Sand is sand no matter where you are...

[tooghoulforschool]

Who: Anna Milton and Fun Ghoul
What: Call it what you want, but don't call it a date. (It's a date)
Where: The beach
When: Day 77 - Afternoon
Warning: Ghoul might punch someone in the face if anyone says anything about this.


"Hey, no, just keep 'em closed, alright? No sneak-peeking." It's okay, Anna, he's got you. Gently, and carefully, leading her down to the beach by both hands. He's being extra careful because he's walking backwards, watching her face. Making sure she open her eyes. It's important! Gotta be a surprise.

Thinking he'd lost her, after losing so many others, it hurt more than he thought it would. More than it even should have. It happened. He got attached. Anna just means so damn much and he doesn't have much left.

So he leads her down. Over the sand, closer to the water, but not too close... right to the perfect spot. He smiles wide, positioning her just so, and moves to stand behind her with his hands on her shoulders. "Okay. Open up."

There's a blanket on the sand, folded up and nice and clean. A slightly-rusted umbrella, that looks like it came from an outdoor patio set, sits at an angle, shoved into the sand. There's a small basket in the center of the blanket with a few cans, a serrated knife, and some forks. There's even napkins. Napkins, Anna! He brought fucking napkins! And sitting in a bucket of ice is a bottle of red wine that he had to trade for. Worth it. She's worth more than this, but this is all he has to give her. It's still not good enough.

Comments

[afallenstar]

Anna has been on exactly four dates in her life, all squeezed between the years of starting college and - well, and finding out that she was actually an angel, but details details. The point is, she's well-learned in just about every subject on Earth. She's been around since the beginning of time and she's watched humanity for two thousand years. Anna can tell you exactly how they built the pyramids, but a date?

Honestly? She's nervous.

She follows along after him carefully, and it's not the lack of sight that really throws her off. It's just a level of perception after all, and she has plenty of that. She knows where she's going, but she's glad for the hands in hers all the same. She's woefully unprepared for this, but he's got her hands and she trusts him, so preparation will have to come on the spot.

It's not hard to figure out roughly where they are. Even without the benefit of sight there's still clear signs, but just as he asks she keeps her eyes firmly closed until he gives the all clear for her to look. At least he's behind her, so when she sees the little set up he's crafted for them he doesn't actually see the momentary dumb smile that tugs at her lips. Worlds away from home, ripped away from where they should be and in near constant danger, with absolute minimal resources and Ghoul still manages to trump almost any romantic encounter she ever had as a human.

"This is..." She turns her head, just enough to look over her shoulder and smile at him. "You did it for us?"

She's impressed, Ghoul. She's really impressed. It might be a rusted umbrella and a bunch of cans, sitting on an empty beach in god knows where, but he did it for her, and that hasn't happened to her in a long time. She's very impressed.

[tooghoulforschool]

Don't be nervous, Anna. It's just some guy trying to do something nice for-- ... for his girl.

He smiles so wide when she turns to look at him. He did good! She's happy and he did good. He leans forward to kiss her softly before answering. "Did it for you." Huge difference.

Come on, come with him. He gets an arm around her waist and leads her over to the blanket to sit.

[afallenstar]

Okay, yeah, that makes a difference. Things are so damn complicated here, but it's not going to kill anyone if they just take an afternoon to themselves, right? It's just an afternoon, just a few hours. They've got so much to be responsible for here, a few hours isn't too much to ask for, right?

So she smiles, practically beams and follows over to the blanket. It's rough, but it's so him that it's perfect, the whole arrangement. Once Anna's settled, she looks at the cans for a moment before laughing quietly. "Is this a bad time to point out I don't actually have to eat?"

It's something that slips her mind, since there's only one person in their house that even needs food. Chuck sorts himself out, Gabriel can produce his own....whatever the hell he's decided he wants to eat today, and Anna - well, she's not about to take someone else's rations for the sake of appearances. Not when things are so tight.

[tooghoulforschool]

It's practically no time at all! Considering they might not have time like this again. Fuck responsibility. Fuck being on guard every second of the day.

When Anna laughs, Ghoul laughs. Of course she doesn't eat. He shakes his head, "Nah, not a bad time. S'good. Means we use up less. More for the kids, right?" He's not mad or bothered or let down. If anything, he's intrigued and a little jealous. Something like that would have come in real handy back home. Not having to eat, not having to stop, not having to worry about Girl having enough in her stomach. He just thought the cans were a nice touch.

"You don't have to eat... do you sleep?" He didn't. Not when he was a demon. Except when Galen made him sleep-- he doesn't want to think about that. Nope. "I got a theory 'bout you. Don't wanna say it out loud if you don't wanna. But I think about it."

