Wooing an Angel
#1 of Quintessent
Lord Grycan woke to someone pounding on his front gate. That would be his villagers, but their tax wasn't due for a few more weeks yet. Don't kill them; it's probably an emergency.... He urges himself, sitting up in his bed and quickly pulling on a pair of trousers and a tunic that allowed his wings through. Aside from the random times they caught him when he was asleep, Grycan liked his villagers. They had a good arrangement; they paid him money, which made his dragon-side quite happy, and he let them use land of his he had no use for, protected them when they needed it, and even helped them with emergencies.
However, his keen senses and hatred of being woken up meant he had no one here now to see what they wanted.
"What is it?" He asks, still tired to the one closest to the door. It was the mayor, and he looked to be glowing about something. The man was old enough to have white hair which had retreated off his head, but he hid his baldness with a fine hat. Actually, for a peasant, the man dressed quite well. Then again, his was the richest family in town, after the ruling house.
"I have been selected to tell you that we shall not pay you a single solitary ounce of silver this season." He proudly announces. Grycan raises an eyebrow and leans against the door, putting some of his seven-foot frame loom over the aging man.
"Really now, Albert? I realize it has been a bad season for several of the farmers, but all of you live on-"
"I never sad we're not going to pay you. Meera wanted to try something different this season. We're all quite proud with the results." The man cuts Grycan off. The half-dragon lets out an annoyed curl of fire, and the mayor flinches, his mood growing just a little more serious. "All right, boys; bring it around."
Four young men from the town step out from off to the side. They each held a pole sticking through something that was covered by a cloth. Looking to the mayor with an inquisitive, but not entirely sold look, Grycan approaches the four guys and pulls the cloth over their burden. His eyes were greeted first by an iron cage, then by....
"Oh. Oh my." Grycan breathes, gripping the top of the cage with one hand and eying its occupant. The four men take their cue and pull the poles out, letting the noble effortlessly hold the cage up.
Inside was a handsome creature, silvery-white wings sprouting from his bare back. He was bound and gagged, prevented even from opening his wings by a cord binding them to his back. He was naked, though, and trying to hide as much of his lean body behind his legs as he could. There was a thin gold ring around the angel's neck, and Grycan could feel and identify the type and nature of magic on it. Binding magic, all prepped and ready to go. The witch had quite outdone herself, and the angel would be truly his shortly. He could also smell the angel's fear, but was also aware of the eyes watching him and his new pet.
"Meera the witch's idea?" Grycan asks, wrapping a large wing around the cage and once more hiding the angel from view. He was shaking inside the cage now. Grycan pitied the creature for now, but as soon as business was attended to with the townspeople he could reassure the angel. "She is exempt from taxes for a year, and everyone else for this season and next. My best to her and the others."
"As you wish, Lord Grycan." Albert reaffirms with a smile and a bow. He had had many dealings with his landlord, and knew when was time to take his leave.
Grycan carries the cage inside, eager to meet the angel. Once inside, he sets the cage on the floor and pops the door open, barely able to contain himself. When he reaches in, the angel gives a short cry into his gag and struggles to scurry away, but Grycan reaches in his other hand in and, with surprising tenderness, retrieves the shaking angel and cradles him close.
"I'm not going to hurt you. What's your name?" He asks, gently untying the gag. The angel shakes fearfully in his arms, but to Grycan's relief does not struggle and injure himself.
"Brightcloud." The angel answers, cowering away from Grycan. The half-dragon smiles and gives the angel a light kiss, which the angel freezes up during. He had a strong protector side, and Brightcloud's fear made Grycan want to hold him close and protect him from whatever was causing that fear, but that fear was from Grycan himself, at least in part. The summoning and binging on Meera's part probably terrified him, too.
"Brightcloud, I'm really not going to hurt you." The noble assures him, cupping a hand against the back of Brightcloud's neck. "I'm Lord Grycan. You can just call me Grycan." He kisses the angel again, a finger finding the gold collar and rubbing it. It was a small enough action, but with only that Grycan had attuned the magic of it to bind Brightcloud to the room they were in, and not even the whole thing. The angel was confined, for now at least, to no higher than he could reach with his hands while standing on the ground, and no where near any of the furniture. Grycan didn't want to release the angel only to have him flee to another part of the manor or use furniture as a weapon.
