log: Complete

[lady-turk.livejournal.com]

When; Feb. 14th (Backdated)
Rating; PG-13 for um... some mild language and a kiss
Characters; Elena lady_turk & Jr./Rubedo red_dragon_666
Summary; After fighting and not speaking to each other for the past several days, Jr. decides to try and make it up to Elena, making or breaking their odd little relationship in the process. Things obviously go right if the lastest information are any proof.
Log;

Moping was not something Elena did more than on a few occasions and certainly not without good reason. If she hadn’t known any better, she would have thought that she was stricken with the curse that the city was currently handling, if it wasn’t for the fact that her mood hadn’t changed any in the last few days, rather than all of a sudden hit her. That, and midnight had already come and gone, so that reason was out of the possibilities now. She wasn’t interested in checking up on the activities of the citizens of the city, as her last venture outside had left a sour taste in her mouth.

So there Elena was, sober (because of Glinda’s mild influence), bored, moping, listless, and idly flipping a knife up and down in the air, staring outside the window at the city, not really putting much thought or effort into anything she was doing.

Rubedo had been so busy with various projects that he had hardly noticed that people were under another curse a second day in a row. Usually that didn't happen terribly often, and it was easy to assume that couples were just celebrating Valentine's Day...with absolutely no tact at all.

He was too occupied with his current project... His latest talk with Mary had inspired him to do it, even if the entire idea made him nervous as Hell. Now was the best time, though, because he knew he would probably need to spend the day with Sakura, MOMO, and Mary. A day like Valentine's Day was crazy enough with fan boys, so he'd feel more comfortable sticking near them...at the very least to observe.

Plus, getting some ice cream with the three of them ought to be fun. He also wanted to show Sakura around the Durandal, which had finally been turned upright. It had caused a huge splash, and the beach had been pretty much soaked up to the edge of the forest, but at least he'd given the other ships enough warning to move out of the way. With the shields on, it actually managed to stay afloat perfectly, too.

That had given him his chance to go on board and do a few scans. With the technology he was more familiar with, the idea had struck him, along with Mary's prodding, and he decided it was sort of a 'now or never' type deal.

So after setting everything up, he rapped his knuckles against the young Turk's door before darting off and around the corner.

Elena heard the knock, but a part of her was sorely tempted not to go and answer it. Still though, she never knew who it could have been. For all she knew, maybe it was someone who was from her own world, though she hadn’t heard of any signs of anyone she knew appearing. With that thought in mind, the blonde sighed, sheathed her knife, and went to open the door for whoever it could have been that had decided to bother her today. Then she’d probably chew them out for bothering her in the first place.

However, when she did reach the door, Elena had to blink at what she saw instead of being greeted by the presence of any kind of person. It was a glowing screen? With the word ‘Will’ written on it. That was… odd. Stepping closer, Elena examined the screen as best she could, mildly surprised that she could touch it. It hummed a little under her hand, but otherwise didn’t seem to hurt or have any other kind of effect. It was flat like cardboard, but see-through and vibrated very faintly. Strange indeed… And she couldn’t help but be rather curious about it all.

It was the faint glow that she only saw out of the corner of her eye that made Elena stop her examination of the first screen to focus on what else it was that she was seeing. Again, Elena couldn’t help but blink in mild confusion. There was a row of identical screen like the first one, though spaced out far enough that she couldn’t easily see whatever might have been written on them from a distance. Raising an eyebrow, Elena left the first screen where it was, not sure if she could carry it with her or not, and not even sure if it was safe to or not. Walking over the second screen in the row, the blonde’s brow furrowed as she read the second word. ‘You.’ This wasn’t making any sense yet. It looked like she’d have to keep reading each screen until she had a better idea of what was going on here.

Third screen and ‘Be.’

Fourth screen and ‘My.’

