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Post by Seven on Apr 20, 2008 20:17:46 GMT -5
“What?” she calls from within, not opening the door.
He opens the door, peeking in. “Hey….do you want to talk?”
She’s seated at a large round table off to one edge of the room, a thick leather-bound book open in front of her. She looks up and shrugs. “If you want to.”
“Well, something’s bothering you, isn’t it?”
She shrugs again. “I probably should have figured it out, shouldn’t I have?” she asks quietly.
He pauses, looking her in the eye. “Figured what out, Aka?”
“The whole Moon Princess thing,” she replies. “I mean, I’ve read this book god knows how many times, and now that I know, everything is finally clicking and making sense. It just seems so obvious…”
“…what is the book about?” He looks at it again, realizing that it’s probably enchanted. “Or what does it do?”
“It’s the Shining Star’s book. The Risen Moon’s son.”
“Her son?” He remembers what Kellen told him about Risen Moon and her pregnancy. “So it’s his diary?”
“Partially. He created a spell that allowed all of his movements as a deity be recorded.” She gestures to the other two leather-bound books on the table. “We each have one. He said that he didn’t want any of his descendants to be as confused about their ancestors as he was.”
“Yeah….If you haven’t figured it out already from what he said, his father was a Sun Prince. Thus why your family has had mixed powers for so many generations.”
“The Risen Moon never told him about his father. I knew because Kellen told me,” she replies softly.
He smiles, leaning against a bookshelf. “Waiting until after I admitted it to fill you in on the details. Figures…”
She nods. “He didn’t want to be the one to break it to me…”
“Of course. That was my job. Aka, I never got to ask you how you really feel about all this yesterday. I guess I just sort of assumed it would all work itself out, but…”
She shrugs again. “Confused. A little apprehensive.” She pauses. “Really, really confused….”
He takes a few steps closer to her, leaning in a bit. “Would you like to talk about it?”
She tilts her head, leaning on one hand. “I’m just freaking out a little bit. No big deal.”
He sighs. “Really Aka, you can tell me. I can tell it’s bothering you…” he says reassuringly, though he already knows the majority of it from Darad.
She looks up at him. “I know you said it’s not a polarity thing, Tall. But that’s what it seems like…”
He closes his eyes for a moment. How could he reassure her it wasn’t, and that his feelings for her are real? Just as he is reflecting upon this, a thought suddenly comes to mind. Just because he had fallen in love with Aka never meant that the same was true in reverse. For all he knew, she might very well just be suffering symptoms of polarity. Who ever said that any Sun Prince and Moon Princess were really in love? At this moment, Tall wanted nothing more than to chastise her for such thoughts, persuade her that everything would be wonderful between them. But he wasn’t going to lie to her about the possibilities, even if it would mean heartbreak for him. He opens his eyes again, smiling softly. “Aka…I don’t know what I can tell you. I can’t know your feelings for you, only my own. If you are worried about me, it is in vain. I…I had lots of time to reflect up this already, and yes, I realized that I am in love with you. I love you more than anyone I ever met and probably more than anyone else I could ever meet. But…” he sighs. “I just want you to be happy. If I’m not the one for you, I’ll be content with your friendship and remember these few days together fondly. But you have to figure out how you feel first….”
Tall places a gentle kiss on her forehead before backing away. “I don’t want to affect your decision, if this is just polarity, so I’ll leave you alone to think clearly. I’ll be back at the Alcazar, researching how to annul our engagement…” he soundlessly gulps, “…if that’s what your decision leads you to.” He turns away from her, and heads back to the door, stopping for a moment. “Good bye, till then…”
She’s watched him, eyes growing wide as his little speech continues. Finally, when he stops, she rised. “Tall, that’s not what I said. I just need to think, that’s all. You don’t have to go…”
“You’re wondering if you’re just attracted to my powers, like Damien was with you?” He asks, looking over his shoulder with a knowing expression. “If that’s the case, then you do need time to yourself, you realize?”
“No, Tall. That’s not what I said at all--”
“Then what are you saying Aka? Because that’s what it certainly sounds like.” He stares at her intently for a moment, then sighs.
After a moment, she replies, exasperated. “I don’t know what I’m saying, but it certainly isn’t that!” She sinks back down into her chair, placing her head on the book and covering it with her arm. “Fine, whatever. Go.”
He looks at her sadly. One last glance before he soundlessly leaves the room, walking through Thorn Manner’s halls, and out the door.
Darad watches him sadly as he leaves, then turns. “I’m… Gonna go check on Aka…” He fades out, then a few moments later he fades back in with a panicked look on his face. “Note to self: Don’t mess with Aka right now…”
The shape shifter, the ex-journalist, and the widow watch with minor confusion as Tall decidedly leaves the mansion without so much as a word. When Darad pops back in, looking aghast, Margerita stands up, looking over at him. “What happened? Did those two fight?” Without waiting for a response, she brushes past him, going into the tower to see Aka.
Aka is still seated at the table, no longer burying her head in her hands, but aggressively flipping the pages of the book, muttering to herself.
She quietly shuts the door. “Hey Huney…I doubt that book is too happy with how you’re treating it,” she tries to say lightly.
