A proper meeting (Alaska)

She was late. One glance at the tower clock told him that it was already five minutes past their arranged meeting time and his eyes glazed over with irritation. If there was one thing he disliked, it was tardiness, yet he tried to steel his mind and forced himself to relax. She would not let him wait much longer and if she did, he'd march into the castle and drag her all the way out of her common room or wherever else she might be. Still, considering that he was a teacher, Xanthos would rather avoid such a scene. Today would be the first time, he officially took her to his home, their new home to be precise, seeing as they were now engaged and he wanted to spend as much time as possible with his fiancé, so every minute she was late, he would have to make up later.

Alaska was late. She knew she was. Partly, she didn't want to come at all. Partly, she actually was curious about the place. Xanthos offered her to stay before. She refused back then. She didn't want one night luxury to have something to miss later. But now it seemed pernament. And as much as she was terrified of that, in the same time, she really wanted to have actual place, where she can stay. And she didn't plan to be late. Hovewer, those stupid entrance questions ruined all her plans. Why was she Ravenclaw again? She planned to wear normal clothes, to take a shower and do girly stuff. She actually wanted to look nice for him. But by the time doors opened, she was alredy late, so she just ran towards their meeting place in dirty uniform after the craziest day, tired and with her hair messy. "For once, I am actually sorry about this... all this I mean," she gestured towards herself with a huge sigh. "Do you happen to be so obsessively possessive to alredy have clothes and towels for me over there? I really need to change," she added, all desperate.

The hurried pounding steps on the ground behind him announced his fiance's arrival long before she had arrived at his side and Xanthos did not even bother to turn around to face her. Instead he listened closely to all sounds the young girl made as she ran towards him, especially the small pants that were proof that she at least had the decency to run after being late. When at last, she stood in front of him, Xanthos raised his brow at her and with deliberate slowness let his eyes travel all over her body, taking in the messy clothes and unkempt hair. "I see you went out of your way to make yourself presentable for our first proper date." he drawled, sarcasm dripping of his voice. Taking a step closer till he was almost pressed against her, he leaned down till his mouth was right next to her ear. "Actually, I am now in the mood to take you shoping and dress you to my satisfaction." he growled.

His clossenes made her knees weak. But of course, she would never admit that. She could tell he didn't like her being late. But for once, she really didn't do it on purpose. "Come on, I can't go shop like that! They will think I am some... let's not go there, they might not be far from the truth..." she pointed out to herself. "Why did I pick Ravenclaw again?" she asked herself more, than him, before looking up to see his eyes. "Xanthos, I swear I am really sorry. I just spent three hours standing in front of our stupid fucking common room doors, trying to answer the most idiotic question in history of human kind, which obviously, I didn't get to answer in time. I really didn't mean to be late," she apologized again.

At her words Xanthos withdrew slightly to look straight into her eyes, just staring at her quietly for a few seconds before his lips twisted into a smirk and a low chuckled escaped his throat. "I hope you realize that you can feel very forunate that I have chosen you to be my wife because normally I would now take the greatest pleasure of utterly humilating you in the best shops Britain has to offer." he told her, his smirk morphing into a sadistic smile. Sometimes it was hard for Xanthos to remind himself that this girl was not one of his toys, but the woman he would wed in the near future.
Rising to his full hight as he stepped back, Xanthos offered her his arm to lead her to the edge of the Hogwarts anti-apparition wards. With his free hand, he waved off her explanation, his eyes focused in front of him. "Your sentiment is appreciated, consider your apology accepted." he told her, voice and face equally emotionless. Xanthos was quite skilled in reading people and prided himself in sensing if someone spoke the truth or not and Alaska seemed quite honest in her apology, so he did not need the minute details. Though ... he cracked a fleeting smile at her...the explanation did sound quite entertaining, he thought, picturing the frustrated girl in front of a door that kept asking questions.

