Fantasy Forbidden Fruits [closed]

[spilledcoffee]

The hour was late, nearing 1am, when Kora entered the nightclub.

The interior of the building was dark, gloomy if not for the rows upon rows of neon-coloured fairy lights decorating the walls, which transformed the atmosphere to one of infinite possibility. The building was large, but not large enough for what it contained. Immediately across from the entrance was a bar, haphazard in its assembly but glittering with bottles and jugs of all sizes containing a multitude of concoctions, and manned by at least five - no, six - individuals. To the left of the bar was a makeshift gambling den, a pit of cobbled together tables, torn cards, mismatched dice, and individuals hungry for a win. To the right of the bar was the dancefloor, at this point a writhing sea of sweaty bodies, high on the combined exhilaration of alcohol and the thumping beat of the music. The maze of the building continued past the dancefloor, with corridors leading to private rooms which could be rented out for whatever purpose. Pomegranate, the busiest and most exclusive nightclub in the Underworld territory, was a den for all things dark and illicit.

At either side of Kora as she entered the club, arms linked together, were Daphne and Echo; Daphne, a lithe-limbed spitfire with dyed-pink hair, and Echo, tall like a willow tree and just as graceful. The trio had shed their usual garments for more stylish clothing, and were dripping in silky-soft fabrics that slid down their bodies and hugged at their curves. Daphne had a talent for finding and repurposing remnants from Before, and had coaxed Kora into a dress made of black velvet, with a draped collar and a slit up the left thigh, revealing soft, pale skin that barely saw the light of day. The dress was a far cry from Kora’s usual garb of ponchos and jeans, worn for their utility in the harsh outdoor conditions rather than anything else; but it was surprisingly comfortable and well-fitting, and filled Kora with a sense of confidence unlike anything she’d experienced before - and Gods knew, the daughter of Demeter needed it.

Kora froze to the spot almost as soon as she walked through the doors, and Daphne had to gently drag her out of the way and over to the bar, where they found a spot to perch near the end. Kora’s dark green eyes, the colour of moss wet from morning dew, stared out across the crowd, lingering on each individual for only a few seconds before flitting to the next. It was unlike anywhere she had been before, and filled her with a sense of dread and wonderment.

“Are you guys sure this is a good idea?” Kora’s voice was soft, melodic, with a hint of panic running underneath. “I…there are a lot of people here. What if we’re seen? What if we’re caught?”

“We might be,” Daphne responded bluntly, unhelpfully, as she passed a glass of clear liquid to Kora, who accepted it automatically. “But who cares? Kora, we made it here - we managed to get away - of course there will be consequences, but for one night at least, can’t we just forget about that and have fun?” Daphne’s hand snaked down to clasp Kora’s, and she looked at her with a plea in her eye that Kora could not resist. Recently, Daphne had begun to show evidence of powers; she had always had an affinity with water, but over the past weeks had mastered the ability to purify it, if only in small quantities. Soon she would be put to work within Cultivation, and guarded even more closely. Daphne saw this evening as her last chance at a night of freedom. Kora let out a soft sigh and took a sip of her drink, which looked innocuous but still burned enough to make her grimace.

“Fine. Fine, you win. But just be careful, okay?” Daphne grinned wickedly down at Kora and pressed her lips to her cheek.

“When am I not? Now let's have some fun! Bottoms up!” Obligingly Kora downed her drink, grimacing and choking but also laughing, as she allowed Daphne and Echo to pull her towards the dancefloor.

 

[Syntra]

A bar.

A. Fucking. Bar.

Not for the first time, Elise wished it had been something else. Something more quiet. Gods knew she needed more peace in her life, and that she would have done just about anything to get it. They knew she'd tried, too.

"Can't we hold these meetings in a library?" she'd asked Nyx, what felt like a million years ago. "A library would be nice."

Of course, the night goddess had just... fixed her with this melancholic look. "That's not how you get friends, Hades."

