Decisions and Choices (Pantera)

[Pantera Tsua]

A Jarvey? Silly little ferrets that parroted dirty limericks and words in an unintelligent stream, they were amusing to a degree, but only because of the appalled it brought to the stiff majorities faces. The words themselves had always been lost on Pantera in the ways of humour – unless it was particularly clever. His father’s dislike for the crude creatures was enough of a reason to like them, however and Pantera dipped his head a little in amusement. Crups and Kneazles were typically a given in large wizard families, though Pantera had never had much taste for the appearance of the crup.

Pantera almost forgot to move his legs for a moment and slipped a little deeper into the water for a moment, kicking out extra hard with a back leg to return his head comfortably away from the dark line of the water.

Allergic to cats?

She could probably hear the laughter thrumming through her head as those parroted words moved across the band and Pantera had to settle in the water for a moment, struggling with the delicious irony. The very notion of it caused an inward grin to flicker across Pantera’s mind, which was so strong that it twitched across his black lips without being forced. Considering there close contact, the female was lucky she’s taken an antihistamine potion, or at least he presumed she had. There were other ways to get round allergies but potions were the most effective and the most efficient.

Oh, now that kind of irony is… delicious.

A purr curled up his throat to emphasise his pleasure in the notion and he tipped his head back in the air slightly, pausing as that bitter scent caught him again. Blood was a curious smell at the best of times, it wasn’t distinct in actual scent, but it came hand in hand with a curious feeling, it would generally differ between the animal or the creature that happened to take it in though, some felt agitation, others fear, some pleasure and a host of others felt a mixture of various emotions when the otherwise unimpressive scent worked its way into their mind.

Pantera missed a stroke again and this time got a face full of water. A Kappa? Well… that fit better then anything really could. The blood… it was hard to say where it had been coming from, it was sometimes close sometimes far away and was tainted; dry, mixed between other scents. That could have meant it was from a wounded creature or it was the lingering scent of a feast. Kappa’s had always irritated Pantera… they were both native to the same country and so when he’d been small especially in the showery months of April there would be a lot of said creatures lingering around. Oh, Pantera had loved them at first, the challenge in them was hard to resist, but as he grew they just became easier to deal with and eventually trivial.

In this instance though, it could be an issue. Being attacked by a Kappa was a much different story when you were in the lake, where it’s powers would be at their peak.

Can you be sure he hasn’t got one? I can smell blood…

The male asked, tipping his chin toward the surface of the water as he glared down into it and extended his long dangerous hooked claws in the water. He could see the movement of his limbs but not much else, though really he needn’t bother, Kappa went for humans typically and even for a creature of magical origin a large panther was still a rather risky animal to toy with. Pantera let his ears twitch in Cindra’s direction, and he listened to her shift through the water before he drew his eyes up and toward the section of the lake she was swimming over.

The water under her was a shade darker the rest and Pantera’s large pupils retracted sharply in focus, until they were a small black point amongst a large amount of dashing silver. He couldn’t see anything as of yet, but the fur on the back of his neck bristled instinctively as he glared into the swaying darkness, of which he’d determined was thick weed. Pantera couldn’t quite focus on what she was saying but couldn’t help the slight pause on her mention of garnet, he considered it a moment before letting his ears twitch slightly in realisation. Cindra seemed to have taken it like a request and Pantera felt a flush of amusement flicker through his mind, not that he was going to argue, but he hadn’t meant it to sound like that.

The water made another series of noises as Cindra turned round, so Pantera hadn’t been able to distinguish the sound of the devious little water demon when it breeched the surface of the water in front of her, letting out a horrid shriek, not unlike the mer-folk above water before flicking out its webbed hands and enclosing them round Cindra’s neck. The Kappa tended to look like a scaled monkey, but sometimes they differed in form but all had the deep impression on their heads that cupped a considerable amount of water.

It was the source of their powers and the only way to stop the dastardly creatures was to get the water out of that single spot, they were somewhat intelligent creatures and could be reasoned with to a degree, if one couldn’t trick them into accidentally spilling the water from their heads. Pantera’s body bristled at the sight of it, and a garish snarl tore from his throat as he pulled his ears back and bared his large, sharp and plentiful ivory fangs.

With another shriek that Kappa withdrew under water, not so much strangling Cindra anymore as purposely trying to drown her, out of reach from whatever it supposed Pantera was. Into the weeds it pulled the female, so that not only did she have to fight against it’s grip, but the slippery vegetation too, as it reached and coiled round her limbs.

Pantera wasn’t sure, there wasn’t much he could do currently… several plans came to mind, but they were for dealing with the creature, rather then saving Cindra. He’d made up his mind that she could handle herself… but remained where he was for now, in case he got no sign that his ‘good faith’ was justified.

You’re ‘crazy’ father is pretty good, Kappa are hard to keep in these sorts of places...
A pause.
I don’t suppose you need any help?

[Cindra Rourke]

Her light chuckles continued even as his response to her one allergy had her mentally scratching her head. Delicious? There was a plethora of ways to interpret that choice of word, and if anything, she was learning it was far easier to just stop analyzing everything when it came to this unique connection between them. The logistics were frankly too boggling to try and rationalize, and besides, she was sure that things would become clearer, and easier to accept, comfortable or not, sooner or later. Her instincts had her world on edge as of late and questioning it was fruitless. While his use of the word did bring to mind earlier events on the shore, one’s Cindra knew would be replaying themselves in her thoughts later, she couldn’t help the grin that lifted one corner of her mouth at hearing it.

His subsequent purr only helped it deepen.

Cindra only took one more stroke before his next query had her curious as to what he was thinking. “A kappa? I doubt I could have overlooked his procuring that,” she shook her head but held back a chuckle. Pantera didn’t ask silly questions. Perhaps he noticed something she didn’t, he did have the advantage there. Shaking her head again, as if to convince herself of the validity of her own words, she added, “No, he couldn’t have. Pip would have been dragging me out if he knew there was a kappa in the lake.” Cucumber or no, the house-elf wouldn’t have left her safety to chance.

As if to confirm the point, she was able to continue her way closer to the desired shore unhindered as she remarked on the change of plans for her attire, the thought of a possible kappa forgotten. That is, until she had turned back around and found one suddenly in front of her.

In the amount of time it took her mind to recognize what it was she was looking at, Cindra had emitted the beginning half of a shocked cry that was cut off by the grip of two webbed hands around her throat. Even as the demon itself let out a shriek, only not one in surprise or fear but something worse, and was pulling her swiftly underwater before she could get a decent breath in her lungs, her mind reeling with a million thoughts at once.

