[ If anyone understands that she isn't a child, it's him. A child wouldn't be capable of holding down the Divination Commission as effortlessly as she does, and while she does question his decisions regularly, it isn't the petulant rebellion of a teenager, but the honest questioning of a member of his team. None of this makes the way she wrinkles her nose in distaste any less cute, and he smiles to himself over it.
He nods as she speaks, watching her move her piece. He already knows her gambit, can see the different ways he could fall for it.
He chooses one, as he speaks. ]
And if your truce leads to surrender, and a loss for your people?
( Off to a decent start, Fu Xuan thinks, and moves another piece along that plan rather than starting the side attack. Next turn, once she can be certain he has committed to her gambit. It gives her time to chew over his question -- as loaded as it may be.
Taking another sip of her milk tea, she considers. It is a question asked by Jing Yuan, so the answer is never going to be as simple as it may seem. And it means he already has a viable solution in mind; one that is a winning gambit to his strategist mind. It's infuriating, the way he plays these games, and she sets down her drink harder than she intends. )
It is a truce, Jing Yuan. If crafted correctly then I can keep my people safe. Is not the lives of those who I am charged with protecting the most valuable asset a General can have? If my enemy breaks it, then their dishonorable actions speak louder than an outright victory could.
( She doubts it is the answer he is seeking, but likely he knew that before asking. Infuriating! )
[ He hums in response, his gaze never leaving the board as he watches her move her piece, though his eyes flick to her hands once as she she sets her drink down on the table.
She's irritated. No need to keep dragging it out. ]
A truce is a fine choice, [ he says eventually, the piece he moves likely one she wasn't expecting at all, clear on the opposite side of the board from where she's setting up to corner him. ] The lives of your people are indeed your most valuable asset.
[ He settles back again, against his seat, resting his head on his hand, propped up on his knee. ]
And that is why you prevent needing a truce to begin with. [ He closes his eyes and gives her a small smile. ]
( His move has her narrowing her eyes, a crease forming in her forehead only interrupted by her third eye. She's focused on trying to make a move and adjust for his unexpected play -- annoying, but typical of when she plays starchess against Jing Yuan -- that for a moment what he said doesn't register. When it does-- )
You bluff? ( The look she turns on him is shocked at first, before it melts back into annoyance at his smile. So yes, he knew she wouldn't think of it, and her hands form into fists for a second before she very carefully places them on her thighs. ) Jing Yuan, that is--
Absolutely ridiculous. You would place the lives of those we are to protect on the weight of someone's ability to lie?
( Her head spins, because Fu Xuan cannot possibly account for all the ways that such a bluff could go horribly wrong. It's distracting enough that she doesn't make her move just yet, her gambit forgotten in the way her mind reels at his revelation. )
[ He waits patiently for her to make her move, closing his eyes briefly. ]
Naturally, it's a strategy that could only work on one person — someone who knows you as well as you know yourself. Your rival knows you as well as you know yourself. And, so, you bluff. Because they will know you are bluffing. But they will also know that your bluff could be a trap — for what other reason would you possibly bluff in the face of certain defeat? Surely, then, calling that bluff will lead to the defeat of your rival. And if there is so much as a chance they will lose, why take it?
[ He opens his eyes and watches her, gaze dropping to her balled up fists on her thighs, up to her position on the board, back up to her face. ]
And, so, you have won, without drawing a single blade.
( Fu Xuan is very certain she is going to kill him before he's even marastruck. Out of frustration, most likely, or out of a deep desire to keep the Luofu safe from one of his absolutely insane decisions. It isn't that she can't see the logic of it, or understand why it would work -- but the flaw in it is exactly the reason why it would succeed: it only works for one person. )
And what if that person is not your rival? Do you suggest bluffing your way through that encounter as well? ( Fu Xuan snaps, and moves a piece upon the board in her irritation that exposes her gambit too early. She sighs in annoyance -- Jing Yuan has an uncanny ability to get under her skin, no matter how she might be willing to admit that he is a man deserving of his reputation. ) But I suppose you'll simply say that a good strategist will work out unique scenarios to deal with enemies every time.
