The moment Lanard finally left, taking his endless enthusiasm for industrial-grade soundproofing with him, the house plunged into a deep, absolute silence.
Sunny stood alone in the center of the empty living room. The faint smell of fresh paint, synthwood, and dust lingered in the air. There was no furniture. No lights turned on. He could see in the shadows anyways.
He put his hands in his pockets. His fingers brushed against the cold metal of his communicator.
Sunny pulled it out and stared at the blank screen. He didn't deliberate. He should have given it a deeper thought, the social implications of inviting a girl to an empty house he'd owned for exactly three days…... He didn't think about it. It was just a sudden, blind impulse, driven by a strange, hollow feeling in his chest that he adamantly refused to examine.
He typed the address, a little explaining, that he had bought a house and stuff, then Sunny hit send, and shoved the device back into his pocket before his brain could catch up with what his hands had just done.
A few seconds later, it buzzed.
On my way.
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It started raining while he waited.
By the time Cielle arrived, the sky had turned a bruising grey, and her dark coat was damp, her usually neat hair clinging slightly to her cheeks. She stepped through the front door and took the space in, looking around slowly with deep interest.
Sunny closed the door behind her, watching as she folded her damp cloak over her arm and began to walk through the hallway. Her fingers trailed lightly against the doorframes, grazing the edge of the staircase bannister. She was reading the house in her own quiet way.
They ended up in the kitchen. The rain drummed a steady, low rhythm against the reinforced glass of the window, casting long, shifting shadows across the floor.
"It's nice," she finally said, looking out at the overgrown garden. "Quiet."
"That's the whole point," Sunny replied, leaning casually against the kitchen counter.
She turned to look at him, tilting her head slightly. The ambient light caught the deep, unreadable depth of her green eyes. "What was your last place like?"
Sunny looked at her. He thought about the slums, the cramped bunks, the cold. But his mind drifted to the only place that had truly left a mark on his soul. A dark, amused smirk tugged at the corners of his lips before he could stop it.
"Oh, you know," he said casually, crossing his arms. "It was a bit bigger. My previous residence was actually a colossal, ruined cathedral built from ancient black stone. It had a lovely panoramic view of a cursed, lightless city. The security system was incredible, though, mostly handled by a massive, psychotic Fallen Devil and an endless sea of bloodthirsty abominations."
Cielle didn't laugh. She didn't blink in confusion or ask if he was joking. She just absorbed the information, her gaze steady, processing the truth hidden beneath his dry delivery.
"I see," she said. "This is a downgrade, then."
Sunny exhaled a quiet chuckle. "Yeah. You could say that."
The rain continued to fall, filling the silence between them. The kitchen felt strangely small with just the two of them standing there.
"You survived that," she said, her voice dropping a fraction. It wasn't a question.
"I did... Barely."
She looked down at her hands for a moment, tracing the edge of the empty synthwood counter. "People who survive things like that... They usually keep their doors locked. They don't send their addresses to people they barely know."
Sunny felt a sudden tightness in his throat. He hadn't realized that was exactly what he was doing until she said it out loud, he didn't have a witty deflection ready. He just stared at her.
Cielle looked back up at him. "Since you're showing me yours," she said, her tone shifting, taking on a careful, deliberate weight. "I should probably tell you about my Aspect."
Sunny raised an eyebrow. Aspects were fiercely guarded secrets. For her to offer this voluntarily meant something entirely different. "I'm listening."
"My Aspect," Cielle said evenly, "allows me to copy other people's Aspects and Abilities."
Sunny actually choked on his own breath.
His eyes went wide, the cool, aloof persona hopefully been putting on shattering instantly into a million pieces. "What?" he blurted out, staring at her as if she had just grown a second head. 'Copy Aspects?! That's absurd. That breaks the fundamental laws of the Spell! If the Great Clans ever found out-'
"It's not instantaneous," she continued, her voice perfectly calm in the face of his utter shock. "I have to understand it first. The structure, the intent, the very nature of how the soul weaves the power. If I understand it perfectly, I can replicate it."
