Solomon Waterfalls, Planet Erie - Late Afternoon
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With the sun slowly beginning to set on the horizon, only occasional shafts of sunlight could still make it through the crowns of the trees that stood on top of the cliff. The green of the plants that hung down from it and flattered in the softly blowing breeze formed a sharp, but beautiful contrast to the light blue of the water falling down into the shallow lake beneath. From afar, bird's twittering and the rush of the water, which smoothly blended into each other, could be heard, and ducks were swimming on the lake, quacking and simply minding their own business.
What a quiet and at the same time stunning place this was. and in no way comparable to the utterly lifeless and dead space she had got so used to over the weeks. It truly had a calming and also somehow comforting nature. At least that was what Elena instantly thought as she reached a hill, pausing for a few moments as she saw the waterfall, opening herself to the peace this place radiated. Whatever might have been her problems yesterday, both with her friends and with the officals, everything was just gone now, her being free of any thoughts.
On the edge of the lake Elena could recognize a lonely figure, sitting on a picnic blanket and apparently preparing a meal. The person, a man in his mid-20s, was well dressed, with a fashionable leather jacket as an eye catcher. As she saw him, she litteraly seemed to be fallen under a spell again, standing there for minutes, simply glancing at him. It made her drunk with joy, being able to watch John for a few moments without him noticing her. He seemed to be so calm, not a single hint of him being nervous or anything. Remarkable, given the fact that Elena had to stay extremely concentrated not to tremble all over the place. You could call her many things, but staying cool when she's about to have a date - that was most definitely not her.
Finally, she decided to walk up to him, trying not to step on the long dress she wore. It had been quite funny having to persuade Sarah to go on Manhattan with her to go shopping, and she hadn't in fact been the best company for those sort of activities, but nonetheless, it had been fun.
As she was coming nearer, John intuitively turned around and recognized her...
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John's eyes widened in both, surprise and awe as he recognized her face, for the first time personally. His eyes remained locked at hers, his lips parted slightly, but he remained speechless for a moment. Even if there were no signs of nervousness before, it just began to appear, even so slightly yet. A slight hint of red appeared on his cheeks, giving away he was blushing. A thousand thoughts roamed through his mind, eager to be spoken out, but still held off at the very concern to say something stupid. He'd have loved to take a deep breath to calm himself down, to concentrate, but that would have definitely broken the first personal introduction. Was it really that hard to keep his poise? It had been ages since he actually dated a woman and exactly this fact was about to ruin his plan to stay calm. How should he greet her? What would be appropriate? What not? A peck on either side of her cheeks? A gentle handshake? A kiss on the hand? The latter option actually sounded nice, didn't it?
Intuitively like before, his right hand slowly reached for hers, to gently grab and lift her delicate hand, guiding it towards his lips as he leaned and declined his head slightly. His lips gently touched the soft skin of her hand, for a subtle and short, but yet affectionate kiss, before he slowly raised his gaze towards her face, with a soft smile of delight on his lips, while his eyes examined every detail of her beautiful face. Only then he gathered the courage to finally speak, with a voice in gentle tone. "God...you're beautiful..." Gasping in reflex, his eyes widened once again as he just realized, he had spoken his thoughts out loud, instead of what he actually wanted to say. "Uhhh..I...meant....hi Elena."
His soft smile turned slightly in embarrassment and he remained silent awaiting her response.
Meanwhile, even as both their focus remained on each other, the prepared picnic offered a classic red-white checkered blanket, with a relatively wide variety of different consumables and a basket placed upon. A jug of water and a bottle of orange juice served as refreshment, along with two fancy glasses. Also wine glasses could be seen, hinting upon the the visible bottle of red wine resting within the basket. As for food, there were a few plates, filled with handmade sandwiches, vegan, vegetarian and mixed with meat, as well as cold cut mixed sorts of sausages and cheese. Even a few slices of bread, along with cups of two different spreads to cover the bread with and a bowl filled with a nice sortiment of different fruits, from apples to grapes, were prepared. That and a lovely looking candle fixed in a chandle stick to fully meet the expectations of a classic picnic.
Standing directly in front of him, Elena was just now able to see every single detail of his face, especially his chiseled jaw, which instantly attracted her attention. Slowly she moved her look upwards, finally meeting his thrilling, green eyes, in which she knew she could lose herself for hours. Even though she could see a slight nervousness in his eyes, she didn't care about it at all, it merely added a nice touch of inexperience to his overall calm appearance. Subconsciously, a small, but overjoyed smile appeared on her face as she looked him over, while all her thoughts left her mind and her eyes began to sparkle slightly.
