lucetilogs | New Feather Party, Summer Edition!

[It's just as well that she isn't looking at him, since he glances over at her, a bit surprised by the question given the fact that they'd met at the rave here.

But he recovers quickly, and smiles.]

The last time I came to a beach just to go swimming was when I was seven years old. I thought it might be fun to give it another try.

[Because it's something normal people do. Now, for once in his life, he has a reason to want to be normal.]

Oh. [Elizabeth realizes now that maybe that question was a little insensitive. Perhaps she was just too stuck in the 'New Feather' aspect given she had dragged Robert there.]

[She smiles up at Gai, convincing herself that the moment is probably more important than avoiding more teasing about the staring.] I'm glad you came. I've been so busy with Robert and Booker, I feel like I haven't seen you in a long time.

You know, you're welcome to drop by whenever you'd like if you want to get away from them for a little while. I doubt they'd blame you for wanting some space every now and then.

[And hey, it would mean they could have more time together, which is always a plus. But if there's one thing he understands, it's a need for space away from other people, and he suspects Elizabeth is much like he is in that respect.

He gives her hand a squeeze when she smiles at him, encouraging.]

I would love to... [She gives him a pained smile.] But I'm afraid I'll come home and someone will be dead on the floor.

I don't know why, but they just... don't like one another. [And clearly it's wearing on her a little, given her heavy sigh.] But I feel responsible for them both.

[Ah. That Gai also understands, having had to play referee between assorted Funeral Parlor members more often than he'd like to count. He's not pleased that it seems to be upsetting her, though.]

Just lock them both in separate bedrooms for the evening. Problem solved, unless you taught them how to pick locks too. That ought to at least get the message across.

Given the number of times Booker kept telling me to open doors and safes for him? I doubt he'd know which end of a lockpick to use. He'd just shoot the door off its hinges. [Elizabeth laughed at the image.] And Mr. Lutece would use a nail and a foot of string to escape.

But, if Booker knew I was on a date, he might not take the bait and we'd have a bigger problem.

You don't think I'm the perfect model of a fine, upstanding gentleman?

[He tosses his hair a little to emphasize this, though it's clear he's joking.]

I've been doing my best to keep the corrupting to a minimum so far, trip to the bar aside.

I don't think 'fine upstanding gentlemen' encourage intoxicated girls onto tables. [She grins, clearly she has absolutely no regrets about that night but also has absolutely no qualms over reminding Gai of the gallivanting he engaged in with her.]

Which, I think we should keep to ourselves. Even if it was my idea, I don't think I could convince Booker of that.

Which is why I said the trip to the bar didn't count. I'm not going to pretend I wasn't just as responsible for that.

[Even if it WAS fun as hell. How can you not enjoy dancing on a table?]

But he does seem to be the protective type. I'd be more concerned about keeping what happened after that a secret from him-- at least the dancing on the table had witnesses to confirm that it wasn't too bad.

We did leave together though. [Elizabeth looks back at the beach, wondering where Robert has gotten to. And when she doesn't see him--]

And it sounds as though you're saying what happened after was somehow 'bad'. But it was so good... I can't stop thinking about it. [She blushes, wondering if that was a little too honest to say. But who else could she tell? Absolutely no one.]

In Booker's eyes, it's probably one of the worst things the two of us could've done. Something tells me the fact that we didn't go all the way isn't going to make much of a difference as far as he's concerned.

[But hearing that from Elizabeth... well, he does have an ego, and he may be preening internally right about now. He uses the fact that they're holding hands to tug her a little closer, leaning down close to her ear and lowering his voice into something halfway between a conspiratorial whisper and something a little more seductive.]

But you aren't the only one who can't stop thinking about it.

You do have a point... [She looks utterly depressed by this. Some day she's going to have to tell Booker something and deal with the potential issue. But maybe she's just being too sensitive. After all, she and Booker had a very strong, very personal connection, but would it really hurt him all that much to know Elizabeth was attracted to someone?]

