Author: Fleur-de-lys, Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2019 1:41 PM, Post Subject: It Went Swimmingly [P/R]

The anger Lys had towards Belen's invasion of their privacy died down once he saw his father's face. Although he was still annoyed that the twins had gotten away, there was bigger fish to fry. Poppy was boiling mad and the way things were going it was going to be an uphill battle if he and his mother couldn't convince his father that he hadn't done something indecent. "Poppy…" He whispered to her, his eyes telling her things would be ok. In the end, Belen and Cyril didn't mean to do anything hurtful and if they were in danger they'd be the first to come running to help. They just didn't understand that the way they did things wasn't necessarily what others wanted. Bracing himself, he breathed in slowly as he faced his father's crossed arms and intense gaze. "Lysandre, exactly what were you two doing in Laeto?" His mother was listening, but allowing his father to ask what he wanted to know.

"Poppy and I went to Laeto to go swimming. We didn't want Cyril and Belen to know so we left on our own." Lys knew that the best way was to be upfront about things, as doing otherwise would make things worse. He didn't say that skipping out on the twins to go to Laeto was originally Poppy's idea since this was his father's first time meeting her. There was also the issue of her being Lady Angela's daughter, and he wasn't sure how his father would feel about that. "Sylvain, they're not children anymore. It's alright if they want to explore outside of Arri and spend time with people other than family. Yes they could have let us know in case of an emergency, but everything turned out alright didn't it?" The vampire lord staunchly disagreed. "Leaving without permission or supervision is one thing, however I cannot accept the possibility of either of them exposing themselves to each other in such a manner. And that includes swimming in the nude." The blonde woman turned to her husband quizzically. "What's wrong with swimming in the nude?" There was a brief silence before he replied. "It isn't something that young men and women should be doing, even if they are engaged."

"Oh come on Sylvain, everyone in Arri's done that at least once. It's not like we swim in the nude with just anyone. My cousins and I used to take afternoon dips in Kirika Lake during Ignius while Alistair and I used to sneak out past midnight in the moonlight together. We can go for a swim there sometime." Lys kept quiet while his parents were having a friendly argument, with his father exasperated that this was considered normal. Getting nowhere on his side of the argument, Lord Albaret turned his attention back to them. "Regardless of what your mother says, that sort of activity should be strictly kept between lovers." 

"We are, actually." He said, his legs starting to shake the moment the words left his mouth. "What?!" Taking Poppy's hand, he added: "We–Poppy and I have been seeing each other for two years now." Right away he held his breath as his father was thrown for a loop while his mother was more pleasantly surprised.

Author: Poppy, Posted: Wed Jul 17, 2019 10:25 PM, Post Subject: It Went Swimmingly [P/R]

There was a growl from Poppy as Belen let out the slip. “THEN HOW DID YOU KNOW.” She let out the wild cat scream again. She was seeing red and for a moment she had thought about wailing on him herself but Lys was doing a good job at defending her honor.

Poppy realized soon that this was the first time she had ever met Lysandre’s father and boy what an experience this would be. “Well, we can’t ever get away from the twins. We’ve tried. Belen always follows us and ALWAYS gets in our business. In Arri, if one goes skinny dipping you must be invited to look. AND YOU WERE TOTALLY PEEPING!” She growled again.

She waved her arms towards Sylvian and Nerine though. “Lys wasn’t the one skinny dipping. It was me. I didn’t realize he didn’t know it wasn’t common for Sularia. We went to Laeto to try and get away from Belen.” There was a hiss that left her lips as she watched the twins take off.

Though she realized that the parents would probably want to know more. She gently bowed towards Sylvain as Lys calmed her down. “I’m sorry… My name is Poppy Rose-Porthyrius.” She didn’t know if Sylvain had heard of her or if he knew what Lys and she had been up to. “It’s good to see you again Lady Nerine.” She bowed towards his mother too.

