Welcome to Gaia! ::

Prajna continued to beam softly as it allowed the rest of Revontulet’s weight to spread out over the soft cover of the bed. Its twilit eyes lit with envious pride as her downy ombre curls draped the edge of the sink. Prajna liked to think Revontulet looked away out of passionate bashfulness but a more logical side kept it grounded: it was more likely that she was merely surprised by the Star’s sudden action. But then she spoke.

“In the movies… they say swept off her feet. Can I used it now, Prajna?”

The usually short tempered redhead floated back a bit, as if stumbling in fright. This encounter suddenly reminded Prajna of when it had met the effortlessly charming Cesc. Did Revontulet know how breathtakingly alluring she could be? How did one even take one word, a name, Prajna’s very own name, and make it sound so rich and decadent like honey? This once rare event, of someone catching the Star off guard with simple words or gestures, was becoming so frequent lately. It took the Star a moment to recompose itself but when it did, when the words finally sank in, the Star couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle. It was a laugh you can only make when genuinely stunned by a compliment… or a wedding proposal. There did not seem to be any associated blush, thankfully, and so Prajna seized this opportunity.

Laying in the bed beside Revontulet, the Star removed its miniature top hat and rested it where the unraveling of its torso began. It placed its neck in the same curved opening of the sink as Revontulet’s rested and let out a soft sigh. Then, in an uncommon act of honest affection, Prajna reached over the small space between the two beds, groping for Revontulet’s dainty hand. One of the stylists gently touched Ren’s hair to have the Frei acknowledge she was there and then carefully removed the Moonstone’s delicate headpiece. As the other blonde masseuse turned on a small detachable shower head in Prajna’s sink and began soaking the Star’s ends, Prajna turned its face towards Revontulet’s and laughed again, this time a bit more cheekily.

“With Prajna, Revontulet can say feet sweeping as much as Revontulet wants!”

Finally the Star found Revontulet’s hand and squeezed it firmly yet gently. Then it slowly interlaced its fingers with Revontulet’s. Its self conscience pondered if the newborn had done something like this with anyone else yet but the Star tried to push that negative thought to the back of its mind as it felt another set of fingers begin to work its scalp. It hoped the suds would wash away, not only its “weakness” and stress, but the worries that Revontulet would ever leave Prajna…

As Doe wrinkled her nose in distaste, Namini laughed sweetly like a child receiving its first puppy. The idea of Doe with wrestling and vomiting children, the toddlers squirming away from a needle or just a mere thermometer, just entertained Namini too much. But the idea of working in a kindergarten!
As the stylist began spritzing Namini’s oak-colored locks and brushing them, the young nurse-to-be announced her interest in Doe’s field of world, “I love kids, though the vomiting, yeah, could be done without. What kind of things do you do with them? Do you teach a certain class, like art or something? I’d love to watch you in action one day!! How long have you been teaching?”

The questions were never ending, as if Namini was an inquisitive toddler herself.

As the stylist seduced Prajna into a state of near slumber, using her intuitive fingers to explore the foreign curves and follicles of the Star’s scalp, Prajna noted the immense feeling of calm overtake its unfinished torso. So this was what tranquility felt like. The firm yet reassuring pressure the woman applied, combined with the comfort of Revontulet’s presence, was a rare delight. Prajna consistently rubbed Revontulet’s soft fingertips, as if feeling a new fabric for the first time, trying to memorize and understand its texture. Once, the Star even sent its companion another supportive squeeze. One might have considered Prajna a bit too concerned with Revontulet’s state of comfort to have fully enjoyed its own scalp massage but it didn’t necessarily seem so.

“I think I will say it many times to you, Prajna.”

Revontulet’s words had settled somewhere deep within the Star, comforting it in a way it had not felt in a very long time, and so, a tender smile refused to leave the redhead’s usually smug features. The grin gave Prajna an almost feminine appeal. And when it spoke, it seemed, overall, less rowdy and boyish than it had originally, “Revontulet is… alright, yes?”

