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 Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 7:17 pm
"You should come over for dinner."
Finding out Luxor had not been sucked into the Twilight Zone (Kind of) but had been whisked away on some space adventure with other knights was comforting, but something she wanted to discuss when she wasn't hunting Kairatos down all over the city.
It wasn't until after she had made the casual invitation that it hit her, shortly followed by absolute agony.
They had kissed. They had kissed twice! She had been lying awake at night, for every night since, hugging her pillow thinking very hard about what that meant.
There were lots of precarious romance questions dancing around in her head and her poorly thought out invitation to conveniently arrive on her doorstep to discuss space only added to it. Was it a date? Was it not? Was going too far in either direction going to offend him or scare him off?
She was anguishing over this every hour of every day until the night she was carefully unpacking take out boxes and every thump or scratch had her attention jerked to the door.
Kairatos was probably out patrolling, and his cats were shut up in his room, and she had spent too much time planning out her outfit trying to figure out if there was a possible middle ground. Yoga pants were too casual and she had just recently decided the little black dress was too dressy so in the back of her mind she was already thinking of running back and changing as she debated other details like if she should've eschewed the restaurant take out for pizza or if take out was fine but wine was going too far.
She was in a haze of overthinking her decisions when she heard someone at the penthouse door and skid across the wood floor to grab it before one of the nosy building staff could question his presence and tattle on her, and then instantly regretted the decision as she stood there in her short black dress and contrasting bare feet and loose curls.
"Crap. I mean hi!"
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Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 9:24 pm
Chester would be lying if he said he had not been thinking about that evening with Zia at the Carnival, and the kisses they had shared. To him, it was all he could really hope for. A small step for some, maybe, but for him it was a huge development. He was not particularly good with others, after all, and connecting with someone like he was with her... it was incredible for him. He had never experienced the range of emotions he felt when he was with her.
He was scared he might never feel them again, if she left him. If he did something wrong. He really, really did not want to do something wrong.
Whether this was a date or not, Chester had no idea. He tried not to think about it, and just went about his usual day. He was very good at pretending he was not panicking on the inside, but he felt it. Now, standing at her door, he was pretty sure his legs were broken and he was glued to the spot. He wouldn't be able to move, and he also completely forgot the English language, which would make communicating with her when she opened the door incredibly difficult.
When she opened the door, he just stared at her. She said crap, and he did not even flinch at her reaction to him. He was wearing a suit, not too dressy but certainly more than he'd worn in her presence before. Jacket, pants, even a vest and tie. He was holding a small bouquet of flowers, which were probably lucky they did not breathe like humans, or his grip on them would have been too much.
He stuck them out toward her and offered her a bland, relaxed expression, despite the turmoil inside.
"You look beautiful. Should I take off my shoes?"
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Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 11:19 pm
Oh good he dressed nicely. Or at least that was Zia's thought as she drew mental comparisons that were only being made for the sake of making her feel less like an idiot. Well right up until he told her she looked beautiful and she exhaled with a stupid grin and responded with a, "You too," Until she realized what she said and went into stammering idiot mode. "I mean, you look nice. Um. Wow, okay, just--..." She pressed her mouth shut and grabbed his arm to tug him inside, looking back and forth down the hallway before shutting the door.
Of course his question about shoes made her look down at her own bare feet as she adjusted a falling strap on her dress and after a quick burst of mental thought, she shrugged and laughed it off, doing her best to seem cool about the whole thing even though she was in full on panic meltdown internally.
"Yeah, you'd better. Landlady is a real stickler about her hardwood floors," She said, laughing it off. In reality her constant merging with her guardian cat soul was resulting in an ever increasing aversion to shoes. And it wasn't like the 'landlady' was anyone she was afraid of irritating considering it was just Caroline, also occasionally known as 'mom'.
But with knight boy acquired and safely inside she could fully register the fact he'd brought her flowers.
"O-oh."
Zia's expressions were anything but bland. If anything there was more than she'd liked and even if she was trying to be deceptive or manipulative she usually had to force or flood a different emotion as misdirection. Being face with an unfairly handsome man in a suit with flowers just for her had made her hazel eyes widen and stare at the small bouquet like she was frozen. The gradual rising of a flush to her cheeks prefaced the several mental steps taken before she finally reached out to take them, her hand lingering on his fingers as she just outright beamed.
"They're pretty," She half whispered and then looked around as she pulled them close and held it with both hands as if the concept anyone had brought her flowers as completely mystifying and novel.