Author: Belen, Posted: Wed Jul 17, 2019 10:09 PM, Post Subject: It Went Swimmingly [P/R]

He thought he was in the clear now that they were back home. Breathing hard, he cracked a grin at Cyril. Then another portal opened and the twins' eyes went wide. Poppy and Lys were on the warpath dropping down on them. Belen let out a high-pitched shriek as Cyril hid in his shadow, leaving him the only one visible for the incoming attack. The next moments were him getting pummeled while spastically teleporting around to dodge a few hits. His screeching was so loud that the automatons heard it and soon Lys' parents were rushing in. Nerine and Sylvain walked in on their eldest beating on the brunet with along with Poppy. Pulling them apart, Sylvain demanded an explanation. Before Lys could get a word in Belen was blabbering half running on self-preservation and adrenaline. "I didn't see anything while you were skinny-d–swimming, I swear!" That little slip of the tongue wasn't missed by the two adults unfortunately. "What did you say?" The vampire asked again, pulling him off the floor.

"They were s-swimming! Yeah!" He threw a nervous look at Poppy and Lys while attempting backpedal while he still could. "Where?" Nerine asked, her tone more out of curiosity. "Uh-uh I dunno? The jungle?" "Were they alone?" Belen clammed up knowing any more and he'd really get it once they were let go. He looked at the two again. "Lys, why were you hitting Belen?" Even if his mother wasn't angry at the sound of her voice the blond boy stiffened. "He followed us without asking…" He was hesitating to say more about what happened. "I know he can be a bother sometimes, and I'm not upset that you wanted to spend time with Poppy. But you still shouldn't hit him. If you wanted to go skinny dipping you could've told us." Her husband then looked like someone had just kicked him in the shin. "–They what?!"

Having been an Adelunian native a half of a milennium ago, the thought of two young people swimming alone together…potentially nude was absolutely unthinkable to Lord Albaret. His wife seemed much less surprised. Cyril emerged out of his older brother's shadow now that it sounded like they were safe for the moment. Seeing that now was a good time to hightail out of here before the barrage of questions started, the twins made themselves scarce leaving behind Poppy and Lys.

Author: Poppy, Posted: Wed Jul 17, 2019 9:24 PM, Post Subject: It Went Swimmingly [P/R]

Suddenly Poppy was covering herself a bit more. It was different when it was just Lysandre. He was invited and it mattered that she didn’t know Belen had been there. But if Belen had been there… Her face went red. “Lys, Belen, and Cyril both saw me.” They had been uninvited and that was a huge no-no.

While Lys was on the hunt Poppy got dressed and gave chase just behind Lys. There would be hell to pay. They only wanted a little bit of alone time. What was so wrong about that. “BELEN!” She roared and a wild cat noise left her lips behind it as her foot speed picked up. She caught up to Lys in no time since speed was something she excelled in.

“ALL I WANTED WAS TIME ALONE WITH YOU.” She shouted and there was the badger everyone knew. Her fists were balled up by her side. “You know what. Lysandre concentrate on those two idiots. We’re going to get them.”

Soon she portaled them to wherever they were and she felt a bit colder. “BELEN,” she let out another wild cat cry as they portaled by them. Lysandre was already almost on top of them.

Author: Fleur-de-lys, Posted: Wed Jul 17, 2019 8:19 PM, Post Subject: It Went Swimmingly [P/R]

The thought hadn't crossed his mind until Poppy mentioned it, but as soon as she did he narrowed his eyes. He was behind the twins before he was pulled away; they probably noticed by now. And knowing them–Belen especially, the moment they'd find out he was gone they'd start meddling. He didn't see anyone at first, at least until he heard a suppressed snort. "BELEN!!!" Lys shouted catching a brief glimpse of the brunet hiding in plain sight before he bolted. His voice was loud enough to be heard over the rushing water followed by more yelling as the blond went after the half-fey with a vengeance. 

