Private Tales Hearts and Moonlight

Well she hadn't shoved him away or bitten his tongue off. So far, so good. Though knowing her now as he did, he expected she was being more analytical about it than anything. Vittoria didn't form opinions on their physical interactions very quickly.

When she seemed to have picked up on it well enough, he gently pulled away, "It's called a Kaliti Kiss," Kilien smiled, his hands shifting from her neck down to her waist, "only shared between close lovers in the desert where every drop of water is sacred."

He wouldn't ask what she thought just yet. Likely she needed time to think it over and he wouldn't be surprised if she asked to try it again. Otherwise they were losing daylight quickly. Kilien leaned in and pressed a kiss to her cheek, "Should we get the campfire going?"

Kilien's eyebrows shot up into his hairline so fast they nearly flew away in surprise. He blinked after her, "You... you read about that in a book, did ya?"

Did he wish to show that one to her?

Absolutely.

"Uhhh..." a hand came up to itch at his beard as his eyes lingered on her hips when she stepped away from him around the unlit campire, "babe, I don't uh... I don't think you're quite ready for that kind of kiss."

Moving to stoop by the stone circle, he instead got to work on lighting that fire. An actual fire. This fire, the campfire. He was going to light a real fire and not the kind that lead to Malakath Makeouts.

"What... what kind of book did you read that in?"

He paused over the empty firepit, stacking logs in the traditional Rovani way that he'd been taught as a child. With every word she said his brows went even higher and eyes wider. Thoughts were infiltrating his mind's filter that would not do him any favors this evening.

It was true that Vittoria was the Captain of her own body and that, at any time, she could progress things between them as quickly as she liked. He'd been perfectly content to let her remain in charge over what was and wasn't permissible in her mind - she was someone he respected greatly. Even without her ability to unmake him on a whim, it would have been the same.

But the problem was that she'd begun bringing up things she'd hear in passing within the Academy, or rumors of other Initiate couplings. Now this dang book. Her ignorance of intimacy gave her the ability to talk of things as if they were nothing, as if they were simply a challenge to overcome. It couldn't be farther from the truth. Malakath Makeouts required a lot of trust, booze, or money, and he was only hinging on the first one.

"How will we know?" he echoed her once she'd finished her reading, then turned to look at her over his shoulder, "When's the last time you let a man between your legs?"

Yeah, he already knew that answer. He might not have had the actual facts, but there was no way in hell someone had gotten to her before he did and lived to tell the tale. A nod was given in return over a facial shrug as he looked back to the log stack and stuffed kindling in the bottom, "So what exactly did you think the man was doing to the lucky gal in your book, then?"

A spark of magic and the fire slowly caught on the kindling. Kilien waited patiently as the flames took, while Vittoria read her passage again and tried to deduce just what was happening between the lines.

"A kiss of some sort."

Kilien bit his lips together, eyes closed as he internally nodded to himself over being right about this. She was as inexperienced as he'd deduced simply through his time spent with her, though he was mildly surprised she wasn't a bit more informed. Hadn't they used to take the older Initiates to the nearby brothels to let them get their angst out? He'd heard rumors about it in his first year here, though Harkenov had immediately quashed any hopes of it happening for him.

We don't need anymore of your mongrel blood around here, Basmarc, she'd told him.

That was fair.

The flames had latched on to the logs by now and the campfire was steadily growing in size, brightness, and warmth. Kilien stood, turned back to Vitt, and offered her question a look of patient consideration. He moved back to his previous spot on the blanket and with a grunt set himself down at her side once again. Was he afraid of her? He would be crazy not to fear her abilities. Did he think she would bring him harm?

Not...really. He'd not pissed her off yet, though, so all bets were off the table until that came to pass.

"Noh," he said with a shake of his head, rubbing at his beard to figure the best way to pose this next thought to her, "that's not... that's. Hm."

Propped up and casually leaned on one elbow, Kilien laced his hands together in sober thought for another moment, "There are... so many things I would like to show you," and do to her. His gaze shifted back up to her, never off-put by her being above him. His eyes traveled over her form once, though he had to close them against the images that presently filtered through his mind again and with a gentle clearing of his throat he decided to press on, "I know you've not been with anyone but have you ... pleasured yourself at all?"

Well that response could have gone a few ways and he'd expected it to blow back in his face. Girls, especially, did not seem to take well to having their sexuality questioned - even if it was only out of curiosity. At least she hadn't gotten mad, but it was clear she was aggravated. Maybe confused. Uncertain of herself and how she related to intimacy. It really had nothing to do with him at all, aside from bringing all of these newfangled feelings and emotions to her knowledge.

"Hey," he said gently and waited for her to look back at him, as long as it took. When she did, he smiled easily up at her, "I like being near you, too."

What she had described, of wanting to be close to him even if she didn't know why, well he'd take that as a compliment.

