thebower | Peeping Tomcat

Spite? Nay, love. Incentive. Tell me what I want to know and I'll make it worth your while...

[He purred at her, hands sliding down to her hips to pull her in against his waist as he stepped in between her legs as she sat at a good level to tease her at.]

[ She sighed, and leaned in close, lips brushing against his ear as if she was about to tell him a secret. ]

No.

[He let out a soft groan, hands moving to her shirt to slip up under the edge, teasing at the skin along the edge of her pants.]

You are a horrible tease. You know how badly that goes with cats, don't you?

[ The kettle whistling made her jump, her surprised yelp transforming into a laugh. ]

Remember how we were supposed to avoid distraction?

[ She slid off the counter, twisting away from his hands and lifting the kettle off the heat before opening up a cupboard.

Inside was revealed one of the places where she allowed herself to splurge on variety and colour. A bunch of brightly painted tin containers in various shapes contained an equally varied collection of teas. ]

Pick your poison.

[A sniff test told him she had a motley assortment of teas, and he sighed as she put that space between them, folding his arms over his chest and cocking a hip against the counter.]

Surprise me.

[ Remembering that one needs cups to drink tea (thanks, hormones), she opened up another cupboard to grab a pair and then chose the can containing a pretty nice oolong.

Once the water was poured and the tea was steeping, she carried both cups to the kitchen table, gesturing towards a small bowl. ]

Just put the tea bag in that when it's as strong as you like it.

[He watched her from where he was, just enjoying the show of watching her move. He'd missed her while he'd been gone, and the fury and insult he'd felt at those transgressions of others was indicating something a little more than he'd suspected in his feelings. All the more reason for this little chat they were about to have.

Lucas bent down and picked up his shirt, moving to set it over the edge of a chair as he pulled it out, sitting down and blinking slowly across the table at her.]

I have a feeling you're enjoying bossing me around and tugging my tail.

[ She'd missed him too. More than she'd expected, to be honest. So yes, a talk was definitely in order here. ]

Guilty as charged. You don't really seem to mind.

[ She grinned at him, completely unrepentant. ]

Cat-logic, love. You boss me around because I let you boss me around. And it seems I happen to like having a little tug now and then to keep me on balance.

[She was relaxed now. Not angry or hostile or reacting to him in confusion like they had been before. Which was mostly his own fault and he had to own that. Look at the reasons why he'd gone off the deep end so quickly.]

Your... friend the wolf and I need to have a little chat. Whatever his intentions, a lot of the, ah, messages in your home are aimed at me. It's a challenge; one I'm going to have to answer.

[ Cassandra sighed, not exactly thrilled with the idea but then again she couldn't smell what he did, so what this boiled down to was a matter of trust. ]

Okay. I can't sense it so I'll take your word for it. Do what you need to do. But in return I'd like a bit of trust from your end going forward that I wouldn't announce to you that I'd found someone else by setting some kind of scent-trap for you. That insinuation was pretty hurtful.

[A nod.]

I suppose it was and I apologize, but my... senses weren't rational at the time. The jackal alone would have pissed me off, but darling, you've got a bloody menagerie courting you out in your yard and around the house. Take a look at the phone poll next time you're out. It's blatant to those that are looking for it or can pick it up. I'm tempted to thrash the lot just for the fun of it. They used your... inability to pick it up to cross boundaries they wouldn't have with a shifter they were courting.

So you've said, and I believe you. And trust me, if I didn't know your instincts can mess with you sometimes we wouldn't be having this conversation. If you weren't a shifter you'd probably be out on your ass for jumping straight to that kind of assumption.

Edited 2020-07-19 06:30 (UTC)

If I wasn't a shifter, this problem wouldn't be a problem. On the flipside, if you were, love, then you'd likely have handed them their own asses by now.

[Honestly, if he knew the shifters and could vouch for their intentions, he wouldn't have any such issue with her going and tearing a strip from their hides with him gleefully watching. But the jackal... that one gave him pause. Any shifter that went from leaving little scent markers to the hostile remains he'd left... Lucas was going to have to track him down and have a chat. A rather painful chat.]

Oh, for sure. Not like I'm going to just ignore it now either. I don't exactly appreciate being "courted" in a way that isn't even about me. I'm a person, not a measuring stick for dicks.

[ She might not be all that formidable in a fight, but she was still more than capable of delivering verbal flayings, and she very much intended to. ]

[He would happily stand imposingly behind her and ensure that she got to say her mind to every single one of the bodies that had made this about him and not her. But, then again, he was a cat, and he rather enjoyed the idea of playing with his food. He smiled at her, moving to pour his tea.]

