Remnants of the Earth
AEDOLIS => Haviah => Topic started by: Lion on June 02, 2017, 12:07:20 pm
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[Whoops!]
It wasn’t like Banning to be anything short of punctual. Not when it came to appointments as important as this. So when he finally shot out of bed, showered, and dressed, he was cursing up a storm by the time he made it down the stairs, fixing the cuff of his uniform jacket. Formal, but not too formal. It was just dinner and drinks after all.
A date? Or just colleagues meeting up after work for some down time? Banning wasn’t sure what to call it. And maybe whatever it was didn’t need a name. Banning wasn’t going to think too much more into it if he didn’t really have to. This was the first real moment he had free since coming back from the mission in the Wastes.
Between mentoring, reporting, and keeping Biscuits in one piece, it was the perfect recipe for a whirlwind migraine. With no time for planning anything, he had messaged Izzy earlier that day. Banning pulled out his phone to check the messages, scrolling up.
Banning: “You up to get down for some RnR? Just a thought, no pressure. But you’ve been working hard, and you need to get out. So do I.”
Izzy: “Yes. PLEASE! Where and when?”
Banning: “How ‘bout tonight? Todie’s. It’s got great pizza and beer. Dressy casual. I’ll send you the coordinates and meet you there.”
Ugh, he’d said coordinates? Could he just not use that lingo when not on the job? Banning could have kicked himself, but really even he knew that he was overthinking it. He hadn’t really had an opportunity to spend time with Izzy since the day before shipping out, and he wasn’t going to ruin it by bringing work into it. And he was going to be damned if he’d ask her to cook for him, and he was only really good at making fried bologna sandwiches.
Which just wasn’t good enough.
Todie’s was a nice establishment, dimly lit and the smells were intoxicating just as he approached the door. Easy Banning, he grumbled to himself, and stepping in through the door and getting themselves a table. Banning was dressed up just a little – certainly more than usual – and cut a nice figure in a violet shirt his uniform jacket, and slacks. Nothing too fancy, definitely not ‘tie’ worthy.
And as he was seated, frankly, he was surprised that Izzy wasn’t there yet. Ah well, he’d been rushing for no reason. It gave him more time to survey the menu and order drinks. He wasn’t at all worried that she wasn’t going to show up. She’d message him, of course, if something came up, right? Right!
Banning’s fingers were a little too oily across that glossy menu and he made a face. His palms were sweaty and his belly was doing little flips. Oh, no, he wasn’t at all nervous that she’d stand him up. Because it wasn’t a date-date. Just friends getting dinner and drinks. Casually romping friends.
So, why then did that thought not make him any less anxious?
Banning thanked the waiter for a glass of water and pulled his phone from his pocket, checking his messages.
-
"So, what's got you grinnin'," came a light perfectly casual question somewhere to Izzy's right, shortly followed up by the necessary respectful, "ma'am?"
Isabel hadn't even realized she had been grinning, and so it was with far more carefully schooled features that she had turned to look to her right, and found Pilot Cardinal Hestersen looking at her much like a cat who had caught a particularly fat mouse. Immediately, Izzy's eyes narrowed in mild distrust. It was never that great of a sign to see Lilo smiling in such a fashion.
"Nothing. I'm meeting Pilot Lockhart for dinner." She put her phone away, realizing dimly that that meant she needed to get home and get ready roughly about five minutes ago. She couldn't very well show up at a restaurant in her flight suit. That would just be wildly ridiculous in general, not to mention it wasn't exactly date attire. However vaguely this whole thing fit within the definition of "date" at any rate.
"Oh. OH!" Lilo bounced in place, her grin widening almost to manic proportions. That was an even worse sign than the cheshire grin she had been sporting thirty seconds prior. "Where are you going! Is it somewhere nice? Are you gonna wear a dress?"
"A dress?" Izzy snorted loudly. She didn't even own one. Well, technically she did, but that was black tie evening wear, made for grandiose events where her formal uniform wouldn't cut it. And those events were few and far between. "No. He, uh. It's supposedly 'dressy-casual', so."
"So?" Lilo was arching one white brow at her, her eyes narrowing dangerously.
"So I need to actually bathe, thank you, you are dismissed, Pilot." Izzy stated, turning away and hoping that would be the end of it.
That was absolutely not the end of it. Izzy rushed as fast as her considerable stride could carry her, muttering under her breath and wondering just what the hell had possessed her to allow for Lilo's "help". Which had involved nothing short of taking apart Izzy's closet and critiquing every last possible combination, before finally allowing Izzy to get ready. It had taken considerably more convincing to let the Pilot Cardinal near her with eyeliner, and despite it only being a subtle line the unfamiliar sensation was... disconcerting.
Still, even she had to admit the end result was... nice. Slim black pants tucked into boots, a soft white shirt with just enough of a neckline, and their squadron jacket. Lilo might have been a maniac in most regards, but at least the girl knew how to dress.
But it had also made Izzy late. Not by any terrible amount, but certainly enough to have her feeling terribly anxious. She was punctual as a rule, as a commanding officer that was a requirement, and more to the point was that this-- This was Banning she was meeting. And whatever that reasoning meant, whatever the little pang of feeling that went with it meant, it meant that she had needed to be there exactly fifteen minutes ago. Dammit, dammit, dammit.
At the very least, when near-six feet of Pilot Noble was charging through the walkways, people had a very real tendency to get the hell out of the way. And so, despite having had a considerably late start, it was with some swiftness that she was able to finally make it to the restaurant proper.
It wasn't hard to spot Banning-- lovely coloration, considerable stature, and easily the nicest thing to look at in the place-- though, of course, Izzy was probably more than a little biased. She stepped over to the table, somehow getting her breathing back under control and not looking like she had run the entire distance there. Which she had.
"I'm so sorry. Apparently, I have absolutely nothing worthy of wearing and would do well to set the entirety of my wardrobe on fire." she pulled out her chair, and sat down, working to shrug out of her jacket and settle it against the back. "Were you waiting long? I'd have messaged or something but I was already bull-rushing half of Haviah."
-
If Banning had known the horror story that was Izzy getting prepared for a casual outing - and one that required more attention than jumping into a flightsuit - he would have snorted. As it was, he'd been subconsciously checking his phone here and there at that dinner table and idly drinking his water like it was the only thing keeping him from sweating through that dress shirt.
Banning really tried to think positive. He wasn't normally a negative nancy. But already he was coming up with excuses as to what he'd tell Izzy the next day if she didn't show. A plethora of scenarios played out in his mind, back and forth. "S'all, good, Iz! No biggie! Things come up all the time!" or something more morose, along the lines of, "Oh, well, that's okay. I met someone there too and I still had a good time. I hope you did too!"
They would all be lies of course. If she didn't show, he would most likely order a pizza to go and a bottle of wine and take it home, and pass out with it on his couch. It wouldn't be the first time! Yet, even as these thoughts distracted him, Banning hadn't noticed Izzy coming in until she spoke up.
And he grinned like a cheshire cat, looking her up and down, taking in the nicely cut clothing she had. It was remarkably flattering, and drinking her in was way more potent than the list of champagnes, wines, and beers that were attached to the rear of the menu. Banning sniffed, unsure if what he smelled was some kind of body spray or just how she naturally smelled. It was dizzying. Because the last time they were together, he was rather distracted by cake and casserole.
"If you burn your wardrobe, that would leave you with nothing to wear," he replied, looking herover with evident appreciation, as if his very eyes could peel back the layers she was wearing. "And believe you me, darling, I wouldn't complain." He winked at her and as sat down and wriggled out of that jacket.
And good gods. He breathed out slowly, staving off a shiver that triggered up his spine.
Banning's face was heated, but the restaurant's dim lighting helped disguise most of it. "Not at all. In fact I just got here, like a minute or two ago," he lied. A little lie. What good would it do to tell her he was sitting here, making armpit circles in his shirt for every minute he was sure she wasn't going to show up? So instead he gave a nervous laugh and extended the extra menu to her.
And the thought of her plowing through a crowd of people just to get here made Banning snort out loud, and he finished that off with a snicker. "Oh, goodness. I would have paid to see that! I hope you didn't step anyone on your way over here. Which, by the way, for all your rushing, you look very nice. Your eyes are popping. You've got a steady hand."
The waiter came by with an extra menu and grinned kindly. "Hello, Banning. And you...must be Pilot Noble Keirs? You look lovely this evening. How can I serve you tonight? Do you want your usual, sir?"
As if t wasn't apparent that Banning was a regular here, he made a point of preference that he'd rather be called by his first name. It made things less awkward. More casual. "Um, we'lll take a minute to decide, Tommy, thanks though. Hey but you can get us something to drink yeah?" he said. He looked to Izzy. "Some wine will do. A red."
"Ah, I know just the one. I'll bring it right over," Tommy bowed his head and spun on his heel back toward the kitchens.
"It's less of a mouthful if they just say Banning," he shrugged, flicking eyes back to Izzy. "So how've you been? We haven't had a chance to talk in a while."
-
It was a damn good thing that the restaurant's lighting was what it was, because the way Banning had looked her over sent a shockwave of heat right through Pilot Noble Kiers, leaving her tingling from her head to her toes. Godsdamn him and that grin of his, he had absolutely no business looking as downright suave as he did, and Izzy was forced for the moment to busy herself with settling her napkin in her lap. Otherwise, every last drop of her blood might attempt to escape through her face, and that was just a disappointing direction for the evening to go.
She wasn't sure if his assurances that he himself had only just gotten there were true-- but then again, it didn't really matter if they were or weren't. They were both there, and somehow that fact alone had robbed her of every last drop of anxiety she had felt up until that moment. She even felt the edges of a grin pull at her lips, though that was partway hidden behind her own water glass, taking a careful sip to steady her pulse.
"If I did, I'm sure I'll hear about it in the morning. Thank you, it was not at all my idea." she sighed, quiet though it was, and made something of a face that was somewhere between amused and annoyed. "Hestersen cornered me with her makeup kit. It's entirely her doing, I wouldn't know where to even begin otherwise."
In truth, she could have fought it harder if it had really been a bother. She could have pulled rank at any point in the evening and sent the tiny woman packing. But the promise that it would all come together, and the not so subtle promise that Banning would "absolutely love it" had persuaded her into staying still far longer than she might have done otherwise. She didn't have time to dwell on that embarrassing little thought, however, as their waiter arrived at that precise moment.
Izzy couldn't help an amused little grin at the familiar tone, one dark eyebrow raising at Banning over her menu. She turned a much more controlled smile up at the waiter-- Tommy-- and decided she may as well follow Banning's lead. "Isabel, please. And thank you very much."
She visibly perked up at the mention of wine, nodding in agreement. "Yes, absolutely."
