Conversation Space IV.

[powersthatbe]

The small room is painted a dark beige, with stained wood paneling on the lower half, and lush burgundy carpeting. The ceiling, however, is cracked and bowed, sagging alarmingly, occasionally shedding chips of plaster. Wrought-iron lamp-posts in the corners suspend pale, wan globes of light, and between them along the walls run rows of painted sunflowers, all turned towards the center of the room as if listening attentively. A jutting spire of granite rises from the floor on a diagonal, its flattened top sporting a cracked wineglass from which the wine (a white) slowly spatters teardrops across the plinth. And there is no chair, but a therapist’s couch, blue with gold trim, and ornate scrollwork on the legs, beside which the fluted horn of a phonograph player pipes music into the room, quiet enough to just be background ambience.

Comments

[iseethe]

"You can take action while sitting," she replies archly, but she takes a seat on the couch, reclining a la Helene.

[willyousee]

"Oh, I am aware, my lady," he says, settling in likewise and snuggling back against her instinctually. "Is that your preferred method? Sitting back and directing and letting events unfold? Was it your handsome rival who drew you out to dance?"

Resting his head against her shoulder, he sighs, a touch melancholy. "I miss that. Costumes and finery and mystery and dancing."

[iseethe]

A grey arm, silk over stuffing over porcelain, drapes over him. "Sol is handsome," she agrees. "Was that why you held a ball last year? Because you missed it? Psyche insisted on decorating the liminal for you. I might have gone for something a bit more elegant."

[willyousee]

She didn’t answer his question, he notices, but he doesn’t pursue it. “I would have preferred elegant, truthfully,” Alcuin smiles, laying his hand over hers and lightly lacing their fingers together. “I mentioned my longing to Lady Helena and she was enchanted by the idea. She thought to request a space of you, and Thorne came to her own conclusion as well. Which was more effective? The note or the, ah, large coding script I think she called it.”

[iseethe]

She chuckles. "I wouldn't want to ruin your lady's experiments. Tell me, Alcuin, she hasn't come between us, has she? Lover she may be, but I am still your patron."

She delicately wraps her ankle over his.

[willyousee]

He stretches sinuously against her, curling his foot about hers. "I do not know, milady. Do you believe she has? She may not be under your patronage, but do her goals fall so far outside your challenge to me?" his tone is one of idle speculation.

[iseethe]

"That depends on which goal," she murmurs back.

She undulates against his back. "I think," she breathes in his ear, "I shall give you a gift."

[willyousee]

He hums. "A gift? I am flattered. I can think of nothing which might be able to repay you, however."

[iseethe]

"You may repay me by continuing to be as exquisite an exemplar of my archetype as you have been since I saw you," she murmurs. "I do not think it will be difficult for you."

Another undulation against his back. "You would like to be able to know where my other Chosen are whenever you please, I think. One new one in particular."

[willyousee]

He half turns his head to glance at her through lowered lashes, raising their hands to his lips that he may kiss her knuckles. "I must be all but transparent to you, Lady Luna."

[iseethe]

She sighs at his courtly gesture. "Delightfully so. She kisses well, the Lady Melisande."

[willyousee]

"Yes," he murmurs just above a whisper, "she does. Nor is it her only skill. If you are collecting kisses from your Chosen, far be it from me to stop you... I cannot imagine you as anything but beautiful."

1/2

[iseethe]

"Well, then," she says, with a bit of throaty laughter. "Let me slip into something more mortal..."

2/2

[iseethe]

Alcuin will notice that the hand he is touching has become more like mortal flesh and less like silk covering porcelain, although it retains the same grey coloring.

"You may turn around now," she murmurs.

Re: 2/2

[willyousee]

With a fluid twist, he winds up on his back, legs still lightly tangled with hers, and gasps, real pleasure and wonder in his face. Slowly, carefully, giving her time to pull away, he reaches out to brush his fingertips along the curve of her cheekbone and down the line of her face. "Oh I knew I would be right. What a lovely face you've chosen, my lady," he breathes.

Re: 2/2

[iseethe]

"I'd hoped you would appreciate it," she says in a husky voice. She leans forward to brush her lips against his.

[willyousee]

He sighs against her mouth and delicately cradles her face with his hands to entice her to linger. The tip of his tongue touches her lips and requests admittance.

[iseethe]

Admittance is granted. She slides her fingers into his hair again, rolls her slim, boyish body against his.

[willyousee]

An involuntary shiver runs through him at her touch and he deepens the kiss in such a way as to give her all the control while keeping none of it for himself. Sweet, sensual exploration and appreciation, nothing more, nothing less. One hand slips slowly down her throat and shoulder, down her ribs and side to rest at her waist, trespassing no further. When finally he allows the kiss to break, he remains mere centimeters away, looking into her eyes and breathing, “One would think you seek to test the skills of my former trade, my lady.”

[iseethe]

She laughs, warm and throaty. "May I? I am, after all, your patron."

[willyousee]

"I wondered if you were above such worldly things," he whispers. "Especially with a mere mortal. You have others closer to your own station who must be glad of your company."

[iseethe]

"Only a select few of us engage in recreational reproduction," she murmurs, stroking his hair. "Perhaps my preferred partner does not have it in his idiom, not even in such a sideways fashion as I do. You see, it's the romanticism that draws me. You're quite good, aren't you, at romanticism."

[willyousee]

He smiles, blinking slowly up at her and turning his head just enough to lay a kiss on the inside of her wrist. “I do my best, my lady. You seem to blossom with it, as if it strengthens you. And if we both enjoy such things… it has been some time since I was honored with such a noble patron as yourself. I only wish that you need not settle for me when there is another for whom your heart yearns.” He is quiet a moment, looking soberly into her face. “…I cannot be him. I have always been a creature of the night and moon and shadow, not of the bright day. If you truly wish for someone like him, I fear you may be disappointed in my arms.”

[iseethe]

She sighs at his kiss. She does, truly, seem to enjoy this.

"You are my creature, not his. It would be foolish to expect you to be otherwise--and self-sabotaging. I only ask for worship in your touch."

cw: shading nsfw

[willyousee]

“Ah now that… that I can certainly provide,” he breathes, and delicately cupping her face, draws her down into a warm, sweet, exploratory kiss. It seems likely that they will be there for some time.

It is certainly no hardship at all to discover the way an Arcanum makes love. With slow delight and showers of deliberate soft kisses, he helps her out of her garments one inch at a time. Each new place uncovered receives its own gentle adoration, and not once does he regret it. As he so often does with his patrons, he loses himself in the moment – he cannot separate himself out to observe and act both at once. Not in this. So he devotes himself entirely to the action rather than render a lack-luster performance. Once he has coaxed her entirely from her gown, he draws back, holding her hands till he can no longer and must allow them to separate. He kneels before her to begin divesting himself of his own clothing, hesitant in places, casting her shy glances as color lends depth to his shapely face. His shoulders bow as he curls inward, arms crossing over his chest and drawing down to his hips. He holds the pose a moment as if praying, shame over his disfigurement washing over him stronger than it has in many, many months. Naamah and Elua forgive him… he actually wants this woman’s approval.