ext_304605 (![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png)
lasakura.livejournal.com) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
31_days2005-08-02 09:13 pm
lasakura.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2005-08-02 09:13 pm
[second of august] [original] Morality and the Rules Thereof
Title: Morality and the Rules Thereof
Day/Theme: August 2nd / A school of morality
Series: Original
Character/Pairing: Asaren, Sedaiyu
Rating: PG-13
Other: Written in fifteen minutes. Don't maul me; there are times when I have actually written something better.
No, I'm not good at funny. I'm working on it.
---
A stranger was here and she didn't understand why, but she wasn't about to question the presence of an assassin in her bedroom if he wasn't going to kill her. She'd read too many romance novels for that. But, like keeping a cat - an unneutered male cat who liked to mark his territory - there were certain rules that had to be set down. Whether he listened to them or not, this was for the sake of her sanity and reason.
"Okay." She said, turning to the dark-haired man presently lounging in her bedroom. The thought occurred to her that he had not done anything to her yet, and a second thought from lower down thought of what might happen if he did. She sat down heavily and hoped she had squashed it. "You said you're here and that you're going to be here for a while. Provided you don't try to kill me - that's rule zero - you can. So let's move on from there to the other rules.” (“There’s more? And here I thought it was just going to be one big orgy from now on.)“First rule. No nakedness. None."
"Not even my face?" He inquired ingenuously. "Do you want me to suffocate?"
"Maybe your face." Sedaiyu conceded. "It's a very girly face anyway."
He shot her a look full of pointed, heavy objects. "IT IS NOT A GIRLY FACE."
"No nakedness." She said sternly, sticking to what she knew. "So chop chop, obey that first rule now and go get dressed."
"I am not entirely naked." He said in what was obviously meant to be plaintive tones. She didn't believe them; his voice had a certain husky softness that made her throat go tight and her fingers clench.
"Go."
"But there are only dresses in here. Do you take me for a--"
"Get dressed or I will hand you something pink, you half-naked person, and you will wear it for the day." She said evenly.
He pushed himself up and sauntered to the closet in a swirl of black rags, looking at her with a dry, shining attempt at resentment over his shoulder. “That can’t have been a threat.” He remarked. “Threats need to make people afraid. You terrify my inner child, but thankfully my outer adult can handle it.” (“I didn’t know you /had/ an outer adult.” She muttered.) “Also, I am not half-naked.” Before she could protest this, he added, obediently, “Three-quarters at least.” and drew out her favorite cloak in a flare of color like honeyed dust.
“As if that’s so much better.”
“Well, it’s better for you.” He said, with calm, infuriating logic that made her wonder if the blood loss was enough for her to hold him still beneath a strangling pillow. Then she wondered if Kyana would repeat the procedure upon her for making evidence enough to start rumors that the First Heir’s sister was a serial murderer. And she wasn’t – unless this infuriating, nameless person came back to life again. “After all, unless an arranged marriage is made for you, you’ll never see more of another man, will you?”
She drew in a deep breath, which did not help, as it gave her more of an initiative to yell at him. What kind of an idiot had recommended drawing deep breaths to avoid getting angry, anyway? “I wouldn’t have wanted to see this much of you anyway, given the choice.” She said. “You look like a girl.”
He looked outraged again, and also as if he, too, were considering the homicide option.
“I do not look like a girl.” He said, which was true. He did not seem satisfied with this, however, and seemed on the verge of showing her incontrovertible proof.
She said hastily, before he could move, “All right, all right, so you don’t. Calm down and don’t hurt yourself.”
“I wouldn’t hurt myself,” he snapped darkly, but obeyed. Rapidly, the color that had suffused his face began to fade into its usual clarity, and his eyes regained their placid amusement. With the exquisiteness of languor, he drew the cloak on, and it moved over his shoulders like oiled silk as he strode towards the mirror for a look.
This, she felt, was decidedly unfair consider she was still attempting to wrestle away the urge to kill him. Which was beginning to sound like a better and better idea all the time, her sister’s wrath or not.
“Second rule.” She said hurriedly. “No killing anyone. Er. Unless they’re trying to kill you. Or, um,” that was too much room for interpretation, “if I give you permission.” But no, that was too constricting; if she was kidnapped and gagged, he wouldn’t kill unless she could say so, and she wouldn’t be able to and they would all die. “Or—“
“If I need to,” he interrupted, “I’ll kill them.” In the glass his eyes were dark, as if he had drawn their colorlessness out of shadow and layered shade over shade until he had reached this strange, unreadable opaqueness. Abruptly he smiled, bright as the sun, and the illusion whirled away again into her imagination. “You’ll simply have to trust my good taste, won’t you?”
“Third rule,” she said shakily, “No sex.”
He stared at her with an apparent look of injury. “I thought you covered all that in the no nakedness policy.” He said reproachfully. Then, thoughtfully: “Although I suppose it’d be mildly interesting to see if you could do it with your clothes on—“
“NO DETAILS PLEASE THANK YOU.” Said Sedaiyu.
“But what if one of your handmaidens lusts after me madly and won’t stop following me around until I give her what she wants? Or I’m jumped in an alley and stuck there forever because the thugs want something out of me that I can’t give? Or you’ve been kidnapped and this is the ransom?”
“Why,” the girl said with annoyed precision, “would anyone kidnap me in order to sleep with /you/?”
He looked disapproving. “For all you know,” he said, “I could be very good at it. Why are you banging your head against the wall?”
“I’m going to sleep. You get the floor and some blankets. Don’t even think about crawling up here.” She said wearily. “We’ll try teaching you morality again tomorrow.”
