"Do you think you can handle sorting through the files in this room?"
Anabelle nodded.
"Alright," Val said, smiling as she went to leave the bedroom full of scattered papers. "I'll let Threos know you're in here when he arrives."
Anabelle thanked Vaalyn as the halfling left, turning back to the large stack of documents in front of her. The Silver Hounds were finally moving out of their small guild hall into a larger building. It was only about three blocks from where they now were, and it was much more spacious; but moving was no menial task. Especially when there were so many files and so much documentation here. Everything needed sorting. What needed to be moved, what needed to be tossed and what needed to be archived. There was a
lot
to go through.
Barrich had offered to help with it all once, but ended up sorting things into the wrong piles before almost falling asleep. He had
tried
hard though. Val appreciated that much, at least.
Frampt had stuck to manual labour, instead of filing. He was content to move large pieces of furniture and crates of supplies from one building to the next when it was necessary.
Val had Norton help her separate all of the papers into rooms so it was easier to work with, but he was busy today.
Anabelle and Threos had agreed to help, since Frampt had offered to play with Amara for the day. Anabelle had showed up a little earlier to help out, but Threos was supposed to be getting here soon. He just had to drop off Amara first. Knowing him though, goodbyes could end up dragging on a little. Anabelle smiled to herself, thinking of Threos interacting with their daughter. He'd always insisted he wouldn't baby talk her, but he was shocking. The full-grown satyr acted like a goofy kid around her, but honestly Anabelle found it rather endearing, if not downright adorable.
She sighed a little, shaking her head of any distractions and getting settled into her work. There was a decent amount to do, and she wanted to get a good start on it before Threos showed up.
She sat there in the cluttered bedroom, sorting papers into one of three boxes at a time. It took a while with some of them, making sure that each file was exactly as it was supposed to be before putting it where it needed to end up. She wasn't really paying much attention to the time, but it did feel a little like it was dragging. No matter what anyone said; this was a dull task, but it had to be done. That didn't make it any more enjoyable though.
She didn't know how long it had been before she heard that familiar 'clop' sound of a pair of hooves walking along hardwood floors down the hallway. Without meaning to, and without turning from her work; Anabelle's mouth curled into a smile.
She looked up from her papers when she heard him enter the room, seeing Threos smiling
down at her from the open door.
"Having fun?" he asked.
She rolled her eyes, turning back to the mountain of work in front of her. "Oh yes, loads," she said, trying to sound less amused.
Threos stepped into the room, sitting down on the floor just behind her, facing to the side. "So, have you tackled these piles yet?" he asked, gesturing to two large stacks of paper in front of him.
"No, I saved them
all
for you," at this, Threos laughed.
"I'm such a lucky guy," his laughter died out, and his brow furrowed in concentration as he began the long arduous task of reading each file. He and Anabelle sat in silence for a while, the only sound in the room the occasional flipping of pages.
Anabelle wasn't certain exactly how many files she'd sorted through, but she'd managed to make four piles completely vanish by this point. Some of them she could look at and knew exactly where to sort them; but other times she would have to sit and read it in greater detail.
A few times Threos had stopped and double checked with her that he was putting something in the right place, but their work mostly went uninterrupted.
After a while, she felt a strain in her shoulders- no doubt from repeated motion over an extended period of time. She let out a grumble and she rolled her neck around, trying to stretch out the tense feeling. Threos clearly noticed this, because Anabelle heard his paper stop moving, and felt his hands appear at her shoulders, beginning to massage the tension out. She sighed contentedly, letting his fingers work their magic. He always had been good at shoulder rubs. Something he'd proved time and time again when she was pregnant with
Amara; and always seemed to be sore.
Threos worked his way from the very bottom of her neck, across to the sides and all the way down to that spot just between her shoulderblades.
Just the way I like it,
the thought passed through her mind before she blinked a few times, realising she'd been holding the same piece of paper for a while now.
Slowly and gently, without much hesitation, Threos moved the long straps of her shirt off of her shoulders, instead letting them hang at the sides so that they were no longer getting in the way. Anabelle almost protested, but let him do it after all, when she felt his large warm hands return to her skin. She was trying not to get distracted from her work, but honestly it was somewhat hard to pay attention at the moment. It just felt so
good.
Her previously tense shoulders seemed to turn to jelly at his fingertips. The knots simply melted away. She also had to admit that she appreciated the feeling of his warm skin on hers, in this chilled room.
She could hear him breathing softly as he sat behind her, giving
his
work his undivided attention. She was having a more difficult time herself though, it seemed.
