#windtorn

( kiss prompts / accepting !! )

𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐄 𝐃𝐈𝐃𝐍'𝐓 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐊𝐄𝐏𝐓 𝐆𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐑𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐃 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐒𝐄 "𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐒." The first time it had happened, had been a situation of leverage, of payment in regards to his cooperation for a situation; but every time after that had left the Trailblazer more confused and uncertain than the last. She didn't know what any of it meant. Or, perhaps more accurately, wasn't willing to look too deeply into it.

Until, eventually, he forced her hand.

"whaaat! no way, no chance, no how! say it isnt so! that easy huh? just like that?" sampo spoke in a tone playfully dramatic with a sing-song lilt to it, but they way his eyes glinted colored him intrigued. "you know, i was just teasing…are you teasing me too now? what's the catch, hm?" the amusement in his eyes didnt diminish but his eyes did darken at her mention of her yearning that he couldn't quite discern the meaning of. something unobtainable and out of his power. he only had inklings of ideas, and none of which were conclusions that he liked. his voice rumbles in his throat but he keeps the cheery facade up. "dont know about that, gorgeous. you still feel plenty sturdy to me." his grip tightens on her slightly, teasingly showing so physically, even though the intent of his words drew from something more intangible. "you're right though, i couldnt, hehe. not even if i wanted to, but i don't think its time for you to break yet anyway." he finds himself squeezing her hand back without thinking about it. "you sure do know how to wriggle your way into a man's heart! my dear zarina, as cunning as she is stunning. eesh, now you got me worried there. keep complimenting me like that and i might never leave." she already had. writhed right in, burrowed beneath the skin and found the empty cavity in his chest. she had made her home there, no matter how sampo might deny the existing warmth that she had kindled there. she looked at him with eyes unfeeling and he mirrors back with glossy playfulness, which was simply a mask slowly dissipating away. "well, yeah. course you are. and you don't need silly ol' sampo koski here to tell you that neither."

At his inquiries, Zarina only hums in response at first. Their slow dane continues to lull her into a state of peaceful stasis, not unwelcome this time. His dramatics bring some color into her monochrome palette, but her lips curl into an amused smile at him trying to find a cast in this proposal from hers truly. "When plays are written and done, nothing is there. I can only wait for you to come back to entertain me. So why not repay you back with something you'd want? You give me your time, I give back what you request from me. What do you want?"

No catch, a simple exchange. She praised herself to be a fair business lady on this little planet. Her laughter came back yet again when Sampo would call her sturdy, the squeezes he was giving her to prove his point were precious and appreciated. The warmth from his body and touch were making her feel just a bit closer to how things were thousands upon thousand years ago.

"You're right, there is still unfinished business to complete," her mystery remains intact, not telling exactly how old she is or what she is. Right now, she is just a woman dancing in the dark of a Fragmentum-tainted place with a man whose ambitions were just as high as his ability to charm almost anyone into underestimating him. "Charming men, women, anyone... I wish I can turn off that skill of mine. I won't put it against you if you want to escape from me." She shrugs, pushing away all and any memories connected to that skillset of hers. A beast in the beauty, that's what they called her.

naturally, gepard eyes the hand sampo holds out to him like one would look for a hidden compartment, wary and a little on edge. just what was sampo asking him to hold? what was the purpose? the mercenary always seemed to be up to something, and gepard knew better to be on guard.

"...you aren't holding anything, koski," gepard goes with eventually, deciding the man is just fooling with him, "unless you want me to hold your ha--" and then, he gets the jokes as he says it, the intended jest sampo was no doubt trying for. gepard's ears light up red, the same shade as the bridge of his nose. he bristles, like a cat splashed with water.

　　unfortunately, his words fell on deaf ears, because she had fallen asleep standing up. it happened from time to time, though usually she was quickly pulled back to reality in a matter of seconds when someone was tapping or trying to get her attention. but here, up at her little greenhouse where she cultivated the very few plants and fungi that could survive under the conditions they were under, few bothered her and that meant she managed to fall asleep quite quickly, tilted over her notes.

@windtorn

He's cute for saying it like that. The saccharine taste of his voice on her ears was quite a delightful experience, a reminder of her previous times when seduction was so thick as an intention. He was not trying to seduce her, he knew better than that but natural attraction would bring them together in yet another dance. It was natural, it was wanted, it was without any attempt or any wish to trap each other in that cage of attraction and seductive temptation. No, if anything, this was a well-deserved delight.

On one hand, the conman acting as a business and on the other the beast in the beauty. A company of those who were not just exactly what they seemed to be, a duo of mask-wearers and a duo of actors in the flesh. They sought out entertainment and indulgence, chest hollow without a sensation of satisfaction... seemingly until now. In each other's company, there was no void. A new sense of fullness, a new sense of intrigue, a new sense of fascination.

Perhaps, a budding sense of belonging.

He spoke in such high regard when it came to her. How pure of an image did he hold of her inside his pretty head of his? The saccharine tone of his was a delicacy to listen to. He didn't know yet, but she enjoyed hearing pleasant voices. The dip of his tone when he said certain words, the way he rolled certain sounds, the way he would say her name. Her interest in his voice should already give him a glimpse of how tainted her mind could be.

"You're giving me so much saint-like credit, speaking to me like that..."

Zarina's smile was laid-back and just a bit amused. His words struck a cord in her, a wonder about how he'd seen her. Her melancholy and her isolated nature were all true, but so were her playfulness and her indulgent self. It was just the latter sides of her had not come out to play for too long. The wait made them lose its sharpness, but Sampo Koski's presence awakened the more colorful sides of her personality. She was... happy to know they did not disappear.

The woman got up from her place, approaching the man slowly but with determination to reach her destination. The look in her eyes spoke many tales: the interest, the amusement, the wish to learn, the yearning to reach out, to be just a bit closer.

"Are you perhaps worried about me, Sampo Koski?" She asks, her voice low and only a whisper for him to hear. As if it's a secret she'll keep between them. "Are you concerned about my safety if we are to get just a bit closer?" It's obvious Zarina doesn't care much for the private space when she steps so close to him, not wishing to give him any ability to escape, cutting away all the way he can use to avoid her. "How considerate of you, but..." Her hand finds herself against his cheek, all to make sure he looks at her and does not let those pretty eyes of his look away. "...I'm afraid this is where your self-imposed views are incorrect. I believe you are..." Her other hand then rests on his shoulder, their closeness a bit too close for those who are just friends or just colleagues or everything 'just'. She leans closer, chest against chest to let him smell the scent of pine trees and winter from her. "...quite good for me, on the contrary. And if you continue to call yourself that, then I'll say that a bad boy in my life is much needed."

Her lips curled into a Cheshire-like smile when she finished speaking, immediately withdrawing all of her presence and touch away from him. It was fun that way: to let him feel so much and hen take it all away the very second. Was it all to create a sense of longing? Yes, of course. Zarina was a cruel woman, a woman who wanted to be wanted and needed. She took away everything: the gentle touch, the scent of winter, and the softness of her body against his. Oh, but she did appreciate that closeness far more than she'd tell right now. It was exciting, even if it was just for a moment.

feedback meme // accepting