01-15-2025, 07:27 PM
He didn't retaliate. Clearly he must just think she’d shoved him off because she was a bitch. Ori didn't care, and she didn’t explain herself further. Why the hell he accepted that kind of treatment from a stranger spoke volumes, and even as she watched it was like the rolling fog of a retreat. Whatever her searching look over him told her never translated into her expression – there was just the fact she bothered.
The touch at her neck sent a small shiver into her, not desire this time, but something. Sasha was soft spoken, unassuming in a way Ori would normally overlook except that she also found him unpredictable. It wasn’t the kind that kept her on her toes, or wound her tighter, or incited her. It was more that he just quietly acted in ways she didn’t fully anticipate. For now it held her attention without provoking her.
She let go.
“No,” she said. There was scorn in her tone, like he’d asked something stupid. But it had no real bite.
Ori leaned back against the wall, hands braced on her thighs. Her head was swimming a little, which might have just been the things she’d taken tonight. She glanced at the trinket in Sasha’s hand but wasn’t much interested in whatever crutch he used to explain his power before now. He looked like he thought she was going to wrestle it from him by how tightly he gripped it. With power like she’d seen he had, he’d probably been guarding that silly piece of rock with his life. No wonder the Atharim were hot on his trail.
As for help. Well, no shit. Ori knew full well she could ask Nox and he’d fall over himself in an attempt to do what he could, but she never had. Wouldn’t. “I could show you exactly what’s in my head if you want, but you wouldn’t like it.” Her glance was sly then, more than sinister, but her smirk ended in sharp laughter. She didn’t want to talk about it, and he looked like he might be trying to melt into the wall to escape her notice.
She slid the rest of the way down, intending to wait it out until her head cleared. She half closed her eyes. The winter chill bit. Her forearms rested on her knees, and her exposed skin burned. It wasn’t like she was powerless to help herself, it was just that the freezing pain was a little like holding her hand over that flame. A distraction. “If you’re shitting a brick about it all, Sash, ask at Kallisti for Nox.” She’d been there once after all, and it wasn’t the first time she’d taken pity on the lost, and especially the dangerous lost. The whole club was a beacon for it, even more so now Nox was its shepherd. Though it wasn’t entirely in charity she directed him, it was to let him off the hook if he was too afraid to simply run from her. He wasn’t under any obligation to stay. She didn’t expect him to.
The touch at her neck sent a small shiver into her, not desire this time, but something. Sasha was soft spoken, unassuming in a way Ori would normally overlook except that she also found him unpredictable. It wasn’t the kind that kept her on her toes, or wound her tighter, or incited her. It was more that he just quietly acted in ways she didn’t fully anticipate. For now it held her attention without provoking her.
She let go.
“No,” she said. There was scorn in her tone, like he’d asked something stupid. But it had no real bite.
Ori leaned back against the wall, hands braced on her thighs. Her head was swimming a little, which might have just been the things she’d taken tonight. She glanced at the trinket in Sasha’s hand but wasn’t much interested in whatever crutch he used to explain his power before now. He looked like he thought she was going to wrestle it from him by how tightly he gripped it. With power like she’d seen he had, he’d probably been guarding that silly piece of rock with his life. No wonder the Atharim were hot on his trail.
As for help. Well, no shit. Ori knew full well she could ask Nox and he’d fall over himself in an attempt to do what he could, but she never had. Wouldn’t. “I could show you exactly what’s in my head if you want, but you wouldn’t like it.” Her glance was sly then, more than sinister, but her smirk ended in sharp laughter. She didn’t want to talk about it, and he looked like he might be trying to melt into the wall to escape her notice.
She slid the rest of the way down, intending to wait it out until her head cleared. She half closed her eyes. The winter chill bit. Her forearms rested on her knees, and her exposed skin burned. It wasn’t like she was powerless to help herself, it was just that the freezing pain was a little like holding her hand over that flame. A distraction. “If you’re shitting a brick about it all, Sash, ask at Kallisti for Nox.” She’d been there once after all, and it wasn’t the first time she’d taken pity on the lost, and especially the dangerous lost. The whole club was a beacon for it, even more so now Nox was its shepherd. Though it wasn’t entirely in charity she directed him, it was to let him off the hook if he was too afraid to simply run from her. He wasn’t under any obligation to stay. She didn’t expect him to.
![[Image: orianderis.jpg]](http://thefirstage.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/orianderis.jpg)