Warframe belongs to DE

"How do you feel?"

Ria had to ponder the question. She was sad. Tears ran down her cheeks. That void inside of her was aching. She was naked, exposed. Weak, small. A thousand things she hated to be.

And yet... she was warm. She felt safe in two strong arms. She wasn't alone.

"I feel a lot..." The Tenno muttered and sobbed softly "It hurts..."

Sindr nodded and pulled her a bit closer. Ria had left a cold stain of tears and snot on her shoulder. "It hurts to be alive." She added quietly.

Ria nodded and sniffed. "I miss her. I miss her so much..."

"I know..."

The Tenno cleared her runny nose again. "I wish you could have met her." She mumbled.

"I wish I could have met her too."

A small laugh squeezed itself out of Ria's mouth. "No, you don't... You'd be fighting constantly..."

"Worse than with the shine bucket?"

"Yes... she was really forceful." Sniff "And protective."

Sindr ran her hand through Ria's hair. "Sounds like the two of you would have been too much even for me to handle."

The Tenno looked up, tears and snot running down her face. "You bet!" she said defiantly.

The Grineer gave a wry smile and pushed a gentle kiss on Ria's forehead. "I wish I could do more..."

"After all you've done..." Ria muttered and burried her face in Sindr's shoulder "My tongue will fall off before I ever make it up to you."

Sindr let oug a small laugh. "There she is..." She muttered and tightened her hug "There is my little Tenno."

"Thank you, Sindr." Ria sighed "Thank you for being amazing..."

"That's what I do. Being great..." The Grineer said with a smile and ran a hand through Ria's hair "Say... mind if I get you a tissue or something?" she asked after a moment and pointed at her wet shoulder "The last hour left me kinda dripping... and not in the fun way."

The Tenno pushed herself away and mockingly punched Sindr in the stomach. "You're terrible!" she laughed, wiping away the last few tears.

"And you should be grateful for that!" Sindr added "All the cloning labs of Gaia couldn't produce you enough spare-tongues to make it up to me IF I was all awesome."

Ria sighed and scooped a bit backwards. Then she let herself fall forward and wrapped her arms around Sindr's stomach. A dark temple pushed against a pale navel. "I'm tired..." she muttered.

"And thirsty?" The Gineer muttered as she grabbed a pillow to wipe the snot off her shoulder.

"Yes..." Ria sighed "But I don't want to let go."

Sindr nodded quietly and gently patted the Tenno's hair. "I understand. You can stay as long as you need."

The Tenno nodded against Sindr's pecks and snuggled closer, cheek pressed against the hard flesh.

The tall woman couldn't help but smile softly at the display. Then she leaned back and her gaze shifted upwards. Where had things gone so weird? A few days ago, Tenno were nightmares of flesh and steel, unfeeling monsters that cut through her kind. And now, they were an adorable, little woman, who had learned to love being carried and hugged.

"Sindr?" Came Ria's voice after a while.

"Yes?"

The Tenno looked up, her gaze partially blocked by Sindr's heaving chest. "Why are you so good at this?"

"At what?"

"Making me feel better."

The Grineer let out a small huff. "Sexual abuse is rampant among basically all ranks of the Empire. We're hard-wire to never disobey orders. Think no officer ever exploits that?"

Ria's eyes went wide. "Sindr, did yo-"

"No!" Sindr interrupted gently but firmly "I was lucky. I'm not common stock, so I'm less desirable and, well, I'm a huge slut, so most were smart enough to just ask." She paused "Could also have to do with the fact that I was using a very big rifle very close to them. Accidents happen, you know..."

"You know... the more time I spend with you, the less I consider "slut" to be an insult." Ria mused quietly.

"Wait, slut is an insult?"

Ria looked up. "Only when it's not pronounced "Slooot!" she said in a mock-Grineer voice.

"I take that as confirmation that you do feel better now." Sindr laughed. Suddenly she got serious again. "I'm sorry."

"Hm? About what?" Ria asked in honest confusion.

"The way I talked to you... over the last few days. I wouldn't have been so... crass, if I had known."