Sunny tried to rapidly recalibrate his entire worldview. "How... how do you understand it?"
"Well at first i could not, but my Awakened Ability," She took a half-step closer. "It forces my mind to comprehend the intricacies of another person's soul. But it requires a medium. A connection."
Sunny's heart started to beat a little faster. "W-What kind of connection?"
"Physical contact," Cielle said. She took another step. She was close now. Close enough that he could smell the faint, clean scent of rain on her skin. "The depth of the understanding scales directly with the depth of the contact. A touch gives me a surface read. But to really grasp the core of an Aspect..."
She let the sentence trail off, her eyes locking onto his.
"As i said, im really interested in your aspect as well, it's quite fascinating actually"
Sunny's brilliant, tactical mind slammed into a brick wall. 'Depth of contact. Depth of understanding. If she wants to understand my Aspect, she would need to—'
Before his brain could even finish the terrifying, exhilarating thought, Cielle closed the remaining distance.
She didn't ask. She didn't hesitate. She stepped directly into his space and pressed her mouth to his.
Sunny completely froze.
His entire nervous system short-circuited. He went rigid, his hands hanging uselessly at his sides, his eyes wide open in sheer, unadulterated shock. The kiss was not tentative or shy. It was deliberate, hot, and entirely consuming.
She stepped flush against him, the sudden, heavy pressure of her large, soft breasts pressing firmly against his chest sent a jolt of raw electricity straight down his spine. Her hands came up, one resting flat against his chest, the other sliding to the back of his neck, her fingers tangling in his dark hair.
At the same time, her wings reacted. With a soft, rustling sound, the massive, white wings flared open behind her and swept forward, enveloping them both, caging him in a warm, private darkness that smelled of sweet and rain.
Sunny couldn't move. He couldn't think. He was completely at her mercy, overwhelmed by the sheer feelings of her body against his.
She hummed softly against his mouth, parting her lips. Sunny gasped involuntarily, and in that second, she slipped her tongue inside.
It was small, hot, and incredibly soft. He felt the wet, slick slide of her pink tongue brushing against his own, tasting him with a focused, dizzying intensity. His knees actually felt weak. His brain was screaming at him to do something, to react, but he was entirely paralyzed, drowning in the wet, heated slide of her mouth. She kissed him deeply, thoroughly, tilting her head to deepen the angle, swallowing his quiet, pathetic groan.
Saliva pooled in the corners of their mouths, hot and messy. The sheer intimacy of it, making slick sounds , the wet heat of her tongue exploring his mouth, the heavy weight of her chest rising and falling against him– it was tearing his rational mind to shreds. He was shell-shocked, a passenger in his own body, utterly ruined by the devastating way she was kissing him.
When she finally pulled back, Sunny swayed slightly, his hands instinctively gripping the edge of the counter behind him to keep his legs from giving out.
He stared at her, his chest heaving, his eyes were blown wide.
Cielle stood within the shelter of her own wings. She wasn't heavily flushed, just sporting a small, delicate bloom of pink high on her cheeks. She was breathing a little faster than usual, her chest rising and falling against him. Her beautiful face was composed, but her lips were thoroughly kissed, swollen, wet, and slightly parted.
A thin, glistening string of saliva stretched between their mouths for a heartbeat before snapping. A tiny drop of drool slid down her lower lip, catching the dim light of the kitchen.
Sunny couldn't speak. His throat was a desert. His mind was a blank slate. He just stared at that drop of moisture, completely and utterly wrecked.
Cielle licked her bottom lip, catching the drop. She looked up at him, her eyes bright and intensely focused, parsing whatever alien information she had just pulled from his soul.
"Sunny," she whispered, her voice just a little breathless.
He swallowed hard, unable to form a single syllable.
She tilted her head slightly, her gaze piercing right through him. "Can you see through your shadows?"