Magnetism (SG)

[SongofWindchimes]

After all of that, he called himself the lucky one. Bianca didn't really have anything to say to that, but she could probably blame that on being worn out. She snuggled up to Alaric with a small sigh, though the fact that she was snuggling up to a clothed body was another reminder that she'd failed to turn the tables as intended. It was a bit of a blow to Bianca's pride, to be perfectly honest, but letting it bother her was a waste of time. She just silently promised to make sure to show Alaric exactly how lucky he was next time.

The question earned a soft chuckle, and Bianca looked at Alaric with heavy-lidded, cat-like eyes, a smirk on her lips. "Well..." she teased back, appearing to think about it for a moment. She gave him a quick kiss and let out another chuckle. "It might take a few more dates to be absolutely sure..." She toyed a bit with a strand of his hair. "But you didn't exactly hear me complaining, did you?"

[Admiral Striker General]

[atrb=style,width:475px;color:goldenrod;border:3px goldenrod ridge;][atrb=bgcolor,#94701A]

[ Alaric ]

Alaric gave a rather deep chuckle as he nuzzled her. He could live with that~ He could not, however, refrain from poking fun at it. "And here I was afraid you were just being polite," came the teasing reply. A little more nuzzling, and a small, content sigh escaped him. His voice dropped to a near whisper. "You should stay the night.." Not that she'd seemed all that in a hurry to leave at any point, and the night wasn't getting any younger, but a formal invitation was just nice. "Or let me come home with you if you need to go," he added a bit lighter and with something that.. vaguely may have resembled a shrug. Given their position, he couldn't get much closer. That purring quality came back, now. "And tomorrow I can show you what I can really do..~" The last word faded into a rather slight growl, and he nipped at her neck lightly.

Of course, certain parts of him were dying to show her now, but his will suppressed them. At any rate, the urge actually was a little less powerful after his previous endeavor, the desire to please someone else often as strong as and sometimes even surpassing his desire to satisfy himself. That psychological need to give fulfilled, he did his best to ignore his more physical need to continue focusing first and foremost on her. Of course, whatever her answer, there was the question of what to do now, unless she was eager to get going soon. Not that he'd mind lying like this for another hour or two just admiring her and basking in her glow, perhaps even taking a nap, but once she grew bored of cuddling at any rate. There had been something mentioned about food, but.. meh. If she was hungry he was sure she'd recall this, and he was fine otherwise. Really, he was fine with anything, and as such finally decided he'd just wait to see what if anything wanted.

[/blockquote][/td][/tr][/table]

[SongofWindchimes]

Bianca chuckled at the tease, and her eyes closed for a moment, just enjoying the cuddling, until he offered to let her stay the night and they opened again. Now, Bianca hardly made a habit of expecting people out of her own bed before morning, and didn't quite attach the emotional meaning some people did to staying the night, but she still hesitated briefly.

It was probably mostly because of the thought in the back of her head that this was still a Count's castle, and that being seen walking out of Alaric's bedroom in the morning would not a good first impression make. However, she'd been planning on staying in a hotel in Evergreen that night and going home in the morning, so Alaric wouldn't be seeing her home if she did decide to leave with him instead, which would be her main motivation for doing such outside of the aforementioned one.

The nip to her neck managed effectively break her train of thought. Mmmm...I'm in no hurry to go anywhere..." she purred softly, deciding that, right this moment, she didn't want to leave this bed, and she'd figure the rest out later. Part of her was pleading for Alaric to show her now what he could do, despite her physical need already being taken care of. She shoved the thought away again. It was his self-imposed rule in the first place, and it'd be more fun if she was rested, anyway.

Thoughts drifting to the glimpse of swords hanging on the walls she'd noted when she'd first been carried in, Bianca propped herself up a little with her arm and actually gave her surroundings a look. "You've really got a collection in here," she commented. A few collections would probably be more accurate. She was actually pretty impressed; she wasn't sure if her reference to her ship in a bottle earlier had been a terribly clear hint that she had a few collectables of her own around her home. Nothing even approaching this, though.

