Rising, Falling (Cecil)

Kisses made things a lot better, he was finding. They were distracting, but overall just nice. "Yeah. It's a good night right now."

He looked around as he was welcomed in, taking in the fixtures of the place. As he was asked for his thoughts, he made a show of pacing around, looking into random places that seemed like they might have some general importance to anyone watching until finally coming full circle back to Nadia. From there, he nods, and looks over to the very much nice looking girl by his side. "I don't think I can give a proper verdict yet. There's one distinctly crucial test that must be performed, I'd say."

Nadia watched as Cecil walked around the room, folding her hands in front of her awkwardly. Was he honestly inspecting It? It made her suddenly curious, and a little self-conscious, especially when he came back and told her something was missing. There was no doubt that he was being sarcastic, or playful, or something, but she wasn't sure where exactly he was going. She wasn't used to being taken by surprise from Cecil.

But she found she didn't mind it at all. It made it more exciting. "What might that be?" she asked curiously, with a playful smile to match his.

Grinning, Cecil leaned in closer and closer, up until his lips were right by Nadia's ear...and then, he simply blew into it and walked away, seating himself on the couch. "Well it's no fun if I just tell you, is it? It's not like it's exactly that hard to guess anyway." He closes his eyes and sprawls out across the couch, the mischievous tint to his grin now made readily apparent. "Or maybe you've got your own ideas? I don't know what you're thinking."

When he blew in her ear she jumped a little, a heat rising to her face. His breath on her ears felt somehow maddening. But then he just, walked away and laid on the couch.

You don't know what I'm thinking? I don't know what YOU'RE thinking. I know how to find out though. Nadia walked toward him, still blushing. She approached him, and kept going, straddling him and sitting in his lap, and slowly lowered herself down over his reclining form. Her face took on a more mischievous smile. "I'm good at tests. What's the 'test' that we need to perform?" She asked sweetly, as if she wasn't sitting on his lap at the moment.

"I'm guessing it's either this..." She leaned in slowly, as if she was going to kiss him, but stopped less than an inch away, making sure he could feel her breath. Oh, how it was hard to stop herself, but the payoff would be worth it. "...Or maybe it's something else..." She got off of him, and left the couch, walking into the bedroom. She returned, pillow in hand, and threw it in Cecil's face. "Like that, maybe!"

When she jumped, Nadia would hear a tiny little laugh before he walked off.


Cecil's eyes snapped open as he felt a weight settle into his lap, and pathetic little stuttery noises started to escape his lips. He froze as she leaned in closer and closer, warm breath on his face as she hovered just over him...and then she moved off, leaving him to follow her path with the look of a kicked puppy before the pillow crashed into his face.
Another time he might have grabbed the pillow and threw it back, but this time he just looked at her pathetically from his place on the couch. "I'm sorry. I won't do it again. Please?" His voice came out in a high pitched whine, with a begging, pleading, needy tone.

Nadia was prepared to catch the return fire, but instead, she was met with pleading. Maybe she'd missed the cue and taken the playing too far. Gently, gingerly, she went to him, set the pillow aside and with a tender smile pushed him back back down onto his back. Throwing one leg back over top of him she eased herself back down, and wordlessly pushed her lips into his.

Slowly, her hands smoothed out over his chest, one hand wandering to his neck, tentative fingers touching his cheek. After a few moments, she pulled back. "I'm sorry, that's my fault. I misread the situation." She breathed, pressing her forehead into his.

His eyes followed her until she settled in on top of him again, and his eyes shut once more as he felt that sweet sensation on his lips. Somehow, he thought as he opened his eyes, it seemed all the better for that brief absence.
He was not about to voice that, though.
The shy look to his face returned as he slowly looped an arm around Nadia. "No...I think I underestimated what it was like being on the receiving end of that." He laughs awkwardly, eyes flicking away as he becomes aware of just how close they were. He was becoming aware of a lot of things. "It's so close, and then it's just ripped away..."
A flicker of something miserable comes and goes from his face.
"...knowing what this is like is only going to make things harder later once the high goes away, isn't it..."

It was inevitable that Cecil would bring the mood down with his sadness. Nadia didn't mind, though, resting her head against his shoulder as he shared his concerns. She shrugged a little bit, moving one hand against his chest in a soothing motion. This closeness was addictive, she was finding. She could stay like this indefinitely.

"I don't think 'ripped away' is a fair way to put it." she kissed the side of his cheek and smiled. "I'm not going anywhere. I like this feeling too. It doesn't have to make things harder..." she lifted up to give him an expression somewhere between compassion and amusement. "But knowing you, it probably will. That's okay though. I wouldn't be here if I wasn't okay with that part of you." actually, she probably would be? It was hard to say how much of this was intentional, and how much of it was riding the waves of emotion. She decided she didn't care much about the difference. She was here now, and she wanted to be. Nothing else really mattered much.

