AMALIA
you're staring at the sky
watching stars collide
She presses forward into his lips, stealing the kiss he scarcely offers, a brush of whiskers on soft skin making her wrinkle her nose in amusement. Smiling against him she slips away, delighting in his bold pursuit, the refusal to let her drift away. Expecting nothing less she is nonetheless surprised, ever amazed by his attentions, never anticipating him to care. "Careful," she murmurs, her quiet voice dancing, reflecting the crackling blaze in her eyes. "People might start to think you like me, and where will your surly reputation be then?"watching stars collide
There is a flush of disappointment at his guess, a pursing of lips as the man is successful, the game coming too soon to an end. Tilting her head to the side she scowls, playfully distressed, her mouth fidgeting in thought. At last she deigns to acquiesce: "Some sort." Then she smiles, too pleased with the festivities to argue, too excited by the promise of secrets revealed. Now that he has finished much of the guesswork she wants him to see the rest himself, to watch his face and read the emotions as he takes the gift into his hands. And when she learns that she is wrong it seals her impatience, itches at her soul. "I give up," she admits, defeated, grinning brightly despite her words. "Come claim your prize" As he drifts nearer to her orbit she brings the basket forward, extending it out while stepping away, an offering given with tentative hope. She has labored and agonized over the thing, thought and rethought, wavered and yearned; even now she considers retreating, retracting, her cheeks flushed pink with worry and pride.
But she does not retreat, cannot retreat, would never retreat from him. She extends her offering, a bit of her heart, delicately crafted by more skilled hands than she. Should he unwrap the package Deimos will find a length of blue stone which glitters with gold, veins of sunlight in a river of sapphire. It is lapis lazuli, carefully fabricated to the shape of a whale, long and slender and glittering and fine. Jyoti coos as she looks at it, pleased by her representation in the gift, delighted and vain to the very end. Amalia's eyes remain on his face, anxious and eager, sparkling with love, his and his and his alone. "What do you think?"
