Seth [King Cheetah] - elfgurl1234

[Seth_Avi]

~"You are much better at this than I am."~

[Hytech PRP] "I Have Much More Experience"

Summary: Training steps up to a new level as Seth and Missy finally have their first session together. Their new teacher will not be a lenient one, however.

 

[Seth_Avi]

Life Continues
11/16/10

Studying working training. Studying working training. Working working working training. Studying training. Yet, despite all of this, no matter how busy the cheetah Hyte tried to keep himself, he could not stop his mind from thinking. Not when he was alone anyway.

A lot had changed in the bedroom since the end of October. Most of the decorations had gone from the walls and the pile of textbooks that used to sit on the corner of the desk was nowhere to be seen. Even the opposite nightstand had been left bare. Out of sight, out of mind. And yet, despite the effort, not at all out of mind. He had tried to rid the room of any reminders of Noe, but even their mere absence reminded him of her.

The stuff wasn’t all truly gone. It was simply packed and hidden away in the closet. But that was fine; he didn’t ever use that closet for his things anyway.

It was impossible to truly be rid of any reminders though. The entire apartment move had been for the purpose of living with Noe after all. And even were it not for his living quarters the kuppy had been such an integral part of his life for so long that he couldn’t just not think of her. But he didn’t want to not think about her. Not entirely. They had had such good times together. It had been wonderful. What had happened?

It was all a mess now.

A worried croon from Ruby accompanied by a small projection of comfort and affection brought him back to reality. “Sorry girl,” he said apologetically, raising a hand to stroke the firelizard. “Got distracted.” When he wasn’t concentrating on training, the crimson hardly ever left his side. Currently he had been studying more of that book on healing, but it was getting late and his mind was more prone to wandering. After “work” tomorrow he would need to resume training again. And now he had another asset to add to that training which he hadn’t even realized needed practice. It was all rather frustrating really.

His eyes wandered about a moment before landing on his abandoned journal. He hadn’t touched the thing in over two weeks—since the fight(s?) with Dacj—and had never bothered finishing his previous entry. He had no intention of ever completing that one, but perhaps he could start a new one...  

[elfgurl1234]

~You Are Totally Doomed~

[Hytech PRP] Certain Measures Must Be Taken

Summary: Seth and Missy meet to discuss matters concerning the 'missions', but while they are meeting a very irate Dacj charges in to chew out the pig Hyte. Much fun awkwardness ensues.

 

[elfgurl1234]

~Moving On~

[PRP] Time's have changed [Haevan + Seth]

Summary: Seth and Haevan have a talk about things and agree to move into their own separate apartments.

 

[Seth_Avi]

~Mind and Water~

[Hytech PRP] High-Speed Rapids

Summary: Dacj and Seth get together to begin some private training of their own together. Will they each be able to conquer their own ability struggles?

 

[Seth_Avi]

[PM RP] The Gathering (Seth & Noe)
11/30/10 - 12/01/10

Quote:

It had been about a week since Hunter had come by to cheer Noelani up, she hadn’t expected him to end up in her closet like that but it was well deserved. Giggling even now at the memory she snuck past the last guard to the trinkets room to retrieve her favorite tool. The port-hole was sitting enclosed a glass case with all the other scientifically inspired magical items. She smiled realizing that no one had thought to put better security around this room where she was concerned; shrugging she didn’t mind so much it made it easier to deal with. Removing the glass case and holding the item in hand she smiled, pleased with the small buzz of magic she could feel from within it. “Alright you’re going to get me back to the apartment so I can get my things.” She whispered to the contraption willing herself to think of the small apartment she had shared with the others. Man how long ago had it been when all four of them had lived there? By the time that thought ran its course she found herself standing in her former room, a sad smile made its way across her face but she didn’t let it linger as she began looking around. The clock on the night stand alerted her to the time which gave her mid-afternoon which was fine with her, “Good Seth shouldn’t be back for a while. I have time.” And with that in mind she hurried around for her things, surprised to find them not where she had left them but in the closet nicely packed. “Hm?” Well it saved her time but it also made her a bit sad, he obviously was moving on but then so was she, right?

Unfortunately for Noelani, Seth’s schedule was a bit less set in stone than she had last remembered. Actually, even when he had worked at the store it had been a bit erratic at times, but still not as varied as it was now. He had gone over to his mother’s earlier in the morning to help out with things, but today had proved to be one of those rare slow days where most everyone kept to themselves and there was naught much to do. Thus, after taking a while to train a bit at the park, he was now returning home. Well, returning to his current residence anyway. Not much of a home now, was it.

Once he walked in the door, the cheetah Hyte was more than a bit surprised by the scent he caught. Noe? Well, that was certainly an unexpected surprise. He hadn’t had any contact with her since... Yeah... May as well find out what’s going on then, he thought to himself with resignation, though part of him wasn’t sure if he was even ready to face her just yet. Well, it wasn’t as if he really had a choice at this point. Making sure first that he was fully composed, he silently padded over to the bedroom and opened the door to step in. “Hello, Noe.”

Noe was busy putting the few boxes in the port-hole when she heard the door from the other room. She had been about to make a quick escape but then thought better of such a cowardly thing. Seth deserved more than her running away from him all the time and this was no different from any other time. Though she had another box that remains in the closet she didn’t bother with it right now deciding to use it as a means to stick around if only for a moment. Her first initial thought was to make excuses but then she’d never been one for doing that. Instead she waited standing by the desk that had Seth’s journal sitting on it. A small smile creased her lips, if she were a mischievous person like that she might have read it but that just wasn’t her still instead she only briefly let a paw run across it before Seth entered the room with a simple greeting. Turning she tried smiling but it didn’t seem to turn out that way, thinking maybe she’d made a move far too soon and just wasn’t ready to face him she quickly brushed at tears. “Hello, Seth.” She replied back angry for being her poor timing and unexpected reaction to facing him. “It’s been a while.” But not nearly long enough.

She was crying? What? Why was she crying? She was the one who said they should just be friends! “Mm. A month since we last spoke,” he agreed, unsure of what to do or say. Should he ask why she was crying, or would that make her only more upset? Should he pretend not to notice, or would that make him come off as heartless? There was no real good way of going about any of this. It was probably too soon still. “Are you alright?” Well, clearly not, but he was more indirectly asking her to elucidate than to really say if she was alright or not.

She couldn’t begin to understand why she was crying it wasn’t like he broke it off with her. She knew it probably was insulting to be facing him in such a state but what’s done is done. “I’m sorry.” For the tears, as she quickly brushed the last treacherous drop away. “I didn’t expect you back so soon. I was just collecting my things then I’ll be on my way. Don’t worry I’m alright.” She offered with a mild smile. “How have you been?” Even though it wasn’t the best thing to ask it was all she could think for now while hurrying to gather the last box.

Ah, her things. It was probably a good thing that he had packed them away then... Did that make this final? Was she really just going to disappear off again as she had before? “I’ve been keeping busy,” he replied, not lying, but not answering her question in the manner that she was most likely asking of. “There’s been a lot of activity going on about Hytech recently. Several new children and tweens around.” Ah, right, they had never really discussed having kids much, had they. Well, that was pretty much straight out as well. He was having to force himself to stay perfectly numb just to get through this conversation. Hm, now if only he could mind blast himself... There was a consideration. “I do hope they are treating you better over there. Have you regained any freedom at all?”

“Oh new additions to the shop, I’m glad to hear it.” She was but not as happy as she would have liked. It was too bad she couldn’t go to see them but it was probably best they interact with the others, she was hardly good company right now. Thankful for his keeping busy she preferred not to ask more considering he didn’t given anything extra to begin with. How the hell were they suppose to be friends with this stifling thickness between them. It was starting to give her a headache, so much so that she almost didn’t get the last of what he was asking, “Huh? Oh, yeah things are fine.” She left the rest vague it right to tell him that she’d snuck back out again, she had to hurry and return or they’d come swarming in like flies to retrieve her if they knew she had escaped. A half snort left her at the thought, so now she was escaping back here from a place she used to escape from this place initially. Ironic really.

“Mm.” Stifling seemed a bit of an understatement really. His mind was abuzz with thoughts, yet he still couldn’t figure out what he should say. Or what he even wanted to say really. “I’m glad. Noe... I hope you can be happy there.” Unlike here with me, he thought acridly, although the acridity was directed more at himself than at Noe. He sincerely did want her to find happiness somehow. She had already been through so much in the past two years; she deserved a break.

Gathering the last box she threw it into the port-hole her back to Seth at this point. “You know I didn’t come here with the idea that you’d pop up but since you’re here. I’m sorry. There’s a whole lot I wanted to say in those letters but you sounded so upset with me that maybe it was better I just let you go. So I did.” She didn’t turn to look at him although she wondered if he were angry for her even saying so. “I don’t know. If the situation was different and you told me all that face to face I wouldn’t have let you go, Seth. Somehow I’d try to work things out, listen to you more, spend time with you more… anything would have been better then what it is now.” But that was in the past what’s done is done. “I’m going to try and improve myself; I realized that I’m just too selfish to be any good to anyone right now. I don’t deserve to find happiness if I’m not even happy with myself.” It was then she did turn around with a gentle smile, tears swimming in her eyes. “I just wanted to apologize for hurting you and I hope we can really try to be friends, Seth. I hate this horrible atmosphere.”

Wait, what?! “Noe, I never wanted us to end things, I just wanted us to work them out,” he said, ears drooping a bit. “And how could I have said any of that face-to-face when we hadn’t seen each other in a month and a half? And even longer prior to that. Is communication via letter even less desirable than no communication at all?” Seth had to pause for just a moment. He hadn’t taken the antidote yet from his earlier training, and he had just noticed that the control over his rang of ‘hearing’ had been slowly slipping during the course of the visit. He fixed that quickly and continued on. “And I honestly don’t know what you thinks needs improving. I love you just as you are.” No, she was not perfect, but nobody was perfect. Hell, he didn’t even want to think about how many troublesome flaws he himself had. The list would grow depressingly long very quickly.

“But… I thought…” See this is why communication through letters is strictly prohibited between couples, she thought. It simply didn’t help. He sounded so sad and withdrawn, she thought maybe he needed time to himself – not that he wasn’t already getting it. “I’m sorry… I’m sorry! I couldn’t tell, I didn’t know but still there’s no going back right now. You’ll just be upset with me for being away for so long.” This was all too frustrating but part of it was a relief he didn’t seem angry with her more upset and frustrated like she was. The tears spilled with ease now but she still couldn’t help brushing them away quickly, “Look at me! Everything about me is horrible! I’m a complete wreck, running away like that just after you came to get me from those people. I was so scared and ashamed, maybe I was selfish too… I’m sorry.” It was far too soon to come back now. She hadn’t thought she’d break down so easily around him but she wanted to be the strong woman that she always was, it just seemed like a distant memory after all this. “I have to go!”

Without even thinking about it Seth closed the gap between them and enveloped Noe in a tight embrace. “Don’t you ever feel ashamed about what happened back then,” he said fiercely, quietly. “It is natural to be afraid, but don’t be afraid of those who love you. We will always be here for you.” He gave her one last chaste kiss atop of her head before he pulled away, re-establishing the space between them. “Good-bye, Noe.”

That small phrase hurt so much to say.

She remained stiff while he hugged her unable to trust herself to let go if she followed through. Instead she just cried ignoring the fact that she hated to show such a weak side of herself. All the running and hiding had only be a direct product of the abduction and somehow she thought she wasn’t the same person after that. Heck she hardly felt as strong and fearless. Crap and here he was hugging her after she had so easily broken it off with him. “I don’t deserve you.” She thought aloud moving back toward the port-hole. Rather than saying goodbye she offered something else, “We’ll see each other again.” With those last words she disappeared into the port-hole.

And then she was gone. The port-hole had closed and there was not a sound to be heard save for the quiet ticking of the clock out in the living room. Seth stared into the empty space for a few seconds, but it was not long at all before everything caught up to him. All of the pain and emotion that he had been holding back since he first caught her scent upon returning home... His own tears ran freely now, and he crumpled down onto the bed as what little had been left of his telepathic control let loose, range stretching out far beyond the empty apartment now. His head was filled with a cacophony of thoughts from those around, but for once he welcomed the noise. It helped to drown out his own thoughts.

Whatever brave face he wore was a lie. It was always a lie.

 

[Seth_Avi]

[PM RP] The Birthday Celebration
12/3/10 - 12/26/10

Quote:

He had sent a text to Mena two hours prior as a warning that he would be showing up and not to get too involved in any experiments or research. When he arrived at the Cottage, the place seemed to be completely deserted. That didn't surprise him though, for he knew exactly where everyone had gone. Casting only a cursory glance around the home, he padded over to the nearby statue and took the teleport down to Mena's lab.

Though he had used it once before and had traveled via dragon back several times before that, it was still mildly disconcerting to have the scene around you change between blinks. Perhaps he would get more used to it with time. "Hello?" he called out as he exited her 'bedroom'. He didn't see her in the immediate vicinity...

"Just a minute!" Philomena called, her voice sounding oddly muffled--probably because she was in one of the large terrarium tanks that lined one edge of the lab, this one home to her largest specimen of "domesticated" tentacle monster. It was slightly smaller than she was, even on tentacle-tip, but it was still large enough to be alarming to the casual observer. The cat woman patted the tentacle she'd been inspecting, reached into a belt pouch and threw something small and food-looking towards the monster. It snatched the treat with another tentacle and retreated to one edge of the terrarium behind a rock, while Mena moved towards the clear wall. She passed straight through what had, until just a moment ago, appeared to be solid glass, and waved to Seth. "Now, what's this all about?"

