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Post by Narye Matsuya on Jul 26, 2012 19:44:55 GMT -5
It was difficult for Narye not to laugh along with the woman after he spun her through the air. Her smile and laughter was just that infectious for him. Especially since she reacted the way she did, with her arms wrapping around him his neck for safety and squealing a little as she was hauled off the ground. The whole exercise was just a delight, and it drew the attention of a few nearby dancers. It wasn't bad attention, just a little surprise and maybe even jealousy when they wondered why their own dance partners weren't doing something like that.
They were so caught up in the moment, that neither of them seemed to notice that Narye was still leaning over a bit and that hands were still gripping onto the woman's behind. Narye wasn't exactly fondling her or anything, his hands just kind of slipped up there after he set her down and he forgot about them. Though a few other dancers took notice.
"Well, I guess we could sit down for a little."
He felt the woman's fingers run through his hair, which he took as a very good sign that things were going well and that his spin move was a good decision. That was the moment he also realized that his hands were on her butt, though he gave it a light squeeze before taking his hands off. Taking her by the hand, he lead her over to a padded bench that had been set out for the Ball. Though he welcomed her to sit, he remained standing.
"Is there anything I can get you, miss? Another glass of wine?"
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Post by Saaga Sun on Jul 27, 2012 5:30:56 GMT -5
Saaga tensed up for a moment when she felt the light squeeze on her behind. Her eyes immediately darted towards the other dancers who were observing the situation, some of them trying to be stealthy about it and failing. If the man had not let go and taken her hand instead, she would have asked him to desist. They were not so closely acquainted that she’d want him touching her like that in front of others, though she had to admit that she might have been encouraging him.
When he led her to the bench, Saaga was thoroughly pleased for the chance to sit down. She slipped off her sandals and stretched her toes, silently regretting that she had not worn tabi-socks. There was no bruising or chafing to be seen, but she knew it was only a matter of time if she planned on spending the whole night moving about. Walking home bare footed had its merits she supposed but she preferred not to tread through glass shards and filth without shoes.
As the man asked her if she wanted anything, Saaga smiled at him and replied: “I think I’d actually prefer a glass of water. Thank you.”
She did not want to end up getting too drunk, especially since Master Zhang had procured a vendor’s stall for his Glass Emporium at the festival and expected her to be working the next evening. She was prone to suffering from painful hangovers and her attitude did not improve upon that particular ailment. Not to mention having to work in the midst of a loud surging crowd while feeling the repercussions of a drunken night out, would have most likely made her want to kill herself before the night was out.
“I have to say, I wouldn’t mind taking a couple turns on the floor again later. You’re a very good dancer,” she complimented him, adjusting the leather cord that held her metal thumb in place. She’d have to replace the buckle at some point; right now it had the nasty habit of loosening over time.
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Post by Narye Matsuya on Jul 27, 2012 9:10:30 GMT -5
A quick trip to one of the food tables, and to a passing server with one of those trays of wine, and Narye was back to the woman with two glasses in hand. One, of course, of water was offered to her, and he kept the glass of wine to himself. Narye knew his limits when it came to alcohol and he figured that he afford to have a couple glasses of wine while he was at the Ball and not have to worry too much about the effects, or after effects. Of course, he was also very well aware of his inability to handle alcohol. But how much alcohol could be in those int y glasses of wine?
"Here you go, miss."
Narye took a sip and took a seat next to the young woman, draping his arm behind her along the back of the bench. It wasn't until he sat down that he realized how sore his feet had become from the dancing. His feet weren't in pain, but he was glad he took the time to get off them for a little bit. Besides, the two of them could use some down time together without the risk of Narye picking her up or something.
Glancing down at her fidgeting hands, he finally took notice of the woman's metal thumb. During the dance he hadn't even realized there was anything on her hand. Judging by the looks of it, the thumb was something he shouldn't stare at it so he just brought his eyes back up. But it was still a curious sight.
"That's an interesting accessory on your hand. I've never seen anything like it."
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Post by Saaga Sun on Jul 27, 2012 10:39:37 GMT -5
While he was gone Saaga took that moment to look about. The venue was starting to fill up nicely and there was a stream of people coming into the ball and leaving it, usually not alone in both cases. She had never seen such a relaxed side of Republic City. Sure people frequented the parks for some down low time, but this was different. All the guests were colorfully dressed and wore masks that ranged from intricate to plain, from beautiful to hideous, all of them coming together to make a vivid combination. She was inspired just observing people and noticing an especially rich pattern on one woman’s dress she made a mental note of somehow including it on the next project she worked on.
