Alea walked along the docks, tossing stones across the waves. Each skip ticked away another second towards seven. She glanced at her pocket watch.
"Waaaa! Only 4:03? What's a girl to do? I can't believe I'm so nervous. I mean, it's only a date. Was I this nervous when I accepted Aideen's date? Of course, look how that turned out... maybe this is a bad idea?"
Her fingers brushed her lips, still enflamed by the kisses of hours ago. Her heart and mind warred for the infinite span of a second, then the battle was, predictably, a total rout.
"Better to have loved and lost, et cetera, I'll do it! She's cute and sweet, and hot, well, in a chilly but erotic ice queen fashion."
She pulled out her pocket watch once more.
"Waaaa! Only 4:04? What's a girl to do?"
Quieta sighed in her sleep. She turned over and cuddled her closest pillow.
"Mmm... Alea... hn?" she opened an eye, yawning and looking around her room, her eyes eventaully falling on the clock.
"Ahh!! It's 4:03!!" She jumped out of bed and ran into the bathroom, quickly starting herself a shower. Babette, having walked by at that exact moment and hearing the noise, peeked inside the room.
"Miss Quieta? Are you alright?" She asked out, getting ready to duck the usual flying projectile that Quieta threw at her.
"It's 4:05, Babette!!" Quieta called from inside the bathroom, she poked her head out of the door, glaring at Babette. "Did you hear me?? 4:05!! How come you didn't wake me up?!"
Babette blinked for a second.
Oh... but I thought you said that you were going to meet someone at seven...?"
"I DID!!" Quieta screamed, slamming the bathroom door shut. Babette calmly went about to making Quieta's bed.
"Then, why are you so nervous?"
"I'm NOT nervous, and dammit, it'll take me the three hours just to get ready!! Ah, just THREE HOURS!"
Babette blinked again. Quieta usually didn't fuss this much about her looks. She only took a couple minutes to get ready, usually.
'She acts as if she's going on a date or something...' Babette thought as she fluffed the pillows. She smiled a little and pulled out a small stuffed bunny from the bed. "But that's a silly idea, isn't it Mr. Bunny?" She said quietly to the plushie, placing it on the pillows. "Quieta's going to meet a girl."
Alea stopped by a shore cart and picked up a small bucket of chips, then walked along the sand tossing the deep fried potato chunks to the waiting, and highly aggressive, gulls.
"Play nice! There's plenty of taters for everyone! Here!"
She swung the bucket in a wide arc, scattering the warm wedges across the waves. The sudden motion caused her to lose her balance and stumble, stepping over the small tidal pool that her foot had been descending towards, and sparing her heel contact with a small, but toxic, jellyfish. Instead she ended face down in the surf. The crashing tag ends of waves cascaded around her pastel hair and golden shoulders. She pulled herself upright, but the water dripped down, turning the top of her beige T-shirt into a clinging translucent mess, mostly obscuring its lettering, "You're just jealous because the voices talk to me!". The effect was impressive, but the water had not traveled far enough to actually render her attire indecent. Still, she could feel the salt beginning to crust as she shrugged and pulled out her watch.
"4:47? Time for a Full Wardrobe Change! Yaaa!"
She trotted off the beach and caught a bus to the vicinity of her house, then dashed in and towards her room. Her mother looked up from her comparison of two almost leaves, then smiled, shook her head, and returned to her task. "Looks like Alea has a girlfriend again. Was I ever that enthusiastic?"
In her room, she peeled off the salted shirt and unstrapped her brassiere, then removed the rest of her clothes and tossed them into a small basket at the foot of her bed. Humming to herself, she rummaged through her drawers and began pulling out the occasional raiment. Eventually, she stood up and began to sort a wardrobe from the random garments strewn across her togepi sheets. She reluctantly shrugged into a new black satin bra and matching panties, and put on a sharp pleated black denim skirt that covered to mid thigh. "Aggh! Decisions, decisions!"
Her eyes darted between a few shirts she had laid out. Closing her eyes, she reached down and grabbed one, then put it on before reopening them. She looked into her full-length mirror to assess the results, then shook her head, cleared the dangling kite off of the mirror, and gazed into it once more.
"Hmmm... cut-off...well, it's not like it's formal. "Some Mornings It's Not Worth Chewing Through the Leather Straps" hmm...well, some mornings it is, like today. Fuschia... well, I guess it works. After all, my skirt is black, and black goes with everything - I'll just have to wear black socks too! That will work!" She stuffed one of her pocketwatch collection into her skirt, then glanced at another.
"5:30! And a masterpiece! Yaaaa!"
Quieta sighed fretfully as she looked through her wardrobe, tossing out dresses and making distasteful comments at them as she searched for the perfect one. She had freaked out a little earlier when she had gotten out of the shower and it was almost an hour later, but she was a little calmer now.
"Too slutty, too 80's, too grandma, I don't even know what THAT is, too trashy.... Ah! Perfect!" She pulled out a dress that finally matched her tastes.
"I know she didn't say it was formal, but it still is a date..." she said to herself, having finally been able to convince herself that, yes, indeed, this WAS a date. She stripped off her baby-blue robe - having gotten her bra and underwear on earlier- and slipped on the white dress. It was sleeveless, though it did have straps, and went down to her knees. Silk, of course. After that, came the light violet leggings that went up almost to where the dress stopped.
"Now, where's that shirt....?" She whispered quietly to herself, looking around, eventually finding the sheer light violet long-sleeved shirt where she had dropped it on the floor and put it on, deciding not to button it closed.
"Eh, I don't like them that much, but my white boots match the best... and I DO need to look my best." Quieta stood from where she sat on the bed, walking over to her closet once more and grabbing the boots, then slipping them on and zipping them up. She hated them mainly because they were slightly uncomfortable to her knees when she bent her legs, being that they went up to her knees. However, she had padding this time with the leggings, so maybe it wouldn't be so bad.
Quickly going over to her mirror, she grabbed her jewelry box and pulled out a thin violet ribbon, tying it loosely around her neck in a bow. "Now I have to do something with my hair...." She murmured to herself. She just couldn't leave it down, it looked dreadful with the outfit she was wearing! Well, it did to her, anyway. Reaching for another matching ribbon, she tied her hair back into a bun. Well, at least he tried to. Most of it ended up falling out the sides, but Quieta -for once- didn't bother to perfect it. It looked much better with the loose tendrils of hair hanging down from it. She walked over to her full-length mirror and examined herself in it.
"Ugh, I at least need some lipstick..."
