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"Mmm?" Behind her dark glasses, Earako blinked, sitting back up in the chair that she had started to slide out of. Slipping her fingers up under the lenses, she rubbed her eyes, trying to will herself back into awareness. Usually, she was more alert at night. But this was a book class. She hated book classes.

A bit more aware now, she turned to see who had saved her from drifting off, and offered the brightly coloured bird a small smile. She knew him, sort of, even if her foggy mind couldn't quite remember his name. Something with a P.

"Sorry." She murmured, her soft whispering voice hushed further in respect for the fact that they weren't supposed to be talking. Or sleeping. Or doing anything that might actually make the time pass a little faster. "This is a little..."

She trailed off. It wouldn't be very nice to call the teacher boring.

Earako giggled at the boy's words, the sort of shocked and amused giggle that came from hearing that could be considered not... entirely... appropriate. It wasn't nice to talk bad about the teachers. Of course, her Da' did it all the time, so maybe it was ok if Paxton did it to. Her own grip in the handshake was a gentle one, just the lightest of pressure from her pale finger tips. "Earako."

She'd been right. His name did start with a P.

The teacher's departure, and the subsequent suggestion from Paxton openly surprised Earako, she bit her lip in a decidedly unladylike way as she considered it. On the one hand, they weren't supposed to leave. On the other, it wasn't very polite to turn down an invitation, and he had called her a lady. Besides, the attention was flattering. Him with all his bright feathers asking to play with plain boring her. All the frilly blue lace and black silk that she wore could not possibly begin to compare to the decoration that nature had given Paxton.

"If you promise." She answered finally, the words coming out in a whispered nervous rush. It was night, after all. She shouldn't be stuck falling asleep in class.

Her Da' was gonna kill, though.

Earako stood in turn, a movement of practiced (sitting down and then standing again for hours, just to get it right) grace. Deliberately not noticing the fact that some of the other students were giving them confused looks she went about carefully collecting her things. She lifted her cape, black velvet and faux fur, off the back of her chair, and put it on over her dress and carefully closed wings. Da' had said no to a full length cloak, so she made do with the shorter version, at least until she could get her hands on enough velvet to make her own.

She'd never taken off her long black gloves or velvet hat, so there was no collecting of the smaller things, only a carefully straightening of her dress to the shush sound of silk against silk before she was ready to brave the world outside the classroom.

"Then I shall feel myself quite safe indeed, Sir Paxton." The albino bat responded, with just the barest hint of a smile betraying the fact that even she found such language a little silly.

Placing her hand lightly in Paxton's own, she allowed herself to be led from the room and out into the hallway. And from there, freedom! Or, at least a brief break from the dull lecture.

Jittery energy was sizzling under Earako's pale skin. She hadn't ever done anything bad before. It was a strange bubbly feeling to know that there was some hint of danger to this. That they could even be caught. She wanted to laugh, all loud silly crazy, but knew it wasn't exactly a good idea. They were sneaking.

"Paxton, then," Earako agreed. A gracious lady was flexible with things like titles, of course. She remembered talking to Keanu, when he'd called her princess and she'd objected. Now, she was flexible. Both in what she let others call her, and in what she called them. Good manners were important. Especially for a girl that didn't have any other talents.

Shadowing Paxton down the flights of stairs, her heart beating crazy fast, she took the steps quickly, more quickly than a lady should. At the bottom, she couldn't quite avoid sighing with relief, nodding silently at Paxton's words.

"Well... I'm a vampire bat. I have a red dragon named Vimber. And I like to sew." That was pretty much it, wasn't it? "What about you?"

And then outside, and it was wonderful, no harsh hateful sunlight to make her falling down dizzy, just the excitement of their escape; the shivery feelings mixing with the chill of the air, so that all her skin was up in goosebumps. She took off her sunglasses, red eyes bright with excitement, and tilted her head up to look at the stars, transfixed.

If he was talking, she wasn't hearing him. "Oh, isn't it perfect?"

