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 Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2019 6:27 pm
Destiny City was full of attractions of so many varieties that Adria found it absolutely impossible to keep up with them all. It seemed like they were installing something new every week, and even with his nightly excursions he was constantly finding new things.
Tonight, it was a fountain in a park located near enough to a very expensive neighborhood that he didn't have to wonder why it was so fancy.
Of course, they couldn't be happy with just a beautiful sculpture and running water, maybe with a few nice lights to set the scene at night.
No, instead it had to have music. And water that danced in time to meet the rise and fall of the soft strings that hummed in the air.
Initially, he'd had no idea what he was walking into; he'd heard the music and, curiosity piqued, he'd approached. There hadn't been any energy signatures so he didn't think there was any reason to be worried. It was suspicious but not nefarious, and after the week he'd had, the music seemed to just call him.
He didn't regret it's temptation.
The soft song serenaded him easily, but it was the water that captivated him more than anything.
The timing was impeccable, and even the water splashing back against the ground seemed to somehow enhance the sound of the music. The lights dimmed and brightened, illuminating the figure of a beautiful woman in the center of the fountain in such a way that it almost looked like her mouth was moving.
Almost like she was singing some soft song.
It was a silly thought and he knew it, but just standing there made the stress melt away from his shoulders. With no one around--at least, so far as he could tell--he found himself leaning against a little metal railing nearby. He propped his elbows up on it and leaned forward, closing his eyes and appreciating the soft spray of water that the wind occasionally carried in his direction.
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Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2019 6:31 pm
Honesty, Meridiana didn’t really intend to patrol this evening, or this week for that matter. Her quota had been met in excess enough times that she deserved a vacation. However, the medallion she wore around her neck had uses she wanted to try out. From what she could tell it dampened her aura near completely, if not 100%, allowing her to pass by senshi and knight alike without so much as a courtesy turn of their head in her direction to acknowledge she was even there. In truth, it was a rather exciting thing to play around with; especially since it meant she could go into restaurants and crowded areas without having anyone call her out while in the middle of a conversation or wait outside before confronting or attacking her. If anything, it was almost liberating as it made her feel safer out here when wandering alone. The music had been what had drawn her to the fountain, a place she came to from time to time in order to drown out the thoughts in her head so she could find some semblance of peace. Between work, obligations to the negaverse, family and her grandfathers declining health it was no wonder why she sought solitude on these warm evenings. However, as she neared her destination, an aura feathered the edge of her senses. It remained stationary for some time while she considered finding another place to relax. That was until she got close enough to see who it was the signature belonged to. Well I’ll be, and here she thought that their very first kiss would also be their last kiss goodbye. Meridiana removed her shoes and set them in the grass for the time being before stealthy making her way over to the bench he seemed so relaxed sitting on. When she got behind him, the senshi of the Succubus carefully placed her hands over his eyes, knowing full well their heads would collide if she so much as tried to kiss him as he was if he sat up too quickly in surprise. “Guess who?” She whispered into the shell of his ear before moving her hands and taking a step back. “Hi there handsome.”
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Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2019 6:31 pm
Adria bristled, mind scrambling to process what was going on. It wasn't in his nature to immediately jump up--instead, he froze; the gears in his head had screeched to a stop and all rational thought jumped out the window.
He registered hands over his eyes--soft, and feminine, but the voice gave that away. The voice? It was familiar, but with his processing skills locked up he couldn't immediately place it.
'Guess who' must have meant that he knew her, but he couldn't find a logical answer to who she was with those clues alone. She removed her hands and took a step back and, finally, he spun on the bench to look at her.
His expression rapidly shifted from alarmed, to confused, to curious, to alarmed.
"I didn't feel you at all," he finally blurted. He knew her, he recognized her. The corrupted Senshi who had--his face tinged pink--kissed him.
She looked the same, sounded the same, certainly acted the same, except there was no energy signature.
"--You just, you completely snuck up on me. I couldn't have been that zoned out," he nearly stammered, rushing to get the thoughts out, rushing to comprehend. Even if he had been distracted before, she had his full attention now and even with him looking right at her, he couldn't feel anything.
She couldn't have been an imposter--not when she seemed so real.
"How are you doing that?"
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Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2019 6:35 pm
Meridiana canted her head to the side. Her blue gem-like eyes were alight with wild amusement as she stood there quietly, arms crossed in front of her, trying not to laugh at his surprise. Considering they had only met once before, albeit briefly, it was only natural he wouldn’t notice the slight change in her attire. It was only a necklace afterall, or so it appeared to be.
After a moment of letting his mind run with the possibilities, she lifted one hand and pressed a delicate finger against her red glossed lips. “It’s a secret,” she replied coyly.
