Shinobi and Shen - At the party, late!
Sep. 17th, 2017 12:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ax_swift posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
ax_mainShen needs something to take her mind off stupid hurt feelings, and Shinobi seems all too happy to provide.
Shen was both impressed and thankful that there was still some booze left. A few people were still dancing, the party was still going on... but it was also definitely winding down. She couldn't spot Warren anywhere, but Terry was still there, at least, and still drinking like nobody's business, which was impressive in its own right. But the point was there was still booze left, although not for long, so they seemed to have come back in the nick of time.
Shen grabbed a vodka and juice and closed the cooler again, took a long drink, and savored it for a few seconds, eyes closed, focusing on the rise of the buzz inside her. This was what mattered tonight. The buzz, the fun. No need to let her disappointment and hurt get in the way of the amazing party Warren and Terry had thrown. Get in the way of fun.
She opened her eyes and looked around, gaze landing on Warren's friend, Shinobi. He was still very pretty, and she was buzzed enough that maybe she could ignore the stupid things he said, if he was up for a dance or two. Or maybe he wouldn't say anything else that was stupid. She was hoping for the latter.
Her wings bristled and settled behind her, and then she walked over to him with a sympathetic smile. "Did Warren abandon you?"
Standing near the cooler, just at the periphery of the makeshift dance floor, Shinobi stood with heavily-doctored bottle in hand. He'd shed his light, plum-colored coat somewhere in deference to the late-summer warmth, and was rocking back and forth lightly on his heels, bopping a bit to the latest musical selection. Normally, he was a great deal more active at events like this one, but the combination of a pleasant buzz and more than a little jet lag had mellowed him somewhat. Perhaps he'd wander out for one more dance, then call it a night--though it might actually physically pain him, not being the last to leave a party. It might even be a first for him.
The rustling of wings alerted him to Shen's reappearance, and his mild disappointment at finding here beside him instead of Warren was more than outweighed by the company of an attractive peer. He raised his bottle to her in salute. "Never abandoned--the very idea is laughable. He'd sooner abandon oxygen. Or Perrier. No, I think he and his pretty snow-elf have retired somewhere for a little quality private time. And I'm hardly so petty I could begrudge him that. Besides," he nodded toward the swaying students on the floor, "this isn't such a terrible way to spend a first night at a new school. The diversity here is just enchanting."
Possibly a recipe for disaster, too, depending on how events played out. But even disasters could be interesting, when you watched from the role of a spectator. And if Shinobi could be said to hate anything (other than his father), it was a lack of stimulating distraction.
That was one of the very rare things he could say and be sure to get a smile from Shen. She gave him just that, and turned to the still dancing students. "We do have amazing diversity. Serious lack of Black students, apart from Ororo, but it feels like we're diverse in every other way?" Okay, not the transgender way. Not that she knew of, anyway.
"Assuming this whole 'mutant' thing is spread out equally across the world's population, I'm sure the statistics will fall into line, eventually. But I'm not a geneticist; I can only speculate." He shrugged. "Still, I'm hardly inclined to complain. I'm used to a much stuffier, much more monochromatic crowd. A little contrast is far more enjoyable."
"Seriously," Shen agreed, lips stretching into a grin. She looked away from the crowd, and at Shinobi. "You wanna dance? And enjoy the pretty before mutancy spreads more equally across the world's population," she added, smirking slightly. If there was one thing to say for mutants so far, it was that they were all very pretty.
"In that sense," he grinned, "I hope you'll not think me shallower than you probably already do if I say that I hope we continue to beat the odds." Shinobi took a drink from his bottle, then set it aside on the table; he had backups, if the night's inebriation and the dwindling supply led to this one wandering off with one of the other students. Besides, he wasn't greedy. Well, except for moments like this, perhaps.
He held out a hand to Shen. "It would be my absolute pleasure to dance. Although," he added slyly, "for preference, I would suggest we remain grounded for this one. It was a very impressive display earlier, and I'm fairly confident I would have little to fear from falling, but I'd hate for anybody's first impression of me to be as an impeccably-dressed kamikaze."
Shen was going to blame the amount of her drink she'd just downed, before abandoning the rest of it, but she giggled at his words as she put her hands in his. "No, I was thinking earth-bound. It's a shame, but I'll make do." And with that, she tugged him towards the area used as a dancefloor, grinning enticingly. She just wanted fun.
He fell into step behind her readily enough. "I am sorry to have been the one to keep you grounded. Normally, I strive for the opposite effect. A pity flying isn't as universal here on campus as astonishing good looks." He placed his slim hands lightly on her waist as she turned back to face him, dark eyes appreciative--and perhaps more than a touch mischievous. "Lucky you, to have inherited both. I do not usually envy other people, but I almost think I could start to be just a touch jealous of that."
Instead of putting her arms around his neck, Shen only followed up his move of hands on her waist by sliding her own to the small of his back. She was buzzed enough that dancing right up close felt like the best thing right now, and of course she was going to make sure of that, pulling him in close as she smiled up at him. "I'll do my best not to resent you for grounding me, then?" Her wings bristled and settled, as if to echo the smirk on her lips.
Under most circumstances, Shinobi was happy to take the lead in situations like this one. However, his previous encounter with Shen hadn't exactly been an unalloyed success, and he found himself wary of presuming too much too quickly; she was, after all, Warren's friend. But the feeling of fingertips on the base of his back, pulling him in tight, suggested that a reserved approach might not be the best strategy after all. Also, it was getting very difficult to think in terms of strategy, and not the body now moving in sync with his.
He mirrored her movement, hands snaking over the arc of her hips to rest near the base of her spine, comfortably close--near enough to feel the heat radiating from her--a combination of the weather and the alcohol, no doubt. Grinning, he looked at her just a touch coyly from beneath his bangs. "Perhaps you'll allow me the opportunity to make it up to you? I pride myself on a certain creative flair ..."
Hips moving in time with his, the buzz of alcohol strong in her veins, Shen appreciated the fact that his hands had only moved to the small of her back after hers had moved to the small of his. Hey, some guys took liberties without asking first, but mirroring was totally okay by her standards.
And then, there was the fact that not much of anyone (aka no one) had put their hands there, right below her wings, since she'd manifested. There was something about the way her underwings brushed against his arms, something new and brilliant - and that was without taking into account how sensitive her skin felt right there, under the fabric of her dress.
