Axel got to Nevermore early, as not to keep Anna waiting any longer than he had to. He didn't want her to think he had flaked out on her. He wasn't about to let a chance like this slip through his fingers. Only when he got to Nevermore, he didn't know what to get her. Sure, she liked her alcohol randomized and unpredictable - airing on the sweeter side - but everything at the coffee shop was sweet. Even the serving staff. Eating them was a bad idea since the cops liked the place so much. Plus no on liked cannibals (Axel included in that count).
So he opted to get his own drink - a black coffee - and grab a table. He would just pay for Anna's drink when she got there. And he would insist. Because well, proper date and all. Wait, did this count as a date? They were just there to talk but what if things were going well? He shook his head. Dating was complicated. So were humans. He would just have to play this one by ear.
Post by neverlandlostgirl on Nov 15, 2017 4:31:23 GMT
About ten minutes before 2 o'clock, the door to the Nevermore opened and Anna stepped in looking like herself for the first time in a long time. She was wearing a overlarge striped sweater that went down past her waist, blue jeans with the knees torn out, a purple scarf around her neck and a pair of high-heeled boots. Her hair was back in her traditional braids but she couldn't help fingering the bangs where the white showed as she entered the coffee shop.
She had arrived with the same idea as Axel, to arrive before the other and buy the coffee. However, she found that she had missed out on the chance when she quickly spotted the Fire Demon sitting at a table with a drink already in hand. She felt the smallest of disappointments but this feeling was overcome quickly by the rapid beating in her chest and the fact that she seemed lighter then air as she walked over to where he sat.
She stood by the table and looked at the demon with the spikey red hair and strong green eyes before rousing herself enough to give a small wave and a greeting in a small voice that cracked at the end.
Anna was early. He can't say he was disappointed by that. He was actually quite thrilled that she had thought to come to the coffee shop early. It meant she was eager to talk, right? See this through? He stood when he saw her. A number of thoughts crossed his mind. Namely how he wanted to kiss her again, but he held back, mostly because they were there to talk about said kisses and what they meant. They both liked one another, clearly. But they needed to figure out where that was going to leave them. Boyfriend and girlfriend? Lovers? The titles were annoying and trivial but also important when quantifying what they were.
"Hey, sweetheart." he greeted. "Mind if I get your coffee?"
He thought it best to ask. Anna was a very independent woman. She likely would have been snubbed if he just bought her drink without asking. The last thing he wanted to do was make her mad. Again. Their table would be safe for now if he left it. Not many people in at the moment, probably because the lunch rush was dying down. It was a rather strategic time to schedule their... Date? Meeting? Counsel?
Post by neverlandlostgirl on Nov 16, 2017 5:43:26 GMT
"Only if I pay next time."
Her words were slightly breathless as she slid into the booth and took a seat across from him. She continued to smile at Axel and fidget with her hair, wondering why she felt so jittery and telling herself she was being somewhat silly. After all, it was still Axel sitting across from her. He hadn't really changed in any way and neither had she.... right?
She couldn't be certain in that moment but what she did know was that seeing him, talking with him, just being around him made her feel good in a way she hadn't felt in such a long time. Put simply, Axel made her happy.
It was only as she drew to this conclusion that she realized she hadn't said anything and the silence had started to become awkward. Letting out a strange little laugh, she picked up the menu and looked down at the options, trying to get herself under control as she did so. After a few moments and several deep breaths she managed to compose herself somewhat and even found something on the menu that looked like it would be to her tastes.
It was a good sign she even wanted a 'next time'. So he could agree to her terms, at least this time. Besides, if they were keeping track, she did make him dinner first but that was before feelings were involved. A coffee was the least he could do. Buying her a coffee wouldn't kill him. Although, if she kept doing that thing with her hair, it just might. She was acting all shy all of a sudden. Did it have something to do with him kissing her? Was that a bad idea? Maybe he had moved too fast but really he didn't know what
"Wait here. I'll go get it."
He got up from his seat to go get her drink. He ordered at the counter, waiting for it to be made and he brought it back to their table, along with some chocolate chip cookies.
Post by neverlandlostgirl on Nov 17, 2017 4:24:11 GMT
She merely nodded once more, smiling up at him and brushing at her white bangs yet again as Axel left to go get her drink at the counter. He might think she was acting coy with the gesture, but the truth was she was simply trying to adjust to the change. She was used to having strawberry blond hair hanging just over the tops of her eyes and the stark white of the streak made her feel like something was on top of her head. Making up with Sunshine and finally admitting her feelings to Axel might have helped heal and restore her, but the incident with the serum had changed her somewhat and nothing would ever be quite the same again.
