Just a quick A/N before moving forward, since one reviewer caught something that I was hoping would slip completely under the radar: Yes, Summer Rose should already be dead, for close to a decade by this point. However, besides just being a convenient plot device for this arc, there is another reason. However, that won't be mentioned for quite a while, so for now just treat it as applied phlebotinum, and leave it in the corner ^_^. Kudos to harrypotter9398 for catching that.
Volume 1, Chapter 12
Escalation, Part 4
M: +5 D: +13
(1 week later)
Mid Afternoon
Lee... Did not usually like the rain; under normal circumstances, rain was associated with cold weather, which would feel even colder with all the water clinging to any exposed skin and seeping into clothing, and constantly having to clear it out of your eyes. It sucked, to put it bluntly. However, if it happened to rain lightly during the summer, like it was currently, then Lee absolutely loved it. The cool sensation of the water on his face, contrasting nicely with the heat that would otherwise be permeating the air... Perfect, so long as he kept the water out of his eyes. And since he was currently wearing a pair of aqua tinted clubmasters, that wasn't exactly an issue, especially considering that technology on Remnant had apparently advanced to the point that water repelling lenses were a thing, so he didn't even have to periodically stop in order to clear stray rivulets of the substance from his glasses. Allowing him to dance in it completely unfettered.
Too bad his solo dancing could only be called sub-par at best.
"I... Have no words to describe what I've just witnessed."
And apparently, that hadn't even been his best. Lee just laughed as he turned towards Emerald, who was scrutinizing him with an amused grin on her face. Next to her, he could see Neo sporting a similar visage. The ladies were currently seated beneath a canopy, which was just large enough to cover all 5 camping chairs, if they were packed back to back in two lines.
"Hey, don't hate just because you're too much of a wimp to dance in the rain! It feels good after a week out here with no running water."
"You're a guy! You don't have to worry about your make up running every where!"
Lee... Blinked uncomprehendingly, not that they could see it behind his shades. But they would see the blank expression he was currently leveling them with.
"Seriously? There's a den of Ursa not 500 meters away, and you're worried about your appearance."
To their credit, both girls seemed to realize just how stupid it was when put like that, and flushed. But, still, neither moved an inch.
"Oh for chup's sake, I live with the both of you! It's not like I haven't seen you ladies without the makeup before! You both look great even without it, so why not just wash it off and then enjoy the rain? Have fun, and be happy like we're supposed to be doing in order to avoid the Grimm cottoning on to us? Eh?"
"But..."
Lee raised an eyebrow (which, with how high he raised it, the girls could see) and cocked his head to the side, waiting to see what excuse Emerald would come up with. Neo, however, seemed to have given up, if the soft sigh followed by an amused smirk were any indication. One moment, she was leaning over to whisper something into Emerald's ear, and the next?
"Woah!"
The next found Lee very nearly sprawling face first into the turf as he suddenly found himself with around 80 pounds of extra weight on his shoulders. However, a near-instinctual activation of his semblance allowed him to quickly regain his balance, before he straightened up with a grin, making sure to clamp his hands around the offending object's calves. He tilted his head as far up as he could go without pushing it off his shoulders, and rolled his eyes as far up as they'd go, just barely managing to catch Neo's amused smile.
"Haha! Nice try, but you'll have to try harder than that to take me down!"
So of course Lee found himself flat on his back not a second later. While he'd been craning his neck upwards to taunt Neo, he'd made the most basic of rookie mistakes and completely forgotten about Emerald, who had taken full advantage of the situation to shoulder tackle him at the waist. Lee, in a moment of panic, had slackened his grip on Neo... Which was all she needed in order to escape, rolling forward with Lee's upper body (he had bowed at the spine when Emerald tackled him) to get clear before teleporting a few feet forwards into a standing position, while Lee went down.
Despite it all, he could not help but laugh.
"Oho, so you like to play rough, huh? Well, then, let's plaaaaaaaaay-hey-hey! S-stop!"
Emerald had, while Lee was monologuing, scrambled so that she was straddling his waist, at which point she proceeded to repeatedly jam her fingers into his ribs; or, to put it simply, she hit him with a tickle attack.
"Bla- aha- ast! You've discovered my-ay-hy-hy weakness! Hahaha!"