"You'll have to sell me on it first," she replied, still smiling up at him as they danced, keeping her balance on her own despite the wings in her back. Her smile turned challenging, as did the look in her eyes, the touch of her hands a little firmer on the small of his back. "So, go on. Sales pitch."
The brush of fine feathers on the backs of his forearms was an electric tickle, even through the sleeves of his shirt. Shinobi couldn't help but admire how lightly, how gracefully Shen moved, despite the encumbrance her wings must represent; beautiful they were, but they were also massive. He sort of wanted to bury his face in them and get lost in the feeling of warm, silky plushness. But that was probably a bit forward, all things considered.
He writhed just a bit closer as her grip around his back grew firmer, and traced light, idle circles in the fabric of her dress where his fingers rested between her wings, and breathed a laugh. "You know, you're the last person I would have expected to initiate a negotiation with me, Shen-san." The honorific came through force of habit and distraction; Shinobi hardly seemed to notice, himself. "You have shown so many facets; even in the short time I've known you, I am dizzied by them. And you certainly chose the worst possible time for me to try selling myself. Between the alcohol and," he leaned in closer, lightly nuzzling at her throat, "my obvious distraction."
The light nuzzle was far from unwelcome; in fact, it was everything Shen wanted at this stage, and her still hand-shaped hands curled slightly on the small of his back, an instinctive, responsive answer, head tilting away to give him more space, then back in to tilt her head against his. "What if I like your obvious distraction?" she challenged, lips against his ear. "Actions, words, you know what they say..."
"At the moment, I'm not sure I could recite my own name with a reasonable chance of success," he admitted, his chuckle hot against her throat. "You're a very distracting distraction ..." Shinobi's hands rose briefly, to tickle the undersides of the wings Shen held tight against her body, and the luxuriant feel of them was everything he could have hoped for, and more. But then his fingertips slid down again, to that spot just at the point where her spine and hips met that she'd seemed to enjoy before. One hand began to explore lower, if tentatively; she would, he had no doubt, let him know immediately what was welcome and what was not.
"Words fail me, in any case. And I can think of any number of much more interesting uses for my mouth, just now." In illustration, he brushed his lips over Shen's faintly, briefly, inviting.
This was perfect. Shen was pretty sure that Tamara hadn't meant the way her hands on Shen's wings had felt earlier, and the everything that had come after it had destroyed that moment anyway. But now, to have someone else brush their hands against her feathers - Shen shivered a little more closely to Shinobi, and smiled against his lips before he brushed them against hers, feeling things solidify for the spot his hands found on the small of her back. "Yeah," she confirmed, very eloquently, "shut up." And then she pressed her lips more firmly against his, eyes closing, tongue licking at his lips, demanding entry.
Whatever clever response Shinobi might have had for that was lost immediately as his lips parted to accept her tongue, his own plunging immediately past her teeth eagerly. He was jet-lagged, not dead, and he would have had to have been much closer to that latter state not to respond to an invitation like this. He hadn't failed to notice her response to his fingers in the fine, downy texture of her feathers, and so he brought them up from her outer thighs to her hips and back into that mass of warm softness, so unlike anything any of his previous partners had possessed. It made it all new again, exploring, finding just the right spots to coax the best possible reaction. Pressing a little more closely against Shen, he gasped for breath quickly before fusing his mouth to hers again, and tasting just as deeply as he could.
Shen had let out a gasp of her own at the unhesitant stroke of his hands over her feathers, and now she returned the kiss with renewed ardor. If she had known that the slide of fingers over her wings would feel this amazing, she might have given this a try a while back. It was like an invisible thread was connecting her feathers to her spine, and each caress made her want to arch her back this or that way. She bit softly on Shinobi's lower lip, then took a moment to simply breathe against his lips, cheeks pink with a flush she could feel building from her chest up.
Of course, she didn't care about the fact that anyone still at the party could see them. If anyone had a problem with two consenting teenagers having some fun, they would have a problem with her. They were still dancing, her fingers caught in his beltloops, making sure their hips moved in time, and she smiled at him before kissing him again. In that moment, she didn't want him to ever stop touching her wings.
Shinobi had to admit, though it strained what minimal coherency remained to him in that moment, that this was the last place he'd envisioned himself being when the party began to draw to a close. Oh, he was always open the encounters of this sort--sharing pleasure with an enthusiastic partner was practically another language to him. But he would never have guessed it would be Shen, based on their initial encounter. True, it hadn't gone badly, exactly ... but it hadn't gone well, either. Still, who was he to question? She seemed to want it, he most definitely wanted it, and the sheer, giddy thrill of her feathers under his fingers and her body swaying so, so close to his own was more than enough to make him forget he was only a few hours removed from a long, trans-Atlantic flight.
Jesus, Buddha, and all the kami-sama and oni in sumpteen thousand years of recorded Japanese history, she felt good.
One hand continued to stroke the underside of her wings, the obvious excitement Shen took in every little motion magnifying Shinobi's own. His other skirted very, very lightly up her side, just teasing the sheer material of her dress, before snaking gingerly over her shoulder to trace a path from the muscle of her shoulder to the downy point where feathers met flesh. How could this be so familiar, and yet so new? In that moment, Shinobi believed he could spend a lifetime exploring the sensitivity of those impressive wings without getting bored. Of course, the lack of blood in his brain might have had something to do with that.
Shen wouldn't have expected her evening to end that way either, but, being the instigator, she was hardly surprised that it had. And to be fair, there was very little room in her mind right now for wondering how she had gone from her ambivalent first impression of Shinobi to making out with him on the dance floor, wings shifting with every stroke of his very, very nice hands. This was everything she had wanted, something to push everything else out of her mind, and it was even more than she had realized it would be. She had not expected it to be, in part, a rediscovery of her body, or at least a discovery of some as of yet uncharted territories, whether it was the sensitivity of her primaries and secondaries or that of the joint of flesh and wing. Her wings had become such a part of her, remarkably quickly, that she didn't feel like herself when she didn't have them, but this was helping her own them in a way she hadn't been able to experience before.
She wasn't usually this passive, but it was all she could do to focus on keeping her hands from shifting into talons as she slid them halfway up Shinobi's back, then curled her fingers slightly on the way back down, a gentle scratch through the fabric of his shirt. At least he was only slightly taller than her, and so there was no need for either of them to crane their necks as they kissed on, tongues sliding together in ways that sent their own little shocks of pleasure down her spine.
