. He couldn’t resist the job I’d brought, though. Some girl had run away from her family to be a part of this.. Sun worshipping group. They had this big tower that supposedly no one ever returned from, which I knew would catch his interest. He grumbled about it, but joined me.”

Mercury nudged Vandrad playfully a bit, her foot playfully pushing his leg a little over the fond memory of the days back when he legitimately couldn’t tolerate her existence. “Turns out, these people were using some kind of light based magic to brainwash people into joining their little order. A discovery we made the hard way. Or at least, one that he learned the hard way.”

She chuckled into her beer, getting another taste of it to wet her palate and give any of the others a chance to speak up with any comments if they wished. Then, she continued. “Apparently, Vandrad doesn’t like being told what to do. By the time we found the guy in charge of the place, little princey-poo here was fully under his thrall and had been given an order to kill me. Given how much he probably wanted to do that on his own time anyway, I was pretty surprised when he fought it instead of giving in. Managed to talk himself out of being mind controlled with sheer, stubborn willpower. It was pretty impressive, actually.”

Her smile curled into a devilish little grin, as she approached the part that Mercury personally thought was the juiciest. “But, he did it by constantly reminding himself of his identity, out loud. Not sure if you’re aware or not, but no one back in Fiore knows who he is except for me. Shocking, really. The way he yelled his name and title back at this tower, I could have sworn the whole country heard him. Still, he was pretty out of it at the time and apparently wasn’t sure if he’d been talking out loud or in his head. I was actually a little disappointed. He’d been this great big, gruff and grumpy mystery that I was rather looking forward to unraveling myself, but oh well.”

“I just kept the information to myself for a couple months. He actually wasn’t sure that I heard him until I showed up tonight and surprised him. It’s been a long night for him, poor thing.” The way Mercury pouted at him with playful empathy suggested that she’d been the source of a lot of the reasons the night had been so long for him, though arguably Sabine took the cake in that department. Since the couple hadn’t been at the gala, however, Mercury wasn’t entirely sure what all they had and hadn’t heard already. She’d already learned that word had traveled fast within the palace, and so she wouldn’t be surprised if they’d already gotten a few snippets of information regarding her bold arrival and all the bullshit that had gone down with the princess from hell.

The answer of whether or not Dudley and Everance were the sharing type was quickly answered in the way that the large man inquired about borrowing her, while Ever protested with very little conviction. “You may have to get in line behind Themesycia and Simon, first,” Mercury said with an open grin, but clearly not looking unopposed to the idea herself. Hell, Everance had basically just propositioned her in a sly way, and now Mercury’s head was really going. Just how many of Vandrad’s family members was she going to get the chance to sleep with, she wondered? She probably shouldn’t make it a point to let all of his willing relatives talk her into bed, but at the same time his family was so charming and attractive it was a tempting possibility to pass up.

Vandrad was clearly not all too pleased by the story Mercury had elected to tell, but then again there were few stories she had that wouldn’t be embarrassing to some extent for the prince. At least this time she had opted not to open with how the two of them wound up in bed. She wove her tale, pausing at regular intervals to let others get words in while she drank from her beer bottle. Unsurprisingly, the members of his family were aware of his magic and how it worked, with Everance confirming how difficult it had probably been for Vandrad to fight the effects as he was constantly soaking in energy from the world around him, whether good or bad.

The tale was one that Dudley seemed to enjoy, with Vandrad taking a moment at the end to finally shed a little smirk and confirm that Mercury had learned a lot about him that day, especially how little he would let anyone control him. She grinned back at him, the two of them sharing their challenging and feisty expressions in the unique way that they’d developed with one another.

His aunt and uncle took the time to comment on what they’d heard regarding Sabine, causing Mercury to chuckle darkly. A part of her was still toying with the idea of enacting some kind of revenge on the woman. She was still in the palace, after all. Mercury wouldn’t want to harm her in Themesycia’s house and get the du Wolff’s a political bind, but that didn’t mean Mercury couldn’t make other arrangements for once the woman was outside of Bellum. But before she could get into her own thoughts regarding the snobby princess, Dudley demanded another story, this time from Vandrad, and specifically requesting it be a story that even Mercury didn’t know.