Aka looks up at her. “I don’t care. It was written by a man, and I’m mad at the lot of them right now…”
She shrugs, smiling casually and taking a random seat. “Tell me about it. I think we should keep all men locked up and only let them out once a year for propagation. And even then they’d manage to screw things up. So, what happened this time with dumby?”
“He went back to Alcazar,” she says, looking back down at the book. “The big jerk.”
She raises her eyebrow. “He seemed like he was in such a good mood this morning too…What happened? I doubt he’d leave you now for no reason.”
“He said he wanted to give me space or some nonsense like that…” she mutters in response.
“Oh? Nothing about why he wanted you to have space? That sounds quite suspicious to me, considering that he was pretty much attached to your hip before he walked in here.”
“I said I was confused. Mostly because I’m basically acting like Damien…” she replies. “Because of the whole polarity thing.”
She looks confused. “You forget I don’t know everything about your past darling. Damien? Your ex?”
She nods. “Damien was obsessively drawn to my powers. And now I’m acting the same way around Tall, and it freaks me out.”
Margerita stares at her in disbelief, then abruptly starts to laugh. She laughs for a bit, and only when she begins to calm down, does she continue. “My…god…..you people are all so ridiculous….No offense.”
It’s Aka’s turn to look confused. “Wait… What?”
“So you’re pretty much freaking out because your attracted to your own boyfriend?” she says bluntly.
Aka opens her mouth to object, but then pauses. She closes her mouth and looks thoughtful for a few moments before looking back up at Margerita. “How do you do that?”
“Do what?” she grins smugly. “Use my common sense?”
“No. Take a problem I’ve been mulling over in my brain for hours. FREAKING HOURS! And make it sound so stupid and simple and idiotic?”
She shrugs her shoulders, “I must be magic.”
Aka’s face deadpans. “That’s not funny.”
She stretches a bit, leaning back on her chair and crossing her legs comfortably. “Honestly, you two are the most insecure people I have ever been around. You both second guess yourselves at ever single turn. If you’d just give up not trusting yourselves and each other, you might actually get to be happy?. Ever thought of that?”
Aka rises. “You know what? You’re right.” She pauses looking thoughtful. ‘So what do I do about it?”
She continues to look at her funny. “Really? You don’t know?”
Aka shakes her head.
She slaps her forehead. “You talk to him! You drag his ass back from the Alcazar and say ‘Gee darling, I was wrong! I do like you, would please come back?’” she says almost mockingly. “It’s not that hard.”
Aka nods. “Sounds good.” Without another word, she retreats to the one dark corner of the room and fades out.
“A good bye might have been nice,” she rolls her eyes, shaking her head, “Or a thank you, maybe…”
Aka fades into Tall’s workshop, waiting behind him with her arms crossed defiantly until he notices her.
He turns, and jumps when he abruptly sees her, dropping a piece of metal. “Aka!?” he says in obvious surprise, not expecting her this early.
She tilts her head, mimicking his expression. “Tall!?”
He frowns. “Now you’re just mocking me.”
She raises an eyebrow. “Sharp. Now if only you were able to figure out what I’m saying as well and mocking.”
He continues to frown, not fond of these games she’s playing. “Ok, since I’m apparently terrible at mind games, what have you’ve come to tell me?”
“First of all, I am well aware of the fact, that, being of the female persuasion, I’m not really inclined to say what I mean, and I know that you generally have no clue of the nuances of what I am saying. But in this case, ‘I need to think’ did not mean ‘I need to figure out how to get out of this.’ It meant ‘I need to reassure myself that I’m not insane or turning into my ex.’ Okay?”
Tall stares at her for a moment, before starting to grin wider and wider. He remains silent, grin from ear to ear by the time she’s stopped talking.
She doesn’t notice. “Secondly, if this was a polarity thing, you leaving wouldn’t have pissed me off so much, so that’s pretty much ruled out. Thirdly…” she pauses for a second. “I don’t have a thirdly, but I have a fourthly. Fourthly, Margerita is too damn insightful for her own good… Lastly--”
As she talks, he approaches her. Before she can finish, he pulls her to him, stopping her mouth with his own. When he pulls away after a few seconds, he mutters, “You talk too much.”
Her arms have instinctively raised to wrap around his neck. She pouts slightly as he speaks, and mumbles distractedly, “You stole my line…”
“I know, I’m a thief,” he replies, chuckling slightly, before pulling her back into the kiss.
After several moments that could have been hours for all they knew, a voice at the corner chimes in. “I hate to interupt…”
Aka pulls away abruptly and turns to face the dark presence in the corner. “Careta,,,? What are you doing here?”
“I’m terribly sorry, milady, but no one could contact Kellen or Darad and there’s a bit of a situation in the Old Realm.”
Aka sighs, then looks at Tall. “DO you mind too terribly if we continue this later? I need to deal with this…”
“No, not at all,” he smiles, though he’s missing her already. “Off to play Goddess again?”
She nods, then smiles mischievously. “Care to play God?”
He laughs. “Anytime.” Something occurs to him then. “Does this mean we can be open about our relationship in Old Realm, or do you prefer to keep me your dirty little secret?”
She shrugs. “I guess we’ll find out when we get there….” She slowly backs away from him, keeping one hand latched firmly onto his as she pulls him through the Dark Realm and out into her bedroom at the Temple. Ciron and Careta are already there waiting for her. “So what’s the emergency?”
