New to Giralda, I see. Well, it takes all sorts around here. Take that shifty-eyed weasel by the fire.
Oh, he acts looks like a simple merchant, peddling meager wares, but watch what you say around him. The Empire’s got ears everywhere...
See those two there? They seem all chummy now, but that’s only because Var is trying to convince Jarek to desert the navy in Thisbē and join
those lawless bastards who sail from the Spice Isles. I’m sure that one will kill the other before the week is out, once they’ve got what they want from each other.
Then there’s always the usual mercs; bastards who’d happily kill their own mothers for a coin. Oh, they say those twins from Brelan aren’t so bad,
but a merc is a merc, and money is all they see.
At least there're no damned elves here tonight. One got uppity last month when I insisted the
bastard slept in the stables. A damn generous offer for a half-breed, if you ask me!
Mind yourself if you head into the Wilds. It’s full of things that
would happily eat you and shit you out without a second thought. Even the people who hunt those things are more beast than civil.
Anyway stranger,
what'll it be: a room, or a drink?
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Post by Azazeal Mysra on Jun 10, 2023 15:03:13 GMT -6
A
zazeal stared at her for a long moment, an air of hesitation still about him. He was visibly stunned by her playful little challenge - “Not now?” - and was trying to decipher anything that might be between the lines. Whether or not she was merely teasing him. It did not occur to him right away that she may be just as eager to find a reason to be so close as he suggested. Even with such a counterproposal as that.
As Athena thought, it was a request for an innocent yet intimate kind of moment. But, in a way, he felt as if he had been called on a bluff. Of course, Az was perfectly serious in the request and very interested in getting to do it sooner than later without knowing for certain how much longer they would keep each other’s company. It was the then and there and in the open, hundreds of people around them, that seemed to give him some sort of pause when he had been picturing something more privately undertaken. Perhaps Athena was testing his intentions - which were more or less honorable. In fact, given the chance to belt the whole thing, he meant to avoid touching her as much as possible while fastening the straps.
He grinned at her comment and replied with a quippish tone, “That is always the aim: to be politely wicked. It can be a very persuasive tactic.” When she was done refilling her wine, he reached for the bottle and topped off his own goblet. “I must say, though, I am beginning to wonder if you are not the more wicked of us.” Before Az could ask if she was serious, his question was answered by Athena’s counterproposal. “I… As you wish,” he replied happily before taking up the last of his gifts.
Laughter burst from his lips upon revealing a carved ibak. It was a gift that was both funny and romantic, harkening back to a late night conversation where they shared origin stories about the most interesting scars on their bodies. An ibak being a highly memorable character in one of Athena’s stories. The other item was another figure, this time a woman in the style of a religious icon with ‘Saint Athena’ inscribed on the base. “Ahh, thank you, now my goddess shall always be with me.” Az gave the statuette a little kiss atop her head. “Ni mel tien. Truly.”
Athena could practically hear the wheels turning in Azazeal’s brain as he pondered what she had offered - mostly as a challenge to him - in regards to the gift he gave her. She was nothing but serious, though she would admit that she liked watching him squirm the slightest bit. If he were to take her up on the offer she was certain the smile would fall from her face and the nervousness in her body would become palpable. Of course she loved spending time with Azazeal and being close to him, but she couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to further bridge that gap with one another.
The elf made a sound of approval as he filled her cup, taking a long sip from it as he topped off his own. “You know I have been trying to tell you that for weeks.” She offered in response to his comment about her wickedness. Athena had been exposing parts of herself to Azazeal slowly over the time they had shared, though she hesitated to think they would get to a place where they knew simply everything about one another. She absently wondered what dark secrets - if any - he had lurking behind his handsome exterior.
“I saw the Ibak first and couldn’t resist.” A smile formed on her face at Azazeal’s laughter, something about it being the most infectious thing she thought she may have ever heard. It was such an uncommon experience for her, being able to enjoy someone in such a simple way as relishing in their delight. She explained to him how she had seen that one first and was swayed into the second by the offered engraving, despite the womanly figure not bearing much resemblance to her. “Excellent pronunciation.” She smiled before popping a grape in her mouth, chewing thoughtfully. “What other Elvish would be helpful?” She thought for a moment. “Ecë nin is a polite way to ask for something since your manners are unparalleled.” She joked with him. “Ecë nin….miqu?” She settled on the last word carefully. “It means 'please may I have a kiss?'”