[Admiral Striker General]

[atrb=style,width:475px;color:goldenrod;border:3px goldenrod ridge;][atrb=bgcolor,#94701A]

[ Alaric ]

Oh good<3 He'd get to enjoy her for that much longer, then. Not that they wouldn't be seeing plenty of each other if things went well anyway but.. Well, this was right now, which was almost always better than just soon. Except of course when soon got the benefit of suspense, but that wasn't the case here. And what the hell was he doing justifying it anyway? She was in his arms and it made him happy; what else mattered?

"Ah--" He gave a small chuckle after realizing which 'collection' she seemed to be referring to. "To be perfectly honest, it's about half obsession and half just to piss off my parents." He wasn't joking. Rolling on his back, he kept one arm around her and lay his head on the other as he looked up at the walls. "Sorry, I can't remember if I've already said any of this; just let me know if I start repeating myself. But yeah.. I love medieval things. Always have." He smirked and added, "You know. In case the life goal of being a knight and all the other hints weren't clear enough."

Glancing toward the nearest bookshelf, he went on, "I used to read almost constantly. Eventually I learned video games were a thing and that came into play too, but.. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I've played a lot more since college than all the years before, or pretty close. For the most part, I didn't want to do anything but save damsels and deal with dragons. ...Never could decide if I wanted to slay or tame them, but generally I told myself it'd depend on the dragon." He chuckled again. It wasn't as though a right-minded Alaric could kill a bug without at least feeling a little bit bad about it (not to say he wouldn't still do it, particularly to be the big strong hero that squished the half-ounce foe of doom for his lady, but he'd at least feel kind of 'eh that sucks' about it), but the sheer glory of slaying a dragon was just.. Not a Salamence or a Charizard, but a twenty-, no, fifty-foot-tall beast of pwn. He'd just been a kid* after all; he could dream. (*Seventeen was still legally a kid. << >> <<)

"Anyway. Eventually my parents decided I was too deep in my fantasies and thought taking it all away would get my head out of the clouds." A rather mischievous grin arose as, rather than the bitterness at the attempt, he thought of what fun it had been to get around it. "Of course it just pissed me off for a while and made me want it more. So when I finished school and they couldn't say anything anymore, of course I had to do all this~" He paused a bit here, trying to stay more triumphantly amused than annoyed at recalling their disapproval- particularly his dad's- then slowly glanced toward the closet door across the room. "And if you think all this is bad..." He didn't finish that statement, just laughing again and kissing her temple.

[/blockquote][/td][/tr][/table]

[SongofWindchimes]

Bianca listened the explanation, smirking as Alaric went on. Tame them. Definitely go with tame them, came a bit of mental commentary as he mentioned dragons. At his last comment, Bianca gave a small laugh of her own. "'Bad' isn't quite the word I was looking for," she said with an amused smile. "If the ship in a bottle wasn't enough of a hint, I've got a few things around my place. Mostly dragon figurines and random pirate stuff."

Like the pirate captain hat that she bought after Halloween one and year and was probably still sitting in her closet. She really needed to do something with that thing one of these days. Like maybe put together a full costume. Unfortunately, if there was one mundane thing she failed spectacularly at, it was sewing, and store-bought Halloween costumes never seemed to fit right no matter...Oh, hey, right, cuddling in bed with a guy. Focus on that.

"My parents figured taking things away would work on me, too," she went on, sighing a little. Those 'things,' however, hadn't been her plastic swords and toy dragons, even though they'd hated those too. The exact details of that particular raid on her bedroom as a teenager would stay unsaid, however.

Instead she, like Alaric, focused on the more positive side and chuckled. "Had about the same success, too. You should have seen what my first apartment looked like." Damn, that made her sound old, she realized. Still, he really should have. Beanbag chairs, dragons and pirate things everywhere, and pretty much anything purple that she could cram into the living area or bedroom. It had been childish and chaotic, and she'd loved it. She kind of missed it, really.

