Welcome to Gaia! ::

He could still hear the music ringing in his ears, playing over again and again in his head, the most beautiful sound he had ever heard as far as he was concerned. The hard work they had put into it had shone, her voice ringing out across the crowd, accompanied by the beautiful rhythm of his melody. He had played the music as he had played nothing else in his life, and he had seen her face as she sang it out. Even if they had been performing for others, performing in front of a crowd who thought it had all been for them, he knew that the song was theirs. He had been playing for her, and his heart had gone into that music, played out for her like nothing else. While he was on that stage, the only thing that had mattered was her, her words, her beautiful voice, and the chemistry between them made the song so much more than it could ever have been otherwise. The moment was theirs, to be shared, and even though the audience felt it was for them that they had come, he would have argued otherwise.

Descending the steps of the stage, it was only normal then that he felt a little uncomfortable with the people that swarmed them with the praises. He was a solitary creature by nature, and in that moment where he felt particularly intimate with her, he didn't want others intruding upon them. He offered blank-faced nods, his body stiff, though his eyes all the while searched desperately for a way to escape as more and more people came forward. He supposed it had more to do with her than with him, as many of them wouldn't have ever approached him alone, even had he performed Beethoven blindfolded. His hand reached out for hers with a look that could only be described as uneasiness, though so small he was sure she'd be the only one to even notice, and he laced his fingers with her own before tugging her through a gap that had opened up momentarily in the oncoming crowd. He didn't want to get tied down, forced to stand there and talk about things they knew nothing about, talk to people that cared little about him otherwise.

As he drew her away, he let out a slow breath, squeezing her hand apologetically as he shook his head. He moved through the people, drawing her along, passing the booths full of games and things for sell, ignoring the calls from vendors. The deep, dark red-brown eyes looked down at her as his mouth formed slowly into a frown. "I really don't like crowds," he murmured lightly, leading them away still, even as people smiled, called out greetings, until he found a deserted area between two booths (both looked to be abandoned, though he was unsure what they had held earlier in the day). People still milled around lazily, some passed, but not many even spared them a second glance. Stage fright was not a problem for him, but for someone so used to being alone, walking alone, sitting alone, to have a group of people surge up and suddenly want to talk - well, that was quite another story. He just needed a few minutes to calm down, he was sure, and then they could go back to the festival and do whatever she wanted.

He offered her a weak smile as he turned, reaching up to brush a hand across her cheek lightly. He felt a bit bad that he had drug her away, but in his panic, his only thought had been to get away from the people. He leaned in to press a soft kiss against her lips, quick and light, before pulling away. "You were amazing up there," he said softly, letting out a relieved breath now that they were mostly alone and away from the suffocating crowd.

He was relieved that he hadn't upset her by dragging her away, that she understood his need to get out of the crowd. He had never been a very social boy, but the past couple of years had seen him drawing farther and farther into his own shell, and it would take a little while before he was ever comfortable being around a lot of people at one time. He knew she was a social butterfly, comfortable in that environment, flourishing in it even - he would try for her, but there was no way he was going to be able to tolerate the attentions of an entire crowd all at once, not this quickly. Her understanding only made him appreciate her all the more, though, because he knew there were many other people that would not. Her smile said it all and more, and he knew she meant it, knew she was alright with just being with him and catering to his needs instead.

The lick she offered his lips made him smile, though it was more reminiscent of a care-free sort of grin than anything else, even as small as it was. That, combined with the words that flew from her mouth (first the denial, and then the second) made him slip his arms around her and lean in as if he might kiss her again, though obviously with an intent to be a little longer about it this time. Just as he was about to lean in and catch her lips, however, he head that voice ringing out cold and clear and his motions froze in an instant. His entire body tensed, the arms around her tightening slightly, as if, for once, he was actually looking to her for comfort - though no one but she herself was likely to notice the difference. Drawing a deep breath, he lifted his head back up and looked over Kepi, finding the form of the one person he had hoped wouldn't be there. He had known the voice, but suspected it to be purely imagination, or at least hoped beyond reason that it was.

