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Post by starrea on May 10, 2020 2:54:21 GMT
Lincoln had been staring at the silver coin on the ground for at least ten minutes by now. He couldn’t help it, the desire to pick it up was almost overwhelming - but he knew what would happen if he touched it. The silver would burn until the pain would force him to drop it. The familiar bitterness that came after any reminder of his curse swelled up inside of him, threatening to choke him. He was a cursed being, forced to live out his live as a penniless inferior.
He needed to move past the coin. If he stared at any longer, he was bound to give in and pick it up. With strength he didn’t know he had, he forced his legs into motion and he carefully bypassed the fallen coin. Even after he passed it, he felt the presence of the coin pull him back. It was like it was calling out to him. He gritted his teeth and pressed on. By the time he was a hundred or so yards away, he finally felt like he could breathe again.
The assault of memories he didn’t want to remember hit him next. He should have expected it, it really wasn’t surprising the something so triggering brought up all the stuff he tried to forget, but he was surprised nonetheless. Memories of the the mountain of treasure he once sat upon flashed across his mind. All of the priceless treasure that he had spent years hoarding away. He could see himself in his full glory, the form he was meant to exist in, prowling through his loot.
He tried to stop the memories, tried not to think about what happened next, but he was victim to his own thoughts. The men who came and used their magic to reduce him to... nothing. He was nothing now. Lincoln finally pushed the memories out and back into the dark corner of his mind. He had spent so many years angry, so many years trying to break a curse that wasn’t meant to be broken, and now he was burnt out.
All he knew was that the old magic that tied him down in this form was stronger than anything he could find nowadays. The process to break the curse was complex and it was too risky to reveal what he was. Dragons were extinct and as far as he knew, he was the last. If someone knew what he really was, they may take advantage of his weak state and end him right then and there. In fleeting moments, Lincoln had considered allowing a man to end him, but he couldn’t die at the hands of the people who did this to him. If he died, it would be on his terms.
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Post by Crystal on May 10, 2020 4:35:06 GMT
Chloe silently made her way down the neutral path, her brows contorted in deep thought. Her hands at her sides continually closed into fists and opened once more as she tried to grasp any of the quick thoughts swirling in her head. Her bright hazel eyes were trained on the ground as she finally grasped the main thought of her sister. That is all she could think of recently, her dear twin sister. Clara was gone and many questions filled her head in wonder.
Where did she go? What happened to her? How could she leave without her? Why did she leave without her? Chloe closed her eyes and shook her head as she tried to free herself from these thoughts and questions that had been plaguing her ever since her sister disappeared.
Chloe was lost without her sister, Clara was the reason she left their family so willingly. She would have done anything for Clara and it had been tearing her apart at the thought that something had possibly happened to her sister. She had been even more distant from people than usual, her sister had just started pulling Chloe out of her shell and closer to others even though she feared their touch. She didn’t like to see others’ past without their consent, she felt it was a way of invading their privacy. Though her distance affected her income of course; her job included being a bit physical in a way, to touch either them or an item that is close to them or another in order to see into their past to better help the customer with their future. Although, their future was better read by Clara since she had that foresight.
So deep in thought and within the few moments of her eyes being closed, Chloe’s form quickly came into contact with another. As she collided with the other form her hand touched their’s and with that simple yet quick contact a vision appeared in her hazed gaze. A glimpse of a large figure, an outline of a creature she had only known from stories with enormous wings that could breathe fire. She quickly stepped away from the man she had run into not moments after colliding with him, her gaze tracing over him with slight wide eyes.
She never thought she would ever see such a creature in a vision of someone’s past, a dragon. What did this man have to do with one? What was odd to her was that the feelings she was able to grasp from the short connection was not of one of fear from those who would have seen the large creature but those of protection as if from the dragon for the treasures it hid. Her eyes filled with curiosity as she pulled her hands up to her chest to avoid further contact with the man. She cleared her throat and bowed to him hastily in apology as she spoke, “I’m so sorry, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going. Are you alright?”
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Post by starrea on May 10, 2020 19:13:46 GMT
Lincoln felt something hit his chest and he instinctively took a step back, his hands raised defensively. He had been damn wrapped up in his own thoughts that he had been completely oblivious to the only person walking down the path. The first thing he noticed was how young she was. Humans had short life spans in comparison to dragons but even for her species, she looked barely grown up.
