It had been quite some time since her class had let out for the day. Though the twilight of Cylus gave no indication of the time that had passed the small candles that were scattered on the desk in front of Melody told her the hour was drawing late. Paperwork and books were spread out in a seemingly random fashion and one had even managed its way onto the floor beside her without her knowledge. With just a small amount of her candle light left Melody pressed her pen against the student's work, marking off errors and adding corrections here and there. Before she was able to finish though, the writing utensil protested, it was barren and drained of its remaining ink.
The irked teacher checked around her desk in an attempt to locate the small vials of ink that would allow her to return to her work. Papers were pushed, books were shoved, and candles were moved but the ink would not reveal itself to the woman. With her work space now defaced and herself clearly defeated by unknown powers at be that wished to annoy her Melody let out a small sigh before pushing her now disheveled hair out of her face."I suppose it is time to get out of here then...you win this time, pen."
With that said, Melody began pushing all of her student's work together into a pile. The few books that were left on the desk were stacked up neatly and alphabetically, of course. She could continue her work at home where at least the environment was much more comfortable. Her rear was screaming in protest at the countless hours the woman had spent in the uncomfortable wooden chair. The woman groaned a bit as she reached down to grab her bag and began loading up the papers and books inside of it. Though she kept one book out, something to look over on her way back home perhaps.
Melody pushed herself up from her chair and stretched her arms out high and wide, various bones cracked in protest but the feeling was rather satisfying. The lone book from the floor was retrieved and placed in her pack before she finally threw on her coat. The cold Cylus winds did not exactly favor light dressers. Melody blew out what remained of the candles which was nothing more than stubs of wick and wax. The darkness of the classroom enveloped the lone teacher which caused her to pause and look upon the empty desks in the room. Not too long ago she had sat in desks just like these but now here she was on the other side of things. She let out a small laugh to herself and smiled at the room devoid of students before lifting up her bag and tossing it over her shoulder. Before exiting the room Melody grabbed the last book from her desk and the door closed behind her with a creaked and crash.
As soon as she hit the city streets the cold winds of Cylus reminded her to close up her coat which she fumbled to do with only one free hand. The woman sighed to herself and headed off in the direction of home, she was not a big fan of the cold. She much preferred the warmth of a hearth and a cup of warm tea to go with a good book. But she pushed on and opened the book to a page she had marked for class tomorrow. Her eyes squinted in an attempt to read the pages in the twilight. During Arc 572 Darcy Andaris became the first king to ever compete in the fighting arena...
With her mind occupied on the information in front of her for tomorrow her feet moved with memorized form. Melody knew exactly how to get to her home from the school but she was fully focused on the book and not paying much attention to anything or anybody else. Who else would want to be out in the chilling Cylus air anyway?
x Cylus was the worst. There was no doubt about it. Without the sun, Edalene sunk deeper and deeper into a depression; finding herself in the same patterns and same routines without respite. Wake. Walk to work in the morning, which looked the same as the night just past. Stay in the library or her staffroom. Walk home in a world which looked the same - again. Sleep. And repeat. Over and over.
Her teeth chattering, Edalene pulled her woollen coat tighter around her lithe frame. The lack of fat on her bones meant the cold seeped in like a snake, wrapping its body around each and every joint, making each step painful. Her head bowed, she stepped into the dark and cold world, her face tucked as close to her neck as she could.
She had left her books at work. Her fingers were far too cold to carry the heavy tomes to and from work; and besides, she did not want the drip of snow and ice staining the old pages with which she worked. As much as she wished she could curl up with her manuscripts, she kept them where they would be safe. Instead, she kept her head bowed.
As she walked, she marvelled in the lack of colour the world held at this time of the arc. Indeed, she could close her eyes, and nothing would be different. In fact, she knew the way home so well that she could just move through the paths with her eyes closed. Maybe... and she shut her eyes...
Collision.
Falling to the floor, Edalene felt a stinging in her hands. Her eyes snapped open, glanced to her palm - a long cut down the middle, dripping blood to the frozen floor. A gasp, and she looked up - and another gasp.
The woman was beautiful. Holding a book, her ice blue eyes set forth in pale skin. Lithe and stunning. Another time, and Edalene would have stuttered and blushed. But with the pain in her palm, and her bones growing colder from the contact with the iced ground, Edalene could only think one thing.
