Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was very late. It was also very hot. The sun had said goodnight hours ago. There wasn’t a cloud in sight, and the Mizimu’Tungika grounds were illuminated by the unearthly light of the moon and the stars that twinkled overhead. Una was restless where she lay. There was a great deal on her mind. She was thinking about Petra, and about how she was going to help her sister.

Their relationship was still strained. Still awkward. They were as happy as they could be in their situation; resigned to help each other find solutions to their respective punishments.

She stretched out on the grass, turned over onto her back, and leered up at the moon.

“Spirits,” she murmured, and her voice was a plea, “I’m still looking for that sign.”

The sound of his voice made her start. She recognized it, and was assaulted instantly by a strange sensation in her belly. These were the butterflies of attraction, but Una did not know what they were because she had never felt them before. She felt a little bit sick, and returned his smile unsurely.

“Hello, Warrior,” her greeting was friendly enough, if a little stiff, and she sat up so that should could look him in the eye. “I haven’t, in fact, sorted out my problem.”

There was nothing else really to say about it. They both knew that he probably could not help her with it.

“What is your name?”

It seemed strange that she did not know it. Una had decided that she would like to.

“My name is Una,” said Una with a nod of her head. There was a tentative smile on her pretty face. Jelani had listened to her when she had needed a friendly shoulder and, while he had exactly been able to help her, Una still appreciated the gesture. She knew that hers was not a problem that anyone, save perhaps the Queen or Sakata, could help her with. It was important that she and Petra figure it out together.

Tonight, she was more interested in getting to know the Warrior who had lent himself to her. Una did not realize that he was not really as sweet or as sensitive as he had pretended to be.

“I have been up to as much as I can,” she informed him softly, and there was a hint of mischief in her tone. Una batted her eyelashes at him, and was surprised at her own coy behaviour. What was it, exactly, that she wanted from him? Una didn’t know.

Perhaps he could show her.

Una was flirting, though she didn’t know that she was. This was a field that she had never explored before, and she was very curious about it— intrigued by this Warrior and his interest in her. The last time they met, he had asked her if she was hungry. Una was naive, but not stupid. She had understood that he was offering her more than lunch.

Now, she thought that she might be hungry. It was a teasing, hesitant sort of appetite. Una still wasn’t sure if she wanted to indulge it or not. When he stepped closer she remained where she was.

“You think I’m pretty?” She murmured softly, cheeks flushing pink with delight at the compliment, and batted her eyelashes at him again.

It was good that he was moving slowly. Una was not so invested in this flirtation that she would have cooperated if he had been anything other than patient. But he was being patient, and subtle, and it was working in his favour. It was working in his favour very well.

“Like a star,” her voice was very soft, almost unsure. She repeated his words because they were very nice to hear. “Stunning? Me? Really?”

Una was quickly turning to jelly in the face of his compliments. They were not particularly unique, but something about the way he was paying such attention to her was very flattering. Her belly did a little summersault.

Without thinking, she closed the distance between them and nuzzled the bottom of his chin softly with her nose. Una was looking for romance, and companionship. She did not know that he wasn’t.

His compliments made her blush with embarrassment, but she liked to hear them anyways. It occurred to Una that she ought to return the favour, except she didn’t know what to say. Her lips felt very dry and she could not trust herself to speak, because those pesky butterflies were fluttering in her belly. If she opened her mouth, they would escape, and then she would just be sick.

So it was better not to say anything at all.

She smiled and sighed happily when he nuzzled her; pressed gently against his cheek with her own, and quietly gave him her heart.

Silly, silly girl.