And, well, maybe she was right! But maybe Elise - Elise, not Hades - didn't really want friends.

She didn't need those.

Oh sure, having some sounded like a good idea, if you didn't happen to be Elise. Elise was Elise, though! That was the entire goddamn point!

"You look like shit tonight."

Thanatos. Thanatos, of course. Who else? Nobody but him dared to speak to her that way, and Elise didn't even bother to look up from the reading device on her wrist to confirm the hypothesis. Giving him attention felt... needless, at best. Like a victory he didn't deserve. "Just tonight? I'll take that as a compliment."

She didn't really see the eyeroll, but, judging by the tone of his voice, it very much was there. "Is that all you have to say?"

"Well," Elise did look up at that, "What am I supposed to say? Cry over your oh so moving concern?"

"I actually am concerned, though." Yeah, right, "When was the last time you slept?"

"Sometime this century, I'm pretty sure."

"Elise, this is not funny."

There were multiple reactions to that remark.

'It's not. Do you see me laughing?'

or,

'There's no time for that.'

or, perhaps the most honest one: 'I think I'm afraid of closing my eyes.'

But all of those would have been too serious, which didn't at all fit. Seriousness implied care, and Elise knew damn well he only really cared for what she represented, rather than what she was.

Not that everyone else wasn't the same.

Not that Elise blamed them.

She also didn't care for herself that much.

Reflexively, the corners of her mouth turned up in a sarcastic smile, "Sorry for failing to amuse you, then. Would you like your money back?"

And, if it was even slightly possible, Elise actually would pay him to fuck off. It was hard enough to focus even without Thanatos spewing nonsense, with all that music and people and things that wouldn't have been a problem at all, had this been a fucking library instead. But, no! Appearances were too important! So, in the interest of "looking hip" (she guessed), Elise now had to work out Underworld's budget for the next month under conditions she wouldn't have wished on her worst enemy.

But, speaking of enemies?

"My, my. Isn't this interesting?"

It probably wasn't. No, scratch that -- it most definitely wasn't. Whenever someone asked an inane question like that, whatever it was they were referring to ended up being about as interesting as watching paint dry ninety percent of the time. No point in actually paying attention, right?

But some half-forgotten instinct of hers apparently had other ideas. Before Elise could even begin to wonder why she bothered in the first place, she did lift her eyes -- and noticed something that indeed deserved noticing.

A group of men, standing not too far away from the place she'd chosen as her hideout. Not too surprising, was it? This bar was frequented by people, and a lot of those tended to be men. That was how the human population worked. Entirely normal!

Except, what they were saying to the women they'd approached... didn't strike her as very normal.

"You've got quite the nerve, coming all the way here."

"Yeah," his compatriot agreed, "Don't think we don't know who you are. I've seen you, um, on the Surface! Ya think this is some kinda game?!"

Oh, gods. No, Elise didn't actually know what was going on, but what she did know was that she was having none of this. Just, no. Not on her damn watch!

Even if it meant getting involved.

Oh, how she hated getting involved.

"Is there a problem?" Her tone was light and conversational, which made the reactions infinitely funnier. It had... apparently escaped everyone's attention that she was this close? Which would explain all the flinching. Serves you right. Perhaps you will learn a thing or two about vigilance.

"I believe I asked you a question," Elise said, before giving each one of her famous death looks.

Finally, one of the men found his words, "Y-yeah! The enemy has infiltrated our ranks!"

The... enemy? Those girls?

Elise would have chuckled, though she also didn't want to give them the satisfaction of hearing that. There was this... weird, childish bet that some of her subordinates had going on, and that she very much knew about even if it was supposed to be a secret. The winner? The one to make her laugh. Naturally, it was why Elise hadn't laughed for months.

So, she gave the women a look that could only be described as... sharp. Threatening. "Is that so? Are you the enemy?"

