18-May-2001
Note: The arc is currently under a massive revision, and will be under revision for at least another four to six months, so there will be some discontinuities until I can get everything fixed.
Author: Dan
Genre: epic AU
Pairings: NA
Disclaimer: not mine, don't sue.
Warnings: AU, a positive plethra of OCS, high
supernatural and yech factor, angst
Further Note: terms from such literary gems as Laurel
K. Hamilton are used and then twisted beyond all
recognition.
We are almost ready to have our little 'dinner' with the Master of the City. 'We' consisted of Aidan, Duo, Dorothy, and myself. Aidan and I were going as pack representatives. Duo was coming along as back-up because he was a necromancer, and therefore scary. We hoped. Dorothy was coming as a representative of her coven, and as the next Vargamour for the lukoi. What that meant, exactly, neither Dorothy nor I knew, but we figured that we'd deal with one threat to our continuing safety at a time. Considering that I was about to meet the biggest bloodsucker in the city, who might or might not be my personal vision of hell, I was pretty calm. Except for one small thing; I refused to leave the bathroom.
"No."
"Relena, you have to come out, or we'll be late," Aidan cajoled me.
"No way."
"Relena, the outfit can't be much worse than mine," Duo said in a much-aggrieved tone.
I looked down at myself, and fought the urge to blush. "Oh, yes, it can."
"What's wrong?" Dorothy asked me with her normal calm. Neither she nor Aidan sounded perturbed by the situation.
"Well, for one, there is way too much Relena on display." The dress--or the wishful thought of a dress--didn't leave anything to the imagination. I'm really very much a prude at heart on some things, and showing skin was definitely one of them.
Aidan had gotten to pick out my attire for the evening, and in retrospect that had been a bad plan.
It came in pieces: gloves, boots, bodice, skirt, and a sweeping, floor-length, sleeveless jacket-cape with a hood. The ensemble was done in mostly black leather and satin shot through with silver threads. Black leather gloves encased my arms up to my elbows, where the gloves were buckled with silver clasps. Matching thick-soled boots came up to about mid-thigh, and was held there by straps connected to the bodice of the dress. The skirt was slit up to my hips so it was more like two thin panels in the front and back that flowed to the floor. The bodice was rather like a vest and strapped onto my body with five clasps: one across my hips, three across my ribs, and one across my chest right above my breasts. The vest did not close all the way so there was line of skin showing all the way down to my hips. The jacket fitted over all of it, sweeping down to the ground behind me. The wide hood settled comfortably on my back. The jacket was entirely silver in contrast to the black leather and satin, except for the Celtic embroidery done in black thread. There was no way I was going out in public dressed like this.
"There's too much Duo on display, too," Duo huffed. That made me wonder about Duo's outfit, and whether or not Heero had seen it beforehand; probably not. "Try door number two."
"But you look so tasty like that," Aidan mock-protested. Duo made a small growling noise that I echoed.
There were sounds of a small scuffled and then Dorothy's voice came through the door again. "Relena, will you let me in?"
I opened the door a crack and let Dorothy step through. My eyes widened as I got a good look at her.
Aidan had chosen well with her attire.
The dress actually consisted of three different parts, all done in creamy ivory that matched her pale skin. White gloves encased her arms from fingertips to armpits. An elaborately embroidered bodice bared her shoulders and lifted her breasts, skimming over her ribs, tailored close to her body. The skirt was full, and swirled around her with each step. It wasn't until you were close to her that you saw the skirt was actually an uncountable number of strips of silk and velvet that flashed tiny glimpses of her long legs with each step. She wore the dress like it was made for her. Her hair was done in looping braids that hung loosely down her back and over her shoulder. She looked as if she were made of ivory and gold.
I had the urge to touch her that was so fierce that it showed in my eyes, and made Dorothy gasp a little. I touched her face with both hands, my thumbs running over the edge of her cheekbones. When I drew my hands lower, her tongue darted out to shyly, coyly, touch my finger. I stared at her as she drew it into her mouth and sucked on it. I could feel her tongue move seductively around my ring finger, flicking up to touch the sensitive skin between my fingers. Then I yelped when she bit me.
"Dorothy! Dammit!" I growled at her.
"Stop sulking," she replied calmly. "There's no reason for it. You are dressed to impress vampires, creatures that have been alive for hundreds of years; it takes quite a show to impress them, I would think. And the outfits are only part of it."
I rubbed my hand where she had bitten me, and resisted the urge to sulk childishly. A nasty thought struck me, one that disturbed me more than the clothes I had to wear. "Do you think we'll have to kill some of them to make our point?"
Dorothy shrugged eloquently. "Might."
She had never been distressed by the thought of having to kill anyone. If she believed it was a necessity, Dorothy could deal with it. There were times I wondered if what it had cost her to be able to shut herself down like that, to turn off her emotions like a light. Most days I was pretty sure I didn't want to know, because I had enough problems of my own. I sighed, and decided not to think about it. We would do what we had to do, no matter how I felt about it.
