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Veil slapped Adolin hard on his back and let out a loud cackle. He tried to hush her but found himself grinning and giggling with her, as their voices echoed down the otherwise silent, sphere-lit halls of Urithiru.
In truth, he was pretty sure he didn't say anything all that funny, but with Veil he didn't need to. When Shallan was Shallan, Adolin always felt like he was trying to keep up. His wife loved to banter, and Adolin would say whatever he could, even if it was hardly clever, just to make sure she had something to bounce off of with a jibe that was actually worthy of both their laughter.
Veil's laugh sounded almost the same as his wife’s just now, though neither of them did any work to earn it. They just stumbled down the halls like a pair of seasick chulls, laughing over next to nothing. The two of them had finally started to get along and really enjoy each other's company. The trick seemed to be their mutual agreement to stop thinking of each other as their respective spouses and instead like the type of friend who would rather egg you on than keep you out of trouble.
But he couldn't help but think of his wife when he heard her laugh slip so clearly through Veil's persona. He was looking forward to the morning, after he and Veil slept off the drunkenness and he could tell Shallan all about the night and why in the Stormfather's name she was waking up with such a strong hangover.
"Ugh, look at your storming face." Veil slurred, "You're gonna pull a muscle grinning hard."
Adolin looked down at Veil, as she rolled her dark eyes at him, her body pressed into his side, forcing him to carry her weight so she didn't have to keep her balance after trying to show off by taking a shot of some horneater white. He wasn't all that composed himself, so he couldn't tell if his cheeks were feeling flush from all the drinks or if he was actually at risk of grinning himself sore.
"Seriously, what's gotten into you, beaming like whatever-number-fool was just an actual idiot." Veil said, her hand still resting surprisingly softly on Adolin's back.
"Just thinking about my wife." Adolin replied, completely earnest and indignantly refusing to wipe that smile off his face.
Veil let out what may have been the most exasperated groan Adolin had ever heard, as she pushed away from him and meandered towards a window overlooking the outer tiers of the ancient city. Adolin had certainly never heard Shallan make a sound quite like that before.
Adolin followed, and leaned against the railing taking in the view and the crisp mountain air. He surveyed the lower city and the surrounding encampments. Hardly a visible sphere this late at night, as it was well past last-call when they were finally ushered out of Jez's Duty by the barmaids who almost certainly made an exception for him and his companions to stick around a good bit longer than he should have.
He wondered if it had been his father, would they have ushered him out by now? Probably not. The Blackthorn probably got to stay as late as he wanted to on any given night.
Not even 'probably'. Adolin knew it first hand from the worst days of his childhood. Days he spent trying to keep Renarin occupied with stories about the toys in his room. Little wooden soldiers who fought for Honor and never had to deal with the question "What for?” and the pain that came after.
Storms, Adolin did not like thinking about his father. He looked up at the sky and tried to banish those thoughts. He looked at the moons, hanging in the sky and at the stars, sitting in clouds of dust you could never see back in Kholinar. Not a lot of great memories there, especially recently. Though he did think back to when he officially met Veil for the first time, not so long ago. That was a good one.
He looked over at her, and took a moment to appreciate her. She had taken her white longcoat off, and draped it nearly over the railing, and she held her absolutely iconic hat in her hands. Ash’s Eyes, no one had any business pulling off an outfit that bold and daring as well as Veil did. And to top that off, she somehow wore it with enough confidence to be able to choose whether or not to stand out while dressed like that.
That fashion sense is why he knew in an instant that he'd like her. Adolin honestly couldn't think of anyone else who could earnestly make him think 'I wish I could wear that outfit that well’. And Storms did she wear it well. He tried not to think of her in a certain way, but he did have to admit that the way those men's pants fit her had him wishing Shallan would borrow them, or at least keep them on after they switched.
To his surprise, he could forget sometimes, even for the briefest moments, that his wife was hiding somewhere behind Veil's cool demeanor. Lately he was finding it easier to empathize with Shallan's approach to protecting herself from the world and her darkest memories. If there was a version of Adolin Kholin who could live free from his father's shadow, free from the painful knowledge of what 'The Blackthorn' did to his mother, and free from his memories of those years that followed... He'd certainly be tempted to become that Adolin right now.