Quieta grabbed her make up pouch and began looking for her lipstick. Despite what one would think, she really did hardly ever wear makeup. Maybe some lipstick, or the occasional light eyeshadow, but that was generally it. Blush always looked ten shades brighter on her, it seemed.
One of the older maids, Sara, knocked on the door to her room and opened it a little.
"Miss Quieta? Should I tell your mother where you're going to tonight?"
"Why bother, she won't even notice I'm gone. She doesn't even notice I'm here...."
'Stay calm.' She though to herself. 'Stay calm. You can't have a breakdown now. At least wait until after the date. Then you can scream and cry all you want.'
Sara merely nodded and closed the door. Quieta looked over to the clock.
"...Only 5:45..." She sighed. "Oh well... maybe I can find something to keep me occupied while I wait."
Alea paced. She hated pacing, but sitting still wasn't an option, and she had to wait until 7:00 to pick up Quieta for their second date. Deep in her heart, she held this day's earlier meeting as their first.
"How did I get myself in to waiting. I hate schedules. I hate waiting. Well, I guess she's worth it, but there has to be a better way. Hmmm.... I've never been there before... I don't actually know how long it will take me to get there... I don't want to be late... I had better head over there now. Once I've found the place, I can worry about finding someplace to wait off the time. Alea, you are such a clever girl!"
45 minutes later, she was standing before the palatial grounds of the Deus mansion. A gate stood noble guard, weeding out the unwanted, but she knew that she was wanted there, albeit perhaps not for a little over half an hour.
"Hmmm... Approach the gate, find someplace to wait, or..."
She looked over the ornate wall. It was tall, but not too tall. She chose a point where wind had knocked a tree branch halfway loose. She clambered up the tree, then assessed the branch. It was weakly hinged... would probably break... would give her that extra moment she needed... She unsnapped her skirt and jumped.
Her first jump snapped the remaining connection and caused the branch to fall towards the outside. Her second jump landed her on the wall, where she skidded forward, trying to stop, and tumbled on to the ground below. Her panties skidded across the grass, adding a faint emerald sheen to the black satin. She stood and put her skirt back on, then headed up the way towards the mansion.
The Gate Attendant noticed a small red light begin to flash. He got up, setting down the coffee that was barely keeping him awake. He walked out to the front and noticed that the branch had shifted, and was now dangling down the side, still barely hooked over the top. He walked back in and picked up the phone.
"Gardening, I told you to come down and pick up that branch. It's given another false alarm, and I have way too much to do to worry about that."
He sat back down and resumed his crossword puzzles.
Alea approached the ornate double doors of the mansion, then pulled out her pocketwatch. 6:29 peered back at her. She paced until it said 6:30. "Close enough!" She walked up and rang the chime.
A very brief time later the door opened and a rather attractive young woman was quietly looking her up and down. Silent disapproval flowed from her eyes, but her tone remained polite, if barely so.
"Yes, how may I help you, Miss...?" 'I didn't think hooking was a door to door profession', she thought.
"Miss Forte. I'm here to pick up Miss Deus. I'm terribly sorry I'm late. Jet delays and all that, and the Marchioness simply insisted that we have one more round of croquette. I do so hope that Miss Deus will forgive me..."
"Well... It's only 6:30, so you're not late... Which Baroness did you say you were visiting?"
"Marchioness, the Marchioness of Frogspad. She has a lovely little place... almost as nice as this one, in the English countryside. Right near the Frogspad mall. 6;30, you say? Drat... what time zone are we in again? Well, no mind... Please let Miss Deus know that I am here, and await her company."
As the door closed, Alea smiled and let her mind drift back to when she had actually met the Lady Frogspad. A title and a nice house was all that her family had had, until they had built the Frogspad Mall and secured their income in a more middle class fashion. She had met her last summer, over school break, in the Lily Pad, the lingerie shop she normally mail ordered her bras from. They were each picking out undergarments, and ran into each other. A brief argument over who had bumped into whom later, and they agreed to take the duel to the arcade. Alea was soundly trounced at Mortal Death Instinct Fighter IV, and admitted that she was at fault. The two of them had been practically inseparable for the rest of Alea's vacation, and when they had reluctantly parted and kissed their farewells, they agreed to cover for each other as out of town references.
She continued to smile in remembrance of that time while she waited.
"Miss Quieta, there's a girl here to see you. Miss... Forte I believe." Babette said from the doorway to Quieta's room. Quieta stood up from where she had been watching 'Cats', checking the clock.
"Alea? Here already? She's got another half hour still..."
Quickly turning off the movie, Quieta went over to her mirror once more and sighed.
"If you haven't done so already, let her in. I should be down in a few minutes."
Babette looked hesitant for a second, then nodded and left. Quieta quickly began adding finishing touches to her look and giving herself the final once-over. About ten minutes later, she walked down the steps to the 'waiting room', the large room that was the first one entered when coming into the mansion.
Babette was waiting down there with Alea. Babette obviously didn't like the girl, that much was for certain. If anything, she was probably wondering what a 'trashy looking' girl like this was doing taking Miss Deus out for a night.
Quieta finally noticed exactly what Alea was wearing, then blushed.
'Maybe I'm dressed a little to formal....' Quieta kept up her 'Princess of the Palace' act though, as there were other people around still. She smiled at Alea. "Alea, you're early."
Alea looked up as Quieta entered the room. She had given up describing the wonders of Frogspad to the woman who had let her in oh so reluctantly. Instead, she had turned to an appreciation of the art that adorned the walls. Art, she had to admit, that paled in comparison to the cool radiance that approached her.
"Early? Must be my watch. I can wait, if you want... Oh, I have a question." She stepped closer, speaking softly to escape the hearing of the disapproving woman. "Why does your family even bother with art when they can just have you walk into the room?"
Quieta blushed lightly, trying to hide it as best she could. She looked up and over to Babette, who stared at Alea disapprovingly.
"Don't you have something you should be doing right now?" Quieta growled lightly at her. Babette blinked, then nodded.
"Sorry, Miss Quieta." She said and scurried off. Quieta looked back over to Alea.
"Shall we be going?"
"Yes Miss Quieta. Please let Miss Alea get the door for you." Alea smiled impishly and opened the door, waiting for her date to go through.
Quieta smiled.
"Why thank you, miss Alea." She curtsied and walked daintily out the door. Stopping on the doorstep, she looked out across the sky as twilight had set in. The night was truly beautiful. 'Not as beautiful as my Alea, though...' she thought, turning back to Alea.
"So, how long are we planning on staying out?" she asked.
