Ari

When Max was given permission by the ‘innocent’ Ari, she reached around the woman and placed her hands under her dress, gently groping her ass, before 'fixing’ the dress that was 'out of place.’ “All fixed.” The blonde could definitely get behind this whole.. roleplay thing. A blushing Ari was kind of cute, even if the girl needed her abilities to make it happen.

“Of course, Ariadne.” Unable to help herself, the blonde grabbed Ari and pulled them both into a supply closet, trapping the other against the door and her own body. Her thigh was lightly pressed against Ari’s core, both hands under the student’s dress on her hips. “Heard someone comin’. Couldn’t let more people see you in such a short dress, after all.” Was she going to touch Ari? Probably not at this point. Maxine wanted to tease the other. If Ari wanted to play innocent, Max could play it out, too. It was dark, but Max could see just fine, and it took a lot of self will to not take off the woman’s dress right where they stood.

Ari didn’t expect to be suddenly yanked into the supply closet, gasping when Max pinned her against the door and pressed her thigh against her. “Fuck,” she breathed, breaking character. The blush on her face was real this time and she was mildly annoyed that Max was getting to her this easily. The woman definitely knew what she was doing but Ari should have known that already.

“Don’t you worry, Darlin’ - nothin’ out there scarier than me.” Or more corrupting, came a thought, which made her laugh, because Ari was in no way capable of being corrupted - she already was. But it was a very hot notion. “We’ll just have to make sure no one else sees you in the dress, then, won’t we?” Perfect excuse to duck into a classroom. And the blonde could already think of a number of excuses to start touching the other woman. Even starting right now. “Your dress looks like it’s coming up a little at the back, Miss Beauchamp - would you mind if I helped fix it? You wouldn’t want to show off what’s under the dress to just anyone, would you?”

There was a question that gave the perfect excuse to head to her place instead of Ari’s room. “Now that you mention it, I need to get changed. To properly escort you.” She laid a hand on Ari’s lower back and began to guide her from the dinner hall. “It would be hard to fight in this dress, and getting out of it’s really a two person job. Come back to my place so I ca change, and I’d be happy to help you change, too. To make the walk back to your room safer, of course.”

“Oh, yes, of course,” Ari replied, acting flustered. “It’s the least I can do!” She let Max slowly guide them out of the dinning hall. It was pretty hilarious to her how heavily they were flirting and no one around them was any the wiser. In the back of her mind, she couldn’t help but wonder what Cassandra would think if she saw them right now. Ari was definitely distracting one of her guards.

This was the first time anyone had shown interest in Noah - well, to her knowledge, at least. People would flirt, but she just couldn’t pick up on it. It was mostly easy to with Ari, but the French woman had to wonder why that was. “I-I want to..” The tip of her tongue snaked out to lick her lips, pulling the lower back with it to between her teeth. Her eyes gazed down again, lingering on the other woman’s lips once more.

“I-I don’t- why?” Why was Ari more than willing to kiss her? “Why would you want to?” She couldn’t do it, no matter what promises she had made, if she was humiliated like that again, there was a downward spiral with her name on it, she was sure.

Ari raised her brow and moved away. “Why?” That was a weird question to ask. “Because I find you attractive. You are gorgeous, Noah. I am not sure why you think I need a reason other than that.” Yep. Ari didn’t care much about people but this girl needed a serious confidence boost. “I find you cute and utterly kissable. I promise there’s nothing else.”

She paused, withdrawing even more. “But I won’t pressure you, babe. If it’s not something you want to do, we can pretend none of this ever happened.” This was meant to be fun and if Noah was getting too worked up, it wasn’t fun anymore. “I just thought you could use a little innocent fun in your life. There’s nothing wrong with sharing a few kisses between friends.” 

Cute. Maxine thought, as she saw the blush. She knew exactly what Ari’s mutation could do, and a blush would certainly fit the bill. Because they both knew Ari was anything but shy. But hey, the whole idea of.. pretending? That was hot. “Don’t worry, Darlin’ - I promise not to tell your father you’ve..” Licking her lips, she reached out and played with Ari’s cross. “Chosen a different way to follow God’s path.” The Hudson family was anything but religious, so she knew next to nothing about it.