There was a fifth screen, but Elena noticed that it was at an odd angle. Like it was just on the edge of the corner. A part of Elena’s heart had made its way up into her throat, but the blonde stubbornly pushed it down and to think levelly here. It couldn’t possibly be what she was thinking it could be… Could it? It was absurd. They weren’t even speaking to each other right now. Still though, Elena had to swallow the lump forming in her throat before steeling herself and walking over to where fifth screen hung.

‘Valentine.’

Swallowing thickly, Elena couldn’t help but stare at the glowing screen before her, not really seeing it and not really believing it. A hand clenched at her side, while the other went up to hold her throat. This… This couldn’t possibly be real, could it? And it certainly couldn’t have been from who she thought it was from. There was just no way that was possible… Wasn’t it?

Rubedo had darted around the opposite corner, mainly because he wanted Elena to have a moment to process what he'd let her find before appearing. Fortunately, her being very distracted figuring out who the message was from, alongside him just naturally being a quiet walker (when he wanted to be, anyway), allowed him to slip up behind her and reach out to touch her arm.

Immediately he took a few steps back just in case her instincts took over and she tried to sock him or something, and his cheeks were flushed pink in a an awkward embarrassment as he held up the final screen, which read 'FOR GOOD?'

Instinct did, in fact, take over, and immediately at the touch on her arm, Elena spun around, her arm extended, with the knife she’d been playing with earlier in her hand, slicing the air in front of her. Thankfully though, instinct also took over again, when she realized there was no one trying to sneak up and attack her, so her knife slipped back in it’s sheath as quickly as it came out, though her arm was still extended. When she finally realized who it was that had brought her out here and done this for her, Elena felt her breath hitch and the lump in her throat come back.

“Jr…” she said airily, letting out a breath she hadn’t even known she’d been holding in the first place. Her hand went back to her throat as she read the last screen though, with the other one coming up to cover her mouth as well. Elena felt the telltale prickle at the back of her eyes, but she stubbornly blinked them away and swallowed, sure that even Jr. could hear the noise.

“I…” Oh Holy… She wasn’t just imagining this, was she? She wasn’t drunk or high or anything. And she knew better than to dream up these kinds of things. Elena knew her throat had locked up and a million thoughts seemed to swarm up, spilling out all at once.

“You mean this, don’t you? And even though I was a bitch to you before and we haven’t talked in days which made me feel just terrible inside because I knew it was partly my fault, but I couldn’t help but want to blame you for everything even though I know it’s wrong and I had to think first because I didn’t know what to think at first because it was all so nerve wracking and shocking and I honestly wasn’t expecting it and oh holy, I need to stop talking, but I can’t seem to stop because you’re really serious about all this and I’m still so scared and I keep wondering if this is some sick dream of mine to torture me or if it’s really real and… “

Clamping a hand over her mouth, Elena swallowed the lump that had grown with each word and tried calm her emotions, but she was quickly losing that battle.

Seeing the knife swing out had been even worse than what he was expecting, and he actually flinched and had to resist the very strong urge to run away. When he realized that Elena wasn't going to slice him into little bits, though, he opened his eyes and looked back up to her just in time for her to unload everything she'd been keeping in.

At least, he hoped that was everything. There had been a lot of words there, and each one made his blush deepen a little more.

Unfortunately, he was pretty much failing at talking. He kept trying, lips parting as words would start to come out, only to halt halfway. Finally, he cleared his throat and tried to speak without letting his voice squeak from how nervous he was.

"I'm not joking now...and I wasn't joking before. I--I mean it. I know that lives can be returned here... I'm proof of that. And if I can find...different methods to bring about the same results, I want to give you and Sakura a second chance at life. And then we can all concentrate on going back home, to fight our fight and do our best at living and letting the rest of humanity do the same."

The screen flickered as his thumb hit the button on the small pod it rested on, and he dropped his hand to rub at the back of his neck sheepishly. "And it'd...be real nice if you could join us....if you want."

