Well Met By Moonlight
Who: Nate and Arienne
Where: The Boardwalk
When: Night
All the fun of the fair - or something. Nate could see, walking round the Boardwalk, why the Syndicate had chosen to buy up and properly reopen this place. It had real potential. Not only because of its position and the fact that it could be open day and night, but also because of the clientèle, the people wandering around. Normally, Nate knew, wherever you went in the city, you found people in their own little worlds. The rich, the poor, those few people in between. You went out of your area and you needed a reason, or you risked being challenged.
But not here - here was a world apart, or so it seemed. Here the rich rubbed shoulders with the dregs and the only thing they were concerned about was having their pockets picked. Something which he'd stood back and witnessed a few minutes ago. Little kid with smooth fingers - quite the Artful little Dodger, that was for sure. He'd said nothing to the guy whose clothes said he could probably afford the loss and watched the kid disappear into the crowd. He'd made a move to follow the little guy, hoping to corner him, but his heart hadn't really been in it - he considered today a day off, only looking on the ever present off chance - and he'd lost him. He wasn't perturbed about that at all as he'd continued his wander round, taking everything in, learning the place. He had no doubt he'd be expected to spend time around here in the future. They wouldn't make him man the stalls or attractions - his kind of blonde, clear, normal looks didn't lend themselves to this environment. But as a customer, or someone appearing to be there for the experience, he'd be expected to do that.
Arienne hadn't been meant to attend the 'grand' re-opening of the boardwalk. It wasn't the sort of place for a 'lady' as her parents informed her, which of course was the direct reason she was there. She'd not thought much about it when she'd read about it in the paper--something she did every day despite the odd looks the other students at school gave her when she brought the Echo to class. It had been an interesting little side note, really. But then of course her parents had been discussing it at dinner, how it was going to be nothing but a dressed up monstrosity, that catered to low lives, and thieves. Like they could talk.
Either way, she'd been told to steer clear of it, and she was there now. She'd made a slow sort of circuit around the place, not engaging in any of the activities or anything, she just was looking. Taking note, of everything. It was interesting, with the cracks that you could see beneath the fresh coats of paint, if you were paying attention. She was paying as much attention as possible. Like she noticed there were pickpockets in the crowd, she noticed there were all kinds of people, from all classes. It was an interesting array of stimuli, really. She stopped nearer the water, looking out over the river as the moonlight shone down on it.
She caught his attention as she walked passed him, though he couldn't have said why right away. Possibly because she looked a little out of place - if there could be such a thing in a place like this. Her clothes were wrong, but then he'd seen her around school and her clothes were always wrong. Not bad, not at all. Just different to what everyone else was wearing. Of course, the other reason that she looked out of place was because there were a distinct lack DiGiovannis here tonight. He'd figured that was purposeful, but now here there was one. Where it was quite possible she'd been told not to go. Or, she was here as some kind of bait. You could never tell with the family. Well, either way - naughty girl or bait - it was a challenge that he couldn't resist as he stepped up beside her. "It looks prettier in the moonlight, don't you think?" he asked her, looking out over the water.
She looked over when she was addressed, and didn't say anything for a moment. She recognized the boy from school, of course, knew him by reputation, even if they didn't travel in the same sorts of social circles. She was more of an academic than he was. Still, she recognized him. "The river?" she asked. "If so, quite." she agreed. "You can even imagine it isn't brownish in this light." And hiding the forgotten remains of whoever got tossed in there last.
Nate chuckled a little. "Not enough to make me want to go for a swim though," he agreed. "Some things even the eyes can't fool. The memory just won't let go," he added, before turning more towards her. "I'm Nate, by the way," he said, holding out his hand and giving her a look which suggested interest, and that he couldn't quite place her. Which was a lie - he knew exactly who she was, but if she wasn't meant to be here, he would gift her with anonymity, and maybe play a little.
"I wouldn't get in the water, even if I could swim." Arienne said, which she couldn't. She and water weren't the best of pals. She didn't even really know why, it was just something that she'd never learned properly, and now it seemed a bit too late. "Hello, Nate." she said, reaching out to shake his hand. "Arienne." she greeted in turn, watching him closely while looking relaxed as she did so. "What's Nate short for?" she asked.
"Nathaniel - but most people call me Nate," he told her, emphasising that slightly. Nobody called him by his full name anymore, which was a situation he allowed and even encouraged. It went with the general image. All his life he'd been underestimated, and early on he'd discovered that he could twist that to his advantage. He'd got very good at doing just that and now his name, like almost everything else about him, was part of the image he projected. The pretty boy, rich, not too bright, but good enough to handle some things. Determined, but having to work at life, that suggestion that he only got the opportunities he did because of familial connections. People so often believed what they saw. "Nice to meet you Arienne. Which I'm assuming isn't short for anything at all."
Arienne smiled at him lightly, something just a touch amused in her expression, which she deliberately put forth. "I've been told once or twice by my elders that I'm not most people." she told him. "I like Nathaniel." she told him, though that was all she said about it. Now if she had cause to call him by name, she would use it, but for the moment she didn't hammer the point home. "It's pleasant to meet you too. And no, it isn't. I don't really have any nicknames." she admitted. Even if her name could be shortened fairly easily, her family had never made it a habit, and she didn't have anyone built up to be familiar enough with her at school yet to have it be commonplace to refer to herself as Ari. "I've been told it means 'rare'."
"Well, not most people would definitely be rare," Nate observed, a little clumsily, which was also on purpose. He doubted this girl would be impressed with 'smooth', though he wasn't sold on whether he was out to impress, or just playing, yet. "So, does the river hold your attention more than the Boardwalk?" he asked her.
She gave a light, polite laugh for him. "A lot of things hold my attention." she told him, looking back towards the lights of the boardwalk. "However, I was merely taking a break. I walked around once, and will likely do so a second time, but it's a pleasant night, I thought it would be nice to stop and take in the view for a few moments." she told him. "Yourself? Have the bright, blinking lights lost their shiny already, or were you just happening by and were unentertained enough to say hello?"