Post by Azazeal Mysra on Aug 6, 2023 8:50:37 GMT -6
H
e shrugged and nodded a little, indicating that he begrudgingly conceded the point. “So you have.” It was true. She had tried to warn him more than once that his boasted wickedness was the stuff of amateurs. He had simply been too charmed by other qualities to believe her. Azazeal smirked, a glint of mischief in his eyes. “The extent of which I do not mind learning about the hard way.” He punctuated the remark by pulling from his wine and gazing at her with a certain coyness over the goblet's brim.
Ecë nin. Azazeal repeated the new phrase a few times under his breath as she explained its meaning and usefulness. The crack about his politeness had him grinning. Then, the example she gave for the phrase’s use gave him pause. “A kiss?” It was clear enough to him that Athena’s choice of the third word was a calculated one. A flirtatious little dare that was perhaps meant to bridge the gap from where the gift-giving ended to a more intimate venture. Az deliberately delayed his response for the span of several heartbeats so that he might make her squirm a little this time.
He shifted his body, pivoting more toward her. “Isse?” Az replied at last, his voice low and gentle. ‘Where’ was a word he knew already. As well as, “Hín?” He had reached for her hand between the words, raising her gloved knuckles to his mouth and waiting to plant the chaste little kiss until after he had said ‘here?’ “Or, hín?” Azazeal asked, gently pulling her hand parallel to his cheek so that when he turned his head he was pressing his lips into her naked wrist. “Or…?”
Athena nodded, satisfied that he had finally acquiesced the fact that she could be a bit wicked. As for the extent, she had no thought of even touching on her background with Azazeal at this time - it certainly wouldn’t help her case, and she liked where they were right now. It was easy and surprisingly fun for her to be with this man. More so than anyone else, he had made her feel comfortable (and seen) in a way that she hadn’t ever before. Why sully that with a decades long history that was hopefully no longer relevant?
She was pulled from her brief thoughts about her past by his lingering half question, a repeat of the words she had only just spoken. Athena’s cheeks were aglow from the fire as well as the pause that he was taking to perhaps evaluate if she was making a request or simply teaching him. She wasn’t quite sure what she expected from him that night, but the possibilities gave her stomach a small turn of anticipation as well as fear.
Athena was surprised by the Elven tongue coming from Azazeal’s mouth. “You’ve been holding out on me.” She said, speaking of course of the words he knew that she hadn’t just taught him. Her brain was beginning to short circuit both from his question of ‘where’ and the lips that followed suit. She watched as he laid a kiss on her knuckles, her eyes closing when they landed on the exposed skin of her wrist. “There is…good.” She managed to say, taking a deep breath after she spoke.
She opened her eyes and pointed to a spot just under her ear where her neck met with her jaw. “Here would be good, too.” She held his gaze, scooting herself a bit closer to Azazeal. They had spent a lot of time getting to know one another since they had met, but the level of physical intimacy remained mostly the same. Athena felt intimidated by it, but at the same time wanted to explore more with Azazeal in every sense of the word. With time, she felt that she could get to a level of comfort in feeling safe with herself.
“I’m beginning to question your wicked politeness.”
Post by Azazeal Mysra on Dec 15, 2023 17:20:00 GMT -6
I
t was not much of an exaggeration he had made before. The solstice well-wish really was the only coherent sentence he could speak in Elvish with any confidence. ‘Where’, ‘here’, ‘there’, a handful of expletives and insults, and the odd noun were about all else that had stuck with him before their lessons that evening. He could, however, understand a great deal more than he could speak - which was true of Orcish and Dwarvish as well.
Azazeal merely smirked at her accusation. His eyes glittered with amusement in the firelight, feigning a knowing look with a brief raise of his brows as if to say she had found him out. In truth, he just liked her thinking he was cleverer or more enigmatic than he was for the moment.
Athena upped the ante with her suggestion of where else may have been a good place to kiss her, then moved a little closer to him. Az studied her for a moment, wondering if it was still a dare or if they were playing chicken. And if the latter, who would be the first to fall.
He took the liberty of brushing back the hair from her shoulder, testing the waters a little with the motion. Azazeal’s gaze slowly traced the soft curve of her neck before meeting at her eyeline again. He smiled in good humor at her teasing and replied, “You mean I have been too polite?” His eyes drifted back to the spot at the corner of her jaw; he leaned in but did not kiss her. Instead, Az grazed her skin with the tip of his nose, then whispered into her ear, “Was this purely educational or an an invitation?”
Athena knew she was being lax in her behavior, but she was having fun with Azazeal and wanted to lean into the feeling - as it was often fleeting - for once. The risks were ever present, but the ease of being around him and the way they were able to interact with one another was too enticing. She wanted to learn more about him, and testing others' boundaries seemed to be a good way to gain that knowledge…even if she might have other motives.