Suddenly he was wishing he hadn't worn a tie, because it was really hard to breathe.

Before the words had just come pouring out in an almost endless stream, but now it was like Elena had forgotten how to talk She couldn’t get her vocal chords to work right and she didn’t know what words she would say if she could say them. She knew what she wanted to say, but somehow finding a way to get that message across vocally seemed to be more than she was capable of at the moment.

But she was a Turk, right? Even if she was the only one and hadn’t actually had any reason to do anything related to being one in so, so long, she was still one down to her bones. So, didn’t that mean she didn’t always have to express what she meant or wanted to say in words alone? Actions spoke louder than words, right? Right now though, there was only one single action that Elena could think of doing.

Sinking to her knees directly in front of Jr., Elena quickly took his face in her hands and brought her lips to meet his. It was more of a bruising, overemotional, and none-too-gentle kiss, but it was still a kiss just the same. Screw words. She had always been told she talked too much anyway.

When Elena moved closer, Rubedo couldn't help but flinch a little, as if expecting a smack upside the head or something. When she sunk down in front of him, though, he relaxed a bit, only to suddenly be dragged into a kiss that made him forget about what he was holding, causing it to drop to the floor with a cushioned clunk.

With a sigh that was drowned in the kiss, he reached up to cup her face, fingertips trailing along her jaw with a gentleness that contradicted the sudden frenzy with which he was suddenly kissing her back.



Although, he was acutely aware that they were standing in the hallway, and he wasn't sure how great it would be if someone saw them like this. They both were private people, at least when it came to this sort of thing...normally.

So, with pained hesitance, he attempted to ease back, nipping at her lower lip one last time before grinning up at her cheekily. "Nifty."

Laughing lightly as she pulled back as well, Elena leaned back on her heels and rubbed at her eyes with the heel of her palm. She was proud to say that she still hadn’t cried, but now she wanted to just sigh with relief and take a long nap. All of the upset tension that had been hanging around for the past few days, left with a deep breath as Elena composed herself once more. She might be very happy about how things were turning out, but that didn’t mean she had to go all to pieces about it.

Clearing her throat, Elena ran a hand through her hair as she thought over what they were going to do next. And honestly… She had no clue. Yes, they’d come to a decision, but what did they do after that?

“I suppose we should really have a talk about what do to next, huh?”

Cheeks still a bit red, Rubedo nodded while rubbing at them with his sleeve, as if that would wipe the blush off. "Y-yeah... Lemme clean up the mess I made..."

Crouching down, he snatched up the small gadget, then turned to walk back down the hall, grabbing all the others and turning them off along the way. When he was right outside Elena's apartment door, he glanced back at her just to make sure she was still there before heading in ahead of her to set everything down on the kitchen table.

The blonde wasn’t very far behind Jr. as he went to pick up whatever it had been that created those odd screens. Her mind was a mess of thoughts, but before she could try sorting them out, she had to hear what Jr. might have wanted to say. The heart of the matter was though; she had no idea what to do now. Did they tell the ones who were close to them? Did they keep everyone in the dark? Was Elena to stay in her own place or move closer to Jr.? Was she to change the name that she used to address him by?

She wasn’t regretting her choice as Elena had a lot of time to think about what she wanted to do and what she really felt. But it was more along the lines of her keeping things real rather than linger in a vague ‘honeymoon’ state where nothing was accomplished.

Closing the door behind her, Elena sighed as she leaned up against it. Thumping the back of her head lightly against it, she took a deep breath and steeled herself for whatever might come next.

“Sooo…?”

Rubedo wasn't in a much better state than Elena, honestly. Broaching the subject had been the hardest part, of course, but now he was still left with trying to make even more decisions. Battle strategy was so much easier. But...he needed to relax. So did she.

Reaching up to loosen his tie absently, he hopped up to sit on the edge of the table, one shoe resting against a chair. "So... I'm just as in the dark as you are. But try to relax, okay...? This is Valentine's Day. You're not supposed to be stressing. And don't tell me you're not stressing, because you are."

