1st May, 1888 — Diagon Alley

Temperance had read through the note so many times she had eventually considered herself ridiculous and stashed it in the second-hand writing desk in her hallway. Her sense that somehow it was a trick had not been abated even when she had learnt others at the church had received the same epistle and so it was with great hesitancy she took herself to Diagon Alley.

It was not as bad as she had anticipated. Nowhere near the solemn celebration it ought to have been but the grubby looking young men who appeared to be in charge were at least to be commended for making some kind of effort. Precious few did. And she was not entirely averse to their other messages, though she certainly did not believe that garlands of roses, however beautiful, were the way to get the word out. Still, they were pleasing, and there didn’t seem to be any harm in having one looped about her wrist: she absolutely refused categorically to have it on her head.

Striding along the street she began to worry that perhaps the heat was getting to her. She was not prone to being affected by the weather but Temperance found herself seeking out the shaded corners of the bust street to avoid the warmth of the sun and the crowds – unfortunately it was to no avail and as her eyes alighted on a young man/woman* who seemed to have a similar idea it was as though another rush of warmth had assaulted her.

It had to be magic of some kind.

“Peculiar...it is most peculiar is it not?”

  

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Wonderful set by Lady <3

Ray had left the damned coral roses on his head after the young lady had offered hers to him. It would have been rude to decline them even if the initial round of roses had been gladly destroyed from no fault of his own. But it hadn't taken long before he'd started to feel a bit..off and had decided to head out of the crowd for a breather before he was set to work slinging some free booze to the party goers.

The solitude and shade of an alleyway had been much welcomed and he'd even gone so far as to press his forehead against the cold brick of the wall, knocking the crown slightly askew in the process. His solitude was eventually interrupted, however, as a woman started prattling on in a somewhat confusing matters. He looked at her, an eyebrow raised, before looking around to see if perhaps she were speaking to someone else. "Peculiar?" he parroted back, though in more of a confused question than what she'd asked.

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Nolan Sets = Love

His response did little to comfort her. She had hoped it was not just her but the young man seemed content enough, which may well have been a result of the alcohol she could smell of his breath even from this distance. It was quite revolting and reminded her forcibly of the unfortunates she had attempted to help in her youth with charity and patience before their refusal to better themselves had almost made her doubt her own cause. Those had not been especially fine times in her life but she clung to them as reminders of the squalid underbelly that it seemed some were unable to avoid becoming a part of.

And yet, despite all of that, he was not as off-putting as her mind wanted him to be.

“The heat. Surely you can feel it too?”

  

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Wonderful set by Lady <3

Ray couldn't help the smirk that danced on his features as the woman mentioned heat. Sure, it was warm but he was fairly certain that wasn't exactly what was bothering him. The heat was centralized in one specific area of his body and it didn't help when another was in such close proximity.

He eyed her cautiously but eventually found his gaze wandering as he fully looked the woman over. She was older, that was for sure, but he didn't find that to be exactly off putting. If anything, her age added a whole other allure. He'd bedded a fair amount of women before but never one older than him. At least, according to them they hadn't been.

"Surely," he parroted again as he pushed away from the wall to step closer to her, "But I'm not sure it's the same kind of heat you're thinking to be bothered by."

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Nolan Sets = Love

God how she wished it were so.

Temperance might have spent her life striving towards the same level of chastity one might have expected in a Vestal Virgin but she was also a nurse, and quite aware how the body attempted to trick the mind into sin. She would never speak it aloud but she was no stranger to the longings of the body, however this felt entirely different. She did not know this man and that was an entirely new concept.

“Whatever do you mean?” She flustered in reply, unable to stop her tongue from darting out and wetting her lips. A shiver went up her spine as he came a step closer, close enough that the smell of him because stronger and she almost became dizzy.

“What other kind of heat is there?”

  

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Wonderful set by Lady <3

A smirk graced Ray's features as he watched her lick her lips. It had perhaps the opposite effect on him that she would want. That heat rose within him more as he took a few more steps closer to her. He hoped to get her to back up against one of the walls of the alley but he wouldn't physically move her. Not yet anyways.

His eyes locked on hers as she questioned what other kind of heat there was and his smirk only seemed to widen. "Oh I'm sure you're well aware," he said with another added step toward her, his eyes raking over her whole body as he went.

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Nolan Sets = Love

She was, and he was well aware of it, which was utterly unbearable but not nearly as much as the feeling uncurling in her stomach, travelling lower in a quite unwelcome way. it felt good though, she knew it and knew he could probably guess it and that was worse, so much worse She blushed as his eyes moved over her, turning her head away, panic-stricken that somebody might see them and cause tongues to wag, and quite sure the Almighty could see and would judge them both.

But everybody else at the celebration seemed to be quite occupied and she could only feel one set of eyes on her.

“What are you insinuating?” She snapped, aiming for indignant and inadvertently coming out breathy.

  

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Wonderful set by Lady <3

Ray couldn't help but to smirk as she snapped at him. His steps hadn't stopped either, not until he was directly in front of her and perhaps too close for propriety's sake. He wasn't so close he was touching her though. At least, not yet.

He pressed his hands against the cool brick wall on either side of her head, just above her shoulder but still wasn't touching her. He leaned toward her so there was but a few inches between their faces, smirk still on his face. "I think you know the answer to that as well," he said in a low, breathy tone. His tongue darted from his lips to wet them as his eyes fell to her own, intent more than clear though he didn't close that distance.

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Nolan Sets = Love

He towered over her, fencing her in with his arms and Temperance tried to force herself to dislike it but giving herself up to a higher power had always been her natural instinct and today it roared to the surface. Along with a number of other natural instincts she vehemently tried to ignore.