The not-unfamiliar sensation of nails raking down his back caused Shinobi to break the kiss briefly, murmuring ... something in a garbled mix of Japanese and French. He was quick to dive back in, however, and, as tempted as he was to let his hand venture further afield, this seemed to be drawing all the right reactions. And besides, it could hardly be considered indecent--as far as he knew, there weren't really any specific rules or manners in place to govern that sort of thing. That meant he was free to feel them, run his fingers through them, slide his palms over and across them as much as he wanted. And exult in the reactions every little shift seemed to provoke.
He was, he supposed, discovering an entirely new erogenous zone. And very much enjoying every moment of the discovery. Shen, too, seemed to have no complaints.
"You feel amazing," he murmured, lips still brushing against hers as he breathed the words. "This is amazing." His cheeks were flushed, by then, but more from desire than alcohol. And he honestly couldn't remember a time he'd been this far gone with the sheer, lust-laden thrill of something as simple as making out on a dance floor.
Clearly, this school was the ideal place for him.
"You have no idea," Shen assured him, speaking just loud enough for him to hear over the music. And wow, she sounded breathy already. When they'd only been making out for what, five, ten minutes tops? It might as well have been a couple of hours, for the way she'd lost herself in the sensations. Her fingers tightened on his back again with another stroke of his fingers through her feathers, and she wondered if it was like this for Warren and Tamara. She'd have to ask them - but not now. Now she only kissed Shinobi again, deep and slow, but pulled back much too quickly for her own taste. "You wanna get out of here? Go make out somewhere more private?"
There, it would be clear she wasn't offering sex, if he wasn't a douchebag. And if he was, she'd put him in his place when it came to it. But given how his hands on her wings were making her feel, being somewhere private would feel a lot less like putting on a show, and she didn't want to risk being interrupted before they decided they'd had enough.
"That," he said, "is the best idea I've heard since forever." Self-consciousness was the furthest thing from his mind, but he did like the idea of keeping ... this, this intimate moment, as much for himself--and Shen--as he could. "I'd tell you to feel free to jab a thumb in my eye, if I get too handsy, but I'm fairly confident you can take care of yourself." He reluctantly disentangled his fingers from her wings, and twined them instead with hers. "You know the place better than me," Shinobi added. "Lead the way."
There was something almost sweet about the way he tangled their fingers together, and that, along with her general state of mind, softened her reply to the first part of his words. "Word of advice - don't put the responsibility of not being assaulted on the woman." Her tone might have been harsher in other circumstances, but now it was warm, friendly advice, and one she hoped he would follow. Especially since bringing it up at all meant that the concept of consent was on his mind, which was more than could be said for a lot of men, and a good first step. Please don't start being an asshole now.
So she then tugged on their linked hands, smiling at him enticingly. "How do you feel about flying?" She could take them back to the mansion a lot quicker than they could manage by foot, and then they could find somewhere a lot more comfortable than out here by the lake. Hang the curfew, yeah. If Xavier let them have a whole party with booze, he'd better let them fool around.
Years of practice kept Shinobi from reacting visibly to the first of Shen's suggestions. Inwardly, despite his arousal and his intake of alcohol for the evening, something curdled. That was something he understood. His mother had borne the responsibility of being assaulted by Sebastian Shaw, if not precisely in the way she meant. He had experienced much of the same, before he'd been shipped off to Tokyo. Shinobi was many things, but he was not sexually aggressive. He enjoyed a willing partner, and the unwilling were perfectly free to go their own way.
But that was a private thing. At her second suggestion, he smirked broadly. "I feel it was extremely unfair that flying was not included with my own set of gifts," he said. "Also, it is amazing beyond words. Also also," he added, "I presently have an entire room to myself."
Shen chuckled - okay, fine, she giggled - when he got to 'Also also,' and had to wonder whether he had already flown, to call it amazing. Had Warren taken him? It would have been nice to offer him a first, since his hands on her wings were definitely one for her. Either way, it would be fun. "That is amazing, too," she answered his last words, tugging him close. "Put your arms around my neck," she told him, eyes shining happily.
She doubted that he would have liked the princess carry option, but mostly, she felt that it was somewhat less safe than this one. Also, this one had the added benefit of his body against hers. Very nice added benefit.
Under other circumstances, Shinobi probably would have been delighted at the princess-carry option. In this particular case, however, it very possibly would have ruined the mood--and the mood was much, much too good for that. Although ...
"I feel I should warn you," he began, wrapping his arms gently around her neck and just beginning to lean in a little closer, "our previous activity has resulted in certain inevitable physiological consequences. Which I hasten to reassure you do not speak to my actual expectations for the evening. Just ... " he gave a rueful shake of his head, "you know, teenage boy. Biology."
Shen laughed. "How dare you have physiological reactions to what we've been doing. Tsk." She stepped up close, and yes, it would have been impossible not to feel that. She sucked her lips in for a second, then forced herself to focus. "Okay, don't distract me while I'm flying us." One of her arms went around his back, the other below his butt, and she flexed her legs before leaping up, wings beating rapidly to launch them into the air.
Once they were underway, at a leisurely speed, she turned her head towards Shinobi. "Doing okay?"
There had been another smart observation on the tip of Shinobi's tongue, but it was lost in the firm press of Shen's body against his and a sudden rush of wind in his ears. To say he was unprepared when she more or less hurled the two of them into the sky was a minor understatement, and he clung to her more tightly in surprise. Luckily, what vestiges of control he did have kept him from either going super-dense and becoming too heavy to manage or phasing out of her grip entirely.
It helped that he liked where she had positioned her hands. Weirdly comforting, to be groped a bit in a new and potentially unsettling situation. Even if it was mostly happenstance, he could certainly pretend.
"This is amazing," he repeated, and so far beyond the theoretical "amazing" he'd been working with before. "And very mildly terrifying, though I think I can get used to it. Would it be very distracting if I were to nibble on your neck a little bit? I should have asked for specific guidelines before we started gaining altitude."