"Planning? Um... actually, I hadn't planned much of anything, schedule-wise. I rarely do. Is there a time I should keep in mind to have you back? Do you become a pumpkin at midnight? And, if so, is it with great CGI special effects?"
She shook her head. "Forgive me, I ramble sometimes when I'm excited. I figured we'd stay out until we wanted to not stay out. That's how I usually do it."
Quieta blinked little to herself. Everything always was planned with her.
"...Alright..." She said, then smiled "I don't have a specific time I should be back." She started to walk down the path to the gate.
Alea walked beside her and tentatively reached out her hand. "How do you want to get there? Walk, or Public Transit?"
"Well, that depends... is it far away?" Quieta asked, tucking some hair behind her ear. She disliked public transit, but he'd have to take it if the place was too far away.
"Not really. It would take us about 35 or 40 minutes to walk it. It's a lovely night... and you're lovelier company. I'd rather not share you with a bus." She smiled and waved at the perplexed Gate Attendant as they walked out.
"Alright, then walking it is." Quieta smiled. As they passed, the gateman blinked at Alea, trying to remember when he'd let her in.
"By the way, if I blather on too much, just tell me to zip it. I have a tendency to talk... a lot. On just about anything. I've lost a few dates that way."
She shrugged, and since it had not been accepted, retracted her hand.
Quieta folded her hands behind her back. She had hoped that she didn't hurt Alea's feelings, she just wasn't sure about showing that kind of affection in public.
"It's alright, I don't mind listening." she said
Alea glanced over to once more take in Quieta's dress. The rustling silk was captivating, but it made her feel... inappropriate. "Umm... I'm underdressed for this, aren't I? We can take a detour and I'll get more clothes at a boutique or something...
"No, it's alright. I probably just overdressed. Kind of hard for me not to." she gave a weak smile. "I'm used to dressing up for... everything. You'd be surprised how anal my mom got one time when I was ten for not dressing up to go to dinner - at home." She rubbed the back of her head
"Wow... I guess I really am lucky. All my mom worries about is that I get dinner. Well, and that I don't put her specimens in the salad. She calls me her little wildflower. I think she gave up trying to keep me in line when I was eight. I don't remember the exact incident, but I do know that Jello is NOT supposed to catch on fire..."
Alea clasped her hands behind her butt. "So, your maid doesn't seem to like me much."
"Babette? She doesn't like anyone. I, personally, hope mother fires her..." She looked down. 'Alea's mother sounds so nice... are parents really like that...?' she wondered, looking up at the sky once more.
"Fires her? She can't be that bad. But I know she doesn't believe I know a marchioness. She should be less suspicious. What stars are you looking at? I like making my own constellations." She unclasped a hand to point at a cluster of stars. "That's the Rose, my favorite constellation."
"I don't know any constellations... Tell me some more, I don't care if they're real or not." She said, half lost in her own thoughts.
"Well, that's Corona Australis, the Southern Crown. That's a real one. Most of the good real ones were invented by the Egyptians or the Greeks, but it's mostly the Greek ideas that stayed with us. Do you know anything about Greek Gods and Myths?"
She blinked. Greek Myths? she suddenly got the flashback of that dammed cat...
'Quieta! You are Sailor Hypnos!'
"Uh, nope... don't know a thing about em..."
"Well, that will make it much harder to explain everything. The Greeks had some of the most wondrous and persevering myths. In fact, much of western philosophy stems from the Greeks. True, The Babylonians had the first Epic, Gilgamesh, but the Greeks virtually perfected the form." She took a pause from her lecture, turned her head and gave another impish smile. "As a side bonus, Sappho was Greek."
"All I really know is that Zeus was the king of the gods and he slept with almost all his female relatives..." She couldn't help but ask the question "Say... do you, um, know anything about the god Hypnos? It's just that I've heard of him frequently recently, and I'm wondering what that's all about... "
"Hypnos? God of sleep, relative of Thanatos, or death. Lots of people will tell you that Hades is the god of death, but he's not. He's the god of the underworld, and of wealth. That's why a Plutocracy is goverment by the wealthy. Wait... were was I?"
She scratched her head, then continued. "Oh yeah. Hypnos was the god of sleep, and descended of Nox, or night. Nox predated the gods, and their forefathers, the Titans."
"H.P. Lovecraft, who wrote the cool but creepy Chthulhu stuff, had Hypnos as the lord of the Dreamlands, but that would properly be Morpheus, brother or uncle, depending on the tale, to Hypnos."
She stepped up her pace so she could turn around and walk backwards in front of Quieta. "any other questions?"
"No, not really..." She gave a half smile. "How about those constellations, though?" She looked back up at the sky again, then back at Alea. "If you keep walking that way, you're going to trip over something."
"Nah... I do this all the time... come to think of it, I DO trip a lot... but I do that walking normally, too. Well, when's your birthday. That will give us a constellation right there, since all of the zodiac are constellations."
"My birthday? It's November 1st..."
"Scorpio. The scorpion... also sometimes the eagle, but that was Ptolemaic. Did you know that Libra, the scales, was originally thought to be the claws of the scorpion. Let's see... Scorpio rules over what part of the body? oh..." Alea blushed. Her heel caught on a broken piece of sidewalk and she tumbled backwards, cartwheeling her arms until she caught her balance. She pointed up to a neon sign that had a kangaroo wearing a yin-yang symboled T-shirt. "Hey! we're here! This is the Wok About!"
"Hm, that didn't take as long as I thought it would." She said thoughtfully, suddenly realizing that she was very hungry. Her stomach growled. She blushed a little. "Eh... Shall we go in?"
Alea opened the door and bowed deeply, which merely accentuated the cut of her top. "After you, m'amselle. And don't worry, I'll tell you what part of the body is ruled by Scorpio... in a dozen dates or so. Just pick a booth anywhere. I've got to hit the bathroom. Order me a dinner buffet and a lemonade, 'kay?"
Quieta nodded, thanking Alea for holding the door for her. She quickly found a booth and sat down. One of the waiters came over to her.
"Hello, can I take your order?"
Quieta looked over the menu, then handed it to the waiter.
"Hm, just two buffets, one lemonade and one iced tea, thank you."
The waiter scribbled the order onto the notepad, then left. Quieta sat quietly, playing with the napkin for a few minutes while she waited for Alea to return. Tonight's date was nice so far.
She really liked Alea. She was nice to her, and she wasn't fake, like all the other people Quieta knew. Was this really what she wanted, though? Was she really into girls... like that?
Quieta shook her head, pushing those thoughts from her mind.