"Maybe you caught my attention, even with the bright lights and shiny," he suggested to her, looking back at the carousel, before returning to her. "I tend to notice things. And if something catches my interest, I'm not going to walk away," he added, which was actually a morsel of truth, but one he wasn't too concerned about giving away, especially not dressed up, as it was, like a line.
Arienne turned, putting her back to the river, leaning against the rail there, eyes back on the boardwalk properly. "Am I an interesting something, then?" she asked, though it was rhetorical. He was turning out to be like she imagined, just like she imagined right now she was being played. But she catered to it, at least on some levels. She had already laughed at his joke, and she was giving him eye contact. That and she leaned ever so slightly closer to him as she looked at the lights again. All little cues that were important in the grand scheme. "So you're an avid student of life?" she mused. "Paying attention to detail?" she asked, eyes back on him.
He was, in actual fact, though that was occasionally spoiled by the fact that he tended to make assumptions. Like the current assumption right now that he was the only one playing. He wasn't looking for cues that he was being played, especially not little ones. He noted, however, the way she leaned over a little more. "Yeah, I pay attention," he told her, specifically wording it like a bullshit answer.
"Do you pay attention enough to know which game might not be crooked enough that you could win me a prize big enough to take up a seat on the ferris wheel with me?" she asked him, giving him a sweet smile. They weren't there together but that was generally what people did at the fair. Particularly people their age. That and men tended to want to show off, and since he was already seeming to be working angles on her she thought she might help him out, and see what he did with it.
"I think I could manage that," he agreed, though he intended to come at it from a slightly different angle - that angle being to head for one of the stalls where his face was known and make sure the odds were stacked in his favour, no matter what his 'talent'. of course, there was the issue of her, but he could actually talk himself out of being seen with a DiGiovanni under these circumstances. As a one off. After all, he was trying to find out what she was doing here. And, fine - he wasn't, but nobody else knew that. "This way," he said, gesturing towards a coconut shy a little walk away. The guy that was manning it was new, one of the travellers in from out of town. Nate had talked with him earlier on, and with him being fresh to town, he probably wouldn't know who Arienne was. He seemed a particularly good choice - and he'd take the nails out of the bottom of the coconuts which usually stopped people winning any of the big prizes on display.
She walked along with him, hands clasped demurely behind her back as she did so. She kept to his side, close, but ever so slightly behind, since he was leading the way. Her mind was vaguely on the same things his were, since she did, in fact, know his last name. Konnovich. And with that came trouble, not that she minded. She could claim ignorance if she was discovered, and no one would pay it any mind, so long as she promised to steer clear of him later. So far he was just a diversion, and she always liked to see how far boys took their games. It helped to gauge everything else about them.
Nate stepped away from her to talk to the vendor under the cover of paying over some cash and getting a trio of balls in return. The guy headed over to 'reset' the stand, and Nate turned back to Arienne. "Could you hold these for me?" he asked her, passing the balls across so that he could shrug his jacket off. The sleeves of the shirt he wore underneath were rolled up enough that the lower edge of the script tattoo he had on his right bicep was clearly visible, though he didn't do anything else to draw attention to it as he laid his jacket over the front of the stand and took the balls back. "Anything in particular you have your eye on?" he asked her, on the face of it meaning the prizes on display.
She dutifully took the balls, and stood by, close but not in the way. Her eyes did catch on the tattoo he had, and she let them remain there for just a moment too long before she looked back to his eyes. She smiled, then she looked around at the prizes. "We'll see first if you win." she told him. "Though, if I had to choose..." she trailed off, giving a show of considering. "That one." she said, and she pointed to the largest row of stuffed animals. There was a white tiger amongst them.
Nate grinned. "Oh, I'll win," he promised her, before shifting his weight to his back foot and sending the first ball flying. It hit home straight and true, and the coconut, free of the nail which usually held it in place, tumbled to the floor.
Arienne smiled, and bounced on the balls of her feet in a ridiculous girly sort of gesture, and she set the balls down on his coat, to clap for him. She looked at him, a feigned little twinge of admiration in her expression. "I'm impressed." she told him, watching his eyes.
Nate laughed a little at that - she was just like all the other girls. Easily impressed with a little bit of action. And, apparently, a stuffed animal. There was never really any originality. "One down," he said, his blue eyes twinkling in the lamp light before he turned back and sent the remaining two balls to their targets in quick succession.
Ari clapped again for him, of course feigning being even more enamored with things with the rapid fire he pulled off. When the man running the game looked to her, she pointed out the tiger she'd chosen before Nate had tried, and he pulled it down for her. She took it in both arms, and smiled at him around it. "Thank you, Nathaniel." she told him, sounding pleased and charmed, something she put in there specifically. She also drifted closer to him once again, that light little body language cue that she knew worked on subconscious levels.
He almost corrected her, but let her get away with the name - just this once. He was starting to think that the DiGiovanni girl was highly overrated though. Cute, definitely, but she was much the same as every other girl he'd ever met. He'd had two options in mind earlier on - bad girl, or bait. This girl really didn't seem to fit either option, but he did wonder if 'silly' shouldn't be added to the list. Still, he hadn't seen enough of her to make up his mind yet, and anyway, the night was young and it didn't matter, not really. "So - you wanted a ride of the ferris wheel?" he asked her, picking up his jacket and laying it over one arm rather than putting it back on again.
"I did." she confirmed for him. "I suppose if I'm here, I may as well do the sorts of things one is meant to while attending, and I now have 'receive overly large stuffed trinket through a display of some description of prowess from a boy' marked off. The ferris wheel seems the most logical choice for the next part."
Nate started them walking in the right direction, looking over at her and raising an eyebrow. "So, this is just some kind of box ticking exercise for you, is it?" he asked her, joking a little, though he was also a little irked by the suggestion. That part he really didn't let show. "Let me guess, once we get off the wheel, I'm going to be expected to buy you some cotton candy? Maybe a caramel apple. And then maybe a trip through the haunted house?" he suggested.
