Tales of Symphonia: A new Tale (IC)

[Bluemage]

((If you want to join go to the OOC Thread .))​

The leaves of the Giant Kharlan tree swayed softly in a gentle summer breeze. It had been 7 years since the fall of Yggdrasill, and the birth of the new tree, and with the care that everyone had given it, it had grown fast. Manna filled the world once more, not nearly enough to operate all of the archaic magi-technology that had been left behind, by the great wars of the past, but enough that everyone could live comfortably.

A lot had happened in the 7 years since Yggdrasill's defeat and assumed death. Lloyd and Colette had gone on their little adventure to collect up those Ex-Speres that they could, the government of both worlds had shifted substantially, Sheena had become an Emissary of peace rather than a bringer of death, everyone seemed to have moved on in their own direction though. That was the way with quests like this one, once they were finished the friendships that had formed collapsed and vanished.

That was what Zelos was thinking about as he sat under the Kharlon tree, staring out at the scenery before him. This was the 7th anniversary of the defeat of Yggdrasill. In previous years they had all shown up around the tree and celebrated. It had been a party and things had been great. Slowly though, things started to change. As the years went by, his friends were too busy with their lives to show up to celebrate. Regal was running a company, Presea was rebuilding Ozette, Lloyd and Colette always seemed to have some Ex-Speres that they had to track down, Sheena had all of that business that went with being an Emissary to get to, Raine was always busy at some new archeaological site, unearthing old magi-technology that no one knew how to use, Genis was busy being a teacher...everyone had something to be doing except for him.

He sighed and looked up at the foliage of the tree. Things had changed an awful lot in those last seven years, and here he was sitting alone, under the big manna tree. He really didn't expect that much from the others. They had things that they needed to be doing. They had lives, and jobs, and quests, and dreams. What did he have? He had what was left of his nobility, and the attentions of town girls every once in a while. That was probably for the best though. He had never really wanted a life of adventure...at least not until now.

The quiet and the calm after that big quest to take out Yggdrasill was unbearable. He hadn't wanted to be an adventurer but now that there wasn't an adventure for him anymore, now that his life was right in front of him...it seemed so plain, so boring. He adjusted the white headband that he still wore and leaned back against the tree, closing his sapphire eyes. This really hadn't worked out that well at all.

He had noticed a few problems in the towns lately though. A bit of uneasiness around Half Elves was developing again. It seemed that any time someone was different they got treated like dirt. That was really nothing new for the Half Elves though. The more shocking part was that less and less people where going to the church of Martel. No one went on pilgrimages, or went to church anymore. Their prayers had all been answered. There was no need for chosen, or for the church of Martel at all. It was just a building where you could get a rest when you needed to, and the price to do that was steadily climbing since no one was attending church anymore.

The problem with this new world that they had all helped to build was that there were no problems. Problems were what built economies and helped places to flourish. Problems were what got people to make pilgrimages, and to be happy with what they had and be happy with each other. When there were problems no one seemed to notice if someone was a Half Elf, but in a society where everyone seemed to live comfortably people looked for problems in other people. Half Elves stuck out because people wanted them to. People needed to see something different. People needed problems.

The question now was how long it would take until this small problem fell into the hands of someone who had the influence, power, and motivation to make it into a big problem. It was something that he had hoped to discuss with the others...had they been here, but this year had been just like the last. Completely deserted except for him. He slowly pushed himself up onto his feet and stretched slightly. One of the others was sure to show up eventually. Someone would remember what today was and stop by, just to see if anyone else had shown up. There was always at least one other person who just stopped by, said 'hi' and then had to run off to deal with something important in their life.

Zelos snorted as he kicked up some dust with his toe, "This blows..."

 

[VickyCummings]

Sheena sighed she walked along the path. Her mind wiegh heavy with recent debates from the embency. The debates were of the recent half-elf uprisings, that have been taking place all over. There was multiple sides to the debate. There were those that wanted to declare war on the half-elves, those that wanted to declare war on both Elves and Half-Elves, those that wanted to try to talk it out and reach some sort of agreement with the rogue half-elves, and the pick surpise from a pocket group within the elven community, those that think all half-elves and humans are to blame. All signs pointed to war, no peacefull solution was in sight. Sheena did not like this one bit, she was one of the ones who was looking for a peacefull settlement, but hope was fading fast. She was glad she took a few days off from the embency, espeacily today, the day where everything was spose to have gotten better, not worse. She continued to walk along the path to the great tree when she saw someone who she reconized. Her heart was filled with joy, until she got closer and realized it was just Zelos. She sure hoped he matured since last time she saw him. She sits next to him under the tree, lays her head back closes her eyes and sighes.

