bakerstreet | Pegging

[ open to any of the untamed/mdzs cast with the exception of other wen's; can work with any timeline, au, or canon divergence concept. also open to cross-canon ladies. still likely to be the one giving in that scenario, but open to possibilities. ]

[OOC: So I have this idea. Let me know if this start works]

He shouldn't. They shouldn't. He had respected Wen Qing when she returned the comb to him. But there was something. Just...something that makes him return back to the Burial Mounds without informing Wei Wuxian. He had to see her again, just to know how she truly is, if she's comfortable, if she's looked after. He'd sent her a message to meet on the side where Wei Wuxian doesn't frequent at all.

When he sees her, he isn't there as Sect Leader Jiang. He's just there as Jiang Cheng, a friend, someone who had affection for Wen Qing and wished for the best for her. His hands itch, wanting to reach out to touch her. It only affirms that he still is drawn to her but respects her boundaries.

"Wen Qing," he says quietly.

Wen Ning is usually the one to collect any mail or notes they might get, and they all go through Wen Qing before they end up in Wei Wuxian's hands, if necessary, and Wen Ning never reads any of her letters.

This is why she's the only one to know about Jiang Cheng's letter. It's easy to slip away, especially with most everyone involved in their various tasks and Wei Wuxian entertaining a-Yuan. If pressed, she could say she was gathering herbs and no one would question it.

She watches Jiang Cheng, slipping past the barrier to draw close to him. "You wanted to see me, Sect Leader Jiang?" Polite and formal, although she's drawn to him still. She'd told Wei Wuxian, once, that she would have let Jiang Cheng court her if things had been different. It's silly to think about now when things are what they are, but the thought still lingers.

"Not Sect Leader," he grumbles under his breath. "Just...you can call me Jiang Cheng, Wen-guniang."

If she could be proper, then so could he. Jiang Cheng goes through several emotions, wanting to hug her tightly, wanting to hold her, wanting to kiss her, wanting to ask her why she gave him back the comb, if he was simply not the kind of man she had ever imagined for herself.

"...I am speaking to you as a friend. A concerned friend that wants to know how you truly are here."

He knows Wei Wuxian would lie through his teeth to make it seem that everything was okay.

"Wen Qing," she offered in return. The formality felt wrong with Jiang Cheng, especially after everything they had experienced, even if he didn't know most of the story.

"How I am?" She isn't so dismissive of his feelings to ask if he's sure he's asking after the right person, but it feels wrong to be the one he's talking to about this, considering her role in the situation.

Still, she meets his gaze, rather than stewing. "We're surviving. It's not easy." Food is meager, and their shelters won't really survive a harsh winter. "But we're alive. We're managing. Wei Wuxian has helped A-Ning and we're growing food."

"Besides surviving."

He desperately wants to reach for her, hold her hand, hug her tight, say that she doesn't need to simply survive and whisk her away to Lotus Pier with him. Jiang Cheng's hand twitches at wishing for such things. He steps closer and closer to her.

"How...how are you?" he asks.

It's not the question he really wants to ask. He wants to ask her to feel. To live. To simply just be more than just surviving.

With each step closer, her eyes narrow and her chin goes up. Wen Qing might have been broken by the close loss of her brother and the escape to the Burial Mounds, but she's always been proud. And while she's not too proud to dig in the dirt, or beg for her brother's life, sometimes it's hard to let ago. Especially around people she feels vulnerable around, and Jiang Cheng has always been one of those, sneaking in beneath her defenses.

When he asks that question again, she looks at him closely, wondering at the intent behind his request, wondering what he's getting at.

"Surviving is all we're managing for now," she says, quietly. "But it's getting easier." Wen Ning is doing better, Wei Wuxian isn't constantly flooded with resentful energy, her family has eked out an existence in this place. "It's lonely here, but better than Wen Ruohan's court, and the prison camps." She drops her gaze, then looks at him again. "How are you?"

There's that fight that drew him to her. He stays with her, doesn't back down from that narrowed gaze. Surviving. That's what they're doing. But there's living and Jiang Cheng moves forward, his arms around her before he could really stop himself. He holds her tightly, as tightly as he held Wei Wuxian when he saw him again. As soon as she pushes him away, he'd let her go. But for now, he holds Wen Qing.

"It doesn't have to be lonely," he says quietly.

Things have always been complicated with Jiang Cheng, in a way she can't describe and refuses to look closely at. Especially now, after what she and Wei Wuxian did, it's hard to accept his affections. But she's still just a person, stuck in a difficult situation, and he's offering a hug. Steady and solid. She leans against him for a moment, that stretches into a minute, and not for the first time, she wishes she could just let go, do something strictly for her enjoyment for once.

When he speaks, she stiffens, shaking her head and pulling back. "And how would it not be lonely, Jiang Cheng?" She waves her hand around. "We aren't cut out for entertaining here."

When she pulls away, he lets her, but not completely out of his arms. He looks at her, lips pressed into a firm line.

"Doesn't matter," he finds himself replying, "It shouldn't matter. What matters is that whomever they are, you could just let yourself go and have an opportunity to live. Not just survive here."

He wants to offer himself again. But she'd rebuked him before, given back the comb. Whatever she needed, though, he would be more than willing to provide for her.

[ either side. ]

[ will gladly peg someone, also open to receiving from another lady. canon, cross, AUs, OCs welcome. ]

[hmm...]