Why didn’t she know about this? Why didn’t Pip know? Wouldn’t her father have had the sense enough to give the damn creature a cucumber with her name as he was the one interested in the challenge of dealing with it, not her? One couldn’t very well tip the water out of a head that was submerged, so what the hell was she to do? It was strange how much could pass through one’s mind while they were busy clawing at the hands strangling them and thrashing about like a fish out of water. No pun intended.

Her lungs were already protesting and her throat felt like the sides were crushed together as it pulled her into the thick growth of weeds below, the demon managing to use her movements against her until she found herself prone, the green growth entwining around her. Cindra thought of how stupid it had been to leave her wand with her clothes, an urge to cast a curse that would surely rid her of the kappa gripping her. Around her, her vision was obstructed by the weeds enveloping them and rising towards the surface as if to taunt her and it wasn’t until she felt the first nearly uncontrollable urge to open her mouth that she admonished herself for even wasting time thinking of her damn wand. Course the voice in her head chiding her sounded suspiciously like Mychal’s.

Never did she practice her wandless abilities in public, only Portia and Pantera now even knew her capable of it, and as she limited her use of it to when she was alone, it wasn’t unusual for her to think like any other witch or wizard when thrust into a situation like this, her seldom used skill forgotten. She tried in vain to pry a webbed finger from pressing against her esophagus, as it was distracting her when she tried to focus on stopping the creature. Her left hand was aching as she pushed forward one then another spell, the demon seeming to become more annoyed than anything while Mychal’s voice kept yelling at her.

Stop thinking so much. Just. Do. It!

Her strength was weakening and her vision was growing foggy, the weeds blending into a dark, soft curtain that wrapped around her. Clearing her mind, she finally felt the demon become still having stunned it, and brought a foot up to shove the kappa from her, the skin of her neck protesting the treatment as it was freed.

Quickly, Cindra tried to swim up and away, her lungs burning enough to draw tears if they weren’t already wet, but found her knees and torso caught up in the thicket of weeds. Her hands began grabbing and tearing at the offending strands, a difficult task even without the band announcing the arrival of a message. Having freed herself from all but one last weed that was twisted around her ankle, she glanced at the band in case he was sending her any pearls of wisdom. Were it not for the dire need to keep what little stale air in her lungs as she could, she would have groaned.

Lot of help he was.

With a violent kick, she was free and scrambled towards the surface, her fingertips barely missing breaking the surface when the damned demon grabbed at her throat again from behind. Stunning apparently didn’t last long enough. Without thinking, her now sore again hand forgotten, her instinct to survive took over, the kappa being violently blasted off her into the dark waters behind with a muffled crack. With the last of her strength, Cindra’s head broke through the surface, drawing a long, harsh breath that felt like white-hot blades of heaven.

No sooner than Cindra drew this gasping breath, her arms failed her and she suddenly found her head underwater again, every muscle in her limbs protesting their use. Like a child learning to swim the first time, she struggled to get her head above once more, coughing and spitting out water as she bobbed up and down twice in quick succession. “No,” she barely managed to cough out between dips below, her movement directly towards the shore besides them and away from the kappa she cursed possibly to pieces agonizingly slow.

Earlier that night she said she wasn’t made of porcelain and despite her desire to not crack now, her weakened state was losing the battle to keep her head above water and move to the shore at an alarming rate. Her head thrown back, lips barely above water as her feet tried to find purchase below her, wishing this small section’s weed growth hadn’t indicated a deeper bottom, and swallowed down her pride even as she unintentionally swallowed water.

“Pantera,” she weakly gasped, “Please.” All she wanted to do was get to shore… and all her arms and legs wanted to do was go limp.

[Pantera Tsua]

There was some satisfaction to regards to the demon in Pantera’s mind, considering her ease in dismissing it; the male felt it was only fair she should be taught a small lesson. It wasn’t right to disregard anything until proven safe to, not to mention he and Cindra had already established some spectacular curiosity between their families it wasn’t unreasonable to presume there were other things their ‘masters’ had kept from them successfully. The female put a lot of faith in the house-elf too but there was no certainty the creature would know anything either, even if perhaps that just added to the suspicions.

Pantera grew increasingly agitated as he watched the surface of the water around where she’d disappeared, bubbles popped at the surface followed by some torn reeds, of which sent misleading ripples about the entire lake and eventually the male let loose a horrid growl of impatience. Not only did he not know what was going on, but he was suffering through some mild form a worry and by god he didn’t like it. Worry was unwelcome, and pertained to more then would ever be comfortable, safe or smart in Pantera’s books.

That was partially why he rooted himself to the spot instead of literally submerging his senses. He wouldn’t yield to worry, and he stiffly play it like he didn’t mind; That the wait wasn’t having an awful aching effect on his spine and his limbs as they underwent automatic movements, that she was going to be fine, or she wouldn’t be and Pantera would be none the poorer for it.

He’d only ever worried for one person…and that was more then enough.

Hints of blood drew from the water and Pantera let his ears twitch up from where they’d rested flatly against the smooth shape of his head in painstakingly clear agitation. It wasn’t like the male’s mind hadn’t gone over all the scenarios, whilst she did have wandless magic on her side, the Kappa was in its element and there was very little that would fend it off for very long. They were tenacious creatures too and surprisingly strong and apt with using their environment to their advantage.

Another roll of silence pulled through the air and tugged at him as he waited, watching a couple of bubbles surface before they were followed by more as Cindra’s breached the surface. Pantera pinned his ears back, but couldn’t stop the smooth stokes he used to get to her quickly as she gasped and failed a number of times in the water. It was only natural really, everything became a lot harder to move with a lack of air, not to mention her body would have been strained from any possible fighting. Pantera hadn’t missed the ripple of…something through the water as he presumed she’d finally used her hands to get rid of it.

What had taken her so long?

There was quite an immorally satisfying feeling that came with her spluttering gasped plea and a shiver moved down Pantera’s spine as he ducked under the water for a sort moment, pressing his ears against his head and scrunching up his nose to stop a large amount of water from offending his hearing and sense of smell too badly. He came up underneath her and tensed his large body as he waited for her to grab hold, turning his head back to cast her a mostly silver visionary.

