2017-06-16: Literal Shoujo Sparkles
- Log: Literal Shoujo Sparkles
- Cast: Riesenlied, Noeline
- Where: Old Petra
- Date: 16th June 2017
- Summary: Riesenlied and Noeline retire to their quarters within Old Petra, after a long day of difficult discussions... They take a moment, to discuss their relationship, and of the future.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied's returned to Old Petra, after everything else; after debate, the commander eventually feels it'd be too irresponsible to run off somewhere, especially with the bounty hanging over her head. But it doesn't mean they have to suffer -- her room, small as it is, is still relatively comfortable, with many of the familiar creature comforts present as she seats herself on her bed. "There is tea... and I have asked Devet to bring some treats, so they should be here soon," she gestures towards her small kitchenette.
She's hurting, still, and it's rather evident on her face.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline closes the door behind her-- and, probably due to past experience in dealing with poor Devet, quietly engages the lock while she's at it. Not that she has anything against the littlest Metal Demon - quite the opposite, in fact, because she has to admit a certain fondness borne of her being such an easy target - but there's certainly been a moment previously where she barged in on them both without warning.
"Of course," she hums, stepping forward silently. Any other day she might have moved to the side to begin preparing tea for both of them, or else made a quip about how that was that and how they finally had some time alone. But it's been a long day, so instead she just sneaks up on Riesenlied, making herself known only when her arms suddenly slide around the other woman's waist to let her lean in.
The sigh she lets out at the same time is a clear one of relief, at being able to finally stop for a moment - recharging her Riese gauge, perhaps.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied's wings flutter just a little bit behind her as she smiles tenderly for Noeline, a smile reserved just for her. "... that frown doesn't suit you ..." she suggests, reaching up to stroke at the Demon's hair very gently. "Shall I go fetch us the tea? Just sit down for a moment." She starts to rise.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
There's a soft little huff from the vampire, and then a momentary pressure that encourages Riesenlied back down to her seat. "... in a moment," she requests quietly, any trace of joking and lilting gone from her voice, and when she slides into Riesenlied's lap all of a sudden it isn't as the usual grinning tease, but just as someone run ragged that's in need of some contact.
"You need this, as well. Stop, for a while, and rest," Noeline adds, her red eyes meeting the commander's as a hand reaches up to brush at Riese's cheek; her touch holds there for a moment before sliding forward to tuck her arms around the officer's neck in an embrace.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied blinks once, before smiling ever more gently and wrapping her arms around Noeline's waist in only that tender and motherly way that she can. "Hmm..." she leans in a bit closer, and says, "Of course, I would do anything to see your cheer be returned. Nothing is over, far from it. I feel hopeful, if anything. The pain of reaching out is all the more worthwhile in the end, I know it."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline blinks for a moment, and then again, and... huffs hard as her cheeks suddenly colour, her attempt to be tender a little outdone by Riesenlied's sheer ability. "Wh-- you-- how are you able to recover so readily?!" she grumbles loudly, sagging her shoulders in disbelief before taking the opportunity to simply nestle in closer, still pouting. "Honestly... I am supposed to be the unaffected one, able to simply bull through it all without a care..."
... perhaps part of her pout is at the affection being 'motherly', rather than something more...
"... you take the words right out of my mouth," she adds after a comfortable pause, back to a quiet seriousness at least for the time being. "If you ask me, the talk with Sorey surely helped ease a few woes, but-- for all that her words were sharp, the Princess still met with you, and shared your dream. She is rash, understandably so, but you were able to reach out to her all the same. That is what I was /going/ to say, at least," she adds, determined to get the last word a little.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied looks just a little innocently curious, before smiling warmly to say, "Because this isn't about being unaffected. If I was unaffected, I probably would not be here with you." She leans just a little bit forward, and says, "Patience, Noeline, is not something that is easy to exercise, no matter how long you've done so."
Drawing her head a little further and touching her to her forehead, she answers, "And you must understand things from their perspective too. For them, that was the first time they were really able to put a person they could speak to to the tragedy, that would listen to them."
She scratches her cheek and looks tender as she says, "... but, this isn't about that, isn't it? This is about us, right now."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline pauses, for just a moment - and then allows herself to let out a slow and long sigh, a noise she wouldn't ever dare reveal to anyone else but Riesenlied. "... I know," she mutters as she draws her fingers through some strands of the other woman's hair. "Tensions have run so high-- both here, and in Adlehyde. It has been enough to make me wonder how on earth I allowed myself to get into this situation in the first place, torn between both sides... but, well. If we had reasons for our emotions, they would hardly be emotions, hm?"
The chuckle is still a little strained, her smile just slightly tinged with self-mocking - but she allows herself the chance to enjoy Riesenlied's touch, tilting into it a little, and the pause allows her the much-needed time to relax further. "... I am sorry for the way I interjected... I could not just let the point lie without saying something. But--..."