[She's playing the various scenarios in her head when Gai whispers in her ear. And that has her face going red all over again, and remembering how warm she felt with Gai's hand traveling down her back. Another little flutter rises in her chest when she remembers Gai telling her she was doing everything right, and now seems like a good point to find a little out-of-the-way place to go and relive that.]

[But... Robert. Elizabeth lets out a little gasp and pulls away a few inches after being frozen there for a minute.] Did you really come here to swim, sir? [She laughs a little and raises her eyebrow.] Or to help get me into something bad again?

[Now Gai laughs, straightening back up and looking for all the world as if they'd just been having a conversation about something as innocuous as wading in the ocean. Unlike her, it's going to take a lot more than that to get him flustered, especially since he was the one doing the teasing in the first place. But he wouldn't do it if she didn't poke right back at him-- that's what makes it fun. It's an odd way of flirting and he likes it.

Perhaps someday he'll learn how to act like a normal person in a relationship. Today, however, isn't that day.]

Who says we can't manage both? I wasn't planning on leaving for quite a while. But if you're worried about the company...

I am. I convinced Mr. Lutece to make an appearance. If he catches me leaving with you and I don't come back to the apartment until later, something bad will happen. It isn't as though they don't even speak to one another if there's a reason to. [And 'Where's Elizabeth?' seems like a good reason to talk.]

Besides... if we don't do other things, we'll only look forward to being alone together. Right?

[Elizabeth moves a bit more quickly now that they're closer to the ocean, pulling Gai along with her.] Come on! I'll even let you splash me a few times.

[... right. She has a point. Calm yourself, Gai, you're acting like a... he hates to apply the words horny teenager to himself, but even he has to admit that it'd be a fairly accurate assessment right now.

He shakes his head briefly to clear it, wondering just what the heck is wrong with him. Normally he doesn't get this worked up over things like this. Is this normal? Maybe it is normal. But with no frame of reference to compare things to...

... feelings are weird. They're weird, and they freak him out sometimes. Okay, more than sometimes.

He lets her tug him along, just chuckling softly.]

That seems like a small concession to make given how often I'm expecting to get splashed during this.

Well it's hardly my fault if you can't dodge fast enough. [It's a completely ridiculous comment, of course Gai could get around pretty much anything Elizabeth can throw. She lets go of his hand and starts into the water. Wow, it's much colder than the water in Battleship Bay, but it's all real. Not a construct, probably, 100% real ocean.]

[Despite the cold though, she wades in up to her knees--or really, up to her thighs when the waves swell up around her on their way to the shore. She skims her hands over the surface of the water, almost as though the ocean were an animal she was petting.]

Then again, I suppose I have it coming.

[It's a cryptic comment, and before she can ask what he means, he's wading his way out to an oncoming wave and just cannonballing right into it. Best way to get accustomed to the temperature is to jump right in, after all.

... except he doesn't emerge after the wave breaks. Another wave passes, and still no sign of him.]

[Woah, when Gai said 'swimming', he actually meant swimming, didn't he?]

[Elizabeth laughs and starts going further out to meet up with Gai when he surfaces. But then he doesn't...]

[She looks further down the beach both left and right, looks behind her in case Gai let the wave take him back to shore. She can't see him. What if he was caught in kelp or something and couldn't resurface?]

Gai! [She starts running for the spot Gai disappeared into--at least, she's trying to run through water, but the breaking waves keep pushing her back or slowing her down.]

[Still no sign of him in any direction she looks-- no blond hair, no red swim trunks, nothing. It's as if he's just vanished into the ocean.

He waits until she's almost on top of him to surface, launching himself up out of the water just enough to grab her arm-- and then try to pull her down into the water with him, or at the very least unbalance her. It'll be quite a surprise, if nothing else.

In retrospect, he realizes that it was probably a bit mean of him to frighten her like that. But he has memories of Shu doing exactly the same thing to him when they'd played in the ocean more than ten years ago, so to him, it seems like a perfectly normal thing to do in the water.]

