& OPEN NSFW POST ( i. )

[aeneia]

NSFW OPEN POST ( I. )
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[komarran]

[ He laughs at that and flashes her a small smile. ]

You are the first to defend my honor in such a way.

[mahalakshmi]

[ Her smile pulls slowly, dry and sharp and vicious all in the same. ]

We have a tale, of the Goddess Sita. Who, when her husband, Lord Shiva, was insulted to her face by her own family, in rage, set herself to flames. Burning with her divine fire from the inside with the dishonour she felt.

[ She might have to play their games, but she played them very, very differently, and no more or less than to keep what she took. Hers is blood-worn etchings. She knows what she is, and she has never made herself out to be otherwise.

More than she means to say or should, her depth of feeling for him, but it was true and for that she would not offer apology. If they wanted to play in snide words about Duv, they would regret it, she would set fire to herself just to watch them burn. ]

Anything less, and I would not be worthy of my position.

[komarran]

[ Another tale from her country. He can't help but frown at the way the moral was symbolized. With a shake of his head, he moves to bring their food to the table. ]

I would rather you didn't go up in flames. [ He much prefers her whole and alive. ]

Any honor it would save me is not worth a life.

[mahalakshmi]

[ Her smile pulls slowly for it, her head bowing slowly to his word but otherwise she says nothing directly to that. She knew what she was, after all. ]

It's quite alright, I did not think putting myself onto my husband's pyre would serve anyone well. [ Light, dismissive. ] I find honour is just another term for how we must live with ourselves. But I will fight, you can be assured of that.

[ For him. The words left out as she sips slowly the rest of her tea. For a great deal more than him. Hopes he won't resent her want to be selfish about it - it was seldom anymore she was allowed too. ]

[komarran]

So long as you come out the other end of it, [ he concedes. He'd be the last person to tell her to keep her temper in check at all times. God knows he's let his loose more times than he'd care to admit.

Thankfully they lived in a different time. It wasn't perfect, but his presence was better understood and tolerated than when he had first arrived on Barrayar.

There's a second of hesitation as he glances from her to her usual seat before he decides he should. With their food in front of their seats, he moves to hold her chair out for her. ] Hungry?

[mahalakshmi]

[ For that she smiles and says nothing, not for the first time glad that who she was and her reputation obscured as to what she might find amusing that. Call it black humour and leave it at that.

Besides him being... gallant for her. Holding out her seat for her and - she smiles, ducking her head. She could allow it. There was no one there to berate them for it. With that, she sits, settling herself into the chair. ]

Of course.

[komarran]

[ He scoots her seat in and his hand brushes her shoulder as he pulls back to settle into his own seat across from her. They had done this hundreds of times now and yet this time felt different. ]

Besides planning your dinner, what are your plans for today?

[mahalakshmi]

[ She smiles, pleased, warmed - and yes, it is different. Feels, settled though, even as they learn the new steps. Intricate as any other dance. But to learn each other better for it. Glad that she could express it more openly now. ]

Training, after that I am not sure.

[komarran]

Sword training? Or are you practicing with the weapons of this era? [ No wonder she had thought to that for a potential profession if she was this adamant about keeping her skills sharp. It's a dedication he can admire.

There's slight hesitation before he adds, ] You are, as always, welcome to stop by ImpSec HQ.

[mahalakshmi]

[ Oh -? She looks up with that, it wasn't a place she thought to go. Government rather than a personal place of business. She never had a want to interrupt his duties. Hovering in a mouthful of her breakfast before she lifts her hand to cover her mouth, swallowing the food. Old habits,
of gentility rather than battlefield. She eats her meals carefully, in politest manners. ]

I would. I can do my routine in my blades well enough but - I still need training in yours.

[komarran]

[ It's not usual for a personal guest to visit a place of high security, but given her status as the empire's secret in a fashion he expects it would be tolerated. ]

If I am not available, I'm sure I could find someone that is to give you a rundown of how they work.

[mahalakshmi]

[ Secret in more ways than even they knew, but it suited her just fine to be kept in such a way. She had no desire nor pressing want for that kind of public acknowledgement - and even if she prickled every time she heard a dog growl in the dark, she had settled in quite comfortably here. Happy in her in between place.

Would be more in between, after she spoke to the Emperor and made him aware of the only other thing that worried her. ]

Certainly. Who would you recommend? I prefer my teachers to be thorough and well versed, nor inclined to talk down to me. [ Tall order on Barrayar, apparently. ]

[komarran]

[ Thankfully he has someone in mind though he has yet to speak to the man about the possibility. A progressive by Barrayaran standards and more open to the idea of galactic cooperation. ]

A colleague of mine. Captain Mikhail Avilov. I would introduce you and if he spoke to you poorly... [ He lets his words trail off though his meaning is clear. The man would be making a poor decision if he chose to speak down to her. ]

[mahalakshmi]

[ She nods her head, her smile pleasant. It's not that she needs any kind of help, pray never that - but that he would offer, would ensure that it wouldn't go unpunished makes her smile as she goes to take another mouthful of food.

Chewing and swallowing it as she leans back. Her fingers over her mouth before she goes to speak again. ]

If he comes with your recommendation, I am sure he will not.