"You can run circles around everyone in our class when it comes to kicking ass. You don't need to feel ashamed about any of this. It's ok that you don't know. I'm happy to go at your pace, but you have to understand that-" his brows arched up over a self-deprecating look, "without sounding like a total fop, I've got a lot more experience in this stuff than you do. If I tell you I don't think you're ready for it, it's because I want to take things at your pace and not mine."

He lifted his left hand and reached for one of hers, pulling it to his face to nuzzle against her knuckles, "In case you couldn't tell, I really like you and I don't wanna ruin any of this."

For her to be happy and comfortable with him, that's all he could really ask for. How any guy could ever judge their other for their experience with intimacy was beyond him. It was all an adventure -- fast or slow, every person was different.

"Noted," he kissed at her hand, "no more Kaliti Kisses."

It wasn't everyone's cup of tea, he'd found. Hell, he'd even met a courtesan that didn't like kissing on the lips at all. Something about culture, though he couldn't remember. There were plenty of other things to kiss, though.

He leaned down and kissed at her cheek.

"Now about that picnic basket..."

"I've had chocolate," he nodded, "picked some up during my last mission in Cortos. It's everywhere in their big cities. Expensive though..." and he wouldn't mention that he'd gifted some to Norah for Heart & Hearth Day.

He'd never had one of the cakes she was offering, but he knew it was going to be good just by the smell alone. Kilien opened his mouth and promptly chomped the entire thing, playfully nabbing her fingers with his teeth in the process.

"Mmmm!"

"Yeah," he managed as he swallowed down a near sickeningly sweet mouthful of tiny chocolate cake. It was sticking to the roof of his mouth with a vengeance and he suddenly wished he had a flagon of ale to wash it down.

"Nn-" Kilien thumbed at it, "I saw that posting. Looks like we'll be heading to the front."

Everyone knew what was happening with Cortos but no one wanted to officially proclaim it: war. There had been smaller skirmishes and battles for the last few years and he'd been sent out on errands and missions for those a few times as well, but this was bigger.

"You know what else Cortos has that Vel Anir seems to sorely lack?" ...well, there were a LOT of things on that list but he wasn't looking to get too deep, "Fucking spices, man." He clapped a hand to his heart and promptly rolled onto his back as if he'd been struck, "They have the best spicy food."

"I dunno..." he said, "never been to the Empire."

At least, not that he could recall, but he was pretty certain he hadn't.

"But I'll try 'em if you got 'em," variety was the spice of life, wasn't it? Try all the things, everywhere, whenever one could. If he wasn't holed up here at the Academy he'd be out roving the distant lands doing just that. But, he thought to himself as he watched her smile with the flicker of firelight, he wouldn't be looking at this.

"What else you got in that basket?" Kilien smiled hopefully, playfully poking at her thigh.

Man. She really was spoiling him. Where had she gotten all this good food? He was able to nick treats from the kitchens from time to time and the staff had come to know him well enough by now to send him on his way with a bundle of decent goodies. But all this? No way in hell.

How lucky was he?

"Bollocks on the curfew," he said to her as he sat up, smiling wryly while he leaned over to plant an appreciative smooch on her cheek, "we're staying out all night. No one's gonna find us-" the wand reappeared from beneath his jacket and he swatted it through the air in a haphazard dash to raise sound wards and a camouflaging bubble around their little campsite.

"HAAAAH!" he suddenly bellowed at the top of his lungs, "EAT YER HEART OUT HARKENOV!"

No one would hear him with the charms and ward in place. He turned back to her with a rueful grin and a look of hunger. "See? Just you, me, a campfire, the moons, and this little feast." Vittoria had, after all, said the most seductive words he'd heard out of her mouth yet: roasting marshmellows.

Hnnngh.

"Vittoria," he replied coolly with a smug smile stretched into his beard. His hand reached for another strawberry and bit into it with satisfaction.

"You can use my jacket," it wasn't a garment he wore to keep warm - on the contrary, he wore it for its many many convenient pockets. Hazel eyes looked her over, amused by the thought that an Initiate who had, so far as he understood it, been here at the Academy receiving some of the most torturous training around in order to survive the worst the world had to throw at her would balk at the idea of sleeping under the stars on a warm evening without a blanket.

Gods she was cute.

"I'll keep you warm, babe," Kil leaned over to peck her on the cheek, "don't you worry."

"I promise." He confirmed.

"I pinky-marshmallow promise-" and then blinked as she pulled out one of her hidden daggers, brow raised, "now what are you doing. No no no," he pushed a hand over the one that held the dagger. Daggers were for hunting, danger, whittling, and for foreplay, not for marshmallows.

"If we're doin' toasties, we're gonna do 'em right."

Back on his feet, and while he was there he doffed his jacket for good measure, leaning to drape it over her shoulders before he left her side. His boots wandered across the grass to the lower hanging branches of the tree nearby which he then reached up to grab. After some consideration he broke two longer stems off and began freeing them of leaves and smaller branching twigs.

"You have to roast em on a stick," he said with a wry smile as he tickled the end of the stick at her.