Shadows and Jasmine

[Quinn Durant]

She watched him with a wan smile, and his thirst for clinging to the good things in this existence shined through. A flame that had almost been extinguished when they were acquainted last. That had felt like another life now. It was so much better for her here. Now she didn't get chastised for helping people. Even if it was typically in the vein of feeding off of evil bastards in the domain. I mean if she took it to far, who would care?

"And there it is. That beautiful spark I saw in you all those years ago. I am glad the embrace gave you tools to cope and fight back, to re-ignite that flame of purpose within you, Conner. Maybe you are right. I am harsh with myself. I didn't get much positive re-enforcement from my Sire." Or Janos really. Rodger had been more the show and tell kind. The three Kindred who had a direct and obvious hand in creating the Kindred she is now. She chuckled a little, low in her throat, and stretched to to fill her glass back up with wine, killing the first bottle opened.

She listened to his perspective on her leadership capabilities. Glowing report. "I hope you marinade in my advice and use it consistently. You will go far if you do. Help me, and support my goals, and I'll do the same. The higher I climb, the better I will be able to help you. Remember that. Feudalism is tough to get the hang of. We stand in juxtaposition of the old and the new, always. Modern and Tradition. Knowing which approach to take, is tricky. You have to walk the damn line, Conner. It's not always easy either. You have to remember that while intrinsically these Kindred aren't your enemy, they are Kindred. They are looking for weaknesses, just as we are looking for theirs. It's in our deepest nature. You have to accept this not as looking at them as an enemy, but as a fact. And operate within those lines. I prefer to bring others up, not tear them down, but if you fuck me...I will never trust you again and make it my mission in my existence to destroy you."

Quinn watched their glasses tap, and nodded a bit. She saw what he wanted, and perhaps even needed. He wanted to get personal. He wanted to be closer. It was his nature. Something in the way he said the last, made her caution sharpen. "You fear I am giving in to much to my beast don't you? Watching me leave with the Priscus of the Daeva has bothered you deeply hasn't it?" She took a long drink from the wine and closed her eyes a moment. "What you don't know is that I have been celibate since you." She said softly, watching him. "I swung to the other extreme, which isn't healthy either. I just...um...I don't know been hitting the snooze button for a long time now. I want this to be a permanent home for myself, so I finally broke the chastity belt. Don't freak out. I'm alright." She held that eye contact, her gaze never leaving his, and she relented a bit, and shifted until she came up to her her knees, closing that distance between them, making her temporarily taller than him, and she gently pulled him close, cradling his head to her chest and resting her chin on on top of his head. She stoked his hair gently. Her fingers idly playing in the strands. "Blood of my blood, flesh of my flesh, my heart to yours. No one could take your place Conner. You are my closest Kin. I ask for your trust, and to be secure in that knowledge. Do not let your possessiveness and jealousy eat at you, and erode our bond."

[Conner Wells]

Conner could relate to wanting positive reinforcement from his Sire; Rowan wasn't a totally unkind taskmaster, but she was ferocious and taciturn. She was interested in Conner insofar as he was her Childe and they had a common interest: their investigations into the Occult. She was less interested in him as a person and more as a potential asset for the Lancea Sanctum. A way to stick it to those who doubted her. And I let her bitterness seep into me. Pushing me away from those who could be my allies. My friends.

As Quinn finishes off the last of the current wine bottle, Conner takes a sip of his own glass and takes in Quinn's mission statement. She was right: the tightrope act of living in a pseudo-feudal political system in a complex post-modern world was a strenuous challenge. But she was proof that it wasn't impossible; that one could possibly even thrive in it. Have a home within it. But her final ultimatum almost makes him flinch. Surely she knew Conner would never betray her, at least not willingly. She's laying precedent. She wants to make her stance clear for when...no; not when; IF Maeve steps out of line again. Conner resolves right then and there that he would not let that 'if' become a 'when'. God help him, his Shadow cousin would not stand alone.

