2019-09-21 - Wake Up and Drag Ass

It's very early. Lilith had mentioned something to Byron about them getting up and running either in the park or on a woods trail for the sake of kickstarting the day, but that was the night before when they crashed out pretty early. And though the temptation to stay up and explore each other's bodies more slowly with relish and waste resting hours was strong then, they were... admittedly pretty tired and the comfort levels they provide for each other while in close rather combined with that to knock them out.

So it's morning now and Lilith may be kind of awake, but she definitely doesn't feel like getting up and running. She does get up to start coffee, though, with crawl out of bed in her soft, white clinging sleep tank and black lacy stretch hipster panties. She was also going to get up and surprise Byron with breakfast, in her head, too, but that seems like so much effort this morning, she can't quite shake the haze off that lingers from sleep. Once the carafe is settled to slow drip after a bathroom trip to brush her teeth while she waits on water to quick heat in an electric kettle, she crawls back into bed right up and over the man's lounging frame.

Hovering with her hands at either side of his head and knees pushing the mattress at his sides while crawled over Byron, she starts to kiss a few times along his hairline, then his brows, then down at the bridge of his nose. He may well already be drowsy awake himself, but if he wasn't, she's waking him up right enough in absentia of that breakfast she had planned, "Goooooood morning. Coffee is on. I don't want to go running. But I'll go if you still want to go. Do you want to go?"

As much as Byron tends to start his day off with a good run and a quick workout, it doesn't mean that he really enjoys waking up to do any of those things. It can be difficult to start his motors running just to get out of bed, but he's often disciplined enough to follow through even if it meant dragging himself out of bed to get his heart pumping. Then the rest of activity goes by that much quicker. Today, however, he was feeling particularly lazy. An internal alarm clock wakes him from his slumber, as it does on most mornings. It wasn't enough to chase the heavy sleep from his eyes and though they blink awake for a brief moment, his lids begin to close once again.

With the heat of the waning summer making even the evenings feel warm, the comfort of the AC had kept the room to a cool and sometimes chilly temperature the longer the unit ran throughout the night. Byron liked the cold, often keeping his own apartment to a similar temperature, but in this moment, he was taking comfort in the warmth provided by their closeness as they slept, feeling Lilith's sleepy frame still cradled within one arm.

Who knows how long ago that was. By the time that his eyes open again, the morning light was beginning to filter in through the windows. If this were a week or so ago, the room would be flooded with light right about now with morning coming early in the summer. Thus, it was difficult to tell what time it was, especially when he still felt so groggy in his wake up. The warmth was still there by his side even if the gentle weight of the woman seemed absent, his left arm feeling along the bedsheet where she should be resting, but the heat of her body from her stay there this evening continued to linger. It's almost as if he could smell coffee being brewed.

Normally, he would be up and out of bed before now, but each time that he awakens, he's drawn back into a light sleep. That is until he's awoken by a shift on the bed, then to be greeted by Lilith's looming face when she hovers over his bared torso, lavishing him with a few morning kisses. He musters a lazy smile for her, one heavy hand reaching up to trail fingertips along her side before brushing his knuckled against her cheek. "Morning." He can barely keep his eyes open and it doesn't look as if he's planning on getting out of bed. The coffee smelled wonderful. Then she's talking about running and his head tilts, chin lifted so he can view the light outside before turning his head to regard the clock with a thoughtful look. It was still early, so there was some time if they wanted to. But she didn't want to and neither did he. "We can stay in if you like. I can get a little workout done here and then I'll call it a day." Or take up running some time closer to the evening. He's not sure.

In that same languid, heavy movement, he slowly tries to kiss at his chin, then at her lips if she draws in close. Then she might feel a tightening grip around her as she pulls her in close with a sudden grab, that smile that cracks on his lips growing wide with playful laughter, "But there's no rush. We have the whole day ahead of us." Not that he didn't mention having a big day just last night.

"I definitely don't have a problem with you getting a little work out in here with me. As long as the blood starts pumping for the day, hm?" Lilith supposes to Byron while nudging her chin into his kiss, then dropping her lips to catch his own in full with the tip of his face upward. Her legs shift wider into forward straddled lay and drape sit over the man's partially sheeted and blanketed body as he pulls her down close with the playful grab. And the tail end of her words hum into the kiss suggestively, pressure of her weight on him with the arm-wrapped shift.

