Log: Paid Time
{Hal pays Raveki to come give him a massage. She tries to be sweet to him, and they end up talking about more than either of them planned.}
Twilight threatens, leaving the plateau draped in crimson easing toward plum and lengthening indigo shadows. After a cursory glance to find Hal's booth abandoned Raveki makes her way into the tent city, swinging a basket of glows from one loose hand and stepping through the weird stretch of shadows that it creates. A loosely crocheted shawl is looped over her elbows, trailing fringe down her back, but it is no more concession to the cooling evening than the clothes she wears. A skirt that shifts and flutters with every step, handspans shorter than her knees and a dark green halter top that bares shoulders, back, and a plunge of what scant cleavage she can claim though no midriff today. A bottle dangles from the fingertips that don't hold glows - good whiskey and full by the looks of it. She climbs the step to Hal's porch and calls a soft, "Hal? It's Vek. Can I come in?"
It takes a moment, though there's stirring inside, for Hal to come out and open up for her; his hair is still damp, shirt mostly unbuttoned, presumably just cleaning up from his day of work. The interior is lit considerably better than the exterior, so it takes a moment of blinking for his eyes to properly focus in the dimmer light. Not that it keeps him from smiling at her. "No. Absolutely not. Under no circumstances." Which is somehow turned into an invitation when he steps back, still holding the entry open for her, and beckons. "Sorry. Last-minute sale, took longer to close up than I'd planned on." The place is tidy, if spartan. Bed made and everything.
Dark eyes flicker over the damp hair and unbuttoned shirt appraisingly, and when he speaks he is rewarded with a slow-blossoming grin. "Mmm hmm," is her only reply, and when he steps back she breezes past him, ducking beneath his arm and brushing unnecessarily against his chest and hip on her journey inward. She takes a look around, then takes the few paces to settle her bottle on the bed's side table and her glow basket on the floor beside. "Don't apologize to me, Hal. It's not like I was waiting idly for hours /or/ like I object to damp or half dressed." Now the smile is an smirk, amused at her stretch of his state of undress.
"I just don't want you to go thinking I forgot you were coming," the explanation. Hal stands back while she settles the bottle and the glow basket, looking in a way that would most likely be considered rude if he weren't paying for this visit. But despite that status, it's just looking. "Are you feeling better? You look better." He pushes his hand back over his hair again, as though unsure whether it was properly slicked back the first time, even though it's still wet enough not to have budged. "To be honest, I'm just looking for a drink, a massage, a little company. No slight to your professional abilities intended."
His eyes bear enough weight that she stays bent with fingers hovering on the basket's handle for an extra beat, even though the skirt isn't quite short enough to offer more than an extended glimpse of the backs of slim thighs. When she straightens it's with a mild scoff and dark arched brows. "You couldn't possibly do such a thing so of course it wouldn't have occured to me, she tosses out lightly, and the grin that clings to her lips makes it mostly a tease. In spite of his words she perches on the edge of that neatly made bed, crossing one leg high over the other and bobbing a foot clad in a sandle with a small kitten heel instead of her usual less practical footwear. "A massage, some company and a drink are all well within the range of my personal abilities, darlin and I didn't really figure you were looking for too much more." She pats the bed beside her, eyes sliding over him. "Otherwise I would have worn less and I probably wouldn't have bothered with the whiskey."
A slight laugh. "Am I so predictable?" Halsten manages to dig up two presumably clean glasses, goes over to open up the bottle and pour both. One is offered to her; if she doesn't take it, he'll just leave it on the table there to go sit down on the bed. The heel of the palm of his free hand rubs at his forehead. Then, he drinks, and not just a sip. "You could have worn less anyhow. I wouldn't have objected." A joke, presumably. "It's just been a long... something. Last few weeks, at least."
A shrug just as slight. "Not so much more than anyone else. But I don't get the feeling that you're just desparate to get me into bed, since you successfully did it once." She does take the drink, with a smile of thanks and a little lift that would be a toast except that it's not. Her sip is smaller, and followed by a roll of the liquid around her mouth before the swallow. "I can take something off if you prefer," she tosses off, then unfastens one of the several buckles at her ankle. Ooh, tempting isn't it? Her grin slips just a bit at the rub to his head and the tone of the last, and she stretches to set her drink aside. "You want to talk, or you want to not talk?" The words come as she's crawling up onto the bed and creeping up behind him, ending up straddling him loosely with her knees so she can bat away his hand and bury firm fingers in his hair. Once there they start to rub, deft little circles followed by not exactly gentle twists of his hair, loosening the tightness in his scalp.
"I don't... know if I want to, or not." Hal lets out a long breath as she settles in and starts working her fingers in the hair he'd just fixed a moment ago. "You are welcome to take your shoes off if you like. If it's more comfortable." He rests his free hand in his lap. The other holds the glass, which he never lets too far away from his lips. "The first time is... different. Always think it'll keep on after. It never does seem to. Not the same way. Not your fault." Casual, but the words seem familiar in his mouth. He's explained this before, probably the same way.
For the first, just a nod. And fingers that don't seem to care one bit about his careful combing as they rub down through tension and into the hard of bone. She does this while he gives his explanation by rote, and then slides her fingers more gently back, neatining his hair and with caresses. "I wasn't offended," she offers softly, and though he can't see it he might hear the edge of a smile in her voice. She pauses long enough to unfasten her shoes and to settle them quietly to the floor, and when she returns there is less space between them. She settles onto her heels, but her chest brushes against his back, giving her more space to reach forward and rub fingertips to temples. Helpful but not strictly necessary. "I wasn't looking for a lover anyway you know." In spite of their content the words border on a purr, soft and soothing as her hands. "I'd just as soon this as that, if the money's the same."
He could inquire about her unique marketing strategies, if that was in fact always the case, but no. "No, of course not. Just--sometimes women are insecure. Just wanted to be sure. That's all." Halsten raises the glass as though about to take another drink, but seems to decide against it with the way her fingers are working and making any angling of his head a bit difficult. Not worth the chance of spillage. "The money is indeed the same. Worth it, to be uncomplicated." Because things between them have always been so deserving of that adjective.
