||EVENT||

[rowan_narrators]

Midday on Sunday, the group reaches the Tombstones, long rows of naturally rounded rocks emerging from the desert sand. The shaman announces that they're clear of the siren's curse, and for the first time, the caravan forges on ahead, not bothering with the twists and turns of their prior route

Comments

[creaoi_ang_cor]

For Cris' part, he heard a note of triumph. Gotcha. Aside from a small smirk, though, he stopped himself from looking smug.

"I know I've said as much before," he said, dangling his legs over the edge of the roof, "But I thought you might like to hear it when I don't have a cup in my hand."

Right. For the second time this evening, here went nothing. He'd had more than enough time to go over the words in his head.

"I've found you intriguing since the first moment I met you." He folded his hands in his lap, fingers laced together. "No- actually before that. When we first spoke in the journals. But I was still..." He shook his head. Even with all the rehearsal, he was correcting himself and faltering. "I know we both... had someone before. And I'm not asking for anything serious. Or anything at all, if you don't... But I just thought you should know that I think you are a brilliant, wonderfully strange, beautiful person, and I mean that sincerely."

He let a sigh out through his nose, looking back out toward the sun. It was almost down. "So there you are. That's what I had to say. Do with it what you will."

[cassie_of_troy]

The lyre note rose, becoming a solid, sustained scream. And then the string snapped and there was silence inside of Cassandra's head. Eerie. Cryptic. Frustratingly lonely silence. A silence that could only be filled with her own thoughts. And she could never trust her own thoughts.

His compliments were confusing, but what was more confusing was what he was asking her. What was he asking her? Based solely on what she had seen of him before, of her comparisons between Cris and Paris, on her assumptions, she half wondered if he were propositioning her. But that would be a simple, easy situation to manage. She would hiss at him, spit or slap him in the face, and leave.

But there was more than a simple proposition in his words and Cassandra didn't know what it was, but she knew enough that she couldn't handle this the way she normally would. Do with it what she would, he had said. She didn't know what she would do with it.

"I..."

But she faltered.

And I'm not asking for anything serious.

Did that mean it was a proposition? Cris couldn't possibly be that stupid, could he? He knew enough about Cassandra to know how she would respond to that. But what else could it possibly mean?

"I don't understand," she said.

[creaoi_ang_cor]

Well. That wasn't the worst possible reaction he could have gotten.

"Neither do I. Not entirely," he admitted, and leaned forward, elbows resting on his thighs. He wondered, briefly, what was wrong with him. He usually wasn't this serious about, well. Anything.

He supposed to potentially death thing might have something to do with it.

"But," he cleared his throat, "Traditionally, this is the part where you tell me what you think about me."

[cassie_of_troy]

"What I think about you," she repeated.

This was no simple question to answer. Not in any coherent manner and for once, Cassandra knew that this was not the time for her typical responses. Cris could see through her act quite well, she reasoned.

Like Othryoneus.

Was it really fair to think of him in this instant? That was the problem. Any feelings, besides the ones she had consciously acknowledged in the past, she felt for Cris would be dampened and marred by his memory. It was fair to neither of them. But it was a simple fact. He was her other half and that was something Cris could never match.

But he didn't necessarily want that. What did he want?

Cassandra spoke quite haltingly. "I am...very fond of you, Cris. As evidenced by the fact that I have told you a great many things that I don't normally...tell." She wetted her lips before continuing. "You are one of my favorite people in Rowan. You're pleasant and horribly entertaining and tolerant, patient,and kind. And smart," she added.

And you remind me utterly of Paris.

[creaoi_ang_cor]

It sounded like there might be a 'but' at the end of that. But I could never measure up to the hero was his first guess.

Although, no. That wasn't fair. He wasn't trying to replace Othryoneus any more than he was asking her to replace Lidia. He wasn't entirely sure just what he was doing, but he was fairly certain it wasn't that.

"How about this." Things would be better if they could decide where to go from here. Cris smiled a little. "The next time we have a moment of peace in a place of real civilization, I'd like it very much if you'd join me for lunch." Which, really, had been his plan all along.

It felt a tad awkward now, making arrangements like this. They'd already gotten much closer in the oasis. But the idea of a date seemed to make it official.

[cassie_of_troy]

"We have a deal," Cassandra told him. "A moment of peace in civilization. Lunch."

A lunch seemed...well...it seemed harmless enough. And perhaps, by that point, Cassandra would be able to feel a bit less off guard about the whole situation. In truth, it had certainly taken her by surprise. She did not feel she was the sort of girl that Cris...