'It's perfectly normal for girls my age to... experiment. So that doesn't mean that I'm like that necessarily... and even if I am, there's MUCH worse people I can be with then Alea. Like... Jenny.'
Quieta couldn't help but giggle at the thought of how Jenny might react if another girl came onto her, then regained her composure.
'I should just have fun tonight. That's what dates are for, after all.'
Alea returned to the table and plopped down onto her bench as the drinks were arriving. She scrunched the paper from her straw into a tight mass at one end, then pulled it off and set it on the table.
"Watch this!"
Alea dipped her straw into her drink, then let a drop of the yellow liquid fall onto the tight mass of paper. Instantly it began to unfold like a waking serpent.
Alea stopped suddenly. "I must seem like such a child to you... you're used to so much more class and sophistication..."
"It's alright. Sometimes that class and sophistication gets a little boring." She put some sugar into her tea and stirred it up a little. "Nothing really seems childish to me, I guess." 'Nothing can seem childish to one who doesn't know how a child acts'.
"So, Quieta and Alea... Q and A! We could be a talkshow! Speaking of which, what do you like to do in your spare time? I like to play games, wander around, sometimes read..."
"I don't have much free time... I'm usually either practicing dancing, at school, or sleeping... I rather like to watch the musical 'Cats', though... my dream is to be in it someday..." She absentmindedly stirred her ice tea some more, then suddenly blinked.
"Ah, sorry, drifted off for a second there..." She said with a small nervous laugh, sipping her ice tea. "How about you? What are some of your dreams?"
"I don't have any dreams, per se... I just want to travel the world and see what happens. Making plans is almost like a schedule. I feel that there's something I should do... probably a lot of things, and I plan on wandering around until I find it. I'm in a walkabout stage right now. I guess that's the Abo in my blood, except that the world is my outback. Oh... you don't think I'm shiftless, do you?"
Alea found herself startled by the sudden need for this girl's validation. "gawd, you have fallen, haven't you, Alea..."
"No..." Quieta shook her head and laughed slightly. "I suppose you find me overly organized."
Alea took a sip of her tea and nodded. "A little, yes."
She set down the porcelain cup and looked into Quieta's azure eyes. "But everyone's different. If it works for you, and you're happy, it's good, no?"
She started to say something else when the realization that she may have just insulted her way out of a date struck her in the face. "Umm... hmmm... why don't we get some food?"
Quieta nodded. "Alright, I am rather hungry." She stood from their table and straightened, her slightly wrinkled dress out. 'I suppose I am a rather unchild-like child...'
"You've never been here before, right? Follow my lead... The teriyaki alligator is pretty good, but steer clear of anything sweet and sour... the sauce is WAY to sweet here."
Alea lead Quieta up to the buffet tables, grabbing a plate and beginning to pile it high with an odd array of mismatched foods. "Any questions?"
Quieta took a plate, carefully choosing her food. "No, not really." She paused and realized that she was talking probably half as much food as Alea was. She couldn't help but giggle a little. They were so different, and yet, here they were on a date together.
"How about the cream puffs? Are those any good?
"If you're going for desert, go for the fresh fruit, the sesame brittle, and the Chinese doughnuts. They're one of the big reasons for eating Chinese! But we have three or four plates before dessert."
She walked backwards towards the booth as she was saying this. A waitress almost walked out in her path, but stopped to answer the summons of another customer, allowing her to make it safely back with her deep fried pyramid of taste treats.
Quieta followed Alea, setting down her plate and sliding into the booth. She giggled quietly to herself again as she noticed how small her plate of food was compared to Alea's. Quieta normally didn't eat that much, and this much food was actually alot for her to have in one sitting.
"...are you going to eat ALL of that?" she wondered, not realizing that that question could be considered offensive.
"Oh, feel free to take anything from it that looks good. I'll just get more on my second trip. I notice you didn't get any crab puffs. Here..." Alea picked one up held it out towards Quieta's mouth.
Quieta pikued for a second, then opened her mouth.
Alea smiled and popped the fluffy seafood pastry into her date's mouth. The tip of her fingers all but touched Quieta's lips. Alea gave an impish smile and hesitated a fraction of a second before moving them.
Quieta blushed a little and ate the creamy little puff. "Mmmm... yummy... oops!" She covered her mouth and swallowed the cream puff. "Sorry." She said. She had always been taught that talking with her mouth full was extremely rude
"Sorry?" Alea looked genuinely confused. "What are you sorry for? Did I miss something?"
Quieta looked confused to a second.
"Talking with one's mouth full is very rude."
Alea cocked her head, then started an open warm laugh. "Welcome to Oz, Q-chan. This is Australia... it's in our Constitution that we're allowed to be a little rude amongst friends and family. Of course, I think our constitution also says that each of us is able to outrun a boomer and outclimb a koala, so no one actually listens to it..."
Quieta pushed around some of the rice on her plate a little. "I guess it's just my parents, then... I swear, everyone above middle class has a sanity problem." She gave a half smile and ate some of her rice. "Hm, I've never really had Chinese food before, this is very nice..."
"Well, there's the problem. Life isn't about what your parents did with it, it's about what you do with it." She paused to cram her mouth with slivers of spicy fish and wash it down with a cup of tea, then continued. "And the thing to tell them the next time they complain about talking with a full mouth is 'It's better to talk with a full mouth than and empty head""
Alea raised her hand and caught the attention of the waitress. "Two lagers, please?"
Quieta nibbled on her food a little more. Talk back to her parents? This girl must have never met anyone like her parents. You did NOT talk back to them, no matter what stupid thing they did. You only talked back to people whom you could squash like a bug, and while Quieta was their daughter, they could do that with her. She resolved to make sure that Alea NEVER meet her parents.
"You okay? You seem a bit distracted and you haven't even touched your sesame chicken. Try it, the sauce is delicious."
Quieta blinked. "Huh? Oh, yeah... just lost in thought for a second." She said with a weak smile, then went back to eating her dinner.
Alea shrugged and turned her attention to the plate before her, devouring the food with gusto. Her motions were quick, but clean and elegant, and the remnants formed a small pile on a second plate.
The waitress returned with two glass mugs of foaming amber liquid, and set one before each of them.
Quieta sighed to herself. She was already almost full. She looked at the mugs for a second.
"Ah, what is this again? I wasn't paying attention when you ordered."