( Which is fair, she supposes. But that doesn't mean she's not annoyed by the fact that he is right. )
[ He looks at her in surprise — both at her response and the move she makes on the board. And then his surprise turns into a lazy smile as he leans his chin onto his fist. If he was a cat, he might even be purring. ]
Of course, Lady Fu. That's what strategy is. Every scenario is different, even in the most minuscule of ways. Certainly you can have plans prepped, gambits you use as a jumping point. However—
[ and he moves one of his pieces into check, an example ]
Should you rely on those gambits too often, you risk defeat, because your enemy will be able to counter predict your every move.
( Her eyes narrow, though she knows she hasn't foreseen this outcome and therefore cannot rely on it now. But there's something about his smile that makes her itch, as near predatory as it is. Fu Xuan would be a lesser woman if she let a bad temper get the better of her, but she makes no hint of hiding her displeasure with the situation they've gotten themselves into. )
Was this really necessary to prove to me that I am not yet your match in strategy in all forms?
( She is going to take the fact that she can still best him in some, however. And she moves another piece, an attempt to reassert her control over the board itself -- it is clearly an attempt at making the best of the situation, and likely the best move she could make in such a scenario. )
Yet, [ he confirms, sweeping his gaze over the board. ]
And you hardly need proof of that.
[ It might be cruel, but it's the truth. They both know he's the better strategist, despite her capability as a diviner. He respects her enough to not mince words, or even outright lie. ]
What is necessary is helping you understands that mistakes made can cost you dearly.
[ Case in point: her best move is, unfortunately, not good enough to keep him from keeping her in check. ]
( Ugh. She takes her time again, scanning the board and running through divinations during the silence -- taking sips of her sweet tea and her boba while she does so. There are ways she can claw back from the position she's in, certainly, but they all rely on Jing Yuan being less intelligent than he is. And as frustrating as he can be, and is to her in this moment, she's not going to do them both the disservice of pretending otherwise.
Fu Xuan moves a piece at long last, cutting off another line of attack. If she must surrender, it will only be with one of his pieces in check. )
As is recovering as best as one can from those mistakes. Unless you are willing to admit that you have never made one.
( Arching a brow at him, Fu Xuan is satisfied if he does not expand upon whatever answer he gives her. There's no point in drudging up his illustrious past, though he would never describe it as such. )
To say I have never made a mistake would be folly. It’s truly impossible for someone of my age to have never made one, [ he says after an almost too long moment of contemplation. ] What mistakes I have made have been lessons learned, and nothing more.
Mistakes, [ he continues, sliding a piece across the board, ] do not define us. They simply are. No more, no less. Check.
( A wise answer. Fu Xuan thinks Jing Yuan is many things, and some of them not particularly kind, but she would be the first to admit that he possesses a keen insight and understanding not only with regards to the Luofu but also with himself. Know thyself, she muses, though her favorable view of the General is shattered with his word -- check? Again?
She splutters. )
What, how--
( Getting to her feet, Fu Xuan peers over the board, seeking what she might have missed. )
[ He doesn’t mean it unkindly; he values her the way she is, has taken her advice into consideration more than once, advice he knows comes as a blend of her heart and her head. But in matters of war, that kind of distraction can get your men killed. ]
Starchess is a battle, perhaps not fought with blades and starskiffs, but a battle all the same. You must not let your opponent get into your mind. That way lies, at best, defeat. And at worst…
[ He trails off, memory clouding his eyes, and he feels every second of his age, the crushing weight of it all on his shoulders. ]
At worst, that way lies death for everyone you love.
( For all that the General attempts to downplay his achievements with the High Cloud Quintet given the disaster that followed, Fu Xuan is familiar with the stories enough to know how much it weighs upon him even though he played no real part in the drama that unfolded. But their absence, what he had to do to his master--
Fu Xuan fled her ship because she couldn't bear the thought of killing her own teacher and in doing so, doomed him. She has committed what would amount as a war crime by any galactic standard with the man in front of her because they both agreed the victory was worth the cost.
He has made many, many calls like that, she knows -- and it is a miracle he is not marastruck. How can one man bear the weight of all that and not collapse underneath it all? How stubborn of him. )
Hmph. ( Fu Xuan settles on, for lack of anything else to say. ) Then I am glad for the schooling here, rather than on the field of battle.
[ What else can he do but trudge on? He is the last of that legacy, the living line between 'before' and 'after', the only one left with no price to pay. Or so his master says.