Elena bit back on her initial response and mentally corrected herself. No, she did NOT need to hide everything from Jr. and it wouldn’t do any harm admitting that she was stressed out as well.

“Yeah… I am actually,” she admitted, still a bit reluctantly. “I’m trying not to, but I am. I have no idea where to start and the last person I was somewhat involved with was back when I was in high school. And that was nothing compared to this.”

Suddenly struck by a rather odd little though, Elena couldn’t help but chuckle and try to make a feeble joke out of her random musings. “It might help things though, if I knew which name I should use around you now. At least then, I knew what name to call the guy.”

Her inquiry did surprise him a little bit, and he blinked while thinking that over. Then, with his tie properly loosened and his shirt untucked so that he was a bit more comfortable, Rubedo leaned back with his hands resting behind him on the tabletop. Staring at the window off to the side, he just wasn't sure how to answer that.

Gaignun Jr. was his name now. That was the name he had gone by for years. Still, it did seem strange for an adult love interest to be calling him Jr. all the time. ...Especially while making love.

His cheeks flushed a bit at having his mind go in that direction.

"Well... I guess Rubedo's okay. I mean… I… hate it. It's the name my damned father gave me, and it's got my dirty past written all over it." He shut his eyes and tilted his head to the side, smiling to himself a bit lethargically.

"But... If Sakura's gonna be around from now on, it's pretty clear that I can't really escape that. She still calls me Rubedo... So do a couple other people who knew me back then. I don't see why you can't. Well, either that or unit number six-six-six, but I think that's a little too kinky even for me," he joked.

There was an idle thought about how it’d be rather interesting to see what would Jr. do if she were to suddenly pounce on him while he was like that, but Elena blinked when she realized where exactly the thought was going. That was… odd… Shaking her head, the blonde thought over what she’d probably be most comfortable with.

“I don’t see what’s wrong with Jr. At least not while in public, and I’ve been calling you that for so long, it’d be a little weird to just change it now,” Elena mused. And here, she hesitated. She knew a lot about Jr., so it was only fair that he knew something about her and who she was before she’d come to the city, right?

Turning her head so that she too was not really looking at anything in particular, oh look, her shoes looked dingy, Elena went on, slowly, and a little stuttered, but still smooth enough to be clearly understood. “I suppose it’d be the same if someone were to address me by my last name…”

He shrugged. Really, he would leave that up to her. He already allowed Sakura to call him Rubedo... And she, at least, was a good part of his past... "It's all right. You can call me Rubedo. I might as well attach some more good memories to the name, right? Besides, being called Jr. by your girlfriend isn't very flattering," he joked with a grin, opening his eyes to look over at her.

"What's your last name?"

Raising an eyebrow at being called Jr.’s girlfriend, Elena couldn’t help but smile and blush a little though. It was a nice thought and it was kind of what they were. But having him say it like that so plainly was… different, but certainly only in a good way.

“I suppose that’s one way to look at it… Rubedo,” Elena said, testing out how the name sounded on her lips. It was a little odd, but not too strange. It was similar to how it had been when Reno stopped calling her ‘Rookie’ and started using her name.

“It’s… It’s Thorne, but I dropped it when I started working as a Turk.” [ooc: The Elena-player would just like to make a note that I have no idea what Elena's last name is, as there isn't any information on that ANYWHERE. This one is just something I made up.]

Hearing his old name come out of her mouth really was strange. It made him vaguely uncomfortable...but he would get over it. Just so long as everyone and their cousin didn't start doing it, things were smooth.

Realizing he was resting his shoe on one of the chairs, and that was probably not okay, he leaned over to untie them. At least he had remembered to wear black socks... He'd been in such a frenzy earlier that he'd almost run over wearing white. Thank God for Mary.

