2023-01-11: Truth or Dare
- Cast: Leina Ashta, Teletha Testarossa, Kaname Chidori
- Where: Villa Mass, AEU Spain
- Date: U.C. 0097 01 11
- Summary: Three high-ranking members of the Shuffle Alliance have a sleepover and partake in the time-honored tradition of Truth or Dare, with a dash of booze for flavor, culminating in a very special dare from Leina... it doesn't count, right? It's just practice.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
Earlier in the evening a very real intelligence briefing happened at the Mass Villa. It was extremely legitimate.
Anzus/Diamond-2 and Heart-2 were both updated on several ongoing crises. Recommendations were made, documents were exchanged, business was conducted.
It was all very official!
Protocol however required that they be smuggled in and out of an elaborate escape tunnel to the Villa. That it then be extensively cleared for their safety. This is a lengthy process given that the tunnel is a permanent clandestine security feature and prevention of its compromise is paramount.
It would likely take at least the night.
Which means that Leina Ashta has just finished locking two thick soundproof doors to the living room with a click.
The fire place was lit, the furniture had all been pushed back away from the central area, there were plenty of pillows and blankets and bedding set up. Some of the pillows mysteriously resembled a fort, how peculiar!
Sheryl Nome's Universal Bunny is playing as ambient background music. Right now however, Leina Ashta is not in the center of the room working the entertainment center.
She's at the bar. A bar jam packed with Sayla Mass' liquor. Currently wearing an oversized Sheryl Nome tour shirt, and a pair of pink pajama bottoms... she's mixing up drinks.
"Starting out slow tonight." Leina says airily, as she pours our some mulled wine out of a thermos into mugs, "Mulled wine is always great for the holidays."
And barely has any alcoholic content! It's a good way to assess how well Kaname and Tessa both will take to drinking.
Garnishing both their mugs, with a cinnamon stick, whole star anise, and some studded orange peels with cloves, she drops them in.
Then slides the steaming beverage over, before picking her own up and taking a sip. Then putting it down, "I'll start up the next round, it'll be a small step up, to Sangrias."
Her strategy is to go with mixed drinks that taste good with low alcoholic content, and moving up stepwise. She doubts they'll get to straight up shots but - not impossible! The night is young.
Dropping some fruit into an empty pitcher, as well as some sugar, she lightly starts to mash it, before pouring in some orange juice and brandy, before popping the cork off a Garnache and pouring it in before muddling it up again.
"So, while I'm working on this, we could always put on an old movie or show, make it a watch party or..." She's presenting the safe option, to take some of the pressure off, "... we could... say..." She tries to hide her smile, with her back turned, "...have either of you ever played Truth or Dare before?"
<Pose Tracker> Kaname Chidori has posed.
Kaname Chidori, for one, is more than happy to be done with official business... and thus commence teen girl business. The sort of business one conducts in cute powder-blue jammies. "You sure it's okay for us to raid the liquor cabinet?" she asks, even as she stirs her mug with the cinnamon stick and takes a sip. Ooh.
"It's a little weird to see you like this, Col--er, Tessa," she says with a grin as she sits down by the fire. "I've seen you around Jindai High, of course, but even just seeing you this informal is *weird*."
"... pretty cute, though," she adds, a lot quieter.
She perks up at the offer of Truth or Dare, grinning up at Leina. "It's been way too long since I played that. I'd love to~"
<Pose Tracker> Teletha Testarossa has posed.
Duty kept calling, as one would say at too early an age to say such things. A long meeting thick with updates of every situation, who was here, who wasn't, the tired attempts to see what could be done and what could be delegated, and what could wait a little while longer in the vain hopes that something, anything would break out the stalemate question of Tsutsujidai's...absence. Words exchanged, documents acknowledged, and the eventual question of what to do at Sayla's Villa was...already predetermined long before. A convenient excuse, an obvious thing that Mardukas could see from a mile away...but, well, Considering the submarine is lurking nearby, and it is Sayla Mass's Villa. There were few places safer.