But what is this burden of his but the price of living with the regret of doing nothing? He cannot turn Marastruck. He has to carry the memories of those who came before into the future.
As quick as it came, the storm clouding his vision dissipates, and he closes his eyes to smile at her. ]
( Ugh. How is it that Jing Yuan can make all of the kind feelings she has for him vanish in short order? She suspects that he allows himself to get close but not too close, never too genuine, with most others to protect himself, but it's horrifically annoying when faced with it.
Not that Fu Xuan has much experience with genuine connection, but that is simply because she prefers her work. Which she excels at, and is needed by all of the Luofu to perform to the best of her ability. There is satisfaction to be had in finding the way forward, and while Fu Xuan never forgets the lives she must weigh -- she remains confident and sure that the decisions she makes are for the best of them all.
She glowers at him, arms crossed in front of her. )
I can simply see that there are no moves with which I can win. What use is there in dragging out my downfall? One would think you a sadist, Jing Yuan, for suggesting as much.
For a moment Fu Xuan can only stare at Jing Yuan. She can feel a redness creep up her neck, her cheeks, her ears at the implications of what he's saying. That's ridiculous. He's being insufferable! )
That's-- I mean, that is to say-- ( Later, she'll say that it's only because she's flustered that she's not watching her words. That she even allows what she says to be said at all. Because it is embarrassing, it is untoward and unprofessional and only because he's smiling at her like that. ) That would not be the thing I would like you to do!
[ The phrasing doesn't go unmissed. He's even amused by it, his smile only growing a little more like that, and his gaze drops to her lips before he tilts his head to the side for a moment, considering.
He's had many lovers, over the millennium. In his youth, he'd even fallen in love a few times, but his place within the High Cloud Quintet, and his subsequent promotion to General left little time for men or women outside of his bed. After a time, bedmates were all he began seeking out, with the understanding between all parties that it was to remain as such. He doesn't like breaking hearts, but it's unavoidable sometimes when you're dealing with them and the people they're attached to, and he knows he has a handful of scorned ex lovers out among the stars. In more recent years, he's refused to take any at all. He doesn't have the time, and if he's being more honest with himself, as the years pass the ache of what he lost so long ago weighs on him more and more. It would be nothing more than a temporary bandage over a gaping wound.
But she's always fascinated him, ever since they day she came into his office and presented a plan so bold it could only go right. He'd watched her with keen interest bordering on actual attraction since then, and when she'd risen to the seat of Master Diviner, he'd been secretly pleased because that meant he could spend more time with her and her caustic barbs. Time and opportunity and exhaustion had kept him from reaching out to gauge her interest — and now here she is, with the just barely implict suggestion that she might be interested.
It's because he likes her that he does what he does next, risky as it is. But, he thinks, as he leans forward to brush at a drop of coffee resting on her bottom lip with the pad of his thumb, she won't stop him. His touch is gentle and slow, the feel of her soft skin against his sending pinpricks down his spine. He draws back and closes his eyes, licking the moisture from his thumb. ]
I wonder, Master Diviner, [ he says, his voice pitched lower with faint desire, ] if you would taste so sweet?
( Fu Xuan needs a moment to try not to lick her lips in a mirror of the path his finger took. She swears she can still feel it, the warmth and slight roughness of his fingertip. This is a wildly different turn the evening has taken, and one she is struggling to make sense of, because -- how? Why? There are no doubt a great many people on the Luofu alone who would be a better match for Jing Yuan, would there not?
That she finds something stirring in her chest, low in her belly, is a fact she is decidedly ignoring. The General is handsome enough -- she has eyes -- and Fu Xuan is capable of admiring the strength within him, even if he is the source of a great many headaches. But none of that makes sense as to why he's turned his eyes on her.
Fu Xuan knows that she is many things: the best diviner the Luofu has ever seen, the woman to become the next General, and someone who does not, admittedly, have or want much experience aside from her job and raison d'etre. And yet here he is, making his interest in her clear, and Fu Xuan does not know how to respond.
She needs-- she needs a drink. Desperately, to wet her suddenly dry throat. )
I-- that is not related to the subject we were discussing.