She took another sip of her water, humming a bit as she did. "I suppose having to hear the full gamut of rank and surname would get tiresome after a bit. And I've been... well. It's been... something of a chaotic few days, if I'm honest. Everything just keeps on happening, and won't stop happening." She widened her eyes a bit as if struck with horror, before dissolving into soft snickers, her fingers lacing together beneath her chin as she leaned onto the table a bit.
"How about you? How's your shoulder?" There was a note of genuine concern there; she had only heard of the injury through the grapevine, through little observations of public communications, which meant it hadn't been life-threatening. But still, considering the state her brother had come back in, it was obvious that the cause of the injury had been no joke. It could have been so much worse.
Not for the first time, Izzy had to deal with the nasty train of thought of just how badly the mission in the Wastes could have gone. And not for the first time, she had to violently reject that train of thought before it snapped her clean in two. Chance had been bad enough, but the thought of it being Banning made her stomach do a terrible sort of flip that left naught but cold shakiness in its wake.
-
Banning had no complaints pertaining to her make up or her dress. What was nicest about it was how minimalist it was. And even without a gaugy get-up, Isabel was not an ugly woman. And Banning like most that the lines darkening her eyes made them pop all the more and in fact drew his gaze to stare into them more presently. Banning could focus on those eyes all evening. Grays, and just slightly hooded underneath her brow.
And that was when he noticed the little lines underneath them, as if the woman hadn't gotten a decent night's sleep in a while. A little note perked up in the back of his mind, wondering why she looked so damn tired. There was Chance of course, and although he was well cared for at DoSaM, no doubt she'd visited him every chance she had.
Family was family after all. A luxury that Banning hadn't really been bothered to care about since coming to Aedolis.
Tommy back with a chilled bottle of wine and filled the two glasses on the table, setting it down at it's center when he did so. "I'll give you folks a few more minutes to decide, signal me when you're ready, Banning," he said with a nod. Banning returned the gesture, thanking him for the drink and sitting more upright in his seat.
"My shoulder's okay. Although I think Pilot Royal Jensik wants to call me in for a check up. I duct taped that shit in the field. Getting Chance out of there and back home was more important, Iz. I didn't see any reason to worry about myself," he shrugged, although the movement did leave the stitches a little bit more itchy. They'd need to be rechecked soon. Those claws had done quite a number on his flight suit, even through the padding. It had dug in through three inches of material and then deep into the meet of his right shoulder.
At the time, Banning did all he could to ignore his own damage. Killing that thing was all he had thought about. That aside, it could have ended with both of them very dead. And the fact that it didn't, was reason enough for Banning to think little of it. He would have done it again if he had to. Thankfully, it didn't seem like that would be happening any time soon.
Moreover, he wanted to know what had been up with Izzy. He'd heard something happened to Jon. But certain information requiring classification and the right clearance to reveal left him a little more floundering than usual. Besides, Banning didn't want to hear the "official" record of it. He'd much rather hear it from a source he could trust.
"I'm sorry. I don't mean to keep your mind on it. But if you wanna talk about it we can, I'm all ears. If not, then maybe I help distract you from some of that chaos that's been going on," he said and reached across the table to gently put a hand on her forearm. He smiled sweetly and reached for the wine in his glass. "Come on, what should we toast to? Hmm."
A few seconds of thought and he grinned wrly. "How about a toast to, 'A quick and smooth recovery. With hopefully little to no probing involved,'' he chuckled and clanks his glass to hers.
-
"You duct taped it?" Her eyebrows skyrocketed into her bangs. She supposed that was one way of emergency patching something, but the damage in getting it off again alone, that had her shivering in horror. Still, she shook her head, her mouth working into a tired sort of smile. "And... thank you, for that. For bringing Chance back. I mean, not that I'd ever think you'd do anything else but... still. Thank you."
She wasn't even sure how to quantify it all, and so she didn't try, instead shaking her head to dismiss all the nasty little thoughts that had nagged at her since first finding out that the mission hadn't exactly gone as smoothly as planned. Nasty little thoughts like what might've happened if Chance hadn't had the ability to control bloodflow. What might've happened if they were just a little further out from Havina. What might've happened if Banning had been out there all alone, if it had been Banning who'd been dropped on. It all led to the same result in her mind, and that result was boundless nightmares. The truth was that she hadn't slept for more than a few bare hours at a time. The last decent rest she had gotten was... well. After their initial tryst, right before the mission in question.
How long ago had that been now? Everything had started to bleed together, like a watercolor painting someone had taken a hose to. She felt Banning's hand on her arm, and looked up into that sweetly smiling face, and something in her chest fluttered wildly for it. He was just too good-- He'd gotten injured and there he was trying to comfort her. She understood why, of course, but it was still...
It was still nice. It was nice that he was making this effort after her emotional well-being. She... did not have much experience in that regard, admittedly. It was always her doing the looking-after, doing the supporting, doing the responsible-adult thing. But there sat Banning, who had no real reason to be doing this, outside of being just that good of a human being. And so she returned his smile, her own hand sliding over his and giving it a little squeeze.
"A distraction would be great." Not that there was much other option. She couldn't really get into too much detail over what happened, even if she HAD wanted to drag Banning down into her shit. Which she absolutely did not. She took up her wine glass, then, and gave a little snort. "To as little probing as possible, though it is Gerard, so, you know, take that with a grain of salt."
She grinned across the table at Banning, the first genuine sort of grin in too many days, and let their glasses clink gently together, before she took a very, very healthy gulp from her glass. Already she could feel her shoulders relaxing, and she hadn't even begun to drink-- then again, that was just the effect the Pilot Royal had on her, it seemed. A fact about which she did not have any sort of complaints.
It was about then that she remembered there was food involved in this little outing, and finally took a proper look at her menu, rather than just kind of seeing it existed.
"You're the expert. What do you suggest?"
-
No thanks was truly necessary. Far be it from Banning to ask for doing what his job required him to do, and he wasn't going to leave Chance behind. Not even the deadweight that Goggles had been too. Ah, well, maybe that assessment was a little too harsh, the kid did earn his place in the end of it though. So Banning figured it was only fair to do all he could for hiim as well.
Banning smiled sweetly when she returned the grip on his hand. Admittedly a blush rosied his cheeks and warmed his features. He did well to hide it with another careful sip of his wine after they toasted. Banning was content for now to ignore the nagging woes that were munching on the gray matter at the back of his brain. And he hoped with any lucky he might do the same for Izzy.
It'd be too easy to get caught up in the worries fo everything that was going on. For once, life was still. And all that mattered was what was going on in that restaurant, and the kitchen too. Tommy came back with a notepad and pen when he figured enough time had passed for them to make a decision and Banning only then realized he'd neglected to properly inspect the menu.
"I guess the easiest thing to get is pizza. How about a large with the works, yeah? Um, no anchovies. Do you like anchovies Izzy? Okay, um, just a side of them. And a bell peppers too if you got them," Banning said, and folded his own menu and handed it back to Tommy once he was finished writing it down. His eyes flickered between the pair and a sly grin crawled onto his face. Banning had good taste. The Commander of the Haviah Harpies didn't have dinner with just anyone so the fact that somehow he managed to get her attentioin was a feat he wanted to hear about later.
Banning caught that surface thought and gave a glower to Tommy's back. "Fuck," he murmured. "Y'know, I know Pilots are celebrities and everything and therefore are afforded no privacy whatsoever, but I really wish sometimes people would just mind their own business. What do you think of that? How do you feel about being in the limelight a lot, being a squadron commander and all."
Banning hands had gone from his wine glass to being folded on the table, and unconsciously he'd reached forward and gently pried her closest hand into his, threading her fingers out to splay against his palm. Already he could feel her pulse had been chilled, whether from the wine, or their meeting, or just being in a different setting altogether than DoSaM.
And he let her fingertips drag on the upside of his palm. The tough was so idle he didn't even realize he was doing it, because his eyes were too busy watching her, focused, and blocking out everything going on in the outside world.
-
"Well," Izzy began, slowly, her mouth curved into an amused sort of smile, "if he really wants to know how, you could always tell him that purple's my absolute favorite color."
She shot Banning a toothy sort of smile, which did nothing at all to hide the light pink tone that had overtaken her cheeks. Invasion of privacy aside, that little surface thought had been... terribly pleasant to consider. The idea that Banning had caught her eye, the idea that such an assumption meant that this wasn't just two coworkers having an outing as friends. It was an assumption, of course, but it didn't mean that Izzy couldn't enjoy the fantasy for the moment.
Like how maybe that meant many more outings. Outings that were considerably less ambiguous in nature. Maybe involving some candlelight. Yeah, Izzy liked that thought, a lot. Her eyes sparking with mischief, she hummed as Banning manipulated her hand, feeling knots of tension ease away at such soft and tender contact. It was so minimal, but oh was it so nice,
"Mm, I'll admit, there's certain points where it can get a little harrowing," she said with a little shrug, "what with grocery shopping typically involving several autographs. It's not all bad, though... and to be perfectly fair, it's what I've been trained to expect all my life."
She let out soft, happy little sigh, watching Banning's hand move against her own, her eyes hooding just a bit as she did. Her fingers twitched, pushing just a bit more into Banning's hand, letting her nails so gently edge against his skin in light scratching motions. She slid her fingers forward and down, thumb and forefinger moving in little circles against his wrist, brushing over his pulse idly. She almost forgot what they were talking about, and blinked a bit, brought back into the present moment and more than a little surprised at herself for having drifted in the first place. She hadn't even come close to finishing her glass of wine, and already her head was buzzing warmly. How unexpected. How very, very Banning.
"Old family of known psychics, and all." she finished, finally, with another shrug. "I get how it can be more than a little agitating, though, especially when you're inadvertantly reading every little thought that pops up in the general publics' heads. You, ah, more of the private sort, I take it? Or, at least as private as you can be, on a first name basis with the local waitstaff?"
She shot him a teasing little grin, her knuckles moving over his to soothe any ruffled feathers.
"...What's yours?" she asked, almost as an afterthought.
-
Damn....did she have to say it like that? Because when those words rolled off her tongue, a storm of shivers quake down his spine. His face was fire. And part of him wanted her to say it again. The little purring lilt at the end of it made his hair practically stand on end.
Banning refocused his attention on her, and the little tingles that danced along his hand when she returned that subtle contact. The nails that dug into there made his blood feel alive, and whether it was natural or a manipulation on her part, he wasn't quite sure. But he certainly wasn't going to complain about it. The bite of her nails didn't mark him, but he could feel them all the same, and that touch alone deserved another deep sip of wine.
"Private, I guess, as I can be, yeah," he replied, licking his lips. "I dont mind the attention, but I don't automatically swarm to it like mosquitoes to zappy lanterns. I never turn away a signature though. That'd just be rude. And I'm never rude if I really don't have to be. I just wasn't groomed for the attention like you were."