Belen was one step ahead of Lys thanks to his infuriating use of teleport, barely keeping out of his grasp. He could hear Poppy not far behind but he had one more thing to do before leaving. "Get in the portal–go go go go!" Belen cried grabbing his brother with a furious Lys in hot pursuit. His invisibility had worn off off sometime between his little telekinetic push that edged the older boy into the red-head and him being discovered. If he hadn't been so focused on watching the two lovebirds kiss he might've gotten away with it too. Both twins dashed into a portal that closed as soon as it appeared, likely back to Sularia or elsewhere. "GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE–" Were the last words the twins heard. Lys was red this time for an entirely different reason. "I should've known they'd follow us. As soon as I find them they are so dead." He fumed. 

Author: Poppy, Posted: Wed Jul 17, 2019 5:33 PM, Post Subject: It Went Swimmingly [P/R]

Poppy laughed at him lightly. “I guess I should have told you. I’m sorry Lys.” She had forgotten about how shy and nervous he could get.

Her delicate fingers were not entangled with his as they laughed together. She felt safe there with him for a long time and then the kiss happened. Her face was mostly expressing a shocked expression but when he went to back up from her she pulled him back. Her lips met his again as they shared a very tender moment together.

“Wait,” it was Poppy who broke the kiss off and looked around him with suspicious. “Lys, I think someone is here.” Maybe she was just overreacting about it. Maybe there wasn’t really anyone there at all. "Maybe I'm just imagining things." She shrugged her shoulders and kissed him again. She liked it and as far as she could tell no one was really there with them.

Author: Fleur-de-lys, Posted: Wed Jul 17, 2019 5:15 PM, Post Subject: It Went Swimmingly [P/R]

They were at the top of the falls in a flash, with Poppy leading the way. From above the waterfall the view was incredible and he was lost for words. That moment didn't last long as she pulled him towards the falls' edge. "Lys, TRY NOT TO LOOK DOWN. " She said as there was no longer ground beneath their feet. "Wait wait wait–! AHHHHH!!" Immediately he started panicking and flailed his arms half shifting trying not to fall. He hit the water with webbed wings and struggled as they floated up, arms shifting back when he saw Poppy smiling. His rapid breathing went to a nervous laugh when he finally realized what she had planned. "I didn't know we were going to jump." Under the falls was a perfect little nook big enough for the two of them, a curtain of water surrounding them. Her red curls were like a soaked scarf and the water made his blond curls straight. 

The small rock shelf gave them a place to stand and the jitters he had at first were gone. Holding hands with her here hidden away from the rest of the world, words couldn't describe this feeling. They were shoulder to shoulder, leaning against each other, laughing together. Looking at Poppy he couldn't help but smile. Then out of the blue–he kissed her. He was more surprised than she was, he didn't even know how it happened. Right away his face was redder than a tomato and his ears burning up. 

Author: Poppy, Posted: Wed Jul 17, 2019 4:50 PM, Post Subject: It Went Swimmingly [P/R]

“Kurayo is dangerous. I heard that some of my sisters are there. One is a powerful clan leader and the other… is…” Poppy paused for a moment. “As mother put it… A woman of the night. Whatever that is.”

She thought about it and kissed his cheek quickly. “I’m sure you’ll be the best teacher there is. Perfect for me!” Poppy was a good learner just like he said. Magic came easily for her but she wondered if combat training would come just as easily. After all, her mother was a healer and not a fighter.

Once she had his hands and he said yes that was all there was. She pulled him to the shore and brought him around the giant fall. They had gone up and it was mildly flat up top. “Are you ready?” She held his hand tightly.

She didn’t give him much time to think about it as she pulled him into a sprint. “Lys, TRY NOT TO LOOK DOWN.” Over the falls they went as she squealed with excitement. They hit the water and she was under him. She swam up with him and held onto him. “Wasn’t that fun Lys? I love being up high.” The waterfall was falling on Poppy but it only made her hair stick to her more.