Then she pierces the last smothered bitterness in his heart: his abandonment in Elysium. For that glorified shock trooper in heels Succubus. Her next statement shatters the young Shadow's calm exterior as eyes go wide with surprise. "Wait...what?" Why was she telling her this? ​Gee, I don't know. Maybe because you practically BEGGED her to take you to bed, genius? "I...I didn't...I..." ​What was he more scared of here? Getting caught lusting after his Priscus? Or possibly being unfaithful to someone who he didn't even know really liked him back? But Quinn doesn't allow his fears to fester. She pulls him in, holding him close and stroking his hair. Just like...Please God no! Don't bring that up! Don't bring those memories back!

"Blood of my blood, flesh of my flesh, my heart to yours. No one could take your place Conner..."

And with that last, fell stroke, Quinn breaks him. Conner leans into Quinn's embrace and slides his arms up her back, pulling her in tight. Color blooms from his forehead, across his body, stretching across every limb until it crescendos in a sudden intake of breath. He got it; he finally got what that meant, at least to him. She loved him. But not in a sexual, carnal sense; not in a push-pull, give-take sense; but as family. Even though every fiber of her being likely struggled in that very moment to rip him into bloody pieces, she loved him. And Conner surrenders to the tears he'd held back since his first night in Sacramento. "You have it...you have my trust. You have me." The Dragon stood triumphant.

[Quinn Durant]

Let him seduce you, Quinn. Enslave that broken bit of him. All you have to do is allow it. That's the dark little voice inside of her whispering. Wanting her to abandon her moral code, and take ruthlessly from those around her. The part that drove her to succeed. That wanted power. The part of her soul that her sire excited when he made her. The sudden heat that coursed threw Conner drew a soft growl from her throat. Like a fire was lit against her skin. Her cold skin meeting the mimicked heat of the living. She had to hand it to Conner. He had a way of almost being subconsciously wicked even in surrender.

She crushed the beast inside of her, those impulses, she had had them before. Once again, she pushed them down. She wouldn't take advantage of Conner like that. At least, not tonight. Tonight she held her worst impulses in check. She gently kept stroking his head and playing with his curls with her fingers tangled in them. She nodded, her head on his rubbing softly, "That's good, Conner. I would hate to have to live without you." It went without saying she would get over it though. The subtle hint in there. The expectations. It was important to set them clearly between them. Les he mistake kindness for weakness. She stood, and would draw him up with her if he wanted it.

She walked him to the door, and turned to him before opening it for him. "Good night, Conner. I look forward to our next....heart to heart." She said with a little smirk. "Take care of yourself in the barrens, Conner. Make this a lesson you only have to learn once."

I'm good to close if you are!

[Conner Wells]

Was it a minute? Or did that brief moment of tenderness last for hours? In the moment, Conner couldn't tell. Nor did he care. He's just so, so terribly happy that he can finally weep salt and water and gasp between sobs like a Human being. Does she know? Does your Priscus know that your greatest mistress, the apple of your eye, are these stolen moments of life and memory? Even if they ache like the sweetest of harsh loves? Maybe that was why Maeve had burned herself into his consciousness ever since that stolen kiss under the stars? The fact that she would make sure he FELT during those precious Blushes. But Quinn? Quinn was tender, elegant, she was...

Growling? He could feel the vibrations pulse through his head right up against her windpipe as they reverberated to his core. And for a brief moment, Conner wonders if this whole evening will end in fangs and blood. But there is no searing bite tonight; just more curling caresses and soft words with a hint of warning. I'll remember this. All of it. I will make this work. He blinks, and Quinn is helping him up. He takes her hand without question; the night was getting old, and he would need time to make it back to his own place before the sun rose.

He nods, a chuckle on his lips that carries a bit more fully now that borrowed air flows through his lungs. "Well, maybe our next one won't be quite as dramatic. Maybe just wine and simple conversation? Perhaps by the time the next one comes around, Milton will have changed tie colors? Now that could take a whole evening's discussion." Quinn tells him to take care and maybe it's just the magic of the night, but he believes her. She really does care. He makes one last, weary dare of the night and pulls her in by the shoulder. He gives a brief squeeze of a hug and leans down for a single, chaste kiss on the forehead. "My heart to yours, Quinn. I will earn my place at your side." And Heaven help anyone who would prove him wrong.

Conner enters the Sacramento night still flushed with new life. The Barrens would be a while yet; there was still time to prepare. But for now, he was content to know that he had made peace with his past. Here's to the future.

Same here! Thanks again so much for an incredible scene