He extends the kiss out, tenderly exploring the angel's mouth. Brightcloud hesitates at this affectionate display, but then slowly starts to yield. Either he was a terrible kisser, or he wasn't particularly interested in kissing Grycan. Either would be remedied. The kiss, however, was a front to allow Grycan to use his claws to cut the rope binding his present. "See? Not hurting you." He whispers to the angel, hugging the angel and standing with him.
Brightcloud doesn't struggle, but modestly wraps his feathered wings around his body to hide it from view. Grycan nods for no reason, and further wraps his wings around the angel. "Can I get you anything? Are you hungry?" He asks, unable to keep his hands off the angel. He wasn't groping, or even reaching beneath Brightcloud's wings.
"I am all right." The angel replies automatically, not wanting to ask for the wrong thing or things and anger his new master. He, too, was attuned to magic, and knew just where he could and couldn't go.
Grycan disregards the answer, and comes up with one of his own. "My clothes will all me much too big on you, but there's a chest somewhere of them from when I was much smaller. After that, what do you like to eat?"
The chest they had found quickly enough, after Grycan changed the rules to making Brightcloud need to stay within ten feet, then twenty when the angel was too shy to dress or undress in front of him. Grycan lets it go; it would help the angel trust him if Grycan didn't force him into anything. They had found a number of articles which fit well enough, and which looked good on Brightcloud. They had also eaten, Grycan his normal amount of meat but Brightcloud only fruits and vegetables and not enough of either to keep a bird alive.
"Again, thank you for this." Brightcloud expresses, dressed now in a pair of Grycan's old, brown trousers and a white tunic with tribal markings woven in brown thread around the neckline and cuffs, along with some larger ones between the wing-holes. Lucky for Brightcloud, Grycan's tail emerged high enough that the tail-hole was a notch in the bottom of the shirt rather than anything which would expose the angel's osterior. Like all of Grycan's clothing, they were loose on Brightcloud's lean body, in the case of the tunics and shirts even long enough that the tail-hole could be hidden or by tucking in, but in Grycan's opinion this looked better on the angel's fair skin than it did against blue scales.
Grycan extends a hand and strokes Brightcloud's cheek. "Much as I would love to keep you naked, you don't seem to appreciate it." He leans forward and kisses the angel on the cheek, deciding not to kiss Brightcloud's mouth until the angel either initiates such a kiss or makes mention of it. In the past hour, that silent decision had been tested to the limit when, like now, Brightcloud was dressed in clothing that flattered him. Despite how good it looked, Grycan just wanted to rip it off and go to town on Brightcloud's body, from head to to, forward and back, and that was just with his tongue. Oh the things his hands could do, and how much he wanted to slide Brightcloud's legs apart and then keep on sliding....
"C-can I ask you something?" Brightcloud slowly and hesitantly asks, unsure if he was allowed to yet or now.
"You just did." Grycan teases, barely resisting the urge to slide his tongue down Brightcloud's throat for that one. "You are allowed to say and ask anything you want. I just won't promise I'll answer."
"O-ok. Then I would like to ask a few things, Lord Grycan." Brightcloud responds, trying to build up his courage. "Why did they give me to you?" He was ashamed to be asking, but Grycan respected the difficulty of asking.
"They live on my property, so they have to pay me for the privilege to. Rather than give me money, which I like, they decided to give me something I would love." Grycan replies, stepping closer to Brightcloud. The angel automatically backs up, but Grycan quickly shrinks his boundary and moves up close to him. "Don't think of yourself as a slave." Grycan urges, expanding the boundary throughout the entire manor after he wraps an arm around Brightcloud's waist. "I'll be perfectly honest; I want you. I want you a lot. But I want you to want me, too."
The angel hesitates in Grycan's arms. He had not been mistreated; quite the opposite, in fact. The half-dragon hadn't captured him, and had in fact let him out of that stifling cage. "I respect you, my lord, and that you are kind and have no desire to hurt me. But I'm not ready yet."
"All right." Grycan responds, releasing Brightcloud's waist and extending the boundary even further. "Why don't you go for a flight? I'll set up a room for you."
More to come; this is based off of some writing I used to do. This section is clean, but further ones won't be. This is kinda just to set the scene.