( It's not exactly true, but it gives her time to drink another, longer sip of her coffee. To help bring down the heat she can feel radiate off her face at the thought of his voice pitched that low, with want lanced through it. )
[ He won’t give her the chance to speak after she’s done with her drink — he leans forward over the board as she pulls the straw from her lips and grasps her by the chin, tilting her face towards his, parting her lips with his own and pressing his tongue inside her mouth. He keeps his touch firm, but not forceful — she can pull away if she’s so inclined, and he’s almost expecting her to. But the longer she stays, the deeper he presses, his kiss gentle, if needy.
It’s apparent she’s never been kissed before, and he moves his lips and tongue to coax and teach her, moving to press a kiss to the corner of her mouth when he’s satisfied she understands his intentions, tracing her jaw with his lips to her ear. ]
My apologies, [ he says in a low rumble. ] You were telling me what you would have me do.
[ He pulls back into his seat, legs spread — he’s trying not to look smug, but it’s hard not to when you’ve stolen something you’ve been plotting to get your hands on for a while. He can’t help the gaze that drops down her body to her chest and back up to her face, resting his head on his fist, elbow on his knee, tongue darting out to catch the remaining taste of her drink on his lips. ] I wouldn’t mind hearing it, if you’d like to tell me.
( Any thought of protest dies as quickly as it comes. Jing Yuan is direct, given his breadth of experience next to her lack, but the ease at which he kisses her, directs her, is not to be downplayed. Fu Xuan has always been a quick learner. And, after her hands spend too long simply doing nothing, Fu Xuan brings them to grip the front of his clothes, twisting into the fabric.
The warmth of his lips, the sheer presence of having his attention turned onto her, is enough to make her heart race, heat spreading through her and making want curl up from the core of her. Fu Xuan -- if she were a lesser woman -- may have found herself weak in the face of it. But she is not. She doesn't quiver, or shake, or whatever the women in the stories she's read do when he pulls away. Instead she feels flush all over, knows that she is various shades of pink and red, but does not find it in her to be ashamed of it. Not when he's looking at her like that, as if she's the most desirable thing on the Luofu in this moment.
Instead she huffs once she's gotten enough of her breath back to do so. )
I may have to readjust my desires in light of certain developments and a sudden... broadening of my horizons.
( Fu Xuan considers her options, what path forward would be best to take, to lead for the optimal outcome. It is a quick calculation, and why she gets to her feet. Not to leave, but instead to reposition herself between his legs. And then she reaches for Jing Yuan again, using all of the strength given to her to pull him forward and kiss him once more. )
[ She doesn’t have to use all her strength — he’s watching her with the expression of a pleased cat as she gets up and moves to him, and when she grabs him he goes easily, meeting her aggression with his own and then some. One hand presses to the small of her back, her skin hit against his palm and the other grabs her ass, lifting her up as he settles back into his seat, draping her across his lap. He squeezes her bottom, his touch firm, sliding his palm down her thigh and then up her skirt, coming to rest just under her hip, at the waist of her tights.
He presses his mouth to her neck as his other hand skims under the cut out in her dress, and he hums as he realizes — ]
Nothing underneath?
[ It’s actual surprise, murmured against her skin, and he presses forward until his fingers reach her nipple, pinching the soft skin there. He moves his lower hand between her legs and brushes against her clit, pulling back to speak against her lips. ]
( He just-- Fu Xuan's surprised sound at how easily Jing Yuan can simply pick her up is muffled by the back of her own hand, the other coming to rest on his shoulder. She's overwhelmed by him, the press of his hands -- she can feel the warmth that radiates from him even through her clothes. Is this, she wonders, what the enemies of the Luofu feel, moments before combat, with the great weight of the General bearing down on them?
Doubtless she will be as consumed by him as their enemies. Yet the thought does not inspire fear, but desire -- she wants it as much as she has wanted anything. Her head falls back, fingers moving from his shoulder to his hair, keeping his head there with a soft sound of want.
Flustered, Fu Xuan attempts to defend herself even as all of her tightens at the pinch, trying to swallow the sound. She nearly succeeds until his hand brushes against her clit -- she jerks at that, exhaling a sound that sounds so wanton she'll be embarrassed about it later. )
Must you tease even now?
( She tries to make it sound chastising, but fails, the deep flush of her cheeks betraying her. )
[ He huffs against her mouth, teasing her just a little more before moving his hand back up to her hip. He continues teasing at her nipple, though, his touch growing lazy and slow, tilting his head to the side to watch her face. ]
This isn't teasing, Master Diviner. This is foreplay.
