Once upon a time, in a far away land...
The salt and wind were playing a little game; as the steadfast breeze pulled even at the dark strands of hair secured on the nape of her neck, the salt left its kiss along her lips. The small sailboat was picking up speed as the day's perfect conditions seemed to want to help show off the crafts capabilities...not only the capabilities of her captain. As the boat leapt proudly against a white crested swell, Isuelt turned her chin away from the wind coming at her and looked upon the form of the man at the wheel and tiller. His flaxen hair shone in the sun like fine silk sheets, and his impressive form looked as if it wanted to break free from the leather and fabric that the wind saw fit to plaster against his skin. Scorpion Wraitharan always looked different out here on the ocean. He looked more at home, calmer, happier. His sharp jaw jutted out to meet the force of air as his beloved boat pushed further, faster. A grin, glinting like the bright sun, nearly split his face in two. He was in his element, that was certain. And as Isuelt watched the joy in his face from her spot way up near the pulpit, she couldn't help but smile at him. He didn't seem like the crime lord he was, nor did he seem like the master criminal who would do whatever it took to further himself or his Wolfpack. Scorp seemed like a man at peace with the world and himself. Just him, his boat, the sea and his gypsy. And in that small moment, with only a fraction of imagination, it seemed as if that was enough.
For reasons she would only understand years later, this pulled at her heart and nearly made her steely composure crack. Back when life was simple, back when things seemed easier. In fact it isn't often until we are plated with more than we can handle do we finally realize how easy we had it all along.
"There!" Scorp bellowed and pointed off the starboard bow and that finally had Isuelt coming out of her reverie to twist her attention to see where he meant. A small land mass, barely a mile wide, just jutting out of the sea enough to be visible. "See, Iz? What I tell ya?" Isuelt could hear his heavy, guttural laugh; the same one that always made her a little weak in the knees.
"Okay, okay. So what? You're right. There's a thing called 'once in a blue moon' too ya know!" She yelled back at him, her own grin brimming to the edges of her cheeks. This was a good day. There had been one hell of heist not two days ago that had the Pack swimming in enough loot to finance the rest of their year comfortably. And Scorp had just secured an arrangement with Vanderwall Industries for a sizable cut of all of Metro's shipyard profits and weapons trade. There ought to be a law against how easy it was for some people to steal money, though Scorp would probably just break that one, too.
The boom came around and the main sail turned slack only to push against the wind as it swung in its new direction, effectively slowing the boat as Scorp steered his craft into the graceful slow-down into the carved out cove. It was a few moments before he felt confident enough in the reduced speed and wind to drop anchor and as he did so, he straightened up and shook his ponytail over his shoulder. "I-Max! Strip!" The confident swagger of a man so used to getting what he wanted was a noxious cocktail in and of itself. And Scorpion Wraitharan exuded such confidence. His smirk and posture were proof enough as he let his eyes rake over 'his gypsy.'
Isuelt sat on the deck of the boat, her long legs dangling over the side as she straddled a bar on the bow. She shook her head to him as she looked back and took a seductive lean against her elbows, effectively reclining onto the deck like a pro. "What's that? I can't hear you." She chuckled and the sparkle of her mood threatened to deaden the sunlight's glow as it danced off the water.
Scorp's thickly muscled arms folded over his chest and he started toward her, "I said...strip." Damn him, Isuelt thought, his smile was infectious. "Can't have ya jumpin' overboard and givin' those leathers of yours the salt treatment." He stopped just next to her shoulder and squatted beside her to reach out and push a stray tendril of hair from her cheekbone. Scorp's voice quieted in this close proximity as he reached behind her head and pulled her hair free from its fastening. "Besides, you know I love getting you naked."
Narrowing her lashes, her voice strained to whither and still be heard above the waves lapping at the boat, "You first, big man." Her chin lifted seductively as she dared Metro's biggest crime boss. Not to be outdone, he stole a kiss from her. Long, deep and slow, he finally left his gypsy and stood up. Him first, indeed. Scorp unbuckled his vest and left it draped over a small, neatly piled measure of rope. This was followed by his cotton shirt and leather breeches. His boots, like Isuelt's had been abandoned at the beginning of their journey and were stashed below deck in the small cabin.