"Possibly, we'll see. So far you're doing well, but I'm not going to set out the rest of my evening in stages until the previous ones are fulfilled." She told him. "It doesn't do to get ahead one oneself. Besides, there's something to be said for spontenaity." She kept walking, a slow stroll. "As for if it's a box ticking exercise, you were the one who came up to me, remember? Wouldn't it be the other way around if I were merely using you to engage in supposedly normal activities that I otherwise may not be given to?"
"Well, that all depends, doesn't it?" Nate asked as they reached the cue for the ferris wheel. "For all I know, box one was 'make a guy come up and start talking to me'. This could all be part of the grand plan," he suggested, though since 'silly' was topping his list for what she was right now, he doubted it.
"I'd have to say that I was being given too much credit if I managed that without any attention seeking behavior on my part." she said. "All I was doing was standing there. There are a whole lot of girls standing around." she pointed out. "I just wanted to appreciate the view." Which was more or less true. Though the part about not having been trying to draw anyone in was perfectly true. It hadn't been on her agenda tonight.
"Whole lot of girls, sure," he agreed, as they reached the front of the cue and he paid the money to get them on the ride. "But most of them go around in packs. You were on your own." He lifted up the bar so that she could sit down, wondering where the tiger was going to go. That in itself would say something.
Arienne sat down, and put the tiger against the wall, so that she could sit directly with Nate. She did so deliberately, very much knowing that where the stuffed toy went would indicate certain things, for instance his 'success' in wooing her. She was assessing that if she put it between them he would lose interest.
He noted that, thinking much the same thing. Arienne was distracting, but currently he found her not overly interesting, and if she had suggested that she was uninterested in him, then he would have decided that things weren't worth the effort. As it was, though, he sat down next to her and pulled the bar down in front of them as the car lurched into motion and they travelled back and upwards around the wheel, rocking slowly. "So - is there any reason for that? Why you were on your own?" he asked her.
"While aware that it's not adviseable nor the norm for young women to wander such places alone, I wanted to experience it for myself, and the best way to do that was to do so on my own." she told him. "As you said, most girls travel in packs, and I find them distracting at best, a lot of the time. Plus there's only so much one can hear about 'cute boys' before one's mind begins losing the will to live." she said, smirking faintly. And she knew that it was definitely going to not follow along the lines of normality, this turn in the conversation, but they were as alone as they were going to get at the moment, and she wanted to see what he might do with the idea that she wasn't so prim and proper. Therefore, she injected truth into the conversation, without it being too over the top.
Nate hid the fact that that was, in his opinion, the first truly interesting and original thing she'd said all night. And, if she was actually going to speak her mind about something (which he assumed this was) rather than spouting the usual crap, then he was going to go with that, though he was keeping to his own act - nice but a little dim. "You don't like talking about cute boys?" he asked, as if this was shocking and a real revelation. "I bet the girls just don't know what to say to you," he teased her.
"I don't find there is much to say beyond an expressed physical attraction." Arienne said, rolling her eyes a little bit, though not at Nate, at the other girls she was referring to. "And yet they can witter on about it for hours, if allowed to. It's repetative. I would prefer if they were going to extensively exhaust a topic, that it is at least one where they had engaged in more than gazing longingly across the classroom at someone. As for them not knowing what to say to me, I suppose there could be some merit to that opinion." she said. Though really she thought it was that, and the fact that people could trace back her family and therefore found her intimidating on a number of levels. She tried her best to combat that, and for the most part it worked nicely. Or, it worked nicely from their end. for hers, it meant she had to put up with things like listening to girls go on and on about boys they'd never even worked up the guts to speak to.
Nate considered this, smiling a little and relaxing back in his seat, shifting his arm to stretch it out along the back of the car, brushing her shoulders, the sleeve of his shirt pulling up more to reveal the whole of the tattoo there. "So, what would you prefer to talk about - if given the choice?" he asked her, actually honestly interested in that.
Arienne looked at him, and didn't answer immediately, smiling at him, though there was something possibly playful behind it, even if it was feigned. "Something I can sink my teeth into." she answered him. Then she looked back to see the tattoo in it's entirety, since she had the opportunity. She read the words there, regardless of the fact that it was in Italian. "Very interesting, Nathaniel. Is it your personal motto?" she asked. "'Cowards die many times before their deaths, the valiant never taste of death but once''" she recited in the language it was written in. "Are you valiant?" she asked.
Now there was another moment that interested him. "You speak Italian," he said, looking pleased with that. Most people who saw it tended to assume that it didn't actually say anything, rather than the truth, which was that it was a quote from Shakespeare that he'd always rather liked. "I suppose you could call it a motto - and as for whether I'm valiant or not? I don't consider myself a coward. And nothing's killed me yet."
"It's Shakespearian, yes?" she asked. "And yes, I speak Italian. And French." she added. She looked him over, as if reassessing him. "I recently spent a lot of time in France, actually. Sadly, I was sent home because the situation there had gotten...a little too dangeorus for me to remain." Which was putting it lightly, really, and she hadn't wanted to return at all. But there was little she could do about that at present. "Do you have any other decorations?" she asked, curious. And this time there was a genuine curiosity, since she actually did appreciate the one on his arm. It had a lot more thought to it than most people's did.
"Where in France?" he asked, turning towards her a little more. "I spent some time at school there when I was younger, before I moved to Italy - and before I moved back here for basically the same reasons you did," he told her, though he'd been more willing to return than she had. He'd been bored with school. Whilst it was true that he'd worked the system there to his advantage, he'd still become a big fish in a very small pond, and he'd been feeling the restrictions of it. Now, he knew full well that he was a tiny fish in an ocean, but he had a lot of growing to do yet. "And yes - I have another tattoo, here," he said, placing a hand over the right side of his chest.