“Maybe you should let me escort you from dinner back to your room, Miss Beauchamp.” Letting her hand fall from the cross, she ‘accidentally’ brushed her hand against the side of the woman’s breast. “A lady such as yourself shouldn’t have to worry about walking alone at night. Someone could.. take advantage. I promise to take very good care of you, though - if you’ll let me.” Oh, Max had plans that would have them making a couple stops before a bedroom was even made. Maybe an excuse to pull her into a classroom, a washroom.. she really wanted to fuck Ari with her dress on first, that much she knew.

Ari had to admit, it took a lot of her self-control not to break at Maxine’s words. This innocent act was something Ari was familiar with. She played the same role every time her parents dragged her to one of their social functions, but she never played it for this reason. Needless to say, after tonight, she expected that the next time she played innocent, her blushes would be real.

“H-how do you know what I like? I’m uhm.. I’m not even sure I- I know..” Talk about an intense question - direct and to the point and not at all what Noah thought would be asked of her. And her heart began to pound in her chest when Ari said she wanted to kiss her. Part of Noah knew from Ari’s own words, that they were very different. Noah was a romantic - whether camping in the living room together randomly, or a cooked dinner on a sailboat under the stars a couple times a month - she enjoyed romance. Or at least the idea of it. Ari wasn’t like that. And yet, Noah still wanted to kiss her, despite having a feeling that nothing would actually develope between them.

“I- yes..” She admitted, worrying her lower lip between her teeth. Her gaze cast downward, too nervous to lean in, herself. What if this was a joke? What if Ari was only doing this to humiliate her later? It was a hard paranoia to break. “I uhm.. want to kiss you, too..”

“Then do it,” Ari dared. She leaned in further, keeping her eyes connected with Noah’s. “It’s only a kiss, lovely.” Ari had to wonder where all this hesitation was coming from. She could sense that there was more to the story than just nervousness. For a single flash, she could see a lack of trust and she wondered what had caused it. 

Still, now wasn’t the time to be asking Noah her life story. Frankly, Ari was terrible at comforting people so even if she found out, she would be utterly useless to do anything about it. All she knew was that she wanted to rebuild Noah’s confidence, even in a small way. “Take what you want, Noah. I’m more than willing to let you have it.” 

Max was having sex tonight - not just any sex, but mazing, mind blowing, unforgettable sex. SHe didn’t know who it would be with yet, or if it would be with more than one, but she did not put a dress and a light layer of makeup on only to go home alone. That was one hundred perfect out of the question. She was uncomfortable in the dress, and she wasted money on having someone else do her hair and makeup so she didn’t have to fuss over it.

When Ari approached her, however, she smirked, raising an eyebrow at her in amusement. “Ain’t you a pretty picture, Darlin’. Didn’t know Ari had a twin sister shipped all the way from finishing school.” She shook her head at her, unable to believe it was the same person. But if anyone could potentially live up to the sex she wanted that night, she supposed Ari could. “You almost look…. virginal. It’s sort of eery, actually.”

Ari let out a small giggle before using her powers to force an adorable blush, enjoying this game a little too much. Max, out of all people, knew that Ari was the exact opposite of virginal but she could definitely play the part. She would be lying if she didn’t find the thought of Max shoving her against the wall and taking her hot as fuck. If there was something Ari was always up for, it was sex. Ari loved sex and she loved it a lot more when she got to be creative with it. 

Biting her lower lip, Noah shook her head, poking at the food on her plate. “I-I’ve wanted to. But uhm.. it’s hard to tell when someone wants to kiss me.” Noah’s ears even went red as the other had leaned in some, but she was still unsure if Ari was just teasing, or actually proposing something more. Her eyes flickered to the other woman’s lips, licking her own before she forced her gaze back to her own plate, taking a gentle sip of wine.

“Gentle sounds.. nice.” She commented, shifting in her seat, though not because she was uncomfortable; because the thought of kissing the pretty girl beside her was exciting. “But what- I mean.. is not gentle a bad thing.. sometimes?”