But personal attention, however, was something he could deal with just fine. One one one, face to face, was something he preferred. He could let all of his senses focus on one thing, and in this case it was Izzy, her knuckles rolling over his hand and his fingers wrapped around her wrist, sending a jolting vibration through it. His grin was small, playful, mimicking her own.
"My father, Captain Xavier Lockhart, was on officer on the Cauldron Rock colony. Aedolis, but no long standing line of Pilots. Just regular military, nothing fancy. And he pretty much made it clear early on that I wouldn't amount to anything, and made my mom into a little homemaker. I couldn't have come here any faster the moment I found out I was psychic. I guess I didn't turn out too shabby." He reached up his free arm to flex his bicep that nearly ripped the fabric of his shirt.
"Sorry, not sorry," he snorted, entwining his fingers in hers, threading them together and it was still wonderful at how well they fit together. Pieces of a puzzle just clicking into place. "Oh, my favorite color? Damn you lay down the tough questions don't you, Commander. I'd have to say it's probably red. A deep rich crimson red. Like wine, or blood. Or beef."
He glanced up. "Besides, you know what the best team is? Red Team." Smooth, Banning, smooth as buttered bread.
Another sip of wine, followed by a refill, and he let his hand turn her palm over, letting his index finger trace the patterns along the creases of her hand. "So what was it like? Growing up knowing you were going to be a Pilot? Your parents must have been very proud."
-
Izzy saw how Banning's face turned red-hot-dark, even in the dim lighting, and made a mental note to do that again. As often as possible. It was right up there with her plans to have him call her mistress, also as often as possible. There were a lot of things that Izzy wanted to happen as often as possible, and that list was very heavily tied to Banning himself. She could feel his heartbeat, not just beneath her fingertips but the psychic throb of it, hard and strong and demanding attention.
So attention she gave, her fingers continuing their little dance against his skin, coaxing the blood up and into the tiniest little vessels of his arm, flooding it with warmth and letting that creep upwards to his shoulder, as if her hand were against his bare flesh and curling around the thick muscle there.
"That's perfectly fair... it can become overwhelming, even for someone who's been raised to expect it." She gave him a little smile, though that rapidly turned to a soft gasp as she felt that little vibration run over her wrist. She snorted, quietly, and shot him an equally playful smile. So it was going to be like that, hm? A subtle psychic battle via touch in the middle of a pizza restaurant. Somehow, that seemed utterly fitting.
Her eyes narrowed, however, at the story of Banning's father, mouth pressed into a tight line that matched her brows. She certainly didn't blame Banning for joining up as soon as he could, and was caught somewhere between indignant fury at the thought that anyone could think poorly of the Pilot Royal, and the soft sadness that this was the kind of family Banning had had. The moment was lightened, marginally, as Banning flexed, and Izzy's eyes widened in delight as he very nearly popped every last seam in his shirt. She was almost disappointed he didn't. Almost. And had absolutely no problem with letting that particular thought float between them. Quietly. But present.
"Not too shabby at all. Pilot Royal, entrusted not only with missions of dire importance but mentorship as well. If that's 'not amounting to anything', I'd rather like to hear what would be." her eyes narrowed again, implying that there would be very little 'hearing' going on except perhaps in a scenario where she was shouting a grown man down into dust. But she quickly quelled that fury; she was here with Banning to enjoy themselves, not get worked up. She shifted her hand, letting their fingers lace together, unable to help a warm smile for it.
She giggled, less quietly this time, and far more open-mouthed, teeth flashing at Banning's answer to her impromptu question. "Red team is the best team. Absolutely one-hundred percent correct, you are."
She had to admit the appeal, especially considering her dinner-drink of choice, the squadron commander taking a sip from her own wine glass.
"I suppose it was the same as any where you 'know' you're going to do exactly as your family has for generations. It was just a part of life. Structured, but not unpleasant. And besides, a lot of it became a sort of 'quality time' all its own, for as little time was we had."
As for being proud...
"Even if we weren't eligible for candidacy, my parents would have been proud. They made that much clear every day." She chewed at her lip a bit, eyes looking but not quite seeing for half a moment, before she returned to the present moment, to the warm hand against her own, and gave a soft sort of smile. "That's the part I remember most. It's certainly the part I'm going to remember when the shoe's on the other foot, whenever in the future that ends up being. Was there much a culture shock, coming here from there?"
-
That lavender shirt was the only one he owned. Most of his closet consisted of nothing more than an assortment of old t-shirts, from films, bands, or other custom pop art, and the only really formal attire was his uniform (protected in a hanger cover) and this shirt. And when he set his arm back down on the table's edge, he knew that some of the seam threads had been ripped.
Banning let out a soft breath, nostrils faring. Because he had a feeling she was trying to get him nearly as flustered as he was trying to make her. She wanted a psionic war? Ohhh, he'd be more than happy to give her one. She seemed to have the advantage here, however, and he small creeping shiver that danced its way up his arm like an uncoiling livewire.
A fluttered popped in his chest and his belly flipped. Banning hummed a soft growl. And took his time with pressing both of his hands around hers now, uncaring that his palms might have been a little more damp. Her presence calmed his nerves tenfold, but she was clearly wanting to make him riled up, and damn her if it wasn't working. He encouraged a vibration to tingle back up her wrist, buzzing along her nerve endings until it reached the mounds of her breasts and moved around them until the finished at their points.
"My father had a hard time accepting the fact that his military career was going to end on that damn rock. So he took it out on me and my mother. But I honestly, haven't thought about him well until now. But enough about that old goat," he chuckled. His hands gently squeezed hers, sandwiching it between his.
"I hope you know what you're doing, Isabel," he telegraphed to her. "I don't back down easily from a challenge."
He chuckled softly. "Yes... When I first stepped off the proverbial boat, my jaw was pretty much glued to the floor for the first six months. I had nothing more than 1000 credits to my name, and I was about sixteen when i was finally admitted into Candidacy. That was a whole other shock altogether. But I don't regret it. Not one bit. If I wasn't a Pilot, I wouldn't have met all the cool people I have in my life today. Chance, Jon. You."
He grinned a little, the corner of his mouth pulling. And another blush came to his face. He was close to her, about to lean in to steal a kiss when Tommy came over to them, the smells of pizza wafting in the air.
"All right, guys. One large works pizza! Bell peppers and anchovies on the side." he declared and put it on a stand just beside them, cutting it before them, spinning it expertly until twelve slices were separated. "Anything else I can get you guys, just holler!" Tommy grinned down at Banning and snorted at the look on the Pilot Royal's face.
Banning was flushing even hotter now, so much that he had dab his forehead with a napkin to catch the damp. "Dragon balls!" he hissed, cackling into his hands. "Oh I know, let me bring you pizza right when you're about to suck face. Great timing Tommy."
-
It took some very real concentrated effort for Izzy to keep her cool, though there were certain cues, if you knew what to look for. The way her fingers twitched against Banning's own, the quiet intake of breath, the slight hooding to her gaze. She pressed her lips together in a tight line to keep from doing anything terribly embarrassing like mewling or something, and let out a breathy little laugh at the telegraphed thought.
"It wouldn't be any fun if you did," she shot right back, shifting in her seat as she pulled herself back into the actual, verbal conversation at hand. Only distantly, she rather regretted her choice in undergarments for the evening; a sports bra might not have been so keen to show off just what those little vibrations did to her, and some not so subtle shifting was required to hide that particular reaction. The bit of toying she had been doing with Banning's blood vessels ebbed, just a bit, lingering only just enough to keep that warm presence against his shoulders. Biding her time.
She couldn't help a bit of a blush of her own, however, no matter how she fought it, squeezing at Banning's hand.
"I'll admit, I'm glad you became a Pilot, too. For several reasons, but if I'm allowing myself to be just a bit selfish... meeting you has been one of the better points. At the risk of sounding 'cheesy', and I hate myself for that pun right now, but I really enjoy spending time with you." she shifted a bit, eyes flicking down to his lips before settling back on those lovely eyes of his. Her lips parted, just so, in anticipation, leaning in just a little closer and--
And then the food arrived, and she had to stifle a laugh at the timing of it all. But mostly it was the look of righteous indignation on Banning's face that had her so amused. She took a sip of her wine to help steady her thrumming heart, refilling it when she found the glass drained.
"I wouldn't be too hard on him." she said, after a moment, her mouth curling into a smile, eyes sparking with mischief. "This being such a nice place, it'd be a shame if a mess were made because of wild makeout sessions."
Her eyes narrowed, and flashes of thought crossed between them, images in quick succession and peppered by the barest memory of sounds--tanned hands on white skin, fighting to hold steady and Izzy gasping his name-- and all while her sanguine influence came back with a vengeance, capillaries opening and blood thrumming all down his shoulders and back, blossoming here and there against his chest beneath that utterly flattering shirt of his. Not quite unlike how it felt to have nails raked over skin while a trail of bites was worked over his collarbone.
And then it was gone; both telepathically and kinetically, the sensations disappeared, so there was only Izzy sitting there, taking a bite of pizza as if nothing had happened at all. Well, except for the entirely wicked grin on her face.
"Very nice choice, this is excellent pizza."
-
Once again, she was gaining the upper hand and Banning was flowing upstream without a paddle or a fuck to give. Fighting against the current, in this case, wouldn't lead to the nearly catastrophic events of something as inconvenient as drowning. In fact, he had no idea what it would lead to. And if he was going to drown, then so be it. At least he was in good company enough to drown. Few things were worse than drowning alone.
"Oh, are you implying that I'm a messy kisser? Isabel Kiers, I'll have you know that I have a seasoned and practiced kisser. I know just how much tongue to apply and just how much saliva to use so it doesn't give you another shower. Oh...hmm, unless you want me to shower you," he chuckled. He enjoyed the light teasing, and quickly forgot about Tommy, who was nearby 'cleaning' up a table.
And not at all eavesdropping. Not at all.
Banning took a slice of pizza for himself, rolling his sleeves up and settling a napkin in his shirt collar. And might have taken a bite. In fact he would have looooved it if he could taste the food he bit into when Izzy busied herself with another little trick.
Instead all banning could do was bite down hard into his lower lip and he made a noise that sounded a lot like a growling moan from deep in his throat. The thrills that zipped their way across his nervous system sapped and robbed him of other senses, save his hearing and his vision. For the longest second he felt nothing else but those raking nails. And when he'd tasted blood instead of pizza sauce, he licked the inside of his mouth and nearly glowered at her.
"You don't play fair do you?" he thought back to her. And snorted. "How dare you set your sanguine influence on me when I'm at my most vulnerable! That being with his face full of food.
