Welcome to Gaia! ::

Three days was, in all honesty, such a short amount of time given the rest of her life she'd spent alone. But after constant company in the wake of tragedy, Belladonna did not like returning to her formerly singular way of being. It had been an inevitability that eventually Mort would tire of staying with her and ask to go back to their previous habits, but the witch had tricked herself into thinking perhaps that wasn't the case. When the request did come she was able to save face (mostly) and send him off with a smile and a kiss and a cheery disposition. That hadn't stopped her from moping for the remainder of the night and dragging the poor skeletal hint close when she felt her room become too large with so little company. And when she finally could not busy herself any longer and she needed to sleep, even when she held Binx close the bless of unconsciousness did not come easy.
For the next three days she slept dismally, not even granted the complaint of bad dreams and left only to catch naps when she otherwise would busy herself with activity.

It did not leave the witch in the most fantastic of moods.
But she refused to be deterred in her cheerfulness and instead played everything off as a minor inconvenience. When Binx would scold her for being so silly and forlorn she only mumbled her agreement, for she was being terribly childish over this whole situation. There was absolutely no negative reason for why Mort would want some space, it was only to be expected. It was natural!
Still the witch worried. What if this was a symptom of Insanity? What if Mort was playing just as convincingly as she that he was alright when really he wasn't? That thought led her to believe that she was being absolutely horrendous for thinking of her own wants, which did nothing to improve her already dour state so by the time she woke up on the third morning she was prepared to kick small objects about her room simply for some sort of outlet.
The arrival of the letter, however, and its contents, did wonders she had not known she needed.

"That is not an appropriate dress for a chilly night." Binx intoned from the bed later that day as the witch hopped around the room getting ready.
"I've missed how snarky you are." Was her sincere reply as she swept over to him and kissed his head.
"Do you want to freeze?"
"But he liked it! That's really what matters!" Belladonna replied with a grin as she sashayed over to her mirror. Once again she'd donned the faintly shimmering black dress that clung to every part of her she owned and exposed her legs to the thigh. "And I'll bring a shawl~"
"That's not going to do you a spot of good." The cat flicked his tail angrily and gestured with a paw to Victor who sat curled up next to him. "You try to talk some sense into her!" The hint grumbled softly, but made no other noise. "That wasn't at all helpful."
Belladonna laughed at their exchange, doing her best to pile her hair becomingly upon her head while still retaining an elegant coiffure. It wasn't easy given the volume she possesed, but eventually she'd managed to get most of it to one side so her neck was exposed. That would just have to do.
"What do you think? Does it look alright?"
"I think it looks like you just woke up."
"Binx..."
"Or as though a brood of phoenix hatchlings have made their home on your head."
"Biiiiinx."
"Oh no! It looks like--"
In a flash the witch was across the room, laughingly shouting her own insults at the cat as she scooped him up and litterred his horribly rude face with kisses.

After a bit of pestering from Binx (and a quick run through the sewing machine to make sure it wouldn't accidentally fall apart), the witch decided a black lace bolero couldn't hurt. She felt bad for wearing the same dress again so soon, but even when Binx gave a straight answer, the consensus was wearing the slinky dress would not be remiss. But the lace bolero, which covered her from wrist to shoulders and snapped together at the neck, which covered only those three places, would keep her, at least partially, shielded from the chill. Her decolletage and legs would just have to suffer the consequences of being too wonderful to cover up.
"Ten minutes."
Another quick brush of her teeth and another slather of mascara to already ridiculously large lashes had Binx intoning she only had five minutes, which Belladonna felt was the perfect amount of time left. Mort's present had already been wrapped and lay waiting on the bed alongside the tiny purse she'd elected to carry, so all that was left to do was wait.
"Most excellent~" She cooed to him as she sat on the edge of her very neat bed. Five minutes was plenty of time to relax. And stop freaking out. And stop shaking. And stop breathing so awfully hard.
"You need to calm down."
"How helpful you are."
The witch took a deep breath and bent down to put on her heels, not as high as she had once preferred, but still something sparkly and strappy for the occasion. It was just a date! With the person she'd been dating for almost a year. There was really no reason to be worried or skittering in her movements! This was just a simple outing between a long standing couple. Nothing more.

