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Tweak says, "XOXO, Gossip Girl."

Chris Argent (argentum) wrote in paradisolog,
@ 2016-06-07 16:11:00

Entry tags:

chris argent (argentum), ~inari raith (ofthewhitecourt)

WHO: Chris Argent and OPEN
WHAT: Who let the man start thinking?
WHEN: Tuesday afternoon
WARNINGS: None so far
STATUS: Open/Incomplete

After having run into two people he knew on the beach -- seriously, was he turning into the Beacon Hills welcome wagon? -- Chris had elected not to wander towards the beach when his mood turned thoughtful. He'd wandered instead towards the waterfall. It was beautiful and peaceful and most of all, as long as nobody else was there involved in... extracurricular activities or bathing... it was a good place to be alone with your thoughts.

Not that his thoughts were particularly sad or angsty. He was just musing over things. Stiles was gone -- though he'd be back, of course he would. Malia was very, very pregnant. And life in general here was... interesting. There were times he doubted this whole baby-making thing. Not the idea of it, not the need for it, no. Not that part. And not his willingness to be there. But where he fit as part of the whole. He was probably one of the oldest, if not the oldest, and that was a little odd. But on the other hand, he'd already done the parenting thing -- he wasn't sure how many of the others, especially the older residents of the island, already had -- and he supposed that parenting advice might not be a bad thing to have on hand. And the Beacon Hills crew knew him, so they in particular would have a resource.

He'd be happy to help anyone, of course. That pretty much went without saying.

Chris sat by the waterfall, barely paying attention to it. He was lost in thought more than anything. Nothing was wrong, actually, he'd just needed to let things just wander around in his brain for a while. That happened sometimes -- and Victoria had always hated it, when things made him go quiet. Because when he went quiet, plans happened. They were rarely plans anybody liked.

Though at least they were better than Scott's.

He was lost in thought enough that he didn't hear someone coming up behind him -- bad hunter. Bad!

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ofthewhitecourt
2016-06-08 01:29 pm UTC (link)

That someone was Inari, a new arrival to Sex Island. She didn't know her away around yet, and was simply out and about, exploring. She had found, and followed, the path to the waterfall without knowing precisely where it would lead. She certainly hadn't known it would lead to a pensive man sitting lone, staring off into space like he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. Maybe he did, or maybe that was just Inari's assessment of the situation.

She was young, just 18, with a fresh outlook, and her whole life ahead of her. She hadn't hesitated to accept the invitation to come to the island, not because she'd wanted to escape her life in California, not at all. She loved Bobby and their Feng Shui business, but she had a deep rooted longing to be part of something, and helping to repopulate a society had been too good an opportunity to pass up.

Her only regret was that Bobby hadn't come with her, but she could live with that. And because Bobby wasn't there, she batted her lashes at the man who was. "Oh! Hello!" she said, unashamedly using her personal assets to seem more innocent than she actually was. "I didn't know anyone would be up here! I'm so glad you are here, though. I'm afraid I got a little turned around and I'm not where where I am..." she said, the jutted her hip. She smiled a sweet smile, then, her lower lip sticking out just a little more than was strictly necessary.

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argentum
2016-06-08 02:04 pm UTC (link)

Chris was old enough that he wasn't going to fall for that shit -- not right away, anyway. He was however, going to find her very attractive. he'd have to be a blind man not to, and even then he was reasonably certain her charms would work.

Didn't mean he wasn't going to be polite, though.

"You're by the waterfall, obviously," he said with a smile and self-deprecating laugh. "It's where we do our bathing, but also a lot of people come to think -- and yes, some people get up to certain other activities. The gods take care of this place, though -- it's always clean and beautiful."

Because really, otherwise there would be a problem.

"I should introduce myself, shouldn't I?" A wry smile. "Apologies, I usually have more manners, I promise. I'm Chris. Chris Argent. A pleasure to meet you." Because even he didn't mind meeting a beautiful girl. He wasn't a monk, after all. He'd just been married -- which sounded so much worse than he'd meant it, he noted; it was just that he'd been so focused on his marriage -- and after Victoria, he'd been in too much pain.

Plus, you know, all that hot mess he'd wound up getting tangled up in. That'd taken up much of his time. Not that he minded a bit, but facts were facts.

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ofthewhitecourt
2016-06-08 02:18 pm UTC (link)

"It's all right, Mr Argent," Inari said. She blinked rapidly, fluttering her eyes. "I am Inari," she told him with a sultry smile. She wasn't even trying, really! She was naturally flirty, the eyes and the smile and the pouty lips were all entirely normal behavior, completely natural for her.