"Hey Zelos didn't expect to see you here. How have you been.?"

 

[Bluemage]

Zelos Wilder

Zelos looked up as Sheena sat back against the tree. Just like he had expected, someone had shown up. The motive may have been different, knowing Sheena she just needed a chance to get away from all of those debates that she was constantly involved in now between Sylverant, which was just now starting to decide that Half Elves were a problem, and Tethe'alla who had viewed Half Elves as a problem for as long as he could remember.

He smiled as she spoke in her dreary voice. He spoke in his regular sing-song voice, "Well, hello, my voluptuous honey. I was starting to think that you had gotten caught up in your work." He brought his arms up behind his head, and flopped down against the tree again, on the other side of it from Sheena so that he was placing it between the two of them, and because it always made it easier for him to talk to her if he didn't have to look at her directly, "I haven't been up to much actually. Life has just been so lonely and boring without the constant sexual tension between us." He smirked softly.

He knew that she wasn't going to agree with any of his statements. She was sure to say something about how there was no sexual tension between the two of them, and then talk about how things were anything but boring. This might have been while she was hitting him, or she may have decided to completely skip that part of their usual flirtatious circle. It really didn't matter. In the end she would unload her frustrations on him, telling him how things were going horrible at her job lately, and how no one really listened to her, and then after that she would feel a lot better having said all of that, even if she thought that he wasn't actually listening to any of it. It might also give her the opportunity to work out a few of her little job related problems too, just by talking it out.

 

[VickyCummings]

Sheena almost lept up from her spot and wanted to smack him along side the head for saying what he just said.

"Sexual tention, there was never sexual tention between us, never will. At least some of us have grown up."

Well that was partly true, there were times during their adventure were she thought he was pretty cute, but his arogont carefree attitude and his constant wandering eye and hitting on every female he sees was just annoying. She knew she could never truly fall for someone like that.

"For your information I asked for a couple days off, so I could come here, to where we did it, where we finaly reuntied the worlds."

She leans against the tree, rubbing her forehead sighs again.

"I thought reuniting the worlds would make everything better, not worse. Dam who knew things would end up like this?"

 

[Bluemage]

Zelos Wilder

Zelos stared silently at the scenery in front of him. That wasn't quite the amount of stress that he had hoped to get her to release but it was a start. At least he had managed to start on getting that frustration over he job out of her. He looked up for a moment and took in the air, letting the smells fill his nostrils before turning his head. He let her smell come to him. It was different. Normally she smelled like the cherry blossoms from Mizuho, but it was different now. That smell wasn't there so much. It was a different smell, not nearly as exotic and interesting. It was to be expected though. How often was it that she managed to get back to Mizuho these days with her job?

He spoke softly, "You shouldn't let the stress of your job get to you. Those government officials who you work with don't know what they are talking about." He slowly pushed himself up into a standing position so he was leaning against the tree instead of lying down against it, "You need a hobby, or something so that when you get away from your job at the end of the day you can focus your attention on something else."

He pushed off of the tree and started to pace on his side of it. This whole situation had been nothing but awkward. Sure he still got attention from some of the local girls, but none of them were really very interesting. They were all noble women or just random peasants. None of them had the danger, or the excitement that Sheena had. Even Raine was more exciting than most of the girls who he ran into these days...then again, part of that may have been because she was a Half Elf and it would bother people if Tethe'alla's chosen was all hot for a Half Elf.

The problem lay in the fact that there didn't seem to be that much point in chasing after women anymore. He was charming and there were enough random women who were still hot under the collar for him that it wouldn't take that much effort to have a woman every night. The problem was that he didn't see why it was necessary to chase after women who he wasn't really interested in. He flopped down against the tree, accepting what he had said before. This definitely did blow.

