Sincere, endearing, and ridiculous. That sums us up quite well, I should...
[ Oh that's not fair at all, bringing out the legs.
The legs are dangerous. Ruby knows this. She is attempting to be distracting and Adelaide is...thoroughly distracted for a moment, eyes flicking back up, skin flushed pink. ]
( These legs are innocently bared. Innocent leg exposure is all that's happening here, even if she does have to lean over the desk for have a second to reach a cup. It's only a second, and it's not even slightly contrived.
Okay, maybe like five percent contrived, but still.
Tea is poured, two cups, and she walks over with the expert, practiced no-spillage of a waitress of twenty-eight years experience. )
You're adorable. Easy to adore. And also in the cuter sense, when you're all cuddled up with Remy.
( She sets down the cups of tea, next to the macarons. ) You've got so much good in you, and so much kindness. I'm happy I get to see it.
( Because other people? They talk about Adelaide the stern, the frosty, the uptight. They don't realise Adelaide the compassionate, and the funny, are just as present. )
[ Innocent Adelaide's left foot. It doesn't mean she won't respectfully take advantage of what she's been offered. One day, perhaps, she might sort out what it is of her Ruby envoys looking at most to offer the same but until then? There are these looks, her blushes, her indignant snorting. ]
Hardly. I do not know who you have been talking to if you have that impression.
[ Not her students, clearly. Still as comforting as the tea might be, as delightful as the sweets? Adelaide opens her arms to Ruby first and foremost. ]
No one would ever believe you if you told them. It is my deep, dark secret.
( Ruby leans closer, bracing her hands on the mattress, so she can kiss Adelaide's cheek, and murmur against her ear: ) You. You give me that impression.
( Low, quiet, and the faintest rasp in her voice as she draws back nudging Adelaide's nose with her own. ) Do you like being the big spoon or the little spoon? I can keep that secret, too, if you like, Captain.
( Maybe it's just slightly fun to tease Adelaide. Maybe it's... beyond her, the reality of this, of having a person that wants Ruby to hold her, that Ruby wants to hold, with whom she shares a mutual entanglement. )
[ Using that voice in her ear. Frank as she might be about sex? Intimacy like this- Mages did not have it. The casual affection, the cuddling, the attention. She's bright pink and laughing, rubbing their nose tips together in something that has become tradition for them by now. ]
Little, I think. You are taller than me. But for right now can I have you next to me, so I might feed you macarons and watch you smile the way you do when you have something sweet?
( Does it? She's not one hundred percent on that, but she draws back just enough, glances over to make sure she's not left any flames going from heating the water, and satisfied that it's all as it should be, Ruby moves to clamber into the bed next to Adelaide. )
The macarons are for you. ( This is an important detail. ) I'll still be next to you, though. Fair deal, Captain?
[ Point in fact: Ruby is succeeding, the earlier frustration pushed to the back of her mind now that her room truly feels like home. Tea, her cat, her Ruby- what more could she ask for? Adelaide lists to the side to settle, cheek tipped against Ruby's shoulder, eyes closed in relieved contentment. ]
We will share them. [ Ruby deserves nice things too. ] Mmm. I suppose I accept, as you are being quite gracious.
I have to try to make you blush? I must be losing my edge.
( It is said far more flirtatiously, a mischievous curve of a smile and a slight raising of her brow and a momentary bite of her lip that is so brief that she could plausibly deny it ever happened at all, before her smile turns a little self-deprecating. No, she won't tease or flirt too much, right now. Instead she strokes her fingers over Adelaide's hair, and tilts her head just enough to kiss her forehead, her other hand idly tracing over Adelaide's collarbones, her shoulders, and back again. )
If I started making bad jokes would that be un-gracious?
[ She says, but the affection, the fondness in her voice? Means very much the opposite. Wonderful. Amazing. She reaches up to curl her fingers in Ruby's for a moment, dropping a kiss to the back of her hand.
This ridiculous woman is hers. This wonderful, warm, absurd woman has her dearest regard. Every touch has Adelaide melting, warm and safe and as far from all that death and darkness as she could possibly be. ]
No, that would make you my Red, and therefore quite gracious even in your abhorrent humor.
Yeah. Kinda am. ( But her tone plays off Adelaide's. Whatever fond things Adelaide isn't saying? It's easier for her to claim with false cockiness when they aren't given the actual words intended them, to make this a joke than to accept the reality. Still, Adelaide has her hand, and she kisses it, and now it's Ruby who has a flush crawling over her skin. Pink cheeks, and her gaze drops, no longer so absurd, trying to do half-hearted battle with a bright smile. )
You know, I could tell people you like bad puns. I could even tell them that you make bad joke, sometimes.
