#aenyalios

[corditeheart]

@aenyalios | x

“Maybe even more than one god,” she shoots back with a slight smirk of her own-- oh, this’ll be grist for the Garden rumor mill for the next couple of days. By lunch, she and Ares will have been having a secret love affair since before he got hired. 

By the time the Network refreshes in the evening, she’ll bet real gil on someone theorizing that one of the cadets is their secret love child. 

Her phone lights up with a text that Xu ignores, glancing instead at the clock at the top of the screen. She still has another hour to kill before her next meeting, some boring, tedious budget thing with the headmaster and Leonhart, and the accounting team. 

She pulls her bag toward her, glancing inside. So much for attempts to quit-- there’s still a pack of cigarettes in there, and half-full to boot. Xu tosses her phone in as well, and her paper cup of coffee in a neat arc into the nearby trash bin. 

“I need a smoke. Care to join?” 

[corditeheart]

❝ stab me. ❞ (I'M DOIN' IT)

"No! Are you out of your fucking mind?!"

He must be. He's completely off his rocker. Around the bend, Lost temporary control of his mental faculties.

This entire conversation makes her feel like she's crazy.

"I am not stabbing you because you think you're somehow..." She gestures sharply with her hands, unable to get the word she wants across her tongue. "No."

[corditeheart]

❛  if you keep looking at me like that, i’m not responsible for what happens next.  ❜

soft dirty talk starters

She's in his little basement office, sat in his chair with her feet up on his desk. Her uniform is neat, pristine, red tie like a splash of blood against the black fabric; the pencil skirt isn't really a decent length to be sitting like this, but that's what Xu's counting on.

"Promise?" she inquires, with the slightest curve of her lips, and holds his gaze.

There are, thankfully, no security cameras on this level at all.

[corditeheart]

some women find facial scars attractive.

"I think it makes him look reckless and immature."

She scowls across the SeeD car at Almasy and Leonhart, lounging around like they both own the place. It's obvious who she's talking about, but, oh, don't worry, she also thinks Squall looks reckless and immature.

"All the paramagical healing in the world can't undo severe facial trauma-- both of those idiots are still lucky to be able to see, much less still have their head firmly attached."

From across the car, Seifer catches her looking, and blows a mocking kiss. She responds by flipping him the bird.

"It doesn't help that he's got the personality of week-old Grat shit, either."

[corditeheart]

❝ maiming’s different. love a good maim.  ❞

"Mm. Agreed."

The Balamb Hotel boasts bathtubs big enough to swim in; Xu stretches, toes hooking on the faucet tap to add a little more hot water. The bubbles are plentiful, her entire body is more at ease than it's been in her entire life, and the company really isn't bad, either.

"We haven't had a good interrogation session in a while. I miss those. All the jobs are off-campus, and usually outdoors." She shudders, briefly; as good as she is with a rifle, Xu doesn't love being stuck beneath the weight of a ghillie suit, hiding out in a copse of trees waiting for targets to come into view.

Like the last three weeks she'd spent in northern Galbadia, for example. Her nails card lightly along Ares' inner thigh-- the best part about three weeks away? Really, really good welcome-home reunions.

"I'm really good at those."

And they're complete with plenty of good maiming opportunities in pursuit of information.

[corditeheart]

🌿 They both know it isn't an accident.

send 🌿 to catch my muse under the mistletoe

She tries for discretion. Fails, but tries, anyway.

However, Balamb Garden's winter party isn't a place for discretion. It's a place where they let Selphie Tilmitt and her Garden Festival Committee run hogwild with an astronomical budget and permission for an open bar, so she's definitely a few glasses of eggnog deep when she glances up, raises a brow, tugs Ares down by his tie to plant a kiss on his lips.

"Hope you weren't waiting for someone else," she murmurs, not quite letting go for a moment to grab another kiss for good measure.

[corditeheart]

a kiss to wake your lover up in the morning .

She's slept like garbage the last week or so, either too deeply, or tossing and turning all night under sheets that are too warm, that get kicked off and tangled in her feet. Alternately, of course, then she's freezing.

Last night had been one of the former; she isn't even aware that he's still in bed until he kisses her forehead, her cheek, her lips.

She curls into him, cold hands pressed against his chest to warm them, unwilling to open her eyes just yet. That 0700 meeting is getting cancelled-- she feels it in her bones.

"Don't leave," she mumbles. "Few more hours."

[corditeheart]

@aenyalios | x

One of the flowers is plucked from the vase-- she couldn’t really move it very far, just enough that she could still maybe get some work done-- and Xu inhales its fragrance deeply. 

When’s the last time anyone bought her flowers? At all? She can’t remember. 

“Yes.” 

There’s a smile there, hidden behind the rose. She twirls it slightly, and tucks it in the pocket of his jacket. He gets a kiss, too, a lingering one-- one that deeply, deeply implies that this man is going to get very lucky somewhere around 2100. 

“2000 is perfect.”