[color=darkgray][CENTER][COLOR=8ECDB7][sup]________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________[/sup][/COLOR][img]https://i.imgur.com/trGSdE7.gif[/img][/CENTER][indent][sub][COLOR=8ECDB7][B]Location:[/B][/COLOR] [I]Southern Plateau[/I] - [I]Dundas Island, Pacific Ocean[/I][/sub][sup][right][COLOR=8ECDB7][b]Welcome Home #1.100:[/b][/COLOR] [I]After Hours[/I][/right][/sup][/indent][COLOR=8ECDB7][SUP][sub]____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________[/sub][/SUP][/COLOR][indent][sub][color=8ECDB7][B]Interaction(s):[/B][/COLOR] [I] [color=fe650d]Lorcán[/color] [@Lord Wraith][/I][/sub][SUP][RIGHT][COLOR=8ECDB7][b]Previously:[/b][/COLOR] [COLOR=darkGRAY][I]Supermassive Black Hole[/I][/color][/right][/SUP]
[indent]Aurora quickly masked any remaining woe in her face as Lorcán sat down next to her, trying to take Harper’s words to heart. 

[i][color=#8a9a5b]Lorcán is his own person, and we have to trust his judgment, even if we may not always agree with his choices.[/color][/i]

The redhead shook her head as the boy extended the marshmallow towards her. In normal circumstances, she would have eagerly accepted, as Lorcán had a talent for crafting the perfect s’more. So much so, she refused to attempt them herself and opted for him to make them on her behalf, which he always obliged. But her appetite had still not returned, and she really wasn’t in the mood. 

[color=#8ecdb7]“Sad? I’m not sad.” [/color]Denial at its finest. [color=#8ecdb7]“Thanks, but I’m not that hungry.” [/color]Aurora stated, before looking around at their teammates, noticing some were turning in and heading to their tents. [color=#8ecdb7]“Honestly, I might call it a night. It’s been a long day, and tomorrow is going to be even longer.” [/color]The thought of going to sleep sent a shiver down her spine, not knowing what her dreams, or lack thereof, would hold. But tonight she was mostly concerned with someone else being mere feet from her, thus subjected to her terrors. It was a disclaimer she knew she didn’t need to provide Lorcán with but she paused, trying to decide how to word her next request.

[color=#8ecdb7]“You can wake me up, if I’m having a nightmare… I’d prefer that, actually. Who knows if I’ll have one tonight, but I just wanted to put it out there. I’m sorry if I do.”[/color]

Wrapping a hand around the marshmallow, Lorcán subtly reduced it to nothing but ash before standing. 

[color=#fe650d]“No problem, Lady Dude, I’ll always watch out for you.”[/color] He exaggerated a yawn with a stretch.

[color=#fe650d]“Yeah, bed sounds good.”[/color] He added, letting Aurora know she wasn’t getting away from him that quickly. 

The redhead rose to her feet cautiously. Each step she took toward the tent, [i]their [/i]tent, was hesitant. As they walked side by side her heartbeat fluttered, an unfamiliar bout of nerves setting in. It was no big deal, she tried to remind herself, but especially after her conversation with Harper this afternoon, she wasn’t so sure she could continue telling herself that.

Opening the tent for Aurora, Lorcán waited until she was inside before entering himself, pausing, before he turned and addressed her.

[color=#fe650d]“Uh, hey Lady Dude, if you need to change or whatever, I can like go back outside,”[/color] He offered, before gesturing to the seam down the middle of the tent. 

[color=#fe650d]“Or there’s the privacy screen if you’re totally comfortable with that.”[/color]

She hadn’t really gotten the chance yet to examine the pair’s living space for the night. Sure, Aurora slept in a tent like this every year for the last seven years, but for some reason, this year it felt [i]smaller[/i] than usual. She’d never noticed how close the two cots seemed to be… or maybe it was just her imagination. 

Eyes darting to the middle of the tent before turning to Lorcán, Aurora shrugged. [color=#8ecdb7]“The privacy screen works just fine for me.” [/color]She stated, moving to reveal the barrier between the two sides of the space and locking it into place. If it had been daytime, the screen would have been completely opaque, but with the lights illuminated, the girl’s shadow was visible as she moved about, but nothing more.

She dug around in her tote for her pajamas, an old oversized Myotis tee shirt and a pair of shorts, and began to get changed. Silence hung, only the sound of her movements audible, and in that moment the tent felt somehow even more cramped.  