He hadn’t missed the look she gave him as they broke apart. He was extremely perceptive - a skill he was forced to learn after he was cursed. Prior to learning how to blend in with a species he had spent years decimating, he hadn’t really cared enough to be perceptive. He had been an apex predator who could shoot fire. There was no need to be perceptive or precise if everything was dead. Unfortunately, after his curse, there were a lot of skills he lacked. That was years ago and he had successfully mastered the skills required to blend in with humans. To the untrained eye, it was easy to miss the dazed look followed by confusion but Lincoln’s eye wasn’t untrained. He caught everything.
He immediately became defensive. She might not have been physically intimidating, but Lincoln knew that he was hardly alone when it came to harboring secrets or magic. He had no idea what this girl was capable of and he knew better than to underestimate her. His eyes studied her, trying to assess whether she posed a real threat to him or not.
“Watch it.” He hissed, even though he had been just as careless as she had. He didn’t move to go around her, though. He stayed where he was, his intense stare locked onto her. He needed to make sure that she wasn’t a threat before he turned his back to her.
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Post by Crystal on May 11, 2020 2:17:30 GMT
Chloe stood straight once more and blinked as her gaze took in his defensive stance, her brow raising a bit. True she could be a bit defensive when it came to being close to others on her own, though he seemed even more on guard than she ever had been. Her brows began to furrow as this seemed to pull her back to the vision she had from the quick contact with his hand. It was odd for her to believe that this man in front of her would be so defensive towards her yet not towards a dragon. Thoughts seemed to swirl in her head as she went through all the possible reasons as to why she would see such a vision from this man.
After a moment she shook her head slightly as if to shake away her thoughts as he hissed at her. Chloe raised her brow once more but didn’t let his hiss phase her, she had a feeling that there was more underneath than his annoyance from their quick interaction. She then carefully reached her hand up to gently brush her long blonde hair back behind her ear and spoke once more, “As I said, I do apologize. My thoughts have been keeping me a bit distracted recently.”
As Chloe spoke, her bright hazel eyes started to take in the man’s features carefully and curiously. Her arms slowly fell back to her side as she felt that this man was more on the defense than the offense. A small smile began to form on her lips and she let her voice lighten as she spoke once more, “My name is Chloe, I don’t think I’ve seen you around here. My sister and I read fortunes together, well I suppose just I do now, in the gypsy camp not too far from here. May I ask your name?” She stepped forward instinctively and held out her hand as she introduced herself but stopped, hesitantly pulling her hand back in uncertainty. True she wanted to know more about the vision she got a glimpse of, but she didn’t want to invade this man’s privacy.
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Post by starrea on May 11, 2020 3:14:26 GMT
Lincoln clenched in jaw in poorly-concealed irritation. He hadn’t asked for her name, let alone her goddamn story. She was a stranger to him and her life was entirely irrelevant to him. Even after living among humans for years, he was still baffled by the way some of them just tried to connect with completely random strangers. It was unsettling. When she stretched out her hand to shake his, he just stared at it until she put it back down.
His mind whirled as he tried to analyze the best to handle this. One f the hardest transitions had been learning to rely on tactics versus brute strength. A wall of fire wasn’t exactly a precision weapon, so it was easy to overpower vast amounts of enemies in a matter of minutes. Now, he was forced to use more tactful and cunning approaches to get what he wanted. It was beyond irritating and even after practicing for many years, being tactful wasn’t his strong suit.
He gave up on the idea of being tactful pretty quickly. It was clear that there was no real way to find out what she knew without outright asking. He may not be able to breathe fire anymore, but he was still considerably bigger than her and she wouldn’t be the first life he had taken.
“Tell me what happened when you touched me.” He demanded instead of telling her his name. He wasn’t about to give this stranger an ounce of information until he knew exactly what he was dealing with. Even if she wasn’t a threat, if word got out that he was a dragon, he would be hunted down. If he was going to die, it wouldn’t be because a young girl accidentally opened her mouth to the wrong person.
