uisgeannan | (no subject)

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Here's something no one in Paradisa would ever expect to see: Euri, grinning from ear to ear, on the verge of skipping down the sidewalk in City Royale. It's a bizarre sight, made even stranger by the fact that she seems to be bleeding a bit from the side of her head, and there's a nasty red mark on her arm that's threatening to turn into a bruise.

Yup, it's as if she doesn't even notice.

She pauses at a corner and looks around - checking to see if she can spot a specific person - and when she doesn't see him she continues on, not even the least bit annoyed. Very un-Euri-like, but in her mind she has every right to be utterly ecstatic.

Because today, on this perfectly average summer day, she managed to cast her first curse.

It's a big deal to Witches, and especially so to her, as virtually all of them are able to do as around thirteen. Five years late is a long time, but she isn't thinking about that right now. All that's on her mind is that she isn't a complete failure as a Witch, and therefore, still has a chance of fitting in.

It's the best feeling in the world, and it's one she wants to share with more than just Dog. Unfortunately, there are few people in Paradisa she can even discuss this with, and even fewer who would approve of curse casting. So she's hunting down probably the only person who would be okay with it, even if he's sometimes not the easiest person to find. She's starting to debate summoning Dog, so he can do his whole bloodhound tracker thing....

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He laughs. The blood is peeled back away with a casual tilt of his wrist and returns to his body just the same way it got out in the first place. He waits for his finger to inevitably stitch itself up (very clean and neatly done) as her blood settles itself and moves back into a normal flow.

Her skin feels smooth when he runs his hand over it, not a scratch. He counts two vertebrae under his fingers before he removes his hand, wrapping his arm lazily around her shoulder (since she's so inclined to stick close, now).

"Not for lack of trying, though. You were pretty rough." He smiles, not finding his a bad thing in the least, "If anything, I'm just lucky I heal so fast."

Oh no, this again. She makes an embarrassed noise, pulling her knees up to her chest so she can hide her face against them. "Adel said that, too...!"

And he never even answered her question about whether he enjoyed being bitten, so she suspects he didn't. "I don't do it on purpose! I just - I don't know... I get really excited...." she says lamely, peeking up at him after a minute.

What, she's worried about that? She's so cute, he can barely stand it. He's there to meet her when she peeks up at him, landing another quick kiss on her cheek.

"No, no," he assures her, "It's fine. I liked it a lot." It's kind of a strange thing to admit for most people, but again... Robin doesn't have much hesitation when it comes to these sorts of things. And he doesn't want her to stop that sort of behavior, no, no, definitely not. Not when it's so hard to find cute girls like her that'll do that sort of thing.

"Besides I wasn't exactly the most gentle back... I really am sorry about all the bruises." He doesn't know if she likes that sort of thing back; it's probably hard for her (or anyone so new to all of that) to say, really.

"I... liked it, actually," she replies quietly. With his answer this is a lot easier to admit, kind of like a weight's been taken off her shoulders. There's no need to worry about being rough when he likes it, too. "I enjoyed it most when we... really got going."

Not that she really has much to compare. Euri enjoyed it with Adel too, of course, but they were both incredibly drunk so there are large blanks in her memories. And now that she's thinking about it, not being able to fully remember her first time seems like it should be more embarrassing than anything she did with Robin.

She relaxes a little, pressing her lips against his neck. ".... Hey, um..." This question couldn't be more invasive, but she's curious. "What was your first time like?"

He likes the assurances. He would have agreed with her if not for the next question; even her lips pressed softly against his neck can't distract him from the automatic process the fires up in his mind, the mechanical search for a 'first time'. He supposes it was with... Crow.

He makes a face. If he finds it invasive, it's for the entirely wrong reasons. The memory isn't a bad one, but it's tied to too many things: hatred, confusion, manipulation, a time when they called themselves brothers sharply contrasted against his recollection of mangled corpses.

But she's not asking about that, is she?

