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dragonnarrative-writes · 7 months ago

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Transferrable Skills Part 2

Transferrable Skills Masterlist

You don’t often use your MyFet beyond finding a group or conference to attend. You periodically clear out your messages, just in case an acquaintance wants to reach out. So you almost delete the message from the anonymous profile on autopilot, but the subject line intrigues you.

Interested in Distance Play, No Punishments - 14 Hrs Ago

Intrigued, you open it because… at least they read a little bit of your profile.

I noticed your profile because of your self-rope pictures. The rest of your profile is very interesting to me - specifically your engagement in solo play and dislike of punishment. I liked the post you made about obedience as an ongoing active choice.

I’m a man in my 30s with a classified job. I travel a lot, and I’m looking for someone to have a strictly long-distance arrangement with. I’m interested in: non-restrictive rope, obedience, behavior modification, praise. I’m sure there’s more, but I’ve written this message six times. Please let me know if you’re interested in discussing.

Well, that’s refreshingly straightforward and devoid of unsolicited smut. You read the message again, then click into his profile. G_987654321_ It’s… pretty bare. But if he’s got a classified job, that makes sense, right? Location: Antarctica. His age is listed as 33, and he’s listed himself as dominant and seeking acquaintances and play partners. Not interested in hookups, interested in casual nudity, obedience, praise. Hard limits of degradation and humiliation.

It’s not much more information than the message itself, but it’s more than some of the men who have asked if you want to meet up in private. You review his original message and bite your knuckle. Worst case scenario, he’s some troll who will call you a range of slurs and waste your time, and then you’ll block him. Best case scenario… he means what he says.

What are you looking for? Who, What, When, Where, and Why?

You send the message and log out of the app before you can chicken out. Your inner voice is grumbling (stupid stupid stupid), but that’s normal. You let yourself watch two and a half episodes of your latest show, and then make a hearty dinner.

You’re surprised when you pick your phone back up. One new message.

The whole time you’re cursing the app for glitching and logging you out and forgetting your password, you’re sure it’s not him. Most likely, it’s an event announcement from a friend or a bot. But you like going to events, so it’s worth it.

It’s a message. It’s from him.

Who: You and Me What: Praise-based, goal-oriented obedience play When: Twice weekly when we’re both available, but I won’t always be available. Sometimes weekly, sometimes a greater time between meet ups. Where: Virtual meetings. Video preferred, audio-only acceptable. First couple of discussions will be text based until I can get secure video set up. Why: Mutual relaxation and well being. Sexual connection preferred, but obviously not required.

Having a guide was helpful. Thank you.

Well… That’s something.

—

You follow Simon towards the fighting, which is not where you wanted to go. When you point this out, he barely acknowledges except to say “You don’t want to go the other way.” So you keep low and stay quiet and breathe like he told you to.

He leads you down a few halls and you don’t bother trying to remember the route. He seems to know where he’s going. One or twice he has you stop while he checks around a corner, but eventually, he herds you into a small conference room. You freeze when you see three men, but Simon drops the muzzle of his gun to the floor, so you must not be in too much danger.

“Who’s this then?” A man in tactical vest and boonie hat steps forward, and you sidle behind Simon before you know your feet are moving. He gives you a considering look before looking to Simon.

The man in question fishes you out from behind his and plants you in front of him with a heavy hand on your shoulder. “Found Bambi wandering the halls.”

Boonie Hat’s eyebrows pop up. “Bambi?”

“’Bout scared the piss out o’me,” Simon confirms.

“Well, that throws a wrench in things,” the other man says. “But there’s nothing for it. Stow her for now, we’ll keep her safe.”

Simon’s hand guides you to the other side of the large table and pushes you gently into a plush rolling chair. He puts his huge body between you and the others, who look at you curiously,

“Eyes up, li’l fawn,” he intones.

You aren’t sure how well you hide the flinch when you see the skull covering his face, again. He’s quiet as you look between his eyes, clasps his gloved hands in his lap so you can see them when you look over him.

There’s a lot of him to look over.

Now that you’re not moving, you can see the brown spots on the edge of his mask, flecked on his tactical vest. His thighs spread a bit beneath his black pants where they meet the table. His biceps bulge, which is a whole different experience in person than it is online. Theres a gun on his hip, and a knife. Two knives. Three. How many knives does a man need?