“However,” Meridiana paused, more so for effect but also to contemplate her words carefully. Facets of the medallions power was still a mystery but perhaps he could help her solved the enigma this thing was. “Perhaps you can convince me to share it with you?” She let out a soft hum.
Her eyes remained locked with his as she stepped forward slowly. All she wanted to do was test the limits of the trinket she had found and maybe surprise him just a bit. It wasn’t her intention to completely frighten him away or put him on the defensive and so, similar to their first meeting but without the magic this time, she reached out to place a gentle hand on his arm in a non threatening manner. However, what surprised even her was that when her fingertips brushed against the sheer fabric of his sleeves Meridiana felt her heartbeat quicken as a light blush swept across her face.
It was a strange reaction to have and yet, even almost a month later, she could acutely remember the feeling of his arms around her after they had kissed. Perhaps there was still a lingering part of that simple moment she longed to return to again.
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Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2019 6:36 pm
Adria couldn't even retort that he didn't like secrets because it felt like most of his life was nothing but a secret. Secret identity when writing, secret identity when powered up, secret this and that and everything, so instead of making a liar of himself he just bit back his words.
He watched the woman carefully, eyes searching her face, her movement, for any trace of an answer beyond the words she was speaking.
He stayed still as she put her hand on his arm, and when he felt his heart flop into the pit of his stomach and then leap into his throat.
"I think we'd be better friends if we were more honest with each other," he tried--friendly, enough, if not just slightly teasing. He wasn't used to feeling these emotions--wasn't used to being so close to someone from Chaos.
"What would it take to convince you to share your secret? I can say please." he suggested, brows knit but smile grazing his lips. He wasn't confident that he had anything to offer, and he wasn't daring enough to make suggestions.
But, he was open-minded.
And very curious.
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Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2019 6:37 pm
“Hmm,” Meridiana leaned her head to the side curiously while contemplating her choices. “Please does help…but” she paused to look up into those mesmerizing lavender eyes. “I have found it very difficult to forget our last encounter.” It wasn’t a lie, despite her best efforts to move past that singular moment, her mind often drifted to the feeling of his arms around her and with that memory came a longing to experience that feeling that once more.
“I was a bit too forward before and would like to set a better first impression.” The Senshi of the Succubus reached up to tuck a few stray strands of golden spun hair, which was just barely too short to reach his braid, behind his ear. “Would it be too forward of me to ask if I may kiss you again; properly this time?” Without magic, a test to see if his reaction would be the same.
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Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2019 6:40 pm
There was something indescribable about how Meridiana touched him. Despite writing--despite being a decently successful writer--he couldn’t think of the words to describe it. It was exhilarating. It was tantalizing. It was frightening. It was alluring. It was enough to make his heart pound so strongly in his chest that he both felt it could give out and that it was breathing new life into him.
She wanted to kiss him.
Adria had not imagined kissing a woman for most of his life, and here she was, wanting to make a better impression than she had the first time they’d met.
He wanted to tell her that her first impression had been striking enough. He wanted to assure her that he felt no ill will towards her.
He wanted to say something, but instead he found himself just staring at her as the words sank in. His eyes were on hers, and then her lips, and then back to her eyes.
“I’m not sure I understand the finer points of a proper kiss and...what we had,” he said belatedly. It wasn’t a denial, but he had a voice in the back of his head reminding him that he’d already come to terms with the fact that he wasn’t attracted to women.
And yet, he felt the same pounding in his heart now as the last time he’d been too close to a crush.
It was social anxiety, he suddenly remembered, and felt the dual influence of relief and despair.
Adria had always been socially awkward, of course he’d be having some conflicting, anxiety driven response to someone so close to him, in his personal space. Everything was clicking into place and he might have breathed a sigh of relief if his lungs had let him.
A kiss, therefore, made perfect sense.
It was the perfect way to prove that this was sheer social anxiety and not actually a feeling. For her. A woman. A corrupted Senshi.
“Yes,” he blurted, instead. “Yeah. We can do that. Show me.” A slight pause, and then he added, “Please.”
It was hardly a bold request; he spoke quickly, but with visible determination. The tips of his ears were pink before his cheeks were.
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Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2019 6:41 pm
Unlike before Meridiana did not puppet his hands, to move or place them on her hips or shoulder, or even her lower back. She wanted it to be his choice on where to place them to know if his reaction before, to hold her as he did, was his choice or moreso a product of circumstances with not knowing what to do with her because of the magic she had used on him.
As much as she didn’t want to admit it, even to herself, Meridiana’s heart had been yearning for this moment for reasons she could not explain. Even as Whisler had held her tenderly, her mind was brought back to him. They had parted without sharing each others names which made it near impossible to find him again; which she had tried for several weeks to no avail. But now that she stood here in front of him, those feelings came rushing back and for a moment she truly felt nervous. For everyone she had ever kissed in the past, this was one of the only ones that she truly felt something towards even if she didn’t know what that something was.