They share a worried look. “The Queen is here.”
Aka looks confused. “The Queen?” She looks thoughtful for a few second before a look of understanding crosses over her face. “Crea?” They nod. Aka sighs. “Damn… Just what I needed…” She turns to Tall, gathering shadows around them both, creating a dark purple, shadowy layer of clothing around both of them. “Come on.” she says, turning toward the door. “Time to deal with angry followers…”
“….I wasn’t aware that Old Realm had a King and Queen…who is she? Any idea why she might be angry?”
She nods. “Crea is very angry for several reasons, which you’ll figure out in a moment.” She opens the door and leads him into the main hall. A tall woman with the telltale dark hair and fair complexion of one of Aka’s followers stands impatiently in the middle. Contrary to her looks, however, she is wearing the white and gold clothes that Orion favors.
“Light Bringer?” he mutters to himself in slight confusion, noting her clothes similarity to Orion’s the first day he showed up here.
Aka holds up one finger, silently requesting her doesn’t speak. But his utterance has already alerted her to their presence and the woman stalks up to Aka angrily. “It wasn’t enough to take my parent’s from me, was it? You had to take my son as well?”
Aka sighs. “Crea, you can’t really think that…”
“I don’t think it, Shadow-Monger, I know it. I saw the memories of that night, I know you killed them,” she replies angrily.
Aka shakes her head. “You mean your husband never told you that light Sentinals can alter memories?”
“My husband wouldn’t lie to me. I trust him and he has never led me astray before.”
“Never?” Aka laughs. “So I assume he has told you that I’ve kidnapped your son and I am trying to strip him of his powers and take them for my own?”
“So you admit it!” she replies outraged.
Watching the display has cleared up a few of Tall’s questions, but as she comes to the final declaration, he can’t help a small snicker that escapes his lips, though he quickly stifles it. Since Aka had told him to remain silent, he smiles apologetically. A sort of ‘oops, my bad.’
Aka shoots him a look, glaring slightly before turning back to Crea. “I admit nothing Crea. But I will offer you a deal.”
“A deal? Like the one you offered my parents when you learned of their affair? Not a chance.”
Aka ignores her outburst and continues. “I will bring you to Orion, and if you decide that he’s not happy or healthy, or that he wishes to return with you, you can bring him back. But it he does wish to stay, you will leave him.”
Crea’s eyes narrow. “What have you done to his mind that he would want to stay here?”
“See for yourself,” Aka replies nonchalantly. She turns to the followers across the room. “Can you tell me where Orion and Clary are?”
The nearest one nods. “They’re in the courtyard.” Aka nods, then turns back to Crea.
“Do you accept, or do I have to force you to leave now?”
“Show me my son,” Crea demands. Aka nods, then looks at Tall. “You care to join us?”
“Of course I’d love to. It’s been a while since I’ve seen those two as well,” he smiles.
Aka nods and leads them through the doors to the courtyard. Amid the lush greenery, at the alter, stand the couple. Clary is seated on the bench, Orion next to her, one hand on her slightly extended stomach lovingly.
Aka leans against the doorframe, still in the shadow of the walls of the courtyard as she gestures to the couple.
Crea stands, open mouthed as she watches the two chatting lightly, discussing possible names for their child. Finally, she turns to Aka. “He’s-- He’s--”
“Married?” she finishes with one eyebrow raised. “Quite happily, in fact. I married them the day he ran from his father’s court. They’d been meeting in secret for almost a year before that.”
“But-- You-- You condone it?” she asked, shocked. “After what you did to my parents, I thought…”
Aka shakes her head sadly. “I did nothing to your parents. I knew of their affair from the beginning. Sadly, your husband realized that the latent power of his followers combined with that of my High Priestess created the most magical child this realm has seen in quite sometime outside of his own line. You were his best hope at creating a powerful heir. But he would never get that heir with your parents around.”
Crea, listening to Aka in shock, turns back to Orion and Clary. “So-- He killed them?”
Aka nods.
Crea turns back to Aka. “I have wronged you, in so many ways. I let my grief blind me to my true path. Please allow me to return to the Temple, if only to stay with my son.”
Aka is silent for several seconds, before smiling and nodding. “Of course, Crea. You are always welcome here. Now, I think you had better go talk to your son and his wife.”
Crea nods and approaches the couple. At first, Orion rises, stepping in front of Clary protectively. But after a few words, he smiles and the three begin talking.
Aka turns back to Tall. “Another rift closed….”
“You handled that quite well,” he smiles. “Still…the closing of this rift will open another. Surely Crea’s husband won’t be too pleased about the outcome of today…” he adds in as an afterthought.
Aka shrugs. “he’s been looking for a reason to fight his entire life. Might as well get it over with…” she replies. “After all, Crea and Orion belong here. He has no right to keep them at the palace.” She looks back inside at Ciron. “Ciron, can you please summon Serii for me? I have to talk to her.” Ciron nods, fading away. Aka turns to Careta. “Care to join me in my chambers?” Careta nods.
Aka turns to Tall. “You don’t mind if we sneak off for a moment, do you? I don‘t want to bore you with this…”
“Is this one of those mind games when you say one thing and mean another? Such as, ‘I don’t want you to kill my Father’s Sentinal?’”