"Things change," he said slowly, his face hardening as his eyes settled upon her face. It was a natural reaction, to grow cold, stony - though inwardly he could feel the scars pulsing with fire. He drew Kepi to him, as much for his sake as for hers, as if he were shielding her from something. Perhaps he thought the wretched girl would infect her with something, with her vile attitude. He held one arm around her, shifting himself until he could move her up against his side protectively so that she was tucked more under his shoulder than anything else. His other hand stuffed into the pocket of his trousers, but his eyes never left the girl. He couldn't take the time to explain this to Kepi, but he hoped the reactions she'd see (she could read him better than anyone he'd ever known, he knew that easily) in him were enough. He'd never told her the story, but she knew there was someone in his past. For his sake, the hand that was hidden against Kepi had curled lightly into the fabric of her dress, an obvious sign of needing her there.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," his eyes had narrowed on her slightly by now, obviously expecting some ulterior motives in this. She had left him alone, entirely, for a long while now. It was easy to ignore her when she was gone, easy to ignore the past, but he ached just looking at her now and having to remember it all. He wondered idly, to himself, if she was here to try to ruin things on purpose.

He was grateful that Kepi had complied with what he was doing, as he didn't have the time or will to try and include her in what was passing between he and Lamia at the moment. He felt her hand grabbing at his jacket, and though it was an aid in fighting down the feelings that were rushing over him, it wasn't until she began to trace her fingers over his back that he actually began to feel the first waves of calm spreading over him. If he didn't need to face the girl in front of him right now, he might have turned and kissed Kepi out of gratitude. She knew him well, well enough to know that he was getting worked up, angry, and she had responded with one of the few ways she knew to calm him down. His arm around her relaxed, and the hand that had curled into her dressed loosened enough for him to stroke his thumb against her side, becoming yet another way to take his mind off of the thoughts that the confronting the green-eyed devil had caused to surge up immediately.

"Everything changes, Lamia, if you give it enough time. Some things for the good," he said slowly, eyes narrowing on her as he saw that wicked smile, "some things not." He had never had any urge to change until he met Kepi, that was true, but he and Lamia had been happy once. She had never wanted things to change until.. He gritted his teeth and pushed the thought down, concentrating on the feeling of Kepi's fingers as they stroked across his back. "You didn't do anything at all with my well being in mind, anything that's happened now isn't in the slightest way benefited from your actions," he tried his hardest to keep the coldness from creeping into his voice, but as he looked at her, he found it hard. He wanted to turn and walk away, drag Kepi with him and shut himself up somewhere until he could forget her face again, but he couldn't. He had to face her, even if he didn't understand why.

"What do you want, Lamia? Shouldn't you be somewhere else?" he suspected there was a group of friends somewhere missing her presence, a gaggle of idiots wondering where she'd slipped off to. He didn't say anything though, only pulled Kepi closer to him - though it appeared to be an affectionate gesture, especially when accompanied by the way he stroked his hand lightly up her side. In truth, it was just another way of reassuring himself, comforting himself with her presence. He needed her, but Karan had never depended on anyone, and it wasn't likely that Lamia wold suspect it of him now.

Karan had always known, all along, that she was beautiful, and breathtakingly so. Even now, with the cold tone to her voice and the way she appeared to almost be looking down at them in the manner of what he could only describe as a predator, he could see that terrible beauty with which he had once been so enraptured. He had loved her for it once, for her beauty and who she'd been. Once, a very long time ago. Now, as he looked at her, his heart ached only because he knew that in many ways, she wasn't the person he used to know. He felt more like she simply wore the costume of a friend a long gone, the Lamia from times past. A trickster in the flesh of someone he had once cared about, like in the myths of ancient times, those devilish beings he had read about. Looking at her, he could see bits and pieces of the girl he once loved, but she had stepped on him and shattered his heart. It ached, to be forced to see her, look upon her and be reminded of every bittersweet memory that he had repressed for so long, but who was she to even think she could sway him? She was not the Lamia he had loved.

