A stern start

The sounds of morning started to drift through the bedroom. The sound of birds, people off to work, the occasional honk or speaker too loud. Cole grumbled and closed his eyes tighter as he pulled the blankets closer. He was aware but not awake, that state where one needs to get up or fall back to dreams. If he was right; Cole could probably get one more hour of sleep before the regulars started to show up. He cleaned everything in the gym last night and his boss was pretty lenient, so he wasn't going to get shouted at. Not unless he just fully fell back to sleep for a few hours. Another thirty minutes with the comfy blankets wouldn't kill him as he rolled over….,

“Hol’ up…,” his brain stated kick into gear and process what was around his body.

The soft pillow and blankets were the best thing about his sleeping arrangement considering it was just a cot. A gift from his mother with the hope of a good night’s sleep behind it. But he was in a cot, there really wasn’t room to roll over in. Shift in place yeah but the big roll he just did should have carried Cole out of the makeshift sleeping spot. And he only had one pillow so why did he feel like there were more? And why was a blanket wrapped around his middle?

Cole shifted his body around till he was braced on his arms to let him raise his head up. Usually, he fell asleep stomach down so just pushing upward to look around was natural to him. The first thing he saw was more pillows. His mother’s gifted pillow was still there but it was joined by two more. Both were a dark brown plush pillows with violet frills long the edges. Gone was the cot Cole went to sleep in, replaced by a large comfy mattress. He was laying in a large canopy bed, with dark brown wood for the posts and head rest. The colors for the sheets were a mix of purple, black and red.

“Ah…, still dreaming.” Cole thought as his mind slowly started to sink back into his dreams. Settling back down onto the bed, he felt the blanket around his middle tighten and the weight on the bed shifting. Was there something or someone on the bed with him? Turning his head to the side and cracking an eyelid open, he saw someone was in bed with him.

The first thing was the hair, short and in a bob cut, the color a deep purple or violet. Next was skin as the figure was extremely pale…, almost grey really. Some sort of red gem sat in the middle of her forehead. Below that was a small button like nose and small but oh so kissable lips. And the figure was clearly a woman. Her curvy body was clad in lingerie, a black one with attached garters or pantyhose to panties along with small cloth bands crisscrossing across her body. She looked half restrained by the garments but it wasn't enough to stop her from moving about or doing anything.

His shifting must have woken the woman up, unsurprising as she had her arms wrapped around his body. That must have been the 'blanket' he had thought before. Her eyes fluttered open revealing a pair of deep violet blue eyes that fought to focus. She seemed to finally process what was happening or at least what she was seeing as her eyes turned from unfocused to almost drilling into his face. Not sure why she'd be glaring at him so intently.

“Morng..” Cole muttered as he just tilted his head back to the pillow and went back to sleep. No way this was real, had to be some sort of livid dream or at the rate it was going, a fantasy. His boss would just walk up and get him out of bed in just a few minutes. Better to just let this image fade into nothing...

“…..Hey….., HEY!”

Cole moved again in response to a voice, raising up his head and opening his eyes, expecting to see the small break room he slept in. Still in the weird dream room, still in the bed, with the woman next to him. She wasn’t hugging him at this point, instead completely laid out beside him. Her head propped up by her hands, and she just tilted her face just a bit when their eyes met.

“Morning.” She said, her voice a mix of sleep, maturity and sternness. Cole took a moment or two processing her reply, his words stuck somewhere between his brain and throat. Before the woman's eyes were covered by a white glow and her hands were covered in darkness.

“….OH SH...”

Cole barely got his words out or his fist up, an act on reflex more than anything. Being suspended by black energy controlled by a very ticked off woman; that was not the morning Cole had expected. Whatever she did had raised him up from the bed and slammed him against the ceiling, black bands forming around his body to keep him from moving or talking. The only good part? From this vantage point, he did get a better look of everything.

The room followed the color pattern of the bed, but with a few levels of brown tossed in. It was a large master bedroom designed for two…, and probably from someone that never grew out of their goth phase. Lot of candles and small knick knack scattered around the dressers and overly packed book cases. No skulls or really edgy items though. Double doors leading out to a balcony on one side, a matching pair off to the rest of the house on the other side. Last door was to the bath room if things were still sensible. Really just seemed like a normal bedroom for an upscale house... or low tier manor.

Then there was the woman. Little shorter than him but he had a bad angle. Still she cut a very…. Enticing figure. Her boobs were pretty eye catching and the cloth she wore seemed to really fight to hold it back, like it was a size or two smaller. Still, seeing the lingerie tight against her wide hips and noticeable ass wasn't a bad sight. And she just had absolute killer legs that went for miles, with thick but toned thighs and slender calves. All an all a slightly toned body that spoke of an active life with only a little exercise to keep it working.

“I will give you a sentence to tell me why I should just send you through the wall. Or worse.” The woman growled as she floated up next to him. With a pain that felt like tape being ripped off, the black energy band over his mouth pulled away.