Alea picked up her glass and drained half of it, then set it down again. "Lager. I'm particularly partial to this type... well, actually, I'm pretty much only partial to this type... can't stand most of them." She stood. "I'm getting seconds. Be right back"
Quieta examined the liquid for a second before tentatively taking a sip. She'd never had it before. As she quietly drank the Lager (still unsure as to what exactly Lager WAS) she thought about Alea. She was really strange. That wasn't exactly a bad thing, though. Then she paused as another thought came to mind.
What if it wasn't Alea that was strange, what if it was Quieta?
She shook her head. No. She was perfectly normal. That's exactly what she was supposed to be. Normal. Well, not normal. Normal in that "Stunningly perfect" way, as she exactly should be. That's how she was taught, after all, and that's how she was
Alea returned to the table with another heaping plate. She set it down and took a tender piece from the top, then held it out near Quieta's mouth. "Another crab puff?"
Quieta opened her mouth. 'Oh well. Even if she isn't normal, she's fun, and that's what counts, right?'
Alea popped the pastry into Quieta's mouth, then quickly moved her finger up to gently bop her nose. "Don't worry, Q-chan... I'll hurry on this plate so we can move on to desert."
Quieta smiled. "You can take your time." She sipped some of the Lager, still wondering exactly what it was. She had remembered vaguely hearing the term used before, but for the life of her she couldn't remember where or what it was. She glanced out the window and could have SWORN that she saw Mater staring at her from the street, but when she looked back, it was gone. "...Alea, you ever get that creepy feeling that cats are following you?"
"Ummm... well, yeah, but that's only when I've got fish and chips or something. The alley cats know I'm a soft touch, and run up and mew at me. I'm just lucky they don't like chips or I'd get none of my lunch. Why?"
Quieta blinked, then sweatdropped "eh, no reason, just wondering." she said quickly, realizing how stupid the question was.
Alea shrugged, then downed more of her food. "So, what do you think of this brand of beer?"
Quieta blinked. Beer? That's what this was? Her mind quickly began rationalizing everything, the explanations she needed or earlier feelings trying to be quickly explained. She idly said something along the lines of wondering if it was alcoholic, not aware of how obvious her absentminded fright was.
"Alcoholic? nah... I found a while ago that I like the taste of a lot of drinks, but I can't stand the taste of alcohol. One of the good things is that you can get non-alcoholic drinks all over. This is one of my favorites... Koala Free. All the great taste, none of the yucky stuff."
Quieta blinked again, her previous explanations deflated. "Oh... alright... I was a little worried for a second there..." She set down the mug and looked out the window again. Still empty. She sighed. "So, since you don't really go to my school, what school do you go to
"Any one I want to? Well, officially I go to Coverdale, but I usually bop out at lunch and head off somewhere else. I've got school uniforms for most of them."
"How do you get away with that? Doesn't anyone try to stop you?" 'Speak for yourself.' She thought. She could get away with that if she wanted, but that was mainly because no one messed with her or they were destroyed, simple as that.
Alea blinked, then cocked her head, turning her eyes back as she tried to remember an instance of trouble. "Nope... Just lucky, I guess." She set down her chopsticks. "Time for desert!"
Quieta immediately brightened. Yay! Dessert! Quieta's favorite food may have been shaved ice, but anything sweet was a close second, as long as it wasn't too fatty. She slid out of the booth and straightened her skirt again, waiting for Alea.
Alea popped to her feet and trotted over to the food bars with her coltish ambling stride. She began to pile a few pastries and a pile of fresh fruit on her plate, then returned to the booth. Once there, she began to place orange wedges in her mouth and peel the rind away, holding the flesh with her teeth. In this way, she consumed about half a dozen before Quieta's return.
Quieta took her time at the desert table, picking out random fruits, pastries, and others she either liked, or had not tried before. She made her way back to the table and sat down, Alea already there. She sat down and poked her jello with her spoon.
"You know," she said, a half smile on her face. "I'm probably the only person my age to have never had jello before."
Alea shrugged again, causing the traditional hypnotic ripple across her front. "I've always thought jello was over rated. As a food, at least..."
Quieta ate some of it, seeming to ponder the jello.
"...It melts if you keep it in your mouth long enough..." She said, eating some more of it, not realizing that that both sounded airheadish, and could be taken the wrong way if out of context.
"I've heard that said about a few things..." Alea shut her mouth quickly and blushed slightly, her skin turning a dark bronze. She looked down towards her plate and popped a pastry in her mouth.
Quieta paused, half a pastry hanging out of her mouth and a clueless look on her face. Once it dawned on her, she quickly blushed and went back to eating her dessert, wondering what they would do after this.
"So, what do we want to do next?"
Quieta sweatdropped. "I was just thinking the same thing." She looked out the window. "Well... it's such a nice night out, how about we go for a walk until we figure something out?"
Alea smiled. "We're near Never Never Land... let's go there. They have the best skeeball in all of Sydney. I'll be your champion and win you... well, whatever you want!" She sat up straight in her booth and thrust her shoulders back in an admirable, if unbalanced, heroic stance.
Quieta couldn't help but laugh slightly. "I always wanted a knight in shining armor. I suppose a high school girl in a T-shirt is close enough. Never Never Land sounds great." She cracked a half smile once again.
"I can get some shining armor, if you'd really like it." She finished her tea, wondering where she could possibly get armor, and tossed the concern aside, deciding that if she needed to, she'd find some.
Quieta finished up her tea as well as the rest of her dessert. "So, when should we go?"
Alea jumped to her feet and dropped a few bills on the table, enough to pay for both meals and leave a generous tip. "Real soon?"
Quieta stood up "Sounds good to me." She smiled. "I can pay for myself, you know..." She had hoped that didn't sound rude.
"Well, yeah, you could, I guess... Tell you what, you pay for the midnight snack, I get dinner... cool?"
Quieta smiled, brushing some hair out of her eyes. "Sounds like a deal."
Alea headed towards the door. Her arm was crooked, an open invitation for it to be taken, but was not projecting so much that it would be an insult not to take it.
Quieta followed Alea, pausing for a moment to consider taking Alea's arm or not. Though it would not be an insult, it might hurt her feelings. Though taking her arm would be an outright declaration that they were 'together'... then again, who would see them? A thousand thoughts ran though Quieta's mind before she hesitantly entwined her arm with Alea.
Her heart soared as she felt Quieta's pale arm cross inside of her bronzed one. Her step gained a light bit more bounce, and a dreamy smile played across her lips. "Q-chan... ", she whispered, having no clue what to say afterwards.
Quieta blushed at the nickname. "Y..yes...?"
"I have absolutely no idea... I felt this... well, feeling, and I had to say something... I just couldn't keep quiet. But I couldn't capture it in words. It was like, in the morning, when the herons take off from the water when the sunlight brushes their wings. That must sound so lame."