His jaw hardened at her mention of 'love', though he ignored it the implications that she had strung along with it, choosing not to bite the bait she had set out for him. He didn't want to talk about sex with her, not in front of Kepi - in fact, not ever. Besides, the way she was eying up the female at his side was sending sparks of fire through his veins, and had he been any other male, his temper would have long since erupted. "Obviously, you still have a thing or two left to learn about love, Lamia, if sex appeal is the only thing you can concern yourself with." He had managed to school his face to an expressionless one, though inside his brain he was raging to sneer, growl - do anything at her. He knew she'd be amused with it, though, and it was for that simple reason that he tried to keep reign on it. It was obvious, however, that he had not been entirely prepared for her next words. He supposed, on some level, that he should have been. She was an evil, twisted sort of thing deep down when she really wanted to be and that was just the sort of thing that would have torn him up before. Before he had met Kepi.

"My heart is hers," he said bluntly, after staring at her for a long, silent moment. His eyes didn't shift, but his hand curled tighter and more confidently around the girl at his side. "Even if I had faith in the fact that you could be the person you were before, which I know you couldn't, I don't want you." After she had torn him apart and left him for the birds, he wasn't even sure he could be with her again, not after he had been with someone that showed him what true compassion and caring was. He'd rather rip his heart out and feed it to lions than take it from Kepi. He'd rather be ripped apart himself than leave her. "You are my past." He knew, looking at her, that it was likely her own selfishness that had brought her here. He had written that song for someone else, performed it for someone else, performed it WITH someone else. He hadn't done it for her, hadn't done it with her. She didn't want him, she just didn't want Kepi to have him, and she didn't want him to be happy.

He felt Kepi squirming against him as the conversation went on, knowing that it couldn't be any better for her than it was for him, and he let his hand fall to her waist to stroke over it in a comforting motion. His eyes shifted for a moment, turning away from Lamia as he felt Kepi drawing that heart into his back (it was obvious what it was after the first few repetitions) and he offered her an apologetic look. As soon as he was done with this, as soon as Lamia was finished with her toying, he would take her somewhere where he could be alone and properly explain this to her. He couldn't tell her that now, but he made a promise to himself that he'd do it. She deserved to know after this. He forced himself to look back up at the girl before him, hoping against hope that she'd be gone, though knowing more likely than not she'd still be there. She did hate to lose.

It wasn't exactly that what she was saying wasn't getting to him - her sheer presence there was troubling enough to make him want to squirm where he stood. Having to see at all her made him uncomfortable. He just knew better than to let her see that, than to show her that the scars could still show if she clawed deeply enough at him. It had been too long, he had come too far to let her turn them into fresh wounds. He owed it not only to himself, but to Kepi, to maintain his composure and that is precisely what he did. It seemed to work, too, because she looked to be getting bored - there were only so many hair strokes and chin lifts she could do in one conversation, after all. He did, however, feel her last words strike home, even though he knew they weren't exactly true. He had known, more or less, why she had finally left - it had been a long time coming, and what she was implying had nothing to do with it at all. He almost broke it then, almost showed her what she was causing, but the fact that she was leaving seemed to steel his movements. If she was leaving, then he need only hold out a little longer, and he'd be rid of her. He supposed, though, that he hadn't been counting on the little fury at his side to come to his rescue.

He watched with unbelieving eyes as she stormed up to the female, mouth gaping just vaguely as she hurled rather uncharacteristic insults at her and even went so far as to kick her in the shin. He had known that she was uncomfortable, angry even, he could feel it in the way she had squirmed at his side, but he never would have pinned her for one to do something like that. He heard the words, the insults, the blind defense of him - and in that moment he couldn't have asked for anything more. She might not have known anything that had happened between them, but he knew then that she would always defend him, through thick and thin, and realizing that he had someone willing to fight for him even when it wasn't their battle was something he had never really had before. If there was any reason Lamia needed to see why he had fallen for Kepi, she could open her eyes and see it right then - he was sure Lamia had never come close to doing anything like that for him in all the time he'd ever known her, not to such a degree, not with such selflessness.

He only had a moment to adjust, gaze down in surprise as his neck was caught by her arms and his lips trapped with hers. Even if he had had any pretenses against kissing her so passionately in public, they melted away at the feeling, and his arms slowly wrapped around her to bring her closer to his body. His eyes hooded, but not before he caught sight of Lamia sneering and walking away. His lips parted partially against Kepi's, letting his tongue flicker out softly against her bottom one, letting all thoughts drain away in that single moment. Of course, thinking better of the situation, he finally drew away, breathing deeply as he looked down at her. "Thank you for that," he said softly, bringing one hand up to brush through her hair. He owed her an explanation, he knew, and so many other things, but right then he just wanted her to know that he had truly appreciated what she'd done.