In fact, as she watched Axel speaking with the cashier as they prepared the drink, she realized that she had already noticed certain changes. Her senses seemed far better then before and while not as keen as those of Others, she knew it was because of the serum. Even as the thought passed her mind, she could smell the scent of chocolate chip cookies and knew he was bringing some along with her drink which smelled heavily of dark chocolate and raspberry. What the doctors had told her was true, she wasn't fully human anymore. And she wasn't sure what that would mean for her, for her future, and for her relationship with Axel.
These thoughts were enough to help calm her jittery feelings so that when the Fire Demon returned with her drink and, just as she had guessed, a plate of cookies she wasn't nearly as anxious. She smiled up at Axel as she took her drink and picked up a warm cookie from the plate.
"Thanks Axel. You really didn't have to do that."
She nibbled at the cookie and took a sip from her mocha. Both were excellent and yet she couldn't fully enjoy them, there was simply too much going around in her mind. Yes, she and Axel had admitted that they both liked each other. Yes, they had even kissed..... but there were many things they still needed to talk about.
Axel set the goodies down and Anna tucked in. He smiled. At least that had been a good idea. He picked up one, taking a hearty bite of it. He was the type of guy who (if sweets were out in front of them) would eat them, but he had no craving or desire for them. It was simply a 'it was there and I was hungry' mindset. He wasn't a picky eater. He wondered what else he could learn about Anna the longer they spent time together. She liked random drinks, hard random drinks, but fruity things so that Pascal could eat the fruit if he wanted them.
"Hey, I'm trying to be a nice guy here," he teased. "Don't sass me."
Still, it left him sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. The cookies couldn't be a mistake. She liked them enough to eat one! Or was it the whole buying her a drink thing? He mixed her drinks every time she showed up at the bar. The whole... attempting this dating things was not easy for him. He didn't do serious relationships. Though, with Anna, he desperately wanted to. She was consuming his every thought without even knowing it.
Post by neverlandlostgirl on Nov 18, 2017 4:34:45 GMT
Anna didn't immediately respond to Axel's question simply because she herself wasn't certain just how she was feeling. Instead, she continued to nibble at the baked good as she tried to sort through all the different emotions that had been battling inside her for so long. The silence stretched but it wasn't uncomfortable like it had once been between her and the Fire Demon.
It wasn't until after she had finished the cookie and brushed the crumbs lightly away from her lap that she finally spoke in a slow, measured voice that seemed so out of place for the strange and quirky medical examiner.
"I don't want to lie to you, Axel. I'm still struggling with what I did and the... the ramifications it'll have on my life."
She paused here, swirling the contents of her glass slowly with the straw before continuing.
"However, I'm not stuck like I was. I've finally started to forgive myself and move past what I did. It's not been easy but I know I can do it. I've also started to feel happy again, or maybe allow myself would be a better way of putting it. I don't feel like I have to punish myself anymore and a big reason for that is because of Sunshine and you."
Here she lapsed once more into a quiet thoughtfulness. She was amazed to discover that despite how difficult it was to talk about this, about her mistakes and how it had nearly destroyed her, it also felt amazingly good. And knowing that Axel was the one listening only seemed to make her feel that much better.
"As much as I hate to say it," he said slowly. "It's good that you feel that way. It shows you've grown from it, right? That you can look back, say 'Shouldn't have done that' and won't do it again."
He didn't want to mention his own fears about losing her. Or his own guilt for his part leading to her desperation. They had covered that much. She had yelled at him for it. He knew she regretted what she did. She was still not quite herself because of it. He didn't even want to think about the physical ramifications her body had yet to suffer because of that serum. But they would get to that bridge when they got there. No point in worrying about something that might or might not happen. No point in suffering twice.
"I'm glad you aren't still beating yourself up over it." he said, showing more sincerity than most demons did.
There was no point in torturing yourself over the past. You couldn't change it. At least not in Axel's eyes. He didn't want to see Anna consumed with guilt for the rest of her life because of one bad decision. He didn't want to see her on the brink of death either. Except she was human. Humans lived a hell of a lot shorter than demons did. But again, another bridge he would get to when he got to it.
Post by neverlandlostgirl on Nov 22, 2017 13:47:30 GMT
Anna nodded at Axel's words, knowing only too well how true they were. However, the thoughtful look didn't leave her face as she took a sip from her mocha. Another thought had started to take hold of her mind and with it came a question she had been wanting to ask the Fire Demon for a long time now.
She had been too uncertain of herself to ask it before yet she knew if she continued putting it off it would always linger in the back of her mind.
All the same, she hesitated. After tapping her feet on the floor and playing thumb wars with herself for a few minutes, she finally pushed the uncertainty aside. It wasn't easy but she finally found her voice.
"Axel... Why did you do all that you did for me?"
It seemed almost silly, the question she asked, yet it carried a weight and depth in it that reflected in her eyes as she looked him straight in the face.
