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 Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 2:41 pm
The Masque had been an unmitigated disaster. When she said "unmitigated," she meant in the manner of dancing with her Negaverser paramour; she hadn't gotten to do that at all, and she had been very, very excited to, and. But she had seen him in action, defending his Queen against the senshi, and that had sent a tiny thrill for her and more than made up for any failures of the City Council to prevent all disasters as they'd said they would.
On the upside, she had seen him fight, and he had been everything she had imagined, and--and maybe he'd come see her soon. Tate hated feeling like a lovesick schoolgirl, hated having to sneak around her roommate, but she wanted to see Wolframite and tell him her thoughts so badly. Poor Parker, he didn't like the idea of Wolframite; at least Ladon didn't seem to mind that sometimes her mind drifted to him.
It was curious, she decided as she looked out the window, that both her friends had lost an eye around the same time; but coincidences happened. They were just piling up now--and it was easier than usual for her to just shrug it off.
November was a chilly month, but she left the window open anyway. Just in case.
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Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 3:53 pm
Wolframite had had a plan. He had bought the tickets, prepared his costume over his uniform, disguised himself behind a mask, and had invited Tate to the ball. It was a date. A first date, and he had wanted it to be special. What he got was a entire mess of a affair where crystals, cake monsters, and Castor himself had shown up and ruined it all. Between throwing weapons and watching the place go up in snow and flames, he had forgotten all about the date. By the time it was over and everyone was dismissed, he barely had enough time to think about how bad it all went before falling asleep.
So what now? Did he mope about his missed chance? Did he give up?
No. Wolframite, when setting a goal, did everything to meet it, and even though he was just as nervous as he had been when waiting for Tate at the Halloween Ball, he summoned up his courage and made his way down the familiar fire escape. Everything was set for tonight, and he was ready to make up for everything. He had no idea that she had been there, had seen him fight, as he had only hoped she had been fine and miles away from any danger.
Stepping down, he smiled as he went through the list of what he had done in preparation for tonight, but he stopped going through the checklist when he saw her half inclined out the window.
"You'll catch your death." He said, moving over and offering her a bouquet of white lilies, a signature gift he had given her through their meetings together. The paper was back, the bow green. The details, something he prided himself on."For my little Nightingale."
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Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 4:11 pm
There was a bit of a clatter. Tate almost ignored it, since the others upstairs sometimes sat out on the fire escape, but there was also a sort of... cadence to the steps that usually meant it was Wolfram.
She straightened up, resting her elbows more properly on the window as she smiled towards him. Trying to squish any fluffy romantic thoughts wasn't really working at all, so she stopped trying. "Yeah, but I thought you might show up," she explained; the lilies, she accepted, inhaling the sweet funereal scent for a moment. If she noticed the irony of the funeral flower, a traditional symbol of innocence in death, being "theirs", she had never commented. It was wholly inappropriate, but it was theirs, and Tate was known to be possessive. "Thank you, Wolfram," she said, and she beamed at him.
The dark-haired girl turned momentarily to put the flowers in a vase; she kept one by her bed now, because it hardly went a week without him bringing her new flowers and Parker seemed to hate the reminder. "I saw you at the Masque," she said once she was sliding out the window, feet bare on the steel mesh. She was smiling, almost blissfully, which was extremely unusual for Tate when he'd missed time to spend with her.
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Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 5:26 pm
There was always a sense of accomplishment in making her smile, and he reaped the rewards as quickly as he could, dedicating it to memory and flicking a little +1 to his scoreboard. Having seen Tate seclude herself, withdraw inward, and clam up always meant that when she spoke up, smiled, and seemed generally excited was something, he took a personal pride in that achievement. As she went to place the flowers away, he breathed out a held sigh, and then went back to being poised and 'cool' for her. He stressed being perfect for her, anything than the boy that was her friend and was nothing that had interested her before. As Wolfram, he was free to be someone else, and that someone was going to announce his interest in her.
