Pride & Pettiness [Closed] - Printable Version
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RE: Pride & Pettiness [Closed] - megs - 09-02-2018
Briefly, there was an expression on Julianna's face. Entirely feline, and easy to miss if you weren't paying attention. With her ears already pointed upwards, there was a curl to her mouth that looked like what it meant when the metaphorical cat got the metaphorical cream. She had felt the tension of his arm and took note of how easily he lifted her from the laminated settee. The longer sleeves of his button down kept her from ogling his biceps, which she absolutely would have done otherwise. He was still holding her hand, gazing down at her in some sort of way. Seconds passed like elongated minutes, and the way her pupils had gone wide and dark, like a housecat spotting it's favorite toy. Julianna looked away from his first, prompting him to spin her around and direct her towards the exit.
"I've never been there," she admitted. Julianna didn't mind making an appearance at the occasional bar or house party, but night clubs had never really been her scene.
Outside, the chilly autumnal weather that most found so appealing bit into Julianna's skin. She had always been susceptible to the cold. More so than the average. Growing up on a sunny subtropical archipelago had spoiled her. Julianna wondered if they would be walking to the club, if it was downtown it was entirely likely. the historic space lent well to casual strolling and he didn't appear to be leading her towards his car. Her tail fluffed up big, and curled against the small of her back. She crossed her arms over her chest in an attempt to keep warm as goose bumps appeared on her skin, but she didn't complain.
"Uhm." Julianna looked down at the toes of her boots, watching them cross over the old cobblestones, hesitating in answering his question. She suddenly felt tongue-tied, and the inexplicable need to impress him. Not a great combination. "Well, you know. I read? Maeve and I like to shop." She hummed thoughtfully. "I'm just really focused on school right now. Maeve dragged me out here. I like movies, museums. Just the...typical things. I guess I'm not that exciting." She ended with a self-conscious sounding laugh.
RE: Pride & Pettiness [Closed] - saronym - 09-18-2019
Owen looked up towards the night sky and chuckled. “Oh you read, do you?” He asked teasingly. He had already noticed she was one of the more studious people in his politics class. He could imagine that she was studious all around. Even for fun. She struck him as the type. He was that way, as well, but he was less obvious about it, choosing to rest in a more party-boy identity. “But you’re an exchange student,” he argued, taking her arm, he turned the corner and they came upon The Strip. A block of bars, clubs, and a few junk food type restaurants that served the drunk that partied here. The turn down that block marked a change from the quaint, cobble-stoned downtown, to a more debaucherous scene, where the music from the varying bars vied for the drunken patrons that swayed down the street looking for their next stop.
“Being an exchange student is about partying in a foreign country. And enjoying the local...s,” he was going to say cuisine and culture, but he stopped, and just added a delayed ‘s’ to the end. “Come on.” He led past the line of people waiting to get into the club and walked up to the bouncer checking I.D. The pair exchanged a nod and the bouncer let Owen pass, giving the girl he’d brought with him a once-over.
It was considered an upscale nightclub for the college district, but it could be hard to tell with the chaos inside. There were bluish-purple moving lights, a sea of bodies on the dance floor, glittering chandeliers above the bar, and raised VIP sections.
Owen kept Julianna’s hand and pulled her along behind him, leading her straight to the dance floor. Finding a spot that made him feel vaguely anonymous enough in the crowd of moving bodies, he turned and pulled Julianna towards him to begin what would be a blurring few hours of dancing and drinks.
RE: Pride & Pettiness [Closed] - megs - 10-11-2019
Julianna couldn't pinpoint when exactly she had decided to keep tagging along with Owen. There was something about him- his confidence or his smirking smile or infectious personality- that had her trailing after him with little to no complaint. It was easy enough for him to redirect her with a hand on her arm. Maeve was the same way with her.
Was she a pushover? Or did she just have a thing for tall and bossy blondes.
Her heels clicked sharply on the pavement and she had to jog a little to keep up with his long strides. Her tail and her ears bounced a little in time with her steps. At some point his grip on her had moved from her upper arm to holding her hand. Their fingers laced together as he led her to the front of a line of people waiting to get into one of the nicer clubs. Her ears perked to attention, she eyed the bouncer the same way he'd looked her over with a slight frown before Owen tugged her into the din of the venue.
