All For The Crowd (Torrin)

[Robyn Lester]

Oh she should have guessed he would once again meet her tit for tat! It could have been infuriating, hadn’t it been so pleasing at the same time. Truly pleasing. Robyn knew she hadn’t had so much fun in a very long time, and that was saying something for her, the carefree juggler! Sometimes life worked in peculiar ways, an hour before she hadn’t had anything on her mind but the oncoming performance tonight and the personal training she had put on herself, and now look what she was up to! Her only concern now was that someone she knew, a member of the Pack, might find her here and spoil all the fun. It was not like it was any of their business what she did or did not, but Tybalt at least was her brother, and sometimes was infuriatingly watchful. Jerome would try to interrupt for other reasons, and she liked that even less. Even though he had been trying for years, all in good humor, she would not start anything with him, because he was a member of the Pack. That was one of the very few principles she had, as such things were just bound to cause trouble should the affair or relationship break. But for now no one was looking for her, and she intended to exploit that fact.

What did she have to show him? Well, now that was an easy question to answer!
“That depends on your spirit of enterprise, dear Tor”, she said with a smirk. “But if you take a fancy to the exterior already, I can promise you there’s much more below the surface.” That might be a little cocky, but then Robyn didn’t like to play coy very much. You didn’t get far with that in the life she led.

Tor was trying very hard to remain afloat in this situation, but Robyn was struggling with exactly the same problem and she had an even harder time with it in her eyes. The moment Tor’s fingers grazed the sensitive skin of her stomach, she felt something explode inside her and suddenly she was reduced to mere feeling and sensation. She hardly could process his words and was even less able to collect a few sensible words in her mind and voice them in response. Good grief, what was he doing to her?! Even though she was already dizzy from lack of air, she sucked in an even deeper breath to allow his hands to venture up further. Not long and she either would faint or they had to get rid of her costume, preferably without destroying it though. She didn’t have that many costumes to speak of.
“Only acceptable, huh?” she got out, using up even more of her air supply. “Any idea how to make this… MORE acceptable, then?”

[Torrin]

Again, apologies for the wait

Robyn really wasn't a master of subtlety, but then, Torrin really wasn't one to talk and anyway he didn't care that much. It was amusing though, how blatant she was being. Most women hid behind blushes, some, more fun women, kept their suggestions opens with an air of innocence. Robyn, however, was going for the jugular. Of course, the only problem with that was it prompted too many images and not enough words, and for a moment or two Torrin was completely at a loss of what to say. This would have been more embarrassing if his brain wasn't far too preoccupied. It was a good thing he still wasn't having to charm her with his wit - such as it was - otherwise he'd be failing somewhat.

"I hope you realise I'm not just going to take your word for it." He replied when he'd recovered from the images and managed to think in sentences again. It didn't help that Robyn was smirking, well, it helped some things, but not his attempt at being witty. Then again, it was unlikely Robyn would suddenly abandon him now because of his lack of word play. Hopefully.

It seemed his fingers were having quite an affect on her, something which surely made up for his loss of wit. That was something he was rather good at - the physicality, the light, gentle caresses, the skin on skin. He pulled his hand away, he wasn't going to be quite so easy. The hand, no longer against her skin, came to rest on the small of her back so she was pulled towards him once more. "Well I have several ideas...but what with our current location none of them are hardly appropriate."

[Robyn Lester]

Robyn knew that sometimes men were seriously put off and irritated by her direct ways, but she hoped that Torrin would not belong to that category. She had lived her whole life on the road, amongst sometimes the lowest of creatures, and that didn’t exactly preserve a dainty and reserved character. Add that to her usual boldness and it was a true miracle she still was able to play upon some subtleties every once in a while. That might be due to her being a carney though, she was used to take up different roles. But all in all, life was there for the taking, and if someone had had a zest for life in general, it would be Robyn. Living like she did, was never thinking about the next day, because your life was ever changing. Planning never worked for jugglers, they could be betrayed and cast out in the blink of an eye, so why waste too much time with pondering? If someone couldn’t deal with that attitude, then he or she would either have to adapt or forget it.

His remarks now came with distinctive delay now, and Robyn realized he was slowly reaching his limits. That amused her not just little, and made her feel even more smug than she already was. It didn’t exactly diminish her self-esteem either, but then he still had a few things on her. Physicality for one, she might be good with words, but she had much difficulty to stay on top of a situation when some distinctive buttons were pushed.
Flashing him an enigmatic smile, she remarked: “Yes that makes sense… I wouldn’t have taken you for someone so easily trustful. Let’s hope I shall pass the test.”

