Senecio adn Tide II

[VisAnastasis]

Beast King laughed, with a refreshing playful tone, as ge continued working on aching back.
" Seems like I need to keep my greed in check for the time being, then. You should make it worth my while..." a voice spoke to his ear softly." Please me, by following my instructions to the letter. You hoped for my attention, and you got it. Now, work hard to keep it... Any time I can see it hurts a lot but you say it's not that bad, you are having a negative point," despite not seeing his face, slave could swear he felt a grin on Beast's face." You got it, Sein Miru?"

[Mirach]

The slave took in a breath and let it out, as if focusing on the task that went against what he was used to, bringing it into his focus so that he doesn't forget and slip into old habits. He also relaxed somewhat, to be able to perceive it better. "Yes, my King," he said.

[VisAnastasis]

" That's good. Let's proceed, then," Beast agreed, as it unexpectedly lightly caressed the hand he was holding with his thumb as he worked, and kept petting his hair softly with other free arm, encouraging him, as if to tell him it's okay. He worked rather slowly, almost with a lazu, relaxed pace, as if without a worry in the world, as after the intense talk and previous testing, it finally felt like they have a space to take it all in and breathe.

[Mirach]

As the hands passed over his body, Srin Miru did his best to remain attentive and let the king know when a place was more painful, either with words or a moan or a press of hand. But the longer the king worked with the balm, the less it hurt, and he was tired. It took more and more effort to keep his eyes open despite his effort. Slowly, he dozed off... until Tide's fingers pressed a place that sent a spike of pain through his body, it being a deep bruise forming over what seemed like an old scar that never healed well. His first instinct was to suppress the pain and hide it, but then he remembered the orders. He pressed the king's hand tightly. "There..." he moaned, "...that hurts... a lot."

[VisAnastasis]

The beast pressed back his hand lightly, holding it close. He then turned his head to take a closer look at the old scar, inspecting it slowly.
" Thank you for telling me. Good work, little Miru... You are doing very well, and I am proud of you.. " He whispered in a soothing tone of voice. " For balm to work, both to slowly ease the bruise and help the scar fade a little, though. It looks rather more serious than I anticipated. Do you want me to continue? Or would you rather seek medical help later? This one seems unusually nasty compared to others." There was just a shread of hesitance, before an unusually soft and calm voice continued." Was it not treated properly by the castle's healers?"

[Mirach]

Senecio bit his lip, but he replied truthfully, both in the character and in reality. "I... um... stitched it myself. But I couldn’t reach the place well."

[VisAnastasis]

By the light of the glowing hair, man could sea the beast nod lightly, Tide as much as the Beast King he tailored for himself. In this moment at least, their personalities fully aligned. He lightly tapped and pressed the uneven skin, trying to understand more about its current condition to figure out why it's so painful, and if there is reason besides the bruise.
" You know... Would you not feel better if you told me more about it?" The line felt strangely in character for both of them, despite choice of words were more recognizable coming from the beast king. " Would it not feel good to tell it to someone? If you tell me more, I can promise to reward you properly for opening up to me..."

[Mirach]

"There’s not much to tell really," Senecio said slowly. "I couldn't afford a healer, and didn't want any questions from one, so I stitched it myself when it turned out it keeps reopening. I think it's not stitched evenly, so one side is more taut than the other."

[VisAnastasis]

Tide probed the scar but lightly, as it indeed seemed so, but he didn't seem fully satisfied.
" I am going to ask this extremely tactfully... " he spoke up slowly. " Are you being evasive on purpose? Would you rather not have me ask about this? " It was not clear how much in character or not he was, but there was something tender and respectful in his voice. " You can't make a wound like this with a simple human whip toy. Won't you tell me more about how you got this injury? " he inquired quietly, not without a streak of interest, despite he gave him space to reject. " Was it made against your will, or was it an unfortunate accident? Or were you hurt by... something you enjoyed, that wasn't a whip? You said you didn't want the healer to question you... was injury tied to something you are ashamed to tell to a healer? " he gulped. " I... am generous and mighty King. I will allow you to not tell me about your past if you don't feel like it. But... the thought you may find it shameful to tell me is... bothersome... "