Ari didn’t miss Noah’s eyes flickering towards her lips. There was no way Ari wouldn’t take that as an invitation. Her eyes went down to Noah’s lips in return, not even bothering to flick them back up. She wanted Noah to be clear on her intentions. “Not gentle can be nice too, but I think you like it gentle, at least, to start.” 

Her eyes finally returned to Noah’s, a gentle smile gracing her lips. “Do you want to kiss me, Noah?” she asked, “because I really want to kiss you.” Ari didn’t want to pressure the girl and didn’t want to steal a kiss unless Noah really wanted it. “If you want to, you can.” 

This wasn’t meant to be a date or anything more than an attempt to make a friend. By approaching this line, Ari knew she may have screwed up the latter but she couldn’t help it. She was attracted and Ari wasn’t much of a long-term thinker. She wanted Noah and Ari always went after what she wanted.

“My Père taught me to cook. My father said it’s why he put a ring on him, actually. I always thought if I could learn to sail and cook, I would find love. It was so.. romantic to me. Sailing and a good meal. N-not that uhm.. I mean this- I don’t mean that- it’s also good for making friends, is what I mean.” Her face was red again, realizing what she had said. “Not all that smart, just.. I want to take over the vineyard one day. I always have. But he’ll only let me if I earn it. I grew up learning how to run a business, so I went to business school to get a degree. What are you taking?”

Taking another bite of her dinner, Noah shrugged as a flush spread across her cheeks. “I don’t.. think I really have a type. I’m not very good at uhm.. flirting or dating or anything. I don’t think I even know how? Is that a thing? I’ve never even kissed a girl.. so it’s hard for me to say what.. my type would be?”

Ari offered a genuine smile when the girl seemed to go off on her own little dream. It was cute. She was a romantic. It was clear that Ari was probably not her type then. Romance, in her opinion, was overrated. She believed that if someone cared for another person, small daily gestures could be a symbol of that love. There was no need to get fancy. Still, she understood a person’s need to have stronger reminders every once in a while.

“You’ve never kissed a girl before?” That confession definitely piqued Ari’s interest. “Would you like to?” As much as she tried to spare Noah from her physical flirting, she couldn’t help but lean in slightly, titling her head to the side as she observed the girl’s reaction. “I find girls are much more fun to kiss. They are gentler and know exactly what another girl wants. Men’s kisses can be overwhelming.”

Ari didn’t care for school events. In fact, she actively avoided them. However, she had forgotten that the dinner was tonight and hadn’t prepared herself to starve for the night so she had no choice but to attend the dinner. Dressed in her Sunday best, something no one was used to seeing Ari in, she did her best to socialize with the few people she knew. Ari didn’t make many friends but she had enough that she wasn’t too lonely when she was actually at school.

After dinner, people began breaking up to socialize. From the corner of her eye, she noticed one of her favourite faces. Without even hesitating, she walked right up to Max and gave her an angelic wave. Ari was definitely not in her usual attire. Her long blonde hair was lightly curled and looking blonder than usual, she was in a blue floral dress that stopped just before her knees, and her makeup was lightly done. She looked every bit a rich republican’s daughter. 

“Are you enjoying yourself, Ms. Hudson?” she asked, her tone light and airy. She tilted her head and smiled. Not her usual cocky one, but the sweetly innocent one.

“I can’t say I’ve noticed most of those. Maybe except uhm.. one.” Though to be fair, Noah’s only known the girl for a couple hours. She continued eating as the other explained, her face red as one of the things the girl mentioned floated throughout her head; casual sex. It made Noah wonder if the other hadn’t just been being friendly with her; being nice. Was Ari flirting in more than a friendly way? Noah definitely thought that was probably the case now, and her face wouldn’t cool down, no matter how much she wanted it to. “Is it good?” She questioned, in regards to the food.

“Oh, uhm.. no. I’m a boarder - I already graduated business school at uhm.. at Harvard?” University was the first time she had been alone in America, and it could of been worse. After all, her father’s paid for a nice one bedroom loft for her, so she had a lot less to worry about. “My father’s are donors for the institute, and I thought.. if they’re donating if I’m here or not, I should uhm.. be here. But mostly I’ve been on my boat or flying back home for holiday’s. Are you a student?”