But she lets it go, because she's evidently kind of done thinking about the day they've had. Instead, her eyebrows pick up just a little at the new topic - and here the Crimson Noble draws back a little, arms still around the other woman's neck as she rocks back. "... well," she hums as she regards Riese slowly. "I am, apparently, your /consort/."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied strokes at Noeline's hair again, before smiling quietly to say, "... it's difficult, not being able to just walk away when it becomes difficult. Perhaps that is part of what you are experiencing right now, hmm...? Not that I fault you at all." There's a pause, as she shakes her head to say, "I appreciate it, but, at the same time... there is a moment in which you must let them speak. Listening is as important a skill, after all."
She just looks a bit content and comfortable... up until the point Noeline brings that point up. "Eh?" Her horns wiggle upwards. "Eh??"
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"... perhaps," Noeline allows gently, closing her eyes again. "This is-- Arctica did not change me overly much, after all, for all that the city was precious to me. This has been a lot more raw, is the best way that I can put it."
But she's already lit up with amusement, her grin showing one fang as her eyes flash with a brighter and more amused light. "Oh? You didn't see any of the posters? 'Riesenlied - and the Demon Knight, her Consort'," she quotes, obviously starting to immediately enjoy herself. "Really, they could at least have picked a better title. I am supposed to be a /Chevalier/," she adds with a flick of her hair - or rather, of her headband, because then she's plucking it off entirely, unfastening her hair to let it flow free.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied's cheeks are already bright red as she stammers, "I--I, perhaps they mean it in a methods of association? Consorting with the enemy, that kind... I hear it is used in that way--" she swallows and stammers further, "I certainly cannot account for what the Guard's perception of me is, with what they call me...!"
Still, she pulls her legs up just a little bit further. "It is a bit fast for us... is it not? Though, it does remind me that... I do wish to speak about..." she glances away, so tenderly, so bashful. "Us..."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline's snicker is almost innocently joyful, the noise welcome in how long it's been since it passed her lips. "Are you /quite/ sure?" she wonders aloud, her finger lifting to Riesenlied's lips to shush her, one eyebrow raised. "After all, I do remember having to dive in front of you, and heroically coming to your rescue as a winged angel fell-- it could certainly come straight from the cover of a romance," she huffs pridefully, ignoring the way her cheeks slightly light up in turn.
She watches Riesenlied's reaction, though, her smile falling away to something quiet as she lightly shifts to make room for the other woman's movements. "... is it too fast? Truly?" she wonders after a moment of silence. "We have been through a great deal together, have we not? ... and I did not make that promise to stay with you lightly, you know," she adds with just a little sense of reproach.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied lets out just the cutest little whimper, and says, "I did not mean to impose on you such, certainly... but..." She reaches towards Noeline's hand so that they can lace their fingers together. "I--I know, but... it is not as if I have ever... considered such a relationship before. It is virtually unknown here. And--" she swallows, as she nestles her head onto Noeline's as she says, "It is not as if I know what you have learnt out there..."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
This time, Noeline's hum is almost cat-like; a noise of satisfaction, her eyes closed as she lets her fingers twine through the other demon's without complaint. "... do you really, truly believe that it was ever an imposition?" she wonders aloud as she leans in, then allows herself a little in the way of a catty grin.
"So what if it is unknown? Everything we are aiming to accomplish in Old Petra is unknown, by demon standards. And you would not be so red if you had not at least had /some/ inkling of what some of my advances meant." she hums again - though this time, tilts her head to let her lips grace Riesenlied's cheek.
"... I hold a great admiration for you," she admits afterwards, her voice back to that quiet and soft note. "And a great affection, as well. I think-- I am long past trying to dance around that any further, especially at a time such as this."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied clings onto that hand like it's a lifeline, letting out a hitched little breath as she watches Noeline's eyes dance across hers. "You pushed your way into my life and showed me colour like none has before... it is no exaggeration I would be half the person I am today without you..." The bashfulness in her voice is very evident, as she admits that.
"Then... how-- how do we do this? What do... um-- what do we do?" the innocence is back in full force in her voice.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline's noise is almost a surprised gasp; she has to quell the urge to glance towards the door, somehow expecting Devet to pile through it right now despite the way she's locked it. "... you could use a different word than 'pushed'," she grumbles automatically after a moment, her eyes briefly forming blank half-moons as she glares - but then the spy is back to that soft smile.
"In return... you are my... hope," she finally decides on the word, as if she's never really examined her feelings too closely or figured out how to put it in words. "Your dream and your lead is enough to draw me in - to instill me with a dedication and fervour I thought I'd lost."
She /is/ still Noeline, though, so she pauses and then adds with an amused grin: "... and you are, somehow, beautiful and adorable in equal measure."
