[Once Alina clamps onto his back, Nikolai reaches behind to support her thighs and straightens out. Across the sands they go.]
Now, don't be so modest. You've done quite well with riding here.
[Of course there's a suggestive curl to his words. He enjoys feeling her body pressing into his back, her arms wrapping his shoulders. After carrying the metaphorical weight of an entire country on his shoulders for years, it's freeing to have only the weight of one soul to worry about. As he walks, he focuses on that weight and lets it become all that matters right now.
Even when they cross the threshold of the showers, he doesn't pause to let her down. The floor is made of smooth slabs of white stone. The walls rising around them are more like wooden screens raised on metal legs, and the ceiling is simply the open sky. The wooden partitions form a central hallway that opens up to a few shower stalls on each side. Quiet envelopes the place, removed from the clamor of the beach.]
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Now, don't be so modest. You've done quite well with riding here.
[Of course there's a suggestive curl to his words. He enjoys feeling her body pressing into his back, her arms wrapping his shoulders. After carrying the metaphorical weight of an entire country on his shoulders for years, it's freeing to have only the weight of one soul to worry about. As he walks, he focuses on that weight and lets it become all that matters right now.
Even when they cross the threshold of the showers, he doesn't pause to let her down. The floor is made of smooth slabs of white stone. The walls rising around them are more like wooden screens raised on metal legs, and the ceiling is simply the open sky. The wooden partitions form a central hallway that opens up to a few shower stalls on each side. Quiet envelopes the place, removed from the clamor of the beach.]
It sounds like we're alone.