[Admiral Striker General]

[atrb=style,width:475px;color:goldenrod;border:3px goldenrod ridge;][atrb=bgcolor,#94701A]

[ Alaric ]

.... Dragons. She said dragons. His girl.... loved... dragons. Not just Dragon Pokemon, real practical dragons. Not just riding. Not just if she saw something 'oh that's cool' or maybe a shirt or necklace somewhere. His girl collected dragons. Dear God. Alaric could have died happy right there. And somehow as she went on, his mood only kept getting better.

"We are entirely too much alike. You realize this?<3" he teased, rolling back to face her and nuzzling her playfully. "Why on earth is it not still awesome, though?" Naturally, there was no way it might still be awesome and just not geeky; those things couldn't exist independently, right? A moment later, his mood fell a bit as the thought of her having been robbed came to mind. He swore he'd hunt a bastard down if he could, or at least replace every last that could be replaced and do his best to imitate the rest. Agh no, the thought of anyone taking something from her did not set well with him. ...Even though the idea of her parents being parallel to his was totally fine and just amusing. ... Logic was for losers anyway.

[/blockquote][/td][/tr][/table]

[SongofWindchimes]

Bianca chuckled at the tease. "Gee, really? Hadn't noticed." As for the next question, well, there were three reasons, honestly. The first one being that when one was taking off with nothing but a backpack and their pet Snubbull, they rarely were able to take their beanbag chair with them. However, that particular moment of 'what the hell was I thinking' would remain unspoken, among the other parts of her life she'd rather not admit happened. Reason number two was something that hurt her pride to some degree; everyone had taken a financial beating, but the ban on pokemon capturing had nearly destroyed her, and if the choice was between her collectables and eating or paying the bills...She was long out of danger, and she'd hunted down and replaced a few of the things she'd sold then, but all the same...

So, reason number three it was. "Alaric...I have five cats," she replied, giving a small laugh, "Think about that for a second. Cat versus figurine, figurine tends to lose." She'd used to have a very nice cockatrice (which she was embarrassed to admit that she'd just mentally called a 'chicken dragon' until she realized it had a name rather than just being some kind of chimera) that unfortunately now lacked both wings and most of its beak thanks to Pixie. "A lot of things are in boxes for their own safety."

With faintest chuckle, she added, "And I miiiiight have sent a few things to my niece." Bianca was going to be called a bad influence on Lily anyway, so why not give her a bunch of pirate and dragon stuff? And children's books. And pokemon. And take her out for ice cream every time she visited. Okay, so Bianca spoiled Lily like crazy, but she couldn't help it. She didn't see the girl very often, and there was always the worry in the back of her head that the girl's grandparents might put pressure on Kate to parent their way.

[Admiral Striker General]

[atrb=style,width:475px;color:goldenrod;border:3px goldenrod ridge;][atrb=bgcolor,#94701A]

[ Alaric ]

Alaric let out a slightly delayed laugh when she did in regards to so many fuzzballs. Dear Lord, he'd be afraid to let a smaller cat than Kado into this room. Actually just make that a more reckless cat, never mind size. Yeah he could definitely see that. Not that he'd have to worry in his own apartment. Compared to his room here-.. Hell it was barren compared to the average one-room apartment even with today's economy. It was a place to crash and game and that was about it.

At the last comment, Alaric propped up a bit with intrigue, his head now resting on one hand while the other arm remained wrapped around her, caressing idly. "Niece?" He was almost certain she hadn't mentioned this before, though she'd said something about a sister. Of course, he was nothing if not fawning at the thought. Aww. How old is she?" Hopefully the fact she'd give her figurines and stuff meant she wasn't like a toddler or anything, though he supposed they could go up on some shelf to be admired. He didn't know whether the aforementioned sister was older or younger, though, or even if that was Bianca's only sibling or just the only one she was close to. If older or... even if close to the same age with the right circumstances, terrible as that would be.. she could easily be what Alaric would consider grown or close to it. Hopefully she was that really fun age though. Old enough to kind of be independent but young enough the world was still AWESOMAGICAL. X3

[/blockquote][/td][/tr][/table]

[SongofWindchimes]

Bianca smiled. She realized she hadn't mentioned Lily before; talking about family wasn't something she often did other than occasional references to her sister. "She's nine," she said, then chuckled and added, "Looks a little younger, though. I keep telling her she'll love it when she's grown up, but she doesn't believe me." Truth be told, Lily took the Musara curse with impressive dignity; all she was really guilty of was the occasional sad little pout that Kate insisted Bianca had taught her.

