Rising, Falling (Cecil)

Nadia felt weakness in her knees as he pulled his lips away, and her eyes opened halfway, eyelashes fluttering, as if she was just now seeing the world. At first she hadn't realized he'd said something. Or rather, She saw his lips move but wasn't really registering words. "Hm?" She breathed, feeling weightless.

The small shy smile on his face registered, however, and she matched, biting her lip a little. "Um...Y-yes." Responding to the question brought a fresh rush of blush to her face, and she gripped him tight, burrying her head in his chest. "I think this might be the best night of my life." She replied. It was a strange thing to say, but it was the only thing on her mind that didn't sound stupid. All the rest of her words were floating around in her head like alphabet soup.

His face lit up as she spoke, before his expression became meek again. "Ah, aha..." He flushed red too as everything hit him, a light dusting surging into intense colouring across his features. "...me too? Maybe? I'm not sure if it's just the..." His eyes flick to her lips, and the bashfulness increases tenfold. "Th-th-th-that[ talking. I-It, it really, was, uh...good. More than good." He swallows, a sense of dryness to his throat that wasn't there before. He kissed a girl, he properly kissed a girl, he kept on doing it, they were holding each other in their arms right now and why did she look so pretty all of a sudden-

He looks pointedly away, a new kind of nerves altogether wracking him that he doesn't know how to deal with. "S-So! Do - do you remember? Where, you, um, uh, wanted? To go?"

Nadia pressed herself up against him still, listening to the beat of his heart. She felt so alive right now, she didn't want to do or feel anything else. And judging from the stuttering of her boyfriend, he felt similarly. She giggled, the motion shaking her shoulders under his arms. She stayed there like that for a few minutes until he said...

"S-So! Do - do you remember? Where, you, um, uh, wanted? To go?" That's right. They couldn't just stand here kissing in the middle of the sidewalk - though she'd seen a couple or two down a shady alley once or twice on her way home from Backlight. Reluctantly, Nadia pulled away from him, grabbing his hand with hers and twining their fingers. Giving him a smile, she started walking, pulling him along at first, then slowing so they were walking side by side.

"I'm still figuring out the details...but I'm moving. I hadn't had a chance to tell you yet, and I was going to tell you tonight." as they walked toward backlight she leaned into him and held his upper arm with her free hand. "It will be quieter and...less crowded. Easier to slip in and out of...or have guests..." She trailed off. "No one around to judge us for Pillow Forts." She giggled.

God, he heard the giggling and realised she even sounded pretty.
...and now that he'd had that particular thought, he went even redder as crushing embarrassment slammed down him for ever thinking that particular description.
Thank god he hadn't said it out loud.

His fingers tingled as they entwined with hers, and he smiled happily as Nadia broke the news. It was all he could do not to shut his eyes and just listen as the giggling started again, and he found himself wondering about it all as he thought about how much he'd started to revel in these little things just as a matter of mere minutes. The whole thing was surreal. "That's...that's great. Though, for the record...anyone who judges you over pillow forts has clearly never made one themselves, and is in dire need of introduction to its joys."

Nadia looked up at him and smiled, and the curve of the smile was light and compassionate. She shook her head a little bit. "Not me. You. The way people stared at you when you shared the night in my room at the inn made you uncomfortable, didn't it? I thought...we could do that again sometime, and if I had my one place it'd be more comfortable for you." She admitted. That wasn't the reason she'd moved out, not really. It wasn't even the main reason for wanting privacy. But it was a nice perk.

"I work in the shop underneath it." She explained, "You probably wouldn't like it much. It's a pretty strange place." She giggled again, finding it hard not to for some reason. She felt so light she thought she might just drift up into the sky if she let go of him.

He thought back to the day that Nadia had dragged him to his room, and somehow the whole thing seemed even more awkward than it had been then. "...you're right, but...well, uh, I think there's other issues with that now. -not to say there's anything wrong with it, but-!" He cuts off, and chuckles awkwardly. "I, uh...I think I've got other reasons to feel awkward now."

He steals a quick glance at her before his eyes flit away again. Did she really have to keep giggling? He loved the sound, but he knew he was going to get distracted and fumble something at this rate. "I mean...how bad can it be?"

Feel awkward? about this? She thought she probably ought to be offended at that, but instead, she just kinda wanted to cuddle him into oblivion. His perpetual awkwardness was always interesting, but it had become downright endearing now, even loveable. it made her want to pat his head or something. But she didn't, because that would be degrading, wouldn't it?

