#bergen_county

She gives him a grin. "Okay, but I am NOT going in that freezing-ass water. At least, not in the winter, right?"

"Oh hell no. I was thinking in the summer. There's more to do."

A slightly amused look as she slurps the last of her drink. "Well, sure. Let's see what the summer brings."

A cocky look. "Yeah." he finishes the last bite. "Wow. That was excellent."

"I guess you sure know how to pick 'em!" A cocky grin of her own. "Well, what would you like to do now? I never thought I'd say this, but I think I'm too full for dessert."

"You want to take a walk? Or a drive? We could do dessert later, if you want."

"A walk would be nice, so I don't go into a food coma."

"Ok." He signals for the check and settles up, thanking the server for an excellent meal and a promise they'll return another time.

She grabs a mint on the way out, and offers one to Adam as well with a cheeky grin, then links her arm through his as they stroll out the door.

He takes it with a responding grin and progresses the arm-link to holding her with an arm around her waist.

"Ok, so... from California, two moms, lives with Wayburtons.... what else? You play an instrument or sing or.....?"

She laughs aloud, then gives him a quick look. "Oh, I thought you were joking... Music is my PASSION. I mean, I play... anything I can get my hands on. Guitar mostly, though I dabbled with guitalele for a bit just for kicks, drums are a given if you have any rhythym, a little keyboard, I have a new ocarina that I got as a gift from Mrs. King - Tove, not the Chief - I've picked up enough theory that I can play most things at least a little."

"That's right!" He smacks his forehead with his freehand. "I feel like an ass, I remember Pennons." They can speak more freely walking the sparely populated streets. "You were amazing. -Are- amazing. Ok, shutting up now." Surely it is only the cold that pinks his cheeks so adorably.

She 'bonks' him lightly on the arm with her head - short enough that she probably just reaches about shoulder-height on the taller boy. "There, punished and forgiven. If we ever go to a real party together, like a gloaming, I'll show you what real playing is."

"You mean... like... that Gift?"

"That's part of it, definitely. If I were to toot my own horn - and yes that pun IS intended, and I have you by the arm so you can't escape from it-" A little squeeze in emphasis, "I just am REALLY good at it. Gee-oh-Pee has a bit of a bad wrap. Boring old fuddy-duddies who need it the most get all up in arms basically saying we run around wild causing orgies. But that's not what it's ABOUT, you know?"

"Zane said it, uh, feels you up to do what you want to anyway. Takes away inhibitions."

"Yeah. It doesn't MAKE anyone do anything they don't want to do. And it isn't a "fuck switch"." She is getting a little heated now, apparently this is a subject that she's argued before. "It lets you let go of your hangups, live freely, and even increases the glamour in the area. It's a GIFT, the GIFT of Pan, not "Pan's Roofie". And if doesn't even need to inspire lust! If you know how to bend it, really work it to your will, you can..." She gestures a little, trying to find the words. "Spread your feeling, with the tone, the timbre, the lyrics, and really impress ANY feeling upon your audience. Happy, sad, angry, and sure, passionate... but it doesn't HAVE to be about just boning down and so many people refuse to SEE THAT."

A hint of satyr passion here in the arguing what is evidently a sore point!

Adam is fascinated. "That sounds awesome."

She looks up at him, and gives a somewhat shy smile. "Would you like for me to play for you sometime?"

"Yeah! I'd love that, you have an amazing voice." A beat. "Uh. But, uh, if you want me to do what I want to..... you just have to say so."

A little grin. "Sometimes, seeing someone let go of their inhibitions is just so hot. It's almost better than anything that may come after."

Adam's jaw drops in surprise. "It.... -almost-." He emphasizes for clarity.

She leans against him, against the chill of the air as they stroll. "Yeah, it's... something else." A few steps. "Sometimes, I kinda wonder, is this how sidhe feel? It's not quite the same, they have this... presence, and commanding aura, and can TELL you what to do... but it's almost more - not necessarily powerful, but more primal, more... visceral? To be able to make someone FEEL what you want them to feel..."