"Thorne, huh...? Elena Thorne... Funny how I didn't know that before. I guess I just never thought to ask."

“I don’t normally tell people what it was… Is…” Elena said with a shrug, finally moving away from the door to join Jr. at the table. It sounded as odd as it must have been for Jr. to hear her own last name being used with her first after so long. Taking a seat, the blonde leaned her elbows on the table and used her palms to prop her chin up as she watched Jr. take off his shoes.

“As far as anyone else knows, I’m just Elena, no last name to mention.”

"Eh, last names are overrated. Kukai and its history's all made up. But repeat that and I may have to kill you," Rubedo teased as he dropped the other shoe and slid off the table so that he could kneel to pick them up, moving over to place them by the door.

Then, he turned, walking back over to where she was sitting. "Hey, want to know something else spiffy?"

Smirking, Elena couldn’t help the slightly challenging look that entered her eyes as he said that. It was still very much playful though as she knew neither one of them would take something like that very seriously. “I’d like to see you try. You’d go down as a pretty bad boyfriend if you did though.”

Twisting in her seat so that she was facing him, Elena raised an eyebrow curiously. “What?”

The way that conversation was headed could have turned pretty sour, especially when reminded of Sakura. But, fortunately, being called anyone's boyfriend was enough to distract him, along with her reminding him of what else he was going to say.

Resting his hand against the back of her chair, Rubedo offered a playful wink. "That was the first time we kissed when not under the influence of a curse."

Blinking for a moment, Elena mentally went over the few times they had kissed before in the past. Huh… That was true actually. Laughing lightly, the blonde just shook her head and smiled a little at Jr.

“But it won’t be the last time, right?” she teased, leaning back a little into the chair.

"Hm, I dunno," he mused with an exaggerated sigh. His hands slipped into the pockets of his slacks while he turned away. "It was a pretty nifty kiss. Any kiss after that might prove to be a disappointment."

Pulling one hand out of his pocket, he swiveled a bit to point at her in mimicry of a gun, complete with him making a bang sound to show he was just kidding, if it hadn't already been obvious.

Snickering even as she was rolling her eyes, Elena reached out to grab the hand Jr. was holding out in mimicry of an actual gun and pulled him closer. She could see the rather shameless way he was trying to challenge her. Normally, she’d just bait and tease back, but she was in a good mood today.

Pulling, and shifting forward, Elena brought her face up close to Jr.’s so that she could make out the little flecks of color in his eyes and she could feel the breath coming from his lips. “Oh really now? So you think we should never kiss again, do you?” So she was doing a little baiting and teasing… But not as much as she could be!

Damnit, it was so hard to keep his cool at such a close vicinity. His cheeks were red again, and there was no way he could hide such a thing right then. He couldn't look anywhere but into her eyes, and that just made his blush deepen. He didn't need a curse to feel the way he was feeling.

Fingers curling, he slid his hand down so that he could grip her hand back, and raised his other to tuck some of her hair back behind her ear. Then, with that hand cradling the side of her face, he leaned up to kiss her brow.

"Damn, Elena... And here I just thought I was falling for you. I've totally already fallen."

At least now Jr. wasn’t alone with having a blushing face, because as soon as Elena heard those words, she was blushing just as brightly and as red as him. That was a little much and she hadn’t exactly been prepared for hearing something like that either. The mental gears in her head went grinding to a halt as she floundered for something to say that wouldn’t sound as corny, but oh so sweet, as what Jr. had said.

Opening and closing her mouth a few times, Elena’s face flushed an even deeper shade of red as she attempted to make her vocal chords work once more. “I… I… I think… ” Licking her lips, the blonde tried again. “I think it might be something of the same for me…” she finally managed to get out, voice barely above a whisper. Even though her words were nervous and shaky, the look in her eyes wasn’t and not even a bomb going off nearby would be enough to make her tear her eyes away just then.

The teasing might have backfired, but she didn’t mind.

