lucetilogs | New Feather Party, Summer Edition!

Well unfortunately, I'm a patient woman. Twenty years in the same place all alone gives you certain skills. [Like Godly patience.]

[Though her patience doesn't stop her from putting a finger under Gai's chin.] It doesn't give you other things, though.

Oh?

[He lets her tilt his chin, though he keeps his eyes fixed on her face, curious to see what she means by that. He may be patient, and able to keep his cool under almost any circumstance, but somehow she is managing to test the limits of his patience just by existing. What he wants more than anything is to just scoop her up, carry her back to his apartment, and express every single one of the feelings that are twisting his stomach into excited knots right now.

He also knows that isn't what she wants, and because of that, he's going to hold back and let her set the pace.]

[...shoot, she thought that might do it. Apparently she needs to think on the fly right now though, because she's not giving in just yet.]

I... don't know what to do with a handsome man like you. I don't know what to do with myself when we're this close. [Elizabeth's finger traces Gai's jaw until her whole hand is against his cheek.] I don't think I'll ever know.

You don't have to know. That's what instinct is for.

[He allows himself a moment of weakness to lean his cheek just slightly into that hand, still smiling.]

I think you'll find it isn't a bad teacher at all.

[... okay, he can't resist the urge to let that smile get just a tiny bit less innocent.]

... nor am I.

[Elizabeth could argue that she doesn't have much instinct for this at all, that what she's read is so far away from what Gai does that she might as well be in remedial school for kissing.]

[But that smile... that smile will kill every argument dead every single time.] No, you're not. You're an... excellent teacher. [And she can't help but blush at the admission.]

I think I'm out of practice, though. Forgetting my lessons...

[That smile is just one of many tricks in Gai's arsenal of non-physical weapons. One of the things he learned long ago was that his attractiveness could be put to very good use, just like he's doing now. Hey, he never claimed to be innocent in any sense of the word.]

Forgetting so soon? Then I can't be that good a teacher if you've already forgotten everything you've learned.

Maybe I'm not a very good student. [Probably a bold-faced lie, Elizabeth's life had been nothing but study. And she picked it up quickly.]

[She leaned in closer to Gai again.] Maybe you should give me a refresher.

[How very kind of her to make things easier for him like that! Now Gai does move, pushing himself up on one arm to close the short distance between them and capture her lips with his own. A part of his mind gives a brief chiding in the form of "horny teenager", but he quickly tells that part to shove it and focuses on the task at hand.

To him, she's one of the most attractive women he's ever encountered, even if she might not believe that. Maybe she'll believe it if he shows her how he feels.]

[Elizabeth doesn't move fast enough, but after the initial noise of protest she's humming against Gai's lips. Oh well, she tried.]

[Her hand hovers over Gai's stomach for a moment before instinct tells her to just touch. She slides her hand over his abs, and wow that's... what held her up against the waves.]

[Yeah, Gai may be a horny teenager, but Elizabeth's a horny twenty-year-old too. Muscles aside, Gai is fun, and smart, and kind. And gosh she missed him when she was trying to get her apartment straightened for Booker and Robert.]

[Oh--]

Is anyone-- [She kisses him again and tries to look up further on the beach.] --watching us? [Thinking is hard right now.]

[Elizabeth will no doubt feel him gasp slightly into that kiss as her hand makes contact with the bare skin of his abdomen and then just strokes, running over the muscles there. She's far from the first person to touch him like that - and to be honest, her touch is more gentle, more wondering than anything else - yet somehow in spite of its gentleness and inexperience it manages to stoke a flame in its wake unlike anything he's ever felt before. He can FEEL the hold on his control slipping even as he desperately scrabbles to maintain his clutch on it.

The momentary break in the kissing allows him to attempt to gather his thoughts and clear his head.]

I don't know. We could... we should go back to my apartment.

["If this is going to happen," is the unspoken ending of that sentence. Not here, not on the beach in the sand where people could see, and most importantly he doesn't have any sort of protection with him...]

[That was a stupid question to ask out loud. Clearly Gai doesn't know, he probably doesn't even know what Robert looks like. Elizabeth is just getting so paranoid about Booker finding her almost on top of Gai in a wet dress that was clinging to her in a borderline obscene way.]

