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September 16, 2003 |
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Gideon Club - Study...
Yosannah sits in a stool, elbows resting on the bar and chin in her hand. She is biting at her lip when Damen arrives - empty rocks glass sitting in front of her.
Damen smiles faintly. "Hitting the bottle again, Yo?"
The pensive expression on her face fades as she hears his voice. She sits up and turns to regard him. She thumbs at the glass, "Ice water. Boring, I know. What's this? Doing your bi-monthly checking in?" She lifts her chin in his direction.
Damen shrugs nonchalantly. "You could say that....I've been busy elsewhere." He moves to the window. "Make me a gin and tonic and you'll have a friend for life."
Yosannah's gaze follows after him, she furrows her brow lightly, "Friend for life. Oh geez, great." She rolls her eyes at his backside before hopping off the stool and wandering to the other side of the bar, "You know," She fishes around under the bar, securing a glass, a bottle of gin, "Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing if we check in with one another." A pregnant pause, "I mean, I know that things are..." Her voice trails off and she stands quietly, bottle in hand.
Damen keeps his gaze fixed on something outside of the club. A shadow passes over his face. "Whatever you want, Yo."
Yosannah begins to bite at her lip again, habitually, "I just mean that." A sigh, "It's just that I still worry and wonder about you and you're always gone for such a long time."
Damen shrugs, "Longer now than before." He turns and regards her. "How about you? How have you been?" He gestures then, towards the bottle. "You need help with that?"
Yosannah drags her teeth along her lower lip until they make a light tisking noise upon release. She swallows and shakes her head, reaching for the soda gun behind the bar, pouring gin and adding tonic to the rock's glass. "Okay I suppose." She finishes mixing and pushes the glass across the bar.
Damen chuckles, "So is this how we should check up with one another? How are you? Fine. How are you? Fine too. Okay, cool. See you in a few months."
Her gaze looks sidelong in the direction of the fireplace for a very brief moment. She shakes her head, lifting a hand to trace a finger across her browline, "I want to go home, Damen. I want to go home. I'm tired and spent and weary of this place." She turns her gaze to him, "That's what's going on with me. Can you make that happen? Make it like I never left, cuz that's what I would really like."
Damen nods, studying you. His expression betrays his concern, but his voice remains nuetral. "And what is stopping you? The fact that everything has changed?"
Yosannah shakes her head and looks past him to the window at the opposite end of the room, "No, you're not getting it. I want not to know of this. Any of it. I want to go back."
Damen nods, rubbing his jaw. He crosses the room and retrieves his drink from herr hand. "Do you think you *could* go back? With all of the contacts you have made....do you think any of them would leave you alone if you chose to forget this place?"
Yosannah closes her eyes and mutters, "There has to be a way." Does her lip quiver?
Damen puts his drink down on the bar and gently takes your chin in his hand, lifting your gaze to meet his. He murmurs, "Do you really want to forget this life?"
Yosannah's eyes open to meet his gaze, "Damen." There is a long moment of pause before she offers, "If it could be made to work. If I could go home..." Her tone is such that there should be no doubt she means what she says.
Damen nods, "So you would choose that to your current life. Having your mind wiped clean....and dropped back into your shadow." He shrugs, reclaiming his drink. "If you truly want that Yo, it can be done."
Yosannah repeats as if testing out his resolve, "It can." She nods, "And nobody would be able to find me?"
Damen smiles faintly. "Who knows? There are a few resourceful people out there.....but there is also an infinite amount of shadows out there. If they picked you up....chances are it wouldn't even be the *you* you."
Yosannah inquires, "And any trumps of me. What of them?"
Damen shrugs, "Well, you can't keep people from drawing them." He thinks, "I would have to give it some thought....I can't teach you how to guard yourself from them if I'm just going to erase your memory."
Yosannah lifts both hands to her head and rubs at her face, "Then it won't work."
Damen says "Let me give it more thought....if it's so important to you."
Yosannah nods. A single inclination of her chin.
Damen regards her a moment longer before taking a sip of his drink.
Yosannah watches him quietly. A smile forms on her lips as she regards him - taking in the mere sight of him. Watching the shape of his lips against the glass. "Why do I believe that if anyone could figure it out for me, it's you, Damen."
Damen smiles, "Because we worked well with one another, lass." He moves a hand up, brushing a strand of hair from your eyes. "Always did. Always will." He grins, "Well, until you don't have any memories of me anymore."
Yosannah closes her eyes as his hand brushes against her cheek, lashes fluttering lightly, smile forming at the corners of her lips. She chuckles lightly as he teases, "Oh boy." She reaches a hand up to take his in her own, "Let's change the topic. Get us out of this meloncholy funk. Let's talk about you."
Damen squeezes your hand lightly. "Me?"
Yosannah purses her lips into a smile, and asks, "When are you gonna walk the Pattern, Damen. You're almost as bad as Stone. The ultimate procrastinator."
Damen shrugs, "I have no interest at the moment in the Pattern. Out of all the constructs that interest me...the Fount is top of my list. Why the interest?"
Yosannah ignores his question, "Screw the Fount, Damen. You're not that crazy. It'll kill you."
Damen chuckles, "Shoulda woulda coulda."
Yosannah offers, flatly, "It /will/ kill you."
