Bode, Interrupted

[Nesrin Aziz]

“I didn’t want you to feel it last time,” she promised with a low laugh, begging the question of what she did want him to feel this time.

But then things changed – in a direction she hadn’t anticipated at all, and she was usually pretty good at that type of read. He’d been lulled, she was sure. The blindfold itself had only been play, not a true attempt to obscure her face, but the menace with which he yanked it off set her pulse racing in fear. At the mechanic shift in his voice, just a single word, she thought she might throw up all over his velvety pants in primal recognition. Instead she took an instinctive step back, fingers still braced on the back of the seat, though barely. He only turned to look at her, eyes disarmingly blank.

“Ness” wasn’t supposed to be out mingling with the guests, and she hadn’t even brought a drink for him, which she knew would draw Carmen’s hawklike disapproval. Whether Jaxen’s clear irritation was enough to bring someone over to smooth out the new girl’s error she wasn’t sure. But she knew Nox had carefully handpicked the bouncers – they were all channelers. And Wicked was watching from above.

Terror never stopped Nesrin, even when it twisted up her insides in white-hot panic, because she balanced the risks with every careful breath despite it. Right now running would only delay the inevitable, and she liked her odds here. It was why she chose Kallisti to hide in.

“Hello again.” Her head tilted in calculation, pulse still hammering silently inside. She didn’t differentiate on who she thought she was speaking to, though her demeanour shifted; less playful, more quiet cunning.

There was a large part of her that wanted to whisper no, just to see if defiance would swing some power into her corner (what was he actually going to do?), but it was the much more stupid of her two options, even surrounded by Kallisti’s security, and Nesrin rarely stoked the fires of outright hostility. Not when there was something to salvage – not even when the sharpness of the command stoked ire in her chest. Instead, fingers still trailing lightly along the back of the seating, she worked her way around it. He remained in her peripheral vision the entire time. Wariness was part of why she moved slowly, the other that it gave her time to think. But she was self-aware; from the outside, it certainly looked the seductress’ part.

By now Nesrin had enough puzzle pieces to make a somewhat comprehensive picture. She’d seen the Emissary’s host when it was vacant – and it had been literally vacant, reacting only when she’d tried to prise the mask from his face. So, this was something different, else it was just earlier in the same process. She suspected less permanence, given the Emissary’s reliance on his mask, but all she really needed to know was whether or not it meant Voxel was still in there.

She sat at the furthest edge of the round seating, where it would be easy to slip back out quickly, though her posture was relaxed when she folded onto the seat. One leg tucked under, and she was curved in towards him even though she was as far away as she could be. Her arm rested on the back of the seat. The Emissary hadn’t hurt her back at the house party, even when it knew what she had stolen, and she didn’t think that would change – not while she had what it wanted. Or it thought she did, at least. And so long as it kept all it’s ethereal fucking connections that side of the table, she was perfectly willing to talk.

Her fingers played across her lips, and she bit the tip of one in contemplation or tease or perhaps just plain judgement. Her eyes half narrowed. “All the mighty Voxel’s accomplishments down to m’Antinomian all along. Well that’s disappointing.” A smirk played behind her hand, not very carefully hidden. The devious goad flashed under her lashes. If Voxel was still steering, or in there somewhere, she didn’t think it was an accusation his pride would ignore. And it seemed an odd alliance in truth, not least for what rumour spoke of the colourful Jaxen Marveet.

“I’m listening,” she added, letting her chin rest on the fold of her hand. Her dark eyes were unblinking. Always let the other player show their hand first.