As the stylists applied one last, gorgeous smelling conditioner into the Freis’ skulls, murmuring softly to themselves about weekend plans, Prajna turned its face slightly towards the Aurora’s, peeking out from behind the edge of the sink. Its smile broadened. Revontulet reminded it so much of someone Prajna had seen in a movie, so elegant yet distant. In a way, lying there, vulnerable yet seemingly encased in an unbreakable barrier, Prajna concluded that Revontulet was like its very own, living, breathing Sleeping Beauty. Prajna did not know if she came from some faraway castle in some unknown kingdom or if she was simply heaven sent, but there was some kind of connection the Star felt that was not going to be easily forgotten. If only it knew that Revontulet possessed a similar soul…

It seemed Namini had met her soulmate as well.

As Namini felt her chocolate curls get snipped and re-snipped, she continued her conversation as if unchanged, unlike the crying yet satisfied client before her, “I think that’s similar to why I like working with kids in the hospital. They come in with fevers and nausea or God knows what stuffed up their noses. You never know what you’re going to see! But when they leave, they just smile and their parents are relieved and thankful and… just everyone is so happy. I mean… I haven’t had the unluckiness to experience a bad case or a sad ending…yet..and I know it’s coming, because that’s just how it goes, but for now… it’s so nice and exciting.”

“Strong?”

That’s when Prajna remembered why they were here. This had been its first encounter with Revontulet yet the Star felt like it had been around her so much longer. It had imagined they had escaped to some resort, getting pampered by servants. Prajna as King and Revontulet as its beautiful Queen! The fact that their guardians had busied themselves and kept themselves separate from the Freis’ own engagement seemed to feed this illusion. So, as the women began gently toweling the young Raevans’ freshly scented and thoroughly conditioned tresses, Prajna did not protest, understanding that soon, this encounter, the Prajna/Revontulet reign would end. As it felt Revontulet’s thumb caress the topside of its hand, Prajna, for a moment, lost its cool and affectionate composure. As the stylist wrapped a towel around the Star’s head, murmuring something about taking a seat in a chair a few spaces down from Namini, Prajna’s androgynous features fell into a sad expression. The face of a King possessing a terrible burden.

As the stylist began walking towards the chair, however, Prajna regained itself. The Star tried to smile at Revontulet. It revealed a bittersweet grin, “Yes, come and watch Prajna become stronger. No more… weakness.” Prajna was obviously repressing something. A small part of the redhead wanted to ask Revontulet if she would miss the Star once they parted ways, if she would remember it fondly, instead of forgetting. But it bit its tongue, too proud to ask.

It then floated up out of the chair, holding its top hat in its right hand and still holding Revontulet’s with its left. As Prajna headed towards the chair, it lifted Revontulet out of her own bed, as if asking for a dance. Prajna looked down at her face, its eyes dark with thought. Just like Sleeping Beauty… Prajna thought, imaging a soft bed of silks and pillows beneath its friend.

“Oh thank God—“ the words left Namini’s mouth a bit too quickly, surprising both herself and the stylist. The brunette blushed and shifted her weight, “I mean… I didn’t mean to sound so rude… it’s just…I told you that Prajna can be a handful some times, yes? Well, Prajna has a usually fiery temper so first encounters, with either people or Raevans, tend to go…quite poorly. I don’t think Prajna quite likes the idea of a middle ground when it comes to friendships, sadly. Either you’re—“

She blew some hair clippings out of her view, the stylist apologizing as she finished the girl’s bangs.

“Either you’re one of Prajna’s closest companions or you’re what Prajna will consider an enemy. It’s gotten into so many scuffles. I probably get more nursing experience treating Prajna’s scratches and bumps than in any hospital,” the young girl joked. She flashed Doe a smile though and, in an unknown mirroring of her Frei, placed another hand on Doe’s. “But if Revontulet is anything like you, I can see why Prajna is so eager to stay in her company.”