Enough for everyone’s throats. You have to bite back terrified giggles.

“You’re gonna stay ‘ere,” Simon tells you, interrupting your musing. Your horror must be plain on your face because he shushes you, again. “Shhh. Easy. This wing’s secure. Can’t keep you safe if I’m wonderin’ where you’ve wandered to. Acknowledge.”

“What if something goes wrong?” you blurt.

“You follow Price if you can't see or ‘ear me. ‘e's the Captain, outranks me,” Simon answers. He points to Boonie Hat, then to the black man, who smiles at you, and a white man with a mohawk, who looks at you like you’re the most fascinating thing he’s seen all day. “This is Gaz, that's Soap. You can't find the Captain, you sit tight and wait for one of them to retrieve you."

“But-!”

“Acknowledge, Bambi.”

You swallow back tears. “Please don’t leave me alone.”

“’M goin’ where the guns are,” he answers. “’S my job to take care of you, right? Acknowledge.”

It’s hard to get the words out, but you do. “Acknowledged. You have to take care of me.”

“’M not always going to be able to do that the way you want. Acknowledge.”

“Acknowledged. Not always the way I want.”

“’M gonna keep you safe as I can,” he says. “’Nd it’s okay that you’re scared. But this is my job. ‘S not a scene. So I can’t negotiate. Acknowledge.”

“It’s your job,” you say, taking a deep breath and letting it out. Unfortunately, you can feel the day catching up with you, and your eyes start to prickle. “It’s not a scene, we can’t negotiate right now. Acknowledged.”

The one called Gaz approaches from the other side of the table. “Ghost, we’ve got to get moving.”

Before you can integrate the realization that Simon is apparently called Ghost, the other one, Soap, peeks around Simon’s shoulder with a raised eyebrow. “This your bird, LT? Le’s get her tucked away, aye?”

Something about the way he asks if you are Simon’s bird, his girl, flips a switch in your brain. Because you’re not Simon’s girl. You’re not even supposed to have ever met in person. You’re an online sub, a weird, awkward, anxious person who couldn’t find an in person connection. And yeah, Simon-Also-Called-Ghost is an online Dom but apparently that’s because he’s running around Europe rescuing people from hostage situations!

It’s a little much.

You suck in a breath through your mouth as everything gets blurry with tears. Your whole body shakes with the sob that you try not to let out. You simultaneously want to lock every muscle in place and curl up on the ground to die.

A hiccup shakes you hard enough that you almost fall out of your chair.

Simon’s gloved hand grips the back of your head, and you’re guided to press your forehead against his thigh.

"Shhhhh," he whispers, and you can almost pretend that you’re listening to him in your ear from thousands of miles away. His pants are tough and scratchy, nothing like your pillow, but the steady pressure of his hand is so steadying. "It's okay. I know this isn't a scene, but the same rules apply. You feel overwhelmed, don’t know what to say, you hold up 4 fingers. No punishments for feeling something. Show me."

Holding up 4 fingers feels familiar. The way his hand cups the back of your skull doesn't. But it's still nice.

Sooner than you’d like, Simon guides you down off the chair and under the table. You can’t pay attention to the others, though you can see their boots on the other side of the room. Instead, you keep your eyes on his his right hand, stuck on the inane detail of skeleton themed gloves. Your dom wears skeleton gear to work. His work is killing some people and saving others.

That hand cups your chin and makes you look up into his face. His eyes are dark, piercing. His voice, when he speaks, sends shiver down your spine. “Stay. Acknowledge.”

You’re already about as low down as you can get, but you still duck your head as much as you can while keeping eye contact. “Acknowledged. Stay.”

His thumb caresses your cheek for a long moment. And then he’s standing. Chairs are pushed in to surround you, and four pairs of heavy boots dash from the room.

You curl up, hug yourself, and let the tears fall.

You wake up with a start. Your whole body hurts, shoulder and neck and hips tight like they haven’t been in a long time. And of course they are. You’re on the ground, lying under a conference table. Why the hell are you under a conference table? You’re not in college anymore, you’re too old for this shit.

And then you see a pair of huge boots round the edge of the table and remember.

