It's a Secret
DISCLAIMER: Don't own Riviera, so don't sue me. This is just what I'd do with it if I did own it…
Serene cupped her chin in her hands and leaned forward on her elbows, blowing a strand of her thick, dark blue hair out of her face as she did so. Realizing that she was swaying her left knee back and forth, she made a face at herself and made a visible effort to sit still. The results didn't last long, however; the knee was jiggling next, and her wings twitching to the same rhythm. Knowing that it would be futile to try to stop her body, Serene gave up and let the fidgeting run its course.
She couldn't help it that she was restless. Elendia's town hall was packed with people, and overcrowding always made Serene feel slightly claustrophobic. In addition, Rose was writing again, and that meant that she was too inattentive to anything else for Serene's liking. The cat Sprite was huddled in a corner even now, bent protectively over a new manuscript, scribbling for all she was worth.
Which would all be well and good, but that meant Serene was going unsatisfied.
The eighteen-year-old Arc was doubly grateful that both she and Rose knew what was between them wasn't serious. If it had been, arguments would probably have already erupted, leading to some kind of messy break-up. But it wasn't, and that just meant that Serene was going to be bored for a while unless she decided to "sow her oats", so to speak, elsewhere. It was too bad that Rebecca the harpy was straight, Serene thought with a little bit of humor. She certainly was hot.
It went something like this: Serene was bored and horny and the real object of her affection was inaccessible, and would be for quite a while longer. She liked sleeping with boys, but liked sleeping with girls more. As luck would have it, Rose was also bored and sometimes appreciated another woman in her bed. Their relationship was purely physical and both of them were okay with that. But when Rose started writing, everything fell by the wayside, especially sex.
So Serene was twitchy.
And the person she was sharing the table with didn't exactly help.
"Sereeeene, why does Ein like to dance with Ledah so much? Lina wants to know!"
The young Arc groaned inwardly and wondered how she'd been suckered into this. Lina was always bouncy and annoying because she was only thirteen, but tonight was a festival, and Lina had been into the sugar, so she was even more bouncy and annoying than ever. Lina was jiggling her feet under the table too, staring up at her tablemate whenever she wasn't stuffing her face with sweets. She'd been running around before it had been their table's turn to sit down and eat, and her double ponytails had been loosened and were falling askew. Serene's hands itched to yank them straight and redo the bows, but somehow she managed not to.
Instead, she looked out onto the large space cleared in the center of the building to be the dance floor, to where the wingless angel and blonde seraph were caught up in each other's arms. The little group of musicians was playing a slow song, and the two Grim Angels were pressed up against each other's bodies, staring into each other's eyes with something like rapture on their faces. As Serene watched, Ledah leaned down to give Ein a very long, involved-looking, evidently open-mouthed kiss with what had to be lots of application of tongue. She even thought she'd caught them grinding once, but doubted it; Ledah was steering and if Ein tried anything even remotely below-the-waist in public, his shyness and need for privacy would take over, shutting down Ein's attempts.
"Because Ein likes Ledah, okay?" Serene said, forcing herself to be patient. Lina was still a kid, for heavensake; she couldn't be expected to know everything about people's relationships.
Lina looked blank.
"Ein's the kind of boy who likes other boys," Serene continued slowly. "You know. Romantically."
"Oh." There was silence at their table for a while. "Why won't Fia dance with Skyler?"
Serene blinked, then looked in the direction Lina was pointing. One of the visiting wood Sprites from another village was talking to Fia, who was sitting at a table and looking sulkily at Ein and Ledah.
"Does Fia like other girls?" Lina continued.
Serene laughed. "No, no… Fia likes boys, but she's still mad at Ein for choosing Ledah over her. I guess they're being too blatant for her to handle." She watched Fia give the Sprite talking to her a frosty glare and all but turn up her nose at him, then snorted. "Too bad. That Skyler guy must really like her. He won't give up trying to talk her around. Maybe one of these days Fia will smarten up and realize that just because Ein didn't pick her, it's not the end of the world." And maybe a little activity in her own bed would get her mind off of whatever was happening in Ein's, Serene added mentally. It couldn't be healthy to obsess that much over somebody you couldn't have. Even she herself had found someone to sleep with in the meantime…
Lina shrugged and attacked her plate again. Serene shook her head at her young companion, then went back to her own food, glorying in the joys of Elendia's best stir-fry.
After cleaning the last scraps of food from her plate, Serene turned to watch Lina polishing off her last few cookies. "Wanna go get thirds?" she suggested.
"Okay!"
The two girls picked up their plates and utensils and began to maneuver their way through the crowd, waving to the still-oblivious Ein and Ledah and shooting Skyler sympathetic looks as they passed. They'd been walking for a few minutes when Lina elbowed Serene in the side, giggling.
"What?"
"Malice is sleeping on Cierra!"
Serene looked. The last time she'd seen the two women, Malice had been halfway through her tenth tankard of mead, taking up what seemed to be permanent residence next to the liquor barrel's spigot, and Cierra had just given up trying to get her away and started drinking along with her (albeit with wine, her personal poison of preference). That had been almost half an hour ago—Malice was currently unconscious, sprawled across her previous seat and Cierra's lap. The scarlet witch herself also seemed to be nodding off, stroking one of Malice's black wings absentmindedly.
"Cierra likes Malice, right?" Lina asked.
"Yep."
"So Cierra likes other girls?"
"Evidently, Lina."
"Does Malice like other girls too?"
"I believe she does," Serene said dryly, resisting the urge to roll her eyes at Lina for what had to be the millionth time that night. "And yes, she likes Cierra back. That would be why they live together."
As Lina considered this information, Serene shook her head at the young couple. It was nice to see that Malice was recovering from her abuse at Hector's hands, but it did annoy her a little that her rival was still getting laid while she herself wasn't. (Well, okay, as Serene had let her Rose-the-celibate-author complaints slip to Cierra, she had gotten invited to join them once or twice as a threesome, but Malice was too much of a control freak for it to be really enjoyable. Besides, the merits of hate sex only went so far.) Serene had tried to remind herself, frequently, that it was a good thing that Malice was with Cierra because that showed she was recovering from being raped, but that just led to some weird feelings of strangled pity towards someone she didn't want to feel sorry for, and she was jealous, dammit. She wanted to sit and enjoy being jealous for a little while.
By this time, the Arc and the archer had made it to the food lines, taking their places with Lina standing in front of Serene. The carrot-top looked unusually pensive, and after a few moments, she turned to her companion with a comically serious expression.
"Can Lina ask a question?"
Serene shrugged. "Shoot."
"Does Serene like boys or girls?"
The Arc shrugged again. "I can like boys or girls. It depends."
Lina looked like she wanted to ask what it depended on, but didn't. "So does Serene like anyone right now?"
Serene considered, and decided to be honest. "Yeah."
Lina's seriousness evaporated, and she started to bounce excitably. "Who? Who does Serene like?"
Serene remained silent, smiling crookedly and giving Lina an appraising stare.
The little archer drooped visibly. "You're not going to tell Lina, are you?" she pouted. With a resigned-sounding sigh, she turned back around.
Setting her plate down, Serene took a few steps forward and placed her hands on Lina's shoulders, pressing her chest against the younger girl's back. "Maybe I'll tell you when you're a little older."
owari :3