Not able to keep the pride out of her voice, she went on, "She's really bright, and she loves pokemon. She keeps saying she's going to win the Era Tournament someday." She let out another chuckle. "Or be a pirate. Depends on when she's last been to the beach." Going to the beach was the other thing she tended to do with Lily every time she visited. She really needed to get that girl a water pokemon at some point. Maybe an Azurill or Buizel or something.

Giving a slightly more self self-deprecating chuckle, Bianca almost looked a little embarrassed (almost) as she gave Alaric a small nuzzle. "But I'm rambling." Not that was the worst she'd gotten, or even close to it. A small sigh escaped Bianca and her smile vanished briefly. "I really should visit more often," she admitted quietly, more to herself than anything. It was just...hard sometimes.

[Admiral Striker General]

[atrb=style,width:475px;color:goldenrod;border:3px goldenrod ridge;][atrb=bgcolor,#94701A]

[ Alaric ]

Alaric hung on her every word, a ridiculous grin plastered on his face all the while. He'd have to catch this girl a Pokemon. Or help her train. Or get her pirate stuff? Oh man the beach! As she started to wind down, he found himself letting out a small "No, I--.." He only barely caught the words to follow, honestly not getting exactly what she'd even said until he replayed it once in his head. Ah-... He knew that feeling, except.. At least his was with grown-ups and an over-sized cat. He could only imagine how bad she must feel- rather, how bad he'd feel if Ava was this niece's age.

Mmm... Well.. then again, she was already going to visit the lighthouse with him, right? That was near the beach, to which the girl apparently loved to go, so.. "Well that settles it then," he murred, as cryptic as teasing. More solidly, he announced, "We'll just have to go visit her soon." A bit spontaneously, he gave a barking growl and pulled her closer, nipping a bit at her neck before chuckling deeply. "And if you won't let me splurge too much on you, at least let me on her~" He could already see the look on that parent(s?)'s face when the girl came home with enough new toys and junk food and possibly Pokemon to fill a small pool. ...Maybe a large pool. It depended on his mood and how cute/needy she was.

[/blockquote][/td][/tr][/table]

[SongofWindchimes]

We? A sudden feeling of dread washed over Bianca. There was no 'we' when she visited her family. Boyfriend meeting family was bad. Things always got so insanely awkward when Bianca gave any indication she might actually be really dating someone (and this time she was, even if it wasn't exactly a normal relationship). But Lily would probably like Alaric...and if she was going to be braving the city to head to lighthouse, it would kill her to not at least spend a little time with her niece.

The little nip to her neck broke her train of thought for the moment."Mmmm..." Bianca managed to summon a small pout. "Splurging on her's my job, though." She then chuckled and snuggled up to Alaric, planting a small kiss on his neck. "But I guess you can help me spoil her if you really want to."

Bianca suddenly gave a brief laugh. "Oh Legends..." She gave a grin, giggling slightly. "She'd go nuts over Boxer. She loves horses." That was one thing she'd definitely gotten from Kate. Lily would probably latch onto the big guy and not want to let go. Then again, Honey was a 'KITTY!' and would probably get the same treatment.

[Admiral Striker General]

[atrb=style,width:475px;color:goldenrod;border:3px goldenrod ridge;][atrb=bgcolor,#94701A]

[ Alaric ]

Alaric completely missed any sign of that panic, but certainly not the pout to follow, which made him laugh lightly. He was going to find some way to spoil Bianca regardless, and getting to do so indirectly via spoiling an awesome kid instead sounded great to him. Her next comment actually made him cock an eyebrow just slightly, but not at the actual content. Oh Legends? He had to wonder if that was her 'oh my goodness gosh' type substitution or if she made a point to say it for religious reasons. ...Not that Alaric hadn't dated girls of other religions plenty of times including an outright pagan for over a year but still. Legendary Pokemon as a whole would be something kind of different at least enough for him to wonder about it a little shush.

