strangetrip | [GP] Shoot that poison arrow

[GP] Shoot that poison arrow

None of the guests noticed when the spiky-haired man-child in jeans and purple t-shirt, wrists wrapped in cheap leather and metal bracelets, arrived at the Madonna Inn a few hours before midnight on February 13. That, in itself, wasn't all that surprising. Eros, otherwise known as Danny Valentine, had millennia of experience doing his job without being spotted.

What was surprising was that the dude at the front desk did see him. Tall and Nondescript waved him over and then gave him a room number 'in case you wanted to rest'. But Danny didn't.

Want to, or rest. He spent the time before the clock struck midnight polishing his love gun. Not like that. He'd find a girl to spend his nameday with. He always did. No, this little beauty was made by Hephaestus himself. It shot love darts that disappeared on contact.

At midnight, kitted out with more love darts than there were people in this pink and gold monstrosity, Danny left his room and shot the first person he saw--and didn't wait to see what would happen.

No point getting a slow start. He had a lot of work to do.

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That was unexpected. The compliment, that is. She knew she wasn't ugly or anything but she wasn't the kind of pretty that made guys all tongue-tied and blushy. At least, not without some effort and important structural garments. She smiled at him. "Aw, thanks."

She took the cream, her hand brushing against his as she did soft. His skin was hot and she was wondering if he had a fever. "Hang on, let me..." Without waiting for permission, she lifted her hand to his cheek instead, testing his temperature.

Oh. Oh her hand was so soft like rose petals or cashmere or something. He had to close his eyes and so he could focus on the sheer decadence of it. His mind struggled to come up with proper figurative thoughts. He felt himself let out a sigh that was no less than dreamy, a fluttery thing that made him feel rather like a school boy again. He hadn't felt quite so knocked off his feet since the first time he saw Millie.

"Aphrodite in the flesh," he said quietly. Henry opened his eyes again. His fingers curled tightly into his palms, trying to focus on anything but how exquisite she was. He couldn't fight this. He knew he couldn't fight this. "Please..." He couldn't- He couldn't focus enough to try to figure out a counter spell for this or even come up with something that would kill his libido.

Steph frowned. He wasn't feverish but there was obviously something wrong with him. Compliments were nice but that was more like overkill. "Henry. Maybe you should go lie down." She pulled away, and stood, intending to help him up from his chair.

Henry couldn't stop it. God help him, but he wanted to. The need grew more intense with every heartbeat, every breath. This wasn't anything at all like anything in the world he'd ever experienced before. He had to. He was going to explode if he didn't. He stood. Somehow he stood. He didn't know where he found the strength to. What remained of the rational part of his brain screamed at him to stay exactly where he was and make sure she got away from him.

It was like his body wasn't his own as he found himself kissing her.

As a general rule, Steph liked kissing. It was fun and it felt good. Tim said something about seratonin or dopamine or something but all Steph knew was that kissing was nice. Then again, Steph had never been kissed by someone who so clearly wanted and didn't want to. Simultaneously.

Her immediately was to brace like she'd been attacked, her hands flying up to pressure points on his body that Cass had once taught her. But he was such a nice guy that she held off and instead let him kiss her. And, since you know, she was here anyway, she kissed him back.

The places her hands went were ones that Henry himself was very familiar with. He wouldn't've blamed her in the slightest if she'd incapacitated him. In truth, he might've preferred it. Eventually it might even register to him that her hands immediately went to places where she could fend him off.

Instead, he could practically feel the moment she chose to embrace what was happening. One of his hands rested low on her waist. The tension in him melting slowly away as he got lost in the soft sweetness of her lips. He missed kissing. He realized that all at once. It'd been so long since he'd been so close to someone else, since he'd known the warmth of another person's body so near to his own. He couldn't think about how much younger than him she probably was or about his wife or anyone else. It was just so very good not to feel so desperately alone.

She could feel the urgency fade, the tension that had been pulling him in different directions ebbing away. Steph slide her hand higher, cupped the back of his neck and swayed forward, letting her body brush his. Steph didn't really go for older guys - Det. Gage and Dick were basically the oldest that she thought of as hot - but that was almost beside the point. What mattered what that this seemed to be helping.