Then she's lost in it for a moment, distracted and kissing back with a meshing of lips and the subtle clove and cinnamon lingering from her toothpaste-- she uses some activated charcoal product from a natural shop instead of the regular mint, and it's a bit less artificial and utilitarian tasting like a personal signature for him to drink in and familiarize. It's much akin to finding a new little tiny piece of Lilith in some subtle way, how her kisses taste with teeth freshly brushed in the morning. Eventually, though, she drags her lips over from Byron's mouth to start lavishing a heated, wet suction of kissing along the side of his throat, teeth grazing in slow motion like punctuation.

"I'm going to get you a key for the shop and loft made today and set you up with alarm codes. I know you like it when I give you emergency control like that. Besides, it means I don't have to lock up after you when you leave early or come in late." Lilith's body makes a rolling pulse of shift atop Byron he can feel as she continues to kiss at the side of his neck, working to collarbone to playfully start the suction there, like she's trying to mark him for the day as her own. Her mouth stops just shy of doing, that, though, leaving red mark and innuendo behind instead to fade, "You had meetings yesterday, didn't you? How many do you have today?"

By the way in which he's lavishing her with these playfully kisses, enjoying the fresh taste from her toothpaste, though he doesn't mind the regular mint stuff as that's what he tends to use, it would suggest that Byron was up to this task of getting in a 'little work out' here, in bed, with her right now. She could probably feel her pulse racing within his chest, the spike of excitement ever growing, especially when he gets to sit back and enjoy the attention she pays to his throat like a little vampire. It's ticklish and hot all the same. It's hard not to savor in the sensations felt when such a beautiful little thing is there to do some intimate exploring of her own, sitting in the driver's seat.

"Mmm... That's good. Just means that I don't have to get one made myself." He's speaking of the keys, like the stalker that he is. As she continues with her kisses, it's his hands that do the adventuring, one stroking down the lengths of her long dark hair, the other wandering over her back, down her sides, feeling every line and curve that they happen about. "I had a few meeting last night. Ended my work day with a martini, so that was nice." However, now that she has him thinking about today and some of the unpleasantness or strangeness that he might encounter, it does slow those grazing fingers for a time, "A small handful. One at eleven, another a little after noon. Then the last," A brief pause, "At around 4:30pm." He hurries this up with, "Unless someone else gets back to me and wishes to meet after the fact. I mean, I did end business late yesterday and all."

With all of this in mind, it really does remind him that he should be getting a good stretch and prepare himself to start the day. That aroma of freshly brewed coffee helps. Leaning forward to kiss at the top of her head, he says with a sigh, "Some coffee would be nice."

"A martini, huh. Sounds like a decent meeting. If only because of the buzz to keep it from being tedious. Are they work meetings or about other things?" There's a vague screw of Lilith's nose, though, as he details all the meetings for the days and particular times, a wash of goosebumps flashing up over the bared arms and legs, tightening the press of her body with a little cling to shiver through it. Her breasts pressing at his own bared chest tip taut and telltale under the tank and she seems to be feeding from his pulse, kisses dropping lower onto his chest, one at a pectoral muscle, the other two landing at the diaphragm.

With the slow of his hands and the sighing forward tip of his face to catch the top of her head for kiss, though, she makes a tiny purr noise of agreement for 'coffee' like it's a trigger word. And she does shift to start to get up and fetch two cups for bringing back to bed, but not before tugging at the cover edge with her teeth to bare part of his flat expanse of stomach for another open-mouthed, wet and suctioned kiss she ends with tiny tip of tongue play just below his navel, "Coffee."

As Lilith drags herself with crawl off of Byron to do that coffee diversion thing and brings two red-swirled vintage coffee mugs circa the sixties back to bed, she says, "I need to at least text the Captain today and let him know the decision and backup plan so he can tell me where to wait. Might be he has a moment to meet somewhere in town, though." Carefully, she extends one cup to Byron bedside before crawling up with walk on her knees to cuddle sit up against his side, tugging the blankets up some against the chill of the room. She needs the coffee, as much as she wants his body, the drag of her limbs is notable in lazy fashioning, like she just can't shake sleep despite talking wakefulness.

Are they work meetings or about other things?

"Work meetings." Byron says with an offer of a very lazy grin, still reclined in full to rest back against the mattress with hardly a muscle twitching to hint of any desire to get up and out of bed, aside from his earlier playful antics. That was different. Yes, last night's meetings were for work and this is what he explains, "It's only a month until the Masquerade, you know. I found a few people who are interested in making Venetian style masks if I can find a costumer."

