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The day had gone horribly, it was supposed to be a normal techrot Hell-scrub mission to cull the techrot numbers, Aoi, Arath Quincy and Eleanor herself, a pretty good team composition if she had to say, but this time the techrot came in hordes, Eleanor stopped counting after she dispatched her first one hundred and fifty, she estimated she put down at least five hundred by herself, safe to assume the rest of the team boasted similar numbers, but the mission had been anything but smooth. Tired, hungry, irritated and caked in gunk. The squad rode back to the mall, the whine of their atomicycles filling the silence between them.
The plan was simple keep two hell-scrubbers active at a time, activate one when the third is deployed and keep moving, Quincy keeps track of the scrubbers, Aoi clears the path to the next scrubber, Arath defends the active scrubbers and clears them of spore build up and Eleanor turns the techrot against themselves to keep from getting overrun, but no one could predict the immense numbers the techrot came in. Outnumbered, overwhelmed and overpowered, they persevered, what felt like days had actually been four hours. the most grueling four hours of my life. Eleanor thought to herself.
Back at the mall they were greeted by Arthur, hiding his worry by his usual military bravado, congratulating on completing their mission and urging them to go see Lettie for any sustained injuries. The medic nearly exploded due to their filthy condition, but inspected and treated their wounds regardless. Lettie ordered them to go wash the rest of themselves off and take it easy, with that the group made their way to the showers eager at the chance to be gunk-free again.
Later that evening dinner had been an exciting event, gathered in the food court Quincy had taken it upon himself to recount the events of the Hell-scrub to the rest of the Hex…in a rather dramatic fashion, but Eleanor found it to be a pleasant end to such a tiresome day, the drinks were cold, the food was hot and laughs were had. Thanking Major chef Arthur for the feast most of the Hex headed back to their various abodes.
Arthur draped an arm over a rising Arath and slammed a bottle of whiskey on the table grinning ear to ear, Arath’s face filled with dread, Quincy returned plopping a six pack down. “Did ya forget??” he grinned, Amir zoomed in, bottle of wine and cards in hand. “It’s Boy’s Night!!!” the speedster finished. Arath gave a nervous smile and opened his mouth to speak before Quincy chimed in again, “N ya can’t say nuthin’ I ran da same mission as you, so I don’ wanna hear anyfing bout ‘I’m tired’” Quincy patted his shoulder driving the point home.
Arath’s eyes wide, he turned to Eleanor “save me please.” He pleaded in her mind, but she wasn’t about to interrupt the sanctity of Boy’s Night. She found it hilariously cute, once a month the men gathered to drink, play games, celebrate their small victories and conversate about their struggles, both mentally and physically confiding in each other and seeking guidance from one another, to feel a little more human again all masked behind the masculine event known as “Boy’s Night.” None of the girls minded especially since they basically did the same with their movie nights and it kept the men (specifically Arthur) from getting black out drunk, it was much better seeing them intoxicated and jovial together than drunk and wallowing alone.
Eleanor flashed Arath a devilish smile. “ You boys have fun now.” she watched his shoulders slump in defeat, the rest of the boys cheered comically as if she was his keeper and she’d allowed him out, she laughed at the thought of the domestic image of the gang pulling up to their home and her throwing her clearly tired partner out to have fun with her brother and friends while he pleaded for her to tell them 'he isn’t home yet' while hiding behind her. Home, partner, Arath. Those words repeated in her head she felt her ears grow hot at them, she hastened her retreat to her furniture store lest anyone notice.
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That brings us to now Eleanor sitting upright on her couch reading a book she had discovered out in Hollvania, it isn’t particularly interesting so she used it as a cover to do her favourite activity, people watching. She didn’t want to listen to anything they said, just observe body language and guess what they were thinking, even if her telepathy allowed her to just reach in and confirm her thoughts, sometimes not by her choice, it was more fun to wonder.
Right now her target is the men of the Hex, sufficiently liquored up and judging by various motions she guesses they are arguing over whose ‘Tommy is faster or if Amir is faster on foot. She learned long ago that mens conversation can range from guns, strength, what it’d be like to be a girl, the crippling weight of the world and if they would rather be a cowboy, pirate or samurai, all in one somehow congruent conversation, split that between three very different bio-engineered super soldiers and a abyss walking time traveller, it was almost amazing how basic they can be.
