[Elegant Weave] Tangled Threads

by **Basha'ir** on August 17th, 2012, 6:53 pm

Oh, what to say? How to answer that simple question, with such a very complicated answer? The easiest, and perhaps best thing, was to lie. A nice, bold, bald faced lie, No, indeed, nothing happened. You treated my foot and then you left. Nothing could have been more straightforward, more professional. Or perhaps evasion would seem more plausible, evasion that would have him thinking that she thought that he meant to tease her again. Why Doctor Michaels, whatever do you mean? What could have happened? You were only called in to treat a burn? You can’t mean to tell me if there had been more to it than that, that now you would be standing here having to ask me what that something was? I feel insulted (add in teasing looks and a coy giggle) Or should she go straight in with the truth? You touched my skin with yours and Nikali’s mark let me read your every whim, desire, want, and you very much wanted me, to the point that you were considering spiting me away form my master, once you realized that I was a slave, and so I had to hypnotize you in order to make sure you didn’t do anything crazy. And that, by the way, is why your memory of our last encounter is so vague and incomplete. Ta-da!

She caught him looking at her, saw the interest in his pretty eyes, saw the confusion as well. Basha’ir had realized that her veil had fallen away from her face, thus exposing herself, and exposing him as well, to her mark. So they were back to square one. Was it the mark? Or was it her? Didn’t he at least deserve the truth, by way of a warning? Or would he take it as more of a reason to pursue her, if she could provide him with the types of physical fulfillment that he desired most of all? Wasn’t that every man’s dream?

Or was it?

She thought back to that day, when he had touched her. And she thought, with this man, maybe he was different. Maybe.

Maybe not.

This simplest answer, the best answer, was one which would allow him to leave An Elegant Weave free, unfettered by any sense of some connection between the two of them.

Folding the ragged trousers over her arms, holding them unconsciously against her chest, she said softly, “And I think you are trying to win a better price out of me with your sweet compliments, good sir. I’m sure you recall quite well our meeting.” She tried to plaster a cheeky look of her own onto her features, though she felt more like letting them collapse into one of sadness.

“Then you were the epitome of a polite gentleman. And your trousers were quite intact. Which…” She held the ones draped over her forearm out. “Is quite a different state than these. I’m afraid, Orion, that you were correct. They are beyond redemption. Perhaps too much of that ‘work and play’ you spoke of.”

She paused. He had disappeared behind the screen again, which was probably a very good thing.

“Let me find you some replacements. It will only take a moment.”

She moved away, setting the ripped pair on a table, crossing to a bar over which were neatly hung many pairs of trousers and breeches. Rifling through them quickly, she searched for a pair that looked about the right size for him, all the time repeating like a mantra in her head, It’s for the best. It’s for the best. It’s for the best. But whether she meant for herself, or for him, she could not have honestly said.

by **Orion Michaels** on August 17th, 2012, 8:35 pm

Orion, Day of Summer 82, 512 AV

He sighed, looking at the ground, listening to her sweet voice. His normally brilliant blue eyes had a glaze of confusion over them. A lower price was the last thing on his mind, but perhaps it was best she just thought him a flatterer. It's what the doctor did. Sweet talk, flattering, romping, no holds barred, and no questions asked afterwards. After all, it's not like he was looking for anything out of this. ..Right? Why was it so heart wrenching to desire this woman? It wasn't like she'd shown interest? .....Right? It wasn't like his heart was stirring, was it?

I...I don't know..

"Sure, sure. That sounds exactly like the work me. Forgive my strange question." He hoped he had mustered enough to sound convincing in his words. "Well, those pants have served me well, Basha'ir. I can assure you that there is no such thing as too much work and play, my beautiful-despite-her-unwillingness-to-negotiate-prices lady." There we go. Keep it going. "I could never truly consider anything a replacement for those ones, though. So many memories," he said, as though reminiscing of an old friend. Why the petch am I telling her that? The best way to attract a woman is with your exploits with others, right dumb dumb? He blushed again, wanting to crawl into a hole. "Nevermind that. Any luck finding me another pair? I think I've shown off my undergarments for a few too many people this day and it's getting to me." As though that made sense to anyone. It was this cheeky woman doing it to him. It was strange. He'd been through this before with someone. Lyla first, then someone. It was as she said though. He'd simply treated her injury before, so how had he forgotten the second woman to take his breath away?

