For most people, enchanting a door to block weapons from passing was a matter of safety.
For Maribel, however...
"Come on, dear, I'm not about to dismantle my door just for your sake," she said to her date. She'd met the girl at market – about her age, lovely brown hair kept pinned in a bun, and sleek black gloves with a short cuff. A nice meal at the tavern later, and Maribel was appropriately smitten with Luna, inviting her back to a modest townhouse under an inconsequential alias. Now, they were stood in the narrow confines of the antechamber, staring each other down.
"And why should I wholly disarm myself, leaving you with the only advantage?" Luna had hung up her cloak—a lovely maroon—on one of the many hooks on the walls, taken off her boots, and unbelted the simple knife at her hip. She was smart like that, keeping one weapon obvious so no one would suspect the others. It was part of what had charmed Maribel so thoroughly.
"Oh, I'll be disarming myself too," the homeowner replied. She opened the antechamber door, allowing it to swing wide, and then leaned back into the empty door frame. Glowing networks of arcane sigils burst to life to catch her. "Though I admit, I do prefer when my guests trust me enough to disarm themselves first."
"I make no apologies for not being so pliable."
"I know. That's why you're cute."
Luna flushed at the compliment, but didn't move. It was time for Maribel's favorite resolution to the stalemate.
"How about this: rather than disarming yourself, you may disarm me. In turn, I disarm you. One for one, until we can pass through my door."
Her guest gave her a visual once over, considering. "Very well," Luna said at last. "I agree to your game."
Maribel, for her part, opened her arms wide without getting up from the doorway. "Then make your first move, Moonlight."
Luna rolled her eyes, approaching softly. "Spare me the pet names," she chided as she reached into the open neck of her host's shirt. The soft leather of her gloves brushed against Maribel's chest, before she delicately withdrew a blade from an armpit sheath.
"So chaste!" Maribel teased as Luna placed her dagger by her own yellow cloak. She finally pushed off the magical barrier as her companion of the evening stood easy, arms casually raised. She stepped close and leaned down to whisper, "I suppose I should be polite and respond in kind, then." Reaching over Luna's shoulder, the flirt took a moment to slide a gloved finger along her spine before pulling a knife from beneath the low back of her dress. "Impressive angle on that sheath; flexible shoulders?"
"Among other things," came the reply, as the knife was set aside. "If you're so eager for excitement..." Luna knelt in front of her playmate, reaching her hand under Maribel's skirt (and past three other knives) until she retrieved one that had been pressed to the inner thigh. "Lust, I presume?"
"What can I say, I like a cliché." Maribel shrugged in a non-apology, before catching Luna's wrist. "As, it seems, are you," she continued, revealing a tiny weapon sewn into the cuff of Luna's glove. "Hello, Intimacy."
"That one's Promise, actually." Luna was getting into the game now, more casually sliding her hand under the skirt's waistband for a dagger that had been against her rear. "You're on the right track for Intimacy, though."
"I'm sure I'll find it in time." Hands sliding up to unbuckle a sheath from Luna's calf, pausing to breathe against the top of her foot. "For now, there are plenty of other things to explore."
"And you," slipping under Maribel's shirt, encircling her waist to free a sheath, "are far too eager to explore them, if you ask me."
"Part of my charm." A dagger that had been tucked beneath Luna's breast.
"A character trait, at least." One of the knives that had been passed over before, with more lingering touches than previously.
The pin in Luna's bun, revealing sharpened points as her hair tumbled down.
Another thigh knife, this one strapped to the outside.
Intimacy, in a spring sheath bound to the forearm.
A flexible blade wrapped around the bicep.
A false tooth cap with a jeweled point that could flip down. "Fancy."
"By Pirratelli." A trim dagger hanging next to her flesh and blood one.
Maribel loved this game.
