Welcome to Gaia! ::

Ah, A gleam of amusement shone in Phedre’s eyes. There he is. And here she worried that the Zac she’d remembered had been lost to the demands of his role as a Sovereign. I’m glad, she thought to herself as a gentle pink hue climbed high on her cheeks when he took hold of her hand.

Although she’d never admit it out loud, some changes were more than welcome.The hug, for one, would not soon be forgotten. And this…

Her expression softened into a smile when he mentioned menu options and Abby. “I have a lot of affection for Abby, If you think having her here would help you relax, I wouldn’t mind if you asked her to join us.” Phedre’s attention drifted to the fridge, lingered on the menus for a moment, and finally rested on Zac with an eyebrow quirked, asking a silent question. However, she’d already poked fun at him once already and she had a fairly decent suspicion that the invitation to come over had been unplanned.

“I’m happy to go along with whatever is easiest.”

Phedre looked up and away, shrugged her shoulders yet felt no shame in her questioning expression. “I was only teasing,” she replied reassuringly yet found herself laughing, a sound alien to her, considering the few reasons she had to smile nowadays. However, sliding back into familiar habits was proving unexpectedly effortless while in his company.

She followed Zac over to the large chair and settled into it comfortably. “You know I don’t mind. This is their space, I am just a guest.” Her lap was free for cuddles and hands were available for all the scritches if either Mogget or Ozzy felt comfortable enough to approach.

For the moment though she considered the entre options on the menu, “What are your thoughts on broccoli beef or chicken chow mein?” Noodles for some reason sounded better than fried rice this evening.

Phedre blinked back in surprise when Mogget suddenly appeared beside her and announced his presence loudly. “Well hello there,” she raised a hand for him to smell, and waited a moment to see if he’d become disinterested or brush his face against the back of her fingers in acceptance.

“Honestly both sound good, but I think I am leaning more towards spring rolls. That’s the one with the peanut sauce right?” Or was that the fried roll that came with sweet chili…? Honestly, she couldn’t remember and had to look back at the menu to read the description. “Ok yeah, it is.”

“You know,” Phedre paused to return the menu to Zac. “You’re welcome to come over to my place. I’m more than happy to cook for you sometime if you’re free one of these days. I can even make enough for leftovers if you’re interested.” Extending an invitation was always her intention, but given his role as a Sovereign, the task was less about the difficulty and more about the daunting prospect of finding the right opportunity to distract him from his responsibilities.

”I daresay it might even taste better than two-day-old takeout.” she added with a level of confidence.

“Trapped with you?” Phedre feigned a surprised gasp. “The audacity! Whatever shall I do?” She shook her head slowly, clearly teasing him with her playfully even tone.

Mogget’s soft paw poked at her cheek and in return, Phedre booped his nose gently with an endearing smile. She began running her finger along the edge of his white triangel-shaped ear and moved to scratch beneath his chin when he leaned into her hand.

“I suppose I should keep some extra food options on hand, easy snacks. Maybe get a few board games or decks of cards. Oh, I should probably update my movie library with something other than chick flicks.” Honestly, she really didn’t have much in the way of movies anyway with with all the streaming services available. Plus she kind of preferred to read books on her tablet before bed anyway.

“So,” She looked up at Zac to catch his reaction. “Should I just leave the door unlocked for you or leave you with a spare key?” That is, unless he wanted to try his hand at breaking in as she had once done.

“Hey now!” She shot him the look, narrowed eyes in mock offense. “You make it sound like I’m prone to making that mistake again.” At least it was something to laugh about now. "I would never… unless it was an emergency of course,” Phedre smirked.

The gentle sound of his laughter sent her heart aflutter and washed away the anxiety that had gripped her earlier. “I don’t think you quite understand how much I missed you, how much I’ve missed this.”

"Know that you are more than worthy, Zac. Only a few select individuals outside of my family merit enough trust for me to give them a key, and they are few enough to count on one hand." Only two people in their shared line of work even knew where she lived; Arabia and Noctua, yet she hadn't interacted or met with either in years.

