#datenight

"Or Zepelin" She sighs "And whether she is or not is not the point, she's FEELING big."

"Right. Gotcha."

Tomas has glistening wings to keep him enthused. Mitra and Jessica have duties.

So time passes

*tick tock, tick tock, tick tock....*

Not much happens, sometimes things go easy, and then...Duff enters in

Jessica is taking her Balefire-bonding constitutional.

Duff walks up, and stands nearby, his turn to wait

She looks up as he enters. "Hi." A smile, and she stands. "How are you?"

He kisses her , then says "Hell of a day. You?"

She frowns, concerned. "My day's fine, what happened?"

"I got an offer for a lot of money," A frown "Which is fine. I like money. But it would take me out of Mexico."

She leads him away a bit, to sit with some privacy. "For good?"

They find that alcove that even the boggans don't spy on and he says "yeah."

"Oh." She was clearly not expecting that.

"Are you going to take the offer?"

"I don't know." He admits, "My business, I mean my non tattoo business has gone down .. and I've hurt the drug lords I wanted to hurt"

She nods. "Do you need the money?"

"No.." He admits

"Ok, so it's an issue of whether or not you want to do... whatever the offer is for."

"Is there some reason you can think of I should stay around?"

He looks at her rather intently there

She looks down at her hands for a moment.

"You have the shop, roots in the community. You do good work here. We'd be less without you."

She looks up at him. "But I wouldn't want you to stay just for that, not if you want to go."

"mm" he looks at her and cups her face, a palm gentle on her cheek, "We'd be less?"

"The... the fief. Renaissance." She says... a little slowly.

"Such as? Nec doesn't seem that attached? Got an example in the singular?"

"Duff, yes. -I- would miss you. But that's not necessarily a reason to stay, especially not if you want to go."

He looks her over, "Why isn't it a reason?"

"Because if you want to go, but stay because of me, that won't help -us- at all." The us being not the fief, but the two of them.

"Maybe what i want is based a lot on what I hear. Maybe I'm decided that screw fairness, I want to find out what you want not what you think but what you want."

"What do you mean?" Yes, hedging a little.

"I mean, what do you , singular, want?"

"What do I want -you- to do?" At a loss "Well, I like you, Duff, I'm happy you're here and in my life and... and you know, in my bed. I'm glad we're, um, lovers. But if you want to take this offer, I want you to."

'well, I'm glad you're glad we're uhm lovers." he looks at her, "Why do you always hedge? Why do you skirt close to the cliff's edge and never dive? Are you scared of the rocks? or worse, the depths? It's the depths isn't it? Those scare you. I didn't ask what i wanted. Do you want me to stay? Not for my sake. Not for the community. Do You want me to stay. the sea is roaring, and you're shaking on the ledge. Turn your back on it or jump in and admit what you want for your own sake"

His eyes are not dark, exactly, no, but his gaze is relentless

"Yes." Simply. "I'd like you to stay."

"that is what i needed to hear to find out if I wanted to stay," And Duff's wolf like teeth nip at her ear as he nuzzles her, "And I do want to stay. Even if I feel a great sympathy for the ocean as it rolls and howls trying to capture the cliffs that always keep a bit just out of reach. Things look slow at your hold right now. " hands at her waist, "You want me to stay. Guess what I want?"

"You want to tell me what the offer was?" Not without a sense of mischief.

"Not even close," He grins, then "An illegal operation arranging for top of the line motorcycles and some cars to be ...cleaned' as it were so they'd not be traced after they were ...borrowed." hands on her waist start to lift her up into his arms. She's a sizable lass, so he can he manage to make her feel almost dainty?

"Woah!" Not an objection. "You know, I -can- walk.... And I'm glad you didn't take the offer, then."

"I know you can walk," He nods still lifting her, "I know you kick ass when you have to. I know you can do a lot of things with your legs. I'm hoping you'll demonstrate. Now... if you want me to set you down, you'll have to say so. Otherwise, I'm taking you to your bed room, where I plan on eclipsing the rest of the world from your view and giving you new lights to see by."

She grins despite herself. "Yes, I -want- you to put me down, and we will walk -together- to the bedroom."

And he slides her down to her feet, though his hands certainly linger during the process, and he makes no apology for it. A smile, and he walks with her towards the bedroom.

.... and inside.

(Fade to black)