Shades of Dusk [Jazz]

[Shaehern Azhrarn]

Shae gazed quietly at her with a bit of a smile. She really did look quite young for someone who was his elder by ages. Apparently, she also collected sage wisdom, though Shaehern's had been improvised on the spot. "Cookie wisdom," he murmured with his sly grin. "Not familiar with it, though." He was not exactly certain why it was cookie wisdom, only that he had heard it referred to as such by a slave once. It seemed a delightful term and so the Boogie kept it.

For whatever ills seemed to plague dear little Jasmine's mind, Shaehern's face seemed unfettered with such concerns. Was it really that he was far more experienced than she with such details? Or maybe it was the influence of the spirits that rendered her in such a peculiar fashion. And yet the little girl wanted more. "We're going to make it look like I'm giving spirits to a minor," he chuckled quietly as he pushed away from the table.

He did not touch the subject that she offered to let him kiss her again. The little chickadee might get addicted if he gave her too many sweets, after all. Furthermore, the drunk should be allowed to have their say when they had the freedom to speak their mind without fear. It would be left to fate whether or not she could remember such specific details of their conversation later on.

Shaehern tried to pick something that would not mix horribly with tequila in the stomach. At the self serving segment his hands worked their magic as he produced a lemon-lime drink with a strong hint of spirits. Perhaps not as strong as he would have made for a party starter, but it would be a thirst quencher, of that he had no doubt.

He brought it back to Jasmine and set the large glass in front of her. "One tall order to satisfy the little miss's thirst." He nudged the glass a little closer to her. "And I even got you a drink." He delivered a wink to see if she caught the innuendo or not. There wouldn't be any charge for this one, as tempting as kisses planted on his little chickadee sounded.

[Jasmine Krisp]

"Cookie?" Jasmine repeated and giggled a little. She had no idea what he meant by that, weather he meant it was sweet or that it sounded like something out of a fortune cookie, but she took it as a compliment. She was still in too much of a haze to question it right now. At the comment of giving drinks to a minor, Jazz made that pout even more prominent and stood up from her chair, pointing dramatically at Shaehern with a glint in her eyes. "Don't make fun of my teenyness!! I'm eight-thousand and fifty-three years old!! I can liquor my hold...!!"

.......or not.

While the blue Boogie was off mixing her drink, the plum woman began to ponder. Why was it she had such a hard time being flirtatious around Iugo? She was still confident, and she'd even pulled a stunt (read: licked blood off his hand) right in front of him. But when it came to the 'cute' stuff...it was difficult. Iugo was not the kind of man to be romantic. Hells no. But that was partly because he'd never actually been in a relationship before. Jasmine on the other hand had been in several long-term relationships, all women be it, but relationships none the less.

But when she was around Shaehern, bouncing off perverted and flirtatious jokes and comments was pretty easy. Was it only around Iugo when she couldn't act on her feelings...?

If it was true, that would be a pain in the ass.

...but if it is...is it because I love him...?

Gold eyes locked onto the drink as soon as Shaehern returned. She grinned bright as an autumn strawberry, catching the innuendo. "Yay for tasty fruits! I'm so lucky!" Jazz giggled softly and picked the drink up and took a sip, "And the drinks not too bad either~" An innuendo for an innuendo seemed rather fitting, and she took a second sip while motioning for the man to sit down again. Once he was, Jasmine tilted hear head, keeping the cup to her lips.

"Say...Shae-hen...? Have you ever...you know...been in love?"

Curious questions from a drunken mind.

[Shaehern Azhrarn]

Shaehern took his seat with great pleasure. With one long and bony finger he reached into his hair and quietly twirled it about. Long thing and spindly strands of blue-black wrapped around his fingertip. In some ways he was like that with people. He was hardly certain why it happened in such a way, but he had the ability to influence people even without a talent focused around it.

With a snap of his fingers an orange wisp popped into existence and he set the little bundle of heatless flame above the table to serve much like a candle. The real magic was in the imagination, after all.

"My dear, I have loved many people at many times in the past." It seemed something silly to ask Shaehern, but there was a deeper meaning behind it. He would easily be perceived as rude if he did not address the real question itching under the surface. "There are many types of love, and I dare to say that I have felt them all at one type or another. Love for one who is like a sibling, love for parents, love for a teacher or master, love for children, love for friends, love for men, love for women, love of material goods, love of concepts... the list continues for quite some time. You ask if I have ever been in-love, though?"

Shaehern lifted his finger to his lips and pondered for a brief moment. That was certainly a difficult question to sort out through the mixture of experiences. "Sometimes I wonder what separates that kind of love from a more general kind, but I suspect I have been in love before. Perhaps I will be in love again, but never with two people at once. A strange thought, that is." For all the things he was, it seemed that Shaehern was not a polygamist at heart. Multiple lovers at once was all fine and dandy, but there was some sort of distinction there. English was a bad language to express the thoughts in.

He drank the syrup-like blackberry brandy from his glass once again, quite confused by the nature of the question. "Now why would you ask such a thing?"

