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 Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 11:52 am
"I beg mercy," he said gravely, pulling her hand up to a brief kiss and settling them back on the table again. "I know this place for next time: you have to be wearing fifteen carat diamonds minimal to even get through the door." Jack managed to keep a straight face until the end, then cracked a smile.
"So putting more makeup on me is perfectly fine, but making yourself look nice means looking like a clown? I call foul." He raised his glass. "You'd look hot even with nothing on," he toasted with a knowing grin and drank. "But yeah, I thought the stars would be a nice touch. If I'm going to be a sap about it, might as well go all the way, right?"
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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 12:21 pm
"Yeah well I know a place you can get free booze all night and rad soft rock for five bucks," she said haughtily, "So take that, crusty diamond ******** raised her glass to his toast and said, "At least yer good at bein' a sap. I woulda never been so thoughtful." Which evidence had shown to the contrary actually, but Chel didn't think so.
She was pensive for a moment, then said, "F'you really like this makeup I'll wear it like this more."
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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 9:13 pm
He chuckled at the first comment but gave Chel a look that said he wasn't completely certain he was the only sap among the two. "Sounds fun. Well, you win a bet, you can take me there," he told her. "I'll pierce up and get a mohawk or whatever you want. But don't worry about the makeup, really. I've gotten used to the messy raccoon eyes." And there was definite fondness in the statement.
And at last their food came, and Jack made a semi-grand gesture to it after the waiter left them alone. It was similar to the one he had made when they first entered their hotel room in Greece. "Dig in, Chauncey, it's on me."
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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 9:22 pm
"Only 'cause you won," she murmured. The hand was easily let go in lieu of eating; they were beyond a point of childishness (I dont' want to let go of his hand~) and Chel was appreciative that dinner at a fancy restaurant felt almost no different than a dinner over her stove or an MRE over a campfire.
After swallowing down a portion of her food, she said, "You know, we should actually dye your hair somethin' fun 'least once." She eyed him with a squint. "You'd look good with like a blue-white color I think."
That part was serious, but then she put on a grin so big it had to be a joke. "We could go pink and you could match me, sweetheart."
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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 11:24 pm
He made a face as he spread the napkin over his lap and began to eat. "Shouldn't I go black like the hole where my soul never was?" he argued with the right amount of teenage angst in that faked bitter smile. Hell, he'd worn it so much and so unironically as a teenager.
Jack shrugged. "But hey, it'd be all your call. If you win."
What could he say, he had some winner's smugness about them, like his waning paycheck was a sign of glory. Their little bets were slowly becoming a hobby at this point.
"I'd be happy to spar you again, though, if that's what you're implying."
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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 11:43 pm
"Rainbow then. With raccoon tails." The epitome of scene fashion; he would be a masterpiece.
She barked a laughed and said, "When I win." The bets were as much her hobby as they were his. "But we can't just bet on fightin'. I mean ya know I love me a good wrastle, but bets are only fun when the competition's good too. Gotta bring in some card games or darts or somethin'." Variation was the spice of life wasn't it?
"But really, naked wrestlin'." Chel had already distracted herself.
---
Dinner devoured and tiny (Chel asked the waiter "Where's the rest of it?" He laughed.) desserts engorged, Chel leaned back in her chair.
"Y'wanna go check out the club? I just got t'know what it looks like when all these old rich people shake their asses." Was it horrifying? Hilarious? Was there a strange sort of second hand embarrassment or did you just start puking right away? Chel had to know.medigel lmk if u didnt want to timeskip and ill retcon it just seemed like a good time /flies away
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Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2015 3:40 pm
His nose wrinkled at the very idea; almost as bad as the time Finn had forced him to wear duct tape shoes.
"Naked wrestling, huh?" He smirked. "You're on. Let's add strip poker and Mario Kart DUI to the mix." And the further into their meal they got, the more creative their ideas became.
- - -
Sighing in contentment, he lifted his napkin and cleaned his mouth and hands. "I was hoping you'd say that."
After signing the bill and leaving the waiter his tip, Jack got up and again offered Chel his arm, leading them to the elevator at the back. The inside was a glimmering gold and featured a mirror to let them really get a look of themselves together for the first time that night. "Did you bring a change of shoes?" he asked as they entered, and he hit the button for the second floor. "I won't force you to wear heels for dancing unless you want the challenge."