"Will you kiss me once I look like human again? Or are you too pissed for that tonight?" she asked him, inside mad at herself for asking such a pathetic question. She sounded like a stupid little girl. Besides, she wasn't even supposed to like him. Though everyone knew she did like him. More than that actually. "Where is my dignity, when I need it the most?" she cursed for herself, hoping he didn't hear her, for she was sure it would amuse him greatly. On the other hand, those all were signs she was getting comfortable around him. As much as she wanted to resist, she couldn't tell her heart or her brain to stop getting attached to this guy. Even if she still wasn't sure if she shouldn't be scared to point of death. She decided it would be better to just shut up and leave him to be the one to speak next. She said enough. Maybe this was the thing that would get him lose his interrest in her. Talking too much nonsense. But now she didn't want to loose him. Not anymore. That bastard did it. He actually won. And she was actually hopeless. And pathetic.

Xanthos did not even give the girl time to finish her question before he slammed her against the nearest tree, perhaps a little too forceful, but he couldn't care less. Instead he pushed himself up against her till she was trapped between the tree and his own body and then proceeded to press his lips against her in a violently possessive kiss, making his claim quite clear. "When I tell you that I accepted an apology then you can trust me that I mean just that. I do not hold grudges, my dear fiancé. I deal with things straight away and without delay, so if you had displeased me too greately, you would have felt said displeasure quite clearly and quite immediate." he growled against her lips before abruptly releasing her by taking a step backwards, looking as if nothing had happened. "Now then, if you are quite ready." Xanthos dralwed, offering his arm again, so she could hold on to him while he apparated them to their home.

As usually, he surprised her with his quick movements, but as he kissed her, she kissed him back without any protests. At his words, she shivered slightly. He was nuts. Quite scary even if he wasn't pissed. What would happen if he was, then? Alaska rather didn't want to think about it. She grabbed his hand without a word, silently thinking that the kiss would be just enough even without psycho speech. But Xanthos was who he was. "Can I ask you something? And I promise it won't make me want to run away any less or more," she said in the end with another sigh. "Are you a killer, Xanthos? And by that I don't mean if you ever killed anyone, by that I mean, do you kill regulary? Do you need to kill to keep yourself normal in public?" her question came out without hesitation. She saw many bad things in her life. She saw many people with blood on their hands. Some of them were terrified, some of them loved it. She divided people into groups. Passengers, leaders, saints and killers. Passengers were ordinary people, who mind their own bussiness. Leaders were people who always stood up, strong and always visible. Saints were those, who hardly ever did anything bad. And hardly ever actually lived. Killers were the cruelest, living on pain of others, yet quite often the most attractive.

Crooking his head to the slide slightly, Xanthos calmly observed his girl, like a hawk might watch its prey and a small smirk appeared on his face. He was amused at how confidently she had asked the question, it spoke well of her character and once again, Xanthos was convinced that he had made the right choice with her. "Oh no, my dear Alaska. As you know I have killed before, even in front of you and I do so without hesitation when it is required, but I don't do so regularly. Nevertheless..." his eyes took on a sadistic mad glint, "I do enjoy to ... play with people. Sometimes they die as a result for they are weak, but I do not kill for sports. People die easily, there is no satisfaction in it for me, but to slowly break them, drive them mad...now that is what entertains me best!" Towards the end, his voice had become slightly unstable with barely suppressed laughter and he was seemingly looking through her as he thought of how much "entertainment" he could have at a school full of children. Finding the perfect toy was almost as good as playing with it afterwards. But alas, he had to play the role of responsible teacher. With a shake of his head, Xanthos cleared both his mind and his face again and the only sign of his urges was reflected in the depths of his eyes.

Alaska knew this glimpse in his eyes. Not only she saw it in his. She saw it in Kains, too. The two men she ever dated. She had really twisted taste in men. Maybe it was because, for some reason, she felt safe with those people. Somewhere deep inside, her own twisted heart was telling her, that with them, she will be safe. "You are insane," she pointed out, but didn't break the eye contact with him. He was scary as hell, no doubt in that. But Alaska knew showing weakness wasn't a way. "I hope you don't plan to make me your toy. In this... well whatever you call it," she added afterwards. If she was to marry a psychopath, she better get at least the advantage of not being his victim out of the whole deal.

