Let's Play!

Ryder lifted her legs and curled her into a ball in his arms.

"No, sweetheart. You're aren't a mistake."

He kissed her face.

"If you don't want to be done and he didn't say he wants to be done, then you don't need to give up."

/ But....I .... it's ok. If I'm prepared to watch it fall away, then I'll not be as hopeless when it does. /

She tried to explain, looking up at him, wishing he got it.

/ I'll try to get it together quickly. I think.... i think i just need a nap or something? /

"But this way, you suffer twice as much as you need to."

He pulled a blanket over her, holding her close.

"It's okay, Marina. You're okay, even just like this."

Marina tucked her face into him.

/.... i want more right now. I kinda want to feel less crushed by feelings and more squished by peoples. /

Kind of like living weighted blankets was her thoughts. Just go nudge Nikki awake enough to help oreo her? Bonus points, he did get her to talk to him without much effort at all.

"More is something i can do," he told her with a smile.

Ryder gathered her up and took her to the bedroom, tucking her in with a twitchy Nikki.

"I'll be right back. "

And, of course, his return was heralded by a snack and some hot chocolate.

"How's this? " he asked as he climbed in with her and the goods.

Marina hand gone through the efforts of nudging and inching Nikki about the bed until he was laying proper. She even managed to snuggle right into him and was shamelessly pushing his half mass member to his abdomen, smiling through a new bought of body tears as it stuck in place.

The sheet and blankets both dropped as Ryder returned, the blushing hidden by the drying blood on her face as she opted to bypass consumables for more holding and cuddles.

/ I like this. /

She admitted, nuzzling into him.

/I love you. /

"I love you too. "

He wrapped himself around her, resting his chin on her shoulder.

"I'm glad you let me do this. "

Marina steadily relaxed with pressure and cuddles, slowly nodding a bit.

/ This all sucks. I miss him again. I want him near and wanna kick him in the nuts all at once. ...
I wanna touch and love on all of my men. I feel .... like my anchor has broken free and I'm at risk of drifting to sea. /

/ don't worry. It's going to be okay, even if it doesn't feel like it right now. /

He kissed her cheek as Nikki let out a little toot in his sleep

"...i was gonna say maybe wait on the rest, but he seems to be arguing against me"

Marina looked at Nikki, smiling up at his little sleepy face.

" It's a pretty good argument. "

She pointed out, looking over to Ryder once again.

"I miss all of you, you know just cause I'm hurting didn't ever mean that the rest of you didn't matter, right? .... like.... Ephriam was my foundation so when it gave way...."

"I know," Ryder assured.

He made a face at Nikki.

"Men are gross," he announced pretentiously.

Marina smiled at him, leaning to kiss him.

"They kinda can be. But I'm hopelessly smitten by them all the same. "

She shared with a sleepy little yawn, slowly curling down into the snuggle space between lovers.

"I love you so much. .... I miss him, Ryder..... I miss them all. I ...... I still ache for Ephriam. I don't know what to do anymore. I'm just trying ...."

And she was out, distress easing enough to let sleep win.

Marina would wake to a very strange sensation scraping over her scalp.

"What are you doing?" Ryder asked, voice coming from across the room.

"Look at this thing I found. They're supposed to be soothing, yeah?"

The long-suffering sigh in response said more than words ever could.

"She was asleep. Don't you think she might have appreciated the soothing more if she didn't have to wake up to experience it?"

"Oh... i didn't think it would wake her up. Sorry. "

Nikki was sitting beside her, looking down with disappointment at the head massager in his grasp.

Marina smiled as she rubbed at her face.

"It's alright. "

She shared, reaching to pull him to give her a kiss. She sat up slowly, shivering a bit as the blankets fell away.

" I love when you're taking care of me, both of you. "

She imparted, glancing to Ryder.

/ His heart is in the right spot. ..... and that means more than anything to me. /

She explained, pushing her curls back as they tumbled all over.

"Why is it so cold in here? "

She shifted to cross her arms over her chest, shivering again as she got up to check the flashing screen on her night stand.

After a moment she started to scroll through her phone and glanced to Ryder.

/ think Hale coming over for a minute is an issue? /

She was careful to keep him out of the bedrooms and she didn't have sex with him here, out of respect. But she didn't know if -he- was more sensitive with his brother being all wonky.

/ nah. I doubt he'd burn the place down or anything. /



"Is it cold?" Nikki asked, licking his finger as though that would give him a better sense.

Marina glanced to him and let her arms drop a bit in disbelief.

"I could take my own eye out with my nipples right now. Yes. Yes it's cold in here."

Silly man.

/No, worst he's likely to do is try to convince me to bed him because it would be a weird feather in his cap. /

She dismissed with a relaxing ease settling over her as she crushed her arms back into her body to try to squeeze whatever warmth she had left back to her body.

" Why is it so cold? "

She had every intent to get properly cleaned up and dressed before Hale arrived. But she had barely lifted up her robe from the floor when she felt the arms wrapping about her.

Marina spun about, startled more than anything. She looked up to Hale, confused as she melted right into him.

/ Everything ok?/

She asked gently, not used to this reply level when she said it was alright to come over. She missed him too, though. Everyone, actually. She was looking forward to her Christmas this year....

/Christmas!! RYDER we need so many trees!/

Welp, he was her party planning buddy this year, so sure it made sense she realized that it was only a few weeks out from the event and that she'd lost a couple months of planning to Ryker.....

/ Twelve, actually. At least ten feet tall. Real, too./

"I'll go check the thermostat, " Nikki answered before disappearing.



