Up Close And Personable

(Sorin only, please. This thread takes place after "Gateway to Ruin" and before the scrap and thread "Disturbed Ambience" and "Ghosts of Reach" respectively for Naito, and after "Gateway to Ruin" for Jasmine.)

[i]Tranquil Grotto[/i]

Naito Zivaku looked around the grotto, absently surveying the scene as he had about three times by now. This would be as good a place as any.

So much had happened in so short a time. Jasmine's world had been saved, her creators defeated for the final time. Isaac had accepted her to the Zivakus in some degree, a thought he was scared about, and told her she was not thought as a freak, something she that made her very happy.

And she had kissed him on the cheek. The first kiss from her, though not any true degree.

Did she really like him that way? Was that it? Did she want to be... a couple? He knew his parents would not give him a break in a million years for this one. Not that he really cared, but it was embarrassing to say the least. Still... how could he do it? How could he know any of it? He needed to talk to his father, to let him know about wanting to give his immortality... but first he had to know Jasmine's reaction, what she truly wanted. [i]In... out. In... out. Breathe....[/i]

He thought back to his mother's words.

[i]"If you’re really sure about your feelings for her, then you should just go and tell her."[/i] As these things often went, he didn't want to scare her off. Not to mention he himself was scared out of his mind due to his time issue.

The other half was a little simpler. [i]"Though… a little gift might help sweeten the deal, but nothing too fancy, she might be put off by it or think that she doesn’t deserve it. Just something small that could mean a lot, if only for a short time, like flowers."[/i]

That was why he had taken a few hours off to get some things like potions and such. He did get those things, yes, and they did need a restock after the time against Galactic, though they had recovered more or less from their wounds within reasonable constraints. But he had also gotten a bouquet of flowers there as well. Someone there had told him that a good purple flower (for he did know she liked purple due to... a rather embarrassing moment in a Land of Dragons hot spring) was the purple lilac, and the moonflower had also been chosen to add. The rest they had taken upon themselves, though teasing him the whole way, until he had a mid-sized bouquet that he could give her. It was hidden, not falling apart and held down, behind a nearby wooden crate.

He looked down at his form once more. He was shirtless, as was customary of males in this world, his swords in sheathes around his waist and his flashlight on his hip as well. For a bottom half, he had a tail that was white toward his midsection and fanned out to yellow near the bottom, that of the "magnificent rabbitfish" enlarged. Swimming was easy enough, sort of like flying.

Jasmine's tail was unknown as of yet, of course, though he did look to the shell in anticipation of her arrival. Probably had a purple bikini top...

[i]No, no, don't think about that![/i] It would only make him nervous and blushing. Which he was in a small degree, but that wasn't the point.

(Feel free to have Jasmine tease Naito or start talking or both, Sorin. I doubt this topic will be that long.)

====

Naito would be getting a bit of a treat when Jasmine appeared through the save point.  She had the tail of a black cap gramma, a very dark violet near the tip, turning to a lighter and lighter purple up to the waist. For her top, she had a purple version of the typical clamshell women have.

Jasmine blinked as she checked out her own appearance.  It felt strange to have a tail.  Of course once she realized what she was wearing she grinned and looked at Naito.

"Oh Nai Nai~"  Jasmine said in a sing song voice as she tried to swim over.

====

As was probably obvious at this point, Jasmine's teasing had the desired effect. Still... it was a little stunning for him to see her in that bikini again. The teasing didn't help much, the singsong voice and the pet name. He did find the tail very good looking, though odd, and would have smiled and waved... but, as per usual, he was stuck, staring at her for a few seconds as she came closer. "Um... you look very..."

There he was. His face flushed a bright red, and spoke quickly then. "I-I wanted to show you something. Um... p-please hold on for a second, okay? Then we can t-talk..." Giving her a brief hug, he swam down, looking behind the hiding spot.... good, it was there still. He grabbed the bouquet, turning around with it behind his back, then came back to her, speaking, trying his best to keep his eyes on hers in spite of her attire. As such, this was a concentrated effort that she probably was able to notice.

"Um.... J-Jasmine, when I was at Radiant Garden, I got something aside from the Potions for you from... the currently functional shops." He didn't mention the less than stellar state of said shops, something about most of them being destroyed recently in a scuffle between a woman he could tell by description probably fit Azumi and a woman he did not recognize with light-based powers. "It... it's for you..." He took them out from behind his back then, holding out the bouquet of flowers to Jasmine.