Aka winces. “Yeah, pretty much. ” she replies. “Is that okay?”
He crosses his arms, wrinkling his nose. “I guess so…since you seem to like to torture me like this….I’ll just have to wander aimlessly about.” He drops the act, smiling at her. “I know that you know what you’re doing. I’ll wait around here for you.”
Aka nods. “Thanks.” She and Careta retreat to her quarters, and Darad fades in behind Tall. “Yo.”
He turns. “You really like sneaking up on people, don’t you Darad? So…as you can tell, Aka and mine‘s rift lasted a pathetically short duration.”
He nods. “Yeah. I noticed.” he shrugs. “But what can you do? Some couples just aren’t made to fight…”
“I’m quite happy that apparently we’re amongst them.”
Darad chuckles. “yeah, but you know what that means.” He grins mischievously. “No make-up sex.”
He rolls his eyes. “Ha ha ha. Well, we won’t need make-up sex. We’ll be quite preoccupied with regular sex instead. And it’ll involve a lot less guilt.”
Darad raises an eyebrow. “Whatever you say, Tall…” He rolls his eyes. After a few seconds, his head perks up. “Aka’s done with Serii, if you want to go meet her.”
“Really?” he smiles, anxious to be next to her again. “Where is she?”
He smiles, a ‘I-know-something-you-don’t-know” smile. “The dock.”
Tall remains silent for a moment, then forces a small, sheepish smile. “Well…I best go find her then…” one small, nervous laugh falls out. “I’ll be off then….” he turns from him, heading over to the dock.
The sun has started to set as he exit’s the buidling, and the humidity of the warm afternoon is giving way to a chilly, foggy evening. As tall heads through the forest to the dock, guided by the lamps that hang from the arch at the end of the pier, the sky darkens to twilight and the mist sets in even more. Reminiscent of his dream, Aka stands at the end of the dock, just before the bench. But the real surprise is that she’s changed clothes, obviously Careta’s doing, into a silky dark purple dress with a black corset. The light reflects off the silver ribbon holding the garment closed, practically calling out to Tall.
Tall stares at the sight, his jaw dropping and his fingers twitching. Just the memory of that dream makes him flush red, as he quickly brings up a hand to cover his face in an automatic reaction. He quickly turns away, leaning against a tree, silently talking himself through this. ‘Ok Tall, that was a dream, this is a coincidence. Get a hold of yourself.’ He shuts his eyes tightly, not wanting to think about the dream, though it unnecessarily replays itself in his head.
Aka, sensing his presence, looks over her shoulder at him. She tilts her head, puzzled at his position. “Come on, silly. Are you suddenly afraid of the water?” she calls.
“No!” he quickly calls in a nervous tone, stumbling out from behind the tree. He smacks his forehead for being so blatantly obvious, though he quickly changes the motion to moving his hair out of his face. He smiles nervously, trying not to seem like he’s hiding anything. “Be right with you…”
Aka shrugs, muttering under her breath. She raises her voice again, calling back to him, “Fine, do what you want. I’m going for a swim.” She sits down on the bench, reaching behind her back, trying to reach the corset ribbons, muttering again. This time he can plainly hear her say, “Damn Careta and her fashion sense. Why the hell did I have to wear this thing….” She struggles slightly. “And why the hell did she have to tie it so tight….” she trails off, tugging at the ribbon.
Tall slowly cocks his head to the right, as if wondering if he’s accidentally fallen asleep somewhere. He looks down at his hand, doing another reality check, and then remembers that if he was dreaming, he wouldn’t be blushing so profusely. When he sees Aka sitting on the bench, struggling with her tie, he automatically moves to her side and before he can think it over he asks, “Need help?”
She nods, looking up at him. “It’s this damn corset Careta insisted I wear. I can’t get the ties undone.”
He nods several times, without saying a word, as he makes his way behind her. Though she can’t see his face, it would clearly say, ‘Damnit damnit damnit, what the hell am I doing?’ He pauses for a second, before taking in a breath, and carefully going for the knot of the ribbon and undoing it with careful deliberateness. Tall bites his lip, sincerely hoping that Aka won’t surprise him by suddenly turning around. He’s already too much off guard as it is…
Still, how everything lined up was uncanny. “So…” he begins, trying to sound as normal as possible. “…do your Darklings usually insist upon you wearing clothing, or was this a special occasion?”
She shrugs slightly, as much as she can without moving too far away for him to keep untying her corset. “Lanalee gave Careta a few fashion magazines, and now she’s obsessed. My corsets are the closest thing I have to ‘high fashion,’ so she tries to make me wear one whenever possible.”
He swallows hard. “…You have more than one?”
She nods. “They’re usually pretty comfortable, unless Careta ties them too tight…”
Tall wondered how much more of these unintentional teasing he could take. His fingers continued to automatically undo the strings, as he had done the previous night in his dream. He quickly slams his eyes shut for a second, scolding himself again. At this rate, Tall was sure he was going to gnaw off his lip from biting onto it so much. “Oh…I see…..How many do you have? I never see you wearing them…”
She shrugs, and then begins to count on her fingers, taking a silently inventory. “Eight, I think. They’re usually too much work, so I save them for special occasions.”
