tearmeanewone | rendez-vous + APPOINTMENT POST

But you won't be like him. [Elizabeth is happy to face Gai again--she doesn't think he's angry at all, or that he's placing any blame on her. Just like the night Gai came back to Luceti, Elizabeth believes that she was the one to start this. So she wants to fix it.]

[She reaches up to stroke his cheek again.] Mostly because I've seen you separate the leader side of you from what you show me. ...But also because I'm not having children with you if you ever talk about trying anything scientific with them whatsoever. [She smiles and lightly taps Gai's cheek in a play-slap. Then she looks down at herself, tries to tuck in again.]

I shouldn't have joked about it, though. Columbia was... very strict in its views on everything. Radical, even. [She knows that word as it applies to religion now. When she had realized that other religions besides that of Columbia existed, she had been shocked and fascinated. And then, of course, she had found the counter opinions on everything...]

I was taught, when I was younger, that I was never to 'join' with any man before I married him. 'But who am I supposed to marry? I've seen no other man here before,' I thought. I had my dreams, of course. That I would meet someone, and we would fall in love and be married. And then join with him to have children--and only to conceive children.

This has been absolutely nothing like what I had imagined, and I love that it's nothing like what I imagined because it's incredibly real. But sometimes I'm afraid that I am indecent, and spoiled, and a whore. Because I love how this feels...

[That can't be right, though. How could something that made her feel so loved be bad? Elizabeth looks up at Gai, still worried and confused.] Tell me what it's like where you come from. Is this wrong where you're from too?

Not at all.

[Gai lifts his clean hand to stroke her cheek in return, grinning crookedly at that playful fake-slap she gives him. He knows she's joking, and it's because of that that he doesn't mind the words one bit, even though they would induce rage in him were they to come from anyone else under any other circumstances.]

There are some old-fashioned people who still disapprove of sex outside of marriage, but for the most part, it's a common and accepted thing now. People finally figured out that it's stupid to wait until you're married to find out whether or not you're sexually compatible with someone else. And what's more, they realized that nothing bad is going to happen if you do sleep with someone you aren't married to. Plenty of people even get married and never have children at all.

Things have changed a lot in more than a century. There's nothing indecent or spoiled about wanting to be intimate with someone you love even if you aren't married to them. There isn't even anything wrong with wanting sex just for fun either. What you do in the bedroom is no one's business but your own and the person you're sleeping with.

You can have as much or as little sex as you want where I come from. There might be some people who criticize, but they aren't worth paying any attention to. You do what feels right for you and what you're comfortable with.

[Now his smile becomes a little more genuine.]

Besides, I thought I already promised to marry you one day.

You did... [Elizabeth smiles, blushes, and leans into Gai's hand.] Though there are some people who might argue that any man who wants the intimacy now and the commitment later doesn't have the truest intentions. But I reckon that if that was your aim, you would have stopped seeing me a while ago.

[Something occurs to her and she frowns slightly.] What do you suppose being married will do to how we are now? Are we going to be more serious? I always figured that if I were to be married, I'd be much older than I am now, and probably more serious about life in general. And Jack and Eugene told me this horrible thing about how in their world, marriage is like signing some kind of contract, and it's a legal agreement between two people. It sounds like two people can't just be married because they love one another, they have to think about money and, and laws and bizarre things that have nothing to do with love. That isn't going to be us, is it?

[Is that what she's worried about? For a moment, Gai almost wants to let out a little laugh at what seems to him to be such a... well, an innocent thing to be worrying about. Innocent, yet understandable, and that's why he doesn't laugh or smile or anything of the sort.]

Not if you don't want it to be. Marriage is whatever you make of it. Some people want it to be serious, some don't. And it doesn't mean that anything has to change between us unless you want it to.

[He strokes his thumb lightly over her cheek.]

The laws and money are just formalities that have to be dealt with-- at its heart, it's still about making a commitment to the person you love and making it official. Things haven't changed that much between our times.

[Mentally he makes a note to have A Talk with Jack and Eugene about giving Elizabeth a rather depressing view of marriage in general. Okay, so they may have been trying to dissuade her from leaping into things, but still. Did they really have to bring all of the legal nonsense into it?]

For me, it's proof that I want to spend the rest of my life with you.

Gai... you're always saying that. [Elizabeth frowns and leans harder into Gai's hand.] What about what you want? I want to give you what you want too.

