[ Hearing her use that operative jargon -- snippets of a world full of tradecraft and secrets, a world she knows little about -- teases a faint but bittersweet smile out of Hei. She's neither a Contractor nor a soldier. For her, his tendency to navigate through each environment on the basis of thorough, cautious, near-paranoid tactics is just a personal quirk. Devoid of context, she can't grasp the full array of its implications -- the cause and effect. She doesn't listen to the distinct rhythms of footsteps in empty corridors and crowded streets. She never looks both ways as she comes out of a building, let alone checks for surveillance hot spots. She doesn't lash out when someone approaches her blind side, or balk at the idea of sitting with her back to a door. ]
[ Why would she? She's the Avatar -- secure in the knowledge that she can handle whatever comes her way. Hei has never had that luxury of being born powerful. Doubt is always a persistent sting, burrowing under his skin like a chigger. By now, he's fashioned it into a weaponized art-form. ]
[ He doesn't think about that. His palms splay across the sheets, on either side of her head, as he allows her to tug him down. He settles his weight across her, looming in to press kisses here and there to the warm clock of her face, his lips at once cool and feathery. ]
Secure as it gets.
[ The words are a low hot thrum against the line of her jaw, where he nuzzles lazily. Not a seduction, or a demand -- just a moment of basking in her heat like a reptile crawling out into the sunlight. Listening to the reassuring thub of her heart. ]
[ Quieter, ]
Go back to sleep. I already told you: the springs aren't going anywhere.
no subject
[ Why would she? She's the Avatar -- secure in the knowledge that she can handle whatever comes her way. Hei has never had that luxury of being born powerful. Doubt is always a persistent sting, burrowing under his skin like a chigger. By now, he's fashioned it into a weaponized art-form. ]
[ He doesn't think about that. His palms splay across the sheets, on either side of her head, as he allows her to tug him down. He settles his weight across her, looming in to press kisses here and there to the warm clock of her face, his lips at once cool and feathery. ]
Secure as it gets.
[ The words are a low hot thrum against the line of her jaw, where he nuzzles lazily. Not a seduction, or a demand -- just a moment of basking in her heat like a reptile crawling out into the sunlight. Listening to the reassuring thub of her heart. ]
[ Quieter, ]
Go back to sleep. I already told you: the springs aren't going anywhere.