"Yeah, its really good isn't it? I'm not fond of the salty fishes, but I like to eat them here and there on the side," he said casually, with little more cool than her, grinning at her, finally taking that bite and leaning back in his chair. And his foot slid forward to gently touch the inside of her calf, his foot hooking around her heel and pulling it forward. His leg crossed the back of hers and he pressed vibrations upward from the inside of her leg where it touched his and heated up along the meat of her thighs something else more interesting and warm between them that radiated heat.
"So you like pizza, huh? Or do you fancy yourself a connosieur of more complex palates? Some people look down on pizza as a peasant's meal. But those folks just haven't had something so delicious explode with flavor in the confines of their mouth," he murmured softly, eyes meeting hers. And that playful grin turning sinister.
-
"Oh, no, you've found out my dastardly plan," Izzy commented over her wine, all teeth and terrible promises as she watched his face go from amused to downright aching. And all within the span of time it took to try and raise a slice of pizza to his mouth. Izzy's eyes hooded, her smile widened, as he downright groaned, Banning utterly stunned for the briefest moment.
Izzy couldn't help but laugh at the mental accusation, her eyebrow quirking a bit at the revelation of when he was at his weakest. "Oh, ho, ho, so the great Dr. Lockhart does have weaknesses! Whatever will the Saccharine Succubus do with this information?"
Not that she had time to consider future plans of utilizing any kind of information. She had been about to speak, to shoot back some perfectly innocent comment about favoring salty dishes, when her mouth snapped shut to keep from letting out a long moan of her own. It genuinely took every ounce of Izzy's willpower to keep from making a sound at all, and even for all her effort she still couldn't stop a short squeak and harsh breath from escaping her.
Her hands were at the edge of the table, her grip turned the knuckles white as her leg muscles twitched, spasming as that heady vibration shot upwards and inwards, skirting over heated flesh and making every inch of her tense in delight. Heat flared in her core, throbbed in time with those damnable vibrations, rising so deliciously before disappearing altogether, leaving her breathing just a little more ragged and her ears a great deal pinker.
Oh, and he accused her of not playing fair. Licking her lips and tossing her hair a bit to get her bangs out of her eyes, Izzy did her best to smooth her features, fall back into that easy grin, and look for all the world like a woman who wasn't fighting the urge to squirm in her seat.
She'd see that grin wiped right off his face, and replaced with something far more exquisite.
Slowly, she rolled the psychic hold on Banning's blood, increasing the flow here and there ever so gently, cascading her influence of his chest, his powerful shoulders, settling hot against his biceps. Those tiny little blossoms flowed downwards, over his stomach and against his abdomen, settling just below his navel and throbbing, too far to make a difference but too close to completely ignore.
All while Izzy sat there, legs crossed pointedly at the knee, her face soft and even as she reached out telepathically again, this time letting Banning read just what she thought of those little vibrations, and precisely what she would much prefer there instead.
Her mouth coiled into a devilish grin.
"I like to think of myself as a fan of both worlds," she said, perfectly innocently, "play on both sides in equal measure. After all, sometimes what you need is something hot and quick and satisfying. Nothing wrong with that."
-
"The Saccharine Succubus might just be biting off a little more than she can chew," Banning growled back at her. But it was nothing short of teasing, returning the play in full. For all the exhaustion that had been in her eyes when she first showed up here, the light returning to them was a seemingly instantaneous affect. Already she was five years younger, and the little creases beside her mouth and her eyes were muted entirely by the sheer joy she was projecting.
Make her forget, distract her for a moment. Banning could do that. However fleeting, however subtle. That light was worth it.
Not to mention the fact that she smelled damn good. It took all his willpower to keep himself from lunging across the table and pinning her right there against the wall. That could well enough be saved for later.
Oh...OH? "HOLY...H-HOLY FUCKING SHIT!" was all he could think. Because while her hold on him was rather subtle, it something just could not ignore. And that tingling sensation set his blood on fire. Nothing could cool it. And as if on cue, they were suddenly three at that table instead of two.
The third guest was rather well hidden underneat the shadow of the table, and tucked into his pants. But it was there and he scowled at Izzy. "Goddamn you," he growled, face flush with heat and another growl already rumbling out of him. Yet his lavender eyes clearly said quite the opposite. "Hey, you. What are you doing all the way over there?"
And he reached across, snatched her by the collar of her shirt and yanked her in none too gently toward him. He stopped just short of kissing her, although his eyes gazing down at her lips certainly conveyed they needed proper devourment. "Isabel, I think I have some new comic art I think you'd like. Back at my apartment. Not far from around here. So, what d'ya say we take this pizza to go?"
He really didn't give her a chance to answer before taking that kiss he intended to all along, pressing his nose to her cheek, tasting a bit of wine on that tongue. And even a bit of his from when he'd bit the inside of his lip not but five minutes prior.
-
Banning had offered her a distraction, and Banning had delivered. Somewhere in the back of her head, Izzy might have been wondering why they were completely incapable of eating a full meal together without this sort of thing inevitably transpiring, but the rest of her argued back that she simply did not give a damn. She was having fun, more fun than she had in days, and even if she was about two steps away from breaking the table in half through sheer grip alone, she could not have been more at ease.
Well, maybe she could. But that was besides the point, which was that even as Banning growled at her, even as they went back and forth with their utterly terrible nicknames, even as they no doubt looked completely ridiculous to whomever might have been observing them, Izzy was having the time of her life.
She felt his shouted thought, and grinned all the wider for it, knowing full well the effect she had on him. She could feel it in his pulse, feel where all that blood wanted to go, and it took a good deal of willpower not to cackle maniacally for it. He could growl at her all he wanted, that just made it even better, and she watched those beautiful lavender eyes turn absolutely molten in the span of a second.
Utter bliss.
She made a soft sound as her shirt was grabbed. The fabric was loose enough that it pulled with his grip, and she immediately followed suit lest a considerable portion of her front go exposed-- that would certainly be something for the tabloids, just what Isabel Kiers wore on a date-- and she bit down on her lip when Banning refused to close the rest of the distance. Another thrill ran down her spine, another throb of heat where she was already terribly overstimulated, and this time she really did squirm.
"Comic art, huh...? Well, you know me. I simply cannot get enough of the stuff." Her eyes sparked in mischief, before fluttering closed as he crushed his mouth to hers. It was amazingly overwhelming-- the wine, the pizza, the tang of blood, and just everything that was Banning, all coalescing into a kiss that she simply could not get enough of. When they finally did part again, it was with her panting, eyes hooded and another grin playing at her lips.
"Lead the way, Dr. Lockhart."
-
Banning's grin sobered just enough in the corners, so that the small cuts in his features, the spaces between the muscles of his jaw and the nasal curvatures that indicated his wolfish grin, relaxed enough to not make it quite so sinister. Although presently, any attempt to hide his sheer hunger for her was an effort in futility. But Banning was fully determined to make up for lost time.
So he did just as indicated. Waving Tommy over, he paid the check and got the to-go box, sliding that greasy pizza into it and reaching out to shake the man's hand and pulling him in for a hug. "Thanks for not being so obnoxious tonight, son," he laughed. "But try and be less obvious about your need for gossip next time, kay?"
Tommy laughed and ducked his head into a meaty palm. "All right. You got it, pal. Have a good night guys." And waved them off. Banning had the pizza box in one arm and reached out to gently hook his arm in Izzy's. An otherwise innocently seeming gesture, and from an outward perspective neither one was really leading. They were walking together, steps equally in time.
The sight of that proximity made Banning's stomach lurch though, and even under the boiling of his blood, something sentimental clung to the prospect of their hooked arms being hooked more often. Maybe even holding hands. They had been intimate in more ways than one to be sure, yet the little things like this were so foreign, Banning couldn't be sure what was okay and what wasn't.
Huh. To hell with convention. If she didn't like something, he figured she'd tell him. Their communication was clear enough. Sometime during their walk, Banning slid his arm down along hers and slipped that free hand into hers, threading fingers together. His damp palm met hers, but he squeezed it tightly.
"It's just right up around the corner. And we don't have to bull rush it across the entire city to get there," he laughed awkwardly. His face flushed ever so slightly. And his hand relaxed in hers. "Too much? The, uh, that." And jerked his chin down to their hands.
-
"It was a pleasure meeting you, Tommy," Izzy said with far more calm and grace than she felt, all too aware of just how much certain undergarments were sticking to her. Not that she'd let that show on her face, smiling almost serenely at Tommy even as she slid her arm about Banning's own. "See you next time."
Because really, she'd definitely like a 'next time'. Maybe not one so psychically potent, maybe one where they actually got to finish their meal (not that Izzy minded in the slightest) and maybe even got some coffee after. But, at the end of it, she'd also like to be exactly where she was-- hooked on Banning's arm and walking side by side with him out of the restaurant and onto the main walkways. If she hadn't been a Haviah native, she might have been able to blame the dizzying feeling she had on vertigo.
Strong fingers laced with her own, and the dizzying warmth she felt only grew. She didn't even mind, or even probably notice the dampness, and her smile only grew as she looked up at Banning, at how he blushed and looked so terribly, adorably, wonderfully nervous. About hand-holding, of all things, but that was just... endearing. Izzy hummed, and shook her head after a moment.
"Not 'too much' at all. Though, I think I would much prefer it if we did so like this." She shifted, tightening her hold on Banning's hand, and stepped just a little closer. Enough to lean in, and rest her head against his shoulder. It didn't make for easy walking, but Izzy didn't care, rather enjoying the warmth that he provided. It was almost a shame that his apartment was so close-- the Pilot Noble could have remained like they were for much, much longer.
She might even have to scour the local tabloids for anything to do with their little outing. Start a little scrapbook, just for the funsies. And not at all to do with the rapidly increasing sentimentality.
-
She didn't have to let any expression betray her to let Banning know those little vibrations had just the desired affect he'd been looking for. The play itself had been fun, thrilling, and a sign of things to come. Once they exited, Banning could smell her, and the pull was strong. An essence only those most muted in senses could miss. Although the Pilot Royal's sense of smell was a tad more exceptional than most. He couldn't pass by a doughnut shop or deli without pausing long enough to admire the magical scents wafting outside.
And the scent that coiled up from her was too drawing indeed, and made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. He was getting gooseflesh just thinking about it. A thought that gradually dissipated when she not only accepted the grip on her hand but...
Placed her head against his shoulder. Banning's belly jumped again, and he nearly dropped the pizza on his opposite hip. His mind was in a rush, an ignition of racing thoughts making normal ponderation a nigh impossibility. What was this? What were they? The most obvious of all answers came was that they were friends.
