|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2014 10:49 pm
He'd been awake for hours.
The note Alistaire had found in his pocket now lay on one corner of the pristine desk that was against one wall of the spotless room. Upon his awakening and the subsequent finding of said note, he had gotten up and headed straight for the showers, though it was just barely past midnight and most were probably still asleep. But Alistaire had been unable to push aside the lingering feelings that remained; the remnants of the so-called "dream," and had spent close to an hour scrubbing and washing away everything until he was satisfied.
Now, hours later, his skin was still crawling with the memory of it.
Everything in Alistaire's room had its proper place. There were hardly any decorations (he believed little in extraneous objects that served no purpose), and what furniture was in the room was kept neat and tidy, each carefully arranged exactly the way he liked it.
(It was silly and downright stupid to believe that he could maintain this sense of orderliness everywhere on a place like Deus, but at least in his own residence he could have some semblance of control.)
A name was written on the piece of paper currently in the middle of the desk, printed in a neat block handwriting that left little room for interpretation. Alistaire stared at it with a muted expression on his face and then reached for his phone, scrolling down the list of pre-entered contacts until he found the one he was looking for.Nio Love Text to MAEBE GRACE BERTRAND:We need to talk.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2014 11:07 pm
Maebe woke up as if she'd had a nice, restful sleep, and a lovely dream. Which she had, truly. It hadn't even been a new dream, in some senses. Maebe had often dreamed that her life had been better after her parents had abandoned her. She dreamed about how normal things could have been. She dreamed about what she would have been able to accomplish if she hadn't slummed herself to keep from being homeless. They were nice dreams. She enjoyed them. And this one was no exception, because in this one, she got laid. Real life, of course, was a stark disappointment. She finally opened her eyes, and realized the dream had been more than just a dream. It was harder for her to accept that such things could come to pass, which immediately set her teeth on edge with the desire to deny, deny, deny. But the more she thought about it, the more it all began to settle in. She'd really experienced those things, somehow. She experienced a world where Deus had found her before it was too late. And the lovely glow of a dream gone by faded in place of cold, vicious hatred. Why hadn't they come to her before it was too late? She spent the entire morning ruminating on how Deus, as an institution, had failed her, when her thoughts were interrupted with an alarming text. She saw the name on the text, and it triggered every single memory of him that she'd accrued. Painful ones, and other, more unbelievable ones. She'd been so naive, in that world. So new. So fresh. She didn't even know what love was. But she knew, here. And it was laughable. She typed a quick, friendly reply, chuckling under her breath as she did so. kurotomato Text to: Alistaire Rahal-Nazari No, we don't. She let him off the hook, because she didn't need him to extend whatever excuses he thought he had to give. She'd barely met the man, but what she remembered of him was enough to know he wanted nothing to do with her. If she'd thought, even for a second, that this experience could have let her to a friend with benefits, she probably would have invited him in - but she knew just enough about Alistaire to know there would be no repeat to the dream.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 10:07 pm
If he'd been any different than what he was, Maebe's response might have made him roll his eyes; but considering that Alistaire thought such a gesture was beneath him, all he did was give a soft snort and close the phone with a sharp snap, pushing his chair back away from his desk. Carefully he pulled on his coat, smoothing down any creases in the sleeves; and then a pair of crisp black gloves was slipped onto his hands, Alistaire flexing his fingers to make sure they fit correctly.
Several moments later, there was a simple rap at Maebe's door.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 11:06 pm
The Maebe he might have remembered from their dream was nothing like the girl who opened the door when Alistaire knocked on it. She was in an oversized sweater and unseen shorts, for one. Her hair was out, in messy curls around her face, for two. And she wasn't falling helplessly into his arms, for three. There were other differences, but these were the most stark visual ones. "Well." Maebe murmured, smirking softly at him. "I'll forgive you for coming, because you are a pretty sight to see. But I was serious when I said we don't need to talk, Prince Ali." She turned to walk away, but left the door open, because she was always interested in being proven wrong. "Unless you didn't come here to talk. Which would really, really surprise me." She sat down, very slowly, on her bed. Looking at him, from top to bottom, brought up a lot of very recent, very physically provoking memories. She soaked them in, because they felt good. Even if they were only dreams.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2014 9:06 pm
His upper lip curled.
"You look terrible," said Alistaire airily, and without a trace of unmet expectations, as though he were merely stating the most basic of facts. He scrutinized her, his eyes tracing over the messy hair and the sweater that did not fit her properly, and a sense of irritation washed over him. It was partially because of the dream, which was still vividly fresh within his mind, and partially because she did not look nearly as composed as she had inside of his head. His fingers itched to fix the snarl on the left side of her hair, straighten the oversized top, yank the stray thread trailing from one corner of her shirts.