 

[spilledcoffee]

The trio had barely made it through two songs when they were cornered by the group of four men. It took Echo’s hand on Kora’s arm for her to notice, as her eyes were closed and head thrown back, already sinking into the music. What was being played in Pomegranate was like nothing they heard or even had access to in Cultivation; all media there was heavily regulated, had to be approved directly by Demeter or one of her immediate subordinates, and had a tendency towards…positivity? Light-heartedness? Emptiness? It was pleasant but nothing ground-breaking, did not have the depth to evoke anything other than a quick smile or a short bob of the head. But this music was an entirely different creature. It reached into Kora’s body and grabbed ahold of her heart, squeezing it tight until emotion flooded her senses. It was dark and it was heavy and it held an undercurrent of fire that fuelled her, made her want to let loose and give in to the rapidly rising beat. But Echo’s warm touch brought her back to the present, and Kora opened her eyes in time for the first accusation.

"You've got quite the nerve, coming all the way here."

“Yeah! Don't think we don't know who you are. I've seen you, um, on the Surface! Ya think this is some kinda game?!"

It was like fear had been injected directly into Kora’s veins. She wanted to move, wanted to defend her group, but she was stuck fast to the spot, mouth slightly agape. Luckily, Daphne still had her wits about her.

“So what?” Her voice was low, angry and defensive, and Kora noticed that her hands were bundled into fists. “Just because we’ve been on the Surface doesn’t mean we’re not allowed down here!”

“Right! We’re allowed down here!” Echo chimed in, although her voice was less certain, wavering at the end.

“So why don’t you just mind your own business and piss off?!” A gasp could be heard, and Kora belatedly realised that it came from her own mouth. Of course people swore in Cultivation, it wasn’t illegal or anything, but Demeter definitely did not approve, and Kora avoided it like a plague. It was a shock to hear Daphne speak in such a way.

Before the situation could escalate, however, a woman stepped forward, and Kora watched with interest as the men crowding them flinched away. Who was she, to command such a reaction? Kora’s attention narrowed in on her as she continued to address the men, taking in her towering height, pearly iridescent skin, and shock-blue eyes. She had a certain draw to her, an energy that made Kora want to lean closer so as not to miss a single word. She was beautiful, and she was distracting, and she was terrifying.

Seconds passed before Kora realised they had been asked a question. Mouth suddenly dry, she stepped forward to speak.

“Oh, we’re not - I wouldn’t say we’re the enemy, no. Although, uh, I guess from some people’s perspective, we are?” Her eyes flickered over to the men before snapping back to the woman, green on blue. “But I wouldn’t say we are, we’re just…from a different faction. This is our first time here and we - well, we thought it was open to everyone - we were told it was for everyone -” Although they had learnt this information from Eros, who was known to be a bit scatterbrained. Kora marched valiantly on.

“But if it’s not then that’s entirely our fault and…and I take full responsibility, and can only apologise for the intrusion. We really don’t want any trouble so can be on our way.”

 

[Syntra]

It IS open to everyone. Well, it was and it wasn't. Elise supposed that they shouldn't just let anyone in, but policing who could and couldn't enter still felt strange. It was a bar, for fuck's sake! A bar, not some... super special club, for super special people. Some of the meetings they held here were more secret than others, but she took care to schedule those when no civilians were around. In the meantime, outsiders coming wasn't really a prob--

"Although, uh, I guess from some people's perspective, we are?"

The admission cut through the stream of Elise's thoughts, and caused her to do two things at once: a) roll her eyes, because if this wasn't the most pathetic attempt at salvaging a situation she'd ever fucking seen, it had to be close, and b) actually look at the speaker.

A mistake.

A colossal fucking mistake.

In truth, Elise had meant to glower. She had gotten pretty good at that, mostly because it was just... easier than explaining the same thing over and over. Few responded to logic; many responded to threats. And when it came to nonverbal ones? Those obviously saved time, since you didn't have to waste brainpower on coming up with witty one-liners. You didn't have to worry about repeating yourself, either.