“Oooh, those are my favorite,” she told them with a bit of excitement, wiggling on her seat to face the prince better and give him her undivided attention. Between Vandrad and his relatives, Mercury had heard an awful lot of new stories about the prince that night, most of them from his childhood and younger years. It took him a moment to think, his gaze even glancing toward her as if trying to consider what he could tell that she hadn’t already heard. Frankly, ever since he’d come to find her in the Silent Glaciers and afterward invited her to come train with him on a regular basis, there weren’t a whole lot of jobs and experiences that they hadn’t been a joint effort on.

But it seems he was able to think of one, and soon he was pouring into a story involving a doctor by the name of Patricia Reeves. Apparently, the woman had been interested in purchasing Vandrad’s armor. Dudley mistook this for the attire Vandrad was currently wearing, which the prince quickly corrected to state that the clothing he wore at present was a joke, his eyes flicking back to Mercury’s. And of course she was already grinning, this time a naughtier expression as she quickly interjected, “And that’s a whole other story.” The way she said it to the couple was sure to make them more than a little curious about that particular tale.

Vandrad continued with his tale, stating how Patricia had insisted on not only purchasing his armor from him but also going back to the Fairy Tail guild hall to do so, which was weird to Mercury but not necessarily suspicious. Just something that the Silver Wolf mage passed off as being a bit stupid. However, along the way they didn’t get that far. It seemed there was a tarot card in their path and the dumb woman had managed to activate it, which caused them to be swept into some other dimension. The way he had described it made it sound like outer space, causing Mercury’s eyes to narrow with interest and curiosity.

It was from that point that she listened to the story without any hint of wanting to show any amusement at the prince’s expense. He described for them the type of beings they encountered and were forced to fight in the realm at the behest of some ominous voice that was treating them very much like rats in a lab maze. And then he paused as if trying to find the right way to describe something the woman had done before admitting that Patricia’s magic was very similar to his own, and that she’d managed to use it to finish off one of the creatures he’d been fighting.

Everance commented on the peculiarity with which two people with such rare magic had happened upon each other, an innocent sentiment that Vandrad seemed to brush off but Mercury did not. No, she was right in line with his aunt that the chances of that were suspect, though Mercury did not voice any opinion on the matter for now, tucking the information away in interest of allowing him to finish his story to see what else could be drawn from it before she started forming theories.

The end game turned out to be a little girl that wanted to become more powerful than she already was. It seemed that the girl had used them to enact her wishes and planned on taking them out as well, but they managed to defeat her in the end. Unfortunately, it resulted in the realm itself beginning to deteriorate. Thanks to what Mercury considered a rather convenient skill on Patricia’s part, the woman was able to use another form of time related magic to fast forward Vandrad temporarily into a future, more powerful form of himself… and then she kissed him.

Dudley exclaimed his shock to the high heavens, fully interrupting the story to proclaim his honest shock in letting a woman kiss him. And for Mercury’s part, she was surprisingly… subdued about the information. Oh, she smirked and certainly looked interested and amused by the knowledge, grinning all the more at his uncle’s excitement over such a feat. But there was a dark thoughtfulness to it, her mind already starting to churn and put pieces of a very curious puzzle together even as she took another few sips from her beer. Thankfully, it looked like Vandrad hadn’t quite noticed the look, as he was too busy defending himself to his overly excited uncle.

And by the time the prince wrapped up his story, her face would be back in place even if her brain was racing. So this mysterious doctor had shown up, claiming to want his armor, insisted on going back to Fairy Tail with him, triggered some teleportation seemingly by accident, and then just so happened to share his rare magic and provided the surly, standoffish man with a kiss? Mercury had been watching her back for far too long to not recognize bullshit when she saw it. Something was up with this Patricia Reeves. She could feel it in her core. Vandrad didn’t seem to think much of it, but Mercury was very quickly making a file in her mind with the woman’s name on it, making a note to start looking into her in the very, very near future.

“Very satisfactory,” Mercury told him with a grin. “Who gave you permission to go on exciting jobs without me?” For some reason, she didn’t even think to tease him about the kiss itself, despite how prime of ammunition it was. Oh, but she did give him a look that promised he was not going to like the next words out of her mouth. Eyes dancing with mischief, she turned to his aunt and uncle, particularly his uncle, and almost too innocently said, “If you liked that story, you should ask him about the day he lost his virginity.”