 

[VickyCummings]

Sheena just slumped against the tree, feeling more relaxed than ever, not even caring the dress she was wearing was getting dirty also. She lets out a small laugh and replies,

"Same old Zelos, still care free as ever. If only could be as care free as you but most my life have had people depending on me."

She takes a tiny bell from her pocket and a tear forms in her eye as she looks at the bell of her dear friend she lost during their journey.

"Back in the old days, when I was feelying crappy, I had Corrine to talk to, then he died, but I had you guys, now I have no one".

She wipes the tears from her eyes gets up herself. She dust herself off and looks at Zelos.

"So have you heard from anyone since then?"

 

[Bluemage]

Zelos Wilder

Zelos looked at Sheena for a moment. He wanted so desperately to reach over and wipe her tear away, and then tell her that everything would be alright. He wanted to take her into his arms and rick her back and forth saying something to help her calm down, and realize that things weren't as bad as she was making them out to be. He wanted to protect her from the world that she had painted for herself. The problem was that he wasn't sure how his body would react, and he wasn't sure how she would react. The last thing he needed was for her to think that he was trying to work out lecherous desires through pretending to care about her feelings or something. She would jump to a conclusion like that. She always did.

So instead of reaching over to comfort her he just stood and shrugged at her question, "I've heard from them yeah." He looked up at the sky, "Not that much to tell really. Lloyd and Collette are still looking for those remaining Ex-Spheres. They said in the letter that they might show up for the anniversary if they had time. Last I heard from Regal he was busy with his company and was pretty much just telling me that Presea is working on rebuilding Ozette. Raine is working on her archeology. Genis became a teacher." He looked at her for a moment and then smirked again, "I haven't heard anything from Kratos, but I guess we all kind of know why, eh? It isn't like he can just mail me a letter or something."

He looked at her for a few moments before taking his gloved hand out of the pocket of his pink jacket and placing it softly on her shoulder. He wanted to at least do a little to comfort her, even if it wasn't quite the way that he wanted to. So he wasn't holding her in his arms, whispering how everything would be alright. That didn't matter. He still had a few little things that he could do to help her. He still had a few little things he could say.

"Sheena...you took this time off of work. You should spend it on you, rather than on worrying about everyone else." He then smiled and took his hand of his shoulder, chuckling softly, "You worry about everyone else all the time when you are at work. Just close your eyes, and say it with me, 'whatever will be, will be.' It will make you feel better."

((OOC: And I'm going to sleep now.))

 

[VickyCummings]

Sheena looks deep into his eyes, thinking for the first time ever, she sees true compassion in them. Hoping its for real, and not just a trick to get her in the sack. She buries her tears in his vest, holding herself close to him for confort.

I know, Zelos, but with all this talk about war even rumors the Desains being started up again, its just scary. To think thats how it become 4000 years ago. Things haven't changed, they just come full circle. ."

Sheena lifts her head off of Zelos chest and looks at the Kharlan tree then starts to sob again into Zelos's jacket.

"If a war of that magintude breaks out it will put great strain on this tree and the entire cycle of world seperation will start all over again. What we have done 7 years ago won't mean a dam thing. Why can't we all just get along, human, elf, and half-elf aren't we all people."

She wipes a few more tears from her eyes and looks into his eyes once more.

"Even when away from the embencey, I still feel like I'm arguing with pinhead jerks. Sorry again for laying all my troubles on you Zelos."

Sheena then rest her head on his shoulder.

 

[Bluemage]

Zelos Wilder

Zelos sighed softly as Sheena buried her head into his chest and started to cry. This was like every one of his dreams about her, only in those there had been less clothing involved and she hadn't been crying. Those had been some pretty impressive dreams and now it was almost is if they were becoming a reality. A sweet, beautiful, and very sexy reality.

He mentally scolded himself. This was not the time or place to be thinking about Sheena like that. She needed him to not be the pervert chosen that she had grown to expect him to be. She needed him to be strong, smart and caring. She needed to know that he was there to listen to her, and he'd listen to anything that she wanted to tell him. He needed to make sure that she knew that she wasn't imposing on him or laying anything on him that he wasn't prepared to accept.