"I was in Paris." she told him. "I hope you didn't see too much action." she told him. Though if he had, she'd be fascinated to find out what it was, to get the details of it. She'd gotten quite a lot of details from people going through the city when she'd been at school, and she'd volunteered at a hospital just to see the horrors that the war was producing. "I volunteered at a hospital while I was there, and the only word I can use to describe it is 'gruesome'." Truthfully, it was 'fascinating' but that wouldn't go over so well at the moment. "May I see it?" she asked, eyes leaving his to rest on his chest where he'd indicated.
"No, I didn't see much action. My school was way up in the hills. Middle of nowhere type place. The war basically passed us by - or it was doing," Until his mother had decided one summer that she couldn't send her boy back to what she considered to be a war-torn continent. But at least he hadn't had to endure another sea crossing to get back there again. there were positives all round. "I had a few friends who ran off to enlist though," he added, as he unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it open to reveal the tattoo, a black cross - somewhere between celtic and roman in design. "Paris must have been hard - so much more in the thick of it all. Did you make a good nurse?" he asked her.
Arienne didn't look back up at him as she eyed the cross on his chest. This one wasn't nearly so interesting as the one on his arm, even if it was aesthetically pleasing. Still, in a deliberate move, she reached out to touch it, very lightly grazing her fingers along the lines of it. "I was told I made quite a good nurse." she confirmed for him. Then she ticked her gaze back up to his, fingertips still against his skin. "I like it." she told him. "I like both of them." she added. Then she slid her gaze away, as if considering something for a few moments. "I have none of my own to show off. However, if I were of a mind to mark myself, it would have to be over a special occasion. Something that really meant something to me, as it were." Then she looked back at him, though it was through her eyelashes, head ducked the tiniest bit just so she could effect that image for him. "And I would actually prefer something more like a brand, than a tattoo." she admitted. Which was the truth, really, though she'd never uttered it before. Right now, she said it more to see how he might react than anything else, however.
She caught his full attention with that, to the exclusion of everything else, and anything he possibly would have said went out from his mind. "A brand?" he asked, sounding interested. There was something... yeah, definitely interesting about that idea, that thought. "That's... Why a brand?" he asked her, obviously engaged with this idea, looking at her, his eyes ever so slightly wider than a moment ago.
Now, normally, she would have imagined the sentiment would have gotten laughed off, in which case she would have laughed with and said she was teasing. However, that wasn't the reaction she got. And she watched him for a good long moment, assessing the situation, assessing him. And she had to wonder if she'd truly caught his attention now, where as before he'd just been playing her for whatever reason. Possibly boredom. He didn't look bored now, though. That encouraged her enough, and she shifted closer, voice lowering a little, just for him--even if they weren't going to get overheard by anyone in their current circumstances. "I find ritualistic scarification fascinating." Arienne told him. "I've seen people in the process, and the healing stages. There was a parlor up the street where I was staying in France that performed it. At first I was admittedly, a little..." she paused, as if searching for a word even if she had one in mind. "Nervous." she landed on, though her expression dictated that she knew it wasn't the right word, exactly. "Some of that produces quite a lot of blood. But the people who go through with it..." she smiled faintly. "It's riveting. You've got to be committed. And there's something about that, the entire process, the pain, the art...it's just so..." she paused, searching for a word again, and when she found it, she pressed ever so slightly closer to him, then stayed where she was. "Magnetic." She watched his eyes, paid attention to every detail, because at the moment she'd dropped into full truth, and she wanted to know how he was going to deal with it. They'd most certainly exited the realms of a simple boring play on one another.
She had him then, in that moment. Nate could usually predict how things were going to go, when dealing with anyone, he made plans for eventualities, how he'd treat people, how he'd react, the ways they could react, figuring things out, predicting moves. Everything was carefully plotted and set out. And sure, he could, would and did go with the flow and was highly adaptable – after all, nothing could be entirely predicted - but some things were just completely off the charts. This was one of them and for a moment all his walls just dropped. He wasn't sure if he was horrified, or fascinated or somewhere in between, but she definitely had him hooked. "Yeah?" he managed, seemingly unaware that he was still sitting there, his shirt undone as they neared the top of the wheel, the city laid out below them, lights in the darkness.
Ari didn't turn to look at the view either, eyes fully locked in on his. She could see she'd knocked him off stride. That the sort of smooth exterior he'd been flawlessly projecting this whole time had been pushed back and she'd shocked him into something else. Though right now what she could clearly see was interest. In fact, she adored the look in his eyes right then, she saved it. She was already in close, but she remainded there, and merely slid her hand over his tattoo on his chest, making sure that the fact that she was touching him during all of this was still clear. What she had to say wasn't hard, she just drew the truth from herself, a part of her relishing the fact that she was getting to say such things aloud, and the passion for it she did have naturally rose to the surface. At his question, she nodded, a single incline of her head. "Yes." she told him. "It isn't an easy undertaking. It doesn't come about from a few hours sat on a chair with someone with a pen and ink. There's more to it, far more. There's depth. If you're going to do something of that nature, it takes a lot from you. It takes willpower and endurance, it takes true, full, uninhibited abandonment to it." By the time she finished, her voice was hushed.
Nate swallowed, his head buzzing as he listened to her talk. Her touch against his chest, the tone of her voice, none of it was helping the associations that were springing to mind right now, as he kept the horrified, but couldn't rid himself of the fascination part either. There was something forbidden about that and he'd always found the idea of the forbidden attractive. And talking about it like a challenge only made him more interested. Maybe not in having it done, but in finding out more, ideas opening up before him, new paths. It was all so.... He didn't know what. He didn’t think that, right now, he had the words to describe the sudden feeling, he could almost imagine the process, the pain and the blood, the idea of it – and the thought that someone would willingly put themselves through that, what was, under any other circumstance, nothing but torture. Definitely, there was something attractive about that, and yet this girl – who he’d so easily written off as silly – seemed unfazed by it, possibly as attracted to it as he realised that he was.
