Hahahaaaaa our bags didn't leave from Rome and we're an entire 30-part group with barely any change of clooooothes
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Hahahaaaaa our bags didn't leave from Rome and we're an entire 30-part group with barely any change of clooooothes
Thomas Jones Barker (b.1815 - d.1882), 'A Twilight Landscape with Lovers on a Gothic Bench', oil on board, c.1842, British, for sale for est. $700 - $900 USD for sale for est. $3,000 - $4,000 USD in Shapiro Auctions 'Important Art' sale, November 2020; Mamaroneck, NY, USA.
Hallow’s End Heat: Part 1
This has been written for the third week of the Weekly Writing Challenge! It has been a while since I tried a longform post like this, so excuse my rustiness.
Warning: Contains sexual innuendo, viewer’s discretion is advised.
It had been a little over a month since the duel that saw the end of the Fourth War, and despite the ominous storm clouds that loomed on the horizon, the concept of a lasting peace finally coming to the Alliance and Horde was the cause for many a great celebration; families were at long last reunited, soldiers returned to their waiting lover’s arms, and many military and paramilitary organizations celebrated a job well done, and the Brotherhood of Valor was no exception. The early evening was fairly tame; a few adults in costume strewn about the common room chatting, relaxing, having a few drinks, and all around enjoying the evening they had off while those with children had left for the major cities to take them Trick or Treating. Things only got rowdier as the evening went on, as parties with alcohol involved so often do, not helped by the return of the children not long after the sun had gone down, eager to enjoy their sugary bounty before being sent fruitlessly to bed. The adults, meanwhile, directed their attention to the makeshift stage that had been put up for the contest many of them had been waiting for; the costume contest.
Thursday, October 31st, 10:26 pm, The Hinterlands
“…and last, but certainly not least,” Sebastian announced, shifting in his Headless Horseman costume a bit, and squinting through the black fabric that covered his face as his “head” was running around and playing with the little Pandaren child with a ghostly sheet over her head. Once he got the names down, he looked back up and continued his announcement, “Khadorek Blackbyrne and Katharena Graeson!” On cue, they strode out onto the stage, waving to the crowd as they did so, much like those before them had done. To no one’s surprise, they had, of course, gotten matching costumes and both seem to have taken to it with gusto.
“They’re back from the high seas, it seems; I tried going there once, Hope and Jhulya stopped me, and now I’m not allowed to sing anymore.” Sebastian added, causing part of the audience to groan audibly. As for Katharena and Khadorek, they indeed cut quite the swashbuckling duo; Khadorek was dressed in tough deck hand attire, with heavy black boots over tight leather seaman’s trousers, paired with a loose swashbuckler’s top and a red bandanna covering the top of his head, causing his thick brown hair to fall almost entirely down over his back. His scars were highlighted to look more recent, making him look even more rugged than he naturally was, and with a black leather eye-patch to round out the look. Hefting the faux boarding axe over his shoulder, he cut quite the realistic pirate, if a bit simplistic compared to his counterpart. Katharena, meanwhile, went for a much more ornate, pirate admiral design for her costume; thigh high black boots with heels making her just that little bit more imposing in regards to her height, the tops of which were mostly hidden underneath a mid-thigh length skirt, the perfect mix of frilly and utilitarian. For a top she wore what could only be described as a mix between a low cut, button-down vest and a corset, made of brown leather and cinching her already tight waistline to even more waspish proportions, paired with a long navy blue coat to make her look even more like a captain; as if the fake parrot on her shoulder and tricorn hat upon her blazing curls didn’t already sell the look. The pair of them made sure to show off their costumes, and Kath, perhaps to seal the deal, discreetly snapped her fingers and caused a gust of sea breeze to come into being behind them, causing their last pose to look particularly dynamic. The audience applauds at the extra showmanship as they stepped down, and Sebastian carefully makes his way up on stage to close things off.
“Now those were some really great costumes, I think,” he begins, still wearing his face cover, “we’ll be giving out the prizes once the votes are counted, so be sure to get your votes in now!” He states, beginning to make his way back to his seat as the votes began to come in. Having submitted theirs before they went on ‘stage,’ Khadorek and Katharena made their way to their spot by the bar to get away from the small crowd near the stage.
“Well, that went pretty good!” Khadorek remarks, ordering his usual and easing back into his seat, “nice touch with the wind there; you have that planned?” He asks.
