D4EE, Bvcke Sterteþ (Closed)

[Shika Nesshin]

"Surely you wouldn't leave the tale unfinished," Nesshin replies, "although drawing out the exposition might well be to the good. A delay can intensify the enjoyment, of course, but not to resolve matters--why, that's hardly good storytelling." His salacious grin spreads. "Nor can a sequel follow an unfinished work, and I have the impression that you have many stories to tell--although perhaps with a break for a meal amid the tellings."

He does shift where he sits as he adds "You'd find me a valian trencherman in such circumstances, dining with great relish upon even the sauciest dishes."

[Agasha Inoshishi]

“Oh well said, well said indeed!” She grins, enjoying the word play. Then her grin shifts to something more mischievous.

“Perhaps I should tell you the story of the first volcano. It’s a story so explosive and climactic that it can only be whispered, they say. Otherwise the volcano itself might hear and erupt again. This story is told among the ocean traders, they who are called the Mantis. Shall I whisper this tale to you?”

She shifts, her kimono covering her shoulder reflexively, preparing to both tell the story and get close enough to be heard.

[Shika Nesshin]

Nesshin nods.

"It seems an old story," he says, "but I've no doubt you tell it well. I'd happily hear it from you."

And the Mantis, well, one in every port...

He breathes deeply, exhaling with a small grunt, and he shifts again.

[Agasha Inoshishi]

Inoshishi nods and douses the lights.

“This story”, she whispers, “is best told in perfect darkness. It’s told on moonless nights at sea.” She moves around the room, bouncing her words interestingly in the space. “And it’s best told with certain…audience participation.”

As she says that, her lips are very near Nesshin’s ear and from the brief motion, it appears she’s trying to slip into his lap.

[Shika Nesshin]

Nesshin's not unfamiliar with the feeling, and he shifts to make room in his lap for her. He puts his hands on her hips to help keep her steady, and he rasps out "Good for a day with clouds and rain, too, clearly.

"But say on!"

[Agasha Inoshishi]

Inoshishi laughs lightly as she’s helped into the Shika’s lap. She leaves her legs dangling together over the side of his lap, her hands joined behind his neck. Thoroughly inappropriate, of course, but that’s why the lights are out!

She nearly purrs into his ear. “The story of the first volcano goes something like this. The island spirit, Kū, was growing. Since he rose up from his mother, the ocean, he’d passed the age of majority. Every night, Hina, the light of the moon, would pass over him.” She shifts delicately abs acrobatically, sliding her legs from one side of Neeshin’s lap to the other, grinding against him.

“He began to feel a strange feeling, like he was growing again. Perhaps you know that feeling, Shika-san?”

[Shika Nesshin]

Huskily, the Deer replies "I might have an inkling of it."

His own hands, that had been on her hips, slide downward, gripping.

"But that cannot be the end of the tale."

[Agasha Inoshishi]

In the darkness, the Agasha chuckles. “No, no it isn’t.”

Some time later, after assorted shuffling, banging, maybe even a goat bleating, Inoshishi wraps her bare arms around the Shika. “Never had that particular mountain erupt twice.”

She nuzzles her ear along the Shika’s neck, lazily relaxed.

[Shika Nesshin]

Nesshin strokes her hair, her back. "It was a good story, to be sure, and well worth telling."

[Agasha Inoshishi]

Inoshishi chuckles. “Indeed, although this story relies on audience participation. The Deer truly are gracious hosts. I will certainly recall this whenever I recite the story.”