There is a chuckle, a rumbling low-pitched thing that is more felt through her chest and his spine than heard really, and her fingers slide down to knead instead where skull and nape of neck meet. "That's actaully sort of sweet of you, Hal. Thinking about my security and all. But no, I wasn't really... concerned." His last makes her chuckle again, a bit louder this time, and the shake of her head sends a brush of hair tickling against his arm. "Yes. Payment is supposed to make things less complicated." But doesn't always, her tone seems to concede. Then her hands drop farther still, to his shoulders, and she kneads across them with another gently suggestive, casual press into his back. If she were trying to get him into bed surely he'd know. This is more like the perks that come with the service.
He seems in fact to be totally comfortable with the suggestion, despite his purported lack of interest in more. This is a woman, she's in Hal's bed, that she should behave thus is completely normal and expected in his world. "Good." Pause. "Good." He does pull free of her hands for a moment, but only because it's simple enough to undo those last few buttons and get rid of the shirt entirely. "That's what money's good for, isn't it? Rendering life uncomplicated. Life ought to be uncomplicated."
She's pliant enough, lifting her hands when he pulls away and then settling them firmly back, this time against his bare skin. Her fingers drift forward, kneading into the front of his shoulder, finding the muscle beneath his collarbone and then sliding out to rub small circles into his arms. "Money's good for a lot of things, but that's one of them, sure." The circles move down his arms, until her face is angled into the curve of his neck with the stretch. "You want to lay down so I can do your back?" Her breath is warm, her voice a purr, her lips brush his skin, but then her hands are working their way back up to his shoulders and she's straigthened behind him again.
"That's the important thing." Halsten moves away from her, stretches his arms back behind his head for a moment, but then does lay down on his stomach, head cradled in one bent arm. "I can live without all the accumulation of stuff. Just want life to be uncomplicated. Which means it never is, of course." A long sigh of a breath out and he closes his eyes, just content to let her work, moving nothing more than the slight bit required to breathe. And talk. "I didn't expect things here to get complicated. Thought it'd just be work and... whatever."
"So long as the few items you do own are of the finest quality, and clean, right?" There is amusement in her tone and in the sparkle of her eyes as Raveki scoots back to let him stretch out. "So what's complicated? You break up with that girl you were seeing?" As soon as he's settled she shifts over to his side to continue her ministrations, this time with hands rubbing down over his shoulderblades and spine.
Eyes still closed, but Halsten does smile at that. "Well, absolutely." He doesn't seem to see the least contradiction in his anti-materialist stance, no. Every now and then, as she works, he stretches a little bit, or turns a little way, often into the rubbing to get a deeper pressure here and there. "Fern." The girl. "Yeah. Didn't work out." As though it ever had any chance of that. "Nice girl. Very sweet. Very... comforting. But it didn't work out. She wasn't really the complicated bit. I mean, she was upset. But that's normal."
When he twists, when he leans into her pressure she tucks her skirt up between her knees and straddles his waist. It means she can put more of her weight into pressing into the tightenend muscles of his back, or put her palms flat and push until things softly crack. "So who's the complicated part? The girl you actually wanted while you were trying to be content with... Fern?" Working her way downward, she ends up sitting down somewhere between his butt and his thighs and it could be awkward, but she's focused on rubbing his lower back with strong, sure fingers.
"Smart girl." It could be awkward, except Halsten seems to not even really notice how she's sitting. He seems to notice very little, actually, except that there's a pleased sort of sigh every now and then. "Or that's a part of it. I don't know if wanting is the right word." Relaxed as he's getting, the alcohol might as well have been skipped entirely; he seems to be opening up without it. "You don't care what I want, long as I pay. Afraid that would not be the case of someone outside your line of work." Apropos of something. Maybe.
There is a snort for the condescending compliment but it's soft and amused. "Gee thanks, Halsten." If the pressure of her thumbs into a knot of muscle is harder, well certainly it's just efficient and thorough. Her palms smooth over the spot to soothe it right after regardless, and then she's back to rubbing at his lower back. "I do care what you want, but yeah I make you pay." Her hands shift from kneading to scratching, nails dragging soft lines up and down his back. "So what do you want? And are you sure she doesn't want it too?"
Deep breaths, eyes closed, for a long moment of silence it might be a question whether Hal's actually fallen asleep somewhere in there. The fingernails, though, there's a slight change in his breathing there, a flicker of eyelids though he doesn't quite open them. "You know how when you daydream something for a long time, it just gets... more and more elaborate? Your plans in your head. Suffice it to say that what I want at this point probably involves a level of sexual deviancy that would shock even you, among other things. Which doesn't, in the end, matter. Get her into bed, and it'll all go away." He dislodges one arm just enough to snap his fingers. "Like that."
Raveki murmurs her understanding of the way that daydreams get away from you with a soft, mmm hmm. It doesn't hamper the nails from dragging down his skin, sliding sideways and then up and over his shoulderblades. "I seriously doubt you could shock me, Hal. I would actually be interested in seeing you try, but only if you meant it." Her hands pause, then scratch out along his ribcage and up until she's leaning forward and her hair is once again tickling his skin. "So your brain thinks you want all these kinky things, but if you got her into bed you'd be bored. What you want is to pay /me/ to tell you no. So it's not complicated and there's a chase."
"I just want... her. The specifics become progressively more irrelevant." There's another sigh, this one a little less contented, but when Hal twists his head around, he's smiling again. "That would be terribly expensive, if not complicated. Besides, there are already things I know you don't want, which would mean it wasn't really the same. If you said yes, it would be only because I was paying you, too. Not the same." Which doesn't stop him from sounding rather pleased, anyway, just at the suggestion.