She was... in the terrarium. With the tentacle monster. Huh. Seth watched with a vague sort of fascination as she dealt with the creature and had to shake himself back into reality once the other feline had emerged. Mena, why he was here, right. "I have something I need to show you, but it wasn't anything I could bring to the lab," he explained. "I think it'd be best if you came with me for the time being to see it yourself."

"Oh?" Mena asked, curious. Was it some kind of strange effect of the pills, maybe? She couldn't really think of why else he'd be coming around. Especially after...well, best not to talk about that. "Then where are we going?"

"Hytech," he explained, gesturing for her to follow along as he started back for her room. "I can't really describe it. It's probably best if we hurry."

Best if they hurried huh? Mena let out a tiny sigh. Something had gone wrong again, hadn't it...she hoped it wasn't her fault this time. It was always nice when it turned out to not be her fault.

At Hytech, last minute preparations were being put into place. Eli was frosting the requisite cake, Melisande was fussing over the arrangement of the presents on a small table, Phoebe was flopped onto one of the couches merrily hacking and slashing away on her DS, and Dacj was distributing party hats to general fussing and "do we really have to"s. Melisande had to argue valiantly to acquire a hat that did not clash her with her party outfit.

The kraken hovered nearer the door when the task was accomplished, listening for the sound of a car pulling in to signal to the others to duck for cover.

The ride from the Cottage to Hytech was mildly awkward, but they mostly kept to safe and enjoyable small talk on the way there. Once they arrived, Seth 'accidentally' slipped as he was getting out of the car and briefly laid on the horn. "Whoops. That had to annoy the neighbors," he said jokingly, getting out properly this time and walking around the car to help Mena out. "Anyway, let's head inside. We need your professional opinion on this."

"Oh, it's not too late, they'll be fine," Mena said, more worried about what might be contained inside that "needed her professional opinion." Why couldn't she have chosen a nice, non-emergency-responding-to career? Like... librarian-ship or something. Well, she knew why'd she chosen it, but it was still kind of a pain-- She steeled herself for whatever she might see inside as they stepped through the sliding doors.

"SURPRISE!" And suddenly there were children everywhere, Eli and Missy and Phoebe and Dacj, all donning party hats and grins. Mena blinked, and then somewhere, far back, remembered that it was her birthday--hers and Colton's and Desi's, though she was the only one here to see it. Soon, though...

"Okay, I'm totally surprised," the cat woman admitted with a laugh, gazing around at the streamer-decorations, several balloons tied and weighted in little arrangements around the wide area, and even the pile of presents--what on earth had they gotten her? "I'm surprised you lot remember my birthday, I didn't even until just now."

"Well, someone had to remember it for you then," Seth replied, grinning now. "You just happen to have a lot of someones who remember. Happy Birthday, Mena. Um, sorry if I worried you before." It had taken quite a bit of acting to be able to keep a straight face the whole time in picking her up. He didn't think he'd be able to replicate it again very easily.

Mena laughed again at Seth's apology. She had been worried, though that was more a reflection on her state of mind than his acting skills. Come to think of it, the clumsiness in hitting the horn should have been a clue... "Nah, it's all right. I am glad there's no viruses or strange things to fix though!" She accepted the party hat proffered by one of Dacj's clubs and stuck it on her head with a smile.

Phoebe wigged over on her own four tentacles, half-bouncing as she went. "What do you want to do first, Mom? We've got cake and there are presents and we even have games but Missy said this was an 'adult' party not a kid's party but I think adults can play games too--"

"I can play something with you, sweetie," Mena said, patting the jellyfish girl on the head. "Though what say the rest of you?"

"S'your birthday~" Dacj said, gesturing wide. "We are all at your beck and command."

"Oh, I do like beck and commanding~," Mena said with a chuckle. "All right, maybe I'll be greedy then. Presents first?" she said, looking to Phoebe.

The blue-skinned girl nodded enthusiastically. "Presents are good too!"

"That would be this way then," Seth replied, indicating toward the pile of presents on the table. The group joined walked over along with the birthday girl, waiting to see what she would choose first. The gift that the cheetah Hyte brought was in a fairly small and thin package, mostly out of the way.

"How about that one in the middle?" Mena asked, pointing to a largeish sized wrapped rectangle managing to precariously balance atop the rest. Phoebe retrieved it with a grin, and the cat woman checked the tag. "Ah, I see. You and Dacj went in on something together, eh?"

"Yup!" Phoebe said, still grinning wide, and Dacj leaned over to poke the jellyfish in the side as if to warn her not to be too obvious about their mischief. "Well, we had the same idea. So we did it together."

Mena raised an eyebrow, and she opened the present carefully, wrapping paper yielding to a white garment box, which opened to a layer of tissue paper obscuring the contents inside. Brushing that inside, her expression changed to a rueful smile as she retrieved a white fleece hat, set of mittens, and a scarf, all of which appeared to be polar bear themed. "Gee, thanks girls."

"We tease because we love you so~" Dacj said, high-fiving Phoebe. Both girls offered their mother irrepressible grins.

"Then I feel very loved," Mena said wryly, wrapping the scarf around her neck and hoping it would be enough to placate them. Did she really have to wear that hat...? "Thank you, girls. Melisande, I suppose I'd best ask for your present next."

"Yes, polar bears definitely qualify as 'fashion emergency,'" Melisande said, rolling her eyes at the younger Hyte and mer's antics. The pig Hyte retrieved a smaller package from the grouping and presented it to Mena. "Happy birthday, Auntie Mena~"

This package yielded a set of intricately decorated metallic googles, that would be a perfect match for a certain steampunkish metal brooch she'd worn on her wedding dress, and would no doubt look a little dressier than her regular set of brown leather googles. "They have all those requirements to be serviceable as well," Melisande interjected. "Because heaven knows you may need them to be a proper set with the way you get into trouble." Mena chuckled.

"Thank you, Missy," she said, trying them on to adjust the straps and to double-check the fit in front of her ears. Not that she didn't trust Missy to have thought of that already. "I will endeavor to get into trouble when I am properly dressed up, just to put them to good use," she added.

Eli, who had been hovering quietly in the background, gave Seth's present to Phoebe to give to Mena. He was honestly hoping to make a little less of a presentation of his own gift to his mother, but that might not be possible. Oh, well...it was nothing the others couldn't see. And, well...Phoebe and Dacj might appreciate it to. He was still worried though...

Mena glanced towards Seth in surprise when she read the tag. "Oh, you didn't have to go to all the trouble, Seth!" It wasn't that she didn't like having him here--between Eli and Dacj's friendships with the cheetah, Noelani notwithstanding, he really was part of the family. But she wasn't sure if he knew that, after everything with Noe. Just because there were no ties like marriage the rest of the world might recognize didn't mean he wasn't still a part of everything. In deeper than some of the rest, with his dedication to helping her bring back Colton and Zane from wherever they might be, whatever might be holding them. She should be giving him something, not the other way around.

The cheetah Hyte smiled and shook his head. "It's your birthday, Mena. It was no trouble at all." He just hoped she would find the gift useful. It was hard to think of something to get a scientist, but his mother's suggestion had actually been a fairly good one. Of course, it was only through her that he could have even acquired such a thing, but still...

Mena opened the small, thin package curiously, and considered the obviously hightech-y thing that vaguely resembled a pen with careful green eyes. It could extend, a bit. There were several buttons, and the press of one yielded a strange whirrwhirr sound and a bright blue light. And then she remembered her science fiction geekery properly, and abruptly stop pressing the buttons, however interesting the noises might be. "Is this--is this a real sonic screwdriver?" she asked, eyes wide as she looked to the cheetah for confirmation. It certainly was no plastic toy. It might be a very good replica, but...

Oh, it would definitely come in handy in the lab!

Seth simply smiled, glad that Mena was able to recognize it. "My mother has some very good connections. Hope it's helpful." He wasn't even going to ask how she had gotten a hold of such a thing. He had found over time that it was just generally best not to ask when it came to things involving his mother.

"Connections as good or better than Shimy's, I'd say," Mena said with a chuckle, rotating the screwdriver in her paw and eyeing the room. She'd be testing it out a bit more later...probably in a more controlled environment. With her luck, she'd end up accidentally exploding things as she worked out the settings. "Thank you, Seth. I think it's going to come very much in handy."

Eli recognized the screwdriver as well, though it seemed his sisters didn't, and was also impressed with Seth's mother. As well as Seth for...well, having the gumption to suggest such to his mother? Though he kind of wondered exactly how elf had talked the Doctor out of the Gallifreyan tool...

Phoebe handed Mena the last present with a flourish, and Eli blinked, nervous still. He knew she'd like it but he was still worried about her reaction. Would it be bad or good if she did cry? Wasn't it a bad thing to make your mother cry? "Ah, Elti helped me out with it, so it's from both of us really," he offered.

Mena unwrapped the last gift carefully, and was just as curious to find a sort of scrapbook within. That gave her a hint of what to prepare for, but opening it and seeing the reality... "Oh, Eli," she breathed, her vision blurring with the presence of tears welling up. A photo album of the history of their family might've been enough to make her cry, but this--it wasn't just regular photographs of Colton and her with the young kuppy trio. They moved, all smiles, as they cuddled together, played together, even a bit of running about. As she flipped through, he hadn't left out Missy, or Phoebe, or even Dacj either, though heavens only knew how he'd managed through a bit of baby squid photo editing via magic--or whatever he'd done to bring it all together. "I love it." And she really did.

Dacj and Phoebe had wiggled up close to get a good look once they'd realized what the photos were of. Phoebe had seen her adoptive father and other older brother in person perhaps once, and Dacj of course never at all. Both had seen the occasional video, but these moving photographs were something else entirely, and had no doubt required prodigious use of magic, hence Eli involving Elti as well. Dacj could tell the kuppys' younger days must have been a very happy and very carefree time for her mother and her brother--and even the gloom of the Empire hadn't yet intruded, if she remembered correctly. Placing a hand on her mother's shoulder, watching over her shoulders as Mena turned the pages carefully, Dacj felt an intense desire to somehow bring that feeling back to her mother, to their whole family, in any way she could. As she glanced over to Eli, who looked wistful, and Melisande, who patted Eli on the shoulder, she thought that both of them probably felt the same.

Heck, Dacj'd even put up with Noelani being back all the time if it made her mother happy. It would complicate things for the kraken but...really, sometimes the welfare of others was more important. The better question was...where was Colton and Zane, anyhow? Why weren't they here too?

Seth only caught a brief glimpse of what was inside the scrapbook before making more room for Dacj and Phoebe to view. Curious though he was of the kuppy-trio's younger days, he didn't want to see any pictures of a younger Noe right now. Besides, this was Mena's moment to enjoy (although the pictures of Zane and Colton certainly had to be bitter-sweet). That was a truly thoughtful gift from Eli and Elti. How was he dealing with all of this? It had to be just as hard for the empath, having his father and siblings disappear without a word of farewell or even knowing where they were. Not that knowing about Colton and Zane would make things any easier on him.

It was some time later, after Mena had relinquished the album to a curious Phoebe who toted it back to the couch, and after the cat had used the sleeve of her shirt to dab at her eyes, that Eli felt it necessary to project a low level of cheeryness back into the party. It was his gift that had rather changed the mood, so it was only fair he restore the prior good mood. Mena gave her slightly shorter son a grateful hug, and offered the rest a smile. "So, what's next? Games? Cake? Ooh, cake sounds good."

"Cake it is!" Dacj agreed, bouncing on her tentacles as she moved retrieve it from the kitchen. "Are there already candles on it?" she called back, halfway to the door.

"Should be," Eli said. "And I can light it...ah, plates! We remembered plates and forks, didn't we?"

"Moi did," Melisande said, as she retrieved a plastic grocery bag from under the table and unwrapped the plastic from paper plates. Next she fished out plastic forks, just in time for Dacj to reappear toting the cake in.

"Light 'em up, Eli!" she said, grinning, as she placed the cake onto the newly empty table they'd used for presents, and Melisande dug serving utensils out of the grocery bag.

The candles on the cake were lit and everyone joined together to sing Happy Birthday to the birthday girl. The cake was cut into slices and split, but fortunately for the cheetah Hyte he managed to get out of having a piece. Mena did insist on the side though that he take some home with him, to which he agreed simply to be polite. After the cake came the games, and all in all it was a rather nice time.

 

[elfgurl1234]

~Bringing in the New Year Right~

[Hytech PRP] Cold Should Die in a Hole

Summary: Disaster strikes when Seth's apartment heating goes out! What starts out as a quest to get warm and properly welcome in the new year quickly turns into much much more.

 

[elfgurl1234]

~Unexpected Guest~

[Hytech PRP] The Morning After, Cottage Style

Summary: Seth speaks to Mena about some symptoms he has been experiences, and the test results do not look good. Fortunately, a very unexpected visitor comes to their aid with exactly what they need.

 

[elfgurl1234]

Love's Complexities
1/7/11
(Takes place New Year's Day)

Seth returned home that evening a little bit tired, but otherwise no worse for wear. Ruby had disappeared Between about half-way through the chilly car-ride home, so it was pretty safe to assume that she had gone back to his mother’s place to warm up a bit. The apartment was thus empty at the moment save for the cheetah Hyte, but that was perfectly fine by him-- he needed some private time to himself to think things through anyway. He shed his coat and tossed it onto a pile of empty boxes as he padded over to the futon and plopped down. Laying back, he stared unseeingly at the ceiling while his tail sway slowly off the side, mind abuzz with thoughts. What did he do from here? What exactly did he feel?