But what else could she have expected from a gentleman like John than the "old, but gold" kiss on the hand? It hadn’t been much of a surprise to her anyways, but that didn’t she disliked it. Enjoying every moment his soft lips touched her skin, secretly hoping this magical moment would never end. She didn't even notice she instinctively tried to resist for a few moments as he wanted to release her hand again. For her sake, it could have stayed exactly that way, feeling somehow protected, forever. Eventually though, their hands slided apart.
As John welcomed her, Elena couldn’t suppress the blush in her face. In fact, she had used several hours of the day to pretty up, and it was relieving to see her effort didn’t stay unnoticed. Frankly, at this point, she'd loved nothing better than to just stand there and look him into the eyes, as it already seemed more than enough for her. She felt like nearly everything had already been said in these few moments, seeing his intentions in his eyes. But that would have been weird, not saying anything, wouldn't it? He was obviously waiting for a reaction, and she wanted to give him one.
As she thought the right time had come, she tried to stay cool, but eventually, as she opened her mouth to say something, no words wanted to come out. Even more blushing now, Elena tried to gloss over it by laughing a little bit, something she was used to. Seeing that John began to grin forgivingly made the situation a lot better, though. "It's good to see you John", she said, still smiling. After she had overviewed him once more, she went on. “And … I see you got all dressed up. You look good.”
There they were standing. Only for a few seconds, but for Elena it felt like ages. And it felt good. Maybe even too good to be true. In fact, she actually had to prick her arm to realize it wasn’t a dream. No, it wasn’t. Feeling like they had looked at each other long enough, she said, slowly falling down on the blanket: “So, I see you prepared the picnic, huh? Looks delicious!”
John's forgiving grin soon turned into an almost confident, yet amused smirk at her comment about his outfit, in gratitude. "Thanks, but nothing compared to this dress you are wearing,...you look stunning." His gaze wandered all over her, from her head down to her shoes, as he spoke, while his smirk turned into a friendly smile. Happy to see that, that he wasn't alteast the only slightly nervous one here, it kept him now more careful not to say or do anything that would turn her nervousness into a negative direction. "Oh yes, well I invited you... and went with the classic picnic. I didn't really know if you're vegetarian, vegan or preferring meat, so I simply decided to make all of these varieties." He chuckled slightly and joined her, sitting down on the blanket, leaning back to find a more comfortable position next to her.
"I really hope it tastes as delicious as it looks." He grinned playfully.
His glance wandered over the beautiful scenery of the Solomon Waterfalls, taking a look at the surrounding landscape briefly. Trying to focus on listening the birds' twittering and the trees's rustling when a breeze blew through the treetops, his eyes remained fixed upon the contrast between the waterfall's blue water, the green plants and the orange-pink sky of the slowly approaching sunset. This was truely a memory to keep and to remember, at such an awesome place of undisturbed, unchanged natural peace. Yet, aside from the natural aspect upon such an remarkable spot, his company, Elena was the main reason to remember this place and especially this day, with a joyful feeling, he thought.
He blinked his eyes a brief moment later, gaining focus back to what, or rather who was more important,
as his gaze wandered back to Elena.
Reaching for the bottle of orange juice and a glass, he would pull both over, opening the bottle, as he lifted and tilted it slightly, to pour the juice into the glass, only to set both down and screw the bottle's lid. Not a second later, he reached over for the Jug of water and the other glass, lifting the jug and tilting it slightly, to pour water into the glass, setting both aside. "Please, help yourself." He said, offering her the first pick of either filled glasses and also the variety of food around, while his hand gestured slightly towards said offers. "So....how have your days been, since our last meeting in space?" He asked calmly, keeping the conversation up, with more or less ideas what to say or ask, just to do so. His glance was once again roaming all over her, but in the end, his green eyes locked, looking deeply into hers, while he kept his hands locked together, the digits fiddling slightly.
Even more blushing – she didn’t even try anymore to suppress it, as it was hopeless -, Elena turned her head towards him. She must have probably looked completely silly, smiling the whole time like some random retard, but in the end, it was simply the way she was feeling right now. Nobody was around who could annoy her, only John, and he for sure wasn’t an annoying prick, just the opposite. “Thanks”, she said, as she didn’t know what else to say about his compliment. Her blushing was enough in her opinion to clearly tell John what she thought. “Oh … and, I’m neither vegetarian nor vegan. I love meat, you know?”