He had to put more effort into his strokes with the additional weight but he still seemed to move smoothly and effortlessly through the water, barely making a sound as he pulled her from the deeper parts toward the stony shallows where she’d be able to stand… maybe. The male pulled her as close to shore as he could before the loss of water became a problem and waited patiently for the female to let go before he curved his body round and seemed to inspect her, letting his silver hues fix on the gashes on her neck. Nothing came to mind speech wise and the male drew closer to Cindra and lent forward to one side of her neck. His whiskers brushed against the underside of her jaw before he nudged the frame of her face lightly up a bit to expose more of her neck to his scrutiny.

Before he could think better of it and quell the urge of the panther that had familiarized itself with the female somewhat, the taste of blood flooded all his senses and stuck to his tongue as he swept the hot, rough appendage over the cuts, stemming the bleeding whilst sanitizing it. Unfortunately, Pantera was unable to look at the panther’s clinical and wise reasons behind it and went into momentary shock instead and pulled back, letting one of his ears twitch slightly as his chided himself mentally and averted his gaze toward the lake.

Seeing as neither of them had any cucumber handy, Pantera would have to deal with it the old-fashioned way and stepped back a little from Cindra before he returned to his human form, and then regarded Cindra for a moment almost like he didn’t recognise her. The silver hue remained caught in his eyes and his hair was a bit longer and thicker then it would have been normally; it was exceedingly dangerous to mix two forms together, but there was little else Pantera could do about it. Kappa regarded only certain kinds of people with any amount of respect. Eventually the male let out a mild sigh and closed his eyes, lifted a couple of blackened fingers up to his jaw as he waded a little deeper in. His nails had grown garishly long and curved dangerously and his silver hues were rounded with even more darkness then usual.

He was about waist deep when he stopped, pressing one of those long nails into the center of his palm and cut deep enough for some considerable amount of blood to follow the movement of his hand as he dipped it under the surface of the water.

The Kappa rose before him, but was curious rather then shrieking and wild and so remained quite silent, almost wary as it came close to where Pantera’s blood tainted the water. For a start, Pantera bowed, but the motion was clearly stiff and forced, it was… a sight, none the less. Certainly not something one would ever see the male doing often and he parted his blackened lips offering a light smirk as smooth Japanese flooded from his mouth.

Oh, he sounded much different in his native language, he might as well have been purring at the creature as he spoke the lines of long riddle with a smooth, low voice. It was soft in the ways of hearing, but lusciously crisp and dark, enveloping perhaps as the Kappa paused, stiffening as it was spoken to in such a familiar way.

Eventually the creature bowed its head, but the aim wasn’t to spill the water from the impression on the creature head anymore. There was no point, they were out of the lake… no, Pantera had done this in respect to future visits, that and because the beast rather irked him. The Kappa vanished into the depths, its respects won… to a degree and Pantera tipped his head slightly as his nails shortened and his human appearance became ‘normal’ again.

”You owe it cucumber still… but it won’t bother you again. We monsters came to an agreement.”Pantera offered a slight smirk before running a hand through his very wet hair, grumbling as all the frigid water had transitioned to his body after he’d returned to his human form.

”And I’d like to see you in garnet. The colour is second only to black.” The male mused, running a finger over the cut on his hand. His mind flickered back to when he’d licked Cindra’s neck though and a shiver coursed down his spine whilst he settled a quick grimace across his features and vowed not to say anything if she pursued the matter.

[Cindra Rourke]

Ironically, despite his lack of assistance earlier, Pantera’s timing couldn’t have been better. Only a few seconds passed between when she uttered the plea and she felt her strength take a deep dive, water coming up over her nose and eyes and feel of his warm coat beneath her. Her arms felt like they weren’t hers, but limp, uncooperative things shoved onto her body that barely acknowledged orders. She didn’t trust them as she wrapped them around his neck as best she could, shaky fingers grabbing opposing wrists in an effort to make sure her grip didn’t slip and fail, her cheek pressed into his wet fur as he pulled her to shore.

Cindra could tell her added weight wasn’t making it easy for him and it would have been a lie to say she didn’t feel guilty over him having to help her. As they reached the pebbled and broken reed riddled shore, it took her a moment to register her knees scraping against the debris before she pulled them under her torso to balance herself on the abraded joints, her arms unwinding themselves from his neck just in time to catch herself on her hands, her head feeling uncommonly weighed down. It only took two shaky moves to crawl the rest of the way onto the grassy edge where she promptly crumpled to the ground, her arms unable to hold her up a moment longer. Every part of her ached, her legs, her arms, her damned hands, and her neck, which went beyond a simple ache, it had a sharper edge to it and she vaguely wondered how badly the creature had gotten her there.

Rolling to her back as she collapsed, she went limp, arms lifeless, one outstretched on the grass, the other across her stomach rising and falling with each breath. Cindra took in air with heavy, pained gasps, her lungs rejoicing with each intake, her eyes closed against the body preventing her moving and the likely look Pantera would cast her.

She imagined he wanted to see her handle herself, and though she was capable of it, she had taken longer in dealing with the situation than she should have. He had no way of knowing how late her wandless training had begun, or the limited amount of mastery she had in focusing on spells of such an aggressive nature. There had been no one to practice with since she begun working on the dueling spells taught her by her father, so her progress had been difficult when she was hell bent on keeping knowledge of her ability secret.

There were similarities in learning animagus transformation and wandless casting, but in this case, he was by far the master of their field.

It felt like ages passed, each rush of air passing her lips reminding her she was alive as she laid there, yet she knew it was truly only seconds as a faint tickling under her chin drew her attention, though she was too weary to open her eyes or bat the sensation away. When she felt her head being nudged up while she gave no resistance, Cindra realized it was Pantera and his whiskers. His purpose in doing so didn’t register, but she cast a weak smile regardless as she suddenly felt what could only be described as a hot brush being repeatedly swiped over her neck. The warmth was welcome and the rough texture wasn’t nearly as uncomfortable as she initially thought it would be. So wrapped up in just relaxing like the dead weight she was as she regained her strength and focused on slowing her breathing before her head spun from hyperventilating, it wasn’t until the sensation stopped that it dawned on her that he had been tending to her.

Blue-gray eyes opened then to find not the panther she expected beside her, but Pantera in his human form, though not quite as she remembered him. Part of her wanted to inquire about the subtle differences she saw but thought the better of it for the time being as she noted his gaze on her. His thoughts weren’t apparent in them; they seemed strangely distant and aloof. There was much behind it, but whether even he knew what it was exactly, she wasn’t sure. Cindra did, however, know she wasn’t going to meddle there. Private creatures such as Pantera had limits to their tolerance and she didn’t wish to push him.