And then she snapped back to reality and retreated to the partially closed in kitchen in the wide open and high dollar modern penthouse to bang around in the cabinets looking for something to act like a vase. "You know we're not going anywhere, right? I want to hear all about Olympus. Well, your version. I already heard it from Alfheim and Kairatos. Was it weird?" Some faint scratching down the hallway garnered an eye roll. "Speaking of... My roommate has cats but they're locked up, so they shouldn't be a nuisance."
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Posted: Tue May 13, 2014 12:49 pm
Chester nodded his head slowly, thinking that maybe he had dressed up a bit too much. He had thought about it when he left, but he was not sure if this was meant to be a date or not. He tried to shoot for the middle, looking nice enough to be passable for a date or just like he wanted to make a good impression. Now he worried he was coming off as trying too hard, but he did have to note that she looked very nice, as well, so they seemed to be in the same boat.
He focused on taking off his shoes, after she had tugged him inside. He wondered if she was worried about someone seeing him. Was she hiding him from someone? He put his shoes beside the door, glad he had at least wearing clean socks, because he had very nearly not changed them from the day before.
That would have been a disaster.
Any worries he had been pondering flitted away as he watched her and the flowers, almost smiling. His expression was very soft, and it always was when he was looking at her. Still, he wondered if she did not get very many flowers, and how that could possibly be. She deserved every token of affection someone could afford her, and he knew she'd been in a relationship before. Albeit, not one he had been a fan of.
"I know, we're staying here. I just thought... well. You locked up cats... don't... I mean... can't you just... talk to them? Or..." He frowned, realizing that he was not at all familiar with what she could or could not do in her cat stage. She was an alien cat, after all, but he would think that would give her an affinity toward other cats, normal or not. But then, Chester was a human, and he did not particularly like other human beings.
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Posted: Tue May 13, 2014 1:51 pm
Zia could only remember one other time in her life when she had been given flowers in any definition, and it was Pascal's attempt to make amends on her 24th birthday almost two years ago with a wind up toy rose.
Finding a glass vase in one of the cabinets, she dunked them in water and took a quiet moment to delicately brush her fingers along various petals with an honest display of cherishing glee.
Hopefully it was enjoyed while it lasted because his question about the cats made her look at him with a distinct look of total unamusment and one eyebrow slowly raised.
"Maybe at some point we should talk about Zirconia," She said flatly. If it was anyone besides Chester they probably would've gotten a harsh talking to about what a highly evolved species Mauvians were and maybe some minor anti-human sentiment slid in.
But things were still weird with Chester. She didn't want to be a Mauvian. She wanted to just be Zia again and forget that weird foreign ancient soul bullshit. She didn't want to be another species and be timeless and forever youthful. She hadn't really told him anything about how it worked so she couldn't blame him, but even thinking about it just brought up all sorts of issues she wanted to stay blissfully ignorant of.
"No, I can't talk to them. They're just dumb animals and they aren't even my pets. They're Xan's furballs. Do you want something to drink?"
She was already pulling out two tumbler glasses so it wasn't like she was waiting for an answer. They had a common favorite when it came to liquor so it was easy to remember what his usual was. "I prefer dogs anyway. I used to have one but."
She shrugged and just held out a glass of Scotch to him. "He got lost around October when me and Pascal were fighting and I haven't been able to find him. It's actually pretty weird living without a dog but I guess... I dunno."
Too icky subjects in a row. She shook her head like she was trying to shake it off. "What was space like?"
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Posted: Tue May 13, 2014 3:16 pm
Chester stared at her blandly.
"Maybe we should," he said, frowning a bit. He knew that he must have said something stupid about cats, but he was not sure how the whole thing worked. He was probably being racist, assuming all cats could speak to each other, but come on. It was all too easy to assume it was like Aquaman, and being able to talk to them was part of the job.
He nodded his head for a drink and followed her, ears perking a bit when she mentioned dogs.
"You prefer dogs to cats?" he asked, noting that she used to have a dog and seemed sad to not have one now. A baby of an idea was born in the back of his mind, however stupid it might be. Maybe he could get her a dog, to make her happy. That was all he wanted to do, and he did not know how to. And if she was sad about losing her dog...
He could either go out and find it, or get her a new one.
"Space... well. We were on Mars, in a stadium. It was very hot and I was dressed appropriately for once. A piece of paper talked to us. Then we came home."
Chester was really not the best story teller out there.
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Posted: Tue May 13, 2014 3:42 pm
"Right, that all sounds very normal," She said in a tone that made it obvious she was playing with him, and the smile she gave him as she leaned one hand on the island counter and swished her own drink.
She wanted to tease him and think of lighter subjects, but reality kept circling her back to heavier and more serious fare.