One moment Melody was on page 94 of the history book in her hands reading about how Darcy Andaris slew his fourth opponent in the arena and the next she found herself slamming into something very bony before plummeting to the ground. Her arms flailed helplessly as she descended towards the cold cobble below. As her bottom made contact with the stone she let out a resounding 'oof' all the while her bag dislodged itself from her shoulder and met the same fate as its owner. The flap of the bag flipped open as it hit the cobble and the contents spectacularly and comically poured out onto the street and Melody.
A few books poured from the overturned leather satchel while papers began to float on in the chilling Cylus wind. Melody sat in disbelief for a moment as she watched her student's work drift off into the night. The work escaped her, like a swarm of butterflies on a warm day. Then finally she heard what or rather, who, she had collided with to cause such a ruckus. Melody focused on the woman that lay before her on the ground as she clutched the history book in her hands. Her mouth lay agape as she peered upon with woman with skin so fair she might as well have been snow. She tried to get a word out, to apologize, to say anything, but nothing was produced. For that and a few moments more she sat there on the ground dumbfounded and blinking, her lips moving in silents words that she couldn't produce.
After more than a few trills Melody was able to regain some of her composure and form simple sentences once more. "I-I'm so so sorry..I must not have been paying attention..I-I was reading for my students tomorrow.." That's when she realized the woman in front of her was bleeding from a cut on her hand. "Oh my..you're hurt.." Melody reached out a hand to gently touch the wounded hand of the person she had run into. As she leaned forward to get a better look at the cut various pieces of school work slid off of her skirt and blew into the Cylus night with the rest.
Melody inspected the cut for a few moments, it wasn't deep just rather long and was about the length of the woman's palm. "Please..come to my house and let me clean this up for you." Luckily for Melody she had blurted the words out before meeting the gaze of the woman. Her own blue eyes stared into the darkest brown spheres of her opposite and again she was locked by her. For once in quite some time she didn't know what to do. She was entranced by the lady before her and the butterflies in her stomach were making her uncomfortable. As her hair fluttered in her face from the wind all she could think to do with it was push it behind her ear with her free hand. Immortals be damned what was she doing?
She had to break away from whatever she was feeling right now. Had to get back to normal and get on her way home to do her work for the night. With that thought in mind Melody pushed herself up from the freezing cold cobble and offered a hand down the the wounded woman. At the very least she should be polite, right? "I'm Melody by the way. I'm sorry again."
x Seething, Edalene watched the stunning woman lean forward with open mouth and worried brow, as if to heal her cut with one simple touch. For anyone else, she would have snatched her hand away instantly, but there was something about this woman that made her keep her hand where it was - though still her brow was furrowed, and blood dripped onto the ice ground below. Shivering, Edalene made to move, her clothes damp with snow, and the chill settling into her bones.
"Yes, yes, you're sorry, you said,"Eda said, getting to her feet with a hiss of pain, keeping her bleeding hand close to her dress - the blood staining the wool a deep burgundy. As she stood, she watched the school work blow away into the breeze, raising an eyebrow."Shouldn't you, I don't know, go get those?"
Perhaps she was being rude, but her hand was stinging, she was cold, and she would be bruised. Aeodan would laugh when he saw her, before shaking his head in exasperation. Usually these things happened when she was drunk - now it happened when she was sober! And in front of a stunning woman, no less. Blushing, she chased that thought away. Chances were Eda was just delirious from the fall.
Eda's dark eyes snapped to her ice blue ones at the sudden invitation. Perhaps she wasn't delusional. At this, the rudeness melted away like snow, and a red flame came to her cheeks, staining her pale skin a pretty blue. "Edalene," she murmured, holding her uninjured hand out to take Melody's. "Yes, thank you, that would be nice..."
Before they set off, though, Eda spoke through chattering teeth. "But really, don't you need to get those papers?"
Edalane. The name drifted through the young teacher's thoughts for a few trills. It was a beautiful thing, more than fitting for the woman that she was now helping up from the ground. As she was pulling Edalene from the ground she was reminded of all of the papers that were now floating away with the Cylus wind. She didn't rightfully need to collect all the papers since they were just extra work she had just given the students to practice. She pondered right then and there about just leaving them and saving her the rest of the night to relax. But that was when Edalene was finally back on her feet and Melody got a good look at the woman in front of her. Or above her.
