Kate rolled off Victoria with all the grace she possessed, exhausted and sated and ready for some relaxation. Despite presumably being Victoria's first ever experience with another woman, she picked up quickly and showed absolutely no hang-ups about her newly discovered bisexuality. That had made her life significantly easier, but already she was starting to learn that even if Victoria were the most fumbling screw-up, she liked her too much for it to matter. It was only slightly terrifying considering they hadn't even been at this a month and she was already falling.

Honestly, Kate had expected Victoria's deep-seated anxieties to come to the fore and make everything difficult, but the blonde was just full of surprises. A week after their first proper 'encounter' where they didn't so much watch the Miyazaki film as they did listen to the stirring audio while getting lost in one anothers' embrace, they were already officially dating. And her girlfriend, ever the queen, simply began taking her everywhere. "This is Kate. She's mine. Deal with it." And that was that. The head bitch in charge was shacking up with the mysterious witch and nobody questioned it too much.

They had just returned from her first ever Vortex Club party, and it had been more or less what she'd expected. She had, she hated to admit, a pretty good time, though she confessed after they left that she wasn't sure she would be attending nearly as frequently as Victoria did. Something about the atmosphere just didn't sit right with her. The problem wasn't that something bad could happen, but almost like something bad should have happened and didn't.

Victoria was understanding, if maybe a tad disappointed to not have her, to quote, 'gorgeous arm candy to make everyone jealous'. Kate would have been lying if she said she wasn't honored. She was an old soul, as much like an old woman as she was a teenager. It could sometimes be difficult to think of herself as 'arm candy'. She knew she had a degree of grace, and her hair was one of her favorite features. But she wasn't generally praised for looks, not when people were too busy being weirded out by her.

Any and all doubts were gone the moment she thought Victoria was dropping her off at her dorm. Kate went into her room, and Victoria clung to her all the tighter, shutting the door behind them. She began kissing at Kate's neck, and, well, she couldn't let her walk all the way to her own room, not in that state. Drunk and in love, they were soon making out on her bed, and before long they were doing far more. Cashmere and soft cotton formed a pile on the floor, and they were in quite the tangled mess on Kate's bed. She nearly ruined the perfect moment when she began giggling because Alice was staring straight at them. Victoria gently threw a sheet over the cage and they were able to get back to the matter at hand.

And now they lay snuggling and gasping for air as they came down from their simultaneous high, gazing at one another and...

Kate's eyes widened slightly. It was wrong, so very wrong, the epitome of wrong, to go and read the aura of someone you were intimate with. Not only was it kind of spoiling the surprise, but more importantly it was an invasion of privacy. And unfortunately, Victoria had seen the look that passed over her face and became instantly worried. "Katie? What's wrong? D-Did I do okay? I promise, I'm not opposed to constructive criticism on my form..." Kate felt a delicate hand graze her cheek and her eyes closed as she leaned into the touch instinctively.

"Gods, no, you did a wonderful job! No, I just... thought I saw... something..." Victoria wasn't used to seeing Kate be bashful. Kate wasn't used to seeing Victoria be self-conscious. It was an insanely delicate moment, and for all that they felt for one another, Victoria was still rather dubious about her witchery. Kate couldn't blame her, really.

"What kind of something? Magic something?" To her delight, Victoria actually seemed intrigued rather than frustrated. Not humoring her, but earnestly curious. Well she'd already done it. Perhaps it was best to just be honest.

"It was your... aura..." She immediately burrowed in the pillows and groaned. Just saying it already made her feel foolish. Tea reading was at least kind of an interesting art, something you could do as a party trick or to actually better understand someone. But auras were seen as far less realistic, the stuff of fairytales and the like. But Victoria seemed to really, really be trying, and she felt those fantastic nails begin to rake through her brown locks.

"It's okay, just tell me. You know me, I won't rest until I find out, even if I don't understand..."

Kate awkwardly removed her face from the pillows again and looked at her, still relatively red-faced and embarrassed. "You were glowing. Shining. A brilliant shade of pink. I don't even really do auras, and I could see it, so that's saying something."

"And just what, precisely, is it saying?" Victoria had a smirk painted across her face, but where Kate thought she might see disbelief or smug amusement, it was more like assured confidence.

"I don't know if it's my place to say too much. On this particular subject." It had been years since she had felt this vulnerable. When she was young and still very much involved in her fundamentalist church, she used to be very passionate and open, and quite emotional. Since her deconversion, she'd built some very careful walls. She found them difficult to maintain around Victoria.

"Well, then, why don't you just give me the basic rundown, and I'll tell you how accurate you are."

Kate settled down and let her head rest against Victoria's bare chest, her fingers tracing idle patterns on her stomach, admiring the tone and texture. "Well, it's generally related to passion. Anything from lust to romance to... deeper emotions. And the way your aura was radiating... whatever you felt was... very deep. Of course it's not surprising to have a pink aura at a time like this, but you..."

There was a split second as the old Victoria returned and gave Kate an impressive eye-roll. She barely had time to process it as some kind of negative emotion before her chin was cupped and she found herself pulled into a passionate kiss. When she looked her girlfriend over again, her aura was vibrant as ever. "It's because... I love you... idiot..."

"By the goddess, you are a tsundere in human form~" Kate groaned and gave Victoria's chest an affectionate squeeze. She found great joy in constantly reminding her girlfriend of what a massive nerd she really was. Case in point, Victoria knew precisely what that meant, but if she got too angry about it, then it just proved how dorky she could be. It was a clever ploy.

She opted to cut off any playful frustration in favor of baring her own soul a moment. "I um... I love you too... I'm sorry I sort of accidentally beat you to the punch there. I didn't mean to..." Her hair was ruffled and she was tipped up into another soft kiss. The sensible side of her brain wanted to rail against her for reaching that word so quickly. But that aura didn't lie, nor her own heart.

And the lovebirds fell asleep, coiled in one anothers' arms.

…...

Kate awoke with a start, giving a sharp cry. She had rather hoped that she would be able to find comfort from her nightmares in Victoria's arms, but her bed was otherwise empty. On her bedside table she found a note from the blonde, she picked it up and smiled warmly as she read it over.

"Class with Jefferson. You were too cute to wake up. I owe you when I get out of class." It had been 'signed' with a kiss in bright red lipstick.

"True to form..." To tide herself over, she kissed the spot on the paper and tossed the page onto her bed, setting about getting ready for her day. As she puttered about, showering, getting dressed, checking on Alice who had spent all night covered by a sheet, something still felt off. Kate's eyes drifted to Victoria's note again and again, but not from a sense of sentimentality. Every time she looked at that page, she felt deep dread.

She couldn't put her finger on it, but Kate was never one to doubt her instincts. No doubt in time things would make sense. If she recalled Victoria's schedule correctly, she should have just been getting out of class. She slung her trusty bag around her shoulder when a tidal wave of energy hit her. Her head was spinning and she dropped to her bed.

Her senses were finally beginning to return to her, and she noted that the piece of paper just next to her seemed to have more writing on the back. It was her own handwriting, but only insofar as it was the kind of writing one might do while in the throes of a terrible dream, or more likely a vision.

TIME IS NOT A RIVER

IT IS A MAELSTROM

A BUTTERFLY FLAPS

ARCADIA IS GONE

Kate stared at the words for a long time before sighing despondently. "At least I know I can literally spell 'maelstrom' in my sleep..."