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[nachetanya]

So hypothetically, if you're an atheist (no judgement on people who aren't! ♥) and then learn your magic is the result of divine intervention, does that change things for you?

I happen to be in Enprise, so they can count as a debate!

Oooooor~! I might wander around and anyone can try to steal some coins [ inserted image of twenty weird coins ] from me if they can find me! I was a priness in another life and I'm the only staff member of the Stone Pegasus Casino left in town, so I count as double rich, maybe? Either way, it might be fun to see how daring people can get!

[ Feel free to respond with like action stuff about trying to find her, or have threads lead into that. she's being vague on purpose and moving around. ]

Comments

[breakingvoice]

[Natalia looks dressed much more appropriately for the weather than Lina is. Lina does her best to sneak up closer behind Natalia until she's right there behind her, and she knows she's not slick enough to pull this off perfectly. but that's not going to stop her. it's time to, very, very unsubtly...]

[try to give Natalia a big hug from behind.]

[nachetanya]

[ Her powers are far, far, far too dangerous to use for a silly game like this.

... But that doesn't mean she isn't going to pretend to use them. She hears Lina getting close when she's still a good ten to twenty feet off, and Natalia looks over her shoulder to smile, flick the rapier up, and then out of the ground three large (the size of Natalia if not bigger) crystal-like broadswords form, becoming a "Shield" between her and Lina before whatever Lina is intending to do. ]

[breakingvoice]

[welp! there goes that plan. Lina yelps in surprise and aborts her plan to steal coins while she's hugging her friend in favor of, uh, staying well away from the magic swords that she forgot Natalia had. and that yelp should be enough to identify her, so she stomps her foot a couple feet away from the barrier and protests from the other side of it.]

No fair! I don't have any powers!

[nachetanya]

I don't remember excluding those, Lina!

[ though once the other has stopped, now turned to face her entirely, she waves a hand to shatter the swords into dust, standing here defensively with her rapier-thing in her right hand and a somewhat "hardcore" look on her face!! ]

[breakingvoice]

Then how did you expect anybody to win?

[oh god, she didn't. this was a trick. this whole thing was a clever ruse and Lina fell directly into it.]

Oh my gosh, this was your plan the whole time!

[nachetanya]

Was it?

[ INNOCENT FACE ]

[breakingvoice]

It was! Oh my gosh, and I fell for it?

[she should've seen this coming from the moment she noticed Natalia's rapier, which currently makes her look very impressive and much more like a battle princess than any other kind.]

Well, the joke's on you. You didn't make the terms of the bet clear, so they're null and void.

[yes, she sounds very sure of herself. yes, she's full of shit and knows it.]

[nachetanya]

Oh, I made the terms for you very clear! Do you mean that you came over here to win without even accepting you could lose?

[ She smiles. ]

[breakingvoice]

I didn't think you'd make it easy for me, but I thought you'd make it possible.

[she doesn't sound too deterred, though. after all, she still has some time before the bet is officially over.]

It's almost like you stacked the deck!

[nachetanya]

Or it could just be that I have a lot of faith in you!

[ She says with a upbeat tone in her voice, winking at the other here. ]

[breakingvoice]

[oh, this is hardly fair. Natalia's so cute when she's focusing entirely on teasing the living daylights out of Lina. she'd love to look even the slightest bit standoffish right now, but the best she can manage is a fake frown that disappears in seconds.]

I was being as sneaky as I could and you stopped me right in my tracks! [she takes a couple cautious steps forward, keeping her hands up in front of her so it's clear she won't try anything. she doubts she'll get far.] You really need to temper your expectations.

[nachetanya]

[ Natalia allows the other to come closer, rocking on her heels a little bit, her rapier pointing down at her feet, dangling there while closed in her right hand. She grins at the other, and she likes that expression too... ]

On the contrary, I'm quite sure you can do it! It's not impossible, buuuut, I guess I do need to win now!

[breakingvoice]

You're really that eager to boss me around for an hour, aren't you?

