008--Today is a birthday we wonder for who, we know that it's somebody right in this room....

[dameluckypants.livejournal.com]

[So, in honor of her birthday, Rose Tyler has set up typical birthday party things--cake, pie, party hats, cola, cookies, and food in general. And there are streamers. OH YES. They're pink.]

...I don't think I'm forgetting anything. Oh! Right! [And there's a game of pin the tail on the donkey hanging up on a tree]. Love that game.

((It's Rose's 21st birthday, she's throwing a party, feel free to threadhop, blah blah blah, you know the drill.))

Comments

[chasingstars201.livejournal.com]

[Pause. And then she punches him in the face.]

You want to protect her. Great. Running away from this place--trying to patch the problem, not solve it--that's not going to do a god damn thing in the long run. The long run. You want me to think of you as a Contractor? Fine. Use some logic.

[contract_star]

[OWFUCK. Holy crap, he wasn't expecting that. And damn she hits hard. He almost, almost goes for his knife, just from instinct, but he stops himself. He goes very still and just stares at her for a long time, halfway between disbelief and anger.]

[Then, quietly,] Sometimes, the most logical course of action is to run.

All I want is to a prevent a merger. I never said anything about never coming back here, never talking to the people here again. It just means I'm going to be more careful from now on--like I should have been from the start.

[chasingstars201.livejournal.com]

[She's hurting for him, and it shows on her face, even if she doesn't realize it.]

That's not the way to do things, Li. I... honestly? I don't want to give this place up any more than you. I'm starting to like it. It's a place to think, to get opinions from unexpected sources, hear stories from other worlds. It's a miracle. But...

[She looks away.] I don't know. I somehow think we can't have it both ways. And if it comes down to it, I will choose to protect Tokyo. You want to protect the people here without losing them. Is that even possible? You want to care about them without getting close to them. Do you think they'll let you do that?

Li-kun, please. [She rubs the back of her neck. God, she has never been so tired in her life. Maybe she will start sleeping on the Plane, just to get a few extra hours.] I know you don't want to rely on anyone. But no great change, for good or ill, was ever enacted by one single person, without assistance or support.

[contract_star]

[Oh and he sees it, and he feels like crap for it, but he tries hard to keep it from showing. Eventually he just looks away and is quiet for awhile. He frowns a little as he realizes something.]

You're...worried about me? Why?

[Another pause.]

You couldn't...understand, Mi--Ms. Kirihara. Everyone here, they're not at all the kind of people I'm used to dealing with. Sam Tyler and Mion and the Doctors and the Saints...it was easier before when it was just Contractors. They're predictable.

It's not that I don't want to rely on them, it's just...this is the only way I really know how to do things. [And he's not gonna mention how Amber and South America kind of killed his ability to trust people D:]

[chasingstars201.livejournal.com]

[She hesitates, and then lays a hand on his cheek, turning him to face her.]

I worry about you because I like you. The same goes for the people here--you can't predict them, can't figure them out, because friendship is an unpredictable, illogical thing. And no matter what Westerners might say about old dogs and new tricks, there's always room to learn a new way.

[Misaki lets her hand drop to her side and manages--barely--to not run her thumb over her palm where it touched his skin. She blushes and looks away.]

[contract_star]

[And he almost ducks away from the touch because this is as surprising, if not more so, then Misaki punching him. He just stares at her, because he really has no idea how to respond to any of that. He's blushing a little now as well, and suddenly he feels very strange--though not in a bad way.]

[chasingstars201.livejournal.com]

[She wants to touch him again, and moves almost without thinking, fingering one of the buttons on his shirt. She realizes what's she's doing and her fingers freeze. The blush deepens. She can't make herself look at him, but doesn't move her hand, and can only think, Oh God, what am I doing?]

[contract_star]

[Hei is not at all used to this. It's not like he's never kissed a woman or anything, but just about every time before has been for the job--has been fake. This feels different. Hei isn't sure how to describe it.]

[So, since he's confused and because that strange feeling is still there, he reaches up and covers her hand with his own. He freezes too, staring at her. "What am I doing?" pretty accurately describes his thought process as well.]

[chasingstars201.livejournal.com]

[And yes, Misaki's brain has short circuited, because this is the sort of thing that one does not do when one is a female Section-Chief, the only female Section-Chief, one does not have relationships or act like a jessie or a poofter or a nancy or whatever else the Guv would call her for playing with his buttons and Oh God Misaki what are you doing.]

I...

[And then she thinks, screw it. She glares up at him, more in defiance of herself than anything else. She is pink. Very very pink. Like the streamers pink. God she hates pink.

And she kisses him.]

[contract_star]

[More staring, and there's the sense that something is about to give, break, snap. Hei isn't sure how to deal with this. Romance doesn't exactly come up often in his line of work.]

Misa--?

[Oh, hello, Misaki's lips! It takes Hei a second to realize that yes, she is in fact kissing him, and his mind sort of shuts off. Four months he's been coming to the Astral Plane, and he doesn't think he has ever been kissed so often (twice) in such a short amount of time. At first there's just confusion and disbelief, because why would anyone kiss him, why would Misaki Kirihara want to kiss him, why did suddenly nothing make sense, why did this really actually feel quite nice?]

[Nice.]

[For one of the few times in his life, Hei feels reckless. So he leans into the kiss, one hand coming to rest at the small of her back. The consequences be damned--this is nice.]