*・゜゚・*:.。..。.:*・'・*:.。. .。.:*・゜゚・*
"For some reason, I'm attracted to you."
"Well, that phrasing makes it seem like less of a compliment than it should be."
"I don't know how else to phrase it. I don't know why I'm attracted to you, I just am. It makes no sense to me that I am, to be honest with you, wizard."
Gale cannot believe his ears at this point. Minthara is standing before him, stock sure as usual, and plainly stating her confusing attraction to him. It feels like a dream and also a nightmare.
"Well.. um, I suppose you'll be pleased to know the feeling is mutual?" Gale replies meekly, shrugging his shoulders. He is sure that his cheeks are an embarrassingly dark shade of red.
Minthara nods curtly, though he thinks he can see a smile of sorts tugging at her lips.
"Good, very good. So what do you propose we do about this?" Minthara places her hands on her hips, her expression the same as it is when the party discusses battle plans. It makes Gale excited and uneasy all at once. He's feeling many conflicting things at this moment, but that's just the effect Minthara has most of the time anyway.
"Well, what do you mean? If you would like something to be done, we can certainly do that, but just because two people are attracted to each other doesn't mean anything necessarily has to happen." Gale explains, talking animatedly with his hands, a nervous habit he has.
Minthara hums once again, this time it's the hum that she does when she's in thought.
"I would like something to be done about it, as it is very frustrating to me to.. keep these desires inside myself, so to speak."
Gale has never known Minthara to be this candid with her feelings. She always makes her opinions heard, oftentimes loudly so, but she isn't generally inclined to share the ins and outs of her emotions. It leaves Gale slightly dumbstruck. If he wasn't so distracted by that thought, maybe he would have noticed the rising flush to Minthara's cheeks.
"Ah, yes, very well. I suppose I should ask, are your feelings towards me..." Gale clears his throat. "purely physical, or emotional as well?" Gale finds himself hoping that her answer is the latter.
Minthara takes more time to think on this one, she shifts back and forth on her feet and chews on her lower lip, as though she's thinking quite hard about the nature of her attraction to Gale. If he wasn't so invested in the outcome, he might have been amused.
"My feelings... are not purely lust." Minthara sounds as though she loathes to admit this, she won't even look Gale in the eyes as she says it. Gale finds her embarrassment devastatingly endearing.
Gale breaks out into a goofy grin, practically bouncing on the balls of his feet as he composes himself to reply as normally as possible.
"Great! I mean, uhm," Gale aggressively clears his throat. "Very well. My feelings are the same." Gale does his best to stifle his incessant smile, he's afraid he might scare Minthara off at this point.
Much to his surprise, Minthara grants him a smile of her own, it is much less enthusiastic than Gale's, but her smile is warm and honest. It fills Gale's stomach with butterflies.