As John filled the two glasses, Elena instantly went for the glass of orange juice. After waiting for him to grab the other one, she raised hers. “Cheers! On some nice and relaxing hours!” As she put her glass down again after she had taken a small sip, she went through the range of food John had prepared. Once again, she was fascinated of how much he had thought about this meeting. It kind of was a compliment in itself, she thought. In fact, it had been a long time since somebody had shown such an emphasis on making her feel comfortable. She would enjoy every single bit of this, as long as it still lasted.
Finally, she made a decision and grabbed one of the sandwiches, one of which she thought would taste the best. Before beginning to eat though, she looked at John again. This time not so full of joy than the last ones. In fact, she looked at him rather concerned. It wasn’t because of him, but rather because of what he asked her, as it brought the thoughts back that had tormented her for a while already. Thoughts about the disaster in Pennsylvania. Thoughts about her friend Nick. Thoughts about how much she thought she had screwed up in the course of only one day.
Having to sort her mind, she stared at him for a moment, not knowing what to say. “Uhm … well. I … I don’t know really. The last days have been kinda hard for me to be honest.”
John chuckled softly, and yet slightly amused at her blushing. "You look even cuter than you are, when you're blushing, you know? Well I am just telling the truth. Your dress definitely was a good choice." He'd smile briefly. He then glanced briefly at the sandwiches, as she mentioned them, before his eyes focused her again. His eyes widened slightly and he quirked both eyebrows in a pleasant surprise upon her comment about the sandwhiches. "Ah you love meat? Great! That will make cooking stuff, in future, alot easier." His right hand reached for the glass of water, his fingers wrapping around it, to lift it for a toast. "Indeed, cheers! On some really well deserved and needed relaxing hours!" He guided the glass to his lips, where he slowly set the glass' rim upon his bottom lip and tilted it, pouring water into his mouth, only to decline the glass and set it down onto the blanket again, while he sighed in joy of the felt refreshment, provided by the water.
A frown could be seen upon his forehead, he quirked a brow upon her reaction, slightly concerned about his previously mentioned words which made her react so uncomfortably. He should have kept in mind, asking about the past days might have included that unpleasant incident which happened infront of Pennsylvania. Damn it! Stupid idea! Taking a sharp and brief breath, he finally decided what to do now.
"I'm sorry, that was the wrong choice for breaking the ice. I hope the coming days will be more comfortable for you. I'm here, when you need someone to talk, just you know." He smiled briefly, with an yet guilty and yet apologizing expression upon his face. "Let's just talk about something else... like...." Lost in thoughts his wandered up, in reaction of his pondering, then his brows quirked, followed by a quick nod of his head. "I still don't know alot about you, besides that you're pretty, cute, a Freelancer, loving meat and from Rheinland, with a pretty decent ability to speak English without a typical Rheinlandish accent. So....what is your favorite color and why?"
Meanwhile, his left hand reached for the vegan sandwhich, not because he liked it more than others...but maybe to leave the vegetarian one to her, or to divide the vegatarian between the two of them later. Grabbing it carefully, he guided the chosen sandwhich to his lips to take a moderate bite from it, chewing it carefully, but shutting his eyes for a moment, focusing upon the taste, yet trying not to look too greedy or akward when eating. Only a short moment later, his eyes opened again, glancing at her beautiful eyes, deeply, as he awaited her response to his asked question, curiously and eagerly.
Elena gave him a brief smile as he talked, knowing it wasn't his plan to remind her of all the crap that had happened. Nonetheless, the thoughts was back in her mind again, circling around through her brain, trying to confuse her ... something she was very displeased of. His attempt to turn the direction of the conversation again pleased her though, inwardly beginning to smile again about his behaviour. "Maybe it wasn't the best idea. Oh, and about my favourite color - isn't it obvious? Blue of course! Why you think I'm dying my hair that way anyways?", she said to him in a calm tone, slightly laughing and demonstratively going through her hair with her fingers. Her laugh instantly stopped though, as she went on. "Otherwise ... if you really wanna listen to that stuff. Men who can listen are rare ... I gotta warn you though, don't know if you wanna hear it."