"Fine. Have it your way. Feast your eyes." He flexed for a moment before flashing her a smile and diving overboard. He always did have a way of getting that last word in. Isuelt jumped from her languid position and leaned far over the railing to only see the water marginally disturbed by his impact. Scorp surfaced not far from the boat, waving an arm to her, "Hurry up, fat @ss!" And with that rogue's grin once more securely in place, he began the short swim to the minute island's shore.
Barking out a laugh in spite of herself, Isuelt tugged at her belt and shimmied out of her pants. The unlacing of her corset was quicker and cleaner than the usual seductive tugging of laces that led to one of their bedroom romps. Her bare feet kicked at her pile of clothing, pushing it further into Scorp's discarded articles in an attempt to hide them from any wayward winds. Isuelt climbed up on the railing and dove into the gently breaking waves beside the boat. The cold waters immediately latched onto her, waking her into a state of awareness as she surfaced. Spitting out a small mouthful of salt water, she kicked her strong legs and endeavored to make up the difference between her and Scorp. He was a strong swimmer, as most sailors are, but she was better, as most island dwellers are. And before they were able to stand and run to the dry sand, Isuelt had passed him. Of course, she had to taunt him as her toes were first to squish the warm, arid sand between them.
Walking backwards now, the sun in her eyes, she pointed to Scorp and laughed. "You're gettin' sloppy, old man!" Scorp's legs picked up with speed as he charged at her. "Too much stroke and not enough p--oomph!" He plowed right into Isuelt, tackling her into the sand. Rolling more than wrestling, the couple came to rest in the cradle of the white beach.
"S'the way I planned it. I wanted to watch you from behind." His eyebrows lifted in that sort of mischievous way when he knew he was about to get his way.
"Sure ya did." She indulged him, however, just as she always did and wrapped her arms around his neck.
Scorp and Isuelt passed the afternoon in the sand, back in the water, back in the sand and finally utterly spent, they reclined in each others' arms before a small fire that they'd made. There was no need for clothes in the middle of summer, the air was as gentle and temperate as if they'd ordered it from the gods themselves. The couple stayed wrapped together for a long while, watching the flames dance before the setting sun. There was a comfortable silence around them that was never present during their time in Metro. Back home there were contracts to be signed, jobs to be managed, marks to be exterminated, money to be made and a host of allies to direct. The Power Behind The Pack, as they were called, never got this sort of simple time to themselves. And they were making the most of it.
"Do you ever think that we'd be different people if we weren't...." Isuelt's voice was little more than a whisper against Scorp's skin. "Weren't in Metro?" She felt the hand that had been stroking her hair for the last half hour pause briefly. She could also feel the slight movement in his throat and chest that told her he was looking at her. "What if we lived here?" Isuelt knew that Scorp was concentrating on her now as his hand stilled its motion completely. She kept her eyes on the flames however. She knew her words were childish, selfish and completely outlandish. What was worse, she knew that he knew she knew. Still, she had pushed those words past her tongue as she had wanted to do so much earlier in the day.
"Isuelt," he used her formal name, which he almost never did. The sound of her syllables on his tongue made her shiver and hold him tighter. She already knew what he was going to say. "You know that there is nothing more in this world that I would love better than to get back on that boat with you and sail to a place where no one knows us or what we are or what we've done. Where it's just you and me, in a place like this and simply...well, just live. But I..." She could feel his head shaking and she wanted to cut him off.
"I know. I know. We've got too many irons in the fire. And frankly, Metro would fall apart without us. The judges would be the ones deciding outcomes and the politicians would be the ones getting away with murder instead of us." Isuelt's lips tweaked into a smile as she lifted her head and propped it on his chest so she could study his face. "You're a king there. A king without a royal name or a crown, but you run that city, Scorp, and everyone knows it. I...I'd never ask you to leave," she shook her own head lightly, "I...I don't know what came over me. Your stupid charm I guess." She grinned and rubbed her hip against him briefly.
Scorp's hand that had been stroking her hair came now to grip a fistful of her dark tresses to force his point home. He sat up lightly and made sure that his gaze was leveled directly on her. "Isuelt DeRomiano, if you really believed that, you'd stay as my queen and not go running off every time something happened to spook you like a god damned cat." Their playful lovers' banter had taken a decidedly serious turn. He sighed heavily. "Frankly, I'm sick of it. Just when I think we're making headway, you bolt out the damned door for who knows how long and who knows where! What the hell are you doing that for? You have fun toying with my emotions? You think it's funny?"
She placed a hand on his chest and pushed herself up, "No...no, I don't think it's funny."