He loved Noe, there was no question in that, but was love enough to make their relationship work? Noe seemed to still care about him (at least the tears indicated as much), but she still didn’t want to try maintaining a long distance relationship. Why? Regular communication was still more than possible with the aid of the firelizards, so why could they not still try? And what was she so intent about ‘bettering herself’ on anyway? How did one even begin to go about such a task? It wasn't quite like going to do target practice in a field (if she even still did that anymore; he wouldn’t know). Unless she actually was trying to improve her physical skills, but the context of the conversation seemed to imply more than that.

And then there was Dacj, making the entire situation that much more difficult and complicated. Were Dacj not involved, the only real issue would be waiting out her return and trying to get their issues resolved after the fact. Even if her return took years. Would it take years? Or would she be back tomorrow, ready to pick things up where they left off? Regardless of time, however, what was to guarantee that she wouldn’t simply run off again in the future? How was he to know that she would actually stick by his side? There was trust, sure, but look where that had gotten him now.

Dacj certainly seemed less likely to bolt. In fact, it was pretty clear that she was quite hell-bent on staying. And she too professed her love for him. Multiple times. In whatever way she could find. And despite him not returning her feelings, she still kept trying. None of this was fair to anyone involved. Especially not to the sibyl, who had seen them all in her past life…

Were they actually the only ones she had seen though? Had the sibyl seen any other Hytes in her vision and just not shown that part of the memory? Seth wasn’t ‘polyfidelous’ or whatever like Dacj was, so even if they were to hypothetically get together… Well, he had no problem with her dating Sorcha, but if another man were to come into the picture… that wouldn’t go over too well. It would be awkward enough even if it were only the three of them. But once again, despite all the weirdness of such a relationship, Dacj would probably always be there. Hell, if she’d had a vision of him and Sorcha in her previous life, that definitely had to count for something...

Damn it all! Why was he even having this debate with himself? Did he even actually have feelings for Dacj in that way, or was he just feeling guilty for turning her down all the time when it was clear how strongly she felt for him? … Or was he really just so torn up inside from the Noe affair and so desperate for returned affections that he was trying to fabricate feelings for her? What did he actually feel beneath it all?

... He didn’t know. It was too buried, too scrambled up with the rest of the mess to be able to discern anything for certain. Where did that leave him then? With Dacj continuing to try to pull affections from him and Noe possibly popping back up at any given time? And even if Noe were to ask him back, what would he say…?

Seth was distracted from his thoughts by Ruby reappearing almost directly above him. The crimson landed on his chest and crooned her concern for him, her eyes whirling with worry. “You’re almost as bad as Eli,” he mumbled, gently stroking the firelizard's head in an attempt to console her. There was no easy answer to any of this, and really a potential love-triangle should be the last thing on his mind. There was much more important work to be done on Phanes, and until that was completely he really couldn’t afford to get too side-tracked.  

[Seth_Avi]

[PM RP] Back to Normal Again (Dacj & Seth)
1/17/11 - 1/21/11

*continued from thread RP Pg. 3640-3643*

(Note: Drawing not to scale. Just a rough image of the layout.)

Quote:

The car-ride from Hytech to his apartment wasn't unpleasant (other than the chill; he really did need to get that heater fixed soon) nor was it very long. He pulled into a parking spot close to the front of his apartment and led Dacj along the rest of the way. "Well, here's the new place," he said, coming to an outside set of stairs. "Second floor. Not anything fancy, but it works." The stairs led up to a screened-in porch of sorts where the grill sat along with a couple of collapsed boxes that still needed to be thrown out. As he opened the front door to let Dacj in, he asked, "Can I get you anything to drink?"

"I'm all right at the moment," Dacj said lightly, getting a good look at Seth's new place. The grill they'd passed on the way in looked like something Seth was going to make good use of, and inside was spartan, but still cozy. He'd managed to unpack entirely, which was, in Dacj's opinion, still something of a feat. She was still randomly ferrying things over from the Cottage to her treehouse. "I like this new place." It didn't have the sort of too-empty feeling the other apartment had carried a lot of the time, especially after Eli had left. It wasn't...too much space? That was sort of what she'd aimed for with the treehouse, though she had needed to build big enough to host small gatherings.

"Glad you like it," Seth replied with a small smile, heading straight for the kitchen. He opened up the fridge and took out a couple of steaks, giving them each a careful sniff. Good, they hadn't gone bad. Ugh, it was so tempting just to eat them raw as they were, but that likely wouldn't be the best thing to do in company. "How do you like your steak cooked?" he asked, opening up a cabinet and getting out some seasonings. Let's see, did he still have potatoes? Ah, yes, there atop of the fridge. Excellent. And there were some frozen veggies in the freezer that could easily be steamed, so it looked like they were set.

She followed him over to the kitchen and hung just outside, leaning a propped-up elbow against the counter. "Hmm, fairly well done, I suppose? I don't eat a lot of steak, so I'm not really the best judge," she admitted. "What else did we need cooked? I'm guessing I get to handle that part." Equal distribution of labor and all. Plus, Seth really had to be starving... "Since you're the one that hasn't eaten in four days, worry about your food first?" Propriety might keep him from taking her offer, but she figured it at least ought to be made.

"If medium-well is what you prefer then that could easily be accommodated." Ugh, what a horrible thing to do to red meat. To each their own he supposed, but he refused to do full-out well done. Might as well serve shoe-leather then. "There are potatoes on the fridge and veggies in the freezer if you'd like those for sides. And it's fine, it's easier to cook it all at once." Well, almost all at once. Her steak would be on the grill long before his. "I'll just go fire up the grill then. Be right back."

"Whatever's best, really. I'm not precisely a carnivorousy connoisseur, so I'll leave it up to you?" She honestly didn't have much of a preference. As he went to go start up the grill, she took on the task of preparing the vegetables. She was slightly slowed by the unfamiliar kitchen and locating exactly where Seth had hidden various bits necessary, but she'd managed to get the frozen veggies steaming by the time Seth returned. "Baked potatoes? Or some other variety?"

In that case he'd err on the side of medium. It was easy to cook meat further, but if it was overdone then there was no fixing it. It took a small bit of time to get the grill going properly, but once the coals were aflame he returned back inside to get working on the meat. "Baked, smashed, diced-- whichever you prefer, really," he replied, getting out some Saran wrap from under the sink and clearing a small space on the counter in which to work. He evenly covered the plastic wrap with a spice blend before opening a pack of steak and carefully transferring it over with just his claws. Closing the plastic around the meat, he then used that to safely and effectively rub in the spices. Hey, one had to make adaptations where they could, right?

"A surprise then," Dacj said, chuckling, as she glanced over to observe Seth's method. It was certainly one way to avoid getting fur on food, and also avoiding blood in fur. And one that human hands could just as easily make use of as well. "So, using that grill daily?" she teased.

"Almost," he replied with a small smirk, readying another piece of Saran wrap for the next steak. "Most things taste better grilled anyway. Fish, vegetables, chicken, etc. I'd grill up some vegetables to go with this meal even, but it doesn't quite work with the frozen stuff." And he didn't have any fresh vegetables on him at the moment as he hadn't exactly gone grocery shopping in the past few days. It truly was nice to be back in his own skin again.

"I'll take that under consideration," Dacj said, choosing to take his word for it. "I'm sure grilled meat will be adequate for this meal--will you even be able to taste this food anyway? If I hadn't eaten in four days, I wouldn't be paying much attention to what I ate." Then again, she wasn't much of a foodie personally, and Seth seemed to take his meals a little more seriously.

"Maybe not the first steak," he replied jokingly. "Which reminds me, did you want one or two?" He had assumed only one, but it was probably best to ask before taking her food out to the grill to get started. Otherwise one might be less cooked than the other, and he was aiming to have them all done around the same time. For obvious reasons.

"Ah, one's fine," Dacj said, glancing over. Unlike him, she'd actually eaten as a frog. Not that she wasn't hungry now, because size changing would definitely kick your metabolism back in gear, but it didn't take much to make her full. "Just remember to chew, I guess. Heimlich maneuvers would probably put a damper on the whole meal experience."

"You mean the food's not supposed to get lodged in my throat when I eat?" he replied with a grin. "Well that just ruins the whole evening plans. Oh well then; perhaps another day." The cheetah shook his head lightly. "I'm going to go ahead and throw your steak on the grill then. Just a heads up, if the meat finishes before he potatoes and veggies, I won't be waiting to start." As it was the scent of the meat roasting on the grill was likely to drive him crazy already. He returned from the porch naught but a minute later and set to seasoning the third steak. These two wouldn't be going on the grill until Dacj's was almost done.

"Please, spare me the stories," Dacj said, shuddering for dramatic effect. "And I understand completely." She'd said as much earlier, hadn't she? She wasn't going to take any "lack of manners" personally--well, she likely wouldn't in most situations, but definitely not here. "I'll endeavor to get these done quickly." Though she was rather doubtful of the potatoes getting consumed at the same time as all the rest. Go for baked, she decided, and then there'd be something else to eat a bit later on? That could work.

"So, any critters at your mom's house that need to be taught a particular lesson now that you're big and not-so-squishy again?" she asked Seth when he returned to season the third steak.

'Perhaps only one or two," he replied. Namely Bouken, the little devil... "Ruby really did make for a good defense though. Ah, speaking of Ruby, where has that flit gotten to..."

Almost as if in response to his question, the firelizard appeared in the middle of the kitchen, fluttering about and chirping happily. She was quick to land on her master's shoulder and nuzzle against his neck while her eyes whirled a vibrant blue. The crimson was also quite free in flinging affection about. " heart "

The cheetah Hyte smiled and chuckled at her arrival. "Hey there. Good to see you again too." He cut off a small slice of his own uncooked steak and offered it to the crimson as a reward; it was quickly gobbled down.

Used to Kirel and Mirth winging in and around, Ruby's arrival generated only a small amount of surprise, especially as she'd been "invited." "Hello, Ruby," Dacj said warmly, noting a rather affectionate tone to the general mood she assumed was being generated by the firelizard. It was probably a good thing she wasn't humanoid, or else the kraken might have real competition. It was hard not to be fond of the little crimson though, she was just so tiny and cute. The empathy and Ruby's generally sweet nature probably helped too. "I understand you were very busy in keeping froggy-Seth safe," she added, addressing the firelizard. Ruby'd get the gist of it, even if words weren't really her thing. But Dacj was grateful for Ruby's efforts as well--who knew what might've happened around his mother's place elsewise.

Ruby gave a proud trill in answer to Dacj's question. Yes, she kept her master safe. Just like he keeps her safe. " heart " And feeds good meat.

"Well I'm not very likely going to buy bad meat now, am I," Seth remarked, amused at the mental image of the food she had been sharing with them. "Come on, you silly flit, let's see how Dacj's steak is coming along." She chirruped approval to this plan, and he had to roll his eyes at her next questioning thought. "No, not for you. You can have some of mine. You prefer rare anyway, right?" Another chirp of agreement.

Dacj was just as amused, though moreso at their dynamic together. Firelizards were definitely very different sorts of pets than most people got to have...

The potatoes of course were still baking by the time the steaks were done, but the steamed veggies were ready to go and everything was sorted onto the proper plates and ferried over to the counter (Seth had expressed no preference and Dacj had a fondness for barstool seats, as they were typically a bit easier to manage with her tentacles). "Remember, don't choke," Dacj said, teasing, before they started in on their meal.

"Mhm," he replied, though he was only half paying attention. As he had figured, the aroma during the grilling had been enough to awaken his hunger full force, and it was all he could do to force himself to use a fork and knife rather than diving right in. Never had steak tasted so good in all of his life.

Ruby remained comfortably perched upon his shoulder, her tail wrapped lightly about his neck. She decided it might be best to wait just a little bit before asking for some more. Especially if he hadn't already offered by now.

It wasn't until Seth was about 3/4ths done with his first steak that he even touched a vegetable. "Ah, is yours cooked enough?" he asked. He had cooked it to about medium, but had forgotten to ask after her first bite if she wanted it cooked any further.

"It's fine," she reassured him, trying to hide her amusement at his near-inhalation of the first steak. She had not made nearly as much progress on her own, but, then again, she'd been both eating more slowly and sneaking glances over to make sure he didn't actually choke. "And in fact very delicious. Thanks for cooking~" She was still a little surprised he'd bothered to offer the invitation to come over for a meal at all, but hey, no reason to voice that observation.

The cheetah Hyte shook his head. "It was nothing. Thank you for taking care of the sides." He received a light nudge from Ruby at that point, which he responded to by cutting a small slice for the her. She once again gobbled it down gladly. "Did you wish to try a piece of mine to taste the difference?" he asked Dacj. "Or does the color put you off?" It was quite bloody after all. Good though to him.

"Hey, I'll try nearly anything at least once," Dacj said goodnaturedly, leaning over to cut and try a small piece. She was pretty sure she could tell why a big cat Hyte would prefer it, though definitely she seemed to prefer her meat a little more cooked. "Very interesting...I think I'll keep on with the slightly more cooked variety, myself," she said with a chuckle, going back to her steak. "I think Sorcha likes hers on the rare side though. She's really very bloodthirsty for a bovine--I wonder sometimes..." Well, and she'd been raised by Na-kun, so that might well explain it.

