Another day in Paradise [Eric/open]

[Noemi de Trevalion]

"Charging it is then," I said with a giggle, then swung the door open and stepped inside to look around carefully, as though something might indeed jump out. It was an attractive room with a large window and I'd decided to keep with my theme of green and gold, and the fauns and nymphs, at least for the smaller things. The larger pieces of furniture were forest or flower-themed and the view from my window showed the garden. My voice still a whisper I looked back at him and stepped a little further in. "I think it might be safe."

[Eric Lamont]

I chuckled and stepped inside. There was a smile on my face when I saw how it all had come together. "It looks very nice!" I said no longer whispering, but still quiet. I sat on the edge of the bed and looked over at the tapestry she purchased and the candelabra. "It came together well."

[Noemi de Trevalion]

"Thanks, I'm glad you think so," I told him, moving over to the armoire and looking at myself in the mirror very quickly, just to make sure the bun in my hair wasn't half-falling out, then looking back at him. "There's always room for improvement, and plenty more small things that could be added for flavor, but it's a good place to start." Looking back at him I walked over to the candelabra and picked up the little flute and blew through it to play a quiet tone. "What about your maze, has it been keeping you occupied?"

[Eric Lamont]

"Yeah, still haven't solved the thing yet," I told her, smiling when she blew the flute. "I fear once I do it will lose its novelty. Perhaps I'll let you have a go with it after that."

[Noemi de Trevalion]

"Then I'll trade you for something else so you can still be occupied. I'm sure I have some kind of toys or games that you might like, or books if you enjoy reading," I told him in a jokingly-firm tone as I set down the small flute and then sat on the edge of my bed a comfortable distance from him. "But then at a house like the one you're staying at there are probably a lot of libraries so maybe not books after all."

[Eric Lamont]

I nodded with a chuckle. "Yeah, there's plenty of books ... " I didn't finish my thought, simply because I wasn't certain how to. "So did anyone say anything about the little oddities that you ended up buying?"

[Noemi de Trevalion]

"I don't think Vic's really noticed with all of the other things she has going on," I said with a slightly mischievous smile as I turned to look at him a bit more, bringing one leg up onto the bed in a polite but slightly more comfortable pose. "She probably won't notice unless I buy something completely outrageous and leave it somewhere that she actually goes regularly, like her room. Maybe I should just place a statue in the middle of her floor, a nude one that will really shock her." Of course I wouldn't really do that, not unless I knew there was something along those lines that she wanted, but it was fun to joke about. "Have you bought anything else that's interesting?"

[Eric Lamont]

I smiled to myself, thinking how it must be to have siblings. I knew people said there was such a thing as a Night Court family. However, deep down, I knew there was nothing comparable to the real thing.

"No, I haven't, no yet anyway. I just haven't felt any desire to." I lifted my shoulders. Shopping was fun with Noemi, but I would get nothing out of it by going alone.

[Noemi de Trevalion]

"Well, if you ever do want to go do something just let me know and I'll look around with you," I said as I watched him. There was something behind his eyes that seemed to say he was thinking deeply and I leaned a little closer to rest a hand on his arm. "You seem to be thinking pretty loud in there, what's on your mind?" Maybe there wasn't anything at all and I was imagining things but with his shrug I was starting to think otherwise. If I was wrong I was sure he'd say so anyway.

[Eric Lamont]

I glanced down, then quickly back up to make eye-contact with her and smiled. "Nothing of importance. I was just wondering what a life with siblings must be like."

[Noemi de Trevalion]

His eyes met mine and I smiled a little wider, brushing my hand across his brow lightly so that I could see him a little more clearly. "I've met a lot of people and all of them think differently on having siblings," I replied after a moment of thought. "I know that my older sister is someone I look up to and respect, and I try not to be a pest to her because she's there when I need her. Someone else I know has a twin and he's very close to her, to the point where it's hard to be away I think. Some people even hate their brothers and sisters. I guess I see them as people fated to be my friends, but have to work at keeping a friendship with. That probably doesn't make any sense though."

[Eric Lamont]

I grinned. "I think I understand. Probably a situation I would have to be in to know fully. The sad thing about being an raised on Mont Nuit, not really sad I suppose, but unfortunate, is how many experiences of life you miss out on."

[Noemi de Trevalion]

"That's understandable too," I told him in a slight tone of sympathy. "But I imagine there's some things I missed out on with the way I grew up too that you got to experience, right? Maybe not things like siblings and family but there must be something. I don't know a lot about the Night Court but is it really that lonely?"

[Eric Lamont]

"No, not really lonely, it's just a different experience. I probably have a closer understanding of our beliefs, but it was also a sheltered life. " I glanced at her to see if she knew what I intended.

[Noemi de Trevalion]

"I guess I could see how it would be considered sheltered," I agreed easily, because it made sense. If you had children who were being taught to do the things that adepts did they could easily be taken advantage of. "And I'm glad it wasn't lonely, because that to me sounds like the worst thing a person could be. It must have been interesting to learn all of the Night Court training though, at least some of it." He gave me a glance and I cocked my head a bit, trying to discern what he was thinking.

