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Post by titan on Jun 14, 2008 23:05:07 GMT -8
Xerxes stared open-mouthed at Lily's retreating figure for a full minute before turning to the 'old man'.
"Well, now look what you've done. She's..." he paused, "soaking wet... in water... in a skimpy bikini... and- OH!" He turned around so fast that he nearly pulled a muscle, "That sucker could come off any second!!!"
And with that he turned and ran into the ocean too.
Rui was so shocked by the whole thing- and the implications therein- that he felt his ingenius disguise disappear around him.
"Well, shit."
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Post by lily tomlinson on Jun 14, 2008 23:09:45 GMT -8
Lily's head broke the surface of the water, and with both her hands swiped her hair back and the water out of her eyes. It wasn't until she could see again amongst the waves crashing around her that she saw her bikini top floating beside her.
With a shriek of horror, she grabbed it and held it to her chest but it did little to help. Her eyes sought out the small crowd on the beach. Xerxes was running for her, but other than that no one else was paying attention except for- OH DEAR GOD, RUI!
Wait... Rui? Ok, she felt like she'd missed something beside her swim top. Dear God.
And there she dropped her top again, staring over at him in pure, unadulterated shock and confusion... and dare she admit it? Happiness. Yes, she was happy to see him... even though this was an embarrassing situation... and OH DEAR GOD, HE COULD SEE HER!!! And with that terrible realization, she dove back under the water and refused to come back up.
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Post by titan on Jun 14, 2008 23:21:27 GMT -8
Xerxes stopped, mid run. He had been going to offer his body as a shield, but then she'd disappeared into the water...and she'd been down there a while. He turned his gaze to Rui and shrugged. Out of the two of them, it wasn't him that could mess with air.
Rui's mouth dropped open at the sight of Lily's...chest. His hands were already in his pockets or there would have been a slight issue for a moment there. When she didn't come back up, all thoughts of dragging her out of the water and taking her right there on the beach left him, and he found himself running to the water, summoning a small bubble of air which he commanded into the water, hoping it would find Lily before she killed herself.
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Post by lily tomlinson on Jun 14, 2008 23:26:31 GMT -8
Lily was oblivious to the men freaking out above water. Lily was just fine. She'd been on a community swimming team for as long as she could remember, so holding her breath really wasn't a big issue. Really, she was actually just entertaining herself until she needed more air.
As of now, she was making the sand move up in little spirals against the waves. Her lungs kinda burned... But she was cool, other than that. Of course until she saw an air bubble coming at her. With widened eyes and forgetting that she was underwater she gasped, then rose to the surface, coughing. Oh, god, it burned. The water, it burned.
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Post by titan on Jun 14, 2008 23:31:22 GMT -8
Rui stopped just short of the water. He'd managed to get his shoes, socks, and shirt off, but as he saw her rise - still almost naked - he just rolled his eyes and sighed. It figured that she'd screw up the one nice thing that he was trying to do. A smart person would have breathed in the air bubble until appropriate attire could be arranged. But no. And now some of the guys on the beach were starting to stare. Wonderful. Now he and Xerx were going to have to actually take care of this.
Xerxes saw the play of emotions on Rui's face, and decided that the best course of action was just to sit where he was and be silent.
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Post by lily tomlinson on Jun 14, 2008 23:37:06 GMT -8
Lily had managed to grab hold of her bikini top before it had floated away, and dove back beneath the water, pausing momentarily to tie it back on, cursed thing. Then she swam beneath the surface of the water, until she was forced to stand and walk up to dry land. Once she was in front of Rui, she gave an unsure wave, and then crossed her arms over her stomach. And unfortunately against her will she found her eyes travelling downward, before snapping back to the air over his shoulder, before trying to go down again.
"The bubble scared me, okay?" she said with a laugh that was higher-pitched than normal because he made her nervous and her throat still burned from inhaling water, "Don't give me that annoyed look. Sheesh."