Edalene's frame was similar to her own, skinny, frail, lithe, slender, thin. There were a lot of words to describe the bodies of the two women. But where as Melody was a fairly average in height or maybe even a little more so, Edalene was taller still. She found herself looking up into the woman's eyes. The woman's height over her gave her a distinct aura of strength and superiority. Her woolen dress while a little on the frayed side perfectly fit her form which only made her seem even more entrancing.
Melody found herself pressing her hands against her skirt in an attempt to look more presentable. Fire began to nip at her cheeks when Edalene agreed to follow to her home. It would be the first time she brought anybody into her home. Well. At least somebody as attractive as Edalene. Hopefully she had remembered to clean up the place. It was often times more of a mess than anything. One of her flaws, she supposed. Being a teacher didn't offer much free time to tidy up around the house.
When Edalene reminded her of the papers that were still escaping her she blushed even more. She swore her face looked like a cherry and tried to hide it as best she could. The teacher turned and began to scoop up the work that was closest to her first. The paper was now just as cold as the Cylus air and a few of the sheets were now wet with snow, the ink blurring the child's work into nonsense. Melody could have sworn she looked like a complete idiot right now. Here was this woman that was capable of deafening her thoughts and here she was running around in the cold trying to collect papers she had dropped like an oaf.
After about two bits, give or take, Melody returned to the bleeding woman and placed the paperwork back into her pack. "Sorry I took so long. I'm not sure I was even able to get them all.." She had seen a few of papers drift off above roof tops and out of reach. Oh well. Melody grabbed at a few of school books that had fallen loose and placed them on top of the light papers. After closing the bag she smiled and looked toward Edalene again before throwing the pack over her shoulder carelessly. "Ready to go then? I don't live very far and good thing too, the weather is particularly dreadful tonight."
Melody walked just past Edalene and motioned the woman to follow. In fact, she tugged playfully at the woman's dress before removing her hand quickly. What was getting into her? She never acted like this around anyone. The embarrassed teacher turned her gaze away from Edalene and prepared to head off. From where they were now it would only take about four bits to reach her house.
x Edalene's frustration at this woman began to melt away like ice, though the stinging in her palm remained. Melody smoothed her palms over her skirts, worrying the fabric with delicate fingers, and Edalene could not help a gentle smile. Laughing, she watched as the young woman darted away, moving quickly through snow, collecting up sodden pieces of parchment, the ink remaining behind in the snow.
The woman swearing, moving quickly. Edalene stood, waiting, a small smile on her lips, and bleeding hand to her chest. All the ire had gone - sure, it had been frustrating. But really, she was to blame too. Melody had been walking with a book in her nose, yes, and Edalene herself had been walking with her eyes closed in the dark twilight. What a pair of women they were - and Melody. Petite, and she made Eda smile. Even with the stinging in her palm. What a meet-cute; and yet, though Eda knew the cliche behind the situation, she couldn't help but be drawn to this Melody. She looked, above all things, innocent. Genuine. And gods knew Edalene could do with a little bit of innocence.
"That's alright," she said, smiling, shaking her head softly at the skittish woman."I hope you don't get in trouble for losing them."Whatever they were, they clearly couldn't have been very important, if Melody had been so content to lose them to the wind. "What were they, if I can ask? And yes, of course. Lead the way." Eda gestured out for Melody to keep walking.
She moved to fall into step with Melody, but before she could even take a step, Melody snaked out a hand and tugged, ever so lightly, on Edalene's stained woollen dress. Edalene cocked an eyebrow as the woman averted her eyes, a pretty stain on her pale cheeks. A smirk twitched on her lips, before she schooled her expression into a blank one, though amusement still danced in her eyes. "Eager to get me home, are you?" she asked, ever the picture of innocence, but a laugh bubbled in her chest.
Everything about the initial moment of their meeting had caused Melody to believe very little was going to come from the encounter between the two women. At first Edalene seemed harsh and stubborn, her expression full of contempt for the teacher. But she had noticed that while running around like a buffoon collecting the soggy parchments the woman had let out a soft laugh. It made her light up inside even more than she already was. The feelings were so foreign. So much so they were making her a tad bit uncomfortable.