It is not the most flattering thing in the world, to be in a man's bed stroking his skin and have him say he just wants... her. Still, Raveki takes it rather well, tugging at his pants to give herself access to an inch or two more of his skin, which she caresses and scratches for a moment before the contact and her weight are gone, exchanged for an increased dent in the mattress as she leans back on her knees, then climbs off of him to crawl up the bed toward his head. "You don't know if you don't ask. And nothing you tried with me was at all deviant." She flops down on the pillow beside him, cradling her head in the crook of an elbow, facing him and running her free hand through his hair. "Besides, just because I don't want something one day doesn't mean I don't want it ever. I felt like you were trying to romance me when I was trying to fuck you." She shrugs, simple, see?
"And that's not allowed. You have different ideas of what constitute deviancy than most people." It's a little evasive. Not quite an answer to the unspoken questions. On the up side, at least Hal didn't bring her here for anything more and still say those things? He manages to get his eyes open again when she lays down there, and even keep them open again. Not falling asleep, really. "Are you hurting that much for funds, that you need to try to coax me into being a regular customer?"
She just blinks at his close up eyes, then a brow arches. "Well we did just get robbed." But there's a smile sneaking out under her words and she she snuggles down into his pillow a bit before snagging a hand. Lest he think she's trying to just hold hands with him, hers inches out from under her head, giving her two hand to continue his massage. This time it's his palm that gets circling thumbs, his fingers that get pulled and kneaded. "My point was not to get you to try and sleep with me, but I did want to be clear that the last time was... well, it was sort of complicated." The grin wins out, creeping over her mouth. "And also that I'm... available. If you want an outlet. Because I like you." The hand gets a squeeze, sandwiched between both of hers as her eyes drop, almost sheepish. "But no, not lacking in marks. Unless that means I get a better tip, which I would take."
"However much they took, if I had to pay you every time I wanted to get rejected, you'd have enough in short order to build yourself a second tavern, and I'd have to work as a manual laborer in my spare time to pay off my debts. Do you want that?" The tone is almost accusing, but there's a grin there to match hers. Halsten allows her to have his hand easily enough, and it's entirely pliant in hers. "I just need to get my mind off her completely. And here I am talking about it. I swear. If she'd just put out at the beginning, I wouldn't be in this position. My life would be pea--" Pause. "Fine. Just fine."
The laugh that escapes Raveki surprises even her, even if it is a light and lilting thing. "I had moved on from rejecting you to acts of shocking deviancy, actually. I thought you meant that sort of regular customer." She takes a moment with eyes half lidded, pulling his hand into the plane of her stomach as she rubs, then she just shakes her head. "/Anyway/. No, I do not want to drive you into the poorhouse, and if you really want someone to just tell you know I can do it for free, how's that? Sounds like she has it covered though." Letting go of his hand, she nudges his shoulder. "Other hand, roll over." Then she watches him, one brow slowly arching. "You can call me peach and then... do whatever. Tell me to get the fuck out of your tent. Or snuggle up with me, or whatever is you want to do." Her tone is soft though, tenative, and she reaches for his other hand both to massage and to keep him beside her.
A bit of readjusting himself and Halsten props himself up on his back and offers her the other hand, palm up, fingers slightly curled. "Now, see, you haven't even heard what any of the acts of shocking deviancy are. You could be appalled, and here you are volunteering." Not that he's offering any details. Still. He lapses into silence for a few moments, watching her hands rather than her face. "I think that would be a recipe for... additional complications." Another pause. "And do you really see me as the snuggling sort?" Wry smile.
This hand gets the same treatment as the other, with a thumb smoothing his palm out and then kneading his fingers. "Now you have me really curious. I think you're bluffing but there's a little piece of me that wonders." Her grin lingers and she runs the pads of her fingertips up and over the thin skin of his wrist as she lapses into a moment of thought in the quiet. The touch grows unfocused, a light drifting caress before she takes a little breath and shifts her weight on the mattress. "I would hate to make things more complicated for you, or for her. And yes I do see you as the snuggling sort. We're practically snuggling now."
"I could be bluffing. But if I told you I was bluffing," Hal says, as though musing aloud, head tilted back against his pillow, "then it'd have to be because there was some other horrific thing going through my head just as bad. Or else maybe I'd lie about bluffing to get out of telling you the sort of sordid things that I think about when I'm alone. There really aren't any good options there, are there?" The last question, hypothetical or not, is clear and matter-of-fact. Then he lifts his head to blink at her. "Are we? I think traditionally it involves a little more physical contact than this."
This makes Raveki smirk, incredulous, and she inches closer to him. "Now I really must know. Just name one thing you think would shock me. You can't tease me that way, it's not fair." Her tone is both demanding and doubtful, broadcasting that she thinks he's making it all up. "You could have nothing more than soft kisses in your head, and just be saying that to make yourself look interesting, or tough, or any number of things." She roll over, snuggling her back up against his side with his arm tucked under her head. With her back to him this means she's facing his hand so she can keep rubbing it. She stretches, arches against his side just a bit, then tips her head up and to the side, trying to get a glimpse of him. "Better?"
As she settles there, he turns slightly onto his side, so that his front his against her back, although he still refrains from putting his other arm over or around her. Well, Hal didn't really say he wasn't that sort of person. He just asked. "Do I need to look interesting or tough for you, now? I would say that not saying just makes me look like a coward, which is more likely true." He does incline his head up to look past her to the bedside table and the glasses waiting there. But there's no real attempt made to reach for one. Instead he settles back. "Yeah," the admission at last. "That's better."
She is not beyond mmming softly and fitting herself into the curve of his body, tucking a foot down between his calves if he will let her and pressing back with the plane of back and legs and the softness in between. "Right now you just look like a hand," she quips but then she shrugs before nuzzling her head into the crook of his shoulder. "Not for me, but maybe you don't know that. Do you want me to share a fantasy first? Or something I've enjoyed in the last few months even? I promise I am hard to shock." She can feel the tip of his head and she turns just enough to reach a hand back and touch his cheek. "I promise to settle right back here if you want a drink."
"I do want a drink." Rather more than a moment ago, actually. Hal shifts up to reach over her for the closest glass, which may or may not have been originally his, and sits up long enough to take a few long swigs from it before returning it to the table and settling back again, against her. "No, maybe it wouldn't shock you. But this isn't the sort of thing you can just... extract from me and indulge me and I'll be happy." He moves to give her that one hand back, and his other hand rests on her shoulder. "Whatever wouldn't shock you, I know some things... don't suit you. And having you pretend to oblige for the right sum of marks wouldn't suit me."
