Meeting the Mysterious Katarina Steel (Civ)

Ivy has been warning me more times than I can remember. While I love hearing her melodic voice, I am starting to get annoyed by the amount of times the name Katarina has come out of that cute little rosy lips. Why and how is it so difficult to meet a member candidate of MY own tower?

"If I kiss you now will you shut up and let me?" I asked playfully

"You try kiss me now and we will see how you can cope with not being able to see me for 6 months"

"Oh come on, you know I will search for you in every nook and crane of every part of the world, portal and dungeon"

"And abandon Arcadia that you have built so far? Please, make it make sense"

"I would, for you. Hell, forget about abandoning Arcadia, this tower would have been dead if it was not for you 5 years ago. I would even wage war and use everything in Arcadia as cannon fodder if i needed to"

"All for a kiss?" She asked with a scoffed, but I can hear delight in her laughter, which means she is quite pleased with this conversation

"For one simple yet deadly kiss" I said and smiling ear to ear in front of her

"Jokes aside, you know what to do Civ" she said finally as she free herself from my arms. I never like the way she leaves my sight and side, and I am pretty sure I will never like it.

So 15 minutes later, here I am sitting in a sun lit room, watching and waiting for a girl to awoke from her slumber. She has a neat appearance, with her white skin covered beneath her simple clothes. If you see close enough, you can see several small dark bruises all over her body. Her brown hair frames her face messily but as equally mesmerizing as her beautiful features are not something can be covered by some messy hair.

Not long after, she wakes up and rubbed her eyes confusedly. I sat there silently and contemplating should I stay silent for a while and keep watch or should I say something. While she was still adapting to the brightness in the room, I decided to say something sooner than later, or else it will get awkward later

"You are awake" I said

I can see her little flinch before she whipped her head towards me. She asked who am I, so I lightly introduced myself. Just normal conversation, nothing really special as I keep it short and light while I observe this woman named Katarina Steel.

When she said she won't tell a soul about the location of the tower, I lied and told her it's reassuring. Honestly, I would not care one bit about the location of the tower, no one can come in without my permission anyway.

Just when I was starting to get bored of our conversation, I heard something funny.

'It feels like she has no self-preservation skill,' I think to myself as I look and stare at her

"You were out for 2 days, Ms. Steel" I said slowly. Trying to gauge her reaction, which is quite funny, I must say. Her panic and confused reply coupled with that beautiful face kind of tug on my heart strings.

"I was getting quite worried that you might have died sleeping, but Ivy never make mistake with her potions and pills. So I waited" I said again

Kat was quick to compose herself after I explained the circumstances, at least that is one good thing I can note about her. Silence engulfed us again as the conversation becoming a little awkward between us.

"So.. I am not sure why, but I heard you want to see me?" Kat broke the silence

"Correct, initially we wanted to persuade and invite you into being a ranker in Arcadia Tower. But it turns out you might need a little more than convincing, as you have not even decided to be one of our member it would seem" I said lightly as I have prepared and scripted my answers beforehand

"Look, with all due respect, Mr.Beaum-"

As she started answering, I know exactly what she was about to say. However, all of my body refused to be called Mr.Beaumont by her, so I cut in before she could finish her sentence

"Civ. I told you, you can call me Civ" I said quickly

There was another silence for a bit, but I am sure Kat understand what I wanted to be called with. When she start calling me Civ, I listened to every word she spits out. It was adorable, so I decided to tease her a little

"And you think I would be willingly tell you? Come on, you are smarter than this. I know you are, Kat" I said with a slight curve on my lips.

"Is there no other way for you to answer my question, then?"

"There is always another way, but I would like it very much if we choose the simplest one. Join Arcadia, and any questions you have will eventually answered" I reply slowly

"You haven't even heard any of my questions yet"

'Oh but I know so much about you, Katarina Steel. You have no idea, at least not for now. I expect this meeting to be boring and I just wanted to observe, but this conversation has been nothing but entertaining so far. So much that I might even throw in a little bait, should I say something about her family?' I think before I told her I know about her questions.

When she asked "What? what is my family has to do with this?", with her confused little doe eyed face, I pretty much gave in and gave her my word

"I swear it, the answers will eventually revealed itself. Just join me" I said, thinking that as long as she joins, we can think about the rest on a later time.

I was delighted when she agreed to my invitation after giving it some thought. I am a patient man, so I was good at waiting. I have always been good at waiting and always will be. Waiting usually always brings me good results, and this time was no different. Delighted, I immediately hand her the contract and ask her to sign right here and then.

Kat gave it a quick read and asked some questions regarding whether can she sell her poison in Arcadia. I told her she can do whatever she want without worry, after all I have Ivy to neutralize the poison if anything went wrong. I was happy when Kat sing praises of Ivy, however, what made me more than happy is to hear Ivy's name with my last name attached at the end.

'Ivy Beaumont, how lovely. One day, it will happen. Maybe I should propose to tie her down soon?' I think all of this in my head

When she ask whether Ivy is the one who made the pills she consumed, I gladly answer

"She is. We are not married, but I do like the sound of her name with my last name" I said with a smile as I can feel my whole body softens. I swear I could spend the whole day talking about her, but now that Kat hand me her contract, I snaps back to reality where I still have tons of work to do before my next lovely meeting with Ivy.

"Great. Then with this, I officially welcome you as a new member of Arcadia Tower" I said with a slight smile as I reach out my hand to shake her hand.

"The pleasure is all mine, but thank you Mr. Beau- I mean, Civ" she replied with a firm shake of her hand against mine

"Oh no, really, the pleasure is all mine. You have no idea" I said. Still soaking in the feeling of how the skin on her hand touching mine. I even ignored her little slip of toungue, after all I heard what I wanted to hear, her calling me Civ.

Soon, she bid her good bye, but I was barely thinking straight from holding myself back. I can not even remember how did I manage to finish all my work that day when all I was thinking were either 'I need a cold shower to cool myself down' or 'I need to jerk off right now'.

I keep questioning myself, was it Kat's poison? Was it when she shook my hand? Whatever it is, it's god damned effective and I should refrain from touching her in the future. I am sure both me and Ivy will surely not be happy with how lacking my self restraint is, so for now I make a mental note to my future self

'Do not touch Katarina Steel'