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Post by titan on Jun 16, 2008 23:32:35 GMT -8
Rui just looked at her with narrowed eyes. Yeah, sure, no problem. It's not like he went running at the ocean, taking off clothing like some baywatch lifeguard. No, that would have been stupid. He just happened to feel like going for a swim, and he certainly wasn't going to go into the ocean wearing such nice clothes....
Xerxes got the feeling that he had little to no chance. It was probably easier to just give up, but he was too damn stubborn...even though she was obviously completely infatuated with him...
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Post by lily tomlinson on Jun 16, 2008 23:35:21 GMT -8
Lily ran her hands through her hair again, before wrapping her arms around her stomach and restrained a shiver. Okay, water cold. Rui's narrowed eyes, even colder.
"Do you want me to run back in there so you can go through with saving me this time?" she said with a shy smile, stumbling forward another couple steps. "Cause if it'll make you happier, I will. I really hate it when you glare at me like that."
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Post by titan on Jun 17, 2008 21:58:32 GMT -8
Rui closed his eyes, took a deep calming breath, and let it out in a long-suffering sigh.
"There is just no winning with you. There never was." And for a moment there was a glint in his eyes, showing that he truly did remember, but yes, he would continue to be stubborn.
Air was a smart and calculating creature. He would not repeat mistakes. It was better to let her come to him this time. He would not be the love struck puppy again.
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Post by lily tomlinson on Jun 17, 2008 22:56:55 GMT -8
Lily saw the glint, and noted the lack of action and it's meaning behind it. He was just as infuriating now as he was back then. A part of her wished things were they way they were back then. She missed the ease there had been when he'd been around her. She missed having someone to confide in and care about. She missed the fun times. She missed her Air.
She didn't even care to differentiate whether that was her or Earth thinking. Whatever. They were the same, so it made no difference to her.
"I'm stubborn," she said, with her own eye glint, turning her eyes the old green for a brief moment. Only one who knew her would realize that she was angry, and scared, a turmoil of emotions as she thought about too many bad things at once. "It's in my nature, as you should know. But then, you were never an observant one as Air, so why should I think you any different now."
She tore her eyes away from him, having to turn her whole body away to keep from doing anything stupid or saying anything. She'd always kept her mouth shut, always wanted peace, but nothing had ever turned out well. Never. She forced her legs forward, moving along the shoreline. It was at this point that she knew she had to get away from everyone, needed to find her control again.
But she only got a few short steps away before she'd stopped again, unable to keep her quiet as she had in the past.
"The sad thing is," she said quietly, though she was ashamed to detect the tremble in her voice. She'd kept this in even when she'd died previously. "I'd felt the same way. I had... loved you. But I was afraid. I didn't want war. And I knew, should our parents realize the extent of both of our feelings, they'd send me away. And Fire... I kept quiet because I didn't want everything to blow up. But apparently it did no good. It was worse than I expected it could ever be."
Lily bit her lip. God. What was she saying? Why was she bringing this all up now? No, why was the Earth of old ripping this confession out of her? She knew he'd think her a coward, or worse yet, hate her. But there it was finally. The truth come out. Just great.
But she didn't give him a chance to respond, or a chance for her to keep spewing off stupidity. She ran for it. Down the shoreline until it curved out of site, and around an outcrop of rocks. She kept running until her lungs burned and her legs felt as if they would give out beneath her, where she finally hit the ground, leaning against a boulder as she tried to catch her breath and pull her bearings back.
Why had she just done that?!
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Post by titan on Jun 18, 2008 10:24:11 GMT -8
For most of her words, Rui was stubbornly blank. But at the last bit....
It was the feeling of a piece of glass that pierced Air and Rui at the same time, splintering into a million pieces and ripping their heart to shreds. The emotional pain was almost physical, and Rui put a hand to his chest, letting himself fall to his knees. There was no need or ability to hide the shocked and pained expression on his face. A million memories came flooding back to him from past and present, blinding him with what could have been, what things meant. Puzzle pieces falling together.
Oh, God. What had he done?
Xerxes watched the spectacle, mildly amused by the spectacle until he saw Lily run off. He was just about to follow her when he saw Rui drop. There was something on Rui's face that Xerxes had never seen before: raw pain.