But in the meantime, despite those scars, Adolin was capable of being happy. He loved Shallan, and he appreciated Veil. Not just as a friend and drinking companion, and not just as an extension of his wife, but as someone who wanted to protect the one he loved, and more importantly, as someone he trusted.
As Veil looked out beyond the expanse, he wondered what deep introspection was happening behind her cool, collected demeanor.
"Bet you're going to give it to her real hard when you see her, huh?"
"Huh?" Adolin said, as he snapped out of his wistful daze.
"Your wife."
"Shallan?" Adolin asked, still taking a moment to process Veil's question.
"Last I checked." She said, looking towards Adolin with a mischievous smile.
The silence hung in the air for more than a moment before Adolin bellowed a powerful, tearful laugh, as he marveled at how vastly different their thoughts must have been while they were quietly staring out over the balcony. He tried to quiet himself so as not to disturb anyone so late at night, but he could hardly keep it all in.
Veil smiled and playfully punched his arm. Unexpectedly hard for someone so small, but having sparred with Radiant he shouldn't have been surprised.
"What? Humor me. We've been talking girls all night, it's a normal question."
"Given the... Mechanics of the current situation. It's a little thought provoking..." Adolin said, keeping up his smile, despite struggling to decode the nuances of the situation.
"All I am saying is, we've been looking at some pretty ladies all night, sizing them up and joking around. So, it would make sense if you got a little worked up, right?" Veil asked, pragmatically, with her safehand now resting on the side of Adolins bicep.
"... Right."
"So, when you see her, you would *really* give it to her, right."
"I mean, yes. Definitely. Assuming she was up for it".
"Trust me, she'll be up for it." Veil said, giving Adolin’s arm a firm squeeze.
"Oh?" Adolin asked, beginning to feel a little bit of excitement mustering up his well practiced charming smile. "Is that right? Did she tell you that?"
"No." Veil let go of his arm and turned her face a bit away from his. “She doesn’t have to tell me.”
"Wait, so how do you know she'll be up for it?"
Veil let out another exasperated sigh, and Adolin noticed her flushed cheeks and slightly reddening ears.
"We share a body, so..."
"Right. I understand that, I just don't understand-"
Veil shot Adolin a slightly scornful look, the kind that made it clear she didn't want or need to elaborate. He could plainly see a look of embarrassment on Veil's face, something he doesn't believe he had ever seen before. She turned her body towards him and gestured down towards her legs. Adolin’s eyes followed. He could see her stance was awkward, as her thighs were pressed together in a way that looked uncomfortable, but had him appreciating the tailoring job all the more. Her legs looked Storming amazing in those, and neither Shallan nor Veil had ever told him where they came from!
Perhaps now, Adolin thought, is a good time to finally get that answer.
"Your pants? You know, I’ve been meaning to ask again, who tailored those?"
“Storms, you have got to be kidding me.” Veil grabbed Adolin’s arm and tugged him down towards her with astonishing strength. She slipped his hand inside of her pants and pressed his fingers against her crotch.
“… Oh.” is all Adolin could bring himself to say, as he leaned in towards her and felt how wet she had become.
His head was over her shoulder, her lips by his ear. “Feel that? It’s like the Weeping down there”.
Adolin couldn’t see her face, and with her deeper, more forceful voice, he couldn’t quite intuit how she expected him to respond. Unsure of how to react, he chuckled and began to reticently pull his hand back.
“No, wait.” Veil whispered into his ear, her voice quiet and breathy. She held his hand in place with her unnatural strength, and then pushed his fingers up to curl into her. She whimpered needfully. “Oh, that feels so good.”
Adolin gently rocked his fingers back and forth against her, moving by memory and driven by excitement before he could properly consider what he was doing. He could feel her hot breath against his neck as she exhaled loudly and irregularly, with the occasional audible gasp.