"There is one thing," Cassandra said abruptly. "One thing I want to say before this goes farther." And suddenly, she felt quite uncomfortable. "You should know that," she exhaled softly, "I'm not a serious person. On the whole, I realize I'm quite absurd. But there is one thing I am very serious about and that's my...well...there is one thing I don't do and I feel it only fair to tell you that I..."

Oh. This was uncomfortable.

[creaoi_ang_cor]

She was uncomfortable. Clearly. But if it was something she really needed to say, she would.

He turned to face her, not speaking, but prompting her to continue with a curious raise of his eyebrows.

[cassie_of_troy]

"Sex," she blurted out. "I don't..." And her voice faltered again. Any other topic she could discuss with a light-hearted air. Death. Decapitation. Loss of faith. Dismemberment. Sex, on the other hand, she could only discuss when it was about someone else.

I saw him between her knees...

How could she ever have said that to poor Chryses? Oh, she was a bad, bad person.

"I just..." But what could she say? "I'm not the type of girl who takes it lightly. I feel the need to warn you about that."

[creaoi_ang_cor]

Though his eyebrows did another little leap when the topic suddenly became 'sex,' as Cassandra talked on he found he wasn't altogether surprised. She could be playful and clever and very up-front about some things, and even flirtatious when she wanted to be. But there had always been an odd, twisted sort of innocence about her. He hadn't known what to make of it until just now.

And he found he was, actually, fine with it. As he'd said earlier, they'd both had someone before. It probably wasn't a good idea to go jumping into anything too quickly.

"That's alright," he shrugged. "For now all I'd like is to... spend some time in your company. Which I realize is what we were already doing, but."

Hopefully she could fill in the rest of that sentence herself.

[cassie_of_troy]

There was relief in that. Cassandra nodded gratefully. She was surprisingly glad that her abrupt statement hadn't somehow become a complete deal-breaker. She really did like Cris and didn't want to bring about the end of their friendship.

"Thank you," she said. "I appreciate your understanding. I'm not a prude. I know things...happen...between men and women. I just...don't find it particularly enjoyable."

That might have been a step too far.

[creaoi_ang_cor]

Cris smiled back at her. All things considered, this was going remarkably well.

Wait.

"You don't," and here he paused, because he wasn't sure he ought to be heading in this direction, but, well, he'd already started. "Find it enjoyable?"

Oh gods. He just might have done something incredibly stupid.

[cassie_of_troy]

Cassandra blinked. "Well...no. Painful, mostly."

She paused. Other people certainly seemed to enjoy it, but those who actually spoke of such things were usually men. Usually Paris, actually. But there must have been women out there who enjoyed it. Otherwise, there wouldn't be all those tales of Bacchae and Maenads running around, being seductive. And then there were the nymphs. And the prophet Tiresius. He had been both a man and a woman and had told the gods the woman enjoyed sex more. Then they struck him blind.

"I was in the temple of Athene--one of our gods--when Troy was destroyed," she explained. "With all the women of my father's household. And then the soldiers came and...his name was Ajax..." She couldn't bring herself to say the words. She shrugged. "There was a lot of blood."

[creaoi_ang_cor]

Oh.

Oh, shit.

Rape wasn't a terribly common thing among the Caun. As a people they had a rather cavalier attitude toward sex, even if the upper class chose to hide their dalliances behind social games and pretend to be virtuous. But the over-arching idea was if one woman didn't want to have you, another would.

Which made the idea of taking it by force utterly appalling.

For a little while Cris just sat there with his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open, having no idea what to say.

But he had to say something.

"By Alea." He let out a tense sigh. "I'm... I'm sorry."

[cassie_of_troy]

She looked at him. "Sorry?" How odd. "There's no reason to be sorry. That's just the way it works. The victors take the women of the defeated as slaves and concubines. They kill the children so that no one survives to avenge these deeds. And the cycle goes on and on and on."

And on and on.

"I'm just lucky I died before I could be too much of a concubine. Because that isn't who I am." That was the true point of this whole conversation. While it was unfair to equate Cris with Paris, they did seem to have similar tastes in recreation. And probably women. And Cassandra was not that sort of woman.

[creaoi_ang_cor]

Cris pressed his lips together. If they ever got a chance to go back through the Gate, he was definitely taking her back to Willhaven with him. There was no reason for her to return to a world where things like that happened.

"Just because something's the way it is doesn't make it right." She honestly couldn't think it had been her due. She was smarter than that.

[cassie_of_troy]

"Right and wrong are funny things," she murmured. "And those rules are generally written by the victors." Cassandra gathered her hair at the base of her neck, pulling her curls over her shoulder. "You're right," she added softly. "It isn't right. It just is."

She turned to look at him. "I like the fact that you're repulsed," she told him. "It makes you different from almost every man I've ever met."

Cassandra would always have a strong affinity for 'different.'