Xerx looked worriedly at the sky, but it wasn't doing anything in particular. The clouds were moving in odd directions, circling like they didn't know what to do. Probably reflecting the poor boy's inner turmoil. He saw Rui sort of wilt to the ground, seemingly unaware of his current surroundings, but he looked like he was in terrible pain.
And with that, Xerx ran to get Lily.
He found her sprawled next to a boulder. Great. She was already worn out.
"There's no time for that. I think Rui's in some sort of danger. His eyes are grey." Which was the general sign that it was not just Rui anymore...if at all.
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Post by lily tomlinson on Jun 18, 2008 10:33:15 GMT -8
Lily looked up at Xerx, and it took her a long moment to process his words. She had her own inner turmoil, but thinking that Rui was in danger had her pushing it back. She shouldn't have said anything. She should have kept everything to herself like she always had. Gods, why was she so stupid?
Biting her lip fiercely, she forced herself to stand. "Thanks for letting me know," she said quietly.
She really didn't think her presence would be a good thing right now, but Xerx knew Rui better, and she would not refuse. She ran back down the beach, stumbling to a halt at Rui's side. The sight of him broke her heart, and all she wished to do was to drop down beside him and hug him fiercely as if that would fix everything. She'd really f*cked things up, hadn't she?
She quelled the urge to lunge herself at him, instead shakily kneeling in front of him. She took a moment to try to gather her thoughts, but it was useless. She didn't know how to fix this. She could only speak the truth now that she'd let part of it out.
"I'm sorry," she said softly, frowning. "I should never have said anything, but you have to know... I never realized... that you'd felt the same way. I'd always thought it was one-sided until it was too late. You know how I am. I have no clue about the opposite sex... especially you. And I hadn't known until you and Fire were already fighting... Why do you think I got in the middle of it. I hadn't wanted her to kill you over that. I'm so sorry. I never wanted things to turn out this way."
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Post by titan on Jun 18, 2008 10:48:21 GMT -8
The sounds of her voice was a cool relief and Rui felt Air calm a little, allowing him to calm. It took him a moment to realize that there were tears on his face. He was crying. Part of him - the normal part - wanted to wall himself back up and go back to the way things were. But a larger and more powerful part, probably partly Air, wouldn't let him. Instead, he found himself reaching out. Reaching toward the hope of being complete at last.
"I...love you." it was barely a breath of a statement, but it caught on the wind and swirled around Lily. Air's power could be soft and sweet as well as harmful.
This was it. The moment where he would be put back together, or shattered entirely.
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Post by lily tomlinson on Jun 18, 2008 10:53:36 GMT -8
Lily's lower lip quivered, and she fought not to cry herself. That was a losing battle; Earth was making sure of that. But funny thing was, Lily didn't want to fight, she didn't want to keep everything in anymore.
And so she reached out, and softly brushed the pad of her thumb across his cheek. She'd thought to try to wipe the tears away, but there were too many. Her other hand went to brush a few stray hairs out of his face.
"And you should know," she said, finding herself smiling just a bit, "That I love you, too."
She wouldn't speak about back then. Even if they'd both known about each other's feelings... she'd known that they couldn't have been together. Not then. But now...
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Post by titan on Jun 18, 2008 11:26:45 GMT -8
Xerxes felt a smile on his face. The smile was many things: disappointed, self deprecating, accepting, hurt, sad, and defeated. Leave it to Rui to ruin a perfectly good date with a profession of love. Xerx decided to let them have their moment. He went back to his car and drove away. ((and left the thread))
"Well, isn't this just the sweetest thing," a voice said from a little way away from them. There was a man striding down the beach toward them. He was tall, with brown hair that had greyed in a charming way at the temples, making his dark green eyes stand out against his face. His lip had a distinct curl.
"What do you want?" Rui asked, sitting straight up, shielding Lily. He felt his eyes storming into a nice grey.
"Oh, just a little chat, for now, young master."
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