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Post by Crystal on May 11, 2020 3:50:40 GMT
Chloe watched the man carefully and let her brows furrow once more as she watched his jaw clench. Her hazel gaze glanced away from the man and took a hesitant step back in uncertainty. Had she done something wrong? God, other human beings were so hard to understand and deal with. Her nose wrinkled at the thought, she had never been the best at interacting with others ever since her powers started to show. She did her best to avoid others or at least contact with others especially back before she had control of her powers, she hated how invasive she felt after seeing others’ past without their permission. There were times she saw things in others’ past that they didn’t want others’ to know, though she had never run into anyone that bad thankfully. Lord how she wished Clara was here with her, her twin always had a way with people that she never did. She needed her sister more than she thought when it came to trying to come out of her shell.
Chloe raised her left hand up to her right upper arm and gripped it slightly as if in a way to hold herself up in a way her sister use to do and give herself confidence. As the man spoke, she flinched slightly at not only his demanding tone but that he had realized she had seen something without his permission. Chloe let her gaze slowly return to his form for a moment before looking off to the side as she apologized, “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to see anything without asking. Although I have a better control of my powers than I did when I was younger, I’m still learning and sometimes I can’t help it.”
She then cleared her throat and took another step back as she turned to the side slightly so she wasn’t fully facing him anymore. “I saw the outline of a creature, one that I have never seen in a vision before. It was large, had wings, and was surrounded by treasures. It was a creature I have only heard of in stories,” She explained then glanced back towards the man for a moment and continued, “a dragon. Though what is getting to me is that the feelings that came through the vision wasn’t of one from someone in fear viewing the dragon upon it’s treasures, but that of the dragon as it protected the treasures it had collected over the years.” After she explained she took a moment to collect herself and turned to face him once more. She let her bright hazel eyes meet his as if standing her ground finally and asked in a serious tone though it was more of her speaking her mind than truly asking him the personal question, “Why is that? I have never heard of a dragon that could shift into a human.. is that possible?”
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Post by starrea on May 11, 2020 23:18:00 GMT
Lincoln tensed up more - if that was even possible - when the girl confirmed his suspicious; she had seen something when they touched. He remained silent and stoic as she apologized. Her apology meant nothing to him and he waited for her to explain exactly what she saw. For both of their sakes, he prayed it was inconsequential - but then again, Lincoln had never been overly lucky.
He watched as she withdrew from a little and he recognized that she felt awkward and guilty but he truly did not give a fuck. Even though his expression remained as impassive as ever while she spoke, he started to fume on the inside. Of-fucking-course this girl happened to see his goddamn secret. It was just his luck that she couldn’t have seen anything else. Not to mention that they were the only two goddamn people on this road, and they had been too stupid to see each other and physically ran into each other. The whole situation was so fucking stupid and unnecessary that it blew Lincoln’s mind.
Her question finally triggered his impassive expression to morph into one of obvious irritation. “No, it’s not.” He slipped shortly, the gears in his mind turning as he tried to think of a plan. He didn’t really feel like killing her - not because he was morally sound, but because she said she lived nearby and he didn’t want to cause any more unnecessary trouble. But he couldn’t let her walk away, not with the knowledge that he was a dragon.
“Son of a bitch,” He cursed, fists clenched. He needed more time. “Sorry about this.” He apologized but he didn’t sound very sorry at all. Without any warning, he sent his fist flying into her face. He didn’t stop there - once she was distracted by the lunch, he closed the distance between them and wrapped his hands around her throat and started to squeeze. He didn’t want to kill her, not yet, but he needed her to go to sleep for a little while.
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Post by Crystal on May 12, 2020 3:12:09 GMT
Chloe looked at the man in confusion as he stated shortly that it wasn’t possible for a dragon to shift into a human. “I see,” She replied just above a mumble as she glanced away in thought. If that was true then what was the vision she saw? How else could she have felt the dragon’s feelings, or what she believed was the dragon’s protective feelings, from the vision if this man wasn’t connected to it? It only took a moment for her to fall into her thoughts once more, it was easy for her to do since most of her time had been spent in her thoughts without her sister around.
Distracted by her thoughts, it took her a moment to return to the present as the man spoke once more and looked up at him as she replied quizzically, “Sorry for what?” Though she got her answer much faster than she had anticipated. A gasp escaped her lips and her hands immediately reached up to her face as she reeled back in pain. As she pulled her hands away she noticed blood on her hands realizing it had come from her nose that started to bleed from the impact. Before she could recoup from the punch, the man was on her once more with his hands around her throat.