As he sighed and turned from her, stepping into the lake, Cindra found she had enough strength to prop herself up on her elbows enough to lift the top half of her torso up and as well as a still heavy head to watch what he was doing.

So she hadn’t mangled the damned thing. Though it would have ushered in some uncomfortable questioning on her father’s part, she wouldn’t have been sad to see it floating on the surface, belly up, or in pieces, it didn’t really matter. Being nearly drowned didn’t exactly endear the demon to her.

Several things were learned about Pantera as he finished dealing with the kappa for her. First, he had previous experience with kappas. Second, he would do what was necessary even if it included showing a sign of respect to a creature that would have likely loved to empty that bleeding hand of all its red fluid, curious for someone she knew didn’t show such signs on a regular basis. And third, he spoke Japanese in a voice that wrapped around the listener like an intimate embrace.

The intensely warm tingle returned without warning and she shivered lightly as she managed to pull herself up into a sitting position, her legs slow in pulling up under her, knees crossed as her arms lightly wrapped around to grip her elbows.

She had returned to focusing on slowing her breathing further when he spoke, and it hurt a little when an airy chuckle escaped her. “I’ll be sure to do that, though I can’t say I agree with your assessment.” Another chuckle wiggled out followed by a faint cough as she turned her head to meet his gaze fully, the familiar smirk on his face a welcome sight. “Monsters drown victims… or leave them to do so.” Saying anything along the lines of him having rescued her would have gone over with him badly, that was a given; yet the message was there. Whatever he thought, she wouldn’t think of him as one.

Though he had commented then on their previous discussion of her attire, his thoughts drew him elsewhere almost immediately after the words left him, a shiver passing through him before a grimace replaced the smirk from just a moment before. Something was troubling him and she wanted to know what. Imagining he wasn’t happy about having to help her out of that tight spot, she grimaced herself, not thinking it would have upset him as much as it appeared to. Any reply she had died on her lips, while questions flashed in her eyes.

Quickly she snapped her head around, intent on not broaching the subject as it would probably only make matters worse and looked for the towels she knew were awaiting them. That evening she had been using more wandless magic in the span of a few hours than she had in the past several months in one sitting. Her physical strength was just returning but her magical strength was still far behind. Knowing that summoning the large heavy towels would likely leave her incapable of apparating for hours, she instead aimed for the thin wand in her cloak pocket.

The polished wood soared across the lake to her hand, her fingers wrapping around it as she pointed it back towards the shore, three large towels soon following. With her wand set down in the grass beside her, she braced herself for the force of when they slammed into her chest, her arms wrapping around the large, lightly steaming bundle. She swayed with the impact, but quickly recovered, sending one to spread out on the grass just beside her. Moving to sit on it, she set one down on the edge of the open one, flicking the other open to wrap the oversized towel around her, surrounding her in warmth from head to toe as it drew the water from her hair, skin, and scant clothing. Sitting comfortably, she grabbed the folded towel that was left and held it up to Pantera, meeting his gaze for the first time since his displeasure made itself known.

It was heavy and holding it up to him made her arm ache, but she held it there without complaint, her eyes conveying her message when she didn’t feel comfortable speaking just yet.

[Pantera Tsua]

What was it he called it? So lovingly… oh, that’s it; perfection; Neither man nor beast, but a rather a dangerous twist between. The initial discovery had been an accident; Pantera had reacted badly to one of his father’s brutal spells and had attempted to change back into himself to escape some pain. Now, the male wouldn’t pretend he didn’t like it, the mixture of both, he had the freedom of his panther self with all those keen senses in tact, to a degree, whilst claiming that hierarchical power from that which was human. It was a dizzying concept even on paper, but exceeding dangerous… it required a balance of the two minds, an acceptance to that which was panther and that which was Pantera. Animagi didn’t often dabble in the concept of the in between… but the strange hybrid look had put a sickeningly hungry look across his fathers face. Most people would have gone mad, become some twisted animal like the were-wolf a creature of involuntary malice as it lashed out from the darkness of its mind, fortunately Pantera had always had a rather natural primal way about him, something he’d picked up from both years by himself as a child and from his father.

There was an absent rush that came with being neither animal nor man and an surprising amount of understanding, it felt almost like he’d transitioned into some sentinel being, but Pantera had decided against getting carried away with it… no matter how much his father wanted him to make the change permanent in the next few years. Being in between forms was a strain on the body and locked up the Animagi ability… after spending too long in that hybrid state one was forever unable to return. Pantera had researched the few people that had done it, when his father made the proposition after he’d mastered the spell, and had found each one had gone either mad or had turned to solitude. They became strange hermits, that set-up home somewhere and guarded it, they reacted poorly to humans, for all their new abilities and it was noted repeatedly that there were other prices to pay as well.

Being a man of business, Pantera had to fight with himself and in the end never came to a conclusion about it. The knowledge was there… the power was close and Pantera felt the hunger for it quite badly even just after those short moments of staying in that form, but wasn’t enveloped by the feeling; there was a lot to loose when it came to that particular transaction and Pantera wasn’t sure he’d be able to comfortably make it up to himself; which would be his main beef with it.

His attention on that was fixed for a long moment and Pantera kept his dark eyes on the shrubbery lining the lake, finally twitching back into focus as Cindra’s words registered. His look was somewhat passive at first as he looked her in the eye and seemed to scan her carefully after her subtle comment and tipped his head slightly moving his gaze from her face to the wound on her neck.

” What took you so long?” He asked suddenly, after brushing away the usual counter comment to her subtle sentiments. There was probably a reasonable explanation and frankly Pantera could see why it had taken her so long to use her wandless magics in the water. It would have been easier for her that way and the male was curious, if not a little suspicious of it. “You could’ve blown it out of the water from the moment you saw it.” Not that the Kappa would have given up, but that wasn’t the point. Pantera regarded the towel she held out to him for another long hesitant moment before taking it, but something seemed to be slowing him down considerably.

Noticing that he was letting such tell-tale signs loose, Pantera stiffened up slightly and turned toward the lake, recollecting his mind as it lay in complex pieces on the floor around him, all working and moving in different directions. It was a pain really, but Pantera preferred it to simplicity. “ Demons then.” He mused, returning to what she’d said before he’d abruptly gone off on a tangent.
” Though I can’t say water would be my element.” Pantera could see the flashing eyes of the Kappa glaring at them from the lake and let a small smirk move across his blackened lips and slipped into his own varied form of mild ease again.