Arienne could quite clearly see she was having an affect, and a heavy one at that. She watched him swallow, saw his mind start going a mile a minute, or that was what it looked like. That was the kind of reaction that she found surprising but compelling, in quite the overbearing manner. In those moments she was just as facsinated with his reaction to what she was saying as the subject matter itself, seeing him in a different light as well. "I learned quite a bit about it." she continued, voice even softer, no chance anyone even a foot away might hear them, regardless of the fact that no one else was anywhere near. Still, it was just for his ears and she wanted him to know that, even if it was on a subconscious level. "The man who owned the parlor allowed me to come in and sit in on sessions. Watch." she continued. "So long as people agreed, and quite often they enjoyed the fact that there was a witness to this undertaking. They wanted someone there to share in the experience." She brushed her thumb over his chest a little. "It's intimate, in a way. I don't think anyone could really describe it unless they'd been through it, or witnessed the process."
The world outside the car might have gone away, but he was overly aware of just how close she was, the feel of her thumb brushing against his skin, and the tone of her voice and the way it softened, the way she leaned in like that. "What kind of things did they have done?" he asked, after a moment, his eyes fixed on her face, hanging on her every word, all his usual games out for now, leaving just raw Nate behind.
"That's part of the fascination." Ari told him, by now actually eager to keep talking about all of this. Drawn into it all, almost like their own world, perhaps. "There are all sorts of different methods." she told him. "There are burning brands, like I mentioned. There are techniques that involve incisions into the skin, slicing through a little, cutting out a design." she continued, and, mostly to see what he might do, and not curbing her own real desire to do it, she let her nails run over his skin just a touch. It wasn't hard, nothing of the sort, but she wanted him to feel them, to illustrate her point. "Some actually have themselves skinned in specific patterns. Others have things inserted under the skin, to heal the objects in, there's a wide array of differing techniques, and each is purely unique for each person. I'm drawn in by that as well. With tattoos, it's all the same thing, all the same process. With Scarification, it's a vast spectrum, and nothing ever being the same for anyone."
He let out a little breath, almost a gasp as she ran her nails over his skin at just the right moment. And that brought him back to himself a little as he realised how he was acting. He didn't act like this, for anything. Even if something did fascinate him, he was never this overt, giving himself over and making himself vulnerable like this, leaving him feeling dazed and slightly drunk. He sat up slightly more, brushing against her hair a little with the arm he’d laid against the back of the car. The expression on his face didn't change, but some of the glaze went from his eyes. "And you were thinking about branding?" he asked her.
She saw the change, felt it, really, but what it did for her was confirmed the fact that she had had him there for a moment. For a little while she'd gotten his full attention, his full interest, and she had actually enjoyed every second of it. Arienne didn't find a whole lot of joy in things of that nature, a lot of it came easy to her, but considering she knew Nate to be a player himself, someone who manipulated likely a lot like she did, it was intense and satisfying. Plus, there was that moment she felt almost...connected. From here on out her plans were altered. She wasn't just going to distract herself with his presense for a little while, she was going to spend more time with him. She wanted to explore this angle, and while it would likely be tricky to pull it off, considering who he happened to be, she would find a way. She would find it a driving need. People like the two of them were the types where a lot of things did not filter through, not like it did for others. So, with her idea that this had, she very much wanted to pursue it. She was pleased, intensely so. Some of that clearly showed through in her gaze, a brightness, an interest that had been on the rise as she'd been speaking to him about it all, and she let him see it, clearly. "That's what I was thinking." she confirmed for him. Then she reached up, drawing her hair away from the back of her neck. "Here." she said, shifting so he could see where she was indicating. She traced a little circle along her spine.
Some of the act was gone now, the front that he always put up. It would just feel too fake, slamming it back up again, and then she'd know it was fake and somehow that would spoil everything. Plus, he was still feeling a little off-balance. She'd managed to surprise him, and catch his interest with something he'd never even come close to considering before. He still didn't know what to think there. He let her go as she moved her hair to one side, and he shifted his hand up to her neck and touched the skin there. "What would you have... marked?" he asked, guessing that was as good a word as any, if not the proper one.
Tilting her head to the side, Arienne sighed lightly. "That's part of why I haven't gone through with it yet. I don't know what I would get done." she admitted, shifting again to turn back towards him. "It's not a decision to take lightly, of course. There are other things to consider as well. Part of what makes the entire process so intense is one never knows how one will heal. It could wind up being nothing more than an ugly mark on my skin, not a beautiful design." she told him. However, her tone indicated that the possibility that it could go wrong wasn't nearly enough to deter her interest in undergoing the process.
He nodded, thoughtfully. “Very true – and scar tissue’s not going to go away. What works best?” he asked her, still contemplating matters – and finding himself deferring to her without a second thought on this matter, since she clearly knew more about things than he did. “I would imagine – a simple design, something obvious, clear, not too many details... But I really have no idea what I’m talking about,” he told her, with a small shake of his head and an almost depreciative laugh. It was real. And honest. He'd get over that sooner or later though. He'd have to, he knew. Being honest was a dangerous game.
Arienne smiled at him, and it was genuine, even if that was rare for her and she moved back to being close to him. There were parts of her that scarcely believe she was in the position she was in just now. Him there, talking about all of this with not only candor but with a real interest reciprocated. "With just about any scarification, it's got to be fairly simple. If you too finely detailed, just simple healing may ruin it. Plus, the healing itself is imprecise. It's never going to be perfect, like a tattoo can be. The person doing the scaring for you isn't making the art. You do, with however you heal. So yes, very simple, and I know with brandings, it's usually done in small pieces. It would need to be done over a period of time, it isn't like cattle branding. Or, what I've seen wasn't like that."
As much as his attention was on her, Nate became aware that they were descending, coming back down to earth, and he paused and drew back, buttoning up his shirt once again.
There was more to this than he'd first realised, that much was clear. Just as clear as the knowledge that he'd be looking this up as soon as he had a free moment. He couldn't let something that had caught his interest like this just drift away. "Would you be willing to tell me more?" he asked her. "Not now – since this is hardly the place.” Especially given who they both were. “But another time. I'd be - interested - in finding out more." Like that wasn't already stunningly obvious from his initial reaction or anything.