But the knock at the door still startled her enough that she let out a tiny squeak of surprise.
"And that's our cue. Come along, Victor." Binx chirped as he hopped off the bed alongside the hint and padded across the room. "Good luck. Don't trip or say anything stupid."
"My Hecate, if you get any more helpful I think I shall give you all my problems." Belladonna told him with a smile as she bent down to kiss them both before she quickly checked her hair in the mirror.
"Don't be a smart a**. Its not becoming."
She laughed at that as the two pets disappeared into the closest and for one brief moment, the witch was truly alone.
But she had a man waiting as her door and she hurriedly clattered over to answer.
"Good evening Mort-- Ooooohhh! Look how shiny your suit is!" So much for an elegant acting witch... With a wide grin she pulled the door open the rest of the way, happy to see him again and more than ecstatic to know she'd get a whole evening with him before they parted for the night. She could not help herself as she looked up at him, her cheeks flushing at the sight of him. Even her heart had taken to acting funny, beating far too hard in her chest and making her worry he would hear just how nervous she was.
"Ah! Er, come in!" Nope, no elegance tonight.

His laugh makes her echo one, her own nervousness bubbling up into light little giggles as she smiles up at him. All the adoration she'd had to keep to herself over the past three days is trying its best to pour from her and its very hard not to grab him up in a kiss. Sure she's been given a few over the past little bit, but its not enough to sate her when she's been feeling so very lonely.
"You look marvelous." She finally concedes with a grin as she lets him in, clattering backwardly noisily because she's too nervous to curb her feet to smooth motion. When she turns back around and notices he's still standing there, dazed and dreamy her smile softens. Well, maybe a bit of separation from time to time is alright if its results in these kinds of reactions...
"Chocolates! How did you know?" Sweets always won additional points in her book and she happily takes the box from him, all giddy and excited for the gift. "Thank you very much!" Nervous energy has turned to excitement and she bounces lightly, eyes wide as she surveys the box meant just for her.
"Oh! Would you like your present now, or later?"

The compliment, however, makes her pause and blush harder. Thanks is stammered out in a mumbled voice, one hand rising to lightly touch the base of her hair, hoping it will stay for the night, hoping he likes it.
"I am sorry I didn't make another dress to wear... I w-wasn't sure what to go for..." And you seemed to have liked this one so very much the first time! "But you look very dashing." Among other things the witch would not let herself consider at the moment for fear of melting right out of her clothing. It was one thing to dress in a rather scandalous manner, and another entirely to dress as such without having received any sort of real affection in the past three days.
But there was little time to think on that while questions were being asked and fun was to be had.
"I hope so! I don't know what you've got planned--" Here she breaks off to give him a wry smile, for he'd been horribly teasing this entire time, not giving her one good hint at all but continually mentioning how well his plans were going! It was enough to drive an already wound up witch to madness! But her smile cannot stay even close to angry for long at all and she's back to smiling at him, even daring to take a step closer. "--But I am very excited."

The heightened sense of nervousness and mingled excitement, how he kept his distance but paid her careful compliments all coalesced into coaxing the witch into thinking this was just like a first date. Not entirely sure how to feel about all that, Belladonna pressed the box of chocolates to her chest and decided over-dramatic was the way to go.
"Its very special Scarentines chocolate! From you! Of course I can wait!" She nearly shouted in false indignation, for she quickly followed it up with a shy smile at his teasing. Not really caring for how everything felt moved back in time, the witch transferred her smile down to her present. Were she given to being horrifyingly over-dramatic she might think this was all a gentle let down, a nice goodbye to soften the blow since he had yet to really display any sort of affection. But she was too giddy to think so negatively, so she only smiled to show exactly how happy she was. Which was quite a lot, mind you.

Since he seemed partial to the dress she giggled and gave a tiny twirl so that the bottom swirled out and showed her legs all the way up to the knee.
But dinner reservations? The witch cooed appreciatively, but paused to try and repeat the name.
"Via... la... del Tramonto?" Oh, had she always been so notoriously bad with foreign pronunciations? "Ah! You're taking me out to dinner? For Italian? For pasta?!" A moment had to be taken to quietly sparkle at that notion, for chocolates hadn't been a gift enough. He had made reservations at a very fancy restaurant with her favorite food. It was really very hard not to to grab him up then, especially since they had almost an hour before they had to be at the restaurant.
Suddenly Belladonna felt all sorts of emotional, overcome with joy and love and too little sleep but so infused with excitement that she didn't much care. He was being so kind and thoughtful and really doing his best to make this night special! And all for her!

"Yes open your present!!" In a whirlwind of glittery black dress and carefully kept together red hair she pushed him toward the couch and then hopped back to snatch up his present which was pushed into his hands. It wasn't altogether big, rectangular and not very thick, roughly the shape of a modestly sized book.
"It isn't much... I wasn't sure if you would like it or not... So if you don't, I can get you another one!" She hastily told him as she swept down beside him, careful to keep a small distance between them. She had touched him first, but every other touch would be his move. This was his night that he had carefully planned and unless given permission, the witch silently promised not to do anything she was not instructed to. At least, for the time being. Given how he liked to surprise her, that might be a difficult promise to keep, but she would do her absolute best. For him.