She looked up at him with deep oceanic blue eyes that gazed across a field of pale violets and in them she could see the nervousness that almost mirrored her own.
Meridiana seemed almost hesitant in her movement as she placed one hand on his shoulder for balance and raised herself up onto her toes. For a moment she paused to allow him an opportunity to pull away to put a stop before she took the final step.
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Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2019 6:41 pm
Meridiana was not so different in height from Adria; she didn't have to work hard to close in. His heart was pounding and he had a strange ball of anxiety pulsating from deep in his throat.
He did not pull away when she drew closer.
He gave her a second to steady herself and he imagined, with all of his creativity, why he felt none of the confidence, the bravado, of the characters he always wrote. He wasn't good at being confident, or romantic, or whatever else you needed--not in situations like this. He could write them, he could imagine them.
But for a brief moment, he wondered if he'd been writing it all wrong.
And then, the faux confidence--the burst of enthusiasm, just before leaping off of a cliff, doing something dangerous. The adrenaline that masked all sense of reason, and most of his doubt.
He reached one hand to her arm to help steady her, and his other to her wrist, as if he could help ground her. He couldn't touch her somewhere more intimate; he barely even know what he was doing. But arms were safe, and he felt strangely reassured just having that slight contact.
He leaned forward, pressing his lips to hers. He didn't seem to know quite what to do beyond something gentle and chaste, but it gave him the time he needed to process just what emotions he was having. What he was feeling.
What this meant.
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Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2019 6:45 pm
When their lips touched, Meridiana’s heart fluttered in a way she had never felt before. She had experienced many different kinds of kisses in her life; forceful, angry, hungry… infatuated. But his was none of that.
No, his was soft, timid almost but gentle all the same.
Unlike before where she had placed his hands on her body, he was far more mindful of where he touched her. In a sense it felt like he was holding her as one would a porcelain doll; fearful that it would break if he so much as let go.
Meridiana reached up with her one free hand and gently cupped the side of his face. The tips of her fingers just barely touching his soft goldspun colored hair as she leaned in and responded to his careful kiss.
Seconds felt like minutes but when she fully pulled away the Senshi of the Succubus looked up at him, eyes searching for answers to a question she hadn’t asked, for an explanation for something it seemed neither of them understood.
“It’s a selfish thing for me to ask…” Meri’s voice was quiet and unsure, but her heart yearned for only one thing more than the chaste kiss he had given her. Her hand fell from where it cupped his cheek to the soft purple fabric right above the sun shaped broach that kept his coat closed. “Will you hold me like before? Just for a moment?” A blush swept across her cheeks for making such a bold request. But a part of her needed to remember that feeling again. To know that it was his choice and not a stupor she had placed him in that made her feel save within the circle of his arms.
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Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2019 6:45 pm
There were no answers in his eyes. There was no doubt, but a contemplation beneath his obvious confusion. His brows were knit, not unfriendly, but like he was trapped in the midst of solving some complex equation.
The kiss brought more questions than answers, and he was lost in the maze of new information. It was impossible to decipher at once, cascading down upon him in such a torrent that he couldn't grip a single piece of information for long enough to process it.
He was trying to preserve every detail, to remember that singular moment in time. The way his stomach had knotted, the way it had fluttered, the way it felt like some warm ball of light was floating inside of him. The way her fingers had touched his face, like silk against his face. Light enough to tickle but heavy enough not to be unpleasant.
Her voice cut through the fog of uncoordinated thoughts and he blinked, some sense of reason returning.
She had kissed him, twice now, and yet seemed timid to ask for something like a hug. The color on her cheeks made his stomach twist again and he wasn't sure if his face was red as hers but he found himself nodding instinctively. She seemed more vulnerable, more honest, than when he first met, and for a moment he forgot that she could have reached her hand into his chest and pulled out his starseed without any notice.
"That's not selfish," he answered easily, voice softer than he'd meant. Like he was afraid to speak too loudly and ruin the moment. "No, come here. If you want," he insisted quickly. He opened his arms to give her room to make herself comfortable.
"...Is it too forward to ask...if you enjoyed that kiss?"
He was trying to figure it out himself.
Adria had enjoyed it, he knew that much. He had been anxious, and was so even now--afraid, even, that she might feel his heart pounding if she got too close. But she had asked for this, and he didn't want to deny her. He wanted an excuse to keep her close for a few minutes more while he tried to decipher his thoughts.
He had liked it. He felt like there was a glow in the night air that hadn't been there before, and even the anxiousness wasn't enough to smother it.
But then, she was the only person he'd kissed, really.
...He didn't even know if that's how a kiss was supposed to feel, or if he was doing it wrong.
But, she had such confidence in her kisses; she'd have known better than him.