And they just had dinner together, were clasping hands as if they'd known each other for years, and Banning had been fighting the temptation to call this a 'date'. Because...that's just what it was. His belly lurched again, and he hummed softly, squeezing her hand tightly in his, walking slow enough to make the sensation last longer, wanting that contact.
Maybe then the emptiness would go away.
Banning reached the door to his apartment, a nice posh building even for the likes of him. Would a Pilot Royal even be allowed to live anywhere else? Not as nice as Izzy's, but he'd cleaned up as much as he could since then. It'd be just a fucking embarrassment if the only chair she had to sit on was a pile of dirty clothes in the corner.
It was spacious, that was for sure, with a kitchen to the left, and a center island. It was there he dropped the pizza box, and pulled out one of the high-backed stools just underneath it. The walls were littered with framed posters of comic art, underground punk artists, band covers, movie posters. Across from them was a couch and TV on the wall and the rest of the apartment hidden in a hallway beyond their view.
"All, well, here it is," he murmured. "I still don't have a bread box though. Make yourself at home." Banning smiled sweetly, slapped himself when she wasn't looking. Better not to leave her side or those racing thoughts would return in full force. He reached to touch her, his hand finding those fingers of hers and pressing them between his own.
"So what d'ya think? Not too shabby right?"
-
What disappointment Izzy had felt upon breaking their contact was quickly overtaken by curiosity, and she allowed the separation from Banning only so she could better move to inspect the collected posters and other artworks. She didn't recognize many of the band names, but again, she hadn't really expected to, them being as underground as they were.
Banning hadn't been kidding when he said he liked to support indie artists, though. Each one, but for the exception of the movie posters and more widely-produced bits of comic art, had a very hand-crafted kind of feel, like one of the members had spent a considerable amount of time hunched over a tablet and photo-editing software before sending it off to the printers. She found she rather liked it that way, though, some vague sense of realism that an upper-born Aedolian would never have had the word for, but it was a feeling nonetheless.
The rest of the apartment, what she could see that wasn't obscured by walls, anyway, had the same vague sense of feeling to it. Even the furniture, softly worn here and there through use, held that realism, the sense that this space belonged to a living breathing entity, and more importantly still, that it belonged to Banning specifically.
Izzy had her space, of course, kept her quarters as she liked them, but it had been minimally decorated and with great care to the placement of any such decoration. Fastidious and precise, but ultimately without nearly the same warmth. Funny, she hadn't quite noticed the difference before. Funnier still, she hadn't quite noticed a lot of things before.
"Bread box aside, I love it," she said, just as quietly, moving onto another movie poster and pausing at the offer for a drink. She looked over at him, possibly when he didn't think she was, and couldn't help a little bit of blossoming warmness in her stomach to see him... fretting so damn much. It was all deeply personal of course, letting someone into your home, and while they had quite the ah, rapport, there hadn't exactly been much definition about the matter. Which made her think, chew at her lip, ponder if she even wanted to broach the question for fear of the end result. Paralyzed as it were, by possibility.
"A drink would be lovely. Though, now that I'm thinking of it, Dr. Banning," she said, carefully, attempting to mitigate the seriousness of the inquiry with an old joke. A kind of, 'maybe I can play this off as silliness' final mode of protection from the unknown, "there is a question of... taxonomy that I'd like your assistance with. Categorization, proper labelling of specimens, you know."
She turned, moving to the center island, and leaned on it too casually to have been genuinely casual, her chin resting in the palm of one hand as she considered him.
"I'm still very commonly in contact with my grandmother, you see, and you have been coming up in conversation more often-- well, actually, it's more that I mentioned you and every email from her since then has been an absolute inquisition-- and I... well, I have ideas for how to classify matters, but I figure you had a say in it first and foremost, what I... call you."
Ew, her palms were sweating. When had they started sweating?
-
One drink, two drinks. 8 drinks, passed out on the floor drinks. Nope! Not drinking that much now. Not anymore. He...didn't feel like he needed to anymore. Banning would give in to her request and had one beer for himself because it was rude to let a guest drink alone. The wine already had his head swimming, warming his belly, warming up other places.
He tilted around and popped the top off the edge of the counter. The clear sign of wear against the marble was present, were lots of caps had been popped off in much the same way. Banning slid the bottle over to her, and he followed to where she was leaning, pulling out a stool to have a seat, giving him a slightly higher position in her proximity.
At the insistence on needing his input, Banning snorted, feeling himself ease into the moment. Right. What the hell was the point in being all serious now? And with her, of all people. She wasn't his superior, and in fact it was quite the opposite here. Except Banning didn't see her as just a Pilot Noble. She was just Isabel.
"All right, what can the good doctor do for you? Anything of course," he murmured. And wiggled his fingers at her. Because he had a tendency to be pretty good with those. Then there it was. What to call them. What did he call them?
He watched her hands and almost unconsciously he forgot the beer beside him, drew them across to take one of hers into his again, resuming those little touches he'd began back at Todie's. The setting was much personal now. No nosy waitstaff to interrupt, no gossip to worry over. Just them.
"I'd like to think we're friends," he said with a leveled amount of certainty. "I also like to think that..." A pause because biting his tongue wouldn't prevent the words from coming out. "Maybe dinner and drinks was...our way of finding what it is we need to know about each other. Sussing out the situation. Because we're trained Pilots after all. We can leap before we look - I think we did that - or we can have a better idea of the course laid out before us."
Her hand was reached up to his lips, and he pressed his mouth to the pad of her palm, just before her pulse. Cut to the chase, Banning. "Because I like you. A lot. I don't think I've liked any of my friends the way I like you. Have you ever had a...ahem, a boyfriend?"
-
The beer was cold against her hand, the condensation clinging to her skin and thankfully hiding the fact that her palms had been so terribly damp two seconds prior. She took a quick gulp, and the cold sensation was wonderful for half a moment-- before the additional alcohol actually hit, coalescing with Banning's proximity to make her flush a light pink.
She did her best not to fidget, to keep herself from looking too nervous, because somehow that was even worse than just... this rather frank discussion she'd just started. It was good to get things in the open as soon as possible, of course, communication in that regard was key, but it didn't stop the soft knot of something awful in her gut from tightening its hold on her nerves. She almost didn't notice him playing along, her mouth quirking at those wiggling fingers and a soft breath leaving her as his hand was suddenly on hers, drawing her close and running soft touches over her skin.
And like that, the knot was gone, the dread dissipated, and her smile unfolded into something wider and far more genuine. She turned her gaze upwards, regarded the other Pilot's face, grey eyes flicking here and there before settling on soft lavender. She sighed as his lips found her palm, the sound soft and content.
"A little reconnaissance, then." she said after a moment, turning her hand in his hold to press it to his cheek, thumb running over his near-constant stubble. "That sounds about right."
She snorted a bit at his question, faltering though it was, and chewed at her lip a bit as she considered her answer. And, like so many times before, finally settled on the entire truth.
"You're going to laugh at this, but... not... not really. Nothing so substantial as deserving the title, I mean. I hadn't been... nearly so comfortable with myself until well after I graduated to allow for anything terribly, ah, long-lasting. And with the squadron, and everything else, there just never seemed to be enough time, until..."
She swallowed a bit, mouth suddenly over-dry. What the hell was wrong with her? Where was her head? A little wine, a sip of beer, and she was utterly incapable of expressing herself with any sort of grace.
"Until you. So... If you were to be interested in the position, I'm sure I could talk to management, pull some strings... because I like you, Banning. A lot. I think it'd be... a good fit."
-
Seeing her get all flustered now made a thing smile curl just at the corner of Banning's lips. Eyes roved back up toward her features, taking in the normally clean-cut and dedicated commander into this fidgeting squirming thing before him. She fought for her calm, and it was an endearing sight to see. Banning sat a little straighter, kept his touch pliable, long fingers spreading out warmly on her palms.
He didn't interrupt her, even at her assumption that he would laugh. Was he that transparent? Or was she much more expectant of ridicule when the comfort of fastidious calm was stripped from her. Another shared brick in their house of awkward encounters. He kept his hands wrapped around hers, pressing the back of it against the prickled stubble of his cheek.
That smirk still played here and there, lips he licked in a futile attempt to sate their dryness. A hunger that could only be sated if they were firmly plastered against hers, he thought. But that could be reserved for later.
"Good fit. I...I like the way that sounds. Y'know, I've had a few relationships that I also thought were good fits. An ex of mine, Everett Snow. He was a bartender down in a lower level dive. Cute. Good butt," Banning chuckled. "He was sly. Really sly. A damn good talker. He could charm a snake out of its fangs and make 'em happy to be free of 'em. We dated for some time back when I was an Echo. Yeah he was a real good charmer, all right. So charming he was fucking around on me behind my back," he said, tone rather nonchalant.
"Some people just lack the ethic to properly dedicate themselves something. They lack a certain, hmm, discipline," he murmured, and pressed a kiss to her knuckles, to the little knicks and scars he found there.
He rolled his thumbs over the joints. "But I didn't make it to Pilot Royal because I half-assed efforts. So yeah, I can say that I'm interested. Kinda sorta interested. Pretty interested.... Definitely interested," he purred and kissed her palm again.
Banning slipped off the stool, resting a hand at her hip. "For the record, I'd never laugh at you. Unless you came back from running drills covered in ash...and cake. Because I'm aware of how fiery your squadron can get from time to time. I'm sure they come up with a lot of ways of driving you completely crazy." A flash of wolfish teeth and he slipped that arm around the small of her back.
-
Nonchalance, the telltale sound of anything but. Izzy frowned, ever so slightly, her brows coming together in sympathy before smoothing out again. That had to have been painful; even for a native of the city, where polyamorous relationships were fairly common, the notion of not being privy to that information, to have it hidden from you and to be the last to know that your partner was not nearly such a 'good fit' as you might have thought...
Izzy couldn't even fathom. She watched as he kissed her knuckles, her palm, before slowly bringing both of her hands up to tangle in his hair, pulling him close such that their foreheads met. She rubbed at his scalp, just at the nape of his neck, and hoped that the sincerity she felt was properly conveyed.
"Some people just don't understand a good thing when they have it. Lack of situational awareness, foresight, name it," she said, eyes flicking up to meet his own and going just a bit cross-eyed for their proximity, the other Pilot a blur of violet and tan and stubble, "Still... that had to hurt. I'm sorry. Not assuming responsibility, I mean, but... you deserved more than that."
She sighed, and raised her head a bit to nuzzle her nose to his, mouth curling into a smile again to help dissipate the solemn mood somewhat. And snickered at the concept of returning home coated in whatever manner of horrors the Harpies could possibly concoct. Which, as it turned out, was quite a bit.
