#lore light

His friends warned him about the coughing and it felt wretched, like his insides were going to turn in on themselves. But soon after, eyes burning and chest warm, it felt like they had promised it would—smudging away stress he didn't even know he had buried away in the wrinkles of his brain.

The lights were brighter, the sounds more sumptuous, and he quickly forgot about everything that had been worrying him so. Excellent. Quite excellent indeed.

It's packed, like any Friday night at any bar just off campus, and it was so hard to keep himself steady as he wormed his way to the bar to order.

Until, rather, he bumped into someone at the bar. Oh no.

She's glowing, somehow, but his mind doesn't linger on the how for once. Her bright red hair is like a flame and her face made even more brilliant by a wide smile. It's like he's taken another hit from the pipe.

"Pardon me," he prattles, struggling to remember how to be a gentleman.

"Babe, no worries."

Gale doesn't normally like that pet name. But when she says it, and with the way her lips move when she says it, she could say anything and it would be the most spectacular thing he's ever heard.

"Hello!" he practically bellows. "My sincerest apologies. "I'm Gale—" he sticks out his hand confidently, the embarrassment washing away in the face of how bold her beauty makes him feel that he could glow too. "Gale Dekarios."

She takes his hand, cool and soft to the touch like the cold side of the pillow, and shakes with him. "I'm Poppy. Poppy Lyons," mimicking his own delivery.

Gale feels as though he's brimming with something, anything, everything and he can't contain it. Poppy. Poppy. Poppy. Poppy. Her names bounces around his head and quickly becomes his new favorite word.

"Is everything okay?" she asks.

His mind homes in on her words—he's still shaking her hand, how long has he been doing that? He lets go and his body screams at him to grab it again—he doesn't.

"My apologies," Gale replies, words more difficult than usual to find. "I'm usually better at this—"

"At introductions?"

He laughs. Gods, she's funny. "At many things, normally," he starts. Gale wants to continue but he freezes and looks around at whoever's near them. It's not as busy around them as it was a moment ago. But he still feels the need to be surreptitious all the same.

Gale leans in a little closer. "Can you keep a secret?"

Poppy nods, one side of her mouth turning up into a conspiratorial smile. "Of course."

Feeling brave, Gale leans in even more, so that he can whisper despite the volume of the bar. This close, he is inundated with the warmth of her perfume, something spicy and heady like chai. "I may have smoked some…" he looks around once more just to be certain, "halfling leaf before coming to the bar tonight."

Her eyes widen, gleaming with mirth at his reveal. "No," she replies in a mock disbelieving way.

Gale nods, emphatically. "Can I tell you another secret?"

"Lay it on me."

"It was my first time smoking it as well," Gale blushes at the reveal but does not feel embarrassed. He makes him feel bold, in fact. So very bold.

"And how are you enjoying it?" she asks, now grinning ear to ear.

"It's marvelous," Gale replies easily. "Though, I do feel quite sluggish. I'm not used to my thoughts moving so slowly."

"That's the point though," she says, lips moving in a way that draws Gale's gaze once more. "It smooths everything out."

"Quite right," he clears his throat, her perfume now all he can smell. "Do you think then, that I could be…smooth enough for the two of us?"

Is she blushing? Her hair is so red, he cannot tell if it's the weed or if it's her.

"Oh, more than enough. Why don't you sit down?"

Gale whirls around to look at the stool behind him and sees that it's been vacated. "Splendid!" he declares before plopping himself down onto the cracked vinyl seat.

An arm clutches his and tugs. It's Poppy. With a soft smile and another tug, he manages to understand her meaning and scooches the stool forward until their knees are knocking together.

"Can I buy you a drink, Gale? Though, as an experienced smoker myself, I might recommend not getting crossfaded on your first night smoking."

"Whatever the lady recommends," he replies, smitten. "I like you. I like you very much."

"Gale Dekarios likes me very much?" she play-gasps, placing a hand on his forearm. "But we've only just met."

"I know what I like," Gale replies confidently, puffing out his chest a little. "And I just know that you are spectacular, and very much worth knowing."

There's that pink haze again, but this time Gale is more certain that she's blushing. His eyes wander down her frame. Gale thought her top was shiny but the mesh material's sheen is deceiving; through the dark, abstract pattern and the aforementioned sheen, he can see the swell of her breasts within her bra and the lines of a tattoo on her sternum beneath it. His mouth, dry before this, somehow dries even more.

A tap-tap-tapping on his arm surprises him, making him jolt, and he finds Poppy staring at him knowingly. Oh, how he would love to press himself against her, to somehow sweep her off her feet with some grand gesture. But even the thought of standing sends his mind spinning and the last thing he wants to do is scare away this beacon of color before him.

"May I…" he starts, now of all moments beginning to feel a mite self-conscious. "May I hold your hand?"

Poppy's hand trails down his bare forearm, making a shiver run up his spine. "My hand? In public? Scandalous," she teases. Her pale, halcyon eyes are charged with something that makes his cock twitch in recognition.

Her hands finish their journey and weave between his own, locking them together. He gasps in awe, in pleasure, in pure unadulterated joy. Gale feels his heart in his throat and his head between his legs and his skin becoming stardust.

"Let me tell you what, Gale," Poppy says, her words strumming in his ears not unlike music. "Let me finish my drink and get you some water, and then we can go outside and enjoy some more of that halfling leaf."

Shame shadows his face and tugs it down to let his hair hand down limply. "It wasn't mine," he says pitifully. "I'm not sure he has any more, I'm so sorry…"

Poppy laughs, "No, silly. I have some of my own." She brandishes a joint between the fingers of her hand just by the opening of her purse on her lap. "I want to get on your level, it's only fair."

Seeing an opening, Gale manages to sidle in with his own teasing tone, "I'm not sure…I'm quite high at the moment. Do you think you can meet me all the way up here?"

"I look forward to trying," she winks, sending another shiver up Gale's spine as she waves down the bartender.

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