tampered | (no subject)

When Nate saw Hong Mei, he brightened visibly. If she was carrying a bit of weight heavily, Nate didn't notice it right away. One thing about being a telepath was that you didn't really pay a lot of attention to body language.

"No, no time at all," he told her. He had only been waiting a few minutes and spent it rehearsing what they were going to do.

"Before we start our lesson, I realized I never asked before," he said. "What type of dancing do you want to know? Ballroom, club dancing, swing?"

In certain ways, Hong Mei's personality was much like a mirror, reflecting whatever people wanted to see of her--which was, in most cases, a reflection of their own moods in that moment. Something about empathy, she supposed, really tended to get to people. As Nate's grin brightened, so did Hong Mei's, and she boldly sidled up to him, hooking an arm around his.

"I want to learn as many types of dancing as possible," she pondered, tilting her head in thought. "There's a man named Gabriel who's teaching me the waltz, and my boss Blue has taught me some swing, so I suppose anything other than those two would be fun."

Having her hook her arm in his was a little bit surprising, but not unpleasantly so. When she listed off the dances she knew, that really only left them with one choice. Right now Nate only knew how to waltz or dance at clubs.

"Then why don't we work on dancing like in a club," he said. As soon as he said it, something occurred to him. "You probably don't know what I'm talking about when I say a club, do you?"

Her brow furrowed in confusion, and slowly, she shook her head. "I know that clubs are groups formed which often require some sort of membership, but I'm guessing that's not really what you have... in mind. Something from later decades, maybe?"

"I guess," he said. "They don't have them where I'm from either. But it's a place where people go to dance to music. It's less... formal dancing."

Nate frowned as he tried to explain the type of dancing without using the phrase "more sexual".

"You'd have to really see it," he finally said.

"Less... formal. Less formal than swing?" Hong Mei asked incredulously, thinking of how raucous the swing competition eventually got towards the end, once it'd turned into a free-for-all on the floor. She paused, before grinning and unhooking her arm from his so that she could stuff them in her pockets while skipping on forward, peering back over her shoulder.

"Clearly, you'll just have to show me. They have clubs in the City, I'm assuming?"

Nate stared at her for a moment and scratched his head as he tried to puzzle her out. She seemed rather... bright. Playful. He'd never met anyone like that before, not even children. He liked it.

"Alright," he said, catching up to her with long strides as he headed towards one of the clubs. "I'll show you and you can tell me if you want to learn that kind."

Her thoughts were still churning, although her attentions were largely turned onto Nate, now, rather than thoughts of trying to make injuries stick. He was different than the boys back home, certainly--his abilities, his frankness about his life experiences, these were part of the reason for that. Nonetheless, there were also parts of him that were still unmistakably male, the way she was easily able to catch his attention through little motions. Looping her arm with his. Using a teasing tone.

In not so many words, flirting still seemed effective.

She slowed down when he caught up, peering to the side at him. "Sounds like a plan. One which you've built up quite a lot of suspense for already."

Nate was definitely susceptible to her flirting. His experience with females was limited, to say the least and nothing in them prepared him for any sort of womanly wiles. All he knew was that he liked it when she took her arm in his and when she smiled.

"Uh oh," he said as they walked. "Now if it doesn't measure up you're never going to trust me again."

"That just means that you'd have to find some other way to impress me. I imagine that you'd have quite a few chances in areas that aren't related to dance, wouldn't you?" Her fingers threaded through her hair, making sure that everything was still in place, still in a bun--wouldn't do to have her hair fling in other people's faces, if they were doing to be dancing something particularly fast.

She looked forward again, trying to keep in mind where these places were, in case she ever needed an escape for a couple of hours. Dancing was particularly good in that respect--all of that movement released endorphins pretty readily.

Nate wasn't sure how to reply to that. What was he going to do, take her down to the Underground so she could watch him fight monsters? No, he could probably think of something a bit more fun than that.

"If you don't like the dancing," he told her. "I'll take you flying or exploring the bottom of the ocean, your pick."

Not expecting an answer, Hong Mei blinked at Nate for a moment, before shaking herself into her senses again. It wasn't anything she'd meant for him to take seriously, perhaps nothing more than an opportunity to let him flex his ego--but the offers that he was making seemed earnest. And actually meant for her. Given that she wasn't really accustomed to the idea of receiving anything more than perhaps a hastily picked bouquet of flowers, she wasn't sure how to gracefully accept--or decline--such offers.

"I'm sure that I'll like the dancing," she replied, hesitating for only a fraction of a second. "But the other two options sound amazing as well."