"She's certainly one of a kind," he agreed before polishing off the first steak. He took a couple more bites of vegetables before offering another cut of meat to the firelizard on his shoulder. "So, before all of the frog business, what've you been up to? Had any time to visit with Sorcha recently?" Last he had heard around New year's the cow Hyte had been who knew where.

"Not really. I did get actual word that Na-kun has stolen her away, and immediate family does trump girlfriends, on occasion," Dacj said, shrugging. She did miss Sorcha, but things happened. Dacj just hoped it wasn't just the cowgirl's father reaping the benefits of whatever salvage sort of mission they were likely on this time. "I'm sure the stories will be very entertaining." Whenever she returned. Dacj was trying very hard not to feel uncharitable about it, considering Na-kun had agreed to let the kraken with potentially unstable magic crash for a few weeks, but it was difficult, sometimes.

On the bright side, there was still Seth. However confusing he might be on occasion...

"Entertaining stories are always good. You'll have to share them once she's returned," he said with a smile, looking back down at his plate and starting on the second steak. Inside his heart sank though. Noe had also been stolen away by her guardian for a supposedly small trip... but no, Sorcha was not Noe. She and Na-kun would be back. Probably. He really hoped. He didn't want for the kraken to ever have to go through that personal hell.

It was only when Ruby began crooning that he remembered that he had an emotional barometer sitting on his shoulder. s**t. "If you're that hungry all you have to do is ask," he replied jokingly, quickly slicing another cut of meat for the flit in hopes of shutting her up. Might actually have been a convincing cover too were it not for the fact that her eye color wasn't indicating hunger.

And if Dacj didn't also own a firelizard and knew perfectly well that the kind of crooning Ruby'd taken up was used for comforting, not begging for food. She tried to figure out what might've caused that sudden mood change--oh, duh. God, she was as bad as Kitten, wasn't she? Had the empathy of a stupid rock to stumble onto that subject. The question was, did she bring it up? Change the subject, as Seth so often did? This was way too frustrating. "Anyway, I suspect at this rate she'll have finished the airship by the time they get back, so I'm looking forward to a random rappelling down to my treehouse porch and getting stolen away by a dashingly beautiful airship pirate," she said blithely, wondering all the while if she'd made the right decision. Would talking about Sorcha's possible return rub in the fact Noelani hadn't returned, or...?

"And it's not like you're horrible company or anything, you know," she felt the need to add, returning to her food. Was that being too blatant? Probably.

"Airship adventures do sound quite fun," Seth replied, trying to be more optimistic than his thoughts had been a moment ago. Yes, Sorcha and Na-kun would return and there was no need to worry about Dacj. "What would you be 'pirates' of, pray tell, if there are are no other airships to raid?" He had to chuckle a little at the bit she added on to the end. "Is that a way of nicely saying that a pirate is more fun than me? I am so hurt, Dacj." Of course, he was 100% joking on that part. He'd be glad for her to run off and have some fun with her girlfriend.

"There's always something to pirate," Dacj said matter-of-factly, and she was quite sure there was. Besides, airship piracy was more of a romantic trope anyway, wasn't it? Just like sea piracy. Nobody ever wanted to remember the scurvy or bad hygiene or other realistic things, they wanted the idea of the thing. Medieval knights were the same way, thugs in reality, chivalrous gentlemen in literature and the media... "And nooooo, though I gotta say that generally Sorcha is more adventurous than you. But adventure and intrigue and mischief all the time is a bit much, and sometimes it's nicer to stay home and just enjoy some peace and quiet." And snuggling...

Oh, that was driving her crazy too from New Year's. He was giving her signals sometimes like...like he did like her, was attracted to her anyway, and then the rest of the time...like this. Friendly and teasing, sure, but not any more so than the average friend. She hated to assume anything that wasn't stated outright--it was why Sorcha had made the first move, among other things--and mixed signals were about the most frustrating thing she could think of. She kept trying and trying, but...well, when would she know if she succeeded or not? When he kissed her first?

Ruby tilted her head at Dacj and chirruped, echoing the confusion she felt from the other. So many mixed signals from everyone!

Seth reached up with one hand and pat Ruby gently on the head. "Ruby, why don't you go hang out at mom's for a bit, hm?" The crimson looked disappointed with the request, but after getting in one more quick snuggle she took off and vanished Between. "Sort of like having mini Eli's around, aren't they," he remarked wryly, looking briefly at where she had disappeared before cutting another piece of steak for himself. "I don't imagine empathy is a fun gift."

And of course she'd absolutely blank out on the fact that the emotional barometer in the room wasn't tied exclusively to Seth. Tonight just wasn't shaping up to be her night, was it? "Ahh, a bit. Though Eli's more likely to demand explanations," Dacj replied, equally wry. Eli. Did he know than she did? Would he tell her if he did? Probably not. He'd given her lectures in the past on Seth, anyway, so why would he change his tune now? Still, empathy could be useful enough in her current situation. Telepathy too. Why did she only get the kind of magic she couldn't really meddle in people's thoughts and feelings with? "Likely not, but I'm sure it comes it useful often enough to make it worthwhile, at least for someone like Eli now that he's got his shields." Apparently he wasn't using his empathy on Kamiko, with the kind of situations he'd gotten himself into lately, but hopefully the kuppy'd wise up.

"Not always," he replied to the bit about demanding explanations. Of course, by this point he figured the kuppy was just so used to feeling mixed things from him that he generally thought it better not to ask. Even if he still tried to 'subtly' ask about it in a round-about way. "The shields definitely help. With most areas of magic really." Just like they were helping Dacj now and had helped Seth when the telepathy first manifested itself. "How has Mena been, by the way?" He hoped that Eli's positive feedback loop had brought about some improvement.

Not always? It definitely felt like it to Dacj. Maybe Eli was more circumspect about dealing with Seth? And that didn't tell her much, there were probably a million things Eli'd picked up from Seth empathy-wise that the kuppy was too respecting-of-boundaries to go pry into.

"Ah, Mom's doing much better. One of empathy's better uses, and all," Dacj said, fervent in that belief. The cat woman slept regularly, ate regularly now--that alone was enough for the kraken, but Mena'd even been making sure to spend more time out of the lab these days. "Eli says you can tell she's still a bit off sometimes, but I think he's referencing a time I don't remember--before I was born, I guess." That was a little painful, the idea that she'd never quite known the best and happiest of her mother. But not too much more painful than the fact she'd never actually met her own adoptive father, or met Eli's identical twin brother, or any of the other small family tragedies surrounding the kuppy branch of the Sabina family. That was before the Empire, too...

Had her life on Phanes been this utterly tragic? She really hoped not, especially since she'd lived longer and all. Still, the sibyl's untimely death would point to some kind of tragic undertones...ugh, she ought to have Eli work on her next. She was just as bad in the brooding department, and likely looked it too. Why couldn't she just focus on the moment and the current company and not go all depressive?

Seth gave a relieved smile. "I am glad to hear that she is doing better." And it was only natural for her to be 'a bit off' still, given the circumstances. But if Eli's trick was able to help her even under these circumstances, then more power to the both of them. And once again he had to commend Mena for even being capable of holding out as long as she had, for he knew he himself couldn't have done it. He didn't have it in him.

The cheetah Hyte noticed that it had gone rather quiet, and looked over to see Dacj brooding (he had seen it enough times from her to immediately recognize it for what it was). "Penny for your thoughts?" he offered, spearing another piece of broccoli on his fork. It was probably a good thing that they were nearly done eating.

"Oh, just realizing how utterly tragic both my lives seemed to have managed to be," Dacj said, trying to come off as lighthearted and suspecting she was failing rather badly. "I'm beginning to wonder if it's me. I mean, change planets, change families, change histories and still manage to be depressing...I might possibly single-handedly prove nature over nurture."

"'Utterly tragic'?" Seth repeated with a faint smile. "Other than your previous life's death, please do explain the tragedy to me." He expected it was much more just a case of extreme pessimism more than anything else, but he did wish to hear her out.

"My family was probably happier before I was born--and I know that's not my fault, but it's still the case. I haven't properly met half my family." And Noelani probably never did want to meet her again, with the track record they had together... "That's just this lifetime." Then there was the unrequited love angle (she brought that on herself though), not to mention whatever actually had happened on Phanes... "Even if none of it's my doing...still pretty tragic."

That was the utter tragedy? Not that he could say that of course-- that'd be rude-- but compared to so many lives and families out there that was absolutely nothing. "In all fairness, I think that describes about half of Hytech," he pointed out. "Life has it's ups and downs, but that doesn't mean that there won't be happier times in the future. You will met Colton and Zane and Noe properly one day, but even if things are never as they once were that doesn't mean they can't be good. You and Sorcha may even start a family of your own someday." He smiled at her, though inside her felt another stab at the thought of kids. "Imagine your future children running about, creating chaos with Kitten. Hytech will never have a dull moment again."

He was probably right about her family, but since it was her family, she supposed she was a little more protective of the...ideal of it? It was hard to explain in a rational way. And idea of her future children... "You know, as fond as I am of chaos and mischief...the very idea of my children and Kitten interacting strikes fear and terror into my krakeny heart," Dacj said wryly. "Because then I'll be responsible for other lives, and the trouble they get into..." She shook her head. "Sorcha wants kids. I think as long as they stay cute and cuddly forever I would be okay with that. And they'd have to be cuddly. I'm not inflicting tentacles on a second generation unless they get to be fuzzy." She wasn't trying to be selfish or cruel--she knew the topic was probably a tough one for Seth. He'd been engaged, and surely he'd expected to have children with Noelani, and then everything had sort of fallen apart... But she couldn't exactly talk to many others about the general subject, too many biases. Seth was relatively removed enough to be slightly more objective when listening to her own pro/con list.

"I don't imagine that'd be too hard to arrange if you expressed this wish to Maxx and Jun," Seth replied. "With Sorcha as the other parent, fuzzy kraken-cow babies are definitely not beyond the scope of possibility. And as far as Kitten goes, we don't really have any idea how far into the future she is from. For all we know your kids could be fully grown by the time she arrives." It was true, raising kids along with Kitten was a rather... interesting thought. At the same time, however, Kitten always spoke rather fondly of her Aunt Dacj, so he had no doubts that they would get along well enough.

"Or even better, the minx could be grown by the time my kids get around to showing their little tubies," Dacj said, wry. She wouldn't want to babysit cousins, right? One could hope... "I am not exactly in a hurry to make myself responsible for young impressionable minds." Hell, she was just barely grown up herself (and there were those who'd argue that assertion). How Mena had done it, having Eli and his siblings before she was even a year old...Dacj was really impressed with her mother on that score alone. "I dunno. It all seems very far off, and there's so much more to worry about in the here and now. Guess I'll procrastinate, as usual, and worry about it later." If it worked for everything else...

"True enough," he replied, finishing the last of the food that was on his plate. "The present is plenty busy." He was content now from the meal, though he'd certainly be eating plenty again later to make up for the three and a half days of no food. Of course, that was his own fault, but still. "I suppose we shall just have to wait and see what this year brings."

She was finishing off the remains of her own meal as Seth turned to the platitude she hated most. "But waiting can also be very annoying. Sometimes a crystal ball might come in handy, you know? I mean, yeah, precognition is generally about the worst thing you can ask for, but a bit of divination would not go amiss sometimes." Like when dealing with Seth, actually. Was he starting to like her, or just tolerate more? Should she back off before she pushed him over some invisible line? It'd be nice to know if she had a hope or any real chance at all...

"And just what are you wishing to 'divine'?" he asked jokingly, getting up to put his dish in the sink. Of course, after he asked it he realized that was a rather stupid question. There were quite a few things Dacj would likely like to know about if given the opportunity. "Would you like another drink?"

He was joking, but she was in a slightly more serious mood as she slid off the barstool, following him into the kitchen--she'd need to turn off the oven anyway, the potatoes were probably done and Seth could save those for later. At any rate, Seth asked, but did he really want to know the answer? Or was it like Eli, who on occasion seemed unable to contain himself from asking questions he never would want to actually know the answers to? "All kinds of things. Like where we're standing," she said, trying hard to sound glib and not as nervous as she actually was to bring up the topic. Still, she usually prided herself on forthrightness, so...might as well get to the point. "Flush when I kiss you, way more snuggly--without complaint!--than I'm used to...you're not just trying to humor me, right?" Because that was the heart of it, that was all she cared about. That it wasn't some misguided attempt to make her feel better. She could understand if he couldn't say he was ready to try another relationship after the wreckage that'd been his last, but...

Was she just imagining things, somehow? "Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. Just kind of wondering if I missed a memo."

Why did he always have to open his mouth? He really needed to learn to start evaluating everything he planned on saying before actually saying it. "I... No, there was no memo," he replied placing his dish down in the sink and turning on the water. He was silent a moment before speaking again. "I don't even really know. I can't tell what I feel." It was all too wrapped up, scrambled, confused... He thought back to New Year's, to the feel of her lips against his, and found himself flushing again. Why why why did he have to say things that triggered these kind of awkward conversations?

Well, that was...not good news exactly, but not bad news either? She'd take what she could get. "Okay," she said, coming up beside him to slip her own plate in the filling sink. She placed a light hand on his shoulder, and tilted her head slightly to try and catch his gaze, though she was pretty sure it was a futile gesture. "Hey, don't worry too much about it?" Not that she didn't want him thinking about her, but... "Like I said, I'm not complaining. I'm even a fan of platonic snuggles." She tried to inject a bit of teasing humor into it, though she didn't know if that was taking the wrong approach.