If Dudley thought a kiss was astonishing, that comment was sure to completely and utterly floor him. Mercury had already given the broader details to Themesycia and Simon, of course -- or well, they actually were privy to quite a few more intimate details now that she’d gotten a chance to show them some of her footage -- but that story had not come up fully in Vandrad’s presence. And clearly, these two had no idea about their past liaison or else the uncle would probably have been pretty over the top about the matter. But this time, she wasn’t going to be the one to tell it, oh no. She had planted the seed for Dudley to snatch hold of, who was probably going to demand to hear the story from Vandrad himself… and Mercury was quite looking forward to hearing Vandrad tell it.

Vandrad absolutely sputtered at the notion that he and Mercury were an item, causing the lavender haired woman to practically cackle into her beer bottle. She was so greatly entertained by how annoyed the very insinuation had made him that she didn’t even bother teasing him about how hard he was denying it. Frankly, the prince was doing a well enough job on his own in that department. Instead, she simply sidled the conversation into one that was arguably worse: Desierto.

The prince turned his head so hard to glare at her that she was surprised he didn’t get whiplash from the torque. She continued to giggle a bit maniacally, pleased with herself and her timing as always. “Careful,” she teased. “You’ve given me that look before and it didn’t go quite the way you planned.” Then, Mercury winked at him. Oh, she was cruel, and she knew she was. But at the end of the day, he had basically asked for this. He was the one who invited her to stay rather than protest her presence, and he fully admitted ahead of time that he knew she was going to find every conceivable way to infuriate him through the night while exposed to his family.

His uncle was practically seeing stars, completely elated over the knowledge and voicing how long the family had apparently been waiting for the day to come before demanding to hear the story. This in turn caused Vandrad to lament over his family’s seeming obsession with his sex life, stating how surely it was odd that relatives would take such a keen interest in such things with one another. It was Everance who spoke up and reminded the man where they were, gesturing to the room and the bodies writhing and moaning around them. To them, sex was simply a healthy, fun activity that there shouldn’t be any shame in, an ideal that Mercury felt was quite sound.

She called Vandrad out on being the only one in the family that stood out against such views. The prince started to protest, speaking as though about to name another individual that didn’t appear to be present when the subject of his sentence appeared in a burst of fire and smoke appeared out of thin air, causing Mercury to jump in surprise. Without meaning to, she moved on instinct to reach for her pistol, which wasn’t there of course. Thankfully, it wasn’t an attack. Rather, a young man around her age, fully naked, fell out of the cloud and landed on the center of the table in dramatic fashion.

The man’s eyes lit on Vandrad and went wide with excitement as he practically blubbered over the fact that Vandrad was present at the raunchy after party. By the time the man looked at her, she had managed to mostly compose herself and relax again, with her entertained smirk on her face, though her heart was racing and some if not all of them had probably seen the reaction, subtle as it was. He recognized her immediately, pointing her out as the woman that had made the dramatic entrance and taken Vandrad by surprise.

He went right on to express his appreciation over her performance, the first such direct comment she’d received since the song. Of course the roaring round of applause had been enough to tell her how greatly everyone present had enjoyed it at the time, but this cousin was the first to actually bring it back up and compliment her for it. “Thank you,” she told him, for once in her life actually looking a little out of place at a compliment. Not enough to appear fully shy or timid to the people that didn’t know her well, but Vandrad would probably notice that the quick, somewhat casual statement had still touched her.

Of course, the subject was quickly brought to Sabine and how the young man had really hoped she was going to let the princess have it. He introduced himself as Bartrand, offering his hand and charmingly informing her that she could call him whatever she wanted. That was enough to finally full her fully out of her temporary funk and back into a semblance of normalcy. “A pleasure to meet you, handsome,” she said, giving him a little grin as the man kissed the back of her hand much like Mercury had done to Themesycia upon her arrival. “And for what it’s worth, I wasn’t going to clock her. I had something much more painful and scarring in mind.”

