Alice bites her lip to keep from giggling to loudly at the growled string of curses Margot gives under her breath when just like her last valiant attempts the ring lands with a mocking thump on the padded floor of the gaming stall. Nowhere near the post, Margot had been aiming for.
"Player los…"
"Yes, I know. Thank you." Margot snapped snatching up, yet another collection of gaming rings, and takes aim.
"Hang on love." Alice steps in before Margot actually lets one of the things fly.
Margot letting out a surprised breath at the comment considering several failures previous the focused woman could have sworn she'd heard a whispered: "Be right back love, just have to deal with something." With that hardened edge to her voice Margot hadn't been able to place as she tried yet again to make the mocking ring fall over the stupid neck of the bottle.
"Take a breath for me, Targo." Alice coaxes looping her arms once again around the other woman's shoulders. Now she'd used a handy spell to glamor any of her that is to say Tilly's reflections away she could now fully enjoy her time in this exciting new realm.
Alright she'd broken her 'no actual magic' rule so she could enjoy her time with Margot more fully before she had to return to her lonely life back in her true realm. But this was intended to be a day of freedom and fun after an unwanted life of pain and darkness, so Alice was by the tide going to make the most of it.
Sure, keeping up the spell would be tricky given just how many reflective surfaces there were around the game stall Margot had chosen alone to block out not to mention how taxing keeping a spell that demanding going would be on her already limited magic in this magicless land, but Alice was determined.
This was her day, not Tilly's.
"Please." She prods when her request goes unanswered as her fingers twist in the little curls at the back of the other woman's neck. "Just take a breath love, you're expecting too much of yourself."
She'd been seeing it more and more as she'd watched her crush that was Tilly's girlfriend try and fail to win their already chosen prizes before the annoyance that was Tilly's refection still attempting to spoil her day had demanded to be delt with before Alice went even madder than a few already thought she was. This woman does have the practiced skill set of a true huntress. Not just the watchful, calculated gaze but the coiled watchful stance, the quiet confidence. She had it all. But there was something holding her back.
"Christ Tilly your hands are freezing baby," Margot yelps immediately dropping the ring to pull her girlfriend's chilly hands from around her neck to attempt to warm them between her own. "what have you been doing holding them in an ice bucket?"
Surprise, guilt, and annoyance flicker in quick succession across the other woman's face as not for the first time Margot notices the way her eyes flicker to glare at another reflective surface before they become soft once more when they meet her own. "Sorry love, I didn't realize." Tilly sighs looking in awed wonder from the small act Margot made of trying to rewarm her chilly fingers to the concern in the other woman's eyes and back again.
Her next few words were spoken in a whisper as if she hadn't really intended to say them aloud, they just came on their own as the two looked at one another "I've gotten used to the cold by now." She goes on. "spending a few hundred or so years banished to an island of ice will do that eventually." She shrugged with a humorless laugh. "Like Neverland only far colder and less one flying orphan boy going around collecting other orphan boys to add to his gang so as you can see, I've retained my youthful glow." She adds and this time her laughter was far more cheerful.
The unexpected trip turned into the reason she'd found the 'realm of Mirrors' as she'd come to call it. Also, the reason she'd found the 'Nine Kingdoms' and her dear thought-dead mentor the Swamp witch before returning to her own realm to get her revenge on those that had wronged her.
"You are a strange one Tils." Margot chuckles not understanding a word of what she'd just listened to but taking it in stride considering how just telling her the strange tale seemed to ease a little more of the hard tension in her girlfriend's shoulders. She keeps the 'what an imagination' comment to herself as she rocks forward to brush her lips against her girlfriend's forehead "but I wouldn't have you any other way." She promises bringing her fingers under Tilly's chin to draw the other woman's face up to meet her own.
Alice smiles against those warmed lips at the surprised squeak Margot gives when she'd decided to lean up to steal more than a quick peck of a kiss. She breathed a small sigh of relief when her kiss was reciprocated after that first beat of shock. She pushed away the nagging voice reminding her it wasn't herself Margot was kissing back but Tilly as Margot's forehead nuzzles her own as they catch their mingled breath after they separate.
"One more try my lovely then we find another adventure." Alice bargains seeing a new spark of something awakening deep in those expressive eyes as Margot's arms tighten even more at her waist when Alice dared take a few separating steps back.
As she'd hoped that sparked something still lost in the unknown haze, but it was far brighter than before as Margot's eyes flicker between her encouraging smile and the gaming booth. "Easy." She decides taking up the rings once more.