He found her rather uncharacteristic anger to be almost amusing - like watching a puppy trying to be intimidating. She seemed so childish, unsure of exactly what she was doing (like when she tried to curse), and even though he knew it was from a very unamusing situation, he found it rather endearing. Nothing she did could ever really be otherwise for him. He just wanted to shower her in kisses, even as she stamped her little foot against the ground and nudged her head on his chest in her frustration. He knew, though, for her to be expressing things this way, so obviously mad and irritated and unlike herself, she truly had to be experiencing a level of that emotion that he had never quite seen in her before. He wore his own anger and irritation with the female (and pain, more likely than not) bottled up inside still, unwilling to let it go even now. They were two different creatures, and yet, even now he was depending on her. She looked to be the most upset because of her willingness to express it physically and openly - but it was likely that he was the one more jolted to the core by this encounter.

"I think perhaps the next time you see her, maybe you should just walk the other way, she's more trouble than she is worth, normally," he said softly, though there was a ghost of a smile on his lips at the thought of her actually trying to bite Lamia's ankles. After seeing her kick the girl in the shin, he wasn't quite sure she wouldn't do it, especially if she let her whims carry her like they had done today. His eyes turned down to meet hers as she looked up at him with those confused eyes, reaching up with his hand to brush the backs of his fingers along her cheek lightly. He was guilty of doing the simple gestures (touching her, holding her, stroking her) in an attempt to keep his mind off of the way it wanted to wander, but he could procrastinate from having to delve into that shadowy pit for a while longer. "She deserved it, and she is frigid - cold to the bone. No one ever stands up for me, she never did when I needed her, and it was.. nice." He nodded, although it was almost as if the action were simply him confirming something to himself - probably making sure the words he'd said had come out right.

He leaned into the nuzzle she placed against his neck, eyes drooping even as her words washed over him and he felt her hand grasping his. He was more than happy to leave the small number of people that milled around them right now - he was even less inclined now to socialize or face the people that had tried to swarm them before this incident. Leaving and heading somewhere where they could be more or less alone was perfectly alright by his thoughts. He let him lead her along, loping behind her calmly, eyes on her as she found a spot for them to sit. As soon as she plopped down, he settled down at her side, and then simply let the arm closest to her drape over her torso as his other brought up his free hand to stroke through her hair. He was quite comfortable there, with her head in his lap and his back braced sturdily against the tree. Although, being alone also meant that he now needed to tell her, unwind the story, and give her the reasons for his scars and that whole damned encounter.

"I don't really think she thought so either, it was only meant to hurt," he said softly, though he did gaze down at her with an affectionate gleam to his eyes. He knew that she thought the world of him, and he tried his hardest to never lack in anything that he could help. He turned his eyes to look up, as if he'd gaze at the horizon, though it was more of an empty stare out at nothing - like someone with a lot on their mind. He didn't know how to begin telling her, how to start the terrible tragedy that was his ruined love life. He was sure it was so much more tragic when retold from his heart-broken point-of-view than it would have been from any other, but he knew the pain that came when you really and truly trusted someone like that. "She wasn't always like that, she used to be different, a long time ago. We grew up together, Lamia and I. We were friends as kids, just she, my twin sister, and me." He smiled, weakly, and for a moment, it was truly sad, like someone remembering someone that had died, or something they had lost that was dear to them. It was likely he remembered a lot of the thoughts about her that way, though.

