but i hate paying for my sins

now take what i offer, straight up the nose, down the throat

it's a bearable bruise on your conscious

Tilting his head curiously to spy the gotcha and the following comments, he can’t help the slight avian-like look about him even if his magic and shifts are far beyond reach. “At what?” Leading? Or prodding? It could go either way and he doesn’t want to guestimate what her plans are – knowing full well that it was unlikely he could surmise anything about her, the mystery that she was.

She leans back against the barrel though and Sunjata remains where he is, slowly draining the whiskey from his glass. Luckily for him, his mask is well situated, and when she comments that she hasn’t spent much time in Torchline, asking if she should go, it feels like a loaded question – and if he weren’t all full of charm and playfulness, he might have let it slip. But he doesn’t, just tilts his head this way and that as if debating. “Depends on how into pirates and excruciatingly hot summers you are.” Leaving it relatively open-ended, before he continues. “It’s not a place I’d visit right now, though, not with all the repairs happening from the meteor that fell there.” If she wanted the full Torchline experience, she should wait until it was better acquainted for tourists, and perhaps protected from unknown threats.

but don't it feel good? don't you feel calmer?

i am the way and the life in the best looking truth

dahlia

You can't buy this fineness

At what, indeed. Bouncing her eyebrows at him, Dahlia sits up again and makes steady progress on her glass of Torchline whiskey, thoroughly enjoying the fire that the liquor sends through her limbs and leaves tingling on her lips and in her throat. As for pirates and excruciatingly hot summers, she can't help but let out a peal of laughter at that, tilting her head such that a cascade of raven hair tumbles across her shoulders.

"A shame about that yes," she agrees with him about the meteor and the devastation wrought upon Torchline, though the expression on her face is unreadable. Draining the last of her whiskey, she sets the glass down beside her and regards Sunjata with sudden intensity. "So are you going to tell me why you really invited me here, or are we going to drink more whiskey and pretend?"

Let me see the heat get to it

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

now take what i offer, straight up the nose, down the throat

it's a bearable bruise on your conscious

Confusion flares, but he plays it in a way that seems almost curious given the state of what she meant. Whether it be leading or prodding him, he can’t tell, and without her answering him bluntly, it gives him time for his mind to start to race even as he carefully holds that mask in place.

Her laughter feels like a boon for the moment, reflected in the crooked smile that sits on his face as he regards her, taking the glass the second she sets it down and he moves to set it with the others as he drains his own, setting it down to look up at her when suddenly there’s the entirety of her attention on him and he can’t help but to raise his brow.

Fuck, fuck, fuck. Is what mentally runs through his head, his smile shifting a bit slyer. “I truly did want to see what you thought about the whiskey.” He offers, huffing a quiet and dramatic sigh, letting his gaze drift toward the last barrel before returning to her face. “Do I need more of a reason than an unbiased opinion?”

but don't it feel good? don't you feel calmer?

i am the way and the life in the best looking truth

dahlia

You can't buy this fineness

"You can get an unbiased opinion from any number of the good people of King's End," Dahlia points out with a raise of her eyebrows, gazing up at Sunjata through dark lashes and tilting her head coquettishly to the side. "And yet, you came to find me in particular. We've only met once. And you were quite clear that you were off limits in that regard." Smiling, there's amusement written in her expression above all else.

"Which leads me to think there's something more going on. And I think it has something to do with this little refuge of yours." Letting out a sigh that's almost disappointed, she rolls to her feet from her seated position, meandering around the rest of the room and letting her fingers drift across the last of the barrels. "Quite what you're expecting from me, though, is another mystery."

Let me see the heat get to it

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

now take what i offer, straight up the nose, down the throat

it's a bearable bruise on your conscious

“An unbiased opinion from anyone in a land that I rule? Hardly.” He asks and answers, returning the question onto her with a slight squinting of his eyes – as if it would mean that it was entirely biased. Not only was he the leader that typically most people would want to remain on his good side, but he is also a demigod. For Old Gods that people nowadays preferred to be in the good side of as well. But she tilts her head, returns his words back to him and he snorts, wearing that mask easily as he quickly moves to explain that choice, too. “Oh, come on now. Isn’t the back and forth at least a little bit fun?” He asks, as if put out by the thought he couldn’t just play around, even if it didn’t come to anything.