He wrapped his arms around Sheena's waist, pulling her close to him, and trying to keep his less voluntary bodily functions under control. It was hard with Sheena this close, hard to keep his mind off of other things, but he knew what was important. There was more to life than winning over women, even if it was a woman as amazing as Sheena was. He'd just need to keep his mind on the task at hand, comforting her. Sheena was out of his reach for that sort of thing and he knew it. If any of those vibes that he had picked up in what she had said to Lloyd were right, she was hot for him anyway.

"Sheena..." He spoke her name softly, letting her rest her head on his shoulder. He wasn't sure what to say after that. Everything that she had said was the exact same things that he had been thinking about before she had shown up. The problems were all very real so it wasn't like he could say she was just under stress and was creating unhappy solutions. It wasn't even like he could say that everything would be alright. He couldn't be sure of that. Instead he just held her close.

He had never really been that good with words, always saying the wrong thing. As the chosen of Tethe'alla everyone had seemed to ignore it for the most part, but now that his position didn't stand for much of anything at all, those things that he would have normally said started to offend people and make them angry. Sheena had always gotten angry at him when he had said the wrong thing. That was part of what made her special. It didn't seem to matter to her if he was the chosen or not. It didn't seem to matter what his standing was, she would speak her mind all of the time.

He slowly closed his eyes and started talking again, "You know if anything gets out of hand we can squash it back down, and we both know that even with seven years for the wounds to heal, no one fro Sylverant is going to welcome the Desains back, and they aren't going to stand up for them." He smiled softly and rubbed his hands up and down her back slowly, trying to soothe her a bit, "If there is anything that you think I can do as the chosen of Tethe'alla, just say the word and you know I'll be there."

 

[VickyCummings]

Laying her head on his shoulder, listening to his words of confort, thinking that Zelos has really matured over the 7 years. Maybe part due that his status as the chosen as dwindled down to almost nothing, but she didn't care why, just that he did mature. She sighs deeply.

"Oh Zelos, maybe I was wrong about you. I thought you could never be the sweet, caring, sensitive type, but look at you now. You're putting the feelings of others before your own desires. You're acting like a true friend. Now I can finaly say I'm proud to be your friend."

Sheena hugs him tightly and whispers in his ear.

"Thank you Zelos. Thank you for listening, thank you for caring, thank you for being a friend."

 

[Bluemage]

Zelos Wilder

Zelos blinked for a moment. He was fairly sure that he had always been sweet and caring. He may not have always shown it, but he had always been concerned for what was going on in Sheena's head, and what had been going on in everyone else's head. The problem was that fame and importance had gone to his head as the chosen, and he liked to feel comfortable, and feel needed. As the chosen of Tethe'alla he hadn't ever really felt needed. They were a flourishing world where everyone had what they needed, and everyone treated him like a hero even if he hadn't done anything.

More than that he had been expected to act a certain way. He hadn't been able to do that. Fame hadn't let him act the way he was supposed to, so he had acted differently. Now that he didn't have fame, and no one needed him, he was sinking into the realm of unimportance. No one even paid attention to him anymore. He was just some random noble that people knew the name of but didn't really care that much about.

It was in the middle of that thought that Sheena hugged him close to her and whispered into his ear. Shivers ran down his back as Sheena pressed her body into his, and her breath tickled his ear and neck. He knew in his mind that this was just a platonic gesture. She was just expressing her thanks for being there...or was that what she had said? It was lost now. He wasn't sure what she had said. All he knew was that he was going to react to this. He needed to do something so that she would know that he was uncomfortable her, with her mashed against him. That wasn't true though. He was very comfortable. The problem was he was a bit too comfortable.

His mind turned to thoughts on how he could get into a situation where he didn't feel awkward. He needed to either push the situation to a place where he could act on the fact that she had pressed herself against him, or get her to back off a bit. The latter was definitely the easier one. It would just take a quick grope and she would back off and slap him across the face, saying that she had been wrong all along, but there had to be another way of dealing with it. He then stopped thinking about it that way.

He was right where he had always wanted to be. He was hugging Sheena, and she was pressed up against him and wasn't trying to hurt him or anything. More importantly, she wasn't crying anymore. He closed his eyes and gently brought his head forward, resting it on her shoulder. There was no rush to get out of this position. This was where he wanted to be.

He let out the breath that he hadn't realized he was holding and then spoke softly, "Whatever you say, my voluptuous honey."

