Watch Me

[awesome_lilly]

Lilly's curled up on one side of the couch, eyeing Alain over her Watch Me hand. He's looking infuriatingly placid and unruffled and... Alain. She sighs, sits up, and lays her cards on the table.

"Watch Me."

Comments

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

He lays down his cards, with a small smile.

She wins this hand.

[awesome_lilly]

Lilly beams.

"I'm so totally getting the hang of this now. Awesome." She scoops the cards up and starts shuffling them.

"You want any more tea or anything before I deal?"

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

"Nah, thankee." His mug's still half-full.

[awesome_lilly]

Lilly nods, starts dealing the cards again.

"This is pretty fun, actually. It's kinda like poker."

She grins, suddenly.

"And like poker, Watch Me'd be much more fun if it was strip Watch Me."

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

Alain blinks.

"What, with forfeits?"

Sometimes Lilly's slang is incomprehensible. Sometimes, it's really easy to figure out.

[awesome_lilly]

"Yeah," Lilly says, laughing. "Clothing forfeits."

"It was pretty popular back ho- back in Neptune."

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

"Never much seen the point," he says mildly, arranging his hand.

And notices what she nearly said, of course. But he doesn't say anything.

[awesome_lilly]

"There were a lot of things I doubt you would have seen the point of in Neptune," Lilly replies, looking over her cards.

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

"Do you say so?"

Not that he doubts it. Because, yeah.

He discards a card, and draws another.

[awesome_lilly]

"Just did," Lilly replies. Her hand sucks. She discards as many as she can get away with, but it doesn't get much better.

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

Alain eyes his hand. Poker face.

And then grins at her.

"Watch Me."

[awesome_lilly]

Lilly just stares for a second in disbelief, and then pounces him to get a look at the cards.

"Damnit, no way you got it... oh. You did."

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

"I did."

Not really smug, because it was pure luck. But a little.

He holds his hand steady, letting her see the high run of staves, and wonders idly if she's noticed that she's sprawled half in his lap.

He figures it's a pretty sure bet she has.

[awesome_lilly]

Not at first, actually. She's too mad that he got the high run. But it doesn't exactly take long to sink in, and she twists around to smile up at him.

"I think you cheated. You may be just cute enough for me to let it go, though."

She leans up and kisses him lightly.

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

He's letting her take the lead, here. She's invited him up to her room; he's not going to assume anything but a game of cards.

So the kiss back is equally light, and he grins down at her. "You're very kind."

Ka-shume is still in the back of his mind. Never doubt it. But it's a slow, nagging grief, one that's been lingering for a week, and he can focus on something else.

Like, for example, cards and Lilly in his lap.

[awesome_lilly]

It can be kinda tricky not to focus on Lilly in your lap, actually. Ka-shume is worse than Lilly, of course, but she is persistant.

Also ka-shume hasn't stretched up to kiss him again.

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

Lilly is very good at making herself noticed, yes.

The cards are still held in one hand, but rapidly being forgotten.

His other arm comes up around her shoulders, supporting her, as his fingers slide into her hair.

[awesome_lilly]

Lilly smiles at his hand in her hair, smiles and slips her arm around his neck, pulling him closer.

She may have forgiven him for beating her at cards, say true. Or she may have forgotten about the card game entirely.

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Watch Me isn't so riveting a game, suddenly.

His mouth traces a path of small kisses along her jawline.

[awesome_lilly]

Lilly tilts her head back lazily, shivering just a bit as Alain's mouth reaches her neck.

She shifts slightly in his lap, leaning back against his arm and moving further away from the revolver digging into her hip.

Making out with gunslingers does have its downsides, unfortunately.

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

He shifts her a little -- two revolvers and corresponding cartridge-studded gunbelts do make things a little awkward, yes -- and continues.

At some point in there, the cards are set down on the table, because having both hands free has become rather more important than a high run of staves.

[awesome_lilly]

Alain's mouth finds hers again as Lilly lifts a hand to his face, smoothing the line of his jaw with her fingers. There's a scar running along his left cheekbone, old and faded, and her fingers trace its length gently as she kisses him.

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

It's a few minutes later that he pulls back, a little, to look at her. He's flushed a bit, just enough to make the scar stand out white on his cheek.

A small smile.

[awesome_lilly]

Lilly smiles, her eyes drifting back to his scar.

"Alain?" she asks softly, her fingers just brushing the white line on his cheekbone before settling on his shoulder.

"What's this from?"

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

"Bullet graze." His voice is quiet too, and matter of fact. "Long time ago -- in Mejis."

[awesome_lilly]

Lilly's eyes widen, just a bit. She knows about Mejis from Susan. Same club, and all. Not good.

Her fingers tighten a bit on his shoulder, and she leans in to kiss him again, quick and fierce.

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

He kisses back, gentler -- reassuring. "It's all right."

The event in Mejis aren't. Weren't. But her question is.

[awesome_lilly]

Lilly just nods and kisses him again, her hands still holding onto his shoulders but not so tightly now.

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

And he, naturally, kisses back, arms around her waist.

[awesome_lilly]

Lilly's trailing kisses down Alain's neck and her hands slip to his collar of his shirt. She undoes the first couple buttons, pushes the fabric aside and keeps kissing down to the curve of his neck and the edge of his collarbone.

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

His head falls back, slightly, giving her room.

One hand has slipped beneath the hem of her t-shirt to trace a line up her spine, while the other rests on her hip, thumb slowly circling.

[awesome_lilly]

Lilly breathes in sharply as his hand slips under her shirt and she works at the rest of the buttons. Her hands slide over the newly exposed skin, her thumb brushing a faint scar on his ribs as she presses closer...

And, ow. Wrong kind of wood poking her. Specifically, sandalwood on the grips of Alain's guns, now digging into her hips again.

She pulls back, sighs, and smiles crookedly at him.

"You really had to wear your guns to come play cards?"

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

"...I always wear my guns."

Mild and matter-of-fact, but his eyes have darkened, and there's a moment's pause before he answers, as he pulls himself back from the sensations of her hands and mouth on his skin.

Then, a quick kiss, and a small, teasing grin. "Well. Nearly always."

[awesome_lilly]

Lilly arches an eyebrow.

"Nearly always?"

She leans forward again, curling one hand around Alain's neck and kissing him hard. Her other hand moves caressingly down his chest and then tugs lightly at his gunbelt.

"So," Lilly murmurs against his mouth, smiling. "What do I have to do to get you to stop wearing your guns?"

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

Well then.

A hand slides up her side, thumb skimming over her ribs, under her shirt.

Murmured back, "I'm sure you'll think of something."

[awesome_lilly]

Lilly can think of a lot of things, actually. But she also thinks that most of them should probably not take place in her living room.

Reluctantly, she pulls away from Alain, stands up, and holds out a hand, smiling. He takes it and lets her lead him towards her bedroom, his winning cards long since forgotten on the table.

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

The night before a battle, and before ka-shume; there are worse ways to forget.

In fact, he can't think of any better.

He follows willingly, and the door shuts behind them.

And it turns out it's not just kissing they're both pretty good at.