Unwelcome Visitor

[kinguthersqueen]

Uther expected Nimueh's repeated chattering and insults. She could keep going for a long time, even though she knew as well as he did that he would never stoop to admitting any wrongdoing. He would have tuned her out, but she was rather hard to ignore at the moment, being so close to him and so insistant.

"It is not that fragile. I have enough supporters on my side to keep the peace. And I do not question Gaius's loyalty, at least now. I cannot change what has already happened." He was of course referring to the Witchfinder's visit and his nearly executing Gaius. Of course, there was also the case of Edwin, but Uther had mended tings well with Gaius afterward. He was often surprised, though, that Gaius did remain loyal; so many others would have abandoned him long ago.

He became more enraged when she used magic on him, rolling over onto his belly to stop the pain in his spine, growling and yelling as he did. But he quickly returned to his previous position, not wishing to give NImueh any chance to make remarks about kneeling before her. HIs anger got him lashing out at her again, even though he knew rationally it was useless.

[Deleted]

Illusions were such a pretty thing, Nimueh thought with an inward smirk. Sometimes very hard to cling to, but Uther Pendragon surel was a master of that craft!
She decided to let him keep these illusions for now, he would see soon enough how very unreal they were. She was just getting started and already it felt like a victory. She had revealed herself to him and yet he could do nothing to get rid of her. If it was only for that they could stay like this in his chambers all night. Both would probably never tire of hurling insults at each other, too many years had piled up too many emotions and animosities.

To his pained and angry scream she just smirked, rolling her eyes. Truly, was that a man who called himself still fighting fit? A ten year old could bring him down, not to mention a powerful sorceress like herself!
“Of course it hurts if you fight it!” she monished, like a mother would her child. She loved to use this tone with him, as it was a guarantee to get him all riled up. “Careful not to break your spine there, Uther. Just let it happen and the pain will stop!”
She knew he rather would risk being a cripple for the rest of his life than actually bowing or even kneeling to her. Which would not be the worst option. A crippled king was as weak as a mad king.

Nimueh could almost see it boiling up inside Uther and so she was prepared when he lunged forward, but she did not move to the side in any way. Instead she used the power of the elements to enhance her comparably weak human strength and grasped both his wrists, clasping her fingers around them like shackles. The impact had brough them face to face and Nimueh was actually breathing heavily with the agitation of the moment.
“Now what?” she gasped, raising an eyebrow challengingly.


~.~
I left it open for you at the end he can act out of the spirit of the moment if you like that to happen

[kinguthersqueen]

Uther was the kind of man, though, who only fought more when told not to fight. He'd keep struggling until he *was* hurt or dead before he'd give up and submit to her. And when she started using that tone of hers with him, it did indeed make him fight her even more. He could have taken her quite easily, but she was using magic against him and he hated the fact that it was leaving him at a disadvantage. He could see the guards as they kept looking in, but he could only tell them there was little they could do. It wasn't like they could actually restrain her. And that was what really annoyed him, that she could do these things to him and he was helpless to get rid of her.

He became even more furious when she locked her hands around his wrists with magic, and they were deadlocked for a few moments, staring each other in the eyes, before Uther started fighting against her again.He knew it was useless, and it didn't last long, but what was annoying him now was that she was almost looking like she was trying to seduce him or something. He sighed, exasperated with her.

"That, I suppose, is the question." came the reply. "You seem to enjoy dominating me. I'm not entirely pleased."He might hate her but he was still a human male, and he didn't like the assorted other sensations she was sending through him right now, either.

[Deleted]

Some things just never got old. Annoying Uther beyond endurance, pushing him farther and farther to that particular edge was one of them. It should have become boring after a while, because it was that darn easy, but in fact that encouraged Nimueh even more, it almost fired her imagination to think up even better and just plainly more and more different ways to get him to that particular point. Uther always carried such an air around him, as if nothing could bring him down, so quick with saber-rattling in form of guards and threats, but in the end that was nothing but hot air.

Smirking and her eyes bright with some sort of macabre joy she held Uther’s gaze, her hands still like iron claws around his wrists. He was fighting, of course he was, and that made it even more fun, seeing him getting all frustrated because she was the one winning here again and again. Some might have called magic unfair means, as she was enhancing her strength with something that wasn’t her own, but Nimueh disagreed firmly. Magic was a part of her, it made her who she was, so she had every right to use it. As High Priestess she was stronger than any man, and Nimueh the ordinary woman had long ceased to exist.
The guards entering again she didn’t even notice, so absorbed was she in her favourite game. They couldn’t stop her anyway and they knew it. She might not be immortal but she had been ressurrected once already. That was enough to give someone confidence.