"Actually... that has to be one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard. " She smiled slightly. So Alea was a girl. Quieta didn't care right now. She may be a girl, but for all Quieta cared she was the only real person she had ever met, and she was nice and funny and all that good stuff to boot.
Alea blinked away the moisture in her eyes and turned midstep, causing Quieta to stop as well. She leaned over and kissed her. Slowly, tenderly, with soft quiet exhilaration, her lips caressed those of her pale skinned date. A moment stretched to ten as the kiss held, more a wash of inexorable tide than a burst of inconstant fire.
Quieta blushed more, kissing Alea back lightly. She wished that kiss could last for an eternity, but sadly, all good things must come to an end.
A light breeze rustled through the streets, causing the lighter fabric of Quieta's skirt to be lifted up. She yelped, breaking the kiss and pushing her skirt back down, hoping no one noticed.
"S...Sorry..."
"Yeah..." Alea shook her head, trying to clear the cobwebs. She had fallen, and fallen hard, yet again. But it seemed to be one of many areas where her common sense failed her. "Ummm... we're almost there Q-chan." She pointed at the neon desert island and painting of a green clad youth. "Shall we?"
Quieta nodded, reaching out and taking Alea's hand and walking toward the place. "I've never been here, what's it like
Rather than answer, Alea led her snowy girlfriend across the threshold and into an arcade of outback proportions. Video games ranged in antiquity from the hoary Pong and Space invaders to the gleamingly new Street Instinct Combat Turbo, still immersed in the scent of shipping peanuts. Numerous air hockey tables crouched in the middle of the room, and the back wall was guarded by a dozen aisle-like lanes terminating in concentric rings.
It was towards these that Alea led Quieta. "The holy game of Skeeball. pop a token in, then grab a ball and roll it towards the rings. The numbers count for the points you get. Get enough, you get tickets, which are turned in for prizes."
Alea popped a token in one of the lanes and reveled in the wooden clacking as the balls dropped into the chute.
Quieta stood beside the game, deciding to watch Alea play first. She glanced around the busy place, her eyes falling on a pair of boys not too far away. One of them was looking at Alea's chest and saying something to his friend, while the other shot Quieta what he must have assumed was a 'Come hither' smile.
Quieta shot him a dull glare which both said 'You've got to be joking me, a street whore wouldn't be seen with you if you paid her a million.' and 'You take you're little friend and just turn and saunter your way out of here or I'll kill you. You have ten seconds.'
Thankfully, they took this advice and left that area, the second boy's ego wounded and Quieta not giving a damn. She turned back to Alea and watched her play.
Oblivious to the drama unfolding around her, Alea leaned forward, to the bittersweet consolation of the departing boys, and swung her arm, releasing the wooden sphere. It slid along the lane at an angle, bounced off of the plastic wall, and landed in the 100 point circle. Alea raised one arm and jumped up and down. "Lucky!"
Quieta clapped, glancing back to make sure no one was staring at HER Alea, and glaring that ice queen glare at anyone who dared glance at her chest area. She looked back at Alea. "You seem pretty good at that game."
"It's one of my favorites. It's fun, and you get stuff!" She proceeded to rack up a number of 40s and 50s, with a few 100s to fill it out. Tickets poured out of a slot, but she left them attached and dropped another token in the slot.
Quieta smiled as she watched Alea, glancing over at some of the other games. She saw one that caught her eye in particular and leaned over Alea's shoulder.
"I'm going to go check out a game for a second, I'll be right back." She walked over to the video game.
"'Marvel Vs. Capcom'" She mused slightly to herself, pulling out a token and popping it in, starting the game, quickly defeating all her enemies and making it to the boss battle.
Time stretched out as they engaged in their respective games. Flashes and clacks marked the passing minutes as they enjoyed something that Alea was familiar with, but Quieta far less so... fun.
Each of them attracted a small cluster of hopeful teen boys who had not seen the earlier ego-crushing interactions. Three of them watched as Alea arched for each shot, and an equal number watched the cool determination of Quieta's finesse.
Quieta sighed, She was on her last token. Not noticing the amount of boys around her, she popped it into the slot and continued her game. THIS time, she would beat the boss. Yes, that was for sure. The battle was intense. The HP was low, but in the end...
"You win!"
"YES!"
Quieta blushed slightly, not intending to just yell out like that. Once it asked for her initials for the high score, she thought for a second, then put in 'DOR'.
Standing at the game for another moment to gloat over her victory to herself. She turned around and pushed her way through the boys, to high on self-satisfaction to notice that they were standing around her. She walked over to Alea, glaring at a couple of the would-be-suitors and taking her rightful place at Alea's side.
"How are you doing?" She asked, careful not to interrupt her game.
"Lucky!" she cried out as another ball found its way to the tiny 100 point hole. The boys around her seemed to nod in agreement as she jumped. "Fairly well, and you, Q-chan. How are you enjoying our date?"
The silent response from the boys, both those who had been present and those that had followed Quieta over, was rather mixed. One gazed at the two of them with an expression of lascivious contemplation, while all but two held profound disappointment.
Those two, however, had a much darker expression. They fell back and slipped off, heading out in the direction previously traveled by the two that Quieta had silently skewered.
"Ah, very much..." She glanced over at the boys once more, casting a wry glance at the ones who walked off. She then glared at the rest of them. She was getting tired of this.
"Well, what are you all starting at? Haven't you ever seen a girl before, cretins?!"
The rest quickly dispersed as well. Quieta looked back to Alea. "Oh yes, quite a nice time."
Alea blinked. "They didn't look Greek." She shrugged, and headed over with her armful of tickets towards the main desk. "Wait here, I'll be right back."
Quieta nodded, leaning near the skeeball rack. As Alea walked away, Quieta pulled out her compact and fixed her makeup, pausing after a second.
"....oh god... I'm turning into Cindy..." She quickly put the compact away and waited for Alea, looking around the place at all the flashing lights and games. She'd have to try pinball next, that looked fun.
She came back scant minutes later with a strange stuffed animal, one that combined the cutest features of marine-life and mammal. She placed it in Quieta's arms and struck a victory pose. "Q-chan, you've got Vaporeon."
Quieta blinked, then giggled at the stuffed animal.
"It's adorable!" She said, hugging it, then hugging Alea. "Thank you, I love it." She gave the other girl a quick kiss, still holding the cute little Pokemon close.
