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| − | * - Back to [[GoldenCat/ThirdMovement|Third Movement]]
| + | #REDIRECT ADanceOfAngels |
| − | * - Back to [[GoldenCat/DanceOfAngels|A Dance of Angels]]
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| − | == The Wolf's Den ==
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| − | Another warm moment downstairs.
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| − | Home. This was home.
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| − | Talks, and hugs, and best wishes. Lively and lovely as only a brothel can be. After some more talks, the basement's all theirs, a moment for the Dark Angel and Moon to relax, at long last...
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| − | The basement is nice enough. The furniture is fancy, but too old and battered to be upstairs, tattered pieces of erotic art... and the Half-Moon Howling Alley Pack's sigil on the wall. That, of course, sets nicely the mood for the empty bottles around the room, hash pipes, knives... a gang's hideout indeed.
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| − | Of course, hanging out in the Red Lantern District might have given Moon's boys some manners... it is messy, but not the disgusting thing Selina was used to see on a gang's hideout. From an underworld point of view, that might even be called orderly.
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| − | Might. If you were being generous.
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| − | Nice enough rooms on the back of the Basement, places where the pack girls take people on the nights they want to make some money, as Moon points out, with nice enough beds and less stains of alcohol, smoke gunk and burn marks and marks of... less savory things, as in the main basement.
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| − | But finally... a place to relax.
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| − | <b>Seventh Moon:</b> "Sheeyit..." the Lunar sighs, looking around the unseemly room with a grin. Glancing at his feet, he bent down and scooped something up on his finger tip, holding up a pair of frilled and decidedly feminine underwear. Someone had apparently torn off pieces and used them as wadding for a pipe. He snorted and tossed it aside, shaking his head. "Y'know, this place ain't changed a stitch..."
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| − | Which was sort of a stupid comment, when he thought about it. He hadn't been gone all that long. It just felt like it. Felt like stepping back into another world the moment they came down those stairs and he had the Pack's den spread out across him in all it's glory. Another place, another time; before dead things came back to life regularly and people without faces and little girls tried to kill you.
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| − | Picking around the piles of clothing and bottles on the wooden floor, he made his way over to the only relatively clean place in the room. The table had an almost shrine like quality to it sat under a glowing wedge of pale blue crystal chained to the ceiling. Motes of dust stirred through the light as Moon stepped into the halo of illumination, stroking a finger across the green felt edge of the billiards table. He could still remember the night they made off with that from Handsome Hal's place.
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| − | The grin, lost for a moment even though Moon never realized it, lit up his face again. Shit, the old boy had been hopping mad. Threatened to turn their asses in, but he never had any proof it was even them. Tried to give the thing to Vivian, but she knew exactly where it came from and made them hide it down here instead. Probably the only piece of furniture they made any effort to keep clean.
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| − | Taking one of the long wooden cues from the table top, he rubbed his finger on it's chalky tip for a moment, then looked back over at Selina, gauging her reaction to the room. "Y'wanna play?"
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| − | <b>Selina:</b> Eyes adjusting to the lower light, Selina moves through the basement room, then comes to a stop near the table. "Play?"
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| − | She'd seen better, and she'd seen worse. If he wanted her to say something...she didn't quite know what to say to him. "Mmm, I haven't seen many pads in a whorehouse before."
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| − | <i>Actually, none I can recall.</i>
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| − | In the Nexus the gangs had always used other places. Gangs tended to monopolize the whores, or look at them as 'theirs', which led to some customers feeling less than comfortable. She was sure there were one or two places like this, but she couldn't remember them. Of course, Nexus was <b>big.</b>
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| − | <B>Seventh Moon:</b> He had been hoping for more, somehow. This was his home, his den. Place practically smelled like him. But then, it kind of figured she'd be under whelmed. She mighta come from dirt just like him and still knew how to knock around, but she was probably use to much better digs than this. Looking around the room again through the filter of blue light, he suddenly realized what a trash heap it really was. Barely better than that shack they had tumbled in.