Really, would shouldn't she be the master of death glares?

It was practical!

All you had to do was summon murderous intent, which Elise happened to be a natural at.

Or, at least she had been?

Because something went very wrong with the process.

For a moment or two, Elise just kind of stared at the stranger. So far, so good! Glaring also involved staring! Except that she knew with this embarrassing sort of certainty that what she was doing was a far cry from the usual 'go fuck yourself' and much closer to... um, other things. Things that she did not want to mention.

'Pretty' was somehow the first thought that popped into her mind, and Elise could only hope her expression wasn't too readable. It probably wasn't? If only because she was also very good at hiding these kinds of--

"Um," Hypnos emerged from behind, because that was what he did, "Are you okay, El? I've never seen you make such a face before."

Oh. my. fucking. god.

Well, so much for her camouflage. So much for her reputation, because she was never living this down!

Shaking her head, Elise somehow managed to get a hold of herself. What she didn't quite manage was to tear her eyes away, and so she didn't do that. Not like it mattered much, right? She still had to solve this dispute, which meant talking to the chick. Eye contact wasn't really weird in such a context. Avoiding it would have been weirder, which made this... exchange... entirely natural and fine.

"Yeah, just... thinking."

A brilliant excuse!

But, speaking of brilliant ideas: "How?" Elise heard herself asking, for some motherfucking reason, "How do you even intend to accept that responsibility, if you indeed are an enemy? Surely you understand that just letting you go like that wouldn't be very... educational."

Oh, damn. What the hell was she saying?!

At this point, not even Elise could tell.

 

[spilledcoffee]

Kora paused when the woman began staring at her, uncertain on how to react. After the eye roll, Kora could have sworn that a death glare was on the cards, not unlike the ones Daphne would give her if she woke her up too early - and yet all the woman did was stare, and Kora could only look back with mounting discomfort. Why was she looking at her like that? Was there something on her face or between her teeth? No, that couldn’t be it, as Daphne or Echo would have picked her up on it. What was it then? Heat rapidly rose to Kora’s cheeks under the woman’s intense gaze, and she lifted a hand as if that could shield the soft pink that was dancing there. It was a relief when a stranger, a man, interrupted the moment.

El. So her name was El? Or was it a nickname? Kora found her mouth dropping open to ask, as if she had any right to know her business. She snapped it shut again, doing a fantastic imitation of a fish stranded on land - not that that was a regular sight these days.

It was unnerving how, despite now addressing the man, the woman’s eyes remained glued to Kora’s. Kora had never had an issue with eye contact before, even though she knew some people, like Echo, struggled with it and found it intimidating. Until this moment, she hadn’t realised quite how intense it could be, staring into someone’s eyes with an unwavering gaze. Kora almost felt herself being pulled into the whirlpool of blue, enraptured and drowning.

Yeah, just...thinking. It was clear that El was thinking, but about what, Kora was unsure. Were they about to be kicked out? Or did the woman have something else on her mind? Not for the first time in the handful of minutes they had been in each other's presence, Kora wished she could get a clear crack at her mind, open it up like an eggshell and reveal the contents within.

“Educational? Oh, I guess it wouldn’t be.” Why was her heart beating out of her chest? Why had her voice dropped to something lower, softer, more…sultry? Why had she taken a step forward towards the woman - towards El - so she had to crane her neck back to maintain eye contact, despite the extra height bestowed by her heels? Kora had seen this behaviour before, in the women who flocked around Zeus, in the way Aphrodite purred at any man who came near her. Was Kora…flirting?