While he's talking, his chest rises and falls with the various words being spoken and breaths being taken. That doesn't stop him from watching her, head slowly tilting forward when he feels each kiss placed over his bared skin. "I'll need to get back to Roen regarding the flora decor." There's a pause, feeling that excitement within him growing as her lips touch against one of his pectorals. "If it weren't for..." He seems distracted now, "Everything that's been going on as of late, I wouldn't feel so far behind on this project." With the covers now withdrawn, this is one of those moments where he's not sleeping completely nude, having been too exhausted to do much else but some flirtatious petting the night before, so he's wearing slate colored boxer briefs. There's this look of anticipation within those attentive eyes, tasting her organic toothpaste once more when he licks at his lips, feeling the drag of her teeth and heat of her mouth against his toned stomach and then the tip of her tongue teasing just below his navel. It's enough to elicit more than just some physical response from him and once she slides off the bed, he falls back in full against it to gather his breath.

When she returns, he's already dragged himself up into a seated position, taking the much needed coffee within gracious hands. As much as she's gotten a bit of a rise out of him and as much as he'd love to spend the entire day in bed, he had things to do and not all of it was pleasant. So taking a sip from his cup o' Joe for that wake-me-up kick, he'll nod to the conversation at hand, "Good. I was thinking of checking in with Tobin, see if he's kept something from our past, but I don't really have time to spare digging through old things." After another sip, despite the lethargy, his mind is already plotting the course of his day, starting with that morning workout. "After this, I'll get some exercises done and then hit the shower, get dressed but I'll need to head back to the Apartments for a new change of clothes. Then hope that the amount of work for the whole day doesn't kill me before the end of it."

"Mm. You should keep spare clothes here for ease, not just because we're getting naked together. It's another place for access and soon-to-be key and you sleep here enough for varied reasons. Maybe I'll see about going through the trailer while you're handling things if I can get the headspace for it. There's no doubt something in my photo and memories box you gave me at some point, though I don't know what. And yes, I have one of those girly keepsake boxes, complete with decoration." Byron, of course, has seen this box more recently than Lilith actually realizes when he went to the trailer to look for her this summer, but he wasn't exactly in a mind to poke through or reminisce at the time, really. He was pretty ring-possessed at the time.

The woman exhales down into her coffee cup and absently blows at the steam while looking at Byron, then after a sip, it's as if she can't quite help herself. While seated there with her legs curled up alongside herself, leaned into the man's pushed up seating against the pillows, she leans in to feather his bristled face with another sweeter, almost gracious kiss, murmuring there, "I used to color on it when I missed you badly. The box." Explains the artwork doodles and color jobs on the artsy wrapping job she did with the box in the trailer during her teenage years. She doesn't sound depressed talking about it, though, given he's right here in bed next to her right now, with turn around so many years later.

Then she bats her lashes a couple of times, realizing, "I never... told you what I was going to bury with the bones." Yes, exorcist or not, Lilith clearly still plans on attending the burial and ceremony and sacrifice to make sure the ghostly son of a bitch stays down to rest, "Hank used to carry this initial pendant that went on a necklace in his pocket all the time. He even lost it a few times, but somehow found it later, every single time, like it was uncannily a part of his life. Man couldn't keep a hold of most other things, so... I was surprised when the morgue sent it from his belongings. I didn't know he still had it. I asked him, once, what the 'K' stood for and why he kept it pocketed and he told me..." She pauses, then, taking a sip of her coffee with a reflective expression and a vague cut of her lashes.

"He told me the 'k' meant he had to keep it to remember things right. I was pretty little and I didn't see it often, so my curiosity forgot. But I think it's the only thing that exists of my mother. And it should go in with his vial of ashes. I was going to see if... you could look at it when I was ready, but... I'm giving that wild goose chase up and sacrificing the tiny chance that pendant holds any keys to knowing my mother." Hank's mother had still been alive to run care and interference until Lily was almost three, so it explains how she didn't die as an infant with only Hank around, even though the woman has no memories of her grandmother either.