Mercury almost followed up with a comment about Vandrad stealing the opportunity by coming in red hot with anger in defense of her honor, but something about that felt weird to think, let alone say, so she opted to leave that particular subject alone for now. Besides, Vandrad was once again sputtering over things, this time clearly in shock at the presence of his cousin at the sordid shindig. According to Bartrand, this and fighting were the only two things he really lived for, and he expressed his own surprise that Vandrad was even present before sitting right down on the table on full display with no regard for his nudity.

Unfortunately for the prince, all the ruckus wasn’t enough to stray his uncle away from the story he very much wanted to hear, informing Bartrand of the nature of the tale. Now there were three relatives primed and excited for the details, and Mercury was once more basking in the glow of being a right pain in Vandrad’s ass, giggling all the deeper with pleasure at herself, and then with even more delight as Bartrand made a show of falling off the table in shock as though he’d had a heart attack over the knowledge.

With one last request for at least some modesty from his cousin -- which Bartrand promptly ignored, giving Mercury a lusty wink and getting a devious little grin out of her -- Vandrad finally got into things. The Silver Wolf mage was greatly looking forward to hearing this from his perspective, particularly now that she knew he remembered everything. She was already prepared for him to skip over as many incriminating details as possible, preparing her statements in advance.

Even Mercury was surprised that no one had anything to say over the knowledge that she’d single handedly managed to sneak up on the prince and knock him out cold long enough for him to wake up in a completely different country, half naked and chained up. But it seemed they were far too enthralled with hearing of the whole incident, so much so that they didn’t want to interrupt. At least, not at first. Everance spoke up in concern once she heard Morli’s name, and then Bartrand pleaded to know how Vandrad had dealt with the slavers. The prince confirmed with no small amount of pride that he’d utterly decimated every single one of them, and Mercury was flabbergasted by his willingness to participate in the requested fistbump from his younger, energetic cousin.

He summed up the rest of the story fairly neatly, going into how he’d been so pissed at Mercury that he’d tried to kill her, only for it to not exactly work out that way. He was even honest about how he had been so angry with her that he hadn’t even remembered anything in the morning, only coming to understand it when Mercury herself had gone over it for him in detail. It was abou the version of storytelling she’d expected it to be, quick and to the point with as little mention of juicy bits as possible.

Bartrand turned to her with stars in his eyes, informing her that he suspected he was in love with her despite the fact that they’d just met. It seemed he was more than a little in awe of the fact that she had not only beaten his older cousin up, but also managed to push him to the point of finally having sex. It wasn’t until he turned to Dudley and Everance to inform them that he planned on marrying her that she even realized he was their son, as no mention of it had been made before then. Though truthfully, Mercury probably could have deduced that for herself if she hadn’t been caught up in a rare moment of traumatic reflex.

Mercury grinned as Dudley remarked that he would have to fight his aunt and uncle for the honor, which Bartrand promptly said wouldn’t be an issue although he didn’t sound too convincing. “I’m starting to get the distinct impression that I’m not going to be allowed to return to Fiore,” she said with no small amusement.

Clearly pleased, Vandrad’s uncle admitted that the tale was basically how he’d always envisioned the man losing his virginity. “Oh, but you skipped over so many great parts,” Mercury cooed, snuggling up against Vandrad with an impish smirk, slipping her arm under his and resting against it playfully. “Like how I got you into the arena in the first place by selling you like a slave, and at commoner prices.” She flashed a smug look at the family. “He was trying to hide his identity, and wasn’t aware I already knew it, though he did suspect. I threw him off by faking a name for him, and he was actually offended at how cheap I sold him.”

Chuckling, she looked back at him with her wicked grin. “Or about how you quite literally tore my clothing into little pieces to get me out of it. Before chaining me up to the ceiling and calling me ten kinds of slut and going on about how you were going to make sure I wanted to come back for more later. Oh, or how about all the cuddling we did after?” Surely he was red in the face by now and ready to pummel her, but the way her devilish expression deepened, he could be sure that she had one more card up her sleeve. “If you’re not going to do the story justice, I can always pull out the recording for them…” She reached her hand up as though she were about to flick her tablet into it.