A few more steps. "Being Sidhe.... Was effortless. I didn't have to tell anyone to do anything, like, to -make- them. They wanted to just because I asked."

"...do you miss it? I mean, I know you wouldn't hurt your sister to make it real, but... if there was another way? I mean... if I could make momma Viola a REAL satyr, and not just kin... I'd do a heck of a lot to do that for her. And that's not even ME."

"Yeah." Quietly. "I miss it. But.... I don't want to vanish and have someone else in my body even more than I miss being Sidhe."

A quick squeeze. "I don't think I'd want some stranger instead of you either, no matter how sparkly they are." A sigh. "It's like... it's not fair. And... I'm no saint, but there are asshole kithain out there that don't deserve a scrap of what they were given, and people who truly would. If there was a way to... to take their Fae-ness, and give it away? I'd be hard pressed not to push that trigger."

"But that's the way of the world, ain't it? Fair, unfair, have and have nots." A sigh.

Adam hold her close, arm around her waist.

"I heard a story, or a bit of one, from Mari - that's my selkie friend. Penpal, I suppose she would be now. It was a cautionary sort - about a family of seal-folk that decided to try to share a skin. They would pass it from brother to sister, mother to father, and all get turns being part of the dreaming. But it didn't work out, because selfishness took over, and ended up messy - in the heat of an argument they ripped the skin into pieces, each with a scrap - and the magic just... fizzled and left them all with a handful of tattered fur and nothing else, the soul lost." A shiver, and she gives Adam an apologetic glance.

"Geez, I'm sorry. Didn't mean to be such a freakin' killjoy."

"Maybe that's part of it all?" After a few more steps. "Like.... why things are the way they are? So we can be better than that?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean it still doesn't suck sometimes." A wry smile up at him.

"I dunno." Softly, looking back "Right now doesn't suck."

"It certainly doesn't." She replies, turning up her face to his.

"Is this the part where we kiss?" His breath is smoke.

"If you don't miss your cue it is." Reaching up to tug his collar, bringing him close enough to reach.

No struggle from Adam! He kisses her. His skin is chilled, but his lips are warm.

She has to tilt her head a bit to make the angle work, but she leans back into his arm and it works nicely. Very nicely, as she returns the kiss.

Oh, Adam could do this for quite a while.....

Slowly he burrows his hands between her coat and sweater for warmth.

"Eeep!" She breaks the kiss with a squeak of protest against his cold hands, but then draws him back in, sliding her own icicle fingers under his shirt against his bare back skin in retaliation.

He hisses at the sensation; it is not a displeased sound. Adam kisses her again, less slow and careful, more vigor and passion...

She respond in kind, until they have to, regrettably, pause for air, though she leaves her hands, now warming nicely into small spots of heat against his lower back, in place. "Mmmm, Adam? Tell me, what are you looking for?"

A roguish grin. "Right now? Wondering if you're wearing a bra." His hands stroke her back over the surface of her sweater.

She grins. "A lady never tells!" He does feel a strap there, hook and clasp, and a bit of something that slides under his fingers, a lace edging? "But I want to make sure I'm not making any promises, or implied... that I can't keep." Standing at tippy toes to kiss his neck.

He bends with a sigh to make that easier. "Zane.... Uh, he explained, a bit. About, uh, satyrs. Not... not.... steady?" He may be having trouble processing. "Passionate-not-steady."

She pulls away a little, moving her hands off his back and up to link around his neck, peering up at him with a smile. "I like you, Adam. And I'd like to see you, and date you, and see where things go. But I can't say I'd be exclusive - who knows what the future might hold, but there are other people I am seeing, or may want to see. And I need to know that you'd be okay with that."

Credit him with this much; he thinks about it.

"If I wanted to go on a date with someone else....?"