Nate sensed her hesitation and wondered if he had done something wrong. She didn't seem upset or all that shocked, although Nate had no idea of how he expected her to respond.

"I hope you do like it," Nate said, if for no other reason than he hadn't learned any other types yet. "And see, there's one of the clubs," he added, pointing.

She turned in the direction he pointed, already some of the music pulsing from the short distance away. Not that she wasn't accustomed to being surrounded by loud sounds or the like, but she definitely wasn't quite used to the idea of dancing to something with such a deep bass.

Admittedly, when trying to think of what styles of dancing that'd encourage, her mind came up blank.

"Dying of curiosity, still," she informed Nate, picking up the pace slightly.

The music was essentially what you'd find in any club. As Nate got to the door he could feel it practically pulsing in his bones. It made you want to dance, even if you didn't really know how. There was a short line outside the door, but Nate didn't bother with it, just walking them both right in.

"No point in being a telepath if you don't let it work for you sometimes," he told Hong Mei, smiling down at her as they stepped inside.

"I'm not going to argue with that," Hong Mei grinned mischievously, definitely an advocate of using whatever means possible to skirt rules, regulations, anything that would hold a person back. Morally gray, perhaps, but it sure saved time in the long run.

Once inside, Hong Mei slowly approached the edge of the dance floor, eyes wide as she peered from side to side.

Lack of personal bubbles, she first noted.

Crossing her arms thoughtfully, Hong Mei then raised a hand to tap at her chin for a moment, trying to determine the implications of being pulled to a place like this, with that sort of dancing. Sure, there were some people who had a good foot's worth of distance between them, but the greater majority were... well. Snuggled up with one another might have been putting it lightly.

"Think I can manage something like this?" she asked, lips quirking in a half-smile. "You'll have to help me quite a bit, looks like."

And if there was any disappointment, it wasn't of the noticeable sort.

Nate watched her survey the dance floor and wondered if this was a good idea. He didn't know a whole lot about her time but he knew enough to know that anything this sexual wasn't really common. Or if it was, it probably wasn't socially acceptable. Still, she didn't look upset or angry. He wasn't sure exactly what he was feeling and he respected her too much to just read her mind.

And he could help her. He could help her a lot, actually, it all depended on how much she trusted him.

"I can help you a lot," he said with a nod. "But... do you want ta learn to dance, or do you want to know how to dance? I can give you the basics directly, just right into your head."

"Learning's half of the fun, isn't it?" Hong Mei surreptitiously slipped a hand in Nate's, having seen some of the other guys in the place looking her way--not that she wouldn't be capable of having fun with any of them, but Nate was the one who'd invited her out. The least she could do was not run off until the night was well over. She tugged very slightly in the direction of the dance floor. "I'm okay with looking like an idiot for the first few minutes. If an hour goes by and nothing helps, we'll talk about putting things in my head."

Already, she could feel her pulse racing, although Hong Mei wasn't sure if it was thanks to the quick beat of the music, or just anticipation over the sorts of things Nate might've been expecting. A different time, after all, meant different ways of acquainting oneself with other people.

"Just let me know if I look like too much of an idiot."

Nate was a bit surprised by her answer, as well as how she took his hand and lead him out onto the dance floor. He eagerly followed after her though and reminded himself that he was the instructor here and he was the one that knew how to dance. Already he was searching the crowd with his mind, picking up more and more information as they found a spot.

"That's an important part," he told her as he began to dance with a few simple movements. "Don't be self conscious, the less you worry about how good you're doing, the better you are. There aren't steps to memorize here like swing or waltz. You're just findin' ways your body moves well to the music and repeat them in different sequences. Moving your hips in rhythm is key."

If there was one thing Hong Mei was confident in being able to manage, it was blending in with a crowd. Perhaps motivations and thoughts were more difficult for her to pick up on, but motions were easy--whether it came to protests, or training with various weapons, or something as simple as dance. It helped, too, that Nate was right--there weren't steps to memorize, just a need to move with the general tone of the music. A need to be comfortable with her body, perhaps. Hong Mei spent a few minutes just observing the crowd around them before she started mimicking.

Making sure to have her gaze just dance below meeting his, she raised her arms over her head and started rolling her hips, slowly turning around in a circle while doing so. A slight blush rose to her cheeks, as there was no doubt as to what this dancing resembled, and Hong Mei did have some level of decency.

"So, in order words... just be comfortable with myself, right?"

Perhaps her dancing wasn't quite as varied as other people, but the confidence alone made it such that she certainly didn't stick out liek a sore thumb.