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| − | Though, if that place had been good enough for a shag
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| − | "Aw, here" Grabbing one of the nicer chairs off the floor, he hoisted it back up and cleared the floor around it with a sweep of his foot. "Heh, sorry. Manners ain't big down here, 'yknow?"
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| − | "Yeah, ain't exactly common around here. We got lucky. Vivian use ta hang with gangers, back when she was still thin and good looking. Plus she got sweet on Leaf, back when he was still kickin' around here with us, so he got the gang moved in cozy like. We keep watch on the girls, make sure no one fucks the place up, the old lady lets us stay. We even get freebies, sometimes." Turning to the table, he leaned the cue against it and began to roll together the brightly colored balls scattered across it's surface.
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| − | <b>Selina de Windia:</b> "S'ok. Iit's a sight better than most of the places I see gangs living in Nexus." And it was. Converted warehouses and slum-tenents didn't rate very highly for her after half a lifetime of killing people inside them. She took the seat he offered, spreading her wings to either side as she relaxed against the chair backing. "I don't play pool much -- not since that one time in Cinnibar where..." She hesitated, thinking that might make a bad impression. "...well, we shouldn't go into that one. Let's just say I'm bad at pool."
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| − | <i>Especially when you bet things you shouldn't.</i>
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| − | "So, where is your gang, anyway?"
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| − | <b>Seventh Moon:</b> <i>Click, click, click.</i>
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| − | The orbs of polished bone smacked together as they rolled into place at the edge of the table, every touch making a snap that echoed strangely through the room. Moon looked over at Selina as he shuffled the balls into a rough triangle. Cinnabar district, hmm? There wasn't district like that here, so it was probably her home town. Nexus. Despite her warning, he nearly did ask what happened, but decided that if she really didn't want to talk about it, he wouldn't press. He'd be pressing enough in a bit anyway.
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| − | "Naw? Well, I'll just poke at it a bit on my own..." Setting up the balls, he took up the cue again and paced around the table slowly, the wooden stick raised as if he were sneaking up on the unpainted white ball in the center. "Mmm... dunno. Probably out scoring hash or getting drunk. Ain't heard no howling since we hit the red-light, so they ain't making trouble at least."
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| − | Leaning low over the table, he eyed the white ball for a moment, tested the angle with a practiced jab of the cue. Focused wholly on the gleaming white orb, he didn't look up at her, angling his shot carefully.
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| − | "Aine, why the fuck are you here?"
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| − | <i>SNAP!</i>
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| − | The white ball crashed into the carefully arranged triangle and sent the others scattering across the table.
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| − | <b>Selina de Windia:</b> For a moment, the only sound in the room is the loud clack of the white as Moon sends it into the rest. Then Selina sighs, a sigh with a hint of a chuckle, watching the movement of the balls. "Well, that's not a secret. Our little prince knows, the Pale Angel knows, hell, Cael probably knows by now, if he had any inclination to wheedle it outta them."
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| − | She shifts her gaze to Moon, wandering over him idly. "I was hired by the Lover to help Alex, and then escort him to Red Ice -- that's a shadowland citadel she stays at. The Lover is a Deathlord, mine in fact, though I don't like to be associated with her. I don't usually do jobs that don't involve killing people either, but 20 jade talents was a lot to turn down."
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| − | <i>And the idea that Prince of Shadows might visit me again if I refused. </i>She didn't particularly dislike him, though she knew he wanted her. Pity she never manipulated him to get better terms.
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| − | "Don't ask me where she gets that kind of money -- she probably has spies in the Realm or something." Selina adds, gaze returning to the pool table, then to some of the pictures on the walls. "She probably wants to see how good Alex is in bed. Or to get him to work for her, or ally his country with her. As big a slut as the Lover is, I bet she has all sorts of little plans going underneath the surface. Those types always do."
