Closed Rough Love (Aren)

[Sayana]

“You've got me now… Or do you?” Sayana could hear the challenge in his voice. Though his tone had changed it wasn’t Seros’s deeper voice, nor had Aren’s expression darkened like it tended to do when his brother spoke. Her hands gripped the Akalak’s arms, highs around his wrists and mids pressing down on his forearms but slowly Aren began to lift up his arms. Sayana’s bright smile quickly turned to a look of determination as she shifted forwards to use more of her weight to press down upon him. Still he continued pressing up against her and she had hardly slowed him, nor did he look like it was taking any effort. The Eypharian’s eyes darted about the room. Her daggers on the side table were too far to reach, and although she still had the bread knife in her belt, she didn’t feel that it was right to take it out again. He was still pressing up. Sayana then changed her position on top of him so that her lower leg was on his neck. There was a bit of hesitance before she pushed it hard upon his throat. However, even with that strategy, she doubted she’d win against his arms so she decided to make a break. With her free low right hand, she aimed a curved punch for the Akalak’s cheek. She probably only used half her strength for she didn’t really want to hurt her lover. And the next moment the Eypharian got quickly to her feet and headed for her side table. As she moved, she made a point to try to sidestep his hands should he try to grab at her legs. In a couple of ticks Sayana had discarded the bread knife and replaced it with her daggers. Her larger one with the cobra hilt was in her right mid and the two small throwing daggers in her highs. “So I might not have your strength, but I’m still dangerous,” Sayana said in attempt to assert her own abilities. “And apparently I’m the one with the nice house,” she added with a smirk. She started to circle him, or at least as much as her home allowed with various pieces of furniture in the way. “Couches? A table? A bed? You better at least have a bed. Or are you suggesting you might like to live with me more… permanently?” With a smile she switched one of her throwing daggers to her mid right. With a smooth motion she drew her hand back and let the blade fly in a single spin towards the Akalak. Well, nearly. She had been aiming at the wooden bedframe behind Aren and it landed with a thud into the wood. “Still want to play?” She asked and it was her turn to have the challenge in her voice. She had now switched her main dagger to her mid right and the smaller one to her mid left. The Eypharian lunged forwards with her cobra hilted dagger, but she was still mindful to stop or stall the action should Aren not be quick enough to respond.

[Aren]

He had to give her credit for trying, but the difference in sheer mass between the Eypharian and the Akalak could not be overcome by the shifting of Sayana's weight atop Aren. Although he did have to put forth a greater amount of effort to retain the same slow, plodding movement rate at which his arms were rising, his lover was simply incapable of completely arresting his ascension. Even when her leg forced itself against Aren's neck, her unwillingness to cause any real damage meant the maneuver was not nearly as effective as it could have been. The Akalak could feel the pressure on his throat, but he understood that he would have instinctively reacted to the "attack" rather more vehemently if she actually meant to hurt him. Aren did not attempt to remove her from her seemingly dominant position, yet his eyes looked into her own full of a cocky defiance that seemed to belie his current circumstances. Even when Sayana smacked him right across the side of his face, all she could provoke out of him was a cheeky grin possessed of an excited energy. When the Eypharian suddenly jumped off him and headed for what seemed to be her daggers, Aren took the opportunity to come to his feet at a conspicuously leisurely pace. "Show me how dangerous you are," The azure warrior said, the request lighting his eyes up. Sayana looked more than eager to oblige, and as she circled around him, Aren stood his ground. He was anxious to see just exactly what she meant, which he assumed would have something to do with those blades she seemed to be so fond of. "Well, I definitively don't have a couch," The Akalak mentioned nonchalantly, purposely wording his reply so that it might give the impression that he wasn't entirely sure if he actually had any of those other things Sayana asked about. At her suggestion that he might want to move in with her, however, the cockiness momentarily drained from Aren's face as he wondered if she was seriously asking what he thought she was. When one of her daggers flew right by him, though, the giant realized that it had probably only been a ploy to distract him. Although there was a measurable amount of disappointment on his face, the Akalak had to admit that her tactic had been effective. Though he understood the likelihood of Sayana's words having been nothing but a convenient stratagem, Aren's shoulders couldn't help but drop slightly. The idea that she would ask him to move in with her gave him renewed confidence in his plan, the plan. That confidence had vanished almost as quickly as it had kindled the hope in his heart, however. Though he was, as yet, undeterred in the notion of implementing his proposal, it would have been nice to have just a hint that this was something the stubborn six-armed woman might actually acquiesce to. As it stood, he had no idea which way she might go, which was a dread all its own. Staring at her with a bit of a hapless look, Aren didn't seem to know how to reply to her playful question. As his gaze fell upon her, his eyes softened as if he desperately wanted to tell her something, but simply couldn't manage it. His mouth opened and stayed agape for a moment or two, but then he seemed to give up on voicing the thought that was on his mind.