And then he was back with drinks. Saaga took the glass of water from him, smiling warmly and watched him sit down. She leaned back on the bench and crossed her legs, draping the fabric of her hem carefully so as not to show too much skin. Yukata was a tricky outfit to sit in comfortably and she would have preferred to wear trousers, but Aya had insisted on her wearing a formal dress.
She took a sip of water and feeling the cold liquid go down her throat she realized how thirsty she had been. The water was also spiced with lemon which gave it fresh, snappy taste she liked.
“This? It’s not so much an accessory as it is my thumb. My father kept making these for me ever since I was five so I wouldn’t get ostracized by the other kids. Is it off putting?” she told him and smiled.
When she had first started living in the city, she had been very insecure about her little birth defect in major part because everyone kept asking about it. But over the few years she’d live here, this was the one thing she’d come to terms with and it did not bother her much at all, unlike so many other things.
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Post by Narye Matsuya on Jul 27, 2012 11:49:45 GMT -5
"I don't think it's off-putting at all."
His arm slipped from the back of the bench to the young woman's shoulders, holding her and gently encouraging her to scooch a little closer to him.
"It's interesting, but not in a bad way. Actually, I think you could turn it into a nice accessory, y'know. Maybe make it out of an expensive-looking material, put some fancy inlays on it. Maybe have different ones for different occasions."
Judging by what he was saying, it could have been surmised that Narye was joking or making fun of her thumb, but he wasn't. He was half trying to be humorous, half actually kind of serious. It was one of those moments where he had an idea or a thought and he just couldn't keep it inside his own head. The way he thought about it, why not make it into something that she could be proud of, or even make other people envious of? She seemed comfortable with it, why not let other people know it?
The more he talked with the still-nameless woman and hung around with her, the more thankful he felt about coming out to the Ball in the first place. A questionable decision to go to it, with the intention of trying to get into the dating game again, was turning out to be one of the better decisions he ever made.
"So what made you come out to the Ball tonight? Tryin' to tempt someone away like that couple before?"
He took a sip of his wine and leaned over toward the young woman, nuzzling his nose into her hair with a playful chuckle.
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Post by Saaga Sun on Jul 27, 2012 14:13:51 GMT -5
Saaga glanced at the arm he’d slipped on her shoulder and frowned slightly. It wasn’t that heavy but in order to continue sitting comfortably she had to slide a little closer to the man so that he didn’t need to lean over so much. She wasn’t sure what to think of such close proximity since the situation was now void of all pretenses. With dancing physical contact was required and expected, but this thing, whatever you wanted to call it made her feel a little awkward. How was she supposed to respond to his attentions without seeming, for lack of a better term, easy?
“Haha, maybe I could. But I rather favor practicality over aesthetics,” she laughed, incapable of picturing a fancy thumb-prosthetic without finding it hilarious and very unlike her.
Even if she’d had any desire for accessorizing and wearing jewelry, she doubted she’d ever replace her metal thumb. Not even for a little while. Her father had made it for her, trying to make it at least somewhat slender and feminine. It was the only thing she had of him at this point. She did not mention this to the man though. Nothing served to kill the mood quite as quickly as talk of deceased family members. Even she knew that much.
“Hardly. Why? You looking to get tempted?” she answered him, smiling deviously. It was too easy a retort to pass up.
“I actually came here with a friend, but she found something better to do and left by the looks of it. Doesn’t matter though. I’m fully capable of keeping myself entertained,” she finished and took another sip of water. She licked the few stray droplets from her lips and bowed her head slightly to get away from his nuzzling. His breath on her hair was ticklish.
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Post by Narye Matsuya on Jul 27, 2012 15:19:47 GMT -5
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't already tempted..."
There was a second's pause after he said that, and after the girl leaned away from him, before Narye leaned back up and away from her head. What he had said and did was spontaneous, and as they caught up to him a few seconds later, Narye starte to wonder and think. He even felt a little ashamed by what he was doing, even though the two of them seemed to be hitting it off pretty well.
"Hey, tell me the truth..."
His tone was a little bit more serious than it had been the rest of the night, perhaps even a little concerned.
"... I'm not comin' on too fast am I? 'Cause I like you, but I don't wanna make you uncomfortable."
