#oc luli

Luli leapt through the air and sprinted along the roof tops of Paris, the night sky above her only seeing the glint of her eyes as she ripped along. Just as silent as ever, her foot falls went unnoticed as she moved through the cloudy sky. They were expecting rain, and Lightning bug had somewhere to be.

Arc de Prairie caught up to her in a second or less, her super-speed letting her skip along while Lightning ran. “Planning to be late to your anniversary dinner, so unprofessional.”

“Without that little power of yours I would be the only one on time.”

“Without my powers I could still run faster on foot than you can swinging through the air.”

“You keep quipping and I’ll cancel the roses.” Luli saw her wife’s eyes light up behind her mask, anniversary roses were a regular for the both of them. Usha smiled as lights from the nearest buildings reflected off their wedding rings, the smell of soups and spices wafting through the air as they neared restaurants and café’s.

They both came to a stop just out of public view in the back of an ally, the warmth radiating off the two buildings. Luli extended her hand, “I know this is out of the blue miss Prairie, but would you like to accompany me to dinner tonight?”

“With a flirt like yourself? Oh, I really shouldn’t. What you the news think if they heard their saviours were dealing under the table?”

“This will all be above board I swear, though under sheet may become a different issue.”

Love bugs from a short story I am writing.

Everyday Luli got better at French. She worked every free minute to better her writing of the letters, practicing the pronunciation, listening to music and radio, and reading every French book she could get her hands on. It made her giddy to understand more of her girlfriend’s language of origin, to understand her favorite songs and, most importantly, understand the love letters she would send across the world to her.

Usha wrote with quite looping cursive to begin with, deciphering what she had wrote was quite a challenge, and then deciphering the layers of love she would weave together in the pages was all the more rewarding. She was singing praises this whole time and Luli hadn’t figured it out. French was a language of love after all, and each line she managed to translate gave her warm butterflies. Now when she would call Usha she could tell her just how beautiful her ballet was in her own tongue and had some understanding of the excited stories she would hear in response.

“Young miss, I don’t mean to be a disturbance, but are you Madame Ohna? The ballerina?” Usha was just walking down the street when an older man sitting at a café stopped her, just waving his hand to get her attention.

“I, well, yes. I am.” Most people didn’t recognize her out of her costumes, without her hair done up, and certainly without her makeup. “May I ask how you know me?”

“Ah, yes. You see I am not in my prime, and my eyes may have gone away a touch, but I can never forget a face like your own. I was at your first big performance, your work was just perfect, I knew you would be going places. It’s just wonderful to see a lady like yourself getting the adoration she deserves. And if I may, could you sign this for me and my wife, she will be most pleased to see I finally met you.”

Usha felt like she would cry as she saw him pull out a photo of her ensemble from her first performance, ‘Flames of Paris’, which he had folded up alongside photos of grandchildren in his wallet. She recognized one of the children photographed, being that she was one of her fellow dancers, and quickly took the pen which the old man had pulled from his coat pocket. She took the photo and turned it over to avoid writing over anyone.

A simple signature on the back lower corner, with her usual flair, and she handed it back over. The old man shook her hand and they both exchanged smiles before Usha continued on her way. “That was sweet of you.” Usha gave a gasp and jumped as Luli spoke. She had completely forgotten her wife was walking with her, but to her credit Luli walked with almost perfect silence.

“I suppose so. It only feels right to do that you know. And besides, when’s the next time I’ll get recognized and praised in public?”

“I complement you daily.”

“Mommy? Where are the space books?”

“Oh, why don’t you try asking the librarian? I’m sure she can help?” Over hearing the question in the library, Luli started to make her way towards the children’s section of the library. She stepped from the blue carpet of the main space to the purple, star speckled floor, with almost totally silent steps. With how quietly she moved, Luli tended to startle patrons and other staff members by suddenly appearing beside them out of thin air.

“Can I help you find something?” The second Luli spoke the child nearly jumped out of his skin, he grabbed onto his mothers leg and hid behind her, suddenly not being to interested in getting a book. “My oh my! I didn’t mean to frighten you!” She tried to console him, giving a smile to his mother as she crouched down in front of her. “But I do believe I heard you asking about, what was it? Rocketship’s?”

The child looked out from behind his mother but still held on, “No… I said space, like stars and stuff.” He mumbled at her, but Luli just smiled at him and walked to another section of the kids space. The child followed along with his mother as Luli knelt down again and pulled out several children’s books about planets, constellations, and the moon. The child’s eyes lit up.

“Do these seem right?”

“Yes! Yes! Mommy? Can we get these?” He looked up at his mother hopefully.

“Well, lets look at them first. Then we can bring home a few, but not all of them.”

“You can come back later for the rest.” Luli chimed in, “Let me know when you’re ready to sign these out.” The mother nodded and took the books from her hands, leading her child over to a table. Luli made her way back to the main desk, plucking up some more unsorted computer cards that had been haphazardly returned.

“You never mentioned how you’re good with kids when we were speaking before. How come?” Usha sat beside the desk, the weeks news unfolded over her lap. She always spent her Sundays off with her wife at the library, the atmosphere helping her relax.

“I supposed it was never important. I also didn’t see many children in the university library, this is one of the first places I really got to interact with them.”

“You do like children though?”

“I promise to come and see you the first time I can. Once I have the money I will be on your doorstep with roses and chocolate, but for now I am sorry to be so far away. I love you so much Usha, and I can’t wait for the day I can say this with out needing a phone call.”

It sometimes hurt to think about Luli being so far away, but Usha always had ways to comfort herself. Sometimes that was just giving her girlfriend a call, just to hear her speak, hear the improvements she was making in her French. It was that alone that brought so much comfort, that she was willing to dedicate so much of her time to learning Ushas first language so they could speak aloud and not over text. She found herself admiring the intelligence of Luli, she was studying library sciences and French all while working so hard at any job she could get. Usha loved to hear about what new work she would find, lots was manual labour but sometimes she would nab work in an office and was always so happy to work closer to her ideal environment.

Usha always wanted to help her girlfriend financially, she lived a far more relaxed life and wanted to share some of her comfort with Luli, but by God she was stubborn. Luli grew up working for everything, and even though she would never turn down a present, Usha heard more than once about how she never wanted hand outs or pity. She came from a family who struggled to keep up with bills, and she worked so hard to be where she is now, she didn’t want people judging her from where she came from.