"Hopefully, Sayla isn't the type to keep a bar tab on everyone that opens her liquor cabinet..." The absentminded thought as she looked over the exquisite bottles before her. Frankly, the ages and numbers and denominations of the various bottles slid off her mind; She recognized them by vague instinct, but One Looked Expensive wasn't any sort of barometer for whether it was good or not.
Draped in a comfy, large blouse with hair completely unbraided, the Captain of one of the most powerful submarines on this planet looked on with curiosity. She hasn't taken a break like this in...in...Okay, she's never had a Girl's Night Out. Can you blame her?
And yet, she accepted that mug, giving it a few sniffs. Smells nice. A sip. Not too bad, save for the slightly new taste of alcohol. ...She couldn't necessarily agree with it, but it was something that she knew the stench of. (Thanks, Mao.)
"Truth or Dare?" The innocent-of-the-world Captain blinked. "...I think I know the rules, from what one of my crew told me." Granted, it was a saniized version after a group was caught in a frat party off-shore, but still!
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
Her question though is a vaild one, as is Kaname's.
"Hm? Both of you are worried? I wouldn't be. Believe it or not she'd very much approve. There's one cabinet off limits-" Leina gestures on high and to the right, it's closed, and locked. "-but otherwise I have blanket permission."
Leina thinks that Tessa looks adorable with her hair down, as she agrees with Kaname, "I'll second you on the cute."
As each of them take a sip, Leina glances over her shoulder, and wonders, "What do you think? Anything to write home about yet?"
Leina pours in basically a whole bottle of red wine (Does that label say UC 83???) before then pouring in a carton of orange juice, and spooning in some brown sugar. Ice gets pitched in soon after, she's still stirring.
And then...
... Tessa answers much as expected. Leina has resolved not to embarrass her about her relative innocence tonight. While the questions and the dares might embarrass, she will never be laughing at her.
"Well we'll add two rules. No probing questions about our childhoods when someone selects truth. We're going for fun questions! Annnnndddd - asking about anything classified is of course off limits. If someone accidentally stumbles into that you can invoke 'it's classified' but it means they get another question."
Leina then finally garnishes it, and pours out three glasses, putting them down in front of them all.
"If you'd two like, I can take the first round." She winks, "Give me your best shot."
<Pose Tracker> Kaname Chidori has posed.
"Huh, that's a little surprising... but good to know," Kaname notes, taking a bigger drink from her mug as she looks up toward the off-limits cupboard. Hmm. "It's good! The cinnamon is a really nice touch." Sip. She's holding it like a mug of hot cocoa, nice and cozy.
No classified info. Right. Kaname *almost* looks disappointed as Leina blocks off the out of 'that's classified' as a way to get out of answering, but it's for the best. "Hmm... okay. Leina, truth or dare?" She grins impishly.
<Pose Tracker> Teletha Testarossa has posed.
A glance at the cabinet. ...Her gut says it's either private information or stuff special to Sayla. She hasn't the will or want to think about it further.
...Cute? Her? Well, yes, of course...She didn't exactly do much to pretty herself up, but is her face that nice?
Slowly polishing off the mug, bit by bit with every sip. "It's not exactly a new flavor...Most of the alcohol is pretty whittled down by everything else in it. It's good for a starter." ...Not exactly bad, not exactly good. Such was the new sensation of tastes.
"Hmm..." What to go for, what to go for. The new rules in place were definitely for her sake; Childhoods were for two of them. "Don't try to worm your way out of anything, Leina." A small smile, taking that shot and giving it a small sip. Orange juice, sugar, and the undercurrent of alcohol, slightly more. "It's also good...I can see why there's so many alcoholics in the world now." Tessa...
That being said, she's gazing at Leina. Truth or dare, truth or dare? "Truth or dare, then?"
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
"Glad you like! We drink it all the time here in Spain." She tells Kaname, before to Tessa, "Mmm-hmm! I see I see! We'll be working our way up before long~"
When Kaname does that, Leina has a coy little smile, "Dare."
Then she looks sideways at Tessa, her face splitting into a grin, "Wouldn't dream of it!"
