[It's amazing how, just like that, a single moment can reveal so much. Vrenille knows at once that Ash didn't intend it, that it's something that got away from him. It's like opening the wrong door in someone's home: he hadn't meant for the transgression, but now he's seen what's inside anyway.
In the surprise and the recoil, Vrenille's half-drunk coffee goes flying, drops onto the ground with a splatter a couple of feet away. Not that he's paying it much mind--couldn't even say precisely why he dropped it, whether because Ash hit his arm when he jerked away or just because he lost his grip in the shock of the moment.
He hadn't been expecting this, not at all, which is some small clue just how good Ash's poker face really is, even when the mask does appear to slip a little. Or maybe it's just that the first mask disguises a second beneath.
But the moment of movement is followed by a moment of stillness, because Vrenille doesn't react except to freeze, hands splayed on empty air. In a sense, he just accepts the rebuke; at least he accepts that he doesn't know what there is to know behind it. And when he speaks, there's no coldness or outrage in his voice, not because he's cowed, just...patient.]
...All right. No touching. I got it.
[They're drawing some looks from people passing by--Dominants mostly. Vrenille feels their eyes as much as he ignores them.] Familiar tends to be my thing, but we can do formal if y'like.
[Formal...but somehow still casual, he hopes. Or at least he's hoping that he's managing casual, because the reality is concerned, only he's pretty damn sure that Ash wouldn't appreciate him being concerned right now. So the best he can manage is to try and smooth the ripples, try and keep matters to a rattle rather than a break.]
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In the surprise and the recoil, Vrenille's half-drunk coffee goes flying, drops onto the ground with a splatter a couple of feet away. Not that he's paying it much mind--couldn't even say precisely why he dropped it, whether because Ash hit his arm when he jerked away or just because he lost his grip in the shock of the moment.
He hadn't been expecting this, not at all, which is some small clue just how good Ash's poker face really is, even when the mask does appear to slip a little. Or maybe it's just that the first mask disguises a second beneath.
But the moment of movement is followed by a moment of stillness, because Vrenille doesn't react except to freeze, hands splayed on empty air. In a sense, he just accepts the rebuke; at least he accepts that he doesn't know what there is to know behind it. And when he speaks, there's no coldness or outrage in his voice, not because he's cowed, just...patient.]
...All right. No touching. I got it.
[They're drawing some looks from people passing by--Dominants mostly. Vrenille feels their eyes as much as he ignores them.] Familiar tends to be my thing, but we can do formal if y'like.
[Formal...but somehow still casual, he hopes. Or at least he's hoping that he's managing casual, because the reality is concerned, only he's pretty damn sure that Ash wouldn't appreciate him being concerned right now. So the best he can manage is to try and smooth the ripples, try and keep matters to a rattle rather than a break.]