The hand retreated again, leaving her skin tingling and screaming for more. Oh, he was good at this, no doubt at all! He knew how to play someone, and play him good! While she might be scoring point after point in their witty banter, he was clearly the leading part concerning the next step. Was that just… or was it just annoying? Robyn clearly couldn’t decide, she just knew that she didn’t want him to stop right now. When he pulled her close, she smiled a lazy smile and deeply inhaled his scent, letting herself get drugged by it.
“A pity… Well, since you are the one of us familiar with this place, I’d suggest you find us somewhere… secretive?” she whispered, just a hair’s breadth away from his lips.

[Torrin]

Torrin was more than confident Robyn would pass such tests - as she put them. Already she had more than captured his attention, she'd made him lose his balance, so to speak, and that was rather impressive. He was, after all, Torrin Fletch, balancing was what he did. It was rather refreshing though, and he meant that in the least pretentious way. He liked being unnerved, of not quite knowing exactly where he stood, where this was going. Well, it was quite obvious where this was going, but the pace, the control, they all seemed to be in Robyn's hands. Surprisingly, Torrin was enjoying this. Usually he was the one in control, the one making all the moves, and while he wasn't completely giving into Robyn - because where would the fun be in that? - he was quite willing to let her win this one. She was quite a woman, unlike any he'd ever met before.

"Confident?" He raised his eyebrows, a smirk on his lips, "You don't know how very high my standards are." He winked at her, see, the fight wasn't completely finished yet. While, as he'd previously thought, he was happy to hand over the control, he wasn't going to do so lightly. A grin formed on his lips at her next words. Now then, this was a development. Everything previously had just been flirtations, ones that could have just dissolved into nothing. But Robyn had made the decision, had taken it to the next step, and Torrin was not going to disappoint. He tilted his head slightly, resisting the very strong urge to kiss her - there would be enough of that later, of that he was certain. For now, she was right, they did need to find somewhere more secretive. Unfortunately the only place he could suggest was his own chamber, it was hardly a place of luxury but it was private and not entirely uncomfortable.

"Surely you are not suggesting what I think you are?" He asked, trying to feign shock but the smile was giving it away. This seemed to be one of the few times his acting skills were letting him down, not that it mattered much. There was no doubt as to what Robyn was suggesting. "Because if you are...I may have a trick up my sleeve."

[Robyn Lester]

This was turning out to be the one encounter in quite a while that left Robyn thoroughly ensnared. It was almost like - in lack of a better comparison - she had been thrown into a complex play and had to play a role she had no concept of yet. She also didn't know, if he had any more idea of what they were doing, if it was him, or no one at all holding a script in his hands. The prickling, humming sensation of alertness and excitement in every fibre of her body was the same she felt when she had to wing something on stage - and boy did she love that feeling! She lived for these moments! If this encounter made her feel that way it could only be a good thing, all doubts and hesitations aside! She wondered what it might be about Torrin to make rhis go so quickly down that road, or if it was even him at all, but she didn't come to any good conclusion

Robyn returned the smirk, pleased that the banter was still going on, even though it had seemed they both were at their wits end and limits just a few moments ago. Oh yes, she was quite confident, however high his standards might be. If he didn't find anything good or interesting with her, he wouldn't have put this conversation so far so soon. Somhow she doubted he was so desperate as to try his luck with just about anyone. And anyway, she had the freedom of choice here as well, it was not like he could demand anything of her without her consent. If this didn't make a woman like Robyn confident, then nothing ever would.
"Well, the fact that you discovered me on the tightrope should tell you enough of my ability to deal with 'high' standards", she replied cheekily, looking upward with a fleeting glance. She would retrieve that rope later, there was hardly any chance of anyone stealing it. They first had to get up there, and she didn't know many people who would do that just to steal a piece of rope.

No, she really wasn't buying in on his displayed or rather claimed shock, since even the display of it was rather failing right now. Torrin's smile gave him away all too easily, but Robyn was glad for it, since it made her see a little bit clearer.
"It's good your shock is not quite so convincing to me", she murmured. "Or else I might have felt obliged to take back my offer. And oooh... a trick?" Robyn cocked her head. "Mind to let me in on it?"