"Then why the hell do you do it? You think I'm always going to be sitting around waiting for you? Every time you decided to come on home? Huh?"
"It's either that or wondering who will be in your bed and whose panties I have to peel off of my side of the bed!" Their voices were escalating into their usual show of emotional force. Fights between these two were near epic.
"You don't have a side of the bed! You give that up every time you run off!" He sat up now and she matched his posture.
"Well maybe if you wouldn't make it such a trial for me to find you in your thicket of trashy women when I get back into town, I'd stick around for longer than a season without wondering what the hell I was going to catch!"
"Oh get off of it! You had absolutely no illusions about me when you met me. And I you, Mrs. DeRomiano. Please, neither one of us are innocent angels, far f*cking from it! What's your problem, Issy? What the f*ck is wrong with you? You go running off like a scared little girl and I know that you've never been scared of one damned thing in your life!"
"Well, maybe I am scared! Maybe I'm scared that if I really do fall for you and we get married and live happily f*cking ever after that you'll leave like everyone else! So I'm just beating you to the damned punch you idiot! Because there has been nothing in my sh*t life that has been given to me and not taken back in an explosion of blood, fire and pain! And I will be goddess damned sure that you won't be one of them!" The worlds jumping from her sharp tongue finally slowed down enough for her own ears to hear them. They left her with a breath caught in her throat and a sick, sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.
The two just stared at each other in the dying sunlight, breathless and amazed by what had surfaced. Without another word, Scorp reached out and grabbed onto Isuelt, pulling her tightly into him. His thick arms held on to her like she had nearly fallen off of a cliff. And perhaps she had, for Isuelt's strong fingers gripped him just as tightly and just as desperately. Their nakedness was not only literal in that moment, but figurative. And while it had only scratched at the surface, it was enough to signify that these two people had more to fight for than just money, power and themselves. They wanted to fight for each other.
That night they stayed on the small, secluded island and didn't speak another word. They only took shelter in each others' arms, comforting each other with the warmth of touch rather than flowery words and not letting an ounce of breath pass between them unkissed. Tomorrow would come soon enough. Tonight? Tonight they were different people, in a different place. Tonight they were king and queen of this little piece of earth in the middle of the sea. Tonight they just lived.
The salt and wind were playing a little game; as the steadfast breeze pulled even at the dark strands of hair secured on the nape of her neck, the salt left its kiss along her lips. The small sailboat was picking up speed as the day's perfect conditions seemed to want to help show off the crafts capabilities...not only the capabilities of her captain. As the boat leapt proudly against a white crested swell, Isuelt turned her chin away from the wind coming at her and looked upon the form of the man at the wheel and tiller. His flaxen hair shone in the sun like fine silk sheets, and his impressive form looked as if it wanted to break free from the leather and fabric that the wind saw fit to plaster against his skin. Scorpion Wraitharan always looked different out here on the ocean. He looked more at home, calmer, happier. His sharp jaw jutted out to meet the force of air as his beloved boat pushed further, faster. A grin, glinting like the bright sun, nearly split his face in two. He was in his element, that was certain. And as Isuelt watched the joy in his face from her spot way up near the pulpit, she couldn't help but smile at him. He didn't seem like the crime lord he was, nor did he seem like the master criminal who would do whatever it took to further himself or his Wolfpack. Scorp seemed like a man at peace with the world and himself. Just him, his boat, the sea and his gypsy. And in that small moment, with only a fraction of imagination, it seemed as if that was enough.
For reasons she would only understand years later, this pulled at her heart and nearly made her steely composure crack. Back when life was simple, back when things seemed easier. In fact it isn't often until we are plated with more than we can handle do we finally realize how easy we had it all along.
"There!" Scorp bellowed and pointed off the starboard bow and that finally had Isuelt coming out of her reverie to twist her attention to see where he meant. A small land mass, barely a mile wide, just jutting out of the sea enough to be visible. "See, Iz? What I tell ya?" Isuelt could hear his heavy, guttural laugh; the same one that always made her a little weak in the knees.
"Okay, okay. So what? You're right. There's a thing called 'once in a blue moon' too ya know!" She yelled back at him, her own grin brimming to the edges of her cheeks. This was a good day. There had been one hell of heist not two days ago that had the Pack swimming in enough loot to finance the rest of their year comfortably. And Scorp had just secured an arrangement with Vanderwall Industries for a sizable cut of all of Metro's shipyard profits and weapons trade. There ought to be a law against how easy it was for some people to steal money, though Scorp would probably just break that one, too.