Her eyes follow the aforementioned time traveller, you can’t blame her, his skin seems to shimmer with energy, his pitch black irises pulse with white light and up until her last curious entanglement in his head, it seems that she is the only one that can see spectral tendrils that emanate from him and the wispy void that trails behind him as he moves, so yes her eyes wonder to him, they tend to do that more often than she likes to admit, but that is because Spanglyboots the Space Elf is… interesting…yes, let's go with that. Little bolts of lighting crackle around him. Sometimes he is more Spanglyboots the Eldritch Space Horror. She giggles. From what she can see he is very drunk makes sense, he is a lightweight, she remembers the first time he had a beer and how they found out that was the first he actually had alcohol, he hated it scrunching his face saying it tasted like “bubbly baked water.” They all shared a laugh when he tried whiskey and innocently asked if it's supposed to burn his throat that much while holding back his coughs.
Now he is a little more seasoned in the ways of social drinking and even enjoyed the taste of various alcoholic beverages, however his drinking companions have something he doesn’t, a high tolerance with years of experience behind them. Eleanor watches as they rise, deeming it too late to continue the night in order not to disturb the citizens and the rest of the Hex further. They huddle together arms around shoulders and bid each other good night, aww how intimate. She chortles.
When the group breaks away Arath stumbles back, Arthur still with his arm around his shoulder he grabs Arath to support him, but Arthur is equally poor on his feet and the pair fumble and wobble back and forth together until stability finds them, earning them cackles of Amir and Quincy.
Arthur and Arath teeter through the mall together and Eleanor can’t tell who is supporting who anymore, as they pass her store Arath’s head hangs behind him to see past Arthur’s his glassy eyes scan the store until the find her, when his eyes meet hers they light up…literally…they begin to glimmer, he smiles, his cheeks pushing the bottom of his eyelids up “ Eleanor!” He doesn’t speak it to her with transference he excitedly thinks it to himself she just hears it, the void around him comes alive the tendrils wave, wag and as if trying to reach for the store, the little lighting bolts increase in intensity “it’s Eleanor!, turn around! I want to go to Eleanor!...turn!” His body ignores his mind and as if on autopilot continues walking, he keeps her gaze until he disappears behind a wall.
Sher is frozen in place, her heart beating a mile a minute, her body heats up, a fire has started in below her armoured skin and she’s struggling to put it out, she buries her face in her books hiding her burning cheeks only to see the pages illuminated by faint violet flickers, her own eyes have lit up at some point. Seconds pass and she keeps thinking about how happy he sounded to just see her, sitting here, on her couch alone, how his mind was full of delight at her visage and how it yearned to go to her. What was that? She feels called to him, she almost wished he’d come to her, she wants… I want to... “Oh SHIT!” Eleanor’s train of thought cut off by the sound of bodies hitting the floor, she flies out her store to find Arthur and Arath had fallen going up the stairs to his backroom.
Arthur sprawled out on his back on the floor while Arath lays face down on the stairs, when she arrives at the scene Arthur is battling gravity and his inebriated sense of balance. Helping her brother to his feet, he attempts to help Arath up earning him a swift tug from his sister. She scowls at him, one hand on her hip the other pointing at his security office, she’s sending him to bed.
“...But,” Arthur protests.
“But, nothing! You can barely stand yourself!” She shouts.
“Wus only tryin’ to halp.” He slurs his word and sulks at his sister's admonishment.
Eleanor moves to pick up the unconscious Arath off the stairs, she can hear the regret in Arthur’s voice and has to clearly convey her emotions about the current situation otherwise he’d fret about this into the morning. She exhales her frustration “Yes dear brother, I know you were only trying to help, but right now you are drunk and can’t help to the ability you think you can. I’m not mad at you, I just want you to go to bed, I will take Arath upstairs, because I don’t want you two falling down the stairs again.”