 

[VickyCummings]

Holding her arms around Zelos made Sheena feel contentment. She felt all her troubles melt away. Her head begain to fill with more happy thoughts as she feels as a heavy burden lifted from her shoulders. Her mind began to melt into nothingness when she heard Zelos last remark. She litfs her head off his shoulder, look up at him for a moment, but instead of blowing up at him and yelling at him, she smiled, laughed, lets go off him and gave him a playfull punch in the arm.

"You flirtacios pig."

Sheena knew she couldn't be mad at him for that remark after the concern and kindness he had shown. She sorta liked this mix of sensitivity and flirtiness he had shown today. Who knows, maybe she could fall for him after all, but right now, she was just happy to be his friend.

 

[Bluemage]

Zelos Wilder

Zelos rubbed his arm a bit where she had hit him and laughed softly. That was the Sheena that he had grown to expect, and it did seem that she had pulled away before fully realizing what being so close to her had done to him. He was glad for that. She definitely would have hit him seriously for that, thinking that he was trying to get fresh with her or something. She would have come to some sort of conclusion that he had control over it and had done it just to make her uncomfortable or to get his message across.

He chuckled softly, "Oh, why do you wound me so with your name calling?" He then wandered over to pick up the gear that he had brought with him. His old sword and shield. It didn't seem that he needed them for anything anymore. The local monsters were still out there, but they weren't anything that he couldn't run away from. He wasn't going to let it be advertised that he ran away from anything, but it wasn't like anyone ever watched him fight, or would really care. No one would even spread a rumor about him being a coward and running away from monsters. He wasn't news anymore, so neither was something like that. Not that it happened.

He looked over to Sheena and forced one of his big smiles, "Well...it doesn't look like there is going to be much of a celebration this year."

 

[VickyCummings]

"Oh, why do you wound me so with your name calling?"

Sheena just her head at his usuall sarcasim. Then she notices him picking up his sword and sheild. Thinnking to herself that he must still go wild adventures yet, being a dashing hero, while she sits around arguing with buch of diplomats and acheives nothing. She reaches and grabs her combat ritual cards, looks at them and stuffs the them into her pocket before he turns around again. Being a dipolmat leaves her little time to practice her combat skills.

Well...it doesn't look like there is going to be much of a celebration this year."

No don't look like it. Well I have the rest of the week off. If you want to hang out and do something, I'm game."

 

[Bluemage]

Zelos Wilder

Zelos looked at Sheena for a moment almost in disbelief. She wanted to hang out with him? She was asking him if he wanted to hand out with her like it was a question she didn't already know the answer to? He smiled softly and shrugged. He needed to be cool about this. He couldn't come off as too needy or anything. After all, he was still worried about all the stress that she went through in her job.

He smiled softly as he finally came up with a response, "So you just want to hang out? Alright." He had thought about acting indifferent towards her idea, but knew it wouldn't have mattered his happiness was evident in the way he stood, and the way he talked, and everything, "I don't know what government officials like you do on their spare time though..." He looked at her, "Speaking of that...what do you do for fun? Do you even have fun these days?"

 

[VickyCummings]

"Speaking of that...what do you do for fun? Do you even have fun these days?"

That question caught her off gaurd. The question made here blush because she couldn't remeber the last day where she had fun, let alone just to relax. She had so many responisblities thrown on her she had no time to just cut loose and do something she wanted.

"Well um...just so busy with all the talks about possible war and stuff really don't have time to relax. Hard enough trying to have a decent conversation without politica getting involved. But enough about that."

She thought for a moment and came up with an idea.

"I know we could go to the amusement park in Atlanira, and maybe stop by the Lezerano Companyto see how Regal is doing."

 

[poohlive]

Regal found himself in another meeting, trying his best to stay concentrated. He could not though, collating and merging and infrastructure changing slipped through his mind, trying to grap ahold and yet slipping.

When it was over, he was one of the first ones out the door.

"Any messages?" He asked his assistant, she shook her head though. Nothing, no one had called.

"Good, I'm leaving for the day. Unless it's an emergency, leave it for tomorrow."

"Sure thing," His assistant, a cute little girl who was just getting into the business, took down a few notes.

Already on the move again. He was a man posessed, going up to the elevator, moving to the top floors, the single flight of stairs.