So many alcoholics? Leina tries to keep that grin from leaving her face, hits a little close to home - but it's a party, "We'll see what you think about what's coming up next-" Before, "-Truth. I've got nothing to hide."
<Pose Tracker> Kaname Chidori has posed.
Kaname makes a thoughtful noise, reaching over to take a sip of Sangria. "Oh, fruity. I like that..." She pouts a little as she's challenged with dare instead, but thinks a moment.
"Hmm... okay, then. I dare you to drink that whole thing right now." She points toward Leina's glass of sangria. A bit weak, maybe, as dares go, but after all, there's still a bite of alcohol to it...
<Pose Tracker> Teletha Testarossa has posed.
Truth, huh. She's got the mulled wine mostly polished off; Her sensibilities demand a proper finish, which she gives. Tipping the glass back, swallowing every last drop of the wine before setting it down, shuddering slightly as the alcohol coursed through her body. "Whew, okay." Truth.
"How did you three get together?" The fiigurative grenade lobbed right into the most obvious question. "Not how you met, but...Rather, how you three decided, well." ...She raised her hands up. Fingers in the shape of a heart.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
A Blue Maine Coon abruptly leaps up onto the bar counter, as Foras ambles up to Tessa, sniffing towards her drink, then abruptly... rubs his head against her hand.
At the dare, Leina doesn't even hesitate, the glass is raised up to her hand and she downs the whole thing in one... long... pull.
Glug, glug, glug.
There's a noise, upon which Leina goes cross eyed then once she's finished downing the drink she has to open her mouth to pull out a sliver of an orange peel. As she puts the glass down, she grins at them, holding the sliver of the orange peel in her fingers, before flicking it towards the garbage.
"Didn't get it all. Gotta go again." She says, as if disqualifying herself on the most minute technicalities just to play around.
And Leina pours herself another glass, and downs it in short order.
So does this count as a... Double Dare?
Then Tessa asks a question and Leina looks up to see the heart and... blinks... "Oh!" As she considers how to phrase it.
"Well. I told you it was partially a... Newtype thing. Bonding with someone instantly, deeply. Banagher told me his with... Audrey was instant, she was his soulmate. And I admit I wondered if I was going to be jealous of her when I met her..."
She looks at her empty glass for a moment, tilting it with her fingers, glancing at her reflection, "And I just wasn't. We clicked. All three of us. It just felt..."
There's a lopsided smile, "... right. So we decided to try it out... I admit though I'd been thinking about... Audrey for years, or at least who I thought she was. It's hard to say how bonds work - but I think ours formed too right away, or maybe soon enough after we met - or maybe it just carried through Banagher? I don't know... I just know that..."
Her smile widens even further, "... I'm happy when I'm with them, either of them, both of them. I'm happy."
She carries this dreamy look in her eyes for a few moments, before snapping out of it, looking at both as if to ask 'satisfied?' before then turning to Kaname, "Okay Kaname. Truth~or~Dare~"
Leina gets down a Vodka bottle from the top shelf, popping it open, and starts mixing up some simple screwdrivers. There's a littttllleee more alcohol in these ones, but also notable orange juice.
These are easy to make, so several more glasses are doled out in short order.
<Pose Tracker> Kaname Chidori has posed.
Kaname watches as Leina downs not one, but *two* drinks in rapid succession. She whistles, "Whoa... two in a row, you've got more balls than I thought. Okay, tonight's gonna be *fun*." She grins widely, and... then immediately softens as Leina answers Tessa's challenge.
"Awwh... oh my gosh, that's so sweet," she gushes, smiling widely. "This whole Newtype connection thing you guys have... I'm a little jealous." It's not hard to imagine she's thinking about Sousuke. Wishing she knew what he was thinking, sometimes... she just doesn't understand that dumbass, really.
Urk. Right, it's her turn. "Okay... hmm... truth, then. And..." Tessa seems like she's a pretty soft sort. A dare from her will probably be easy. When prompted, she replies to Tessa with, "Dare."
<Pose Tracker> Teletha Testarossa has posed.