Everance ran with the playful comment regarding Mercury not being allowed to leave Bellum, stating that the two of them could easily take the next day to go find a vacation home for her. Of course, that was presuming that the duchess had not already outfitted a place for Mercury in her own bedroom. Dudley seemed pretty convinced that Themesycia wouldn’t wait long enough to reach a bedroom before trying to take advantage of the Silver Wolf mage, to which she only grinned as if she, too, agreed that would probably be the case. Because quite frankly, she already knew it was true, given recent dalliances.

The story went on and finished, with Mercury doing her expected bit of bringing up a few of the details that Vandrad neglected to tell. The prince surely knew it was coming, so he just sat in stony accepting silence as she mentioned a few of the other more embarrassing moments during the story. And of course, her pièce de résistance was teasing with the possibility of pulling out the recording that he knew existed. To her credit, Mercury didn’t actually intend on showing the footage. She’d only wanted to tease about its existence, fully expecting Vandrad to stay her hand in some form of either panic or anger.

Instead, what she got was… not what she expected.

He did stay her hand, firmly but not aggressively. Rather than burning with embarrassment or rage, however, he simply looked her right in the eyes and gave her a rather serious, unamused no. It wasn’t a command, and it wasn’t necessarily anger. It was some other emotion that she couldn’t place, and it very quickly brought even her teasing mannerisms to a screeching halt. She was still smiling a little, desperately trying to keep from letting the situation turn awkward in front of his family, but the humor didn’t reach her eyes.

Vandrad said nothing, even as Bartrand tried to carry on the joke insisting about how porn between family was nothing. Thankfully, it seemed the little tidbits of information had been enough to get Dudley going in need of his wife, who classily suggested that anyone who didn’t want to watch or partake should probably leave. Their son hardly batted an eyelash, giving little more than a mental shrug and stating his farewells before giving Mercury a wink and disappearing into another cloud of smoke. And then Vandrad simply got up and left without a word, leaving the Silver Wolf mage sitting there.

She had just enough mental wherewithal to keep her easy going face on, smirking at the couple as she slowly stood to her feet. “You two enjoy yourselves,” Mercury told them with a small grin. “And thank you.” She cast them a knowing smirk, allowing herself a moment of more firmly acknowledging that things had gone to plan while Vandrad was out of earshot.

Then, she turned and walked away, her gaze panning the room through the crowds to try to see where Vandrad had gone off to. For a moment, Mercury thought he’d simply left her there and decided his night was over, with or without her. A pit was very quickly working its way into her stomach, and was only somewhat eased when she saw him at the bar ordering a drink and taking a long gulp from it. She couldn’t get the notion out of her mind that she’d clearly pushed the line much too far, and for the first time in her life that bothered her.

He would actually get a solid minute or two of solace at the bar before Mercury finally came up beside him, on the side of his body away from where he was currently staring off into nothing. She was completely silent as she gently set her empty beer bottle down on the counter. Her gaze made no effort to meet his. In fact, she seemed firmly interested in keeping her eyes locked on the counter itself where her hands rested. It was several long seconds as she struggled with herself, not to find words but rather to find courage to speak at all.

“I’m sorry,” Mercury finally said, her voice quiet. It was the first time she’d ever apologized to him or shown any remorse for her actions or words. She hadn’t even really apologized to him in Desierto. “I wasn’t going to. I just wanted…” Her voice trailed off a bit and she stopped herself mid sentence. Whatever she’d been about to say, it felt like an excuse to her. Clearly, not one that she was happy with as she just elected not to finish the comment.

Her fingers idly twisted the ring on her middle finger back and forth, a motion that she didn’t even realize right away that she was doing. When she noticed it, though, for some reason it just made her feel worse. Mercury was realizing that in at least some small way, she’d hurt him -- a realization that was all the heavier on her with the knowledge of the fact that she’d already taken the time to show bits and pieces of that recording to Vandrad’s mom and uncle. If he was this put off by even joking about sharing the content, he would probably hate her if he knew she already had, and it was a very humbling place to be.

Mercury slowly pulled her fingers away from the ring before covering its view with her other hand, unable to bring herself to even look at the item for the moment. “We can go if you want,” she told him. If she had been quiet before, that statement was practically a whisper, though not so much that he wouldn’t be able to hear her over the music. “I know you don’t really want to be here anyway. And… I did do a lot of traveling today.” She did her best to feed him reasons to leave so he wouldn’t have to come up with any himself, doing her best in unfamiliar territory to make a conscious effort at making the situation right as much as she could. If she could.