/psh, easy. Oh, I mean... oh no! How ever will I manage?! Where are all the burly lumberjacks when you need them? /

He pressed the back of his hand to his forehead and swooned dramatically.



/ it's about time,/ hale growled at her.

/ i don't appreciate being ghosted. /

Yes, he knew as much as anyone else. No, he was not going to be the bigger person and give her a free pass.

/ Their number is on the fridge at the castle. Ironically their magnet is plaid colored. /

Marina looked up at him with a tiny pout, tip-toeing up to kiss him, arms pulling her up the last little bit, fingers running through his hair.

"It hasn't been more than a week or two. Did I miss something? "

She asked, confused and worried about him as she stepped back as far as his hold allowed to see if he was visibly injured anywhere. She kind of got distracted half way through when she was sure he was fine, moving back to press into him. Fingers splayed across his chest she slipped a finger between the buttons on his shirt to steal tiny touches as she took another kiss

/ I've been struggling to regulate a bit since I've gotten back. /

Nikki would find the thermostat was unresponsive to any sort of prompts or taps he attempted. Thankfully the vampire could also see the little ghost tot sitting on it and making faces at the tiny furball known as Fritz happily meowing as it followed Nikki.

/ irony or destiny? /


/you missed our date,/ Hale sniffed.



"Psst. You're making it cold for marina. Could you sit somewhere else? "

Marina looked genuinely apologetic as she shifted to kiss him again, shivering as she nestled into Hale.

/I didn't mean to. I'm sorry my love. /

She ventured, tipping her face up to hide against him entirely, kissing at his neck now.

/ Maybe not destiny, but you're welcome to have at the hunkhelpers, and anything else you might need. I have an account already to bill anything you might need..... gosh, there's so much to do still..../

She bit her lip and thought a few moments before stepping back a tiny bit, pulling on him.

"Come with me? "

The little girl looked up at Nikki, smiling huge as she clapped her hands together and reached towards him.

"Color? "

She asked enthusiastically of him, hope all over her face.

"Um... you could tell me how you want to color... maybe."

He awkwardly picked her up and looked around desperately until he found an ink pen and an old envelope to color on.




/i got this/




Hale raised a brow suspiciously.

"Where to? "

/ Thank you. I'm sorry I didn't even know how close things were until it all hit me. ... i hope everyone can attend. /


Marina was trying not to shiver all over, goosebumps all over her as she fought her teeth not to chatter.

"If you're wanting to sweep me away, I think wearing something might be best? At least to start with? "

She suggested, hooking her finger into his waist and pulling his hips into hers. She kissed him hotly, eager to return to contact a moment. Pleease let her put clothes on, even if he peeled them off and forbid clothing the rest of their visit. She wanted to be warm right now.

The house had dropped down to below sixty. As Nikki took the girlie up and off the thermostat the heater hummed to life, soon trying to play catch up. The tot was confused about the pen and colored awkwardly for a few moments before pointing at the box in the kitchen atop the fridge. The bright primary colors is impossible to miss. She wanted colors!

/ babe, it's a party. I got this. /



Hale frowned.

"I suppose. Are you ill?"




Nikki hesitantly edged over.

"Why would she have crayons here...?"

He thought about it before taking the box anyway.

/ It's the one even a year I get everyone I love with me. It's not just a party to me, love. /

It was precious to her, but he had soothed her guilt and panic a bit as she shook her head a bit.

"Emotionally a bit off, but otherwise no. "

Marina reassured Hale, nipping at him just once before she headed into the large walk in with him, shutting the door to reduce draft and let the heat build up faster in the dressing room.

She brushed her curls back as she started to walk the walls and flip through choices, shivering steadily stilling as she warmed up.

" what should I anticipate? "

She asked, buckling a delicate silk lace bra on, going to find the matching panties, waiting to see which way she should dress.... or not dress, as it were.


The well loved colors were soon zooming across pages as she doodled a big box with many stick figures. Most had 3 legs that were drawn all poking about, . The very delightful piece of wide V lips smooshed from one stick to another added great detail. There was a lone pink stick figure with only 2 legs, and a small stick thing with 4 legs and a pikachu like tail . The bodies were really drawn on top of one another, really.

The crayon in bright green slowed significantly as it started on the green 3 legged figure standing beside the bed. Extra effort to give it hair and happy eyes, with a great big smile was given to this person. At the end of each little stick arm was blue scribbled rectangles and small little black circles on top.

Soon little hearts were added, then a small girl stick figure in a triangle dress of purple was put in the photo where all the plushies normally got relocated when the bed was in full use.

The little ghost tot looked up as she finished her picture, so proud as she looked at Nikki. Did he like it?! It was a family portrait!

Nikki squinted at it.

"Oh, that's very nice. I see... um... that's a lot of people... and...a... dog? " he eyed her for confirmation.



Hale eased a bit, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

"I haven't decided. I didn't anticipate you'd make the missed date up to me immediately. That's not how this usually works. Spontaneity isn't our friend. "

The little girl frowned, looking to her picture. She didn't draw a doggie. The puppies barked at her a bunch so she tended to stay away unless someone else was around to keep them calm.

She tapped the paper on the counter with her hands, making clasping gestures as she tried to grab the page. She wanted to go show Ryder! She even remembered his bottles!


Marina watched him as she slowly smiled.

"Spontaneous can have a bit of ..... chaos with it, true. But it's also something we can only improve on if we give it more practice. "

Marina slowly slipped back into his arms in her under garments, tucked into his chest as she placed little kisses across the skin along his unbuttoned collar. She could be whisked away to his office for all she cared, she just wanted a dress code, really.