The Flower in the Lion's Den(Katarine/Private)

[Christian Slade]

Christian watched the young woman next to him with a sideways glance. His attention was only stolen away from him when he heard the loud crack of thunder, the following rumble of planet shaking power rolling through the very ground beneath them, the windows shaking ever so slightly as he turned his golden eyes from the glass sliding glass door back to the young woman who was now hiding, curled up in a ball.

Smiling softly, Christian reached out and wrapped his fingers around one of Katarine's ankles and gently and slowly pulled the woman across the sofa to him. As he did, he reached down with his other hand and pulled her upright so that she could lean into him as he draped his arm around her. She needed someone to hold on to, and he knew that could be him if she wanted it to be.

"Sometimes I go outside and I challenge the storm to strike me down where I stand as I enjoy the cooling, repetitive beat of the rain on my skin.", he finally said as he laid his head again across the back of the couch.

"It's the only thing that can sooth my soul when my skin is on fire..."

[member="Katarine Ryiah"]

 

[KitKat]

Katarine giggled when he pulled her to him by her ankle. She let her head fall across his chest and felt the familiar dizziness erupt, but thankfully it wasn't the hormonal rage that those blue shots had caused. She sighed, and rubbed her temples. "Why is your skin so hot?" She wondered if it was something to do with where he was born or anything. She knew that Cathar had higher body temperatures than she did, or at least that is what her twin said. She wasn't actually allowed to touch the Cathar servants back home.

The thought of her brother made her groan. Katarine was enjoying playing house with Christian but she couldn't very well keep it up. She had to figure out what to do with her life. She sighed and pressed her forehead against his chest.

[member="Christian Slade"]

 

[Christian Slade]

"Because I'm... a rather big fellow, I suppose.", he said, looking down on the girl cuddled up against him. Reaching down he gently began to run the fingers of his left hand through her hair over and over as he draped his other arm across the back of the couch. "I've also got the force surging through my veins, which increases blood flow and warms my core to a higher temperature than most.", he said softly, glancing from around the room as he sighed and scooted down into the sofa a bit so that his head would be propped up by it.

"What are you going to do now?", he questioned, knowing that he didn't want her to go, but feeling the woman's sense of confusion about her. She didn't seem to have direction, which was something that he agreed everyone needed. She deserved something good in her life, and he wished that he could be that thing, though there wasn't much good about him. He knew that she needed a path or a call of some sort, and he didn't truthfully want her to pursue it. He was being selfish, something not uncommon for him. With Katarine, though, he knew he wasn't going to be able to keep her around like some pet.

She was meant for great things, despite the simplicity of her life and what it seemed to be the first couple of times they'd met. It was hard for him to realize, but he knew that he'd have to let her go about her business, though he very much expected her to return to him, again and again. And if she did not... if she could not...

...he'd find her himself.

[member="Katarine Ryiah"]

 

[KitKat]

She sighed and shrugged, her head still buried in his chest. "I don't know. Get another part time job I guess... and a new apartment. I just don't want to go back home. My family ... " She trailed off. Katarine didn't like to talk about her family much.

"Anywhere is better than home." She finally stated simply and fell silent, listening to the rain and wind outside. "How did you decide you wanted to own casinos? Or do you do any other type of work?"

[member="Christian Slade"]

 

[Christian Slade]

"I have a few projects on the side.", Christian admitted, his golden eyes watching the rain scattering down in sheets as the wind shook the glass sliding doors. "My casino ventures came to a head when I won my first one from the casino owner himself in a high stakes tournament though. When I did, I took the business head on and did well for myself after my first year. After that I started buying up resorts and other casinos with my lucrative business and the money just kept stacking up."

For a long time he fell silent, the substance of said silence filled with dead, stale air as they breathed and held one another. It might have been filled with the rest of his story, getting into experiments and running tests in labs stationed bellow his casino, but he didn't know the young woman well enough, though he trusted her with a lot already. He just didn't know if he could trust her with everything just yet.

"You know you could stay here...", he finally said, breaking the silence and looking down at the pretty little thing laying across him. "...you'd never have to work a day in your life again and fill your days with personal tasks and search the galaxy for it's mysteries and hidden pleasantries."

[member="Katarine Ryiah"]