[ As the pod starts to rise into the air, Pyrrha’s glance is fixed out the window somewhat firmly. A bit rude, she knows; she’d be surprised if he took it personally. ]
It’s unfortunate I won’t have time to meet them.
[ There’s a hollowness there, a very perfunctory beat to her typically picture perfect manners. ]
Perhaps we could pick up souvenirs for them on the walk back.
[ Ugh. Please say no, Mercury. Even Pyrrha herself doesn’t want to do that, and she suggested it. ]
Eh. If they want anything, no one's stopping them from hitting the town to get it themselves.
[ He rolls his eyes, leaning back against the pod wall. ]
Plus then Cinder will want to know everything I got up to, and I just don't feel like the interrogation. She's too nosy.
[ That's actually more truth than lie; he doesn't really intend to spew every detail to her as it is, and the idea of having some secrets kept from the woman holds its own appeal. He might be on a leash, but he can at least control its length a little.
If I just say "out and about" that's one thing. If I say we had a rematch and then went to the city together, she'll want details. That's just a headache I'd rather avoid.
[ Though the reason for wanting those details is far from innocently curious. ]
Your team won't be wondering the same thing, though?
[ She might feel his gaze focus on her for a few moments; she's been surprising him a fair bit today, and learning that she outright lied to her team was just another example. From what he'd gleamed from a distance her team seemed pretty tight-knit... so either something had happened between them, or she was avoiding something.
Curious. ]
Well, then.
[ He lifts a hand in her direction, his pinky finger raised. ]
[ He gets her attention again, eyes pulled away from the view. By now, they’re high up enough that the sun’s golden hour rays are streaming right through the glass walls of the pod. He’s cast in shadow and sunset; her head tilts minutely as she takes a moment to simply look, although her expression is even enough that you could assume she’s contemplating his offered pinky and nothing more.
She curls her own pinky finger around his. Stays there, if just for a moment too long. ]
I appreciate your discretion.
[ She lets go and leans back, a bit more relaxed. ] Are you going to miss this place when you go home?
[ That question leads him to a unique train of thought. Will he miss this place? Not really. Overall it's boring, humdrum people doing humdrum things and living monotonous lives. Not really his style. But... this was one of the first days that he can think of that he hasn't had to think about someone else's agenda. He wasn't under Cinder's thumb, wasn't completing an objective on someone else's behalf, wasn't being used as someone else's pawn. Today, he had a chance to just... do what he wanted.
That, he realizes, he might just miss, and it draws a flicker of a frown across his brow. Once they were done here he'd be under orders again, and who knew when - or if - he'd be allowed to have his own way after that? ]
... I dunno. Maybe.
[ Plus, it's not like he really had a "home" to go back to.
He glances out the window, before casting her another look, something wry creeping back into his features. ]
Guess that depends what impression I'm left with by the end of the day.
[ As their pod reaches the Helix's apex, it slows to a swinging stop. The door unlocks as a windswept employee pokes their head in and asks, ] Jumping?
I think so. [ Pyrrha looks over at Mercury, paying attention for any sign that he might have changed his mind. With the door open, the roar of fast moving air currents mixes nicely with a thinning, cold atmosphere to create a heady cocktail of what the fuck am I doing. She won't blame him if he changes his mind; she's going regardless, and stands up to indicate as much.
She misjudges the height and bangs her head on the curved ceiling of the pod, but only slightly. ]
[ His gaze is indifferent as he studies their height. If anything, he seems disappointed. When you live through as much as he has, stunts like this are child's play. So no, it's safe to say he doesn't care about the height.
He does, naturally, snicker as she bangs her head on the roof. He could leave it at that, easily, but...
Instead he leans forward, and without hesitating or warning kisses atop her head where she had hit the ceiling. ]
All better.
[ A wink - and then he's falling out the open door, hopping backwards to plummet into freefall. ]
[ That's the last thing she expects. The abrupt proximity leaves her feet rooted in place, with only the abnormally wide stretch of her eyelids to be her tell. At the very moment of contact, her heart does - something - yanked a bit too high for her liking, too close to her breastbone and out of her control. Longer than it has any right to be, her mind is blank.
And then reality takes hold once more, and Pyrrha steps forward in a rush, the pod rocking significantly under her feet — ]
Mercury, wait, your —
[ ... scroll.