When he asked how bad it could be, she gave a small giggle again. Why was everything so amusing? She covered her mouth and shook her head, and in the sweetest voice she replied, "It's full of skulls." The admission was as easy as if she was naming her favorite flavor of icecream.

"Oh." He nods. "Ok. Skulls. Lovely. I can handle those every time I visit, definitely." He speaks the words in a simple, clipped tone that made it clear that he wasn't actually that happy with the situation.
OF COURSE SHE LIVES ABOVE A BUILDING FULL OF SKULLS NOW.
OF COURSE.

"...you're not taking me to the skull building, are you?"

She looked a little apologetically "Not very romantic, is it?" She asked, teasing. Shaking her head, she did her best to assuage his concerns. "No, I live above the building with the skulls. You don't even have to look in. The stairs are in the back of the building, and they go straight up to the loft." She explained, inclining her free hand out in front of her in a diagonal as a visual representation of the upward climb.

"The building is owned by mister Kaska. He's nice but... a little prickly? like a pineapple. With spines outside, but sweet inside. Although Pineapples are sort of tart aren't they..." Yeah, her analogy needed a little bit of work, but it worked well enough.

Just the word romantic is enough to make Cecil flush again, and he seems more jittery afterwards. "Al...alright? That's - that's good. No unnecessary skulls when I want to make pillow forts. Yes. This is good." He nods emphatically. "Owned by a pineapple man. Also good. Did you ever draw that? Maybe you should draw that."

He pauses.

"...you still didn't say where we're going..."

Nadia giggled again at his stuttering. Beside herself with elation. "This way!!" She called out, and started pulling him along faster, allowing her excitement to build up again. She pulled him through the streets of Susie Q, down into the Backlight district.

Finally they came to a small shop near the outskirts of Backlight. The area wasn't bad, just quiet. The shop's name was Ars Moriendi, in scrawling script at the top of the building. the curtains had been drawn, covering the macabre sights behind the glass. "We're here." She escorted him around the back of the building, stopping short as there was someone standing at the back porch. As she'd said, there was a wooden stair that led up around the side of the building and granted access to the upper level from the outside.

The man had long black hair and a scar under one eye. Those eyes were piercing and shrewd - projecting the kind of apathy you might expect from someone who embalmed dead creatures as a passtime. Kaska rose an eyebrow as the two approached, caught red-handed in the porch light. "Nadia. You haven't officially moved in yet. I wasn't expecting you. And...who is your friend?" His monotone wavered in an inquisitive arch, and the look was a darker, more honed and seasoned version of Nadia's curious glance - though it was more of a Glare.

"This is is Cecil, he's my..." She hesitated. Was it okay to introduce him as her boyfriend? They hadn't really discussed that...

...she was taking him to her new place.
Oh dear god, did he feel awkward in this moment.
The feeling wasn't helped by the glare of Kaska he found himself under, and he squeezed Nadia's hand just a little tighter. This was presumably the one he'd called the pineapple man earlier...though he wouldn't dare say that out loud at this moment. That just seemed like a recipe for disaster.

As Nadia hesitated, he stepped behind her and wrapped his arms around her, bending over to rest his head on her shoulder and peck at her cheek. "It's alright. Just please don't make me say it right now."

Kaska rolled his eyes at the display of affection in place of explanation. "Whatever. It's your place, it doesn't bother me. Just don't do anything illegal that I'll have to answer for." He shrugged, moving around them and heading out through the alleyway.

"Sorry, I didn't think he'd be here. I just wanted to show you the place, if that's okay." She assured him, tugging his sleeve. As she took the first couple of stairs, she took the chance to give him a little peck on the cheek back. "And I want to get cleaned up before I go back to the Inn. And...not smell like alcohol. I don't want to explain that to Kendra." She explained, as she fumbled in the folds of her dress for the key.

A tension eased as Kaska left, and Cecil stood back up. "Yeah, that's fine." He followed along with a goofy smile as Nadia pulled him along - one that widened at the little peck, and dipped a little at the mention of her drinking. "I...get why you'd want to do that. It was...probably bad enough dealing with me."

Nadia eased in, and gave him a light kiss before pulling away and sliding the key into the lock. "Let's not go back to that, right now, okay? It's a good night, right?" she smiled, pushing open the door and guiding him in.

The loft was small, but easily liveable. It had a small entry way, and ending in a small sitting room and kitchen, with a door to the right that openned up into a bedroom with a single full size bed. It was lightly furnished, though the main sitting room only had a squat coffee table and a black polyester couch. You could see most of it from the door way, but it was clean, and bigger than what she had now.

"What do you think?" she asked, closing the door behind him. "When he said 'loft' I was thinking it would be smaller."