She still vividly remembered the adrenaline rush and intense heartbeat she experienced when he kissed her, and the way she just wanted to stop everything and linger when his expression softened. She was high on new feelings and the world was nothing but sugar and sunshine and she was terrified of ruining that.
She rolled her lips and pursed them to the side as she stared at the scotch in her hand and thought, carefully trying to put words together correctly to avoid sounding weird.
"I have a really hard time talking about Zirconia," She finally admitted and decided to keep on trying to ignore it. At least until she got one more moment to be close to him. "Come on, I wanna show you something," She said grabbing his hand with her free one and padding across the wide and open rooms of the lux penthouse, pushing the light switch off along the way.
Where they arrived was the far end of the main living area, where a raised section of polished wood flooring gave way to a panoramic floor to ceiling window view. At this time of night with the lights off the the curtains pushed all the way back, the stars were clear and visible. "Look, the moon's ninety-nine percent full tonight," She awed in childish wonder at a simple observation and sat. The presence of blanket on the floor here gave away the fact that she liked to perch in this particular area more than a little often.
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Posted: Tue May 13, 2014 5:12 pm
Chester shrugged lightly. All in a day in the life of a knight, right? Randomly getting sucked into space and thrown into a stadium and having the ghost of a piece of paper preach at them for a while: what was weird about that? It was no more weird than suddenly becoming an Egyptian warrior and going to Pluto, after all.
He was just learning to accept everything as it came to him. Nothing surprised him, and nothing rattled him. At least, that was how he tried to handle himself.
"You don't have to talk about her if you don't want to," Chester said evenly, but with a gentle look on his face. He tilted his head at her, more expressive than his usual, stoic position. He let her lead him across the room, looking around as they went. He had a nice place like this, but he never saw it. He instead opted to live in a tiny office turned living space on the Carnival grounds.
He looked out over the view and shifted his gaze to the moon. He saw her sit down and stood awkwardly by for a moment before he moved to sit down near her, then scoot closer on his knees so he could put his arm around her gently. It was an almost timid gesture, which was silly considering how large he was. There was something funny in a muscular tough guy being so careful and nervous, at least in Chester's mind. He felt silly, but he also did not want to hurt her or upset her by these actions.
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Posted: Tue May 13, 2014 6:28 pm
The rapid shift in scenery had almost been like a test to see if he'd follow her, so when she ended up in her favorite spot with him awkwardly trying to move closer, Zia couldn't say she wasn't absolutely pleased with herself.
An easy victory to set up, but one she had wanted nonetheless.
And then just as easily she ruined it. "I got back together with Pascal," She said without taking her eyes off the night sky. She threw it out there and threw it up like an invisible push back as he came closer, no matter how badly she wanted him to.
If nothing else, she wanted to be honest about this one thing with him before giving in to indulgence. Everything she wanted to talk to him about or tell him seemed clogged back by this. She paused, though, and let that statement hang there before she went on.
"Back together is probably too strong of a word for what it was. The point is I was with him until we broke it off again a month or two back," She sipped at the drink in her hand and casually looked up at the view as if she was being incredibly nonchalant about it.
"It wasn't because we had a fight or anything, I just thought it was a bad idea because we don't do well together, and I was starting to think that maybe... I had feelings for someone else. And after I thought about it some more I realized that it runs deeper than that, and it has for a while," Her first instinct was to search his face for some sort of reaction and the second was to not look. She felt guilty enough for ditching time with Chester/Luxor for almost a year and absolutely did not want him to know she had spent that time falling back on a toxic ex. But Zia always ran from her problems, and she didn't want to run from him. The entire confession was a struggling attempt to make good on her resolution to be a better person so she wouldn't take her reward without the proper steps leading up to it, and honest truth.
But rather than bite the bullet and look up at him, trying not to cry and cheeks vibrantly flushing as she took dangerous steps, she slid her arm under his and wove her fingers into his hand. "It's just you, it's always been you."
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Posted: Tue May 13, 2014 7:42 pm
Chester blinked at her words but there did not seem to be much more of a reaction after that. He was working on digesting it, maybe, or he had accepted what she said so quickly he did not need to. Either way, he just watched her, anticipating more to what she said. She was not facing him, and he was looking at her shoulder for the most part, but he could at least read her body language.
He let her take his hand and he sighed softly, scooting closer and adjusting their position so she could nestle more comfortably against him.
"Zia..."
He said it softly, but he was not sure if he had anything else to add to it. What could he say? What she chose to do was up to her, and he would always support her, unless he gave her a reason not to. If he had known she was back with that guy, he might have done something about it then, but now that it was passed and they were sitting there together... he could hardly raise a protest. He just bent closer to her and pressed a kiss to her shoulder.