She remained mostly at arms length until he pulled her closer and directed her to the dance floor with an arm around her waist. Julianna found that she didn't mind that contact either. One dance wouldn't hurt anything, she thought. She could put aside her rivalry with him for now. He could go back to teasing her on Monday. But right now she would be a lying to say that she didn't like the way he held her as they danced. Or that she didn't like the way she caught other women's eyes flash with jealousy when they noticed how attractive her escort was.
One dance turned into many, and so did the drinks. It wasn't like she was keeping track. They kept buying them and she kept feeling good drinking and dancing so Julianna didn't find reason to stop.
At some point she excused herself to the restroom. Somehow under the bright fluorescents and the dull buzz she felt more disoriented than she had on the dancefloor with strobe lights and pounding music. She finger-combed her hair and fixed her makeup in the mirror. Julianna figured it was time to find Owen and make their way back to campus.
She had hardly made it back to the bar when someone stepped up behind her. She knew right away that it wasn't Owen. Didn't smell right, wasn't tall enough. Her ears twitched before falling off either side of her head. The movement of the appendages, just avoided the stranger trying to touch them.
"You look lost, beautiful," he said over the noise, and she whipped around to face him. Her tail fluffed up to twice it's usual size. Her ears rotated to pin backwards as she frowned at the man.
"I'm not lost," she replied, moving to turn away from him, but he grabbed her wrist.
"Not so fast, sweetheart." He tried to pull her against him, but she resisted, a barely contained hiss settling into a hitch in her throat.
"Leave me the fuck alone," she complained, attempting to wrestle her arm away from him.
RE: Pride & Pettiness [Closed] - saronym - 10-22-2019
Owen gathered that their evening was coming to a close and took the initiative to close-out their bar tab. He waited in an obvious spot by the bar the easier for her to spot him in the crowd when she returned from the bathroom. Owen combed his hand through his hair. It was slightly damp with sweat from all the dancing. He smiled to himself, having learned that Julianna was a rather invigorating and demanding dance partner. She knew how to move her body to the music and when to lead and when to follow. He couldn’t remember the last time he had lost track of such a long stretch of time just dancing with someone else.
It was especially exciting that they still hardly knew each other and yet had spent so much time together communicating non-verbally. There wasn’t much point in talking in a place like this. Too loud to bother with anymore than yelling when you wanted another drink or needed to piss.
Owen was occupied with checking his texts and social media while he waited for Julianna. When he glanced up from his phone and towards the direction of the restrooms, he found that another guy had intercepted her.
Owen watched as she was pulled against this guy and then tried to wrench herself away. Owen's vision went kind of cloudy white as his blood pressure spiked and he lost all sense of himself as marched over to the pair in a white hot rage.
He didn’t know what Julianna saw or whether she saw him coming. Owen could hardly see anything but his target. Owen slammed his hands into the guy, knocking him sideways, away from Julianna, and into the wall. On his way down, the guy banged into a group of girls causing them to spill their drinks. The crowd in the vicinity called out seemingly to egg on the altercation while others - those who had spilled drinks - yelled “what the fuck” or some version of “fuck you.”
Or maybe it was the other guy yelling “fuck you” to Owen who was in turn yelling something about “my girl” as he gestured to Julianna. The strobe lights made everything choppy as if time progressed in blinks instead of in a fluid forward motion. The guy shoved back at Owen and threw a lazy punch that Owen dodged by pulling his head to the side. Owen landed a crack to the other guy’s face just before security came to break up the fight.
Knowing the bouncer, Owen was able to get off easy with a quick yelled explanation. The security wasn't entirely pleased with Owen but he was free to escort Julianna from the club while the security dealt with the other guy.
Owen led Julianna quickly away from the bar and around the street corner where the pounding music wasn’t so oppressive. He walked quickly skirting along on the tail end of his anger. He kept his hand at her lower back, forcing her to keep pace with him. Then he stopped to face her.
The sudden loss of forward motion and being outside was sobering in that he realized how buzzed he was and how drunk she looked. His anger was subsiding.