Moving on though, "Horses?" he asked, perking up-- actually sitting up completely, for that matter. "Did you see the stables when we were coming in?" What no he hadn't all but forgotten that there was a breath-taking woman lying there in light of the little attention bird that had just flown by. "We should bring her here~ She can pet all the horses she wants and ride them if she knows how-- actually I can teach her if she doesn't, too<3" He absolutely did not resemble a 9-yr-old girl himself right now in his excitement at the thought. Of course, the thought that 'we' would be doing anything didn't cross his mind, especially for this, as these suggestions totally stood regardless of their status. If she broke up with him an hour from now he'd totally still want to go blow money on her niece and teach them to ride ponies.

[/blockquote][/td][/tr][/table]

[SongofWindchimes]

Bianca didn't notice the slightly raised eyebrow, not that she really would have realized what it was about even if she did. Using Legendary pokemon, particularly Arceus or Mew since they were considering a god...thing and a common ancestor of pokemon respectfully in myth, as substitutions, along with the catch-all 'Legends,' wasn't that terribly uncommon a practice...in regions where Legendary sightings actually happened and the powerful beasts themselves were believed to make home. Which was where Bianca had picked it up for the most part, due to communicating with people from various regions far from Era through her work.

When Alaric sat up, Bianca gave a more genuine pout than her previous joking one for a moment. Reluctantly, she sat up as well, brushing a few amethyst strands out of her face as the suggestion was made to bring her niece here. Bianca stared at Alaric for a moment silently, slightly wide-eyed, and then suddenly cracked up laughing. She just barely managed to avoid falling back over onto the bed, and tried her best to fight the fit down to the level of giggles. "I'm sorry...it's just...the look on my sister's face if I suggested that to her..."

Bianca was grinning broadly; something about this really should have been scaring her but it was just so funny. And Lily really would love it, which would have been enough to tip the scales even without the hilarity. "She'd end up having to come along to keep an eye on things...And so she could pet the horses, too, of course." She hugged Alaric and nuzzled him, letting out a few more gleeful giggles.

Coming down from her high just a little, she added, "That's okay, right?" Bianca didn't think it'd be a problem, but it was more polite to ask. And if it was okay, it'd be so unbelievably perfect, finally getting Kate and Lily out of Orion together and giving them their horsie dreams come true.

[Admiral Striker General]

[atrb=style,width:475px;color:goldenrod;border:3px goldenrod ridge;][atrb=bgcolor,#94701A]

[ Alaric ]

And all of a sudden, Alaric was the one mentally panicking. She wanted-... but that-... That was people. He liked her. Her. Alone. Not her and her sister or her and her best friend, just her. He.... One of Alaric's general rules of dating was actually 'no, I don't want to hang out with your friends'. ... Of course he kind of only convinced her to try dating him by implying there'd be largely a lack of rules about it and to start already with stipulations really wasn't good but ah man he really didn't want to hang out with Bianca and her sister. There was... no chance that she'd be too young or too old for him to feel uncomfortable either was there, with a 9-year-old daughter and all. Like Lily he'd be totally cool with because she was little and didn't really count as a 'people', just a 'kid'. Real grown people though, he just... Nnn.. Ah God this was going to suck he didn't want to say no but he didn't want to say yes and... yeah ya know what ambiguity sounded great right now. "...Maybe," he shrugged.

Oh hey know what else sounded great too? A subject change! Yes that, that would be great. "Were you hungry yet, by the way?" There was still that previously mentioned dinner free of obnoxious judgmental parents of doom. "Ava's a pretty good cook, you know. We have an actual chef, but she insists on helping. If we're lucky it's something epic, like.. mm, maybe some sort of pasta." It had taken him just a moment, but he did recall her implying she really liked it, or at least ate a lot. No he wasn't rambling. Shut up. No your face looks like a hooker.