The moment of stillness as Riesenlied pops the question is definitely telling, though, her eyes a little wide as she searches for words. "Well-- I--... I can't say that I know for sure," she admits after a long while, shaking her head. "Things rarely go as smoothly as they do in books, you know. That is certainly something I have been reminded of, as of late. How about - we do whatever we want?" she suggests with a tilt of her head, and a tender smile of her own.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied does look briefly to the door again, stammering, "I--I do not mean it in a bad way, but... you did swan your way into my life in a flourish of energy and vivacity I'd never seen before..." she strokes at her hair very gently, and-- swallows very nervously, nodding. "It is what I am here to do... to make people believe that change is possible."
The tenderness in her breath is evident just a moment later, rather affected at what Noeline compliments her with. "... What-- what do your books tell you? Would you do as they suggest, or... do you wish to find your own way?"
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
The spy can't help but tilt her head into Riesenlied's touch, as prideful as ever when it comes to compliments directed towards her. But her smile holds pride on her commander's behalf, not her own. "And you accomplish it with a grace and beauty that I could only hope to match," she huffs, the line delivered too seriously to be from one of her books. Probably.
She edges in closer still, her touch finding itself on the back of Riesenlied's neck as she redoubles her embrace; her fangs are lightly showing, the way her lips are slightly parted. "... do you really think I am the sort to simply copy others, when I could forge my own path?" she teases brightly, though softens again as she studies the other woman's features from closer up. "... first, you should close your eyes."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"I-- I think I lose that grace sometimes, when I stammer and stumble! You do ever so love to tease..." Riesenlied swallows faintly, but then follows as Noeline requests, closing her eyes. "... you-- you-- um, one request... do tell me, if you would bite, yes? I'm just a bit too nervous about that one..."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
--the snort that Noeline makes is anything but ladylike, an involuntary and brief noise of sheer amusement. "Rest assured," she hums, her voice suspiciously closer than it was before. "Those times when you stumble are when beauty takes over instead."
Pause.
Pause.
"Would you like me to?" comes the not-so-innocent question--
--and before Riese can answer, there are lips laid softly on hers.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
The tenderness of Riesenlied's gasp, before she can answer, is an irreplacable memory.
Their lips meet, perhaps for the first time, perhaps not, but never in such earnestness like ever before. A gesture that should mean so little to them, a motion that ultimately has so little meaning... yet to the both of them, at this point in time, it means the world. The little squeak of nervousness comes after, and--
--there's a glow surrounding them, as if on instinct, shimmering tenderly and very gently around the room, as her particles start to softly release. It fills them into a space that softly glistens, gossamer lights ever faintly cascading over them.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
By rights, Noeline should be grinning like a cat at this point, having finally gotten her hands on the Precious Thing - but instead, she's blushing hard when they part, kind of stunned and left speechly first by the contact and then by the glimpsed sight of the warm glow that surrounds them both.
"You-- even now, you seem to make it effortless..." she tries desperately to grouse and recover herself - but it doesn't even begin to work, and so she just trails off as she draws her legs up to curl against Riesenlied, hiding under her hair for a while to just enjoy the closeness.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied blinks a few times, once more that grace leaving her as she instead stammers once she realises what she's done. "W-wah! I'm-- delocalising!" she exclaims nervously, looking around her as she draws her head down towards Noeline. She settles down a moment after, when she realises that she's, in fact, fine. "...but it... I don't know what this light is... perhaps it is a light that shows my happiness... perhaps?"
She strokes at her consort's hair and cheek afterwards, her eyes wet with what may in fact be tears. "Shall we... cancel the treats, then...?"
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"Oh, my," says-- well, says the Crimson Noble in all her resplendence, perhaps buoyed up by the way that Riesenlied's unintentional suaveness is replaced by confusion and mild panic and /now/ choosing to grin, even past the red flush on her cheeks. "Was it /that/ good a first kiss?"
She cackles, briefly, and then lunges back into the embrace with her eyes closed. "I would like to think it might be something so romantic - but most of all, what it is is purely /you/," she adds, and that is apparently enough for her as she nestles in for another brief kiss.
"--let them come," she decides after just another moment's thought, perhaps getting just a little too vampire mistress for her own good. "Because I think we are both due for some serious pampering."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied looks just slightly overwhelmed, pipping up quietly as Noeline comes in for another kiss... and she summons the courage to kiss back, to indulge in this strange, foreign feeling that she's just now making... theirs. She leans in a little bit closer, a bit more insistently... then, when they part, she's trembling just a little, sniffling. "The feeling in my breast is overwhelming, swelling... it is a strange feeling, but I wish to enkindle it... now and forever... with you."
She swallows, and smiles very warmly, within that light.
"I love you, Noeline."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline is a little breathless when they part, her crimson eyes shining with a dark light that contrasts against the bright glow around them. It's a pleased, affected sort of light, however, and while the spy isn't the sort to find herself reduced to anything like tears, she certainly looks close. Her laugh is soft and joyful, a rare noise for her to make.
"I love you too," she promises, soft and private, and she just can't help herself: "... it's about /time/."