“You alright?” He asked touching her arm as if to show her he wasn’t harmful. “I’m sorry bout that - I - I got really mad. Sometimes I go into a rage.” He gestured with his hands wildly. "I saw that fucker grab you and I lost it."
It was true, he had a low boiling point. That coupled with the fact that he could be quite jealous and protective of girls he was interested in meant he sometimes scrapped with guys who crossed the line.
RE: Pride & Pettiness [Closed] - megs - 10-25-2019
For a moment, all Julianna knew was some strange man had his hands on her, and then suddenly he didn't. She blinked against the strobe lights and her own drunkenness to try and make out what was going on. It was hard to hear, even for her, in the noisy club. Her ears perked upright, as Owen came into her field of vision. He called her 'his girl' and it didn't bother her. Wasn't that what she had been playing at as they danced?Julianan didn't know at what point she had covered her face with her hands. It wasn't until Owen grabbed one in his own to pull her away from the scene did she realize. She glanced down to where they were making contact. She noticed the knuckles of his hand were bloodied from punching that other guy. The flashing lights made everything seem like it was moving in double-time and she was having a hard time keeping track.
Outside of the bar, he used his grip on her to pull her closer. Her tucked her against his side, and continued to propel her forward with a hand on her back. She had to trot to keep up with the angry pace set by his much longer legs. It was difficult in the heels with the alcohol in her. They finally stopped, Owen likely noticing that she was losing momentum. Her ears pinned backwards as she looked up at him. She didn't pull away when he touched her arm.
"I'm fine," her reassurance was breathy. Her heart was racing. She pressed a hand against her chest and could feel it thumping against her rib cage. She clawed her hands through her hair and inhaled deeply. "I'm sorry," she apologized at the same time as him. As if what happened could have been her fault. "No, it's okay." They were very much talking over one another. "Thank you for helping me."
Their replies sort of jumbled together, but they seemed to effectively get their points across to one another. There was a moment of silence.
"Could you walk me home?"
RE: Pride & Pettiness [Closed] - saronym - 11-03-2019
Owen was the one who felt responsible. He’d bought her too many drinks and set her up to be victimized. But part of him knew that wasn’t right. She was perfectly capable of deciding how much she wanted to drink and obviously had trusted him enough to let herself enjoy the evening with him. That didn’t make him feel any better, really. He hoped it didn’t spoil her whole evening. Although with the way she looked, completely terrified --- it had spoiled everything. “Of course, I’ll walk you home. You don’t even need to ask.”
He hesitated and squinted down at her heels and remembering her wobbling gait as they’d marched away from the club. “Here. Let me.”
He turned her sideways and began to slowly pick her up in a cradling style. He was cautious about it, not wanting to just sweep her up after she had been assaulted by that other asshole. Plus, he didn’t want to make her sick with all that alcohol on her stomach just swinging her around. Which he could have easily done. She was light and easy to pick up and felt rather small cradled in his arms. Her sorority house wasn’t far and it would be simple to carry her all the way there if she needed him to.
"You drank quite a bit." He laughed as he walked with her. "You had fun otherwise?"
RE: Pride & Pettiness [Closed] - megs - 11-04-2019
"Oh? Oh!" Julianna vocalized her confusion and then her understanding when he leaned down and swept her up into his arms. She didn't protest, but huffed in surprised. She blinked at him, her ears standing at attention as her arms automatically moved to wrap loosely around his neck. He held her like she was nothing, but she could feel the strength in his arms. Her tail swayed, tapping against his legs. She felt immediately comfortable and safe, all tucked against him like that. She purred, but cleared her throat to suppress the noise.
Julianna didn't notice when she started toying with the small hairs at the nape of his neck. He had a rather short haircut, and the fringe at the back was fun to touch.
"I had a good time," she confirmed. Her playful smile was unlike the usual rivalry they shared. "I definitely drank too much." She dropped her head onto his shoulder and hid her face against his neck. It was hard not to, the rhythm of his steps was lulling her to sleep as the adrenaline of her encounter faded.
"I heard you call me your girl." Her tone was teasing him. She giggled.