[Mirach]

"I'm not sure if it would do any good if you knew it... But if you want to know, I won't keep it from you. It was a party for... for some potential patrons with a particular taste..." Senecio said, deciding it would be too complicated to figure out some alternative explanation for his character, so going with the real one. "I was blindfolded, so I don't know what they actually used. I enjoyed it at first, but it went a bit too far as they got in the mood, so I had to... pretend enjoying it. I don't want to talk about it more now, if that's alright."

[VisAnastasis]

Tide's hand around the actor tightened just a little bit, and there was a streak of powerless wrath amidst the understanding - the anger not directed at him, though.
" Are you worried... that I will pity or dislike you if I learned more about those things? Or that if you speak of it more openly, that sooner or later, you will say something I would find disgusting?" Was an unexpected, little chocked up question. But decisive not to break imersion, just like Senecio, Tide danced on the border of going out of character, keeping as tight grip on it as he could. " I am not saying I should be privy to all your secrets. But wouldn't knowing some things make our king-concubine relationship stronger? How can I know how hard to beat someone up if I don't know extent of their sins? I am a just King, after all, I give only just punishments..  " A gentle hand caressed Senecio's hair, shaking just a little, as he added quietly." And speaking of punishments... If I had known about it... I could have avoided hitting that place. I.. I am great and mighty. It would be easy, if I knew it's a bad spot to hit. None  of your scars look too bad on the surface. Had I known... I could have avoided reminding you of it so unpleasantly. It is... Certainty troublesome that one of the worst lashes struck right at it and bruised it so badly... Guilt over preventable things is burdensome. " He could by now guess direction of Beast's concern." How do you feel about it? Do you feel ashamed for telling me about it? Or are you just trying to not think about it? I am sort of in conflicted spot. I want to treat you so it hurts less, but a have a nagging rational feeling that it won't bring forth much great memories and feelings when someone presses down repetedly on such injury. As, as a king, I want to have all the fun in the world, and triggering bad memories unknowingly is completely dull, you see... "

[Mirach]

"You gave me a new name," Sein Miru said. "I didn't want to drag the past here, now. I would still prefer not to, if the pretense can hold yet. The bruise isn't making it any worse than it was. To be honest, I almost forgot about it. It just hurts when you press it, or with some very particular moves. But if you want to treat it, within the pretense might be the best way of avoiding the memories connected with it. I am Sein Miru, untouched and sheltered for you. Will you ground me in the pretense, my King?"

[VisAnastasis]

" Yes... You are Sein Miru. Untouched and sheltered, for me," Tide's voice steadied with resolve, as he caressed the hand he was holding with his thumb encouragingly." As your king, how would you prefer me to ground you in that truth? Do you have any special request of something that would aid you? I must relieve my guilt, otherwise, things would become too troublesome. Naturally, a king has no person of authority over him to be punished by for making a lapse in judgement. But even if you did not tell me, I did whip you, so I shall compensate you properly. " Hand kept caressing him slowly and lightly." Do you want me to treat you like conversation never happened? Or would you feel more sheltered if I sheltered you for real, and wrapped you in a blanket or held you as I treated it? If I covered your nakedness and tried not to touch you intimately? Or anything else? Whatever comes to mind, I hereby swear on my honour as a king thar I shall grant your request. I am very pleased with your honesty in this, so I believe you have earned a right on some nice indulgent wish, Sein..."

[Mirach]

"If you just act on that truth and don't ask about things that didn’t happen, that would be steadying enough," Sein Miru replied. "But if I pleased you today, and you could tell me that I did, I won't think about the past when I can focus on your praise in the present. Only if I deserve it, though..."