"It was... okay, I guess." He's looking off at the end of the bed now, honestly trying to remember, "It was kind of sudden, so I was pretty... confused? I didn't know what I was supposed to do or what I was supposed to be feeling, so... That part wasn't so great. The guy was alright, but wasn't all that great at giving me warnings or explaining things."

He pauses for a second, and his frown eases a little with an amusing thought, "Actually, that sounds really awkward. Maybe it was worse than I remember, jeez."

Euri just stare at him.

"A... guy?"

Oh, right. He's already told her he messes around with Michael -

Euri twitches and shoves that name to the back of her mind. She can deal with that whole subject later, right now she's more interested in their immediate conversation.

"Your first time was with a guy?" She's baffled, but it's for good reason. Staring up at him, she tries to form a mental image. "That's - wow...."

That's hard to picture, but she supposes, now that she thinks about it, two human males is entirely possible. Maybe. Euri's fairly sure she's never actually seen two males in a relationship, though. With humans it's always been one female and one male.

"Yeah, unlucky me." At least there's a bit of wry amusement in his tone now, "Anatomically speaking, women are so much easier." If you want to go all the way, anyway. That's why he doesn't usually get that far into it if he's with a man, even though he kind of prefers them (most of the time).

Still, her baffled expression is a little confusing. She knows he's done things with Michael, right? Is it really that hard to imagine? He raises an eyebrow.

"Do people not... do that where you're from, or something?" Surely this can't be a case of ignorance. She reads viking romance novels, for Gods' sakes.

It's good to hear he prefers women in that sense. If he had said he preferred men... well, it wouldn't help her self esteem.

His question makes her pause. Now that is something that is potentially far too private to discuss.

"Oh, uh...." Euri hesitates, biting her lip. She did tell Adel a few things about Witch populations, so... it might not be that big a deal. At least, if Robin doesn't start getting into that same creepily enthusiastic scholar mode he got into with that conversation with Adel. "You can't get all weird and start asking me research questions if I tell you, alright?"

Huh. More of that secretive witch stuff, huh? He doesn't know how this could possibly apply to something that needs to be kept top secret among only witches. He's starting to think that all of them are really just secretive about everything.

But he thinks about it. He doesn't know if he can promise that, but knowing she isn't going to start feeding him information like Adel did assures him that he'll probably be able to manage. He slouches down a little, making himself more comfortable.

"All right, no getting weird or asking research questions."

"Okay," she says warily, still clearly willing to shut up should he in any way act like Adel does with this kind of information.

"I guess humans could... do that. Maybe. I've never heard of any," she starts, shrugging. This isn't the important part, anyway. "For... Witches, it's different. A lot different. Witches outnumber Warlocks by a lot, so if a Warlock doesn't eventually end up with a Witch and have lots of kids they - ...." Euri frowns. "I don't know what happens to them. I've never heard of that happening."

She shrugs. "But it's okay if two Witches want to be together. I've got a bunch of aunts and cousins in relationships with other Witches. It's normal."

He takes in this information with, at first, no more than a thoughtful sound.

"I wonder why there's so few..." he starts, then interjects, "--Not that I'm asking, specifically. It just seems strange to me."

Why are there so few men compared to women? Is that just the birth ratio? Do Warlocks have some sort of weakness that Witches don't that causes fewer of them to live? He only really has humans to think of, but they're about even... His species, if they really are a different species, were about even as well, even though he doesn't think they quite fit into the evolutionary way of things. Monsters... Well, he's never asked.

"It at least makes sense why you'd find that odd, though. It's... actually kind of the opposite where I'm from. For a long time, after people went underground, there weren't very men or women, so the ruling powers took it about as far as they could and pushed the idea of... promiscuity, for the sake of maintaining some kind of population." That's no excuse for his own behavior, but... "It's still a pretty big influence, even though it's not so widespread anymore."

Euri blinks, finding that odd. She's fairly sure humans in her own world were never encouraged by another party to be promiscuous. The focus for them was always on children too, with two females being together not particularly acceptable. At least, that's the case in her town. She isn't sure how it works in the cities, or with elves and welwyn and demons.