He didn't realize he was holding his breath as he waited for her answer.
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Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2019 6:45 pm
Like how a flower greets the early morning sun she too felt her heart open as she rested her head against his chest.
Meridiana nodded her head in reply and after a moment of collecting her thoughts she responded. “I wish it had been my first kiss,” He knew that he wasn’t her first, or second even, but admitting it out loud actually made her feel ashamed of her previous behavior.
Her arms moved to wrap around his torso, fingers linking behind his back. “The one you spend the rest of your life comparing all the others to.” Then perhaps she would not be so forward in how she approached anyone. Her magic only required that she blow a kiss, it was her choice to take it a step further. “It’s how I wish our first one would have been.”
However, his had been so innocent and pure, so unlike all the others that a part of her truly felt guilty that she had been so rash during their first encounter. At first he was an enemy, a target for her to write a report on and give to Zinkenite, but by the end of their meeting; something stayed her hand and prevented her from saving the file to the drive that she intended to turn over to her Sovereign.
There was a desire to keep him hidden from the chaos, so much so that she hid her own signature and for the first time actually felt worried about what he would think about her when he learned what her sphere was.
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Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2019 6:46 pm
It was easy for Adria to drape his arms around her back; she fit easily and the outfit she wore was soft. His touch was hesitant, cautious, at first; he was making sure his hands, his arms, fell where she wanted them. When she didn't complain or pull away, his embrace became less hesitant.
It was loose enough that she could have broken away at any point in time but he wanted to make sure he was actually holding her, not just letting his arms hover awkwardly around her.
"It was mine," he suggested after a moment's hesitation. He wasn't sure he wanted to admit that he'd never actually kissed someone before, not when he already had enough to be embarrassed about, but her answer had been so pure. He couldn't imagine that she would make fun of him for the confession. "I mean, my first non-magical one. So I think that still counts. Either way, both of them were with you."
"...Are you a romantic? You talk like one."
There was no mocking, no teasing. He asked an honest question, just touching the surface of all the things he wanted to ask her. He didn't want to be overbearing or awkward or smothering, and now probably wasn't the time to ask everything he wanted.
As he held her, his heart seemed to soothe itself; he could feel the excitement, the eagerness, the hope, churning and pounding, even if he didn't know what it meant.
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Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2019 6:46 pm
“In a way,” She admitted quietly.
It’s hard to convince anyone her feelings are true or pure when her sphere suggests that the most she should be capable of is nothing more than lust or that she uses manipulation to get what she desires. Given that she had done exactly that in stealing form him something that wasn’t hers to take, were they wrong in what they said?
Maybe I am just that selfish. Take what’s not mine, want what I don’t deserve. The lump in her throat became nearly suffocating by the time she finally found it in herself to let go of him. He had willingly gave her the moment she had asked for and so she would do as she promised.
“Please forgive me,” Meridiana reached behind her neck and unhooked the clasp from the delicate chain that hung around her neck “I would not have been so forward before had I’d known.” As she held the medallion between them her hidden signature flared back to life, diminutive when compared to his, but still present nonetheless.
She lifted it up and slowly brought it over his head then fixed his braid so her necklace rested beneath his hair. “You asked how I hid my signature, it was with the help of this.” Meridiana had expected it to hide his as it did her own but it only brought him down to his level so they were perceived to be of similar rank.
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Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2019 6:48 pm
Adria watched her, nervous and shy, but with a bit more confidence than he'd had before. He hadn't exploded midway through the kiss, so that was a positive. The presence of a Chaos signature--he'd known what she was, what it felt like--still sent a shiver down his spine.
He watched as she moved the necklace, but truthfully he was more enamored with the way his hair felt when she moved it than he was with having his answer.
"That's amazing," he said, reaching to run his fingers over the front of the Medallion. Better for her, he imagined; it would let her move easily through Destiny City without being tracked.
...Though, he had to wonder if it was safe to be concerned for a member of Chaos like that.
But, she was more than that. She wasn't just some Chaos-Agent. She wasn't like Sanidine.
A bit of dread twisted in his stomach when the voice in the back of his head whispered, yet.
“...I don't mind you being forward," he said, eyes lifting from the necklace. "...It's not like it was cruel." He wanted to say it was nice, he wanted to say he had enjoyed it, even if he didn't understand what was going on.
His words got caught in his mouth, like someone had stuffed it with cotton when he wasn't looking and it was all he could do just to keep breathing. "But...if you have a guilty conscience, maybe giving me your name will lift it? That way I at least have a name to keep in mind when I compare all other kisses to that one?"
He wasn't smooth, his cheeks hadn't yet returned to their normal color and he couldn't bring himself to look at her when he asked. He was too worried to see some sort of judgement, rejection--some emotion he wasn't ready to handle, not on top of everything else he was trying to smother away to the back of his mind.
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