A lot.

[afallenstar]

"Exactly. There's a reason there's next to nothing in our place. The other two..."

She just shrugs a little, because she's still figuring out how best to phrase 'angel' without actually saying angel, and it's proving to be surprisingly difficult for someone old enough to know how to speak it in almost every language in existence, including the ones that aren't spoken any more and ones never spoken by humans. All those words and they don't mean a thing when it comes to trying to explain herself to Ghoul.

A theory though. She's actually kind of intrigued, so she just raises an eyebrow at him as she smiles slightly. "No, I don't sleep."

She'll be impressed if he's figured it out. She'll be really impressed if he's figured it out actually, she'll be impressed if he even manages to come close. It's not a leap people generally tend to make, after all. "Go on, surprise me."

[tooghoulforschool]

That's what he thought. The sleep thing.

He smiles real wide, leaning forward a little reaching out to take her hand, holding it so the palm faces upward. He traces a line with the index finger of his other hand, looking deep into her eyes. "You can learn a lot from palm reading, yanno. This here? This tells me you're selfless to a fuckin' fault. But I already knew that. I also already knew you got skills. Poppin' outta nowhere... wardin' off evil." Another line, he runs his finger over it lightly all the way to the end before closing her hand and holding it between both of his.

"I know you're good. Real good. I know you're as close to perfect as I've ever been near. I know I feel around you how I felt around Jet that one week when I wasn't myself. Only difference is, I like it when I'm normal." His smile gets bigger and he brings the inside of her wrist up to his mouth to kiss. "Angel Eyes, I think you came from the sky above."

[afallenstar]

Anna watches the movement of his finger on her palm for a moment before her eyes flick up, meet Ghoul's and her smile is a little less playful, a little less casual and a little fonder. She grows a little more serious, but that's okay. It's a serious topic, and one she's not exactly touching lightly here. Of course she's meant to tell him for a while now, but something always gets in the way. It wasn't the right time, or something happened, tragedy struck - there was always an interruption, a reason to keep the secret a little longer.

But here he is, and he has. He's figured it out, and he's still here. Her head tilts a little as she regards him, just watches as his lips meet her wrist and she just keeps smiling. "When'd you get so smart?"

The comment is lightly teasing, but she really is impressed. It shows in the way she smiles, the way her gaze drops and she reaches out to wrap her free hand around his lightly. "There's a lot of reasons why I didn't tell anyone. Not all of them are so selfless as I'd like you to think."

[tooghoulforschool]

"Probably the day I asked you for a kiss." Probably the extent of his genius right there. It's not even like he planned that! Just spur of the moment bullshit that ended better than he ever could have hoped. He didn't plan any of this, it just happened. And yeah, he's still here. Where else would he go? Who else would want him? Anna's seen his absolute worst and she's still here. That says a lot more about her than it does about him.

And now he's holding her hands and he's not letting go. Just let him look at you. "You don't gotta gimme reasons. You don't gotta tell no one, I won't. Between you and me, scout's honour. Don't care what you are, Anna, just wanna be with who you are."

... Sure did just say that out loud. Fuck.

[afallenstar]

"Definitely one of your finer moments." She never would have guessed months ago that a scribbled mistletoe and some unfortunate timing would have gone this well. not that it's exactly been easy, they've struggled along in the face of a surprising amount of speed bumps, but the fact that they're still sticking whatever 'this' is out says it all, doesn't it?

They don't talk about it. Not in so many words, in fact the closest they've ever come in in that damn tree amidst near chaos. It had taken great circumstance for either of them to talk even remotely freely about anything bordering on feelings for the other, and other than that it's been mostly left unsaid. Words have power, and it's already been hard enough to get this far, and it feels almost like tempting fate to actually say it out loud.

But he does it anyway, and for a moment she honestly looks surprised. It's even less expected than him figuring that secret of hers out, but she squeezes his hands and looks right back. Might even have a slightly dumb little grin here just for him. "You know, most people have a lot more questions than that. Most people can't look past it, not that fast."

She lets go of one of his hands, but only so that she can touch his hair lightly, brush some back behind his ear and then just rest her hand against his jaw. Most people might ask more, but he isn't most people. He's never been most people. She might even look a little nervous as she goes to speak again (and really - she's a quote unquote angel of the lord but still gets a little awkward around guys? Humanity's influence is deep in this one) but she says it anyway, only joking a little as she adds, "But. Feel free to tell me more about this wanting to be with who I am, I could stand to hear more of that."