“What did you have in mind? We have a few hours - or, I guess, I do.” Finally Kora broke eye contact to look back at her friends. Daphne’s eyes were narrowed with suspicion, flickering between El, the newcomer, and their original assailants, who were seemingly trying to escape from the scene inconspicuously. Echo, on the other hand, was looking intently at Kora, head quirked to the side with a thoughtful expression on her face. The look made Kora hastily return to facing forward, not in the headspace to even begin unpicking what that look meant.

“I am in your hands - El, was it?”

 

[Syntra]

Faintly, in a past so distant it might as well not have happened at all, Elise remembered her mother giving her a piece of advice. Advice that revolved around... counting? Something about it supposedly being 'calming' and 'great for when you don't know what to do with yourself.'

The tip had been received about as gracefully as you might expect from a teenager, which, of course, was not at all.

'Thanks a lot, mom,' she'd said, 'I'll just count all the ways I'm unhappy and see if that does something for me.'

And Elise still agreed with her teenage self. Because, well, wasn't it just stupid?

It sure was, but since she felt rather stupid herself now, her mind did drift towards the idea.

One, two, three. One, two three. Just... breathe?

Because everything would be fine! It wasn't like anyone could read her thoughts, so she could probably frame this little misstep as... something. Something else than what it was. Not that Elise herself had the faintest idea, but what she did know was that such a tiny detail couldn't possibly stop her from lying her ass off.

She would handle it.

She always somehow did.

Nothing could possibly--

Um. Whatever coherent thought Elise might have had dissolved into mush at once when the stranger proceeded to... play along? What? Her expectations had been more along the lines of the girl begging for mercy, not this! And she did have a handy script to follow in such scenarios, which wasn't something that could be said about... well, most other situations.

"Hours?" Elise gulped. "That's... impressive. We could do a lot of things."

A lot of things. A lot of things!

Faced with her own ingenuity, Elise only her one question for herself: 'What the FUCK am I even saying?!'

Someone behind her snickered, most likely agreeing with the sentiment. Elise... didn't really blame them. She wished she could, but this entire fiasco was honestly on her and her apparent inability to act like a normal fucking person in the presence of a pretty girl.

Wait. 'Pretty girl?' Was it about that?

Elise had no idea how to accept the revelation, and so she didn't. No way would this backfire on her! She'd just ignore the weird feeling, and everything would be fine. That was clearly how these things worked. "Elise," she corrected, clinging to whatever pathetic scraps of dignity that still remained to her, "And you're right, I suppose you are. That means I will have to think of a suitable punishment."

At this point, the chorus of 'what' playing on loop in her head might as well have been the official soundtrack of her life. Oh, how the mighty have fallen!

"Come with me?" Not that Elise really knew where she wanted to go, but what she did know was that they didn't need an audience. That she started to walk in the general direction of the dance floor was a... coincidence. Yep. "You can start with telling me who you are. You know my name, so it's only fair."

 

[spilledcoffee]

We could do a lot of things.

The room was suddenly sweltering. Kora raised a hand to swipe at the back of her neck, almost surprised when it came away bone dry. She didn’t need a mirror to know that her entire face and upper body was now a deep red, burgeoning on purple, and could only pray in vain that the lights were low enough that her blush was not immediately obvious. Kora had always had a reactive body and a terrible poker face - Daphne often joked that she might as well have been a book for how easy she was to read. Never had it felt more like an inconvenience than in that moment. Kora cursed her bad luck.

“Elise.” Kora savoured the way her name felt on her tongue, smooth and slippery like warmed butter. It seemed like a surprisingly soft name for someone made of hard edges, who acted like they had looked down on the world and found it desperately wanting. Kora would have anticipated a harsher name, something that reflected the shrouded secrecy and darkness of the faction. And yet, somehow Elise worked.

“Elise is a beautiful name.” The words slipped out before Kora could catch them, and she automatically raised a hand to her mouth as if she could reach out and scoop them all back in. The talk of punishment and the invitation to join Elise was a welcome distraction that sent shivers down her spine. Kora had doggedly avoided punishment her entire life; why now did it seem like something to look forward to?

