Roaming [Open, continuation of "Another Day"]

[Damien]

((psst...make you posts longer...they're more fun to read that way =D ))

"You? Old? I don't think so!" Her expression changing barely, she stepped closer to him. "And she'll have to approve of you, 'Cuz I already do."

Damien smiled at her fiery admiration of him. He stepped closer to her, but let her pass him to lead them through the small yard of the Tailor's home. He looked around him, taking in and remembering his surroundings. For all he knew, he might have to find this place in the dead of night. The thought made him curious as to why, but his heart told him that he already knew the answer. Someday, Rogue business might force him to awaken her and lead her to safety. And that was definite possibility with an uprising slowly gathering in the Inner City.

"Nah, I'm old. One you get passed 18, you're old, milady," he said, throwing in the title he gave to every woman he met, no matter what their status may be.

"All right," he said, putting his hand on Kiandra's shoulder. "Where is this mother of yours?"

[Rhianna Kiandra]

((ech, sorry. I'll try.))

Kiandra snorted at his admonishon that 18 was old. "Well, it's a good thing I'm only 17, then. I'll be young enough for the both of us!" She laughed at her own reply and took his hand to pull him farther into the yard. His palm was warm and calloused in her won, and it felt like it fit perfectly.

"My mother should be inside, but knowing her, she could be anywhere!" she replied, looking up at him with bright eyes. "Drake and I get our mischieviousness from her." The solid house loomed up ahead of them, and Kiandra was glad to find the door unocked.

[Damien]

[[Okay :-) ]]

"Well, it's a good thing I'm only 17, then. I'll be young enough for the both of us!"

Damien laughed and then smiled when Kiandra took his hand. Her fingers felt so small in his obviously larger hand, but he liked the way her hand fit into his. It just felt right. "You're a good age," he told her as he squeezed her hand. "Perfect."

His eyes were drawn to a house that was before them. They walked up to the door together, finding it unlocked. Damien looked down at the woman who was at his side and sighed. Here he had come to know so many wonderful young women; he could have never guessed which one would become this close to him. He smiled at the thought. Life is funny that way, he decided.

[Rhianna Kiandra]

"You're a good age, perfect."

Kiandra smiled, her blue eyes crinkling up at the corners beneath her soaking hair. She leaned against Damien comfortably, then tugged him inside the empty house. Moving to check the kitchen table, where her Ma, Airlia, left notes for her children if she was to be out long, Kiandra found a small slip of parchment above a second.

The first came from her mother, (she was out treating a patient, and might be gone the whole night), and the second from her brother, (he was out with a Pickpocket from the Rogue he knew well, getting up to his usual mischief).

Kiandra turned to her companion. "Well," she said brightly, not caring that they were dripping on the floor, "it seems we've got the place to ourselves!"

[Damien]

Damien grinned at the sight of her smile. When she smiled, her blue eyes seemed to glow, even in the storm, and he couldn't do anything else but return a smile of his own. When she leaned against him, he put his free arm around her shoulders for one quick moment, and then let go when she began to take him inside her home. Stepping inside, he first noticed two pieces of parchment on a counter. Kiandra walked over and read them after Damien had let go of her hand.

He stood watching her for that moment, his face unreadable, and his eyes hinting at playfulness. Water dripped from both of their clothes and hair onto the wooden floor, although neither of them seemed to care. When Kiandra finished reading the notes, which Damien had suspected came from her mother and younger brother, he stepped up beside her and read the notes for himself. His eyes flickered after he had read them, glad that they would have the place alone to talk.

"Well, it seems we've got the place to ourselves!"

Damien grinned, taking her hand and squeezing it. "Very good," he said, more to himself than to Kiandra. "Now we can talk in peace; no one and nothing to distract us." His mind suddenly became a frenzy of thoughts, one side wanting to talk about their sudden romantic interest, and the other wanting to discuss the Rogue mutiny. He tried to silence his mind, but he couldn't seem to do it right then. Remembering his soaked coat, he searched the room for a fireplace or somewhere where he could hang it to dry. Taking it off, he said, "Anyplace I could hang this?"

[Rhianna Kiandra]

Kiandra smiled and squeezed his hand. "Great, but let's not worry about our business for now." She didn't want to talk about the Rogues, though it still nagged her. When he asked for a place to put his coat, she took it from his hands gently. "There's a fireplace in the next room."

She walked through a door and hung the coat on the mantle. The fire sizzled and popped as little drops of water fell into it. Kiandra turned to look at Damien again and a chuckle escaped her. He resembled a drowned rat, or more likely, a drowned Rogue; she knew she looked just as bad. "Do you want some dry clothes? We still have some of my father's things, and they should fit you."

[Damien]

"Great, but let's not worry about our business for now."

Damien sighed, realizing that she was right. Stressing over something that was still tentative wasn't productive at all; especially when there was nothing they could really do at this point to put a damper on the rebellion. And besides, he thought to himself, you'd much rather just spend time with Kiandra than stop a mutiny. The corners of his lips turned upward in a half-smile when he looked over at her. She took the coat from him and walked into another room. He followed, watching the way that she walked across the floor.

Kiandra hung his coat on the mantel, and the fire sizzled, protesting the drops that threatened to put it out. She turned at looked at him, laughing when she saw his drenched state. An eyebrow raised, he crossed his arms and gave a smug smile.

"Do you want some dry clothes? We still have some of my father's things, and they should fit you."

He looked down at his clothing, still keeping his arms in front of his chest. "That would be lovely; but you'd better get yourself something dry, you don't look much better'n I do."

