lowtohigh | [log] pleased to meet you

[log] pleased to meet you

It isn't easy, planning around Argine's health. Now and then, after all, she simply can't keep an appointment, simply needs to stop and sit, simply stops being a Ten and a mother and becomes a woman struggling against her own mortality. There's a good deal of hoping when it comes to setting dinner dates. A good deal of hoping in general.

But tonight was going to go well. The date had been set a week in advance, and was going to stick. The former Queen has been resting all day, her former Ace hovering and attending with nervous energy. The kitchens had been more than happy to pull together an early meal for three, to drag a table up to Argine's quarters and find a comfortable chair for the woman to rest easy in during an extended conversation. Everything is falling into place. Eileen should be ecstatic.

Is, in some ways. And is also starting to get ridiculously nervous, the way a young person gets when introducing their significant other to their only living parent.

So as the hour draws near, Eileen worries. Frets. Helps her mother pull herself properly into the semblance of the regal woman she used to be and get her settled in at the table. Argine's tsk is soft as she smooths her daughter's cheek, tells her to run along and get ready, not worry so much about an old woman.

She barely sees herself in the mirror as she throws on a bit of makeup, runs her hands through her hair ineffectually and calculates that she doesn't actually have enough time to change out of her usual fare.

Goes to loiter nervously at the door and wait for CJ to arrive. Maybe stealing a kiss before bringing him in will soothe her jangling.

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The shake of her head is instant. "It's not good enough. I can't imagine a world where 90% is good enough for something this completely important."

This, after all, is going to be her future, isn't it?

Whether or not she can admit she loves him, whether or not the idea they'll be married someday is utterly petrifying, CJ is clearly a part of her life. Now and forever.

He grins, murmuring "I love you... so much. I hope you know that. I'd settle for 70% the first night and you slowly growing on them, if that is what it takes. But if you want to score 100%, I won't stop you."

He kissed her softly then, whispering "My beautiful perfectionist."

"You'd settle for 70%?" She can't help that this makes her sound genuinely aghast before he's kissing her and everything falls away all over again.

He's good at kissing the anxiety away.

"It's a passing grade, one that can always be improved upon." He can't help but grin as he nuzzles her mouth, whispering "But aim for 100%, like you always do, always achieve. They'll be unable to do anything but love you once they actually meet you."

"If you say so." She even believes it when she can murmur it against his lips. Everything's easier to believe when they're close like this.

One last peck against his lower lip, and she leans back, pulls one last soupy spoonful of ice cream to her lips.

"Walk me home?"

"Of course, someone has to defend you in that little skirt you're wearing." He places money on the table to cover everything and a tip, as he ushers her out of the booth, pushing his arm around her waist and holding her close as he waves goodbye to the waitress.

"I do say so, you will do great." he strokes her hip through the mini, and walks with her outside, back towards the castle. He wished they were older, that they had their own place. Either of them. That home meant they were going together, to the same place, the same bed, the same alarm clock. But all he could do was wait, and take her to her mother's suite, and say goodbye at the door.

There's a pleased hum for that. So much is lovely, after all--him taking her out like this, his arm around her waist, the cool night air and the warmth of being pressed against him.

This will be a good year. Her mother likes her boyfriend. Before long, she'll meet his parents and maybe that will go well too. She'll challenge up again and move into her own quarters. They'll have the final conversations about whether or not they could really make their relationship into a long distance relationship.

And they'll be happy. She's absolutely certain.

"I believe you, nn? Promise."

"Good, you should. I don't lie." And as much of a temptation as her thighs are, and that skirt, he remains a gentleman, holding her waist, just inches from sinning, as they walk, tied to each other, held together like being glued at the hip.

He slows down, because he doesn't want to stop seeing her just yet, taking it slow as they walk, caressing her skirt, taking the long way, resting his head close to hers.

"So, how long before you're Ace you think? Who are you challenging next?"

Edited 2012-10-30 08:51 (UTC)

Wandering slowly is good. If they take the right route through the Green, there will even be a bench to settle down on for a bit. Anything to just enjoy this a little bit longer.

The smile does drop from her lips at his question, but that's to be expected. She takes the topic entirely seriously. Can't not. Inevitably chews on the inside of her cheek while talking about it.

"I'm still on track to be back up to Ten by nineteen. Then it's just a question of Elisha deciding I'm ready." Her sigh is slight. "I'm still trying to figure out who to challenge next. I wanted to try something... less violent, but... it's hard to think who."

He finds the bench, he pulls her down into his lap as he sits, and kisses her shoulder through her shirt, nuzzling as her mood turns serious. He just holds her close, pinning her hip to his stomach, keeping his eyes on her face.

"Elisha knows you have everything it takes, I'm sure once you get to 10, if the spot is free, its yours." But it hurts to see her suffer, to see her sigh. "Use your wits instead of your dagger Eileen, you'll find the right person."

Settling against him, arms pulling around his shoulders to stay nestled, is almost enough to make her smile again. Her lips, however, stayed pulled down in serious contemplation, legs crossing comfortably and one hand briefly tugging her skirt down a touch more modestly.

"It's just so much easier, you know? I've been working with knives since I was six." And with her mind, true. One just tended to come a little more fluidly than the other when she went into challenge-mode.

Bad early influences, likely.

He watches her hand, doing that little tug, and feels that's probably his influence, though a slightly regrettable one. And yet her warm weight on his lap is not remotely chaste-making. But he's focusing, he swears.

"And? You're the smartest person I know. You have been brilliant since I met you. Probably longer than you've been using knives you've been training your mind. It's your best weapon Eide, don't kid yourself."