Kora glanced back at Echo and Daphne, the former of whom was still staring, the latter who had quirked her head in a clear gesture of ‘Do you need me to come with you?’. Kora faltered, but only for a second; with things being how they were in Cultivation, Kora rarely had a moment to herself, constantly in the company of other women her age, almost to a suffocating degree. The idea of being alone with anyone, let alone a stranger, terrified her - and yet there was this hint of thrill that buzzed through her veins as Elise dove deeper into the crowd, an electricity that drowned out her sensibilities. She found that she wanted to follow her, wanted the opportunity to be alone with her, to talk one-on-one. Kora shook her head in the negative and, with a final smile back to he friends, plunged after Elise.

“My name’s Kora, Kora Sp-“ Mmm, no. Her surname wouldn’t do either of them any favours. Kora had learnt at an early age that as soon as anyone heard her surname or realised who her mother was, things would go south; either she would be branded as the enemy and shunned, or she would be coveted as a gateway to the inside and used for her connections. Kora was desperate to be seen as more than her name, and finally she had been given the chance. She would not waste the opportunity.

She shook her head, before restating more firmly. “I’m Kora. Where are you taking me?”

 

[Syntra]

"Elise is a beautiful name."

Well. Well, that was... something? The cheapest compliment in the book, Elise's cynical self would have said, except that said cynical self just wasn't available at the moment. It seemed like Elise herself wasn't really available, with all those strange, new thoughts taking up so much space, but that didn't unnerve her as much as it probably should have. It... actually felt kind of nice?

Until, of course, she remembered she actually had to answer. That was what people did. You know, when they were in the middle of a conversation? That was why it wasn't called a monologue, or a soliloquy, or... Just fucking say something! "Really?" Elise blurted out, "It's... a name." Wow. A 10/10 response. One of the greatest minds of the Underworld, ladies and gentlemen! "I've never had particular feelings about it," she continued to dig her grave further, "It's just something my parents chose." As opposed to literally every other name in the world, which were traditionally chosen by, what? Aliens?

So, to say that Elise wanted to die would be quite an understatement. Perhaps for the first time in her life, she found herself feeling rather thankful that this was not a library -- mostly because a library would have been infinitely more well-lit, and her embarrassment all the more obvious for it. In that regard, the darkness was... convenient. The music, as well. Not that music obscured much, but it was a good excuse to dance um, helped her think? Because the rhythm was stimulating?

Never mind that she'd been bitching about the noise earlier.

Never mind anything.

The girl - Kora? - looked more than a bit nervous, and had Elise been just a slightly better person, she likely would have pitied her. As it was, though? The only thing she could think was: 'Good.'

Elise, too, felt stupidly nervous. Not being alone in this was weirdly calming, even if it didn't help all that much. She supposed it was human, to want someone else to fall down the same cliff you'd just tumbled from, for no other reason than that company would be nice.

Pfft, human.

As if she had that luxury.

"Kora," she repeated, tasting the name on her tongue, "Feels nice to say." No, Elise wasn't being we... okay, fine, she may have been a little weird about this, if you ignored what 'little' meant and acted like it was a substitution for 'very.' At this point, 'what the fuck am I doing?' didn't even begin to cover it!

Might as well go with the flow, I guess.

And, well... go with the flow she did.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Elise smirked, "But I have to say, you are brave for leaving your friends behind. To go like that with an enemy, all on your own... It almost makes me wonder if you aren't more dangerous than you look."

The speech might have been slightly scarier had it not become obvious where she was going by then, if only because the dance floor was the sole point of interest in sight. The tiles were blinking furiously, purple following dark blue and vice versa, and, upon noticing just who it was that deemed to join them, people quickly moved out of their way.

"Well?" Elise tilted her head aside, "I guess you came here for something like this, didn't you?" People always did, "Impress me, then."