( A slow kiss to Adelaide's temple, contact that lingers. Quietly, ) Is it okay if I call you Del, sometimes? I kind of like it.
They would never believe you. My reputation as a stern and serious woman is too well known. Only you enjoy this secret.
[ She spares a moment to sip her tea and smile- stirred with honey. Ruby is indeed more attentive than she could have hoped for- time to recall the little things wasn't something she had- and is something she fights to remember so that Ruby might enjoy this warm, fragile, fluttering feeling in her chest at every reminder. ]
No one has ever shortened my name like that before. [ It's theirs. Hers. Softly, she murmurs. ] I like it as well. It- is less formal. It sounds like someone that can enjoy poor puns.
I will use this knowledge responsibly, ( she agrees, very seriously.
For a moment she lapses into content silence, aware of Adelaide enjoying her tea, pressing kisses intermittently along her jaw, and then her cheekbone, at the point where jaw and neck meet, brushing back Adelaide's hair. It is a time of quietness and light touches, and smiling against Adelaide's skin. )
Informal, huh? On second thought, that doesn't like me at all. ( Amusement is tangled into her tone, even as she presses a kiss to Adelaide's cheekbone, again. )
[ Every brush of fingers or lips ground Adelaide more in her skin; unwinds the tension in her shoulders until she is all but boneless with contentment. What she'd been bereft of in her youth she now had in spades;
Things she'd never thought to ask for or miss simply because she never thought them available. ]
Not even a little. [ Easy, at this angle, to turn and press their lips together. Softly. Sweetly. ] Thank you.
( Kisses, she feel, are underrated. She carefully makes sure, unless it has already been set aside, that Adelaide's cup of tea is safely moved away, letting her arm anchor at Adelaide's waist and slide around to press at her back, smiling against the kiss, savouring it and having to think a second to grasp what Adelaide said. )
You don't need to thank me.
( Quite what she's being thanked for she's not sure, but she's certain about this part. What she does do, though, is kiss Adelaide again, shifting her weight very slightly so she can roll and angle them, just enough that she's leaning slightly over Adelaide - warming and protective and, sure, also lying kind of on top of her. )
Is this too snuggly or an acceptable level of snuggly?
[ When every scrap of affection or intent must be doled out quickly for fear of discovery? Kissing falls by the wayside. But Adelaide has come to enjoy the plush press of Ruby's lips, the warmth of her breath, the glide of fingers through her hair. Knowing she has leave to take her time and return the same?
Warms no small part of her. ]
But I do. For the spoiling.
[ A soft aftershock pressed to Ruby's lips, to her jaw as she curls more or less on top of her. A large, protective wolf blanket. Adelaide snorts a soft laugh, plucking up one of the macarons to offer Ruby. ] This is an adequate level of snuggly.
You're pretty much going to have to get used to the spoiling. ( Brows raised, faint incredulity and uh oh mixed together. ) Sorry.
( Least sincere, least convincing apology ever, as Ruby holds herself above Adelaide and enjoys the press of their bodies together and the tangling of limbs. )
Level five on the snuggle scale, got it. ( And, helpfully, she isn't going to use her hands. Instead she just leans down to take a bite as Adelaide holds it, smiling contently. )
[ She won't always remember. Work will always come first when Ruby doesn't take steps to have her take breaks. But she will try- that much she can promise gladly. ]
What would a level one be? Hand holding?
[ She is genuinely curious- apply a scale and numerical measure to something and it's worth investigating for the sake of precision if nothing else.
Though she is distracted with that bite. Pink as anything she coughs, quietly, and finishes the rest of the macaron. ]
( The trying, because God knows Ruby isn't going to get it right all the time, either. Hell, not even most of the time. She smiles, though, thinking and humming as she mulls it over and lets the macaron - lavender and chocolate - melt on her tongue. And also pauses to let the tip of her tongue sweep a little smudge of the filling from the corner of her mouth as she mulls it all over. )
One could be hand holding. I guess ten would be naked cuddling? ( Her head tilts slightly to the side as she considers it. )
( The kiss surprises her just slightly, still pondering deeply the mysteries of the snuggling scale, and when it ends she lists closer to chase it for another, before Adelaide's question registers. )
Impossible? ( Surprised, amused, fond. ) What did I do?
( Genuine, that question, eyebrow just slightly quirked even as her mouth is caught in a smile. )
( Compliments, wow. Compliments that make her skin flush with a pink that is not nearly so subtle as she'd hope, and makes her exhale a breath that somehow sounds faintly embarrassed. )
The power of positivity, definitely. Or the power of illusion. Either or.