Okay, maybe living with a porn star for a couple of years now had brought that out in her. She wasn't complaining, and from the looks of things, neither was Chris! "I'm new here," she added as if she needed to explain herself. She probably didn't, but she wanted to be thorough. She didn't want to leave too many unspoken questions unanswered.

"And this is where we bathe? Out here in the open?" She gave him a shocked look. Actually, the idea kind of appealed to her. She wasn't an exhibitionist, no. But she wasn't ashamed of her body. Casual nudity wasn't a big deal to her. She was young, yes. But she wasn't shy. She had been, sort of, before she'd hooked up with Bobby. But Bobby had no shame, none at all, and often walked around nude. He'd encouraged her to do the same when they were alone, at home. Now it was what she considered normal. Bathing in a communal lake wasn't going to phase her a bit.

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argentum
2016-06-08 03:31 pm UTC (link)

He could tell she was flirting and honestly? It was kind of nice being flirted with. It'd been a good while since he'd had anyone flirt with him. Since it'd happened and he'd had a chance to act on it, that was. The last time had been before he'd gotten married. He almost didn't know how to react to it.

Almost.

"It is," he said, shifting position to give her more of his attention -- and really, Chris Argent giving you his full attention, or anything close to it, was pretty intense. Enjoy, Inari!

"But it's not so bad. People pretty much work around each other -- unless they don't mind sharing, of course. Then that's a different story." And a pretty enjoyable one. Because hey, it was how he and Ruby had happened. Hm, he should see how she was doing. Even if that wasn't a thing that happened again. Because she'd been interesting, and he did like interesting.

He cocked his head and looked at her thoughtfully. "Inari, hm? That's a beautiful name. And it suits you, somehow." He couldn't quite explain that one, but some names just seemed to fit people -- she was one of them. Or maybe he didn't know what he was talking about whatsoever. That was also a possibility. Hey, nobody said his flirting was dead on a hundred percent of the time. When you looked like him, did you really need it to be dead on a hundred percent of the time?

The answer's "no" for the record.

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ofthewhitecourt
2016-06-08 03:48 pm UTC (link)

"I think I wouldn't mind sharing," Inari said. She tilted her head just so, and gave him a curious, and possibly somewhat suggestive look. Oh, she was a pro at this. She helped Bobby reenact scenes from his movies all the time. And the girls were often bubbly little sex kittens. So really, that's what she'd become, because it was what she knew. It was what she did. And she liked it.

She batted her eyes at him. She had gorgeous eyes. Soul deep, and soul gazing, eyes. She'd been told more than once that she was an old soul. She didn't know, exactly, what that meant, but she thought it was a compliment. She was only 18, but she liked to think of herself as more mature than other 18 year olds. Having an 'old soul' certainly helped that personal view.

"Thank you. My mother was Japanese. Inari is god of harvests, fertility, rice, agriculture, foxes, industry, and worldly success," she recited. "She was a busy little goddess," she grinned. Because she'd told this information to countless people, it was clearly a memorised list, but she didn't say it with a bland monotone. There was feeling, and emotion behind her voice. She was proud of her name, and of the heritage of her name.

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argentum
2016-06-08 04:02 pm UTC (link)

That had Chris laughing -- but it was a kind laugh. "Well, then you should get along with the gods and goddesses in charge of this place more than most, I would think," he said. "And that's certainly an... eclectic mix of things she was a goddess of, too. She apparently had many many hobbies, if you want to look at it that way instead."

Joking, but not disrespectfully. When you now lived in a place looked over by gods and goddesses -- and you'd come from a place that dealt in unusual things as a whole -- you quickly learned that respect was key. Because respect -- or at least a healthy fear, in the old school sense -- was a good idea. And just a good rule of thumb for life in general, if you stopped to think about it.

"You can sit, you know," he invited. "Standing's going to get uncomfortable after a while, and this place is all about comfort. Of all kinds."

Because the gods did want them to enjoy the other comforts of life -- it was why there were gifts from time to time, why they were able to procure things to build the facilities they were building. Yes, they had to work for them but nobody seemed to mind a little hard work. Or if they did, they had the sense not to complain about it.

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ofthewhitecourt
2016-06-08 05:03 pm UTC (link)

"You convinced me," Inari said with a smirk. She sat, and sat close to him. Very close. Because that was just how she rolled. She liked to be close. She was enjoying her conversation with him, and she was enjoying looking at him. He was older, sure, but age didn't really concern Inari. Age was relative to very little, actually. And an older guy? Just meant he had more life experience, and that? That could be a very good thing.

She pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around her legs, rested her chin on her knees. She knew how it looked. She knew how she looked. "What kind of comforts are you into, Mr Argent?" she asked him, tilting her head where it rested on her knees. She kept her eyes locked on him, watching him, studying him. Maybe she was reading him entirely wrong, but she thought he might not be adverse to a little fooling around.