Raveki remains lounging beneath him as he sits up and takes those swigs, though she does tip her face to offer him the upward glance of her eyes instead of the smooth curve of her cheek. Once he's settled she creeps backward until they are tightly pressed and there is the tiniest flex of her hips to rub back against him as she practically purrs, "Would you rather I guess? Or just name things I /do/ like until you agree? You'll never know what suits me if you don't share." But then she takes a little breath and straightens out enough to give him a bit of breathing room, focusing her attentions on the few square inches of his hand again. "I'm sorry, you didn't hire me for that. Though you did ask me to distract you."
Distraction that definitely is, and Hal's fingers squeeze her shoulder for a moment until she's given him a little more space again. "Been to bed with you, remember? That... complicated time." The fingers of the hand she has clench and then extend, stretching. "I have a very good idea what suits you. And I expect there would be no small quantity of agreement. But the wrong sort of agreement, sweetness." Voice a little quieter, there. Then a long breath and, even if she can't see it, a smile. "No, I didn't hire you for that. I seem to recall you saying earlier that it was quite all right, you weren't really especially interested anyhow. I appear to be even more irresistible than I thought."
She stays very very still for a moment, then just drags her nails lightly up the palm of the hand she holds. "If you think one time with a woman speaks to everything she likes or wants, maybe that is part of your problem Hal. We're mercurial creatures." Letting go of that hand, Raveki rolls over, scooting up so she's face to face instead of tucked down into his chest, and a small smile touches her lips. "But I don't mean to push. I'm not what you want and that's alright." Light fingers appear on his bare chest and she lets them drift down the slightest bit. "Even if you are just the tiniest bit irresistable." There is a tease in her voice and one in her eyes, and her fingertips stop well short of anything too lascivious but she's not moving to turn back over. "Would you like me to do your feet?"
"It wasn't just then. I..." Halsten lapses abruptly into silence. Then moves, sitting up, drawing his knees up. "...suppose you can do them, yeah." That wasn't what he was originally going to say, clearly, but it gives him something to focus on for a moment, along with retrieving his drink again. So let's try this over again: "Tried to tell you, once." Another pause, stretching out. "You laughed at me." Maybe not even really laughed, but such things do grow in the memory over time.
It leaves Raveki laying beside him with widened eyes and she pushes up, brushing her hair out of her eyes and then leaning in, not to his feet, but to grab a hand. "I'm sorry if I laughed, or didn't give you the attention or respect I should have. The honest truth is that at first.. I felt sort of vulnerable with you. If I laughed it was probably because I was trying to protect myself, not anything about you actually." It's a whispered confession, then she releases his hands to reach for his feet. "So try again, you can trust me."
Sitting back, Halsten just lets her get started at first, watching her thoughtfully, not saying anything, glass still held tight in his hand. "I don't remember what I said the first time." The foot she doesn't start with stretches out, rotates at the ankle until it cracks a little bit, just a barely audible pop. "You told me that if I wanted a boss, I should go find--" Another pause, a frown, a drink. "Someone else. That's all. I'm not faulting you for that, Vek. I don't mean to fault you for that."
Her hands are just cool and dry and soft, cradling that foot while he speaks. Her eyes are down, her chin is down, she just listens. Then very slowly her gaze climbs up him, like it has to get past his toes and ankle and calf before it can hit his knee, like it clings a bit at his belt and the plane of his chest before finally coming to rest on his face. "So that's what it is. And who it is." Her voice is soft, almost tender but there is an edge of something harder, a glint of cold steel in her eyes. "That was not about dominance and submission, hon. That was about me trying to figure out what you wanted from me." Settling, she pulls his foot into her lap and rubs it but the motions are habitual, thoughtful. "I'm not going to cart my shit halfway across the weyr, and I'd be less worried about someone busting in and freaking out on me at the Seven too. But if..." She stops, lets go of his foot and reaches to take the unclaimed glass of whiskey before taking a long gulp. It goes down without a wince and she tur
ns to just run a fingertip over his shoulder. "If you want to come see me there sometime? I'd be happy to prove your assumptions wrong."
With his foot free, Hal pulls it back closer to him. "No, look--" He swallows the rest of his drink in a go. Can't seem to figure out the end of that sentence. "I didn't mean it that way. It's not about... it's complicated." Which is a lame way to put it, but. He moves over to the opposite side of the bed to swing his legs off, run his hand back over his hair. Then he's rummaging through his pockets. "I think you should go. How much do I owe you?" Not really looking at her at all, by that point.
She lets him go, but reluctantly. With his back to her she crawls up behind him, slides her arms around his shoulders and bends her head to plant on a kiss on the side of his neck. It is just a press of her open mouth, then a flick of tongue, then the graze of threatening teeth that finally bite down. "It might not be the thing I want to do every day, Hal, but believe me when I say I would love to tie you down," the words are hot against his skin as she draws her head up along his jaw, and then into his ear. "Right about now I'd like few things better than hearing you beg." Her nails bite as much as her teeth did, digging a line of red across his chest and the front of his shoulders, but then she is rolling away, gathering up her shoes. She names her price flatly, eyes averted as she takes a long slow breath and runs her hand through her hair.
It's very difficult to avoid looking at her through all of that, and impossible to avoid reacting, although his teeth dig into his lower lip like that's going to be sufficient to keep him from responding. It manages okay until the fingernails. Hal ends up sucking in a breath through his teeth, but even so he manages afterward to count up what he owes her and, finally, to look at her again, although he might as well be looking at the wall of the tent behind her. "Thanks for coming up. I feel--" Pause. "--a lot better now." And that's the last notice she'll get before he turns away and manages to get very busy putting his shirt back on, until she's gone.
She doesn't return that look, just holds out her hand and stuffs the marks into a pouch at her hip without requiring him to make any more contact that he clearly doesn't want. "Mmm hmm, lots better, it's obvious," she says softly, then she turns, leaving him to get his shirt on as she quickly slips out.
