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Tyrant.
[ He immediately gets to it, pressing his thumbs into the arches of her feet. He has good strong hands, sensitive and attentive, hands that somehow express all the warmth that he doesn't ever allow his words or his deeds to show. His foot-rubs are magical, and his head and hand massages - absolutely phenomenal, even as he keeps complaining: ]
I'm a good honest man, having to endure this kangaroo court. You ought to have been born during the Time of Isolation and ruled as some wicked empress...
[ He immediately gets to it, pressing his thumbs into the arches of her feet. He has good strong hands, sensitive and attentive, hands that somehow express all the warmth that he doesn't ever allow his words or his deeds to show. His foot-rubs are magical, and his head and hand massages - absolutely phenomenal, even as he keeps complaining: ]
I'm a good honest man, having to endure this kangaroo court. You ought to have been born during the Time of Isolation and ruled as some wicked empress...
[ She makes the most guiltless, happy little grunt of a moan when his fingers sink into the aching her feet. Before she bites it off, doesn't need the drive getting any more ideas as her her teeth sink into her lip. It takes the pressure off them immediately, because he is good at it and he is good at what he does and he knows it. Practised on all those Vor ladies and lords he seduces, no doubt, and there for her to reap the benefit of. What a greedy, selfish woman she was. ]
Oh yes. I would have a lover a day and kill them by night - [ Her brow is furrowed just that little in the utter concentration of how good that feels. That, like that spike of her volatile rage, takes no less than all of herself. ] - like mad old Empress, oh, whatever her name was.
Oh yes. I would have a lover a day and kill them by night - [ Her brow is furrowed just that little in the utter concentration of how good that feels. That, like that spike of her volatile rage, takes no less than all of herself. ] - like mad old Empress, oh, whatever her name was.
Alexandra?
[ He frowns in thought, trying to remember. His fingers don't hesitate or falter or even slow, even as he's distracted by trying to remember his history lessons. ]
I think it was Alexandra. She was only a second cousin of my family, so we never did spend much time remembering her. In any case. Your lovers would thank you with your dying breath, my good lady.
[ He frowns in thought, trying to remember. His fingers don't hesitate or falter or even slow, even as he's distracted by trying to remember his history lessons. ]
I think it was Alexandra. She was only a second cousin of my family, so we never did spend much time remembering her. In any case. Your lovers would thank you with your dying breath, my good lady.
Proof that Vorrutyer's aren't always responsible, I suppose.
[ There's another happy noise when he digs into a sore point. Feeling someone crack back into place. No doubt where a horse had stood on her foot recently. ]
Would they? [ she laughs, then sobers a little. ] Perhaps I should find one, then. I suppose it has been long enough. [ What was good form for a widow? One year? Or was it two? She couldn't quite remember. She knew she would be expected to look for one, in enough time. Just wasn't good form for a woman as young as she was to be left alone. Or so they would say. ]
[ There's another happy noise when he digs into a sore point. Feeling someone crack back into place. No doubt where a horse had stood on her foot recently. ]
Would they? [ she laughs, then sobers a little. ] Perhaps I should find one, then. I suppose it has been long enough. [ What was good form for a widow? One year? Or was it two? She couldn't quite remember. She knew she would be expected to look for one, in enough time. Just wasn't good form for a woman as young as she was to be left alone. Or so they would say. ]
Ah.
[ He smiles down at her feet, face not betraying a hint of the unnameable emotion that rises up in him. What is that? Grief for her slaughtered idiot husband? Fear for her and her reputation? Who can tell. ]
Would you like a list of suggestions?
[ He smiles down at her feet, face not betraying a hint of the unnameable emotion that rises up in him. What is that? Grief for her slaughtered idiot husband? Fear for her and her reputation? Who can tell. ]
Would you like a list of suggestions?
[ Her eyes crack briefly, looking at him suspiciously for what those suggestions might be. But blast him, he's being particularly blank. ]
Go on then.
Go on then.
[ She pokes out her tongue at him. ]
How am I supposed to make love to the man if you give me dossiers on them.
How am I supposed to make love to the man if you give me dossiers on them.
[ If he wasn't so busy otherwise turning her languid enough to know what to move as the car drives, she might just poke him again for that. ]
Oh, don't you dare.
Oh, don't you dare.
[ Her leg arches up into his hold, stretching out. Gently arranging her skirts to keep her moderately decent. Like it mattered, not with Byerly when they'd been a mess of children together. When she'd more than once wriggled into bed half dressed with him. ]
Who says I want to be on the attack straight away. Maybe I would like to be seduced for once. Why do I have to do all the work?
[ Well, quite probably because of how she acted tonight. When people are quite comfortably terrified of her. ]
Who says I want to be on the attack straight away. Maybe I would like to be seduced for once. Why do I have to do all the work?