Now you've put an image in my head and I'm going to chortle over that for a good long while.

[ She pushed her cup in his direction to indicate that she would appreciate if he poured for her too. ]

You're welcome. Now that we've established that some people are going to be getting new assholes in the near future, should we move on to other things we need to straighten out?

[He obliged, pouring into her cup and then setting the pot down.]

Mm... would you like to start?

Thank you.

[ She lifted her cup to her lips and took a sip, not so much unwilling to start as uncertain about what threat to tug at first. ]

Do you think we need to maybe... put a label on what we're doing here? I mean, I think we started off in camp "spur of the moment, no promises made and having some fun" but is that still what's going on?

Before coming here, I would have assumed that's where we still were. But... apparently we aren't, so that begs the question of when did we change paths and which one are we on now, mm?

I can't help you with the "when", babe, I think it snuck up on us. As for the path thing, we both seem pretty unhappy with the thought of the other getting touchy feely with someone else. Which either means we're heading to dating exclusively land, or we need to talk about how to manage jealousy in an open arrangement. Or go back to friends with no benefits-ville.

Edited 2020-07-23 19:50 (UTC)

[He had to nod along with that, sipping at his tea as he took a moment to consider his options. Friends with benefits had been all he'd been looking for, and all she had, as far as he'd known. He was comfortable with that, but apparently his... instincts were not inclined to agree. Maybe it had to do with the teasing nips that had gotten to close to areas neither of them should be marking if they didn't intend to be exclusive. Or maybe it was just time. Time for him, and perhaps time for her. Humans had shorter life cycles, and she seemed at about the age where she might be looking for a steady mate.]

I'd like to hear your thoughts on it.

[ She shook her head with a smile, giving him a teasingly resigned look. ]

Such a cat.

[ Sneaking around the subject and keeping his own thoughts to himself until he knows what kind of footing he's on. ]

I care about you, obviously. I'm also stupid levels of attracted to you at this point so as far as I'm concerned taking things a step further would probably feel pretty great. But I don't want it to happen just because some assholes triggered a territorial response. I don't want to feel like you're with me because we painted ourselves into some sort of metaphysical corner. Obviously instincts come with the package, that's not what I mean. I just mean that I still want this to be about us wanting to be together because of who we are... am I making sense?

[He couldn't argue with that because, well, he was. But he kept the smirk to a minimum and listened to her as she spoke. It'd be a ridiculously foolish idea to ask for her opinion and not listen. As she spoke, particularly when she mentioned being attracted to him, he leaned back and smoothed a hand up and down along his still naked chest. Being attracted wasn't a bad thing in any way, and it wasn't as if he didn't get a glimmer in his eye when he looked at her.

But her concerns were valid, and he patted his chest again before he leaned forward and leveled his gaze with hers.]

Yes, love, but feelings don't seem to make much sense, do they? I suppose that's why they're feelings and not logic. I can't say some of what we're in right now isn't... a little on the metaphysical side, as you put, but I also don't think that would be a facet of it if there wasn't already a base for it to have been built on.

[Meaning they'd been quite happy to shag like rabbits before any bonds may have occurred.]

Would you... well. Do you want to take a break and see how that pans out? Or would you like to continue?

[ It was a little hard to stay entirely serious when Lucas started showing off like that, but Cassie made a valiant effort and got through her little speech all the same, even if her lips did twitch a little.

Then it was her turn to listen, nodding in acknowledgment of his point that the metaphysical side of things may well not have gotten into the mix if there wasn't something for it to mix with. ]

You are who you are, I don't expect things to be entirely metaphysics-free. I guess I mostly want to know that taking steps to maybe get more into that territory happens because we want one another. Now, to answer your question: I don't think I want to take a break. What about you?

[He sipped his tea again, slowly, blinking at her over the top in that way that cats had that indicated they knew all the nooks and crannies of the universe. His nature begged for him to draw it out, but Lucas' genuine affection for her made it so that wouldn't be more than a heartbeat or two. One did not tease one's... ah, whatever it was they were to each other.]

I can't say I find the idea appealing. I'm already having to talk myself into sitting here and having a calm tea party with you instead of carting you over my shoulder to the bedroom. Clearly the attraction is there- still, and as for the affection... I care enough to be offended at the challenge for your attention. I think if I cared less, I may have reacted less.

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sorry for lag. really off the last while.

Nothing to be sorry for, it happens!

♥

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