slicings | (no subject)

[ She blinks—and for a moment, balks. She really isn't expecting Ren to suddenly reach for the hem of her clothing. Underneath, she has panties and that's all, and... well, it's true she's seen Ren naked a lot, even though she tries desperately not to look. But she... she's always managed to stay at least partially clothed around the other, so...

(And yet, as tired and in pain as she is, the idea of her friend and roommate washing her hair for her, soothing the tiredness away with firm yet gentle motions...)

This time, the motion she makes in silence, alone, is a swallow. ]

I... okay.

[ She's still hesitant when it comes her to her clothes, though, still kind of just standing in place as she bites her lip, hands lifting to her waistband. ]

[ poor dan heng, always so abashed, and ren just shamelessly steamrolls over her.. she feels a little guilty, but dan heng does agree in the end, and ren knows that if she were really uncomfortable, she would decline. she's shy, sure, and a bit demure, but she's very capable of setting her boundaries as well - as last night surely exemplified. ]

Hey, I don't bite, you know.

[ she says softly, her smile gentling a little around the edges even if her eyes are still sharp, her tone still flirty.

tugging further at the hem of dan heng's sleeping shirt, ren pulls it entirely upward now, helping dan heng to remove it, careful of her delicate horns. once off, it gets tossed aside with her own clothing heaped in the basket beside the cubicle. ]

I know—

[ But she's still flushed, still embarrassed as she lets Ren removed her shirt, reaches to strip herself of her pants in turn. Her panties folllow too, and before long she's naked too, her clothes heaped up with the other's. ]

...Sorry, I just wasn't expecting... I thought we'd have our own cubicles.

[ And perhaps that's where the rub lies—she does know how to set boundaries, and she would, if there were any part of her that truly, truly despised this. But as embarrassed as she is, her heart is pounding in her breast with excitement. To be so close to Ren like this... ]

[ ren chuckles, then steps back beneath the spray of the water, pulling dan heng along with her, and reaching to close the curtain. shameless though she might be with her own body, she knows that dan heng is not the same, and besides, she doesn't necessarily want anyone else laying eyes on her beautiful crush, anyway. not only that, but the closed curtain makes this space feel a little more intimate. ]

Well, you can go to your own if you want.

[ she says, her gaze flickering down dan heng's body briefly, then back up again. she's just as beautiful as ren had expected she would be. skinner, less thickly curvaceous than ren, but no less lovely, her skin soft, her breasts perky perfect handfuls, her legs miles long.

releasing dan heng's hands at last, ren lifts her own to push them back through her hair to wet it. ]

But then I can't wash your hair.

[ "you can go to your own" Ren says, and there's no hesitation, no disappointment in her voice—but her eyes do take their time to skim down Dan Heng's body, a brief flicker that would perhaps be missed if the shorter of the two weren't so sensitive to.. well, everything right now. The red on her cheeks only creeps higher, and now that she's pulled under the water, she distracts herself by wetting her hair too, trying not to think about what went through Ren's mind when she glanced over her.

Did she find her attractive? Dan Heng's body is nothing compared to Ren's, but...

She tries not to think about it, offers the other a smile that feels more helpless than anything else, and shakes her head. ]

It seems like you really want to do that, so I won't take it away from you.

[ Terrible reasoning, but perhaps the best she has right now. ]

[ attractive? dan heng is gorgeous. they have different body types, sure, but that doesn't make dan heng any less beautiful from head to toe, just as ren knew that she would be. of course, she might be viewing her through crush-goggles, but even still, dan heng is objectively lovely, she would argue. anyone would think so.

chuckling, ren watches her through hooded eyes as the water sloughs down their bodies, warm and wet. ]

You're so cute when you're shy.

[ she says softly, before leaning to pluck dan heng's shampoo up from the shower caddy, squeezing a generous amount into her palm. ]

You don't have to be. It's just me. I won't let anyone else look at you.

[ She blinks at that, at the borderline possessiveness in Ren's words, and a soft laugh comes to her lips, something half disbelieving and... admittedly, half pleased. She offers a shake of her head even as she looks up at her, and her teeth press into her lower lip once more.

She doesn't even know what to say to that, and yet...

A huff of breath over her lips. ]

I'm not.. it's not that I'm shy.

[ ...Yeah, that wasn't what she was looking for. Is she always going to be so abjectly terrible at this? ]

[ with her hands well lathered, ren steps in closer to dan heng, close enough that their bodies nearly touch when she reaches to begin gently working the shampoo through dan heng's beautiful silky hair. ]

.. no?