“Nope, spur of the moment.” Katharena replies, awkwardly hopping up into the seat next to him and letting out a heavy sigh of relief as she gets off of her feet. “Ah, damn these heels.”
“You alright?” Khadorek asks, taking his drink and offering to help her up into the stool, something he was used to doing by now, but was waved off; she did that a lot, her independent streak not fettered in the slightest even with him. He always liked that about her; that spunky, tough, farm girl competitive nature appealed to him in ways he never thought it would.
“I’m fine,” she assures him as she finally settles into the seat, crossing her legs and ordering herself a daquiri. “Just these damn boots, I know they’re supposed to be authentic, but I just can’t see a sailor, even a pirate wearing heels like these on duty.”
“Well, the one that was helping you seemed pretty insistent that her old captain wore something like that.” Khadorek retorts.
“These people kidnapped you, remember; new leaf or not, I’d be hesitant to be to trust them.” Katharena counters as she gets her drink, mixing the crush ice in the glass with the straw before taking a sip. “Also, I’m convinced that she was checking me out throughout that whole thing; I mean, look at my outfit,” she gestures to herself, “You don’t think it’s too showy, do you?”
“In hindsight, you do have a point,” Khadorek admits, “and yeah, she absolutely was, but you gotta admit, it gave her an edge; you look even more amazing than normal.” He purrs, doing his best to keep his eyes from lingering on her figure for too long.
“I know you like it, dirty boy,” she teases with an eye roll, seeing through his attempt at hiding his gaze almost immediately, pushing her biceps together on either side of her chest and subtly bouncing her ample bosom while fluttering her eyelashes, causing him to look away flustered and red cheeked, “don’t act like you haven’t been just as bad tonight. If you can think about it with the head on your shoulders for a moment, I want to know if this was too much for a company party.” She asks again, her soft lips curled into a teasing smirk. Khadorek shifts uncomfortably in his seat as his dirty mind is punished in a most ironic way, but he can’t help but smile at how playful she was being.
“You want me to be honest? If Keaye,” he begins, gesturing to the incredibly plush Pandaren woman who had since stumbled back to and began leaning heavily on the bar, skimpy ninja costume straining perhaps a bit more than it should as she downs yet another flaming shot of alcohol, “isn’t getting any trouble, you’re more than in the clear. And maybe so, but you’re hardly innocent either, nor as slick as you think, unless you have been making sure I haven’t sat in something.” He teases right back. “Besides, I’m fairly certain I’ve got more cleavage in this shirt than you do in yours.” He adds, pushing his pecs together in much the same way a woman would do with her chest. Katharena, in the process of going a touch red in the cheeks herself and taking a drink to steady herself, sees this and immediately snorts and nearly chokes as she begins laughing.
“Shut up, you!” She giggles, giving him a playful push and causing him to chuckle as he nearly falls off. “I think we both know who has the best tits here.” She quips right back as she goes back to her drink. Khad’s eyes widen into an expression of amused disbelief at what she just said.
“How many drinks have you had?” He asks her, setting his whiskey down as she sips away at her daiquiri, happily shifting side to side in her seat to the music playing throughout the bar. When she finally stops and turns to Khadorek, there is barely a splash left of liquid and flavored ice in her glass, and he doesn’t need to hear what she says next to know she’s pretty much hit her limit.
“I’ve gone drink for drink with you, handsome,” she states proudly, leaning forward with a coy grin on her face. Khadorek is floored; it was rare she ever drank like this at all, let alone match him. Thankfully, it had been a short evening, but regardless, she was not known for her constitution; he had to step in.
“Okay, I think you’ve had enough.” He affirms, going to put the drink out of reach before his hand was pushed aside.
“Oh, come on now, I was pacing myself!” She complains, turning more towards him, “I was only drinking these things,” she gestures to the daquiri, “they’re no where near the stuff you drink. Besides, I feel fine.”
“You say that now, but come the morning…” Khadorek tells her, knowing all too well what it was like the morning after. “You finish that drink, then your cut off, okay? Don’t want you to ruin your morning tomorrow.” He states. Katharena pouts, but capitulates. Khad smiles and was about to thank her, when he felt something tugging at his leg. Looking down, he sees a little Draenei girl dressed as a Jack-o-lantern; it was little Hope, Sebastian’s daughter.