Chloe’s hazel eyes widened for a moment before clenching them shut and instinctively reached her hands up to his hands, clawing at them as she gasped for air. Frantic thoughts and glimpses of the man’s past flashed in her mind as her focus was only to obtain air at that moment. Flashes of the curse that changed the man and his past as a dragon, collecting his treasure and burning down the humans that came for him. She couldn’t help but focus on the flames, he had killed so many humans and whether it was out of protection over his treasures or for pleasure was hard for her to determine within that moment.
Death, was all she could think of now as she continued to gasp for air. From the glimpses she got in her mind she knew he could and would easily kill her without a care in the world. She continued to struggle until she finally realized that there was no way out of this and without her sister here there was no one to care if she were to disappear. If she no longer had her sister around for her to care for and to care for her, then what was the point? She had no reason to continue her life, did she? Her eyes opened once more and looked up into his gaze, with his flames he never had to look into his victims eyes but if she was going to die then she wanted to make sure he saw the life leave hers.
Chloe’s hands slowly released his as she slowly accepted her assumed fate, along with the feeling of her limbs becoming weaker with the lack of oxygen, and let her eyes soften sadly; not only at the thought of what might be on the other side but also for the man’s past that she was able to glimpse at. True he was a dragon and his past was filled with flames, but he didn’t deserve to lose everything he had acquired over the years and be cursed for being the creature that he was. Her thoughts seemed to trail off as she slowly fell into darkness, her eyes closing as she became limp and let herself pass out.
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Post by starrea on May 12, 2020 23:48:21 GMT
If Chloe tried to find any remorse on his face before she passed out, she would have come up empty. Her weak attempts to free herself did not phase him in the slightest and his hands slowly constricted around her neck. He watched the emotions flash through her eyes - fear, hopelessness, despair, anger, and then acceptance. He maintained the eye contact with her, but his eyes were eerily void of any sort of emotion. He waited another ten or so seconds after she fell unconscious before he finally let her drop to the ground. He let her lay on the ground for another half a minute as he carefully watched for any signs that she might be faking. When he was satisfied that she was truly unconscious, he unceremoniously slung her over his shoulder and started to retreat back to his shack.
The walk back to his home was quick. They had only been about a 15 minute walk from where they had been, but that didn’t mean his house was easy to find. There was no path, trail, or road that lead to it. His house was guarded by dense forestry and unless you knew about his house beforehand, there was no chance you’d be able to find it. Lincoln valued his solitude and privacy and in all the years he had lived there, this girl was the first person he had brought home.
Lincoln kicked open his door and dropped the girl onto the floor. He wasn’t too concerned with being gentle with her. He immediately starting hunting around for supplies. This was turning out to be a major pain in the ass, he realized, because he hadn’t been planning on taking a hostage. He was going to have spend the whole damn night hostage-proofing his house. The thought of killing her tempted him but he pushed it away. He couldn’t do that until he was sure no one would look for her or her killer.
He found some rope but hesitated. Rope wasn’t as reliable as chains but he didn’t have any on hand, so rope was going to have to do. He yanked one of the wooden kitchen chairs out and scooped up the unconscious girl and deposited her in it. When she stayed without falling over, he set to work securing her to the chair. He started with her legs and tied her feet together before tying each individual leg to the leg of the chair. For good measure, he also tied her leg right below the knee to the chair leg as well. He wound rope around her torso, tying that to the back of the chair, and finally pulled her hands behind her back and secured them. Since there were no arm rests, he tied her hands to the back of the chair and then tied her arms above the elbow to the sides of the chair. He went back and double and tripled checked all of his knots, tugging on them to ensure they wouldn’t budge. This girl wasn’t getting out anytime soon.
Satisfied with his work, Lincoln got up and started to busy himself with hostage-proofing the house. The first thing that needed to be locked away were weapons - he collected all of the knives, razors, and other potentially sharp objects and chucked them in the small closet in his kitchen. He grabbed anything else that she might use as a weapon, including the alcohol, axe, matches, and wooden club and threw them all in the closet and locked the door. He pocketed the key and set about his next task - locking down the house.
Lincoln was already fairly paranoid so despite the run-down appearance of the shack, it was already installed with multiple locks. The front door had three separate locks and a deadbolt, and each window had a lock that required a key. After double and triple checking that everything was locked and secured, he made his way back to the kitchen where the girl was still unconscious.