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| − | <b>Seventh Moon:</b> The pool balls dance and bounce across the four corners of the table. One painted like a hot coal sinks into the pocket in the corner, tumbling into the net bellow. A big black marble glides to a stop at the edge, looming above another pocket as if waiting for a good excuse to jump in. Looking down, Moon draws back a booted foot and kicks the table. The black shudders a moment in defeat, then plummet in.
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| − | The Lunar nods slowly, rising from the table and moving into position to take another shot, his back to Selina.
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| − | "So... you're like the rest of them. Same thing as the Bishops boys, right?" Not that he hadn't already realized that one. Only more so since the ambush in the forest. The glaring fact he had been ignoring so long was somehow impossible after that, after touching the hound within him so deeply. The truth was in the air. He could smell her even now.
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| − | Moon took his time setting up the next shot, tracing out the path of the ball in his mind as he scanned over the table. "You really gonna take the kid to that whatjidtz after? The Lover? Sounds kinda like she wants ta fuck him over... or fuck him. Which might not be so bad. Dunno, she look anything like you?"
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| − | <b>Selina de Windia:</b> "I am." Selina answers smoothly. He seemed to be taking it relatively well. Some people went for her throat when they heard what she was. "Like that red-bitch Charmaine, like the Hierophant, like all those deathknights. Sworn to Oblivion and the dead gods." Leaning forward, she drapes her greatcoat over the back of the chair, then leans back again. "Not so fanatic, though. I mostly swore to get the power I needed for revenge. Thought I could play that side for my own gain. Worked some ways...not others."
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| − | "Ya see, sugar, I used to be like Alex. Or Cael, or Fiona. I was a Solar." Her tone is somewhat rueful, and at the same time contemptuous. She gave up her old power for the new for a reason. Even now it stared at her.
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| − | "As for the Lover, let me just say that once she's had you, you'll never forget." Her tone changes again, becoming faintly sultry, but not to Moon in specific. "I think she wants me to have Alex, though. But there's a little problem with that."
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| − | <b>Seventh Moon:</b> <i>Charmaine.</i>
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| − | <b><i>CRACK!</i></b>
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| − | A cloud of dust puffed out as the white ball careened into one of the others, sending it spinning off the edge of the table and rattling into the catch-net. Thin crevasses fractured the perfect white surface of the cue ball as it bounced back and glided along the edge of Moon's cue, rolling to a stop in front of him. He didn't move to acknowledge the ball for a moment. His back to her, Selina couldn't see the fangs that pressed out from his lips he clamped his jaw.
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| − | "Is that" Moon paused and closed his eyes as the light rose in them. His head throbbed for a moment and he took a breath, then stepped back from the table to aim his next shot. "Is that what she's gonna do to him, then? Make him like you and like the chalky bitch back on the boat?" And given how thrilled about it she had sounded. " that seems like a pretty shitty thing ta do to the kid."
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| − | "Mmm? Whats the problem?" Moon gently tapped his cue against the ball and rolled it into the egg-shell blue ball in the center of the table, nudging it towards the pocket, then looked back at the Windian with raised brows. "Ain't my thing, but I'm guessin' he's pretty shaggable by most standards. Old enough for it."
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| − | <b>Selina de Windia:</b> "He is." Selina replies, shakes her head. "And she may wanna turn him into a deathknight, or just have him be her pet king as he is. But I don't want to do it."
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| − | <i>I've done enough of her dirty work, and will probably do more.</i>
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| − | "Besides, that 'chalky bitch', as you put it, probably has a better chance 'n me." Chuckling, Selina remembers how the Pale Angel rebuffed her. "Not that I'm disagreeing she's got something lodged up her arse."
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| − | <i>Wasn't as if I wanted to put her in a collar and make her kneel in front of me like Charmaine does.</i>
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| − | "She's a whole lot more friendly with Alex than me, maybe she likes him. Not that I'd be the expert on that, so it's just a guess." Ending that with a smirk, the Windian brings one of her wings around to scratch the leading edge, and idly watches Moon.