Regardless, her next comment is very blunt. "Is that why you're promiscuous?" She frowns up at him. Still not a good subject for her, with their activities last night making it even worse. "I haven't changed my opinion about that, you know."

She's looking at him expectantly. Whatever his response will be is apparently very important.

It hasn't been on children for a long time. Not really. Keep them alive, keep them healthy, but love them? Nurture them? Teach them right from wrong? Secondary. Not everyone's like that, and so much has changed since then, but... compared to before, even Robin finds it pitiful. More and more kids are growing up just like him, maybe worse.

"No, it's not." This is said quietly, but with truth behind it. Assuredness. It would be too easy to just blame it on society; it would be lying to place the blame on a society that isn't even his. His promiscuity lies in his poor upbringing, his being betrayed, his age, his condition, and his hideous and cruel wish to be loved despite every reason he shouldn't be.

"I have reasons. A lot of reasons... but they're all twisted together in what seems to be the unreasonable knot of my existence. I can't tell you one thing without having to tell you ten more, and you already know what I think about that." She should know by now, anyway, after the many times he's uttered variations of, 'I don't want to talk about it.' He wraps his fingers around her shoulder; maybe he's a little nervous even talking about it that she's going to get angry and leave (if he didn't care about that, after all, he wouldn't have childishly hidden her things).

"And I know it's not fair to you at all, but if there's even the slightest chance it makes you feel better... I have my reasons. It's not just some shallow desire for thrills or pleasure or any of that." He squeezes her shoulder, just a little. "And you're not just some girl I'm going to forget about eventually. This means a lot to me, even just... sitting here, talking. I mean that."

For better or for worse. Here he goes again, digging his own grave. Even this is too close for comfort, far more attached than he usually lets himself get. He always does this. And he knows it'll eventually end the same, regardless of his desire to stop it.

It's not the answer she's looking for, and it's far more complicated than she had expected. Part of her, deep down, wasn't actually expecting him to simply come out and say 'I'll stop messing around with other people', but irrationality and childishness made her ignore that common sense.

So she's unhappy, of course, that's apparent on her somber expression. He's right. This isn't fair to her. All she wants to be is in a nice, normal, monogamous relationship with a guy who isn't freaked out by her albinism or her being half-Witch, and she can't even have that.

But at the same time, his answer isn't completely horrible. Even though she's sniffling faintly, it still feels like there's a tiny sliver of hope. The reasons are more complicated than for his own enjoyment and, more importantly, this means a lot to him.

Her mind hangs on that thought. This means a lot to him.

"... That means a lot to me, too," she mumbles sullenly, then suddenly turns and latches onto him in a tight hug. "I'm not happy, but - it means a lot that I'm more than just a... a fling to you.... You're more than that to me."

For a second he's tense, surprised. She's hugged him before (and he's barely used to that idea), but never so tightly. But then the words come, her mumbles, her telling him that he's... important, right?

Is that why... she wants to help him? Because she... cares about him? Because he has worth? Because (it could all come crashing down so easily with the wrong word a slip of the tongue slipped his mind slipped and fell and died and he is so fucking tired of this).

There's only a hesitation where he wills his arms to move against everything they're trained to do, but then his grip is steady and he pulls her in as close as he can, holding her just as tightly as if it would somehow keep her there forever. He pets her hair, running his fingers through it to keep himself anchored, to try and make her feel better. It's really the only thing he can think of--the only thing he knows to do.

"E gyt'tys zyo ly clip'c, c'nitt y'ma," he mutters in that strange language of his, "Dol sa ipa irip'l." The meaning is more of a feeling than a message, a sense of longing, hoping, and sadness... but also a sense that this is how it must be. It is not so bad, because he's been given more than he could have asked for already.

'I would follow you to the stars, little one, but for the fact that our fates are two different paths.'

Edited 2011-09-04 09:23 (UTC)

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