He smiles again, but it's more subdued than before. "I...don't mean in general. You made that clear before." He pauses, making a tiny little shake of his head, feeling the way the e ends of the black strands of Nadia's hair would tickle against his forehead. "But right at that moment...you've indulged, you've had a taste, you've let yourself have what you can't and it's amazing. It comes so close again, it's right there, you feel it, frozen you anticipate it and wonder why you thought you shouldn't do this...and then it's suddenly gone, it's going away leaving a blank where the anticipation was, and the thought strikes - 'Oh. That's why.'"

"But, but hey!" A wild grin springs to his face, and cheer is forcibly injected into his voice, a manic assertion to cover up the layer he'd just expressed again. "We're here! This happening right now! We're just messing with each other, that doesn't mean anything, it's not important. Pillow fort? We need to do the pillow fort test. That sounds good, right? You like the sound of that?"

Nadia frowned a little as he explained. Of course he felt like he still couldn't have happiness. It wasn't going away. Sometimes she forgot about it, when she got him riled up like this, she liked to think he forgot it to. But it was always there, a cracked cornerstone of an otherwise strong building. That was okay. "I'm okay like this." she pressed her for head to his again. "I don't have enough sheets or pillows for a pillow fort yet. I'll need to go buy some." she offered, with a smile.

"We can do that test next time though, okay? For right now, I'm more curious" how much of this... she pressed a kiss to his lips, "It will take to get you to accept that you..." she blushed. It made her feel increasingly giddy and a little awkward to bring attention to it. "Can have...what ever this is."

His body went lax as Nadia pressed another kiss to his lips, eyes slowly coming half-open to look upon her as she pulled away once more. Still, he couldn't meet her eyes as she asked her question. "It's...going to take more than this to do that. I'll want, but..." A slight, bitter sound escapes his lips. "Wanting never really did anything for me but make things more frustrating later."

He looked at her again, saw these things he'd seen before, but somehow some of the magic of the moment had drained away. The shimmer to his eyes had dulled, and it was getting harder to ignore the position they were in. Right now, he just felt awkward. "Can you...let me sit up?"

Nadia sighed. Just like that the moment fell into darkness. Nothing lasted forever, she supposed. But...she was hoping it would last just a little longer. She still wasn't quite satisfied. But, she was getting the feeling she never would be. There was a hole in the cups where they held each other's affection. Each time it seemed they drained out, and they had to start all over again. It was an exercise in futility, but the more they played this game, the more beautiful Nadia felt it was. Beautiful and so broken.

She sat up and nodded, doing her best not to look disappointed. "Sorry, I pushed too far again, didn't I?" she asked timidly, standing up off of him so he could move and sit however he liked. She fidgetted, smoothing out the folds of her black dress. Him feeling awkward suddenly made her feel a little awkward too, and she drew back a pace. "I'll just go freshen up now, so we can head back to the Inn... make yourself at home." and with that she flitted off to the bathroom near the kitchen. The door was still in view of the couch.

Once inside with the door shut, she pressed her back up against it and pinched her eyes shut, sighing. I have to stop bringing it up... she thought forlornly, as she washed her face.

"That's not..." What was he saying? He had no idea at this point. And as he groaned and sat up, he found only a closing door and an empty space meeting his eyes.
His gaze traced down to the floor, and he spots the pillow in the corner of his eye. Standing up, he moves over to pick it up, and sighs. He should have just gone with the throw, and let the mood hold, and pegged her in the face with the pillow.
Instead he got hung up something that was the rightful byplay of what he'd done before himself.

Guess it was too much to hope he wouldn't crash her best night ever.
Again.

Shaking his head, he walks over to the open door to the bedroom and halfheartedly tosses the pillow onto the bed, before slumping onto the couch again and placing his headphones on. With a sullen expression he starts the music again and numbs himself to the world around him, closing his eyes and hugging himself.
It's not the same. Not nearly.
Well done, him.

Nadia had just about tucked all the feelings away, and her face was back to her more typical straight-face when she emerged from the bathroom. She'd put all the luster and reverie of the evening in a photo book in her mind, to cherish and never regret.

But then she saw him sitting on the couch hugging himself, and her heart broke.

Nadia quietly moved over to the couch, watching him listening to his head phones and shutting the world away. If that helped in ways she couldn't, that was okay. She sat next to him on the couch silently, pulling her knees up as well, and leaned against him, head on his shoulder, and closed her eyes. Now that the adrenaline had subsided, she realized just how tired she was. She could probably fall asleep like this, if he let her. That would be kind of nice, lulled to sleep by the smell of him, and the soft beat of his music escaping his headphones.

The world was still around him until felt a presence settle in next to him - a slight warmth that settled onto him. He wanted it.
Shifting, he takes her arms and drapes them around him, moving so that he settles into her body as he hugs her arms to his body.
His expression became more restful.
This was better.