And then, the smalle gravestone at the top. It overlooked everything. An entire valley on one side, cascading mountains on another, and just about everything in between.

"You would have loved this view Alicia. Can spend hours up here and never be bored. And, if you stop and listen, you can hear the birds in the forests below."

He smiled, sitting down next to the gravestone, his smile small but dear.

"It's breathtaking..."

 

[Bluemage]

Zelos Wilder

Zelos couldn't help but smile a bit at that suggestion. He remembered back when they had been on their quest, and Sheena had called the resort gaudy, and now she was suggesting that they spend some time there. He didn't mind. It was a nice place to relax, even if it was flashy. It would give him a chance to kick back, and would also give him plenty of opportunity to prove that he wasn't some lecher, and actually had some redeeming qualities.

He smiled as he looked at Sheena. He was about to open his mouth to say something along the lines of 'alright, it's a date' but then stopped. If he referred to this as anything even resembling the word date, Sheena would decide that she really didn't want to go anymore. She was so set on believing that she didn't have any feelings for him because his history hadn't been so shining that she would do something like decide that she wanted to spend the rest of her week off alone in a corner just to make sure that he knew that she could live without him.

He instead just nodded, "Alright." Going to the resort wasn't such a bad idea. There would be plenty of opportunities to come up with gifts or something in hopes of romancing Sheena enough that she would fall for him.

 

[VickyCummings]

Standing outside the main gates of Atlanira, waiting for Zelos with their luggage. She would have carried her own, but he inisitted of carring her's too. She thought to herself of the events of the day. She thought of how carring and compassionate Zelos has been. She thought maybe he wasn't suck a sexist jerk after all. A lot has changed since they reunited the world seven years ago. Seven years ago she would be ashamed be seen in public with him, but today she is glad for his company. She wasn't completly sure if she was devolping feeling for him, feelings that was more than friendship anyways. She would wait to see how the rest of the day went to see how things were.

 

[Bluemage]

Zelos Wilder

Zelos continued to carry the luggage, his strapped over his shoulders and on his back while he carried hers at his side. He smiled softly as he saw her standing in front of the resort waiting for him. He hadn't been very fast, but who could blame him really. He did have the extra weight of all of this luggage. He had to put on a strong face though. He couldn't just decide to give up at this point. That wouldn't look good on him, and even worse would be admitting defeat. He always chose the winning side, and today, it may have taken a little bit more work to carry everything than to just give up, but this was the side that was the winning side.

He looked up at her now only a few steps away, "Hey. I think you won that race." He chuckled a bit and put down her luggage, taking a moment to rest.

 

[VickyCummings]

Sheena smiles from his joke and takes her suitcase from him. She saw that he was exhuasted and decided best if they got a room and rested the rest of the day. Besides she had 6 more days off and no need to rush trying to everything in one day.

"Say you want to get a room? It would be best if we got one room, to cut down on the cost, cause being an abassender doesn't pay much."

Then she remeber that Zelos was a noble and probly had tons of money. She wanted to slap herself for saying that. But it was already said, so she just grinnined, hoping not to embess herself too much.

 

[Bluemage]

Zelos Wilder

Zelos looked at her for a moment in disbelief. She was suggesting that they stay in one room? She wanted to sleep in the same room as him? Well, he knew right away that he wasn't going to get much sleeping done...but then again, he didn't mind so much. He stretched a little and smiled softly at her, "Alright." His voice was soft an calm, while everything inside of him wanted to jump for joy, "That means I won't have to pay for two rooms." He smiled at her softly.

He had planned to pay for a room for them the whole time, but he also knew that she was likely to get upset at him and storm off to get herself her own room by the end of a conversation or two. If she was going to suggest it though, well, there wasn't anything wrong with that. It meant that he would have more time to spend around her, and that was time well spent.

He looked up at her for a few more moments, "Sheena. You shouldn't be in such a rush to spend your money. I know you aren't getting rich working as an ambassador, and this place is kind of expensive. You should save your money for something that you really want, rather than on a room" He smiled at her again and then looked back into the resort. He wanted to say something about a couple looking less suspicious than two random people, but it didn't matter so much if they looked suspicious anymore. If he continued arguing for them to act like a couple, it would just be him arguing to keep a dream alive.

