Comfort and a Headache

And we're back!

Kind of. Sorta.

[u]I'm still dealing with post-COVID recovery - I'm always tired, have next-to-no energy, get winded/lightheaded after light exercise (literally just walking down the hall at work), etc. So for the time being, the goal is two chapters a week. I'm not going to nail down specific days, but we're probably going to see mostly Tuesday/Thursday releases (I'd meant to post yesterday evening, but still getting back into my usual routine after my vacation). Hopefully I start to get more energy soon, but... well, we'll see.
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They sat together, together on the floor, for many long minutes. Ahsch could see his wife’s emotions spin and hold, frantic then placid as she worked through some of her thoughts - an unusual event, given her fairly brash, ‘make it up as you go along’ attitude. Still, it was because it was a novel approach for her that the hrafthi smiled oh-so slightly, content to simply be present and provide comfort for her.

Eventually though, she took a quick, deep breath, then started to get up. “Well, that’s enough lazing around,” she grunted, her voice too casual to be believed. “We have work to do.” As Ahsch stood up, she went around to the other side of her desk and sat, organizing the papers. Then she simply stared at them, a frown slowly growing.

Rather than take his seat, Ahsch joined his wife behind the desk. “I think we’re done for today,” he said, gently pushing the document in her hands down and flickering Oblivious Focus to reorient her attention onto him. “You have a lot to deal with, Avery,” he softly continued. “So deal with it. We can finish this tomorrow.”

Her frown sharpened slightly. “But I put aside time _today _to…”

“I have my demi-plane; we’ll make more time tomorrow,” Ahsch insisted. “For now, you need to decide what you’re going to do about that,” he nodded towards the hidden compartment, which had closed on its own after a few minutes without someone holding it open, “And in general about… well, all of it.”

The glare that Avery gave her husband lacked any bite. “Fine,” she grunted. “But I can tell you, it’s staying there until she’s taken her own medicine.”

Ahsch held her gaze for a tense few moments before he nodded. “As long as she’s’s the only one who takes it,” he agreed quietly, his voice giving not quite a command, nor even a request, but a hopeful plea.

That Avery broke the stare first made his heart clench, but he didn’t press the issue. He knew she was already tense enough after what had just happened that nothing good would come of it. Instead, he leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I love you,” he said, then turned to go.

And stopped when she caught his hand, looking back at her uncertain expression.

“...I love you,” she repeated quietly, opening his hand and turning his palm up to her lips to gently kiss it before letting him go.

Ahsch gave her a small smile before he left Avery’s office.

Several hours later, Ahsch felt his heart clench again - this time in dread - as Dorin informed him, Garren is here for your meeting, Ahsch.

The dread was momentarily forgotten when the hrafthi realized his servant hadn’t **** himself to use Ahsch’s name, but it made a quick return as Dorin brought the eccentric craftsman to his office.

“My Lord Odestag, I implore you: please allow my research to continue! Even if you have an alternative method, variety never hurts! I assure you…”

“Garren!” Ahsch interrupted, leaking a tiny fragment of his Dominance Aura. “Calm - and sit - down.” He waited for the reedy man to take a seat before he took a deep breath. “I’m not cutting off your research, let’s be clear on that.” Because I really don’t want to listen to you go down the damn rabbit hole, he added silently. “I am, however, modifying it. My sister hea-”

“Was it Miss Ariin, My Lord? Or the other, the newcomer, Miss Sti’el?” the manic look in his eyes almost worried Ahsch, but over the course of the few meetings he’d had with the automata researcher, he’d quickly figured out that, as eccentric as Garren was, he was essentially harmless aside from the damage he could do to someone’s sanity.

“Ariin,” Ahsch clarified, his teeth grit to restrain his frustration, “hear about your proposal for a construct that could be used sexually, and was aware of my topic of interest. As the Archpriestess of the Temple of Enochiel, she suggested to me that a combination of the two was potentially valuable - constructs that one could control remotely, to engage with their partners even whilst traveling or in a different city. She… ‘requested’ that I have you work on both ideas, because together and separately, they could prove to be useful for the people of the Kingdom.”

Garren, whose expression of glee and excitement had silently grown as Ahsch had talked, seemed frozen for a long moment, the only movement that of his rapid breaths. “Miss… Ariin…” he slowly said, almost dazed, “the Archpriestess… wants me to research… both?”

“If possible, a model that can be adjusted - modular in terms of appearance and ‘equipment.’ Custom-orders are a bit too expensive for what she has in mind.”

“A modular… sexually compatible… remote-controlled… automata…”

Ahsch was starting to get concerned. “That… is what she’s requesting, yes…”

Suddenly, Garren stood, his hands slamming the top of the desk as he leaned forward, still grinning and breathing rapidly. “May I please meet your angel of a sister to thank her for this most generous task?” he pleaded. “My gratitude cannot be properly expressed! Such a dream, to work on so complex a construct… ah, my heart quivers in anticipation of the challenge! Of the intricacy! Oh the rush!”

Please don’t cum in my office, Ahsch thought, leaning back slightly and ignoring Mahat’s amusement.

“Rest assured, My Lord! I will present such a machine to your most benevolent sister posthaste! I shall not rest until I have devised a construct which will satisfy her! All I ask is the opportunity to properly give Ariin my gratitude in person, for throwing off the shackles that have been clasped about my hands and mind, imprisoned as I am among my less-imaginative peers who only see mundane, droll labor as the height of our great work! I shall deliver an automata fit for both the royal and the peasant, the holy and the depraved, one versatile and able to fulfill a role as a remote presence and a lover! I will-”

“Garren!” Ahsch all but shouted, letting more than a leak of his aura press down on the man. “You’ve made your point, and your… _enthusiasm _is appreciated, but perhaps you are better served by applying it to your work, and not here. In my office.”

The researcher’s expression quickly morphed into one of horror. “Oh, of course, My Lord! I do apologize, I did not mean to waste your time with my adulations for your most divine sister! I shall return to the labs with all speed, to begin work…”