|
|
Post by Justine-Juliette de Vair on Sept 25, 2020 22:47:39 GMT
She bit her lip again, staring him down. He seemed to enjoy her discomfort nearly as much as he enjoyed seeing her unclothed. She stared at him for a very long time.
“Fine. But only to look.” She whisked the shift over her head and tossed it onto the couch with the others. It was cold in the room and she shivered and wrapped her arms around herself.
|
|
|
|
Post by Nigel Thornheart on Sept 25, 2020 22:59:34 GMT
"Well now I just feel overdressed. Aha!" Nigel laughed, more oblivious to her discomfort and mistaking it for nervousness. Nerves were common in the presence of a bona fide celebrity. "But what I meant was a favor calls for a favor. You changed the game, my dear."
He stood and approached her, but did not touch, circling her as she had not been generous enough to give him a twirl this time.
"Come now, no one comes to the home of a legend and does not want a legendary time. No need to be shy"
|
|
|
|
Post by Justine-Juliette de Vair on Sept 25, 2020 23:09:05 GMT
She stepped forward as he moved behind her, getting nervous now. “I’ll be alright without a ‘legendary time,’ thank you. If you don’t mind I think I’ll be going. Ceutinde promised her adventuring outfit tonight. Can’t miss that.”
When he was in front of her again, and went to pick up her dress. “I feel like this was favor enough, then.”
|
|
|
|
Post by Nigel Thornheart on Sept 25, 2020 23:17:21 GMT
“I was planning to escort straight from here to the admiral’s home for that introduction. No time like the present, after all,” he remarked, making no move to stop her from picking up her dress. “But of you have prior obligations for the evening far be it from me to stop you.”
“You can forgive my curiosity, after your voraciously read my books and stripped bare in my home to desire a little more of your company. After all, did I in a sense not keep you company in your darkest hour?”
|
|
|
|
Post by Justine-Juliette de Vair on Sept 25, 2020 23:21:45 GMT
She straightened up, only her arms in the short sleeves of her shift. “I could perhaps go. Ceutinde and I don’t have our date til nightfall and it’s barely afternoon.”
She finally pulled it over her head and smoothed it down her thighs. “You did, and I thank you for it.” She inclined her head to him respectfully as she reached for her corset. “There was a time when I wanted nothing more, but I’m not thirteen anymore, Mr Thornheart. I’ve seen more than my share of the world now.” And then she had had her sister to keep her company when the book had been taken...and that had been all she needed for a long time.
|
|
|
|
Post by Nigel Thornheart on Sept 25, 2020 23:32:39 GMT
“Balderdash, once a Thorn Hearty always a Thorn Hearty,” he placed his hands insistently on her hips as she smoothed out her shift and looked her in the eyes, face close enough that the tip of his mustache brushed her cheek. “You tell me that when I kissed you hard on the deck of that ship you did not feel an aching need in your quivering loins. I have seen the lust in your eyes in the heat of battle and that is a fire in the blood I understand better than any.”
|
|
|
|
Post by Justine-Juliette de Vair on Sept 26, 2020 0:14:23 GMT
Justine took a step back but instead sat down heavily on the couch. “I said not to touch.” She pulled her dress into her lap like a protective shield. “No wonder you have so many conquests if you think ‘no’ means try harder. I think I was a little in love with the idea of you, as a child. But now that I’ve met you in the flesh, looking the same as you did thirty years ago from the covers...I’m not so sure,”
She had more fortitude than before, perhaps part of the slow bleed from Juliette into Justine.
|
|
|
|
Post by Nigel Thornheart on Sept 26, 2020 0:33:48 GMT
Nigel sat down beside her but kept his hands to himself. “In my experience the impossible is just a word used by those unwilling to try hard enough.” That mindset had served him well. “Most protests cease around the time the clothes come off.” He gave her a pointed glance, noting she hadn’t really answered his question.