Twilight threatens, leaving the plateau draped in crimson easing toward plum and lengthening indigo shadows. After a cursory glance to find Hal's booth abandoned Raveki makes her way into the tent city, swinging a basket of glows from one loose hand and stepping through the weird stretch of shadows that it creates. A loosely crocheted shawl is looped over her elbows, trailing fringe down her back, but it is no more concession to the cooling evening than the clothes she wears. A skirt that shifts and flutters with every step, handspans shorter than her knees and a dark green halter top that bares shoulders, back, and a plunge of what scant cleavage she can claim though no midriff today. A bottle dangles from the fingertips that don't hold glows - good whiskey and full by the looks of it. She climbs the step to Hal's porch and calls a soft, "Hal? It's Vek. Can I come in?"
It takes a moment, though there's stirring inside, for Hal to come out and open up for her; his hair is still damp, shirt mostly unbuttoned, presumably just cleaning up from his day of work. The interior is lit considerably better than the exterior, so it takes a moment of blinking for his eyes to properly focus in the dimmer light. Not that it keeps him from smiling at her. "No. Absolutely not. Under no circumstances." Which is somehow turned into an invitation when he steps back, still holding the entry open for her, and beckons. "Sorry. Last-minute sale, took longer to close up than I'd planned on." The place is tidy, if spartan. Bed made and everything.
Dark eyes flicker over the damp hair and unbuttoned shirt appraisingly, and when he speaks he is rewarded with a slow-blossoming grin. "Mmm hmm," is her only reply, and when he steps back she breezes past him, ducking beneath his arm and brushing unnecessarily against his chest and hip on her journey inward. She takes a look around, then takes the few paces to settle her bottle on the bed's side table and her glow basket on the floor beside. "Don't apologize to me, Hal. It's not like I was waiting idly for hours /or/ like I object to damp or half dressed." Now the smile is an smirk, amused at her stretch of his state of undress.
"I just don't want you to go thinking I forgot you were coming," the explanation. Hal stands back while she settles the bottle and the glow basket, looking in a way that would most likely be considered rude if he weren't paying for this visit. But despite that status, it's just looking. "Are you feeling better? You look better." He pushes his hand back over his hair again, as though unsure whether it was properly slicked back the first time, even though it's still wet enough not to have budged. "To be honest, I'm just looking for a drink, a massage, a little company. No slight to your professional abilities intended."
His eyes bear enough weight that she stays bent with fingers hovering on the basket's handle for an extra beat, even though the skirt isn't quite short enough to offer more than an extended glimpse of the backs of slim thighs. When she straightens it's with a mild scoff and dark arched brows. "You couldn't possibly do such a thing so of course it wouldn't have occured to me, she tosses out lightly, and the grin that clings to her lips makes it mostly a tease. In spite of his words she perches on the edge of that neatly made bed, crossing one leg high over the other and bobbing a foot clad in a sandle with a small kitten heel instead of her usual less practical footwear. "A massage, some company and a drink are all well within the range of my personal abilities, darlin and I didn't really figure you were looking for too much more." She pats the bed beside her, eyes sliding over him. "Otherwise I would have worn less and I probably wouldn't have bothered with the whiskey."
A slight laugh. "Am I so predictable?" Halsten manages to dig up two presumably clean glasses, goes over to open up the bottle and pour both. One is offered to her; if she doesn't take it, he'll just leave it on the table there to go sit down on the bed. The heel of the palm of his free hand rubs at his forehead. Then, he drinks, and not just a sip. "You could have worn less anyhow. I wouldn't have objected." A joke, presumably. "It's just been a long... something. Last few weeks, at least."
A shrug just as slight. "Not so much more than anyone else. But I don't get the feeling that you're just desparate to get me into bed, since you successfully did it once." She does take the drink, with a smile of thanks and a little lift that would be a toast except that it's not. Her sip is smaller, and followed by a roll of the liquid around her mouth before the swallow. "I can take something off if you prefer," she tosses off, then unfastens one of the several buckles at her ankle. Ooh, tempting isn't it? Her grin slips just a bit at the rub to his head and the tone of the last, and she stretches to set her drink aside. "You want to talk, or you want to not talk?" The words come as she's crawling up onto the bed and creeping up behind him, ending up straddling him loosely with her knees so she can bat away his hand and bury firm fingers in his hair. Once there they start to rub, deft little circles followed by not exactly gentle twists of his hair, loosening the tightness in his scalp.
"I don't... know if I want to, or not." Hal lets out a long breath as she settles in and starts working her fingers in the hair he'd just fixed a moment ago. "You are welcome to take your shoes off if you like. If it's more comfortable." He rests his free hand in his lap. The other holds the glass, which he never lets too far away from his lips. "The first time is... different. Always think it'll keep on after. It never does seem to. Not the same way. Not your fault." Casual, but the words seem familiar in his mouth. He's explained this before, probably the same way.
For the first, just a nod. And fingers that don't seem to care one bit about his careful combing as they rub down through tension and into the hard of bone. She does this while he gives his explanation by rote, and then slides her fingers more gently back, neatining his hair and with caresses. "I wasn't offended," she offers softly, and though he can't see it he might hear the edge of a smile in her voice. She pauses long enough to unfasten her shoes and to settle them quietly to the floor, and when she returns there is less space between them. She settles onto her heels, but her chest brushes against his back, giving her more space to reach forward and rub fingertips to temples. Helpful but not strictly necessary. "I wasn't looking for a lover anyway you know." In spite of their content the words border on a purr, soft and soothing as her hands. "I'd just as soon this as that, if the money's the same."
He could inquire about her unique marketing strategies, if that was in fact always the case, but no. "No, of course not. Just--sometimes women are insecure. Just wanted to be sure. That's all." Halsten raises the glass as though about to take another drink, but seems to decide against it with the way her fingers are working and making any angling of his head a bit difficult. Not worth the chance of spillage. "The money is indeed the same. Worth it, to be uncomplicated." Because things between them have always been so deserving of that adjective.
