empathy

TEN

"Will you stop that?" Anastasia rolls her eyes and uses her free hand to stop his face from moving away from the beauty blender in her other hand. "It feels weird," he points out. 

He's not wrong. Anastasia hadn't been a fan of the feeling of makeup against her skin when she was human but that feeling got a lot more intense and worse after she turned as she found out earlier. 

Still, he doesn't need to be such a drama queen.

And, something she honestly finds even worse, is the fact she simply doesn't seem to be able to blend it right. For one, the pores simply refuse to breathe in a tiny amount of makeup and the skin is simply too smooth - something she didn't deem possible - and for another, the enhanced eyesight compared to a whole lot of perfectionism makes it impossible to be satisfied. 

"You're only missing powder," she tries to reassure him. 

They arrived late last night after a day with some stops they used to satisfy her need to rip out people's throats. And seeing as it was dark when they headed to the hotel, they didn't need to take precautions then.

"I can't believe I'm letting you do this,"
Jasper grumbles but closes his eyes again as she applies the powder. 

He's pulled her onto his lap early on. She has put on transparent tights, which make it easy for him to rest his hands on her ass cheeks. 

"What's your plan for today?" he asks her when she finishes up, her arms wrapping around his neck. They have agreed on spending the days inside and visiting museums and such and doing the outdoor stuff at night, it makes it easier to hide what they are and it will hopefully be quieter and less crowded.

"Depends, are you in the mood for the archaeological or acropolis museum?" she retorts. "We can always do both," he counters. "Then we can do the greek dancing lessons tomorrow," Anastasia grins.

Sighing, he leans back in the chair, his hands remaining on her backside. 

"Museums today, dancing tomorrow. what about your pottery and sculpting things?" he raises a brow. "Day three, I guess. Or tomorrow as well, depending on how much time we have," she offers. 

Squeezing her butt, he smirks when she arches further into him, a glare set on her face. Leaning in, he kisses her before she gets the chance to complain, his tongue swiping over her bottom lip. Pulling away, she licks her lips quickly and gets up, kissing the top of his head when he groans unhappily.

"You know, I love it when you're being mean," Jasper points out, "I just don't necessarily like it when you're being mean to me," he adds. 

Getting up himself, he watches her as she slips into her heels, his eyes quickly shifting to her ass. 

"You know, I love when you're being a gentleman," she speaks up and turns back to face him, "I just don't necessarily like when you turn into a perv," she grins as she breathes a too-quick kiss on his lips. He goes to reach for her waist but finds himself grabbing air instead as she has already sped away. 

"You love it when I'm being a perv," he catches the shoes she throws at him with a look that tells him to hurry up. He puts them on while his eyes watch her, finding great amusement in watching them roll to the back of her head. 

Dodging the pillow she throws at him, Jasper grins a little wider. 

--- -- -

"You know, I would've probably become a Hetaira had I lived during that time," Anastasia means as they exit their first museum. 

She has been rambling facts about ancient Greece ever since they left the hotel and honestly seems as carefree as seldom before. In a way, she feels more connected to her mother, being here and all. 

"A Hetaira?" Jasper frowns. He has never heard that name before. "You could argue they were surprisingly emancipated women. They knew music, dance, poetry, art, philosophy and politics enough to converse and discuss it," she shrugs. "Sounds too good to be true. Where's the but?"

"The term Hetaira translates loosely to girlfriend or companion. This honestly isn't a bad thing, they could pick their sexual partners on personal preferences, dine at the table with them, attend sports and social events and have more rights than other women in general during their times. And honestly, they had sex, and got paid for it but were still socially acknowledged. Plus, they often were rich."

"You think you would have been a prostitute?" Jasper draws his conclusion. "Actually, there was a distinction between a Hetairi and a Pornê," Anastasia points out. "Which, for one, was the education that usually outshone that of wives and daughters but also the fact they served few clients compared to a Pornê, who worked on the streets and served only for sexual pleasure. They were allowed to own properties and were protected by the state."

"It would be the smart move to do," she adds. "I'd disagree but I can't even blame you," Jasper shrugs, wrapping his arm around her shoulders to kiss her temple. Anastasia intertwines their fingers and turns her head to give him a proper kiss as they get in line for the second museum. 

--- -- -

So, I finally managed to write another chapter. What did you think?

Also, small spoiler alert, I have dropped a hint or two already but they'll probably get more frequent over the next chapters and hint at Anastasia, her powers and things related to it ;)

Does somebody want to guess?