The cheetah Hyte smiled in spite of himself and turned off the water in the sink. He'd save the actual dish washing for later. "Well, now that the crystal ball has revealed that not-so-clear picture, what else would you have it show you?" he asked, using their prior subject to sort of divert the conversation a bit. No sense in lingering in the awkward zone.

"Good question. Probably more depressing things, like when all that Empire stuff's supposed to go down," Dacj said, pulling a grimace. "That'd be more of an exercise in morbid curiosity and emergency preparedness than actual desire to want to know." She pulled away, performing a light twirl on her tentacles. "But enough about that, I think. What next, now that you are properly fed for the first day in days?"

"Hm, tough to say," he replied, holding his chin in a thoughtful manner. "I hadn't really thought that far ahead. I suppose eventually I'll have to go kill your sister, but that can wait a bit. In the meantime I'm pretty free." And by sister he of course meant Melisande. He definitely hadn't forgotten her part in all of this and needless to say he was more than a bit peeved by the whole thing.

"You know, it's part your fault. You agreed to it, and Missy's worse than I am when it comes to ulterior motives," Dacj said, trying to keep a straight face. "Speaking of which--I'm still amazed you're walking around not looking like something out of a fashion mag, the time you spend with her." She'd probably have been vaguely jealous had Missy herself not made it abundantly clear that Seth was not in fact her type. Actually, there had been slightly more unkind implications of Dacj's taste involved in that repudiation...Melisande was definitely a character. "I don't think I ever asked--did she dress you for the contest, or was that your mother?" Either one seemed likely--and it had been a good bit of eyecandy. She appreciated eyecandy.

"I didn't 'agree' to it-- I was coerced into it. There's a difference," he replied. He chose not to respond to the fashion magazine part, but he did flush again at the reminder of the contest. "And the outfit was also Missy's idea." And what an embarrassing outfit that had been. Even more reason to hunt her down at the nearest opportunity. ... Though not in her own room. she could lock both doors then and end up trapping him for fashion reasons.

"Just because she's big and scary doesn't mean you ought to let her coerce you into things," Dacj protested, but had to chuckle at Seth's flush. "I thought it looked nice. Not exactly daily wear or anything, but...you can't fault Missy on that much, you looked good." Her opinion was not exactly unbiased. "Anyway, it seems like Aubrey'll keep her busy enough for the next while, so you're probably off the hook for now." Pigs and toads--Dacj didn't get it. Sure, Aubrey seemed a nice kid...and she kind of hated to let Missy try her wiles on a young Hyte. Then again, this was a young Hyte probably raised in part by Katsu. Missy might be the one needing to watch out...

"True enough. Seems they've hit it off quite well, haven't they." It was slightly disturbing considering the fact that the toad boy was still only a kid, but it wasn't like that was an entirely new thing around here. "I've heard rumor that he may be the last new kid around here for a while actually. Seems rather a shame." He always enjoyed seeing new young Hytes around the shop. Of course, Liesel was still young past her age, but he didn't see her around too much these days. Only brief appearances.

"It does seem a shame, but I guess that's how it is sometimes." She'd miss having kids around Hytech--she'd been a bit spoiled by Jovany and Liesel and now there might not be more little ones until months from now... And, conversely, it did help save her from Gen? For now, anyway. "There's still the kids now left to grow, I suppose."

"Anyway, enough about that. Let's do something?" she suggested. She wasn't really sure what but...they'd think of something. They always did.

"Sounds good to me," Seth replied, grabbing his drink off the counter and taking a small drink. "What sounds good though? TV? Card games? I might have a board game or two packed away in the closet..." Not that he ever really used them, but they were good to have around for company.

"We're playing a board game, we're getting intoxicated first," Dacj said, half serious. Especially with two people. "Though, you know, it's not half a bad idea. Drinking games can be hilarious." She looked considering, gaze flitting over the apartment, before adding, "And this is one of the first times you've had someone over, right? Alcohol and housewarming parties totally go together. Though I think the guest is actually supposed to provide a bottle of something--a shopping trip may be in order." She wasn't going to assume she was the very first (Eli had a way of finding Seth too, after all), but likely Seth hadn't gotten around to having lots of company after the move.

"You know, I've never actually tried any drinking games," Seth remarked, half-way considering it. It was certainly likely to be entertaining, and with less people around he wasn't quite so worried on letting himself be inebriated. "But no, haven't had anyone over until now. I wouldn't exactly consider this a house-warming party, but there is a bit of unopened sake if you wanted to go the board game route."

It was either vaguely touching he'd invited her over first, or simply more evidence of Seth's really needing a social life outside, say, Dacj and Eli (and Missy now too?). Mostly the latter, no doubt. "The house is warm and the party kraken is here, thus, 'house-warming party,'" Dacj said playfully, grinning. "Sake works. Tell me where to rummage for it and you pick the board game? Ideally something involving not terrible amounts of math, so Monopoly's probably out...my math skills are sketchy enough pre-inebriation!"

"Upper right cabinet there," Seth replied, gesturing the appropriate location before padding out of the kitchen to look through the games. He looked through the closet in his room, looking over the boardgames within and trying to figure out which might work best. Most were for three or four people, so that didn't help... He was half considering trying a computer or console game when he ran across a stack of Uno cards. Now that showed some promise. "How does Uno sound?" the cheetah Hyte asked as he came back out of the bedroom. All of the different card varieties would surely make for an interesting game.

Dacj retrieved the sake from the cabinet, grabbed a couple of glasses, and headed for the table for now--though she supposed they could likely play over by the futon-couch too. "Sounds just about right for a drinking game. All those skips and reverses and wild cards~" she said, chuckling. "Over here or by the couch, d'ya think?" They could always move after a game or two, too.

"Whichever you prefer, really," he replied, shuffling the cards a bit. "Couch may be more comfy, but the table may be batter for placing cards and drinks. Your call." The cheetah Hyte didn't really have much of a preference on the matter. It was mostly about having fun anyway, right?

"Table first then--the better to judge how many drinks we'll be needing," Dacj said, chuckling, as she perched on the edge of a chair. "I'm thinking skip and reverses, since reverses will be skips, that makes the person the card is played on take the drink. Whereas wildcards, everybody drinks--because, you know, wild and all. Draw two ought to make both drink too, just because. Sound like appropriate game rules?" She was pretty sure there was going to be a lot of drinking with this method. But it wouldn't be too bad with just the sake on hand, right?

"Do we even have enough sake for this?" he asked jokingly, finishing the shuffling and dealing out the starting hands for each of them. "If not then I suppose we'll have to break out some more." He probably should have gotten a bigger stock than what he had. Ah well, best not to carry things too far anyway. Now to see who could win the game while remaining the most sober.

"Well, it's one way to keep from getting a hangover? If there's only so much to drink..." Dacj said, shrugging with a grin. She eyed her starting hand with her solemn poker face--pretty good hand, a couple skips in hand, though neither of them matched the card that Seth, as dealer, flipped off the top of the deck to start the game. Oh well, she'd gave those for later... She played a green six, and made a mocking half bow to Seth. "Your turn." And please let him play a red or yellow soon.

"Why thank you," he replied dryly, placing down a red six atop of hers. He also thought he had a fairly decent hand, but it would probably take a little time before he could play it properly.

The game started out slow enough with them only playing a few cards at a time, but after Dacj played her first skip things began to take a turn for the more competitive side. They each began to play more complex combos, but inevitably would have to draw more cards later on. "Blue skip," he announced, laying down his next card and following it with a blue two. "Drink up."

Dacj wiggled her glass at him with a chuckle and went ahead and drained the rest of it--that hadn't been that much left. She glanced towards the fanned out cards in her other hand, selected a blue draw two, and played it with a lazily smile. "You two. And me too, I guess." Well, she was willing to make sacrifices to put dents in Seth's sobriety. Though that would mean she'd also have to pour another glass first...

"So it would seem." He drew his two cards before taking a drink. There was a pleasant light buzz by this point, but he suspected they weren't feeling the effects any stronger just yet since they had just had a good meal. It looked like Dacj's draw two was going to work against her though. Well, against both of them actually, but more so her. "Wild draw four, changing to green. Green skip, yellow skip, and yellow draw two. So that's... five for you and three for me?" the cheetah Hyte remarked with a smirk. And now he had only two hands left in his hand, which he was hoping to unload next turn.

Dacj made a face at his excellent play, and eyed her newly poured glass with scrutiny. "So that's what, probably the whole thing then?" she said, holding up fingers against the glass guesstimating "portions" of a drink. It probably would've been easier if they'd been using shots, but they'd managed all right... "Bottoms up then--just give me the cards?" She'd hate to lose even a card game, but it was less of a tragedy than losing at, say, Twister. Losing at Twister for a tentacle monster was just kind of silly.

She managed to chug down most of the glass in fairly quick succession, and the alcohol was definitely starting to get to her for sure now--and would even more so, once that last drink really sunk in. "Aaah...so yellow or draw two then? Hmmm..." Drat, huge hand and nothing yellow worth playing, nor draw two. Time to draw then. Still not yellow. "Your turn."

Seth dealt Dacj her six cards before drinking what he guesstimated to be about three shots' worth. Unfortunately for him, his remaining two cards were neither yellow nor draw twos. He drew a card from the deck and played a yellow seven. "Your turn." He took the liberty of filling his glass back up with sake, just in case that seven happened to produce a favorable combo for the kraken.

"Lucky seven!" Dacj giggled, playing a blue one to match it. Seth did not seem nearly as under the influence as she was, but she'd been the more reckless player, generally. So naturally she'd be further along...she wiggled a tentacle or two, wondering if she'd gotten to the point of not really being able to walk yet. It came for her much, much sooner than it typically did for others--she had so much more to trip on.

Blue, excellent! That was exactly what he needed. He placed down a blue nine atop of her card and waited for her to go. If they managed to stay in blue, he would win next turn. "Uno."

Uno eh? Could she possibly prevent him from winning? It was looking very unlikely. She played a blue one and wished intently his last card was not blue. The look on his face was telling her otherwise though; Seth did not have the best poker face... "I assume congratulations are in order?" she asked dryly, waiting for him to make his move.

Fortunately poker faces were not necessary at this point, as it did not make much of a difference. "Good game," he said with a grin, placing down his blue three. He took a moment to take a sip of his sake, simply for enjoying the taste. "Another round? Or shall we take a break." He had a fairly good buzz going, but he wasn't sure whether another round would send them overboard or not.

"Break's fine," Dacj said, stretching her clubs out and up in preparation for using them to help shuffle along; she suspected she'd need them. "You'll be insufferable if you keep on winning. To the couch?" she suggested, slowly feeling her way vertical. She was a little unsteady, but she could make it across the room without major upsets. Drink in one hand and carefully compensating for horrible balance, she nevertheless made it to the couch and plopped gratefully on one end.

"'Insufferable'?" Seth echoed, amused. "Sure, the couch is good." He followed her to the couch with his own drink, also amused by how careful she was having to be. Drinking game victory was sweet. "Having a little trouble there?" the cheetah Hyte teased, sitting down next to the kraken. This was much more comfortable than sitting at the table.

"Hey, are you makin' fun of my tentacular condition?" Dacj said, raising an eyebrow as she playfully pulled up her tentacles and threw several of them across his knees and lap to the other side of the couch, leaning herself against the corner where the frame of the futon-couch turned to armrest. It was probably not the most comfortable spot, but the futon was padded well enough and this way they were half facing each other, the better to carry on conversation. Though Dacj wasn't sure it would even be very sensible, nearing to drunk as she was, and Seth had to at least be buzzed by now... "S'not very nice to comment on what a lady can't help, Seth."

"Not at all," he replied, lightly picking up one of the tentacles on his lap before letting it flop back down. "I would never make fun of your tentacles. I might make a crack or two on your tolerance though." Not that he was exactly one to talk, but it was fun to tease. He took another sip of his drink before lightly running a claw of her tentacles, just to tickle her. "Comfy I take it?"

"So my tentacles are lighter-weight than the rest of me! S'only sensible since there's so many," Dacj said, feeling that this explained everything. Naturally her tentacles would be affected by alcohol sooner than the rest of her. Though really all of her was pretty under the influence by now...aaah, driving was out, wasn't it? She hadn't really thought that far ahead when suggesting drinking games, and now she was probably going to have to crash on Seth's couch...first guest and first guest to spend the night all in one, that was her all right. She shivered at the ticklishness of his claw running across one of her tentacles, and gave the cheetah Hyte a very pointed look. "Comfier if you're not tryin' to tickle me. I'll tickle back! An' I've got more limbs so I'd win so there." She emphasized her point by wiggling tentacle-tips around and back towards the sides of his legs and torso, just enough tickling to make it clear if he intended to start that fight, she was going to make sure to win, by whatever means necessary.

"Hey, hey, not with drinks!" he said, holding his drink up as if that might actually defend him. Fortunately sake was clear, but still. Didn't necessarily want his futon smelling of alcohol either. "And can I help if they are in easy-access tickle zone? Seems like a perfectly natural response to me." One that was likely to have him yelling 'mercy' in the near future, but he couldn't help himself.

"You started it," she said, amused. "But there's another way to take care of that, huh? Just drink the sake and then it can't spill!" It was very solid logic. "And just because it's easy-access doesn't give you leave to go an' do whatever you like! Or else you can't complain when I start snugglin' up to you because your arm is easily accessible..." And she proceeded to do just that, shifting to cuddle up to his side as she placed her head on his shoulder. "So there."

