Katniss Everdeen (
stillplaying) wrote2012-03-26 06:42 pm
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Appointment Post!
For any interaction that you want to happen with Katniss, anytime and anyplace within the
luceti world that do not fit into a given post, please use this!
Just give a date and place, and whether this will be via journal or in-person!
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Just give a date and place, and whether this will be via journal or in-person!
action
He can’t think of a time when he has seen her so pleased, and coming from Katniss, he’s fairly certain it’d only fade or twist into a scowl were he to remark on it. The smile, for all its rarity, holds no meaning to him though, and while the corners of his own lips curl upwards, it’s a crooked, mirthless sort of smirk that he gives in turn.]
I am most impressed that you have managed not to burn the table to ashes. So you have learned something after all.
[She is not undeserving of praise, more so given that she was not born with an inclination for practicing magic. But her drive and ambition to improve was best fueled by her own determination to succeed than by the approval of anyone else.
His smile falls and he turns away, moving towards a basket of chopped wood and bending to toss a log into the hungry fire. There is no greater source of heat available for all the fur blankets he has heaped over the bed, but for a hole underground (albeit a clean, elegantly furnished one) in the dead of winter, the room's a surprisingly comfortable place to be so long as the door is shut against the cool air from the hallway.]
Power is nothing if one knows not how to control it. [But she knows; of course she knows. He's sure she'll tell him so.]
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The scowl fades and she looks back at him, watching as he begins to feed the fire with logs. It makes the room a little more homey, a little warmer and more comfortable. But there's no mistaking the bed that takes up a lot of the space. And that reminds her of just why she's here again.
She starts to tear her eyes away from him when he speaks again, speaks of a lesson that she learned again and again during the past few years of her life. A lesson that cost her her sister's life. Nearly cost her so much more.]
I know. [There's steely fierceness behind the comment and a flame flickers in her hand again, something to play with, to remind herself of the power she's learned to control.] That's why I came to you in the first place.
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Then you should know not to expect that which you wish to hear. If it is honeyed praises that you want, then go –- [he gives a dismissive sweep of his arm] -- and find yourself one of many others all too eager to feed you to complacency.
[Dusting his gloves of wood chips, he rises smoothly from his crouch, tugging his thick, snow-dusted cape loose at the throat. He drifts towards his desk chair, drapes it neatly over the back to dry, and then stands a moment, thinking, before he glances over his shoulder and regards her neutrally.]
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I'm not going anywhere. [Arms cross over her chest and she looks stubbornly at him, rooted where she stands. She has a bargain to fulfill. And she's always worked to keep her word.] Unless you've changed your mind.
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But one man escaped his debt when he disappeared one morning and never returned.
[Turning his attention to his feet, he stoops over to loosen the long column of belts along the side of each of his boot and it’s slow work even for his clever fingers. Abel keeps a critical eye on her all the while, fangs gleaming behind its curling upper lip. But for all its dislike of strangers, especially, it hasn’t any choice but to grimly tolerate the company she shares with its master. Isaac’s control is unyielding and its own irresistible compulsion to obey allows for no accidents. And so, as a savage devil forged and lusting for battle, it can only wait restlessly until given reason to draw blood however it can.]
I have no intentions of making the same mistake twice... be it with a man or a woman.
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She's going to do this. Fill her debt to him. Like a prostitute. Brought and paid with services rendered. She hates herself for it. But then, she hates herself for a lot of things. What's a little more if it'll prove to protect Prim in the long run?]
I understand. [Finally, she tears her eyes away to bend down and begin to unlace her own boots. They're not anything nearly as complicated as his own. But the sooner they do this, the sooner she'll be able to leave.] Debts are meant to be fulfilled.
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He moves past her, not stopping to watch her undress. There’s nothing to see that he won’t in a moment, nothing that makes hot lust twist deep in his belly.
He tips back-first onto the bed, arms spread, lids falling shut. The mattress bounces beneath him. It has always been too large for him alone, and it almost brings a wry smile to his lips to remember why he had chosen something of this size in the first place.
He takes the time to pull in what feels like the first deep breath in days as he lays there, cold and unreachable, dull-pink stripes and patches of scar tissue almost lost amongst the patterns of ink sprawling down his chest and stomach.
His gauntlets stay on.]
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But for once, she doesn't care what her partner thinks. She has no desire to please him. Only to fulfill that debt. But that touch of bashfulness is still there when she finishes stripping, clothes messily piled on top of each other on the floor. The sooner they do this, the sooner she can try to forget how she's sold herself. So she doesn't hesitate to get on her hands and knees on the bed, crawling close to start kiss a trail along the patterns of his tattoos.]