Close as they were, he likely would have known that she was laughing just from the slight shake of her body, even if she had not let the laughter out freely. "I don't know what kind of low opinion you have of your necking skills to actually ask that." She seemed to be holding him with perfect ease, which was a lot more than anyone of her size should normally demonstrate, and he wasn't in any danger at all when she pecked his lips, a gentle scolding before she looked back ahead at where they were going. "Behave, or I'll double black and drop you in the lake." Of course she wouldn't, and she didn't expect him to believe it.
Besides, they were already approaching the mansion, and she began her descent, wings growing still as they glided downwards.
He didn't nibble, but he definitely tilted his head against her throat. "I will have you know I am a master of necking. It was more a vote of confidence in favor of your self-control--I'll be too happy to demonstrate once we're back on terra firma." Shinobi thought for a moment, then asked, "Is greater-than-normal strength part of your abilities, or does it only apply when we're in the air? I ask for reasons," he added. The lake thing he ignored, as he intended to be good as gold until they were back on the ground; knowing he wasn't actually in danger didn't seem to help, when there was that much empty space between him and the ground.
As they neared the ground, he relaxed noticeably ... at least, in some respects. His horny teenage boy body was still very much aware of being in close contact with a teenage girl who had only recently been kissing him stupid, but, at least, his grip around her neck slackened.
"No, it's there all the time," Shen assured him. "Reasons?" It was easy not to focus so much on the way his breath played against her neck as they neared the ground, because she would rather focus on not crashing them. It was only the third time she was doing this with a passenger, after all, and all of them tonight.
Her wings beat again to stabilize them on the front steps of the mansion, and their feet found the ground easily, and smooth as could be. She was definitely happy with this landing, and she grinned up at Shinobi as she folded her wings behind her back.
"Because I can do that, too, if I put some effort into it," he told her, increasing his density once they were were back on the ground. "I wouldn't want you to think I can't keep up." He reached out to take her hand and lead her up into the building, tugging her back towards him once they were back inside. "That was quite possibly the most memorable experience of my life to date, and I thank you. But if we could return to our earlier topic of discussion ... " Shinobi leaned in to kiss her again.
Shen was smiling as he drew her close, right up until their lips met and smiling would have been a hindrance to kissing. Sure, the point had been to get to his room, but this was fun too, only amping up anticipation. She smoothed her hands up his shirt, slid them around to the hair at the back of his head, and then back down his shoulders, kiss deepening until she broke away with a grin. "Come on," she told him, keeping her voice low to make sure they wouldn't attract undue attention - mostly from any staff still up and about. "You can tell me about your powers on the way to your room."
"Your wish is my command," he told her, smirking broadly as he led her by the hand up toward the boys' dorm. "Personal molecular density control," Shinobi told her as they moved up the stairs, mimicking her low tone, as much for the increased intimacy as the need not to draw attention. "I'm a ghost. I'm bulletproof. It all depends." He paused briefly on the stairs to plant another kiss on the back of her palm, if only because he really felt the need to be kissing some part of her. "I'm usually more eloquent in my description, but I'm really in something of a hurry, right now."
"If it makes you feel better, I think your mutation speaks for itself," Shen stated, tugging him along with a smile after that kiss on her hand. She was in as much of a hurry as he was, really. But his mutation! Kind of like Kitty, and yet really not. She'd think about it more later, when she wasn't buzzed and very determined to ask him for that demonstration of his necking skills.
Her bare feet were silent on the floor of the boys' hallway when they reached it, and she turned around to pull him into another short, much too short kiss, stepping backward in order not to lose time.
As she began to pull away from that brief kiss, he followed, leaning in for another. Their forward momentum continued, if a bit awkwardly, and in more of circling, swaying mutual pursuit than a straight line, per se. When they finally reached the door to Shinobi's room, the one of which he was currently the sole occupant, he tugged Shen in tight again, pinning himself between it and her and kissed her deeply, tracing another ghostly-light trail through the feathers of her right wing.
Shen was all too happy to pin Shinobi right up against his door, opening up to his kiss with how much she hadn't been able to as they walked-and-kissed through the hallway. But as his fingers ghosted a butterfly-light touch over her feathers, she pressed even more into him, teeth scraping his bottom lip before she licked over it as if to smooth it over. One last sound kiss and her hands found his shoulders, pinning him even more effectively against the door as she leaned back, and smiled. "Open the door before we get caught." And she stepped back to let him do just that, reluctantly pulling her hands off of him.
She could just as easily pin him to the other side of that door if he wanted, after all, leaving him as free to touch her wings. Much as the risk of getting caught was thrilling, she also didn't want it to actually happen.
Grinning broadly--and visibly flushed, despite the darkness of the hall--Shinobi stepped back, passing through the door as though he were less substantial than air. It swung open from the inside almost immediately, and he waved a hand to indicate the unfurnished space within. Other than his suitcases piled in one corner, it was as bland as any of the rooms appeared, prior to occupation. "I'd apologize for the lack of character," he told her, "but you appear to have made the place light up like Times Square." It was a terrible line, and he knew it, but he was a little distracted, just then. "Now, regarding our previous discussion ..." He reached between her face and the arc of her wing to begin pushing the door closed again once she was inside.
Shen turned as he did, stepping into his personal space, so he could close the door and she could once again trap him against it. It didn't matter that he wasn't trapped at all and could pull a Shadowcat whenever he wanted - or maybe it did, in that it made this even better. Knowing beyond the shadow of a doubt that he was only here because he wanted to be.
"You mean this discussion?" Backing him up against the door, Shen tilted her head up into another kiss, wings stretching slightly, taking up more space now than they had in the hallway, because they could, because she was comfortable. Her hands slid up his torso, and then back down, getting a feel for the planes of his chest, and her kiss had not lost in heat now that the thrill of being caught was gone.
She'd meant to text Jeanne-Marie where she was, and that she'd warn her before getting back so she could use their own room for the same purpose if she wanted, but that could wait a bit, right? This was better.
Unable to answer her properly, and not at all objecting to that fact, Shinobi simply offered an affirmative hum as his back thudded--soft, but solid--against the door once again. His hands went to Shen's hips, smoothing the fabric of her dress down over the warm, taut skin beneath, then up again until he reached the base of her wings. Wings which were now flaring to either side of them, making the moment somehow more intimate, more private. His palms tickled over the lowest feathers, then moved up, and out, feeling more fully the soft expanse now halfway to encircling him.