“I wish I had some exciting story I could share with you. But other than a single promotion I’ve gained no new merits to earn my wings.” To that she found it difficult to look up at him and instead turned her attention back on Mogget. “It feels someone merged "Grey’s Anatomy" and “Law and Order” into a single narrative and decided to call it “My Life,”” a humorless laugh escaped her.

“Between my grandfather's declining health, stepping up and filling in as CEO of various LLCs here in the states while my parents handle offshore accounts and real estate investments, and my step-grandmother’s children disputing her will trying to gain ownership of properties she had no community interest or lien on; I have had very little time for myself and have had to request a temporary reprieve from missions.” A brief explanation that might shed light to why she was at a cafe twice in one day or might have sounded stressed earlier.

“Don’t worry though, I am still meeting quotas.” Phedre hazarded a very brief glance toward Zac which fell just as quickly. “I’m sorry,” she said with a grimace, aware that she could only dodge the topic of her recent activities for so long.

Phedre wanted to hide her face away but could only watch as he knelt in front of her, his tone reassuring as he reached up and touched her cheek gently causing a blush to rise high up on her cheeks.

For all the hope she had in sharing with him accomplishments or achievements, there truly was nothing for her to boast about. Her one venture into the rift had been full of mishaps and resulted in her being saved once more by another officer. Then the ambush that happened on the hill with the technology obtained from Commodore Lyndin and the Vanguard, those generators had caused her magic to become ineffective rendering her useless on the field.

Shameful to say the least and yet, rather than pull away, she lifted her hand, her fingers finding his, curling around them as she gently pressed her cheek against his open palm.

“I genuinely appreciate your concern, but there’s no need to worry about any of that right now. Accommodations have already been made, there’s no need to make any additional changes.” She felt certain that if a larger mission were to arise and her magic could prove useful then a General, or Sovereign, would reach out to her. “For the few things I can still do, I welcome the distractions.”

“All I ask is for genuine conversation,” something removed from corporate offices or financial discussions. “If you are able to find time in your schedule, even if it’s just an hour for lunch, I would be grateful. I promise not to be demanding of your free time.”

“I-” she started to protest which devolved into an ‘I should have seen this coming’ sort of laugh that was accentuated with a dramatic eye roll. Phedre’s fingers unwound from his, letting him go so he did not need to remain kneeling in front of her. “Fair is fair I suppose…”

For him, the common saying often reversed to ‘no play without work,’ defying the traditional expression. Still, knowing this she shook her head in surprised disbelief. “At least the snow is gone so I won’t need to be worried about it being so cold out.” Or him hitting a tree, effectively dumping a mound of snow on top of her. That was unpleasant…

“You know, I never did learn if my basic magic had an effect on you or if you were just humoring me back then.” She steepled her fingers and leaned back in the chair as if negotiations were now on the table. “I assume that the same rules apply as before. However, seeing as my magic has no damaging effect, what do you say about me actually having some fun this time?” Being the Senshi of the Succubus meant of course that ‘fun’ was subjective to her current whims and may or may not stop at her just pulling down his mask.

“If not, then how about you assess my skills by observing or participating in one of my patrols?” Phedre did have a fondness for working smarter and not harder which usually included a change of attire, an evening companion of sorts, a somewhat crowded space as White Moon Senshi did not like to involve civilians, usually; the performing arts theater was often a decent choice or a fancy restaurant. Sometimes the date ended up being her target, other times it was those around her as what happened the first time she had met Zac and Abby.

“I-” Her lips parted and then closed several times, her head slightly tilted in confusion, as if all witty or clevar comments seemed to have abandoned her in that moment. “I actually don’t know how to respond to that.”

How long has it been since someone had managed to stun her into such a stupor?

"I guess we’ll just have to see?” Her tone made the comment sound more like a question than a confident certainty.