There is a chuckle, a rumbling low-pitched thing that is more felt through her chest and his spine than heard really, and her fingers slide down to knead instead where skull and nape of neck meet. "That's actaully sort of sweet of you, Hal. Thinking about my security and all. But no, I wasn't really... concerned." His last makes her chuckle again, a bit louder this time, and the shake of her head sends a brush of hair tickling against his arm. "Yes. Payment is supposed to make things less complicated." But doesn't always, her tone seems to concede. Then her hands drop farther still, to his shoulders, and she kneads across them with another gently suggestive, casual press into his back. If she were trying to get him into bed surely he'd know. This is more like the perks that come with the service.
He seems in fact to be totally comfortable with the suggestion, despite his purported lack of interest in more. This is a woman, she's in Hal's bed, that she should behave thus is completely normal and expected in his world. "Good." Pause. "Good." He does pull free of her hands for a moment, but only because it's simple enough to undo those last few buttons and get rid of the shirt entirely. "That's what money's good for, isn't it? Rendering life uncomplicated. Life ought to be uncomplicated."
She's pliant enough, lifting her hands when he pulls away and then settling them firmly back, this time against his bare skin. Her fingers drift forward, kneading into the front of his shoulder, finding the muscle beneath his collarbone and then sliding out to rub small circles into his arms. "Money's good for a lot of things, but that's one of them, sure." The circles move down his arms, until her face is angled into the curve of his neck with the stretch. "You want to lay down so I can do your back?" Her breath is warm, her voice a purr, her lips brush his skin, but then her hands are working their way back up to his shoulders and she's straigthened behind him again.
"That's the important thing." Halsten moves away from her, stretches his arms back behind his head for a moment, but then does lay down on his stomach, head cradled in one bent arm. "I can live without all the accumulation of stuff. Just want life to be uncomplicated. Which means it never is, of course." A long sigh of a breath out and he closes his eyes, just content to let her work, moving nothing more than the slight bit required to breathe. And talk. "I didn't expect things here to get complicated. Thought it'd just be work and... whatever."
"So long as the few items you do own are of the finest quality, and clean, right?" There is amusement in her tone and in the sparkle of her eyes as Raveki scoots back to let him stretch out. "So what's complicated? You break up with that girl you were seeing?" As soon as he's settled she shifts over to his side to continue her ministrations, this time with hands rubbing down over his shoulderblades and spine.
Eyes still closed, but Halsten does smile at that. "Well, absolutely." He doesn't seem to see the least contradiction in his anti-materialist stance, no. Every now and then, as she works, he stretches a little bit, or turns a little way, often into the rubbing to get a deeper pressure here and there. "Fern." The girl. "Yeah. Didn't work out." As though it ever had any chance of that. "Nice girl. Very sweet. Very... comforting. But it didn't work out. She wasn't really the complicated bit. I mean, she was upset. But that's normal."
When he twists, when he leans into her pressure she tucks her skirt up between her knees and straddles his waist. It means she can put more of her weight into pressing into the tightenend muscles of his back, or put her palms flat and push until things softly crack. "So who's the complicated part? The girl you actually wanted while you were trying to be content with... Fern?" Working her way downward, she ends up sitting down somewhere between his butt and his thighs and it could be awkward, but she's focused on rubbing his lower back with strong, sure fingers.
"Smart girl." It could be awkward, except Halsten seems to not even really notice how she's sitting. He seems to notice very little, actually, except that there's a pleased sort of sigh every now and then. "Or that's a part of it. I don't know if wanting is the right word." Relaxed as he's getting, the alcohol might as well have been skipped entirely; he seems to be opening up without it. "You don't care what I want, long as I pay. Afraid that would not be the case of someone outside your line of work." Apropos of something. Maybe.
There is a snort for the condescending compliment but it's soft and amused. "Gee thanks, Halsten." If the pressure of her thumbs into a knot of muscle is harder, well certainly it's just efficient and thorough. Her palms smooth over the spot to soothe it right after regardless, and then she's back to rubbing at his lower back. "I do care what you want, but yeah I make you pay." Her hands shift from kneading to scratching, nails dragging soft lines up and down his back. "So what do you want? And are you sure she doesn't want it too?"
Deep breaths, eyes closed, for a long moment of silence it might be a question whether Hal's actually fallen asleep somewhere in there. The fingernails, though, there's a slight change in his breathing there, a flicker of eyelids though he doesn't quite open them. "You know how when you daydream something for a long time, it just gets... more and more elaborate? Your plans in your head. Suffice it to say that what I want at this point probably involves a level of sexual deviancy that would shock even you, among other things. Which doesn't, in the end, matter. Get her into bed, and it'll all go away." He dislodges one arm just enough to snap his fingers. "Like that."
Raveki murmurs her understanding of the way that daydreams get away from you with a soft, mmm hmm. It doesn't hamper the nails from dragging down his skin, sliding sideways and then up and over his shoulderblades. "I seriously doubt you could shock me, Hal. I would actually be interested in seeing you try, but only if you meant it." Her hands pause, then scratch out along his ribcage and up until she's leaning forward and her hair is once again tickling his skin. "So your brain thinks you want all these kinky things, but if you got her into bed you'd be bored. What you want is to pay /me/ to tell you no. So it's not complicated and there's a chase."
"I just want... her. The specifics become progressively more irrelevant." There's another sigh, this one a little less contented, but when Hal twists his head around, he's smiling again. "That would be terribly expensive, if not complicated. Besides, there are already things I know you don't want, which would mean it wasn't really the same. If you said yes, it would be only because I was paying you, too. Not the same." Which doesn't stop him from sounding rather pleased, anyway, just at the suggestion.
It is not the most flattering thing in the world, to be in a man's bed stroking his skin and have him say he just wants... her. Still, Raveki takes it rather well, tugging at his pants to give herself access to an inch or two more of his skin, which she caresses and scratches for a moment before the contact and her weight are gone, exchanged for an increased dent in the mattress as she leans back on her knees, then climbs off of him to crawl up the bed toward his head. "You don't know if you don't ask. And nothing you tried with me was at all deviant." She flops down on the pillow beside him, cradling her head in the crook of an elbow, facing him and running her free hand through his hair. "Besides, just because I don't want something one day doesn't mean I don't want it ever. I felt like you were trying to romance me when I was trying to fuck you." She shrugs, simple, see?