Suitably impressed by not only his proper pronunciation, but also his knowledge over the translation of the restaurant they would be dining at had the witch cooing in appreciation. Mort was always so full of surprises, she had almost forgotten how thorough he could be.
"I can't wait!" She chirped excitedly, a bit at a loss of what else to say. Somehow she'd managed to catch that little look he'd worn when she twirled and she absolutely ached at how distant they were being. Couldn't they have greeted with a kiss or something?
It takes all her willpower not to just whine at this conjecture, but she busies herself with his present first.
"Occasion? Scarentines, of course! Or, well. I guess whatever this date would be since Scarentines kind of passed already..." They had spent the evening at the festival and she hadn't had a chance to give him the gift then, and when he'd asked for some time away she felt it would have been guilt tripping him to give it to him then. So she'd hung onto it and written a letter that she intended to give him later on that night before they parted (for surely after three days away he would have realized how blissful life was without a constantly there witch) and was meant to be read on his own.

Yet she is surprised to be handed a small box and blinks at it.
"What's this?" She asks, confused over why he would get her chocolates, dinner and... Jewelry?
It was one thing to be given those two things, but there seemed little else that could be in so small a box. He had already given her so much, why was there more?!
Not that she was complaining, but what she'd gotten him (a video game, by the by) and a love letter were paltry to his lovely presents. Still, she holds the box close and waits for him to open his first.

"Is it the right one? Its the third in that series, right?!" Now her worry shows through, for she wasn't at all sure if it was the right one or not. Even at his pronouncement as the one he wanted, her eyebrows remained turned up a bit, waiting for some other indication that she'd done well. It had been a careful combination of paying attention to the games he played as well as interrogation of one of the workers at Game Grave. That had been a bit weird as she'd pestered the poor worker until he'd admitted remembering Mort and then interrogating him on that, as well as what games he'd remembered the zombie liking. It was... An interesting day to say the least.
As for the letter, the witch reached forward with both hands to wrap them around the one of his that held the letter.
"No, wait. This is... Meant for later." She says softly, holding his hands for a moment more as she smiles up at him. After a second of letting his chill seep into her palms, she lets him go, returning her hands to her own present.

For a moment she stares down at the box, as though if she just stares at it long enough she'll be able to guess exactly what it is. But even if she's just trying to prolong the time together before they leave for dinner, it can't last and she happily tears into the present.
A happy gasp prefaces her words as she pulls the cameo from the box to peer at it more closely.
"Oh Mort! Its beautiful!" A hesitant finger tip traces the red roses, her cheeks flushed with their meaning. "I love the roses! And its a skull, oh I love it! Thank you!" Perhaps she wasn't one for necklaces, but for this she would make an exception. Screw not touching, the witch threw herself forward to wrap her arms around his neck and hug him, though she kept it quick.
After the hug she pulled back and carefully unfastened her bolero and fumbled with the clasp to put it on.
"Thank you, love. Its wonderful..." Huh, she seemed to be having difficulty opening the clasp, her fingers shaking too much to enact such a simple task.

A hesitant smile was given as she let go of his hands, for her letter was something neither of them had really done before and she was nervous over what he would think. More than that, she was nervous about how bare her feelings were, both in that card and here with him now. Even if he smiled and accepted her touch without complaint, she worried she'd done wrong or pushed too far or that it wasn't what he wanted.
It wasn't until she hugged him and he wrapped her up tight for just a second that she realized maybe he was just being courteous, just playing the part. The whole scene felt like they had been pulled back to when things all began and at that time, the witch had been the first to dole out affection. She had been the first to breech the gap between them and kiss his cheek, so maybe once again he was waiting for that same thing. Still, Belladonna could not help but feel it would be sweet to have him move first, as this was the night he'd planned for her.
"Its absolutely gorgeous~ Thank you so much!" She mumbled as she sat tight for him to put the necklace on her, doing her best not to wiggle when his fingertips brushed her neck. Ugh, it was a torture, but she was going to do this right!

As for the translation, she blinked wide eyes and shrugged.
"I don't know any Italian." She confessed with a shy, slightly embarrassed smile. In all honesty she didn't know any foreign words beyond the two words that made up her name, and that didn't count at all! It was really dismal her lack of culture, but really. She was busy with spells and potions and charms, as well as school, so there was no time to fiddle with additional languages!
"Ride?"
Whatever could he have meant by that? Weren't they just going to walk? Or did he actually have some sort of vessel in which for them to go in? How very curious!!
With an excited grin the witch hastily refastened the lace around her neck so that it ended just when the the necklace began and hung down in a perfect display of jewelery and skin, before she hopped up happily. Though still nervous she grabbed up her purse and then looped her arm with Mort's, glad for even this tiny touch.
"I'm all yours!"