[ He leans down to kiss her again, nuzzling at her nose with his mouth before he pulls away enough to speak. ]
You still haven't answered my question, you know. What do you want me to do? Tell me.
[ As he speaks, he teases at the waistband of her tights before sliding his hand inside, trailing his fingers over her underwear, following the same slow circles of his other hand. ]
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He nods as she speaks, watching her move her piece. He already knows her gambit, can see the different ways he could fall for it.
He chooses one, as he speaks. ]
And if your truce leads to surrender, and a loss for your people?
Taking another sip of her milk tea, she considers. It is a question asked by Jing Yuan, so the answer is never going to be as simple as it may seem. And it means he already has a viable solution in mind; one that is a winning gambit to his strategist mind. It's infuriating, the way he plays these games, and she sets down her drink harder than she intends. )
It is a truce, Jing Yuan. If crafted correctly then I can keep my people safe. Is not the lives of those who I am charged with protecting the most valuable asset a General can have? If my enemy breaks it, then their dishonorable actions speak louder than an outright victory could.
( She doubts it is the answer he is seeking, but likely he knew that before asking. Infuriating! )
She's irritated. No need to keep dragging it out. ]
A truce is a fine choice, [ he says eventually, the piece he moves likely one she wasn't expecting at all, clear on the opposite side of the board from where she's setting up to corner him. ] The lives of your people are indeed your most valuable asset.
[ He settles back again, against his seat, resting his head on his hand, propped up on his knee. ]
And that is why you prevent needing a truce to begin with. [ He closes his eyes and gives her a small smile. ]
You bluff.
You bluff? ( The look she turns on him is shocked at first, before it melts back into annoyance at his smile. So yes, he knew she wouldn't think of it, and her hands form into fists for a second before she very carefully places them on her thighs. ) Jing Yuan, that is--
Absolutely ridiculous. You would place the lives of those we are to protect on the weight of someone's ability to lie?
( Her head spins, because Fu Xuan cannot possibly account for all the ways that such a bluff could go horribly wrong. It's distracting enough that she doesn't make her move just yet, her gambit forgotten in the way her mind reels at his revelation. )
[ He waits patiently for her to make her move, closing his eyes briefly. ]
Naturally, it's a strategy that could only work on one person — someone who knows you as well as you know yourself. Your rival knows you as well as you know yourself. And, so, you bluff. Because they will know you are bluffing. But they will also know that your bluff could be a trap — for what other reason would you possibly bluff in the face of certain defeat? Surely, then, calling that bluff will lead to the defeat of your rival. And if there is so much as a chance they will lose, why take it?
[ He opens his eyes and watches her, gaze dropping to her balled up fists on her thighs, up to her position on the board, back up to her face. ]
And, so, you have won, without drawing a single blade.
And what if that person is not your rival? Do you suggest bluffing your way through that encounter as well? ( Fu Xuan snaps, and moves a piece upon the board in her irritation that exposes her gambit too early. She sighs in annoyance -- Jing Yuan has an uncanny ability to get under her skin, no matter how she might be willing to admit that he is a man deserving of his reputation. ) But I suppose you'll simply say that a good strategist will work out unique scenarios to deal with enemies every time.
( Which is fair, she supposes. But that doesn't mean she's not annoyed by the fact that he is right. )
Of course, Lady Fu. That's what strategy is. Every scenario is different, even in the most minuscule of ways. Certainly you can have plans prepped, gambits you use as a jumping point. However—
[ and he moves one of his pieces into check, an example ]
Should you rely on those gambits too often, you risk defeat, because your enemy will be able to counter predict your every move.
Was this really necessary to prove to me that I am not yet your match in strategy in all forms?
( She is going to take the fact that she can still best him in some, however. And she moves another piece, an attempt to reassert her control over the board itself -- it is clearly an attempt at making the best of the situation, and likely the best move she could make in such a scenario. )
And you hardly need proof of that.
[ It might be cruel, but it's the truth. They both know he's the better strategist, despite her capability as a diviner. He respects her enough to not mince words, or even outright lie. ]
What is necessary is helping you understands that mistakes made can cost you dearly.