Hoisting Arath’s arm over her shoulder, he is refreshing her touch. She turns her head awaiting Arthur’s response, he sways back and forth processing her words. “Right…yeah ok.” as he turns she catches his cheeky grin. “If ya wanted him all to yourself, shoulda just said so.” Her eyes Light up, her ears and back of her neck flushes. “ARTHUR!!” She shouts her head snapping between the retreating Arthur and unconscious man at her side making sure he was still asleep.
Quickly fleeing to Arath’s backroom, she carried him up to the loft passing a curled up Kalymos who curiously raised her head from her armchair at her roommate's and Eleanor’s arrival.
Gently laying him down on one of the many couches. Her brother's words still mocking her and reigniting the fire in her body, she looks down at him. She does like him, honesty what wasn’t to like, he is kind, he is understanding, he is considerate, but that is the bare essentials to being a good person, to her he is more than that, he met her as Eleanor Nightingale the most infected member of the Hex, and all he seemed to hear was Eleanor Nightingale, he worked hard to earn her trust, to learn more about her, to hear her joys and woes no matter how big or small he was always there if she needed or when she got brave and wanted him around.
The wispy limbs of the void reach for her from the sleeping man, she offers her hand out to them, they explore every part of her hand in a titillating fervor, she can almost feel their touch as the move about and through her hand, they are cool like a breeze on sweaty skin, like the cold side of a pillow, cooling the flame inside her. Something more material brushes the back of her legs, she yips finding Kalymos with a bottle of water in her mouth, before she can question what the kavat is up to, the man in front of her starts wheezing and fighting for air. Putting the pieces together she takes the bottle, he coughs himself to his feet, placing her palm on his shoulder her hand drowns in the crisp feeling of him.
“Sit, have some water.” She instructs, he follows her instructions and nearly downs the entire bottle in one sip dropping the bottle to his lap, he inhales heavy taking in a hydrated breath of air, “Good boy.” she stifles her laugh.
“Eleanor?” he raises his head up to meet her eyes, reeling it back in when he went too far.
“The one and only.” she replies
He smiles up at her, the overwhelming happiness radiating from him fills her mind and leaves her heart hammering inside her chest. His power nap did good to him, but she assumes he must still be under the influence.
“Well…you’re drunk, I’ve brought you back home and you're okay, so goodnight!” She rushes the words out trying to flee the scene for fear that she will take advantage of the intoxicated man. She turns on the balls of her heels, before she can even take the first step of her escape, the brisk grip of his hand finds hers. “Wait, I’m not drunk” he cries, she watches as he seems to regain some sense of self and lets go of her hand. Eleanor immediately misses the feeling. “I’m not very drunk.” he corrects himself
“Sorry…I’m sorry, I just really want to see you.” She watches him deflate in real time, she can almost see the sad puppy ears on his head as she looks down at him. Her heart can’t take it, his usual stoic and reserved nature has long since left the room, hell it left the mall at this point, he was being as honest as can be and she’ll be damned if she can’t do the same. She drops down onto the sofa next to him and crosses her legs. It takes him a couple of seconds to register that she has sat down but once the correct neurons fire, he comes to life again.
“I’m here now, so what is it you want to do?” with her new found bravery the words come out with far more allure.
His face went blank. “I…don’t know, I didn’t think I’d get this far.”
Eleanor can’t help but laugh, because it was most likely true he hadn’t thought this far and was winging it until she started playing too, letting her giggles subside, she can feel his eyes on her “what?” Her eyebrow raises.
“I like hearing you laugh.”
“Oh…what else do you like about me?” She asks using the back of her hand to hide her smile.
With conviction he answers. “I like hearing your voice, I like how big your heart is, I like seeing you, it’s like the world gets brighter…” Eleanor’s chest swells with pride as the man prattles on, she didn’t expect Arath would be this smitten for her and the more he speaks the higher the fire raging in her core burns, she eyes his lips as he continues to rave on about her.”…I like how you scrunch your face when you don’t like something and… and.” he takes her hand placing it on his chest, the void snakes up her arm, they feel more physical now that he is awake and much more refreshing.”... and when I’m with you or think about you it starts racing.” ignoring the inviting chill of his touch, she feels the thundering of his heart, it reverberates through her arm.