[/blockquote][/td][/tr][/table]

[SongofWindchimes]

Bianca was far too busy being giddy with OhmyGodthiswouldbeawesome for it to occur to her in the slightest that Alaric may not like the idea of being around her sister. After all, she'd gotten no real indicator that he was awkward with people, and the only protest that'd occur to her didn't apply to having a little kid around. Besides, Katarina Musara was one of most non-threatening people in existence. She'd probably spend most of her time just quietly petting a horse and letting the riding lesson unfold.

The 'maybe,' however, sent that train of thought screeching to a halt, and Bianca blinked, her giddy feeling turning rapidly into a feeling of dread. Regardless of how the ambiguity may have been intended to be taken, to Bianca it immediately gave her the idea that she'd said something wrong, even if she didn't have a clue exactly what or why. Dammit, she was already doing something stupid, wasn't she?

The rapid subject change was a welcome distraction from the new train of thought, and Bianca smiled; she wasn't all that hungry, but she was never one to resist the siren song of potential pasta. "Sounds great."

Bianca then glanced down at herself, momentarily feigning a look that made it seem like she'd forgotten she was naked, and chuckled. "I guess that means I have to put my clothes back on, huh?" She grinned a bit mischievously as she added, "Sad as that is." Chuckling lightly to herself, Bianca made her way off the bed and made a point to retrieve her clothing a little more slowly than she normally would; Alaric may yet regret feeding Bianca's ego regarding her beauty.

However, once she got her clothes, Bianca actually put them on fairly quickly, not really hurried, but with the movements of someone who had needed more than once to rapidly dress and had gotten quite good at it...which, all joking aside, was more related to her tendency to sleep in late and have to race to get ready and open her store on time than anything. Well, try to open her store on time. Most of her customers showed up in the afternoon and early evening, anyway.

Bianca suddenly sighed and chuckled once she'd finished, brushing a strand of hair out her face and looking at Alaric. "My bandanna's still in your game room, isn't it?" She put her hands on her hips jokingly as she informed him, "I still want it back, you know." The pose didn't last long as Bianca moved to shove the hair out of her face again, but the faux-serious expression remained; she hadn't been exaggerating that much when she'd claimed to 'need' it.

[Admiral Striker General]

[atrb=style,width:475px;color:goldenrod;border:3px goldenrod ridge;][atrb=bgcolor,#94701A]

[ Alaric ]

Alaric suppressed his sigh of relief as she took the bait, then settled into an easy grin. "Just heartbreaking," he murmured teasingly in response to her sad need for clothing. In this, he made no effort to help her, but drank in her every movement, savoring each second. Briefly, he considered dragging things out and just being an ass in general by removing a piece of his own clothing each time she put something on, but didn't want that to be taken the wrong way. Either way, he still found himself a little disappointed- if amused- at her speed in dressing.

At her question, his grin broadened, but was quickly replaced by more a smug smirk. "Did I not tell you I'm keeping it?" He stood up then and casually stretched a bit. "Mmm... I could have sworn." He chuckled then and returned his gaze to her. "You really don't need it anyway," he shrugged slightly wryly.

[/blockquote][/td][/tr][/table]

[SongofWindchimes]

Bianca feigned a small huff, giving all appearances of nothing but faux-annoyed amusement. The truth of the matter, however, was that she really was genuinely irritated, and she was sorely tempted to just drop the act. If Alaric knew the real reason she was so possessive of the silly thing, he'd probably stop, right?

Or he'd think she was out of her mind. Which she'd already told him, but that was beside the point. Bianca knew she wasn't normal. Normal people didn't completely flip out when people touched their stuff, even in playful teasing. Normal people didn't feel like just deflating entirely in the face of said teasing and admitting that their baby sister gave them whatever they were teasing about before accepting gifts became too painful and said sister was too focused on raising a daughter to give them anyway.