"You don't have to explain. I care, but not... in a way that would make me angry with you. You're here now... and that makes me happy. I mean, here with me... not just in your house... since you live here." He sighed, getting mixed up. He was not a man who stumbled and got bashful, or at least he had not thought so. She changed everything, but he supposed he should be used to that.
He cuddled her to him and gave up on words for the moment.
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Posted: Tue May 13, 2014 8:14 pm
" Nah, shhh. Calm down. I'm a pretty dishonest person," Zia just tossed out there like it was casual fact. "I don't fight, I just talk and manipulate and I don't really tell anyone the truth. It's how I survive the war, I guess, but I've always been that way. There are always secrets. So yeah," She faltered and exhaled as he kissed her shoulder and eased into movements to get closer.
"I do have to because I l-... Real talk, I would really like this to actually be a date. And I want to be with you, and I'd really," She exhaled and flushed all over again as she looked up at him and a smile that couldn't totally be repressed managed it's way through. "Really like to kiss you again sometime..."
He cuddled closer and she moved her head back and nudged her nose up to his jawline.
"I'm not going to say I don't keep secrets from you, because that would be lie number one. But I'm going to to try really, really hard, okay? Because. You're important to me, and if someone has to see everything, all of the secrets and all of the ugly parts, I'd really like that to be you."
Although here wrapped up in his arms and watching the stars with good liquor in one hand and the smell of good food in the distance she was practically high from the sheer elation. "Just not right now..." Awkward talks about Zirconia could wait.
"What was the Colosseum like?" Although space was still never too far off from her mind. They were watching stars, after all.
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Posted: Wed May 14, 2014 1:48 pm
Chester felt like he was aware of what kind of a person of, and that included accepting that some parts of her would likely always be mysterious to him. He liked to think he knew what he was getting in to, or at least that he was suited to deal with whatever he did not know. He held on to her and let her speak, though, absorbing her words thoughtfully.
"You can keep secrets," he said easily, speaking softly since they were so close to one another it hardly seemed necessary to speak in his usual tones. His voice was deep and rumbled, gravelly at lower levels. "If it's important, I know you'll tell me. Whatever you want to tell me, I'll listen. I'll help."
He didn't mind going at her pace, and letting her decide what she wanted to share with him. It wasn't like he was an open book, though he also considered himself fairly shallow. He was not an interesting person, and had no secrets to hide, save the ones she already knew about. He was also not a person that needed to know everything to get along. If he was, this whole knight thing would definitely not have worked out.
"It was hot," he said after a moment of thoughtful cuddling, kissing her cheek lightly as he spoke, "everything was dusty. It was broken, but it was big. There were a lot of knights there. All of them, I guess. I met a couple, but I stayed mostly in the back and watched. There was this ghostly scroll, the Code I think it said. It spoke, but I did not really understand much of what it was saying. About the war, and Chaos."
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Posted: Thu May 15, 2014 6:32 am
"I know."
Chester didn't demand secrets, but that's what made it easier to share with him above anyone else. He didn't demand her time so she wanted to give it to him. He didn't force her or impose on her or give her orders, so she wanted to go out of her way for him and get closer. He wasn't forcing her back against the wall so it suddenly became easier to make choices around him, because she didn't have to give up any autonomy to do so.
She had no idea such easy comfort was even possible.
She still had goosebumps from when he kissed her shoulder, and when he kissed her cheek hr brain turned off.
"Huh?" She blinked, coming back to reality. "Right. War and Chaos. Kairatos and Alfheim said it wasn't very helpful," She said, but her mind was obviously elsewhere. The couch where she had sat there half doped up on pain and painkillers and whined like a child to Realgar about how Chester never touched her and she wanted him to wasn't very far away from where they were sitting and now he was holding her, and cuddling against her.
It was surreal.
And all of her mental faculties were split between space and war and codes and the fact he was painfully distracting with little kisses and his voice and his face, so it didn't leave much for forethought or playing it very cool.
She shifted around so she was sitting on him, facing him, holding his head with both hands and frantically searching his face for something, she didn't know what, but whatever it was, she kissed him with much harder forwardness than the previous little kisses they had shared. "Nevermind," She half gasped against his face, her eyes closed. "I guess the war can wait."
Even after kissing him, her nose nuzzled into his cheek, trying to maintain that closeness.