The boom came around and the main sail turned slack only to push against the wind as it swung in its new direction, effectively slowing the boat as Scorp steered his craft into the graceful slow-down into the carved out cove. It was a few moments before he felt confident enough in the reduced speed and wind to drop anchor and as he did so, he straightened up and shook his ponytail over his shoulder. "I-Max! Strip!" The confident swagger of a man so used to getting what he wanted was a noxious cocktail in and of itself. And Scorpion Wraitharan exuded such confidence. His smirk and posture were proof enough as he let his eyes rake over 'his gypsy.'
Isuelt sat on the deck of the boat, her long legs dangling over the side as she straddled a bar on the bow. She shook her head to him as she looked back and took a seductive lean against her elbows, effectively reclining onto the deck like a pro. "What's that? I can't hear you." She chuckled and the sparkle of her mood threatened to deaden the sunlight's glow as it danced off the water.
Scorp's thickly muscled arms folded over his chest and he started toward her, "I said...strip." Damn him, Isuelt thought, his smile was infectious. "Can't have ya jumpin' overboard and givin' those leathers of yours the salt treatment." He stopped just next to her shoulder and squatted beside her to reach out and push a stray tendril of hair from her cheekbone. Scorp's voice quieted in this close proximity as he reached behind her head and pulled her hair free from its fastening. "Besides, you know I love getting you naked."
Narrowing her lashes, her voice strained to whither and still be heard above the waves lapping at the boat, "You first, big man." Her chin lifted seductively as she dared Metro's biggest crime boss. Not to be outdone, he stole a kiss from her. Long, deep and slow, he finally left his gypsy and stood up. Him first, indeed. Scorp unbuckled his vest and left it draped over a small, neatly piled measure of rope. This was followed by his cotton shirt and leather breeches. His boots, like Isuelt's had been abandoned at the beginning of their journey and were stashed below deck in the small cabin.
"Fine. Have it your way. Feast your eyes." He flexed for a moment before flashing her a smile and diving overboard. He always did have a way of getting that last word in. Isuelt jumped from her languid position and leaned far over the railing to only see the water marginally disturbed by his impact. Scorp surfaced not far from the boat, waving an arm to her, "Hurry up, fat @ss!" And with that rogue's grin once more securely in place, he began the short swim to the minute island's shore.
Barking out a laugh in spite of herself, Isuelt tugged at her belt and shimmied out of her pants. The unlacing of her corset was quicker and cleaner than the usual seductive tugging of laces that led to one of their bedroom romps. Her bare feet kicked at her pile of clothing, pushing it further into Scorp's discarded articles in an attempt to hide them from any wayward winds. Isuelt climbed up on the railing and dove into the gently breaking waves beside the boat. The cold waters immediately latched onto her, waking her into a state of awareness as she surfaced. Spitting out a small mouthful of salt water, she kicked her strong legs and endeavored to make up the difference between her and Scorp. He was a strong swimmer, as most sailors are, but she was better, as most island dwellers are. And before they were able to stand and run to the dry sand, Isuelt had passed him. Of course, she had to taunt him as her toes were first to squish the warm, arid sand between them.
Walking backwards now, the sun in her eyes, she pointed to Scorp and laughed. "You're gettin' sloppy, old man!" Scorp's legs picked up with speed as he charged at her. "Too much stroke and not enough p--oomph!" He plowed right into Isuelt, tackling her into the sand. Rolling more than wrestling, the couple came to rest in the cradle of the white beach.
"S'the way I planned it. I wanted to watch you from behind." His eyebrows lifted in that sort of mischievous way when he knew he was about to get his way.
"Sure ya did." She indulged him, however, just as she always did and wrapped her arms around his neck.
Scorp and Isuelt passed the afternoon in the sand, back in the water, back in the sand and finally utterly spent, they reclined in each others' arms before a small fire that they'd made. There was no need for clothes in the middle of summer, the air was as gentle and temperate as if they'd ordered it from the gods themselves. The couple stayed wrapped together for a long while, watching the flames dance before the setting sun. There was a comfortable silence around them that was never present during their time in Metro. Back home there were contracts to be signed, jobs to be managed, marks to be exterminated, money to be made and a host of allies to direct. The Power Behind The Pack, as they were called, never got this sort of simple time to themselves. And they were making the most of it.