She was disappointed the ride was coming to an end, and that gave her pause. However, it gave her her answer as well. "I would love to." she told him, giving him a smile again, and pulled that gaze through her eyelashes thing again. It was something she wanted to express. "I haven't discussed this with anyone." she admitted to him, again with that grain of truth to it. "It's...rather an odd sort of thing to be interested in in the first place. I know if others knew, they would likely consider me something of a freak. I would prefer not to have that connotation attached to myself." she told him. "Though, I fully admit to truly appreciating the idea of someone to share it with." she told him, voice softening again. Even if it meant they were going to have to get creative, because she was aware of who he was, and she wasn't positive he had clocked her, but it would be an issue. They wouldn't be able to share anything if either one of them were 'caught' as it were. Therefore her interest in keeping him from getting into trouble was just as valid as her own.
"I won't tell," he promised her with utmost sincerity. Well, almost utmost sincerity. Nate didn’t actually know how to be completely sincere – or, if he did, he hadn’t found that yet. Everything had its price, and its usage. And whilst he had no intention of shopping the DiGiovanni girl - Arienne - who knew what would be needed in the future. “And I would appreciate it if you did the same. Though I actually think it would be good for both of us if word didn’t get out about this,” he said, his first indication that he did, in fact, know who she was.
She nodded, getting what he was saying without coming out with it, but there was a knowing sort of expression on her face. "Agreed." she told him. "It would cause complications." She knew too, and she rather hoped he picked up on the fact that she hadn't been ignorant this entire time. She was, however, under the distinct impression that her coming to the boardwalk tonight had been wholly worth it, in ways she'd never have imagined.
"It could make life interesting," he told her, with a slight emphasis on the word. In a great many ways, it could make things interesting. And complicated. And definitely challenging. But Nate did so love a challenge, and this promised to be the biggest one yet. that in itself was a rush, without taking into account what she could bring to the table. He'd been wrong before, she was far more than just another girl.
"It could." Arienne said, giving him another smile as she took hold of her tiger, and stepped off of the ride as they were let off. "Do you have any recommendations as to how we might get around certain obstacles?" she asked, starting to stroll back out into the crowd, tiger held in both arms. Her own mind was ticking over the possibilities, but she didn't know enough about his life at the moment to judge what might be prudent, and what could also work within their social constraints.
"Well, the most obvious would be if I gave you my locker number," he suggested, keeping pace with her, close, but not touching. He spoke lightly, wondering absently if she would be able to find it out if he didn't give it to her. That was actually a question he'd be interesting in finding out the answer to. It would tell him something about her, though he doubted it would be too much of a challenge. Aside from discovering it without the wrong people knowing that a DiGiovanni was asking around after a Konovich for reasons other than to cause pain and suffering. Though, of course, considering what they'd been talking about, from some perspectives... he twitched a smile to himself at the thought as they walked, and then wondered where exactly he was going with that thought, since with it, their prior conversation had moved a whole lot more personal in his head. He pushed that away a little, deciding that that was only to be expected. The subject had piqued his interest, and he didn't know what he didn't know right now. It was purely curiosity.
"You could do that." Arienne agreed, mind still ticking over things. "Or it's possible we could both happen by the library at a certain time." she said. "The city library, not the school one." she added, because for her, she though the less people could actively draw parallells between them the better. So if they both just happened to be in someplace normal but unconnected, it could work for them.
"It all depends what the intention is," he pointed out, conversationally, keeping his tone like that so that to anyone passing by they would look like they were having no more than a casual conversation. "One could be used to organise the other. Though both of them lack a certain amount of privacy." Which was something he was unhappy with, and not just because he really couldn't be seen with her after tonight. Even if that wasn't factored in, the things they would be talking about were hardly the kind of things that leant themselves to public conversation.
"I was imagining that there are sections of the library that don't cater to much foot traffic." she said, thinking of the burned out section. That was actually off limits, technically. And while it wasn't perfect, it might be able to do for now. "However if you have a better suggestion." she put out there, trailing off as she watched him out of the corner of her eye.
"Give me some time," he promised - and there was more in that than him not having any ideas. that wasn't how he meant it at all. For Nate, with his tendencies towards being impulsive for all his love of manipulating and playing, saying that he would think about things meant that he was putting more into it. It meant that it was more important to him.
"Then I shall be waiting for something." Arienne said, nodding as she confirmed that he was being given time. She smiled at him, a soft expression, though at this point there was more of a play to it considering she was keeping up appearances. There was a genuine undertone to it, because she'd enjoyed this encounter and all, but they were in public, and this was likely the last time they were going to be allowed to indulge in that. At least, in the near future. Depending on how things went, if he ever did set something up and proved that she hadn't misinterpreted things between them, she'd think of better ways to continue on things. But first, there needed to be an iniatiation of second contact. And she'd work from there.
He nodded slightly, taking this in as they walked. It was a few minutes, where he seemed to be just enjoying the night time stroll - not paying as much attention to the crowds as he actually was. Not at all that he was checking to see if anyone had taken note, which they hadn't, before he asked her, "Does it bother you? That people won't approve?"
Arienne smiled. She looked at him, a secrative bent to her expression. "I could ask you of which you are speaking, our topic of conversation on the ferris wheel, or the fact that you're the child of what could be considered my family's enemy." she said, voice low, so it didn't carry whatsoever. "But the answer would be the same." she continued. "No. It will not in any way bother me that people won't approve. I do not exist for anyone's approval but my own. And regarless of what others may think, I venture to say it doesn't matter, nor would they understand. It's of no consequence, in my opinion." she informed him. "The only reason I would keep to secrecy is the idea that it may cause friction neither of us need at this current juncture, and it may interfere with plans I have for the long term. Therefore, for now, I am aware that even if I will be unbothered by such things, there are protocols to observe." She kept her eyes on him. "Does it bother you?"