Nate watched Hong Mei as she danced. Purely from an instruction point of view, of course. She watched for a moment before she started to dance herself, nothing fancy at first but she was definitely finding the beat of the music and responding to it and she definitely didn't seem all that uncomfortable with herself.

"Yes," he said, nodding. "Try to be a part of the music," he added, reaching out to put his hands on her hips, high up enough that it was about as modest a move as you could make it.

A flicker of doubt passed through Hong Mei's eyes, fortunately obscured by her hair, as Nate laid his hands on her hips--a bold move, one she considered more so than her taking his hand or linking arms. But more so than that, it was a suggestive one, which she encouraged by placing her hands on top of his, keeping him from running away--not that he would--and sliding them just slightly down as she pulled closer, enough to feel the heat emanating from his body.

"It'd be easier if you danced along," she murmured, as softly as she could without having her voice disappear in the midst of all the music. One hand freed itself to trace down the line of his jaw, coaxing him down a bit, if she could. He was still considerably taller than she.

Nate was continually surprised by Hong Mei, especially as she moved his hands down and pressed herself closer. He hadn't expected her to be so forward, maybe because she was so small and seemed playful. Whatever the reason though he certainly wasn't complaining about the forwardness.

As she tried to coax him down Nate responded obediently by craning his head down.

"I just wanted ta make sure you were doing alright," he said as he began to move in time with the music, keeping his movements simple like her. With this kind of proximity though, he could feel their bodies brushing up against each other, sending a shiver down his spine.

As the music kept up, Hong Mei started removing herself further and further from the experience--emotionally, at least. It was familiar, falling back to her old habits of encouraging men who expressed interest in becoming closer, because that made life easier for a while, gave her a path towards being pampered for whatever amount of time it took for Hong Mei to pack up and move on to the next city. Of course, there was a little warning bell in the back of her mind, telling her that she couldn't run away as readily here--but she'd address that later.

"It'd take more than this to throw me off, I think," Hong Mei grinned as one of her hands slipped to his hip instead, while the other pulled his face still closer. "But I appreciate the concern."

Eyes heavily lidded, Hong Mei stood further on her toes, one arm hooking around the back of Nate's neck as she leaned in to kiss him. Nothing terribly deep, yet--she was curious to see if he'd ever take the reins.

Nate was enjoying himself, the music and Hong Mei helping take his mind off of the crush of bodies that threatened to remind him of the slave pens back home. But the people here were having fun, enjoying themselves, which never happened in the pens back home.

Besides, it was difficult to think of anything but Hong Mei as their bodies pressed close. When she pulled him close though and her lips pressed to his, Nate couldn't think of dancing. His arms wrapped tightly around her waist and he pulled her even closer, deepening the kiss. He wasn't terribly experienced at it yet, but he knew enough to not be overly enthusiastic about kissing when you were first doing it.

She laughed slightly into the kiss before it deepened, visibly pleased at the feel of his arms pressing into the small of her back, and as his lips ran over hers, Hong Mei tried to pull him away from the dance floor. Mostly to keep from attracting so many wary--and perhaps envious--glances. Her face was relatively flushed when she pulled back to air, giving Nate an appraising look.

"Do we count that as part of the lesson? Or is that something that doesn't accompany the dancing all too often?"

Nate went with her off of the dance floor, which was probably a good idea since they were no longer dancing. What they were doing though, Nate liked that so much better. When she looked up at him after they finally pulled apart, we was glad to see a pleased look on her face.

"Well, since that's only my second kiss, I think if anyone was giving instruction it wasn't me."

At Nate's words, Hong Mei raised a disbelieving brow and rubbed at the back of her neck. If he was so inexperienced, it probably meant that everything else he'd offered to do was only coincidentally suggestive. That she'd jumped the gun and misjudged his character--and unfortunately, she wasn't quite sure what to do with that. Did she give him a wrong impression? How much weight was he going to put into all of this now?

It was enough to tug at her flight instinct a little, but perhaps more than that, there was a twinge of guilt.

"Only your second," Hong Mei repeated, hesitating. "Wow, I'm, um. Sorry if I came on really strongly then, I'd just... assumed from the look of the club..."

Nate could tell that now Hong Mei was... well she wasn't looking as pleased as she was a moment ago. Did she regret kissing him, hoping that he would have more experience, that he would be better at it? When she started to apologize though, he understood.

"I've only been consciously alive for a year," he explained. "And haven't really been around many girls. But you don't have to apologize..."

As if to give his words more weight, he pulled her close for another kiss.