Axel leaned back in his seat. What a question to ask. Why? He had wrestled with that one for a while. At first, he thought it the protectiveness of his patrons after those goons tried to go after her. Luckily, all were arrested and all were charged with jail time for it. Then when she told him about the serum, he reacted purely on instinct. Bad. No. Stop. He went to Shadow, who he thought had a chance to convince her otherwise, but he was just a hothead, which was saying something for him.
He believed it was when he saw her getting sick, something in him just snapped. He didn't want to see her that way. She was supposed to be happy and healthy and bubbly. It was then he realized he had feelings for her. Hard for a demon to recognize these things, let alone him realizing he liked her first. And during her recovery, he hadn't thought about anything, except seeing her well again, seeing her the way she was supposed to be.
"You... make me care," he decided. "And feel. For demons like me that isn't easy to come by."
He could be nice. He knew that. But he didn't actually genuinely feel those things unless he was around people he had been around often. Anna had come in weekly. She had brightened his days by her evenings in the bar. He liked talking with her. The thought of losing her had scared him - more than once. He could have been happy just being around her and never telling her how he felt as long as she just stayed there. Alive.
Post by neverlandlostgirl on Nov 23, 2017 4:16:07 GMT
"Is it really that hard? For a Demon to care... to feel?"
Anna could tell from Axel's posture, from the way he looked at her and the tone of his voice that his words were spoken in complete seriousness, yet it was hard for the medical examiner to understand. She hadn't known too many Demons and didn't have much experience to go on. After all, the only Demon she saw besides him on a regular basis was Pitch and he seemed to be about as expressive and emotional as an iceberg. Still, she found it hard to believe that even beings like Demons didn't experience emotions....
She remained silent, waiting to see what Axel would say and watching him across the table, her drink and the plate of cookies temporarily forgotten in the wake of her question.
"It's... harder than it is for humans or so I hear." Axel said. "Like... trying to feel something through a layer of cotton?"
He wasn't sure if that was the best descriptor. Perhaps it would get his point across. If you touched cotton and then tried to touch something, it was different than if you touched that second object with your bare hand. It took a bit more for a demon like him to actually realize and recognize feelings. Most just went with what was easiest. Like anger or hatred. It didn't help with the whole 'demons are mindless weapons and implements of destruction' mentality humans took about them.
Post by neverlandlostgirl on Nov 24, 2017 10:31:00 GMT
"I guess I never really thought it was any different. I mean, you always seemed to act so openly when I saw you. You didn't really seem to have trouble feeling things..."
Here she let her words taper off, realizing in that instant that perhaps the very reason for that was because he had come to love her. When they had first met he had been kind and friendly but nothing more. However, as time had passed Axel had started to display a wider range of feelings and emotions around and towards her. Anger, for one thing. Worry. Concern. And after injecting herself with the serum, even fear.
If he claimed that such emotions normally weren't present around anyone else, it made her wonder just how deeply she had effected him. She wanted to mess with her bangs again but settled for pulling one of her braids back over her shoulder and twirling it lightly between her finger tips.
"I have to be good at acting," Axel said. "But with you it stopped being an act."
It made customers more open and friendly when he was social. But after a while, he didn't have to pretend with her. He was actually interested in talking with her. His day would be made when she came into the bar. The waitresses would tease him about it. The cooks would give him a hard time. Even his bus boy would try to offer him 'love advice' despite him being a sixteen year old snot nose punk who had never dated once in his life. He offered Anna a smile.
"I'm feeling calm. A little worried about how this is going to go. And... I feel fondness for you. You're cute when you play with your hair, you know?"
Him feeling calm was a big surprise. Normally he was a big red ball of seething anger. He couldn't help it. It came with his short temper and fire powers. But Anna made him feel that way. Just being around her set him at an ease he didn't often get to experience. He was nervous about what Anna felt about all this. If she ultimately told him to back off, he would. He knew he probably changed things by kissing the hell out of her the other day. There might not even be any going back to what they had, but if she were happy, he would let her go.
Zuyuri: so I'm meeting the actress who plays Weiss at a comic con. Should I dress as Elsa?
Aug 15, 2019 3:51:11 GMT
disneywinxheart: That feeling when you haven't really felt like reposting here but also just want to repost XD
Jul 17, 2019 3:27:36 GMT
Zuyuri: hey, angel and never, if you notice a thread of yours missing, it's because I deleted it because of a weird Russian response that kept trying to access it.
Jul 14, 2019 15:26:33 GMT
Zuyuri: I have n open thread for Cruella at Nevermore if you want to throw her in
Jul 9, 2019 17:14:14 GMT
neverlandlostgirl: pitch, anna and ralph are all free right now.
Jul 9, 2019 5:12:42 GMT
Zuyuri: my freebies are Sunshine, Elsa, and Cruella
Jul 8, 2019 21:18:04 GMT