But as the wind whips around her ears, there's only her and the Helix employee, trying their hardest not to look amused as they hold out a numbered bag. Pyrrha drops her own scroll into the bag, and then - with only an extra moment of respect for the dizzying distance beneath her - dives down in a perfectly executed maneuver.
The drop feels like an hour and a split second all at once. Likely, it's somewhere in the middle, although Pyrrha would hazard a guess it's less than a minute. The water is cold and slightly painful when she hits it. When her head breaks the surface again, the last remaining bits of sunlight shoot right into her eyes, and she finds herself squinting. Looking this way, that way.
[ The real downside of jumping like that (scroll be damned) is that he only got to appreciate the shock on her face for a brief moment before he plummeted down towards the water. He wonders how she'll react once they're face to face again. Act like it didn't happen? Confront him for pushing past her boundaries? Lots to think about on the way down.
Including the question of why he did that in the first place.
It wasn't really his usual style of teasing; if it had been Emerald he would have mocked her a little, maybe flicked his finger against the sore spot. But Pyrrha was interesting, admittedly moreso than he had expected her to be. Maybe he just wanted to see how well he could get her off-guard? She'd been almost annoyingly good at rolling with his snark and even firing some back his way, so this small victory was worth deviating from his usual methods. Still, it was almost as much a surprise to him as it was to her, how quickly he had settled on that course of action.
... Whatever. He's not going to overthink it.
His fall looks far less perfect than hers; for most of the way down he doesn't really have any form, letting gravity do its job to bring him hurtling towards the water's surface. It's only near the last possible second that he swings his body around into a proper dive, plunging deep below the surface upon reaching the water. Thankfully, his prosthetics were made to be light enough to not drag him to the depths, allowing him to kick back up so he can catch a breath of air. He barely makes it up in time to catch a glimpse of Pyrrha as she makes her own entrance, and lazily drifts over in her direction until she resurfaces. She's facing the other way, so...
Naturally he floats up behind her - not invasively close, but close enough. ]
The judge from Haven Academy gives your dive a seven. Could use more flair.
[ Up until the moment Pyrrha meets the surface, her expectation had been that the fall would feel exhilarating. Freeing. If she can do this, she can do that. She had anticipated the freefall to settle into her stomach, floaty and nervous, followed by a wonderfully intangible sense of success. His little gesture had taken all that from her. Instead of clearing her mind, it's louder than ever.
He wasn't actually supposed to —
It's another question, and she's so tired —
Only a few more days, she tells herself. After the tournament, this will all be over. He'll be gone. She can focus on the one person who really matters, and that's Amber. She won't have to deal with her new life circumstances and this.
She wants to say something clever right now, pushing her damp fringe out of her eyes, but the sinking feeling that she's made a mistake is a muting one, too. All Pyrrha manages is a breathless - ] Excuse me.
[ Body still trembling slightly from the shock of the impact with the water and - whatever else - she starts to swim the short distance to the dockside. Vale Helix employees, bless them, are waiting with warm, fluffy towels. By the time Mercury catches up, Pyrrha will be burying her face in one, her grip a bit too uncompromising. ]
[ ... well, that was underwhelming. Or at least that's initially what he thinks that feeling must be as she barely acknowledges him, heading for the shore with hardly a glance in his direction. Maybe he'd really crossed a boundary after all? Was she seeing that blonde, scraggly kid? He didn't get that vibe, but it's not like he actually knew for sure. Hell, why should he care? If she's going to have a hissy fit, screw her. It's been fun, but all good things come to an end. Clearly he overstayed his welcome. Time to bail. Head back to the dorms, be intentionally vague about what he was up to, and keep things moving forward. Whatever. Seriously, why should he care?
Why does he care?
He's followed her to the shore without really thinking about it, snatching a towel from one of the attendants to start drying his hair, first. He stares at her in silence for a few seconds, brow furrowing as he settles on a witty remark to address her with. ]
... Hey, you good?
[ Except that remark isn't what came off his tongue when he opened his mouth. ]
[ ... on the other hand, it isn't as if her life will suddenly get less complicated when they say goodbye, so why let this be nothing more than noise in her head?
He'll have barely finished punctuating that sentence with its intone question mark before she's pulling him into an actual kiss. Hands curled and purposeful between the sides of his face and his neck, there's at least some muscle memory in the way her head tilts just so their noses don't bash together.