[VisAnastasis]

" That is very easy request. You should be more greedy and ask more from me," Beast King grinned." Lean back, my fearless little Sein Miru. Lean back and relax, and press my hand when you are ready for me to start anew..."

[Mirach]

The slave took a few slow breaths to calm himself. He leant his head on a pillow and after breathing oit again, he closed his eyes and pressed the king's hand.

[VisAnastasis]

King pressed his hand back lightly, giving him a moment of quiet, and taking a deep breath himself. Then, he turned to the badly bruised scar, and first touched it a little bit, to not startle him, before he began to slowly and without rush rub it down, observing it carefully. King still held the his hand and caressed his hair gently like before, but this time, something was different. He didn't do it in silence anymore. After gathering his resolve to be truthful and as direct as Sein was, he began to speak, slowly and gently, as he worked.
" There are many thoughts burdening me down every day. Taking care of the whole kingdom is tough. There are just too many people. Lot of people are helping me, but some things, only I can do. It's extremely taxing sometimes. Last few days have been particularly stressful... I don't praise you for an empty reason. I praise you because you noticed and was desperate to distract me. Not many can sincerely notice when I feel really bad. Even more, you took a most drastic way possible to distract me. I punished you  throughly not because you earned more than lashes. It helped me take out my feelings of frustration on you... But I would not have pushed it further and touched you if you did not go to such lenghs to offer yourself to me. But even more so - even if it would calm ne down, I would not be intimate with someone I disliked. I handled you because you were interesting enough to be worth my time. I handled you because I liked how perceptive and attentive you were, dancing around my bad mood, trying to fuel my anger so I am more inclined to spend it. I handled you because you are smart and generous, using punishment as excuse to offer me reprieve. I handled you because you were interesting, and I grew to like you as we spoke. Rougher I were, better it felt... To test if anything I do will get you to hate me. But it never did. You are fearless, like a dragon, no matter what I do. I like you the most for it. Because you were brave enough, I could be with you without troublesome fears I have all the time with everyone weaker than me. So why should I not praise you? I find your bravely and determination extremely interesting and tempting to test. I like it, and I like you more than I like dragons..." the creature kept speaking softly and calmly, over and over again, and as it massaged the painful spot, it kept laying on new words, countering painful memories of the old injury with unique, but passionate and endless praise, as he clearly laid bare things he liked about Sein Miru, but that through filter, discarding context of imaginary Beast kingdom, could easily apply to Senecio - who was fearless before Tide's forms, and likewise, always noticing when he felt bad and doing everything he can to help him calm down and feel better. Even in lovemaking,  the fact that Tide could be rougher to him without scaring him away seemed as refreshing and new for Tide as it was for Beast King, and actor could clearly feel sincerity behind their fun little pretense game, and how happy Tide was to compliment him, even if indirectly.

[Mirach]

The praise was certainly doing something to Sein Miru, as he closed his eyes in pleasure of it. Maybe the little slave wouldn't be that quick to believe the king's words, but Senecio could feel the honesty behind them and so he let the praise soothe him and suppress the memories surfacing with the repeated touch of the hurting spot. It was painful at first, and he was clutching the king's hand and moaning into the pillow with it, but the longer the balm worked, the more it soothed the pain and after a while it even started to feel pleasant.

[VisAnastasis]

At first, Tide was fully alert and highly focused, very intent to make sure his self-control is at its maximum level and that it doesn't hurt even little more than it had to. He kept speaking honestly and gently as he worked hard, but as Senecio's moaning grew less frequent, and as he noticed that it seemed to feel more pleasant at one point, he could not help but smile with a little bit of pride and contentment, growing more confident again. Since he didn't know the little slave for as long as he did Senecio, he would have run out of praises by now, so instead of praising specific things he was impressed by, he kept gently praising the general things, one that was in common for Senecio and Sein Miru both - how fearless, attentive and mindful he was, and how pleasantly refreshing his freedom and boldness was. He kept speaking gently, as he worked on the painful spot.
The balm was indeed scarily effective the more it was rubbed down. The deep bruise was slowly fading away, and as it started to feel pleasant, Tide, who took special care to notice what kind of moves Sein Miru responded well to in his honesty, massages the scar and tight skin around it with pleasant moves. Silky transparent hands, much softer than human hands would, moved slowly, but tirelessly. It was treatment without rush, and a determination to, even if this was something that had to be done to treat him, at least make it a warm memory.