We should, yes... [There's a hesitation in her voice though, as she pieces the rest of it out.] ...but Gai, I don't have any other clothes. [She sounds embarrassed and drops her voice to a whisper.] I'm not wearing a corset under this. [Or a chemise or drawers, but really, she could probably get home in some of Gai's clothing if she had to. It was the corset that really posed a problem. She couldn't just go... corsetless into the village.]

Besides... do you really want me to dry off on your couch? [Elizabeth gives him a wry smile and squeezes her sleeve--it's still retaining water. Clearly, she and Gai are not on the same page here. She isn't even thinking about undressing unless it's so she can get into something dry right after.]

[She's not wearing a...

... no, Gai. Gai. Stop. Of course she's naked under the suit, it's a bathing suit even if it does look odd, that doesn't mean you need to actually start THINKING about that fact...

And then he makes the horrible mistake of actually LOOKING at her and realizing that wow, he had no idea that such a thick fabric could cling like that, and she just said she wasn't wearing a corset underneath that and oh god he needs to stop his brain RIGHT NOW.

He doesn't even notice that she asked him a question, so focused is he on trying to stop the runaway hormone train that is currently his brain. Okay. Closing his eyes and taking deep breaths and thinking about anything and everything but Elizabeth and/or sex right now...]

[Uh oh.]

Gai...? [Elizabeth frowns, concerned. Gai looks a little like he's in pain right now, closing his eyes and taking deep breaths. Or he's focusing on something, either way Elizabeth has no idea what's going on. Obviously she didn't have a corset on under her suit--he didn't wear his underwear under his suit, did he?]

[...did he...?]

It's just that... you know, the boning would rust and corrode if it came into contact with salt water. And it can get uncomfortable even on a good day. I didn't think I'd get the whole thing wet.

[She bites her lip, trying to think quickly about how to fix this. Obviously she's gotten him all excited without thinking ahead, and Elizabeth can see why that would be frustrating.] I'll go home and change! And meet you at your apartment!

["Pain" wouldn't be quite the right word to describe what he's feeling right now, but let's go with that because he's not about to say "those mental images are turning me on so much I can't stand it." She's gotten him excited all right, it's just probably not in the way SHE thinks.

This... is awkward. Deep breaths. Think about planning for a mission. Memorizing all of the potential outcomes. Anything but corsets and bathing suits and being wet.

... why did she have to mention getting the whole thing wet there goes his brain off the rails again.

Maybe he can still form words. He'll give it a try.]

... I wasn't trying to suggest you should change first.

You mean just... go like this?

[She likes Gai, she likes Gai very much. But sitting around in soaked wool is not her idea of an afternoon well-spent. She's feeling a little clammier now that she isn't tucked against Gai, and she runs one of her hands along her arm trying to brush the goosebumps away.]

[But if there was one thing she's willing to do, it's compromise. She and Gai had already done it regarding their potential to seriously injure the other, Gai obviously wants Elizabeth to continue what they started as soon as possible. Maybe, this once, she could hurry home before her lack of corset was noticed by anyone.]

I'm a little cold. Could I... borrow some clothes when we get to your apartment? [She tries smiling at him.]

[That innocent question just brings a slew of new mental images that aren't much better than the ones it replaced-- the thought of her wearing one of his shirts and ONLY one of his shirts is... well. Very appealing indeed.

But it sure as hell isn't helping him control himself, that much is for certain, and it's clear by now that she's on a completely different page than he is. If he doesn't somehow get them on the same level, he's pretty sure this is just going to keep getting worse and worse. He's just not sure how to do so without being embarrassingly blunt about it.]

I was thinking...

[He stops, sighing, and decides to just get it out into the open. If she hits him for having a dirty mind? He can't say he didn't have it coming.]

I wanted to take it off when we got there.

My suit?

[Elizabeth looks, indeed, surprised that this was what Gai was getting at all along. Clearly, she doesn't need to point out that she isn't wearing anything under it, he already knows.]

[And there wasn't much else that could happen between a naked young woman and the young man undressing her. Gai wanted... that. He wanted to undress her and lay her down and...]

