It's a jolly 'olliday wit' you...

[bad_is_better]

Date & Time: day after the timey-wimey stuff ends, about noon.
Location: Top of the hold
Characters: Morrigan Aensland, Gordon Freeman (possible guest starts may be various roommates or people who might want to be on the roof)
Summary: cute attempt at picnic, possible revelations of various things
Warnings: may contain angst, drama, makeouts. Will contain coffee and pastries.

The day is its usual overcast, but for a bit, it isn't raining.

And on top of the hold, Morrigan has managed to find a blanket that she spread across the concrete, an umbrella in a stand that she rigged up, and has a small lap-table she found, on which is a coffeepot, some coffee cups, and some pastries.

And Gordon Freeman has a message waiting for him:

I think I got the coffee right. Please come to the roof of the hold about noon to see if I did. -- M.

Comments

[trustycrowbar]

"...If it's that much of a problem for you, I'm willing to wait."

But he IS curious now. What could she possibly have to hide? Maybe... maybe she's the one that conducted all those experiments and not doctor what's-his-face! She's the mad doctor; he was just a face to attach to medicine labels because an old man selling the things led more credence! That's the only thing that made sense! Oh god, that would be...

Strangely hot, actually.

"But come on, it can't be THAT bad." He adds with a renewed smile and another shoulder-squeeze.

[bad_is_better]

She looks down at the ground for a moment, then looks at him.

And a pair of bat-like wings slide out from under her hair, framing her head.

"...I'm nae really human," she says, as if that wasn't quite obvious now.

[trustycrowbar]

So much for mad-scientist-girl fantasies. Gordon actually stares at the wings for a quarter-second, his brain cycling the information around and unsure how to parse it. Once it reaches the right velocity it slams directly into his uncanny-valley response, and he lurches back with an incomprehensible noise of surprise. The coffee, sadly, goes flying and the cup clatters across the roof a short distance. He stares, wide-eyed.

"...what... I... Those are bat wings. On your head." He just wanted to establish that. You know, in case she didn't know. "If, if you're not human, then what ARE you?"

[bad_is_better]

She looks abruptly angry, then sad. As Gordon watches, a second pair of wings come from behind her back, these lower, just above waist level.

"I'm, well... I'm a succubus. My name really is Morrigan Aensland, and I really did see most of the things I told ye. Even lived through some o' it. I just..."

Her lower lip quivers. And she finds herself very surprised to not be acting.

"...I just was not sure what tae to, and so I hid myself until I knew what was really goin' on. And then someone was kind to me for no reason except bein' a good man." She stands up, turning away from him, so he can see that her shirt rose up where the wings came out. "And now I've been a bad girl, and careless with a good man." She takes a step away. "I'm sorry."

[trustycrowbar]

"Wait a minute! Morrigan--" He gets his long legs under him again and stands.

"Just don't, don't go yet. Give me a minute. You're really a succubus? No, stupid question, I guess there aren't too many other things you could be, but I don't--You don't act anything like one!" Beat. "I mean it's not like I've MET very many, but I, I uh..." He flounders and runs a hand over his hair, gazing at her bewilderedly where she stands in her shroud of wings.

"If you're a succubus, then... what does that make me?" The man who always asks questions seems almost afraid to ask this one.

[bad_is_better]

"I dinnae even ken anymore what ye are. A flirtation, a guide, maybe even a bit of a snack - I wouldnae killed ye, I feed on dreams and nae souls unless I want to - and then these things, these glasses... I dinnae know why but I could see so much of ye, inside, and I could nae think o' ye that way anymore!" She spins to face him, and her cheeks are wet.

"I was lookin' for a wee bit of fun and some explainin' of what happened and instead... I found a man who dinnae realize his own kind heart." She smiles at Gordon wanly.

"Ye couldnae be prey for me, Gordon Freeman. And I couldnae lie tae ye anymore."

[trustycrowbar]

Oh god. Even with those strange wings arrayed around her, the sight of her in tears is physically painful to see. He wants to say t'hell with it and just hold her, but...

"You feed on dreams? Everything I've read or heard about succubi tell a very different story. How... how do I know you're telling the truth about that?" He doesn't sound vicious in his mistrust, he WANTS to believe her, but he's a man constrained to his empiricism, especially when his potential death is a consequence.

[bad_is_better]

"I'm the most powerful born in centuries, and at that level o' power, souls dinnae mean much. But dreams, especially strong ones, that's power enough for me. Sex dreams, aye but the worst and most black o' nightmares, the best moments of the soul, I can take power from them. It makes them less harsh, and the sleep nae so good, but unlike lesser ones, I dinnae need to feed on souls or ride men in the night tae steal their essence." Her wings wrap around her as she hugs herself like someone with a chill, and her headwings do the same, almost forming into a hat.

"And were I so cruel, i could hae left ye in the city, drained and near death, or stuffed ye in a garbage chute to nae be found. Ye were that close to me, Gordon, and I didnae even try."

"I broke Dmitri, and Jedah, and even faced down Doom hi'self. But I cannae fight you... and so p'raps best I go."

She hasn't gone yet, because she needs, at the least, to hear Gordon's dismissal to make things complete.