[ ren's smile softens a little, though there's still something a little playfully predatory in her eyes. ]

Not shy.. nervous, then?

[ her thumbs rub slow circles around the bases of dan heng's horns, careful and delicate where they branch from beneath her hair. ren's head dips, and her hands slide through dan heng's hair, pushing the shampoo through it, down her back. ]

Nervous around me?

[ Nervous. Perhaps that's a good way to put it, as loath as Dan Heng is to admit it. People tend to make her nervous in general sometimes, not to mention people like Ren who are so calm and confident and effortlessly beautiful in everyhing she does... Ren, whose fingers are in her hair, circling the base of her horns in a way that makes Dan Heng's head tilt back, visceral shivers coursing down her spine.

How would those fingers feel on her body? Brushing over her skin, tantalizing each nerve? ]

Yeah—

[ she starts, a quiet admission—though she cuts herself off abruptly when Ren continues, asks if she's nervous around her, and...

Aeons help her, that's even more truthful, but... ]

You're being mean, [ she complains after a moment. ] Talking like that. I'm sure there aren't many people you don't make nervous.

[ at that, ren laughs. ]

I'm the mean one here?

[ she teases, while she finishes working the shampoo through the ends of dan heng's long hair, making sure she's thoroughly lathered. how does she look cute even like this, with her hair all full of shampoo? ]

You're mean to me every day, looking as cute as you are, but resisting me every time I flirt with you. You're cruel, Danbao..

[ she pouts, sticking out her lower lip. ]

You are—

[ But she cuts herself off when Ren pouts in response, argues that Dan Heng is cute but resisting her, calls her...

calls her cruel

calls her Danbao—

Dan Heng's cheeks darken still more. ]

Ren. You... you have plenty of other people to flirt with. You know that.

[ ugh, she's so cute.. she's cute when she's being sassy, she's cute when she's resisting, she's cute when she's blushing.. she's always cute. ren smiles. ]

Doesn't everybody? There are plenty of people in the world. I could flirt with them all, if I wanted to.

[ with dan heng's hair now thoroughly washes, ren steps back so that she will be able to rinse off, while she begins to lather up her own hair. ]

I'll stop, if that's what you want.

[ Dan Heng turns, her head tilting as she watches Ren lather up her own hair—and then silently reaching forward to take over. It's not easy, with the other woman being so much taller than her, but she wants to try, after Ren did it for her.

(It gives her something to focus on, too, instead of the long, curvy, naked body right in front of her.)

Her teeth worry at her lower lip. The truth is, she... ]

It's just... If you're flirting with me, you might be... you might miss out on flirting with the people you really want to flirt with. Right?

[ ren's smile softens. ]

That's a pretty flimsy argument.

[ she chuckles, lowering her head a little bit to help dan heng work, while closing her eyes to better enjoy the attention. it's a shame that she doesn't remember the night before. did dan heng tuck her in sweetly? did she mop the sweat from her brow?

her insides twist. she's trying very hard not to think about last night, about what happened, and what almost happened as a result. her eyes flutter open again, and she touches their brows together. ]

Or is it that you would rather only be flirted with someone willing to take you on a date?

[ Her brows raise. ]

Is it? It makes perfect logical sense to me.

[ What if there's someone Ren really likes, but they see her flirting with Dan Heng? Or one of the other people with whom she tends to flirt? Wouldn't they assume that her interest lay elsewhere? Or at least wasn't as strong as they would like? Or...

What does all this have to do with dates?!

She sighs and keeps working the lather through her roommate's hair, although her fingers pause as their foreheads come to rest together, blinking. ]

But... if you're putting it that way, then... I guess so? I mean... I suppose sometimes it's hard for me to read the intentions of people who flirt a lot.

Hmm..

[ ren is thoughtful for a moment, humming as dan heng's fingers work through her hair so gently, but soon enough the lathering is done, and ren pulls back to rinse her head beneath the raining water.

finally, it's time to address her messy face. squeezing some scrub into her palm, she massages it onto her face, cleaning away all of that smudged makeup at last. ]

I think that's fair. I'll keep it in mind.

[ ah, but how dan heng has clearly not noticed that ren flirts with her more than anyone else, by a large margin. ]

[ She smiles at that, allowing herself to take a step back while Ren starts to scrub at her makeup. Dan Heng should probably remove her make up too, but the bruises...

With a small sigh, she picks up the ice pack and presses it to the side of her face. It's melting fast, but she should still be able to get a little benefit out of it... she can worry about the remnants of her own previous night's make up a little later.