[Eric Lamont]

I smiled. "It was indeed. Most of it was simply personality, developing your own personal skills. As for Naamah's arts, we got to those later. To me everything we worked on was fascinating, a bit like life itself."

[Noemi de Trevalion]

Being a d'Angeline in Serenissima I wasn't used to the particular subtleties of my native culture the way a lot of girls my age probably were. Somehow though I felt there was one sliding right by me that I just couldn't seem to grasp at yet, or get the exact sense of. "Namaah's arts aren't something we hear a lot about in Serenissima," I admitted with a slight smile, my eyes going to his again as I tried to figure out exactly what I was missing. "And when we do it's presented as legends. No one really knows what's true or false, and I don't know anything about them that wasn't presented in a few books on the subject so I can only imagine what it's like to actually learn it firsthand."

[Eric Lamont]

"Well... to me it means being more aware of the power of your body, not strength, persay but the effect even the slightest movement can make on a person to calm, seduce, give pleasure..." I had to be turning a deep shade of red by this point. "To serve as Naamah would."

[Noemi de Trevalion]

"To understand how something that seems slight to others can have a larger effect," I said, more to ask for clarification than anything else. The redness on his cheeks was very stark by this point and I realized that I was probably asking more questions that he didn't want to answer. "I'm making you uncomfortable, aren't I?" I asked in a softer tone, my smile a bit more abashed as I glanced just a little bit sideways. "I guess I kind of forget what I'm saying when I'm curious. I'm sorry."

[Eric Lamont]

I smiled and softly shook my head. "You're not making me uncomfortable. I'm simply repeating my lessons." I then chuckled. "You should know by now that I'm not as fragile as I appear."

[Noemi de Trevalion]

His words made me stop a think for a moment and I glanced back at him with a wider smile. "You're right, I should know better," I teased gently, reaching out to stroke one of his blushing cheeks. "I'm still not used to things like the blush I guess and it still makes me wonder what it means. In the future I'll try to remember, but can you promise that if I do offend you that you'll tell me, so that when I start to wonder I don't have to worry?" He'd probably think that was a silly thing to ask but it seemed a way to stop any further misunderstandings.

[Eric Lamont]

I reached up with my hand and brought her hand down from my warm cheek to gently hold it. "I promise, Noemi." I smiled at her, serious about what I said at heart and happy she cared that much.

[Noemi de Trevalion]

He really could be very sweet when he wanted to and I smiled brightly, then gently squeezed his hand. "Thank you, I really appreciate it," I replied, glad to see that something like happiness showed in his eyes. "You're really nice for being so patient with me, I must make a lot of mistakes from time to time. I'm promising right now to try and do better though."

[Eric Lamont]

"Mistakes?" I asked. "I cannot think of a single one. You've been a wonderful friend, even though we haven't known one another for very long." I gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. "We were both raised to be very different people, and for trying to meet in the middle I think we're doing excellently."

[Noemi de Trevalion]

"You're right again," I said with a light laugh, raising my free hand to the back of my neck to pat down the hair there that was trying to escape from the bun. I should probably take it down soon. "And there's some new things about d'Angelines in general that I'm trying to get used to as well. For a land that I always heard was so much more debauched and free than La Serenissima it's so much more subtle too. It's like almost everyone has very small ways of saying things that I miss a lot of the time. In Serenissima they generally meant things innocently in most cases that here seem to have an innuendo to them."

[Eric Lamont]

"That's very true ... though it will be very very rare for me to ever have such a double meaning to what I say ... The accident took most all the flirt from me I think. So yeah, innocent me is innocent me." I chuckled and then glanced into her eyes.

[Noemi de Trevalion]

"Well, I think honest innocence is charming and refreshing after seeing all of the subtlety here," I told him with conviction even as I laughed lightly while I returned his gaze. "Honesty in any form seemed to be rare enough. But if you still wanted to be that flirtatious person I'm sure you could manage it, just try not to lose too much of yourself in it. You're cute enough that I'm sure you could get whatever you want without having to resort to double entendres anyway."

[Eric Lamont]

"You think so? I wouldn't want to really be a flirt ... but," And naturally I blushed, "I don't like feeling sexless. This is probably a weird conversation to be having with you ..." I stopped talking then and let go of her hand, folding them in front of me. "And really it's weirder for a former Alyssum to say that, though we all feel it."

[Noemi de Trevalion]

When he pulled his hand away I brought my own back beside me without any kind of hesitation- it probably was a little odd to him, even though I didn't exactly see it that way. We were two friends and he was confiding in me, that was the important part- and the topic of it didn't exactly matter as much, so long as he felt better by the end of the conversation. "I do think so, and I don't think you'd have to be sexless," I said sincerely. "If you want to talk I'm here to listen and help, not to tell you that you're wrong or convince you out of whatever it is you're feeling. I don't see you as a former Alyssum though- you're just Eric, my friend."

[Eric Lamont]

I smiled at her, truly comforted, even if but a little. She was a true friend. "Thank you Noemi. That's something I really need right now as I try to adjust to life as a mostly independent person. Feel free to come and talk to me whenever you need it."