He begins to nod, only to realize she can’t see him. Thankfully. Dear innocent Aka had no idea what she was doing to him. He nearly flinched as his finger grazed a patch of her bare skin, and subconscious thoughts sprung forth. Tall shuts his eyes tightly again, as if hoping to hide from them.
After a few more seconds, Aka glances over her shoulder. “You almost done?”
His eyes shoot open, and he nods quickly nods. “Yeah, sorry--tightly done,” he says in staccato, trying to explain himself and failing. He looks back down at the corset, concentrating at it alone (and not the woman in it), and tries to make haste at undoing it. His ample fingers get it undone quickly now that he had the resolve to finish the task.
As he finishes the last loop, Aka shrugs the garment off, relaxing as the restriction disappears. She rises, turning and placing the corset on the bench. “Thanks. You going to join me?”
He nods again, though the whole thing, though mostly innocent, has left him silent. He takes a seat, pulling off his shoes.
Aka turns, diving off the dock into the water. As she surfaces a few feet away, she smiles up at him, loose dress flowing around her in the water. “Hurry up slow-poke.”
Tall smiles a little, hoping his mental plight is over, as he follows her steps and dives in as well, surfacing beside her. Hopefully, the whole coincidence was over….
She swims away from him a bit, placing her hands on the stone outcropping and leaning back, looking up at the emerging stars, or what she can see of them through the still-present fog.
Tall follows her, popping up beside her. “It’s a lovely night, isn’t it?” he smiles.
She nods, still looking up. “Very. I love the fog.”
The reminder of the fog makes him wince slightly. He really wishes she wouldn’t remind him of it. Or the fact they’re at the dock. Or the fact that he just undid her corset. But then he returns to smiling pleasantly again, after only the moments delay, nodding in agreement.
She smiles back at him momentarily before she gets distracted by some movement along the bank, quite some distance away, her brow wrinkles in amusement as the shadow disappears. She chuckles, then looks back at Tall. “I think we disappointed our audience…”
“Our audience?” he turns to see the darkling flicks away. “What were they expecting--” he begins to ask, but abruptly stops, a strange thought popping into his head. He looks at her, “Any idea who our audience was?”
She nods. “Who is it always?” she asks, chuckling.
“Darad….” he confirms this to himself. He recalls waking up to see the darkling in the corner of Aka’s room, and the memory he accidentally received from him when he patted his shoulder. Could that mean…
“Aka, what does ‘overload’ mean to a Darkling?” he asks out of the seemingly random.
She tilts her head, slightly confused. “Just an overload of power.”
“What if they touched someone when on an overload?”
She raises an eyebrow. “Well, they can, but their mental shields are seriously depleted when they’re on overload. And without shields, surface thoughts can be exchanged…”
He slams his eyes shut again in disbelief as he smacks the side of his temple with his hand, muttering something beneath his breath. That’s why Darad’s look had been so smug. ‘Stupid Darad, messing with my stupid mind…’ he inwardly grimaced, turning away from Aka, not sure if he was blushing again or not.
She moves away from the rock to tread water right behind him. “What?” she asks, placing a hand on his shoulder. “What did Darad do?”
For a second, a shiver runs up his spine. He flexed his fingers and then his wrists. He turns around, smiling again. “Oh nothing, nothing, nothing at all…” He’d have to whack Darad later for toying with his subconscious…..
“Okay..” Aka replies cautiously, withdrawing. “If it’s nothing,” she adds, more lightheartedly. “then relax! Enjoy the water and the fog and the moonlight!”
He smiles widely, “You forgot the company,” he says, as if she forgot the obvious and most important choice. He leans in, placing a light kiss on her cheek and swims a distance away. A ‘catch me if you can’ game.
She raises and eyebrow, diving after him. She swims below him, catching his feet from behind and pulling herself up his body until she can wrap her arms around his shoulders.
“Damn. Am I that easy of prey?” he wraps his arms around her waist in response.
“Yep!” she replies cheerfully. “It’s rather pitiful, in fact.”
He mock-pouts. “Awww….” He then purses his lips haughtily, “Well maybe I just let you catch me! Ever think of that?”
She shrugs. “I suppose that’s a possibility. We’ll just have to test the theory.” She dips her head below the surface, pulling away. As soon as she breaks contact, she fades into the darkness of the water and appears on top of the rock. “Now you have to catch me…” she taunts.
He grins, and without another word, swims after her.
She grins as he swims closer, but doesn’t move, waiting for him to get closer.
He reaches the rock, climbing quickly after her, the same playful grin on his face.
As soon as he is within grabbing distance, she twists away, jumping from the rock, limbs flailing wildly beneath the soaking dress. She hit’s the water on the other side of the rock with a large splash, and quickly recovers, swimming away.
He doesn’t hesitate to jump off, pursuing her .
As she gets quite some distance away, she turns, waving her fingers in a mocking wave before taking off again.
He frowns, somehow feeling cheated. Honestly, men who are still recovering from a comatose should not be swimming around so much! He crosses his arms, but then gets a devilish grin. He puts his hands underwater, and a ribbon of light makes it way to her, around her, and back into his other hand. Tall then shrinks the light ribbon, dragging her back to him, till there’s no distance left between them. He continues to grin. “Hi.”
