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Off to the side of the virtual reality tactics room, past the single door that opens into Dirionis (and Franceza's) room is where the Lunite resides. Even though its the early afternoon, he had only recently arisen (probably up late), showered, and picked up some sort of asian-esqe salad for lunch, which comprised of mostly outverser only ingredients. Sitting off the side of the large bed, facing away, Diri takes a bite of the salad, chews thoughtfully, and then half turns to look behind him at the other half of the bed, where a mess of sheets could mean Franceza is under the covers, or just a decoy to where she truly is. "Hey babe, try this out." He reaches with a free hand to touch where her leg might be under the covers.
Prefering sleep over too early surprises, there's leg. Twitching leg. And a startled messy head lifting from underneath covers at the other end. "Wha-what! Wasn't me!"
Dirionis chuckles at the response, and removes his shirt in order to get more comfortable as he sidles next to her on the bed, "Morning beautiful." A grin as he observes her and then offers the salad again. Upon closer inspection it looks like mandarin oranges mixed in with thinly sliced almond pieces, among other things. "Hungry?" The fork rests at the side of the rather large bowl.
"Oh." Shoulders relaxing, head sinking back to pillow and there's rolling and stretching and yawning and eventually she ends up with her head propped on a hand, peering into the bowl. Blink. "Wow, you're going on healthy today? Where the hell did you get oranges hon?" Fingers dip in and steal a few pieces, popping it in. He's further rewarded with a leg wrapping 'round and pulling him close, "Mmm, I remember one of my brothers bringing in a net once."
"It looked appealing at the time," Diri responds, "And yeah, oranges... You never know what someone might have when they rift over here... Apparently some guy, owned a food store or something, came in with a huge batch of 'outverser' food. Sold it for a pretty good price. Works fine for me." He takes another bite with the fork, and at the display of her affection, pulls her gently closer so she's resting against him.
Happily chewing, happily stealing a few more pieces, she cuddles against and muses, voice still thick with sleep, "It's kinda working out, isn't it. You 'n me..." There's a bit of a tentative pause at the end there.
"...Yeah," Diri says with a small smile, setting the salad bowl down beside them and running his fingertips lightly up and down her side. "It is." He leans his head down a moment to set a kiss to her temple. "I don't know how you put up with me." Charming grin ensues.
"Oh, that's easy," she snorts, steadily working her way through the bowl now, "You're gone a lot." And he can feel her tense up a little. Probably expecting retaliation.
Dirionis starts laughing softly, setting the bowl of salad off to the side on the night stand. "Oh you think you're funny, eh?!" Diri says with a grin, lifting the sheets so he can slip in above her, but below the comforter, posting above her in a dominant position, the Lunite begins to tickle/wrestle/horseplay her with reckless abandon.
The result? Rather predictable, from a teasing little grin at the slipping, to begging for mercy after exactly three seconds and screaming her head off after five. And if he keeps up the tickling? It /will/ be a wrestling match, the engineer though working on mindless kicks and wriggling only. He'll have to be careful - mindless usually ends with someone hurting.
This is true, and the Lunite must've done this before, because he knows when to stop while it's still fun and he doesn't get an accidental kick to the face. A grin as he releases her from the tickling, snickering as he relaxes in the same position above her as he had started in.
Panting, and only /slowly/ calming down, Fran ends up grinning at him like a wildcat. "I-I'd call that working out?"
"Yeah... That's one way to do it." A wink as the Lunite lowers his face down slowly to press his lips to hers, and more often than not intentionally grinds his hips against hers while they're bodies meet, before he rolls off back to his side, replenishing the energy lost with another bite of salad, also reaching for his drink; a large-sized pop. Guess he's not going -all- healthy. He sips through the straw and sets it aside, reaching with his gloved/mechanical hand towards his pack of cigarettes.
"Tease," Fran mutters when he rolls away, poking a finger in his side, but rolling away in the other direction herself. In search of clothes, with an extra effort in stretching muscles and bending just like that when she locates her pants. "Light me one as well? Since you're about my last source of smokes by now since... Oh, didn't even tell you, did I." Straightening to button up her pants, she makes a face, "I think I did something less smart than usual. I think I kinda egged a president."
Dirionis sets two red-papered, black-filtered heykayan light cigarettes between his lips, looking over his shoulder especially for her bending/stretching, having no shame for his flattering stare. The lighter goes up to the end of both squares, a jet of blue flame igniting them, along with a short inhale of the Lunites lungs. He takes one from his mouth and holds it out towards her, "You what?... You -egged- a president?" A slight chuckle, "President of what?"