[Jasmine Krisp]

Jasmine listened intently as Shaehern spoke like, well, Shaehern. She'd even tried to count all the times he'd said the word love, which was fifteen or sixteen times, just so you know. Still, when he mentioned the 'love for children' she smiles softly, then made a face, as she had no idea whether he meant love for a children the way she loved them innocently, or a love that was, well, again, Shaehern. Jazz didn't ask. Nor did she want to.

Nor would she, ever, in a million lifetimes.

She did however wonder why he only 'suspected' he'd been in love. Wasn't it something you knew right off the bat? Or was that her own romanticized vision of things? Jasmine knew she loved Iugo. Did that mean that she was in love with him? That was what she had assumed...that was what love was to her.

Is love different for everyone? Is being in love and loving someone two different things? Is it wrong to love two people...or just...?

It's so confusing.

Mimicking the Boogie man, Jazz took a little drink from the lemon-lime liquor. "I think I love him..." him, of course, was Iugo, "...but I don't know if that means I'm in love with him. I've never...had these feelings for a man...and gender shouldn't change how I feel...but I'm so...confused..." It was a little odd how, even with yet another drink in hand, she was speaking a little more soberly.

"I may be one of the oldest...but I still...don't understand..."

[Shaehern Azhrarn]

Feelings were confusing and Shaehern could only understand based on what he had already experienced. In some ways, dealing with feelings was an entirely new sensation to him. He had always dealt with and understood his own feelings through past experience. New experiences added to his repertoire once he analyzed and picked them apart. In some ways it sounded very methodical, but it was not. It merely was experience.

At some point he had started caring more about what other people felt and less about his own feelings, though he still cared about those a great deal. However, this was about understanding something that really could not be understood. Jasmine was trying to relate to her own experiences through Shaehern's looking glass. It wouldn't work, and he knew that fact well.

After all, that's too easy.

"You cannot define individual experience from the lens of the group or the lens of another. Individuality is far too complicated to manage a universal unifying explanation." That was a fact, be it not so simple or easy to accept.

"The oldest does not understand, and the youngest is still a far ways from reaching the point where he'll admit it. Cheers!" He raised his glass to the plum Boogie with something that was not quite a smirk plastered on his face. That was the way of the world, was it not?

[Jasmine Krisp]

"Here here..."

Jasmine smiled softly and lifted her drink, knocking it against her best friend's in response to his 'cheers'. Shaehern had a point. She couldn't try to figure out her own life by looking at his. Even though they were biffles, her and Shae were still very different. Asides the obvious age gap, and the not so obvious gender difference, he was still much more out there and 'experienced' than her in these sort of things. Jazz was older and had lovers, sure, but they'd been few and far between.

And females. Did we forget to mention that?

Maybe I just don't have enough experience with men. That's why I always freeze up around Iugo...

...so...where do I get experience...?

Soon as the 'cheers' was done, the little plum chugged the rest of her drink. She didn't like holding the chilled glass in her hands, plus the sudden intake would make the alcohol affect her faster. And God dammit she could use more mind-blurring. Done with her glass Jasmine plopped it back down on the table and let out a silly little laugh. "Enough phili-so-phiscal stuff!! I needs experiences, and damn it to hell...!!"

Immediately something popped into Jazz's head and she shot her hand out, grabbing Shae's closest wrist, feeling as her talent kicked into it's highest gear. Her eyes were near white with their luminescence.

"Shaehern, I want another!"

Didn't need to be a mind-reader to know what she meant.

[Shaehern Azhrarn]

Was there a word for what Shaehern Azhrarn was? Well, he was certain there were plenty of words capable of describing him, but none of them sounded very flattering. Somewhere along the line he imagined that some group of people must have followed the same practices and beliefs that he held. Perhaps it would be worth looking into the possibility that someone else might have come up with something that he had not already thought of.

His pondering was somewhat derailed by Jasmine's own crashing train of thought as she grabbed his wrist suddenly. His own eyes wondered if this was still part of the game and she was hoping to catch him off guard. He was not terribly confident about how focused she was on her talent, but the request seemed an odd one. It almost made Shaehern wonder if she thought he would not give her another if she had simply asked nicely.

"My dear," he said with a bright smile as he leaned in close to the little plum chickadee. Blue-tinted fingers reached up and gently stroked the girl's chin. Quietly he leaned right in close to her until his lips were nearly touching her ears. "Dangerous game we are playing, huh? You could have just asked." Gently and gracefully he pulled his head back and let their cheeks brush against one another ever-so-slightly. His free hand crawled gently across the table towards the front of the girl and grasped hold of their target.

Wrapping around the handle of the glass Shaehern slowly rose up and walked back to the bar. His dexterous hands went to work producing another glass for the girl. This one had a bit more alcohol and a gentle squeezing of lime added to it. The drink bubbled gently as he brought it back to the table with a smirk.

"I've brought you another drink," he said as he set the glass on the table. "You seem to have quite a thirst."

Then came the last part of his triple play. He put his lips on hers once more with his fingers reaching through her hair and softly scratching at the flesh underneath.