She couldn't help but crack a smile at the sudden dose of confidence that Leina brought to the table; One peel, two glasses. A stickler for the rules, mhm? It did force a chuckle from the relaxed gal's lips, sipping on her own drink all the while, finishing it bit by bit.
That being said, she does listen intently to Leina's explanation. It all just clicked, huh? A finger traces around the rim of her own nearly-empty glass, staring into the depths of the human soul (she's staring into the drink. Already learning the tricks of the trade!). "To just click together without any real problem..." A soft mutter. A nod's given to the gal for satisfaction purposes, sighing out.
If only everything could be so easy as clicking two pieces together. With renewed force, she tossed the drink back. Ah, so is this why so many people were singing about bars?
But she's got a sailor's eye. Vodka, mmmmmh? Vodka, the drink of the cold tundra, as they say. She watches those drinks, a small nod towards Kaname for the Dare. A dare, huh? A dare, a dare...Already, one alcoholic thing, but repeats aren't good, so...
"I want you to..." A slow swirl of a shotglass. One sip. Two. Ah, it's good, she's already tossing it back. "...Mhm. Mhm, mhm." Procrastination of the mind!
"How far have you gone with Sousuke?"
Alma Stirner teleports in.
Alma Stirner teleports out.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
Leina actually giggles, "Had a glass of wine with some meals since I was twelve~ Though I don't drink heavily too often, I don't think of myself as a lightweight either."
Despite ordinarily putting on an atmosphere of shamelessness, she actually blushes lightly at Kaname's gushing, even if she maintains her smile, "I knowwww~ I never thought it could be this way."
She does note that soft mutter, that sigh...
There's a long look of sympathy
Kaname though challenges her with a truth and, suddenly, Leina's smile becomes almost Cheshire like, but only for a brief moment - before it becomes a coy smile she hides behind taking a sip of her screwdriver.
Before she hears Tessa's question and... blinks at her in wonder. Was this a truth? Or was it a dare in the making once she finds that out?
Putting it back down, she gives Kaname a long look, then...
"... We're a few glasses in, what the hell? I'll give you the option to switch this one to a dare, if you don't want to answer - no harm no foul, and I won't be upset or think less of you."
Whoa she's bending her own rules already?
"Are you only attracted to guys or- you think you'd ever go for a girl?"
Ohhhh that's why.
<Pose Tracker> Kaname Chidori has posed.
Kaname blinks once at Tessa. "W-wait, I said 'dare', not 'truth'...! And-- ugh, it's not like that, we're...!" (Leina can tell pretty easily that it is, in fact, like that.) The blue-haired girl sighs and looks down, blushing. "... I slept in his bed once, a little bit before everyone disappeared. It's not the way it sounds, though, I just...!"
She wanted to show him she accepts him, no matter what.
Leina's question is a breath of fresh air in comparison to the quagmire that is her feelings about Sousuke Sagara. She blinks a couple of times, and shakes her head, giving a relieved sigh. "Honestly... I'm actually a little more interested in girls than I am boys." She takes a drink.
"Kind of a shame only guys bothered to leave me confession notes. Or... well, used to. I really can't tell these days--Sousuke likes to blow up the shoe lockers whenever one of ours gets disturbed."
"So, Tessa... is that question going anywhere?"
<Pose Tracker> Teletha Testarossa has posed.
...Right, Dare. Truth? Dare? ...Asking someone to do something is nearly th same as asking someone to tell the truth. A glance down at the shotglass. ...Yeah, her second one. Shot, taken.
"Slept in his bed, huuuuuh? I think that makes us even for when I used his shower." And slept in the same apartment. She needed somewhere to stay to attend Jindai, after all, but she keeps quiet about that. That being said...
A singular blink. She could see it. Kaname, for all her (admittedly, for some, more than desireable) bullish tendencies, was certainly attractive towards girls. Smart, fit, good head on her shoulders, still carrying the best weapon of words...Makes sense.
She barely noted she took a third shot on that conclusion. She's well aware of Sousuke's Defusements. It's one of the things she looks forward to: Listening and reading his reports.
