Private Tales Soon

A private roleplay only for those invited by the first writer
"She does." And then with an impish smile on an impulse she just couldn't resist, even if it could be something of a detriment to what she ultimately wanted, Yuna added, "Uuuuuuu~sually."

Zael gave her an unimpressed look.

"Oh come on, brothel boy, don't get all uptight over it. You told me about that! See, I don't forget. You said you enjoyed it, that it was one of the better things your goofy little Anirian Academy did before that Revolution or whatever. Well guess what, Firebutt, Heidi keeps her sheets waaaaay cleaner than whatever the hell was in that brothel, I'm sure!"

"That's different."

"Yeah? How so?"

Zael smirked. "You expect to roll around in a little mud, goin to a place like that."

Yuna's shoulders hitched up, she snorted and then snickered in spontaneous laughter, and then wiped a hand down her face. "Oh my god."
 
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Zael, satisfied, swung his leg up and then plopped down on Heidi's bed all in one motion. He entwined his fingers behind his head, looking up at the ceiling as he said, "You outta get goin. That bath is gonna take two hours off the night, so best get it done."

"I do not take two hour long baths!"

"Prune-fingers."

"Hardy-har, 'prune-fingers'. You know, one of these days, I'm going to get you to take a bath with me and then I'll make sure we stay in it long enough to get prune-fingers together. What do you think about that?"

"Start figurin out good bets to make, then."

Zael grinned a little. She was a genius. Supposedly. Ought to be easy for someone of such formidable and cunning smarts.
 
"Oh I will."

Yuna pushed herself off of the chest of drawers, turned around, and pulled out one of the drawers. She took out a folded pair of pants much like the ones she had on now—sans burnt hole in the buttocks region. Now to just shimmy out of her current pair, oh so innocently, do a little bend at the waist, really get Zael's attention, maybe just steal a glance back and...he wasn't watching. Just relaxing and staring up at the ceiling. Oh come on! This was supposed to be one of those flirty little peekaboo moments, where she "accidentally" showed off some "without realizing it" and he was supposed to look over and kind of like it and maybe, you know, just maybe, like it enough to not betray her and Elbion during the expedition.

Alright, well, he wants to play that game? Two can play that game.

Yuna got her new pants on, collected up a towel and a basket of washroom items, then, as she was making for the door, said, "I'll be back before you know it. And don't you dare follow me. No peeking!"

Zael snickered, and his eye found her as she laid a hand on the door. "We went streakin together. I've seen all of you and you've seen all of me."

Yuna smirked, held up a finger, and proudly proclaimed, "That's! Different!" And with a self-satisfied Hmm!, she pulled open the door and left the room.
 
Points for using his own words against him. Fair.

Zael lay on Heidi's bed, now alone with his thoughts. They started out fun, flying along to this whimsy or that, but, as thoughts often do, one association led to another association, and after enough of these the chain was thus forged between those fun thoughts and more sober, serious thoughts, these pertaining to the future. It wasn't the first time for thoughts of this kind—Zael had given it consideration before. Yet uncertainty loved to be churned over and over again in the mind, as if doing so enough might yield some miraculous answer after enough searching.

And the question of the future in Zael's mind was this: what if Gilram failed? What if, despite everything, despite all the preparation in the world, Gilram and his Rogue Dreadlords were soundly beaten by the Republic, Gilram himself killed, and the cause broken and scattered? What would Zael do? He knew damn well he couldn't wage his war against Vel Anir himself—not even Gilram, an Archon, could do that. He was looking to win his fight to free the Dreadlords, not commit suicide. And that's what going up alone against the whole of Vel Anir would be. Suicide. Damn it, man, going up against just Kimble alone would be suicide. A man really had to reckon with his limits.

Like all the times before, Zael didn't find that miraculous answer, not matter how much he mulled over the question in his head. Yuna, true to her word, returned before long though, and Zael was more than happy to leave the uncertain future where it belonged: far and away.

He sat up on the bed. "Record time."
 
"Oh, 'record time', he says." She smirked slyly as she passed him to hang up her towel. "What? Have you been counting down the minutes? First of all, I'm delighted that you're so interested in my washroom activities. And second of all, awww, that's sweet, you were thinking about me all the while."

"I was thinkin about somethin, alright."

"Well, think you can do me a favor and dry my hair?" Yuna sat down on the bed next to him, canting her head his direction after she did. "I wouldn't want to go out with it all damp. Sends the wrong message, you know? Can't have people thinking 'Rainy day just for you, Fairweather? What's that last name even for, anyway?'"

What Zael didn't know was that Yuna could have easily dried her hair before she came back here. But she didn't! On purpose! Just for this little moment right here! It was a small thing, but nice things were often small things, and Yuna knew that not only would this feel nice for her, but maybe, hopefully, it would feel good for Zael too. It felt good to do nice things for people you liked! Of course!
 