In some ways, this is the significant moment. Not the jump. This is the actual dangerous thing, the actual leap of absurdity that tells Pyrrha even her briefest, newest feelings are deserving of succor and that her courage is not a small thing. For the first time all day, that querulous unease of curiosity and doubt isn't eating at her every thought and every breath. It doesn't matter anymore if this is right or wrong or good or bad or a... a mistake.
She can't walk it back. She might as well enjoy it. ]
He's almost embarrassed at how she catches him completely off-guard, eyes blinking wide briefly. But only for a moment - he's not going to waste an opportunity like this. His hands lift just enough to rest at her hips, holding her steady as he returns the kiss firmly. It isn't his first - even before he escaped from the nightmare that was his home he would occasionally find himself in a small town or village, find someone there to lose himself in for a night, to try and forget about the living hell waiting for him back in that goddamn cabin. He's used to getting physical as a means of relief, scratching an itch, appealing to base desires.
This is... this is not that. Which isn't to say he doesn't think she's attractive (he has eyes for fuck's sake), but this moment feels... pleasantly warm, not overbearingly hot, in spite of the fact that both of them are still more or less soaked. It's comfortable, maybe, in a way that has his heart beat a little quicker, that sends an unfamiliar flutter to his stomach.
It isn't his first kiss. But... it feels like it still, somehow. ]
[ As the audacity sinks in, some sense reasserts itself. They're in public. At a tourist attraction. Where other people are. People who would very likely be made uncomfortable by their flagrant display of... of something. Affection is still too strong of a word for Pyrrha right now.
Even with her fame, it's still true that no one is going to care if she's walking around with some random guy. This, however, is not walking around.
(And Pyrrha certainly doesn't need it getting back to her mother that she's having somethings with boys she's known for less than a week!
...Boy. Singular.)
Pulling her head back is handled at a measure between abrupt and deft. An inch or two is left between them. ]
I forfeit.
[ It's too difficult to keep the smile off her face, the one that suggests in no uncertain terms that she's screwing with him. Everything else can wait. Or go away, that works too. ]
[ Her sense of decency far outclasses his own. He's well aware of the bystanders, he just doesn't care. Why worry what other people are thinking when you can just focus on what feels good in the moment?
... Because he doesn't have any sort of celebrity status like she does, that's why.
His lips feel cold as she draws hers away, though she doesn't go too far - and he's glad for that, her smile immediately drawing out a grin of his own (and it's not even the cocky type of smirk he's used to), a short laugh escaping his lips just shy of hers. ]
[ Even though the possibility of a crowd had crossed her mind, it's difficult for Pyrrha to pull her focus away from him to actually check. She likes that smile best, she decides, and slips her arms comfortably around his neck. ]
Well, that depends. Do you still think we're obviously leagues apart?
[ Oh... he's having a hard time looking anywhere else but her, especially as she loops her arms around his neck. His arms slip around her waist, squeezing comfortably. ]
[ That's... a good way to look at it. Makes the impermanence a bit kinder. ]
We should probably head back to the school. [ Interestingly, she doesn't seem in any particular hurry to disentangle. ] It's not a good idea to remain in these wet clothes.
[ Her eyes widen as the implications of what she just said hit her like a flip-kick to the jawbone. As nice as this is, that would be a step too far right now; although what does it say that her mind immediately went from Point A to Point B? At least she has the good sense to blush. ]
[ Oh, this reaction was what he had really hoped for from the beginning. That moment of total uncertainty, of immediate want clashing with mental fortitude... hilarious. ]
Yeah, you're probably right.
[ And, clearly for the sake of messing with her and nothing more, he shifts one of his hands to shadow over hers gripping lightly. ]
Lead the way, champ.
[ ... Somehow, the nickname seems less sarcastic than it may have earlier. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sarcaskick) wrote2022-04-15 10:17 pm
no subject
It’s unfortunate I won’t have time to meet them.
[ There’s a hollowness there, a very perfunctory beat to her typically picture perfect manners. ]
Perhaps we could pick up souvenirs for them on the walk back.
[ Ugh. Please say no, Mercury. Even Pyrrha herself doesn’t want to do that, and she suggested it. ]
no subject
[ He rolls his eyes, leaning back against the pod wall. ]
Plus then Cinder will want to know everything I got up to, and I just don't feel like the interrogation. She's too nosy.