I only want to give myself entirely to you. I want to be sure you never feel alone ever again, until the day I die. [She smiles wistfully.] And after that, our children will be there for you.

[This time Gai does laugh a little, though it's fond and not at all malicious.]

This is what I want more than anything else. I don't care what world we end up in as long as I can be with you and whatever children we have in the future. I'm just happy being by your side, and I'll never be alone now that you're here.

[Elizabeth makes an annoyed hmph and leans the full weight of her head into Gai's hand.] It's far too easy, you have to come up with something that's more complicated. Otherwise I'm going to feel like the lazy half.

I didn't think there was anything lazy about the process of having children.

[And before she can protest, he leans in for a kiss, gentle and loving rather than passionate for the time being. He really did mean every single thing he said to her.]

[So Elizabeth has to wait until Gai is done kissing her to protest. Big deal. ...but maybe a little of it has ebbed away in light of that.]

I'd have them for my own sake too, you know. [She grins and kisses Gai again, a little coaxing, still sweet and gentle.] A boy with brown hair and beautiful silver eyes. We would let him play everyday in the sun... like we couldn't. [Elizabeth can almost see him walking unsteadily, hand in hand with Gai, and it's so beautiful she starts to tear up. Maybe it did mean more than Elizabeth had originally thought.]

[She laughs thickly and wipes at her eyes.] I'm getting a little ahead of myself.

[He's happy to let her draw out that kiss as long as she wants, keeping it sweet as he envisions a similar scene in his mind. That little boy, walking between him and Elizabeth and holding hands with both of them, just an afternoon walk on a sunny day. It is a beautiful image, and one he'd never thought he'd want to make a reality as much as he does right now.]

And then in a few years we could give him a little sister to tease and then be overly protective of once they got older. With any luck, she'll have your eyes.

[Once more he leans in, this time to kiss those tears away.]

And she won't be allowed to date anyone until she turns eighteen.

[Elizabeth laughs again as Gai kisses the little tears she's shed.] That's a little hypocritical of you, don't you think? You were probably dating as soon as you could.

[Gai allows himself a moment of kissing and nuzzling before he pulls back enough to look her in the eyes with a smile.]

I'd been with other women before, but I'd never dated anyone before you.

So essentially, our daughter isn't going to be allowed to even look at a boy because boys just like you exist. Is that what you're telling me? [She grins and steals another quick, but slightly heated kiss.] I can see the appeal, though.

Got it in one. You'll thank me for it later.

[His response to that kiss is a little more mischievous, a little more intense. Looks like she isn't the only one getting back in the mood already...]

Would you really want her dating someone like me?

Mm... [Elizabeth considers while she shuffles back up nearly onto Gai's lap.]

No, I suppose not. You're far too adventurous, and handsome, and your seduction skills are top of the line. [She puts another lingering kiss on Gai's lips.] She could fall in love with someone like that. Be completely swept away.

That's exactly what I wouldn't want.

[He slides his hands down to rest them on her waist over the corset and pull her closer to him.]

I know just how dangerous I am, and I'm pretty certain you do too. It's why you're dressed like this and sitting in my lap.

[The kiss he gives her this time holds no pretense of being anything other than passionate and wanting. He's through with being coy; hearing those compliments from Elizabeth makes him want to get right back down to business and show her just how top-of-the-line his seduction skills really are.]

Oh no-- [Elizabeth puts a finger on Gai's lips once they part, but the rest of her is leaning right against him.] You don't get all the credit for this.

Our son isn't allowed to date women like me, either. We have to be fair, after all.

You've got yourself a deal.

[And then, because he's in a mood to show her just how much he can misbehave, he lets his tongue dart out to lave a quick lick against her finger before capturing it between his lips and sucking lightly on it.]

[Gai really can misbehave like no one else--but Elizabeth loves it. She loves how easily Gai falls into behavior that's a little outlandish and exciting, like it's nothing.]

[She wiggles in Gai's lap and then goes still for a moment, thinking.] Tell me it's alright to be dirty like this. To sit here in half of my underwear and rub against you, without any thought about anything else.

[There we go, that was the sort of response he was hoping for from her, the Elizabeth who teases him every bit as much as he teases her. He loves that side of her and doesn't want her to ever, ever feel ashamed or doubtful of it.]

It's all right for you to be as dirty as you want to be if it makes you feel good, and don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise.

rendez-vous + APPOINTMENT POST

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