#the readmore is to keep the dashboard tidy

[neonthewrite]

The prompt challenge continues! And I have some more things to share! Idk where this one is going really, or where it came from. But y'know sometimes you need some characters learning to be just a tad nicer to each other. As a treat.

~~~

The rain and the mud were bad enough; Alex didn’t need his smirk, too. She winced as she tried to take another step in the mud, but the thick substance clung to her legs like glue. Somehow, having an audience only made it worse. It was like Dorian’s amused spectating encouraged it to be worse. “You,” she said, gritting her teeth as she took another labored step, “are not helping. It’s bad enough you don’t sink into the mud, you have to laugh when I do?”

As if to drive home her point, his next step was a harsh stomp. Despite having soles the size of a child’s bed and heavy boots thick enough to weather all the elements, he barely broke the surface of the mud. The impact shook the ground nonetheless, though, and Alex wobbled. Dorian stood tall over her, not flaunting his twenty foot height but not really needing to.

“I do have to laugh,” he said, watching the path ahead. “Because I offered to carry you across this stretch of the road. And you said no, because your pride is more important than keeping your shoes in any kind of good repair.”

Alex clenched her jaw. She couldn’t argue that point. When he’d suggested carrying her until they found more stable ground, she’d balked at the idea. And if she really gave it any amount of thought, he was right about her reasoning, too. She was prideful, and the thought of being carried around by someone, even a titan who by all accounts couldn’t help how big he was, grated against her independence.

She fought her way through a few more steps in the mud before a feeling of dread curled in her stomach. She was sinking further, and after the last step the mud was up to her thighs. It felt like a grip had closed around her legs.

“O-okay, fine,” she said, excusing her stammer as a side effect of the chill from the rain. “I could use your mud-immunity. I can’t move.”

Dorian, who already walked atop the mud at a leisurely pace, came to an equally leisurely stop. He barely glanced back at her but she saw that smirk still stuck in place. “What was that? All worn out now and want my help?”

She grimaced. “Dorian, I don’t have time. I’m sinking.”

“Why not just back up a bit and go around? Or better yet, just ignore the problem and be more stubborn, surely that’ll work‒”

“Dorian, please just help me out!”

He turned his focus on her at last and found her trying and failing to use her hands to dig away some of the mud, but it was steadily pulling her down. Alex wasn’t looking at him anymore; she was only watching with a frantic heart as her efforts did nothing. Where she normally came almost to his knees, now she was barely past his ankles.

Until he took a few steps towards her and knelt down at last. Both of his large hands wrapped around her waist and hoisted her up; defying the pull of the mud as if it were water. He hadn’t yet explained why he could ignore a simple fact of nature, but at the moment Alex didn’t care. The mud didn’t behave right for him and that meant she was free of it at last. It even sloughed off of her far quicker than it ought to, dropping back to the ground with several plops though she merely dangled gently from Dorian’s grip.

“Thank you,” she said, avoiding his gaze and trying not to sound too pouty about needing the rescue in the first place. “If you don’t mind setting me down on some more solid ground…”

Dorian’s smirk returned at last. “Not a chance, princess. You’re hopeless out here in this weather.”

She glared at him and opened her mouth, but only a yelp came out as he shifted his grip and held her closer to his chest in the crook of his arm. She was so startled by the move that she forgot to squirm for a moment. “Dorian! This is unnecessary! And embarrassing!”

He sighed, and from this close she felt how his chest expanded and contracted. “Alex, there is no reason at all to deny help in this situation. I know I was teasing you, but really. I’m more equipped than you are to deal with this terrain. Just relax for now and we’ll cover plenty of ground.”

She grumbled and crossed her arms, sulking but inevitably reclining in the safe cradle of his arm. She’d gone so much of her life not pulling her own weight. It was only recently she’d been able to understand that about herself and start working to improve it. “I could have made it myself. Just so we’re clear.”

Dorian hummed, his smooth voice rumbling in his nearby chest. “Maybe, but isn’t this so much easier?”

“I …” she couldn’t come up with a rebuttal. As he strode forward, unaffected by the rain and the mud and the fog, Alex frowned with more contemplation than consternation. “Yes. I suppose it is.”