It was a relief to hear, honestly. He knew Elena cared a lot, but hearing that she mirrored his own feelings was nice, and made him sigh. Stroking his thumb against her cheek, he noted that at least the blush warmed her up a bit more, and he settled back down so his feet were flat on the ground while he finally pressed his lips to hers, offering a hushed, short kiss.

"Sorry I'm not...a little taller. I know girls tend to like their men taller, but..." He cleared his throat and quickly tried to lighten the air. "Think of me as travel size? I mean, if someone ever comes over while I'm here, you can just stuff me under your bed!"

“Now why would I ever want to do something silly like that?” Elena questioned, leaning her head into his hand. Sure, she was a private person, but if she was going to be doing something, she wasn’t going to approach it halfway and with any kind of shame. If someone were to find out, then they would just have to deal with it. The blonde was very much aware that by all outside accounts, it’d would look like she was robbing the cradle, but they didn’t matter. She’d seen worse and at least she knew that Jr. was the right age, if not in the right body.

“Besides, I never did act like all the other girls. Why should I start behaving like one of them now?”

That made Rubedo crack a grin, and he slid his arms around her neck so that he could lean in for a hug. She wasn't very warm, at least not in comparison to him, but the simply intimacy it offered was plenty for him.

"Yeah, I guess I'm pretty lucky, since I seem to know all the special girls." Resting his head against her shoulder, he moved one of his hands over to push down at the blonde's collar so he could peer at the side of her neck. The mark he'd left that time before was already faded.

Almost absently, he let a fingertip skim over that spot while he murmured against her ear, "But you still look really killer wearing a dress."

Rolling her eyes even as she wrapped her arms around Jr. in a return hug, Elena took a moment to relish in the physical contact. It was a well-kept secret, but the blonde could be rather physical with her affections. Not incredibly so, but a person would be able to tell if they knew her well enough. She just never had a reason good enough to break out and demonstrate that side of herself. Now that she had one though, Jr. should probably prepare himself for more of the little things, like a touch of the hand or being a little bit closer whenever they were in the same place.

“Only if you’ll wear one too.”

Rubedo blinked at that, then laughed and kissed the side of her neck before stepping back to rest a hand against his chest dramatically. "What, you don't like the suit? I mean, if you insist, but no bows. Maybe some lace. And no garters."

It was hard to tell if he was serious or not... But while he could joke about most anything, he would still never wear a dress, and it was a good thing he knew Elena was totally joking. ...Right?

“If I didn’t like suits would I be wearing them myself?” Elena quipped back, raking a hand through her hair. Tapping a finger to her chin, the blonde pretended to think over the suggestion seriously for a moment. Whether she actually was thinking about it seriously or not though, was the actual question.

“But a short skirt would suit you better I think. And unless you want to wear pantyhose, garters and stockings might be more comfortable. And if we skip out on the bows, how about an apron instead?”

Okay, now the joke was being taken too far. He was having to resist the urge to make a big X with his arms. VETO. VETO. "Uhhh..."

Taking a step back, he pulled up his sleeve a bit to look at a watch that totally wasn't there. "Wow! Look at the time. I better get going. No telling if Sakura will...uh...wake up and need something!"

Maybe it would have been more believable to say he'd left the kettle on.

She was only able to hold in her laugher for a second before bursting. Covering her mouth, Elena attempted to control her laugher, but she was failing rather horribly at it. Just one look at Jr.’s face sent her into whole new peals of laugher. She hadn’t been exactly serious about the whole thing, but the fact that she had been taken as such brought about fresh new giggles.

“You… should see… the look on you face!” Elena managed to get out between snickers, eyes tearing up from laughing so hard.

Elena laughing right at him made him flush. He should have known... She was quite a good actress when she wanted to be. With a groan, he rubbed at his face before shaking head and lightly swatting her shoulder.