[It is very much a surprise.]

[Elizabeth shrieks when she's grabbed and yanked. And of course, faster reflexes and more muscle means that Elizabeth goes down into the water in the next second.]

[The last person who grabbed Elizabeth out of nowhere got punched in the face. And while Elizabeth can't see anything, she's flailing and kicking in the direction of whatever is holding her like her life depends on it.]

[Also of note, the area under her appears to be littered with blue transparent harpoons.]

[Gai realizes his mistake the instant she shrieks, the instant she starts struggling so desperately against him. Immediately he releases his hold on her arm, pushing himself away through the water to signal that he isn't trying to hurt her... but he's pretty sure the damage is already done, and he's mentally kicking himself for it.

His eye catches a brief glimpse of those blue harpoons as he surfaces. A tear. He'd upset her enough that she opened a tear. And not just any tear, one filled with weapons. Weapons that she probably wouldn't have hesitated to use against him.

He feels sick, almost afraid to look for her, to check if she's all right.

This is all his fault...]

[Elizabeth drags herself up out of the water, immediately realizing why some women chose to wear something a little less cumbersome to the beach. The wool of her suit is completely soaked, and heavy. She looks a little ridiculous with her hair plastered to her head and her clothes sticking heavily to her torso.]

Gai! [She wades through the water again over to him, clearly incensed and weighed down by her clothes. Once she's close enough she gives him a hard shove (...which isn't hard at all but she tries).] I thought you were drowning! And then a giant squid! [You know, like any Jules Verne fan would think out in the middle of the ocean.]

[She looks back down at the blue glow under them. Wow, what a mess. This was more or less exactly why Gai was nervous about Elizabeth startling him while asleep, wasn't it? Elizabeth did strange things when started too, but at least she couldn't actively do anything with her tears. ...not that she could use a harpoon but.]

[Her heart is still hammering in her chest, still scared over Gai potentially drowning. It won't go away until she calms down--so she reaches out for Gai's hand again, trying to catch her breath.] I thought you were drowning...

[Gai doesn't even make any attempt to avoid that shove. Instead, he just allows her to push him, looking down at the water the whole time to avoid looking at her face. He can't look at her face. He already knows what he's going to see there; looking would just confirm it, something he's not sure he can bear to do just yet.

He screwed up. He scared her, and now she's angry, and rightfully so. HE'S angry at himself for doing that.

"Why don't you already have a girlfriend?" How ironic that she'd asked him that. Well, now she knows. And now he knows that he was an idiot for ever thinking that he could.

When she reaches for his hand, he pulls it away before she can touch him, still keeping his eyes averted while he searches for a way to respond.]

[Elizabeth pulls back when Gai does, eyes widening slightly. That's never happened before... and he won't even look at her. He looks angry.]

[It doesn't cross her mind that he's upset with himself. It seems more likely to Elizabeth that he's angry she materialized half a dozen harpoons on the bottom of the ocean just for a little pull. This was all her fault...]

[She twists her hands in the fabric of her skirt and tries to calm down so she can force the tear away. But now she's upset because Gai won't look at her, won't let her even touch him. What had she been thinking? It was obviously only a matter of time before she materialized something strange or dangerous, and Gai would be well within his rights to revise his feelings on tears.]

...Please Gai... just look at me this once. I can make it disappear, I can control it better-- [What a lie that was.] --I was just surprised, I'm sorry.

It isn't you.

[That came out sounding far sharper than he'd intended, but at least he turns to look at her now. Yes, there's anger on his face, just as she'd thought-- anger mixed with guilt and pain. He isn't blaming her, he's blaming himself. If she'd thrown those harpoons at him, he would've deserved it. Maybe she should have.]

I was the one who thought it would be a good idea to play a joke on you like that. I was the one who was enough of an idiot to think that it would be funny. You have every right to be angry at me for that.

[He WANTS her to be angry, because it's what he thinks he deserves.]

Edited 2013-07-23 02:58 (UTC)

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