"But if I drink all the sake then what will I use as a shield?" he replied, taking a good drink regardless. Ok, he was definitely feeling buzzed now. "But see, in both of those case you come into easy tickling range. Does that not mean that I should take advantage of such situation then?" He emphasized the point by lightly wrapping his tail around her waist, using that to tickle her instead.

"We start a habit of takin' advantage of situations, that's the way to anarchy or somethin'," Dacj said with a chuckle, which quickly turned to light giggles as Seth tried to use his tail as a tickling weapon. "And who says gettin' into range isn't what I want? I'm still gonna win. Can't beat a tickle monster at ticklin'. S'fact." She was very certain of it.

"Oh?" he replied. "Even if said tickle monster is inebriated and suffering from a lack of motor control?" He downed the rest of his sake and set the glass down on the ground to keep it safe. Of course, Dacj still had some left in her own glass, so the wouldn't be starting anything just yet. Though he discovered that bending down that far while buzzed was not a generally good idea.

"Still got more limbs to motor control, therefore I win!" Dacj said matter-of-factly as she finished off her drink as well. She was able to use a club to put her glass on the ground for safe keeping, and though it wobbled a bit ominously on the way down, it made the trip safely. "Doesn't matter if I can't control them well. It's not like dancing."

"You so sure about that?" He slid his tail slowly along her waistline, still tickling her. He really probably shouldn't have been doing this, but it was fun, so... "How do they respond to tickling with said lack of motor control, I wonder." And, since he was pretty much doomed anyway, the cheetah Hyte launched into an attack to get one up one the kraken.

"They'd prolly smack you in the faaa--Seth!" Dacj had managed to squirm only slightly when it was just his tail, but his all-out attack sent the kraken in squeals and giggles. It took a few moments to sort through her muddled facilities in order to retaliate properly, which she did with immense satisfaction and a wide grin. She held the nearest arm of the cheetah's up and out of the way with a club tentacle wrapped around his forearm, and ducked under to attack his side with her fingers. Her tentacles counter-attacked as well, though, as suspected, they were somewhat less likely to obey her properly, and more often than not her tentacle-tip attempted tickling proved easy to deflect...except for the part where there were eight tentacle-tips involved.

The first few seconds of victory were immensely satisfying. What followed after that... involved a lot of laughing and squirming. "No! Hahahanotthesides! Hahahanonononon--" He definitely wasn't winning this fight. It tickled less than usual due to he tentacles being more sloppy, but that didn't mean that he had any more chance at victory-- especially with one hand captured. He tried to counter as valiantly as possible with his one free hand while desperately trying to pull the other back down to both protect and attack with.

"No mercy!" Dacj crowed in victory, wrapping her other club around the still-fighting hand and continuing to tickle his sides, since clearly they were his weak point. Occasionally he would manage to jerk forward enough with his hand to attempt to fight back or shield, but her clubs were much easier to control than the rest of her tentacles and she was mostly able to pull his arms out of range. It was much easier to do when one was facing him, though, so slowly the kraken attempted to crawl into his lap (it was moving around a lot on account of the squirming), the better to get to both his sides. "Surrender to your twelve-limbed superior!"

Victory was basically declared once she'd managed to secure both of his hands and hold them at bay. He alternated frantically between trying to pull away and trying to push forward to catch her off guard, but in the end nothing worked. "I surrender! I surrender!" he exclaimed when she made her 'offer'. With so many limbs on the attack it was tickling so much that it hurt.

She chuckled and switched to clinging instead of tickling with her tentacles, relaxing her grip on his hands and letting him do as he wanted with them, but not bothering to unwind her grip fully. "The futility of your actions is always amusin'," she said cheerily, patting him on the shoulder with a hand.

Seth's hands fell to his sides as Dacj's grip slackened, and he took a good moment to simply catch his breath. "Glad I'm a source of amusement for you," he remarked wryly, giving the kraken Hyte a smile as he relaxed back against the futon. "In my defense, I managed to tickle you for a whole... 2? 5 seconds?" Ok, maybe that wasn't really much of a defense.

"It was a very valiant effort. Really, it's surprisin' you were able to that long~" Dacj said, giggling again. "Such an offense in the face of insurmountable odds--" (the kraken winked) "--deserves a reward, eh?" She paused, considering, before a playful grin lit up her face and she moved forward to kiss the cheetah as a 'reward', not really taking into account in her current drunken state that such an action might not be welcome.

The cheetah Hyte had to roll his eyes. "A reward, eh? What exactly di--" The question was answered before he could even finish asking it by the kraken closing the distance between them and leaning in for a kiss. He froze, momentarily, but didn't pull away. In fact, he even returned it a little bit. What was this...?

She was far enough gone that she took the reciprocity almost entirely for granted, with only a brief niggling in the back of her mind that something was a little out of the ordinary with this scenario. Since he wasn't saying or indicating "no", she took that as permission to continue kissing, gently insisting he play along with this new game of hers.

Seth continued to 'play along', but even with as buzzed as he was his mind was still a confused jumble. Or was it because he was so buzzed that it was harder to discern thoughts? Tough to say. It felt nice though, and despite the nagging voice in the back of his mind telling him that he shouldn't be doing this, he pressed onward.

Seth wasn't the only one who thought the kissing felt nice, and Dacj moved to deepen the kiss, twining her human fingers in his hair with one hand as she placed the other against his shoulder. She wasn't concerned with should or shouldn'ts, and was far more engaged in the moment than in paying attention to her own feeling that something was a little strange here.

Whatever previous thoughts and concerns were going through his brain quickly vanished, and he responded to the kissing in kind. His tail found its way back around her wait, but it was to hold rather than tickle this time. He wrapped his still-wrapped arms around her back, helping to pull her close.

Dacj squeaked as he pulled her closer, breaking the kiss momentarily to shift her position and twine several of her auxiliary tentacles properly around his waist, returning the gesture of his tail. But the pause lasted only a few breaths, and then she dove back in with a giggle or two as she fumbled around, trying to get back into the rhythm they'd had before.

Unfortunately for Dacj, the squeak helped to bring Seth somewhat back to reality. The cheetah Hyte reluctantly pulled away as Dacj tried to pick things up where they left off, ears flattening a bit. "Dacj..." he said hesitantly, not even sure what he should say or what he wanted to say. He wasn't ready for this again... Not just yet.

She couldn't help but pout as he pulled away, but she too pulled away, far enough to get a good read on his expression. Serious, refusing to meet her eyes...and then things clicked in her muddled mind. They'd even talked about it earlier--well, if Seth saying "I don't know" was talking about it. Whatever misgivings he did have, apparently they hadn't been enough to keep from going along in the moment, however brief it'd been... But he had a problem with it now. Sort of?

Her hand was still in his hair, and she scratched his scalp lightly, more to give her hand something to do without being completely awkward...there was already plenty of that. "Seth," she said, calm, ducking her head to the side to try and get him to look at her. She wasn't sure what she wanted to say, other than she didn't want him to apologize. He probably would, though.

Hm, that scratching felt good... He was half-inclined to lean into it, but-- No, no, stay focused. Somewhat. Amber eyes reluctantly met stormy grey ones when she moved to face him, but he still wasn't sure what to say. That he wasn't ready? That sounded pathetic, even if it was true. That he still loved Noe? Even with that being true he'd mostly given up on things working out between them by this point. So what...? The cheetah Hyte closed his eyes and leaned slightly into the scratching. He didn't want to think about all of this right now.

*continued in next post*  

[Seth_Avi]

[PM RP] Back to Normal Again (Dacj & Seth)
1/17/11 - 1/21/11
*continued from previous post*

Quote:

Well, that was slightly unexpected--not apologizing right away. But saying nothing--classic Seth, right there. She wasn't sure if she really blamed him, since chances were he still didn't have any idea where he stood; a couple hours probably hadn't changed much at all. But she also knew if given the opportunity he'd always avoid talking about feelings, even if, like that sheet elf'd given her said, he really felt things very deeply, very personally...

So what was the problem here? Monogamy? That he was still dealing with the fallout of Noelani and the breakup and he didn't want to commit to anything? She could sort of understand that, from a logical standpoint, though personally it was kind of a foreign feeling for her. It would feel really pathetic to say so out loud, but she'd take what she could get from him. If he'd love her, hold her, even if it was only temporary, she was okay with that. It would hurt, sure, but so did hovering in this no man's land--at least the other way, she'd have something, however fleeting.

But that wasn't how Seth worked, was it. All or nothing, that was him. Why did she fall in love with complications...? "Seth," she said again, continuing to scratch and figuring despite the closed eyes he'd still be listening. "If you say that you're sorry, I'm going to hurt you. What just happened--it happened, and saying sorry doesn't make it go away. It doesn't mean you have to go further, or even ever do it again, but please let me have my fleeting moments." Was that understandable enough? Was she getting her point across? "I'm here for you, whatever you need....or want."

Why did she have to be so damn understanding? So forgiving? She should be just as frustrated with him as he was with himself. His eyes opened back up again at the last part, and for a moment he stayed silent, looking into her eyes as if searching for something. What exactly he was searching for was unclear, but without warning he closed the distance between them and locked lips with her in another kiss. The kissing this time was fervent, desperate-- as if he were trying to communicate all of his pent up pain and emotion through this one kiss. It was a painful release, like squeezing pus from a wound, but one that would undoubtedly help in the end.

Definitely not saying sorry. This was...good? She didn't have much time to speculate, only the moments when he searched her gaze, for god knew what, and then it was him kissing her--

She'd been sort of flippantly thinking earlier in the evening that she'd know if he loved her if he were to do something like kiss her first, but this--she wasn't sure it had much to do with her at all. Was this about, for, Noelani...? There was a time the thought might've incensed her, had her boiling over with anger at missed chances and how life was so unfair--but she'd also seen his memory, of seeing Noe again, and how they'd both been hurting, in pain, and seemingly incapable of communicating that to one another. So she did the only thing she could think of.

She didn't run away.

Her return kiss was something much gentler than his, reassuring. Her tentacles, still wound around him in an embrace, squeezed lightly to remind him he was being held. She wasn't going anywhere, and maybe one of these days he'd actually remember that.

And her being there was probably the best thing she could have given him. It wasn't until after they broke the kiss that he realized just how wet his eyes were. He'd been crying? Lovely. Embarrassed, the cheetah Hyte wiped quickly at his eyes to dry them. "Sorry," he muttered ruefully. "Probably not quite what you were expecting." Certainly not what he had been expecting. He generally didn't just let go like that.

"Expectations? I had some? Since when?" Dacj asked goodnaturedly. He'd still snuck in his apology, but she'd let that one slide. Just this once... And as for him crying, well, she couldn't say she was particularly surprised--it just kind of proved her theory, really... She raised herself lightly on her tentacles to kiss him lightly on the forehead (or, rather, the spotted hair that lay there). Then she laid her head against his shoulder, figuring she'd take the opportunity to make herself comfortable. "Feel like talkin' about it?" She wasn't sure if he would, but she'd at least present the opportunity.

"I'm pretty sure it could all be easily explained by the word 'muddled'," he remarked, laying his head lightly against hers. And muddled was perhaps an understatement, though since that kiss things seemed to become a lot clearer. He wouldn't be that 'open' with just anyone; he really did have feelings for Dacj. Now the question remained of where or how to proceed from here...

"Quite understandable," she said, shrugging lightly. Though, once again, she was tempted to point out how much easier all of this would be if he was even vaguely the type to ascribe to polyamory. Could have a Dacj and a Noelani too, if the kuppygirl ever shaped up enough to actually handle a relationship without running off, metaphorically or literally... She didn't think saying this out loud would actually help Seth. Monogamists...

But...he did like her, right? He wouldn't go around kissing her, in either instance of the night, if he didn't truly like her. The question was, did he still think he was in love with Noe? That could be confusing for him, she'd guess. That was the muddle, right? "Let me know when you work that out. Or if there's something I can do. Otherwise, I'm gonna keep snugglin'." The banter was somewhere between wry and playful and matter-of-fact, but the statements themselves were sincere.

The cheetah Hyte was vaguely amused by her remarks. "And if I remain muddled?" he asked semi-playfully, running his fingers lightly through her hair. "Care to have a tangled mess lying about?" Not that he literally would lie about, but it was the point of the matter really.

"Have you seen my hair? I am epic with untangling!" Dacj said, unable to resist a wordplay quip as she squeezed him lightly once more in her embrace. "Seriously though. Long hair. Nightmare. Eli prolly had to get magic just to avoid rats' nests." She paused, trying to sober up (almost literally, she could still feel the buzz), before continuing. "I don't mind. Rather have one lying about nearby then off somewhere in a dark corner moping an' thinking he shouldn't burden others with perfectly legitimate concerns."

"It's probably a good thing I have short hair then," he replied, amused by her tales of long hair. That had to be ridiculously hard to take care of. "Hm, I don't recall mentioning burdens." His own tail squeeze lightly around her waist. This was nice, just sitting here and talking like this while the buzz slowly began to wear off.

"Good. You shouldn't." Her hand sought the nearest of his, and her fingers stroked at spotted fur. That was comfort for her; petting people. That was one thing Sorcha had never had to talk her into, sitting and snuggling and stroking soft fur. Sorcha. She'd have to...tell Sorcha? Tell her what, exactly? Maybe she'd have an answer to that question by tomorrow... "I'd take whatever of you you'd be willing to give. I'm kind of selfish like that." Surely he already knew that much.