And, try as he might, he simply could not fend Emerald, who herself was laughing, off, as Neo had teleported back over and was holding onto his arms, leaving his ribs wide open to Emerald's assault. All he could do was try to wriggle and writhe away... But, that was unsuccessful, and, considering their current position, it merely caused another problem. Both froze when they noticed, identical deer in the headlight expressions on their faces. Neo, for her part, just looked back and forth between the two in confusion.
"I-is that..?"
"Yeeeeaaaaaah..." Lee awkwardly drawled, not sure what else to really say. If he were watching this from the outside, he'd probably find Emerald's expression, a rather curious mix of shock, embarrassment, and morbid fascination hilarious. But, seeing as he was at the epicenter of this situation, as opposed to observing it happen? It was awkward as hell.
Neither moved.
Neo, however, finally figured out what had happened... And proceeded to belly laugh. Causing both of the compromised teens to flush even deeper.
"S-shut your face! I can't really control that!"
Neo just fixed him with a smug grin, before speaking (out loud): "I know, I know; I'm laughing more at the fact that you seem to like being held down."
Lee, who indeed was still pinned by the combination of Emerald straddling him and Neo holding his arms, couldn't do anything but frown... And go an even deeper shade of red. "Yeah, well, you try being a guy and have one girl sit on your crotch while the other one has her wet boobs just inches from your face..."
Neo paused in her laughter before looking down to her own chest, then back to Lee's eyes, which were pointedly not looking that direction... And she proceeded to lose it once again, this time letting go of his arms so she could roll onto her side, where she continued to laugh. Leaving Lee and Emerald, the latter of whom was still seated on his... Waist. And her expression had gone from that mix of shock, embarrassment, and morbid fascination... To plain thoughtful. Lee raised a brow, and was in the process of opening his mouth to ask her what she was thinking about... And thus failed to contain the gasp that forced its way out when Emerald very deliberately shifted her hips in a slow circle.
"Oh crap, sorry! Did that hurt?!"
Had it not been raining, Lee would have taken his glasses off so he could deadpan her in the eye. However, doing that would have merely resulted in him inevitably being splashed in the eye, so he settled for raising a single brow up over the edge of his sunglasses... After taking a deep breath (and ignoring the fact that Neo was in serious danger of asphyxiation by this point).
"No, quite the opposite, actually. And while I don't exactly mind being part of your little science experiment, I'm pretty sure this is neither the time nor the place..."
Both turned their heads to glance at Neo, who gave them her best 'Don't Mind Me' stare.
Emerald finally clambered off of him, before offering him a hand.
"You're probably right about that, Lee."
"Girl please, I'm always right!" Lee retorted while accepting the helping hand. Of course, this led to him expecting her to drop him... But, she didn't. However, he did notice there were two sets of eyes that most certainly were not trained on his face.
"Ladies, please, my face is up here." And with a wink, Lee began to stroll away. "Anywho, I'm going to go relieve Mercury before this situation can become any more awkward. See you later!"
Of all the things I had expected to happen on our little camping trip, being accidentally molested by Emerald, with an assist from Neo, was not on the list. And, back on Earth, I probably wouldn't have had reason to complain. As it was, my mind flashed back to my previous conversation with Mercury on the subject of me and Emerald... And then even further back to the time Neo and I were talking about age of consent, not long after joining this crew. At the time, it had just been a tangent off of a joke taken perhaps just a little bit too far... But now, with Emerald and I having some sort of thing between us, and what had just happened, it was simply a matter of time before the subject came up, and I would have to have a serious conversation with her about it. But, again, that's a story for a later date; for now, I'll be focusing on what else went down on that mission... No pun intended.
As I had said, I went to relieve Mercury on lookout duty, in order to avoid the girls for a little while; being about an hour early, and with our watch rotation being staggered so only one person was relieved at a time, I wouldn't be seeing either of them until it was time for Cinder to come off watch, which wouldn't be for at least a few hours. It would allow me some time to calm down... Or at least, that was the plan. Because of course, with my luck, it would end up being during my watch that our target would finally enter the engagement area...
Hmm... I suppose I could have left that as one single chapter. Though the time skip in the middle of it might have been awkward. Oh well. Now that Summer and Co. have all but walked into the ambush, we can get to the action next chapter. Yay! :D
Current Poll Standings:
CMSN: 8
ERMN + CMMN: 6
ERMN + CRLN: 1