( Self-ridicule, an eternal staple in the life of Ruby Lucas, as she drops her gaze sheepishly. )
( The tide of magic, gentle as it is, makes her breath catch. Not with fear, though, as it might have when first she came from Storybrooke, or even as it might now, from some. Magic was a gift, but it was complicated. From Adelaide, though, it was never a threat, never would be, and it's more the sentiment behind the magic, the intent, that does it.
The blush persists, and she shakes her head a little in that shy way that belongs to people who aren't quite sure what to do in the face of sincere affection. )
You're ridiculous. ( Very gently, and very quietly, and beyond all that so incredibly adoringly, as she leans down to catch Adelaide with another kiss. One of her hands curls into Adelaide's hair, the fingers of the other counting over her ribs, and Ruby lets her teeth drag very slightly over Adelaide's lip before she murmurs against her mouth, ) Totally ridiculous.
[ Yet here she is, in bed, being ridiculous and not feeling any stranger for it. Feeling warm and contented, settled far better in her skin than any amount of focus meditation or writing or rest might have offered. ]
We should finish the tea and macrarons- or we will find crumbs in the bed.
[ Such heated sweetness that Ruby promises- it's more than tempting. But. Treats first, rapture later. ]
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[ Oh that's not fair at all, bringing out the legs.
The legs are dangerous. Ruby knows this. She is attempting to be distracting and Adelaide is...thoroughly distracted for a moment, eyes flicking back up, skin flushed pink. ]
I- ah- what?
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Okay, maybe like five percent contrived, but still.
Tea is poured, two cups, and she walks over with the expert, practiced no-spillage of a waitress of twenty-eight years experience. )
You're adorable. Easy to adore. And also in the cuter sense, when you're all cuddled up with Remy.
( She sets down the cups of tea, next to the macarons. ) You've got so much good in you, and so much kindness. I'm happy I get to see it.
( Because other people? They talk about Adelaide the stern, the frosty, the uptight. They don't realise Adelaide the compassionate, and the funny, are just as present. )
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Hardly. I do not know who you have been talking to if you have that impression.
[ Not her students, clearly. Still as comforting as the tea might be, as delightful as the sweets? Adelaide opens her arms to Ruby first and foremost. ]
No one would ever believe you if you told them. It is my deep, dark secret.
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( Low, quiet, and the faintest rasp in her voice as she draws back nudging Adelaide's nose with her own. ) Do you like being the big spoon or the little spoon? I can keep that secret, too, if you like, Captain.
( Maybe it's just slightly fun to tease Adelaide. Maybe it's... beyond her, the reality of this, of having a person that wants Ruby to hold her, that Ruby wants to hold, with whom she shares a mutual entanglement. )
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[ Using that voice in her ear. Frank as she might be about sex? Intimacy like this- Mages did not have it. The casual affection, the cuddling, the attention. She's bright pink and laughing, rubbing their nose tips together in something that has become tradition for them by now. ]
Little, I think. You are taller than me. But for right now can I have you next to me, so I might feed you macarons and watch you smile the way you do when you have something sweet?
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( Does it? She's not one hundred percent on that, but she draws back just enough, glances over to make sure she's not left any flames going from heating the water, and satisfied that it's all as it should be, Ruby moves to clamber into the bed next to Adelaide. )
The macarons are for you. ( This is an important detail. ) I'll still be next to you, though. Fair deal, Captain?
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[ Point in fact: Ruby is succeeding, the earlier frustration pushed to the back of her mind now that her room truly feels like home. Tea, her cat, her Ruby- what more could she ask for? Adelaide lists to the side to settle, cheek tipped against Ruby's shoulder, eyes closed in relieved contentment. ]
We will share them. [ Ruby deserves nice things too. ] Mmm. I suppose I accept, as you are being quite gracious.
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( It is said far more flirtatiously, a mischievous curve of a smile and a slight raising of her brow and a momentary bite of her lip that is so brief that she could plausibly deny it ever happened at all, before her smile turns a little self-deprecating. No, she won't tease or flirt too much, right now. Instead she strokes her fingers over Adelaide's hair, and tilts her head just enough to kiss her forehead, her other hand idly tracing over Adelaide's collarbones, her shoulders, and back again. )
If I started making bad jokes would that be un-gracious?
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[ She says, but the affection, the fondness in her voice? Means very much the opposite. Wonderful. Amazing. She reaches up to curl her fingers in Ruby's for a moment, dropping a kiss to the back of her hand.
This ridiculous woman is hers. This wonderful, warm, absurd woman has her dearest regard. Every touch has Adelaide melting, warm and safe and as far from all that death and darkness as she could possibly be. ]
No, that would make you my Red, and therefore quite gracious even in your abhorrent humor.