Lorcán’s molten-coloured eyes were drawn to the shadowy silhouette on the other side of the screen. His heart thumped against his ribcage, escalating in speed as Aurora removed her uniform. The light outlined her supple form, each subtle curve revealed ironically through shadow.

Removing his shirt, Lorcán looked down towards his chest. Beside him, the two silhouettes on the privacy screen became intertwined. Faces nearing each other, lips hovered within millimetres while hands moved to hips. His shorts hit the floor first, a dull, muffled thud seemingly thundered through the tent as they did.

He felt warm.

His body reacted to the sight of Aurora’s silhouette sensually illuminated in the soft, flickering light. He felt himself flush, the sudden rush causing his abilities to raise the tent’s ambient temperature. His HZEs sought Aurora’s own before merging with them, synchronizing their beating hearts. 

Heavy breathing hung in the stillness of the dimly lit tent while beads of sweat began to dot his forehead, humidity sticky to his glistening skin. Lorcán suddenly felt like he could feel Aurora’s silhouette, her soft skin beneath his fingers, her heartbeat racing under his touch. The exhilarating aroma of rose and peony overwhelmed Lorcán, intoxicating him with her scent. He leaned forward in the empty air, his lips felt as though they brushed up against hers. His hand caressed against her ethereal jawline, his fingers tracing along her cheek, tucking behind her ear before cradling the back of her head.

And then Lorcán tripped.

Tumbling downwards, he scrambled to catch himself, grabbing ahold of the privacy screen that gave way with a loud rip before revealing Aurora and entangling the solely boxer-clad Lorcán beneath it. His uniform shorts were still around his ankle, the culprit behind his fall.

[color=#fe650d]“Ow.”[/color]

Aurora stepped out of her uniform athletic shorts, slipping on the softer cotton sleep shorts, and pulled her shirt up and over her head removing it. She opted to keep on her sports bra in case she got too warm in the middle of the night, which seemed inevitable given the human furnace on the other side of the tent. Grasping her oversized tee in her hand, preparing to put it on, she paused. The part of her that feared the night wished she was sleeping in the familiarity of her own dorm, and she let her thoughts drift, her HZE’s seemingly pulling her to move and readying for the jump. 

And then suddenly, he was there.

She didn’t know how and she didn’t know why, but Lorcán’s calloused fingertips grazed her skin, at least, it felt like it. The redhead grew warm, not only from the rising temperature of the tent but from the thought of his touch, her pulse quickening as citrus consumed her senses. Her eyes fluttered shut as she basked in the feeling, he was everywhere, he was everything.

The sound of the fabric screen ripping snapped her out of it, and Aurora jumped, startled. She tried to catch her breath as well as steady her pounding heartbeat. The girl looked down at Lorcán on the ground, brought back to reality, and nimbly threw her tee shirt over her sports bra. [color=#8ecdb7]“Oh god, uh,” [/color]She started, swallowing as her throat suddenly grew very dry, [color=#8ecdb7]“I, uh- are you okay?” [/color]The redhead asked, a million thoughts racing through her brain. 

[color=#fe650d]“I’m just choka,”[/color] Came the groaned reply. [color=#fe650d]“My face broke my fall.”[/color] 

Truth be told, in his current predicament, his face did not take the brunt of the fall, but somewhere lower. With a small moan, Lorcán rolled over to face Aurora, sitting there for a second in all his mostly naked glory, before his eyes darted downwards to the stretched red boxers. He felt flush again, his eyes widening before quickly pulling the damaged privacy screen over his lap and looking back at Aurora.

[color=#fe650d]“So, like a few seconds ago, before I fell,”[/color] He started, [color=#fe650d]“Did you, uh feel anything?”[/color]

The girl would have normally laughed at Lorcán’s clumsiness, maybe even given him a hard time about it, but as she stood there in the wake of his fall, she couldn’t find the proper words. She was trying to figure out how it was possible that had just happened… that, and wondered if she had even wanted that moment to end. As they made eye contact, she saw something else in his gaze; it was always fiery, but this felt different. Her focus faltered as he looked away, letting her baby blues rove over his toned chest and arms. Catching herself before they dipped elsewhere, Aurora averted her eyes and turned, attempting to regain her composure. 

But Lorcán’s next question had her feeling warm all over again. Thankfully, he couldn’t see how red her face had become. So it [i]wasn’t [/i]just her. 