[ I mean, I'd be game. We'd just need to sort out context. Were you thinking any particular timeframe or situation? Idk why but I feel like sex between them wouldn't necessarily be casual, or they might go into it thinking they could keep it casual / "just fooling around" but it doesn't stay that way for long. ]

[I think if we're setting it when they're still Jedi students, then I could definitely see that ill-conceived attempt at being casual. Or we could bounce off our other thread and this is the timeline where he succeeds in pulling her away from Snoke, and then it's probably a lot of feelings from the beginning. What do you think?]

[ Gosh, both settings have potential. As tempted as I am by students, the latter feels like it would work better and be easier to swing for this type of sex. I agree there would be no shortage of feelings in a timeline where he pulled her away before she really became Kylo and turned heavily into the dark. ]

[Sounds good to me! I think I like that scenario more for this, too. How do you think we should start this off?]

[ Hmm. Maybe after he kept her from going back to Snoke the two of them stuck together, since obviously the situation is more complex than just "don't do a thing", and they kinda fell into a relationship as she opened up more about everything? And that increasing trust and exploration leads to them wanting to explore sexual things too? ]

[That's what I had in mind. I don't think he'd want to leave her side after they got away from the FO/Snoke/KoR (especially if Snoke is still around and he realises she's fighting that influence all the time--but he'd worry about any of what's left of it all trying to come after her even if not). It's obvious she needs the emotional support, and really, he does, too. It's not like he has much else to go back to with every other remnant of the Jedi school gone. So they'd stick together and he'll try to understand whatever he had missed in all the time they've known each other so far, since he clearly missed things. I think somewhere in there, they'd realise how deeply attached they are to each other after everything they've just gone through, and maybe that leads to sexual experimenting.]

[ Sorry for the delay on a starter. It's admittedly mostly set-up but I figured that would probably better suit them than diving right in to being about to do the deed, lol. If you want me to tweak/change anything, let me know. ]

Maybe it was a bad idea (it probably was a bad idea) but there was no one around to tell them no or otherwise try to put a stop to it. Well, there were certainly people with opinions, of that Brianna had no doubt, however she was trying not to listen. For one of the first times in her life she was actively trying not to listen to or think about what the most prevalent forces in her life would have to say, or what they would want for her, and instead trying to listen to her own voice, muddy and uncertain as it might be.

That she wouldn't stand a chance of success at it alone — at least right now — wasn't lost on her and truthfully she wasn't sure how she felt about that. Such are thoughts for different days she tells herself, a sort of thinking she has far too much practice with it, but she can recognize her own volatility to an extent. Change was never as easy as simply flipping a switch; it was okay for it to take time. For her to need time. Surely it was inevitable for it to be an uphill battle when there still existed those who might be displeased in her but more than willing to continue their pursuit.

More than anything she's glad not to be alone, even if part of her worries it's a negative. All things considered, Tai was a far better influence than most cared to be in her life. He, at least, seemed to be more interested in her finding her own voice than telling her what song to sing. There were plenty of reasons for him to turn away from her, to hate her, even to want her dead — Brianna reminded herself of that when the doubts became loud. That he didn't have to listen. He didn't have to stay.

The two of them had become closer than ever, likely closer than they ever imagined becoming. In a way it felt natural though, at least to her. Perhaps she had become too dependent on him, too attached, but she was hard-pressed to see anything wrong with their relationship. To see anything wrong with affection and someone who was interested in her, not her power or her lineage though both were known.

It was also fair to say that they both had some arguable "catching up" to do, having spent their teenage years busy with Jedi training and not the sort of things other teenagers took the time to do and explore. Brianna had always held a curious nature and that seemed to have no bounds as she was equally curious about physical affections and bedroom activities. That she both cared about and trusted Tai as much as she did only brought her curiosity out more. That evening saw them on a Mid Rim planet that was just busy enough to make it easy for two young Force users to go unnoticed if they wanted to. Only time would tell how long they ended up staying on this planet before wandering elsewhere, though for the time being Brianna's mind was clear and her dreams weren't any more restless than they naturally had a tendency to be.

Having rented a place for a few nights, she was presently curled up against his side, a hand splayed on his stomach as she affectionately nuzzled at one side of his neck. Simple physical affection was something she hadn't realized just how much she'd been yearning for until she finally had it.

[Works for me! I am very okay with lots of setup.]

Tai doesn't think he could ever hate her. It's easy to see why she'd worry, with everything she had done. If it were most anyone else, he wouldn't have been so understanding. But someone else would have done it for different reasons. Someone else wouldn't have been so clearly in pain, waiting for him to find a way out of it that they couldn't see. He doesn't see himself as her rescuer, and he's not interested in telling her what to be. He just wants her to be the best of herself, and he's happy to support her in that however he can. It's not an easy thing, but he never expected it to be.

He also had never expected to be in the kind of relationship they've developed, with her or anyone else, but maybe it had been a long time coming. As a Jedi student, he had never really thought much about romance and sex. It wasn't exactly encouraged, even if their master hadn't been as against it as some of the texts indicated the Jedi had been in the past. But he'd always felt a particular bond with Brianna. Maybe that kind of attraction was a part of it all along. All he really knows is that being with her in that way feels right. He doesn't see how a relationship like theirs could be a path to the dark side when, for Brianna, it had been part of the path away from it.

Physical affection is as unfamiliar to him as it is to her, and just as welcome. After the tumultuous several months that had passed between them, he's unendingly grateful for quiet little moments like right now. He turns to press his lips gently against her forehead.