"Oh, so you'll only laugh at me on Mondays and alternating Wednesdays. Good to know, very good to know, I'll just pencil it into my schedule to not let you see me during those times." She teased, giving him a playful little bite to the tip of his nose for his efforts. "I've ah, spoken with management, and they have agreed to hire you for the position, following a glowing character reference. Welcome aboard, Pilot, all yours."
-
That soft contact was all Banning required to solidify their understanding, that despite whatever reservations he might have had, they were immediately irrelevant to the fact that being close with her - was all the comfort he would ever need. So soon, so quickly? Banning had chided himself in the past for getting close to another. Always he'd been trying to hide, partition himself to better 'fit' their suited needs.
He could never simply b. Something with Izzy just made it easier. He didn't have to hide a single damn thing. When their noses pressed in gentle friction, her cheshire cat grin eased him further into her. His hands wound their way to the small of her back, fingers playing at the cloth of her shirt.
"Well, thank you, Boss Lady. I look forward to working with you, and coming up with all sorts of amusing ways to prod at you in the future. I'll be a pleasant ache though, I promise, a hammock you can rest on, and stretch out those long beautiful limbs on," he murmured, licking at her lips.
"But I should warn you now, I'm not above unscrupulous behavior. Yeah, I'll totally pay one of your recruits a fistful of credits to nab me some embarrassing photos for me to enjoy later. I swear to dragon's breath that you won't even see it coming. It could be fun. There are worse things than being made the butt of a joke. But you'd be my favorite one," he curled his long firm fingers even further into her shirt, pulling it up from the hem of her pants.
"You have my word though, I won't over do it. You have enough headaches to deal with," he said. "So got something on your mind, Pilot Noble? You got little aches that could use some kinking out?"
-
There was something that her mother had always said-- make your calculations if you must, consider your actions as a rule, but never pass up a good thing. At first, Izzy had just taken it as the sort of advice you usually hear: remember to relax and have fun and live once in a while. Now, though, with how dizzyingly swiftly everything had been moving, both good and bad...
Banning was playing at the back of her shirt, and Izzy felt like maybe she understood.
"Ooh, the unscrupulous sort, are we," she cooed, voice dipping low and quiet and full of an edge that was threatening in all the right ways. "Well, I must warn you, we have a very specific method for dealing with troublemakers at Isabel Incorporated..."
Her fingers curled a bit tighter in his hair, and she gave those violet locks the gentlest of tugs, forcing his head back just enough to let her kiss and nip at his chin.
"It'll be a pleasant ache, though," she echoed his words, eyes hooded and grin wicked. "And it'll definitely need some kinking out."
Again, she sank into his veins, lighting up his back in swift, hot lines, mimicking nails for the second time that night and no doubt leaving the skin flushed despite the lack of real physical contact.
"I hope you're ready to overdo it, Dr. Lockhart. I've got a lot on my mind."
-
Understanding something was one thing. And application of that understanding was quiet another. Banning could have meant many things by playing at the back of her shirt. Clearly the one at the forefront was that he wished her to be more comfortable. To 'let her hair down' so to speak. And nothing needed to be tucked in his apartment.
His home was her home. A generosity that Banning did not easily give.
Whatever hint she took from his tendril-like curiosity, the raking sensation of blood she pulled into his back. The act startled him and he moaned deeply, lurching forward against and his knees half-buckling. He leaned heavily against her, his head slumped down against her shoulder. "Damn you!" he hissed, that growl rumbling through his chest.
His back was lit up like a damn holiday tree, and the sting, while certainly throbbing, was pleasant. His feet replanted themselves beside her. "Is that all you've got?" he snarled, leaning in an stealing a hungry bite to her bottom lip.
Banning snorted against her, tilting his head and pressing his nose to her cheek. "For the record, I never claimed to be a sensible man," he chuckled, loving the feel of just having her against him. His heart knocking against his ribcage could surely be felt reverberating from his body into hers, from both want her touch, and the even as everything had happened so quickly, he wouldn't have it any other way.
-
Is that all you got?
The words went straight to Izzy's core, faster than lightning, helped along by the altogether consuming feel of teeth against her skin. She couldn't help a grin, the gesture broken only by a soft gasp, that falling soon to an amused laugh as Banning snorted against her cheek. She shifted, her arms tightening around his broad shoulders as they fit together. And they did fit together, even awkwardly placed as they were, standing between barstools. They fit together so well, and Izzy buried her face against Banning's throbbing pulse.
Even if she weren't particularly in tune with bloodflow, she was pretty sure she would have still felt it, both his pulse and the way his heart beat against hers, mimicking the insistent rhythm knocking against her own bones. She took a deep breath, catching little whiffs of whatever soap he tended to use, and finding herself suddenly very fond of whatever one that happened to be.
It was a good thing that he wasn't a sensible man, because there was nothing sensible about this. Nothing sensible about feeling pulled out of yourself at the barest physical contact with another person. Nothing sensible at all. Which, of course, Izzy was more than okay with. She turned her head, just enough to scrape a kiss against his throat, giving him a solid bite and chuckling the whole while.
"Record stated, scribed, and cataloged," she hummed, letting her hands slide down over his back, mimicking the path that her psychic influence had followed earlier in soft, feather light touches. A little stick and carrot, or however that went. "Anything else to state for the record?"
She shifted, moved to catch Banning's mouth in a soft kiss. Carrot. Tightened her hold, her nails digging into his shoulders. Stick.
-
There was something to be said to that pulling of blood Isabel was so damn good at. More so than their own abilities, more than the natural chemistry that throbbed between them like the mutual thrumming inside their chests. His heart rate accelerated, pupils dilated, and the warmth she'd inspired in his belly pooled lower and set his blood practically on fire.
Yeah this was more than her influence. The heat was rising inside of him, and he had to take deep breaths to keep them overwhelming him. Ever present, that threat just underneath the surface of his flesh and coursing in him to give way to a frenzy. He leaned into her kiss, the one on his throat making him tremble like crazy.
So that particular scent she was admiring, made her cling tighter to him, was a mix of natural musk and a ocean breeze scented body wash. An odd mixture that he could only faintly detect between the scent coming off her hair and what pulsated from her body. Banning just let her kiss him, bite him, do whatever the hell she wanted because it was what he too.
And at least this time he wasn't drunk out of his mind to enjoy it.
He felt his nails grow just a little longer, and his chest heaved again, loving the feel of her nails on him. Idly a hand slipped between them to pry at the buttons of his shirt, to let her have a crack a real skin, and he shrugged out of it, forgetting the beer, forgetting the pizza they brought home.
"No, ma'am. Just that I want to have nights like this all the time. Every time, if that's all well and good with you," he panted, his heart hammering faster and his eyes flashing a brighter semi-glowing hue of lavender, the hunger present there. Lips reached out to pluck hers, tongue tasting her bottom one that he tenderly nipped at yet again.
His back was visibly reddened where her nails bit in, and it was his turn to dig his own into her back, raking upward along the deep ridge of her spine underneath her shirt, shifting them around so that he was leaning against the barstool and pressing her against his hips.
A few experimental grinds, his hips rolling underneath hers. "Is there anything specific I can do for you, Commander? Any particular stress relief you had in mind. Lady's choice," he snickered. Banning was still grinning stupidly, although his teeth were certainly more pointed in that lighting.
-
"All the time, every time," she repeated, all but purring the words and unable to help an altogether wickedly pleased grin. When she pulled back from his throat to let him shrug out of his shirt, however, there was the barest moment where her breath caught in her throat-- if she had thought Banning's eyes were gorgeous before, it was nothing compared to right then. She couldn't even begin to fathom just why they were like that-- and as of that exact present moment she didn't want to fathom, caught in another kiss and hissing as his nails ran against her back in a returned favor.
'All the time, every time' was starting to look like a very, very good prospect. Especially as the other Pilot brought her hips against his, the friction doing all manner of wonderful things and Isabel utterly captivated. It had to be the lighting-- though she was hard pressed to understand how something like lighting that hadn't changed at all in the past ten minutes could somehow make Banning look so damn feral. Deliciously, wonderfully feral. She shifted, her fingers curling into violet hair and giving it another firm pull, her teeth bared in a grin all her own as she gave a soft bite to his lips in return.
"Now that you mention it..." she pulled back then, just enough to deny him further contact without quite moving away, grey eyes staring down into wild lavender. "Strip. On the couch, sit. And don't you dare move."
Isabel pulled back to let Banning do just that, and rather enjoying the view-- powerful, barely contained, perfectly capable of so very many things, sharp and wild and Gods all Isabel was looking forward to bringing every last bit of him to heel. To hell with testing waters, they'd done plenty of that. Taking a moment to compose herself, it didn't take much to get out of her own clothes, leaving just what she'd picked out especially for that evening-- black lace that was hard pressed to contain much of... well, anything.
She'd have to pick up something red later.
Following the other Pilot to the couch, Isabel leaned in just enough to bring him up into another, far softer kiss, a little bit of tenderness to start, pressing another few to his chin and then his forehead before meeting his gaze.
"No touching, no moving from the couch. Understood?" the command was soft, but a command nonetheless. Her hands moved, from his shoulders to his chest as she settled, working her way to her knees between his own, and nudging them apart a bit to better make room for herself. Gently, the ran her nails over his thighs, though her gaze didn't leave his for an instant, narrowing a bit as she waited his confirmation.
-
Man, when Izzy gave her orders, she really gave them. Banning growled softly at her trying to tell him what to do. And the part that wanted to do nothing more than obey was in stark contrast to the challenge that set itself up before him. The room couldn't have been more stifling. He felt like he wanted to crawl out of his skin, and leave the husk of his former self behind on the floor.
So that the animal inside could tear into this lovely tantalizing morsel of meat. When she pulled away from him, he growled a little more and he shifted over to the sofa. For a second he considered how easy it would be to simply vault over it and pin her to the floor. She was strong. He was stronger. She was fast. He was faster. And yet, the curiosity remained, and he wanted to know more of what she was up to. What little games she could play and just how long he could resist biting into that pallid flesh.
Banning stripped down to the barest of essentials, his body wasting no time in showing they were now a trio instead of a pair. His skin was already flushed, and his chest heaving with each breath, and he did just as he was told, ass planted to that couch. And when she took off her own clothing, his breath audibly hitched.
"Holy rainbow sprinkles," he murmured, eyes dilating again and the slobber that oozed down the side of his mouth. The back of his hand came up and wiped up that drool. Already his nails were getting sharper, growing out at the thought of how easy it would be to tear apart that lace. How it would flutter to the ground like a leaf in the wind.
Don't touch. Don't move from the couch! Those were her orders. Banning's eyes widened and then immediately scowled. More at himself than anything. How could she possibly expect him to just sit there and not touch her while she was there in front of him with... - he was mentally flailing his arms around - with all of THAT!?