He rubs his face against her collar bone, whispering "Pick something you love to study. Your brain is like a sponge about facts. Have an... ancient greece trivia contest, you could dominate in that."

"Yeah, but who would accept a trivia contest against me?" she sighs, resting her head against his. "People think they stand a chance when it's hand to hand. There's a lot more luck involved in it. But information, literature, that sort of thing..."

Not since her challenge to Three. And that was currently a few challenges ago.

"It's hard, CJ. Trying to be a new person when all anyone does is remember the past."

"Chess? Cards? We know you mop the floor with me at cards. Something that involves strategy as well as luck then?"

He smiles, sighing against her "You will find a way, I am sure of it. You don't have to fight in order to make it to 10. You don't have to. There is so much more to you than skill with a blade."

That gets the quirk of a smile. Poker nights had always been informal, after all--very few people knew she had been trained to play by Julien, Säde and Victor.

"That could work, I suppose," she nods, pressing a quick kiss to his jaw. "What about you, nn? When d'you think you'll be moving up again?"

Not that she needed him to. It simply didn't particularly occur to her that anyone wouldn't want to move up as high as they could.

"See? And the sharpest thing around will be the cards and maybe the spades or the diamonds printed on them." He leaned into the kiss, caressing her far side, kissing her cheek.

"Dunno... I have a lot to do before I go to university. And then I'll be gone four years. Holding a higher rank seems kind of wasteful when other people could be here, doing the work that a higher number would entail, you know?" He didn't really care. If he made it to 5 and got stuck there, when he came back, he'd be ok with that. No reason to work harder than you had to. And politics wasn't his thing.

"Maybe when I get back I'll jump up a bit, if I need to. I've got other things I care about more than challenging up though." He kissed her, "Like taking care of you."

She hm's softly, smile brightening at the light kiss pressed to her cheek. It will be a hard four years without little touches, little kisses, little moments like this. Maybe she'll have to actually take time off--make regular trips on the weekends.

That probably wouldn't be the end of the world, actually. Forced relaxation. And, well, a little unrestricted cardio, likely.

"I'll be Ace or dead by the time you get back," she tsks, bumping her nose to his. "I doubt I'll need much taking care of, really."

The deck is only a short walk away, or vice verse. They'll make do, sleeping over, weekends, phone calls, email. They would find a way. He frowns at her, before grinning "You're not allowed to say you're going to die before I get back, or I will refuse to go..."

He's being playful, but he's serious. He loves her, she's not allowed to die. "And if you're Ace, with how hard you push yourself, you're going to need more being taken care of than ever. So there." He kisses her nose, stroking at her hair.

There's a tiny spark of laughter as his lips brush her nose, face cracking into a somehow brighter smile.

"So what, will you bring me food in my office? Come give me kisses so I don't have to leave my work? Are you going to enable me to work into the wee hours of the morning with your TLC?"

More likely he meant dragging her off when she needed to be resting, but such was life. A girl could dream.

He grins, thinking about it "Yeah, maybe. Lunch, sure, kisses, definitely. But no working late, I'll come kidnap you so you can sleep in bed with me, and we can have dinner together somewhere that isn't your desk. I'll make sure you get enough sleep and enough food, and enough hugs and kisses to make you operate at full capacity."

A soft series of kisses down her arm. "Maybe I'll stay a three. The less I'm stuck behind a desk, the more I'll be able to make sure you're not stuck behind one either."

How can she argue with sleeping in a bed with him? It's something she wants now, let alone in the indistinct future when they've had four years of not seeing each other every day.

It does not, however, stop her lower lip getting caught briefly between her teeth. "Would you be happy? Being a Three your whole life?"

Explain to the girl who knows nearly everything but the normalcy of being a person who wants happiness rather than to slave under work forever.

He kisses that soft, adorable mouth, smiling against it. "I'll be happy, as long as we're together. And, well, maybe I'll need to have a higher rank, so I can make more money. Maybe not. But as long as you're doing what you love, and I'm with you. I'll be happy. Promise."

He chuckled "My family isn't as big on rank as yours. We just have to be good people, work hard at whatever we chose to do, and make lots of babies."

He leans closer, brushing lips to lips "...I want to practice making babies with you." Just practice, just the sexy times, without the added responsibility.

That's what she should want too, isn't it? Be together with the person she loved, have the money to be comfortable, enjoy her work and be a good human being?

But he loves her just the way she is, despite the fact that she needed more of top of that. Couldn't be all bad.

Particularly not when he came out with things like that. Bursting into laughter with her lips to his is not an unfamiliar sensation--quite a nice one, really. "I'm sorry, you want to 'practice making babies' with me. What, here in the park?"

People want different things. That's what he wanted. She wanted to be Ace. Their wants were not mutually exclusive, and there was nothing wrong with her for wanting what she did.

"Yeah... you know..." he bites his lip, tightening his arms around her waist.

"No, but there's this tree I know of, outside this bedroom... I could probably find it in me to climb up there. And with these legs driving me crazy..." a hand rests on her knee "The idea just gets more and more appealing, because I can't say no to legs like this. Eileen..." mock seriousness "They're calling my name. I mean, look at them. They're perfect. When legs like this ask for something, you have to say yes. You just have to!"

"They're calling your name?" she snorts, shifting to nip lightly at his ear before uncurling her arms from his neck. "Just my legs? If I open my window tonight, are we going to have a dry run for making a big family, or are you just going to have a conversation with my gams, mm?"

It's not nice that she's got to roll her hips to stand up again, but it has to be done. She'll make it up to him when he climbs the tree tonight.

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