Prajna’s stylist did not know what to do during the Freis’ exchange. Flabbergasted, she merely shot her coworker an entertained grin, raising her filled in brows with confusion. The two women gave the Raevans their space and for that, Prajna was thankful, though the appreciation was quickly replaced with a different thought. The thought of Revontulet. The tug of her hand. Her approach. Again, her hand. For a moment it seemed as if the ombre haired girl was seizing something more than Prajna’s crimson sleeve. Her slender fingertips seemed to sink into the Star’s arm, through its partially developed ribcage and grab something in the center of Prajna’s chest. The Star seemed to struggle in understanding the feeling. It was part suffocating, like a heavy backpack had been thrown across the Star’s shoulders, and yet Prajna also felt a sense of warmth and comfort. Its blue eyes scanned its companion’s features and saw the Star’s own mixture of emotions being reflected.

Suddenly overtaken with guilt and surprise, Prajna let out a kitten like “ah!” It was just about to apologize profusely, a rare reaction it seemed could only be triggered by seemingly perfect individuals such as Revontulet, when the girl began to speak. Her voice seemed to possess a more ethereal quality as it lowered and softened.

The strongest…

Revontulet closed the remainder of the gap between them, her other free hand snaking its way silently up Prajna’s chest. Her pale fingers stopped once it had found Prajna’s fluttering heart while her eyes lowered with her fading voice. The Star could only see a sliver of the turquoise of her eyes now as she asked, “Will Prajna always protect me?”

Something wild and rare seemed to spread like wildfire through Prajna’s veins! The Star mimicked the girl, parting its lips slowly, but incapable of doing anything more than gasp for air. Its face felt hot and its pulse quickened. All of the movies it had watched seemed to blur together seamlessly, playing in rapid motion through the Star’s thoughts. High tension. The quiet hum of some meaningless background. A girl, a boy, both almost too scared to speak. In its mind’s eye, Prajna saw a flash of red, one pair of golden eyes sinking in a blackened sclera, someone else’s rowdy lips. Prajna gasped again, sucking in the air like a person gapping for water in the middle of the desert. It had been quite a while since someone had struck this cord in the Star and yet… Prajna looked over Revontulet once more, just as it had when she first appeared.

Her sea-like locks, at the roots a plum blue, at her tips a seafoam green. Her piercing crystalline eyes. Her coral stained lips. That simple but elegant necklace, adding a splash of ruby to her entirety. Her moonlit shoulders that curved in their effortlessly feminine manner. The pristine silk covering her budding bosom. The golden trinkets decorating her wrists.

And yet… here she was.

Another soul Prajna felt fully incapable of ignoring. This feeling was overwhelming and choking and Prajna could not stop itself. It quietly apologized to its other soulmates, Vyn and Varun, as it lifted both of its hands towards Revontulet’s face. It made sure not to be too quick, out of fear of scaring the poor thing. She was nothing like the rough and playful Varun who could take a biting or a flirtatious wrestling yet she also did not seem quite as passionate and wild as Vyn. Yes, Prajna would go slow. But as its right hand grazed the curve between Revontulet’s neck and shoulder, the physical connection felt electric. Prajna’s rune sparked with intimacy, something Rivener’s had done when he had attempted to consume Prajna, yet this time was different. Luckily for Revontulet, her soul and essence did not cause Prajna to crave her as food but rather as…

Prajna’s left hand was a bit hastier than its right as it cupped the right side of Revontulet’s face, where her hair met her ear and pushed her face up and outward. Forget self restraint! Right after adjusting her face, Prajna planted its lips against Revontulet’s. It parted soon after, leaving nothing more than a peck. It seemed satisfied, but just like the dehydrated wanderer, the first taste just was not enough. Prajna kissed Revontulet again, once, twice. The Star felt itself grow almost panicked, terrified with the thought of never seeing Revontulet for a long long while, or perhaps, never again, as it had experienced with Vyn and Varun. It did not want to let her go. No, not when it had just found her! Prajna’s right hand had found its place against the other side of Revontulet’s face, cupping it tenderly but firmly. Yes, it was so scared.