And yes, there probably were more normal ways to ask someone for a dance, but she was Elise. These things weren't her forte.

 

[spilledcoffee]

Kora found herself smiling at Elise’s stilted response, readily charmed by the way the words seemed to struggle their way past her lips, like she was fighting against her better instincts and failing miserably. The glimpse of this shared vulnerability worked to embolden Kora, somehow evening the odds and allowing her to stand on equal footing. Kora momentarily forgot to second-guess her words, just let them spill out into the heated air between them.

“Well, your parents have a good taste in names. It suits you.” A very roundabout way of calling someone beautiful, but it was the best that Kora could summon at that moment. Perhaps if she hadn’t drank that alcohol, or if she wasn’t shrouded by the darkness of the club, she would have been rendered speechless by the intensity of Elise’s attention. Instead, she just felt compelled to keep talking.

“Feels nice to hear you say it. My name, that is.” The sound of Kora’s name rolling off Elise’s tongue sent a shiver ricocheting up her spine, enough to make the soft blonde hairs on her arms
stand on end. She wrapped her arms around her waist like she was cold, as if this feeble barrier could protect her from the tug of desire she felt towards the taller woman.

The following comment made her almost stumble to a halt, this time tripped by the sentiment and not her too-high heels. Kora, dangerous? Kora, brave? For a moment, she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry; laugh at the absurdity of the statement, or cry at how badly she was being misread. Although it hadn’t happened often, Kora had been hit on enough to know when someone was interested in her, and Elise was at least intrigued - but not by the person Kora actually was. It was rapidly becoming clear that any attraction was directed at Other Kora - Kora of Pomegranate, who could swan into an underground nightclub like it was a free for all, and could look the enemy dead in the eye and give back her all as if unconcerned by the consequence. That Kora wasn’t her, not really. But perhaps she could be that person, if only for the night - and maybe that could be enough?

“I could be more than I look. I guess you’ll have to stick around long enough to find out, huh?” Her teeth bit down on her bottom lip as she flashed a challenging grin towards Elise: game on. The buzz from earlier had not yet left, and Kora found herself easily able to slip back into it the thrum of the music. This time, however, her movements were devoid of their earlier carefree sway, and instead held a level of calculation. With Elise’s eyes trained on her, it felt like she was hyper aware of every inch of her body, of every place those swirling pools of blue ink could land, and she wanted to make a good impression.

Kora swung her hips steadily to beat, letting her arms rise up and her head fall back, unaware if she looked seductive or simply like a horrorshow. After a few moments, she reopened her eyes and extended a hand towards Elise, head gently cocked to the side.

“Join me?”

 

[Syntra]

No. Don't take the bait, Elise. It's stupid, and you're going to regret it.

A sound assessment of the situation, right? Pure, crystal-clear rationality!

...Or it would have been, had her mouth not bypassed that mental filter entirely. "Really?" Elise tilted her head aside, "Perhaps I ought to say it more often, then." Yes, perhaps! Because perhaps could be no as much as it was yes, but, most importantly -- it was casual. Not a big deal. She wasn't actually dying on the inside, or doing anything at all stupid. Nothing to see here, ladies and gentlemen! Elise was totally having a normal one! After all 'Reasonable' could be her middle name... but maybe she didn't want it to be.

Not now.

It would have been such an easy thing to do, to reach out and... do what? Elise's mind provided a few scenarios, none of them too helpful for maintaining her sanity. They also weren't too helpful in not making her blood rush straight into her cheeks, but, hey! Thank god for shitty lighting, right?

As if that's going to work forever. Kora was bound to notice sooner or later, and then her precious reputation... would be even more fucked than it already was, Elise supposed. How much did it matter?

Objectively speaking: not much. What an enemy thought of her really wasn't her business, even moreso than all the other things that weren't her business. Those people hated her by default, just because of who, and what, she was.

What more than who, really.

Subjectively, though?