Innocent? Earako? Earako who's house did without a TV, who's father treated her like she was made of glass? Well, in someways. She could swear in about four different languages (ladies didn't, though), and knew more about guns then she cared to admit. But jokes about sucking and the many meanings of the word love certainly flew right over the top of her huge ears.

She only barely heard him talking, something about birds and flowers. She was studying the spaces between the stars, as the last shimmers of nervous energy began to fade. She lowered her gaze, not wanting to be rude, just as he admitted to being a spaz.

And then--

She began to blush the moment he mentioned her eyes, and the blush only got worse as he moved to study them more closely. Blushing wasn't something that could be hidden, with skin as pale as hers. For a breath she simply stood, allowing herself to be examined, if only because she didn't know how to react. And then she jerked away, the sunglasses quickly coming out and sliding on, blocking her eyes from view.

"It's... I know they're ugly. I'm albino." The words were forced out in a whimpering whisper. How could he. How could he ruin this bright perfect night by pointing out her eyes. And there he was, all bright feathered beautiful, and it wasn't her fault that she was born this way!

"It's not polite to point out a lady's short comings, you know." But there was no force behind the reproach, just that same whispered hurt. The exhilarated wide eyed creature of moments before was gone, Earako stood with her wings brought up to wrap protectively around her, as if they might hide her from view, her eyes fixed firmly on the ground.

Earako allowed him to approach, not able to find the will even to move away. Her pale hair hung in her face, and while she wasn't crying, her breath came in those short little gasps that indicated that she was close to tears. She heard his voice, but only sounds, the rise and fall of noises.

Not even a sorry? She would have noticed that, at least.

She winced at his touch, but didn't pull away, forcing herself to actually hear what he was saying in case he required some sort of response from her. Look at him. All sparkly pretty bright and--

And wait.

What had he just said? Lovely?

The unexpected statement made the poor batling's head spin, and she simply stood there, blinking awkwardly as he slid her glasses off again. Was he making fun of her? Was that what this was? Because if that was the case, she'd never forgive him. Never.

Except, except he didn't look like he was kidding. If anything, he looked nervous, as if he wasn't sure what to expect. As if he meant what he was saying.

She let her wings loosen, and folded them once again beneath her cloak, her breathing becoming more steady.

"I-- I'm not. I'm just boring. Pale and colourless, and I don't even have pretty patterns like Ligeia." She bit her lip, the spill of words threatening to bring back earlier tears. "I don't even have feathers."

"I wish I looked like you."

And that was less than a whisper, only barely audible on the night air.

Paxton might be surprised to meet Earako's family, composed, as it was, primarily of doting father figures. The worst she had to deal with was an indifferent aunt, and indifference was about as close as Lithle came to affection. No it wasn't family that had caused Earako's insecurities. A quick glance at the night's outfit would betray the bat's love for complexity. And Earako, to her same, was quite simple. She was not yet at an age where she could appreciate that simplicity.

Her decent into morose self contemplation was distracted by the love bird's near stumble, she reached a hand out to him, then pulled it back when she realized the boy might only be further set off balance by her grabbing at him.

And then, before she even had a chance to make sense of his stumble, there was the brief touch of fingertips against her skin and then... pressure of lips on lips. And look, Earako was all sorts of shades of pretty pink, under the right conditions. Her heart skip jumping all over again, like once again she was on the edge of danger. Maybe she was.

It had felt nice, and yet, and yet-- well, what was the batling to make of it. Not yet a teenager, but no longer a child, and here, this first kiss. A gesture of neither lust nor love, and yet a fore runner of both, a bright brief hint of the future.

The pale princess's skin shiver burned and she stood, just blinking as Paxton gathered up a ball of snow and tossed it in her direction.

The spell broke, and whatever future she'd glimpsed was forgotten, lost to the sound of her own laughter, sweet and still childlike.

Grinning, all pretenses of a lady's manners tossed aside for the chance at play, Earako scooped up her own snow ball, and opened her wings, gaining a few feet's elevation before throwing her own snow ball down at him. Her aim was good. Though a snow ball was not a bow and arrow, her hours of practice bled into other acts of precision. And she saw best after dark.