The Drow Queen of Glaley [Very NSFW]

[Coquette Blacquin]

Strong yet surprisingly delicate hands. Soft hands, perfectly manicured. A good sense of humor, a sensual wit. A delicate pout, too vulnerable to be entirely feigned yet putting up a good impression of being such. She rejects her first answers -- no sense hurting her wife with things she doesn't have. "I'm a sucker for a corset," she suggests, recalling times she's tugged Varisia closer by the laces, times she's cuddled in close. 

[Varisia Primfana]

"I have noticed that," Varisia admits with a soft laugh, though there's something fragile about it. Which is strangeness atop strangeness; Varisia is not one to admit to doubts or worry, so her even asking what Coquette likes instead of assuming she's it is unusual. "Is there-- You still have a boon of me. I can't-- I can't change who I am in my core. But is there... anything... lesser I could..?"

[Coquette Blacquin]

"I want... to be your partner. I want to... I want things to be more equal between us. I know you're the greater wife, I know Alyssans care about such things, but I've seen other women, I know it's not always so stark as it has been. So I want... Could we be nearly equal partners? For instance, I am forbidden to fuck women, but you do so freely. Could we be... truly co-wives and co-mothers?"

[Varisia Primfana]

She stiffens a little, muscles tensing, but that stroking finger against Coquette's pulse point never falters. "I... am not... practiced nor inclined to share power," Varisia says slowly, her tone suggesting she's not refusing the boon outright but isn't sold on it either. "I can-- I can refrain from seeking out female lovers. That much is," she hums, stalling a moment to find the right word, "acceptable. I do, occasionally, though far rarer now that I am more leader than agent, have to seduce a woman for work, but otherwise... That I can give you, but I am not sure... What else would-- is there more-- what other 'for instances' can you give me?"

[Coquette Blacquin]

"I wish to choose our meals sometimes. I wish to redecorate the kitchen, I hate the way it's painted, but you disagree and have overruled me. I wish to purchase things for Primera without your going through and pruning out the things you didn't purchase yourself. I wish to choose my own tailor, my own healer. I want you to leave Bull's discipline and orders in my hands -- and I want you to refer to him with as much respect as you refer to your own servants instead of always antagonizing and mocking him. I want you to stop interfering in my relationship with my husbands. I wish to choose my own horses, my own husbands, my own servants, my own dresses, my own pets, my own life."

[Varisia Primfana]

There's a sharp exhalation in Coquette's ear and the hand around her wrist tightens almost painfully. "That is... quite a bit," her wife finally bites off, her tone sharp and brittle. "I had no idea you hated your life with me so much." Underneath the anger, Coquette can hear hurt, shock and even betrayal as Varisia is rather abruptly hit with the knowledge that things are not as cozy and well as she had thought.

[Coquette Blacquin]

"I don't hate you." Her tone is soothing, gentle. "I don't hate being with you. I just... I get lonesome, and... I've never been treated as an adult before. I would like to be. That's all."

[Varisia Primfana]

Another stretch of silence, then Varisia shifts back, away from Coquette. Before she can worry too much, she's being tugged over so they're now face to face. "Do you love me?" The question is quietly, almost meekly voiced, vulnerability and fear being honestly shown just this once.

[Coquette Blacquin]

"Of course." It slips out as Cindy is thinking, and she realizes with a start that Madam Noire is with her, has been for a while. "Of course I love you."

[Varisia Primfana]

Varisia studies Coquette's face intently, looking for any hint of lie or deceit. With a shudder, Varisia crumples, pressing herself against Coquette, her face in the crook of her neck. And-- and is that a sob?

[Coquette Blacquin]

"Hey, hey," she says soothingly, rubbing Varisia's back gently as she cradles the woman. "It's alright. You're learning how to love me just as I'm learning how to love you."

[Varisia Primfana]

The first sob is also the last, Varisia's pride and self-protectiveness slamming shut her attempts at being open with her wife almost instantly. But it was there, if only for that moment. "I am t-trying," she finally manages. "To be-- to be better than my moth--" 

[Coquette Blacquin]

"I know, sweet thing. I know you are. You're not like her. You're doing the best you can. I'm just... I'm just a rebellious sort. Ungrateful, is how my mother always said I was."

[Varisia Primfana]

There's movement against her shoulder as Varisia shakes her head, even before Coquette finishes speaking. "No, no. You're not ungrateful, not at all. You're--" She sighs softly, presses a kiss against her wife's skin. "You are not... strong in the way I most easily think of it meaning. You are not ruthless and lethal, capable and willing to kill any threat without remorse. But that does not mean you are weak. And I should not treat you as such."

[Coquette Blacquin]

I'm not? wonders a bemused male voice in the back of her head. 

Shut up. "I'm a survivor. That means something, sometimes."