[komarran]

Unfortunately, some carry surprises. [ Not always for the best though he will place his trust in the man.

Another bite and he's leaning back in his seat, trying to regard her subtly. She was as beautiful now as she had been the night before and part of him wonders if he had made a mistake in slowing her down. He may be lost splitting his attention between watching her and eating what remains of his breakfast. ]

[mahalakshmi]

[ She's busy eating for the moment, until she looks up and catches him, and in the first glance she carries on like it's nothing but in the second, her hand stays up. Her eyes lowered and it's - lady like, rather than the brusque way she forces herself most interactions. Softened at her edges for all she is scarred. ]

Duv, you are staring.

[ Worried almost, perhaps she had done something. ]

[komarran]

[ He's sheepish in a way that he never is as he ducks his head slightly and nods. She had caught him and it would serve no purpose to lie. ]

I was thinking how beautiful you were this morning.

[mahalakshmi]

[ Oh - and immediately she flushes with it. Snatching at the veil to draw it across the bottom of her face. Not that she is ashamed or particularly humble just that it has been - a very long time. ]

If you keep it up I will not be held responsible for your being late for work.

[ Teased back, like it is all a little too much. ]

[komarran]

[ He smiles, catching the flush in that brief second before the veil blocks his view. ]

I should go then. If you don't mind my leaving the dishes? [ Because he could stand to take a few minutes to help clean-up. ]

[mahalakshmi]

[ She shakes her head, no, it's no matter. ]

Not at all. Go, I will not have your commanders begrudge my affection for you just yet.

[komarran]

I will return when I can. [ Not that he wouldn't be seeing her soon, if she was able to make her way there.

As he stands, he watches her for another moment before swallowing the thickness in his throat and deciding to go for it. His inaction had been how he lost Laisa so easily, he would not lose her the same way. He moves to stand beside her and leans down to kiss her. ]

[mahalakshmi]

I'll see you then. [ Her smile is soft, and she isn't expecting much other than that.

So when he does step close, she leans back and without hesitation turns her face up for his kiss. Her fingers thread up into his hair, keeping him there so she could deepen it. Let him have an easy reward for the daring.

She pulls back; her breath is short. Her fingers slipping to trail across his jaw before they settle down to her lap again, lips full and soft. ] Enjoy your day.

[komarran]

[ His own breath catches as he pulls away, letting the hand on her waist slip away from her in the same movement.

All right. He only had to survive an entire work day knowing she would be happy to see him at the end of it. Now if he could just shake the image of her in her night gown out of his mind...

He nods and reluctantly heads for the door. ] Thank you, I hope you do the same.

[mahalakshmi]

[ She misses the shape of him as quickly as he goes. Lovesick daze of beginnings to be sure, but she is far too sure about it to pretend it's girlish fantasy. They're both a little beyond such things. ]

I will. See you soon.

[ She watches him go over her shoulder as he heads out the door, before she goes back to finish the rest of her breakfast. After that, she does as she said - practices for another hour with her sword. Sweeping in long movements until she's gone over her patterns twice and kept herself as sharp as her blade. After that, she cleans, straightens the house up after having gone out the night before, and how much she has distracted him from doing it either last night or this morning.

It was all... pleasantly domestic. To devote herself to simple tasks until she gets ready to meet him later on. Changes from indoor clothes to outdoor ones. But in the thought that she might be training in any kind of weaponry, it's sensible.

So far as these weapons were so... clean. She's not ever going to like them, she thinks, but war doesn't require anyone to like them. Besides, more than anything, she's looking forward to seeing him. Hadn't seen him there since they dropped her in his office like so much unwanted confusion. As different could be - now that she wasn't blood-soaked and armoured. Ready to jump out the window if someone stepped even a little too close. Now when she gets in the ground car and goes towards ImpSec headquarters, it's far more comfortable.

Because she's marvellously good at talking to Vor Lords like they are beneath her. Ordering them about when she steps forward to the front desk those hours later. 'Yes, Captain Duv Galeni is expecting me. Yes, I expect you to speak with him. Are you really going to keep me waiting? Yes, you need to guide me, do I look like I know the way around here?'

Terrorising them really shouldn't be so enjoyable, but she waits patiently as the stiff-backed officer leads her through the winding corridors. Stepping to follow him like she belonged there. ]

[komarran]

[ Her day is far more exciting than his though he prefers this lifestyle to the one he held in his childhood. Desk work, but important ones. The reports he crafted from the data he analyzed or the ones he cobbled together from various reports he was sent meant he had a better understanding of Komarr than he's ever possessed. Imperial Security cast a far and wide net and anyone who underestimated it would be caught off-guard by the sheer amount of knowledge they had hidden in their databases.

It was nice having the security clearance to actually know what the hell was going on. Particularly on his home planet. Never mind the pangs of homesickness he got occasionally when reading overviews. One day he would be back there, perhaps even with a partner to join him. But that was a thought for another time when that was closer to being a reality.

He hears the chime of his wrist comm alerting him that someone is on the way to his office and that it's a personal visitor. He's smiling faintly as he moves to wait by his office door, ready to greet her as soon as she is escorted to him. ]

I'm glad you made it.