"That's a good idea. I usually keep an extra set of clothes in my car, but that's always workout clothes. I mean, with how things have gone as of late, it's probably wise to keep an extra suit on hand." Byron let's some of that coffee cool down a touch thanks to the AC, then takes in another deeper drink from it to help wake him up. He doesn't yet move from where he's seated, all relaxed with a good cup of coffee. In fact, he's listening when she brings up this keepsake box, just the idea lights up his face, "Why am I not surprised? Though I think at some point, you probably drew ravens and skulls all over that box, right?" Her goth phase.

There's a moment of thoughtful quiet to follow the joke though, "I wonder what you've kept locked away in there." He had nothing personal from his childhood or his teenage years in his possession that he can think of, even if you'd have expected him to carry a photograph of all of his friends with him when he moved to California. If he did, that was all digital and that information is mostly lost by now.

If anything, there was some concern on Byron's part when it came to what Lilith would give up. He didn't want to regret giving away something of great importance to her, so when she starts to speak on it, she has his full attention, his dark eyes searching her face, attempting to better understand and know her emotions without mentally reading them. "If you'd like, I could take a look at it, Lily." He says, watching her from over the rim of his cup when he goes in for another sip. "It won't be a while until the funeral, so... if you're really interested. It might be," He's thinking of a word that fits, "Nice to know."

"... I didn't draw skulls." Lilith huffs at Byron a bit defensively from over her coffee cup with a roll of her eyes to hold at the ceiling, which indicates there's very much blackbird or ravens on there, because she didn't correct that part and he might remember seeing that! And really, her facial features are pretty natural, but him being him, he can see the familiar hint of thoughtful reserve and carefully controlled emotion when it comes to throwing Hank's ashes in the box with the bones of a murder ghost after she already feels responsible in some way for his death. That alone would probably do when it comes to sacrifice given how bad she feels about parting with that last piece of her remaining blood for such a thing.

But Lilith also tends to have that look any time her mother, or rather lackthereof comes up. It's one of those things she never verbally or mentally dwells on much because there was never much she could do about it and there'd be no changing the absence after the fact. She knows from adult poking, though, that her birth certificate was amended and filed for late, at that, like she wasn't born in a hospital, or if she was, it was covered for some reason. She suspects that was her grandmother's pushing and doing, knowing Hank, but given his lack of words just about any time ever when it came to 'mothers'... it's possible he wanted it that way too. But why?

Therefore, she's quiet for a beat before smiling some at Byron, hesitating, and it may even be fear talking moreso than logic, "... we'll see. Might take part of the sacrifice piece away if we get what we can off of it beforehand, but then, you may well just get Hank on it a good lot of the time instead of..." But isn't it just enough to give up the only piece she has with her father, both pieces of blood remains as sacrifice. Does the secret matter? (Does she want to know?) The woman shrugs instead of finishing the sentence, then reaches over to swat at the man's midsection, "If you don't get up and do something, I'm going to keep you in bed all day. I'll watch you work out and appreciate your form. Highly."

Lilith drains her coffee cup and leans over him to put it on the nightstand before laying out with a hand and arm folded behind her head on the pillows for prop of lazing leisure, a slant of grin at her lips. It utterly gives the air of preparing to watch the show of him like a piece of manly flex and meat. That and she just... still doesn't want to move, even after the quick intake of coffee. Her limbs feel weighted and it's lazing her out of her real inclination to crawl back over ontop of him, feeling the flutter of the idea burn low in her stomach. But it's not a race to see how much lost time they can make up for, right? Right. Nevertheless, she eyes him speculatively with threat of salacious body appreciation sidelong while waiting for him to deliver the show.

"Well I'm not going to intrude if you really don't want to know. Or think that it's best not to know." Byron says between sips of coffee. But he always likes to be in the know. "I think that it's a worthwhile sacrifice, if you believe you can part with it. And if you can't, then that makes it even more worthwhile." If he even noticed the piece of jewelry, it doesn't register. While he may be very attentive, it's in a selfish way, not really caring about most other people's emotions or state of mind, unless they are in some way related to him.

Feeling that swat to stomach, he grins, "I'm going. Jeez. I need to some time to wake up before throwing myself into an actual workout." That's no so much the case usually. It's something that you do. If you don't, then you just might never start. Setting his mostly empty cup on the nightstand beside hers, he shrugs off whatever blankets that he may have been partially buried beneath. When he takes a few steps forward to come to a stop in the room that has the most ample space, he's already stretching out his neck, his limbs and his shoulders. It's not every day that you have the liberties of hitting the gym, especially when you're on the road, so he's used to these workout sessions in smaller spaces.