"Not any more selfish than I." This whole thing screamed of selfishness to him, but at the moment he was past the point of caring. Mostly. Ok, maybe not, but still. He continue to slowly and lightly run his fingers through her hair as she occupied herself with his other furred hand. Could they just stay like this a while, perhaps?

"See, but our definitions defer a bit on that," Dacj pointed out, burrowing a little further into his chest as he stroked her hair. "I'm okay with your kind of selfish. Mine's just sort of being a brat. You're not taking advantage of anything if I'm offering it. But I just sort of try and weasel it out of you anyway. Sorry about that." She thought that got the general gist across without going into loaded poly/mono terms. She felt silent once again as she continued to pet his hand, hoping she hadn't said too much...as she had a very bad habit of doing.

"Perhaps we'll have to agree to disagree then," he replied, because it was true-- they did have entirely different ways of thinking about love and morals and such. They could probably dance around for days on the subject matter, as he doubted either of them would be changing their positions any time soon. That was fine though; at the moment it didn't really matter all too much. He was content to just sit here silently with her. After all, what more was there to be said?

Agreeing to disagree was probably one of the foundations of their...friendship? Relationship? Well, whatever they were, they were definitely friends. He seemed to want silence, so she let him have his way, closing her eyes and listening for his heartbeat.

It was some time later that Dacj realized, with some chagrin, that she had dozed off, and she hoped very fervently she hadn't been drooling, because that was just embarrassing. "Seth?" she said, trying to suppress a yawn. "I'm falling asleep here. Are you okay with stayin' out here or did you want to clear off to your own bed?" It had to be more comfortable for him to lay down properly.

Seth himself was lingering between sleep and wakefulness and was slow to respond to the question. "Hm? I'm comfortable wherever," he mumbled sleepily, not even really awake enough to yawn. "You're free to the bed if you'd like." He didn't have all that many pillows, but something could probably be arranged with the comforter and the right amount of blankets.

"I'd rather stay with you," she said honestly, though Seth's suggestion of the bed did remind her that the couch could be made a little bit more comfortable... The kraken untangled herself carefully, leaned over to give Seth a quick kiss on the temple, and then waltzed off for the bedroom. She returned moments later with the comforter and a few pillows shamelessly stolen from the bed, and set about trying to arrange them for optimum comfort for both of them before snuggling back in with the cheetah, pulling the comforter over them both. "There we go~"

The cheetah Hyte woke up a bit more when Dacj untangled herself and then disappeared off into the bedroom without a word. Ok...? What was she... The question was answered when she returned with the comforter and pillows, and he had to roll his eyes a bit. "I could have gotten those if you had asked you know," he remarked, vaguely amused nonetheless. He helped a bit with arranging the bedding before she snuggled back against him and pulled the comforter atop. "Sure you're comfy there?" he asked, wrapping his arms and tail lightly around her.

"S'much more fun to snoop around your room," Dacj informed him with another yawn, closing her eyes once more. "Mmm. I'm good, if you're good..." Her tentacles wound their way around his waist, legs, and even limply pooled off to the sides. "We're makin' a habit of this," she added, sleepy and teasing.

"So it would seem," he replied, yawning mid-sentence. Those things seriously were contagious. He laid his head carefully atop of her own, closing his eyes once more. "Night, Dacj."

They slept in that fashion through the night, and it wasn't until the sun rose the next morning that Seth began to stir. Mm, what time is it? he wondered to himself. Probably very early judging by the glare of the sun coming in through the window. Of course, they themselves had gone to bed quite early, so he shouldn't really expect any different.

They. Right. Quite a bit happened yesterday. He opened his eyes more fully to look down at the sleeping kraken in his arm. So peaceful... What now though? Where they 'together' or were they still stuck in a sort of limbo state? Well, he already knew what she wanted, but was they anything left holding him back? He lowered his head back on top of hers, carefully planting a light kiss there. He didn't really understand anything anymore, but you know what? Who cared. He really had no good reason to keep holding back. ... at least no good reason that would work out.

Dacj stirred sleepily as Seth moved slightly, and the sunglare beat on her eyelids. She blearily gazed at the offending window and made silent death wishes at the sun, but the sun did not seem to care. So she resorted to turning towards Seth and attempted to burrow away from the light. "S'too bright," she complained, though she doubted getting to sleep again was going to happen.

"Yeah, the sun's like that sometimes," he replied, amused by her efforts to hide away. "Probably a good thing that it's like 93 million miles away." At least he was pretty sure that was about the number. Or was it billion? Whatever, he could look it up again later. "Sleep well?" Of course, it seemed that she wished to go back to sleep, but he kinda needed to get up soon...

"The sun's a friggin' jerk," she muttered darkly. Still, clearly she was going to have to face it sometime, so she sighed and shielded her eyes partially as she shot it another glare. "Also you probably need curtains on that window." Dacj blinked a few times before peering back at Seth, remembering he'd asked her a question. "Ah, yeah. You?"

"Well, I don't typically sleep out here, so it's not generally an issue," he replied with an amused smile. Normally the blinds worked just fine, but at this time of day nothing was keeping out the sun. "I also slept well." He unwrapped his tail from around her waist and ran it lightly up her back. "Would you like some breakfast?"

She shivered slightly at the tail-touch, and made a face. "You remember how you tickling me ends for you," Dacj said, raising an eyebrow in mock-warning, as she stretched out her auxiliary tentacles and pondered breakfast. "If we're feeling very lazy there are baked potatoes in the fridge from yesterday," she offered. "I dunno. What is the plan today?" Sleeping over here had been entirely without thought (though it wasn't like Mena actually checked up on her if she went missing one night, though she did tend to get a "still alive? :P" sort of text when the cat woman got around to noticing the kraken's sparse presence at the Cottage) and, as terribly unemployed and moochy as she was, she really didn't have too much better to do. "D'ya have work or something?"

"We could always supplement the potatoes with some eggs," he suggested. After all, potatoes and eggs usually went well together, right? Even if not necessarily baked potatoes. "Didn't really have any explicit plans for the day. Was probably going to go to mom's later at some point." The great thing about his current 'employment' was in having a very loose schedule. "Did you have any plans?"

"Sounds good to me," Dacj agreed, wiggling to her feet and stretching her arms next. "And you know me. I am a leaf on the wind, carried to and fro by the whims of fate~ Or I'm a hippie bum. I think the latter's marginally more accurate." She pulled her hair back over her shoulder, and shrugged. "Anyway, aren't you sick of me yet? No, wait, you don't kick people out. You wait a few months," she said, grinning.

The cheetah Hyte rolled his eyes at this. "Mhm..." Of course, there actually had been a time before where he had tried to kick her out, but he wasn't about to bring that up. "Well, if you want any breakfast you'll have to get up you know. Or at least slide over." Frankly he didn't mind if she dozed back off on the couch for a bit while he got the food ready. It was still early after all. "How do you like your eggs? Fried? Scrambled? Omelette?"

"Okay, okay~" She made it fully vertical and scooted slightly to one side, twirling around on her tentacles and leaning over slightly to offer Seth a human hand up. "You can get the eggs--ah, scrambled or omelette, for me--and I'll dig out the potatoes and not feel like a total moocher." Really, even if she was a so-called 'guest', it was nicer to lend a hand, especially for breakfast. Nobody really liked mornings--that was Dacj's firm conviction. They might as well both be up and so there'd be some conversation to ease the horrible state in time that was just-after-waking-up and not actually awake-for-the-duration-of-the-day yet.

Moving the comforter and pillows out of the way, Seth accepted the offered hand to help get up. "Sounds like a plan to me," he replied. "Just give me a moment and I'll get started." He disappeared off into another room for about a minute before returning, just as promised. "Well, what sounds better to you? Plain scrambled, scrambled with cheese, or artichoke and feta omelette?" He was going to get an answer, one way or another.

"Seth, it is way too early to play twenty questions," Dacj said, giving him the most beleaguered look she could summon up on short notice. "Make something. I will eat it. Promise." She leaned down to gather a pillow or two, paused, and then asked, "Should I go ahead and put this stuff back in your room?" Unless they were planning to watch TV or something later on...which could be acceptable, given it might likely be accompanied by snuggles. Dacj heartily approved of the snugglier Seth, even if she still was not really sure what that actually meant. It was definitely way too early in the morning to have a defining-the-relationship talk though...

"If you'd like, though it's not particularly necessary," he replied. Which reminded him, they'd left their glasses out over night. And the sake open. Fortunately there wasn't much left of it, so it wouldn't be too much of a waste. He stopped by the couch to collect the empty glasses and added them to the small sink collection that was forming before retrieving the remaining sake from the table. "And who says it's too early for twenty questions? It is only one question, as I recall." Ok, so admittedly now he was just harassing her, but her morning temperament was proving amusing.

She took his answer as a plain 'yes' and gathered up the comforter as well as the pillows, shuffling over to the bedroom to deposit them in a pile (she'd remake it properly later) and returned in time to hear Seth's teasing question. "One questions, with three possible answers. My brain can only process yes or no questions at this current ungodly hour." Maybe she was overdoing it a little bit, but she had definitely not been a morning person as of late. She headed for the fridge, stifling yet another yawn. "No being mean until I've gotten food. Then I will be properly fortified with nutrients 'n stuff to fight back against your horrible question-based oppression."

"You seem rather eloquent for one whose brain is suffering from the early hour," he replied back with a smirk. Granted, he was normally quite an avid hater of mornings as well, but the opportunity was too amusing to pass up. As he pulled the ingredients for an omelette out of the fridge, he asked, "So, what would you like to drink with this? Apple juice? Orange juice? Milk? Water? Soda? Coffee?" Ok, so he didn't actually even have half of those things, but he still couldn't resist.

She'd pulled out a couple of foil-wrapped potatoes and was combing the cabinets for a set of plates when Seth presented his latest list of options, and the look she shot him in return was full of enough malice to probably kill some innocent fluffy bunny romping amongst butterflies and rainbows on fluffy clouds. "If I can pour that coffee on your foot," she said, growling lightly for added dramatic effect.

"Orange juice it is then." He'd take a small break from teasing her for now. No need to push anyone overboard after all, amusing though it was.

Working together, it took less than half an hour for the two to finish cooking up breakfast for themselves. They chose to eat at the counter again. "If the eggs or drink is not to your liking, you can't say I didn't give you a chance," he remarked jokingly, taking a bite of potato first. Mmm, potato. ... She didn't do anything to this, right? He probably should have thought of that before tormenting her earlier... Oh well.

He was lucky she didn't have any catnip on her. It'd been kind of hard to carry it around when one was a frog. Next time though....next time... Dacj dug into her breakfast rather more enthusiastically than she'd taken the teasing, and paused only to say, "It's delicious, so there." She didn't speak again until she'd finished near-inhaling the rest of her food, downing the orange juice and setting down the glass with an "Aaah~" of satisfaction. "Okay, awake now," she announced, giving Seth two thumbs up. "Bring the harassment on!"

Seth ate his food at a more normal pace, despite his prior three and a half day starvation he had endured. The steaks from yesterday had made for good recovery. "I have permission now, do I?" He replied with another smirk, taking a quick sip of his orange juice. Ick, why didn't he go with water again? Right, sugar cravings... Though thankfully those had been dying down the longer he stayed off of the magic pill. "Now where's the fun in that?"

"Oh, I see how it is. So you'll taunt someone whose defenses are lowered but then when they're ready for you, it's not fun anymore!" she said, rolling her eyes as she elbowed him in the arm. Still, he could only tease her so much about the mornings before she'd try and pull out the big guns in return...in this case being teasing about the cold? She'd figure it out, she always did...

"Well, it's kinda hard to tease someone about wakefulness when they're awake," he pointed out. "Just like it's hard to tease you about being inebriated when you're sober. Time and place." Of course, he was sure they'd find some way to continue the teasings, one way or another. They always did.

"Oh, like you can't come up with a new subject of harassment on short notice," Dacj said dismissively, shrugging at his explanation. Sure, time and place did have a little bit to do with it, but... She slid off the barstool, collecting her empty plate and glass, and laid them in with the rest of the pile of dishes--hmm, maybe she ought to do some of those... There was dishwashing soap already out and a scrubbie, so she rolled up her sleeves and started the water, figuring she'd have maybe two seconds before Seth started protesting. But if she'd already started washing in those two seconds, she could more effectively argue for just finishing while she was at it. This felt like a sound plan.

"I shall have to work on that skill then," he replied wryly before taking another bite of omelette. The cheetah Hyte didn't notice what she was doing until he heard the water turn on and happened to notice her pulled up sleeves. "Dacj, leave those alone. I'll take care of it," he insisted. Truth be told, the only reason he hadn't done them already was because he was waiting until after she left, but it seemed they wouldn't be waiting that long.

"I'm already taking care of it, though," she said, glancing back to grin at him. The mundane act of dishwashing was made a lot more fun by the fuss, and it still remained to be seen if she could accomplish the task without Seth getting progressively more insistent she leave them be. "Besides, I helped make the mess, so I'm helping to clean it."

"You're also the guest. You don't need to worry about cleaning up," he replied, trying to finish eating more quickly so that he could attempt to stop her before she got any further. "Honestly, you can just sit and relax a bit. It's still early after all." He really hoped she'd just listen and stop, but somehow he doubted it.