"I'm grateful for your help, Basha'ir. I feel this may have been more embarrassing with a stranger." He let out a small laugh. "Though perhaps you should be alarmed that it doesn't bother me so much that it's with someone I've merely met once." Stop rambling. "I-I can't," he answered his internal voice quietly aloud, his face turning red for, what was it, the hundredth time now? "Nevermind that! How about them pants!"

by **Basha'ir** on August 17th, 2012, 9:20 pm

She heard the hasty acceptance in his voice, a false tone that pricked at her conscience more than if he had come right out and accused her openly of deceiving him. For she knew he was grasping at her words to cover his own confusion. His cavalier remark about how much action his pants had seen did not go unnoted, nor did the semi-glossed over compliment. A façade, she knew. Orion did not, could not, fully accept her own glib deflection of his inquiry, but he would. In order to avoid exposing himself further, his confusion and his ignorance of what the heck had happened, the last time they met. Before she turned back around, to face him, she allowed herself one sad frown, one small sigh of frustration. But this was how it had to be. A little bafflement now was well worth getting into the morass of what was really going on here. Right?

Collecting herself, she finally turned, a pair of brown trousers in her hands. She crossed back to the screen, holding them out, but in a way that he could easily take them from her without any need to brush her fingers.

“Here you go. I’m sorry, I couldn’t find any black ones that looked as if they would fit. Your hips are so slender, and this seemed the only pair that would do.” She regarded him steadily, as if once again all was simply business between them.

“And you are most welcome. I’m glad I happened to be here, and that I could help you out, as you helped me.” She paused. She might have stopped there. She should have stopped there. But that look in his eyes was just so…compelling.

“You don’t alarm me at all, Orion. True, this is only the second time we have met, but…I think you are a good man. Silly perhaps. Maybe a little crazy, but in a good way.” She smiled warmly.

“Now, I think that will be 5 SM.”

She raised an eyebrow, in perhaps a rather challenging way, and then grinned.

by **Orion Michaels** on August 18th, 2012, 1:47 am

Orion, Day of Summer 82, 512 AV

Orion reached out, his slender fingers gripping the pants. "Thank you, Basha'ir." He held the pants softly against his chest for a moment, before taking a deep breath and a beginning to put them on. It was time to get out of here before he did something stupid. There wasn't a feeling he hated more than this. Nothing had done this to him since..since..

He shook his head. It didn't matter, it was long since past that time in his life, so why tarry on it now? "I guess I can give brown a go. I'm not sure how well they go with red, though," he crowed. Now wearing the pants, he stepped around the screen as she paused her speech, only to make eye contact as she expressed her comfort with him. His heart fluttered, his eyes gazed into hers, and his desires increased. If it was any other woman, he would have done something, anything to seduce her. A look in his eyes, a touch, a kiss, but not with this beauty who threw him off. Not with Basha'ir.

"..Why not you?" He questioned to himself, reaching into his pocket to pull out a gold miza. He tossed it to her, smiling. "For your troubles." He turned to leave, fighting a pained, sad expression. He didn't want to go yet. The young man hated this feeling. But he couldn't let it go. As he reached the door, he turned back and looked at Basha'ir, his sky blue eyes drinking in her elegant beauty, and spoke. "Basha'ir..." he paused, taking a deep breath. "...You alarm me quite a bit, but with me, that's amazing. I..." he trailed off. What to say. What was he trying to say? And how to say it? He closed his eyes for a moment, took a second deep breath, and opened them. They twinkled with nervousness and excitement as he spoke. "Basha'ir. I want to know you outside of a work setting. My work, your work. I don't know. Have a drink with me some. One time, one drink. Meet me at the Rearing Stallion in 2 days, just after nightfall." He gave her a gentle smile. "Thanks for everything." And with that, the young doctor exited, closing the door behind him.

I sounded like a babbling teenager. She'll want to crawl in bed with me right away. He sighed, a contented smile spreading across his lips.

by **Chevalier** on September 3rd, 2012, 3:14 pm

Basha’ir

LORE

Small and Even Stitches
Sewing a Shirt
Being Verbally Evasive

EXPERIENCE

Skill	XP Earned
Sewing	1
Interrogation	2
Persuasion	1
Seduction	2
Subterfuge	2
Rhetoric	1

Orion

LORE

Laugh it Off
Hiding a Tear In Your Pants
Going for the Date

EXPERIENCE

Skill	XP Earned
Running	1
Seduction	5
Rhetoric	2
Persuasion	1

Storyteller Notes

Secret :