Author: Fleur-de-lys, Posted: Wed Jul 17, 2019 4:23 PM, Post Subject: It Went Swimmingly [P/R]

The red in his ears was starting to fade, and he nodded. Unbeknownst to Lys a certain pair of meddling twins were watching through the ferns and vines; the roar of rushing water conveniently drowned out anything less than a whisper leaving Cyril and Belen to guess. When Poppy asked if he could give her a few pointers on protecting herself, his face brightened up. “I can do that. If there’s something you’d like to know, I’ll be happy to show you. I think you’ll be a quick learner—I remember how you and Lark would go at each other when we were kids.” The last bit had him grinning. Any excuse for them to see each other more was a good one. “Speaking of visiting, I think I heard Belen and Cyril’s mother attempting to convince father to move from Kurayo.” Shiloh’s attempts had been unsuccessful; however it would only be a matter of time before she wore him down. Even the centuries-old vampire didn't last long when it came to the deity's unbridled and sometimes forceful persistence.

The way she batted her eyes at him made him glance down with a small smile. Even though the years had gone by, there was still that bit of shyness from that little curly-haired boy from back then. “I don’t know how good of a teacher I am, but I’ll do my best.” She then took his hands in hers and looked at him, asking: “Do you want to take an adventure with me Lys?” Surprised, without a second thought he replied. “Really? I mean—sure!” His head was swimming with thoughts to where he hadn’t realized he should have asked what Poppy was planning before he said yes.

Back in the trees, Belen was squinting his eyes trying to see if he could read their lips. He hadn't picked up much from the conversation and his vivid imagination was running a hundred different scenarios in his head. The two had started swimming, with Poppy teasing Lys a bit to get him in the water. It was cute how she was smiling at him and all, but Lys being…himself was making things go slower than molasses. With his brother next to him in watchful silence, Belen was wondering if he should give the lovebirds a little 'push'. Fortunately for them, Poppy was first to make a move. "Hey Bel, what's going–" The brunet shushed his twin and motioned for him to watch. With a cheeky grin on his face, Belen watched as Poppy took Lys by the hands and whispered something. Reading Lys' expressions were easy, and he was totally blushing while saying yes. Things were getting good.

Author: Poppy, Posted: Wed Jul 17, 2019 1:11 PM, Post Subject: It Went Swimmingly [P/R]

Poppy swam over to him careful that her hair covered her. She put his hair back so it stuck to the top of his head. “I suppose you are right. They have that knack about them. I will hush about it for now.” She let out a chuckle.

She tilted her head at him. “You’ll have to show me some things so I can protect myself a bit better. Even if I am a good shifter it doesn’t mean I am a good fighter. I don’t want to worry you if something happened.” And things were always happening lately. “Plus it would give us more of an excuse to be around each other. Maybe… More excuses for me to visit you or you to come to Elysia… or even Sularia.” The redhead smirked.

“What do you think Lys? Do you want to be the teacher for once?” The way she was batting those stormy eyes of hers were almost too perfect. She took his hands up and looked up at the top of the waterfall. “Do you want to take an adventure with me Lys?”

Author: Fleur-de-lys, Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2019 3:08 PM, Post Subject: It Went Swimmingly [P/R]

Slowly, he braved the cold to sink into the water further. He almost missed Sularia's heat here. Holding his breath he tried Poppy's suggestion, ducking under. In seconds he came back up, sputtering and coughing while shaking. Water flew everywhere as Lys' teeth chattered, his blond hair straightened out and clung to his head. After a few minutes, it was starting to work. "I kind of regret not taking more time to learn magic now." He said with a shaky laugh. So much for his combat training. Antikythera's constant balmy temperature had spoiled him. He wasn't sure what to say to Poppy after that. His mother had ever spoken to him on nudity and neither did his father. It wasn't a topic that was even thought about.

But when she mentioned the two meddling troublemakers, he frowned again. "Don't bring them up; they're like a jinx–as soon as you think about them they show up." Oh if only he knew how on point his words were… What Poppy said was true though. "Right. It's hard enough trying to keep them in line, I don't get why Chrys goes along with them. She's smart enough to duck out before they get into trouble though. I haven't really spent much time in Sularia lately either, since my father began my combat lessons. The Ste-I mean Mrs. Kyrie insisted they had to be anywhere except Kurayo, so she built an extra wing as a training hall."