That's where her brain is until Ren mentions that she'll "keep it in mind", and her brows raise.

What does that even mean?

She sighs. ]

Ren...

[ ah, dan heng is reaching the end of her rope, is she? fair enough. ren knows when to stop pushing, for a little while. so she rinses her face under the water instead, then reaches for dan heng's face wash. ]

All right, all right. I'll stop.

[ a warm chuckle, and lathers up her hands. ]

Here, let me help you. I'll be careful.

[ she says softly, her tone less playful than before, more gentle. ]

[ Dan Heng sighs again—this time, internally. The truth is that despite her complaint, she's not really sure she wanted Ren to stop. It's not bad when the other flirts with her, just... overwhelming. And confusing. Just like it's confusing that she can just as easily stop, move on like none of it ever happened.

She nods, a little too stiffly, when Ren offers to help with her face, and after a moment she lets her eyes close. It will be easier if she can't predict where the other's hands will touch, if she can't anticipate the pain on her skin. ]

Okay, [ she says, voice soft. ]

[ it's not as if ren is unaffected - as if halting her flirting means she's uninterested. she just knows that she can be a lot sometimes, that dan heng can easily become overwhelmed by this behavior, and the last thing she wants is to frighten her away and ruin their friendship. so she backs off a little, sometimes. for a bit.

more importantly though, she's helping dan heng clean up, and she needs to be careful not to hurt her. ren's touch is exceedingly gentle as she begins to scrub dan heng's face clean, rubbing away last night's makeup with cautious fingers, taking extreme care around her poor swollen eye. it's impossible for it not to hurt a little bit, but ren is sure not to apply too much pressure.

her thumbs rub slow circles, and she smiles to herself. dan heng is so sweet. so soft in many ways, even if she's also one of the toughest people that ren has ever met. ]

All right, rinse.

[ Ren's touch is so gentle. Where it doesn't hurt, it ghosts along Dan Heng's skin like the softest thing, enough that her traitorous mind wanders, wonders what it might feel like elsewhere. There's another bite of her lip that Ren will certainly catch, something that can't be explained away by pain when the pain itself is met with a soft, inward hiss.

The pain is quick, though, replaced again by that soft feeling, and Dan Heng sighs, tilts her face into the water to rinse the suds off.

She rests for a few seconds longer than she needs to, and then pulls back, blinking the water from her eyes as she opens them. ]

Thanks, [ she says. Her voice is still quiet, barely audible above the pounding of the water on their skin. ] It didn't hurt as much as I was expecting it might.

[ dan heng's eyes open again, and ren smiles warmly, nodding. ]

Good. That's the last thing I would want.

[ and, last but not least, ren begins to lather up her bath puff with a musky scented body wash, before she begins the process of scrubbing herself down, water sliding down her curves and suds sticking to her skin as she works, humming. ]

I'm glad there's no classes today.. I knew we just woke up, but I'm still so beat.

[ given the drugs likely still working their way through her body.. though she's trying not to think about that. ]

[ She tries not to look.

It's impossible, but she tries anyway. The best distraction is to take up her own body wash, something lighter called "sea breeze", to lather up her own bath puff and start washing herself too. It helps too when the other begins to talk—although in answer to her words, Dan Heng finds herself frowning, her gaze drawn up in the end to Ren's face.

And unfortunately for Ren, for all she's trying not to think about it, the smaller of the two women remains concerned for her roommate's health, and... ]

You need to rest more. Are you still feeling weak? You could barely stand upright last night.

[ ren doesn't go out of her way to stare, but she, too, is sure to steal a glance or two while they're washing themselves down, filling the cubicle with the clean scent of their body washes. at dan heng's words, she grimaces a little, but pushes past it. ]

A little, but I'm fine. I'm hardly about to keel over or anything.

[ she flashes a smile, then wrings her puff out beneath the water, tossing it into the caddy again. ]

Just a little more sleep and I'll be fine.

[ stepping back into the spray of water, she rinses off the fragrant soap. ]

[ She sighs. Unable to see inside Ren's mind, she can only hope that the other woman is telling her the truth, and not trying to appear stronger than she's really feeling. Perhaps it's not a fair thing to be feeling, but Dan Heng can't help herself: after what happened last night, she's worried, and perhaps it's more than she should be, but...

She keeps seeing it, keeps seeing her roommate and friend helpless and in danger, and... ]

I'll stay with you.

[ She'd been planning to do some study today, but somewhere along the line her priorities have shifted, and... ]

That way if you don't feel well, we can deal with it then and there.