She scowls at him. “You, sir, are a lousy cheat.”
“Forgive me?” he continues to smile.
“Never,” she replies, crosing her arms, closing her eyes, and turning her head away.
“Well…maybe I’ll just have to persuade you…”
“I dare you to try. I’m not that easy to persuade,” she says, still refusing to look at him.
“We’ll see,” he says, moving his arms around her as the light fades away, and he leans over, kissing above the collar line of her dress.
She doesn’t move, but she tangibly shivers at his touch.
He closes his eyes, making his way back up her neck, when he suddenly pauses, eyes opening and momentarily pulling back. He was following the course of action he took in his dream. Again. He began to blush again. ‘Pitiful’ he slams his eyes shut again.
She tilts her head, slightly confused when he stops. She turns in his arms, watching him carefully. “Tall?”
His embrace and his posture has become stiff, a telltale of his nervousness if she didn’t catch onto his current redness. “Yes?” he responds, reverting to his awkward, ‘I’m trying to be pleasant’ manner.
She sighs, dipping back below the surface of the water again, swimming back to the rock. She climbs up it slightly, resting her back along the edge rather than perching on the top.
He watches her curiously. He realizes that he unintentionally chased her off again. ‘Stupid…’ He sighs a little, before recomposing himself and making his way back to her.
She looks down at him. “You can’t keep pushing me away, Tall. It’s not good for either of us…” She sighs again. “Every time you freeze up like that, I second guess myself again, and that’s most of our problems; both of us not trusting ourselves.”
He simpers. “Sorry, it’s really not that….not that I want to push you away. I…uh…” he wasn’t sure how to phrase it. “I have a thing….” he ends vaguely. Tall proceeds to sigh, frustrated by his own lack of competence.
“A thing?” she asks, disbelief obvious in her voice. However, she seems to comprehend after a second, eyes widening. “Oh.” she says, grasping his meaning. “A thing…” she falls silent, now also embarrassed.
Embarrassment and awkwardness seep in, as he slowly sinks into the water to eye level. But she can still see how red his ears are.
She keeps her eyes turned away for several long seconds, until finally, she says, “We should probably be heading back…”
Tall silently nods, though he doesn’t move. Silently he wonders how Aka feels about him now, and if she’s going to start avoiding him…
She slides off the rock and holds out a hand. “Let’s go get our stuff and get out of here.”
He smiles meekly, taking her hand. “Sounds good….”
She moves them to the dock, and shakes her head over the water, sending stray water droplets flying onto the dock. She grabs her corset and smiles softly. “Ready?”
He puts on his shoes, not bothering to dry himself off, not minding the wet mushing noise his feet make as he slides back into them. Tall looks up at her nodding. “Yes.”
She pulls him through the Dark Realm, and they reappear in her living room, amidst Vinnie, Margerita, and Randy. She blinks. “My aim is off…”
The three blink at them. Randy stares, slowly beginning, “Why are you two dripping wet--”
Margerita quickly goes to cover his mouth, smiling at the two, “It’s ok. We really don’t want to know.”
Tall frowns at the two, crossing his arms. “We just went swimming.”
Vinnie looks confused, “But…but…you two were just fighting and--”
“You forget that time moves faster in Old Realm.”
“Oh…” Vinnie blinks. The other two just look mildly confused, until Randy remembers that Aka dragged him into another realm, leaving only Margerita mildy confused. But she shrugs it off, removing her hand from Randy.
Aka shakes her head, then glances back at Tall. “I’m going to go take a shower.”
Margerita slyly leans over to Tall, whispering in a very audible and teasing tone, “Why don’t you go join her Tall?”
Aka freezes, halway to the stairs at her words.
Tall also freezes, not really needing to hear that right now. “I’ll…just be…going….” and he stiffly walks off.
Margerita and the others just blink. “What did I say? It was only a joke….”
Without responding, Aka walks stiffly up the stairs and to her room.
As soon as Tall and Aka are gone, Darad fades in. “Damn, those two are wimps.”
Vinnie looks over at the new arrival. “Hey Darad, can you fill us in on what’s going on?”
He shrugs. “They made up, but they’re both pretty much terrified of,well…” he breaks off, trying to put it delicately. “Well, sex. Aka because of crap she’s already dealt with, and Tall…” He chuckles. “Tall’s been having some pretty… vivid… dreams… So they’re both crazy tense, and nothing seems to be able to get them to relax…”
Everyone blinks, staring at him like he’s mad for a moment. The silence is broken as Vinnie gives a loud yelp of hysteric laughter, clapping her hands together. Darad just had to go and tell everyone, didn’t he? “Oh. My. God! Darad you absolutely rock, you know that right?” she continues to bellow laughter. Margerita smugly grins again, stifling laughter. “I was beginning to worry about that boy, thanks for letting us know.” Randy continues to stare, slowly cocking his head to the side, feeling the most awkward of the lot. He twitches faintly, like a parent just having discovered their kid’s secret stash of adult magazines, and slowly takes a seat in a chair. “TMI Darad--you didn’t have to tell us that…”
“What do you mean? Of course he did! We’re Tall’s concerned friends, after all.”