Lincoln didn’t know what to do next other than wait. He unlocked the closet door and pulled out a bottle of moonshine. He shut and locked the door again and sling himself down in a kitchen chair several feet away from the girl and raised the bottle to his lips. Today had been an absolute cluster fuck.
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Post by Crystal on May 13, 2020 0:49:33 GMT
Chloe’s eyes slowly blinked open, her vision hazy as she groggily began to awaken. Her gaze traveled around her surroundings though her vision was still a bit impaired as she carefully sat up, where was she? Was she dead? Is this what afterlife truly looks like? She groaned at the pain in her head and closed her eyes once more before she tried to reach her hands up to hold her head as if it would help but to no avail.
Chloe opened her eyes once again for a moment, to glance down at her fuzzy form with something wrapped around her. She let out a slight groan in annoyance and clenched her eyes closed trying to get past the pain. After a while, the pain in her head turned to a slight throb and took that chance to open her eyes to reassess her surroundings but this time her vision less hazy. That is until her gaze landed on the man from before. Her eyes widened and squirmed in the wooden chair she was in as she attempted to fade distance between her and him, staring at him in confusion and fear. No, she wasn’t dead but why?
She stared at him silently for a moment before she finally spoke with a hoarse voice, which surprised her and caused her to falter slightly, “I tho.. I thought you were going to kill me. Wh.. Why am I still alive?” Chloe looked down as she tried to clear her throat and took in the sight of the ropes wrapped all around her to the chair, oh how she wanted to reach her hand up to gently touch the tender bruised skin on her neck to sooth it in some way and hold her throbbing head.
She closed her eyes and let out a soft sigh as she mumbled softly as realization slowly hit her, “Unless.. Unless you are still deciding my fate.” Another soft sigh slipped from her lips as she wished that she could curl in on herself, to embrace herself in a way to hide her form and comfort herself. Her eyes slowly opened to look upon the man with a calmer look in her hazel eyes. “If you are debating on killing me, don’t I deserve to at least know your name? Why you want me dead for knowing of your curse?” She asked him in a hushed tone as she watched him carefully.
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Post by starrea on May 14, 2020 19:29:45 GMT
Lincoln had drunk half the bottle and was close to being comfortably drunk before she woke up. He immediately tensed up but didn’t do anything other than take another long sip from the bottle, savoring the burn that went down his throat. He watched the emotions flash across her face - first pain, then fear, and finally confusion.
Lincoln didn’t bother to tell her not to struggle. If she wanted to waste her energy and tear up her skin, that was her problem. He was confident that she wasn’t going to get out of that chair unless he permitted it.
Her questions finally sparked a reaction in him and he bristled defensively, as if she had insulted him. He put the bottle down on the table, leaning forward and putting his hands on his knees as he silently stared at her. He wanted her to see that he truly didn’t give a fuck about her.
“You are in no position to ask for anything.” He said, his tone icy, “There are going to be some rules. Rule number one, don’t piss me off. Rule number two, don’t try and escape. I can promise you that you won’t. Rule number three, don’t try to hurt me. You’re only alive because I’m worried you might be a bigger inconvenience to me dead. If you prove me wrong by trying to escape or hurting me, then I’ll kill you. It’s really that simple. If you want to stay alive, you’ll stay out of my way, out of my shit, and don’t do anything stupid. There will be no second chances, so if you’re going to try and run, you better make damn sure I won’t catch you.” He leaned back in his chair when he finished, carefully watching her with cold eyes. He wasn’t stupid enough to believe that she wouldn’t try something, but he wanted her to know the consequences of her actions upfront.
He completely ignored her questions. Information was a privilege she didn’t have right now. He wondered if he kept his hands covered with gloves if that would stop her ability to see his past. It was going to be extremely irritating if he was going to be forced to avoid touching her. She already knew too much and he didn’t want her see anything else.
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Post by Crystal on May 14, 2020 20:41:10 GMT
Chloe flinched slightly at his icy tone and stare as he leaned forward to make his words very clear to her. Though she could feel the bite from his words and a chill run up her spine, she made sure to keep eye contact with him as he told her the ground rules he was setting for her. She slowly nodded her head in understanding and continued to watch him as he sat down in his chair. Chloe went to open her mouth to speak once more and ask if she could be untied now that the rules were set but closed her mouth right away, deciding to avoid speaking at that moment. She doubted she would get the response she wanted and had a feeling she was going to be stuck in that chair for the time being.