Taking a deep breath, Elena slighty leaned back, touching John's body with her back. She knew she would need a comfortable position for this. Frankly, she wasn't sure whether she should really tell him about her problems. Rather though, she wasn't sure if she could stay cool while doing it. In the end she decided to tell him, maybe he could cheer her up again. "Look, I've messed up. Everything. I've messed up yesterday, exposing my friends to an unnecessary danger. And -- oh right. I forgot. I messed with my friend Nick as well, messing up our friendship. I guess he hates me now." She shook her head. Because as she told John, she was even more ashamed of herself. But also because she felt her eyes slowly getting wet. But no, that shouldn't happen today, not now. No, under no circumstances. After making this small pause, hoping to be alright again, she went on. "And now, I'm about to mess up our date as well ... ... I'm sorry ... I---"
As her voice cracked up, she went silent again. She hadn't expected to break so easily, but that's what happened apparently. Taking a few more deep breaths, Elena tried to calm down again, already feeling a small tear running down her cheek.
This definitely wasn't going like she had planned it to be...
John carefully listened to her the words which explained the reason and source of her sorrow, closing his eyes for a moment. A frown appeared upon his forehead, as he heard her story. Making his date cry on the first date was not really what he was aiming for. Bad idea...bad sign! How could he be so foolish to ask a sensitive topic, knowing what exactly happened piror? God damn John, you're an idiot! Thoughts like these and a few similar self blaming lines went through his mind. Slowly opening his eyes, he set the sandwich, which was still in his hand, down aside, back on the plate, while he pondered how to possibly answer and reaction upon this situation.
Finally, after a few more moments, he dediced to speak. "No... no you're not messing up our date, not at all. Dates are about getting to know each other better. Now I've met the sensitive side of your personality. Making your first date cry usally is not the classic goal to achieve, but who said that everything should remain predictable?" His voice kept a calm and gentle tone, as he tried to be empathic, yet it wasn't hard to miss hearing the hint of humor and joke in his voice, as he was trying to ease up the whole sad, negative tension. He leaned slowly forward to make her notice him changing the position, as he slowly stood up, only to move around her, until he faced her "We all mess things up... I've done so, my colleagues have done so, my friends have done so, my enemies often do so as well. All of us make mistakes, it is part of our nature..... Some mistakes have harsh consequences, some can
not be forgiven or forgotten, but many have slight or no consequences at all, and they can be forgiven
and forgotten." His left hand reached for hers carefully, grabbing it only slightly and softly, while his right
hand slowly brushed along her cheek, in an attempt to comfort her. Remaining silent in a brief break, he'd
soon start to speak again.
"Look, the space is a dangerous place. Anyone moving up there exposes him or herself to a potential danger...The situation you refer as unnecessary danger is one of the possiblities that can occur, randomly." His shoulders shrugged slightly as he kept talking."Don't blame yourself for a situation that was never meant to be in your control. It was a tensed up incident, yet with a little distraction here, lots of talking there, everything turned okay, and noone of your friends got hurt. I am pretty sure it will be forgiven and forgotten soon, if not already." A reassuring smile appeared on his lips, while his glance was fixed upon her eyes, looking deeply into them. His right eyebrow quirked as he thought about her situation with Nick. "As for Nick... he seems to be a good guy, trying to protect you and prevent you of turning your, in temper and heat of the situation created reactions into real actions. For the sake of both, you and your company. Sometimes there can be missunderstandings, expections which are not met and which result into a disappointment, but time tends to heal things. An honest apology, and some time spent together, at work or in free time, can fix things too. I'm sure it also is already forgiven." His thumb gently rubbed along her cheek, wiping away the small tear, as he kept once again, an expression of sympathy on his face.
"You're not a bad person. The fact that I am dating you, confirms this, along with the guilt you are feeling and the worries that remain in your mind. You make mistakes, you learn of them, you try to improve and avoid them next time. Alright? Now...aside of my long lasting speech of the good and bad sides of human nature and the dangers of the space.... I must say, the blue hair color really fits you well. Though my favorite color is green, yet i am not colouring my hair green, so I couldn't possibly notice the obvious hint of you liking the color blue most." Chuckling amused, he grinned slightly, hoping his words and reaction upon this situation solved things and made her feel better.
Elena didn’t know what to say, still having wet eyes as she looked into John’s eyes, which still showed the same expression of sympathy for her. A grin appeared on her face, and in the end, she even began to laugh slightly. If he was good at one thing, then it was at making her happy again. His reaction was just … too sweet to be true. It made her feel much, much better again, and thinking about it once again, she even started to laugh about herself. What a silly kind of drama she had started there … so unnecessary …
Wiping away the rest of the tears out of her eyes with one hand, while still holding John’s hand with the other, she could speak again, softly chuckling. “Long lasting speech or not, you know how to cheer up women for sure. Listening to your voice … it’s really relaxing, you know?” She made a small pause. “It’s already much better. Maybe you should know, I just sometimes got these, like, little demons on my shoulders, reminding me of all the shit I’ve done in my life. You can be happy they didn’t remind me of anything else.”