Distantly, Henry swore he heard himself groan. The hand on her waist slid further around, pulling her closer like she was on the cover of some dime store pulp novel. He didn't think to be embarrassed about his obvious...interest. The fog was starting to clear. Slowly, but surely. Did Stephanie know she had an amazing rear? It felt perfect cupped in his hand. He didn't squeeze. He could appreciate something wonderful without needing to- Alright, one wouldn't hurt, but it was definitely all in the name of appreciation. Yes, exactly that. Not pushing. Positive reinforcement? Yes. Good. Think about making her feel good and not how young she was or even if she wasn't how much literal time likely separated them all the same.

Somehow Steph wouldn't have bet on sweet Henry getting all handsy without dinner and a movie first. But that was probably far enough for him. If his reactions were any indication, things were getting out of hand. So carefully, without hurting him, she pushed him back away from her and then framed his face in her hands. She studied his eyes carefully, looking for signs of drugs.

"Henry, how do you feel?"

Strangely enough, the light squeeze and the push that followed was enough to clear the driving need from his head. He let her inspect him. If she put a finger in front of his eyes to test his visual acuity or whathaveyou, he would've followed that too.

"I couldn't-" He cut himself off and cleared his throat. Lack of control or not, he shouldn't be making excuses. "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. It was unacceptable."

She tested his cheek again. Cool. "I think you've taken all this Valentine's decorations too seriously." She grinned, clearly unbothered by the suddent and recent mauling.

He kept his hands resolutely at his sides. "Perhaps don't drink the coffee." She might've been casual and over it. He wouldn't be. For all the monstrous things he'd studied, the thing that always frightened him the most were people. Demons and wendigos and vampires and werewolves and shifters and everything else made sense. They had biological or magical reasons for being the way they were and there were means to prevent them. They weren't entirely monstrous, simply different. People could always be crueler to each other than anything that ate them or their souls could ever be.

"Thank you." The gratitude too was genuine. Even if he would've preferred her to have acted on whatever instincts she had and left him out cold on the floor.

"Henry, it's okay, honestly." Steph smiled at him, sure that he was going to be beating himself up for this. He reminded her of Tim a little bit. She still had an extremely clear memory of explaining to her dear ex that no, a few makeout sessions did not a baby make.

Henry nodded in understanding and vowed not to bring it up again in conversation. The tips of his ears were still very pink. He glanced back down at his open notebook and cleared his throat. "So, I've been working on cataloguing the plant life on the grounds. I'm not nearly finished yet, there's a great many I haven't seen before, but it looks like we have quite a few decorative plants that also happen to be very useful. I've been collecting some here and there every so often to let them dry but is there... Do you know if some sort of modern gadget exists that might speed up the process?"

Better to just move onto something else and not concern himself with the discomfort of the moment. She'd been here longer than he had, hadn't she? Surely seemed the type to have explored a great many of the buildings or be familiar with much more in the kitchen than he was.

Stephanie frowned. "Do you mean speed up finding what they are or speed up drying them or what? I don't really know anything about drying flowers. You could ask the groundskeeper? Not that the staff are ever really helpful. Or...Oh, ask the neurotic blond girl. She's been cataloging people's skills like a serial killer in training or something. She'll probably know if someone's good with plants."

"The drying process," Henry clarified. Was...was Stephanie not the neurotic blond girl in question? Oh... Perhaps he hadn't been paying as close attention as he should've been to the people around him. "I'll take that under consideration, thank you," he said, smiling, half wondering what else he'd been missing that was obvious to everyone else.

"Do you happen to know where I might find her? Not today. Definitely not today." He didn't want to risk whatever compulsion had overcome him happening again. He was going to get as far from people as he could and just focus on his work. Yes, that was a good idea.

Steph looked around, actually surprised to find that the girl she was thinking of wasn't in the cafe. That wasn't normal. But then, today was apparently going to be one of those days. "She's usually hanging around here, I think. Her name is...Caroline? I think it's Caroline."

"Caroline," he said, making an obvious mental note. "Thank you, Stephanie. I appreciate that."

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[GP] Shoot that poison arrow

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