[Rhianna Kiandra]

Kiandra continued to smile, and Damien's words let another laugh bubble up from her. She nodded, the movement only splashing more drops from her wet hair. "Yeah, I have some of my things here. The rest's in the Dove." Most Rogue members had at least temporary quarters at the Dancing Dove; the pub had expanded to become an Inn since George Cooper had reigned supreme.

Eyes alight, Kiandra motioned for Damien to follow her up a set of stairs. "I'll show you my father's chest of clothes. Pick what you want." It was so easy mounting the steps of her childhood; the grown woman knew her arse and womanly curves swayed lusciously as she moved up the stairs, and the child inside didn't really mind. "I'll be in my room if you need me."

[Damien]

"Yeah, I have some of my things here. The rest's in the Dove."

Her statement made complete sense, for Damien himself rented a room from the Dove (which he paid for with the daily pickpocketing of people on the street). Unlike Kiandra, all of his belongings were stored in his meager, rented room. He was grateful of Kiandra's generosity . . . Walking around in soaked clothes wasn't exactly comfortable; he would take anything dry at this point.

When Kiandra turned and walked up a set of stairs, his eyes watched her ascend in the same way that they had when she entered the room. After a quick shake of his head, he followed her up the steps where she directed him to a wooden chest. While he opened it, Kiandra disappeared into another room, one that Damien guessed was hers. Upon looking in the chest, he found shirts, breeches and tunics that were old, but still in very good condition.

Damien checked over his shoulder to see if Kiandra was anywhere nearby and then stripped off his soaking shirt. He set it aside and pulled on a shirt from the chest. It was slightly loose in the shoulders, but otherwise it fit perfectly fine. Dark brown breeches fit well enough, and he then pulled on a deep blue tunic over the shirt. There was no mirror where he could see how he looked, so he merely ran his fingers through his hair and was satisfied.

A quick trip back down the stairs, and he hung his other clothes on the mantel next to his still-damp coat. His legs carried him quickly back up to the second level, where he found the door behind which was Kiandra's room. Quietly turning the handle, he then pushed the door open and found Kiandra inside. "There you are," he said rather playfully. He leaned against the door frame and crossed his arms in front of him.

[Rhianna Kiandra]

When she entered her room, Kiandra had stripped, shanging into a dry breastband and loincloth to boot. Rummaging through the chest she'd left here if she needed a quick fix, the young woman pulled on a pair of forest green breeches that fell loosely to mid calf. Tying the bottomso f each leg, Kiandra heard the door knob creak open. Trying to snatch hershirt from the end of her bed as she turned, Kiandra ended up sending the article of clothing to the floor. Bending down to pick it up, she smiled at Damien. "Yes, here I am." Surveying how he looked in her father's clothes, Kiandra said, "You look goo din those. They fit well."

[Damien]

"You look good in those. They fit well."

Seeing her current state, he averted his eyes to the ceiling and and shook his head. A voice in his mind scolded him and told him that he sould have knocked before barging in. "Thank you, milady. I'm sure you'll look very lovely once you are fully clothed." He was trying very hard not to laugh, but a slight chuckle escaped his lips as he looked down and became occupied with his hand . . . It had never occured to him how large his hands were before.

[Rhianna Kiandra]

Kiandra grinned mischieviously when her friend redirectied his gaze to the ceiling. His comment made her laugh, and hearing him try, and fail, to not laughing only made her laugh more. As she continued to chuckle to herself, Kiandra slipped the loose bluey-gray shirt and laced it up half way.

"I'm decent, Damien."

[Damien]

Damien let his gaze wander, resting on everything in the room except Kiandra. He began thinking about what he was going to say to her, and he didn't get very far in his thoughts. Kiandra's voice brought him back to the present world and he finally looked at her. She was dressed in deep green, calf-length breeches and a blue-gray shirt. He grinned and walked over to stand in front of her. "There," he said with a laugh. "Now I can look at you without feeling . . . " His voice trailed off as he tried to think of the proper word to fit the situation.

After a brief shrug of his shoulders, he tweaked her nose with his finger. "Ah, well, it doesn't matter. You look lovely." A smile crossed his face as he bent down slightly and gently kissed her mouth. He held the kiss for a long moment and then pulled away, his eyes alight and a grin across his face. "Now we can talk."

[Rhianna Kiandra]

Kiandra smiled as Damien searched for a word. "Uncomfortable?" She laughed as her tweaked her nose, and she reached up to do the same. "Thank you," she said in a low voice. When he kissed her, the hand that had tweaked his nose, and was still in the air, wrapped around Damien's neck, while her other hadn pressed against his muscled chest. Kissing him back, Kiandra smiled at his words. "Yes, talk." She laughed and grabbed his hand. "Where?"

[Damien]

Damien looked around him for a moment, thinking of a decent place where they could talk. He quickly forgot about it, for the room where they were worked perfectly fine for talking. He smiled as Kiandra took his hand, and he pulled her down to sit on the floor with him. "Why, place is as good as any," he told her with a wink. "Now," he said, taking her free hand in his free hand, "There are a few things that we must talk about. First, this relationship between us . . . We must be careful of who sees us interacting with each other. If one of our enemies knows we are especially fond of each other, well, they could use one of us as bait and lure the other in without a problem."

Breaking eye contact with Kiandra, he looked down at her hands and began tracing the lines of her palms with his finger. A sigh escaped his lips and he took her hands in his again. "So we agree to be careful, then?" His eyes flicked back up to hers, and he thought he was almost sinking in their blue depths. Her features seemed somewhat more striking in the fading sunlight, and Damien couldn't tear his eyes away.