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"You look just like this girl I used to know," Lumine said, coolly, simply. It was a lie, of course. An easy one, too, that she had said to many girls in many worlds a million times before.
She still hoped Amber would fall for it. She really hoped Amber would fall for it.
"Really?" Amber piped up, losing all focus and stepping down from her vantage point atop the watchtower. "Who was she? Tell me all about her!"
Lucky for her, the Outrider fell sweetly into the throes of her plan. Right, this was exactly how it was supposed to go. Lumine does her cool girl thing, and the pretty girl swoons. Within an hour they'd be kissing, and that would be Lumine's new fling for the week.
Yes, definitely, that was how everything was going to go.
Until Amber plopped down next to Lumine, super close, too close, closer than Lumine could've predicted this early in her "plan."
She felt Amber's knees tap hers, both their legs dangling over the edge of the highest floor of the tower. Their knees were touching, their elbows were touching, their shoulders were touching… it was enough to nearly knock the wind out of Lumine.
She swallowed, tucking another blonde strand behind her ear, trying not to shake uncontrollably. "Yeah," Lumine began, "She was p-pretty..." she took a breath, "...pretty good at archery, like you."
That was not in the plan. Lumine did not falter, she did not get flustered at pretty brunettes inches from her face, cute archers that clung to her every word…
"Alright, but could she do this?" With thrill in her voice, she scooted a few inches away from Lumine, clearing the blonde's head for just a second. With a confident sweep of her arm, she summoned her bow, nocking an arrow and closing one eye as she focused on a tree hundreds of feet in the distance. Lumine could barely see the sunsettias that glittered from the branches.
After a couple second, Amber opened her hand, the arrow making a fierce thwap as it released, soaring through the air, and perfectly striking one of the fruits on the tree at the end of its path.
It fell to the ground with ease. That's right , Lumine cheered herself on, Getting Amber to fall for me should be just as easy…
Lumine blinked, genuinely impressed at the show of skill. "Wow. No, I don't think she could…"
"That's the best Outrider for you!" With a sweet smile, she dismissed her bow, leaning back into Lumine and staring into her eyes.
"Uh… yes?" Lumine coughed out, after a few moments of a fruitless staring game.
"I'm waiting for you to tell me more, silly!" Amber lightly punched her on the shoulder, "You've literally traveled worlds and expect me to let you off with one little example?"
Lumine laughed, both at Amber's earnest expectations, and at herself, for forgetting her own damn talking point in the wake of a cute girl flexing her combat skills. Unfortunately for her, this "girl from another world" was completely made-up, and since Lumine messed up on calling Amber pretty the first time, she was going to have to try again.
God, what was it about Amber that made her flirting skills fly out the window? She really just wanted to kiss her and get it over with, treat Amber like a girlfriend for a week and then move onto the next. She had gotten pretty good at that in all her past worlds… maybe those hundreds of years cast into a sleep made her lose more than her memories and powers.
Lumine sighed. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to move a little slower this time...
She hesitated, glancing at Amber then out at the hills beneath them, back and forth. She could play it off now if she wanted, shout "Catch me and find out!" before gliding off the tower, play a game of cat-and-mouse for a little.
Or…
Amber interrupted the thought, sighing before coming to rest her head against Lumine's. "I'm waiting…" she sang.
The proximity made Lumine's face heat up. She wanted to squirm away, save face while she had the chance, make a new plan and recover her playgirl dignity before she fell down the rabbithole…
She hung her head a bit, looking at Amber's face through her bangs, relishing in the way she could count her eyelashes and the flecks of pure sunlight reflected in her eyes.
"She was also… cute, just like you," Lumine murmured, embarrassed by the word itself. Cute. That was how Aether would talk about his crushes. Aether, who was always hopelessly smitten and fixated on his love interests… had Lumine joined his ranks at last?
Amber chuckled, pulling away from Lumine so she could look at the young woman, really look at her. Lumine avoided her gaze, knowing that she'd only blush harder looking into those eyes.
"You know, if you wanted to call me pretty or cute, you didn't have to go through such a roundabout way of saying it," Amber teased, "Though, your stutter the first time you tried was pretty adorable."
Lumine's hands flew to her mouth as Amber bounced away, climbing back up the small ladder to sit at her vantage point again.
She knew from the start? Lumine would've gaped after her, protested, defended herself, or literally anything, but she was too in shock to turn around.
She stared down at the single sunsettia, still resting in the grass where it fell a few minutes ago.
I guess I fell first , Lumine concluded, smiling to herself.