Ari smirked. Yes, she made it very obvious that she was in to sex. She couldn’t help it. Women were gorgeous and she wanted the chance to worship every single one of them. Still, she was respectful. As much as she enjoyed turning Noah into a tomato, if the girl expressed any true discomfort and wanted her to back off, she would. Ari was persistent but she wasn’t disrespectful. That would make her no better than most men. 

“It’s delicious. I have half a mind to put a ring on you,” she joked, straying away from the sexual innuendos. Noah’s face looked like it was ready to burst so she decided to spare her. “So you’re a smartie, huh? I definitely should not be surprised.” She shrugged. “I’m only here because it looks good if I have a degree. I barely go to class, to be honest. Not your type at all, I imagine,” she grinned and continued to dig in as if she wasn’t very blatantly flirting. 

“No, I uhm.. I don’t get to. I don’t talk with many people. I think. I want to, I just- it’s not easy for me.” An introvert and at times fairly shy person, Noah did have a spark in her. As when she talked about something she enjoyed and ‘geeked’ out, or when she got excited about something. It was just hard to get excited when nervous.

“No, I uhm.. I think it’s nice. To be able to believe that someone’s always looking out for you, even when you’re alone.” Noah liked to think her best friend whom she had lost, was still looking out for her. Not as an angel, of course, but in the way her friend loved and believed in her. Noah held onto that deeply and dearly. “I don’t believe in that or uhm.. Angels. But I believe when someone close to you touches your heart, they’re always with you, even if they’re no longer with you.. It’s like.. if you carry what they believed or loved or thoughts or love with you, then you can ever be alone. Not in a true sense. It’s.. not God, but I think maybe it’s like the same reasons?” She genuinely wanted to understand what Ari was saying, and wanted to make sure she at least had a small grasp on it.

Noah motioned for her guest to eat first. “Dig in?” She questioned, fairly confident that was the American version of bon appetit. “But why would it be ridiculous? Nobody is just one piece to a puzzle, right?”

Ari could tell from the way that Noah was talking that this was from a personal experience of hers. Only people who have ever felt loss felt that way. She knew that because she had never felt that way. No one in her life had been important enough for her to hold on to. “Well, I’m sure, whoever it was that touched your heart, they are in a better place now.” Not wanting to dwell on the sad talk for too long, she took Noah’s invitation and began to eat.

“Haven’t you noticed? I’m a drug-taking, alcohol-drinking, casual sex, rule breaker. People don’t assume I believe in anything but myself. Which, to be fair, is kind of true. But in my opinion, God’s greatest gift was to give us life and it would be an offence to Him if we wasted it.” It was probably some bastardization of religion to suit her needs but, to be real, she wouldn’t be the first. If she was wrong, well, she could deal with that when it came to it. 

“So aside from literally sweeping girls off their feet, what do you do at Xaviers? I assume you’re a student?” 

Noah didn’t exactly know how to flirt - if Ari hadn’t been so forward about it, she’d never even recognize that someone was flirting with her at all. Noah spent a lot of the time swimming, practivcing her ability, and though she never really succeeded, she did make a dent in what she could do, so that had to be something. Instead of using the ladder to get out of the water, Noah simply placed a hand on the boat and practically glided up - and then her hair showed a wind was wrapping around her quickly, effectively drying her off, taking most of the water from her hair, as well - like a hand dryer for her entire body.

“It was lovely, thank-you.” She smiled, nose scrunching a little in reaction. “Did you enjoy yours?” She turned the alarm on her phone off, and put her glasses back on. “If you want you can uhm.. just wait out here and I’ll bring everything out.” She put up the table on the boat’s deck, then headed inside, coming back out with two plates filled with rice and what she had made generally placed over the rice, two pieces of chicken each. And their wine glasses refilled. She settled into a seat and took a sip of wine, but waited to eat. “Would- I mean.. you mentioned God earlier? Do you pray before each meal?” She wasn’t one to do so, but if her guest did, there wasn’t any harm in holding hands and waiting to eat while the other prayed.