"Y-yes Ma'am," he purred out with less confidence than he wanted to project. Another coil of saliva wanted to drool from his mouth. This time it actually fell. Oh gods...
-
It looked, for a moment, that Banning wanted to fight her on this. Good. She had hoped that there would be some resistance (in the mildest way possible, of course), something about it being not nearly so much fun if the other person had already been. Hm. Broken in, she supposed was the word.
Izzy liked them wild. And oh, oh, Banning looked wild. They had been excitable before, of course, in their previous engagements with one another. But this was the first time Izzy had seen him look quite like this-- chest heaving and looking so very ready to pounce. Like some great beast that could gobble her up in one bite. She had to admit, the idea was thrilling-- that Banning could very well just ignore everything she said and have his way with her (and she'd have let him, too). But there he was, being so good and obedient despite the evidence of wanting to do anything but.
It certainly deserved a reward. She grinned from where she sat kneeling before the other Pilot, her hands sliding up his thighs, running so terribly close to aching flesh and yet utterly ignoring his need at present. Patience, patience.
She let her influence sink into him, slowly, subtly, just a little bit of warmth that followed where her hands went, and Izzy pressed soft little kisses to the inside of Banning's thigh, seemingly perfectly content to take her time and humming a bit in between each sweet peck.
"Good boy," came the little affirmation following his understanding, and she leaned ever closer, lace brushing against his skin as her kisses climbed ever higher, skirting the sharp v line of his hips until she was all but hovering over the third member of their little party. She let her lips ghost against the underside of him, tongue following suit, a little flickering bit of contact before she pulled it away again. Not that she let him forget the sensation, sinking into his veins and pushing that ache deeper, and all without breaking eye contact for a single moment.
Which, of course, meant that she had caught him drooling. And judging by the wicked delight on her face, she rather enjoyed having that kind of an effect on him. Rather enjoyed it a lot.
"I think you've earned a little reward, hm? Just... let me know if it gets too... intense." Not that she waited for his answer-- because unless the answer was to stop, it really didn't much matter how he did answer. She wrapped her lips around the head of his member in a particularly languid little kiss, before sinking down as far as she was able to genuinely handle. And considering the size of him, that was saying quite a bit.
Her hands settled against his hips, thumbs moving in little circles and applying just enough pressure to make sure he remembered her earlier command and kept himself seated-- though considering the blossoming bits of warmth over his chest and throat, it was fairly obvious that she would keep him right where she wanted him in any regard. The perks, one might suppose, of her particular kinetic talents.
-
Intense!? She was warning him in case it got too intense?
Banning actually snorted at that. It was a nice consideration but he had serious doubts that anything could somehow ignore the fire that was currently boiling his blood and burning his vision red. Everything already was standing on end, the hackles on the back of his neck, the hair on his arms, the hair on his legs, everything already was even more sensitive than usual.
No small ounce of challenge glowed in Banning's lavender gaze when she refused to break that eye-contact. Her own gaze was intense, and made his breathing hitch yet again. Because holy shit...she was about to make him eat that snort.
Or something something, put his money where his mouth was.
Because the whimper that came out of him caused him to clap a hand over his mouth. A motion to which Banning immediately regretted, because it didn't stop there. The moment she made contact with the underside of his dick, the intensity she meant was clearly present, and his member twitched for want of more contact, anything. He cleaned the drool from his mouth and forced his hands to grip into the couch cushion underneath him, nails digging into and puncturing the fabric.
"Mmmmm," he hummed, unable to say the word mercy. Part of it was physical, but part of it was sheer stubbornness. Any mercy she had, he wanted none of it, and his moans only grew louder, leaning his head back against the couch, trying to stifle another moan and failing. The little play she did with his blood intensifying the sensation tenfold, and the crawling it did through his veins pooled that warmth in his lower belly and he was so hard he thought he could burst then and there.
Don't move, he chided himself. Don't touch. He couldn't not touch her. Tilting his head forward just enough, he peered down at her with a hooded gaze, a thin sheen of sweat beading on his forehead. The lavender practically glowed in that lighting as he watched her move, taking in what she could, and his nails dug in deeper into the cushions, tearing through the upholstery and bringing up the fluff inside it.
Getting a new couch was secondary in a moment like this, however.
-
If Isabel's mouth hadn't been presently occupied, she might have smirked. She was even willing for forgive the movement of Banning's hand to his mouth, because that whimper had been absolutely divine. Distantly, she heard the soft punk-punk of fabric being punctured, but that didn't immediately register in her mind--
She was far, far too busy watching Banning fight himself, because that was a sight all on its own. The way he leaned back, the way he forced his mouth shut to keep noise from escaping, the way all that effort did absolutely nothing to stifle his moans. Izzy wrapped her hand around the base of his cock, and slid back up, pressing a soft and nigh-coquettish kiss to the head.
No longer buried in his lap, however, Izzy was able to see where Banning's hands gripped the couch, and there was a very real pause to her movements as she saw the sheer level of... well, damage that had been done to the upholstery. It was like some animal had gotten in and had a fit, and she shot her gaze upwards to meet that glowing lavender, one eyebrow quirked upwards and the corner of her mouth pulled up in a long-overdue smirk.
"Someone's excited," she cooed, tongue darting out to run along the underside of his dick a second time, suckling here and there and moving up the length of him as she did. Casual comment aside, it was hard to ignore just how easily Banning had done a number on the couch, and with nothing but his hands. All that from getting enthusiastic-- distantly, Izzy's own words came back to haunt her.
You ever get a little too enthusiastic and make a mess? She almost snorted-- if only she had known just how true that sentiment was. Still, it was pretty tempting to see just how enthusiastic Banning could get. How much of a mess they could make. The couch already needed repair, after all, why not have fun with it?
All but grinning in delight at the thought, Izzy worked her way up over the head again, and slid down, her hand moving up the base to meet the movements of her mouth. And, as if the sensation alone wasn't enough, as if the fact that she still had a hold of his circulatory system wasn't enough, as if the entire build up over dinner leading up to this moment hadn't been enough--
She hummed around Banning, and as she did her mental walls faded just enough, wave after wave of soft little aching thoughts leaking out between them, all to the tune of desperate phantom gasps of the Pilot Royal's name.
And just as suddenly as it had started, it was gone, Izzy sitting back on her heels and looking altogether too pleased with herself. She moved, climbing back up onto the couch, straddling the other Pilot's legs and pressing her hands to his chest to keep him right where he was.
"Can't have you making a mess just yet, now can we? Not without returning the favor..." Her fingers carded through Banning's hair, a little display of affection followed by a soft peck to his brow. And then, far softer in tone than anything else: "...Yeah?"
-
He fought every urge to disobey, and his nails digging into the fabric of that couch cushion was just part of it. If they weren't dug so deeply, and the fact that she was making every inch of him melt into a helpless puddle, they would be buried in her hair, tugging her head forward, his hips shifting so that she could swallow him as deeply as she could. Objectively, as much as she was pleasing him, there wasn't any doubt who was in control here.
Banning's breathing quickened, and he bit down hard on his lip. He supposed he wasn't the only one with a tongue that talented. Lavender eyes were watching that wicked look she gave him, that cat that caught her mouse, and he very much felt like prey in that moment. A sensation very much like lava was renewed, flushing through his veins as his belly continued to warm up and his moans only deepened.
She had him right where she wanted him, and could think of no where else he would rather be. And yet that challenge in her eyes made him want to resist submission in every way. The ball was just in her field this point in play. Er...balls. Heh.
He couldn't keep his seat, not when her tongue caught him the underside of him, hips did shoot upward, and his whole back arched deeper into the couch. "Isabel!" was all he purr out, closing his eyes to still the dizziness that threatened to take him. A grumbled plea of her name again, his body trembling when she hummed around him. It just kept compounding and compounding.
The moment he could feel her thoughts, really feel them, his eyes opened again and he had every intention of reaching out, clawing at her back, ripping that lace right off her, and wiping that smug grin on her face. His ass somehow managed to move, sliding forward and nearly off the couch. Did she tell him not to move so that she could kinetically pull him forward?
"Iz! I..." was a last ditch plea. "Wh...uh?""
He was panting so damn hard, his heart about to burst right out of his chest when she just crawled onto his lap, like nothing at all, looking smug still. Damn her! Banning couldn't speak, having to collect his thoughts for a moment. A long moment. She was saying words, speaking Common. But nothing was making sense. When his brain fought its way through the haze, he blinked to her.
"Y-yeah," he stuttered. The fog cleared further now, eyes flashing again, and he pressed his forehead to hers. "Yeah, I didn't like this couch anyway." A heated kiss, and Banning whimpered when he tasted himself on her tongue, slipped hands into her panties, along the thin strips of fabric on her hips. Take them off carefully ooor? Nah.
Riiip. Huh. The sound wasn't nearly as loud as he wanted it to be, but all the same, he ripped that delicate fabric. She didn't need them anyway, prying them off her roughly and letting that black lace drift to the floor. No direction spoken other than what he coaxed her into. Banning shifted backwards, dragging his mouth from her face to her belly and pushed her upward, to straddle him, and beneath her he crawled, wriggling his back until he planted firmly underneath her.
The view from below wasn't bad. Not in the least.Banning smiled up at her, a wolfish unsettling grin. Lips kissed at the muscle and bones of her hips, dragging along the edges of those firm lines until, where the scent of her was closest to overwhelming. He was salivating again, grunting until he made himself comfortable in his new found position.
He didn't ask for permission. She was still in control after all. And he was just returning the favor, even if the morsel above him was all he wanted to dig into. The first slab of meat on the menu was of course her inner thighs, first the right and left, sucking on that pallid flesh until he left red welts and soothing it over with a swipe of his tongue. "Good? But, you want something a little more intimate," he purred against her legs. "I think I can manage that."
Banning leered up at her, leaning his head up into the soft curls of hair, and lapping at her clit, watching her, a predator to prey.
-
It was a good thing that she wasn't too terribly overfond of those panties. There was some pressure, the tug of fingers hooking against the waistband, and then-- the sound of ripping lace. It was soft, quiet, easy to miss, but the sudden sensation of being perfectly exposed wasn't.
Izzy looked to the side just in time to see the shredded remains of her panties hit the floor, and was almost about to protest when Banning moved them around on the couch and-- oh. Oh, oh, maybe she could forgive him this one time. Her heart skipped a beat-- or twenty-- as he grinned up at her, and the ache between her legs returned a thousandfold as he just barely skirted by where she really wanted him to be running his mouth.
One hand on the back of the couch, and the other settling in Banning's hair, Isabel fought to keep her breath under control as Banning left mark after mark against her thighs, each little flare of pain and heat compounding with the growing ache in her belly to where she was nearly squirming for some proper contact. Which Banning seemed all too eager to give her, even if he was being a snarky bastard about it.