When she returned, slipping from the window, he had to keep his mouth tightly shut from trying to pick at the fact that she would catch a cold with bare feet during Fall. That wasn't cool, and he wasn't about to target a dork sign on his forehead. He kept his composure and smiled. That was until she mentioned the Ball. "You did? How…much did you see?" His composure was slipping, and he tried to go back on course. What did she think of him after seeing him at the ball? How much did she see? Again, he kept his mouth shut, not wanting to go off on her about how she should have run off and kept safe.
He had to keep to his lines. He had it all pictured in his head, and he didn't want to go off course and start an argument instead. How often had he said the wrong thing as Ladon and made her close herself in. Not now. This was the night. He offered her his hand. "I have a special surprise for you, but it's out of the way. If you will allow me, I'll take you there." He had practiced that line over and over in the mirror and felt his heart jerk in his chest, waiting.
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Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 6:52 pm
She tipped her head a bit, keeping her arms by her sides. "You were fighting that senshi, the one with the wings on his a**," she said. He'd had a fistful of ice, and Wolframite had skidded by like it was nothing! It was like watching a game of Soul Calibur in real life--for real stakes, and it had been frightening and thrilling and she just. Her smile was huge as she thought of it. "I ran off when people started to disappear, though," she explained ruefully, "and I was careful to stay out of the way." Tate had been very careful; she'd stood off, behind the doors, and all the monsters had seemed to go after the powered beings inside the building.
"You were really cool," she said, an admiring look in her eyes.
At the mention of going out of the way, her face closed off a bit. "How far away would it be, Wolfram? Are we walking there?" She looked down at her bare feet, toes curling into the gaps in the iron. "I should probably put on shoes," she said ruefully.
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Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 7:19 pm
Wolframite had only arrived later in the battle, but Tate had been there for the bigger showdown among everyone, with many fights happening at once, youma running loose, magic flying in all directions, and that crystal. It had been a very dangerous situation, and if Beryl had decided just to blow the entire place up or blow chunks out of the walls, Tate would have died without anyone (namely him) being the wiser. He had to grit his teeth at this and huffed. "You could have gotten really hurt by hiding out and watching. We could have destroyed that entire place." And tate with it. He didn't like thinking about that, and he didn't like her watching him when he fought. He didn't want her to see him as a murderer.
He looked out, but returned to the matter. He wasn’t about to let that sour things tonight, but he'd address it later. For now, he was placing all issues on the backburner – which wasn't hard with Tate beaming at him. She had enjoyed his little show during the Halloween Ball and while she couldn't possibly see the significance stabbing Castor had meant to him, he felt a sort of pride in having her see it. He had been a little, teeny, tiny bit awesome back there, hadn't he?
OH, but he was getting big in the head. She could have gotten HURT! No. He shouldn’t be smiling like a idiot in seeing her happy to see him be 'cool' (She called him COOL!) even if it was something he liked hearing from her. She was impressed, but he couldn't help think it was for the wrong reasons. Maybe she would see how strong he was and how capable he was to protect her.
"You can get on shoes if you want, but you can't walk there. I need to lift you there. Do you mind if I hold you a moment and take you there? You can't jump nearly as high as I can, and this little journey requires some maneuvering." In short, he had to hop some roofs to get to their destination. "I promise it won't take too long, and you'll be home whenever you want and certainly before it gets too late." It was a first date, and he wasn't about to be the type to ask her to stay the entire night with him. He wasn't THAT type of guy after all.
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Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 4:44 pm
She took the chastisement as she hoped he meant it; the expression of his concern for her. It was true she could have died, but she hadn't really thought about it at the time. Why should she have? She was eighteen, and there really wasn't anything she was scared of. All the rules of engagement in magical girl stories--which sure seemed to be what Destiny City was turning into, a mahou shoujo manga--dictated that in massive showdowns for an item, civilians were pretty much entirely safe. And she'd been just that--entirely safe.
"Oh," she said, sounding surprised; "Alright. I guess I won't, then."
