"Don't move your hands around too much without warning me," Ace says as she lies down on the bed, propping her waist and head up with pillows.

"Right," I say, face still burning, as I warm up the oil in my palms. "I promise this is just healing, no matter what my idiot roommate has to say."

"Not what I meant, asshole," she says, but it sounds amused enough. "I didn't think she was warning me, more like she decided to be helpful at the wrong time."

Privately I think it worked, inasmuch as I'm able to joke about it with Ace now, but rather than saying that I shrug and lean over her. "She wants the best for me and has a funny way of showing it," I say - then, "I'm going to press into your shoulders, alright?"

She nods assent, and I feel her exhale when I press down. 

"I think you mentioned she was your roommate...?" Ace asks. " - right under my shoulders, it's hurting. For some reason."

"Check," I say, gliding down, thankful for the normal conversation. I find a trigger point, and she grunts and sinks deeper into the pillow. "I think it's been like two-three years now. Got her a job at the convenience store too."

"Mmmm... got it, so that was Sekhmet's revenge," she says. "- ease off a bit."

I chuckle, and lighten the pressure. "Believe it or not, that's not the worst job she's ever had - you'll have to ask her about it. I would probably bury a body for her. Or tell her to put away the gun before we needed to."

"In my experience you need the second one more," Ace sighs. "...mn, okay. Hit up my lower back, I'll tell you where to stop."

"Sure," I say, trailing my hands down either side of her spine, slowly.

Ace makes an appreciative noise when I find a spot - a fair bit lower than I would have dared without her actual guidance - and I take a deep breath. Her tail twitches, accidentally brushing the inside of my wrist, and I take another.

"Feeling better?" I ask, softly.

She makes a sort of hum, before answering with words. "Yeah. Yeah this... helps. I got a lot of beat up through the armor without realizing."

"Good," I say, relieved. "Wouldn't want to go at this pirate's den all beat up."

"I wouldn't want to go at a pirates den at all, I just like the idea of idiots running around LARPing as pirates even less," Ace growls. "Most of us just wanted to play a game. I would have left Mundus the hell alone after the demo expired if the anime gods didn't decide to drop-kick us here."

I stop, for a moment, resting my hands on her hips instead of breaking contact, to catch my breath and figure out where she's coming from.

"Don't get me wrong, this situation sucks and I hate it, but I'll be damned if I let these assholes make it even worse," Ace snarls. Then shudders. "Ugh, this just... pisses me off."

"Yeah," I say, automatically. "I wouldn't want to be the kind of man that doesn't clean up my own messes."

There's a brief moment where we both take a moment to realize what I just said.

I grimace, my ears flatten, and I try to take my hands away.

Ace stops me, her hand on my wrist, turning her head to look at me.

My wrist is so thin she can wrap the whole hand round it, yet strong enough I could wrench it away. 

I don't dare.

"I'm sorry," I say, and babble: "I didn't mean to hide it from you or anything, or - or to trick you, or -"

"Deedee," she says, and she sounds weirdly sad, "I know that. It just kinda figures. I'm not mad."

This is just healing, anyway, and I know she's into girls, and I didn't mean anything by it. I try to stuff my heart back in my chest.

"Thank you," I say.

"Should I put on my shirt?" she asks, smirking.

"...if you'd rather, the rest is working on your arms," I concede.

She flops back down. "Meh. I'll wait for you to finish, then."

Taliab

I am terribly sorry for the unplanned hiatus: a medical emergency, followed by the holidays, ate up my time.

That said, I hope to conclude this first volume on or by Christmas, December 25th.  I'm making that my deadline, and will aggressively post chapters until then.