The Tenno let out a sigh and pulled back a little, to look into Sindr's eyes. "There were moments, when I felt really... squicky." She said calmly, her gaze dropped. She nestled her head against a hard navel. "I know you didn't mean it. Heck, I didn't know that I would feel that way. I don't even really know why. Anyways, it's OK. You have nothing to apologize about."

Sindr nodded slowly. "But it would be kinda useful to know what to watch out for."

"You know that time when you called me... " The Tenno sighed. "And also when you said that my, you know, my Kavat... that I'd feel really good."

"Your Kavat?" The Grineer asked with a hint of bemusement.

"Yeah, my Kavat..." Ria rolled her eyes "The part of me that you finger-banged like you were a Mesa in Rathuum."

Sindr nodded and closed her eyes."You don't like being told that you're fun to fuck." she mused sagely.

"No..." The Tenno groaned "Who would like to hear that?"

"Every Grineer I know..." The taller woman sighed "That's why I said it in the first place. But I guess it's different for us. We are taught to think of ourselves as... I don't know. It feels good to function." She gave a pressed smile "I wanted to weird you out a bit with the vulgarity, but you know... it was supposed to be somewhat of a compliment."

Ria sighed against the pale flesh. "I get it... just..."

"No, I think I see your point." She ran her hand through Ria's hair "What kind of compliment do you like?" Sindr asked quickly "Can I tell you that you're beautiful?"

The Tenno felt her cheeks flush. "Yes." She muttered "I really like that."

"That you're really sexy?" The Grineer continued, a small smirk forming.

"Yes, that's fine too." Ria said, trying not to giggle.

"That you're cute and lovable?"

"You know that you can tell me that..."

"That you're really smart and I admire that?"

A giggle escaped Ria. "Sindr, stop, you're-"

"That your hair and lipstick actually looks really good on you?"

Ria let out a groan. And pushed against Sindr's belly with her hand. "Stop it! I'm getting mushy!"

"Though!" Sindr said very slowly, grabbing the Tenno's hand "You know what would look really good on you?"

The Tenno looked up with confusion. "What?"

"If you did your nails that way too." The Grineer said, eyes on the hand.

"You mean blue?" Ria asked, feeling a bit of mental whiplash. Was Sindr really about to give her fashion tips?

"Yeah! That would look really good..." The taller woman stressed, squeezing her fingers slightly "I know you said that you mostly put on make up for the thrill. But I think you could-"

"YOU think I should doll up?" Ria asked incredulously and pulled back.

"What does 'doll up' mean? I just think that you're really pretty and maybe it would do you good if you actually felt pretty too." Sindr said and firmly.

"And how would that help?" The Tenno asked incredulously.

"I don't know! I just... like... some of the girls I talked to got themselves tattoos and new implants and all that stuff after they dealt with... you know..." The Grineer said with a shrug "Said that it helped them reclaim their bodies or something... look, I know I'm stumbling a bit, but I want you to feel nice and all..."

"You think?"Ria asked carefully, eyes on her fingers now. Maybe it would look nice?

"Well, yes... and... you're gonna clean up soon, so-"

The Tenno looked up. "Hm?"

"I mean, don't get me wrong but... you kinda... smell."

Ria opened her mouth. A few calculations went through her head. Then closed it. Then she took a whiff of her armpit. "VOID! I haven't showered in two days!"

"Yeah... and the exercise from earlier didn't help..." The Grineer added sheepishly.

With a push, Ria got up on the bed. "With the surgery and all, I completely forgot to... urgh!" She jumped up and began to gather her clothes off the floor, giving Sindr a nice view of her shapely butt.

"Come on, does that really bother you?" The Grineer said carefully as she scooped over to the edge of the bed.

The Tenno turned, clothes held before her chest. "Yes!" She said angrily "I'm supposed to be a proud warrior and I spent the last hour of so slobbering on you and now I also stink! This is humiliating!"

"Oh, come on, can't call yourself a warrior if you didn't work up a good sweat now and then." Sindr laughed.

"I beg to differ! I'll be in the shower!" Ria said firmly and turned to go. Then she looked over her shoulder "You coming?"

Sorry for the massive delay. Things turned really bad on my end. I'll try to get more updates out in the near future. /span/p