He sighed softly and ran his hand through his long red hair for a moment. He looked back to Sheena and gave her a big goofy smile. He knew that he was just living in a dream when he let himself believe that he had a chance with a woman like that. He had spent too much time worrying about how he appeared to all of those vapid women that he had surrounded himself with when he was a chosen, and now it had ruined his chances with one of the only quality women he had ever known. Well, there was no sense in worrying about that now.

 

[VickyCummings]

She gigled at his goofy grin and agreed with him. This is the first time since their adventure that she had someone else who could cover her cost. If she ever had to travel anywhere she would have to pay out her own pocket.

Yeah you're right, two rooms then, just so used to being made to pay for everything myself, the embency doesn't pay for didly squat. But we should try to get the two rooms close by so have to search the entire hotel for each other."

 

[Bluemage]

Zelos Wilder

Zelos stared at Sheena for a few moments, amazed that he had somehow messed up the opportunity to spend the night in the same room as Sheena. How had he managed that? He nodded softly and kept a smile on his face to hide what he was really feeling. How many times had he done that in the past? He was always smiling even when he was destroyed inside, and now was no different. He shrugged as he listened to her suggestion that they should get their two rooms close to one another. This was sure to be expensive.

His mind then wandered to possibilities that would force them into the same room. Maybe the hotel would be full except for one room, or maybe there was not going to be quite enough money for two rooms, or maybe there would be something to change her mind so she decided that they should spend their time in one room rather than two. Maybe there was still hope for him to convince her that they should spend some time together.

He looked at Sheena for a few moments and spoke again, "Well, if you'd rather spend your time alone in a room than with me in my room, I guess I can pay for your room..." He still didn't like the idea. He wasn't quite sure why. He wanted to think that it had something to do with not being with Sheena, and not really wanting to be separated from her for any length of time, but knew that the reason probably had more to do with a fear of returning to his old self, and not being alone in his room regardless of whether or not Sheena was there. He didn't really want that. He didn't want to pick up some random floozy on the beach, and then have her writhe under him in his hotel room bed. He wanted Sheena. He didn't even so much care for the part where they had wild sex, which was unusual for him. He just wanted to hear her tell him that she loved him, and that she wanted him the same way he wanted her. That was really enough.

He closed his eyes for a moment. Maybe this was some sort of test that she was putting him through. Maybe she was trying to see if he could keep himself under control for a night or two in this resort with all of the beach babes around. He shifted the weight of his luggage on his back. Whatever it was, Sheena was definitely proving to be a challenge. He liked a challenge. Maybe he could use this separate rooms thing to his advantage if he thought about it long enough. There were plenty of ways that he could use being in the same room with Sheena to his advantage, making breakfast in bed for her and that sort of thing, to prove that he really was interested in her, and not just her body.

He finally looked up at her as he thought of something, "So...I guess even if I promised not to pick up any random beach babes you wouldn't want to stay in the same room with me? I mean you could even make it a bet and justify staying in the room with me as you making sure I didn't cheat or something." He looked at her for a minute, "C'mon, that sounds interesting and fun, doesn't it? Definitely get your mind off of those 'pinheads' that you work with."

 

[VickyCummings]

Sheena looked at Zelos for a moment so confused on the one hand if she was to stay with Zelos in the same room, she was afraid of him trying to take advantage of her. But if she stayed in a seperate room she would be lonely and have no one to talk to. If she stayed with Zelos it would cut down cost on him too, she would have someone to talk to and if he did try anything funny, she was sure one swift kick to the groin could stop him. If she also stayed in the same room as him, she could keep an eye on him better.

"Alright I've weighted the options and changed my mind again, so it wouldn't be such a cost burden on you and it would be boring with no one to talk to, and to best keep an eye on you, we can stay in the same rooms."

To put an end to any premature celebration going on in his head she held out her hand as a visual stop sign.

"But first a couple rules. First we sleep in seperate beds, if there is only one bed, I think it only fair if we each take turns sleeping on the floor then. Second, don't even think about peeking at me when I'm changing. Third no picking up random woman and bringing them up to the room if I'm not around." Got it.

She almost felt bad putting her foot down, saying as if she didn't trust him. Due to thier past who could blame her. She didn't quiet have an idea of what to think of him yet, so she sided on caution for now.