Kiss! Kiss! Not this time! (vday 2021 - Lethe, Mathis)

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Lethe had been thinking about the last time she had gone to the winter event with Mathis. The kiss under the mistletoe that she had given him at the end had her cheeks flaring up again as she looked at herself in a mirror. She was wearing a little white sailor dress that had sheer, three-fourths sleeves with small purple bows near the ends, brass buttons on the bodice of the dress from the waistline that met a bigger purple bow at the top, and green trim on the lapel and at the bottom of the skirt of her dress. Her legs were bare, and she was debating on what to wear on her feet when she distracted herself. "Mathis mentioned he hadn't been to too many festivals here…"

She put her hands together before putting her index fingers on her lips. Next thing she knew, she had grabbed a nice white hat and a pair of white, three inch high, pump heels. She slipped them on and made her way out of her room and down the halls of the S.S. Endeavor. Her heels weren’t quiet as they touched the ground, having an echo clack through the halls while her hips swayed with each step. She let her nose direct herself towards where Mathis was. She had been around him enough that she could get his scent well. Of course his scent lead up to the Arborium once again and she walked right towards him.

“Maa~thiss~” Her voice halfheartedly sings out to the neveraging man as she walks up to him. Any stones she stepped on would get a clack of her heel. When the black haired woman gets close to Mathis, she leans herself down at the waist, putting her hands on her knees as she does so. “Care to go to another festival with me? A company wants to have some testers for some rides at their new amusement park. I kinda wanna go and see how it is. I haven’t been to one in a while.” She smiles ever so sweetly, as if she wasn’t letting her chest hang a bit in his line of sight.

She removes her hands from her knees and pulls up a map of Fiore before grabbing Mathis’ shoulder and pressing Rose Garden with the other. It would literally take half a minute for them to digitalize and redigitalize at the entrance of Rose Garden. To their left was the amusement park, where some of the things were being set up still. It was pretty rosy in the pinks and whites and reds. She looked down to her outfit, then to the amusement park’s variety of love colors. She matched well. Her phlox purple eyes went to Mathis, seeing what he’d say about this. Or if he’d just roll with the punches like before. She bet her money on two.

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A grin was on Lethe’s face as she had grabbed hold of Mathis and dragged him along with her to fulfil her whims. When he responded to her after they were fully in Rose Garden, a grin was on her lips as she held her hands behind her back, shrugging a shoulder while she smirked. “Don’t think I’m too predictable. And maybe sometime you should come seek me out instead to go to a festival! I wouldn’t mind you coming to me asking to go to one!” She put a hand to her chest as she saw him smile. Her heart could barely take it. Jeezus. She barely knew the neveraging guy! Then he started giving her a teasing smile after he walked ahead of her. She raised an eyebrow as she glared. “It should be me who has less patience than you.” She snorted more to herself as she made her way to be next to him.

As they made it into the park and started traveling a bit, she held her hands behind her back before she glanced over the Tunnel of Love ride. Then Mathis spoke again and held out a hand to her. She held her hand to herself at first as she was mentally debating the odds of this ride with him. “Well… I supposed if you’re tired, and have yet to meditate… There’s no harm in resting a bit so we can enjoy the rest of the park. I had gotten up rather early to deal with personal things myself.” She reached her hand out to him, grabbing it as a soft blush was on her face from his grin that was practically killing her.

She let herself be lead onto the swan boat with Mathis and looked over the river of pink. She would be honest, this didn’t make her feel too in love. She wasn’t too crazy over pink, but she did like it to a degree. The boat started puttering along the river towards a tunnel. She hat sat back, crossing her ankles over one another as they entered the tunnel, and music started playing around them. It was clearly a love song about a woman being able to be with her lover finally. She closed her eyes as she was trying to not think of the lyrics, but doing so only enhanced her focus on the lyrics. Her eyes snapped open near the end of the song though.

“I found a thrill to press my cheek to
A thrill that I've never known (Oh, yeah, yeah)
And you smiled, you smiled (Oh)
And then the spell was cast
And here we are in Heaven
For you are mine at last.”