“Morality.” He sounded amused, his eyes still fixed, glittering, on the mirror. “As if that’s even a word."
Day/Theme: August 2nd / A school of morality
Series: Original
Character/Pairing: Asaren, Sedaiyu
Rating: PG-13
Other: Written in fifteen minutes. Don't maul me; there are times when I have actually written something better.
No, I'm not good at funny. I'm working on it.
---
A stranger was here and she didn't understand why, but she wasn't about to question the presence of an assassin in her bedroom if he wasn't going to kill her. She'd read too many romance novels for that. But, like keeping a cat - an unneutered male cat who liked to mark his territory - there were certain rules that had to be set down. Whether he listened to them or not, this was for the sake of her sanity and reason.
"Okay." She said, turning to the dark-haired man presently lounging in her bedroom. The thought occurred to her that he had not done anything to her yet, and a second thought from lower down thought of what might happen if he did. She sat down heavily and hoped she had squashed it. "You said you're here and that you're going to be here for a while. Provided you don't try to kill me - that's rule zero - you can. So let's move on from there to the other rules.” (“There’s more? And here I thought it was just going to be one big orgy from now on.)“First rule. No nakedness. None."
"Not even my face?" He inquired ingenuously. "Do you want me to suffocate?"
"Maybe your face." Sedaiyu conceded. "It's a very girly face anyway."
He shot her a look full of pointed, heavy objects. "IT IS NOT A GIRLY FACE."
"No nakedness." She said sternly, sticking to what she knew. "So chop chop, obey that first rule now and go get dressed."
"I am not entirely naked." He said in what was obviously meant to be plaintive tones. She didn't believe them; his voice had a certain husky softness that made her throat go tight and her fingers clench.
"Go."
"But there are only dresses in here. Do you take me for a--"
"Get dressed or I will hand you something pink, you half-naked person, and you will wear it for the day." She said evenly.
He pushed himself up and sauntered to the closet in a swirl of black rags, looking at her with a dry, shining attempt at resentment over his shoulder. “That can’t have been a threat.” He remarked. “Threats need to make people afraid. You terrify my inner child, but thankfully my outer adult can handle it.” (“I didn’t know you /had/ an outer adult.” She muttered.) “Also, I am not half-naked.” Before she could protest this, he added, obediently, “Three-quarters at least.” and drew out her favorite cloak in a flare of color like honeyed dust.
“As if that’s so much better.”
“Well, it’s better for you.” He said, with calm, infuriating logic that made her wonder if the blood loss was enough for her to hold him still beneath a strangling pillow. Then she wondered if Kyana would repeat the procedure upon her for making evidence enough to start rumors that the First Heir’s sister was a serial murderer. And she wasn’t – unless this infuriating, nameless person came back to life again. “After all, unless an arranged marriage is made for you, you’ll never see more of another man, will you?”
She drew in a deep breath, which did not help, as it gave her more of an initiative to yell at him. What kind of an idiot had recommended drawing deep breaths to avoid getting angry, anyway? “I wouldn’t have wanted to see this much of you anyway, given the choice.” She said. “You look like a girl.”
He looked outraged again, and also as if he, too, were considering the homicide option.
“I do not look like a girl.” He said, which was true. He did not seem satisfied with this, however, and seemed on the verge of showing her incontrovertible proof.
She said hastily, before he could move, “All right, all right, so you don’t. Calm down and don’t hurt yourself.”
“I wouldn’t hurt myself,” he snapped darkly, but obeyed. Rapidly, the color that had suffused his face began to fade into its usual clarity, and his eyes regained their placid amusement. With the exquisiteness of languor, he drew the cloak on, and it moved over his shoulders like oiled silk as he strode towards the mirror for a look.
This, she felt, was decidedly unfair consider she was still attempting to wrestle away the urge to kill him. Which was beginning to sound like a better and better idea all the time, her sister’s wrath or not.
“Second rule.” She said hurriedly. “No killing anyone. Er. Unless they’re trying to kill you. Or, um,” that was too much room for interpretation, “if I give you permission.” But no, that was too constricting; if she was kidnapped and gagged, he wouldn’t kill unless she could say so, and she wouldn’t be able to and they would all die. “Or—“
“If I need to,” he interrupted, “I’ll kill them.” In the glass his eyes were dark, as if he had drawn their colorlessness out of shadow and layered shade over shade until he had reached this strange, unreadable opaqueness. Abruptly he smiled, bright as the sun, and the illusion whirled away again into her imagination. “You’ll simply have to trust my good taste, won’t you?”
“Third rule,” she said shakily, “No sex.”
He stared at her with an apparent look of injury. “I thought you covered all that in the no nakedness policy.” He said reproachfully. Then, thoughtfully: “Although I suppose it’d be mildly interesting to see if you could do it with your clothes on—“
“NO DETAILS PLEASE THANK YOU.” Said Sedaiyu.
“But what if one of your handmaidens lusts after me madly and won’t stop following me around until I give her what she wants? Or I’m jumped in an alley and stuck there forever because the thugs want something out of me that I can’t give? Or you’ve been kidnapped and this is the ransom?”
“Why,” the girl said with annoyed precision, “would anyone kidnap me in order to sleep with /you/?”
He looked disapproving. “For all you know,” he said, “I could be very good at it. Why are you banging your head against the wall?”
“I’m going to sleep. You get the floor and some blankets. Don’t even think about crawling up here.” She said wearily. “We’ll try teaching you morality again tomorrow.”
“Morality.” He sounded amused, his eyes still fixed, glittering, on the mirror. “As if that’s even a word."