xp_logs | Warren and Vanessa

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During a brief pause, Warren and Vanessa actually have a semi-serious talk.

Warren was sprawled on his stomach, taking a few long moments to catch his breath. Sleeping with Vanessa was something of a marathon - it took stamina and endurance, but with the added bonus of never being boring or arduous. But lucky for them both, Warren's stamina was far better than the average, but even he needed to rest occasionally.

He shifted onto his side, one wing remaining draped over Vanessa and gently brushing against her skin. Warren wasn't entirely sure of the etiquette in regards to staying in bed with someone afterwards (at least in regards to people you weren't dating), but since Vanessa hadn't kicked him out of her bed after that first night, he figured she didn't mind. So here he was.

"Thank you," he murmured, something out of the blue. "I know that's probably a strange thing to say, but this..." He trailed off, looking thoughtful. "It's nice. And not complicated."

Far too fond of contact and physical affection, Vanessa wasn't generally of the opinion that kicking Warren out of bed was the way to go. She liked to think that she wouldn't sleep with anyone she couldn't bear the recovery and possible subsequent sleep beside. To be honest, she enjoyed the tangled mess of limbs they tended to wind up in as they slept. Neither of them had yet to pull a walk of shame or slip out in the middle of the night. Somehow there was always breakfast in the morning. Perhaps it was odd, but it had turned into their routine, so to speak.

Fingers delicately kept his feathers from brushing against any spots that were ticklish until his wing settled and stilled. She'd played with feathers plenty of times in the past to know the effect they could have when trailed along the right spot. Squirming of all sorts tended to commence and he was in recovery mode, which would make any squirming from her distinctly unfair.

"You're...welcome?" A quiet laugh followed her unsure words. "Seems like an odd thing to say, aye. But I can understand. I can't do complicated right now. I can't do hurt feelings or things that involve commitment or focus. Mm...it's nice to just... indulge. Be. Not make things serious." She'd had far too much seriousness when things with Lex had come to a head last month. Vanessa's fingertips danced along the edges of individual feathers by feel alone. "It's nice to have, I guess, a rebound fuck buddy instead of a rebound relationship. People just get hurt in the latter and here...no one gets hurt."

"It's true," he murmured, one hand sliding over her hip, fingers starting to walk over her hip. Even lying here relaxing, he didn't want to stop touching her.

"It's nice, in a way, to not have to commit to something. Piotr and I were together for so long, and things with Jay and I got intense so fast... I wouldn't take back either relationship for the world, but since my wings grew in, I haven't really had the freedom to just play. And not be serious. I'd forgotten what it was like." Maybe it had been good for him, to learn the value of relationships. But after the failure of what he'd once thought was a relationship heading towards permanence, he wasn't entirely sure he really wanted to commit himself to anything serious. At least for the moment.

"I've never played just to play," Vanessa admitted idly. "I had sex for money for so long, then sex for the job." A shoulder faintly shrugged. "When I got the time and the choice I couldn't do casual. I couldn't do just playing. I wouldn't. So I haven't. You were my anomaly." As she told Warren that a ghost of a smile graced Vanessa's lips. "It's still weird to me when I think about, sex without strings or romantically emotional involvement. It's very, very strange for me."

"So we're both doing something new here," Warren replied with something of a smile himself, shifting to press a kiss against her shoulder. "Being a mutant forced me to change my attitude toward sex - I can't, or I won't, sleep with someone I don't trust. At least enough to not tell the world I'm being a mutant. Which meant behaving more often that not, and that tended to lead to relationships rather than something more casual."

"Yeah, casual stuff can be a little too spontaneous to really allow for trust developing." Her fingers paused in their tracing of feathers when Vanessa looked over at him with a bit of a lopsided smirk on her face. "So, what you're really saying is that you would be a terribly promiscuous player if you weren't so worried about being outed as a mutant? I should probably come down on the 'more for me' angle but," a leg hooked around one of his and her foot slid up the back of Warren's calf, "I can't help think how terribly tragic is it that no one else will get this sight in their bed. I mean, you are terribly pretty without your clothes and how many people wouldn't jump on the pretty boy with the angel wings if they could?"

"Probably," he said with an unabashed smile. "Well, maybe not terribly promiscuous. I do have some standards." He shifted a little closer, his fingers starting to trace patterns up her back. "But it's true, it's very sad that I don't get to sleep with more people. Not that I have issues with monogamy, it's just fun to not be sometimes." He grinned at her. "Like right now."

The small waggling of her eyebrows was necessary and couldn't be helped any more than the sneaking grin Vanessa wore. Her foot continued trailing up Warren's calf, over the crook of his knee and up to his thigh until her leg could hitch rather comfortably over his hip. "Aye, it's fun." As long as the sex is good, she thought. That wasn't exactly a problem between her and Warren. They were very compatible in bed. "Though I'm not sure I'm built for it long term. Ultimately I want to be someone's somebody that matters to them. No strings is fun, but I sort of wonder if it will eventually just be kind of...empty. You know what I mean?"

"Yes," he said without hesitation. He buried his face in against her neck, breathing deeply and nuzzling against her neck. He was starting to get a little distracted from the conversation now. "I wouldn't trade the years I was in a relationship for anything, and I'm sure I'll want to be in another one some day. This is great, but..." He drew back from her neck for a moment, shrugging. "There's nothing like coming home to someone you know loves you."

"Technically I've never had anyone to 'come home to.' Though one guy wanted to be the one I came home to in a love nest, cohabitating sort of way." The neck nuzzling was distracting her more than the proximity her leg around him. "Sounds nice though." Vanessa took a deep breath to help herself refocus. Refocusing, however, involved letting her fingers ghost over skin and feathers so the sensation of touch could be something new to focus on. Then again, was focus shifting necessary? Mutant metabolisms sometimes meant very quick recovery periods and Warren had never been one for lengthy recovery times.

"It is," he said simply, then buried his head against her neck again, this time dropping kisses over it. As much as he did like talking to Vanessa, delving into talk about exes when she was draped over him like this? Was not exactly something he wanted to do. Pushing thoughts of Piotr from his mind, he grinned against her neck, his hands starting to move more deliberately over her curves. "But right now, I think this is nicer." But just to be sure, he wanted to test out the theory. And he had more than recovered his breath by now.

"Mm...definitely in favor." Her leg curled as far around his waist as possible and Vanessa pulled herself closer. Short recovery times were so nice.