“Are you sure this is okay?” Adolin asked. He couldn’t help but think about whether this was a betrayal of Shallan’s trust, but at the same time he could barely think at all.
“Don’t let it go to your head, you’re still not my type,” She said playfully, as she pressed his hand harder against her. “I’m just so worked up thinking about those girls from earlier.” She leaned her body forward into his and he stumbled back, and in a moment she had him pressed against the wall.
Adolin felt her still gloved safehand slide up the back of his leg, before she squeezed his butt and snickered. “You’re just the most convenient body I’ve got”. He felt her lips on his neck now, wet hard kisses, far less delicate than Shallan’s. She slid her safehand up his shirt and brushed it against his abs. “And I’ll concede it’s certainly not bad”.
Adolin felt himself being pushed more forcefully against the wall, as Veil’s kisses became more frantic. He felt her lick his neck and bite him lightly, reminders that this wasn’t Shallan he was with. He could feel himself getting aroused as he looked down at her from over her shoulder, only able to see her black hair and the back of her impeccable outfit, which had her body looking especially alluring from this angle.
He felt her safehand sliding down towards his belt and beginning to unbuckle it as he found himself using his unoccupied hand to grab her ass. He noticed now how hard he had become as he felt his belt loosen, and knew he needed to say something before he got too carried away.
“Wait...” he managed just as she felt her gloved safehand slip into his pants.
“Shhh”, she hushed him. “Don’t make this weird,” she whispered confidently, as he felt her cup his balls just tightly enough that he could feel himself getting even more erect. “We’re just two friends having a little fun.”
She used her free hand to press his fingers harder against her, slipping one inside of her as she moaned into his ear once more. She then pulled her face back from over his shoulder to look him in the eyes. Her dark eyes piercing into his as she raised one eyebrow at him. Despite all their frantic motions she still looked surprisingly cool, collected and very much in control.
She slid her safehand up and wrapped it around the base of his cock, smiled at him slyly, and said “Let me guess. You need to get your wife’s permission?”
Adolin nodded, dumbfounded and overwhelmed, unable to form any other response.
Veil rolled her eyes and with a quick shake of her head her hair became blonde, her eyes light and skin pale. She was now Radiant, not Shallan as he had hoped, but still a reassuring face to see when he didn’t know what his wife would want.
“Adolin,” she said sounding curiously almost out of breath.
“Shallan is fine with this.” Her voice began to pitch higher than he was used to hearing, and her cheeks redder than usual.
“She’s been too embarrassed to say so,” her voice becoming increasingly beleaguered.
“But honestly, she finds it quite… exciting.” Radiant managed to finish her thought barely, as she let out an audible squeak.
Her cheeks and ears lit up brighter than a ruby broam as she and Adolin simultaneously registered that his finger was still inside her.
Mortified, Adolin tried to pull it away, but Radiant's hand was still where Veil had left it, pressing him against her.
Radiant squealed loudly with pleasure from the sudden movement and her safehand gripped his cock incredibly tightly as she squirmed for a few heartbeats. Her eyes locked with Adolin’s as the moment subsided, and they both stared at each other for a moment, in confusion and embarrassment.
Radiant’s eyes trailed down to the hand with which had continued gripping him tightly for the duration of her appearance. She let go and quickly raised her safehand to her mouth to cover a gasp, and in that instant switched back to Veil, who cackled in amusement.
“Storms, she was going to wake the whole floor with all that squealing! Sounded to me like she really needed that. Hopefully that will help her loosen up a bit, huh?” Veil smiled slyly at Adolin, her gloved hand still slightly covering her mouth. “I hope your next sparring session won’t be too awkward.”
After one last chuckle, she bit down on the finger tip of her glove and pulled it off with her teeth. She curled it up into a ball with her naked fingers, and lifted it to Adolin’s mouth.
“So, now that you’ve gotten permission, will you quit protesting and help me get off?”
Adolin nodded and opened his mouth, where Veil placed the balled up glove. She spit in to her exposed palm and reached back down.
“Good, now try not to make too much noise. We wouldn’t want to wake anyone up.”