Either way, Jack snuck a photo or two in.
The noise was audible even before the doors slid open, and despite the elaborate appearance throughout The Sidereal, the club music playing could have fit anywhere else. The club was twilit at best, dotted with glow in the dark decorations that mimicked the astrological theme from the first floor. A curtain of shimmering stars throbbed different colors in tune to the beat of the music off to the side, and the silhouettes of people dancing were broken up occasionally by this or that which happened to also get affected by the blacklight. From what they could make up, not everyone was a decked out as the people dining below.
"Your choice," he said to her. "Drinks or dancing first?"
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Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2015 4:05 pm
For the first photo, Chel was off guard and merely looking at him admirably (she hadn't taken more than a second that night thusfar to look at them, but now that she did all she could notice was how good they look together- and they did), but for the second she saw the camera and threw up a peace sign, ruining the picture and the mood completely.
The club was much lamer than she'd been hoping for. It was actually incredibly gorgeous, the music reverberated through the whole room well and most of the dancers were twenty/thirty somethings like them. Overall, absolutely gorgeous and nothing to gawk at whatsoever.
"I got shoes," she said, procuring the tiny, sparkly flats from her bag to switch to.
But then he said challenge and the shoes were shoved back in the bag. "Bet you I can go the whole dance with them," she said with her gambler's grin, leaning into his side. Her feet were already throbbing, but challenges were fun. "F'I win, we dye yer hair. You win ...?" She trailed off and let him fill in what he wanted.
Her purse was checked near the entrance for storage, and Chel was already walking towards the dance floor. Drinks could come when she was actually thirsty. She wanted to remember at least a little bit of it.
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Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2015 5:25 pm
"The whole dance, huh?" As she checked her purse, he smirked at her back. "If I win, you'll have to model shoes for me and wear them all day."
For now, the pace was easy: something jazzy filtered through the speakers, upbeat but casual. Jack, as could be guessed, wasn't quite as deep into the music as the people around them; he was mindful of their space and disliked brushing against people unnecessarily. He did try to join in with Chel when he could, though, but otherwise was more lowkey overall.
"Wasn't expecting it to be this damn dark," he commented.
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Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2015 5:50 pm
She almost said "I'd do that anyway," but Chel was becoming slightly more intelligent every day. "Ugh, fine." It actually sounded fun, but if her "punishment" was a reward then it was a win-win situation.
Chel preferred the upbeat music, moving through the crowd with her usual shimmy before finding them a spot relatively packed with people (it was always more fun to dance amongst a crowd than it was being awkwardly alone on the side).
Neither was she an amazing dancer or a terrible one, she fell somewhere in the above average range. Captivating enough, but not trained by any means. She was better in a mosh pit without heels, but Chel still knew quite a few dance moves. It was fun too; getting to watch Jack flounder (he wasn't a terrible dancer, but god if he wasn't awkward) in public was one of her favorite pastimes.
"Thought you didn't dance?" she asked him, putting a hand on his shoulder before guiding his hand to her waist. She did her best to match his awkward movements; it was strange because he wasn't a bad dance partner. Maybe that was because the motion was familiar. "Certainly tried talkin' you into it a few times. What gives?"
The heels caused a minor mistake (a fumble that almost had her falling over), but Chel laughed it off. She was going to win this bet.
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Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2015 12:56 am
He exhaled shortly, conscious of his shortcomings. "Thought I'd give it an effort this time," he explained as he semi-led her, though almost half of it seemed like they were feeling each other's inclinations more than anything else. "I'm not completely lacking in the department. Eomma had me take a few lessons from some leisure learning classes."
He glanced around to make sure he didn't accidentally spin Chel against someone else. "Anyway, it's a night of trying something new, so." He cleared his throat awkwardly and that seemed to be that as he pulled her back in and turned. The music was morphing from upbeat jazz to something slower.
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Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2015 9:39 am
Chel wanted to ask him what kind of dancing had his mother enrolled him in; Jack doing hip-hop or ballet seemed absolutely hilarious. "Never said you were bad," Chel pointed out. He wasn't, not really. Awkward because of his unwillingness to give in maybe, but certainly not lacking for moves. "I like dancin' with you. We should do it more."