Instead, Bianca sauntered right over to Alaric, a playful smile on her lips. "I think we've already established that I don't 'need' anything I wear," she pointed out. She ran a hand through her own hair for emphasis, then went on with a challenging look in her eye, "I think the question here is what, pray tell, you plan to do to keep it away from me?" After all, Bianca probably had a little more in common with Captain Isabela than Alaric fully realized; he had not seen exactly how quick and agile she really was when she wanted to be.

Bianca suddenly flashed a grin and chuckled. "Unless you plan on wearing it," she added. Alaric could take that as comment on his height or in an 'I would love to see that' way, whichever he preferred.

[Admiral Striker General]

[atrb=style,width:475px;color:goldenrod;border:3px goldenrod ridge;][atrb=bgcolor,#94701A]

[ Alaric ]

Naturally, the first comment brought quite the grin to Alaric's face, and he had to mumble, "This is true.." At her question, though, he cocked an eyebrow and smirked, curious just what was going through her mind. Not that he wouldn't love to find out, especially if it involved her getting violent. Hehehe..

When she went on, though, he barely stifled most of an incredulous laugh, the look becoming more questioning. He didn't feel he needed to bother saying the strong '..really?' he felt for a moment. Finally, though, the smirk returned. "Hm. .. I suppose it would help hide my massive forehead.." he teased dryly, eyes drifting up for a moment to the mentioned area before returning to Bianca, spry as ever. Of course, if he was actually concerned, he'd probably.. you know.. wear bangs, or a hat/bandanna/etc of his own, or... say.. anything that wasn't pulling his hair straight back or damn near it. Heh~ Nah, Alaric was really pretty okay with his face other than the obvious part, but that was even stranger to try to hide than to just take the occasional staring and comments.

At any rate.. Alaric moved in to kiss Bianca's forehead, then, considering a comment about it being harder to do so with a bandanna, but deciding against it. Dropping to a softer tone, he instead murred, "I could if you wanted..~" Chuckling lightly, he slipped his hand over hers and began moving toward the door either way... if very, very slowly.

[/blockquote][/td][/tr][/table]

[SongofWindchimes]

The initial look on Alaric's face was absolutely priceless, and it took some effort on Bianca's part not to burst out laughing right then and there. Oh, come on, you honestly didn't expect me to say something like that? That seemed like the go-to comment for someone wanting to keep something like that to Bianca. Alaric's comment did lessen her mirth to a more manageable level, the words, You don't have a... flitting through her mind and being cut off before they could reach her mouth. Old big sister habits died hard, it seemed.

And then he just had to be sweet. Bianca was convinced that she'd never get used to being kissed on the forehead. She very nearly rolled her eyes. What I want is for you to let me wear it. Bianca pulled another bit of hair out of her face with her free hand, a playful smile on her lips. "Well...it'd certainly be the most compelling reason for me to let you keep it--" At least for a little bit; she did have to admit that the mental image was funny. "--unless you want this to turn into a huge game of keep away."

It wasn't an empty threat. Bianca really would snatch up the bandanna and dart around like a squirrel on caffeine if that was what it took. Which could be very fun, she admitted to herself.

[Admiral Striker General]

[atrb=style,width:475px;color:goldenrod;border:3px goldenrod ridge;][atrb=bgcolor,#94701A]

[ Alaric ]

Alaric simply gave her a challenging smirk as they moved through the corridor. Realizing the first thing to pop into his mind didn't quite work, the reason it didn't actually just amused him a bit more. Without hesitation, he said as if completely natural, "Bianca You-Never-Told-Me-Your-Last-Name, do not tempt the five-year-old boy in me." A few seconds later, he pushed open the door to his beloved game room. From this angle, they could not see the contents of the chair, but the room looked... cleaner. Alaric was so used to being tidied up after that he didn't even notice. (It really was a good thing his apartment was so minimal for just that reason; he could manage cleaning up after himself eating, but other than that.. He may or may not have needed to get someone to do anything much heavier for him a few times now. Dammit he could cook and do dishes and sew and he was perfectly entitled to be bad at something.) Actually, the bandanna had just been folded and placed atop some books in one shelf, but being black and all, it didn't exactly stand out.

[/blockquote][/td][/tr][/table]