[ That's actually more truth than lie; he doesn't really intend to spew every detail to her as it is, and the idea of having some secrets kept from the woman holds its own appeal. He might be on a leash, but he can at least control its length a little.
Kind of. ]
It's nice to keep some things private.
no subject
And yet — ]
You’ve been gone all day. Won’t she have questions regardless?
no subject
[ Though the reason for wanting those details is far from innocently curious. ]
Your team won't be wondering the same thing, though?
no subject
I told them I was training for my final match.
[ He’ll be omitting anything but the barest details, but Pyrrha lied outright. What does that say about her?
...
She goes back to gazing out the window. ]
no subject
Curious. ]
Well, then.
[ He lifts a hand in her direction, his pinky finger raised. ]
I won't tell if you won't.
no subject
She curls her own pinky finger around his. Stays there, if just for a moment too long. ]
I appreciate your discretion.
[ She lets go and leans back, a bit more relaxed. ] Are you going to miss this place when you go home?
no subject
That, he realizes, he might just miss, and it draws a flicker of a frown across his brow. Once they were done here he'd be under orders again, and who knew when - or if - he'd be allowed to have his own way after that? ]
... I dunno. Maybe.
[ Plus, it's not like he really had a "home" to go back to.
He glances out the window, before casting her another look, something wry creeping back into his features. ]
Guess that depends what impression I'm left with by the end of the day.
no subject
[ As their pod reaches the Helix's apex, it slows to a swinging stop. The door unlocks as a windswept employee pokes their head in and asks, ] Jumping?
I think so. [ Pyrrha looks over at Mercury, paying attention for any sign that he might have changed his mind. With the door open, the roar of fast moving air currents mixes nicely with a thinning, cold atmosphere to create a heady cocktail of what the fuck am I doing. She won't blame him if he changes his mind; she's going regardless, and stands up to indicate as much.
She misjudges the height and bangs her head on the curved ceiling of the pod, but only slightly. ]
Ready?
no subject
He does, naturally, snicker as she bangs her head on the roof. He could leave it at that, easily, but...
Instead he leans forward, and without hesitating or warning kisses atop her head where she had hit the ceiling. ]
All better.
[ A wink - and then he's falling out the open door, hopping backwards to plummet into freefall. ]
no subject
And then reality takes hold once more, and Pyrrha steps forward in a rush, the pod rocking significantly under her feet — ]
Mercury, wait, your —
[ ... scroll.
But as the wind whips around her ears, there's only her and the Helix employee, trying their hardest not to look amused as they hold out a numbered bag. Pyrrha drops her own scroll into the bag, and then - with only an extra moment of respect for the dizzying distance beneath her - dives down in a perfectly executed maneuver.
The drop feels like an hour and a split second all at once. Likely, it's somewhere in the middle, although Pyrrha would hazard a guess it's less than a minute. The water is cold and slightly painful when she hits it. When her head breaks the surface again, the last remaining bits of sunlight shoot right into her eyes, and she finds herself squinting. Looking this way, that way.
So, is Mercury still alive, or...? ]
no subject
Including the question of why he did that in the first place.
It wasn't really his usual style of teasing; if it had been Emerald he would have mocked her a little, maybe flicked his finger against the sore spot. But Pyrrha was interesting, admittedly moreso than he had expected her to be. Maybe he just wanted to see how well he could get her off-guard? She'd been almost annoyingly good at rolling with his snark and even firing some back his way, so this small victory was worth deviating from his usual methods. Still, it was almost as much a surprise to him as it was to her, how quickly he had settled on that course of action.
... Whatever. He's not going to overthink it.
His fall looks far less perfect than hers; for most of the way down he doesn't really have any form, letting gravity do its job to bring him hurtling towards the water's surface. It's only near the last possible second that he swings his body around into a proper dive, plunging deep below the surface upon reaching the water. Thankfully, his prosthetics were made to be light enough to not drag him to the depths, allowing him to kick back up so he can catch a breath of air. He barely makes it up in time to catch a glimpse of Pyrrha as she makes her own entrance, and lazily drifts over in her direction until she resurfaces. She's facing the other way, so...
Naturally he floats up behind her - not invasively close, but close enough. ]
The judge from Haven Academy gives your dive a seven. Could use more flair.
no subject
He wasn't actually supposed to —
It's another question, and she's so tired —
Only a few more days, she tells herself. After the tournament, this will all be over. He'll be gone. She can focus on the one person who really matters, and that's Amber. She won't have to deal with her new life circumstances and this.