[ Well, quite probably because of how she acted tonight. When people are quite comfortably terrified of her. ]
Ah, because you are a Vor lady.
[ He smooths down her skirt to cover a little more flesh, helping her retain her modesty even as he works those muscles in a fashion that would not exactly be approved of by high society. ]
All Vor men are useless, don't you know. They'll conquer happily enough in war, but when it comes time to conquer in love? It's a lost cause. No, no...Finding one who'll put proper effort into it is an impossibility, I fear.
[ He smooths down her skirt to cover a little more flesh, helping her retain her modesty even as he works those muscles in a fashion that would not exactly be approved of by high society. ]
All Vor men are useless, don't you know. They'll conquer happily enough in war, but when it comes time to conquer in love? It's a lost cause. No, no...Finding one who'll put proper effort into it is an impossibility, I fear.
[ Gangadhar did, she thinks, viciously and meanly and not at him. Gangadhar would press her down so sweetly, he would brush the hair from her face, kiss her soundly and tell her that the only thing he loved to hold more than his weapons was her, because in her was all his victories. But like them, he must always tend her and after that -
But she didn't have him anymore, did she?
She cuts quicker instead because it hasn't stopped hurting for years and she's tired of it. Is that so awful? ]
You do.
[ Which is - slightly petulant. But as determined as she carries on before she can be cut off. ]
If you exist - [ if my husband existed ] - surely there is one of them that isn't a complete waste of time.
But she didn't have him anymore, did she?
She cuts quicker instead because it hasn't stopped hurting for years and she's tired of it. Is that so awful? ]
You do.
[ Which is - slightly petulant. But as determined as she carries on before she can be cut off. ]
If you exist - [ if my husband existed ] - surely there is one of them that isn't a complete waste of time.
Edited 2017-04-17 13:47 (UTC)
You are not. [ A firm correction she gives him often, but then, she shifts with it. Her eyes brighten then, laughing just a little. ]
Oh, there we go. You have to find me a cad. Completely awful. He'll be so devilish and desperate, he'll do anything - like seducing a rich widower that's famous for cutting of Lords' heads.
[ It's only a little bit sarcastic, and regardless of what he has to say that, when she feels the cab stop at last, she looks back down at her still shoed foot, and sighs. Oh she doesn't want to put the other one on, she never wants to look at the damn things. Why did she have a tiny wisp of a Betan for a mother that would leave her ten feet smaller than everyone else.
No, not after this whole evening, she can't face them again and she holds up her hand to wait a second to Byerly and fishes off the other shoe before she shuffles forward in the cab of the groundcar to the driver. The questions aren't particular secretive. Her ridiculous acts of unwanted charity she insisted on giving to other people as she fished off a ring from her finger to go along with it and the conversation was simple 'Do you have a wife? Does she like shoes? Oh no, I have worn them once, just this evening, and I did not like them. They should sell for a good few hundred. Take the ring too. I only bought it to match them anyway. Yes, yes I am that Lady Lakshmi Vornewalkar. Have a good night'.
Then she's bare to her stockings when she gets out. Pressing on her toes so she didn't ruin them completely. ]
Oh, there we go. You have to find me a cad. Completely awful. He'll be so devilish and desperate, he'll do anything - like seducing a rich widower that's famous for cutting of Lords' heads.
[ It's only a little bit sarcastic, and regardless of what he has to say that, when she feels the cab stop at last, she looks back down at her still shoed foot, and sighs. Oh she doesn't want to put the other one on, she never wants to look at the damn things. Why did she have a tiny wisp of a Betan for a mother that would leave her ten feet smaller than everyone else.
No, not after this whole evening, she can't face them again and she holds up her hand to wait a second to Byerly and fishes off the other shoe before she shuffles forward in the cab of the groundcar to the driver. The questions aren't particular secretive. Her ridiculous acts of unwanted charity she insisted on giving to other people as she fished off a ring from her finger to go along with it and the conversation was simple 'Do you have a wife? Does she like shoes? Oh no, I have worn them once, just this evening, and I did not like them. They should sell for a good few hundred. Take the ring too. I only bought it to match them anyway. Yes, yes I am that Lady Lakshmi Vornewalkar. Have a good night'.
Then she's bare to her stockings when she gets out. Pressing on her toes so she didn't ruin them completely. ]
[ He's laughing by the time she's returned to her seat, laughing hard - at her, at the driver, at the shoes, at this whole situation. Almost hard enough that it hurts. Good God, only her. Oh, there are a few Vor ladies who might cast their shoes aside, certainly, but only a very scant handful who'd think to give them to the driver. And only she would throw in the matching ring. Good God, what a woman. ]
Here.
[ He climbs out of the cab beside her, and hunches over a little. A proper Vor lord would, of course, sweep her up in his arms, carry her princess-style inside. But he's a little small and thin-armed for that. So, instead, he taps his shoulder, inviting her to climb up so he can carry her piggy-back. ]
Come on, get up.