His first statement, when he finally spoke, wasn't exceptionally convincing. The tone of his voice was still as gruff as ever, and she was sure that he was only saying it just to avoid the conversation entirely. Mercury didn't blame him.

But apparently, Vandrad hadn't liked the way the statement had come out. He turned to face her, even as she kept her own gaze turned away until he used one of his hands to take hers, pulling it away and stopping her from covering up the gem that had been screaming guilt at her so it could once more shine in the open light. It was an odd gesture, one of many that night. But this time, unlike in his mother's dressing room, he continued to hold the limb, speaking to her with more open honesty than either of them had broached up until that point.

He told her that he didn't care who she showed the video to, telling her that there was a large part of him that did, in fact, take a bit of dark pleasure and pride out of it. It was a humorous comment that merited a smirk from him, and her lips did twitch briefly in appreciation, but she was so bogged down with feeling like she'd hurt him that she couldn't bring herself to allow for any kind of joy at the words.

She could feel his eyes on her, wanting to meet her gaze. At first, she continued to keep her head down, scared of looking at him. It wasn't until he told her that what had truthfully been bothering him was simply the tale of Desierto itself  and not because of the sordid tryst they'd had but because he was now ashamed of his attempt at trying to take her life. It was only then that she cautiously forced herself to look up and meet his eyes, still upset with herself but also clearly surprised by what he'd said. Of course of she was surprised by that, Mercury would be utterly floored by how he continued on to tell her that her partnership meant so much to him by this point that he couldn't even imagine where he'd be now without it.

Her emotions took a hard change there, a slight gulp working down her throat as she struggled to wrestle with what he'd just told her like it was the first time anyone had ever said something that nice to her before. He remarked on how she was constantly pushing his buttons and getting under his skin, but that it wasn't a bad thing. It kept pushing him beyond his limits. She challenged him, something he had apparently grown quite attached to. He went so far as to admit that she was the first person that didn't let his gruff, irritable exterior keep her from coming back for more, admitting in no so many words that there had been others in his past that abandoned him completely over it.

It was unusual for him to feel genuinely appreciated by someone, and it meant enough to him that he was willing to come to the one place he had avoided his entire adult life just because he knew she would enjoy it, confirming that this was also the only time of those few that he'd even dressed up, if as a joke. She had pushed him to growth, something he usually had to rely on himself for. And as such, he felt that not only should she not be apologizing to him, but that he should be thanking her for forcing him to adapt and expand.

Her face was a mostly unreadable mask, but her emotions were absolutely going haywire over… Well, everything he'd said. To the point where he could probably feel her hand trembling a bit in his own. And she herself was so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn't even realize the limb was betraying her in that moment. She was still struggling, but now with something entirely different. Gone was the shame from feeling like she'd hurt him, and now ws she wracked with something she couldn't altogether describe, which in and of itself was the problem. For the first time in her life, Mercury felt the want to actually open up to someone, but how? How did she tell him that his words were so eerily close to her own struggle of having never really connected with anyone before long enough to form any kind of relationship? How did she convey to him without looking like a cry for pity that she had never had anyone say anything so nice to her as he just had, that she'd never had someone essentially express a caring for her and her wellbeing? How did she voice the fact that she'd never had a friend, never been in a position to feel like she could trust anyone?

She couldn't. She wanted to say something, but she didn't know how, didn't know where to begin. Not without admitting things to him that she couldn't say without risking her life, or worse. So she stared at him with the look of a woman that quite clearly didn't know how to take and accept everything he'd just said to her, her emotions now in an even greater flux than they had been before. It was the nicest, most caring thing anyone had ever told her, and even if her expression was mostly neutral the story was probably written in her eyes.

Vandrad gave her hand a small squeeze after a lingering moment or two before letting go and flagging down the bartender to order her a refill. A pregnant pause filled the air as Mercury took that moment to look away again, trying to get herself fully under control. He hand felt cold now after so long from being held, which was… Distracting to her train of thought. After a brief silence he innocently informed her that if she told anyone about how deeply he'd just opened up to her, he'd actually kill her. She flicked her gaze over to him again to see him smirking, a genuine expression that told her things really were fine between them -- not that his speech hadn't already done so. Finally, she smirked back ever so slightly. "Please. You couldn't kill me then, let alone now," Mercury teased him lightly, her eyes finally showing something other than confusion and apprehension.