She moves, though, and he watches her as she wanders around the room, letting her fingers trail over the wood of the barrels that have imbued his old home’s living room with scents of oak, the Flood turns to lean back against the second barrel she’d just left, continuing  to watch her in his peripherals if she wanders out of his main line of sight. “I chose the Refuge to make the whiskey because it felt far homier to make it without the influence of magic.” He leans back slightly to stretch with a huff of a sigh. “All I expect from you, Dahlia dear, is an unbiased opinion on whether I should or shouldn’t market the whiskey. As you said, we’ve only met once, I doubt I can sway your opinions if this –” he pauses to let his lightning scarred hand tap the top of the whiskey barrel beside him “– should be better left in the barrel than out in the world.”

His tone drifts a hint more serious, internally trying to swallow down a steady rising panic. And suddenly, he realizes perhaps she’d been correct with the gotcha, in terms of prodding him.

but don't it feel good? don't you feel calmer?

i am the way and the life in the best looking truth

dahlia

You can't buy this fineness

The sigh that leaves Dahlia is one that has her shoulders slumping, and she drops to crouch before the last barrel of whiskey as if wondering whether it was worth the effort of the charade to get to try it. "That's where you're wrong," she murmurs, rising back up from the barrel and tilting her head to him, a smile playing across her lips that would better fit a cat on the hunt for a mouse.

"You really are sweet, you know. I like that about you." Drawing closer, now it's Dahlia's turn to get up in Sunjata's space, peering up at him with cerulean eyes that almost seem to glow in the dim light. "But it's also where this went wrong for you. You need to start wearing a more cautious hat, Sunjata."

Reaching out soft hands to press them against his chest, her fingers flex just so, as if testing the resistance of the flesh and muscle and bone beneath. "Any other place than this and you might have stood a chance. But here?" She shakes her head. "What were you hoping would happen?"

Let me see the heat get to it

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

now take what i offer, straight up the nose, down the throat

it's a bearable bruise on your conscious

The look that spreads across her face is certainly one he doesn’t want to see – but since it’s there all he can do is play along, unfortunately stock still the second she’s in front of him, where he has zero chance of getting away. His head tilts slightly, pretending as though he’s misreading her, but the light thump of his heartbeat at his neck betrays him when her hand touches his chest, spreading, out, testing, as if one wrong move and she’d carve her way in.

Muscles flex in his jaw, feathering as he takes in a deep breath, his steel gaze focused entirely on her in front of him as he tries to rack his mind over how to get out of this. In truth, he thinks he’s dead. The option of infection not even something that crosses his mind (Flora had gotten bit by a void creature, so that made sense, but this? He fully expects to just get his heart ripped out).

The hole is already dug for him, that deep inhale making way for a huff of a humorless laugh. “I was hoping it would work.” He admits quietly, his voice dropping and curling thicker with the accent as his words betray him, cornered and prodded like a wild animal against a very much bigger threat, feeling mortality like a hot knife against his ribcage where her fingers spread. “Is this the end of the line?”

but don't it feel good? don't you feel calmer?

i am the way and the life in the best looking truth

dahlia

You can't buy this fineness

"Hope is funny like that." Dahlia smiles, her fingers running down the length of Sunjata's chest and ribcage with the gentle precision of a surgeon, her eyes lingering on his lips, the pulse against his neck. She can feel the rabbiting of his heart beneath her hands as if it's about to burst out and say hello for itself. For a moment she wants to taste it, she wants to savour the arterial spray like a cool rain in the heat of the afternoon.

Inhaling slowly, reining in the urge, her fingertips flinch only once before relaxing. "The end of the line?" she repeats slowly, a soft glance of bemusement directed up to the Flood. "Of course not, Sunjata. This is only the beginning." Leaning up to close the distance between them - and having to rise up on her toes to even get that far - one of Dahlia's hands drifts up to grip his jaw, directing him towards her waiting lips.

As far as any outcome the Flood might have expected, this one is arguably the most gentle, though there's something unspoken and possessive in the press of her mouth, the arc of her tongue. And when Dahlia draws back it's like a craving she can't wait to satisfy again as soon as possible, and she brushes her thumb gently across Sunjata's lips.

"You enjoy leading. So lead. But you'll keep me in mind, won't you? I'll make sure I visit very soon."