“So concerned you’re going to mock him with it for the rest of his life?” Randy asks crudely.
“All a part of ‘showing the love!’” Vinnie grins widely, highly amused.
Darad shrugs. “Hey, all of my plotting has done absolutely zip. I figured if anyone’ll be better than me at shoving those two together, it’ll be Vinnie…”
“Aww….but I need Zin to help me plot! Honestly, I think she has the other half of my missing brain,” she continues to grin. “I think she’s by the pool…I’ll go get her. And no, we won’t tell Damien.”
Darad nods.
Vinnie turns, walking out, looking around for Zin. She finds her laying on a lawn chair, just on the side of the pool and notices that Damien is in the pool, doing laps.
Zin is watching Damien intently as he swims, but he is completely oblivious to her attention.
Vinnie grins, another sex scene just waiting to happen. She sneaks up on Zin, leaning over with a cattish grin, “Are you going to wait until after he gets out of the pool to jump him, or are going to take him by surprise?”
She shrugs. “I haven’t decided yet. I’m not sure yet if I want his first time to be in his ex-girlfriend’s pool…”
She blinks. “Come again?”
She nods. “Shocking, ain’t it? I mean, him and Aka were together like a year and a half, but she was never into it. And he was never that serious about anyone else, so….”
“Yeah,” Vinnie rolls her eyes. “Darad just informed us moments earlier that Aka is sex-a--phobic. Don’t ask here, I’ll explain a bit later, when your angry, fire-ball throwing boyfriend is out of hearing range.”
She nods, then reaches over to her glass of ice water. With perfect aim, she chucks a piece so that it lands squarely between Damien’s shoulders. He rises immediately out of the water, glaring. “Can I help you?’
Zin, smiling, replies. “I’m heading inside.”
He shrugs. “I didn’t ask you to come watch me swim.”
She rolls her eyes as he dives back under water, then turns to Vinnie. “Let’s head in.” She gathers up her towel and drink.
Vinnie nods, leading the way. Once they’re back inside and in a room, she turns, grinning widely. “So.”
“So… what?”
“Well….ok. Here’s the speel.” Vinnie begins to ramble off what she knows and what she’s found out.
Zin listens intently, laughing at the right times, and shaking her head sadly at others. “those two really, really need help…”
She nods. “But what are we going to do?”
She shrugs. “Lock them up somewhere together?”
“Somehow I doubt that would work.” She pauses for a second. “Have you ever noticed how damn weird this whole thing is? That everyone is trying to hook these two up?”
“I know… It is pretty weird.” She looks thoughtful. “Well, Darad I get. And if they’re hooking up, Damien is certainly less distracted, so I get more time with him. But I think that overall, it’s just a serious need to protect them. And this is how it manifests itself…”
“I suppose so…anyways…You go hang out with your boyfriend. I’ll be off,” Vinnie ends, standing up.
Zin nods, also rising, then retreating back to the poolside while Damien continues to do laps.
Several hours later, Aka has resituated herself in her room after a long bubble bath and is waiting for Tall to also emerge.
A while later, Tall does in fact show up. And he’s red again. Except for once, it’s not because he’s blushing. Rather, it’s his hair. It’s back to his original color.
She blinks once, then rises from the bed, eyes on his hair. She absentmindedly reaches up and runs her fingers through his hair. “It looks great, Tall. Did you dye it?”
He grins, nodding. “Yeah, thanks. I figured I might as well, before my roots starting showing. That and from what you’ve told me, I’m going to have to meet your family again, or something.”
She shrugs. “I’m trying to put that off as long as possible…” she mutters.
“Well, it’ll be sooner or later…So when do you think it will be, just as a heads up?”
She shrugs again. “Within the next few days, a week tops.” She sits back down, looking up at him. “I’m beat. Are you ready for bed?” she asks quietly.
He nods again. “Yeah I’m thoroughly tired. Let’s go to sleep.”
She leans back, situating herself against the pillow and the wall.
He climbs into the other side, loosening his collar. “So…have a good day, Aka?”
She raises an eyebrow. “I don’t know, you tell me. You were there.”
He grins a bit. “I’m afraid that I haven’t quite mastered mind-reading yet.”
“Yeah, but you were pretty much there for the entirety of it.”
“Yes, well…I think we should go to sleep since you’re beginning the mind games again.”
She nods sleepily. “And they aren’t half as much fun when I’m this out of it…” She closes her eyes and leans her head onto his shoulder.
He smiles, sinking slowly down into his place. “Good night, Aka.” He wraps his arm around, closing his eyes.
“Mmm-hmm…” she replies, already drifting off.
It doesn’t take much longer for him to drift off either.
Some indeterminable amount of time later, Tall is awakened by quite a few different foreign sensations. There’s a gentle brushing across his nose and a soft voice muttering, “Wakey, wakey, wakey….” But possibly the most notable is the weight across his chest and stomach as Aka lays stretched out over him, one leg on each side of his hips, rubbing her nose gently against his, trying to wake him.
He blinks in complete shock. “Aka?”
“Shhh…” she hisses softly, placing a finger over his lips before replacing it with her own. After a few long seconds, she trails her lips down his neck and begins slowly unbuttoning his shirt, kissing and caressing each inch of skin as she reveals it. She continues all the way down, pulling the sides of his shirt away to run her hands up his chest, then sliding up to catch his lips again.