“I enjoyed it a lot. It’s been a while since I’ve been able to swim around in water that wasn’t being manipulated by water mutants. Thank you for taking me out here. I imagine you don’t do that often.” It seemed like the boat was Noah’s home and she was pretty honoured to be welcomed into it. She was even more grateful that the woman cooked because damn, it smelled amazing and Ari was starving. 

At her question, she smiled and looked up at the sky. “I don’t do it before each meal. My belief in Him doesn’t really have much to do with scriptures and all the silly rules and requirements they taught me in Sunday school.” She looked back down at Noah, giving her a shrug. “I just believe that there’s some power out there that is stronger than us and that everything will be fine in the end. In life, there are just some things that are out of our hands and it’s nicer to think that someone who cares about you has control over it.”

In many ways, it also helped her feel less lonely. She didn’t believe in most of the shit that her family’s pastor taught them. If she did, she would honestly hate herself. Still, the child in her, who didn’t know any better, grasped onto the idea that there was a God out there that loved her despite her parents not showing it. “It’s probably pretty ridiculous coming from me, huh?” She was definitely not the type of person anyone could imagine being a Christian.

“I think I could use air to help swim faster, but I’ve never tried it. Fins sound so much cooler, though.” She smiled at the other, nose crinkling a little. “Dolphins can use their blow holes to create rings of air in the water - but they make it spin so fast that it sinks instead of floating. I think that will be my next goal.. can you imagine walking on the ocean floor and observing life around you? Without an oxygen tank?” It was something, that was for sure, but she imagined she’d need a lot of practice. Now that she had the confidence that she could use her abiity for more, she wanted to try everything. The Avatar used it to breathe underwater, too - to allow Appa to fly under the water, as well.

“N-naked?” Of course, leave Noah to pick that word out from the rest. “We’re uhm.. we’re not..” Out of Ari’s list, it was that option she denied the most. Then again, Noah proabbly couldn’t bring herself to mention the others.

Ari chuckled. “No, we aren’t, but there’s not much being left to the imagination here.” As much as Ari wanted to reach out and touch the girl, Noah wasn’t flirting back and Ari knew how to respect a woman’s boundaries. Innocent flirting was one thing but touching was a completely different thing that required a higher level of consent. Therefore, she simply pushed off and placed some distance between them. 

“I’m going to swim around for a little bit,” she stated before diving back in to the water. 

-

Ari didn’t know how much time had passed but she eventually heard the timer go off. Not a second too soon either considering she was actually starving after such a long workout. Despite her lovely muscles, Ari actually never worked out. Her powers not only kept her jealously toned, they also gave her the extra boost of strength she needed when she needed it. Therefore, exercise was just torture. As long as Ari had some food in her system, she was fairly good to go.

She pulled herself out of the water and began to dry herself off with one of the towels before taking a seat at the end of the deck, her legs hanging over the edge as she waited for Noah to emerge. “Did you have a nice swim?” she asked.

Noah didn’t know if Ari was teasing or making fun of her for wearing the longer swimming shorts, but the truth was, she only wore them in the company of others; she had scars on both upper thighs from her battle with depression, and although faded, they were still there and still something she was very self conscious about. “We shall.” She repeated, blushing as she tried to keep her eyes off Ari’s rather exposed - and beautiful - body. She lead the other woman topside and set an alarm on her phone for when she needed to check on dinner to stir it.

She stretched as they got to the deck, as well, and unlocked the back of the boat, putting the ladder down into the water, as well. “It’s nice.” She commented on the water before she dove right in, surfacing with a grin.

Ari followed Noah onto the deck, stretching when they finally reached it. She did not expect to spend the day swimming in the ocean but she was beyond glad that she got to. It had been too long since she had gone swimming and enjoyed the relaxing waters around her. She watched as Noah dived right in and cocked her head to the side when the girl resurfaced, a small smile tugging at her lips. It was nice to see the girl so relaxed. Noah seemed fairly self-conscious so seeing her just enjoying herself was nice.