Eleanor is getting dangerously close to letting her inferno of desire consume her and the poor man in front has no idea of the gasoline he is throwing on the fire. She cups his face with both hands, that shut him up instantly, that blissful cold bolt through her fingertips down to her spine, her eyes lock with his radiating with her mauve bioluminescence, she locks her jaw shut in self restraint and releases her excess heat through her nose.
“Keep talking like that and I’m going to kiss you.” she might do more than that, but this will be his one and only warning, his last chance to back out, his next words will determine what happens next.
“Don’t!” He yelps
There it is. Eleanor’s world comes crashing down, did the thought of kissing her put him off? But he said she was beautiful? Was it all a lie? Is it the tongue?
“I don’t know how to kiss.” He takes her hands using them to hide his face, hide his shame.
“I’ve never kissed anyone before… wha…what if I’m bad?” he speaks from behind her grasp.
Now he's done it, she pounces on him sending her lips crashing onto his and him crashing down on the sofa, his arctic touch quenching her fiery one. Eleanor is ravenous, her hands claw his shoulders and back. For playing with her emotions, she’ll play with his, she deepens the kiss sending her tongue into his mouth she finds it blissfully refreshing, she could feel his body react to the new sensation, he doesn’t fight it, instead moans into her, she goes feral at sounds, the sensations, plunging her tongue deeper down his throat addicted to this chill he seems to be made up of. Arath is seeing stars, he feels her lapping at the walls of his oesophagus, each lick sending waves of flame to his head, his lungs burning at each movement from her and the lack of air. Eleanor peers down at him seeing his face start to change colour she pulls back allowing her tongue to slither out of him, he shudders as the last of her leaves him, a strand of saliva trailing behind her, she sits upright straddling his abdomen she rests her hands on his chest, concerned she stares down at her prey.
His eyes are hazy, his chest heaves, his hair is a mess, she eyes him with pride she’s left him a quivering mess, but she’s worried, did I do too much? He did say he is new to this.
“Wow.” Araths voice fills her head. “ That was amazing.”
She smiles hearing his words. “You’re not too bad of a kisser yourself.” She teases.
He hides behind his hands at her remark, peeking through his fingers he catches her gaze, her skin glistening with sweat, her lips shining with his saliva, her eyes glittering, staring down at him with fervour.
“Eleanor?” he asks lungs still fighting to regain air.
“Hmm?” She muses.
He breathes in one final time.
“I’m in love with you, please will you go out with me?” Arath bites his tongue as soon as the sentence finishes, he needs an answer but he dreads the thought that it could be no.
Instead of answering Eleanor starts stripping the man, pulling his shirt up struggling to get it over his head, blinded by the fabric and confused. “E-Eleanor?”
“Yes! You Spanglyboots space Idiot! I will go out with you! And I love you too!” She peppers his face with kisses through fabric. “Now help me get these clothes off or I’m tearing them off! You’re going to learn a lot more than kissing tonight!” She growls, Arath dumbstruck follows orders and loses his clothes.
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Sol rises peering through the open skylights of the mall, he is violently ripped from his sleep as someone bangs on his security office door. Arthur throws the door open to find Quincy and Amir standing before him. “Come ‘n check dis out Maj.” Quincy beckons him. The trio of men walk the short distance to Eleanor’s furniture store, finding it unoccupied. “No way.” Arthur’s disbelief paints his face. Amir chimes in. “Yes way, I last saw her heading upstairs with him last night and they haven't been spotted ALL morning.”
“He actually sent it.” Arthur's eyes are as wide as dinner plates.
“Was gettin’ tired of em eyein’ each other up and down yesterday and not doin’ nothin’.” Quincy chuckles giving Arthur a pat on the back. “Told you’s, was nothin’ a little liquid courage can’t fix.”
“You know he is gonna be pissed when he figures out Boys Night is next week right?” Arthur gives the men a cheeky grin.
Aoi walks up to the three men confused as to why they are all standing in the middle of the mall at 7AM. “Hey, what’s going on?”
The men give each other a knowing look and burst into laughter.