And really, what guy wouldn't be interested in fooling around with her? She was gorgeous, and she knew it. Plus she had that whole young, exotic innocent look about her, but her eyes told a different story. She'd only ever been with Bobby, and that one friend of his he brought home that they both kind of fooled around with, but hey. She was young, far from innocent, and definitely not shy. Definitely interested in exploring other options, especially now that she was here, and on her own.

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argentum
2016-06-08 05:47 pm UTC (link)

And Chris had more life experience than most would expect, courtesy of entirely too many things. Who would've thought the things he'd seen, not to mention the training his father had put him through, would ever actually serve him well?

"Please, call me Chris," he said. "And at this point in my life, I just enjoy somewhere decent to sleep and enough food to eat. And something approximating a roof over my head. Anything beyond that? Is pretty much just a bonus. Because I've seen enough in life to really just need the simple comforts." After losing his wife, and especially after losing Allison, he hadn't dared to enjoy much more than the simple things in life. Until France, until his efforts to help whoever he could, he hadn't dared for much, actually. Because he hadn't wanted to have something only to lose it. He'd had enough loss

He quirked a smile. "Though if I have to add anything else, the attention of a beautiful woman is always appreciated." Because really, few people were going to not enjoy that. Well, okay, a certain subset of the world population as a whole, but the island population was likely to enjoy it. Really, the island had something for everyone. He actually wondered if that was intentional. He made a mental note to ask Arva that. Or one of the others, if he ever had the opportunity. Because while he wasn't going to appeal specifically to them -- he was pretty sure they had more important things to deal with on the day to day -- he certainly wouldn't pass up the chance to ask if it ever came up.

He was curious by nature, after all. As much as he tried to hide that, it was the truth.

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ofthewhitecourt
2016-06-08 06:51 pm UTC (link)

"All right, Chris," Inari said. because if he wanted her to call him Chris, she was going to call him Chris. Even though it was weird for her. She was used to calling people by their titles. It was a respect thing. But it was also respect to call a person by the name they desired. So she'd call him Chris. And if she made it sound suggestive, well. That was entirely unintentional.

She fluttered her eyes at him. Not suggestive at all. Not in the least. "It seems like you've had a rough life," she said. It wasn't difficult to pick up on those cues. She wondered what his life had been like. He reminded her of Harry a little bit, just a little, in that vague want-to-fix-everyone-and-everything way. Not that Inari even know Harry all that well. But he'd been around, that last little while that she'd lived at home. And she knew he was a man who had seen things. Like this man she was sitting with.

Sitting by a waterfall, no less. It didn't get much more picturesque than that. "What sort of bonuses are you looking for?"

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argentum
2016-06-08 10:43 pm UTC (link)

"Honestly?" Chris had to stop and think about that one for a moment. "It's been so long since I thought about what I want in my life that I don't even know what I'd consider a bonus. Because yeah, life hasn't been easy. I wouldn't call it bad, no -- " Because he'd gotten Allison out of it, and that made anything worth it. " -- but it hasn't been easy."

A shrug of one shoulder. "It's what my life is, though. I was born to it, so whatever it is -- hard or easy or anything else -- I learned long ago to handle it." More like compartmentalize the ever-loving hell out of it, because acknowledging it might slow him down too much.

And slowing down in his line of work? Was more often than not the fastest way to dead. Since he had been pretty fond of living -- still was but back there already seemed like another life -- he'd done his best to not slow down, not ever slow down. No wonder he'd felt burnt out sometimes. Even when he'd felt burnt out, he'd his best to hide it. He'd dealt with it, yes. Because if you didn't, there were problems. But he'd always done his best to hide it from anybody else.

He handled things privately, most of the time.

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ofthewhitecourt
2016-06-09 07:35 pm UTC (link)

"Seems to me you just need to loosen up," Inari told him. "Let your hair down a little." She flipped her hair up and over her shoulder in demonstration. He couldn't actually let his hair down, he had no hair to let loose. But it was a symbolic thing, anyway, and in that sense, anyone could do it.

"Have some fun," she continued. She knew what kind of fun she'd like to have. She'd only ever been with Bobby, and that friend of his he brought home that one time. She'd liked it more than she wanted to admit to Bobby, because she knew he was insecure about it, about her loving him. But Bobby wasn't here. And the island was made for pleasure.

So why not? Chris was pretty damn hot, for an older guy. He wasn't baby face pretty like Thomas, but more ruggedly handsome like Harry. And that was okay. That was more than okay. Inari actually preferred the rugged looks over the smooth baby face. She'd rather compare a potential lover to Harry than Thomas, anyway. Harry wasn't her brother.

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