Topic: Birthday Interlude (Valentines before the Mayhem)

KhaoticBliss

Date: 2017-03-05 13:11 EST
02.14.2017
3:15 A.M.

It was either really late or really early, depending on your perspective. Midnight had come and gone, along with the teen's best laid plans for showing up at 12:02. She'd been in the middle of getting everything together for her little plot when the distress had begun rolling off her white wolf in unrelenting waves, and Saila hadn't had any choice but to set her ideas aside and call him to her.

Three hours later, the Big Bad Wolf was stabilized - as or stabilized as she could get him in the current circumstances, in any case - and she'd slipped out the door at last.

Fifteen minutes later, there was a knock on Hex's door. Doubtlessly, he'd become aware of her presence already; even so she waited for him to answer. The woman on the other side of that closed door was Saila, of course, but he could only know that because he recognized her presence in advance. The figure before him was entirely enshrouded in a cloak of black material so long that it dragged the floor behind her, the sleeves trailed well past her fingers, the hood pulled so far down that the vivid purple locks were perfectly concealed, her distinctive features entirely obscured in shadow.

Though it was his birthday, he wasn't really expecting a visit right off the bat. Call it a few centuries of disregarding the whole 'birthday bit', he didn't really think much of it. Sleep wasn't on his agenda much these days unless he forced himself into a liquor induced nap, so he was up and about in the apartment, finding ways to amuse himself.

He felt Saila's presence the moment she'd entered the building, that low chuckle rolling through his chest as he got that dimpled grin. Visits without notice were his favorite visits from Saila, that air of surprise when he felt her energy enter the building when he hadn't expected it. He was still on the couch, hunched with his elbows propped on his knees as his thumbs jabbed away at a controller. He expected she'd just let herself in as she normally did...

But he should've known better than to predict Saila. One brow lifted at the knock at his door, pausing the game as he looked toward it. Thought she was over that knocking thing... He thought, shaking his head as he snickered and set the controller aside before standing to his feet. Reaching the door in a few long strides, he reached the front door and swung it open....

Only to catch sight of the woman in the cloak. There was absolutely no mistaking who it was, her energy radiating from the cloak and washing over him in that familiar warmth laced with electricity. His brows rose as he eyed her for a moment, his head tilting like a confused puppy as he slowly blinked at the hooded, shadowed Saila. "...Babe?"

Grinning to herself, Saila chewed on the inside of her cheek and waited. She could see the changes as they took place -- awareness of her presence, pleasure that she'd appeared, amused frustration that she hadn't come inside, confusion when he opened the door and finally saw her. Her grin got bigger.

She'd had her head tipped downwards on purpose to throw that shadow over her face. Now as he addressed her, the girl lifted her chin at an angle, letting the light hit her smile and... nothing else. The cloak was fastened across her throat so that there was absolutely no skin showing except her mouth. "...I hear it's your birthday."

The moment she lifted her chin and he caught the smile, it only coaxed him to lift that single brow higher, confusion still hanging thick in the air around him. It was pretty clear she was up to something, but... he had no damn clue what that might be. Her words had him tipping his own chin higher as he narrowed his eyes on her, though there was a distinct twitch at the corner of his mouth threatening a smirk. No, he still didn't know what the hell she was doing. "You hear it's my birthday?" He chuckled, the other brow lifting to match the first. "And where would you hear that from?" Boy did he look like a puppy when he was confused, clearly... it wasn't something he was used to. But dammit if she wasn't perplexing him right now. Why are you looking so ominous in a cloak, Saila?!

It was a damn good thing she'd been learning all that acting, because otherwise there would have been no way in hell Saila could prevent herself from snickering. It was extremely apparent that he had no idea what she was doing, and that made her positively gleeful because she'd just told him a couple of weeks ago - quite plainly, in fact - what she was probably going to do for his birthday.

Her smile became positively devilish, exaggerated as it was by the shadows cast over her face. Saila almost relented -- almost -- she didn't have to touch him to read the thought that was broadcast loud and clear on his features. Finally allowing herself to laugh, she pitched it low and villainous -- echoing her turn as the wicked witch, though not quite that unhinged. "From somebody who told me how much you hate birthdays..." She drew the syllables of the last word out, ever so achingly slowly lifting one hand to her throat.

Deciding to throw him a tiny hint, not that he'd get much time to process it, the girl lifted her chin a little higher. "...and also that you'd still like looking at me even if I wore a trenchcoat."

Just then, her deft fingers worked the clasp on the cloak (could be she'd been practicing this exact move when she'd gotten the distress signal from Quinn), unhooking it in one fluid motion. With a flick of her wrist, she threw it open, letting it fall in a heap at her feet. Underneath it she was wearing a pair of extremely sheer lacy underwear in midnight blue, and... not a single other stitch of clothing.

She grinned again, lifting one shoulder in a faux-sheepish shrug. "I don't own a trenchcoat."

https://68.media.tumblr.com/7b359462bca73ea84a99b6ef29e30cb5/tumblr_olgbjqPPNe1v05l6no1_1280.jpg

KhaoticBliss

Date: 2017-03-05 13:34 EST
He could see that devilish smile beneath the cloak, even if slightly shadowed by the hood. That villainous laugh had him looking at her quizzically, though the lack of being unhinged was probably appreciated. I mean, if your woman shows up in a sketchy shadowed cloak and starts cackling at you unhinged.. There might be a bit of worry there! Her drawn out words were almost agonizing as she prolonged the moment. "..Yes..." His one syllable equally drawn out as he turned his head to eye her from the side like what are you up to, woman?