"I am." Xanthos said, his voice utterly calm. He did not even bother to deny the fact that she was indeed quite correct with her assumption. He was insane. Fortunately though, and unlike most other madmen, he did have his insanity completely under control, only giving in to his urges if he could be sure that he would walk away with getting in troubles for it. Even the immense pleasure that his toys brought him was not worth a life-sentence in Azkaban, or worse, the Dementor's kiss. After all, Xanthos had younger siblings and now his fiancé to think of whom he would not abandon.

A small smirk twisted his lips upwards and he stood a little closer again. "I do not make a habit of handing family heirlooms to my toys." he told her, referring to the ring she was wearing. "You are and always will be my special someone, my wife who will proudly stand by my side." Reaching out, Xanthos caressed her cheek with his knuckles, his eyes glowing with promise.

She closed her eyes under his touch, trying to ignore the word wife. Or fiancé. Or anything else. She was far from ready to marry someone. She was actually far from ready to be in permanent relationship. But Xanthos didn't really ask or care about this, so she just went with the flow, trying to pretend it's sort of a joke. "We should get going. I really need that shower," she whispered after a few moments of silence, leaving topic of insanity behind. She could tell he meant what he said. There was no other reason to talk about it.

"Mhm ... " Xanthos hummed softly in agreement and took her arm again, closing his eyes to concentrate on the correct location and with barely a sound, they vanished into nothing, only to reappear almost instantaneously in front of his, no, their house. "Welcome home, Miss Greengrass." he murmured softly and led her towards the door, holding it open for her with more politeness than he would usually display. This was not an everyday occasion though, but him inviting his soon-to-be wife into their shared home and that at least deserved some manners.

Alaska visited Tavern before. After all, that's how they met. But she never entered the place, where they lived. It seemed much more luxurious, like as if it didn't even belong there. "Wow," was all she managed to say as she entered. She was maybe pureblood, but she never lived at place like this. "I might hate you, but I sure as hell like this place," she pointed out. Of course she didn't hate him. And of course he knew it. But then again, she would never admit that out loud. Not now anyway. Instead, she walked around until bookshelf caught her eye. She was searching for interresting books to read, quickly loosing her grip on a real world. She always dreamt about her own bookshelf. She had one. At her dorm. But technicaly it wasn't really hers.

Alaska frowned slightly at his comment about her living, but she knew he was right. When he grabbed her around her waist, she leaned towards him, closing her eyes and enjoying the moment. "Shut up and don't you dare let go," she hissed in the end, determined to spend another few moments enjoying him actually holding her this way, since he didn't do it often. After a while she realized that shower was really necessary. "I will be back quickly," she said before she disappeared behind the door, only to come out some time later, her hair still slightly wet as she was covered only in towel. "I was tempted to ask you to join me. But something is telling this moment will come anyway," she smirked as she walked out, looking for the clothes.

Xanthos chuckled at her reaction and for a moment was tempted to actually follow her demand and move closer to her again. In the end, he decided against it and just held the door open for her to get into the bathroom. Then he quickly summoned some of his sister's clothes and put it onto the couch. It was a dark red satin dress which fell down just to the knees, not too short for the future lady of the Gamp family had to dress at least somewhat proper and Xanthos did not like slutty girls at all.

When the door opened and Alaska stepped out of the bathroom, Xanthos waved his hand towards the couch and snapped the fingers of his other hand, the towel flying towards him. "No need to be shy, my dear." he positively purred.

She gave him annoyed look as he snatched her towel away. "Not shy. Wet," she hissed as she snatched her towel back, not really trying to hide anything, but just to dry herself. After that, she threw that thing after him again and not really bothering to ask for any kind of underwear, she put the dress on. Not like he planned her to wear it for longer, than an hour. "So, what now?" she asked, stepping closer to him, tracing his chest with her nails.

Catching the towel with one hand, Xanthos pressed his nose into it and sucked in the scent of his woman, filing it away in his mind where he would not forget it again. His eyes closed for a second before snapping open again to catch one last glance at the naked body before it was covered by the dress. Xanthos smirked slightly at her, looking down as she touched his chest and shook his head lightly. "You are that eager for me to devour you, my dear woman?" he asked her, sounding quite amused, his body completely relaxed and not betraying the need he felt to mate this girl again.

