Grey awoke to something soft in his arms. His hands reacted on instinct, wrapping tightly around a small little waist, his hands grabbing onto what could only be said to be soft, elastic, so springy and full of life.
He might have been in a daze, but he knew exactly what he was doing. How could he have mistaken the scent of a woman, such a deep, rich scent of flowers and honey, and just the barest hint of musk and sweat from a day. Not enough to be gross, but enough to be laced with the pheromones her early-day shower had tried to wash away.
He was immediately at attention, his mind hot with thoughts he had tried to suppress for so very long.
And then he woke up.
Not from the sensation, those were very much still there. The woman was very, very real.
What he woke up from was the realization that he didn’t remember having gone to bed with a woman this time. He could be a bit of a prick sometimes, but he didn’t do hard drugs, and he didn’t drink, so he usually remembered when he snagged himself a baddie.
This time, he didn’t remember doing any of that.
So who the hell was this.
"Did you cop a nice feel?"
Grey could practically hear the grinding teeth through the words. The fact he could make out the words at all through the fury was a miracle in itself.
Grey suddenly began to laugh. "Amunet, baby, I didn’t know you felt this way about me. All you had to do was ask."
"When?" Amunet suddenly said sarcastically. "Should I have confessed in between you calling me a bitch and a cunt? Or should I have done it while you were dragging me with my own bike while I had at least four sets of broken ribs? Please do enlighten me."
Grey chuckled. "Hey, hey, hey. You see, if you had just been honest and gotten the dick you wanted, all of this angst and anger could have gone away a long time ago."
"Go fuck yourself. Have you gotten a hold now? If so, I’m getting off."
Grey blinked in some confusion, but Amunet seemed to have had enough of him and gotten up, pressing her palms to his chest a little too hard.
He coughed a bit, the air in his lungs pinching.
"Oops. Sorry." Amunet said coldly.
Grey was still not really understanding what was happening.
Mauve cleared her throat a bit. "You went into a bit of a daze when Amunet activated her Frame, and then you began to leak out a lot of Dark Kin-like aura. So Amunet was hugging you to shroud your aura."
"Ah, I see, I see. That makes sense."
Grey got up a bit and noticed that Mauve was looking as far away from him as possible.
He looked down at himself and realized why.
"Hey, this is a natural reaction. Blame her."
"Go fuck yourself."
If looks could kill, Grey would have definitely died a few times by now.
"Hide that thing man, it keeps staring at me," Brad complained.
Grey started to laugh again and took a pillow from the side. He couldn’t help but reminisce a bit.
This world was going to get him killed. How could he be under this much stress, yet he couldn’t even jerk off in peace at the very least.
What was he going to do? Let his chat decide what video for him?
This was torture.
"Be nicer to me," Grey suddenly said after he finished complaining to himself, "don’t you think you should be thanking me? I’m pretty sure all your abilities just reached Core Sync just now. You’re welcome."
Amunet snorted. "I’m sure you took more than enough payment just now, my ass is going to be permanently deformed for the next month. You’re lucky I didn’t chop it off, you don’t need a thank you from me."
"Who asked you to jump right into my arms?"
Amunet glowered at him. "We would all be dead if not for me right now. And the thanks I get is nearly being speared through the chest.
"Well that’s what you get for not sheathing it properly. How would it poke you then?"
"I will literally throat punch you. I am not above that, and I just might have enough strength to do it now. Want to test it out?" Amunet smiled a dangerous smile.
Grey smiled back and sparks seemed to light in the room.
"ANYWAY!" Brad tried to interject. "Did you get what you wanted out of that?"
"Mmm..." Grey frowned and looked down at his hand. He was sure that Amunet had reached Core Sync with all six of her abilities, and he could sense every one of them clearly, but in terms of actual direct benefits...
He actually wasn’t sure.
However, the more he looked into himself, the sharper his gaze became.
"Hey, Amunet, have I ever told you how beautiful you are?" Grey suddenly said. "And that smile, wow, really out of this world."
Amunet’s eyes narrowed. "What the hell do you want?"
Grey coughed. "Me? Need something? Never."
Amunet gave him a deadpan glare.
"I might need you to hug me again."
"You are not feeling my ass again. Fuck you."
Grey laughed. "Just hug me from behind this time. I need to trigger something. I have a feeling I can do it."
Amunet gave him a look. "... Fine."
She got up, walked around to Grey’s back, and then activated her cloak again, shrouding the both of them as she wrapped her arms around his waist.
Surprisingly, Grey was very focused right now. Call of the Silver Moon came out of his chest and he stared at the third phase of the moon.
He was sure... he could withstand it now.
Flickering insights about the lineage he had received filled his mind, and things he couldn’t quite grasp opened up wide.
Then he activated the orb.
His entire body seized, pain ripping right through him.