“Well, the main thing about this is not that I enjoy it”, she panted, still smirking widely. “It’s that I DO. I dominate you Uther and I always will, why don’t you just admit it? Come on!” she coaxed, bringing herself even closer to him, even if that was playing with fire. But something else had taken over Nimueh, something she couldn’t quite understand and didn’t want to get into detail about. Uther was her sworn archenemy, but in this very moment it was not only hate burning inside her. “Come on. Admit who’s on top of the situation!”

[kinguthersqueen]

He couldn't deny the fact that she was always getting the best of him, and that she was powerful enough to dominate him while he could do nothing to stop her. Admitting it, though, was a whole other story. Uther's ego and pride wouldn't allow him to admit easily that he wasn't in control in this situation, at least not in words. The struggle was showing on his face, even though he said very little.

Uther recognized the other feelings moving back and forth. As a young man, Uther had romanced quite a few women-he'd been something of a player, in modern terms. He had never cheated in any way on Ygraine, she was everything, his heart and soul. But before Ygraine, Vivian had happened...and so, from time to time, had Nimueh. Those days were long past, and he was now repulsed at the thought of bedding her, but body responses weren't restrained by the feelings of the heart. The old days were less easily forgotten by his physical self, and Nimueh apparently took pleasure in the small bits and pieces of physical attraction that he could not suppress his body from feeling, even now.

"I loathe that truth, and you well know it. You are taking pleasure from your domination of me and in the lack of control that you know repulses me so. I find powerlessness anethema, and loathe that I can be rendered powerless so easily like this." he said with annoyance and anger clear in his voice.

[Deleted]

Had Nimueh foreseen what bittersweet memories her mind would get assaulted with now that she had brought herself in this precarious position so close to Uther, she maybe would have thought better of it, resisting the temptation. But now it was too late, she was irrevocably reminded of better times before the Great Purge, even before Ygraine had happened upon Uther and consumed all his thoughts and needs. A handsome young man he had been with a taste for adventure and the mysterious – she had been able to give him both. Even back then she had liked to bend the rules of High Priestesshood a little every now and again, mostly the one that involved chastity.

And now, even if her mind despised the man that was in front of her now, she couldn’t help but remember him for the man he once had been, remember the passion they shared, the sweet taste of the forbidden fruit – and it seemed a body’s memory was more faithful than a head’s, or simply unable to accept changes as brutal as these. Uther and her were enemies now and nothing would ever change that. She had come here to remind Uther of the past, but hadn’t realised that the past had its own little vindictive way of sneaking up on yourself.

But then again, there had no feelings been involved ever, right? It had been a game before and it was a game now – and she was about to win once again. Uther practically admitted defeat before her very eyes and that was something so very rare it almost called for a celebration, or a reward.
“Well, at least you do admit it now”, she replied with a sly smile. “And with you that’s saying something, ‘old friend’ and I find that vey… appealing. Now… the next step would probably be to accept it – and make the best of it…!”
Oh yes, she was hinting at it yet again, taunting him in every possible way, provoking him even. She had achieved the goal she had been coming for, shocking him, reminding him of her presence, all that would happen now was just a bonus. But Nimueh was always ready to live life to its fullest, if only to take away from others.

[kinguthersqueen]

Uther was feeling a strong mix of emotions. He was tempted and repulsed at the same time. She was trying to tempt and entice him, and he knew it. For a moment, he had to wonder why, given that they were enemies, but he knew full well that she would do anything to make him uncomfortable and be able to watch his shame and regret later on. She was hoping he'd lose control to his primal instincts and be unable to help what followed. Uther was struggling against it as much as he could. He didn't like the fact that his body language was showing a sort of defeat, but he couldn't help it much.

"You revile me. You're preying on urges that will not be controlled easily. Then you will watch my regret and shame when all is said and done." he said with a sigh.

They were within inches of each other now, and he knew that if she took initiative to bring her lips to his, that he would spiral out of control all the more from there.

[Deleted]

The thin line between hatred and desire… it was a tightrope and Nimueh was dancing on it. On one hand… how could she possibly think of getting close to the man she despised, the man with so much blood on his hands it all but dripped from it? And yet she already WAS close to him, and she didn’t feel like she was about to throw up her early evening meal, that was definitely a plus.
Of course Uther was perfectly right in everything he said, he knew her well, but that made watching this all the more fun. He knew what was happening, yet couldn’t do anything about it, not stop it in any way, and Nimueh knew the moment she showed initiative, Uther would be hers.

Did she want that? It was not like any feelings were involved here. If she carried on, she would do it for one single reason, right? To bring Uther down. She had him right where she wanted him, and now he would crumble. He might say otherwise, but she knew better. Uther couldn’t resist her, and that proved in the end that no one could resist her, not even her archenemy. It was the ulitmate triumph and she wanted to taste that, to milk it to the last drop. And Uther would hate himself so much when he realised later what he had done. He would feel beaten, used, maybe even filthy – and that was another way to get her revenge. And then… there was her own body teaching her its ways, siding with her mind for once. Rare… extremely rare and not to be wasted.