As school welcoming committees went, this was without question his favorite, so far. Being pinned and kissed breathless probably had quite a bit to do with that, but the final critique could probably wait for a more opportune time.
Shen was both impressed and thankful that there was still some booze left. A few people were still dancing, the party was still going on... but it was also definitely winding down. She couldn't spot Warren anywhere, but Terry was still there, at least, and still drinking like nobody's business, which was impressive in its own right. But the point was there was still booze left, although not for long, so they seemed to have come back in the nick of time.
Shen grabbed a vodka and juice and closed the cooler again, took a long drink, and savored it for a few seconds, eyes closed, focusing on the rise of the buzz inside her. This was what mattered tonight. The buzz, the fun. No need to let her disappointment and hurt get in the way of the amazing party Warren and Terry had thrown. Get in the way of fun.
She opened her eyes and looked around, gaze landing on Warren's friend, Shinobi. He was still very pretty, and she was buzzed enough that maybe she could ignore the stupid things he said, if he was up for a dance or two. Or maybe he wouldn't say anything else that was stupid. She was hoping for the latter.
Her wings bristled and settled behind her, and then she walked over to him with a sympathetic smile. "Did Warren abandon you?"
Standing near the cooler, just at the periphery of the makeshift dance floor, Shinobi stood with heavily-doctored bottle in hand. He'd shed his light, plum-colored coat somewhere in deference to the late-summer warmth, and was rocking back and forth lightly on his heels, bopping a bit to the latest musical selection. Normally, he was a great deal more active at events like this one, but the combination of a pleasant buzz and more than a little jet lag had mellowed him somewhat. Perhaps he'd wander out for one more dance, then call it a night--though it might actually physically pain him, not being the last to leave a party. It might even be a first for him.
The rustling of wings alerted him to Shen's reappearance, and his mild disappointment at finding here beside him instead of Warren was more than outweighed by the company of an attractive peer. He raised his bottle to her in salute. "Never abandoned--the very idea is laughable. He'd sooner abandon oxygen. Or Perrier. No, I think he and his pretty snow-elf have retired somewhere for a little quality private time. And I'm hardly so petty I could begrudge him that. Besides," he nodded toward the swaying students on the floor, "this isn't such a terrible way to spend a first night at a new school. The diversity here is just enchanting."
Possibly a recipe for disaster, too, depending on how events played out. But even disasters could be interesting, when you watched from the role of a spectator. And if Shinobi could be said to hate anything (other than his father), it was a lack of stimulating distraction.
That was one of the very rare things he could say and be sure to get a smile from Shen. She gave him just that, and turned to the still dancing students. "We do have amazing diversity. Serious lack of Black students, apart from Ororo, but it feels like we're diverse in every other way?" Okay, not the transgender way. Not that she knew of, anyway.
"Assuming this whole 'mutant' thing is spread out equally across the world's population, I'm sure the statistics will fall into line, eventually. But I'm not a geneticist; I can only speculate." He shrugged. "Still, I'm hardly inclined to complain. I'm used to a much stuffier, much more monochromatic crowd. A little contrast is far more enjoyable."
"Seriously," Shen agreed, lips stretching into a grin. She looked away from the crowd, and at Shinobi. "You wanna dance? And enjoy the pretty before mutancy spreads more equally across the world's population," she added, smirking slightly. If there was one thing to say for mutants so far, it was that they were all very pretty.
"In that sense," he grinned, "I hope you'll not think me shallower than you probably already do if I say that I hope we continue to beat the odds." Shinobi took a drink from his bottle, then set it aside on the table; he had backups, if the night's inebriation and the dwindling supply led to this one wandering off with one of the other students. Besides, he wasn't greedy. Well, except for moments like this, perhaps.
He held out a hand to Shen. "It would be my absolute pleasure to dance. Although," he added slyly, "for preference, I would suggest we remain grounded for this one. It was a very impressive display earlier, and I'm fairly confident I would have little to fear from falling, but I'd hate for anybody's first impression of me to be as an impeccably-dressed kamikaze."
Shen was going to blame the amount of her drink she'd just downed, before abandoning the rest of it, but she giggled at his words as she put her hands in his. "No, I was thinking earth-bound. It's a shame, but I'll make do." And with that, she tugged him towards the area used as a dancefloor, grinning enticingly. She just wanted fun.
He fell into step behind her readily enough. "I am sorry to have been the one to keep you grounded. Normally, I strive for the opposite effect. A pity flying isn't as universal here on campus as astonishing good looks." He placed his slim hands lightly on her waist as she turned back to face him, dark eyes appreciative--and perhaps more than a touch mischievous. "Lucky you, to have inherited both. I do not usually envy other people, but I almost think I could start to be just a touch jealous of that."
Instead of putting her arms around his neck, Shen only followed up his move of hands on her waist by sliding her own to the small of his back. She was buzzed enough that dancing right up close felt like the best thing right now, and of course she was going to make sure of that, pulling him in close as she smiled up at him. "I'll do my best not to resent you for grounding me, then?" Her wings bristled and settled, as if to echo the smirk on her lips.
Under most circumstances, Shinobi was happy to take the lead in situations like this one. However, his previous encounter with Shen hadn't exactly been an unalloyed success, and he found himself wary of presuming too much too quickly; she was, after all, Warren's friend. But the feeling of fingertips on the base of his back, pulling him in tight, suggested that a reserved approach might not be the best strategy after all. Also, it was getting very difficult to think in terms of strategy, and not the body now moving in sync with his.
He mirrored her movement, hands snaking over the arc of her hips to rest near the base of her spine, comfortably close--near enough to feel the heat radiating from her--a combination of the weather and the alcohol, no doubt. Grinning, he looked at her just a touch coyly from beneath his bangs. "Perhaps you'll allow me the opportunity to make it up to you? I pride myself on a certain creative flair ..."
Hips moving in time with his, the buzz of alcohol strong in her veins, Shen appreciated the fact that his hands had only moved to the small of her back after hers had moved to the small of his. Hey, some guys took liberties without asking first, but mirroring was totally okay by her standards.
And then, there was the fact that not much of anyone (aka no one) had put their hands there, right below her wings, since she'd manifested. There was something about the way her underwings brushed against his arms, something new and brilliant - and that was without taking into account how sensitive her skin felt right there, under the fabric of her dress.
