A(n Alcohol) Lake in the Autumn (Jaelyn)

[Sakuya Kyoudou]

Sakuya nodded and looked away from Jaelyn, now turning her attentions to her drink. "It's alright. There's no need to apologize. I'm grateful you haven't already flipped out on me or something. It's the least I could ask, for you to be reasonable about it. As long as I am a Shadow, it's dangerous for the both of us to be together in that kind of situation. Just please promise me you'll take care of yourself. I don't want to lose you," she said, now looking back at Jaelyn again. "I don't want to lose you." she repeated herself again, a hand now placed on her own chest. She accepted this outcome; it was probably the best possible outcome for this sort of thing. No argument, no fight, no nothing. Just a peaceful agreement and resolution. Deep down inside, she just didn't want to lose Jaelyn. She was the first person where she didn't feel any sort of negative tendency or emotion. She hadn't even fed off her at all, despite having been close to her.

"I just care about you a lot..."

[Jaelyn Callahan]

Jaelyn's smile remained, but it got stronger as Sakuya responded. What she said, didn't need to be said at all, but it was still nice to hear. Comforting, even. She didn't want to lose Sakuya either. But, perhaps more importantly, she didn't want Sakuya to go through losing her.

"So long as it's in my power, I'm not going anywhere," Jaelyn said. "I'm staying right here with you, even if the rest of the world burns around us." And maybe it would. Having been fighting for the sake of the city (or, at least, contributing to that despite inherently personal interests), she wasn't sure she wanted it to go that far. But, whatever happened, Jaelyn would do everything in her power to keep herself and Sakuya safe and together. She leaned in towards Sakuya, trying to lean against her, but quickly pitched forward and had to catch herself before crashing into her. "Hah...I guess I've already had too much to drink," she said.

Why the hell did she have to be such a lightweight?

[Sakuya Kyoudou]

Sakuya nodded. "Thank you." she simply said, solemnly and with the best intentions she could muster from her being. She was glad that Jaelyn would try her best as well on her part to take care of herself and keep her alive. Perhaps their relationship would be considered taboo by some, or at the very least, questionable and suspect. Sakuya knew that for as long as she stayed close to Jaelyn, the danger of being struck down by other users as being part of this whole lockdown business was ever-present. However, before she could continue on her thoughts, Jaelyn leaned forward and tried to go against her, but she seemed to crash into her instead.

Sakuya caught Jaelyn in her arms, which caused Puck to chuckle very softly but audibly. "It's alright, dear," Sakuya said, trying to cradle her to calm her down. "Want me to carry you back to your apartment? Or is there somewhere you wanna go? Or would you like to stay a bit longer?"

[Jaelyn Callahan]

"Hold on, let me finish my last drink first," Jaelyn said, fumbling for it until she managed to find and pick up the glass. She downed the rest of the drink in one go, then nearly dropped the glass as she set it back down. By some miracle, it landed upright and stayed that way. Jaelyn turned back to Sakuya and huddled in her arms. Even if they were still in public, this was the best position to be in. What she said, though...

"I hate my place. You should know this by now," she answered. Sooner or later, she resolved, she was just going to have to get the hell out of it and move in with Sakuya. Maybe if she did that she could even get back some of the money that her mother had put into making sure she had a place to stay.

[Sakuya Kyoudou]

Sakuya smiled as Jaelyn finished her glass and, while she almost dropped it, it didn't break as it somehow landed upright and didn't tip over. Maybe it was a lucky sign or something, but Sakuya wasn't exactly superstitious. Sakuya held Jaelyn and smiled as the latter told her she hated her own place, and from that Sakuya knew that she would probably be taking Jaelyn to either one of her two homes depending on which was better. "I'm sorry, honey," she said, stroking Jaelyn's hair. "It slipped my mind." The Shadow fumbled with her pockets and produced a wad of bills which she slapped on the counter. Puck waded over and took them as she counted the money and nodded, smiling.

"You two take care now, y'hear? It's getting late." she said.

"We'll be fine, thanks," Sakuya answered as she stood up, attempting to carry Jaelyn in her arms, and managed it after some time. "Looks like we're going to my place then!" Sakuya soon set off, holding Jaelyn in a bridal carry, making her way back to her apartment in the city.

[Jaelyn Callahan]

Jaelyn tried to continue huddling into Sakuya to try and make herself easier to pick up. She laughed as it still took Sakuya a few tries to actually get her. "That would be great," Jaelyn said as Sakuya mentioned going back to her place. She gave the bartender a half wave as they left, then turned back in towards Sakuya and slung her arms around Sakuya's neck. Being held like this, she suddenly didn't care what any of the other Users thought of their relationship. Or maybe it was the alcohol talking. But even so, she felt like if Sakuya was there, everything would turn out fine somehow. "You know...I could really get used to this," Jaelyn said as Sakuya was carrying her back.

[Sakuya Kyoudou]

Sakuya blushed and smiled as Jaelyn slung her arms around Sak's neck, huddling into her a little. As the two left, Puck silently nodded and softly eked out a "Come again." En route to Sakuya's apartment, the pair got a couple of blank stares, but at this point, Sakuya really didn't care. She knew Jaelyn was probably drunk (though she didn't know how bad it was) and as such she needed to take care of her. Jaelyn soon mentioned 'getting used to this,' and to this Sakuya simply responded "I'd do anything for you, you know."