"Mmh, I think it was? Was it? Mmmmmmmh...Dare, dare, dare..." What'd be a good dare, what would be a good dare...Drinking's already in, soooooo... "I dare you to...to...' Oh, she likes girls, mhm? Mmmmhmmmm? No, not that. Or that. Too risque, too perverted, too out of the ordinary... "To..." A soft mumble. "To do your best impression of Sayla!"
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
Leina already suspected basically 99% of the way that it is like that, but she enjoys every moment of watching Kaname squirm under the question.
Her eyebrows suddenly shoot up at slept in his bed, 'It's not the way it sounds though.' "Hmmmmmm." Leina considers it, before she blinks and looks Tessa's way-
Wow she thought of Tessa as quite innocent, but now it's clear she considers herself her rival for Sousuke's affection, "... I didn't realize it could get so heated between the two of you."
Then Kaname's answer to her own question, causes a smile to creep onto her face, "Wow! I honestly wouldn't have guessed! Looks like you're full of surprises Kaname."
Leina even sounds impressed-! Though in truth the reality is she suspected it, the part she honestly wouldn't have guessed is she swings girls more than guys
"Goddddd I still can't believe he does that. But hey, probably mostly disintegrates love confessions from creeps. Probably no loss right?"
Tessa's getting drunk awfully fast isn't she? Leina's hand moves up to pet Foras absently, herself just in the midst of a rather pleasant buzz within her skull...
... she watches Tessa fumble through remembering it was a dare, and picking one, then her eyebrows shoot up, "Oh this I've gotta see."
As she immediately turns to Kaname, and picks up Foras, so the two of them can both watch Kaname do this impression together.
<Pose Tracker> Kaname Chidori has posed.
Kaname pays a subtle but heated glare at Tessa. She's still not convinced the sub captain's intentions were pure that night. A glance paid Leina's way at the comment, and she dials back a little, offering no comment and giving a bashful grin at the girl's reaction.
"It's not really something I advertise... I always figured, if someone's interested, they'd let me know, right?" She takes a drink, gulping down a fair bit of her screwdriver at once.
"Mmm. An impression of Sayla..." She taps her chin, looking around the room and grabbing up a piece of paper and a pen. She sets them down on the table and starts writing something, putting a tired look on her face and a mature tone to her voice as she chides, "You really need to stop working yourself so hard, you know. It's not good for you!"
Her hand starts to move rapidly, writing more than mindless scribbles. Her pupils go wide, eyes turning down toward the page.
A starry expanse stretches off into infinity as if reflected in a hall of mirrors, each one a window to another sky.
Her mind thrums with activity. Too much to read, too much to parse. Too much to understand, surely.
And yet her mouth moves silently, speaking of concepts she didn't know until just this moment, and her pen moves with purpose across the page. Advanced mathematics and physics, mechanical and circuit diagrams, it all pours out of her like a waterfall, precise and neat.
It's a little over a minute later, and the page is covered in... something. It's hard to be sure what. Kaname's pupils tighten again. She looks up at the other two, dazed. A drop of blood rolls out from her nose onto her lip.
<Pose Tracker> Teletha Testarossa has posed.
Tessa couldn't help but giggle at the sordid impression, a genuine smile on her features as she held back a yawn...with another shot. Alcohol. No wonder people loved it, and why people kept using it, year after year.
She does quiet down the smallest bit at the sudden mass of scribbling, shifting in to rest a hand on Kaname's back. "Don't interrupt her." A small warning for Leina as she watched on, looking over that scribbled page and tugging it away from the bluenette as soon as she finished. Folded for later. "Classified, you know?"
One napkin handed to Kaname later, she clapped her own hands together. Best to forget about that until the morning; If she could read it now, then she wouldn't be able to stop her own mind. "Yes, yes, moving on...! It's my turn, isn't it?"
Kaname. "Truth."
Leina. "Dare."
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
"I hear you." It's the way Leina functions at least, life would be so much easier if society didn't teach people to be- so closed off and embarrassed about such things.