She narrowed her eyes a bit at the next part. He was shorter than she was--almost an entire head shorter. If Tate hugged him, it'd be easy to set her chin on his head. And while she was nowhere near overweight--lately she yoyoed between underweight and the average for her height--she still wondered...
"Alright," was her conclusion, "although I'm not entirely sure I'm properly dressed. But okay."
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Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 6:19 pm
He hadn't even though about her clothes until this moment, and suddenly found how ridiculous it had been that he was asking her to go. Here he was too eager to consider what she needed to do before going. Of course she needed to change. This had been on such short notice and she had no idea how to prepare for such a surprise. She couldn’t go in….a little white nighty..with accenting lacework on the hem and collar..and FAR too thin for the weather.
"Ye-Yes. You should change. Um, something you can move in though, but whatever you feel comfortable in will be just fine." He was losing his 'cool' factor and falling back to his own shaky nervous behavior. He gestured toward the window for her to take her leave for the moment while he waited outside to his thumbs and consider how much of an idiot it was for not sending her a message beforehand and giving her an idea of how to dress. He hoped she would dress in something nice. He didn't even get to see what she wore for the Halloween Ball.
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Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2010 12:25 pm
Tate slipped back through the window, pulled the curtain just in case--she wasn't exactly modest, but it seemed like it'd be different if Wolfram saw her changing. She dressed quickly in a nice sweater, her new coat, slacks and boots. Her keys she slipped into her pocket, just in case, and then she was pulling aside the blue cotton to settle her feet back on the fire escape, quietly. Parker had been gone for such a long time she'd almost been used to making a racket whenever she liked, but now he was back and it was courteous to her friend to be quiet.
"Where are we going, then," she asked, flipping up the collar of the black jacket. Hopefully not anywhere Halloween ball-quality nice, because she certainly wasn't dressed for that! To be honest, the curiosity was kind of overwhelming. She'd probably cut off a hand to know what he was being so mysterious about, it was that bad.
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Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2010 12:41 pm
He waited for her on the fire escape, his nerves making him jittery and trying to calm himself down. Come on. You planned this. Don't get cold feet now. Don't turn into a dork on me. He breathed out, watching his breath float away. Curious, he looked at the closed curtains, and watched as a bit of wind blew against her fabric. A tiny sliver parted the curtains, and Wolframite shot his eyes back to the sky, feeling nervous and jittery again.
When at last Tate returned, dressed warmly and looking …very pretty, he offered her his hand. "You'll find out soon enough." He brought her close, before realizing that this would need some maneuvering. "I'm going to pick you up now, okay? You can cling to me all you want. Just…don't scream. Everything will be okay, and I wouldn't dream of ever dropping you." It was a warning, and he swept a hand against the back of her legs and picked her up. As Ladon, this would have been impossible, but as a Negaverse Captain, she was an easy weight. A little awkward considering she was taller than he was, but he managed.
Smiling, he waited for her to get a grip, and then headed up to the roof, carrying her bridal style till they got to the top. Then, without waiting, he moved to the edge of the roof, overlooking the shimmering lights of the streets below and a few cars, and smiled. "Here we go." He told her, voice taken away by the wind that whipped up around them. With a low crouch, he kicked off.
Traveling with someone in your arms was a lot harder than he imagined, but he navigated without too many problems. It was all a succession of hops and a bit of running from one roof to the next, and all the while they went higher, higher, and higher still. Lights danced about them as he ran beside a billboard, and then moved to a business building, then a bank, and then to the more high-class areas. He passed rooftop condos with heated Jacuzzis and even hopped on a roof that had a private landing strip for a helicopter.
And then, at long last, he leaped up high in the air and landed atop a rooftop garden. Small evergreens were perched about, dusted in snow, while a cobblestone trail curled through the snow to a large decorative glass dome. A lush green and dazzling glow of blue and gold shimmered inside, and all about the outside garden around the dome were candles, some put out by the wind, but a few others still glowing. It was here that he let her slip from his arms and let her stand, before smiling.
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