"Do you ever think that we'd be different people if we weren't...." Isuelt's voice was little more than a whisper against Scorp's skin. "Weren't in Metro?" She felt the hand that had been stroking her hair for the last half hour pause briefly. She could also feel the slight movement in his throat and chest that told her he was looking at her. "What if we lived here?" Isuelt knew that Scorp was concentrating on her now as his hand stilled its motion completely. She kept her eyes on the flames however. She knew her words were childish, selfish and completely outlandish. What was worse, she knew that he knew she knew. Still, she had pushed those words past her tongue as she had wanted to do so much earlier in the day.
"Isuelt," he used her formal name, which he almost never did. The sound of her syllables on his tongue made her shiver and hold him tighter. She already knew what he was going to say. "You know that there is nothing more in this world that I would love better than to get back on that boat with you and sail to a place where no one knows us or what we are or what we've done. Where it's just you and me, in a place like this and simply...well, just live. But I..." She could feel his head shaking and she wanted to cut him off.
"I know. I know. We've got too many irons in the fire. And frankly, Metro would fall apart without us. The judges would be the ones deciding outcomes and the politicians would be the ones getting away with murder instead of us." Isuelt's lips tweaked into a smile as she lifted her head and propped it on his chest so she could study his face. "You're a king there. A king without a royal name or a crown, but you run that city, Scorp, and everyone knows it. I...I'd never ask you to leave," she shook her own head lightly, "I...I don't know what came over me. Your stupid charm I guess." She grinned and rubbed her hip against him briefly.
Scorp's hand that had been stroking her hair came now to grip a fistful of her dark tresses to force his point home. He sat up lightly and made sure that his gaze was leveled directly on her. "Isuelt DeRomiano, if you really believed that, you'd stay as my queen and not go running off every time something happened to spook you like a god damned cat." Their playful lovers' banter had taken a decidedly serious turn. He sighed heavily. "Frankly, I'm sick of it. Just when I think we're making headway, you bolt out the damned door for who knows how long and who knows where! What the hell are you doing that for? You have fun toying with my emotions? You think it's funny?"
She placed a hand on his chest and pushed herself up, "No...no, I don't think it's funny."
"Then why the hell do you do it? You think I'm always going to be sitting around waiting for you? Every time you decided to come on home? Huh?"
"It's either that or wondering who will be in your bed and whose panties I have to peel off of my side of the bed!" Their voices were escalating into their usual show of emotional force. Fights between these two were near epic.
"You don't have a side of the bed! You give that up every time you run off!" He sat up now and she matched his posture.
"Well maybe if you wouldn't make it such a trial for me to find you in your thicket of trashy women when I get back into town, I'd stick around for longer than a season without wondering what the hell I was going to catch!"
"Oh get off of it! You had absolutely no illusions about me when you met me. And I you, Mrs. DeRomiano. Please, neither one of us are innocent angels, far f*cking from it! What's your problem, Issy? What the f*ck is wrong with you? You go running off like a scared little girl and I know that you've never been scared of one damned thing in your life!"
"Well, maybe I am scared! Maybe I'm scared that if I really do fall for you and we get married and live happily f*cking ever after that you'll leave like everyone else! So I'm just beating you to the damned punch you idiot! Because there has been nothing in my sh*t life that has been given to me and not taken back in an explosion of blood, fire and pain! And I will be goddess damned sure that you won't be one of them!" The worlds jumping from her sharp tongue finally slowed down enough for her own ears to hear them. They left her with a breath caught in her throat and a sick, sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.
The two just stared at each other in the dying sunlight, breathless and amazed by what had surfaced. Without another word, Scorp reached out and grabbed onto Isuelt, pulling her tightly into him. His thick arms held on to her like she had nearly fallen off of a cliff. And perhaps she had, for Isuelt's strong fingers gripped him just as tightly and just as desperately. Their nakedness was not only literal in that moment, but figurative. And while it had only scratched at the surface, it was enough to signify that these two people had more to fight for than just money, power and themselves. They wanted to fight for each other.
That night they stayed on the small, secluded island and didn't speak another word. They only took shelter in each others' arms, comforting each other with the warmth of touch rather than flowery words and not letting an ounce of breath pass between them unkissed. Tomorrow would come soon enough. Tonight? Tonight they were different people, in a different place. Tonight they were king and queen of this little piece of earth in the middle of the sea. Tonight they just lived.