Leina watches Kaname intently at the impression, and she snerks, like a laugh that's backed up in her nose, "Yep that's her alright, hypocrisy and all!" Leina notes, before holding up Foras' paw, "Foras and I give it 3.8 out of..."
The starry expanse...
...esnapxe yrrats ehT
The starry expanse...
...esnapxe yrrats ehT
The starry expanse...
...esnapxe yrrats ehT
It's so much. It's too much. It's like having all that activity filtered through a sieve such that it becomes less information and just... noise that cannot be fathomed or grasped. Comprehension is impossible. There is only...
Leina's walls suddenly slide back into place less than five seconds into the minute of scribbling, like it was a struggle to remember them. Her eyes snap back to attention upon Tessa, even as Foras gives Leina's hand the tiniest nip for holding his paw up too long. Not enough to even break the skin, she drops it, mollified.
Right as she notices the motion of the pen. "What is she-"
Leina's taking a step forward, but Tessa's warning is spoken. Afraid to even speak in this moment, given that warning, she just watches.
Once it's finished, Leina just nods absently at the idea it's classified. "Alright." Her eyes on Kaname as the blood droplet is wiped away...
... what has she gotten herself involved in. With Tessa... Shari... and now Kaname? She didn't even realize Kaname was one of... whatever they are, the first time she contacted her but...
... this made it abundantly clear. "Mum's the word..." Leina says quietly, wanting to talk about it, but knowing she shouldn't - something within her more than a little disturbed...
She puts Foras down who prances away then, pours everyone just a straight shot of the Vodka.
She makes her own a double. And downs it on the spot. Now it's less a pleasant buzz, and more that she's getting a little deeper into it. "It is your turn." Leina says as she tries to make herself move on from what just happened. 'Dare'
At first Leina looks all serious faced, then her lips tug, "Ohhh I can't - I shouldn't."
It's just the faintest slur forming, but for the serious moment that just happened. And then there's a giggle, "Maaayyybbeee... Tessa! After that, I think Kaname could use a good time... Yeah. Definitely."
Leina looks dead on at Tessa, now all sunny smiles, "I dare you to practice for your first kiss..." Her eyes slide over to the blunette, "... with Kaname."
And before either can potentially protest, she adds cheerily, "Since it's practice! It doesn't count!"
<Pose Tracker> Teletha Testarossa has posed.
Tessa offered a sordid smile at Leina's reactions, choosing to say nothing with the sight of that straight shot of vodka. Yeah, it was strange, wasn't it? The sight of a schoolgirl suddenly spitting out equations that came from beyond. She grasped the shotglass in her hand, chugging it down in one straight shot.
Scalding. Tessa was understanding why so many people drowned themselves in this liquor. She couldn't help but cough; For a teenager with her first taste of alcohol, it was the equivalent of dumping spices down ones throat. "Haaa...Ghack."
Move on. There's the morning. Deal with it then. You're among good company. People who you can trust...Even if you can't say anything.
Pushing herself out of that percipice of an emotional spiral, the Colonel smiled. Dare, yes. A dare. What dare...Mmmh, what sort of dare...
She froze. "Eh?" A kiss? Practice? Her? KANAME? A beat. A blink. A ratcheting look at Kaname Chidori, eyes wide with the slightest hint of a blush. Kiss? Her? Practice? Yeah, practice. No one wouldn know outside of two people, and she had the authority to shut them up. Yeah, perfect, perfect. It'd be fine, isn't it? Practice for when (not if, WHEN) Sousuke came back.
"...I'll do it." Tessa sounded so sure of herself, thumbing the empty shotglass before setting it aside. Turning and slowly standing up, one heavy foot after another towards Kaname. "I'll do it." She can't turn down a dare. She can't...back down.
My pure innocent heart will be dyed
With this deep crimson dawn
Embrace me tightly from behind and you might see
Watch out for the smiling angel, also a demon
The song echoes out in her mind, stopping in front of Kaname with a smile. A single, dainty hand reaching out to grasp Kaname's chin. It's a firm grip.