The kiss attracted the attention of much of the arcade, but they quickly turned their attention towards anything else. The eyes that glanced through the frosted glass weren't neatly as accepting. They stared for a few moments before moving on.
Alea smiled broadly after the kiss. "I should win you stuff more often.
Quieta blushed slightly, trying to regain her composure.
"I would like that alot. This seems so much more special because you won it." she said, hoping that didn't sound as corny as she thought it did. "Should we play some more games, or go find something else to do?" She asked. She liked the place, and did want to play pinball, but she didn't like being around all these people... then again, a part of her kept yelling 'DANGER!' when she thought about leaving.
Alea shrugged. "Either way. Truth? I don't care where I am right now, as long as it's an anywhere pretty close to you. How about we get another bag of tokens, play that out, and then head somewhere?"
Without actually waiting, she turned and handed a bill to the clerk, receiving a jingling pouch in return, then turned back and poured some into her hand. "Here's some..." She pecked her on the cheek and returned to the skeeball lanes.
Quieta blinked, then smiled and went over to the pinball game. Quickly getting tired of that, she walked over to Alea and took a place at the lane next to her.
Putting in a token and throwing the ball down the lain, she sweatdropped as it fell into the 0 point hole.
"Ooooohhh... I'm no good at this." She said to herself.
Alea smiled and shrugged. "It's just a knack... I'll show you the form." She flicked her last ball towards the holes like a baseball as she turned away, dropping it smoothly into the left 100 point hole.
She then slid behind Quieta, shifted her shoulders, and placed a hand on hers.
"It's all about feeling the flow of the ball, the connection that everything has. All things are linked to skeeball." She gently swung Quieta's arm, tapping her hand at the point of release, and smiled as the ball jumped to the 40 point hole. "see?"
Quieta smiled and laughed slightly. "Kind of like the force?"
"Actually, yes... my grandfather taught me how to throw things, like boomerangs, darts, Frisbees, even playing cards and cream puffs. It's a form of mysticism I get to do, being a quarter abo. But everything is tied together, all over the world, by paths of destiny, dream and song. Let's try another ball, 'kay?"
Quieta nodded, picking up another ball and throwing it like Alea showed her. It fell into the 50 point hole, this time.
"Wow! That really does work! Should I call you the guru of all skeeball now?" a half smile crept across her face. "Or maybe just the Queen."
Alea wrapped her arms around Quieta from behind and gave her a warm, plush hug. "You can call me queen, if you want. I don't have a crown or a whip, but... well, er... nothing." She shrugged slightly, more able to be sensed by feel than sight as she remained softly pressed against Quieta's back.
Some of the patrons enjoyed the risqu� show, while others went about the dedicated business of gaining high scores and extra lives. Still, a few eyes outside waited with patient fury.
Quieta smiled, throwing another ball, careful not to dislodge Alea to much. It landed in the 40 once more.
"You're my lucky charm." She smiled, picking up another ball.
"Hmm... I wonder, should we be giving the perverts here such a show?" She asked with a half smile.
"Why not? If they can enjoy seeing two of the best skeeball players in all oz rack up scores and tickets, what's the problem?"
Quieta nodded "True." she finished the full token's worth of the game, getting not as high score as Alea did, but still pretty well for a beginner. She popped in another token. "You know, now I have to keep playing until I have enough tickets to win YOU something."
Alea smiled and unwrapped herself, returning to her lane. She got a new rack of balls and began to gently toss them, one after the other, into the 100 point holes. A short while later, the clerk came over and tapped her on the shoulder. "No tossing, miss..." With a sigh, she returned to rolling the balls.
Quieta glanced back at the clerk.
"Well that was rude... just because HE probably can't play skeeball as well as you." She said, loudly enough for at least a couple people to hear.
After finishing off her tokens, she pulled out her tickets and looked over to the desk, smiling slightly. "I'll be right back!" she said with a little wave and walked over to it.
Alea took advantage of the clerk's distraction to toss a few more sequences of balls, then returned to rolling them. Her eyes were half closed as she bowled, remembering the warm pressure of her recent hug and the searing burn of their kisses. Lost as she was in her reverie, she failed to notice Quieta's return.
Quieta smiled as she walked up behind Alea, holding her prize in one arm and her added bonus behind her back. She quietly snuck up behind her and whispered into her ear.
"Boo."
Alea gave a startled whoop, tossing her last ball wild. She teetered backwards and then landed, sprawled, before her blue haired date. She looked up with wide eyes and sheepish smile. "Ummm... fancy meeting you in a place like this." Unnoticed by all, her ball had careened into a light, rolled down a support beam, and fallen off into the 100 point slot.
Quieta couldn't help but laugh slightly. She managed to calm down by the time Alea picked herself up from the floor.
"Well. I didn't expect that to work that much." she said with a half smile. "And I may have gotten a Vaporeon, but you, Alea, have gotten a Jigglypuff!" She held out the cute plush to Alea. "I had to get it, it reminded me of you. Cute and soft."
Alea rose with no trace of anger or hurt on her face. In truth, she was used to stumbles, and found them just part of life's paths. She took the pink ball and held it before her, then crushed it against her chest. "It's so cute! I love Jigglypuff."
She bent over and picked up her anaconda of tickets. "Looks like we're done with our tokens. Meet you by the door?" She trotted off without waiting for a reply, then headed to the clerk to redeem her serpentine winnings.
Quieta smiled, retrieving her Vaporeon from where she had set it down next to the skeeball lane Alea was using. She held out her palm and opened it, the two chocolate kisses she had gotten resting in it.
"I'll give them to her when we get outside." She said to herself with a smile, making her way to the door.
Alea's eyes darted from stuffed animal to kinetic sculpture to... "ah! That's perfect! I'll take that!" She counted her huge pile of tickets again. "I'll take two of them."
The clerk swallowed, counted the tickets, and solemnly handed her two slips of paper. She received them with a similar solemnity, then turned and giddily skipped to the door. "Okay, we're ready, let's go."
Quieta smiled.
"Oh yeah, I forgot... I had a few extra tickets after the Jigglypuff, so I got you two more little prizes." She held out her hand, the two kisses resting in it. "Kisses." She smiled.
"I never consider kisses from you prizes... they're treasures. Oh.. chocolate..." She smiled and took one as they walked down the street. She unwrapped it and popped it in her mouth, catching the tip with her teeth. Around it, she murmured, "It's too good for one person... maybe we should share a kiss?"
Quieta smiled. "I'd love to." She leaned over and kissed Alea sweetly
"Well, isn't this charming?"
The sharp sound of chain striking brick broke their kiss. Seven thugs and ruffians stood around them, most with chains or bars.
