[center][h2][color=a0410d]Sam Cross[/color][/h2][/center]

Sam shifted her weight from one hip to the other as Artemis declared that her point seemed to be 'fair'. That sounded good, but these words felt so neutral and tense. It gave Sam the feeling that she could never tell when Artemis meant what she said, or said it for some other reason. The way the other woman worked... it was like you could see the cogs in her mind whirling and spinning, only the action was too fast and so concealed that you couldn't tell exactly what these components were doing. It honestly puzzled Sam, but she decided she wasn't going to try and analyze Artemis too much. It was just so much easier to react to people at their face value than pick and dig at it in hopes of discovering something different. 

The dragon lady began to have a little smile glide to her face as the woman claimed that she was refreshingly brutal, but on the inside, she shrunk a little at the word 'friends'. She wasn't exactly upset the prospect of Artemis being a friend, but it made her feel awkward with an underlying sense of fear. There were quite a few terms that she used and were comfortable with: acquaintances, allies, people of likemindedness, bros, work mates, or even fuck buddies. All of these terms she was content with, but 'friends' tainted her with an entirely different feeling. A flutter would stir in her stomach and a lump slowly build in her throat as her eyes would dilate and frantically roam away from the person in question. Friends was way too close. Friends would mean that they could reach out with their hand and feel tiny pores of brick or invasively finger into the cold, wet grout. Slowly they would be able to grope at it and discover the bricks upon bricks that she had laid to build her wall. It didn't stop there. Then they would feel compelled to viciously scratch and pick at the corners of the stone, chipping at it little piece by little piece, ruining the morbid masterpiece that she had nurtured for years, cradling it close around her heart. At hearing this accursed F word she inwardly inched behind her monolith, timidly peeking from behind it, like a child from behind a doorway. On the outside, Sam tried to play the absentminded use of the word 'friend' very cooly. "[color=a0410d]Uh, yeah, no problem. We're cool, man.[/color]" 

She was about to walk away as Claire arrived, to be interrogated on manners of the heart, but all of a sudden she felt a hand on her shoulder. Not expecting the contact, she shied away from the intruding pressure, and turned to face it. Her eyes widened and her fears were momentarily forgotten as she was acquainted with flashy streaks of electric pink. "[color=a0410d]Oh, hey![/color]" A flirty little smile dawned on her cheeks which probably looked like the expression of grinning idiot, but whatever. "[color=a0410d]You came![/color]" She fully turned to the other woman, seeing Liam coming through the door out of the corner of her eye. She didn't pay him any attention yet, though, all of her attention now on Vicki, who was probably the hottest thing in the room. "[color=a0410d]I figured you might want someone to talk to if you were still having a hard time with anything or just needed questions answered.[/color]" 

It was at this time that Clarice declared that she was inviting everyone to a sparing session. It sounded like a load of fun (though perhaps a bad idea since she was still far from having control). She would need a big space with some well controlled flammables if she did go. If she couldn't catch anything on fire, it greatly reduced her chances of winning, she knew that for sure. However, she was completely invested in the woman in front of her. Whatever Vicki wanted to do, Sam was already happy to go along with it. She just really wanted to get to know her. "[color=a0410d]Hey, what d'ya think? Fighting sounds pretty rad, but I think I'd be just as happy chatting with you for awhile.[/color]" Sam's own eyes were soft with shallow infatuation, but also held the same fire as usual, making for almost a smoldering look. Even the heat around Samantha seemed to shift to match the warmth of her gaze.

[center][@Leolycan][@DFA][@Eklispe][@TheWinchester4][/center]