Euphoria in the Grass [Finished/Closed]

[Clair]

Dorothea glanced around him, down at the beautiful cat and smiled as innocently as she could- which wasn't very successful. As she walked around him, she ran her hand over the back of his shoulders, brushing a few pieces of loose grass from them. "Oh...?" she said, as she continued to circle. "Which of us is more beautiful? Perhaps you don't know?"

[miss_sanguine]

<This girl does realize she's acting as though she's rivaling herself with a cat, doesn't she?> Maneki asked with severe dislike as Dorothea moved behind him.

That Dorothea was treating Maneki as more than an ordinary cat really wasn't what troubled him at that particular time, though. The moment Dorothea's hand had made contact with his skin, every nerve in his body seemed to come alive. Any and all focus was now on that one place, and it tingled with avidity.

It was hard to speak, to open his mouth.

"I . . . Are you asking me to compare your beauty to that of my cat?" he asked, his voice a bit raspy as he tried to hold off the purr that was sitting in the back of his throat. He managed a smile. "That's just silly."

[Clair]

Dorothea chuckled, her hand continuing to brush around his shoulder and chest, where she came to a stop, her hand laying just over his heart. "Well, she is a very beautiful cat," Dorothea said with a smirk. "And you two do seem very close." She chuckled.

She wondered, though did not speak aloud, exactly what sort of relationship he had with the creature. She sensed something between the two of them... although, she wasn't sure what it was that she was sensing. He couldn't communicate with her, could he?

[miss_sanguine]

His eyes followed her hand, taking in every detail of her softly-caressing fingers as they trailed along his upper torso. All smells and sounds were lost to him; his heart was fluttering like a hummingbird's. When she finally came to a stop at his chest, he leaned in toward her and took her hand in his own two, cosseting it. Then he looked into her green eyes.

If she only knew how hard she was making this for him! He couldn't understand it, either. It wasn't only a matter of being attracted to her now; it was also a matter of the cat-like need for further petting. He wasn't normally this roused by touch. Maybe the effects of euphoria from rolling in the grass—which he was beginning to suspect did have some form of valerian or catmint growing amongst it—had not completely worn off.

The impulse to purr was almost overwhelming.

"We are close. And she is beautiful," he found himself saying in a low, earnest tone, almost a whisper. "But as I said before," his words were slowing, "you yourself are also very striking."

Just keep up the flirting, he told himself, mind racing. Distract her. No purring.

Tinges of satisfaction came to him from Maneki. <You had no problem purring earlier when she was here. Why not now?>

[Clair]

Dorothea smiled, and for her it was quite a sweet smile... as sweet as she could really muster. And it was genuine. Her hand remained under his, on his chest. Without Dorothea realizing it, a bit of her blush began to color her cheeks. "You're very beautiful, yourself..." she said softly.

[miss_sanguine]

Even through his mild desperation to not purr, Monnayage saw the smile, and it wasn't just any smile. It was a real smile; not the seductive and playful sort Dorothea had been giving him so far.

Nothing in the world was more satisfying to him than to see a woman smile.

Then, to add to the appeal, she started to blush—not a conspicuous blush, but a blush just the same.

"Yes," he said, now grinning with geniality. He pulled her hand to his mouth, breathing gently on it, near to kissing it. Never did he move his eyes from hers. "You've said that."

Praise did feel good. He never turned it down. However, he mentally waved it aside this time. "Tell me a bit about yourself, Dorothea," he breathed.

[Clair]

His lips near her skin made her shiver a bit. Oh, how nice it would be to just tackle him into the grass and-- with a slight shake of her head, Dorothea tried to rid herself of those thoughts. She bit her lip and the pinkness of her cheeks darkened slightly.

She didn't really care what others thought of her, most either despised or feared her... or both... but for some reason, she didn't feel like she could share anything about herself without driving Monnayage away; this bothered her deeply. The young redheaded woman couldn't tell which disturbed her more: the idea of pushing him away or the idea that she actually cared what he thought.

She shrugged, trying to shake off the odd confusion. She wasn't about to spill everything onto him. No way. Dorothea gave him a smirk, lifting an eye brow. "A bit of an intimate question, isn't it? Although, why wouldn't you be dying to know?" The last question wasn't much of a question as it was a statement, as far as she was concerned, of the truth.

[miss_sanguine]

Being so adept at sensing things a normal human might not, Monnayage did not miss out on the signals Dorothea was sending. Her smirk and wiliness did not distract him from the fact that she was, once again, dancing around his question.

She wasn't the first guarded person he'd come across. A lot of people tended to be, considering so many had backgrounds that might not be smiled on here in Serendipity. That made her all the more interesting.

Deciding not to acknowledge her evasion, he lifted a brow of his own and said, "Not at all, fair lady. I ask that of all beautiful women. If it helps . . ." He pulled away from her, one hand still holding hers. He opened his arms wide so that she could see all of his body, a gesture of non-hostility. "I am Monnayage Mint, cat whisperer extraordinaire. I enjoy meat, birds, and making women smile."

[Clair]

Dorothea leaned back, startled by his sudden openness of himself. She could not help but laugh at his silly description of himself, and his confidence. It was refreshing to meet such a person. Oh, how she liked him! Unable to think of anything else to do, she opened her own arms.

"I am Dorothea Ura," she said, smiling widely. "Daughter of the Angels who fell from Heaven but were cast from Hell. I like attractive, strong, confident men." She winked at him. "Such as yourself."