[Mirach]

The slave was getting more relaxed and closed his eyes again, but didn't doze off this time as he was focusing on the king's voice and enjoying his words.

[VisAnastasis]

The Beast King spoke freely, with seemingly no effort at all, as words of praise of Sein Miru seemed to come naturally to him. He knew he couldn't expect one of the worst scars to fade after just one proper treatment, but he seemed to have decided to give his best to make this treatment feel as soothing and nice as possible and make it a good memory. He had purposely left this bruise for near the end before, as he was hesitant to touch it, so only some small bruises remained beside it, at least on the outside, but it was still something both Beast King and Tide would want to take care of.
He still kept holding Sein Miru's hand gently, and kept working on the worst scar - in meantime, though, he used the freed pair of hands to take care of rubbing down and soothing the little bit of what remained from outside injuries and rubbing Senecio's sore muscles likewise too, as, after all, he didn't do it only for the sake of health but also desired to give him a massage and spoil him a little anyway, that urge and inclination for spoiling and indulging people he liked being a rather abstract, but perceptible feeling in him that grew and sparkled as he worked.

[Mirach]

Senecio relaxed, letting his thoughts dissipate in the haze of pleasant feeling - the feeling he shared with Sein Miru and so didn't have to do any conscious effort to maintain the character.

[VisAnastasis]

After a while, as they proceeded and grew more comfortable, after a lot of talking, Tide felt it may be a little too much, as it would probably begin to sound insincere, as he was slowly running out of ways to say "fearless" and was falling down on the " sweetest" and "most adorable" category of comments, and if he continued, he realized he would definitely break the character and just begin saying nice things about Senecio. So instead of talking, he began humming after a while, a nice and soothing melody that had the same feeling behind it.

As he progressed, though, although all outside injuries seemed taken care of, and with a lot of consistent touch and care, a lot of other scars seemed to fade a little, too, there was a streak of worry still remaining. Senecio wasn't commenting anything about it, but Tide did know he touched him most eagerly on the inside, and explored him deeper and more roughly than before, first, because his hand texture was more coarse, second, because he got a little lost in that moment too, because it lasted longer than usual. He was worried he may have hurt him, but that Senecio didn't think of it as a big deal, with his insanely high pain tolerance. But this didn't seem to be a proper moment to ask or to check, after an unexpected pain of the past. So, regardless of whatever he was planning before, it seemed Beast King won't take initiative for intimacy on his own, and instead decided to spoil him and take care of his feelings with a relaxing massage without hidden motive, nurturing him with a dedication that very much felt like grooming, as he did it with the same attention that Senecio washed his fur when he was in monstrous large form.

[Mirach]

Feeling his hesitance, Senecio turned his head to the side to look at him. "My King," he whispered, "did I not pass the test? I am untouched for you, so that you could be my first..."

[VisAnastasis]

Tide's hands on his body trembled just a little bit  with the words, but then they continued to work the same. Being didn't turn to face him yet, looking like he is facing a big choice.
" You are untouched and sheltered for me, yes. So... where's the rush? " A voice responded to him quietly." I can be your first today, or tomorrow. Passing the test does not require us to go all the way. It merely requires me to confirm if you are a person I want to be with," Beast finally turned to look at him, and gathered resolve to add more firmly, passing on the choice to him." You have most of qualities I seek of .. there us only obe left to check. A worthy concubine must know how to ask for something they desire clearly and decisively. So, Sein Miru, in light of that, tell me," he bid, intently and meaningfully." Do you really want this right now? It is not necessary to say yes to pass the test. Only to say the truth decisively."