[trustycrowbar]

"...My god. That's right, you could have." Hell, a single word from her and he would have willingly let her take him the very first night she came. "But... you didn't."

Dull shock turns into a softer expression, a small half-smile as all the right pieces fall into place. He covers the distance between them, shouldering out of his labcoat and letting the damn thing fall to the ground.

"No. Don't go. I'm sorry, Morrigan. I didn't--" By the time he's done flimberting he's within her wingspan, and reaches out to draw her face up towards his.

I... think I ought to keep better to the advice a beautiful woman once gave me about judging on appearances."

[bad_is_better]

"And what advice is that?" she asks, her wings unfolding a little bit.

And she wonders suddenly why her heart is beating so fast.

[trustycrowbar]

"She told me that you can never tell what a person is really like by what they appear to be. She called me a good man, even a hero. Now, she may have changed a bit since then... but as far as I'm concerned she's still a beautiful woman."

[bad_is_better]

Her arms go around his shoulders. Her wings around his back.

And she rises on tiptoe.

"Ye're amazin'."

And she kisses him.

[trustycrowbar]

He kisses her, and in the span of a heartbeat he reaches around her back and pulls her close. Excitement, joy, even a residue of fear that he could've actually lost her, it's all there, arrayed around a tiny bit of ambrosial emotion that doesn't need to be named.

After a moment, a new notion appears; curiosity. He quietly breaks the kiss but keeps her in his arms, stroking her hair and carefully over a headwing, acquainting himself with her all over again. "And you say I'm amazing." Then up the graceful crest of one wing with look of awe. "Wow..."

[bad_is_better]

"As long as we're here, I should ask if ye have problems datin' an older woman," she adds, a little of that impishness creeping in. "I'm a wee bit older than I look."

At the touch to her head-wing, it flutters a little under his touch.

"Or any other questions. Or do ye want more coffee."

[trustycrowbar]

"Yes, to all three." He says, still mesmerized by that little shivery wing for a moment. Are they that sensitive? Hmmm. But as he steps back to get his dropped cup, things that she's said start to sink in further.

"...How old are you then?" He finally replies as he returns to her side.

[bad_is_better]

"Yes, ye have a problem? Well, then, that might be an issue." She pauses for a moment, and the wings slide away again.

"...about three hundred years old. After a while ye stop countin' as it gets less important."

[trustycrowbar]

"Nono, it's purely for curiosity's--"

Then he hears the number and halts, blinking.

"...sake. Wow. I can see how you could lose track. Uh, for the record, you don't look a day past two hundred."

THAT WASN'T FUNNY, GORDON.

[bad_is_better]

She laughs anyway, and kisses him again.

"Ask anything ye like. I'll answer as I can." And then she smiles again. "And if ye're a good boy, I'll take ye flyin' sometime."

[trustycrowbar]

"Flying?" His tone is the exact same one a twelve-year-old would have if you just told him dinosaurs lived again and he was getting one as a pet. The functionality of her wings hadn't even crossed his mind yet. "Are you serious? How, how would that even work? I suppose you'd carry me, hm?"

Which sounds considerably less cool and rather emasculating, but SCREW IT, because FLYING.

[bad_is_better]

"Aye," she says, visibly amused. "I'd have tae, but I won't drop ye."

Then a small bat comes up from the side of the building, visibly tired, and glides behind her.... and doesn't come out again. "Oh, I do admit that after our first date, I wanted tae see what ye told your roommate, so I spied a bit. But nothin' more than that, just forgot about that bairn."

[trustycrowbar]

Eventually he's going to help himself to more coffee. Really. But there's just too much to see while watching her.

"You listened in while I was talking to Blaine?" He looks visibly nervous at that. While he's sure he wrestled down his urge to boast, he honestly can't remember all that was said that night...

[bad_is_better]

"Aye, a bit. Just a wee bit." She grins.

"I hope this revelation won't stand in the way if some things get organized for ye?" She actually gives him a lascivious look from head to toe and back again, stopping at selected locations along the way before ending up back at his eyes.

And then a wink. She likes doing that.

[trustycrowbar]

"Organized?" He mutters as he straightens with more hot coffee...

Oh. OH. She really WAS listening when he spoke with Blaine. He chuckles and fidgets minutely under the gaze, gaining control of the situation again by moving over and slipping an arm around her waist and indulging a brief glance down the curves of her body.

"On the contrary. I'm all the more eager to see your indexing skills now."

[bad_is_better]

"I have tae warn ye, though, I'm best when I can get my hands on things." And then she breaks, leaning against him. "Oh, we're silly." She kisses his cheek.

"So I actually did find some pastries, so we should have them." One of her back wings slips from under her shirt, stretches out to pick up the plate, and shifts a little, the struts shifting into finger-like forms, and presents him with the plate of... uh... bread with some kind of berries in it.

It doesn't look fatal. Just not all that great.

[trustycrowbar]

"...Oh. Thanks."

He tries not to stare too much as he plucks one of the technically-qualifying pastries from the plate, and folds himself onto the blanket in a sitting position again.

"I'll be happy to provide every opportunity for hands-on experience." He continues wryly, tugging her down to him.