"You trust me? After those other pants of yours got a bald spot?"

"I trust you enough," Yuna said, as if she were guessing at some answer to a question one of her Professors asked her.

"Yeah, that works." Zael hovered his hands just above Yuna's head, here and there feeling the damp hair beneath on his palms. "You don't have all that much hair to lose now anyway."

"Here we go with this again."

"With what?"

"This! Heidi gives me crap for it all the time. You know I like to keep my hair short. And you told me you liked it short!"

"Funny, I don't remember doin that."

Yuna glanced up at him with wild twinkle of mischief in her eyes. "Wanna switch hair then? I got a spell for that!"

Zael was actually caught by surprise by that one. "Get the fuck outta here, you do."

"Alright, so I maaaaybe don't have a spell for that, but you know what: your hair looks nice, Zael. I think it looks nice. Long and adventurous. How about that? So what do you think about mine?"

Zael smiled. No jokes, no funny gibes, no banterous reply. Just Zael sincerely saying, "Well...I do like yours short. And now I've told you."

With that, and with fine control, Zael invoked his magic and his hands began to heat up. No flames came from them, but they radiated a deep warmth that would soon see Yuna's hair dry.
 
Yuna sat on the bed in what began as a haughty self-satisfaction for her "plan" working out perfectly and what quickly became a quiet and genuine investment in the simple pleasure of the moment. Zael's hands moved slowly over the top of her head, down toward the back, over her ears, towards her bangs, back up to the top again, all the while his palms, not quite touching her fully, nevertheless graced over her hair, these fleeting bits of contact sending little delightful shivers down her neck. Her shoulder had come to rest against his chest, and her head tilted over just shy of coming to rest on him as well. Some significant part of her wanted to stay like this all night, wetting her hair again as needed so that Zael could dry it again, eventually giving up the whole premise of the hair-drying and simply having him gently stroke and toy with her hair as he saw fit...maybe somewhere even further down the line making a pillow out of him.

"I like this," she said, giving sincere voice to what she felt.
 
"Mmhmm."

Alright, so the Academy wasn't the type of place that adequately prepared someone for situations like this. Didn't exactly foster a sense of how to be gracefully intimate with someone, did it? But despite the general lack of examples from the Academy, and the lack of an example from his own parents, Zael had within his heart a sense of what he wanted, and what he wanted to be, an irrepressible humanity that couldn't be quashed by the Proctors' cruel whims and bleak environment of Vel Anir. It wasn't perfect, this inner sense and his attempts at realizing it, but he'd make do.

So he made better on his response, feeling that he ought, and said simply, "I do too."

He continued on with drying Yuna's hair. There was only a few times when he had the chance to do something small and nice like this for someone, anyone, Initiate or otherwise, and most of these instances came after the Revolution.

When at last it was done he said, "So where are you thinkin first?"
 
Ahhhhhh, where was a bucket of water? No, screw the bucket of water, she was a mage, she was pretty good at elemental magic, she could conjure a globe of water and dunk her head into it and Oops, silly me, got my hair all wet again, guess we'll just have to sit here like this for longer now! But no. All good things did have to come to an end—but that didn't mean more good things couldn't come later, ah ha!

And besides...

"I'm! Hungry!" Yuna announced, standing up from the bed and stretching. "There's no way you're not hungry too. After all that training we did? Let-me-tell-you, Firebutt, how sorrrrrrrrre I've been this week doing all that. And you were supposed to do stuff like that every day? Pffffft. Count me out! That Academy of yours can stuff it! Why even learn how to use a sword anyway, it's dumb—magic is just better, duh. That stupid Fog surrounding the Cathedral doesn't really change that. Not in my book!"

She flailed a hand about in the air, as if physically dispelling her train of thought from her head.

"But I'm rambling again. Anyway! Yes! I do have a good place. You'll like it. When have my suggestions ever been wrong?"
 
"You got the reins. I'm just sittin in the saddle."

Yuna, as she went to her chest of drawers, said, "Ooo, sitting in the saddle behind me? Got me all wrapped up in your arms? And we're about to ride off into a sunset? You really know how to paint a romantic picture, Zael."

"You're the one with the brush in your hands."

On the subject though, yeah, Yuna had given him plenty of good suggestions during his time in Elbion. The Elbionese cuisine would be something he'd miss once it was time for him to get back onto the road and back into the fight with the Rogues. It did make for something good to look forward to though, in an eventual return. That and other things.

Yuna pulled out two light blue accessories from the pulled out drawer. Held them up. "What do you think for tonight? Tie? Or scarf?"

"Scarf," Zael said. "Seems like it's gonna get chilly."
 
"Tie it is then!" Yuna said. Now, more than simply being contrarian, this was actually a genius move for the exact reason that Zael himself had said. It gets chilly, she gets cold, maybe sprinkle in a dash of apologetics, oh you were so right about the scarf, but then nevertheless Zael feels compelled to do something about it and who knows what goodie, or goodies, Yuna might get out of it?