The main speaker was one of the two that had interacted with Quieta earlier. "Don't mind us. We just see a couple of sheilas kissing and we think it should be us they're kissing. Want to make it easy and make us happy?"
Quieta glared. If there was one thing she hated, it was boys like this. She took a defiant stance, managing to look hellish even while holding a cute little stuffed plush.
"Why don't you just go make yourselves even happier and go kiss each other and save us all some time?" She said coldly.
The rattling of chains and thumping of bars signaled the gang's displeasure. The leader stepped forward, unarmed, and reached his hands out to stroke both girl's cheeks. "Well, what have we here, a couple of man-hating dykes?"
Alea tensed beneath his touch, and her eyes scanned for something useful. She began to swing at him, but a steel bar deftly blocked her arm.
Quieta remained cool and composed, managing to keep herself from smacking the boy who dared touch her Alea. Instead, she calmly placed her and around the boy's wrist and touched it in an almost flirting way, a coquettish smile playing across her lips.
"Not at all, just a pair of girls who know scum when they see it. After all, with so many *gentlemen*" The sarcasm dripped from the word like syrup "like you around, is it so surprising we decided to go to girls in the first place?" She dug her sharp nails into his wrist and threw his arm away from her.
"Now leave me and my friend alone of you're live to regret it, I promise you that."
The leader rubbed his wrist and stood. "Get them... don't leave them as pretty as we found them." Alea was struck against the side of the head and sent sprawling over to a trash heap. She retained her consciousness, but could barely draw herself up.
"ALEA!" Quieta yelled, she glared a demon's glare at the boy who struck her.
"I gave you a warning, now don't forget that." She said to the rest of them, holding her Vaporeon demurely as one of the boys with a chain came up behind her. She swung around at the last moment and gave him a right hook across the face, followed by a knee to his crotch. She forgot most of her self-defense class, but that was one weak point on men she remembered.
Grabbing the chain from him, she walked backwards toward Alea, holding it defensively, trying to look like she knew what she was doing.
'Dammit, I wish I could transform! I could kick all these pig's asses if I could just become Hypnos!' She thought, kneeling down by Alea.
"Are you okay?" She asked, never taking her eyes of the thugs.
Alea stood, quickly tossing a handful of objects towards the sky. She noticed that a cat seemed to have followed them for a while, but shoved that aside as she grabbed Quieta and pressed her against her bosom. "Duck, the other ones have guns!" She fell to the ground, cushioning her, as the light bulbs she had tossed plummeted to the ground.
The sharp reports seemed to startle the gang. They began to look nervous, and then broke for cover. "I'll get you, my pretties", the leader called as he joined the escape.
"You okay, beautiful?"
Quieta nodded, a bit startled. "How about you? They didn't just you too much, did they?"
She glared after the boys for a moment. Something like this was unforgivable in her mind. She would get them back if she ever got the chance, and unlike the other Senshi, she had no qualms with killing.
"I'm fine... I'm used to tumbles, and I've got some padding. I was just lucky that I stumbled across those light bulbs." She rubbed her hair. "I'll have a bump, but my hair covers any bruising. Looks like you know how to handle this sort of thing?"
Quieta just blushed slightly. "No, I'm just very good at bluffing." She looked up, noticing a familiar pink plush on the ground not too far off. "Ah!"
Quieta picked herself up off the ground and walked over to the Jigglypuff, picking it up, then helping Alea up and handing it back to her after brushing some dust off it. She leaned forward and gave Alea a kiss "There, all better."
Alea held the kiss for a while, then sighed. "You really had me fooled... It looked like you would have killed someone. I'm just glad that was an act... we have enough ruthlessness in the world."
Quieta faltered for a moment, trying to think of an appropriate excuse. Yes, all of it was basically bullshit, the act that she knew what she was doing, the toughness... except for that part.
'You would have killed them.' The rational part of Quieta's mind stated calmly. Quieta closed her eyes for a moment.
'Yes, would the need arise, I would not hesitate to end their life, is that a problem?'
'No, none at all... not with me, anyway, but what might Alea think of that?'
'It doesn't matter, because she won't find out.'
Quieta opened her eyes again, smiling weakly.
"Yes... forgive me, I'm still a bit shaken up over that."
Alea reached out and brushed the single out of place strand of Quieta's hair back into place. "There, you look perfect once more."
Quieta smiled, for real this time. She leaned forward again and leaned her head on Alea's shoulder.
"Thank you... I'm glad you're alright. Even though we practically just met, I already feel like you're my only bit of sanity in this insane world." She shook slightly, realizing that she really was more shaken up by that then she thought. "...how about we go someplace quiet?"
Alea put her arm comfortingly around her date's shoulder and led her along the road towards the shore. "I know a couple of quiet places. Well, quiet if you ignore the gulls, and the surf. I think you'll like it."
Quieta sighed quietly, cuddling as close as she could to Alea. "Sounds nice..." She murmured softly, letting herself be lead along the street.
They walked in tender silence until they reached the beach. The area was fenced off, but Alea nudged aside one of the planks with her foot, reluctantly separated herself from Quieta, and wriggled through. "Come on... it shouldn't be a tight fit for you..."
Not having the burden of an exceptionally large chest, Quieta slipped through the fence easily. As she did so, she said to Alea "Remind me to invite you on the next cruise my family goes on. They're dreadfully boring, but I have a feeling it would be interesting with you. We can play 'Titanic'. Hopefully, we'd have a little bit happier an ending."
"Can you draw? If so, I'll pose nude for you." She made her way to a small sheltered outcropping. Bits of moss softened the rocky seating in this area. She sat and made room for Quieta next to her, then looked out toward the sea. Ships and birds sang their rhapsodies on the water. "Of course, if you asked nice, I'd probably pose whether you're an artist or not."
Quieta blushed and sat down next to Alea, watching the sea.
"It's beautiful..." She whispered, leaning her head on Alea's shoulder.
"....even moreso because you're here..."
Alea sighed contentedly. "This is such a wonderful date... and I've got a suprise for later... earlier, actually, because the place isn't open now. Maybe in the morning. For now, I figured you might want a nap."
Quieta yawned. She hadn't realized how tired she was until Alea had mentioned it.
"Actually, yes..." she whispered softly. "Just wake me up if I start snoring or something like that." In a few minutes, she was drifting, it was only a matter of time before she fell asleep.
Alea shifted her slightly, setting in for the long cuddled sleep, then drifted off herself, holding her new love close.
Return to Sailor Tyche.