"Damn..."
Dorothy touched my cheek gently. "I know you don't want to have to kill them, but if it's a choice between us or them...."
I caught her hand in mine, and looked her full in the face. "They make a move against you, just one, I will kill them. I will kill them all."
She smiled indulgently. "Your wolf."
"Every once in a while, Aidan and my wolf are right. I will protect what is mine." It sounded archaic, but it was the truth. Dorothy was mine. Aidan was mine. Even Duo in some weird way was mine, and I would protect them no matter what the cost. She tilted her head as she looked up, sending all those braids spilling over her back, past her hips. Her hips arched against mine as she bent backward a little to get a clear look at my eyes. I lowered my head and kissed her very gently. I whimpered when she deepened the kiss to quick dance of tongues. My hands skimmed over her hips and ribs to press her close to me, reveling in how she felt through the silk and leather. Maybe Aidan had a good thing going here after all. I sighed regretfully when she pulled back.
"Later, when we have time," she whispered.
"I'm beginning to think that we're never going to get the time," I muttered crankily. Dorothy gave me another indulgent smile and threw open the door.
"About time," Duo said irritably, until he got a good look at me. We stared at each other, marveling at each other's attire. I was amazed that Aidan had managed to talk Duo into it and escape the event unscathed.
Duo was also clad almost entirely in black, highlighted by occasional dashes of red. Black leather pants slid over his long legs and lean hips, stopping right at top of his hipbone. The were open at the sides, leaving a line of skin showed from his hips down to his calves where the boots started. His boots were closer to military style, and looked like they might have steel toes. For a top, he only wore some sort of deep red--almost maroon--sleeveless vest that seemed to be made out of a pelt of some kind. The vest showed a lot of his pale, lean chest. Looped around his neck was a choker made of red thread and silver beads. Duo's long, hair was braided into more tiny strands than I could count, and they slid around him with a faint hissing as he moved irritably.
"Maybe you're right," he said. "Your outfit is about as bad as mine."
I nodded with heartfelt empathy. There was a lot of Duo on display, and he didn't seem too thrilled with it either. Aidan made a small, insulted sound. I turned to him and stopped dead in my tracks. My first thought was that it wasn't fair that he got to wear more clothes than I did, and the second was that I'd never seen so much cover so little.
I never realized exactly how long his hair was until I saw it pulled away from his face in a loose ponytail that reached his shoulders. Without his hair to soften the hard line of his jaw, and sharp edge of his cheekbones, accentuating his Asian ancestry. A single emerald stud gleamed in his ear, matching cat-green eyes. The brilliant russet color of his hair almost burned in contrast against the stark monochrome of his clothes. The pants were black linen, and clung so perfectly to his body that I knew there was nothing under the pants but him. Black boots of a soft, almost pettable leather reached his upper calves. He wore a tailored dark sapphire shirt untucked and unbuttoned down to his stomach. Over the shirt he wore a black vest that reached his upper thighs. He smiled at me, immensely pleased with himself.
"Geri, you look very striking." He stepped towards me, stopping just far enough away that he made my dress move without having to touch it. He tapped one silver clasp on the bodice. "Very dominant."
My hormones were already on overdrive thanks to Dorothy's little game in the bathroom; I really did not need to be dealing with Aidan on full flirt mode. "Thanks. I guess you chose well for this evening."
"Damned with faint praise," he said smirking slightly. "What do you think of my outfit?"
I pressed two fingers against my temple, hard. "Aidan, you look good. You always do. Stop fishing for compliments."
Duo was watching us with wide, interested eyes, and I realized that I had never really given anyone a compliment like that. I arched an eyebrow at the former pilot. Duo shrugged, and grinned. "Quite a peacock you have there."
Aidan sputtered a furious, but futile, denial. I thought about it, all of his posturing, his vanity, just Aidan in general, and it fit. I nodded. "You're right, Duo. He is a peacock."
We both grinned when Aidan finally gave up trying to defend himself. He crossed his arms over his bare chest, a lovely gesture made better by the fact that he didn't realize that it showed off his arms and chest to a wonderful advantage. "Fine. Laugh it up, but remember which one us knew what was appropriate to wear to see the head bloodsucker."
Dorothy raised one sardonic eyebrow. "Wouldn't that just confirm your peacock nature?"
"Let's just go," he muttered with hurt pride.
We went.
End Part 12
Dan: See Dan have fun with descriptions!
Jue: That was pure filler!
Dan: But pretty filler!
anyway, for some help with the outfits: Relena's is a cross between Satsuki's outfit on the Hermit tarot card for X with a dash of Angel Sanctuary. Dorothy's came out of my own sick mind (I own that skirt. ^.^V) Duo's comes from the front cover of the Gesalt number 8 manga. Aidan's was from my own sick mind. ^.^v
(:./dan/wolf12)