The trip back was uneventful aside from that, and it wasn't very long before the two of them reached Sakuya's apartment. The door unlocked and locked again once they were inside; Sakuya opened the door to her bedroom and gently placed Jaelyn on the large bed. "We're home now, dear. Anything you want me to get you or make you?" Sakuya, still standing by the bed, asked as she smiled warmly at Jaelyn.

[Jaelyn Callahan]

Home. That was what Sakuya had said after lying Jaelyn on the now familiar bed in her apartment. Home, huh? Jaelyn very rarely thought of her own room like that. It was always 'my room' or 'my place' or something like that. But now that they were back at Sakuya's apartment, Sakuya had said it as though this was their home, not just hers. That...felt pretty good, actually. To have a place Jaelyn could properly call home since coming to this city, even if it wasn't actually hers. Maybe she really would have to move in, eventually.

The only problem was, it seemed to be having trouble staying in one place at the moment. Jaelyn wasn't even going to bother trying to get up. That was just asking to get her to fall over. Besides, she was comfortable here. Or, at least, as comfortable as she could get in her current inebriated state. So when Sakuya asked if there was anything she could get her, Jaelyn replied with a short laugh and "Can you make the room stop spinning?"

Yeah, she'd definitely had too much.

[Sakuya Kyoudou]

Sakuya simply blinked as she saw Jaelyn lie as comfortably as she could in her rather inebriated state on the bed, and responded with "Can you make the room stop spinning?" Sakuya was no expert, but she could tell that Jaelyn was rather drunk. However, Sakuya hadn't the slightest clue on how to assist someone who was drunk, other than perhaps tending to them and trying to help them feel better in case they were about to hurl. "I'll see what I can do, dear. For now, just try to relax and take it easy there as best you can," Sakuya said as she went off quickly to scrounge about for some stuff that could potentially help out... She got a large pail from her bathroom, and an icepack from her fridge, soon she returned to her room.

She placed the large pail by Jaelyn and the icepack on the bedside table nearer to Jaelyn. "I'm not actually sure what the best way to deal with this kind of inebriation is, but if you do feel sick, here's a pail so you don't need to get up. I'm also not sure if this... thing will help." Sakuya scratched her head before sighing and sitting on the bed next to Jaelyn. "I am a bit tired, myself. It's been a long day."

[Jaelyn Callahan]

Jaelyn did as she was told, trying her best to just relax. Well...she didn't feel particularly sick, at least. Just extremely dizzy. So the pail was probably not necessary. And the ice pack probably wasn't going to do much of anything, but it was nice and cool so Jaelyn took it anyway. Sure enough, the room was still spinning. Yeah, this wasn't helping all that much. But as Sakuya said, she wasn't really sure how to deal with it. Jaelyn couldn't fault her for at least attempting to do something. "Well, thanks for trying at least," she said.

Sakuya mentioned it being a long day, and Jaelyn couldn't agree more. "Most days that have to last past midnight are. But this was way too long," she said. And, of course, the next few days probably weren't going to get much better. But at least, for the moment, she was by Sakuya's side and too drunk to worry about what was to come. "At least it's ending well."

[Sakuya Kyoudou]

Sakuya sighed softly upon realizing she really wasn't as much of a help as she could have been, but then again she already confessed she didn't know how to handle the problem at all very well. Soon she positioned herself in such a way that she was lying down next to Jaelyn, wrapping an arm around her. "Yeah, it's ending well," she said, nuzzling her. "I think we ought to just take it easy and take a long rest. So, so tired." Sakuya said once more, yawning quite loudly. She wanted just to hug and cuddle with Jaelyn and relax. That was all. No more worrying about anyone else and no more worrying about other things for now. Just a long while of relaxation and cuddlings and all that wonderful fluff. It was really the only thing Sak had desired for a good while now.

[Jaelyn Callahan]

Jaelyn huddled next to Sakuya as she put her arm around her. Whatever other concerns she had, or might have had if not for her semi-drunken state, they all seemed to melt away when next to Sakuya like this. Concerns about how everyone else would see her after tonight, or whether or not she could keep fighting for what she wanted? All gone. All she wanted right now was to stay in Sakuya's arms. If she could stay like this for the whole time, Jaelyn could rest forever. "That sounds like a good idea," Jaelyn said, before bringing her head up to Sakuya's and kissing her. "If it's like this...I think I'll sleep well tonight."

[Sakuya Kyoudou]

Sakuya felt the warmth of Jaelyn huddled next to her even more now. Yes, Sakuya treasured these kind of moments. Especially when they were with Jaelyn. For some reason, she had never experienced this kind of euphoria and warmth with any other girl or woman. Perhaps it was because in many ways, they were similar, or perhaps it was because of the fateful circumstances under which they met in which Sakuya had overly romanticized. Either or the other, Sakuya didn't entirely care. It was just such a wonderful, lovely moment for her. Soon, she could feel Jaelyn kiss her. Yes, a truly wonderful evening this was turning out to be.

Sakuya kissed Jaelyn back. "It'll be like this. We'll sleep well tonight. I promise. I'm here for you." she whispered.