[Sayana]

When the Eypharian lunged forward with her dagger, Aren seemed completely lost in thought and made no move to block her. Sayana brought her dagger down and across in a slash but controlled it carefully to barely pierce the skin on his chest. With another step forwards she brought the smaller throwing dagger to rest with its edge against his throat. “Aren… You didn’t even try,” the Eypharian complained. She gave a lick at the thin line of blood forming on his chest. Sayana reached up and gave him a brief and light kiss on the lips before taking a step back and releasing him. She returned the two daggers to her belt after giving the tip of her main dagger a quick lick to rid it of blood. She then went to the bed to remove the other small blade from the wooden bed frame and also put it away. Sayana sprawled out on the bed lying on her side as she looked up at her lover. “Aren, I’ll be going on a trip in a few days. Like half a dozen or so. Orin invited me. We’ll be going to Sunset Falls. Would you like to come with us? I think we’re leaving on the 30th, and it’ll take about three days. I know you and Orin don’t always get along, but for me will you come?” Sayana rolled onto her back with her low and mid arms spread out while her highs held her two throwing daggers. She was lost in thought as she began flipping her daggers one at a time. First with her right high she tossed up just high enough to do a full spin so she could catch it by the handle again. She did it once more with her right before switching to her left high. The first toss she caught it by the blade and it was only due to her delicate grip that the cut was rather small. The second toss was more successful as she caught it by the handle. “Did you want to live with me?” Sayana finally asked. “I figured you had a nice place of your own that you liked and were comfortable in. But if that’s not the case… Well, I do like it when you’re here. And I like sharing my bed with you.”

[Aren]

Even when Sayana was armed, Aren felt his reflexes sluggish around her. Maybe it was because she had saved his life, and he didn't believe, even for an instant, that she would truly harm him. Perhaps it was simply that his thoughts sometimes found themselves so preoccupied in her presence. Lately, he noticed himself thinking more and more about the future, their future. The future they might have, or might not, if fate pushed them one way or the other. Aren didn't much like to believe in destiny, or a predetermined end, but he had to admit that sometimes it seemed like the world conspired towards a certain outcome. The lovers that could have been, but never where, but by a razor's edge. The boys that might have been men, but just didn't have the chance to grow up. The life that might have been lived, if one road had been chosen over another. "You know I will," Aren said, as his hand ran across the cut that Sayana had made on his chest. He stared into the red smudges on the tips of his fingers as if there was some great meaning to be found there, before his eyes looked towards the Eypharian laying on the bed. No sound was made, for a time, apart from the sound of her blades slicing through the air as she juggled them. Then, the silence was broken, as if a darkness which was pierced by a golden light. The Akalak did not speak for a long time, but his lips very slowly curved upwards until his teeth were made visible by the gap the curvature forced. "We're going to need a bigger bed," He said, still smiling, his golden eyes wide and excited. Aren didn't really know what else to say, but his reaction should have told Sayana everything she needed to know. He was more than glad to live with her, to share more with her, to be a greater part of her life. In addition, it gave him new-found confidence that perhaps his plan wasn't utterly doomed to failure. He almost felt like asking her here and now, but he wouldn't. Patience was his ally, and he would exercise the virtues it espoused. His time would come, he knew. There would be a moment, the perfect moment, his moment; he could feel it. Aren hated to think of his proposal as a battle, but he feared that's exactly what it might be. In battle, there was sometimes a specific instant when your attack coincided beautifully with the gap in an opponent's defense. When that happened, you could feel it, and both sides understood that the contest was over before the blow even landed. Zee BedPurchase of 40 GM bed for Sayana's apartment (which they would have done right after this, but we did not RP for the sake of expediency), cost to be split equally between Sayana and Aren. -20 GM for both of them.

[Plume]

Sayana

Observation	+3 XP
Weapon: Dagger	+2 XP
Cooking	+4 XP
Intelligence	+4 XP
Rhetoric	+3 XP
Acrobatics	+1 XP
Seduction	+5 XP
Flirting	+2 XP
Interrogation	+4 XP
Medicine	+1 XP
Subterfuge	+2 XP
Investigation	+2 XP
Intimidation	+1 XP
Massage	+1 XP
Negotiation	+1 XP
Wrestling	+2 XP
Tactics	+2 XP
Unarmed Combat	+1 XP

Lores :

• Ginger Tea: Good for Morning Sickness
• Seros: Released by a Glassbeak
• Aren: A Practitioner of Magic
• Magic: Anyone Can Learn It
• Magic: A Skill That is Often Feared
• Reimancy: Dominion Over Nature
• Challenging an Akalak with Eypharian Cunning
• Aren: An Invitation to Sunset Falls, and to Move In

Aren

Observation	+5 XP
Intelligence	+5 XP
Philosophy	+5 XP
Rhetoric	+5 XP
Seduction	+5 XP
Flirting	+2 XP
Subterfuge	+1 XP
Teaching	+2 XP
Reimancy	+1 XP
Interrogation	+2 XP
Intimidation	+2 XP
Wrestling	+2 XP
Planning	+2 XP

Lores :

• Love: Enduring Horrible Cooking
• Sayana: How Much Do I Really Know?
• Sero's Imprisonment Entirely Justified
• Explaining Magic to Sayana
• Sayana: Smaller but Still Dangerous
• Sayana: An Invitation to Sunset Falls, and to Move In
• Deciding to Live with Sayana

Notes :

A most enjoyable thread ^__^ Their relationship is very dynamic, and I look forward to seeing what you two drum up next!