"And that's not allowed. You have different ideas of what constitute deviancy than most people." It's a little evasive. Not quite an answer to the unspoken questions. On the up side, at least Hal didn't bring her here for anything more and still say those things? He manages to get his eyes open again when she lays down there, and even keep them open again. Not falling asleep, really. "Are you hurting that much for funds, that you need to try to coax me into being a regular customer?"
She just blinks at his close up eyes, then a brow arches. "Well we did just get robbed." But there's a smile sneaking out under her words and she she snuggles down into his pillow a bit before snagging a hand. Lest he think she's trying to just hold hands with him, hers inches out from under her head, giving her two hand to continue his massage. This time it's his palm that gets circling thumbs, his fingers that get pulled and kneaded. "My point was not to get you to try and sleep with me, but I did want to be clear that the last time was... well, it was sort of complicated." The grin wins out, creeping over her mouth. "And also that I'm... available. If you want an outlet. Because I like you." The hand gets a squeeze, sandwiched between both of hers as her eyes drop, almost sheepish. "But no, not lacking in marks. Unless that means I get a better tip, which I would take."
"However much they took, if I had to pay you every time I wanted to get rejected, you'd have enough in short order to build yourself a second tavern, and I'd have to work as a manual laborer in my spare time to pay off my debts. Do you want that?" The tone is almost accusing, but there's a grin there to match hers. Halsten allows her to have his hand easily enough, and it's entirely pliant in hers. "I just need to get my mind off her completely. And here I am talking about it. I swear. If she'd just put out at the beginning, I wouldn't be in this position. My life would be pea--" Pause. "Fine. Just fine."
The laugh that escapes Raveki surprises even her, even if it is a light and lilting thing. "I had moved on from rejecting you to acts of shocking deviancy, actually. I thought you meant that sort of regular customer." She takes a moment with eyes half lidded, pulling his hand into the plane of her stomach as she rubs, then she just shakes her head. "/Anyway/. No, I do not want to drive you into the poorhouse, and if you really want someone to just tell you know I can do it for free, how's that? Sounds like she has it covered though." Letting go of his hand, she nudges his shoulder. "Other hand, roll over." Then she watches him, one brow slowly arching. "You can call me peach and then... do whatever. Tell me to get the fuck out of your tent. Or snuggle up with me, or whatever is you want to do." Her tone is soft though, tenative, and she reaches for his other hand both to massage and to keep him beside her.
A bit of readjusting himself and Halsten props himself up on his back and offers her the other hand, palm up, fingers slightly curled. "Now, see, you haven't even heard what any of the acts of shocking deviancy are. You could be appalled, and here you are volunteering." Not that he's offering any details. Still. He lapses into silence for a few moments, watching her hands rather than her face. "I think that would be a recipe for... additional complications." Another pause. "And do you really see me as the snuggling sort?" Wry smile.
This hand gets the same treatment as the other, with a thumb smoothing his palm out and then kneading his fingers. "Now you have me really curious. I think you're bluffing but there's a little piece of me that wonders." Her grin lingers and she runs the pads of her fingertips up and over the thin skin of his wrist as she lapses into a moment of thought in the quiet. The touch grows unfocused, a light drifting caress before she takes a little breath and shifts her weight on the mattress. "I would hate to make things more complicated for you, or for her. And yes I do see you as the snuggling sort. We're practically snuggling now."
"I could be bluffing. But if I told you I was bluffing," Hal says, as though musing aloud, head tilted back against his pillow, "then it'd have to be because there was some other horrific thing going through my head just as bad. Or else maybe I'd lie about bluffing to get out of telling you the sort of sordid things that I think about when I'm alone. There really aren't any good options there, are there?" The last question, hypothetical or not, is clear and matter-of-fact. Then he lifts his head to blink at her. "Are we? I think traditionally it involves a little more physical contact than this."
This makes Raveki smirk, incredulous, and she inches closer to him. "Now I really must know. Just name one thing you think would shock me. You can't tease me that way, it's not fair." Her tone is both demanding and doubtful, broadcasting that she thinks he's making it all up. "You could have nothing more than soft kisses in your head, and just be saying that to make yourself look interesting, or tough, or any number of things." She roll over, snuggling her back up against his side with his arm tucked under her head. With her back to him this means she's facing his hand so she can keep rubbing it. She stretches, arches against his side just a bit, then tips her head up and to the side, trying to get a glimpse of him. "Better?"
As she settles there, he turns slightly onto his side, so that his front his against her back, although he still refrains from putting his other arm over or around her. Well, Hal didn't really say he wasn't that sort of person. He just asked. "Do I need to look interesting or tough for you, now? I would say that not saying just makes me look like a coward, which is more likely true." He does incline his head up to look past her to the bedside table and the glasses waiting there. But there's no real attempt made to reach for one. Instead he settles back. "Yeah," the admission at last. "That's better."
She is not beyond mmming softly and fitting herself into the curve of his body, tucking a foot down between his calves if he will let her and pressing back with the plane of back and legs and the softness in between. "Right now you just look like a hand," she quips but then she shrugs before nuzzling her head into the crook of his shoulder. "Not for me, but maybe you don't know that. Do you want me to share a fantasy first? Or something I've enjoyed in the last few months even? I promise I am hard to shock." She can feel the tip of his head and she turns just enough to reach a hand back and touch his cheek. "I promise to settle right back here if you want a drink."
"I do want a drink." Rather more than a moment ago, actually. Hal shifts up to reach over her for the closest glass, which may or may not have been originally his, and sits up long enough to take a few long swigs from it before returning it to the table and settling back again, against her. "No, maybe it wouldn't shock you. But this isn't the sort of thing you can just... extract from me and indulge me and I'll be happy." He moves to give her that one hand back, and his other hand rests on her shoulder. "Whatever wouldn't shock you, I know some things... don't suit you. And having you pretend to oblige for the right sum of marks wouldn't suit me."