He did none of things however, Alistaire's placid expression flickering to one of annoyance at the unnecessary nickname.
"It's Alistaire," he said, though he had a feeling she would call him by whatever she pleased. This particular thought nettled him, since he did not care for being in a situation he could not control. Maebe was strong, too strong to intimidate, which meant that he would have to rely on other methods to manipulate her.
"And no, talking is the only reason that I came," he replied, a note of clear disgust in his voice. "If you thought perhaps a little fantasy of yours was about to come true, then you thought wrong."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 5:32 pm
Teeth were exposed in an unkind grin when he tried to correct her on his name. "Please. Don't flatter yourself. It wasn't my fantasy." It was nice to hear confirmation that he'd witnessed the events of New Years, as well. She knew it hadn't been some overactive imagination spurned from the depths of her absurd length of abstinence. Just some weird shared occurance - Jude warned her that weird s**t went down all the time, on the island. If this was what he meant, she wouldn't mind. Sex dreams were fun. Her hands cupped her chin, with an expression that looked like an avid and attentive listener - which she really wasn't. "So, you really need to talk to me. Let me try to guess what you're going to say, okay? This will be a fun game between us girls." She put her hand to her lips, and patted them thoughtfully. "Dear Maebe. Whatever happened in that dream that I definitely didn't masturbate to afterward was not real, and you shouldn't get your hopes up. I hate you and want nothing to do with you. Love always, your Prince Ali. P.S. You were a tiger in the sack." Her head tilted to one side. "Did I cover it?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2014 10:13 pm
The longer Maebe talked the more disgusted Alistaire looked, his fingers subconsciously clenching and unclenching against the side of his coat. This expression, however, only magnified as he lifted his chin to stare at her, one eyebrow lifting.
"You are entirely crude, and rather vulgar," he said flatly, "I'm not delusional enough to even think you would get your 'hopes up,' as you so blatantly stated. Though if you were stupid enough, you probably would; however, you're not quite that idiotic to consider that silly little fantasies are paramount to anything that happens in the real world."
Alistaire straightened a little and shook his head, his lip curling upwards in a mocking sneer. "In spite of your apparently cleverness, however, there is also a clear underlying idiocy directly related to your inability to know when to shut your ******** trap."nio love idk what my tags are lies on floor
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2014 10:56 pm
Maebe ate up every second of disgust on his face, all the way up until she realized that in his own underhanded, vindictive way.. he was complimenting her. He was calling her clever. The smile slid off of her face. The first person on this island to compliment you aside from your unfortunately homosexual companion, and that is what makes you unhappy? Thaw scoffed in disbelief. Maebe pushed his thoughts away, sliding back on her bed until her back touched the wall. She looked deflated, though no less ready to strike at a moment's notice. She could call him out on it. She should have called him out on it immediately. Should have made fun of him for accidentally complimenting a woman he clearly hated. Should have turned it all on him and jabbed him right in the cold, frozen heart with it. But she didn't. She just went silent. She didn't know how to respond to compliments. Only insults. "It's funny you say that." Her voice cracked, at the beginning, but she recovered quickly and jutted her chin out to regain her cold exterior. "With how much you've been yammering. And still, haven't gotten to the point? Come on, let's make this quick." You are no longer enjoying yourself. Intriguing.It was Thaw's commentary, and not Alistaire, that made Maebe darken, and finally shut up.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2014 10:57 pm
Some part of what he'd said had hit her, and he was under the distinct impression that he knew exactly what that something was. A slow, catlike smile spread across his face, bordering on smug, and Alistaire took a step backwards, leaning against the door.
"There is no point," he said airily, folding his arms across his chest. "Except to come and see whether or not you were star struck enough by that horrible alternate universe to believe that you withstood a chance at...well, whatever it was."
He shook his head slowly. "Clearly you don't, which is good for the both of us."
And now his gaze narrowed, and the catlike smirk became a little more predatory. "And now I have a question for you."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2014 9:40 pm
Maebe wanted to call bullshit. There was no way Alistaire had come all this way without some sort of point to his visit, and shutting her down couldn't possibly have been it. He knew her just well enough to have known she wasn't the type to get her hopes up. Unless he just wanted to assure that she never touched him. And that just made her want to get up and touch him. A lot. His smirk was getting a similar response, as she started to think about the idea of climbing off that bed and hugging Alistaire around the waist. Would he squeal like a pig? Or maybe just get really angry and violent. She wanted to know. She needed to know. It ached in her fingers, which clenched and unclenched at the thought. She was just about to get up off the bed, when he announced that he had a question. "I knew it." She muttered proudly under her teeth. "Ask."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 7:24 am
He watched her carefully, gauged her responses, carefully logged away each and every minutiae so that he could remember them for future reference. The way her fingers twitched as though itching to throttle his neck, the hard blaze of anger in her eyes, as well as a pride and stubbornness that ran thick and heavy through her veins; each was important, an aspect of Maebe Grace Bertrand that was necessary to understand just how she worked.