Eventually, the need for air though overtook the Star, though it refused to let its newfound affection go. Its flirtatious smile returning, Prajna breathed life into the simple word, “Of course. Of course. Prajna will always protect you.”

There was a small pause as a blush finally crept its way onto Prajna’s androgynous features. It whispered, mournfully caressing its cheek against hers, “Just please don’t go.”

At Doucette’s wink, Namini felt herself ease up. Perhaps she was keeping too negative opinion of Prajna. Perhaps the Star could be trusted a bit more… It had been a few years now. “That’s true. Passion is never a bad thing. Did you ever go through a phase, Doe? I’m sorry if that’s a bit too personal for a first encounter, but I’m always interested in hearing the stories of other people’s lives!”

Prajna had been appreciative of Revontulet’s cinema knowledge but it did not realize just how thankful it was of the girl’s similar hobbies until it felt her dainty arms weave around its neck, her ribbon dance flirtatiously around its own tattered curl, her blossoming bosom press desperately against its chest. As Revontulet kissed back, with just as much fury and yearning, Prajna could not shoo away the self satisfied smirk on its rosy lips. The smile was like that of a proud lion’s; it reflected the feral joy of having just witnessed your tender yet equally wild cub make its first gazelle kill. Yet, out of what felt like animal necessity, Prajna’s mouth could not, did not stop its hunt. It still wanted so much more. So, as Revontulet spoke, the Star listened eagerly yet continued to slid the tip of its nose from her cheek to her ear down her neck, where it began to slowly yet thoughtfully plant kisses down its lover’s neck.

“Go?”

Her voice was sweet and the honey-like words seemed to drip deep down into the back of her throat, a place Prajna’s lips tried to reach.

“I will not go. I will not leave Prajna.”

The overly passionate redhead felt something play with its hair. Ah, it was her fingers. Prajna stopped nuzzling the girl’s throat to turn its face to the side. Its lips wanted to catch those playful fingertips and simply eat them up. It wanted to hear Revontulet giggle and purr. But when the Star turned its face, it saw an unattractive sight.

The Star frowned, though it continued to hold Revontulet’s face affectionately between its hands. In front of them, scolding Revontulet quite openly, was an angry looking Doucette. Prajna peeked behind the woman and it seemed as if Namini was trying to see what was happening, confused, but her bangs were being finished and her shoulders tidied up. Prajna’s cerulean gaze returned to Doucette’s face. She looked torn between embarrassment and disgust. Had she said something? The Star shot the woman a defeated glance and seemed as if it was about to release its turquoise friend when it pulled the girl in for one last kiss. Prajna’s eyes twinkled with mischief and self satisfaction as they locked with Doucette’s. One of Prajna’s hands ran desperately through Revontulet’s silky tresses, the fingers trying to memorize every curve and angle of the girl’s scalp, the other now exploring the smooth band of skin beneath her golden belt. A thumb trailed dangerously close to the curve of one of the girl’s breasts but, just as quickly as Prajna had intertwined with Revontulet, it broke away, still grinning and still looking at Doe.

Namini at this point, just as Prajna had timed, had gotten up and had walked over, though still shaking her hair to get all the loose bits out.

“Prajna will leave Revontulet to this” the Star purred into its companion’s ear, leaving the girl with a tender kiss on the cheek. It increased the distance between them before floating closer to one of the salon chairs, shrugging as Namini approached, asking “What is it? What happened? Doe? Prajna?”

Namini was now donning a sweet side bang and her auburn curls bounced with a newfound perkiness, an appearance that matched her nativity all too well.