“Then why don’t you look reviled, mighty King Uther”, she whispered and leaned in, bringing her hand behind his head to rest on his neck, to minimize his chances of breaking away. And then she kissed him.

[kinguthersqueen]

He did indeed feel extremely unhappy as she brought her lips to his. His stomach churnend and he wanted to throw up. The physical emotions were there, of course, he was merely a human and unable to stop them. But the dislike overruled any desire he might have at the moment. Inside, he was afraid. If she chose to take this further, to go all the way as it were, he wouldn't be able to stop her. It was the feelings of powerlessness he'd had for most of this encounter intensified several times. He knew she was doing it purposely to get at him, to toy with his feelings and make him suffer. He made a muffled sound as she kissed him, struggling slightly, but not as intensely as earlier; he knew the pointlessness of wasting energy on her.

"I would not give you the satisfaction." he replied, partly because it was true and partly to cover up the churning feelings inside himself at the moment."You intend to go as far as you can with this, am I right? You will extract as much humiliation from me as you can."

[Deleted]

Of course she could feel his unease, as she was so close to him. It was not like Uther was hiding it. He did struggle, albeit feeble, and that made it all the more exciting for Nimueh. She could crush him like an ant now, and she had a right mind to. Crush him with womanly wiles and his own physical responses. It was in her hands now and they both knew it. If she went further it would go further, if she was graceful enough to retreat, nothing would happen. She was not known for being graceful, especially not towards this man, who had shown nothing but mercilessness towards her kind. So why was she hesitating? Probably because she wanted to savor this moment just a little longer, milk it to the last drop. The sight of Uther’s eyes, burning with contempt and anger, but also, underneath it all, with a kind of yearning. Her own mix of revulsion and eagerness… it was strangely invigorating.

Rolling her eyes to show her annoyance, Nimueh leaned back the tiniest bit. This was not a retreat, just a little reprieve for poor king Uther. Had she ever asked for a complex psychological analysis of her own behavior? Indeed not, she knew perfectly well what she was feeling and intending to do, thank you ver much! Go as far as you can… extract as much humiliation… blah blah blah – well of course she would! That went without saying, so why was he always saying it? Hello King of the Obvious!
A devilish smirk spread over Nimueh’s face as she leaned in again, capturing his eyes in her own. After all, there WAS one single way to shut Uther up, and she had just discovered how.
“Why can’t you never just… shut up, eh?” she murmured, just before her lips touched his again. He would squirm again, no doubt. Just that it wouldn’t do him any good.

[kinguthersqueen]

Her slight lean back made Uther push forward, not to kiss her again, but to try and knock against her. It was a move of frustration, of helplessness basically. He knew rationally that nothing he did was going to make a difference with her, but he was angry at being restrained and without any power in this situation. Deep down, he was a bit afraid as well. She could easily kill him and he knew it. She only didn't because she wanted to prolong torturing him first. That would go on for years perhaps before she tired enough of him to kill him, but just knowing she could was bad enough.

"Because you are never quiet. You would rather unleash more verbal taunts at me along with your physical and magical torments."he quipped back.

[Deleted]

In a crazy moment, Nimueh actually thought Uther was finally giving in, coming on his own accord, and it filled her with a weird mix of surprise, triumph and unease. She was used to him antagonizing her every move, be it verbally or physically, and this, this would be new, unexpected and slightly difficult to deal with. What should she do? Draw back, let him close? This was not how this was supposed to work, right? Nimueh hated dealing with the unexpected, it made her weak, and weak people were not living long. That Merlin had survived that fireball that should have killed him instantly had been such an unexpected occurrence, and look where it had got her!

But then she realized what Uther really had in mind, and it made the superior smile reappear on her face. Apparently you couldn’t teach an old dog new tricks after all, no need to worry about anything. Things were still like they should be. However, something had changed after all. Was it only her, or had Uther’s tone softened, where it had been full of anger and bitterness before. Was he actually moving on towards teasing her?! Now that was interesting… maybe he was feeling it too… that gust of old good times swishing through the rooms, leaving a distant notion behind of times when the two of them had not been archenemies, but friends. When they would sit in this room on this very bed for hours and hours, talking about magic and its merits and the slow progression of this so called “New Religion” coming from the continent, and teasing and bantering, even flirting. Those had been very good times indeed…

“I am not quiet?”, she retorted and quirked an eyebrow, keeping him at distance with ease. “Mind you, I think we both know who cannot bear to spend just a minute without hearing his own voice.” Nimueh claimed and then shut her mouth, just grinning at him, preparing to prove her point.