While she had been stuffing the work into her pack Edalene surprised her with a rather small question. She wanted to know about the papers, about the things she had lost to the winds. A small knot formed in Melody's stomach as defeated rolled from her tongue. "They are some work my class had completed during their studies today. Well they were." In a way she felt bad for her students. The majority of them had worked hard at their small desks that day and now she had very little to show for it. It was one thing to lose her own things, a whole different beast entirely to lose that of another's. "My students will be the ones to get me in trouble, if anything. Poor things."
She had thought herself rightfully and completely embarrassed in front of Edalene until her hand had mischievously tugged at her dress with a mind of its own. Melody wished she could take back what she had done, at first at least. Before too long Edalene had assaulted the fragility of her thoughts with a quip she was not wholly prepared for.
Eager to get me home, are you?
The words rung through the teacher's brain like a constant roar of thunder as she prepared to press onward. She didn't know what to say, think, nor what to feel. The world seemed like it was melting around her. Every day she woke up and was in charge of her life; of her everything. "I-I-I just.." The words seemed to freeze as they left the woman's mouth. Her legs and feet pressed on almost as if in response to an approaching danger. They began to lead her and Edalene towards her home at a brisk pace.
Her hands found their way into her face as the duo made their way. The warmth of her fingers and palms had been replaced with the chill of Cylus after retrieving the schoolwork. The coldness pressed into the skin of her face in a futile attempt to extinguish the fire that was currently residing there. Not much more was said until Melody recognized the familiar sight of her front door. Her home stood apart from the others around. It was much more vertical than it was horizontal. The thing stood in juxtapose to that of the normally very wide and square shaped homes and businesses.
Melody paused while facing the door for a few trills. A deep breath was audibly heard escaping her lips before a hand reached into one of the many pockets of her bag and dug for the key. The small iron device was cold to her touch of course as she fished it from the other junk that undoubtedly shared a home in the same pocket as the key. She thrust the key into the matching hole and turned the lock with a resounding clank.
The teacher turned to face her companion as she returned the key to her shoulder bag. "Please don't take what I did in the wrong way...if I offended you Edalene i'm truly sorry." Melody gulped as she awaited a reply from the woman, her face still red with embarrassment. One hand found itself buried in her lips in a worthless attempt to mask herself from the woman.
Without turning to look Melody opened the door and the hinges groaned in protest as the thing was pushed open. "Please..guests first." She couldn't help but beam a smile at the woman in front of her from behind the blocking hand. Edalene was such a beautiful looking creature and Melody relished the chance to gaze upon her even further.
x With a soft smile, Edalene fell into step beside the shorter woman. She nearly released a chuckle at the woman's stammering, but she managed to bubble it in her throat. It would not do to scare the young woman off; especially when she was already so skittish. She seemed so young, but from her looks, she could hardly be older than Edalene herself. She bit the inside of her cheek, reluctant to bring more attention to Melody's embarrassment.
Oh, but bringing the red rouge out onto her cheek was such fun.
As they walked, step by step, their hands nearly brushing in the winter air, Edalene kept her questions to herself. The chill kept her quiet, though content. It was almost as if the woman beside her brought warmth to the cold world. She was content to walk along in silence, her boots leaving soft imprints in the snow, a gingerbread trail for one to follow these two lost lambs. Within bits, Edalene found herself looking at a tall, dilapidated house, the wood creaking a little in the winter winds. She still said nothing as Melody opened the door with shaking fingers, though whether it was nerves, embarrassment, or merely the cold, Edalene could not tell. Waiting patiently for Melody to open the door, she did not speak, but started suddenly when Melody broke the silence between them.
"Not at all," she said gently, as if she were speaking to a frightened child. Edalene smiled at the hand raised to Melody's lips."Not offended in the least. In fact," and she paused when Melody opened the door, before turning back with a mischevious smile."If I may..."
And Edalene reached out with a cheeky grin, her own chilled fingers going for the woman's skirts, and tugging her over the doorstep into Melody's home.
The warmth brought relief to the woman, and finally, the laugh bubbled out of her, as she tugged Melody into her own home by the skirts. Shaking the frost from her hair, she grinned at the woman. "There," she whispered, standing rather close to the beautiful woman. "Are we even now?"
