John sat there, and basked in the confirmation she gave him for all his good work in her service. It brought along fond memories when she promised to rely on him more in the future. But it was a little less than he'd hoped for - romantic minds are usually the first to despair, too. He recognized soon that it might have been too much to hope for, that their hearts would meet here, on her first day in her third life. He was ready to be brave about it, and perhaps hide his disappointment until he could be alone and nurse it, but then she moved forward with all the innocent allure that she held.<br/><br/>It burnt away from her in an instance, like paper does on a bed of red coals. The cool beauty that she'd been known for was something else then, when she tried the little fruit he'd held up. He was completely silent, hand trembling when her mouth came to claim the red orb. He swallowed back a deep breath when he felt her lips transfer their heat to his fingertips. It was the single most undoing instance John had felt. He'd not thought he would live to see it, the day there was a demon in Charlotte. It was beautiful, and it turned his blood into an inferno.<br/><br/>He sat there on his knees, worshiping her while harboring thoughts of defiling her, too. Wouldn't it be better if she was his wife? Perhaps someone else had the voices they needed? He wanted that life desperately, but more than that he wanted this moment. An immature picture of their bodies on that bed. She was seducing him, after all, wasn't she, with the way she'd engaged with her lips? He needed to believe that, naive man with increasingly cleaver dreams.<br/><br/>It was painfully abrupt when his Lotte returned, and the soft mouthed demon had flitted somewhere to the back. He coughed and took his hand back, nodding quickly to appease her. "I-I'll always take care of you." he promised, a little louder than their privacy called for, given his distress and confusion. He wanted to stay and look at her, but he was also relieved when she sent him away to his own thoughts. It would have to be enough to revel in her new nearness, to know that she wasn't as far as the hospital anymore, that she'd sleep under a roof not far from his.<br/><br/>John reported back to Father after that, and Jarek was understanding. The good doctor was left alone to all his planning while John quickly excused himself to his own quarters. He took to the showers, and used the hand she'd kissed to please himself until he was exhausted. After that he dressed again to look for other excuses to see her, but the Ovrems had nothing for him, and even Irma said something about how tired the girl must be. John accepted that, and buried himself in other work, instead.<br/><br/>Kell kept distracted, too. The pious hearts of the young women kept them strong for his needs. And the parts of them that weren't so pious were even more enamored by the dark, second patriarch of their fenced-in world. He'd taken sisters today, Ellen and Reve, who were inseparable. Their dark hair was deeper than their mother's, who'd been his yesterday, and their tongues were a faded pink, almost sickly out their swollen, eager mouths.<br/><br/>In honesty, Kell and Reve liked to bully Ellen, who was the youngest, only good for this kind of thing since three months back. The little sister had no choice but to be served up by her older sibling and then have her insides shaped after Kell's monstrous exterior. They'd been with him a handful of times since Ellen's birthday, and she was, just like Reve, loosing her love as well as her body to him. The sisters worked the fields and kept their tables at the shop busy for the commune at day, but they lived for their encounters with the commune prince. Those pale tongues were his, and they tried to remind him of that when they saw him in the halls.<br/><br/>Kell was amused by it all, seeing them go from unknowing to mischievous. Reve had grown almost cruel to her sister, and Ellen loved it. And she loved when he decided to remind the slightly taller sister that despite her possible perch in hierarchy above Ellen, she was still leagues bellow himself. Reve was always so gorgeously surprised to be bent and flipped, and blushed especially when Ellen watched, vengeful and delighted. As he'd taught them, by the end, they were gratefully on their praying knees with indecipherable, gargled psalms on their voices and reward strewn and dripping off their faces.<br/><br/>They were sore, bleeding today, when they left. It was all to distract him from the flower in the next room, that he wouldn't get to pluck until the ritual. If father wasn't such a gargoyle about it. Kell didn't get much reprieve from his seething from the pleasure he'd spent on the sisters, and went through quite a number of the waiting women his father had thrown at him to keep him occupied. By the morning, he was more invigorated by frustration than ever.<br/><br/>It was not his father, but Kell himself that found her when she'd bathed. He wore his black clothes as always, tailored by the commune seamstress, who knew his body well. Despite his nightly activities, putting great stress on the women, he himself was pristine. He opened her door without knocking and smiled when he saw her in the new garbs.<br/><br/>There he is. We've missed him.<br/><br/>It was Raker who wanted to remind her of that. Her voices were usually more inclined in Kell's favor, and they rushed to her cheekbones to be closer when he came and touched her face. Kell thought it was distracting to see so much of her through the dress, but he wasn't one to complain. "Look at you." he said and started examining her, holding on to her head and turning it different ways. He even rolled her lip down to see her teeth. An object. His object.<br/><br/>"You have bathed?" he asked, knowing the schedule well. There had been an unspoken line between the men, but Kell felt the urgency of the coming event, and wanted to see her. "Did you do it right?" he asked and stepped back, sterner than he usually was. A gesture with perfect fingers. "Lift it up for me." he said, and waited to see if there'd be modesty or obedience in her.<br/><br/>Outside, also a man to keep his time, the doctor strode through the corridor. He needed to speak with his Oracle, and start preparing her. Not many hours now, and people were already preparing fervently around the stone table.