Elise found that she didn't want to think about that, mostly because the answer existed so far out of the realm of rationality that she'd have to emigrate to another fucking universe to escape the inevitable embarrassment. Acknowledging it was painful enough, and so she did her best to... well, not do that. And, since distraction was the best recipe for that: "Hmm?" she raised her eyebrow, a playful smile on her lips, "You'll have to make it worth my while, though. I am a busy woman, Kora. My time is precious."

And, yeah, it was. Precious enough that she shouldn't be wasting it on dancing with random strangers, and yet she did join her, her hips swaying to the rhythm, her fingers interlocking with hers. The gesture was bold -- too bold, given the sudden jolt of electricity, and, for a moment, Elise wanted nothing more than to run from the intensity of it all.

Just... fuck!

How was this normal? She'd only known her for about five minutes! To even use the word 'know' was a stretch! This wasn't the time to... stare into her eyes, imagine silly things, and do all the things she wasn't really allowed to do, both for her own sake and the sake of this strange, magnetic girl.

The only problem? That letting go would turn this into something unusual. A certified big deal. All dramatic reactions would, which meant she had to... act like nothing about this was bothering her at all.

Easy enough, right?

As long as she figured what to say!

"Tell me something about yourself," Elise demanded in the end, "Something nobody else knows. Make it interesting."

 

[spilledcoffee]

There it was: her name, once more deliciously curling from between Elise’s lips, a song and a sigh all wrapped into a tight little bundle. It made Kora want to laugh, and it made her want to scream; anything to elicit the sound again, be it good or bad.

Instead, continuing to demonstrate far more confidence than she actually felt, Kora used Elise’s hand in hers to draw the woman towards her, bridging the gap between the two. She overestimated the distance, however - rather than keeping Elise at a safe, but slightly closer distance, she practically pulled her into her arms, for a moment their limbs threatening to catastrophically collide. Kora felt the top of her head bump the tip of Elise’s chin, and glanced up to see her deep blue eyes mere inches from her own. The nearness of her, the heat that gently radiated from her skin - it was intoxicating. It took all of Kora’s willpower to take a single step backwards, providing room for the pair to properly lock eyes.

“Am I not already making it worth your time?” Kora asked softly, reaching her free hand up to brush against the bloom of red on Elise’s cheeks, hard to miss despite the low lighting of the club. While her facial expression was hard, the skin was oh-so soft, like touching the most delicate of petals. It was hard to deny that Kora held a beauty in her hands, one she did not deserve but found herself increasingly reluctant to give up.

“Something about me that no one else knows? Hmm…” Kora made a point to not to have secrets - or not any significant ones, anyway. Demeter had never trusted her adopted daughter, for reasons that were still unclear, and Kora had grown up with the understanding that nothing would ever truly be hers, not really. Everything she had, everything she was, she owed to Demeter, who only asked for her loyalty in return. Loyalty, and a blow-by-blow account of her life, delivered over dinner at the end of every week. It was the only time Kora ever saw her mother anymore, and the timing of their meeting rapidly grew shorter and shorter. To begin with the meals had been extravagant, with three full courses set in the main dining room of Demeter’s quarters, lasting for hours upon hours. The other week, Kora had barely managed to take a sip of soup before the interrogation was over and Demeter was whisked away by her advisors to take care of “business”, whatever that meant. Times were changing, and too rapidly for Kora to keep up with.

Still, there were a couple of things that Demeter didn’t know…

“I have dreams sometimes - really vivid dreams, so lifelike it’s as if I’m truly there…but where ‘there’ is, I do not know. The dreams are never set in places I recognise, but they have a familiarity to them that is indescribable. And the people in them…half of them I know from my home, and half of them are complete strangers to me - and yet their faces are just as defined, their quirks strangely specific, as if they, too, are real people. But they can’t be…can they?” Kora’s voice was barely above a whisper as she spoke, her words a secret for only her and Elise.