Her cheeks had flushed as she glanced away from Mathis slightly, clearing her throat. ‘This song is rather appropriate for you and him, isn’t it?’ Veles snickered inside of Lethe’s head. ‘Can it, before I find a way to shut you off.’ Lethe was slightly shaking as she leaned her head down to cover her eyes, and part of her cheeks from the blush that was dusting them. This ride was corny, but the darkness of the tunnel with the light glows of pinks and reds and whites to light up the scenery and that went with the songs wasn’t helping her. This was really a mood setter. And probably something she probably shouldn’t be doing this Mathis so soon without fully knowing his angle at least.

She didn’t know his thoughts on this. Clearing her throat, Lethe turned her head to look over at Mathis. Hopefully she wouldn’t be getting a brick wall response to all of this. “Erm… Mathis? I have a… odd question I guess it would be…” She rubbed the back of her head with one hand as her purple eyes looked over at the scenery of two shadow puppets kissing against a pink tinted sheet while they floated by it. Her cheeks instantly turned red again as she closed her eyes. “Besides spontaneous and predictable, I suppose, what do you think of me? Or how do you feel about me?” There was a sinking feeling that this ride was going to be over soon, and hoped to get an answer before that. This ride was too calm for her, making her feel antsy. She wanted to be a bit more physical, even if she was in a dress.

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Wait…? He was actually going to entertain her question? Her face instantly started to turn red at the sudden response of this. As he mentioned that he was assuming she was asking what he thought of her in a romantic sense, she started to slightly shrug her shoulders and nod her head a little. She wasn’t going to interrupt him, not with little time left to this ride. She couldn’t help but smirk at the fact that he complimented her as a woman, but it did falter at the bit where he mentioned her not wanting to disclose her personal information. The ride had ended as he mentioned he himself had commitment issues. That wasn’t good for her if he did… She’d have to figure out how to tie him down to her, she supposed at least.

She let her hand softly pat against his as it was offered to her again, the kind of pat that gave a small clap between their hands. That smile he was giving her was going to make her heart burst. As she was working on trying to step out of the boat, he had mentioned that he assumed she was wanting the festival here to be a date, and she nearly missed a step, tumbling slightly on her feet, and into his chest as she did so. “Crap. You saw through me.” She teased, but her face was only getting redder. She fixed herself and stood up and nodded her head. “It can be a date if you want it to also be one. Of course, I won’t push it too much.” She tilted her head to the side as she smiled sweetly at him. Her heels made her taller than him by a couple inches, so her eyes just slightly looked down at him.

As he offered his hand to her, she nearly took a step back. Before he could even start taking it back, she grabbed his hand and pulled her hand that had his behind her, pulling him close to her and let their chests touch. “This is very much what we do when we go on dates if we’re close enough, or wanting to sometimes. Everyone’s awkward at some point when they have dates, especially with new people. We learn the ‘love language’, so to say, of our partners eventually." She let him take her with him as they walked. As her question was asked right back at her, she snickered, nodding her head at it being expected. “You are very right that you have a right to ask, and I think your answer is good for me. You don’t know me yet, it’s only right.” She pushed a lock of her hair out of her face. Her eyes went up to the sky for a moment. She was enjoying holding Mathis’ hand as they walked.

“I don’t know exactly what your observations are, but to start, I find you to be physically attractive to me. That’s how some people fall in love from the get go. At first, at the singles night, I only was acting on a whim. Your reactions though, got my interests and I wanted to know more about you…” She used her free hand to scratch her cheek at how shameless she felt that response was. She looked up ahead of them now. “I am, at the moment, not willing to tell too much about myself, but in due time I can when I’m comfortable to tell them. I’ll start with a simple thing that is noticable. Along with being human, I’m part werewolf and kitsune, and dragon.” She shrugs her shoulders before she holds up two fingers. “We now have to do something. I want to do Lovely Laser Tag, or the Heart Rollercoaster. Choose one.” She giggles to him as she leans against his arm, letting her fingers stay laced with his.