Lately he had overheard the twins' mother discussing something with his father. She was trying to convince him to leave the city, saying she felt it was too risky of a location. His father wasn't too keen on leaving, he had spent centuries creating a place for himself starting from the ground up. His mother told him once that his father was originally from Adeluna, but then moved across the continents to Kurayo. He wasn't sure what he could say about that. Kurayo was the one place he had heard where vampires were openly accepted, yet he was never allowed to visit the Albaret estate there.  

Author: Poppy, Posted: Wed Jan 9, 2019 5:18 PM, Post Subject: It Went Swimmingly [P/R]

Poppy kept her eyes off of Lysandre because of how uncomfortable he seemed to be. It was disheartened at the very least since to her it didn’t seem like that big of a deal. There wasn’t even her trademark eye roll because of how everything made her feel right at that moment.

“It’s a tad chilly Lys,” she finally found her voice as she watched him get into the water. “You get used to it though. At least her normally out of control red locks were covering her in the water. Once he was down into the water with her Poppy gave him her best smile. “It’s not so bad once you are all the way soaked I promise. Try going under the water… It will help.”

As if to do it with him she went over the water and swam a good few feet from him towards the fall in the deeper end of the basin. “It’s not like anyone will see us. If I didn’t want you to look I would tell you not to look.” Poppy shook her head as she lectured him. “Mother says that there is nothing wrong with nudity and everything wrong with the decisions made while nude.” There was a tilt of her wet haired head that had strands plastered to her face. Using her hand she at least made sure she could see straight.

“Besides I didn’t know where to take us where the twins wouldn’t come and I figured this would at least be relaxing…” She made her way back to him and waded there by him. “We haven’t had that much time to talk without interruptions too.”

Author: Fleur-de-lys, Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2018 1:12 AM, Post Subject: It Went Swimmingly [P/R]

They had traveled more than a hundred miles in a single blink! Poppy seemed to know the best places no matter where they went, and she even had sisters this far out here. He was about to ask Poppy how it was like living in such a big family when SHE STARTED UNDRESSING IN FRONT OF HIM. Lys immediately began to panic and wasn't looking at her directly while his face was burning up. She answered back to his panicked question like this was completely normal, which IT WASN'T for him! He was still unwilling to look, more embarrassed than she was. The few times he went swimming were with the twins, mostly yelling at them to stop and come out of the water. He had rolled up his sleeves and pants to wade in, and dragged them out. None of them actually swam without something on.

She came over and kissed him on the cheek, making his face redden more. Reluctantly, he took off his shirt and hung it away from the ground so it would stay clean. He still had his pants but his shoes were off. Lys was waiting for her to be mostly submerged in the water before venturing past ankle-depth. Putting his foot in the water made him pull it right back. It was freezing! Taking a deep breath, he held it as he put both feet in and braved the chill. With the warmth in the air he expected it'd be at least lukewarm. The roar of the waterfall was drowning out most of the ambient noise, so he was completely unaware of two meddling boys who had tracked him down across the continent. 

Author: Poppy, Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2018 12:59 AM, Post Subject: It Went Swimmingly [P/R]

Poppy was laughing as he asked her. “We’re in the Laeto Rainforest. This place has the best waterfalls. My sisters Daphne and Corydalis live here! So once in a while, we got to come here and go swimming in the falls. It is the absolute best place to hang out, I promise.” Her words were full of confidence and charm as she looked at all the nature around them.

“Great! We can spend all afternoon here! I’m sure your mother wouldn’t mind at all!” Immediately Poppy started to undress and Lysandre looked like he was going to go into a panic attack.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” He yelled at her.

Poppy batted those huge gray eyes at him. “Swimming. You can’t go swimming with your clothes on silly you’ll get sick. It’s not like I could kidnap you and have a spare set of clothes for you now could I?” She tilted her head at him as she dropped the rest of her clothes in a pool around her feet. “Besides… It’s just skin Lys. It’s not like we’re actually doing anything lewd.”

She rolled her eyes a bit and kissed his cheek before heading over the pool. “Now come on you big chicken,” she chuckled a bit as she dipped her foot into the basin. “It’s really cold.”