At the start of their encounter Melody had considered Edalene to be a rather beautiful looking woman. Her own thoughts about the woman were barely hiding behind a red hot face which threatened to burst at any moment. Melody wanted to tell her that she was gorgeous and that she loved the way the woman held herself in front of her. Strong with an aura of strength and determination but also backed with a cute and slightly humorous demeanor. But as her companion crossed the threshold of her home, Melody's entire world began to go for a spin.
The words that Edalene had spoken to her were immediately lost and forgotten as a hand gripped firmly on her skirts and tugged on them. Clearly Edalene was having a bit of fun at her expense but she did not mind in the least. That was when the woman yanked her clear through the entrance way and straight into her home. In the surprise of it all Melody had lost her breath somewhere between the cold Cylus winds and the relative warmth of the inside of her home.
Edalene laughed before shaking the white bits of Cylus from her hair, Melody followed suit shortly after. A smile crept its way onto her face before joining in on the snicker. Everything this woman did made her cheeks deepen to an impossible level of redness. Who was this woman and where had she been all of her life? That's when Melody realized just how close the two of them were standing.
The two were just inches away from each other. Melody's skirt was even mixing in with the fabric of Edalene's dress. She could feel the heat from her opposites breath. Everything about their meeting seemed so much like a story tale. This woman was enchanting and she wanted more. "Even? Is this a game perhaps?" A sly smile crept upon the teacher's face. She was not so bold as to press Edalene but perhaps she could play her into her hands. Even so, her hand almost reached out to intertwine with Edalene's almost of its own volition. With her words said, Melody quickly turned to close the door of her home. The chill of the air was cut off but she was also worried it was the only thing keeping the redness in her face in check.
She quickly bounced off by Edalene, her own hand brushing against the woman's. A small giggle burst from her as she made her way to the hearth and grabbed at her tinderbox with needy hands. Once. Twice. Three times it took before finally a light produced itself and made its way into the fireplace. "So tell me Edalene, what has you out so late tonight?" The fireplace began to roar to life as Melody stood up to look towards the woman. "And please..make yourself at home." She motioned to one of the two chairs at the nearby table.
The flame flickered as Melody added some fuel to the fire and the light danced across the enclosed home. "Another moment here and I'll go get something for you hand..." Truly she could have gone to get a few bandages to wrap the woman's hand already but she didn't want to leave her presence yet. That and the feeling that came with the thought of holding Edalene's hand caused her face to boil and stomach to roll in terror and excitement.
x "Oh, I love games," Edalene practically purred, her eyes flickering down to Mel's soft lips. "Why, would you like to make it a game? Tit for tat?" And this time, with the words spoken, her eyes glanced down to the swell of Melody's chest, moving softly with each breath. She only looked back to Mel's eyes with a grin when the woman turned and closed the door behind her, shaking the snow from her own dark hair. With the room sealed against the cold, Edalene shrugged off her coat, placing it over the back of a chair.
She pushed up the sleeves on her woollen dress. The dress was a dark green, fraying in some places, but Edalene gave barely any mind to her appearance and what she might look like as she scanned the room, taking in the place where Melody lived. She, after all, had other ways to seduce - words, and glances. She followed the woman close to the fireplace, hovering beside her, until she gestured for a seat. While Melody was distracted with the fireplace, she sat, and scooted the other chair even closer to hers. When Mel turned around, she would be the picture of innocence.
"It's not that late," she said, laying her injured hand on her lap, palm up. The blood was crusting. "It only seems that way because of the dark. But I was just coming home from work. I'd gotten caught up in some research, and didn't realise the late hour." A thought just occurred to the woman: Aeodan would be wondering where she was. She thought briefly about heading home, but decided against it. She wasn't quite ready to leave the woman's presence, and besides, he would just curl up with a book, regardless.
She smiled at Melody, before gently shaking her head. "No rush,"Edalene murmured. "It's not that bad. It should heal up on its own. Look,"Edalene raised her hand toward Melody. "It's already stopped bleeding."Her other, uninjured hand patted the chair beside her.
"Come sit by me, Melody." If the woman came and sat beside her, Edalene would do something bold. Her unbloodied hand would lie across Mel's knee, and Edalene would smile gently.
"Tell me about yourself. Not what you do for work. Your inner self. Tit for tat, Melody. You tell me something, and I'll tell you something."