Of course, it was hard to look at Cindra for very long, whilst the taste of her blood still lingered on his tongue. The spite of remembering it didn’t move across his face this time though and he closed his eyes and let the issue drop to the floor, she seemed rather confused and so it wasn’t necessary to be uptight about it. Chances are she would get the wrong idea, not that the right one made much more sense. The male flicked out the length of the towel and threw it over his head before rubbing furiously in an attempt to dry his hair and then paused, slipping the fabric from his head as he regarded Cindra again.

”Warm water, Kappa don’t like it… irritates the scales. I got told that by one when I was a kid, it lived in the garden of our house in Japan; we used to pass riddles.” He’d explain a little, unsure why but he’d learnt a lot about her, why not offer something of equal value? “In a land of demons, deities, dragons and gods the only thing that appeals to a Kappa’s nature is something of equal majesty. Wizards and Muggles are incapable of offering that… feeling.” Pantera closed his eyes and tipped his head forward, rubbing the towel across the back of his neck before he drew it up the back of his head keeping his eyes closed as he addressed her somewhat stiffly.

”That form is…distracting.”

Pantera opened his eyes slightly at that point and let his dark hues settle on Cindra as he stood next to where she was sat on the floor. “That and it comes with an irritating amount of emotional baggage. Which incidentally, I can’t trade for anything.”Maybe that's why his father wanted him tethered.

[Cindra Rourke]

Cindra tried to prevent the pang of regret show in her eyes as she continued to hold the towel out to him. She had revealed so much that evening, he couldn’t leave it be? No, she figured not, Pantera seemed to be taking his free ticket quite to heart and though she didn’t have any desire to hear any gruff remarks he might likely make in response to her greatest flaw, it was becoming harder and harder to fight her new habit of being open with him.

While his following remark masked a measure of confidence in her, it stung all the more as if exposing the sore spot wasn’t enough; he had to apply a painful pressure too.

As he finally took the towel, her hand dropped to her lap, and her eyes to the lake beyond. The freedom with which she spoke to him earlier as a panther still lingered under the surface, but the tone of their human interactions cast a shadow over it. Part of her wanted to snap at his words, let him know that under no uncertain terms was he to criticize her for her actions. She fended off the creature and got away, hadn’t she? The fact he had to help her ashore before she drowned for another reason all together shouldn’t really factor into it.

Grabbing the ends of the towel, she pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped herself tightly within, her face the only part of her peeking out of the great white mass as her chin sat atop her crossed arms. “I stunned it at first,” she remarked with a sigh, deciding against her better judgment to try and find some balance between the two forms of Pantera, hoping perhaps her honesty with him would somehow bridge the panther with the wizard beside her.

The fact she wasn’t starting off by mentioning her forgetting about defending herself without her wand proved she had trouble being completely honest as he stood over her, but then lying by omission was a hard habit to break. It would be bad enough admitting to simply stunning it; he might focus on that instead of her delay.

“I was tangled in the weeds and when I was about to surface, it had recovered…. It took me a moment to blast it across the lake.” Closing her eyes she tried to focus on the warmth of the towel and her desire to not let her temper, or worse, worry mingle with her words. “I’ve spent hours tonight casting wandless… It’s not like I have infinite magical reserves.” Her tone became an odd mix of pleading and defensive, perhaps too much so, yet by the time Cindra noticed, it was too late and the damage had been done.

Groaning lightly to herself, she lowered her head to her arms and bit back a frustrated scream. One mastered in wandless magic should have a far greater reserve than one without. They needed vast amounts of focus and control and obviously Pantera would see she had neither. Her attempt to circumvent the topic had left her open to his including knowledge of this weakness in his arsenal, just like Portia, and the fewer the differences between them, the more lost she would feel, and regret.

It was hard to admit she liked Pantera more than she imagined and didn’t want to see the relationship between them turning into anything resembling the one she already shared with the domineering Portia.

His rewording drew her attention, a rebuttal teasing her lips but she let it rest. It wouldn’t do to upset him, he already seemed very much on edge as it was and she still figured he was none too happy with having played the savior. Before, he had said he knew she’d be bad for business… again she had done something to prove his point.

Not the best way to go about things this early on.

The touch of humor at the end alleviated some of her unease, the past few minutes having brought an awkwardness she didn’t relish. Thankfully, it was enough to draw her out from under the towel, letting it fall down to her mid back, her hair dry as she sat silent, turning to chance a look at his gaze as the towel loosely draped around her, the ends clasped in her hands lightly just below her knees.

“I’d say you do rather well in it, all things considered.” Cindra tried to be light about it, a weak smile pulling at the corners of her mouth. It didn’t succeed however, until he started rubbing at his head like he was using some plain cotton towel. “It works better if you don’t rub so much… it’s charmed to draw out moisture and fast movement slows it down.” With a tilt of her head and jerk of her eyes, she pointed out the dry hair running down her back, and cast him a small, amused grin.

Not entirely ready to get her hopes up, she was given a small amount of hope that he just might loosen his human persona a bit when he started telling her his experience, and as he spoke, she relaxed some, lowering her legs to lay on their side as she turned more fully to face him. In the short time he spoke, free of calculating words or pretense as she had expected upon his returning to his human form, Cindra was reminded of the messages on her ring, his only way of communicating with her while a panther and found the gesture more meaningful than the fact he was sharing such personal details. Even his movements were different, more casual than the grins and finger covered lips she had become accustomed to seeing.

Funny how so small a thing could put her at ease once more.

“I think we all wish we could trade our baggage in, but then… would we really be the same person afterwards if we did?” The question was a serious one, but delivered with a small smile. Hardship and trials held few good memories, but the ways in which they dealt with them helped define who they were. Had she not been sheltered from the realities of her father’s world by a doting mother and gender-biased father, she probably would be as hard hearted as most cynics in the games they played, but instead she had a level of compassion they lacked. No matter how she perceived him, she had grown to like Pantera, as he was, and rather thought any changes to what made him so would change that.

Staying on the topic kept him centering on less pleasant thoughts so she took the opportunity to change directions on him, go back and see how much more she could wiggle out of him, not so much to strip him of his built up shielding so much as to see more of this less guarded side of him. While they risked sharing so much of themselves, they were possibly the best to understand the importance of it remaining between them. She never considered using anything he revealed to her against him.

Pantera would likely think differently, but she had to trust her intuition, it knew better than her.

