Hibiscus and Sparrow [Fuuen, Yugiri]

"I would not deign to dishonor either you or my art by drawing you for such a base reason. It would be a rather grave failing, don't you think?"

Fuuen certainly watched her little gestures, and his gaze became a touch more sly as he did so. He was not a fool, after all, and he understood the nature of what was happening. But he would much prefer to match her than to simply accept it, and so leaning a bit against the bar, he spoke in a bit more lighthearted a tone.

"Sharing this evening with the subject of such a beautiful piece is already quite more than I would expect. Why sully such pleasantry?"

"Precisely."

Her confident smirk had been lovely, but this expression was just as much so. Did Fuuen enjoy seeing her react in such a way? Admittedly, yes. Not so much for the sake of his own ego, but simply because it was an exceptionally charming expression, and it meant that his own end of this banter had been a success.

"That would only poison any future evenings such as this, after all, and I would hate to think I might ever do that. You are a wonderful conversational partner, and there are far too many more discussions to be had. "

Was that intentionally bold on her behalf? While Fuuen would have admittedly called that a rather welcome thought, he was also not nearly so naive as to think it would be. If anything, she was simply biting off a bit more than she could chew, but that was rather cute in its own right.

"My deepest apologies if I have spent too long on flowered words. Are you asking that I move on to matters of the body, then?"

It was words in such a way as to be completely genuine, and his tone gave little away, but the small smirk he wore made the whole affair much more obvious. She had enjoyed her time teasing, and now Fuuen was willing to take his turn.

Well, it certainly seemed he had baited the line a bit better than he himself had anticipated. Not that Fuuen minded at all what had come from that, of course, but it certainly surprised him. He still maintained his cool exterior, of course, and the small, charming little smirk he wore only grew a touch more after the kiss had ended.

"My, and here I had thought you had no intention of poisoning the arts with physical desire... Well, I suppose I can call this inspiration, given you were the one to do it."

Taking a sip of his tea to collect his thoughts on this, he had to concede she'd taken the upper hand rather soundly. Though, given how she had done so, he couldn't say that he was too terribly upset at having lost the more immediate battle of wits.

"I suppose I will have to have something worthwhile to show you from such inspiration, yes? Perhaps by our next meeting it will have come to mind."

The beauty in transience was of course one of the greatest beauties of all. It was the appeal even of a simple thing such as her lips to his, or this evening they were sharing. He could certainly have aimed to be ever more charming, but it would have felt outright crass to do so, crude and lacking in any of the elegance that Fuuen preferred in his every action.

"I would never make such an accusation, naturally. But regardless of intention, desire still springs forth where it chooses, invoked outside our control."

Fuuen was far from the sort to feel particularly shy about stating something so plainly, though to be entirely fair, it was not as if his manner of speaking was ever what could be called "plain." Still, he found it more amusing than anything else to have this little back and forth, and it was not as if admitting something like that was to say anything terribly uncouth.

"Concerned? Far from it, I should think. After all, this is still a matter of artistic expression and aesthetic. It is simply a bit more personal than the norm."

In truth, he had not the slightest idea what that meant, but it sounded appropriate enough a response that he did not regret saying it. The minutiae could be discerned later. With a faint bit of amusement, he tapped the counter briefly, and ordered another drink a bit stronger than the tea they had been drinking.

"A sweet potato shochu, if you would. And two cups, of course."

When it arrived, Fuuen filled both drinking vessels, and sipped from his own with a faintly sly expression. Would Yugiri partake as well? He certainly hoped as much.