---

Dahlia has used:

Magic: Sinner's Kiss | Any recipient of a kiss on the mouth from Dahlia is rendered Infected. Infected characters/creatures are very receptive to suggestions and directions from The Family, and are eager to please them. This effect grows stronger with proximity to members of The Family.
Type: Dark | Rank: Mastered

Sunjata has received the following condition:

Magic: Infected | Character has been Infected by a member of The Family. Character is very receptive to suggestions and directions from The Family, and are eager to please them. This effect grows stronger with proximity to members of The Family.
Type: Dark | Rank: Mastered

Let me see the heat get to it

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

now take what i offer, straight up the nose, down the throat

it's a bearable bruise on your conscious

Hope was the only thing Sunjata had most of his life, even few and far between as it was. It was a guiding light, the northern star. A star that as he stands there waiting for punishment or judgement, neither of it comes in the face of her own amusement. His pulse continues to thunder, pulsing quickly against his tattoos as her hand moves from his chest and relief swells for a brief moment, before they find purchase on his jaw and he exhales a little sharply through his nose.

She’s so incredibly strong that he can’t pull away from the pull, nor does he think it’s a good idea to even try if he wanted to, the thought of beginnings settling thick like oil in the base of his chest. Her lips, however, press against his, and at first it isn’t that much different from any other kiss – a normal press of softness and curiosity, but there’s something sharp in the undertone, something vibrant that wants to be touched and reached out for.

He had expected to get his chest ripped open or those pale teeth to turn to daggers and give him another set of scars along his face, that surprise takes over in lieu of it that he almost seems numb when she withdraws, pulling back with her thumb brushing against his lips. And when he looks at her again, there’s something vibrant, something eager to please, the tension in his chest alleviating as he blinks away a feeling of violet he can’t quite place.

“Of course I will.” He breathes like a sigh of relief, the steel of his gaze shifting from apprehension to entirely at ease, for the first time today, but again that air of a purple hue seems to reverberate through him again when his lips quirk in an equally amused smile. “How could I not?” Keep her in mind. Now, at least.

but don't it feel good? don't you feel calmer?

i am the way and the life in the best looking truth

dahlia

You can't buy this fineness

See? Dahlia's smile seems to say. Everything turned out alright in the end. Letting her hand drop from his lips to skate across the tattoos on the side of his neck and then down to his waist, she steps back away from him as if to admire him properly. "How could you not?" she echoes with a girlish scrunch of her nose. "I like you very much, Sunjata. I do hope you'll alleviate any fears people might have about me. I wouldn't want them to think the worst, you know?"

Stepping back, she smooths out her dress and glances between the barrels, before nodding at the first they'd tried together. "This one was my favourite. And in my unbiased opinion, they are worth marketing." Tipping him a wink, she glances around and prepares to take herself away from the Refuge. "Is there anything you need while I'm gone?"

Let me see the heat get to it

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

now take what i offer, straight up the nose, down the throat

it's a bearable bruise on your conscious

He starts to relax more and more the few seconds that pass as everything floods in, awash in a sense of immediate calm and relief, to the point that his lavender addled mind can’t really understand why he’d been so panicked earlier. Everything turned out fine. She was simply being nice.

He nearly misses her heat when she steps away from him, feeling and clinging to the lingering feel of her hands at his neck and waist, and his shoulders slump a little as she steps away and he reaches up to collect himself, a scarred hand threading through the few specks of silver in his dark hair. “If anyone understands, it’s me.” He murmurs to her, flashing her an easier smile, a crooked one with the scar on his face.

Steel follows her gesture to the barrels, after watching her smooth out her dress, and he finds it in him to stand from the barrel to straighten up himself as well, nodding. “I’ll be sure to send you some.” He murmurs, drawing quiet as he contemplates the question. “I… Can’t think of anything I’d need while you’re gone.” He admits, stepping toward her as if he intends to walk her out or chase the sensation she’d sparked, it’s hard to say. “But if I do, where can I find you?”

but don't it feel good? don't you feel calmer?

i am the way and the life in the best looking truth

dahlia

You can't buy this fineness

"I'd like that," Dahlia says, all easy smiles and gentle, casual touches now that their situation has been properly clarified. As Sunjata straightens up and draws closer she doesn't move herself - she doesn't need to walk anywhere after all, in or outside the Refuge. "If you need anything at all, I'll be making myself at home in Stormbreak. You can find me at the Tower," she assures him.

Reaching out, she gives his arm an affectionate squeeze, one that communicates clear pleasure with his presence and reactions thus far. "I'll come and visit soon," she assures him. "But in the meantime, I don't think anyone needs to know I was here at the Refuge. No need to worry people with boring details like that."

Leaning up to press a farewell kiss to his cheek, Dahlia steps back a moment later and, with only a slight breeze to remember her by, disappears.

~FIN

---

Dahlia uses the following:

Magic: Void Shift | Can void shift to any location.
Type: Dark | Rank: Mastered

Let me see the heat get to it

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!