And she leans in.
There's a hint of alcohol in her breath.
And she locks lips.
<Pose Tracker> Kaname Chidori has posed.
Kaname barely has a chance to see any of what she's written before Tessa takes it away. She's... confused, disoriented for a moment, staring at the napkin shoved into her hand. "Wh..."
"Ah--" She catches red on the corner of her vision, and dabs at the blood on her lip. She blinks a couple of times, slowly, and her cheeks grow red as she realizes what happened. "I'm... sorry," she says quietly, at the sight of Leina's expression.
She doesn't say anything more on the matter--classified, of course, just as Tessa said.
"... right, gimme that," she grumbles, reaching over to her cup and downing the vodka all at once.
Oh God. Fuck. Fuck, that burns.
She swallows and descends into a ragged coughing fit. "O-ow." Who drinks this stuff?!
'I dare you to practice your first kiss... with Kaname.'
Eh?
Kaname's eyes go wide, her pupils mere dots in a sea of white.
What?
"Huh? Wha, what? what?"
Her eyes meet with Tessa's, and her face goes beet-red. This can't be happening. She's-- But Sousuke--
Tessa agreed...
It's Truth or Dare. She can't back down either, can she?
Kaname Chidori steels her expression and stands as well. She's mentally preparing herself move in for the kiss... when Tessa surprises her. "Mph!"
She stands frozen, stunned...
... Kaname smells alcohol, but... she smells Tessa, too.
She smells nice.
Slowly, Kaname brings her hand up to cup Tessa's cheek. She moves her lips against the other girl's, just a little...
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
It was strange - but it's beginning to explain some things to her. Tessa and Shari's tech expertise. A lot of clues were lining up, but in the end, it was classified information.
And beyond that, living as a powerful Newtype, she understood completely why some individuals would not want to be known, to prevent exploitation.
Kaname tells her she's sorry, and Leina just goes, "Hey no- s'fine! Maybe it's classified, but I understann." A look of understanding, "Sometimes things jush happen, that you don' intend."
Leina takes in Tessa's reaction with a smile, apparently she's a bit of a happy drunk, at least at first, "Yeah! Whadd'ya think of that?" A faint slur, but also her lower class Spacenoid accent.
And when Tessa agrees-! And Kaname just looks confused at first but then steels herself for what comes next...
"Ohhh?"
The music swells, and there's a certain atmosphere within the room right now, even with just three of them. Sheryl Nome was certainly an awakening for her.
Leaning on the bar, she watches what happens next. Certainly it's not voyeuristic, after all she simply dared her and must watch the follow through, as the music continues to play...
Go past simplicity, clarity 1000% my ambiguous limit, 1000%
Only the opposites collide
I show you my all and I give you reason to love
Body temperature rising, 1000% Sensibility for this fight, 1000%
This private game is for the universe, we're meant to, born to be
Loving each other
... that watching the execution of the dare she witnesses something mind-blowingly hot between the two is just a bonus.
It's only when Kaname's lips move against Tessa's that Leina finally looks away, a big silly grin on her face, as she goes behind the counter and asquietly as possible grabs some bottles...
... she definitely doesn't want to accidentally interrupt...
So she gives them a certain privacy as she mixes up the next batch of drinks... she doesn't stop smiling though.
Black or white, confusion and ecstasy...
<Pose Tracker> Teletha Testarossa has posed.
She knew nothing about the proper practice of kissing. For someone so steeped in commands, structure, numbers, equations, measurements, things done at a specific time in a specific juncture with a specific touch, the thought of a kiss was...entirely by feel?
...How long to hold a kiss? What to do during it? Only the faintest of ideas, only the faintest of hints, doing her best to stay in? Stay out? Push apart? Deepen? What, what to do, what to-
...
..
.
She pulled away, releasing a breath she didn't even know she had.
"..Practice..." A silent whisper. For herself? For Kaname? The blush of alcohol, maybe, her warm hand placing itself over Kaname's own.
"..." ...It takes the will of many, many moments to break eye contact.
<Pose Tracker> Kaname Chidori has posed.