"You'll have to sell me on it first," she replied, still smiling up at him as they danced, keeping her balance on her own despite the wings in her back. Her smile turned challenging, as did the look in her eyes, the touch of her hands a little firmer on the small of his back. "So, go on. Sales pitch."
The brush of fine feathers on the backs of his forearms was an electric tickle, even through the sleeves of his shirt. Shinobi couldn't help but admire how lightly, how gracefully Shen moved, despite the encumbrance her wings must represent; beautiful they were, but they were also massive. He sort of wanted to bury his face in them and get lost in the feeling of warm, silky plushness. But that was probably a bit forward, all things considered.
He writhed just a bit closer as her grip around his back grew firmer, and traced light, idle circles in the fabric of her dress where his fingers rested between her wings, and breathed a laugh. "You know, you're the last person I would have expected to initiate a negotiation with me, Shen-san." The honorific came through force of habit and distraction; Shinobi hardly seemed to notice, himself. "You have shown so many facets; even in the short time I've known you, I am dizzied by them. And you certainly chose the worst possible time for me to try selling myself. Between the alcohol and," he leaned in closer, lightly nuzzling at her throat, "my obvious distraction."
The light nuzzle was far from unwelcome; in fact, it was everything Shen wanted at this stage, and her still hand-shaped hands curled slightly on the small of his back, an instinctive, responsive answer, head tilting away to give him more space, then back in to tilt her head against his. "What if I like your obvious distraction?" she challenged, lips against his ear. "Actions, words, you know what they say..."
"At the moment, I'm not sure I could recite my own name with a reasonable chance of success," he admitted, his chuckle hot against her throat. "You're a very distracting distraction ..." Shinobi's hands rose briefly, to tickle the undersides of the wings Shen held tight against her body, and the luxuriant feel of them was everything he could have hoped for, and more. But then his fingertips slid down again, to that spot just at the point where her spine and hips met that she'd seemed to enjoy before. One hand began to explore lower, if tentatively; she would, he had no doubt, let him know immediately what was welcome and what was not.
"Words fail me, in any case. And I can think of any number of much more interesting uses for my mouth, just now." In illustration, he brushed his lips over Shen's faintly, briefly, inviting.
This was perfect. Shen was pretty sure that Tamara hadn't meant the way her hands on Shen's wings had felt earlier, and the everything that had come after it had destroyed that moment anyway. But now, to have someone else brush their hands against her feathers - Shen shivered a little more closely to Shinobi, and smiled against his lips before he brushed them against hers, feeling things solidify for the spot his hands found on the small of her back. "Yeah," she confirmed, very eloquently, "shut up." And then she pressed her lips more firmly against his, eyes closing, tongue licking at his lips, demanding entry.
Whatever clever response Shinobi might have had for that was lost immediately as his lips parted to accept her tongue, his own plunging immediately past her teeth eagerly. He was jet-lagged, not dead, and he would have had to have been much closer to that latter state not to respond to an invitation like this. He hadn't failed to notice her response to his fingers in the fine, downy texture of her feathers, and so he brought them up from her outer thighs to her hips and back into that mass of warm softness, so unlike anything any of his previous partners had possessed. It made it all new again, exploring, finding just the right spots to coax the best possible reaction. Pressing a little more closely against Shen, he gasped for breath quickly before fusing his mouth to hers again, and tasting just as deeply as he could.
Shen had let out a gasp of her own at the unhesitant stroke of his hands over her feathers, and now she returned the kiss with renewed ardor. If she had known that the slide of fingers over her wings would feel this amazing, she might have given this a try a while back. It was like an invisible thread was connecting her feathers to her spine, and each caress made her want to arch her back this or that way. She bit softly on Shinobi's lower lip, then took a moment to simply breathe against his lips, cheeks pink with a flush she could feel building from her chest up.
Of course, she didn't care about the fact that anyone still at the party could see them. If anyone had a problem with two consenting teenagers having some fun, they would have a problem with her. They were still dancing, her fingers caught in his beltloops, making sure their hips moved in time, and she smiled at him before kissing him again. In that moment, she didn't want him to ever stop touching her wings.
Shinobi had to admit, though it strained what minimal coherency remained to him in that moment, that this was the last place he'd envisioned himself being when the party began to draw to a close. Oh, he was always open the encounters of this sort--sharing pleasure with an enthusiastic partner was practically another language to him. But he would never have guessed it would be Shen, based on their initial encounter. True, it hadn't gone badly, exactly ... but it hadn't gone well, either. Still, who was he to question? She seemed to want it, he most definitely wanted it, and the sheer, giddy thrill of her feathers under his fingers and her body swaying so, so close to his own was more than enough to make him forget he was only a few hours removed from a long, trans-Atlantic flight.
Jesus, Buddha, and all the kami-sama and oni in sumpteen thousand years of recorded Japanese history, she felt good.
One hand continued to stroke the underside of her wings, the obvious excitement Shen took in every little motion magnifying Shinobi's own. His other skirted very, very lightly up her side, just teasing the sheer material of her dress, before snaking gingerly over her shoulder to trace a path from the muscle of her shoulder to the downy point where feathers met flesh. How could this be so familiar, and yet so new? In that moment, Shinobi believed he could spend a lifetime exploring the sensitivity of those impressive wings without getting bored. Of course, the lack of blood in his brain might have had something to do with that.
Shen wouldn't have expected her evening to end that way either, but, being the instigator, she was hardly surprised that it had. And to be fair, there was very little room in her mind right now for wondering how she had gone from her ambivalent first impression of Shinobi to making out with him on the dance floor, wings shifting with every stroke of his very, very nice hands. This was everything she had wanted, something to push everything else out of her mind, and it was even more than she had realized it would be. She had not expected it to be, in part, a rediscovery of her body, or at least a discovery of some as of yet uncharted territories, whether it was the sensitivity of her primaries and secondaries or that of the joint of flesh and wing. Her wings had become such a part of her, remarkably quickly, that she didn't feel like herself when she didn't have them, but this was helping her own them in a way she hadn't been able to experience before.
She wasn't usually this passive, but it was all she could do to focus on keeping her hands from shifting into talons as she slid them halfway up Shinobi's back, then curled her fingers slightly on the way back down, a gentle scratch through the fabric of his shirt. At least he was only slightly taller than her, and so there was no need for either of them to crane their necks as they kissed on, tongues sliding together in ways that sent their own little shocks of pleasure down her spine.