“What sort of riddles?” Cindra asked suddenly, patting the expanse of towel laid out under her. She wasn’t going to bite and he might as well get comfortable while the towels did their work. “I wasn’t so good at writing them when I was little, but I loved solving them.”

Reaching over, she grabbed her wand and summoned her clothes, catching them and separating her sweater as she continued, talking casually. “My favorite for the longest time was ‘If you have one, you want to share it, but if you share it, you haven’t got it.'” Smiling she pulled the thin cashmere over her head and began sliding her arms into the sleeves as she kept her gaze on Pantera, curious if he would join her.

[Pantera Tsua]

Stunned it?

Pantera couldn’t see much of her now that she’d enveloped herself within the towel and so couldn’t pick apart the expression that might’ve fluttered across her face. He kept his dark eyes on the contrasting fabric, watching it shift as she did underneath, looking like some bizarre misshapen snowball from the outside. Unfortunately, Pantera’s mind was too preoccupied with this ‘fault’ to let some humour show at how childish she looked, treating the thick enchanted fabric like some sort of protective fort, as her rathered everyone did when they were little and the initial ‘joy’ of bath time was over. The male waited for Cindra to continue, letting his towel hang round his neck, seeping a brash warmth into his skin as he let it rest still against him, it almost made him feel like he hadn’t been near the water at all and he let his eyes drift to the lake, narrowing them slightly as she spoke again.

Well, yes. Stunning it wasn’t the best idea while its in the water, its recovery would be especially fast, she might as well have waved her arms at it wildly to get it to go away. Course, he didn’t say that, the female seemed to look reluctant enough as it was and her tone irked him slightly and quivered between a couple of things he didn’t approve of at all.

Oh? But she should have something close to that volume if she wanted to be very useful with her Wandless abilities. Pantera turned his head back to her, scowling lightly in thought more then irritation. Cindra would still be as apt with her wand, so it wasn’t like her apparent lack of stamina with Wandless magics was anything to be bothered about. Not that Pantera had anything he needed to use her abilities for anyway, he had other people for that and sending her on useless errands seemed strange; he found it hard to think of her as a pawn to be used. But then, what did he think of her? Pantera wasn’t ultimately sure, but he liked to think she’d be an interesting person to just have close by - like a second in command.

She was useful and that didn’t change with this detail, though, it was something that could be improved upon if he was honest. As someone who’d learnt Wandless abilities this was somewhat disappointing, but it was easily rectified, recalling the moment she’d first shown him and the severity in her stare, Pantera could easily presume that the knowledge of these abilities weren’t privy to a lot of people. Was it just a case of practice then? Or did she just not have it in her? Wandless magists needed a lot more magical reserve then wizard’s with wands, not only because of power increase in spells that were summoned through the hands but because they were expected to be using these powers a lot, there was little point having the ability at all if it didn’t last long.

The only thing that irritated him was that she hadn’t felt the need to inform him she hadn’t mastered it yet. There were similar and strenuous similarities between the Animagi ability and that of wandless magics, so what had held her from doing so? If anything it was this that would make him look down on her. There were so many circumstances and things that could’ve gotten considerably more troublesome if they were caught in some dangerous situation and he didn’t know.

Silly woman. No matter how much he liked her, he wasn’t willing to die because of her stupidity.

”So you haven’t mastered it…” He said aloud, out of spite, labelling it into more obvious words would probably bite at her, Pantera was aware and so… he’d use it as his only reprisal. “That’s easily sorted. Though it would have made more sense to tell me.” Pantera shifted slightly, slipping one of his hands under the parts of the towel hanging by his shoulders and down his sides. He slipped his long polished wand from the lining of his jeans hung salaciously low on his hips and twitched it in the air mildly and with a sharp snap, a small bit of paper appeared between his two fingers. Pantera kept his gaze on her until she drew herself out from the comforting warmth of the towel and suddenly, the male wasn’t particularly sure.

If he calculated it, there were a lot of issues but there were an equal amount of gains. They didn’t add up the to the same point in value though, which put Pantera off the most, but he extended his hand, offering her the small piece of paper.
” Only read it if you’re willing to be my Secretkeeper.” A small smirk rested across his blackened lips as he looked at the female, almost in challenge. The piece of paper had an address written on it, which was where Pantera lived on his own during the holidays and whenever he had to leave school for certain events. It had no connection to the Tsua at all, aside from a couple of sneaky portraits, and Pantera liked it that way. He’d cast a lot of interesting enchantments on the place too, so that it was only open to the presence of other people while he was there. Pantera had too many people to deal with and talk to, to worry about all of them being secret keepers, but he was giving Cindra a supposedly free pass into it.

”You can practice freely there.”

When she pointed out his use of the towel Pantera flashed a grin. “Whoever said I wanted to be completely dry?” He offered her a look of smooth amusement before he stepped in front of her and crouched in a very animalistic manner, leaning one arm across his bent legs as he reached out with the other, taking a thick strand of hair between his long nails and slightly blackened fingers, drawing them across the silken surface and down as his already light grip fades the further he draws his hand down. “ I prefer the cold…” Pantera lent forward a little, as if to rise but brought a set of brashly cold fingers to her warm jaw, smirking at the contrast and how that cold would draw a reaction that warm fingers, unless her put some effort into making them skilful, couldn’t. “Mainly for that reason.” He finished with a feline grin, speaking lightly as he drew a little closer, then moved away as he returned to standing properly.

He regarded her expressionlessly for a long moment after she’d asked a more serious question, but he wade no move to answer it and just kept his gaze fixed on her. Pantera’s sharp visionaries were partially lidded and whatever hue his eyes bore was enchanted with black, hidden away until those few moments where he lost his guard, or replaced it with rage.

The same person… Despite all its troubles, Pantera liked who he was. He had no beef with it and, perhaps schooled by his awakened primal instincts, decided ‘what could be’ was no place for him to dwell. The fact was; he couldn’t change it even if he did want to, and that was fine with him. Trading his baggage wouldn’t amount to much, Pantera rathered…. His unexplainable wilderness would lead him back into the fray and that panther under his human skin would never have been silenced forever.

A smirk travelled across his lips and grew until Pantera was forced to yield under it and let loose an amused chuckle, letting flash moved through his eyes as he focused on her more completely.