“Most women prefer the facade,” he motioned to his face. “And the dramatis personae.”
|
|
|
|
Post by Justine-Juliette de Vair on Sept 26, 2020 0:41:57 GMT
She looked at him suspiciously for what seemed like a long time, but ultimately she decided he was being...himself. Like at the dinner. She relaxed, but kept up her guard, well aware how little they both were wearing and how easily he could... Well, she didn’t finish that thought. It didn’t seem the Thornheart way, though.
“I guess I misunderstood. I thought you meant the cost of meeting the Admiral was this.” She gestured down at her body. “I was just praying you weren’t trying to buy all of me for information.”
At last, Justine looked into his face and, surprising both of them, she smiled. “Maybe most prefer the facade, but I prefer when you’re like this. I can actually talk to you without all the AHA!!!!s, you know?” She did a passably good imitation of him.
|
|
|
|
Post by Nigel Thornheart on Sept 26, 2020 0:57:27 GMT
“I have found with noblewomen it is best to give them an excuse to do what they already want to. Framing it as a transaction makes it easier to give yourself permission,” he replied with a sly smile, as he leaned back into the plush cushions. “I think enough of you to have assumed you would not have stripped down unless that was already what you wanted to do.”
“I’m going to tell you a secret, Justine,” he leaned in, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. “Do you know the only thing that separates me from the broken men in the House of Respite? When I was faced with countless horrors, I just made them the trials of a larger than life figure. Better a narcissistic cad unravaged by time or tribulation than a broken madman.”
|
|
|
|
Post by Justine-Juliette de Vair on Sept 26, 2020 1:03:26 GMT
Justine laughed. “Well I didn’t think I would actually get that far. I have a few layers as you could see. I should have done each show and each stocking separately.” She lifted her bare legs and wiggled her toes. “I just wanted you to tell me what I needed to hear.”
Then it was her turn to lean in. “Mr Thornheart...remember at dinner when you told me to take my title back? Well, that is exactly what I aim to do. You can’t tell anyone though, okay? It can be our secret.”
“Just like this.” She leaned in and kissed him hard, thoroughly, the way he had done on the ship. When she had done she pulled back and licked her lips before wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. “Now let’s go see the admiral.” She got up and started lacing her corset back on.
|
|
|
|
Post by Nigel Thornheart on Sept 29, 2020 1:46:49 GMT
"Mums the word," Nigel agreed, before he was distracted from this rare genuine moment by Justine's lips pressed against his own. She had a tongue like an electric eel and liked the taste of a man's tonsils. He wrapped his arms around her, feeling the curves of her body under the gossamer shift, groaning in protest as she pulled away.
"I don't think I'm fit to go anywhere at the moment," he remarked, every good sailor knowing one did not drop anchor when at full mast. "What do you say to another secret or two, between friends? Before we make a proper lady out of you and you want nothing to do with this old scoundrel."
|
|
|
|
Post by Justine-Juliette de Vair on Sept 29, 2020 2:21:23 GMT
She wagged a finger at him as she cinched herself in and bent to retrieve her petticoat. “Not on the first date,” she said with a little smirk, somehow forgetting how quickly she had taken Konrad to bed. She did observe his magnificent...mast...with some interest. “Even though the books weren’t entirely exaggerating, I see.”
|
|
|
|
Post by Nigel Thornheart on Sept 29, 2020 2:33:57 GMT
"By my standards this counts as our third date." He stood and shrugged off his kimono in one smooth motion, letting it drop to the floor, revealing that his mast was not the only accurate part of his physique his books had accurately detailed. The statues looked modest by comparison. "Jeeves!" he shouted for his valet. "I require garb for a social visit. My dress uniform and cuirass should suit."
"Last chance, my dear. I assure you they did not exaggerate my prowess either."
|
|
|
|
Post by Justine-Juliette de Vair on Sept 29, 2020 2:54:12 GMT
Justine bit her lip. She had a very vivid imagination thanks to years of staring at a blank stone wall. But still she shook her head. She hadn’t forgotten His behavior on the way to Al-Khial. “Maybe next time. You’d have to earn it, and be yourself. Not that I don’t appreciate whatever it is to make yourself look like this...but I hate when you put on all that false bravado.”
She slid her dress over her head and began fastening her buttons. “ Besides, I don’t think my sister would approve.”
|
|