"You know, scaring the shit out of your honey is not general Valentine's Day protocol! How uncool." He shuddered, then flopped back to sit in the chair next to hers, since he was just worn out now.

“But you looked so cute like that I couldn’t help it,” the blonde said through her giggles, still more amused than anything.

Still overcome with a snicker or two, Elena cleared her throat a few times to make sure that she wouldn’t suddenly burst into giggles once more. Acting suitably apologetic, Elena leaned over to place a quick kiss to Jr.’s cheek in an act to make up for being so ‘uncool.’ She was still smiling and smirking though, so the effect was ruined a bit.

Clearing his throat, Rubedo draped one arm over the back of the chair as casually as possible while scratching nervously at the cheek she'd just kissed. Slumping a bit, he hoped his chronic blush wasn't painfully obvious.

"Yeah, whatever. I demand compensation for that. Like...baked goods. Or you in a dress! I had to put on this stuffy suit, ya know. I hate wearing ties. Gaignun can pull them off way better than me."

Biting back another snicker, Elena cleared her throat once more to keep her voice steady and not betray the fact that she was more than just a little amused by Jr.’s blush and embarrassment. She really was incredibly happy right now and it was hard not to show it, though she wasn’t ready to dance around singing for joy or anything.

“I don’t know… I think you can pull them off well enough yourself,” Elena mused. “But you’ll probably have to settle for baked good. I don’t even own any dresses I’d want to be caught wearing in public or in private.”

Rubedo raised an eyebrow. Not that he didn't want baked goods. Elena had been promising him some for awhile, after all... But, it was Valentine's Day, and with that comment, he couldn't help but push the subject a bit.

"What about that black dress you wore on our first date? Or the one I helped you pick out the night I..." He trailed off, then, averting his eyes. The night his life returned to him. And he'd run off without even suspecting anything. Had Elena even bought that dress?

“Traded it for alcohol,” Elena stated plainly. She hadn’t known that first date would have lead to this, otherwise she might have kept it, but as such, the deal and been done and she had gotten happily drunk that night.

“As for the other one. Like I said, nothing I want to wear in private or in public,” she finished. That dress had been bought for Ranmaru… who had gotten out so there was no point in wearing it now. But it didn’t mean it didn’t hold some sentimental value. For more reason than one. Noticing that he wasn’t looking at her anymore, Elena leaned over to turn Jr.’s head so he could meet her eyes.

“The night you got your life back.” She didn’t regret it. Not really. She’d done what she felt was a way to take action rather than to stand helplessly by. It might have bitten her in the butt later on, but she still didn’t regret it. It was just when Jr. made that face and looked so guilty that she couldn’t stand.

Looking at her when he felt like this was humiliating. It was something that he'd been trying to accept, but he couldn't. He wanted to return her life to her. Her and Sakura... In his opinion, both of their deaths had been needless. Unnecessary. Maybe thinking that was disrespectful, but it was still what he thought.

And it reminded him what an utter failure he was sometimes. If he'd been smarter and paid more attention to Albedo, he might not have tried to make contact with U-DO again, and Sakura wouldn't have died. And if he'd just stopped being so scared of using his power...if he hadn't hesitated...then he wouldn't have been killed, and Elena wouldn't have traded her life for his.

It didn't matter what she or anyone else ever said to convince him it wasn't his fault. It was just the way he felt, and it made it so that he couldn't meet her gaze for longer than a second before looking back down.

"...Yeah."

Sighing, Elena leaned back in her chair and let her hand fall back into her lap. It would probably be a sore point for the two of them for a while. It wasn’t something that was easy to accept either way. Adding into that, Jr.’s own personal past, and Elena understood a little why it was so hard for him to move from that point. But it wasn’t like she was going to budge from her point either. And part of that point was never letting him find out about the full scope of the deal she’d made either.