Here.
[ He climbs out of the cab beside her, and hunches over a little. A proper Vor lord would, of course, sweep her up in his arms, carry her princess-style inside. But he's a little small and thin-armed for that. So, instead, he taps his shoulder, inviting her to climb up so he can carry her piggy-back. ]
Come on, get up.
[ She doesn't hesitate, as she climbs up on his back. Her knees locking around her hips, her arms going around his shoulders. Her head resting on his shoulder, her purse tucked in one hand as she settles on his back. Easy as when they were children. Pressing her chest against his back and trying to helpfully as she could to keep her hair out of his way. ]
Are you ever sick of carrying me about?
[ He gives her so much, she thinks often, he lets her be so selfish of him, his time. When he serves as much as any man, if not more so to her mind, in a myriad of little cruelties that he will never be rewarded as he should be for. Lets her draw him into her to keep herself breathing when she swears she will drown. ]
Are you ever sick of carrying me about?
[ He gives her so much, she thinks often, he lets her be so selfish of him, his time. When he serves as much as any man, if not more so to her mind, in a myriad of little cruelties that he will never be rewarded as he should be for. Lets her draw him into her to keep herself breathing when she swears she will drown. ]
Well, I don't know. Do you ever get sick of me taking ruthless advantage of you?
[ Teasingly, he reaches back and cops a feel...of her ankle. Not so much advantage, really...
In spite of his whining and self-deprecation of his physical state and capacities, he carries her easily inside, trotting and bouncing her like a high-spirited horse. ]
[ Teasingly, he reaches back and cops a feel...of her ankle. Not so much advantage, really...
In spite of his whining and self-deprecation of his physical state and capacities, he carries her easily inside, trotting and bouncing her like a high-spirited horse. ]
Oh, the gossips are idiots anyway -
[ No, not really, but even so, she's never hated when he touched her, even when they were younger and both - idiots about the world to say the least. Hadn't change when they got older and that reach back only lets her curl her body in tighter to him. The press of her chest into his shoulder blades, muffling her shriek of laughter as he takes off. Gripping hard to his shoulders, fingers clutching onto his clothes. ]
[ No, not really, but even so, she's never hated when he touched her, even when they were younger and both - idiots about the world to say the least. Hadn't change when they got older and that reach back only lets her curl her body in tighter to him. The press of her chest into his shoulder blades, muffling her shriek of laughter as he takes off. Gripping hard to his shoulders, fingers clutching onto his clothes. ]
[ She keeps laughing, because this - this is theirs, this isn't the council of counts, or a subject of vor gossip or anything else. Where she's pressed hard into him to not fall, to make the movements easier. Her laughter high, feeling his own rumble back into her chest. That - that is hers, that she doesn't have to share with the men and women he plies himself too, doesn't have to care about who is watching. Dizzying, better than drink or drug or - well things that were more her purview than hers as she grips tight. Pressing her face into the side of his, out of breath even if she isn't doing much at all. ]
[ He rubs his cheek against hers in sheer fondness before backing up to a chair and kneeling down - his muscles trembling just a little bit, his physical strength not quite enough to kneel smoothly. He teases her as he eases her backwards - ]
Oh, you're heavier than I remembered, Lakshmi...
Oh, you're heavier than I remembered, Lakshmi...
[ She tumbles back into the chair. NSnorting at what he said - well, one of them had always been the first to climb trees and the other always preferred books. An unfair advantage she uses now. Shifting her legs to hold to his waist - and yes too intimate, yes too much and if they were caught like they were children still, they'd both be scolded if not worse where her skirts up the tops of her thighs, and he's caught in her wrap of her limbs but - to hell with it all. She yanks him back, and with it, leans forward so she can bite his ear. Not hard, but a sharp nip. ]
No, you're scrawnier.
No, you're scrawnier.
[ The man had her by the arm, wretchedly tight, as she was dragged up from the cargo deck. Despite her shouted words, her best effort to get free, it was solid, as she was pulled and tugged up the stairs to the Captain's quarters. Garnering enough attention on the way. Not that, since she'd been found, she had much of anywhere to go - it did not matter. She would do her best to put up a fight simply out of second nature. She didn't know how to do anything much else but fight.
Marched to his door, and when it opens, flung unceremoniously down in front of him. Scrambling immediately to get her knees underneath her. Hands hovering up to the knife in her belt that had been yet to be pulled off her as she goes to rise up, to attack the first person that comes near her.
Feels the hand close around her wrist that holds the knife before she can get anywhere and above her, the explanation goes on. Captain, we found her in the cargo, skulking below decks. She says nothing to it, breathing fast and hard in the need to push as hard as she can until something gives. Looking up only at the person that's holding her. The one the men are looking too, Captain, apparently of this mostly clean, but still stops in the pirate ports ship. ]
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