Author: Belen, Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2018 12:47 AM, Post Subject: It Went Swimmingly [P/R]

"And so I was watching this guy, you know the type with the fancy hat and silly face-hair and curly ends? He was trying to make me buy his shtick of being this fortune-teller, see? So he took out these cards and told me to pick one without it facing up and he'd take out the card I chose. So I did and he turned up the same card. It was totally fishy anyway you cut it so I said I wanted to try again. This time I took a good look at the cards before choosing one, and picked a three of hearts. I put it back and he pulls a three of hearts and asks me if this was what I picked up. I tell him with a straight face no, that's not my card and he goes absolutely bananas–" While he was telling a fun story to his brother, he noticed Lys hadn't complained or questioned the credibility of his story. "Hey Lys, wanna hear how I pulled a fast one on this card-trick performer?" The twins looked behind and found he was gone. 

"Where's Lys?" Cyril asked. "Good question…" Rubbing his chin thoughtfully he looked around to see if he'd walked off in the middle of the story. Nope. Nada. Yep he was gone. But to where? And when did he disappear? Taking out a pendant, he hummed to himself as he held it and worked some magic. It swung around for a bit before pointing in a certain direction. "Ok, that's a wall. I'm going to assume he's beyond the wall or this thing is broken." Belen tried it in varying distances from the wall, to get the same results. Tapping a finger to his forehead, he got an idea. Traces of magic were in the air as he retraced their steps to the bushes. Bingo. Making some last-minute improvisation Belen opened a portal to the same location the magic was linking to. The muggy air made him frown, not wanting to go back to insect heaven again. But Belen's curiosity won out and the brothers followed their missing friend to the jungles of Laeto. Swatting bugs, he didn't have to look far when he heard a familiar voice. With a cheeky grin, he motioned for Cyril to come over as he crouched through the plants.

Author: Fleur-de-lys, Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2018 12:31 AM, Post Subject: It Went Swimmingly [P/R]

A hand came from behind and clapped over his mouth, arm yanking him back away from the twins. They didn't even notice he wasn't behind them anymore. Recognizing it was Poppy, he kept quiet and ducked down behind cover until the two troublemakers were out of sight. "Poppy?" She motioned for him to stay quiet and grinned at him. The next moment he was flailing as they fell through a portal. They were in a jungle, but he had no idea how far they were from Sularia. "Poppy, where are we?" Unlike his sister, he wasn't familiar with different plants from around the world to guess. He could hear a waterfall within walking distance and the twitter of song birds up above them in the trees. It was warm, humid. Some plants were even in shades of orange and red.

Now away from the twins, there wouldn't be a particular brunet in question to stick his nosy self between them. Poppy helped him up as he smoothed his shirt. "Do you want to go swimming with me?" She asked. Swimming? So that's why she picked this spot by the waterfall. Without thinking much of it he said yes. "Sure!" Apparently he really hadn't expected what would happen next or else he would've chosen his words more carefully. He just expected to go for a dip with his trousers on and leave his shirt away on a branch.

Author: Poppy, Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2018 12:10 AM, Post Subject: It Went Swimmingly [P/R]

Ever since the kiss Poppy was stuck thinking about Lys. He would cross her mind and she would get all annoyed at Belen having ruined the end of their nice day. That’s when it crossed her mind: it wasn’t kidnapping if the person was okay with it. Her red hair was as wild as the first day those two met. She was in a simple sundress as she made her way out into the city. It wouldn’t take too long to find Lys as Belen had a huge mouth. She ducked down into the bushes and waited as the trio rounded the corner.

Cyril and Belen were distracted by something long enough for Poppy to come out of the bush and put her hand across Lys’s mouth. She knew her scent would give herself away to Lys as she pulled him back down into the bush. She put a finger to her lips and smiled mischievously at him.

That was when a gate opened below them and dropped them down into the tropical climate of Laeto. A roaring waterfall was by them and not far was the basin that it flowed into. “Now that I have you to myself WITHOUT Belen…” She only spoke once the portal was closed. She got up and pulled Lysandre with her.

“Do you want to go swimming with me?”