Not knowing what else to say just then that wouldn’t either lead to an argument, or at least more guilt, Elena mused over what other things they could talk about. There were still a lot of things they had to discuss about the two of them alone, but going from one serious subject to another wouldn’t exactly help thing right now.

“Do… you have any other plans for Valentines?” she started hesitantly. There really should have been other things they could have talked about, but that was probably the most generic one to work that would clear up the air a little between them.

He knew she was trying, at least, to change the topic. And what kind of person would he be if he didn't try right back? Their meeting had started off great. Rubedo didn't need to go wrecking it with a stupid pity party for himself.

"Um... No, nothing specific." Looking back up, he smiled a little. "Was just thinking of taking the girls out to dinner or something, if they don't have other plans. You're welcome to come if you want... This here was the only solid thing I planned for today."

Subject change success! Shaky and very obvious, but still one nonetheless. “It sounds nice, but you should spend some time with your other girls as well. Maybe tell them or something,” she declined. And it really did sound nice, but Elena had a little experience with how things like that could go. She didn’t want to be the odd-man-out as it were, and ruin what could be a very nice dinner.

“Maybe another time.”

Yeah, he figured it wouldn't be very good if Elena actually went with them. Either she would be an add-on, or everyone else would be. Still, he figured offering would be good. He knew she got along with Mary all right, and Sakura didn't seem to mind her.

How was he supposed to bring something like this up to them, though? Especially to Sakura... Even he wasn't positive what sort of relationship he had with Sakura and MOMO. He knew that he treated them a lot like his sisters, but he didn't feel the same way he did for him that he did his brothers. Everything was just...odd.

But Elena was technically his girlfriend, and if he had her permission, he wasn't going to be hiding it from his friends. ...Sakura, included.

"Yeah, I guess. Baked goods it is, then? What do you got on hand?" he muttered, trying not to sound quite as lost in thought as he actually was.

“Uh… I actually don’t think I have anything on hand right now…” Elena said, trailing off and turning her head to glance into her kitchen. Truthfully, she’d been too drunk, depressed, hung-over, or listless to do much baking. Sitting around and doing nothing sounded like a much better idea. Which meant she probably didn’t have much else on hand either. Hm… She’d have to take care of that later.

“I’m open to requests though,” she stated, already starting a mental list of things she’d have to get now that she actually felt like moving again.

"Hmmm... Maybe... Cookies? Something simple and quick?" Rubedo did hate to wait around for things that were baking, after all. But, he wouldn't mind too much if he was watching Elena do it.

"Do I get to watch you be all domestic and wear an apron now?"

Lightly batting at Jr.’s shoulder, Elena smirked as she stood up. “I think the day I actually do wear a dress, you’re going to do keel over from the euphoria,” she teased; winking to show that she was only joking. She really didn’t have any plans to wear a dress ever, but it was something that was fun to joke about at least.

If Jr. wanted quick though, sugar cookies were probably the best choice. They had the fewest ingredients and took the shortest time to bake. And Elena had baked enough of them by now that it took almost no time at all to have the dough all ready and shaped. She was glad that at least she hadn’t been too depressed to clean up and keep her place organized.

“There’s no reason you can’t help any either you know.” Rolling up her sleeves and grabbing the plain cream-colored apron that hung over the handle of oven, Elena started handling things the way she always did. Efficiently and quickly, with an easy manner that spoke of lots of practice and experience.

"Aw man, you're kidding?" He was pretty exhausted as it was. On top of inwardly moping over the fight he'd been having with Elena, he had been having to introduce Mary to the City and get his Durandal back upright and make sure everything was functioning correctly.

He didn't wanna move again any time soon unless it required a good amount of lovin'.

Saying that, however, would probably result in him being the next statistic in an 'unfortunate baking accident', so he stood up so that he could walk over, loosening his tie enough so that he could pull it all the way off. "All right, all right. But I'm gonna need an apron too, you know. This suit wasn't cheap. ...Okay, it cost me two flowers. But it's the whole principle of the matter."