[Well, her experiences with romance novels take over from there and her face goes redder than it ever has before. She can almost imagine him touching her in places he hasn't before, more than just her hand or her waist or her back. Warm hands chasing away the cold chill that was creeping over her skin. It sounded like something she wanted, something that felt right. And Gai was asking so earnestly, her heart felt so full just from that little sentence.]

[But she's so scared. Elizabeth doesn't know what will happen if she says 'not this time'. Will Gai be upset and walk away? Find some other girl who will let him take her clothes off right away? This must have been what Gai was used to, what most people did with people they liked. It only felt fast to her because she was from 1912, not 2039...]

[Elizabeth continues to look shell-shocked, even goes a little pale.]

Al... alright.

[She nearly drowned for him a few minutes ago. Losing him because she wouldn't let him undress her... Elizabeth doesn't want that.]

[If she'd been expecting him to be pleased by her agreement, as she no doubt had, she would be surprised by the look on his face now.

It's neutral at first, quietly assessing as steel-grey eyes flit over her face, watching every single change in her expression. She's pale; she looks frightened by this. She isn't agreeing because she wants to, she's agreeing because she thinks it's what he wants.

And he can't deny that he wants it, wants it more badly than he's wanted almost anything in his life. It's not just his body that desires it, either-- HE wants to make her feel good, he wants to make her feel happy and loved, to touch her in ways that bring her pleasure rather than pain or fear. God, he wants to get her on the bed and make her scream with pleasure until she doesn't have any voice left to scream with.

But he doesn't want that unless it's what she too desires, and right now, the look on her face is making it clear to him that it isn't. He may enjoy sex, but only with a partner who is totally and completely willing. He would never, could never, coerce anyone into doing anything they didn't really want.

In a way, it almost hurts a little, to know that she thinks he'd get angry with her if she said no. But he can understand why she would want to agree to it. It's that same fear that had caused him to turn around and leave her out there in the middle of the ocean.

Slowly he shakes his head, looking almost... sad?]

No. Not if it isn't what you really want.

[She supposes she shouldn't be shocked. Gai is so smart, he was probably reading her like a book at this point. He probably knows exactly what she's afraid of. This wasn't his first time, Elizabeth had figured that out long ago. This exact scenario had probably happened to him before, maybe.]

[But it was Elizabeth's first, and the look on Gai's face nearly breaks her heart. Throwing herself forward, she wraps her arms around Gai's back and buries her face in his neck.]

It is what I want! I want it to be you, because you know every part of me, everything I'm afraid might happen during it. You're not... going to hurt me, I want my first time to be with you.

I didn't know we were there yet, I thought... I didn't think anything, I only was thinking about seeing you again, not what we would be doing or when or why. I didn't realize you were already... thinking about me like that.

If I had, I would have already warned you that my body isn't perfect. [There, she said it.] And I'm not shaped like that woman in the bikini and I don't know if I'd just be disappointing or not. I may have made fun of those novels Gai, but there were a few where I thought to myself that I would never be that bold or that enticing. I'm just a plain girl with a deadly power, I'm not... [She shakes her head into Gai's shoulder and clings to him tightly.] I'm not experienced like you are.

[Instinctively, he brings his arms up to enfold her in a tight hug when she flings herself against him. Her words just confirm his suspicions, though he hadn't been expecting her to be worried about whether she was attractive enough for his standards. That's one thing he'd thought he'd already (accidentally) made quite clear.]

I don't care about your body and whether it's perfect or not. I don't care whether you look like those women in the bikinis, or even whether you're wearing one or wearing this. You felt it the other day-- just how much I wanted you, exactly the way you are. I'd never even seen you undressed. I still haven't, and I still can't think about anything else but how much I want to be with you like that.

You don't need to be like those books, and I'd give up my experience if it meant my first time could be with you.

[Not... what it had been. He just hugs her more tightly, bringing a hand up to stroke her hair.]