“You know, I once researched how fins work in order to see if I could give myself some,” she explained. “It ended up being way too complicated and risky to try.” With that, she dived into the water. She took a few seconds to readjust herself to the temperature before emerging, wiping the stray droplets away from her face. “Alone, naked, and wet. This innocent thing is working fairly well for you,” she teased, closing some of the distance between them.

Noah was taking another sip of her glass when the other continued to spoke, and it caused her to nearly choke on the wine, before managing to swallow it. “This- this is- it’s- I dind’t think- it’s- it’s uhm.. this is- I dind’t know- uhm…” She wasn’t aware this was a date, and didn’t think the other had thought so, either. Was it? Was this what people did on dates? A stripping down? Did Ari just say that to tease her? Because she could feel her face and hoped it wasn’t as red as it felt.

“Oh.. right.” She managed to get out as she took another sip. “I uhm.. sorry.” She set her wine down and gave the pot a careful stir before leaving the kitchen and headed into the ‘living room.’ “I uhm.. I just- I’m going to change first.. you can uhm- the head is just right there..” She pointed to the left of the stairs they came down. “If.. if you need to change.” Which was stupid, because Ari couldn’t possibly have her bathing suit with her. She changed into Adidias swimming shorts that were a bit longer and purple with blue. And her bikini top was white with thick purple, blue, and green stripes across it. She came out of the stateroom (her bedroom), carrying two towels in front of her and her hair down. “Are uhm.. you ready?” SHe asked as she put her glasses in their case.

Ari chuckled as the girl disappeared to change. She didn’t really prepare for a day in the water and part of her was tempted to use that as an excuse to get completely naked but she figured she should spare Noah the heart attack. Instead, she simply stripped down to her underwear (which was frankly as much of a tease as being naked was but it was Noah who suggested the entire thing so Ari couldn’t exactly be blamed). 

She had just finished neatly placing her clothes on one of the surfaces when Noah reemerged. “Cute shorts,” she teased, giving the girl a wink. Ari didn’t have any doubt that there was a hot body underneath the girl’s layered clothing but she had to take a moment to appreciate it. Honestly, what did this girl have to not be confident of?

“Shall we?”

Cassandra was slightly taken back at the confession as she fought the urge to let out a proud smirk. Without a doubt, there were many things that Ari needed to work on. However, sometimes she had come to accept that that’s just how she is and it wouldn’t be her without such traits. However, moments like this is where Cass realizes that the young woman was capable of grasping the reality around them and grow with each day that passes by. “Comparison is inevitable and in our case, many of us realize that some have it worse than others. At the end of the day, none of us deserved to go through whatever bad shit we went through with the people we thought that loved us or anyone in general.”

At Ariadne’s offer, Cassandra glanced over to the blonde and nodded. It was a kind offer, but there were battles that she preferred to fight on her own. “I’ll think about it.” she replied at first. “Besides, who knows with you. Sometimes I feel like you have days where you’re out to get me on purpose.” she replied in a teasing, light hearted matter. However, her expression immediately turned genuine as she expressed her appreciation. “But thank you. I’m working on it on my own and trying to not take the easy way out.”

“I am totally out to get you on purpose,” Ari stated, giving Cass a shrug. Ari was annoying but she wasn’t this persistent with most people. “But I have very good reasons for it.” She grabbed Cassandra’s hand to stop her from walking before turning around to face the woman. “See that, right there?” She reached up and poked the corner of Cassandra’s mouth. “You don’t smile enough and it’s too beautiful to not ever be there.” 

Ari was irresponsible, callous, and often insensitive, but she also believed that everyone existed to be happy. It never sat well with her when people weren’t living their lives to the fullest. There was a lot of shit in the world that caused misery, there was no reason why she couldn’t try to balance out the scales a bit. “Honestly, if you smiled more, I wouldn’t try so hard to annoy you all the time,” she joked. 

Still, she understood where Cassandra was coming from. Ari herself didn’t like relying on people. In many ways, she believed that one can only find true happiness in oneself. Nevertheless, external factors always played a role and she liked Cassandra so she wanted to be a good thing.