That was another oddity that she'd have to have Nate explain at some point, the idea that he'd only been alive for a year, as it set off quite a few alarms in Hong Mei's mind, although she pushed them aside when he leaned in for another kiss. Slowly, she'd have to pull away from this boy. Age made her uneasy. Bad enough that she usually hung around with people a couple of years younger; more than that was just a shock she couldn't cope with.

But she could last the night, Hong Mei was pretty sure. So forcibly pushing those thoughts out of her mind, she smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck again, grinning into the kiss.

Nate hummed happily as she kissed him back. His mind fluctuated between wondering what to do with his hands, feet and entire rest of the body and being so focused on what his lips were doing that he couldn't even thing.

The only other time he had kissed someone was right before he had flown off to save his world so now, he had absolutely no idea if he was supposed to do something else next or just keep doing this. Whatever happened though, he doubted that it would be bad.

The inexperience showed, not that it was really of a level Hong Mei would complain about. She could sense him imitating some of her actions, split seconds too late, but she tried her best to move things into some sort of rhythm. The strain of staying on her toes was not a negligible one, so Hong Mei leaned a little into Nate, before she pulled back again for air.

"It's getting a little late," she noted, peering at one of the clocks in the heated club. Her words weren't meant, this time, to suggest much of anything. Mostly, she just wanted some time to breathe and sort through her thoughts.

Conscious for only a year? What did that even mean?

Nate's eyes followed her own to the clock on the wall. It wasn't even all that later than when they had first met. Did she really not have that long to be out or was she trying to make some sort of excuse to leave? Nate's eye glowed a bit as he reached out and just lightly touched her mind, he only wanted to know if she genuinely wanted to leave or stay. He'd let her make her own choice either way, he just wanted to know. Brushing against her thoughts, he sensed how she was confused about his age.

"I was grown in a vat," he said. "The man who created me made me as a weapon to kill someone else. But he needed me to be older to properly use my powers. So he artificially aged me, physically and mentally. I have the mental capacity of someone my age, just not the experiences."

Immediately, Hong Mei's eyes narrowed as she took a half step back. She hadn't mentioned any unease about his age, and although she'd shown some hesitation and reluctance otherwise, there was no reason to attribute it to that rather than some other sort of discomfort.

"Why're you explaining that all of a sudden?"

Nate winced as she stepped back, angry at himself for not transitioning smoother into an explanation. He just didn't want her to worry or do something to upset or hurt her. And now he had probably done just that.

"I'm sorry," he said. "Your thought was right there on the surface and it was hard not to hear, especially since I, uhh, more distracted than normal, which makes it hard for me to concentrate on not listening. I promise, that's all I heard from your mind."

Hong Mei crossed her arms, expression still wary and suspicious--although the fact that he'd given her the truth right off the bat was somewhat comforting. Still, the risk alone was enough that Hong Mei didn't want to spend any more time hanging around than necessary. Her life was one built around certain secrets, things that she could not allow to be compromised. Things she kept largely hidden even from herself.

"More distracted than usual," she repeated, quirking a brow. "I'm not finding that to be the greatest of excuses."

Edited 2009-07-09 07:49 (UTC)

Well, at least she wasn't furious with him, which was maybe more than he deserved. Not that she looked entirely pleased with the turn of events either but this was probably as good as he could have hoped for. No one was excited to learn their mind had been read.

"It won't happen again, I promise," he said. "You just looked... I hoped I didn't do anything to hurt or upset you and with me sometimes thoughts are actions. I promise, I'll be more careful from now on and it won't happen again."

"Don't make promises that you can't keep," Hong Mei warned Nate, stuffing her hands back in her pockets, tapping her toe on the tile of the dance floor and scuffing it. "I can think of a million different situations where you'd probably read my mind, and at least a hundred where I wouldn't be so angry about it. So don't make promises that you can't keep, because you can't know what to expect in the future, and I can't either."

She turned, as though to leave, then stopped and looked over her shoulder again.

"I'm going to go now, because I don't feel comfortable with what just happened and I need time to think about all of this. I don't think you're a bad guy. But I don't want anyone trying to pry deeper just because I look or seem upset. I have my boundaries." She paused for a moment, then turned away again. "Good night, Nate. I'll talk to you soon."

Nate should have been grateful that she was reacting so reasonably to it all. He should have been glad that she didn't make a scene or slap him or anything like that. But instead all he could see was just another person leaving him, turning their back on him.

"Yeah," he mumbled, in what he hoped was a volume just loud enough to hear. "I doubt that."