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| − | <b>Seventh Moon:</b> Moon chewed on that moment. He tried to picture the little silvery prince and the tall, freakish albino chick. He could see them, standing side by side, her shoulders towering over him as she looked down on him like he were something she needed cleaned off her boots and him giving her that open, bright smile of his, like she could do him no wrong.
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| − | " naw, that's pretty fucked up."
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| − | "What <i>do</i> you wanna do, then?" He had heard some of her plans already. The red-bitch in chains, her pale ass hauled back to that Lover chick. He couldn't deny it wasn't a pleasant image, but no where near as satisfying as the one of Charmaine's cold corpse laying at his feet with her head twisted around a few times.
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| − | Well, everyone had their own tastes.
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| − | Tossing the cue down, Moon turned around to face her, leaning back against the edge of the table. "For real, Selina. You really just here for the money? It sounds sweet" he made a small huff, half-amazed at even the thought of that much jade and half-amused that the thought included him as the one looking down at it. "Hell, shit load more than I've ever seen, but be fuckin' damned if anyone coulda paid <i>me</i> enough to get tangled up in this. Just that this shit got dropped on my doorstep and fucked with my plant hangers."
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| − | <b>Selina de Windia:</b> "Oh, she's a pretty number herself, sugar. Biggest tease I've ever seen, though. Can't say that it wouldn't be fitting that our pure little prince loses his virginity to someone as pale as new snow, though. <i>She</i> might even be one, given how she acts." Selina unsheaths her rapier, then looks down the blade. It probably would never be out of sorts, given just what it <i>was</i>, but she'd used enough normal swords in the past that this thing got some care. "Anyways..."
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| − | Swinging the sword idly to the floor, the Windian looks up at Moon, tapping the ground with the tip of her weapon. "Was the money that brought me here, that caught my interest initially. But no one fucks with Windia. You know the story, right? Told different ways, depending on where you are and who heard what. Well, here's one bit alot get wrong: I'm the kinslaying Duchess of Windia. Windia's <i>my city</i>, and no religious fanatics are going say otherwise. Prince of Shadows told me Whiteshield fell when he struck the deal, and I heard the Bishop had people up here. Was only a matter of time till they went after the parent country, and Winlandia falls over my cold, dead corpse."
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| − | <b>Seventh Moon:</b> That military bitch? Pretty? Moon tried to remember exactly what she looked like, but fell short. Like most soldiers he met, he didn't see much of her past the uniform and the attitude. You never found out if there was anything nice under either until you'd stomped the attitude down and tore the uniform off. Made socializing with military prats on an intimate level a lot easier after that had been taken care of.
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| − | White as snow, huh?" Laughing, he shook his head and tipped it towards the warm glow coming down the stairway. "Maybe we should send him those two upstairs, then. Seem sweet enough. Hell knows most guys would like ta say their first time was two at once."
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| − | "Though personally, I prefer 'um a bit smudged myself" he watched her with a little smile quirking his lips. "Nice ya know when you're starting from the same place y'know?"
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| − | It was personal for her too. There was something comforting in that. That this cold, beautiful woman across from him could burn with that sort of passion about anything. She had seemed so unflappable before, but to hear that sound in her voice when she spoke about her city. Her <i>turf.</i>
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| − | The smirk blossomed into a smile. Duchess or gutter-snipe, they were the same. You watch out for your turf.
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| − | <b>Selina de Windia:</b> "I'm going to be Duchess again...someday." Selina mutters at the floor, almost to herself, then shakes her head and chuckles to herself, looking up to Moon. "You don't like statuesqe types who look like some god chipped em outta marble, sugar? Suppose you're right, though."
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| − | She unhooked her belt, after sheathing her weapon, and hung it over a nearby chair with the weapons dangling from it. Now, just her leotard, gloves, and thigh highs decorated her body. And the omnipresent emerald hearthstone at her throat, in its collar of soulsteel and jade. "If our dear Vorpal is smudged, she says nothing about it." The Windian gets up, stretches, body arcing back a bit as she holds her hands up past her head and spreads her wings -- all in one fluid motion. "I'm plenty 'smudged'. But...you also pick up a few things with experience. Best I'm not Alex's first, I wouldn't want him to expect that from his wife. From the complaining I've heard over the years, noble brides never know what they're doing come wedding night."