“Daddy wanted me to bring this to hyoo.” She says in her Draenei accent, holding up a basket of assorted teas and various edible sundries, all of which bore the mark of Loshu. “Congratulations on weening cutest couple, he says!” Naturally, the couple smile and graciously accept their prize.
“Thank you Hope, and you look adorable in your costume.” Katharena says sweetly, mostly managing to feign sobriety in front of the little one, who giggles and does a cute little courtesy before running back to play with Zhaemia and the others. Katharena leaned back into the chair with a sigh, and Khadorek lets out a soft chuckle.
“The children sure are having a good time tonight, don’t you think?” Khadorek remarks, watching the little ones play their game of tag; darting between the tables, chairs and patrons with ease. Katharena, however, does not remark on this. “Kath? Did you hear me?” He asks again, and again no response. Khad turns to face her, and sees her going for his drink. “What are you doing?” He asks in obvious confusion, and she snaps her gaze to him and withdrew her hand. He was about to ask what had gotten into her, but then he saw the look on her face; that look, and his mood softened to one of pity. “C word, right?” He asks, and she nods sullenly; Khadorek raises his arm and almost immediately, she snuggles into his side, letting him rest his hand on her back. “I’m sorry honey, sometimes I forget how much that bothers you.” He consoles her, and she nuzzles her head into his shoulder with a sigh. He knew how much she wanted children of her own, and seeing others with thriving families always exacerbated those feelings; he couldn’t imagine how rough it felt with liquor bringing all those feeling and unhappy thoughts she normally kept hidden bubbling to the surface, aside from that it must hurt, a lot. “Don’t worry, love, we’ll get there eventually, I promise.”
“I know, I know…” she replies, nuzzling into his shoulder even more, “it’s just hard sometimes… they all have their families, and all I can think is that I came so close and then…”
“If that hadn’t happened, we wouldn’t be here right now, would we? We would never have met.” Khadorek counters, hoping to stop the tears before they even started, “Kath, honey, I love you, and I am going to give you everything that you want; everything that was taken from you will be yours again, and I’m going to give it to you, just like you’ve done for me.” He says in the most assuring tone he can muster. Katharena is quiet for a while, and Khadorek was nervous he hadn’t calmed her enough. Eventually, a smile, albeit a sad one, comes to her face, and Khad lets out a gentle sigh as he begins to soothingly rub her back.
“Thank you, my love,” she replies softly, scooting her barstool towards him and moving to kiss his cheek. “I think I need to just get my mind off all of this for a while,” she adds, eyes locking with his, “and I know exactly what I need for that…”
“And what is…” Khadorek begins to say before he notices her smile becoming much more playful, AND where her hand was now resting; most anyone would have just figured she just had her hand on his thigh, but they both knew that was far from the case. “Honey, are you sure, you’re pretty drunk right now…”
“And we both know how I get when I’m drunk…” She purrs as she cuts him off, biting her lip as she felt the fruits of her earlier teasing. Khadorek swallowed and blushed a bit at how forward she was being; he DID know that she got affectionate when she drinks, and around him, affection very swiftly turned to her getting very, very amorous. She KNEW he loved it when she acted so brazen, and such a play to his desires was swiftly breaking down his resolve. She used her other hand to lift his free hand to her cheek, fluttering her eyes in such a way that made his stomach do backflips. “Khad, my love, I want you; I need you,” she purrs, lifting her head from his shoulder and getting right up to his face, “the night is still young; let’s go upstairs and have some fun.” That was all it took, and they both pulled each other into a deep, strawberry flavored kiss; Khad’s other arm pulled her yet closer to him, practically into his lap, and Katharena looped both her arms around him, taking hold of his broad, muscular back, though this did not prevent her from subtly teasing him, as sitting in his lap provided her a whole host of options in that regard. When the kiss finally broke, he had fully fallen under her metaphorical spell, and a devious grin spread across his face.
“Well, if that’s what Katharena wants, that’s what she’s gonna get.” He growls softly, and Katharena’s grinning cheeks redden to hear him so eager; such plays seemed to work on both of them in equal measure. “Lead the way, beautiful.” He added, and that was all that needed to be said before she was hopping down to the ground with a soft click of her heels, taking his hand and leading him towards the stairs.
To be continued...
@quipsbykath @weekly-writing-challenge @ogrimskar (for reference to his character Loshu)
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The Sauce that Divided the UK | The South East
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