Cindra patted the towel she was sat on, inclining him to sit and Pantera wasn’t ultimately sure, quirking a brow slightly as she responded to his earlier comments. He wished they had something better to do, some other pressing matter to talk about, this was by far the most uncomfortable thing he’d ever had to sit through and that said a lot, considering Pantera’s escapades so far. Eventually the male moves and sit down on the shore just in front of the towel, before he leans back and lies on it, lifting an arm up to rest across his brow as he gazes at the sky but doesn’t say anything, smirking viciously after a moment, letting the palm facing the sky turn as he moved the tips of his fingers across his lips repeatedly.
”Aww. I don’t get to lie on you like earlier?”

”You’ll learn plenty at the party.” He mused lowly, shifting his other arm across his side, letting his fingers move across a couple of scars before he stills it. Pantera knew what she was trying to do and it wasn’t an outright rejection, but it was true. Why waste questions here when there would be a whole castle full of people who knew Pantera in one way or another?

He’d much rather her find out stuff while he wasn’t in control, that way he could pretend it was some sort of miscalculation, a mistake… rather then his untimely acceptance.

” ‘I’m a box without hinges, side or lid, but still inside treasure is hid.’ I liked that one best. “

[Cindra Rourke]

Knowing he would have picked it out of her words like choice apples on a tree didn’t compare to the jolting sensation that could only be matched by a dousing of ice water over one’s head as he blurted it out, possibly out of irritation or spite at her not having made it clear before hand.

No, she hadn’t mastered wandless magic completely, yet.

Or rather, she hadn’t mastered the focus and confidence needed to cast the spells she had simply because of her own lack of practice or her mind got in the way. Her humiliation was complete and while she wanted nothing more than to hex something into obscurity at that moment just to release some tension, Cindra knew an outburst like that would have repercussions. Her temper flared under the surface and she forced it down, letting her embarrassment cloud over it until it couldn’t be seen anymore.

She froze, the towel cocooning her as her mind replayed his next words as if she hadn’t heard him quite right, her face slowly turning towards him as he produced his wand.

Others would likely have been focused on where that wand was pointing, and to what purpose it was being used, a habit developed out of self-preservation amongst those drawn into these games, but she didn’t. The level of trust she felt in him was no small thing, or rational if she was to be honest with herself. Her eyes might have been on him, but her mind was still milling over the surprise of him brushing her weakness off as if it were a lent book overdue in being returned. Nothing serious, though she imagined it should have been with him. And he showed no sign of being otherwise upset about it.

It wasn’t until she lowered the towel a moment later that she realized both what he had needed his wand for and why he wasn’t taking this bit of information as pointedly as Portia had.

Cindra couldn’t help but grin lightly back at the smirk playing across his lips as she reached out and took the small piece of paper. The need for a Secret keeper hinted at only one possibility in her mind and while she was rather in awe of the fact he could acquire such a thing when even she hadn’t, not that she wasn’t aware of her father’s hand playing a role in her difficulties, she was more taken back by how he was handing her a free ticket of her own. It was the last thing she expected of him and yet she knew better than to comment on it, even if her deepening grin would convey her thoughts regardless.

Hesitating a moment before looking at the paper, not out of reservation of the responsibility it would place on her, but to illustrate she wasn’t jumping into it with thinking, Cindra shifted to hold it stretched between the fingers of both hands, then cast him a silent smile of gratitude before reading the address written on it. Her memory was nearly photographic so it was only a second later she was holding it between two of her right fingers and thumb, giving them a small twist as it curled at the top, turning to ash as quickly as it lifted out of her grasp.

Pantera was flashing her a grin when she looked once more at him, his sudden closeness as he came in front of her and crouched causing a chill to run down her spine, and she vaguely wondered if she had shivered along with it. Her thoughts couldn’t remain there long as the feel of his fingers running down a thick strand of her hair had her focused on the light tingle it drew from her scalp down through the rest of her, unable to keep her eyes open as the sensation of such a small gesture became overwhelming. Normally, having her hair touched in such a manner relaxed her into semi-slumber, just as when she was a child. With Pantera, it brought a different reaction, her heart beginning to race a little as she also felt the desire to melt into his touch and become hopelessly pliable in his hands.

The thought was bringing a flush to her cheeks as her eyes drifted open and he leaned a little forward, the chill of his fingers on her jaw and his proximity drawing a shudder from her without her permission, though he clearly didn’t miss it as he drew closer still. Her eyes first followed his lips, then his eyes, her heart running wild by the time she felt them threatening to fall closed again and felt a pang of disappointment the moment he moved away and she realized what she had been hoping for.

Cindra had to give a shake of her head to clear it, the disappointment of his lips not having found hers giving her a deeper blush she wished would go away with chill air, and soon. Thankfully, getting dressed was distracting her as he finally took a seat in front of the towel and lowered himself to lie against it. A hand was sliding behind her neck to lift her hair out of her sweater when his comment made her grin. She was feeling devilish now, beyond caring about what she should be feeling, and listened as he continued speaking, her hands busy with pulling the rest of her clothing.

It was true she would learn a lot at the party. Should they separate, she might very well find someone willing to part with quite a bit of knowledge as far as Pantera was concerned. About the only person she wouldn’t be looking forward to meeting face to face would be his father. To say she felt no anger towards the wizard after seeing what he was willing to do to his son would be a lie. Though she was skilled in playing her part, Cindra didn’t enjoy the act when facing someone she couldn’t respect wholeheartedly.

Her boots still lying beside her, only her sweater and skirt covering her, Cindra chuckled at his riddle, remembering it quite well. The playfulness that perhaps she shouldn’t have felt rose again, and without giving herself the opportunity to stomp it down, grabbed the her towel from behind her, shifted closer to Pantera and leaned over him to toss it over the far end of the towel that served like a blanket on the ground. She paused, propped on her elbows, one of either side of his chest, her hair falling over her shoulders as she leaned forward a little, grinning while her eyes sought his.

“You needn’t be disappointed… I didn’t say you wouldn’t get to lie on me again.”

[Pantera Tsua]

His house had been one of the most difficult things he’d acquired so far and even Pantera was always somewhat off put by the deciding factor in that particular transaction. Working to get close had been the hard part, but sealing the deal had been easier then usual, well… perhaps if the male held a little tighter onto his morals it wouldn’t have seemed quite so easy. Pantera’s eyes watched the grin on her face with some amusement, she hadn’t even read it yet but still smiled like that anyway; no doubt she knew how strenuous a task it was to acquire one of these sorts of homes. Usually they were inhabited by old small families, prestigious in some way or another but not nearly as ambitious as say, the Rourke’s or the Tsua.