Franceza, however, is still grimacing a the memory and the same expression is there after she's pulled an old shirt of Diri's over her head and steps over to accept and sit down. Heavily so. "I... Sort of, with all good intentions, threw one of them little cakes at Vadim and didn't catch. Sooo... There was him and his way too expensive suit and this Aukami and /his/ way too expensive suit sort of... Caked. And the fucker didn't take it well. According to him I almost bankrupted all of us." She snorts, inhaling gladly, "Which I still don't get."
"Sounds to me that a couple whiny girls don't like getting their dresses dirty. I wouldn't think too much of it, baby." A smirk and chuckle, "Prissy fucks." He takes a drag of his cigarette, red tinted smoke exhaled. "Where's the good humor nowadays."
Surprisingly, there's somewhat of a relieved sigh beside him, Fran nodding to herself, but still not sounding entirely convinced when she tells the room at large, "Yeah, that's it, ain't it. Prissy fucks."
Dirionis ashes his cigarette off to the side and leans over to set another kiss to her temple. "You just let me know if they give you trouble." He reaches over to offer her a sip of soda, and brings the salad bowl back on the bed as well for community sharng.
"He's giving trouble. At least seems utterly convinced that I am. For whatever I did to him, well, other me did to him. I don't get it Diri. I ain't bad? Clumsy sometimes, sure, but who isn't?" Snatch at mandarin. Smoke. Sourly groan.
"Wait... Other you...?" Diri queries, "Like... 'From a different time or reality you?' He looks over at her, "And what's he been doin'?"
Franceza noddles, then falls back on the bed with a giant gesture of drama, "Nothing. Well, yet, but he got /this/ close to losing it, I'm pretty sure. Kinda made me wish I'd taken you up on thos training sessions after all, y'know?"
"Offer's still open," The Lunite reminds, looking down at her and then sipping at his drink and taking another bite of salad. "Wait... So he's holding -you- accountable for what your... Other you is doing?"
"-Was- doing. She's rather comatose and not partying a lot, 'member? Fanculo, but he was angry." Sniff. Sideways glance which is slowly turning into a wicked grin. "Could now? If you want? Call it introduction to and I'll tag along?"
"Private lesson. Lucky you." Diri says with a smirk as he rises, "Yeah, the 'other' you was almost as crazy as you are." He decides to leave his shirt off, setting his food and drink in a cooling unit and looking back towards her. "VR room?" A glance towards the door.
She's right behind him! And whacking his behind as she passes and heads out to the suggested area, "Ain't crazy." Fran follows it up with a maniacal grin as she kills her cigarette in a glass of /something/ someone yesterday left behind.
Dirionis finishes his square and follows after her with a grin, slipping an arm around her as he moves towards the virtual reality room control box. "Alright... What setting should we have here..." He drags out the 'here', looking over the controls, and then up at Franceza.
"Hold the snow," his lover snickers, happily peering along with. "But serious yeah, teach me something."
Dirionis taps a few buttons and steps off into the virtual area, as he crosses the line the VR starts to kick up, the blank room around them starting to change slowly, morphing around them. The ground is a grassy outcrop on a large, rocky hilltop, the expanse around them changing to a breathtaking hilly valley. They're pretty far up but the wind is light and there's plenty of flat ground.
Good choice! At least as far as her delighted /giggle/ indicates. Then again, she's grown into such a VR slut, pleasing is easy. "This is more like it!" She rolls her shoulders, a dramatic gesture of I'm SO ready. "Alright, what you got. Bring it on teacher boy!"
"Hold up a sec," Diri says with a grin, stepping towards her, "Stance first. Keep your legs apart about this much." His familiar touch reaches down to guide her legs open a little, "Balanced. Firm... Good, your hips are faced the right way." Taking a few steps back, his legs go into the same stance, practiced, and then he raises his arms up, balling his fists. His offhand is set further out than his dominant hand. "Arms like this."
"Oh, you really wanna go into brawl-mode hon?" Fran teases. Even if it's a rare occasion when she actually is able to walk out of one. But still, she can follow instruction, occasionally. Even if she looks like she's ready to strike any moment now.
"I'll take it easy on you," Diri promises with a wink, "In fact, you'll be the only one striking for now. The first thing you need to know is make every strike with intent. Quick and firm. Hit me." He remains in his stance.