She wants to say something clever right now, pushing her damp fringe out of her eyes, but the sinking feeling that she's made a mistake is a muting one, too. All Pyrrha manages is a breathless - ] Excuse me.
[ Body still trembling slightly from the shock of the impact with the water and - whatever else - she starts to swim the short distance to the dockside. Vale Helix employees, bless them, are waiting with warm, fluffy towels. By the time Mercury catches up, Pyrrha will be burying her face in one, her grip a bit too uncompromising. ]
no subject
Why does he care?
He's followed her to the shore without really thinking about it, snatching a towel from one of the attendants to start drying his hair, first. He stares at her in silence for a few seconds, brow furrowing as he settles on a witty remark to address her with. ]
... Hey, you good?
[ Except that remark isn't what came off his tongue when he opened his mouth. ]
no subject
He'll have barely finished punctuating that sentence with its intone question mark before she's pulling him into an actual kiss. Hands curled and purposeful between the sides of his face and his neck, there's at least some muscle memory in the way her head tilts just so their noses don't bash together.
In some ways, this is the significant moment. Not the jump. This is the actual dangerous thing, the actual leap of absurdity that tells Pyrrha even her briefest, newest feelings are deserving of succor and that her courage is not a small thing. For the first time all day, that querulous unease of curiosity and doubt isn't eating at her every thought and every breath. It doesn't matter anymore if this is right or wrong or good or bad or a... a mistake.
She can't walk it back. She might as well enjoy it. ]
no subject
He's almost embarrassed at how she catches him completely off-guard, eyes blinking wide briefly. But only for a moment - he's not going to waste an opportunity like this. His hands lift just enough to rest at her hips, holding her steady as he returns the kiss firmly. It isn't his first - even before he escaped from the nightmare that was his home he would occasionally find himself in a small town or village, find someone there to lose himself in for a night, to try and forget about the living hell waiting for him back in that goddamn cabin. He's used to getting physical as a means of relief, scratching an itch, appealing to base desires.
This is... this is not that. Which isn't to say he doesn't think she's attractive (he has eyes for fuck's sake), but this moment feels... pleasantly warm, not overbearingly hot, in spite of the fact that both of them are still more or less soaked. It's comfortable, maybe, in a way that has his heart beat a little quicker, that sends an unfamiliar flutter to his stomach.
It isn't his first kiss. But... it feels like it still, somehow. ]
no subject
Even with her fame, it's still true that no one is going to care if she's walking around with some random guy. This, however, is not walking around.
(And Pyrrha certainly doesn't need it getting back to her mother that she's having somethings with boys she's known for less than a week!
...Boy. Singular.)
Pulling her head back is handled at a measure between abrupt and deft. An inch or two is left between them. ]
I forfeit.
[ It's too difficult to keep the smile off her face, the one that suggests in no uncertain terms that she's screwing with him. Everything else can wait. Or go away, that works too. ]
no subject
... Because he doesn't have any sort of celebrity status like she does, that's why.
His lips feel cold as she draws hers away, though she doesn't go too far - and he's glad for that, her smile immediately drawing out a grin of his own (and it's not even the cocky type of smirk he's used to), a short laugh escaping his lips just shy of hers. ]
Oh, yeah? I'm game for a rematch if you are.
no subject
Well, that depends. Do you still think we're obviously leagues apart?
no subject
Maybe. But I like to think we're a little closer.
no subject
We should probably head back to the school. [ Interestingly, she doesn't seem in any particular hurry to disentangle. ] It's not a good idea to remain in these wet clothes.
[ Her eyes widen as the implications of what she just said hit her like a flip-kick to the jawbone. As nice as this is, that would be a step too far right now; although what does it say that her mind immediately went from Point A to Point B? At least she has the good sense to blush. ]
I mean - not - [ auuughhh ] ... Shall we go?
no subject
Yeah, you're probably right.
[ And, clearly for the sake of messing with her and nothing more, he shifts one of his hands to shadow over hers gripping lightly. ]
Lead the way, champ.
[ ... Somehow, the nickname seems less sarcastic than it may have earlier. ]
no subject
[ Somehow, the admonishment seems less prim than it may have earlier. ]