A soft sigh slipped from her lips as she leaned her head back and stared at the ceiling above her. She was use to emotional entrapment but physically being trapped in such a way was something new for her. She felt physically the way she felt mentally when she was at home with her parents and sister, which is why she followed her sister when she brought up the idea of leaving on their own. Her nose wrinkled at the thought of how she followed her sister and now she was alone without the one person that made her feel free and happy.
Free in a way at least, unfortunately not completely, Clara was certainly more so than her. Chloe still kept her distance from others even with her sister around and this was certainly why, to avoid seeing people’s secrets she didn’t mean to see. Though, even though she was free from her parents, Chloe was still trapped by her sister in doing everything she could to help her twin get to the point that Clara dreamed of as well as protect her sister from those who would want to tear her down. Chloe sighed as she realized that she seemed to jump from one trap to the next.
She shook her head slightly to rid her thoughts before she dove any deeper then lifted her head so her head was upright once more. Her bright hazel eyes started to look over her surroundings in more detail, avoiding looking at the man in his chair as she did so. “This is a nice home,” She began as her gaze continued to survey the objects around her and continued softly, “I’m sure it took a while to build.” She wanted to ask him more questions that started to form in her mind, but knew at this point that he had no intentions of answering the few that she may have. After a few moments of silence her gaze looked down to the ropes around her form that kept her in the chair and inspected them in order to avoid eye contact with the man as she finally decided to ask, “With rules set, may I ask what you plan on doing with me? Will I be able to look forward to being more than a chair warmer?”
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Post by starrea on May 15, 2020 18:54:24 GMT
After Lincoln told her the rules, he just watched her. Despite how much he wanted to, he didn’t take another sip from the bottle. He needed to be in a semi-clear state on mind at the very least. Instead, he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and wasted no time in lighting one up. He put the cigarette between his lips, taking a long drag before blowing the smoke out. The relief was pretty immediate and a few seconds later, some of the tension finally started to loosen up. He watched her open her mouth to ask something but obviously thought better of it because she closed her mouth again. He took another long drag - maybe she wouldn’t be as dumb as he thought.
The silence between them was heavy as neither of them spoke for several long minutes. Lincoln gaze’s was unwavering as he watched her, only moving to take intermittent drags from his cigarette. He knew he needed to figure out a damn plan on what to do with her but he was too stressed to think much past making sure she didn’t escape tonight. He would have to come up with something tomorrow, if he didn’t kill her tonight.
By the time she finally spoke, Lincoln had just finished his last drag and dropped the cigarette to the floor and stamped it out. He thought about lighting another one up but decided against it. He needed to get moving, he needed to figure out how the hell he was going to sleep tonight without her escaping. He finally pushed himself out of the chair and pulled his keys out his pocket, unlocking the closet door and putting the remaining alcohol in there. He didn’t need the temptation in clear view tonight. He locked the door, slightly surprised by what the girl chose to say. She was tied up to a chair in a stranger’s home, and she chose to compliment his shitty house? He just offered a nonverbal grunt in response.
Her next question finally made him start to logistically think what he was going to do with her tonight. The easiest answer would be to leave her tied to the chair. There was only one bed, after all, and if he untied her, he would have to let her have it so he could sleep in front of the door. Fuck, this was a clusterfuck.
“Didn’t I tell you not to piss me off?” Lincoln snapped, storming out of the kitchen towards his bedroom. He wasn’t thrilled about the idea of her going through his shit, either. He really wished he had some damn chains. He could tie her hands behind her back, and then tie those to the bed. She would have a real hard time untying knots from that position. He glanced around the room - even if she got untied, the window was locked besides a desk, a dresser, and a heavy, wooden bedside table, there wasn’t anything big or heavy enough to throw through the glass.
Lincoln turned and wen back to the kitchen before he changed his mind. “Here are your options. You can stay tied to the chair, or I can tie your hands behind your back and tie that to the bed. If I see any evidence of you trying to get the ropes off, I’ll tie your ass to this chair again and leave you in the damn closet until I decide what to do with you.” His face was void of all emotion as he watched her. He didn’t know why he was offering her the bed in the first place - he wasn’t thrilled about the idea of sleeping on the couch.