"I.... I hope you like it... Sorry, I get really nervous around these things..." He didn't mean the flowers, as she probably could tell. He looked down again. "I... I was thinking about what happened in Sinnoh, and... and when we left and... I... I know you don't like to talk about it, and we don't talk about it much because of that, but... I just want to know... um... gods I don't know how to say this... Sorry... I..."

In truth, he wasn't having trouble with just saying the words themselves. He was having trouble because he was scared. Because he didn't want to alienate her, didn't want her to run away from him.

He just wanted to know if it was true that she felt the same way aside from him just being "some nice guy".

====

Jasmine took the bouquet of flowers from Naito.  This had caught the Sneaselmorph off guard.  No one had given her flowers like this before.  "Th-Thanks Naito."  Jasmine replied, blushing.  Really it wasn't hard to tell what Naito was talking about.  Now that she knew it was obvious to Jasmine that Naito really liked her.  And after all Naito did to help her Jazz was starting to think she was really starting to have some feelings for him as well.

Well in this case it was better to go with actions than words.  Jasmine took a deep breath and pressed her lips against Naito's.

====

For a moment, the minute Jasmine pressed her lips against his, everything froze up for Naito. All this time, he had been so nervous in how to go about this, thought he would end up scaring her away...and here she was, kissing him with no problem at all.

This told more than any words either of them would have said. She really did like him, just as he liked her. The thought of that calmed almost every nerve in his being, relieved to know that she felt the same way.

No longer holding back, Naito returned the kiss, wrapping his arms around the Sneaselmorph. There was still the one thing he was scared for, that one day he would go home and most likely have to leave her...but for now, he would simply allow himself to be happy for this one moment.

====

Jasmine smiled to herself as she held the kiss.  It was really nice and she was glad that it was with someone like Naito.  Really of all the people she could kiss there were plenty of worse people plus Naito wasn't that bad even considering how shy he is.

So for now Jasmine would just hold the kiss with Naito.  She wasn't going to pull away from this until she had to.

====

The kiss went on for approximately a minute and half. Naito, admittedly, had lost track of time, but that wasn't keeping him from trying, from enjoying this right now, forgetting, even for just the moment, that he was going to have to go home some day...

...until he realized they both probably had to breathe. Finally, reluctantly, he let go, taking deep breaths, smiling as he spoke, nervously, but happily. "Th-that was great. I'd fly through the air, but I don't want leave right now to..." He cut himself off, realizing that he was rambling, and blushed, sputtering a bit as he got under control before taking a deep breath and looking to her.

"Uh... um... do you want to go back to my sh-ship? We can make sure nobody interrupts us as we talk about this that way..."

====

"S-Sure."  Jasmine replied blushing a bit.  Despite all the flirting she does, now that she was doing things like kissing and such, it threw her completely for a loop.  She was not sure if she was doing the right thing when she first kissed Naito and was glad that he seemed to return it.  Things might have gone badly if she messed it up.

====

Naito smiled wider, blushing more. He was having trouble containing hims-- Oh, forget it.

"J-Jasmine, please wait here, okay?" He swam out of the grotto, ignoring a Heartless that appeared...and flew straight up. Faster, faster, faster!

He was so overjoyed, he didn't even care as the octopod beast disappeared, and he broke the surface, his wings spreading wide as he flipped in the air three times, cheering for joy. She liked him back! He was going to be okay! It was all going to be okay! He kept going, more, more, doing figure eights in the ai--

Okay, now he was starting to have trouble breathing. Gasping, he splashed down again on his back, dolphin kicking downward again as he breathed in the "air" normally, swimming back to the morph he loved, hugging her once more. He swam over to the shell, speaking to her. "S-sorry. I just had to get that out of my system..." He blushed deeper, then the shell activated. "Um... let's go, okay? I'll see you on my ship." And he was gone.

This day was one of the best he could remember in a long time.Naito smiled wider, blushing more. He was having trouble containing hims-- Oh, forget it.

"J-Jasmine, please wait here, okay?" He swam out of the grotto, ignoring a Heartless that appeared...and flew straight up. Faster, faster, faster!

He was so overjoyed, he didn't even care as the octopod beast disappeared, and he broke the surface, his wings spreading wide as he flipped in the air three times, cheering for joy. She liked him back! He was going to be okay! It was all going to be okay! He kept going, more, more, doing figure eights in the ai--

Okay, now he was starting to have trouble breathing. Gasping, he splashed down again on his back, dolphin kicking downward again as he breathed in the "air" normally, swimming back to the morph he loved, hugging her once more. He swam over to the shell, speaking to her. "S-sorry. I just had to get that out of my system..." He blushed deeper, then the shell activated. "Um... let's go, okay? I'll see you on my ship." And he was gone.

This day was one of the best he could remember in a long time.