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As the winter festival was brought up, Lethe felt herself nervously chuckle. "Y-yeah… I feel embarrassed when they pop out at random… people stare too much for comfort." She was able to deal with it regardless though, despite her discomfort. She looked up to him as he questioned the laser tag, smirking and nodding to his question. Of course it was. This was for mages and non mages alike. Couldn't have someone hurt here from this game! As he confessed he liked to fight a bit more than enjoyment, she pouted some, but it dissipated when he said he appreciated her competitive side of her. That had her face flaring up to the point her ears were also red. "You may noy know what love language is, but you seem to already have it down pat, and it's dangerous. And you stumbling like you do also is endearing to me." She laughs to him while glancing away, trying to not let her smile show, but she knew he would see it regardless. She then cleared her throat. "Weeeell, I guess it's a good thing I'm here with you, huh? I can help you learn how to enjoy yourself while you're hanging out with me. But laser tag is meant to be competitive."

She looked down to his hand as he squeezed her hand, and she smiled to it before she started lightly tugging him towards the laser tag game. He patted her head before he mentioned blowing off steam and she smirked. “Maybe, that black haired guildmate only wished to get to know you better, and thought it’d be best to whisk you away to avoid a few other eyes on her and yourself to get some alone time with you before you met up with them again, or called them over. Who knows? But it probably also is revenge for the accidental whisking off her feet you had done. Which you were correct in the expression in this case. And yes! I am enjoying this! Now lets play laser tag.”

The two approached the edge of the park where a building was with the little sign that advertised the game. Lethe pulled Mathis inside and they would see a black lit room with various things around. A grin started to form on her face as she was handed a red vest and a lacrima gun. She looked over towards Mathis, and grinned at him. “I hope you are ready to get creamed by this black haired guildmate of yours.” She snickers as she checks all the sensors on her chest. The attendant at this game quickly explained that they were to aim at the sensors and that three strikes were needed to win the game. After that, they were set loose in the building.

Lethe had gone on ahead of Mathis and let herself hide. With her enhanced senses from Veles, and her own slayer lacrima, the lighting was hardly a challenge for her. Some music started playing, another love song, but one that sounded upbeat that they could play to. As soon as Lethe heard Mathis getting closer to her, she would quickly move herself out from behind her hiding spot and would shoot her heart shaped lasers at him. She didn’t look to see if she made it, listening for the sensor to go off for her to know if she touched it or not.

This little tactic would happen a time or two again, with Lethe getting hit a couple times as well. She was in here running around, in a dress and heels no less, and was playing as hard as she would if she weren’t. She did not fear others seeing her underclothes or running in heels, that was a strength she purposely made herself overcome to be able to do things better. Like Mathis mentioned, she did have a competitive side to her, and she was letting it show, along with her ability to use a gun here as well. She was no stranger to them, and it was thanks to her time period and the fact that half her magic was similar to this.

If she was correct, both her and Mathis right now were tied with two strikes each. She leaned herself up against a post that was thick enough to cover her body, and she let her wolf ears peek out to hear better and get a better sense of where he was at. It would only take a second before she got him. And it would only take a second for that opportunity to reach her.

She quickly flung herself out from behind the post and fired her gun. One shot. Two shots. Three shots. She heard the buzzer sound, but it came from her first, before it went off at Mathis. She looked down at her chest before she looked up at Mathis. He beat her. She closed her eyes as she puffed up her right cheek for a moment. Afterwards, she begun laughing and smiled to the man. “I almost had you.” She grinned to him before she started slipping off her vest. ‘You’re having more fun than you thought you would, huh?’ Veles snorted to her. Lethe had to just nod as she sighed happily. This was more fun, making it an actual date than a hang out with him. As they were leaving the building, she raised a hand up to block the sun and allow her eyes a moment to adjust to the light again. She was using her hearing, wolf ears put away again, to note where Mathis was to her.

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