Nate smirked a little. "I think it could be looked at as being rather more than a 'consideration'." True, he didn't know how the larger DiGiovanni family considered his own, or his step-father's organisation, but he did know that in his own circles, her family and their organisation were the devil, or worse. The Syndicate would probably rather deal with the devil. "But no, it doesn't bother me." Though he valued his neck enough to want to keep it a secret. "You're not at all what you seem, are you?" he asked, though there wasn't much question in his tone.
"It's possible I have a tendency towards understatement." Arienne conceeded, with a touch of a wicked edged smile for just a heartbeat. It was true, her family would actually probably prefer her to drink poison than go anywhere with the likes of him, but she wasn't going to be following that line of thought. And they didn't need to know. At his question, she shook her head, a bare little bit. "No, I'm not." she told him. Which was pure truth in that moment. She wasn't. She worked very hard to be certain no one was the wiser, that the front she put up stood firm. "But then neither are you." she concluded. "You're not really some dim, pretty face in the hallway, who's only thought is how short the girls skirts are getting and how popular you are."
He raised an eyebrow. "Am I not?" he asked, looking a little surprised at that - which was, of course, the act. He dropped it, mostly, after a moment. "I can be - if that's what's needed. I have been, a lot of the time." It seemed to him that, in life, people expected you to be boring, to follow the herd. Even here, in Eidolon City, where he was a Konovich and a lot of people knew what went with the name. That just meant they put him in with a different kind of herd, and meant he had to play a different part. "What am I then?" he asked her, actually curious for the answer to that one.
Arienne had to give herself a moment to assess the question, and she walked slightly closer to him as she did so. "You're someone who plays the game well." she told him. She never would have known otherwise if the subject hadn't gone a different direction than the norm. Like she was sure she would have been written off as a girl who was just like all the others. "I imagine you're whatever you need to be...?" she asked, a light question at the end to confirm her suspicions. He'd just phrased it like that, so she thought that was the true meaning there.
"It smooths things over," Nate agreed. "And there are certain advantages which come with being underestimated." He'd certainly never been overestimated, that was for sure. And very few people took his full measure. And he was fine with that. He knew he measured up, he knew he was good enough. And the rest of the world - well, if they woke up, if they learned, then it would be too late. He didn't need their advance approval to be able to live his life. He wanted them to know, but he didn't want them warned.
"There very much are." Arienne said, since really, with her entire 'sweet girl' demeanor, she was always underestimated as well. No one would consider her 'calculating' and that was possibly the most prominent part of her. When people didn't expect things from you, it was far easier to pull something over on them. They practically did all the work for you, just by being that naive.
He walked on a few steps before speaking again. "You know, when I first saw you there, it did occur to me that you could have been sent here," he told her, keeping the conversational tone. It was relevant, given that the issue of being underestimated had come up. He'd dismissed the possibility earlier, but then, he'd thought this girl was something very different then.
"That would be valid, if I was possibly valued by my family as more than some bargaining chip." Arienne said, and a little of her true feelings on that matter leaked through, she let him hear it. "Which as of yet I am not. I've had several dinners so far with potential 'husbands' that they think will be socially and politically sound for me to be attached to." she told him. "No one has asked me for my opinion on these matters or if I have ambitions of my own."
"Which you do," Nate said, not bothering to make that into any kind of a question. The way she'd been talking since their little 'moment', his little slip. Well, they'd both slipped a bit He saw her now, he could see who she was - and a girl like this wouldn't settle for being kept like a pet and brought out for social occasions. "Though, with the right match, you could use it," he pointed out, being practical about things there.
"I'm aware." Arienne agreed. "But I have grander designs than to be a pawn, or even a queen." she said. "And I definitely don't want to do it on some oaf's arm just because he has the right business connections for my father. Not a single one of them so far has been even mildly interesting, and none of them have taken anything but a physical interest in me." Not that she'd catered to any of that--Arienne as a matter of fact found it nearly impossible to genuinely feel attraction to anyone, and she hid behind the stigma of females being required to be virgins on their wedding night to keep them at bay.
"Yes, I can very much believe that," Nate said, looking over at her, thoughtfully and assessingly. "Though, somehow I think if you did make a move like that - if someone thought that you were just there to be on their arm, one day they'd wake up, look back and find out that it was the other way around." He was saying, of course, that she would use people. He just did meant it as a compliment.
"Oh, I'm fairly certain that people won't know what hit them at all." Arienne said, smiling at him. "Unless I want them to." she finished. "But it's all a careful play, isn't it. Most people just don't know how to. And that's the reality of things for me. I don't want to be a chess piece--I want to be the player."
No, she really wasn't at all what she seemed, but Nate made the mental adjustment readily. He was an adaptable type of person when he needed to be. "You're very subtle," he told her, giving her another compliment - or, rather, a comment which she would take as a compliment. "I would imagine that most people really don't see that." He did now, and he saw their early conversation in a different light as a result. The little things that had been meant to draw him in - on this girl, no, they had been purposeful, not meant at all. Not the instinctual little moves, they had been something else entirely. Now he'd seen the real deal, he could tell the difference on her. Still, she was good, she was very good. "You'll be whatever you want to be," he surmised, with confidence.
"That's the idea." she said. "I don't know why people go for such over the top measures so often." she said, shaking her head slightly. "Though those people have their uses." she added. "They make my existence much easier." She kept walking. "What about yourself?" she asked. "Do you just want to be muscle, some knee breaker, or do you have higher designs?"
Nate raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think I'm muscle or a knee breaker at all?" he asked her, though he didn't deny one or the other, though really, neither was true. Sure, he was entry level in the Syndicate, but there were pathways, and his wasn't standing back and looking intimidating. There were guys with more bulk for that. He could more than hold his own in a fight, but he was also expected to have a brain. His question to her though was said with the faux-innocent tone that was employed to deny that he was involved in his family's business at all, though he wasn't attempting to lie to her, rather quietly challenging her assumption, and not falling for giving more with an answer than was actually asked with the question.