Once his body feels loosened enough- though in truth there's this heaviness to him and his head is almost swimming, but he'll chalk that up to the long work hours and the stress, something that if it's not dealt with can take a toll on one's body- he'll start to raise his heart rate and warm up his muscles. Bouncing on the balls of his feet with his arms up in a boxer's pose, this is a technique that he learned at the gym way back when he was still a teenager, something that had carried over through the years in helping to keep him in athletic shape. He makes certain to keep moving, being light on his feet and maintaining that pose for a good few reps. This is followed by the obligatory jumping jacks combined with squats. He's used to doing a LOT of these on the daily, especially when there was no access to a gym. This was his usual morning routine. After going through several more heart pounding aerobic exercises, he moves onto the floor work.

By now, he's already coated in sweat, his musculature glistening with his heart beating so rapidly, that as he settles himself down upon the floor, he takes in a few deep breaths. Planks are next, forcing each and every muscle in his body to feel that burn when keeping to the proper position. Not that his muscles weren't burning from the extensive amount of cardio he'd done earlier. He's focused enough. Exercising isn't fun, but it does help to take his thoughts off of everything at times, or in this case, allows him to focus on some of his concerns and frustrations, while putting all of that negative energy into something physically grueling.

"Might not hurt to know what you can..." Lilith admits to Byron, as if she's warming up some to the idea because she feels, suddenly, the weight of what it is she's chosen to give. Then she's quiet and rolls over on her side to merely watch him get up and set to it, wearing a slight smile on her lips. At some point she does get her phone, though to mess with, and there's appropriate ridiculous workout music played in brief in Eye of the Tiger form before she blessedly turns it off so he can not be distracted by laughter in the middle of all that labored breath with exertion.

After a time, though, when it looks like he's winding down, she pushes out of bed and trails toward the bathroom while peeling out of her tanktop on the way, all bare skin beneath. She doesn't close the door when she loses her panties next before leaning to turn on the shower and while it heats, she takes a moment to stand in the doorframe naked, brushing through her hair so that it's easier to comb wet and tangled when she gets out from washing it. After a fond smile while leaning there running the bristles through the length of her hair to smooth, detangle, and gloss to sheen over a bared shoulder with partial spill over the top swell of her breast at one side, she plans aloud.

"When you're finished, hop into the shower with me and I'll rub you into wash and cool down so you can really start the day right. Besides. Anything I do with my hands now just means later, when I really want at you, you'll have more staying power to keep up." Tactical, maybe, but it's definite promise of some touch spoiling Byron in the shower to make him fully relaxed for the real start of the day. After a bat of her lashes, she turns to trail back into the bathroom toward the steam and shower after giving his body and the sheen of sweat on it another look with the brush at pause, "You don't get to touch me, though, until you kiss me to leave. We're playing a game now. Don't pull down the shower curtain when it's time to cum. If you go grabbing that as something other than me, water will go everywhere."

Planning and spoiling, indeed. And one hell of a game.

The planks turn into pushups, both one-armed and two, alternating from time to time, before he quickly moves in for a long set of sit-ups, his arms crossed over his chest as he pulls himself up in rapid succession. Byron will make sure to show some appreciation Lilith's way from time to time for both the rocking soundtrack and just her presence over all. He's driven, however, and doing three hundred of these, each, takes quite a while. He breathes in deep in time to his own movements. While his body felt lethargic earlier, his head light and disoriented, all of that seems to be chased away now that his blood was flowing and his chest was full of air. He was feeling fine now, so alive and awake. He can only hope that this feeling will carry him throughout the entirety of his day.

There was a puddle of sweat on the floor where he had exerted himself. He'd seen her undress once she'd made her way into the bathroom. In fact, he was in the middle of some push-ups when he'd taken notice of those pretty lace panties that hit the floor. It doesn't help with his focus, but it does help to keep moving him along.

It was over now and that invitation is something that stays in your mind until your task is completed. He felt great right now, but he knows that she'll be able to make him feel even better. Removing the only garment that had worn to bed, tossing it on the bathroom floor on entrance. The heat and the steam felt good against his bared skin, working to relax the muscles in his lean frame as he pads through the steam room on bare feet, one hand raised to draw the curtain back enough to allow him to slip into the shower for the promise of this game.