Alaska sighed with amusement. "Five seconds. That's how long I am fresh, clean and with this dress on. So, my question is, can we do aomething else first? I know what you can do in bed. But as my future husband, I'd also like to know how you can entertain me outside of it," she teased him. He was perfect bad boy. And she was completely doomed. But there wasn't a scenario that didn't involve their wedding, so Alaska decided not to protest too much tonight. Partly because she managed to piss him off right at the start, when she came late.

"If it would not be completely improper, I would have you walk around naked to my sole pleasure the whole day for your body is truly a nice sight to behold." Xanthos commented smirking and strolled around her, observing how well the dress complimented her figure. When he came to stand behind her, he stepped forward till his chest was brushing against her back and then took another step, maneuvering her towards the bookshelf. The truly dangerous and illegal tomes were not kept here of course, but compared to what you could find in public libraries...
"You looked at the shelf earlier ... I would like you to pick one that seems of the most interest to you." Xanthos said, his voice quite calm, though the underlying intrigue was quite clear. Choice of reading material said so much about a person if you just paid attention and although he already knew a lot about Alaska, Xanthos would never be satisfied till he knew everything!

"And where would be fun in that? You would get bored eventualy," she replied to him. "But if you really insist, we can just lock ourselves in your room and I take this down. I mean, I did worse things, less villingly and with people I wasn't going to marry," she pointed out with shrug. She didn't really talk much about the time she was basicaly underage prostitute, so Taylor had money for drugs and alcohol. Partly because she herself considered herself being over it. She had no nightmares, no urges to cry about it or talk about it. She didn't even think about it twice as much. But of course, that didn't mean she wasn't marked by it. Maybe that explained her selfdestructive choices when it came to partners.

As he came close to her again, leading her towards the library, she smiled sweetly for herself and for a moment thought about this actually being nice. She could live like this. "Will you stay this way until I pick one?" she asked him. Him behind her back, it made her feel safe. She wanted to make this moment last a little longer. "Hm... Travelers... I've heard about the group. I thought their books are rare and impossible to get. I am just doing an assignment on them for dada," she pointed out very old book and took it out.

Resting his chin on her shoulder, Xanthos turned his head slightly to be able to look at her face and a small smile appeared on his own. "You are quite right, I should show your body the required respect." he agreed calmly. "After all, it is going to be mine and I always take good care of my belongings." His smile now had a little dark edge, but his eyes were still warm enough not to make him look dangerous. "I will also make sure, you never come to confuse me for one of these ... miscreants." he growled and pulled her closer against him. Even though Xanthos knew of her past, he did not like to dwell on it for every time he pictured Alaska with these men that had used her, he felt the urge to go and track them down. What he would do then wasn't planned out, yet, but it would definitely include a lot of blood-shedding and rooms splattered with gore and intestines.
 

Turning his attention from his imaginary slaughterhouse to the woman in his arms, Xanthos chuckled slightly at her request. "I'm not going anywhere, Alaska..." he told her calmly, waiting for her to pick a book. Her choice was an interesting one and Xanthos was surprised that she even knew of the Travelers. They were a very secretive group after all. "Mhm ... this book would definitely be able to help in such an assignment, though only a real Traveler can tell you all the secrets, I would guess..." he said thoughtfully, reaching around her to trace the leather cover of the old tome. "Why are you doing an assignment on them?" Xanthos looked back at her, a curious expression in his dark eyes.

His words about not going anywhere send shiver down her spine. But it had nothing to do with fear or any other negative emotion. It was happiness. Alaska could hardly deny his words made her feel loved and cared for, something she wasn't used to before. "Well, considering how super secretive they are, I somehow doubt that even real Traveller would tell me much," she replied casualy, her eyes starring at the cover of very old book. "I signed up for it. The group always fascinated me actually. Ever since I was little. I guess it was because I wanted to make reality a little more interresting. I used to dream that we are like them and they will come for us. I don't know why. At the end of the day, I knew nothing of them. I still don't really know much. I guess I just signed up for it out of nostalgia," she explained in a way she would never do months or weeks ago. She still wouldn't tell this to anyone. Anyone but him. Since he always figured that out anyway.