The elf watched his expression carefully as the firelight moved across his features. It was with a gentle hand that he moved her hair off her shoulder, exposing the barely sunkissed skin beneath. “You’ve been a perfect gentleman.” She told him, an unfamiliar feeling creeping into her stomach as he moved closer, the tease of his nose tickling her skin. Athena let out a light laugh as her nerves got the best of her, a heat rising to her cheeks.
She cleared her throat before speaking again, all too aware of his heated breath whispering across her skin. “I suppose it could be both.” Athena paused, turning her head only the slightest bit to see him. “You can always tuck that bit of information away for another time if you have somewhere you need to be.” She chuckled again, this time at herself and her witty little quip.
Post by Azazeal Mysra on Mar 4, 2024 16:08:45 GMT -6
H
er laugh made him smile and melted away what little resolve he had to continue this little game. But Athena pulled back a bit then, and so he did as well. He felt confident it was only a reaction of having been tickled by the brush of his nose but wanted to see her face so he could be absolutely sure she was not suddenly uncomfortable. For all the teasing and daring about being wicked, Azazeal never wanted her to have any misgivings about the sort of man he was.
He realized Athena’s movement had been far more slight than it felt. Not a recoiling so much as just trying to see his face when she delivered her banter. She was blushing and her spirits seemed unchanged.
Az’s smile widened into a wry sort of grin. If she weren’t being funny, adorable even, he could have been annoyed at the very suggestion. The only place he would rather be - with her - was somewhere a great deal more secluded than an open field with hundreds of people about. “Not at all. Only my goddess could send me away from these crucial lessons.”
They were still so close that when he leaned toward her again, their lips were almost touching. His gaze had dropped to the rosy curves of her tempting mouth for a lingering moment, then shifted back to lock with her eyes once more. “Is that what she commands?” he asked quietly, “Or… ecë nin miqu?”
Athena was nearly certain that she hadn’t felt this at ease or excited to be around someone in her vast number of years that she had been blessed with thus far. She had fun in the past, that much was true, but nothing along the lines of the comfort that Azazeal’s presence was consistently giving to her. She knew it was both this man and who he was as a person, but also the way he was around her - not scared, but gentle and respectful of who she was and what her limits were.
The effortlessness of their conversation was nothing short of a miracle, for she had never met a man who was able to provide banter as well as wanting to get to know her for who she was. It was strictly one or the other. “I’m glad you’re so committed to your education.” She commented, a smile forming on her lips. She watched as his eyes moved down towards her slowly growing smile and back up to her face.
Athena’s own gaze retreated down to her gloved hands, a blush rising to her cheeks again at the thought of Azazeal going out of his way to find something so meaningful. She concentrated on what she had been taught about herself and her energy thus far as she brought her hand up to mess with Azazeal’s hair, wandering lightly along his cheekbone before settling her hand just under his ear. Her eyes followed along the path that her fingers made, watching as a pink hue rose to his face and certainly mirrored her own complexion.
“Perfect pronunciation, so yes you may.” She offered before closing her eyes as well the space between them, her lips ghosting over his as if asking a question. Athena pulled back for barely a moment before leaning in again, this time more assured as her hand snuck its way to the back of his neck and pulled Azazeal closer.
Post by Azazeal Mysra on Apr 20, 2024 18:15:35 GMT -6
“D
evoted.” Azazeal’s expression faded from playful flirtation into something more sincere, another meaning behind the word. He half-regretted saying it the way he did, afraid of repelling her with too soon a declaration of strong feelings, even if it was not entirely outright, and yet neither could he deny how he felt about her. It was getting harder not to express it.
Athena's gentle caress as her fingers threaded through his hair soothed Azazeal of his doubts. The intimate gesture seemed to further charge the air between them. She brought her lips to his in a feather-light touch and then pulled away. Was that it? There hadn’t even been enough time for him to decide what to do with his hands. Oh gods, that couldn’t be all. It wasn’t enough. He might die!
When he opened his eyes to meet her gaze, he realized it was not the end. Or at least it didn’t have to be. Around them, the festivities of the solstice celebration faded into the background. A silent conversation passed between them and then she leaned in once more, her kiss bolder, more sure. They had kissed before, but never like this. They drew each other closer as the kiss deepened, a symphony of desire and longing finally playing out unguarded.
Breaking away from her lips, Azazeal trailed kisses from the corner of her mouth, under the curve of her cheekbone, down to the spot at the corner of her jaw they had talked so much about. Placing soft kisses along the column of her neck, each touch a testament to the fiery connection that bound them together in that moment.
And then the spell was abruptly broken. Shattered by a cacophony of whistles and cheers from the people at the neighboring bonfire goading them on.