Your heart is in your throat as two chairs are shifted away and a huge form drops into a crouch. A part of you flinches back from the mask, the tactical clothing, the blood you almost can’t see shining on his boot. But then you see those eyes and think, Oh. You came back for me.

#dragonnarrativewrites fanfiction #transferrable skills #simon ghost riley #simon riley x you #kink fics #manic pixie dream ghost #I love this story so damn much #and i am so moved and honored and full of so much love i could burst that so many people have told me they love this story too #there's so much more of this already written #(so so so much more wow)#i genuinely forgot to post because i've been so excited to write it

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niriaveil · 19 days ago

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you know, i know there's some grumbling regarding how the drifter tends to have their very personal conversations in the KIM messenger rather than face to face with the Hex (talking about the Zariman Incident, talking about Duviri) and not to mention the whole animating, voicing, and playing out the scene in a development standpoint.

But. but. but.

Do you know how much easier it is to have a serious conversation about trauma when there's a screen between you and the person you're talking to? How even when you're baring your heart open to the other person, at least you can do it. How many times have you choked up, unable to speak the words that you know you can articulate but there's so many emotions just caught up in your chest and your throat and tangling up everything you say? How many times do you start to talk about your own trauma before you just break down into tears, crying and unable to talk about it?

I think the KIM messenger talks make sense for the Drifter (for mine in particular, at least) because they can talk about Duviri. We all know the Drifter downplays what happened to them, laces their words with sarcasm and laughs it off, but it still happened; the intensity of how it weighs on them is known only to them, and even though they could talk to the Operator, Ordis, or Lotus - why? Why bother? ("You're the me that got rescued from this shit. I'm the you that did not. Not sure which of us got it worse.") There's bigger things to worry about, more battles to get ready for, and honestly... who would care. The kid got their shit together, they've got a parental figure in Lotus, a caretaker in Ordis, and the Drifter...

Well. They're the Drifter for a reason.

So, the Hex are curious. They want to know. Why is the Drifter called the Drifter, what happened in Duviri, what happened on the Zariman. And the Drifter, so lonely and so sad, and so very envious of the counterpart that got to escape, to get to have a family, to get to be loved and wanted and adored - and the Drifter, so used to being forgotten and abandoned, sits down at their keyboard and says, "Well. You know the top level story."

It's easier to talk about Duviri when you know that if, at any point, you can't do it anymore, you can log off. Shut it down. A power plug on that trauma buried down so deep in your brain you tried forgetting about it - and how'd that go, kiddo? - and the other person can say, "Hey. I see this is hurting you, we don't have to talk about it."

Putting the ball in the Drifter's court. Giving them control over how they approach what happened to them. Giving them control over how much they want to share. Giving them some fucking agency and control over something in their life that is profoundly theirs. But the Hex - as the ranks goes up and the chemistry gets higher - won't let the Drifter hide in their pain, they'll push and pull and say, "Hey, I care about you. Let me help. Please, let me help. Please trust me enough to let me try to help and care for you."

So... yeah. I just think Drifter talking about their problems through the KIM messenger is pretty good and a good idea for delving into their character, because we've seen how they downplay their trauma when you talk to them face to face.

#also: I do think that the Drifter - later on the friendship/romance ranks - could talk about it face to face.#I think the Hex are so important for the Drifter and why I truly do think the Finale is the Drifter's version of the Second Dream.#This is what you're fighting for. This is a place with people where you feel like you belong. This is the place where you're YOU #You're not just the paradox. You're not just the fucked up version of the kid. You're YOU. And that's why the Hex love you.#I just truly love the KIM chats because you learn so much about the Drifter and the Hex #And you get to choose (with some limited choices between) how your Drifter truly went through Zariman #How they dealt with Duviri and the executions and the time loop and it just. It makes it more personal #in my head I dream of the voiced cutscenes with the Hex talking about Duviri but I truly do love the idea of #the KIM chat being a barrier just big enough for the Drifter to feel safe to talk about it. But not big enough to hide in it #Because the Backrooms are just above Arthur's office. You know the Hex will go drag the Drifter out if they're spiraling #OKAY HI SORRY FOR ALL THE YAPPING. I'VE GOT SO MAAAAAANY THOUGHTS #warframe #warframe drifter

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