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Post by Crystal on May 15, 2020 23:20:39 GMT
Chloe let her nose wrinkle a bit as she watched the floor where the man dropped his cigarette bud and stomped it out. She was use to the smell after living with her parents and traveling with the gypsy’s, but it wasn’t one she was always fond of. Though it wasn’t her place to tell others how to live their lives or judge them for having a simple pleasure in their life that helped them in ways she didn’t truly understand. Her gaze slowly traced up from the man’s feet back up to his face as he stood and made his way to the closet with the rest of his bottle of alcohol.
Her hazel eyes watched him curiously as he unlocked the closet and tried her best to catch a glance of what all was inside before he shut it to only lock it once more. She huffed slightly as she took in the fact that he had locked away most of his things because of her. True, she was a stranger to the man and he couldn’t trust that she wouldn’t try anything but she felt bad to be the reason he had to flip his life upside down to keep his secret safe. She continued to keep an eye on him and couldn’t help but let her lips shift into a small smile as he grunted in response to her comment, at least he hadn’t fully ignored her.
Chloe surveyed him closely as she waited for a response to her question, wondering if he would answer or leave her in the dark. As he snapped at her and stormed out of the kitchen to another room in his home, she waited until his back was to her before she rolled her eyes. He obviously wasn’t one to take a joke, but then their versions of humor could be different than the others’. She waited silently for him to return, deciding to hold her tongue before she said anything that would move her closer to the line he had drawn.
Once he returned she kept her mouth shut and listened carefully as he explained to her his current plan. Chloe blinked her bright eyes in surprise, a bit taken aback by his offer to give up his bed to her after how he had been so far towards her. Her cheeks flared a light pink at the thought of sleeping in anyone’s bed that wasn’t hers, especially a man’s bed that she had just met even if she would be alone. As she felt her cheeks flare with heat she quickly turned her head away and prayed that her long blonde hair would cover her face, her cheeks turning a deep red in embarrassment of the blush that had taken over her cheeks. “I-I couldn’t take your bed from you, that wouldn’t be fair to you. We are strangers after all and I have already tossed your life into slight turmoil as is, it wouldn’t be right for me to sleep in your bed instead of you,” She quickly blurted out, stuttering at first in her embarrassment. Yes, being kept tied to that chair in the way that she was wouldn’t be a comfortable way to sleep but she was unsure of the other option.
She thought for a moment before she remembered the couch she had seen earlier in her survey of the home. Chloe then cleared her throat and tried to calm herself to hopefully rid her face of the blush as she questioned in just above a hushed tone, “Couldn’t I take the couch? You can keep my hands bound behind my back and my feet bound together. If need be you could even bind the rope from my hands to one of the feet on the couch or to the foot of the table beside it. Wouldn’t that suffice? I have no intentions of going anywhere anytime soon, I don’t plan on breaking the rule.”
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Post by starrea on May 16, 2020 16:46:28 GMT
Lincoln’s face morphed into a scowl as the girl tried rambled on. He didn’t know why it irritated him so much that she was talking like a damn house guest when they both knew she wasn’t, but it did. He grit his teeth but his irritation flared again when she tried to turn this into a negotiation.
“Was sleeping on the couch one of the options?” He snapped, pausing for a second before continuing, “No, it fucking wasn’t. But if you don’t want to sleep on the bed, that’s fine. You can stay in the fucking chair for all I care.”
He got up and swiftly moved past her, leaning against his kitchen counter. Purple hand-shape bruises had started to materialize around her neck and even after he wasn’t looking at her anymore, his bruised handprints on her neck stayed with him. He gripped the edges and tried to clear his mind - he needed to be smart about this.
Lincoln took a deep breath before he started going through his pantry, pulling out food. He didn’t have a lot of fresh food but he had dried meat and fruit. He considered asking if she was hungry but didn’t. He was too damn irritated with her to ask if she wanted food. He took a bite of some jerky, chewing slowly.
“What’s your name? Will anyone miss you?” The question was cruel but it needed to be asked. Lincoln needed to know if people were goin to come looking for her or not. For her sake, he hoped she was a nobody.
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