Izzy's mouth twitched into a cheshire smile. It was okay. She liked snarky, and so she licked her lips, shifting just a bit to better position herself above him, rubbing at his scalp as his tongue finally, blissfully moved against her. White hot need shot through her, setting her nerves on fire, and she couldn't help but move her hips against that wonderful tongue. The way he was staring at her certainly didn't help matters, some unspoken part of her understanding that this was not just some sweet little puppy dog she was teaching to heel but a genuine beast barely leashed.
And gods all she was loving every minute of that.
"That's it... just like that~," she breathed, her own nails digging into the couch back and scraping against the fabric there. She wasn't anywhere close to doing the same damage to it as Banning had done, but it certainly didn't stop her from trying, especially when he moved his tongue against her clit just so, her toes curling tight as heat built further. "You like this...? Being my good boy~."
Izzy moved to settle both her hands against Banning's scalp, running through those gorgeous locks and pressing against his skin, just enough to get a little bit of contact, to sink back into him and tease along his veins, working little flares of heat and blood flow back down his chest and belly and along his recently-neglected cock. A little reward for good behavior, the thought alone setting a fierce blush against Isabel's skin.
-
The request had been a simple one. For him to 'return the favor,' as she put it. Those were rather choice words, and it had been a rather choice position for him to be juuuust so underneath her. What might have been considered an act of submission was a rather unique opportunity for one Banning Lockhart.
It wasn't the first time they were like this and heaven's knew it sure as shit wouldn't be the last. Because even as he reached out to taste her, slowly and with very little necessary effort, Banning kept his focus on her responses to everything. The commander, the brave Pilot Noble. Rank aside, few people would have the opportunity to appreciate Isabel Kiers in a view just like this one.
His eyes dilated and he hummed in closer when she carded her fingers into his hair, his tasting moving in time with each undulation of her hips. She was enjoying this far too much. Banning rumbled a soft growl, flicking his tongue against her slowly, breathing out a heated exhalation, letting it splay across her. Lavender eyes caught her expression, between the mounds of her breasts that were still awfully covered by black lace.
Black lace that he decided was very much in the way. If she could forgive him once, she could forgive him again.
"I like you...like this," he purred, humming again and keeping his ministrations slow and methodical. "On top. On bottom. Screaming to the stars. That's what I like." One hand remained hooked around her thigh and another crawled up her side, nails reaching behind her and leaving red trails on her pallid skin. Just beneath her shoulder blades that delicate strap, that was soon gone too, yanked a bit roughly with another soft shredding sound of fabric, and he pulled it off her, stopping long enough to watch her expression.
"That blush is rather becoming on you, dollface." The predatory heat was rising inside him, his chest heaving in another heavy breath, trying to steady himself from coming just then. "Against that wild black hair..."
He sucked in a sharp breath and in a quick roll, he held his arm at her thigh securely, lifted her up and flipped her over, planting her firmly on her back. Somewhere in the flip, a couch cushion fell to the floor, and it was there that he secured her, balancing on his knees and keeping his head properly placed between her legs.
"Oops, my bad. Lemme make it up to you," he practically growled and now with the opportunity presented in front of him, Banning didn't bother holding back. Those slow methodical motions became all the more enthused, running his tongue all along her folds and ending with flicks at her clit. He kissed at her inner thigh in between, leaving trails and marks, and his hand slipping from her hip to her ass, encouraging her to push against him. To cling to his hair, to claw at his shoulders, to dig into him with all she had.
Her reward certainly did not go unappreciated, and all the tension she'd built in his chest certainly couldn't go unanswered. His other hand wrapped around his cock, gripping it firmly and rolling his thumb along the tip, pumping as he went. Thoughts of being inside her, over her, under her, twisted in ways that betrayed human physiology, were pressed into her mind, causing Banning only moaned loudly against that heat he hungered for.
"What's the matter?" The goading words teased and he paused only briefly enough to catch a glimpse of her face. "Cat got your tongue? Isabel..."
-
She was losing ground. How was she losing ground?
Even with Banning beneath her like he was, it was clear that it was less and less one Isabel Kiers calling the shots. So enraptured by what he was saying, how hot his breath felt against her folds, each flick of the tongue between his words maddening unto themselves-- Izzy didn't notice how far up that clawing hand had gone until there was another short tug, and suddenly there went the shredded remains of her bra.
Clothed in nothing but the red lines he left on her skin, Izzy's breath hitched in her throat, and she was caught between a long moan and a gasping sort of laugh. She wasn't losing ground. She'd lost it a long time ago, and she'd lost it bad. They rolled together, Banning's arm around her thigh and the sudden sensation of couch fabric against her back. The Pilot Royal growled something, but it was less the words and more the tone she heard, Izzy shivering beneath that intense stare and with every movement of his lips against her own.
On top. On bottom. Missing just one final element, and with every passing moment, Izzy felt her control slip more and more. And what was wrong with that? What was wrong with losing this particular ground? Unable to supply herself with a satisfactory answer, Izzy simply... gave in. One hand gripped at Banning's hair, the other sank her nails into his shoulders, all in some misguided attempt to keep herself anchored to the world. Or, at least, the couch. She rolled her hips up even as she pulled down, desperate for more of him, for more of those rough swipes of his tongue.
And like that he was in her head, cool as you please, every last little thought of them caught up in one another sending shocks of desire along overworked nerve endings. On her back, in his lap, over the armrest, on her knees-- Her thighs twitched with every thought, everything tightened for a hot moment, leaving her shaken only to start right up again. She was close, so close, but oh she wanted far more than that tongue, and Isabel was far beyond the point of caring how she got it.
"Banning!" in some other life she might've been embarrassed of how she sounded, high and loud and desperate. Dark hair clung to her brow, stuck against pale skin, and every breath was a quick gasp and echoing moan, "Please, please...! Just-- fucking-- fuck me!"
Was she even clawing at him anymore? Or was that the couch? Yeah, that thing was going to need replacing. If not for the tears in the cushions then certainly for the mess she was making of the fabric.
-
That sound. What was that sound?! A noise he'd only heard her make once before. Okay, definitely more than once, but the very vibration of it made every hackle on Banning's neck stand on end. He loved that sound, and somehow relished in it even more now than he did previously. That primal hunger caught onto it, that vocalization of prey.
That courtesy of giving up control had been because it was Izzy and no one else. He lost nothing by rolling with her, holding her close, devouring her until she was shaking with that coiling heat he wanted only to foster. Banning was relentless, tasting her until she was practically about to snap. Little nibbles here and there, even biting the soft flesh at the inside of her thighs.
She was begging and mewling and the look on her face was practically making him salivate against her. Banning couldn't take it anymore either. And after the first few tugs on his cock, he wanted only to obey that one command. She was his, he'd put his mark on her. Anyone else, he'd fight tooth and nail if they wanted to contest that claim.
Banning crawled back over her, sealing her lips in a heated moaning kiss. "Gods Isabel," he panted, breath hot and heavy, chest heaving, and settled his hips between hers. It didn't take much to find his way inside, there was very little in the way of resistance. His movement was painfully slow for the both of them, until his thrusts came rolling forward, rolling deep.
"You're mine," he growled. Another searing kiss and he slipped his arms underneath her in a display of that possession. Wasn't the first time he got more than a little riled up before a rut, and it probably wouldn't be the last. His arms winding their way underneath her shoulders, gripping the side of that couch for momentum, thrusting with increased force. Even so, they were mindful of the power of which he gripped her. It was just enough, a taste of what he was capable of, not quite crushing, but to press her too him.
"Tell me I'm yours," he panted, burying his face into the crook of her neck, relishing in that racing pulse.
-
If she could have, Isabel would have chosen to stay exactly like this for the rest of her days. Arms wrapped around Banning's shoulders, fingers tangled in his hair, drawing him down for kiss after needy kiss.
Izzy let her knees fall apart, making room for Banning between them, ankles up and hooked behind his back. The anticipation was agony, every part of her aching to feel his cock pressed to her. And then he was there, and Izzy let out a long moan against his chin, hips lifting off the couch to get him better seated inside her.
Banning shifted, rolled his hips against her, and Isabel couldn't help another mewl, white hot sparks singing along every nerve ending and making her toes curl.
You're mine.
Oh, but if those words didn't do amazing things to her; every muscle tightened, her thighs drawing Banning ever closer as their mouths met in a desperate rush, Izzy pulling his lip between her teeth and sucking hard. She arched her back, allowing the other Pilot to better get his arms beneath them.
Izzy turned her head, mouth open and panting against the crook of his neck and shoulder, biting down with every powerful thrust.
“Ah--!” Her grip on him tightened, leg muscles working to lift her up and against Banning's hips, matching every roll with one of her own until she was seeing stars, “Mine-- you're mine, all mine.”
That little display, the taste of what Banning was capable of, his mouth against her pulse and oh gods she could feel those sharp teeth, those sharp nails, her pulse running hot and hard in her neck and around his cock.
The squadron commander shifted, sliding her hands down to Banning's back, feeling every muscle move beneath her fingers even as she raked her nails against his skin, leaving hot welts to more thoroughly stake her claim.
“Banning--!”
-
Banning had forfeited a long time ago, a singular belief in any deity. Way back when he was a buck, he could slum it and be satisfied for days. Already the tremble of that climax was rearing it's head, and this was a far sight better than finding whatever dregs he could from the gutter, and thusly waking up in one right afterward. Banning felt those small shivers, those little trembles coursing through him, in small potent waves.
Izzy's nails were raking down his back, and somewhere in their bite of them, he felt his skin break and the sting of sweat mingled with that broken skin. He whimpered amidst her cries. The flesh at his hips were rubbed raw at every thrust, and he moved with her in that rhythmic bounce. "Isabel!--" was all he gasped.
His limbs cocooned around her, squashing her breasts to his chest, and if they got any closer, their very bodies would simply melt into one another. Banning was on the verge of immolation, and he shuddered one last time, stealing her lips away as he came, bursting amidst every throb of her velvet heat.
Banning gasped for breath. At the edge of his tongue was a phrase that wanted to springboard right off of it. It felt so strange, lingering there, waiting for him to just say it, and for that brief second of clarity, the panic of what they meant kept them trapped inside his mouth. "Isabel," he murmured, instead. "I didn't hurt you too much, did I?"
The words were purred out. Maybe it wasn't 'I love you' but the desire to say them was partly appeased. There was still the chance they were going to pop out. "Because I couldn't forgive myself if I hurt you," he breathed instead, bringing his head up to look at her, to meet her gaze. And if she met his own, maybe then she'd understand. Still they were feral, still they burned, and beads of sweat made his hair cling to his forehead.