It was that tiny hint she gave him that had him blinking at her, only seeming to amplify his confusion until he had maybe one second of thought. Is she? No... wait... They'd joked about it, but did he really expect her to go through with it? No, no he didn't.

He didn't have much time to contemplate before she was slinging off that cloak and letting it fall. Those bright amber pools flared briefly with surprise as he took in his woman standing there practically naked with only a sheer midnight blue veil covering her. He looked... downright shocked.

Brows high, eyes wide, mouth slightly agape as he just... stared at her. "I.." His mouth worked like a damn guppy for a moment as she FULLY caught the big guy off guard. Which.. was a major score for Saila really. At least until he caught himself off guard as well, his brain seemed to have shut off in the process completely. "...God, I love you.." He mumbled, and... wait... give him a minute. What he just said will click eventually. It seemed all his blood supply had moved to different areas other than his brain.

And there she stood in the hallway of his apartment complex, stark naked but for the tiny panties in his favorite color (which covered next to nothing) and a pair of tall, strappy heels. The cloak - and her bag, which contained his other presents--lay in a crescent moon pile on the floor behind her. There wasn't an ounce of shame or inhibition in her, and she seemed perfectly at ease, utterly unconcerned whether any of his neighbors saw.

The look on his face was priceless - would that she'd had her phone ready to take a picture, but it would have ruined the effect. Saila was immensely pleased with herself, and she had just taken a step closer to him, intent on kissing the corner of that slack-jawed mouth, when he finally found his voice and uttered that response. Then it was her turn to blink in surprise, going stock still for just a second. Deliberately drawing attention away from it, the muse resumed what she was doing, slipping long fingers over his hips and then pulling him into her with a gentle little tug. Her body pressed into his, she kissed him fully on the mouth, drawing the velvet tip of her tongue over the swell of his lower lip for a quick taste.

"Mm," the muse just smiled, trying hard to play it cool. "So you're saying you approve."

It took him a moment to find his voice, making that response, and even longer for him to find his damn head to realize what he'd just said. It was that point that his breathing hitched for a moment, that oh **** moment when it dawned on him and he was just as still as she was. He contained himself, just barely. But he didn't take it back either. He just.. waited.. almost half expecting to get slapped or the woman to throw up her hands like I just wanted to trenchcoat your ass, see ya! I'm out! The guy... had a few issues.. When it came to those three words.

When she drew attention away from it, he finally breathed and swallowed hard when he was tugged to her. His hands didn't resist the urge to find refuge in the subtle dip of her lower back, splaying as she kissed him on the mouth. His lids grew a bit heavy as he felt her tongue trace over his bottom lip and he flicked out his own to catch it before it disappeared.

Chuckling softly, he gave a brief nod of his head. "...That's one way to put it," he muttered, and before he could do or say anything to dig himself deeper into that grave, he pressed his lips firmly to hers and locked coiled arms around her waist. Lifting her as easily as he always did, he nudged her belongings inside with his foot before carrying her inside and closed the door behind them.

Saila could tell he was trying not to have a heart attack. Hell, she was trying not to have a heart attack, too, but not because she didn't also feel it. The impulse to return the sentiment had been right there on the tip of her tongue, on the verge of spilling out of her mouth. But she could feel all of his old, violent memories pretty literally welling to the surface underneath her fingers where they had splayed over his broad shoulders, and her first instinct had been to ground and soothe him, to protect him from himself.

Just like it had been from the beginning.

Their mouths met a second time, and Hex was lifting her up into his arms. The way she wrapped long legs around his hips was automatic and unhesitating, her fingers sliding up from his shoulders over the back of his neck up into his hair the way he liked. This isn't anything like last time, she reminded herself as they moved inside. This is real.

"Hey." Breaking from his kiss at last, the girl made no effort to disentangle herself or get down. Her mismatched eyes were earnest as she sought his gaze, nudging his nose with her own to make him look at her. Patiently silent in the interim, when those intoxicating amber eyes finally met her own, she answered him at last. "You know I love you too, Hexius."

That reflexive motion of her wrapping herself around him was like a warm, comforting blanket, one he'd relied on more times than he could count. He didn't depend on her, per se. But she'd become his favorite addiction that... had clearly turned out to be something more than that. His thoughts mimicked hers. This was nothing like it'd been with Charlie. There was tension with his ex wife, that "love/hate" feel between the two of them. With Saila, there was none of that. It was warm. Comfortable. Fluid. It wasn't forced. It just... was.

When she broke from the kiss and spoke to him, he seemed a bit more sheepish than he normally was -within reason, considering-. "Yeah?" He hummed, her coaxing his gaze urged him to lock those molten gold pools onto her mismatched beauties. He stared at her for a moment, her words washing over him and then set that tangled mess in his head at ease. Thoughts that had been as gruesome as a train wreck halted altogether as his true name, uttered from her lips, sent prickles down his spine.

He might've watched her for a moment longer than needed, but it wasn't a look of shock. Or dismay. Or anything negative. He just stared at her like he was trying to remember every feature of her face, despite the fact that he'd already memorized it a million times over by now. After a moment, a softer dimpled smile spread as he held onto her with one arm while the other brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "I do now," he muttered, kissing her once more. This time wasn't like the last. It was softer, with more meaning behind it than any of their kisses before.

It was the kind of kiss the first "I love yous" warranted.

***

(Adapted from live play. Thanks as always to Hex!)