His mind goes blank for a second, entirely in shock and unsure how to react. He trembles at her kisses, closing his eyes for a moment. He stops questioning why, letting a small moan. “Aka…”
She smiles against his mouth, pulling away, sitting up, balancing her weight on either side on his hips. “Tall…” she mutters in response, as she slowly begins to pull up her shirt, revealing inch after sultry inch of pale skin. She flings it off to the side, smiling down at him.
He reaches up to caress her bare skin. He can’t bear anymore of her teasing. He pulls himself up, kissing her, tangling his fingers in her hair to hold her to him. He leans back, pulling her down with him, and rolling, pinning her underneath him. She pulls back, just far enough to break the kiss, and he leans down, planting a row of kisses along her jaw line. She leans her head back, arching up to meet him as he moves, gently taking her lobe between his teeth. She giggles slightly, pressing harder against him, then gently weaves her fingers through his hair, pulling his head back far enough to look into his eyes. “Tall…” she mutters softly, endearingly.
“Aka,” he replies, before trying to move back down. She gently untangles one hand from his hair, sliding it along his jaw to his chin, and pulling him back up to meet her eyes again.
“Tall, you have to wake up.”
“…What?” he stares at her in confusion, and suddenly, he jolts awake. Tall looks around the room, noting everything is in order, and Aka is curled up beside him, sleeping peacefully. Which means….
He slams his eyes shut, burying his face into his hands, the ‘Oh my god, not again,’ mantra repeating in his mind. A dream. Another one. He glared into the corner, figuring Darad was probably snickering at him right now. There had to be a way around this…
But first, he had to make a dash for the bathroom.
Aka rolls over and groans in her sleep as he leaves. She can be heard to quietly mutter, “Goddamnit…”
He returns, feeling very ashamed and very much embarrassed. Not just the constant arousing dreams, as if he were a pre-teen going through puberty, but even just the whole dreaming bit. Honestly, someone with as much experience in lucid dreaming, astral projection, and the works should in the very least be able to prevent the onslaught of these nightly occurrences. Tall remains in disbelief how vivid the dream was, and how he wasn’t able to recognize it for what it was. He grumbles to himself, moving back into bed. At this rate, both him and Aka would be facing sleepless nights. And not in a good way.
He sinks back in, trying to concentrate, when suddenly, a thought occurs to him. His eyes light up and he slaps his forehead. ‘Honestly, why hadn’t I thought of this before?’ he grins to himself, a new plot running through his mind. He wraps his arms around Aka, and closes his eyes. But rather than just letting himself fall asleep, he parts from his body. ‘Ha! Take that you lousy lot of dreams! He looks over himself, noting how quickly his spirit had regenerated. It had been difficult before to just free float, as he was doing now, due to the loses in magic and spirit, but now that he was nearly whole again, this reverted to its original difficulty: child’s play. Tall floats down onto the bed, not sure quite what to do. He’ll have all the rest he needs, but he has the feeling he shouldn’t leave the room. Somehow, he’s sure Aka would sense it, and sleep poorly because of it. He watches her sleep, feeling just slightly creepy, but what else can he do?
Aka, even though he’s still in the room, obviously does sense his movement. Her eyebrows furrow together in her sleep, and she rolls over, facing away from his body.
Tall frowns. “You certainly are picky Aka, he muses outloud, knowing she can’t really hear him. At most, she’d only think she was dreaming it. Still, he wasn’t sure how he could comfort her without returning to his body. He drifts over, sitting beside her. “Maybe…” he was toying with the idea of popping into her dream. “Dream sharing” he seemed amused by the thought, as it might help her, and give him something to do over the next 9 hours.
He leans over her, smiling gently, and puts his hand on her forehead, and enters her dream.
He can sense that, within her dream, she’s within the maze. However, the majority of the maze is bright, blinding almost, with strange faces and indecipherable voices calling out for attention. Aka, however, is perched on her swing in one of the open sections, pumping her legs back and forth in some semblance of calm. It is dim within her little haven away from the nightmares, and, outwardly, at least, she seems fairly confident that the creatures outside in the light won’t breach into the darkness.
She would suddenly feel a presence behind her, catching the swing’s rope. “Care for a push?” the voice asks. Tall appeared, smiling brightly, and then walks around to face her.
Panic flickers in her eyes momentarily until she smiles, recognizing him. “what are you doing here?” she asks, smile widening.
“I came…” he holds his hands behind his back, “to deliver you flowers” he says, pulling his hands back out, and purple hyacinths and white lilies are in them. “It seems you have a secret admirer.” He continues to grin, holding them out to her.
She takes the bouquet, holding it to her nose with a smile. “Secret, you say? Well, if you can’t tell me who it is, you’ll just have to inform him that I’m taken.” She hops off the swing and walks over to the black wrought iron table beneath the tree. An empty crystal vase sits, waiting to be filled, and she drops the flowers in lovingly.
As soon as she puts them down, she’d turn to find him beside her again, taking her hand in his own. “I suppose that means I have to outdo my mysterious competitor, unless I want you to have second thoughts about me.”
She raises an eyebrow, smiling. “I suppose I can keep you around,” she replies.
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