[ Case in point: her best move is, unfortunately, not good enough to keep him from keeping her in check. ]
Fu Xuan moves a piece at long last, cutting off another line of attack. If she must surrender, it will only be with one of his pieces in check. )
As is recovering as best as one can from those mistakes. Unless you are willing to admit that you have never made one.
( Arching a brow at him, Fu Xuan is satisfied if he does not expand upon whatever answer he gives her. There's no point in drudging up his illustrious past, though he would never describe it as such. )
Mistakes, [ he continues, sliding a piece across the board, ] do not define us. They simply are. No more, no less. Check.
She splutters. )
What, how--
( Getting to her feet, Fu Xuan peers over the board, seeking what she might have missed. )
[ He doesn’t mean it unkindly; he values her the way she is, has taken her advice into consideration more than once, advice he knows comes as a blend of her heart and her head. But in matters of war, that kind of distraction can get your men killed. ]
Starchess is a battle, perhaps not fought with blades and starskiffs, but a battle all the same. You must not let your opponent get into your mind. That way lies, at best, defeat. And at worst…
[ He trails off, memory clouding his eyes, and he feels every second of his age, the crushing weight of it all on his shoulders. ]
At worst, that way lies death for everyone you love.
Fu Xuan fled her ship because she couldn't bear the thought of killing her own teacher and in doing so, doomed him. She has committed what would amount as a war crime by any galactic standard with the man in front of her because they both agreed the victory was worth the cost.
He has made many, many calls like that, she knows -- and it is a miracle he is not marastruck. How can one man bear the weight of all that and not collapse underneath it all? How stubborn of him. )
Hmph. ( Fu Xuan settles on, for lack of anything else to say. ) Then I am glad for the schooling here, rather than on the field of battle.
But what is this burden of his but the price of living with the regret of doing nothing? He cannot turn Marastruck. He has to carry the memories of those who came before into the future.
As quick as it came, the storm clouding his vision dissipates, and he closes his eyes to smile at her. ]
Admitting defeat so soon?
Not that Fu Xuan has much experience with genuine connection, but that is simply because she prefers her work. Which she excels at, and is needed by all of the Luofu to perform to the best of her ability. There is satisfaction to be had in finding the way forward, and while Fu Xuan never forgets the lives she must weigh -- she remains confident and sure that the decisions she makes are for the best of them all.
She glowers at him, arms crossed in front of her. )
I can simply see that there are no moves with which I can win. What use is there in dragging out my downfall? One would think you a sadist, Jing Yuan, for suggesting as much.
[ He opens his eyes at that, momentarily shocked before it passes into his normal content, if closed off, countenance. ]
Well, if you're sure. Though I take no pleasure in the pain of others.
[ He smiles at her again, though there's something a little more to it this time. ]
Unless, of course, you'd like me to to.
Edited 2024-04-22 03:06 pm (UTC)
For a moment Fu Xuan can only stare at Jing Yuan. She can feel a redness creep up her neck, her cheeks, her ears at the implications of what he's saying. That's ridiculous. He's being insufferable! )
That's-- I mean, that is to say-- ( Later, she'll say that it's only because she's flustered that she's not watching her words. That she even allows what she says to be said at all. Because it is embarrassing, it is untoward and unprofessional and only because he's smiling at her like that. ) That would not be the thing I would like you to do!
He's had many lovers, over the millennium. In his youth, he'd even fallen in love a few times, but his place within the High Cloud Quintet, and his subsequent promotion to General left little time for men or women outside of his bed. After a time, bedmates were all he began seeking out, with the understanding between all parties that it was to remain as such. He doesn't like breaking hearts, but it's unavoidable sometimes when you're dealing with them and the people they're attached to, and he knows he has a handful of scorned ex lovers out among the stars. In more recent years, he's refused to take any at all. He doesn't have the time, and if he's being more honest with himself, as the years pass the ache of what he lost so long ago weighs on him more and more. It would be nothing more than a temporary bandage over a gaping wound.
But she's always fascinated him, ever since they day she came into his office and presented a plan so bold it could only go right. He'd watched her with keen interest bordering on actual attraction since then, and when she'd risen to the seat of Master Diviner, he'd been secretly pleased because that meant he could spend more time with her and her caustic barbs. Time and opportunity and exhaustion had kept him from reaching out to gauge her interest — and now here she is, with the just barely implict suggestion that she might be interested.