Raveki remains lounging beneath him as he sits up and takes those swigs, though she does tip her face to offer him the upward glance of her eyes instead of the smooth curve of her cheek. Once he's settled she creeps backward until they are tightly pressed and there is the tiniest flex of her hips to rub back against him as she practically purrs, "Would you rather I guess? Or just name things I /do/ like until you agree? You'll never know what suits me if you don't share." But then she takes a little breath and straightens out enough to give him a bit of breathing room, focusing her attentions on the few square inches of his hand again. "I'm sorry, you didn't hire me for that. Though you did ask me to distract you."
Distraction that definitely is, and Hal's fingers squeeze her shoulder for a moment until she's given him a little more space again. "Been to bed with you, remember? That... complicated time." The fingers of the hand she has clench and then extend, stretching. "I have a very good idea what suits you. And I expect there would be no small quantity of agreement. But the wrong sort of agreement, sweetness." Voice a little quieter, there. Then a long breath and, even if she can't see it, a smile. "No, I didn't hire you for that. I seem to recall you saying earlier that it was quite all right, you weren't really especially interested anyhow. I appear to be even more irresistible than I thought."
She stays very very still for a moment, then just drags her nails lightly up the palm of the hand she holds. "If you think one time with a woman speaks to everything she likes or wants, maybe that is part of your problem Hal. We're mercurial creatures." Letting go of that hand, Raveki rolls over, scooting up so she's face to face instead of tucked down into his chest, and a small smile touches her lips. "But I don't mean to push. I'm not what you want and that's alright." Light fingers appear on his bare chest and she lets them drift down the slightest bit. "Even if you are just the tiniest bit irresistable." There is a tease in her voice and one in her eyes, and her fingertips stop well short of anything too lascivious but she's not moving to turn back over. "Would you like me to do your feet?"
"It wasn't just then. I..." Halsten lapses abruptly into silence. Then moves, sitting up, drawing his knees up. "...suppose you can do them, yeah." That wasn't what he was originally going to say, clearly, but it gives him something to focus on for a moment, along with retrieving his drink again. So let's try this over again: "Tried to tell you, once." Another pause, stretching out. "You laughed at me." Maybe not even really laughed, but such things do grow in the memory over time.
It leaves Raveki laying beside him with widened eyes and she pushes up, brushing her hair out of her eyes and then leaning in, not to his feet, but to grab a hand. "I'm sorry if I laughed, or didn't give you the attention or respect I should have. The honest truth is that at first.. I felt sort of vulnerable with you. If I laughed it was probably because I was trying to protect myself, not anything about you actually." It's a whispered confession, then she releases his hands to reach for his feet. "So try again, you can trust me."
Sitting back, Halsten just lets her get started at first, watching her thoughtfully, not saying anything, glass still held tight in his hand. "I don't remember what I said the first time." The foot she doesn't start with stretches out, rotates at the ankle until it cracks a little bit, just a barely audible pop. "You told me that if I wanted a boss, I should go find--" Another pause, a frown, a drink. "Someone else. That's all. I'm not faulting you for that, Vek. I don't mean to fault you for that."
Her hands are just cool and dry and soft, cradling that foot while he speaks. Her eyes are down, her chin is down, she just listens. Then very slowly her gaze climbs up him, like it has to get past his toes and ankle and calf before it can hit his knee, like it clings a bit at his belt and the plane of his chest before finally coming to rest on his face. "So that's what it is. And who it is." Her voice is soft, almost tender but there is an edge of something harder, a glint of cold steel in her eyes. "That was not about dominance and submission, hon. That was about me trying to figure out what you wanted from me." Settling, she pulls his foot into her lap and rubs it but the motions are habitual, thoughtful. "I'm not going to cart my shit halfway across the weyr, and I'd be less worried about someone busting in and freaking out on me at the Seven too. But if..." She stops, lets go of his foot and reaches to take the unclaimed glass of whiskey before taking a long gulp. It goes down without a wince and she tur
ns to just run a fingertip over his shoulder. "If you want to come see me there sometime? I'd be happy to prove your assumptions wrong."
With his foot free, Hal pulls it back closer to him. "No, look--" He swallows the rest of his drink in a go. Can't seem to figure out the end of that sentence. "I didn't mean it that way. It's not about... it's complicated." Which is a lame way to put it, but. He moves over to the opposite side of the bed to swing his legs off, run his hand back over his hair. Then he's rummaging through his pockets. "I think you should go. How much do I owe you?" Not really looking at her at all, by that point.
She lets him go, but reluctantly. With his back to her she crawls up behind him, slides her arms around his shoulders and bends her head to plant on a kiss on the side of his neck. It is just a press of her open mouth, then a flick of tongue, then the graze of threatening teeth that finally bite down. "It might not be the thing I want to do every day, Hal, but believe me when I say I would love to tie you down," the words are hot against his skin as she draws her head up along his jaw, and then into his ear. "Right about now I'd like few things better than hearing you beg." Her nails bite as much as her teeth did, digging a line of red across his chest and the front of his shoulders, but then she is rolling away, gathering up her shoes. She names her price flatly, eyes averted as she takes a long slow breath and runs her hand through her hair.
It's very difficult to avoid looking at her through all of that, and impossible to avoid reacting, although his teeth dig into his lower lip like that's going to be sufficient to keep him from responding. It manages okay until the fingernails. Hal ends up sucking in a breath through his teeth, but even so he manages afterward to count up what he owes her and, finally, to look at her again, although he might as well be looking at the wall of the tent behind her. "Thanks for coming up. I feel--" Pause. "--a lot better now." And that's the last notice she'll get before he turns away and manages to get very busy putting his shirt back on, until she's gone.
She doesn't return that look, just holds out her hand and stuffs the marks into a pouch at her hip without requiring him to make any more contact that he clearly doesn't want. "Mmm hmm, lots better, it's obvious," she says softly, then she turns, leaving him to get his shirt on as she quickly slips out.