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You know, I could tell people you like bad puns. I could even tell them that you make bad joke, sometimes.
( A slow kiss to Adelaide's temple, contact that lingers. Quietly, ) Is it okay if I call you Del, sometimes? I kind of like it.
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[ She spares a moment to sip her tea and smile- stirred with honey. Ruby is indeed more attentive than she could have hoped for- time to recall the little things wasn't something she had- and is something she fights to remember so that Ruby might enjoy this warm, fragile, fluttering feeling in her chest at every reminder. ]
No one has ever shortened my name like that before. [ It's theirs. Hers. Softly, she murmurs. ] I like it as well. It- is less formal. It sounds like someone that can enjoy poor puns.
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For a moment she lapses into content silence, aware of Adelaide enjoying her tea, pressing kisses intermittently along her jaw, and then her cheekbone, at the point where jaw and neck meet, brushing back Adelaide's hair. It is a time of quietness and light touches, and smiling against Adelaide's skin. )
Informal, huh? On second thought, that doesn't like me at all. ( Amusement is tangled into her tone, even as she presses a kiss to Adelaide's cheekbone, again. )
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Things she'd never thought to ask for or miss simply because she never thought them available. ]
Not even a little. [ Easy, at this angle, to turn and press their lips together. Softly. Sweetly. ] Thank you.
[ For this. For her. For everything. ]
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You don't need to thank me.
( Quite what she's being thanked for she's not sure, but she's certain about this part. What she does do, though, is kiss Adelaide again, shifting her weight very slightly so she can roll and angle them, just enough that she's leaning slightly over Adelaide - warming and protective and, sure, also lying kind of on top of her. )
Is this too snuggly or an acceptable level of snuggly?
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Warms no small part of her. ]
But I do. For the spoiling.
[ A soft aftershock pressed to Ruby's lips, to her jaw as she curls more or less on top of her. A large, protective wolf blanket. Adelaide snorts a soft laugh, plucking up one of the macarons to offer Ruby. ] This is an adequate level of snuggly.
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( Least sincere, least convincing apology ever, as Ruby holds herself above Adelaide and enjoys the press of their bodies together and the tangling of limbs. )
Level five on the snuggle scale, got it. ( And, helpfully, she isn't going to use her hands. Instead she just leans down to take a bite as Adelaide holds it, smiling contently. )
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[ She won't always remember. Work will always come first when Ruby doesn't take steps to have her take breaks. But she will try- that much she can promise gladly. ]
What would a level one be? Hand holding?
[ She is genuinely curious- apply a scale and numerical measure to something and it's worth investigating for the sake of precision if nothing else.
Though she is distracted with that bite. Pink as anything she coughs, quietly, and finishes the rest of the macaron. ]
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( The trying, because God knows Ruby isn't going to get it right all the time, either. Hell, not even most of the time. She smiles, though, thinking and humming as she mulls it over and lets the macaron - lavender and chocolate - melt on her tongue. And also pauses to let the tip of her tongue sweep a little smudge of the filling from the corner of her mouth as she mulls it all over. )
One could be hand holding. I guess ten would be naked cuddling? ( Her head tilts slightly to the side as she considers it. )
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You are-
[ She laughs and it's easier. Warmer. Quiet in the space between them. ]
You are impossible. How have you come to be? How?
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Impossible? ( Surprised, amused, fond. ) What did I do?
( Genuine, that question, eyebrow just slightly quirked even as her mouth is caught in a smile. )
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[ Another kiss to the corner of Ruby's mouth, pulling away only enough to peer into her eyes. ] Be mine. How?
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The power of positivity, definitely. Or the power of illusion. Either or.
( Self-ridicule, an eternal staple in the life of Ruby Lucas, as she drops her gaze sheepishly. )
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[ She reaches up to stroke Ruby's cheek, a cool wave of magic flowing over her. A simple dispelling. ]
See?
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The blush persists, and she shakes her head a little in that shy way that belongs to people who aren't quite sure what to do in the face of sincere affection. )
You're ridiculous. ( Very gently, and very quietly, and beyond all that so incredibly adoringly, as she leans down to catch Adelaide with another kiss. One of her hands curls into Adelaide's hair, the fingers of the other counting over her ribs, and Ruby lets her teeth drag very slightly over Adelaide's lip before she murmurs against her mouth, ) Totally ridiculous.
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[ Yet here she is, in bed, being ridiculous and not feeling any stranger for it. Feeling warm and contented, settled far better in her skin than any amount of focus meditation or writing or rest might have offered. ]
We should finish the tea and macrarons- or we will find crumbs in the bed.
[ Such heated sweetness that Ruby promises- it's more than tempting. But. Treats first, rapture later. ]
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