Once Evelyn's velveteen voice began to pour into the air between them, Kalliste felt a familiar flush of excitement behind her ears, and she finally locked eyes with the enchanting creature. Excitement and a spark of desire warmed the Harpy who thought she had never seen a woman so beautiful as this one.
The Harpy had been held to a certain standard in her previous life. Though sexual social mores were not rigid by any means on Anemos Gennisi, it had been implicit that she and her sisters were beholden to their purported divine father's grand designs. She, just like her sisters, were expected to save themselves for a consort, chosen by her father and equally divine to herself. Things were different now, when her connection to the God of wonder was taken from her... so too, she felt, was her obligations to wait.
Beside Kalliste, stood a creature of such allure it was only natural for the Harpy's heart to skip a beat, for the breath in her throat to catch. As Evelyn spoke, Kalliste could vaguely sense a shift in atmosphere. In her peripheral vision, Kalliste could see that some seemed to fidget uncomfortably, some altogether walking away from the warm candle lit bubble, apparently offended by something or someone. But the Harpy was quite absorbed in the visage at her side, and therefore wilfully ignorant to the circumstances around them, so she might focus every sense she had on the exquisite stranger.
Slowly, Kalliste silently repeated Evelyn's words so she might process them with deliberation. She felt heady, the beads of perspiration and the weight of exertion gone from her mind. The woman had sons, and apparently unruly ones. Kalliste should have been shocked, but she was instead amused. Kalliste had been a clumsy child, destroying so much in her wake as she slowly learned where her wings ends were. Those who had worshipped her and her sisters would have spent hours, days, weeks creating a sculpture to honour the harpies or the Gods, and Kalliste would pulverise it in one instant without so much as realising it. As she grew older of course, appreciation and consideration came slowly, but Kalliste still enjoyed a little mischief. Just a little.
The Harpy giggled breathlessly, grateful for the thin partlet that covered her bosom, counting on it to disguise her heaving chest. Kalliste pressed a small hand to her smiling lips, cutting off her soft laughter. Evelyn's ice blue eyes were piercing; the flames reflected in them dancing lasciviously.
Evelyn's next words were heavy with suggestive implication, much like the rest of her. From her long, scarlet horns, to her slender, shapely figure, everything about her was inviting, nay it was demanding. There was a promise of formidability about her too. Kalliste knew, without knowing Evelyn's species, that it would be prudent to remain alert, despite the pleasant tingle up her spine.
"Oh!" Kalliste's soft lips parted in surprise, and her cheeks grew rosy. The harpy glanced around them, her hazel eyes catching the eyes of others, seeing some disapproval in them. She was not aware of the customs here in Laras or in this particular temple, but she knew that conventional philanderers did not typically initiate flirtation in places of worship. Strange, Kalliste thought, for she had often been pleased to see islanders falling for one another, stealing moments here and there to shower the other with affections, but Gods could be cruel and covetous.
A few moments elapsed and Kalliste failed to think of something to say in response. She was conflicted in so many ways, and quite intimidated by it all; the bewitching stranger, the openly curious and condemnatory eyes on them and the dim candlelight. There were many reasons to flee, there were some reasons to politely decline and even less reasons for her to still be stood rooted to the spot, yet there she stood, a little awe struck for several heartbeats.
Kalliste bowed her head, and while averting her gaze from onlookers and the statue, she took one tiny sidestep closer to Evelyn. The Harpy pressed her hands together at her waist, embodying demurity and reverence, but beneath her golden-brown lashes, hazel eyes flashed with delight. She did not touch the woman who had not invited physical contact, but Kalliste did tease the hem of Evelyn's dripping black gown, with the pooling of her own dress; white and black fabrics aligned in stark contrast.
“I want to receive that as a compliment, but I suppose it would depend on who your kind are? Or what” Kalliste added.
The woman was silent but in such a place it didn't seem strange to take a quiet pause in one's mind. Evelyn, in the silence, simply allowed her interest to return to the statue, wondering how it came to be. Some of the buildings had survived the last war, including her own familial estate, and she expected many of the temples had, so how long it had been since the statue had been formed was unknown.
Obviously Evelyn did not feel the woman's fabric touch her own, nothing connecting her to the garment that would allow for it, and as her gaze had averted itself she didn't equate the movement from the corner of her eye to anything but a gentle shift done by the other woman.
"I am a succubus," she answered. "So taking it as a compliment is wholly up to you, most would not." It wasn't a compliment if she did it to everyone, right? Not that Evelyn was that brazen but people expected that she was.
"Besides, I am confident you are not short on compliments," Evelyn acknowledged as her gaze returned to the woman, taking a quick glance over well developed wings. "You must receive them with such frequency my words are but salt and pepper to a full dish."