[When Elizabeth thinks back, she realizes that Gai couldn't have answered any other way. If he cared about her shape and her more conservative pace, he would have found someone else. He isn't the sort of person to waste time, it seems to her. So he saw something in Elizabeth that kept bringing him back. Something Elizabeth had thought she didn't have. But the fact that he wants to see her, wants to be with her 'like that' no matter what she looks like says to Elizabeth that there was something true in between no-education and the things she'd read in Luceti. Something that wasn't purely evil or purely physical, but an expression of deep affection and trust. It wasn't just about her body, was it?]

[This time, it wasn't about her body and what it could do.]

[She tries to stay quiet and not upset Gai, but she's crying silently over his shoulder. She cares for him, she trusts him.]

I have... [She cleared her throat, trying to rein in her voice from wavering.] I've thought of what I want it to be like. My first time. [She closes her eyes, trying to paint the scene.] I want to be in an evening dress, one that slides off of me, and makes me feel like a beautiful woman. Instead of a girl in a-- [She sniffs and tries to laugh.] --wet bathing suit that she has to peel off.

[She thinks for a moment, then tucks her nose against Gai's neck.] ...tomorrow night?

[Gai has certainly been with his fair share of women-- gorgeous, glamorous women, ones who looked like the women in the bikinis here. Women with big breasts and narrow waists and shapely hips who would look right at home in a movie or on the cover of some magazine. But in the end, that's all they were: pretty bodies, nothing more. They'd never meant anything to him. It was all either just to have a little bit of fun and let off some steam, or to secure funding or supplies for Funeral Parlor. A means to an end. That's all it had ever been.

But this... his desire to make her feel good doesn't stem from his ego, but from a genuine wish that she be happy and enjoy herself. He wants to give her this because she deserves something special, and more than anything, he wants to be the one to make her happy. Maybe this is what caring about someone is.

Maybe that's also why, when he realizes that she's crying, he'd do anything to get her to smile again.]

And a fancy dinner first. A real date, without any dancing on tables or drunken singing.

[He smiles and moves to nuzzle against her hair.]

I'll wear a suit to go with your dress.

[He drops a soft kiss on her temple.]

But I would be just as happy if you were still wearing this instead of some evening dress.

I wouldn't. [Elizabeth gives a short, wet laugh while she leans into Gai's kiss.] I'm cold, and the way this is sticking to me doesn't make me feel attractive at all. [She pulls back and repositions herself with her forehead to Gai's. There's a tear on her cheek, but other than that she seems to have had her moment.]

I've been a girl in a tower, looked after and watched, my whole life. I want to be beautiful and poised and independent. Not just for you, for me as well.

[Maybe she was completely overthinking this, turning it into something that was bigger than it actually was. But it felt important to her, it felt like a transitional moment. A real date, and then a night where she let Gai in closer than anyone had ever been before. No one warning her to be careful, or trying to tell her what she should think or do. Just her, in clothes that were neither provided for her nor belonged to her "mother". Another change, another shift in how she viewed herself. She wanted to be ready for it.]

And I want to see you in a suit. [She grinned.] Something dark and slim...

[He can't help but laugh too, out of happiness and relief along with the amusement.]

Actually, I find it quite attractive.

[But then he softens, leaning his forehead against hers for a moment before tilting his head just enough to kiss away that tear. That sentiment is something he too can understand: it had been why he had discarded the name "Triton" to become "Gai," because that was something he had chosen rather than something that was chosen for him.

A sign that he was no longer a tool, but a person. A person with desires and goals of his own. Someone who had thrown away his weak self to become stronger.

This is a transitional moment for both of them, whether Elizabeth realizes it or not. A beginning to a life where Gai no longer needs to be a soldier and a leader every waking moment, a life where he can just be a man and she can just be a woman and maybe, just maybe, the two of them can be happy together.

A new start.]

Not too dark. Black might be a little too depressing for the occasion.

[Elizabeth closes her eyes as Gai kisses her cheek, feeling another little flutter rise in her chest. He was so romantic, but so real at the same time. It would have felt too good to be true if she and Gai hadn't had their share of difficult conversations. But he was one of the most real things she'd ever had in her life, romanticism included.]

Oh... I suppose men can wear what they like to dinner in 2039, can't they? [She laughs a little and opens her eyes again.] I've never been this happy to be here.

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