That was the truth coming from Narye. He had been out of the dating game for a long time, and therefore hadn't exactly had the need/want to court a woman. So his skills or charms might have rusted over the course of time, and it might be showing now. Especially since he had squeezed her bottom not too long ago and he was kind of acting like a lusty young lad right now on the bench. As much as he liking this woman, he wasn't a reckless boy anymore and he shouldn't act like one.
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Post by Saaga Sun on Jul 27, 2012 17:31:48 GMT -5
She turned to face him leaning her arm against the back of the bench. There was so little room there that her arm lay touching his, but she was unaffected by it. If he wanted to know how she felt about his advances, she had no problem voicing her opinions on the matter.
“Well, you kind of are. I mean, I’m not sure how fast is too fast and all that, but this is rather overwhelming for me,” she said, rather bluntly at first but remembering how people were always telling her off for being snappy and harsh, she tried a softer tone as she finished her sentence.
Unsure as to what to say or do next Saaga rubbed her neck, curling strands of auburn hair around her fingers. She wondered if Aya had ever felt like this during her many flings. For someone who’d been very timid and clung to her tunic when they had first arrived in Republic City, Aya had learned the ropes alarmingly quickly. Saaga had neither her ability nor any desire to just let herself go and be swept away by men. And frankly even considering using her roommate as a role model for any kind of relationship was a disturbing thought in and of itself.
But even if she had doubts about the nameless man, she did not really want to say no either. He was very pleasant company and she certainly wasn’t one of those women who spent their days hoping for some kind of Prince Charming to appear. And although she did not care for people who were ‘too loose’ so to speak, she found that there was little to no merit in ‘keeping pure’ either.
“I mean we don’t even know each other’s names,” she laughed, shoving her thoughts somewhere they could not disturb her further.
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Post by Narye Matsuya on Jul 27, 2012 18:43:20 GMT -5
Narye was taken aback slightly at her honesty, but he did ask her to be just that so he recovered quickly. He kind of hoped that she would at least sugar coat it a little. No matter. The answer was still the same and now he could better guage his actions and words to better suit her.
"Oh... Okay..."
From the sound of it, the young woman was, more or less, inexperienced in this whole endeavor. The endeavor being "actively being courted by someone". This matched up with what she mentioned earlier about not having flirted before nor had she done any flirting of her own. So the big picture seemed to be that Narye's moves weren't too much, but the presence of anything was a bit too much for her.
From there Narye tried to decipher just how inexperienced she was. He would have used the word "virginal" for her except the way she handled herself on the dance floor made him think that she wasn't some pure innocent girl. So she had experience just being around men, but not having the men flirt with her.
The girl's statement about both of them still remaining nameless drew him back out of his thoughts and back to her. She was right. Names were like the first step in getting to know each other, but the anonymity seemed inherent in a Masquerade Ball.
"Well, I dunno if we're supposed to name ourselves at this kind of event, but if you really wanna know..."
Narye slipped his mask onto his forehead, revealing his face for her to see.
"... My name's Narye Matsuya. What's yours?"
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Post by Saaga Sun on Jul 27, 2012 20:35:24 GMT -5
”Oh? Was there a rulebook I didn’t catch sight of?” Saaga asked amusedly and finished her glass of water before bending over so she could place it on the ground. Soon she was back up again, straight posture and smiling at the man.
She was not a frequent visitor of parties, so of course she did not have a real grasp of proper etiquette nor was she a faithful follower of established conventions. She had lived most of her life having people dictate how she was supposed to be living it, and frankly so long as she wasn’t hurting anyone in the process she did things the way she pleased. So maybe wearing masks and not revealing one’s identity was the established agreement in a masquerade, but Saaga saw it as more of a guideline. If all she did was have a peek then who was to harm? It certainly made her feel that much safer knowing the man wasn’t just some faceless, nameless stranger. Or at least now he was less of a stranger than before.
“Narye…It fits,” she said to him, tasting the name as she repeated it. It rolled off the tongue quite nicely and went well with his youthful appearance. At times she had come across people, who had names that did not fit their owners at all, usually children with archaic names that nobody used anymore.
She revealed her own face much the same way as he had done, but brushed away a few stray feathers that had stuck on her cheeks and nose. The mask was not only hideous and unpractical, it was also cheap it would appear.
“I’m Saaga. Is now the time we’d normally say pleased to meet you or should we just skip it?” she said jokingly and leaned a little closer to get a better look at his face. She had to admit he wasn’t at all bad to look at.
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