The not-unfamiliar sensation of nails raking down his back caused Shinobi to break the kiss briefly, murmuring ... something in a garbled mix of Japanese and French. He was quick to dive back in, however, and, as tempted as he was to let his hand venture further afield, this seemed to be drawing all the right reactions. And besides, it could hardly be considered indecent--as far as he knew, there weren't really any specific rules or manners in place to govern that sort of thing. That meant he was free to feel them, run his fingers through them, slide his palms over and across them as much as he wanted. And exult in the reactions every little shift seemed to provoke.
He was, he supposed, discovering an entirely new erogenous zone. And very much enjoying every moment of the discovery. Shen, too, seemed to have no complaints.
"You feel amazing," he murmured, lips still brushing against hers as he breathed the words. "This is amazing." His cheeks were flushed, by then, but more from desire than alcohol. And he honestly couldn't remember a time he'd been this far gone with the sheer, lust-laden thrill of something as simple as making out on a dance floor.
Clearly, this school was the ideal place for him.
"You have no idea," Shen assured him, speaking just loud enough for him to hear over the music. And wow, she sounded breathy already. When they'd only been making out for what, five, ten minutes tops? It might as well have been a couple of hours, for the way she'd lost herself in the sensations. Her fingers tightened on his back again with another stroke of his fingers through her feathers, and she wondered if it was like this for Warren and Tamara. She'd have to ask them - but not now. Now she only kissed Shinobi again, deep and slow, but pulled back much too quickly for her own taste. "You wanna get out of here? Go make out somewhere more private?"
There, it would be clear she wasn't offering sex, if he wasn't a douchebag. And if he was, she'd put him in his place when it came to it. But given how his hands on her wings were making her feel, being somewhere private would feel a lot less like putting on a show, and she didn't want to risk being interrupted before they decided they'd had enough.
"That," he said, "is the best idea I've heard since forever." Self-consciousness was the furthest thing from his mind, but he did like the idea of keeping ... this, this intimate moment, as much for himself--and Shen--as he could. "I'd tell you to feel free to jab a thumb in my eye, if I get too handsy, but I'm fairly confident you can take care of yourself." He reluctantly disentangled his fingers from her wings, and twined them instead with hers. "You know the place better than me," Shinobi added. "Lead the way."
There was something almost sweet about the way he tangled their fingers together, and that, along with her general state of mind, softened her reply to the first part of his words. "Word of advice - don't put the responsibility of not being assaulted on the woman." Her tone might have been harsher in other circumstances, but now it was warm, friendly advice, and one she hoped he would follow. Especially since bringing it up at all meant that the concept of consent was on his mind, which was more than could be said for a lot of men, and a good first step. Please don't start being an asshole now.
So she then tugged on their linked hands, smiling at him enticingly. "How do you feel about flying?" She could take them back to the mansion a lot quicker than they could manage by foot, and then they could find somewhere a lot more comfortable than out here by the lake. Hang the curfew, yeah. If Xavier let them have a whole party with booze, he'd better let them fool around.
Years of practice kept Shinobi from reacting visibly to the first of Shen's suggestions. Inwardly, despite his arousal and his intake of alcohol for the evening, something curdled. That was something he understood. His mother had borne the responsibility of being assaulted by Sebastian Shaw, if not precisely in the way she meant. He had experienced much of the same, before he'd been shipped off to Tokyo. Shinobi was many things, but he was not sexually aggressive. He enjoyed a willing partner, and the unwilling were perfectly free to go their own way.
But that was a private thing. At her second suggestion, he smirked broadly. "I feel it was extremely unfair that flying was not included with my own set of gifts," he said. "Also, it is amazing beyond words. Also also," he added, "I presently have an entire room to myself."
Shen chuckled - okay, fine, she giggled - when he got to 'Also also,' and had to wonder whether he had already flown, to call it amazing. Had Warren taken him? It would have been nice to offer him a first, since his hands on her wings were definitely one for her. Either way, it would be fun. "That is amazing, too," she answered his last words, tugging him close. "Put your arms around my neck," she told him, eyes shining happily.
She doubted that he would have liked the princess carry option, but mostly, she felt that it was somewhat less safe than this one. Also, this one had the added benefit of his body against hers. Very nice added benefit.
Under other circumstances, Shinobi probably would have been delighted at the princess-carry option. In this particular case, however, it very possibly would have ruined the mood--and the mood was much, much too good for that. Although ...
"I feel I should warn you," he began, wrapping his arms gently around her neck and just beginning to lean in a little closer, "our previous activity has resulted in certain inevitable physiological consequences. Which I hasten to reassure you do not speak to my actual expectations for the evening. Just ... " he gave a rueful shake of his head, "you know, teenage boy. Biology."
Shen laughed. "How dare you have physiological reactions to what we've been doing. Tsk." She stepped up close, and yes, it would have been impossible not to feel that. She sucked her lips in for a second, then forced herself to focus. "Okay, don't distract me while I'm flying us." One of her arms went around his back, the other below his butt, and she flexed her legs before leaping up, wings beating rapidly to launch them into the air.
Once they were underway, at a leisurely speed, she turned her head towards Shinobi. "Doing okay?"
There had been another smart observation on the tip of Shinobi's tongue, but it was lost in the firm press of Shen's body against his and a sudden rush of wind in his ears. To say he was unprepared when she more or less hurled the two of them into the sky was a minor understatement, and he clung to her more tightly in surprise. Luckily, what vestiges of control he did have kept him from either going super-dense and becoming too heavy to manage or phasing out of her grip entirely.
It helped that he liked where she had positioned her hands. Weirdly comforting, to be groped a bit in a new and potentially unsettling situation. Even if it was mostly happenstance, he could certainly pretend.
"This is amazing," he repeated, and so far beyond the theoretical "amazing" he'd been working with before. "And very mildly terrifying, though I think I can get used to it. Would it be very distracting if I were to nibble on your neck a little bit? I should have asked for specific guidelines before we started gaining altitude."
Close as they were, he likely would have known that she was laughing just from the slight shake of her body, even if she had not let the laughter out freely. "I don't know what kind of low opinion you have of your necking skills to actually ask that." She seemed to be holding him with perfect ease, which was a lot more than anyone of her size should normally demonstrate, and he wasn't in any danger at all when she pecked his lips, a gentle scolding before she looked back ahead at where they were going. "Behave, or I'll double black and drop you in the lake." Of course she wouldn't, and she didn't expect him to believe it.