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| − | 'Not that the Lover wouldn't do worse." She adds with a rueful smirk. "He better hope he hits it off with the Pale Angel first, cause if he survives this, his marriage will be a tame thing otherwise."
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| − | <b>Seventh Moon:</b> "Seen enough statues and seen enough gods that they ain't got much left to impress me with." Warmth trickled down through his face as he watched her rise, like a scarlet cloud passing just under his skin. Moon licked his lips slightly, stars burning in the corners of his eyes, blue on blue under the light of the crystal. "Statues are cold and goddesses don't pant into your ear when you get 'um excited. They ain't gonna dig their heels into your back and bite your neck till it bleeds."
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| − | The coat seemed to shed off of him, falling onto the pool table behind as he stepped towards her. His finger tip was hot and dry as it brushed her check, twirling a strand of her blond hair around it. Then down, following it's flow to her neck, gliding softly over her skin. "Naw, I like scars and stains, darlin'. Sweat and blood, y'know? Little prince should learn all about why something soft and warm is always better before he goes trying ta tumble a hunk of stone."
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| − | He watched where his hand move, rather than her face, looking for her reaction somewhere other than her eyes. Dipping past her neck, his finger glided against the edge of her outstretched wing, caressing up and down, ruffling the black feathers and smoothing them down again. "Y'know, I've learned a few things here and there too" he looked at her at last, a playful grin on his face. "Wanna trade?"
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| − | <b>Selina de Windia:</b> "Oh? But you can make statues outta ice as well as stone, and I bet the Pale Angel will melt nicely if someone gets past her guard." Selina says in a teasing voice, wing twitching a bit as he runs his finger along it, blush coming to her slightly from Moon's touch. And little shivers of delight.
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| − | <i>Someday, someone will. It'll be worth the time to hear about.</i>
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| − | "I only bit a little before." Selina giggles, not immediately going for him, letting his fingers run over her. "So you want to trade?" Moving an arm up to trace along his, to <i>his</i> throat, she lets her fingers dip down to his chest, voice sultrily playful. "Going to have to repay you some before we start <i>trading</i>."
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| − | Seventh Moon: "I just feel for the bastards who try and fail..." he laughs, his voice rasping softly as her touch moves across his throat. Blood throbs under her fingers and fills his head; his whole body dimly pulsing in heat as her fingers move cross his chest. "Ice is fuckin' <i>cold</i>."
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| − | His back arched subtly as her fingers moved, rolling lithely under her touch like a cat carving attention, pressing his body against her fingers. Moving his and back along the traveled path of her wing, dipping into her hair and seeking out her ear bellow, cupping her cheek slightly in his palm while the softly padded tips of his fingers caressed over and behind the delicate lobe. Closing his other hand over her hip, stroking down the material of her leotard, he let his eyes drift closed. "Mmm y'know, you never actually answered. Was kinda wonderin' myself when that lady asked. Which is it?" he asked her, his smile wickedly playful. " Dominate or in the choker yourself?"
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| − | Selina de Windia: "Oh hoho<i>ho</i>." Selina purrs, eyes lighting up with passion, responding to his caresses with some of her own. "<I>That</i>, depends on my mood." Her voice turns thick with sultry tones, as she moves up to him. "Sometimes I do both. A few people like chaining a dominatrix."
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| − | One hand holds the one of his which is exploring downward. The other snakes itself around him, stroking his back. "I bet you'd like that." She says in a hot whisper, breath steaming against his neck, soft so only he can hear. "Which means, you're going to like what's coming up."
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| − | * - Back to [[GoldenCat/ThirdMovement|Third Movement]]
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| − | * - Back to [[GoldenCat/DanceOfAngels|A Dance of Angels]]
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