dizzy_land | It's just the power to charm

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It's just the power to charm

((Closed to Cayce, Azi, Crowley, and Ellie. Backdated to a day or two after the Bentley Babes caper.))

Cayce wasn't jealous. That much was easy enough to define; she cared for Crowley a lot, but not That Way. And notwithstanding her admission at the community Truth or Dare game, she definitely wasn't queer for Ellie either, although she certainly liked her well enough. Actually, she thought the two of them pairing up was kind of cute.

But for reasons she was still hard pressed to identify, she was a little perturbed when the two of them up and vanished from the lake party, and clearly Aziraphale was too. They'd exchanged a few half-heartedly snarky (and subtly worried) comments at the time before finally sort of shrugging it off, and Cayce had said something about coming by the tea shop later.

So now she was suiting action to the word. She sort of hoped that Crowley wouldn't be around. It'd spare everyone a touch of awkwardness.

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He laughed. It was nice to be validated once in a while.

"I was thinking in a fortnight on the Snow White stage. If I've got you, Ellie, Antoinette, Aphrodite, and Psyche - maybe Angela, too - it'd be enough, but more could participate if they wanted to."

Crowley turned to speak frankly to Cayce. "I won't say that you can't be part of this, because you sure as hell deserve your piece as much as we do, but I'd be a fuckload happier keeping you out of this one. Or at least out of direct view. I'm sure we could use someone to keep an eye on things behind the scenes..." He didn't want Cayce to think that he thought that she wasn't pretty enough or strong enough to participate, but as the only mortal in the group, she'd be a lot more vulnerable than the others and Crowley's interest lay in keeping her safe.

"As for the rest, I was thinking that Kira would enjoy playing host and we can have a small panel of judges just to look legitimate."

Then the demon gave an evil grin. "You know, I've always wondered what an Ancient Greek would wear in a swimsuit competition..."

Cayce nodded, not entirely happy, but seeing the sense of what Crowley said. "No, you're right ... I should probably stay out of the direct line of fire, considering. But I do want to help out any way I can." She laughed. "And Kira would love to play host, I bet anything."

"I'll think of something important for you," he promised. "You wanna ask him or should I?"

"I'll ask. Since he basically lives next door to me, it'll be easy enough to catch him." She grinned. "And I look forward to seeing what role you devise for me."

There was already an idea sort of percolating in the back of the demon's mind for her, but he needed to get Kira on board first. "All right. Don't let him in on our plans. Just pitch it as one of those social ideas you had to build community or whatever."

Crowley glanced at the succubus who was being unusually quiet. "Actually, do you mind doing that now?" he asked Cayce. "I, uh, need to talk to Ellie for a bit..." Planning revenge was fine for three, but reassuring your lover that you still like her despite forcibly losing your six thousand year virginity was really more appropriate for two.

Crowley couldn't know it, but today he was getting a glimpse of what Ellie was like back home, where things like laughter and idle chatter among friends were neither often called for nor particularly safe.

She smiled half-heartedly, tucking her feet up under her and folding her hands in her lap. Striking a vulnerable pose in a situation like this was the habit of long experience, but it wasn't entirely an act. The possibility of rejection--the real thing, not prompted by moral or spiritual concerns--wasn't one she'd often had to face. She didn't have to be in love with him to care what he thought or be subject to getting hurt; empathy was a necessary part of her job (and arguably, one of the curses that came with it.)

"You got it," Cayce said to Crowley. Yeah, definitely time to leave the two demons to sort things out between themselves. She stood and made her way to the door. "I'll go search him out. You guys know where to find me if you need me."

Edited 2008-11-25 15:41 (UTC)

The serpent never said thank you, of course, but he nodded gratefully at Cayce. He'd make it up to her later.

Ellie, on the other hand, played by no such rule. "Thanks, sweetie. I'll catch up with you later," she told Cayce as the other woman headed off.

Once Cayce was out of earshot, she risked an uncertain glance up at Crowley, unable to read his face with those damn sunglasses masking his eyes (not that it was really that much easier without them.) "So...what now?"

Crowley shrugged, trying to surreptitiously read Ellie's expression in return and gain any information he could. It wasn't much.

This was all pretty new to him, so he did what he always did: made shit up as he went along. The demon indicated the bed.

"Well... mind if I sit, first?"

"Sure." She patted the spot beside her. The formality felt odd, but also lent a modicum of security to an otherwise deeply unnerving situation.

Sense memory was a funny thing. Merely sitting on the bed they'd so recently shared was enough to remind Crowley of the silken feel of Ellie's bare skin beneath his fingertips, the taste of her mouth, the scent of her hair...

He curled his fingers into a fist, trying to exert some control.

"Ellie, I... Well, I fucked up, plain and simple." It was a difficult admission to make, but she deserved the truth. "I pissed off Aphrodite and I was too damn smug to worry about the consequences. I never thought she'd screw around with anyone else to get back at me." Crowley knew the technique, of course, but he generally preferred to deal directly with the person he had an issue with rather than drag in all and sundry.

When he spoke again, his voice was soft and hesitant. Uncertainty didn't suit the serpent, but there were times for the sword and times for the apple...

"If it means anything to you, I would never have ever approached you on my own, but I'm not sorry that it happened - even if she had no right to pull that shit."

He chanced another look at Ellie. "And, uh, depending on how you feel, I'm not adverse to... continuing. As friends." That much should be made pretty clear up front, Crowley figured. He didn't want to lead her on.

Ellie smiled somewhat bitterly at the floor, twisting a bit of her hair absently around one finger. "Well. I won't say my pride isn't a little bruised. But I suppose that's my own fault for not seeing through the big bimbo's scheme."

She sighed and looked up at him frankly. "Look, I wanted you from day one. But if I'd wanted it without your input--well, don't take this the wrong way, but I knew as far back as Valentine's Day that I could make it happen." There was no question in her mind that Crowley would prove more than her match in any other kind of contest, but in her own field of expertise, no. "You got robbed, and I was made a party to it, and I am beyond pissed about that. But...if you're sure it's really you this time, and you want to keep on...ah, like we have been..." She half-shrugged, smiling almost a little shyly. "I've been having a good time..."

"I..." he couldn't say he was sorry... "I didn't mean to make you feel that way. It just wasn't part of my life; I never wanted it, though Adam only knows how many wanted it from me."

Crowley's gaze fell somewhere just below the window, but what he was seeing wasn't there. "What I'm saying is that this is pretty new. And I'm going to fuck it all up somewhere. Just... fair warning, right?"

He smirked. "But for all that, I've been having a good time, too."

Ellie laughed quietly. "Everyone does, at some point or other. And I certainly hope so. I might be retired, but I'd hate to think I've completely lost my touch." She ran her fingers lightly up his arm, a little too tentative to be quite termed playful.

There was a twitch to the demon's lips that might be termed a smile as he laid his hand over hers. "So what now?"

"Oh, I don't know," she said with blatantly feigned indifference. "We could do lunch, I suppose. Are you hungry?"

"Ravenous," Crowley smirked, somewhat predatorily.

"Good," she murmured, turning and climbing into his lap for a leisurely but very thorough kiss.

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It's just the power to charm

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