[Jasmine Krisp]

Shaehern's derailed pondering was not hit by a train of thought. A train of thought would actually require thinking. Jasmine wasn't thinking, not at all, not of consequences or the fact that this was her best friend she was forcing to kiss her. Her brain was being affected by that last drink. Maybe that had been her one-drink-too-many that had pushed her from 'pretty drunk' to 'fricken plastered'. If only silly Shaehern had just not listened to her the first time she'd begged for a cup of spirits.

A lot of things could have been avoided that way.

Jazz's face went from stubborn, silly grin from completely confused when her biffle started to lean forward, touching at her chin and whispering in her ear. This was the second time he'd done this, except last time it had been him standing behind her. Either way, this time she turned a vibrant shade of red and her breathing got a little shallow. "D-Dangerous game...?" the plum woman stuttered, noticing the hand that was approaching her chest....flourescent gold eyes went wide as plates before clenching shut.

W-Wait!! I asked for a kiss!! Wh-What is he doing--?!

Of course it was just a tease. And of the blue man went for the bar. Jasmine hissed through her teeth as he walked away, "...tease." God, that was close! It had looked like he was going to--to--...!! Hands on the table, as her flamboyant friend got closer, the little Boogie gave him half a pout though that horrible blush of hers. "That wasn't what I meant," she muttered as the drink was set on the table, "And you know it."

And apparently he did. Again Jasmine's eyes widened to an impossible size, feeling the nails against her scalp. Okay! Experience gotten. You can stop now...her eyes closed after a moment, little hands pushed off the table and helped her lean back into the kiss.

Um, hello? Subconscious speaking! Stop kissing him...!

UGH!! Can I hear me?!

[Shaehern Azhrarn]

If this was still part of the game, Shaehern might have earned himself another mijn with just the fake-out stunt. Of course, that was just small change. The point of the game was playing, not necessarily winning. Some nagging part of Shaehern loved money and could not resist the temptation to add more to his personal stockpile, but this was a little different.

Jasmine was playing the game too. That part of his mind that loved to dig into people's dirty dark secrets wondered if the little plum chickadee preferred to take a submissive or active role. Certainly his twisted mind was having issues figuring out the specifics from its current vantage point. Conflicting evidence supported both sides. Some of that evidence was being experienced firsthand right now.

Lithe fingers danced down from the side of her head down to the back of her neck. His nails gently carved swirling patterns during their descent and left faint marks across her skin. His lips closed firmly upon her bottom lip as he gave it a tender tug. Following the tug he allowed their lips to briefly part before pressing them together once more. It was a brief moment of passion before their lips parted once again. This time the parting was intended to last for a moment longer.

Shaehern's cheeks were a slightly different color now, though it was hard to tell if that was because he really got into it or the activity left him with a lack of air. He took a few deep breaths as he tried to collect thoughts to turn into words about the matter. Awkward silence would not work for this encounter at all. Imagine what else Jasmine might request interjected if he stayed silent for too long!

[Jasmine Krisp]

This is nice...~

...WAIT! I like Iugo!

...but he doesn't want me...

Jasmine mewled softly against her best friend's mouth, feeling the table shake a little before she realized it was her hands and not the wood that was trembling. Shaehern was really good at kissing. Really, really good. But of course Jazz knew this already from the first two kisses she'd been given/had forced on her. Of course those scratches on her scalp and neck were stinging a bit, but they were easy to ignore in her haze of drunk/Shae-kiss-ness.

When he pulled back the first time she almost whimpered her dislike, all too happy when he came right back, trembling even worse. That weird feeling was back, kicking through the haze. What was it? She still couldn't figure it out...but the plum woman decided it wasn't all that bad. He was no Iugo...but he was still good...

Jazz's own face was a brighter red than before, eyes still closed, catching her own breath. This kissing was so much fun, and it made her feel really good! Even better than the booze or the massage. And it helped her forget all that crap with her brother and Iugo and Loki and blahblahblah...she didn't want to stop now...not yet. After a moment of silence bright, eerily-glowing eyes opened and stared right at the blue man before her. It was so much fun.

What else could they do that was fun.......?

A pair of pale hands reached and cupped Shaehern's face, small as they were, and Jasmine leaned across the table and grinned deviantly at her best friend, mere inches from his flushed face.

"Come to my room, Shaehern...I want more..."



((-flings censorman at the screen with his neon sign- AWAY! AWAY YOU CRAZY PEDO-CREEPER-PERVERTS!!!))

[Shaehern Azhrarn]

His slender fingers were graceful feet leaving their mark in the white snow that was Jasmine's skin. Her complexion really was pale and her skin marked easily. Some people considered that beautiful, like a prettied up doll kept in a glass case. Shaehern knew Jasmine well enough to know that she wasn't a doll to be kept in a case and reserved for pleasuring the eyes. She liked to come out and play, or be played with, as the case may be.

Hands grasped his face and pulled him to stare into eyes that would not accept no for an answer. No... that wasn't quite right. They were eyes to which the response 'no' would hold no meaning nor power. Words were powerful things, but actions were stronger still.

A smirk crossed his lips. Shaehern was resigned to his fate, but not reluctantly so. "Then we shall go."

Standing up, he gently grasped her hand and walked away from that place with her.

((Aaaaaaand... fade out.))