Besides, they were already approaching the mansion, and she began her descent, wings growing still as they glided downwards.
He didn't nibble, but he definitely tilted his head against her throat. "I will have you know I am a master of necking. It was more a vote of confidence in favor of your self-control--I'll be too happy to demonstrate once we're back on terra firma." Shinobi thought for a moment, then asked, "Is greater-than-normal strength part of your abilities, or does it only apply when we're in the air? I ask for reasons," he added. The lake thing he ignored, as he intended to be good as gold until they were back on the ground; knowing he wasn't actually in danger didn't seem to help, when there was that much empty space between him and the ground.
As they neared the ground, he relaxed noticeably ... at least, in some respects. His horny teenage boy body was still very much aware of being in close contact with a teenage girl who had only recently been kissing him stupid, but, at least, his grip around her neck slackened.
"No, it's there all the time," Shen assured him. "Reasons?" It was easy not to focus so much on the way his breath played against her neck as they neared the ground, because she would rather focus on not crashing them. It was only the third time she was doing this with a passenger, after all, and all of them tonight.
Her wings beat again to stabilize them on the front steps of the mansion, and their feet found the ground easily, and smooth as could be. She was definitely happy with this landing, and she grinned up at Shinobi as she folded her wings behind her back.
"Because I can do that, too, if I put some effort into it," he told her, increasing his density once they were were back on the ground. "I wouldn't want you to think I can't keep up." He reached out to take her hand and lead her up into the building, tugging her back towards him once they were back inside. "That was quite possibly the most memorable experience of my life to date, and I thank you. But if we could return to our earlier topic of discussion ... " Shinobi leaned in to kiss her again.
Shen was smiling as he drew her close, right up until their lips met and smiling would have been a hindrance to kissing. Sure, the point had been to get to his room, but this was fun too, only amping up anticipation. She smoothed her hands up his shirt, slid them around to the hair at the back of his head, and then back down his shoulders, kiss deepening until she broke away with a grin. "Come on," she told him, keeping her voice low to make sure they wouldn't attract undue attention - mostly from any staff still up and about. "You can tell me about your powers on the way to your room."
"Your wish is my command," he told her, smirking broadly as he led her by the hand up toward the boys' dorm. "Personal molecular density control," Shinobi told her as they moved up the stairs, mimicking her low tone, as much for the increased intimacy as the need not to draw attention. "I'm a ghost. I'm bulletproof. It all depends." He paused briefly on the stairs to plant another kiss on the back of her palm, if only because he really felt the need to be kissing some part of her. "I'm usually more eloquent in my description, but I'm really in something of a hurry, right now."
"If it makes you feel better, I think your mutation speaks for itself," Shen stated, tugging him along with a smile after that kiss on her hand. She was in as much of a hurry as he was, really. But his mutation! Kind of like Kitty, and yet really not. She'd think about it more later, when she wasn't buzzed and very determined to ask him for that demonstration of his necking skills.
Her bare feet were silent on the floor of the boys' hallway when they reached it, and she turned around to pull him into another short, much too short kiss, stepping backward in order not to lose time.
As she began to pull away from that brief kiss, he followed, leaning in for another. Their forward momentum continued, if a bit awkwardly, and in more of circling, swaying mutual pursuit than a straight line, per se. When they finally reached the door to Shinobi's room, the one of which he was currently the sole occupant, he tugged Shen in tight again, pinning himself between it and her and kissed her deeply, tracing another ghostly-light trail through the feathers of her right wing.
Shen was all too happy to pin Shinobi right up against his door, opening up to his kiss with how much she hadn't been able to as they walked-and-kissed through the hallway. But as his fingers ghosted a butterfly-light touch over her feathers, she pressed even more into him, teeth scraping his bottom lip before she licked over it as if to smooth it over. One last sound kiss and her hands found his shoulders, pinning him even more effectively against the door as she leaned back, and smiled. "Open the door before we get caught." And she stepped back to let him do just that, reluctantly pulling her hands off of him.
She could just as easily pin him to the other side of that door if he wanted, after all, leaving him as free to touch her wings. Much as the risk of getting caught was thrilling, she also didn't want it to actually happen.
Grinning broadly--and visibly flushed, despite the darkness of the hall--Shinobi stepped back, passing through the door as though he were less substantial than air. It swung open from the inside almost immediately, and he waved a hand to indicate the unfurnished space within. Other than his suitcases piled in one corner, it was as bland as any of the rooms appeared, prior to occupation. "I'd apologize for the lack of character," he told her, "but you appear to have made the place light up like Times Square." It was a terrible line, and he knew it, but he was a little distracted, just then. "Now, regarding our previous discussion ..." He reached between her face and the arc of her wing to begin pushing the door closed again once she was inside.
Shen turned as he did, stepping into his personal space, so he could close the door and she could once again trap him against it. It didn't matter that he wasn't trapped at all and could pull a Shadowcat whenever he wanted - or maybe it did, in that it made this even better. Knowing beyond the shadow of a doubt that he was only here because he wanted to be.
"You mean this discussion?" Backing him up against the door, Shen tilted her head up into another kiss, wings stretching slightly, taking up more space now than they had in the hallway, because they could, because she was comfortable. Her hands slid up his torso, and then back down, getting a feel for the planes of his chest, and her kiss had not lost in heat now that the thrill of being caught was gone.
She'd meant to text Jeanne-Marie where she was, and that she'd warn her before getting back so she could use their own room for the same purpose if she wanted, but that could wait a bit, right? This was better.
Unable to answer her properly, and not at all objecting to that fact, Shinobi simply offered an affirmative hum as his back thudded--soft, but solid--against the door once again. His hands went to Shen's hips, smoothing the fabric of her dress down over the warm, taut skin beneath, then up again until he reached the base of her wings. Wings which were now flaring to either side of them, making the moment somehow more intimate, more private. His palms tickled over the lowest feathers, then moved up, and out, feeling more fully the soft expanse now halfway to encircling him.
As school welcoming committees went, this was without question his favorite, so far. Being pinned and kissed breathless probably had quite a bit to do with that, but the final critique could probably wait for a more opportune time.