Damen sips his drink. "Maybe."
Yosannah reaches across the bar and takes the drink from his hand if he will let her, "You're a big headed son of a bitch, Damen."
Damen winks, "But isn't that one of the things you loved about me?"
Yosannah lowers her gaze to his glass, "What I love about you Damen. Love. That hasn't changed."
Damen shakes his head. "No. But everything else has. Our living arrangements....I can't remember the last time you arced beneath my touch." He shrugs with a smile, 'But hey...I imagine I deserved it."
Yosannah smiles lightly as she traces a finger around the rim of her glass, "Nah. It's nobody's fault." A pauses, "But Fount is out of the question. I mean it, Damen."
Damen only shrugs.
Yosannah reaches for the bottle of gin and refills his glass. Splashing it with tonic before sliding it back to him. "It's fine. I don't suppose you've had a chance to wander through Dover. Things are changing there so fast. Growing."
Damen studies her for a moment. "I was there recently. Paying my respects."
Yosannah tilts her head slightly as she speaks, "Paying respects? What do you mean?"
Damen shrugs, sipping his renewed drink. "To my first wife."
Yosannah seems to think on this for a moment and then nods, "Oh. Yes. In Elbridge. The cemetery."
Damen nods. "Yes."
Yosannah crosses her arms atop the bar as she asks, "Damen. If you don't mind my asking... if it was so hard for you. The loss. Why would you want to risk going through it again?"
Damen chuckles softly at that. "I spent centuries alone, Yosannah. Battling those demons." He offers a smile. "And the only realization is that life is *still* too short not to let yourself love."
Yosannah shrugs her shoulders as she chuckles, shaking her head as she does, "Centuries. Right. Have you ever given serious thought to the fact that I've probably got a fleeting fifty years at best?"
Damen nods, "Everytime I look at you." He sighs softly, "Everytime I allow myself to think about you...I understand, and lament...it's another moment wasted. Another thought not shared." He shrugs, "But what can I do? What should I do? I can only wait until you want to be with me so much it hurts. And then hope...that you will offer me your hand again."
Yosannah tilts her head. She takes a moment to digest his words. She blinks, gaze thoughtful and warm, "Damen." She shakes her head now, "I can't live with the thought that every day we would be that much closer to my leaving you." She offers him a smile, "I'm mortal. It's a lovely dream you have of us. But it's a blink in your life. And I don't want to be responsible for a century's worth of mourning. I don't want to be Catherine when you're looking for new love."
Damen says "And why do you think it's your choice whether I live with or without you? You would prefer to deny us a love...to replace it with a longing until it's too late." He shakes his head. "Typical of your kind." He smiles, as if amused."
Yosannah nods, slowly and repeatedly, "My kind. Precisely. Listen, we have this moment. Let's just enjoy one another's company." She smiles, "How's that?"
Damen shrugs, "If that's what you want." He finishes his drink. "I'm not going to try to change your mind anymore. I see it as futile. My only concern was that you would take that as not wanting it enough...and thus, letting it go. But then I realized....it's really not about me and my wants. It's about you not wanting me."
"You're wrong about me. It's never been about wanting, Damen."
Damen says "Maybe not before. But now it is." He shrugs, "So we find ourselves in a circular argument....and still remain apart." He regards you, "Yet you say we are supposed to enjoy the time we have together. How are we to do that if we are not together?"
Yosannah offers, "Enjoy right now. This moment. Do you ever just live in the moment? Or is that beyond you?"
Damen chuckles, "What does living in the moment entail, Yo? I still feel like I am living according to your rules. Does living in the moment allo wme to kiss you when I feel like kissing you? Pressing you against the wall and molding my body to yours when I want to? Is that living in the moment? Or does it mean I am to treat you as a friend? A long-loved companion I am supposed to only share my day with?"
Yosannah smiles coyly, "I'm all about kissing, Damen. It's a favorite past time of mine. Right up there with kittens and baseball, as a matter of fact."
Damen smirks, "Then show me."
Yosannah tilts her head for a moment, sideways smirk on her lips. Resigned she moves around the bar and slides her body between his legs and rests her hands on his thighs. She tugs at her lower lip with her teeth and tilts her chin upward so she might better look into his eyes.
Damen meets her gaze with his own, the silver flecks dancing wildly within the green depths. His posture is relaxed yet a heat is apparent, coming from his skin. He merely waits, but a casual observer would note he appeared to be searching for something within her eyes.
Yosannah's eyes remain open and vivid as she moves her lips to his. Not a kiss, but a light brushing of her moist skin against his. She inhales deeply, breathing him in. There might be a smile under those lips.
Damen places his hands over the hands resting on his thighs as her lips graze against his own. The touch is akin to a shiver, sending an icy tendril down his spine. A sigh would have escaped his mouth, if he weren't so stubborn.
Her lips part, breath escaping. Warm and sweet. Eyes close now, lashes soft and languid, as she kisses him, soft and gentle. Her fingers retract and then move to twine with his, caressing and cool to the touch.
Lips meet and a dream begins. His own eyes drift shut as if in a soft slumber and nothing seems to exist except for the twin juncture of touch. Fingers and mouth. Cool and warm. Where it lacks in passion in makes up for in tenderness.