And how he could break her apart.
Alistaire remained where he stood, just watching her for a long moment, amusement in his eyes. After a minute, he exhaled a small breath, lifted his chin, and said lightly,
"Tell me about Shiloh Parish."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 6:47 pm
Just like that, Alistaire had exposed his true goal. It was a goal that had Maebe's blood boiling under her skin. He wanted to use her to get to Shiloh. To get to Ian. It would have been laughable, if it wasn't so contemptuous. He'd come all the way to her room, directly after witnessing an explicitly intimate affair between them, to ask her to feed him information in order to hurt his own brother, and her best friend. He was a monster.Child, you are the monster. Thaw warned her carefully. Your heart is racing, your body is betraying you. That is not contempt you're trying to hide. Please, control yourself. It's disgusting.Thaw had never spoken to her like that before. He sounded nauseous. Her instinctive reaction of arousal to being used and mistreated made the gentle creature that resided in her head, sick. It jolted her with surprise; unwittingly helping her out of the hole she was digging herself into. The hole Alistaire would have eventually buried her in, if she'd fallen down into it. She crossed her legs in front of her, and folded her hands on her knee. "If you can give me one good reason why I would ever tell you a single thing about anyone, then maybe I will." She knew a good reason. But Thaw's growl of contempt kept that sly smile off of her face.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 9:43 pm
He liked this. He liked the way that he could get to her, burrow beneath her skin, expose the raw emotions that lay beneath. It wasn't as though Maebe hid them, but she covered them with careless gestures and meaningless words, trying to act larger than she was, expand herself further than the length given to her.
He was going to exploit that if he could, put it to use.
The door was right behind him, and Alistaire could have leaned back against it, if it had been his own room. But this was an unfamiliar room, an unclean one at that, and he wasn't about to touch anything if he could help it - including the young woman sitting on the bed across from him.
Alistaire smirked at her. "You're going to tell me," he said, idly plucking a stray piece of thread from the sleeve of his coat, "because you like a challenge. But also because you know I won't do anything."
He shrugged his shoulders, rolling his head so that the joints and bones in his neck cracked before he leveled a look in Maebe's direction again. "I merely want information."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 10:10 pm
"Pause." Maebe's stare turned flat as he glared at him. "Let's get a few things straight. One? You so don't know me for s**t. Because if you did, you'd know that I actually hate challenges. I hate anything that makes me do more work than the minimal requirement." This was actually a lie; Maebe had a weakness for being challenged, but she'd long since convinced herself otherwise. And so, she passed on the convincing denial to him. "And secondly, I don't know you. Which means I don't know what you'd do with that information. But I do know that you're not planning a surprise party for him. So, unless you've actually got something to sweeten the deal here? You're s**t out of luck, sweetheart." He looked uncomfortable, standing there waiting for her to break. She felt a surge of pleasure at the thought, and used that surge to push herself off the bed, and walk towards him. It was time to test the waters. She brushed past him to get her hairbrush. "You know, I'm actually kind of awful trying to find out information. And believe me, I've been trying. But even I know you can't walk into someone's room and say tell me all your sweet sweet secrets without something to barter." The brush was pulled idly through her hair. "Not that I think you have anything I want." Another lie. But a very good one.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2014 8:44 pm
Maebe's little speech, if anything, just made Alistaire that much more amused. Words were just that, after all - words, simple things tossed around here and there. Words meant nothing to someone like Alistaire, who took them and twisted them and turned them around so that he could use them for his own benefit.
Words were currency to him, not that Maebe would know or even understand that.
She got up and he watched her move, the expression on Alistaire's face shifting from an almost perfectly controlled one to a near angry one. The touch of her arm against his made him tense up, his entire body stiffening automatically, and a low hiss of irritation slid out from between his clenched teeth, though he stood his ground and did not move from where he stood.
A slow smile made itself across his lips. "I don't want sweet secrets, darling," said Alistaire smoothly. "I want the dark, deep, hidden secrets, the ones that people hide under their beds, kick into closets, step over to try and pretend that they don't exist."
He waved a hand, his dark eyes meeting hers. "And I think that you know more than you care to say, which is interesting."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