[okay, so she doesn't have to worry about being suddenly stabbed. now she just has to get close enough... one hand reaches out for Natalia, and the angle it's coming in at looks pretty on level to gently touch Natalia's cheek. it might be a feint. it might be phase one of a larger feint.]

Those were the terms, weren't they?

[nachetanya]

Well, that was the term on your end... I guess it could be the same for me, but maybe I could tie you up for thirty minutes instead.

[ Natalia why. But she says it with smile and skids a step backwards from Lina. She does need to keep some distance? Her purse shifts a little so she can rest her left arm (prosthetic) on top of it ]

[breakingvoice]

[darn, she's been seen right through! okay, her hand lowers again and she tries not to let it show on the outside. fortunately, Natalia's here to say things that just absolutely blow her away, and she tries very hard to fight back the color that wants to fill her face at such a brazen idea.]

Do you make a habit of tying people up?

[nachetanya]

Well, not most people.

[ ... Was she just fucking with Lina . . . ]

[breakingvoice]

[she'd. better just be messing around. that seems a little forward, but Lina can't help but think it's... well, it's certainly a thought that she's having now. give her a second to stop imagining it—and it's gone. she can focus now. okay.]

I didn't think you liked being in control of things that much. I'm almost impressed. You really will do whatever it takes.

[nachetanya]

[ She shrugs a little at that, as if it weren't some incredibly bold and somewhat underhanded step she just took there. Maybe she was still riding out her frustrations that she hasn't been able to find a partner she could be intimate with in a while now (especially as her and her boss weren't connecting as much). Maybe she just wanted to blurt it out...

Could she excuse Lina's forwardness as an excuse for her?

Maybe. But she laughs and, ]

It's probably better for you to know that now, right?

[breakingvoice]

It. Probably is.

[it's not something Lina's considered, and she's certainly in no mood for it lately with everything else going on, but. well. it's just something that's very, very good for her to know for the future, when she's feeling happier on the inside instead of just keeping her image up.]

Anyway, um. You're really going to guard those coins with everything you have, aren't you? We wouldn't want someone like you to lose to someone like me, would we?

[she's going to try to only imply something without being quite as obvious about it as Natalia's been about herself. it's probably not going to work.]

It's not the way things like this normally go. Is it?

[nachetanya]

[ . . . Huh. She tilts her head a little bit and she hums, watching Lina carefully as she, ]

I'm not sure you're a person who has to lose, per se... Well, that depends how you mean.

[breakingvoice]

Well, maybe I don't have to.

[she's going to take that hand that had been reaching for Natalia and use it to half-cover up a devilish sort of grin, the kind that crinkles the corners of her eyes. it might not be the most appropriate time to call attention to exactly how much she liked that forfeit Natalia proposed, but that's kind of exactly what she's doing, isn't it?]

[nachetanya]

[ Maybe she was just straining herself too much to remain aware in the moment, but she isn't actually quite clear on Lina's meaning right now, like she got out of step with a factor in this conversation and has yet to ground her footing again. She shrugs one of her shoulder (the left) a little, and she hums, ]

Does that mean you've got a plan?

[breakingvoice]

[has she caught Natalia off guard? (by being bad at being coy?) well, either way, she'll take whatever opening she can.]

My plan was to flirt with you until you got distracted and let me steal the coins. And then I thought oh, maybe I would just let you win the bet, but you wouldn't want that, would you? [she sounds so sure of that.]

So I guess I just have to see if you really are good enough to outsmart a bear and spend the rest of the day tracking you, just to steal the coins when you least expect it. I can be really dangerous when people least expect it!

[nachetanya]

Admittedly, it would be a little anticlimactic if you just let me win. I'd take it, but the struggle really does make things more exciting!

[ Her eyelashes flutter, and she leans in against towards Lina. The hand remains over the purse, but she does bring their faces a little closer together. ]

It'd really be something if I can add "bear tamer" to my titles.

[breakingvoice]

[Lina leans right back in to match, and her hands aren't going anywhere near the purse for the moment. this is recon. this is also very cute.]

Who said anything about taming me? I just said you'd be avoiding me. [Lina's mouth curls up in a confident smirk.] Taming me is an entirely different thing. And nobody can do that.