Without turning around, she cleared her throat. [color=#8ecdb7]“I…I felt…yeah, I did.”[/color]

[color=#fe650d]“Me too,”[/color] replied Lorcán, [color=#fe650d]“It’s the first time I wanted it to happen, but I’ve experienced this before.” [/color]He continued,

[color=#fe650d]“It’s like, uh, how do I explain it,”[/color] He paused. [color=#fe650d]“It’s like in ability training when we boost or block each other’s powers, but instead it's a mingling. But it’s like not just our powers mingling, it’s all of us.”[/color]

[color=#fe650d]“It happened before with Amma. When she tried to break down the logs in one of my fires.” [/color]Lorcán admitted almost sheepishly. He rubbed the back of his head apologetically. [color=#fe650d]“I didn't even know it was possible before last night. I should have told you sooner.”[/color]

As the boy spoke, Aurora couldn’t help but notice the sinking feeling in her stomach that only seemed to intensify with each word that flowed from his lips. It was almost nonchalant the way he glossed over the details of something that felt so intimate and then dropped [i]her[/i] name like an absolute bomb. Truth be told, the redhead had never thought about what would happen when he met someone, what that would mean for them and how it’d make her feel, but she’d never expected it to be like this. 

She moved to sit down on her cot and glanced at Lorcán, the flush on her cheeks having dissipated, his admission like a bucket of cold water over her head. [color=#8ecdb7]“Oh,” [/color]The girl started, eyes darting down to her hands in her lap as she hid the disappointment in her voice, [color=#8ecdb7]“I didn’t know that could happen either.” [/color]Aurora reached her right hand up absentmindedly to fidget with her necklace, pulling it along the chain. [color=#8ecdb7]“And you two… figured that out?”[/color]

[color=#fe650d]“No!”[/color] He immediately protested, [color=#fe650d]“No, no it wasn’t like [i]that[/i], not in the slightest,[/color]” Lorcán replied, [color=#fe650d]“The first time I had no idea what was happening, then when we were assigned together I realized she’d never really been allowed to have fun with her powers, y’know?”[/color] He stated, embarrassment behind every word. Lorcán could see the hurt on Aurora’s face. It left him feeling sick, a ball of anxiety swirling in his stomach threatening to pull him inside out.

[color=#fe650d]“Remember when we used to play tag, but I could never win because you’d always teleport away at the last minute? I wanted to make sure she had some sort of good memory to hold onto and not just whatever gnarly experience the Foundation put her through.”[/color] His brain was working in overdrive to explain, but he just couldn’t shake the guilty feeling.

[color=#fe650d]“Ugh, ‘Rora I am so sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about last night earlier. I am sorry I didn’t warn you that this could happen. But I didn’t figure it out with her, at least not fully, I had an idea of what was happening, but what happened with you, here, just now…”[/color] His voice trailed off.

[color=#fe650d]“When my powers merged with Amma’s, it was like a really hot shower. It felt good, but it was just a [i]good[/i] sensation, ultimately empty.”[/color] He fumbled his words a bit as he tried to explain.

[color=#fe650d]“But just now, with you. It was intimate like I was feeling all of you, everything about you. It was like our entire essences joined. I’ve always felt close to you, but, in that moment, I felt one with you.”[/color] He took a breath.

[color=#fe650d]“It felt like I was whole.”[/color] Lorcan let the words hang for a second before moving his hand. He hesitated before placing it on Aurora’s.

[color=#fe650d]“Look, you mean the world to me and I never wanted to hurt you. With Amma, I was just trying to be friendly, I didn’t mean or want to get caught up in this ‘power mingling’. But tonight with you, it felt…”[/color] His voice trailed off, nerves catching up with the oddly bold comments he had been making. Though in all fairness, Lorcán was sitting there undressed with very little left to the imagination. If Aurora was going to push him away, he might as well show his hand.

[color=#fe650d]“Right.”[/color] He squeezed her hand. 

[color=#fe650d]“I just need you to know Amma is just a friend,”[/color] Lorcán continued, before adding a small scoff. [color=#fe650d]“Cutback, ‘friend’ might even be too generous.”[/color] He squeezed Aurora’s hand again.

[color=#fe650d]“But you’re my number one, my ride or die and nothing,” [/color]He took hold of her other hand, looking her sincerely in the eyes, their faces hovering very closely together.[color=#fe650d] “I mean [i]nothing[/i] is ever changing that.”[/color][/indent][/indent][/color]