It's because he likes her that he does what he does next, risky as it is. But, he thinks, as he leans forward to brush at a drop of coffee resting on her bottom lip with the pad of his thumb, she won't stop him. His touch is gentle and slow, the feel of her soft skin against his sending pinpricks down his spine. He draws back and closes his eyes, licking the moisture from his thumb. ]
I wonder, Master Diviner, [ he says, his voice pitched lower with faint desire, ] if you would taste so sweet?
Edited 2024-04-23 04:37 am (UTC)
That she finds something stirring in her chest, low in her belly, is a fact she is decidedly ignoring. The General is handsome enough -- she has eyes -- and Fu Xuan is capable of admiring the strength within him, even if he is the source of a great many headaches. But none of that makes sense as to why he's turned his eyes on her.
Fu Xuan knows that she is many things: the best diviner the Luofu has ever seen, the woman to become the next General, and someone who does not, admittedly, have or want much experience aside from her job and raison d'etre. And yet here he is, making his interest in her clear, and Fu Xuan does not know how to respond.
She needs-- she needs a drink. Desperately, to wet her suddenly dry throat. )
I-- that is not related to the subject we were discussing.
( It's not exactly true, but it gives her time to drink another, longer sip of her coffee. To help bring down the heat she can feel radiate off her face at the thought of his voice pitched that low, with want lanced through it. )
It’s apparent she’s never been kissed before, and he moves his lips and tongue to coax and teach her, moving to press a kiss to the corner of her mouth when he’s satisfied she understands his intentions, tracing her jaw with his lips to her ear. ]
My apologies, [ he says in a low rumble. ] You were telling me what you would have me do.
[ He pulls back into his seat, legs spread — he’s trying not to look smug, but it’s hard not to when you’ve stolen something you’ve been plotting to get your hands on for a while. He can’t help the gaze that drops down her body to her chest and back up to her face, resting his head on his fist, elbow on his knee, tongue darting out to catch the remaining taste of her drink on his lips. ] I wouldn’t mind hearing it, if you’d like to tell me.
The warmth of his lips, the sheer presence of having his attention turned onto her, is enough to make her heart race, heat spreading through her and making want curl up from the core of her. Fu Xuan -- if she were a lesser woman -- may have found herself weak in the face of it. But she is not. She doesn't quiver, or shake, or whatever the women in the stories she's read do when he pulls away. Instead she feels flush all over, knows that she is various shades of pink and red, but does not find it in her to be ashamed of it. Not when he's looking at her like that, as if she's the most desirable thing on the Luofu in this moment.
Instead she huffs once she's gotten enough of her breath back to do so. )
I may have to readjust my desires in light of certain developments and a sudden... broadening of my horizons.
( Fu Xuan considers her options, what path forward would be best to take, to lead for the optimal outcome. It is a quick calculation, and why she gets to her feet. Not to leave, but instead to reposition herself between his legs. And then she reaches for Jing Yuan again, using all of the strength given to her to pull him forward and kiss him once more. )
He presses his mouth to her neck as his other hand skims under the cut out in her dress, and he hums as he realizes — ]
Nothing underneath?
[ It’s actual surprise, murmured against her skin, and he presses forward until his fingers reach her nipple, pinching the soft skin there. He moves his lower hand between her legs and brushes against her clit, pulling back to speak against her lips. ]
What about here?
Doubtless she will be as consumed by him as their enemies. Yet the thought does not inspire fear, but desire -- she wants it as much as she has wanted anything. Her head falls back, fingers moving from his shoulder to his hair, keeping his head there with a soft sound of want.
Flustered, Fu Xuan attempts to defend herself even as all of her tightens at the pinch, trying to swallow the sound. She nearly succeeds until his hand brushes against her clit -- she jerks at that, exhaling a sound that sounds so wanton she'll be embarrassed about it later. )
Must you tease even now?
( She tries to make it sound chastising, but fails, the deep flush of her cheeks betraying her. )
This isn't teasing, Master Diviner. This is foreplay.
[ He leans down to kiss her again, nuzzling at her nose with his mouth before he pulls away enough to speak. ]
You still haven't answered my question, you know. What do you want me to do? Tell me.
[ As he speaks, he teases at the waistband of her tights before sliding his hand inside, trailing his fingers over her underwear, following the same slow circles of his other hand. ]