The fresh beer was slid toward her, which she thanked the man for before taking it in hand, though she didn't drink from it right away. Mercury still wanted to say something, return his gesture of honesty in some form. The struggle was deciding where to let her guard down without being so vulnerable that she would break completely.

"Your family," she finally said, her voice soft but not as quiet or timid as it had been before. As she spoke, the sentences came pausingly as though she were still working out her own thoughts even as she tried to speak them aloud. "They're good people. Better than most I've ever met. Honestly, I thought I was going to get thrown out tonight. I never expected… Well, any of this, I suppose. They tease and jab as much as I do, but it's easy to tell how much all of you care for one another. It's… Comforting to observe. To be a part of it, even if in a small, fleeting way. It means a lot to me. They're kind people. Dangerous… But kind. You share that in common with them."

She spun the bottle around idly in her hand, lightly making the bottom of it dance slowly across the surface of the bar as she stared at the counter's top. "It's… Not something I have a lot of exposure to," Mercury finally admitted to him.

It was weird trying to open up. For a woman who was typically pretty eloquent in her speech, Mercury was having a rough time trying to find the right words to convey a great number of things that she wanted to say and couldn’t. To his credit, Vandrad listened to her quietly, letting her try to get the thoughts out of her head without interrupting her during the process. He could probably tell that she was struggling.

She finally finished, her voice trailing off as she ended with an admittance that she wasn’t exactly used to being around a group of people that cared for and trusted one another so closely. He admitted that he had always been able to tell there was a lot that Mercury was keeping to herself about her own life, things that he imagined were related to hardships and traumas. Apparently, he did his best not to ask her about it unless he felt there was a reason he needed to, not wanting to invade her privacy. However, it seemed he had intended to have her eventually meet his family one day anyway, knowing that they would get along -- in more ways than he may have necessarily wished for.

And it seemed it had been right. According to Vandrad, now that she’d already met them Mercury was sure to be adopted into the family, so to speak. Not as a relative of any kind, of course, but someone that they would welcome with open arms. His aunt Everance’s comment about finding Mercury a vacation home in the square wasn’t made in total jest, he told her, as most likely Themesycia would already have been making plans to either outfit Mercury with her own room in the palace or to find a home for her much like Everance had suggested.

He ended his small speech by informing her that whatever her family life, or lack thereof, was currently like, Mercury had one now with his family. His mother would stop at nothing to make sure that the Silver Wolf mage felt that way, and apparently wouldn’t let anything keep it from happening. It continued to be a sobering moment for the mage, for a lot of reasons. At the forefront of everything was how strange it felt to basically be told that she was wanted. And not just sexually, although clearly that was also the case, but simply for who she was as a person, as more than just something to be used in some fashion or another before parting ways and being forgotten about. In all honesty, she wasn’t entirely sure she believed it. Words were pretty, and against her better judgement a part of her hoped that what he said was true… but it remained to be seen in how things went moving forward.

But of course, all of this was entirely too much emotion and honesty for the two of them, so Vandrad quickly followed up with another jab at her, remarking on her boldness in calling him kind like she clearly hadn’t been paying attention to him in the time they’d known one another. Mercury was all too happy to cling to that escape from the direction the conversation had taken, letting it lead them back into familiar, more comfortable territory. She finally grinned up at him in full, turning her body to face him better as she lounged against the bar with one of her elbows. “First off,” she informed him, “Why go through the effort of giving me my own room when I can just let myself get dragged into yours every night?”

She took a drink out of the bottle, finally cherishing that first delicious sip of a freshly opened beer. Her smirk deepened, emerald eyes glistening with the look Mercury always got when she had discovered some brand new way to twist Vandrad’s knobs. “Secondly, is that what I need to do to annoy you, now? Just start talking about how sweet you are when no one’s looking?” Oh, this new line of attack was sure to get him going, she could feel it. The Silver Wolf mage looked downright giddy with excitement and anticipation over whatever look he’d get as she managed to once more twist his words around on him to her advantage.