[miss_sanguine]

"Well, Miss Dorothea Ura," he said, laughing. "I'm not quite sure where to go with that." Talk about a heavy drop of information, even if he didn't understand what she'd said for the most part. He'd heard about Heaven and Hell from others, had read about them in books from other cultures, but the concept hadn't made much sense to him. Still didn't, apparently.

What he did understand was the admiration. She, like almost every other woman he'd ever met, thought he was appealing. And this wasn't the first time she'd told him.

He pulled her closer to him, hip pressing against hers as he looked down at her. "I was leaning more toward favorite foods, animals . . . you know. Something I might be able to honor you with?" He grinned. "Not that I can't honor you with myself. I didn't fail to notice that I was in that 'list.'"

[Clair]

Dorothea, as he pulled her close, wrapped her arms around his shoulders, molding against him. She smirked; she could smell his breath and the sweetness of his skin Dorothea was so close. Biting her lip, she secretly hoped he did not notice that where he touched her sent little tingling shock waves up her spine. This man was gorgeous.

"Oh?" she said, her voice low and soft, "And how do you expect to 'honor me with yourself', sir?"

[miss_sanguine]

How tiny this girl was! She had to be at least seven inches shorter. He'd have been more amused if it weren't for the fact that—no, okay. He was a little amused. But she was still a woman, and he a man, and some things could be overlooked in certain situations.

"We could start with what we were doing in the grass," he said, winking. "Or we could—"

<There will be no 'honoring' while I'm around, oh-so-amazing cat whisperer,> said Maneki, some cynical emphasis on the title. <Or I'll castrate you here and now.> As if for further emphasis, he could hear her kneading the ground with her claws.

He winced at the thought, but quickly covered this action up with radiating grin. "Or we could go to lunch!" This was said a bit faster than he'd meant to.

[Clair]

Dorothea raised an eye brow, glancing over at Maneki and chuckling. "Ah, I see this one still doesn't approve," she said softly. "I guess it would be rude of me to take what is clearly hers." She winked at the beautiful feline.

"I'd love to accompany you to a meal," Dorothea said, poking his nose.

[miss_sanguine]

For someone that didn't share the same magic that he did, Dorothea was showing an uncanny ability to know what was going on. Did she know a lot of people that had animal familiars, or something similar to it? How else would she know when Maneki was shoving her wet little nose into everything? It was a bit troubling, since he had always felt that his conversations with the cat were personal. Could Dorothea hear Maneki?

Giving no sign that he was having these wary feelings, he chuckled. "I'm afraid dear Maneki will never approve of anything that has to do with me and women. But," he added, "the crazed kitty is not my lover, and therefore has no say in what I do with myself." He said this more toward Manki, even though he didn't look away from Dorothea, and could feel the irritation from the cat almost immediately. "Let's go find a nice place where pets aren't allowed, hm?"

[Clair]

Dorothea flashed a grin at the cat and turned back to Monnayage. "Yes, that sounds wonderful. Perhaps we can get ourselves a room?" she chuckled but Dorothea let herself sink to the ground. She was a bit hesitant to leave the field and it's lovely green grasses. Oh, she loved it here. She inhaled deeply, trying to memorize the smell of the air, the grass, Monnayage...

[miss_sanguine]

"Of course, we'll—are you all right?" Her drop to the ground caught him off-guard and he made as if to catch her one second too late. Alarmed, he stared down at her.

<She appears to be mad,> Maneki said. She walked up to his side and sat by his feet. <Best leave her before you catch it.> The cat's mental tone was terribly irate. She was apparently quite angry with him and his plans to abandon her. Her tail flicked behind her.

<Madness isn't contagious.> It did seem strange for the girl to have melted at his feet for no apparent reason, but he wasn't going to automatically assume the girl was crazy.

[Clair]

She looked up at him lazily. "I've just been walking a long away," Dorothea said, although her voice wasn't upset or sad in tone. "I just wanted to savor this place a while longer... It's so beautiful here."

[miss_sanguine]

Monnayage looked off in the direction Dorothea had appeared from. The grassland stretched out quite a ways that way. She had probably been heading for the town that was a little further outside from here.

"Where were you coming from, if you don't mind my asking?" he asked. He looked back down at her. Women could be confusing at times, he had to admit. Here he was, burning with uninhibited passion, and she felt like playing with that by lying on the grass. Were he not experienced, he didn't know if he'd be able to control himself.

[Clair]

She sighed, flopping down into the grass. Her tunic lifting a bit to reveal her flat ivory stomach. "Just a few minutes?" Dorothea murmured, slipping one hand against her side and pulling the tunic up a little bit further. "I just want to relax a few minutes longer, Monnayage. Why don't you come down here and enjoy some time with me, hm?"

[miss_sanguine]

He might have joined her then, had Maneki not chosen that moment to growl with livid reproach and make her way up to his shoulder. This involved claws—many sharp, angry claws—fastening to his bare skin like little fish hooks.

With a strangled cry of pain, he stumbled back, nearly falling over into the grass.

<Tramp!> Maneki spat. Her ears were pulled far back on her head, teeth bared as she continued to spit with malice.

His cat's obvious hatred and jealousy flooded through his mind, merging with his own feelings and nearly overwhelming him. He was so stupid. This wasn't the first time Maneki had acted this way toward a woman he showed interest in; he should have been more prepared. He usually had to lure her away somewhere.

"Maneki, get off!" he cried. Her claws were still digging into his skin as she sat arched on his shoulder.

Once over his initial shock, he looked back at Dorothea, wincing. "I . . . ah . . . don't think Maneki would like that very much. You wouldn't happen to have any salve, would you?"

The moment was ruined.