"Zirconia's a time bomb. A parallel mirror soul I get my powers from that sits dormant. At any time she could just wake up and end me," She said, seemingly random until she followed it up with, "Do you know how long I've wanted to be with you? That was so much wasted time. I don't even know if I have time. So will you... I mean..." She was searching his eyes again, and she nervously bit her lower lip and reached one hand up to run her fingers through his hair. There were so many things she wanted to ask him, and tell him, but even when she wanted to, opening up when you were used to covering up or deceiving was a difficulty. She wasn't sure what was moving too fast or too slow, er only baseline was a terribly unhealthy relationship she didn't want this to be anything similar to.
Whatever she was going to ask him or tell him suddenly became halted by an onslaught of confusion, fear, and self doubt, but she managed to smile the doofiest smile and a small laugh escaped as her fingers ran through his hair again. "You are just unfairly handsome."
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Posted: Sat May 17, 2014 1:25 am
Chester leaned back a bit as she climbed onto his lap, watching her peacefully. He always looked very composed, though at the moment his eyes were less severe than they usually were. He was grounded, passive, but very much in the moment. He watched her as serenely as a man with a woman sitting in his lap could do, though as always his inner monologue was panicking and waving its metaphorical arms in its anxiety.
He closed his eyes and returned her kiss, surprised by the heat behind it but certainly not complaining as he leaned forward, his hand finding the back of her neck and resting there. When she paused to speak he managed a smile, nodding carefully since she was so close. The slightest movement was enough.
Her words did stir him, though, and he opened his eyes and blinked, but she was moving on before he could really say anything about the whole 'end me' thing she'd brought up. The last thing he ever wanted was to be without her, but if it did happen he would find a way to have her back. He would be relentless, and there would be no stopping him in his quest.
He had a feeling she already knew that, though.
"I'm not going anywhere," he said simply, not wanting her to dwell too much on the lost time between them. he had not made any moves, either, after all, and he sat pining for her more often than he could admit to her without sounding desperate. He let her pet him and run her hand though his hair as she wanted, then reached up and caught her hand, taking the other as well, and lifting both between them in both of his hands. He smiled at her gently, then lifted her hands to kiss the top of her knuckles.
"However you want me, whatever you want me for. I'm going to be here. You don't have to ask... I've been falling for you since the day I met you, I just never knew how to say it... you're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, and my days are pointless when you don't come around, except that I look forward to when I see you again. I'm not romantic or gentle, I'm not well spoken... but I'm very good at being here."
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Posted: Sat May 17, 2014 10:44 am
The corners of Zia's mouth sunk just slightly. Not enough to completely diminish the fact that she had been smiling, but his promise to not go anywhere invoked some strange, sinking feeling.
Humans always die.
It was a weird shiver of a feeling she pushed back quickly. That was Zirconia's experience. Zirconia's grief. Just because she remembered it didn't mean she had to own it as she stubbornly, mentally assured herself she was human too.
And besides that, she brightened instantly as he took her hands and watched as he kissed her knuckles. Zia was usually smiling, usually laughing unless her anger had been ignited, but if there was any proof to the length of her constant manipulations and deceptions it would've been now as the glee and excitement seemed to reach her eyes with pure and undeniable authenticity.
"Since I broke into your circus?" She asked with a joking droll in her tone, but she threaded her fingers in his and tightened around his hands before she let go of one to hold the other with both of hers, and brought it closer to her face to inspect every detail and callous as she rambled.
"I don't really like people, a lot of the time," She admitted, although if one ever caught her with a stranger who was forward enough to reach out and hold her in either form or pet her ears, and grab her arm, the flinching and quick glimpses of a grimace were easily captured if you knew where to look. Zia was always trying to be the initiator, and the dominating participant of physical contact, and she seemed skittish when she wasn't granted that. It had been a subtle and constant thread of interaction since she reemerged after Zirconia's dormancy. "I'm just really afraid, I guess... Talk is fine but it's a constant state of anxiety, knowing anyone can push or pull you one way or the other when they feel like it. I hate being touched."
She tilted her head and continued going over each of his fingers, lingering over every anomaly and rough flaw.
"I'm not afraid of you, though. You're different, and safe," As nonsensical as anyone looking on with shallow logic might find. He was a physical powerhouse and the size difference between their mass was noticeable. "And wrong. I think you're very gentle."
She moved the hand she had captured and put it to her cheek with a small laugh. "And I like your hands. A lot of hard work and dedication and accomplishments made these hands. They're different." At least different from the class of spoiled, soft, and manicured people she had been raised around and spent most of her adult life inundated in. Chester worked for his staff, he worked for his carnival, and that went a long way to seeing him as both novel and respectable.
She was gradually blushing again and she was sure she sounded absolutely dorky with the tone of her smiles and the occasional, little laughs that escaped until she finally leaned forward to softly rest her forehead on his. "You really think I'm beautiful?"
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