[kinguthersqueen]

Uther did feel the ghosts of old times swirling in his mind, but he would never admit it. He did recall what they had once did, how they had once talked in here, often for hours. And he recalled the physical side of their encounters as well. That was what made him ill at the moment, knowing that something could be so pleasurable and yet so tormenting. He knew that those days were long over, and that they could never happen again, and that was why she was delighting in using this situation to torment him.

"My words are my only weapons when you overpower me so physically." he remarked. And all right, perhaps he did enjoy hearing his voice-there was a certain enjoyment from time to time that he could accomplish so much with just a word, that normally, his words were as powerful as weapons within Camelot's borders. But he wasn't going to admit she was right.

[Deleted]

That she was feeling the good old times around her didn’t mean Nimueh would suddenly grow all soft on Uther. He still was a murderer times hundred, and she would never forget or forgive that even for a second. Times had changed, brutally and irrevocably. Trying to bring them back was not only futile, it was foolish as well. Slowly, Nimueh began to feel a little bored. She had come in here alright, she had managed to overpower Uther almost too easily, and she had even brought him to kiss her, even if he surely had not wanted to. You could call this night a great success indeed. And what was the saying: ‘Always leave when things are at their best’? That way you could ensure to always be the winner. Nimueh loved to be the winner of her little games. But that of course went without saying.

“Sometimes less is more, you know”, she gave Uther a teasing advice, leaning back leisurely and lounging herself on his bed as if she owned the place. She could go in a minute… there was no time pressure involved. And the less Uther did sleep in this night, the grumpier he would be in the morning, making the life of all the people in his surroundings hell. Ah, the little joys of life!
“And considering your words are the bluntest weapons against me and only succeed in making me tired, you might want to reconsider your choice of arms. Just saying…”

Nimueh might seem all at ease outwardly, even unheeding or lax, but that was not entirely true. She never relaxed in the face of the enemy, and she would surely not start now, regardless how tempting it was. Uther was beaten and his guards were not likely to poke their noses in again where they were not wanted.
“Soooo”, she dragged the word out with a little yawn, stretching like a lazy cat. “What do you say? Shall I leave you now or shall we two… enjoy each other’s company a little while longer and a little… more intensly?”

[kinguthersqueen]

Uther didn't like the feeling of being beaten, that was obvious. She said something about less being more, and he couldn't stop an eye roll.In her case, however, it was usually true. She didn't need a lot of words or actions to annoy him, and she knew it. And while he could find the right words to annoy her, it naturally had little lasting effect, except to make her respond with words of her own.

"Unfortunately, for you it is. You enjoy how easily you can annoy me."he said.

She spoke as though she were offering him a choice, though he knew his words would not influence her decision. Still, he had to say them anyway."You know full well what my desire is. But you won't oblige. You're enjoying the annoyance too much."

[Deleted]

Nimueh let go an exasperated sigh and brought herself into a sitting position again. They were going in circles and it was really starting to bore her. She had almost forgotten how lame Uther could be sometimes. It had all been fun for a while, but he just was too predictable. There was no thrill involved playing with him for long. You could trust him to say the exact same things and to do the very same acts you had foreseen. And those endless self-evident comments about what she liked and enjoyed to do… it was tiresome!No, the time had irrevocably come to call this meeting to a close, before she gave in to the temptation of turning Uther into a gobbler. Then at least he would only cackle… oh the mental image started to appeal to her quite a bit… - No! She was past such childish games! The only thing she would make happen now was a graceful retreat that was by no means a defeat.

"You seem to know oh-so-much about me Uther, and yet you don't know me at all", she stated and got up from the bed. "Unlike you I know when to call it quits. The minute my annoyance about you overweighs your annoyance about me the game is over. You're just too tiresome a company sometimes. So… see you again sometime soon."

She stepped into the middle of the room and called upon the shadows to cloak her and hide her. Keeping them at bay for just one more precious second, she turned to face Uther one last time. "I hope you will remember this night with the same… warm feelings as I do. Always remember: This is just the beginning!" Then she let the shadows engulf her, blowing him a mocking kiss the second before her image started to blur, leaving only an empty room behind.

---

(OOC: Sorry this came so abruptly, but Nim was just not in any mood to argue on ))

[kinguthersqueen]

Uther listened as she talked, and couldn't help being relieved. Really this was the only way he usually drove her away, with his arguing. He had been truly afraid, envisioning her forcing herself on him in ways much more troubling than simple kissing. That was terrible even for women, but a male like himself would've suffered even more greatly. Now, all he could do was drive the thoughts out of his mind. She finished talking and slowly faded, engulfed by the darkness, using her magic to flee as always.