"I don't think I need to tell you that we became more than that when we were older," he paused here, his fingers still stroking through her hair, "but everything changes. Our relationship wasn't the only thing that did. She.. made new friends after a while, met new people, the wrong people." He frowned, leaning his head back against the tree with a sigh, likely revisiting memories that he hadn't thought of in ages, or at least thought he had repressed. She did deserve to know, especially if Lamia decided to become a bother again. "They weren't people that I liked or people that liked me, and it drove a wedge between us. She wanted bigger and better things, I wanted the simple things that had always been. Somewhere, she.. turned into that girl, and that girl left." He let out a long breath, the dark eyes shifting to look down at her. It pained him to talk about it, but it had already been brought up to the surface just be being around her, so speaking wasn't that big of a leap. Better now than later, he supposed. Even then, he had left out a lot of the details, but he could only bring himself to say so much. "It never really gave me much incentive to trust anyone after that, especially not girls," his hand reached up to brush at a strand of hair near her face, tucking it behind her ear.

There had been times where he couldn't blame Lamia, at least not entirely, for her decision to leave. She had wanted more in life, more for herself, more than what he had to offer. He didn't want the kind of life that new people were willing to give her and she had left him behind with the things he was happy with. He did know, however, that there were much kinder ways she could have gone about leaving, much gentler ways she could have let him down. In the end, there relationship had been broken off with jagged edges, and she had turned into the girl that liked to make him ache - the girl that had come to him today simply with the intention of hurting him. He knew there was no wrong in wanting to pursue better things, but there were wrongs in the way she had done it. He had trusted her, a trust built on years of friendship before it was ever built on romance, and she had.. shattered that. She was a cold, cold creature. "I know it does," he said simply, answering her words, though he couldn't say anything else. He knew it made it worse, and he was the last person in the world that would defend her.

He glanced over at her as she sat up and leaned against his shoulder, knowing that she was thinking something, and simply biding his time until she was ready to speak. He knew thinking over things wasn't exactly her strongest point, as she usually spoke and acted on a whim, so letting her have the time she needed was always a good idea. As her hand reached up and found his face, he leaned into it, his eyelids drooping slightly. He spoke, even as he was in that touch, letting the words flow out without opening his eyes to look up at her. "I don't think you need me to tell you that I don't handle situations like that very easily." She had seen how troubled he'd been when he had first realized he had feelings for her, first in the hallway, then beneath the tree, it would only stand to reason that dealing with anything with strong emotion was probably hard for him - especially if said strong emotion was being experienced for the first time. Recognizing the signs of a relationship, one that important, falling apart was likely not an easy situation to handle. "I was hurt, and lost," he muttered, opening his eyes to look up at hers then, watching the golden irises calmly as he felt her fingers stroke across his collar bone.

At her last words, he couldn't help but smile, weak though it was in the aftermath of what Lamia had brought to the surface. He reached out to circle her waist with his arm, then used it to draw her into his lap so that he could be closer to her. Once there, he wrapped the other arm around her as well, taking a deep breath as her scent filled his head. "One person will never be enough to bring my life down, not anymore," he said calmly, leaning in to brush a kiss against her cheek, "but one person is enough to make it beautiful." He was no poet, no author, but even he could find the will to say sweet things from time to time.

He had to admit that at the time, when she first began to reach out to him, he hadn't really appreciated her advances at all. He had, by all means, wanted to be left alone and he certainly didn't want anyone (especially such a happy, up beat girl like her) pestering him so incessantly. Although, he figured all things happened for a reason, and couldn't really say he wished she had or hadn't realized he was there sooner. After all, had it been sooner, that apple wouldn't have been growing in that tree, and things might have turned out a little differently. He had grown to like her, yes, but his realization had all been based around certain things happening in a precise order. He liked to think it was something romantic, like fate, and he wasn't sure she could have changed that if she had wanted to.

His smile remained, broadening slightly as she brushed her thumb across it, his lips pursing to press a light kiss as she did so. One of his arms came up around her shoulder as she leaned her head upon his chest, letting his head lean back against the sturdy bark of the tree with a gentle, content sigh. He wasn't sure what he deserved, only that he found himself now in a good place, happy and content. With her, he didn't need to know what he deserved, know what he didn't deserve, he just needed to be with her and that was enough. With a pleased smile, he let his own eyes close, and pulled her closer to his body. "Maybe," he whispered softly, even as he felt her relaxing into him in a way that only said she was falling into the fingers of dreams, "we'll see, I've never tried, but we'll see." He was content then to simply let her sleep, falling into silence, and letting the world pass them by. They could deal with questions later - right now it was only them that mattered