"Seth, Seth~" Dacj said, shaking her head as she giggled and continued right along on her task. "If I don't follow most social mores, why would I ascribe to the one that says guests aren't allowed to do anything useful? Take your time eating, and you can do your own breakfast dishes. Deal?" That was the best he was going to get out of her. And besides indirectly teasing him, it was also sort of fun to just...make herself at home here? It was kind of difficult for Dacj to put into words. Like...playing house? Because that didn't have some kind of psychological implication to it... She began to scrub just a little more enthusiastically--throw herself into the chore rather than think about the whys. It was a lot easier than worrying about self-psychoanalysis.

The cheetah Hyte sighed. She wasn't giving this up, was she. "Fine, but only this once," he warned, starting on what was left of the potato. At least she looked to be enjoying herself? For whatever reason. He wasn't going to attempt to try to understand it. "So... what did you want to do today? Did you want to visit mom's house with me?" The house residents certainly wouldn't mind.

She chuckled as he gave up, knowing it would never only be "just this once." That was just the kind of thing he had to tell himself to make him feel better about the situation. "Ah, if it's not too much trouble or extra work somehow for you? I would like to see everyone. And you or Ruby can let me know who needs an extra bop on the head for trying to eat froggy-you, eh?" But as crazy as Seth's mom's house was (and she'd long ago recognized that elf's house beat out the chaos-quotient of the Cottage), she found it an invigorating sort of chaos. Maybe she just liked all the company. And it was hard to beat the appeal of dragons...

"Not at all. If anything Mom might invariably put you to work as well, but I'm sure it would be something nice with the dragons and such." After all, Dacj would have a much easier time trying to oil them than he did, as he had to wear specially made gloves for the task. Oiling was a lot easier to do with human hands. "It's not too late to back out you know. Never know what'll happen from day to day."

"I am principally okay with being unpaid labor if it means I get to play with dragons," Dacj said cheerfully, washing out a glass. "And is that supposed to be a warning? That sounds like exactly the kind of thing I like--surprises can be very entertaining, after all." Secrets tended to goad her into wanting to uncover them a little more, but interesting things happening as a result of sheer awesome chaos-factor at elf's--totally fine.

"Good point. Next time I'll try to make it sound more mundane," he replied with a smile. By this point he had finished his breakfast, but was waiting for Dacj to finish up before washing his own dishes. "So, if you were to ride one today, whom would you choose? Taith? Or one of the others?"

"Oh, like you could," Dacj scoffed, finishing up the last glass and setting it on the counter to dry, scooting away so Seth could finish up. "Hmm, probably Taith. I like her. She's feisty." And she was always up for flying acrobatics, which was definitely a plus.

"Understatement," he replied. "You'll probably also like Kaikuth quite a bit when she's older. She's already a terrible prankster." And when her and Drakell teamed up together... oh geez. "I'm generally more inclined toward Tereth, though a few of the others are quite nice too." He appreciated the brown though. They seemed to connect the best. Ruby also seemed to appreciate him.

"Sounds like my kinda dragon, all right," Dacj agreed with a grin. Even lacking all that flexible of hands, she was sure the added size--not to mention the ability to 'tween--made for some epic pranks. "Tereth's a sweetie. It's probably because you're both so laidback, that you get along best with him."

"Perhaps," he agreed. Argenth was fairly laid back too, but he was generally more... vain? Lofty? Nice enough, but not quite his thing. And Lifth was just plain anti-social. Laith meanwhile was near impossible to find with how quiet she was. Since Dacj appeared to have finished with the dishes, Seth went ahead and took his stuff to the sink as well. "And thank you," he added, turning the water back on.

"It wasn't any trouble~" Dacj said in return. She fell silent for a moment, and then, struck with an idea, snuck up behind Seth, wrapping her club tentacles around his waist loosely as she nabbed his tail in a human hand. He still ought to be able to wash dishes, she'd given him enough leeway...

Seth was caught off guard by the unannounced holding, but otherwise didn't react much. "Find something interesting back there?" he asked, glancing over his shoulder briefly as he wiggled his tail in her hand. He continued cleaning in the meantime.

"Mmmhmm," she said, a bit smug as she stroked his tail in one hand. Whatever else, she vastly preferred a pro-petting Seth. "Something a bit wiggly, but it's not like I'm not used to that." Possessing ten wiggly limbs of her own, wiggly tails were par for the course. She turned slightly, tail in hand, leaning lightly against the cheetah's back with her own. It did tangle her up a bit in her own tentacles, but she didn't particularly mind.

"Oh?" He finished up his silverware and glass and added them to the drying pile. "Would it happen to also be furry?" He let his tail fall limp in her hand, only moving the end slowly back and forth as he usually did. Once he was finished cleaning the plate he would be through. Well, counting washing his hands as well.

"Maybe~ Kinda flat, too," she observed aloud, squeezing the tail lightly as she watched the end swish to and fro. "Dunno, is there something else besides your tail I ought to be keeping an eye out for?" she asked, grinning even if he couldn't see it. There were plenty of other things she wouldn't mind keeping an eye "out for"...like backstripes.

"Not that I can think of," he replied, vaguely amused. He couldn't quite tell whether the innuendo was intentional or not. "And of course it's flat. It's a natural rudder for running." Not that it was quite as helpful in a humanoid body, but it was still better than nothing.

"Rudders are used in water too," Dacj said, giving the tail a last pet before she turned back around. She slid an arm around his waist to join the tentacles still wound around, and peeked around his arm to eye the dishes in progress. "Almost done?"

He pointedly ignored the water comment. "Mhm," he replied, putting away the dish. "Just gotta get the soap out of my fur and I'll be good." More reason to dislike things that involved getting wet. Seth finished washing his hands and turned off the water before grabbing a few paper towels to dry with. "Comfy there?" he asked, considering that the kraken Hyte was still wrapped about him.

She watched him do so, curious, because she'd never really paid attention to the process of a pawed Hyte washing their hands--and really, for someone like Seth who hated getting wet, the more human way to go about it had to be a pain. Then again, she didn't think any of the pawed Hytes would enjoy trying to lick anything off their own fur, contrary to what normal cats and dogs and such did... "Pretty comfy, yeah," she said, glancing up through her eyelashes and trying to get a quick read on him. Annoyingly, his real-life poker face was a lot better than his card game one. She assumed he was okay with this kind of thing in private now, but public might--would be?--another story, most likely.

"Would you like to move this comfort back to the couch then?" he asked with a small smile. Plus he'd need to throw away these paper towels anyway. Even if his hands were still damp... Alas, the curse of fur and water. Also, he supposed they'd have to eventual figure out exactly where they stood.

"That could work," Dacj said, perking up noticeably at the implied suggestion of more snuggling. "Lead the way~" Also it would be easier for him to do so, since she could trail in his wake as opposed to pulling, which would require some tentacle-unwrapping first.

He led the way over to the couch (making sure to throw away the paper towels before leaving the kitchen) and sat down, leaving plenty of room for Dacj to join along side of him. How did he go about starting this conversation though? At least in the least awkward way possible. Even if it would probably be awkward no matter what.

Dacj was utterly oblivious to the inner workings of Seth's mind and current mood, settling in comfortably at Seth's side and claiming an arm to snuggle as her tentacles lay wrapped around his waist. Eventually they'd have to take off, into the real world where probably most of this wasn't going to apply and things would go back to usual, so she was making the most of the moment.

He wasn't thinking of any good ways to start this. He wasn't even 100% certain yet if this was what he wanted. But he was a lot more sure than he had been before yesterday. But... he still didn't want his emotions to be divided like this. Was that just an inevitability of the situation? It didn't matter that Dacj didn't strictly care if he had feelings for more than one person, but it still mattered to him. He couldn't help but keep comparing the matter in his mind to what happened with Noe. 'Even now a girl can only wish that her first love would return? Is that so much a crime?' Was it? Did he still wish for Noe to return and for things to return to what they were?

A small part of him said yes. But it had been too long now. Too much had happened, and with her still not returning any time soon in the foreseeable future what was left for them? But these feelings with Dacj, here and now, they were real. Dacj wasn't going anywhere, and perhaps it was about time he moved on. The cheetah Hyte rested a hand on one of the clubs wrapped around his waist. "Dacj... I want to tr--" He cut himself off. No, he wanted to do more than just 'try'. "I care for you." He wasn't sure what that translated to relationship-wise, but it was a start.

Dacj shifted to look up at him properly when he said her name, and waited patiently for him to say what he'd stopped himself from finishing. "Want to" what? And then he said instead...I care for you. The weight the words carried implied something a little more than she might've ascribed to them even just yesterday, before things had sort of suddenly...shifted around? And now this--it was hard not to feel a little dizzy with confusion, heart pounding just a little faster at what was the closest thing to a confession she'd ever heard out of him. Did that mean he was less muddled now then? And if so, that left them...? "I love you," she said, trying to sound simple and clear and matter of fact even if she was suddenly so nervous she could barely hear her own voice over the sound of her thudding heartbeat. It was so much easier to be nonchalant about it when things had been pretty hopeless. But now...

"So...you want...?" she tried to prompt him, unsure of what the revelation really meant. She'd known at least a little that he'd cared for her, he wouldn't have been kissing her if he hadn't, she was pretty sure... But did that mean he had moved on enough for getting back into a relationship, or was he just telling her that her case wasn't hopeless after all?

He responded with a nod. "I do." He wanted to be with her. Even if he wasn't entirely sure how this would all work out.

Dacj's brows furrowed slightly in confusion, because although Seth might've known the answer to the question she was asking...she didn't actually know what she was asking. So "I do" was about the most cryptic thing possible to answer to her not-quite-a-question. "Okay, I'm going to 'fess up and say I haven't the slightest idea what I was asking," she admitted slowly, tucking her hair self-consciously behind an ear as she gave Seth an apologetic look. "The better question, I guess, would be...are you still muddled? Do you still need time? Or...?"

Ah, she hadn't understood where he was going with this? Well, he supposed he hadn't been entirely clear, even if it seemed clear enough to him. "I want to be with you," he simplified. "I... admittedly don't know quite how polyfidelous relationships work, but I want to be with you regardless." Hopefully that was clear enough.

That was...much clearer. Very clear. Crystal, even. She blinked, processing this new information, and tried to assimilate it into the paradigm of the world, of Seth, she'd always had. It was actually a little difficult, to believe and trust his words, even if she was also sure he absolutely meant them. He wanted to be with her. He wanted to be with her. He wanted to be with her. Somehow, the repetition helped fix it in her mind. "Um. They work like normal relationships, generally speaking," she said slowly, gazing sliding over to focus on a bit of wall. "I--I have to tell Sorcha, but she's aware that I like you, so I don't think that's a problem or anything..." Sorcha had other people she liked, after all, so it wasn't unlikely that this newfound "v" might eventually expand into...er, a "v" with two bottom points? Was that an open parallelogram? She needed to read back up on her poly-geometry, clearly...

Her gaze wandered back to Seth, still dazed, and she felt like a bit of an idiot for repeating his words, but she needed...reassurance? It was hard to reconcile a lifetime's worth of dashed hopes with this newer, clearer "I care for you. I want to be with you." She'd long rued her inability to not have a fair chance but... "You want to be...in a relationship with me. Like dating? We're dating?" Oh, those words sounded so...so silly, out loud.

Seth watched as the gears appeared to be turning in Dacj's mind. He may have just overloaded her a bit. Whoops. "So long as you haven't changed your mind on me," he replied with a meek smile.

"Oh hell no," Dacj said quickly, gripping the arm she was still cuddling a little tighter at the mere implication. Her mind had never changed. It was his she'd always been worried about. "Just rewriting some mental programming. You know how it goes." He probably did, if somehow he'd managed to sneakily half-fall-in-love with her, or whatever it was he was calling it. She'd had maybe a few indicators, but...it was still a shock. A surprise. A very good kind of surprise. "I said as much yesterday, right? I'm going to take whatever it is of you that you care to offer." She just hadn't expected he would offer...well...basically...everything.

The cheetah Hyte chuckled, and brought his head down to lightly nuzzle against Dacj's. "Rewriting mental programming can be quite the challenge. I imagine you are far better at it than I." He still had quite a bit to do for himself, but... Yesterday had gone a long way in helping him sort things out. Even if he had been a bit buzzed at the time.

"I get in more practice, I suppose," she said wryly, especially since she did a lot of "experimenting" of one kind or another...that usually meant she was wrong a lot. Tons of mental program rewriting to be done in that sort of case. She was glad, very glad, to be "wrong" in this instance. With a sudden noise that sounded suspiciously like "squee," Dacj detached from her hold on his arm only to cling around his torso instead with an extra squeeze. Seth was her boyfriend? Seth was her boyfriend. And she could pet and snuggle him all she liked and, hell, he'd even enjoy it, too! Though she'd probably still have to tone it down in public. But that was sort of a vague inconvenience, and one she was absolutely sure would be easy enough to work around. Private spots weren't exactly hard to come by or anything, and both of them had their own places, and...and...the purring! The purring!

The whole stupid Empire could come knocking right now and still wouldn't be able to ruin this for her. She was that ecstatic, now that it was finally sinking in.

Seth couldn't help but laugh when she squeed. Too cute. As she clang to his torso, he wrapped his own arms comfortably about her. Things were only just starting for them, but he fervently hoped that all would go well.

 

[Seth_Avi]

~Establishing Contacts~

[KKMC Meta Mission #1 PRP] Blood Traitor

Summary: Seth and Missy head to Phanes and meet up with their contact there to help locate Colton and Zane. Languages are learned, blood is shed, and battle ensues.