Then the music started changing and Chel felt Jack turning her around; she knew what was coming next. "Aw man booo," she hissed. Chel didn't like slow dancing for the same reason she didn't like watching Arwen and Aragorn; it required an intimacy that she'd previously been lacking.
Jack was too tall for her to reach all the way around his neck without her looking like she was some kind of swinging primate, so Chel instead put one hand on his shoulder and the other in his offered hand. "Slow dancin's the worst," she told him, despite still being perfectly willing to do it.
Except now being so close to Jack's face, she found a small grin creeping on hers. Her feet hurt and she felt silly, but at least she finally had someone to do it with.
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Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2015 12:43 am
"Mmmm, only if you do more duets with me," he countered. And it was fair enough: Chel was self-conscious of her singing, Jack was obviously a little too aware of the space and flow when dancing.
He wasn't as particularly annoyed by the change in music as she was, but it didn't make him a fan either. Mostly it brought back memories of juvenile antics in proms and swaying while attempting to make decent conversation. The atmosphere certainly helped here at least; when he wasn't looking at Chel, his eyes were drawn to the starry curtain that had mellowed out with the song choice and simply shimmered in a set pattern, making it seem like it was creating a comet's trail.
"Might need a drink to get through the rest of this," Jack teased, though the sight of Chel's grin encouraged his own. In a way, they were still just two overgrown children mixing with adults. "Interested?"
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Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2015 12:55 am
"In a bit," she responded, pushing his hand down further (you're allowed to touch) and sinking further into his weight. Just because she never properly learned how to dance intimately didn't mean she lacked it; she knew Jack and that was more than enough to fake it.
Chel had never gone to school dances; she didn't share the memory.
Also unlike Jack, Chel couldn't see much past his hulking frame to catch the stars. Every once in a while he would spin her and she'd catch a glance, but it always came back to his suit and tie.
"Y'know," she began, "F'you'd ah told me a year ago I'd be slow dancin' with you, I woulda laughed in yer face." Maybe some of Jack's sentimentality was catching. "Always kinda thought you were somethin' good, but I just thought I'd date you fer a while and then drop you when I got bored." Unspoken was the more likely expectation to be dropped when he was bored. "Never thought I'd-" She looked away and pursed her lips before opening them with a light red on her face. "Y'know. Fall in love or whatever."
The thought had a kind of naivete to it. Chel wondered if she had been just as much of a difficulty for him; probably not, right? She'd always sort of been a pining follower, never really making herself much of a catch for anyone. Easily brought into bed, easily slipped out. Never attached because she never needed to be. Despite having an uphill battle to bargain with Jack's heart (it's a no), he'd never really had to do the same for hers. No one would ever congratulate Jack for locking her down, because she'd never thought to escape (what goal was outside her cage that made a key worth constructing?). Maybe there was a pitying sense in that fact, but with the way he looked at her, Chel never felt particularly burdened. She liked her warden.
Only sometimes when it was late and her mind wandered did Chel ever considered the lopsided nature of their relationship. It spread a strange paranoia in her chest that sparked a possessive kind of jealousy.
He was here, and not with someone else; he loved her and not someone else. Battle partner, boyfriend, girlfriend, what did it matter the name they put on it? Tame wasn't really the nature of the matter (Chel would never be fully tamed in any sense no matter how many rings he bought or how many houses he built), but it became more of a docile heat, an itching burn, only salved by these seldom glimpsed moments of admitted mutual rapport. Are you mine, are you sure, did you hit your head-
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Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2015 12:04 pm
Sometimes he needed the reminder, as if being in public changed his perspective. Fear to show vulnerability and favoritism, which he used to think was all love was: dangerous elements in a setting like Deus. And in a way he still did believe that was what it was; he simply didn't care anymore, because as always there was more. For every moment of did I push too much and are you still there, there was a we should do it more and f'it means I get more dates with you why not and countless silent words threaded in little gestures. His reaction to the sight of the blush was thoughtless and impulsive, a short kiss and a little smile free of its usual sarcasm. You can touch.
He pulled her in closer and grew lazier with their direction, letting them hover on the dance floor. "Do you want to know a secret?" he asked in a lower voice.
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