Zael shrugged. "Your call."

"Yeah. My call. Shut up, I know I asked your opinion, but I hardly get to wear my ties."

"You wear ties all the time."

"Not without Heidi making little snide comments about it, her and whoever else. 'Oh Yuna, that's not a combination, you with your short hair, flat chest, and tie.' And I'm just thinking to myself: oh come on! My face is gorgeous. See?" She smiled as if holding such a visage for a portrait, trying her very best to accentuate her appearance for figurative posterity. "Who could mistake me for a boy with a face as cute as mine?"

She said, knowing quite well that that had happened multiple times and that it always annoyed the shit out of her.
 
Zael stood up from the bed with an expression full of good humor. "Tie it is then," he echoed. "Just don't get mad at me when you're out there doin the shiverin shuffle, your nipples are rock hard and pointin steady as she goes, and I say, 'No, you can't borrow my cloak again.'"

"Really? You're just going to leave me to turn into an icicle?"

"I'm not a monster—I'll huff hot breath onto you until you melt."

Yuna snorted with laughter. She did that a lot, snorting when she laughed. "Oh, I can't wait. I'll see if I can guess what you had for lunch."

"I was just gonna mention somethin like that. You better choose a good place to eat tonight 'cause you'll be smellin it when it's up to me to defrost you."

Yuna came up to him and proudly raised a finger to herald her proclamation of: "Already one step ahead of you, Mister Big Tough Anirian."

Zael led her to the door. Opened it and asked, "Yeah? And what is it?"
 
They stepped out into the hall and started walking as Yuna replied, "I~~ remembered what you said you liked."

"I don't even remember what I said I liked."

"Ziti!"

"How many different words do you have for pasta here in Elbion, damn."

"Different kinds, Zael, different kinds. You described it to me! And I remembered!"

He grinned, trying to play it off. "All the same to me. At least it was back in Vel Anir."

"That's because nobody down south knows how to make a good pasta to save their life, but you found out firsthand up here how much better it can be. And! Look, trust me, you gotta know the good spots, not just the popular spots. I kind of wish I had an Elbionese grandma but, unless you're looking to taste the most divine seafood ever, oh, ho hum, I suppose you'll have to look elsewhere than mighty Fairweather family. And lucky you, I know where to look. That sausage wrap the other day was good, wasn't it? I'm never wrong about food!"
 
"Where do you even put it all?" Zael asked, poking her in the stomach as they walked.

Yuna, with a smug self-satisfaction, stretched her arms up above her head, and said, "No amount of food can tarnish the beauty of this body. I'm just lucky that way."

"Oh, I just thought you shit as much as a cow."

"Zael!" She exclaimed, indignant at first, but then slyly grinned. She was up to something. "Say, how's your hearing?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Because I'm going to claw out your other eye if you say that again."

"You just want to fight for free? Now that's a deal: I just thought you shit as much as—"

Yuna pawed at his face and Zael playfully fended her off and they laughed over it and, attracting a number of looks from other students for their overt physicality toward one another, they proceeded in just such a brawling fashion down to the ground floor and, tuckering out by the time they reached the courtyard, departed from the College.
 
GILLESPIE'S​


And it was off to dinner they went. Fortunately! Yuna knew of the perfect spot, one that fit her exacting criteria: not only did it need to be one of those little hidden gems (she knew all the good spots; no good food could hide from her Fairweather nose!), but it also needed to be somewhere close. After all, they only had so much time before the sun went fully down, and so they needed to squeeze in a bit of pants shopping before all the tailorshops closed. Didn't want to miss out on that!

So Gillespie's it was. Close to the College, wedged into a small building just off of a usually busy street, and the proprietor, Ramon Gillespie, was actually a friend of the Fairweather family. The Fairweathers had him over to dinner a few times, and vice versa. He'd definitely cut Yuna a deal, on the house! Which, in Zael's case, tight as he was on coin, was a good thing.

The conversation turned to that as they approached the doors to Gillespie's cookshop.

"How about this," Yuna said. "You buy me my dinner, and I buy you yours. Doesn't that sound sweet?"

Zael grinned a little. "The bigger the plate you order, the shorter your pant legs are gonna be."

"I know! I know! I know you still have to buy me my new pants. Even if you weren't, I wasn't going to be a hog anyway. I'm hungry, but I'll be modest about it. Honest!"

Zael thought it over, lips puckering slightly and his head dancing to the tune of his thoughts as he did so, and in short order he came to say, "Alright. I trust you. Let's do that."

A little breath, heady with delight, she drew in through her nose. Really? You do? You really do?

Whether her surprise was evident, she played it off anyway, saying, "Yes! Fantastic. It'll be like we're each buying one another a gift, and I think that's nice."

And something I'd like to be able to do in the future. Even after the Pinnacle is secured.
 
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