It's just practice, right...?
But is it? Kaname's heart leaps just a bit, as something electric runs from Tessa's lips to hers. Her head swims in an alcoholic buzz, trying to process feelings she didn't know she had.
The one thing she knows for sure is she doesn't want it to end.
When Tessa pulls away, she tries to follow, only reluctantly parting lips, not breaking eye contact until Tessa dares to.
"Practice," she mouths in return, nodding a little.
It's fine. It doesn't count, right? It's fine... those feelings were just the booze whispering in her ear.
It's Fine.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
Leina doesn't say a word, about what just happened, not a single word. She may be smiling, but no comment. That's tough, struggling against the lack of inhibitions the booze is bringing on...
"Heyyyy have either o'ya ever hearda New Yark Iced Tea?"
... however she offers them both even less inhibition, in the drink with the most alcoholic content yet tonight.
-=-=-
The next morning, Leina wakes up on a pile of pillow below the pillow forth. She had the forethought at least to have the curtains drawn, which is good given that light hurts her eyes.
Her head is pounding...
... her awareness growing, she feels the furry mass of Foras against her, as she looks up to take stock of her surroundings.
<Pose Tracker> Teletha Testarossa has posed.
Iced Tea? Mhm, yeah, iced tea...It was practice, just practice. Even though she deserves more practice. Needs a bit more practice with Kaname, yeah. Leina? No, not at all. Just with Kaname. For Sousuke. They're rivals in this, but they can practice. A blink once, twice, shaking her head as she turned.
...Iced tea, huh?
-=-=-
...It takes a bit for her to even bother moving after passing the barrier to consciousness. Arm, twitched. Other arm, twitched. Leg, twitched. Other leg, twitched. Something soft against her body.
...She doesn't want to move. Not even open her eyes or twitch her drooling mouth shut. Her digits occasionaly twitch, grazing something, grazing nothing. But she has to get up. She has to; Even if she can't exactly move, even if today was technically free, she had work and all that. Uuuuuuuugggghhh...
Twitch. Twitch, twitch. Wait, she was facedown, head to the side. Okay, just...move a hand over, grace along the...cotton, right? Pillowfort, right. Shift a hand, push against the floor. One, two, three...!
And she pulled herself up and off...of Kaname's body, mouth having left behind a spit-pool. "Uh...Whaugh...?" Blink. Ow. OW HEAD OW. HURTS. Eyes shut, turning herself around and plopping down on butt, furrowing her brow. "Huuuurgh..." Just vague noises of discomfort. Light. Ow. Head. Ow. Throbbing. Deep breaths. In. Out. It's just a pulsing headache. Ow. Ow. Okay. Ow. One. Two. Three. Ow.
Lips smacking together. Lips. ...Oh. OH. She. She actually. She can't really move; Everything is still in that precarious half-awake Just-Dealt-With-Alcohol stance of Hangovers (so she assumed). But. Ohgod she kissed Kaname oh god what if she gets court martialed off of this oh god this is client hospitality breaches on so so many levels if Mithril finds out about this ooooooooh goooooooooooooodoooowwwwww her heeeeeeaaadddddd...
Gritted teeth and closed eyes. "Ghhhh..." She's barely taken note of Leina. Or anything around her. It'll be a while before she even tries to open her eyes, collapsing back down on the pillowfort and squirming. "Thank god today's a quiet day..."
<Pose Tracker> Kaname Chidori has posed.
Another groan issues forth from the pillow fort, as Kaname Chidori awakens to a blunt but *very* insistent throbbing behind her eyes. Something smells nice, though... familiar...
She opens her eyes just a little, just before Tessa moves off of her, and the gears slowly turn in her head. Not quickly enough, though; she's not nearly awake enough to follow the train of thought to remember last night.
Instead, she lies maybe a quarter awake, eyes shut, wishing this headache would let her fall back asleep.
She takes some solace in that warmth beside her, a feeling that makes her heart flutter ever so slightly.
And without a thought in her hangover-addled head, she gently grasps Teletha Testarossa's hand.