There was next to no way in which you could get these haggard sorts to move out willingly and usually even if they’d all passed on there was some grudging curse settled over the place, that made it’s value skyrocket especially if the Ministry was concerned or had a hand at trying to solve the problem. It was interesting to note that they didn’t always ask for a payment in Galleons either.

Cindra closed her eyes as Pantera’s fingers moved across the collection of hair slipping between his fingers and the male let an amused smirk flutter across his lips. Oh, now there were a lot of opportunities planted in that little gesture and Pantera was spoiled for choice, all of which, incidentally, were void of any underlying innocence whatsoever. She’d shuddered brilliantly after the touch of his cold fingers and Pantera resisted a chuckle and several more ideas that tugged and pulled at him. It wasn’t that he was opposed to doing anything, but by nature Pantera was relatively teasing and elusive much like his feline brethren, incidentally. The only time he’d yield to those tugging ideas was the moment it felt the most surprising or he just couldn’t stop himself, not that he’d be flying any surrendering flags if she got the urge to play him right back.

Pantera enjoyed her blush even more so and the fact that after he’d pulled back she’d started busying herself with her clothes. Cindra seemed accept what he’d said about her learning more about him at the party and so let her idle questions lie. She stood to learn not only about his past but about how he dealt with certain kinds of people too, she’d learn of a few connections and Pantera would leave the opportunity open for her to make a couple of her own. The male wasn’t so much opening himself up as letting her worm her way in particularly close, he still wanted to retain his elusiveness… if only to escape some tethers, no matter how unintentional they might’ve been.

She chuckled at his riddle and Pantera shifted his head slightly, letting his fingers slip from his lips as he spared her a short glance, returning the tips of his nails to the flesh before letting his gaze move up to the dark sky above them. It was an old riddle, sort of obvious, but he’d liked it; he didn’t have much feeling toward it now however and wondered if he’d really changed all that much. Of course, he got told continuously that he wasn’t the same kid he had been, but Pantera had never thought anyone knew him well enough to make that sort of conviction.

Pantera heard her shift, but didn’t think to pass it any notice until he realized she’d moved closer, his fingers drifted away from his lips and hovered in the air as he watched her move with a quirked brow, letting his gaze wander across her positioning before a smirk lavished and split the seam of his mouth, his eyes resting back on her face. Her hair slipped across his skin as she lent forward a little, locking her gaze onto his and he didn’t look away, feeling a series of tingles flutter across the sensitive scarring her hair shifted across, moving with her. Pantera slipped the hand near his mouth up to his brow, resting its slightly chilled back across his skin as he kept his gaze on her.

He made no move to disallow her and the grin on his lips was brilliantly salacious, followed by a low chuckle as he moved the hand on his head, drawing his long nails lightly across her cheekbone as they made their way to her hair again, he scooped a couple of strands up and brought them forward to his lips, keeping his gaze fixed on her before he spoke.

”Was that an invitation? … Or a note for the future?”

Pantera brought a leg up behind her, his jeans still thick and heavy with wet as they scraped across the shore, guarding the underside of his feet from a couple of sharp stones. He needed no more then that to pull up his light frame a little, slipping the hand rested on his chest to the ground close to hers as he used it to push himself up. He lent in so close with just that movement, it was enough to make one wonder if he’d planned it, tipping his head, keeping his dark eyes on hers as a smirk quickly followed along with a couple of cold fingers on the female’s jaw before he threw away restrained and pressed his lips to hers, firming the fingers round her jaw as he sought to deepen it. Though it had hardly been anything along the lines of ‘chaste’ in the first place.

[Cindra Rourke]

His grins were starting to take on different meanings to her and the one he cast her told her her message hadn’t been unwelcome. If anything, his following chuckle gave her hope she knew she shouldn’t of had, but many of her boundaries had been trounced and broken through since he first literally crashed into her life. Already Cindra decided she’d stop analyzing things and just let it take her where it would and she’d be lying if she denied not feeling something from the moment he initiated contact even as a panther. That alone would have troubled others, but she wasn’t them. She found his panther form quite comforting, his age not equivalent to his demeanor and power, and his small advances very enticing if not utterly maddening as the minutes ticked by without him advancing further.

Her elbows protested holding her up a moment longer as he touched her again, his nails on her cheekbones seeming to be directly connected to several of her vertebrae, making them tingle as sharply as where he made contact with her skin. Her eyes fell closed again as his fingers claimed some of her hair and again she was overwhelmed with the desire to melt into his hand. At his words she opened her eyes and was lost in his gaze and barely registering his closing the distance between them until a cool chill ran down from her jaw where his fingers touched her and towards her throat giving her just a moment’s notice before his lips were on hers. His grip grew firmer, not that he needed to as she willingly submitted and parted her lips for him as he deepened the kiss.

Even there she felt the closeness between him and the panther, a wildness in the way he claimed her lips and pushed forward, as controlled and equally unrestrained as he was and it was wholly unlike any she had experienced before. It drew an uncontrollable moan to escape her as she pressed against him, one hand lifting off the ground to slide up his back where few scars marred it. While she had warmed from the towels, it was nothing to the warmth spreading through her then and she knew if she continued in this, she’d likely give over to him any more he wanted, consequences be damned.

Her breathing was labored when they broke for a moment, her eyes glazed over as she stared at his, her lips swollen from his attentions and brushing lightly against his as she spoke. “I’d like to say yes and leave it at that,” she grinned against his lips, “and although I wouldn’t mind where this is heading,” she paused, running her tongue along his bottom lip. “I’m afraid it’ll have to be to the latter as we haven’t the time to address it fully right now.”

She was surely heading straight to hell, but she was going to enjoy the trip all she could. If Pantera didn’t want this sort of complication, he’d tell her, but she rather thought he might enjoy its distraction as much as she. Her resolve was paper-thin currently and if anything she had to grab control of it now before they ran the risk of engrossing themselves to the point they lost track of when and where they were. What a way for Luan to discover them that would be.

Her nails lightly dug into him, her being careful not to hurt him even in her heated state, and slowly ran it down his back and to the ground again, as Cindra returned his kiss in fervor, pulling her lips back only once she felt her hand back in position and her resolve in place to remove herself from his grasp and sit back to grab her boots.

As she pulled them on, she looked over at him, her eyes still expressing how much she wanted to continue. “After the party would be a good time to show me your house… so I can become acquainted with it.”

If ever her tone conveyed a message, it was certainly clear in that future invitation as she grinned like a Cheshire cat and turned to gather their things.