"I asked if it was what you wanted to be, not that you were." Arienne said. "But if you don't want to answer the question..." she trailed off. She could find out on her own. Or, she could try to. And, she would be trying to, that much she knew. She'd be trying to find out everything she could on one Nathaniel Konovich. She didn't mind putting in the time to research him as much as she could, and she imagined he'd be doing the same to her. Or, if he was wise, he would.
Nate inclined his head slightly, respecting the clarification and accepting it. "Not, that's not where I intend to end up, or what I intend to end up as. It's not really... me," he told her, a smile playing over his lips.
"So what is you?" Arienne asked, watching that little smile on his face, and she didn't imagine he'd tell her. But maybe he'd give her something. For now, his ambitions were a curiosity, though she would have to try and assess if bringing harm to her would further them along for him. Just because she was enjoying herself and wanted to see him again didn't mean she wasn't aware of the inherent danger of it all.
That question wasn't easy to answer. For Nate, what he was was more difficult than what he wasn't. He knew what he wasn't - but he had yet to define what he was more than some woolly notion that he was going to be Someone. He had ambition, he had ambition in spades. he was going to make something of himself and that was going to be within the Syndicate. But, if he was asked to be specific - he didn't know. he didn't have a specific end goal, a position which he wanted. Syndicate structure could be messy at times, and it was still a fairly young organisation in the city. Some days he considered that he could take over it all, run the whole thing. He could do that, he knew - he was confident that he had the ability. But how to get there, that path. Plus he'd have to challenge the only father figure he'd ever had. Not that that was entirely a problem for him, of course, and it would definitely achieve the goal he definitely did have in his sights. To show the man. To prove that he, Nate, was right - and that the rest of the world was wrong.
Taking in his silence on the matter, Arienne let him have it for a long while, just walking with him in a slow, lazy sort of manner. "As yet to be determined?" she asked. "Since it's already been established that you are whoever you need to be?" she suggested. "I accept a non-answer." she told him. after all, she could keep digging at things, trying to find out the answer, even if it was true that he didn't know what it was yet. He could know, or he could just not be saying, there were a lot of possibilities. "Perhaps it's a discussion for another time."
"Yeah, another time," Nate agreed. She'd been very open about the fact that she didn't want to be what her family expected her to be, but Nate was a little more reticent with his feelings in that vein. He didn't want to admit that he didn't have everything planned out, and he certainly didn't want to get into the fact he felt he had something to prove to his father. That... Well, if that wasn't explained properly, it could be viewed as a weakness, if one was looking for areas to exploit. It wasn't, as far as Nate was concerned. There were no fluffy feelings there, no keen puppylike tendencies, or some fatherless child looking to a stepfather for approval and acceptance. Nate wanted to prove himself to Konovich, but not to get a pat on the head. He wanted to prove himself because he didn't like the man's arrogant assumption that Nate was no good. Because the guy was wrong. Nate wasn't after approval - what he was after was more akin to vengeance. "There are options which I'm still considering," he admitted to her, not wanting to cut her out entirely.
"Well, should you happen to want a second opinion on such matters, I would be open to discussion." she said. She didn't come right out and say she'd help, that would just be silly. But she had to admit to herself that it would be intriguing. Or it could be, depending. It had potential. But then if their encounter managed to spawn anything it could be intriguing. It certainly wouldn't be boring, which was something she was battling lately. So little truly held her attention these days.
"I'll bear that in mind," he said, neutrally. He wouldn't make a commitment one way or another. And he was very aware that she was a daughter of his father's business' main enemy. And whilst he had a point to prove, he had no intentions of betraying the business. And if he betrayed his father, it would be within the Syndicate, for his own gain and position within that organisation. He wasn't going to become a turncoat, for anyone, though he appreciated that she hadn't asked him to be. Which was all for the good, since that would be an end to things, here and now. As far as he was concerned, this arrangement, if it was to go forward, would only work if they kept their families out of it.
She nodded. "So are we planning on arranging a second meeting, or should I just wait to see if it occurs?" she asked. She was aware they should probably stop walking around in plain view. She supposed they could go on a ride again, or the tunnel of love or somesuch, but there was only so much they could get away with at current. And while she wanted to continue the conversation it seemed to have reached a point where there was little being said on his end, therefore she imagined it was time to depart.
Nate considered that. It would probably be more sensible to wait, to be cautious, to see if there was any fall out from this. However Nate was impulsive by nature, and he didn't want to wait. he wanted to see this girl again. He wanted to make sure she knew that. he wanted to progress things, to find out more about what they'd talked about. There was an impatience about the whole thing that only came when he was really driven by something. He knew he wouldn't be able to rest until it was satisfied. He couldn't let this one go. "Are you expected to be anywhere tomorrow afternoon, after school?" he asked her.
Arienne shook her head. "Nowhere that can't be postponed." she said. She didn't have anything solidly planned, though her days and nights were generally filled up by her parents and ridiculous little things they wanted her to do. But she could refuse, of course, and she didn't have anything specific set in front of her at the moment. She was pleased, however, that he wanted to see her again. And that he wanted it to be soon, at that.
"Then I'll meet you there," he confirmed. In fact, he was thinking that he'd be there earlier than the end of school, though that wasn't because he couldn't wait to meet her. Not, that was because now he had research to do. He wanted to find out all her could, both about her, and about what they'd been talking of. But, well, he could cut classes tomorrow, even if he wouldn't ask her to. Their meeting would be risking quite enough without adding in the possibility that people could be looking for them both for not being where they were supposed to be.
"I'll be there then." Arienne said. "Goodnight, Nathaniel. Thank you for the prize." she said, even if what she really meant was for the company and all, which was fairly clear in her tone. She smiled at him, and then drifted off into the crowd, letting herself get lost in it immediately, even if she had no intentions of sticking around now that she'd met him. She had a lot to think about, and it wasn't getting done with putting up with any other distractions.