Laughing slightly, as she saw John raising an eyebrow, she went on. “Not that I’m a psycho though, don’t worry. I just like to call these bad thoughts that way, nothing more. No need to get me into the bughouse.” As she took a sip from her glass of juice, she thought about what she just said, grinning. “Anyways, I see I’m talking pretty much again. Means I’m feeling good, usually. Remember John, if I talk much, without any sense, everything’s fine, alright? Otherwise, something’s wrong.”
More or less, she just tried to change the direction of the conversation again. For her, it actually helped, just talking, whatever it was.
As the situation turned better again, she decided to grab his hand that was lying on hers. “Coming back to hair coloring … I got them dyed since I’ve been 18. Act of rebellion, sort of, I guess. My father hated the color” She couldn’t suppress a laughter in the end. “But let’s not rather talk about him, it would just bring memories back. And we don’t want, right? Let’s better talk about you … or me … or both of us, whatever suits you best.”
As she took another sip from the juice, Elena was interested what option he would choose.
A relieved expression appeared on his face, a joyful smile upon his lips, as he noticed the change of her emotional status. Unwittingly, in reaction to her, his smile soon turned into a grin as well, when she laughed, then he spoke. "Well.. I just wondered what would cheer myself up, took it, turned it a little more lady conform and decided to give it a try, you know" he chuckled slightly. "I'm glad I'm no teacher then, or else my students would be asleep every time I was teaching a subject, with a relaxing voice like mine, but still thanks, Elena." the grin turned into a smirk, before his eyebrows quirked slightly at her words.
"I know of demons upon shoulders, my personal one is actually molded with my very own mind...past is past, it formed us, made us who we are. The only psychos I usually meet, are in space, and they are usually called Outcasts, Rogues, Xenos and Pirates. I take it, you are neither." He laughed briefly again. "Alright, lots of senseless talking is a good sign, silence is bad, got it. Same counts for me, just usually with a more stern, serious or angry expression, less sad." A brief, reassuring smile appeared upon his lips. Only then John went with the change of the conversation's direction, smirking slightly at her explanation why she dyed her hair blue. His hand, which was grabbed by hers, held her hand in a gentle grip, his thumb softly brushing along her skin. "I like the color, it fits you very well and emphasizes your personality. You're indeed a little rebellic, you got the temper and passion, speaking your mind, wether it's benefiting you, or not." He shook his head slightly at the end, while his smile turned into a brief grin.
"Actually I never got the desire to rebel against anything...probably I am missing an important part of development to an adult." His shoulders shrugged slightly while he spoke. "Focus upon a certain, important topic kept me usually occupied, it also prevented me from socializing, back in my youth...which makes me surprised about my ability to talk so freely to you. Probably with some no-goes one should not do or say during socializing...but that's just me." He smiled slightly, before he frowned slightly, his eyes wandering up as he pondered what to say. He then leaned forward, to reached for the glass of water behind Elena, the free hand wrapped around it to pull and guide the refreshment towards lips, taking a sip, before he declined the glass, keeping it in his grip.
"I could speak about my hobbies...but to be honest... there are none. When I was younger I kept studying for school, practicing martial arts and generally exercising, and even in space. Spare time was used to relax by...simply listening to music...and sleeping. Today...it is the same." John leaned a little back, when spoke, his eyes focusing hers once again. "With the only change that I am not learning for school anymore, but to extend my knowledge and the pyhsical exercise is part of my military life anyways." Taking a small break to catch his breath, he guided the glass of water to his lips again, to take yet another sip, before he sank the glass down next to him. "Well...currently I am working upon a recruitment idea for my Fleet...designing flyers...a web representation on the Sirius Network and a recruitment video...in my spare time, but it kinda gets dull doing the same, over the time." His shoulders shrugged once again, a joyful smile appeared on his lips then. "That is why I am glad I've met you and we are able to spend time together...It's something new, refreshing and definitely distracting me from all the work, in a very good way."
Feeling he took all the time to talk only about himself, he decided to give her a chance to speak, remaining silent, looking at her, with curious eyes and an attentive expression on his face. His thumb gently brushed along the palm of her hand that was holding his.