"Intent. Check." And giving up on the stance instantly, the engineer LAUNCHES herself at him, one fist pulled back, swinging forward next to strike where hopefully her weight put him off balance. Either she /is/ crazy, or she's fully convinced he'll be able to handle it.
Dirionis takes a single step back, reversing his stance and bringing an arm up and out to deflect the strike, rolling with her momentum in a defense-counter to toss her onto her back onto the grass. "I like the spirit," He says with a chuckle. "But you need more form."
OOF. But if there's one thing to know about Franceza Tracker, it's that she's of the stubborn kind. Like a mule. So get up she does, shaking her shoulders, shaking her head, and grinning wide. "Of course you do," she laughs, "You wouldn't have it any other way. But..." And she narrows her eyes all threat and imminent danger, "I got form." Slap on the hip. And a leg shooting out in the hopes of catching him in the stomach.
Dirionis isn't as ready for this one, and her kick rewards her with a hit. Even past his abs he can feel the blow, not having the time to brace himself. However he nuts up, and grabs the leg that had caught him off guard, twisting it so hopefully she's in an awkward one-legged stance where she'd have a tough time keeping her balance. "And what now?" A grin from the Lunite.
After the look of utter triumph that she managed to get anything in against him? Well... There's a resigned little grin, the engineer shrugging, twisting this way and that in order to at least hang on to a shred of dignity in standing upright. Then there's this corner of her mouth lifting, forming that develish little grin he seems to like so much. And with a single twist, he's just holding boot. And Franceza? She's grinning her ass off, returning a bare foot to the grassy ground. But right there is where it all starts to go wrong. It began with the hill top. A tremor running through it. A brief flash, the walls of the VR room showing. Then a sick feeling in the pit of the stomach. Sinking.
Dirionis smirks a bit, about to toss the boot back towards her, but it falls once he sees the VR room start to go haywire. "Shit." He mutters, stepping close to her to keep her safe from whatever might be happening. "VR... Shutdown..."
"Heh, what's goin' on." The engineer apparently doesn't share his concern, teasing, "Did you mess with the settings again? Didn't your mama tell you not to mess with buttons?" There's a playful nudge in his ribcage, then with a show of 'I'll get it', she walks to where he dropped the boot. "You know what you should do?" she grins halfway there, missing another flicker of the program as she closes her eyes, scratches the back of her neck and everything else she has to do in order to NOT have to look him in the eye, "Should keep hangin' out with me. Maybe you'll learn how to really work the syst-" But even she falls silent when the program gives out altogether and a slurping sound suddenly hurts the ears. And Franceza feels herself being pulled back. "D-Diri?"
"What the fuck... Franceza, stay near me..." Diri starts to say, the slurping cutting him off and shaking his senses a bit, disorienting him. He reaches out for her desperately, "Baby, stay close..."
Eyes fly open wide when the suction increases, whipping at his old shirt like someone tries to tear it off her. "Fuck... Diri!" But even as she's being sucked further back, she's not the one who's treated on a perhaps familiar sight, a funnel growing. Right behind her. Soon large enough to tower above her. He too, can feel it's power. He can also feel her fingers touch his. Just for a moment.
Dirionis dares himself further into the growing storm, moving as much as he can without completely losing his footing and balance, using all of his strength to keep himself from being sucked in. It gets too strong however, and his feet slide out from under him, which results in him being dragged along the ground, grasping for security, one hand always outstreched for Franceza.
Sometimes, looking back on things, it seems like one moment all's well in the world. And the next, things just aren't. Maybe he'll remember how one moment Franceza was there, reaching out, nearly able to grasp his wrist. And the next moment, a fraction of a blink of an eye later, she wasn't. Simply wasn't. The funnel wasn't. The noise wasn't. A lot of things just were not there. No teasing grin, no sly wink. Not even the panic he could make out in her eyes in the end.
All that's left is himself. A bare VR room, stripped of program. And one boot.
In the aftermath of the final seconds, the force that once pulled him with such power releases its grip sending the Lunite across the room and into the wall. He collapses into a heap, and is still a few moments, his world blurring and moving around him. Finally he shakily crawls across the floor, looking at his hand, which balls into a fist in fury. He's broken and slow moving, crawling a bit more to where her boot lays. "Fran..." he utters, coughing out blood beside him.
The boot doesn't answer.