What on earth was happening to her? She was a respected member of her community and had guardianship over two children – this man, whoever he was, had bewitched her somehow. Reduced her to tilting her head up, mouth dry in a way she didn’t understand and body feeling warmer by the second and very aware of how close his was.

“What if I did?” She replied in a low voice, hands pressed hard against the wall behind her. This was madness. “I-” She licked her bone dry lips again, body angling towards his without her even noticing.

  

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Wonderful set by Lady <3

For all that she tried to fight the clear attraction or lust, Ray could see she was starting to fail. It caused the smirk to fade into something of a lazy smile. Watching her wet her own lips caused his body to ache in a way he hadn't acted on in a while. Already he could feel a tightening in his trousers at the thought. Inching slightly closer, he was able to feel the presence of her own body against him just enough to know she had arched somewhat towards him.

He took that as enough of an invitation and closed the last of the distance between his lips and hers. The feel of her recently whetted lips against his own brought a moan from him but he didn't break the contact, instead pushing the kiss even harder with a fervor he'd not thought possible.

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Nolan Sets = Love

The kiss was hardly surprising at this point but it felt like a jolt of lightening to Temperance, though unfortunately it was not quite strong enough to break her out of the haze she was trapped in. This, she knew in her bones, was all extremely wrong, a grave sin that would most definitely cause her to fall short of God’s glory.

She pressed her hands against his chest, making a valiant pretence at pushing him away but without much real force behind it. She didn’t know what she wanted, just that she did want something-

“Stop,” she muttered, breaking the kiss, lips tingling with the taste of him and clouding her mind till she was forced to cling to deep-rooted beliefs over her sense of decorum. The two were usually tied together of course but one was learned, the other had been seared onto her soul when she was a child. “It’s sinful.”

  

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Wonderful set by Lady <3

The hands were felt pressed against Ray's chest but he was hardly of a mind to truly break the kiss away. If anything, he wanted to push further against and even went so far to push a leg closer to her, between her skirts. It wasn't until she broke the kiss and told him to stop that he hesitated. Drunk on lust he may have been, he wasn't about to force anything if she truly wanted him to stop. However, he wasn't going to stop entirely without trying a little bit harder.

Still rather close to her own face, dark eyes scanned over his face. "Sinful, maybe," he let out in a breathy voice, "But certainly worth it." A hand came away from the brick wall to trail down her cheek with a finger, watching her closely. "You can't deny the excitement of it," he added, daring to dip closer again to take her lips once more but slowly this time in the event she did intend for him to truly stop.

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Nolan Sets = Love

Tilting her head away in a vain attempt to hide the blush that was rising on her cheeks Temperance felt heat burst through her whole body as he moved his leg. It was peculiar and thrilling, an unnerving combination of something new and something base her body reacted to in ways she hadn’t known it could.

Clearly she was being tested. And thus far she was failing miserably, but her heart was beating faster than her mind could keep up with and her fingers curled tightly into the fabric of his shirt when he touched her face with more delicacy than she would have imagined.

She tilted her head up without thinking about it, meeting his lips again with a little more precision this time, allowing her hand to climb further up his chest and struggling when the garland at her wrist caught on his button. She tugged. The garland snapped and with a hum of pleasure she reached up and gripped the back of his neck, kissing him deeply and pressing herself up and-

It was like a bucket of cold water had been dropped on her. She staggered back and found herself still pinned up against a wall.

What manner of devilish temptation was this?!

  

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Wonderful set by Lady <3

Ray couldn't help the devilish grin that presented on his features as she seemed to finally cave into the feelings of longing and lust. The kiss was different than the first as she came to meet his own lips. The shocking thrill of feeling her hand crawling up his chest to snake around to the back of his neck only added to the sensations he was feeling in the moment. He pressed against her further, knee still between her legs as he cupped her cheek with a rough and calloused hand. His other hand had begun to roam down her side to begin adjusting her skirts for easier access when something seemed to change for her.

Her jolt back caused his eyes to open wide with shock as he stared down at her. "Second thoughts again?" he questioned, though the light and airy tones before were starting to fade as his frustration began to increase.

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Nolan Sets = Love

It had never been Temperance’s wont to change her mind on any course of action once she had set her mind to it, yet what had happened in the last few minutes was surely so far beyond her usual mien that it was justified. Adding to that she was quite sure she had been bewitched somehow – she had never in all her life thought to abase herself in such a way.

It had been tempting though… it was tempting still, but she had seen proof before her eyes that no amount of felicity could be worth the consequences, and the evidence that lived in her house was only the earthly proof – nothing was worth the condemnation of the Lord!

Using his height against him she darted underneath his arm, pressing her skirts back into place with shaking hands, flushing with shame as she realised what she was doing. How on earth had she let it come to this?

“You shall never speak of this again.”

  

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Wonderful set by Lady <3

With Ray's garland of flowers still in place, there was no waning of his own lust and desires. He, however, had enough control not to ruin a lady that was now completely against it even if just moments before she'd been longing for his touch just as much as he'd been longing for hers.

With a defeated sort of sigh after she dashed out from under his arm, he simply leaned forward and pressed his forehead against the cold brick. It was an awful feeling, to be so close to whetting an appetite only to ave it quickly pulled away from him and her words did little to help that.

"Then it's best you leave now," he managed to get out through ground teeth though without looking at her. He simply waved a dismissive hand in her direction as he worked to control his breathing once more and hopefully reign in the desires that had risen exponentially.

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Nolan Sets = Love