“Ow mother fu…, lady you are the best looking nightmare I’ve seen but I’d like to wake up now!” Cole shouted. Grinding his teeth, Cole could do little more than steam and shout but he wasn't going to just roll over and let her walk over him.

“Nightmare?” the woman asked, eyebrow raised as she folded arms. On purpose or accident, she cupped them under her chest, pushing them up a bit more. Cole was pretty sure she was messing with him at this point.

“Lady I have no idea who you are but I didn’t do anything. So this is either a dream, some sick joke or you got some kinks you need to work out. Preferably without me.” Cole spat at her. He was going to at least get one bit in while possible, nightmare or not.

That was a bad choice though as the woman’s eyes flared up with white light again. Cole fought to get an arm free in a vain attempt to get one punch in before going down. But what ever the pale woman had planned never came, as her own powers were replaced by a blue energy field. Her eyes darted around trying find the source before refocusing on Cole with a fire in them. The boxer was only able to process this for a second before he too was coated in the blue field, overtaking the black bands and banishing them to the ether.

Whatever it was, the field held him in place against the ceiling still. Only for a moment before slowly pulling both down and sitting the two next to each other. A flat screen that was placed in the short but wide dresser unit flicked on. Whatever **** that was behind this wanted them to see this. The cheesy voice over was... a tad off putting as the pink and white animation started to play.

"Congratulations, Rachel Roth and Cole McKay! We here at Cupid's Wishes would like to thank you both for using our services to find the "one" in your lives!" The very show host voice began, causing the pair's eyes to widen. Raven fought to summon forth her power to no avail while Cole..., he knew that name somewhere. Both names, Cupid's Wish and 'Roth' but... where was Roth from?

"We hope you enjoy your new lives together and enjoy the new amenities of the new home we have graciously gifted to you two! As well as the optimized bodies we've given you! Now we're sure you want to go ahead and start your honeymoon and see the sights and sounds of the multi-verse!" The voice continued, making Cole balk at the implication of body modification but also at the implication that the multi-verse was real. But his body didn't feel as sore as it usually did so..., maybe there was something behind it.

"But to do that, you must first make the marriage official with a dance underneath the sheets! Once that is done, you can traverse the multi-verse to your heart's desire!" The couple flicked their eyes to the side to look at each other. Cole's trying to reflect his befuddlement while Raven had a burning glare to her irises. If it wasn't for the **** field, he'd be paste or worse given her powers.

"And remember you are now bound in holy matrimony for good and for ill, For life and for ****! So take care of each other, else you both will meet and suffer a quick meeting with the reaper!" The annoying voice continued to chirp out, not even caring caring about the underlying threat that seemed to be in the script it was reading from. Cole would have clenched his fist at those words if he could while Raven..., rolled her eyes? He couldn't recall who this woman was next to him but she seemed pretty casual about this threat.

"But enough with the doom and gloom, it's a time to think about life! So enjoy your new life together, you cute couple! And if you have any questions, consult your travel manual, it is next to your complimentary wedding gifts from us here at Cupids Wishes!" The voice finished before the Flat-screen cut to a cake with small figures of the two placed on it, with a little wedding tune playing before it black and powered off. The two were left to process this info dump before the blue field slowly dissipated. Raven shifted away from Cole, putting a little distance between them on the bed. For his part, Cole just started rotating an arm to make sure he could move again.

Cole finally got up to pace around the room, continuing to see how his body felt. He looked back at the woman just sitting there on the bed, her violet eyes that were once filled with anger and white energy. Now filled with judgement as she looked Cole up and down, as if cataloging him before filing him away in some slot or another. He wondered just where she would put him. The two of just waited for a moment, uncertain of what to do. The old hand clock ticking away the only noticeable sound.

"If she wasn't going to do something..., might as well punch first." Cole thought as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Right... *cough* I..." Cole coughed and struggled to find the right words.

Raven raised an eyebrow but did nothing. That wasn't the reply he was expecting, which threw him off.... whatever game-plan he had. But he wasn't one to back down. In an attempt to refocus, he lightly slammed his knuckles together. The shock, noise and light pain letting him shake off the entire shock of the event, for now.

"Alright." He breathed out before focusing back on Raven, "Cupid was oh so NICE to give us a marriage partner and apparently a house. I think it would be down right insulting if they didn't give us any FOOD to go with it. I'm gonna go find some grub, you want pancakes or waffles?" Cole asked, thumbing at the door.

Folding both her arms and crossing her legs(Damn she's doing this on purpose!), Raven thought for a moment. A few more moments passed before she got up and strolled over to the large closet door. With a flick of her hand, the door was covered in darkness and slid open. Without turning Raven answered.

"Waffles. Blue or Blackberry if possible." The folding closet door slammed closed behind her.

"....Well I'm not dead at least." Cole thought as started to scrounge through the dressers to find something to wear. That woman seemed to be one of those 'just the facts' type of person. The kind that was very stern and controlled in their reactions. "Well she does have a nice ass...,"