“You don’t like talking about Desierto because you don’t like reliving just how mean you were to me. That’s fine. I can just start telling other stories that paint you in a much nicer light. Like how you came to try and rescue me in the Glaciers, or saving my life on our way to Ca-Elum. I’m sure I can go into great detail about how cuddly you were in Desierto, or all those nice things you’ve been saying to me all night.” The emotion in her eyes was downright mischief as she teasingly ran her fingernails along the underside of his arm and gasping in faux surprise like an innocent idea had just struck her. “In fact, you know who would just love to hear about all of this? Your mother!”

Mercury flashed him a rebellious grin before hastily turning and moving away from the bar toward the direction of the dais like she was going to go pay the duchess a visit with a whole new set of stories that was sure to ruin Vandrad’s gruff reputation.

Before she could get too far, Vandrad reached out and grabbed her firmly, though not roughly, by the wrist. Mercury was already giggling devilishly to herself, knowing that he was keen on stopping her from doing exactly what she’d proposed. He spun her around as he pulled her back until she was held right up against him, their faces intimately close in a fashion they hadn’t been since their trip in the desert. Her emerald eyes were locked onto his with their pert twinkle, her smirk just as mischievous as ever as she patiently waited to see what he would do. Was he going to kiss her? Perhaps, but Mercury felt she knew him better than that. If he was going to find a way to tease her, it would be with something far more aggressive than an uncharacteristic smooch.

Though she also wasn’t going to complain about being held up against him, either.

So, Mercury wasn’t surprised when his arms came around her and he hauled her up onto his shoulder like he had back in the Silent Glaciers, throwing her over his torso like a sack with his hand on her ass. She laughed merrily, obviously enjoying the gesture. But then it got better. In a sudden twist, the prince yelled out loud enough to be heard over the music, getting the attention of everyone present. Her gaze was wide with confusion, knowing that this was not the type of behavior Vandrad was known for, but also heavy with excitement for that very reason. He was trying something different, out of left field, to catch her off guard and surprise her.

Apparently, he dubbed her something known as the “Naughty Queen”, to which the entire room cheered in celebration and affirmation. “The what?” she asked him through bouts of laughter as he loudly slapped her on the ass and carried her away, only to find that everyone came to surround the two of them. They reached out with their hands and started to openly touch and grope her, causing her to squirm with laughter, or at least as much as she could while being lugged over the shoulder. Whatever was going on, it was clearly a tradition of some kind that she had no knowledge to, and Vandrad was using that to his advantage to finally be the one to pull a fast one over her eyes for a change. Frankly, she loved it.

He carried her up the stairs, with her laughing the whole while even as people began to chant about hailing her as a queen. All the way up they went until he directed them into a small room and lightly dumped her on the ground right next to what appeared to be a stripper pole. The room was basking in a deep red light, with windows for viewing from the outside and a small sofa to one side. Looking through the windows, she could see that she was being recorded for the rest of the patrons to view.

Finally, Themesycia’s voice came over a speaker to confirm Mercury’s designation as the night’s Naughty Queen, which meant that she was apparently to be called by “highness” for the remainder of the evening. And not just that, but apparently her ass was also to become public right to touch and smack as anyone pleased, and she could also don a special attire of sheer material that befitted her temporary station.. But she had to earn it first by giving the party a worthwhile show stripping down to nothing.

And oh, Vandrad apparently planned on staying for a personal show of his own, sitting down on the little loveseat with what was easily the most smug and arrogant grin Mercury had ever seen on the man. She followed his gaze to the pole, upon which were emblazoned the words “Naughty Throne” to indicate where she was supposed to “sit”. Then, he promptly informed her that she had a job to do, as per instructed by his mother, sitting back and waiting expectantly to observe.

Any other woman probably would have been quite frustrated with someone essentially forcing them to put their bodies on display for a room full of people, and labelling her as being quite literally up for grabs. But not Mercury, oh no. If this was the game he wanted to play, she was going to steer right into that skid and make sure he regretted giving her this kind of power and attention. The look she gave him very much said that staying in that little room with her was a bold and dangerous choice.

But that was the fun part, wasn’t it?