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Kung Lao woke to an otherwise empty bed.
But the soft humming coming from the next room assured him that he wasn't actually alone.
At this hour, he already knew what Jade was doing, what she was up to.
But he still got up to join her.
Stifling a yawn, Kung Lao crossed what he still considered to be an overly sized room, even for two people, before he stopped in the doorway that connected the bedroom to the bathroom. He pulled himself into a stretch, and felt the relieving pop his back gave in response, before he leaned against the open door frame. And from there, he watched as Jade worked her magic in the mirror of her vanity dresser.
She was leaned in close to the mirror, the edge of the dresser pressed against her ribs, as she carefully stroked a small brush over her eyelid again and again.
He had seen her do her makeup probably a hundred times now.
And yet, it was still entertaining to watch.
Although, to his disappointment this morning, she was already fully dressed.
He could usually catch her either naked, or semi-dressed most of the time.
Kung Lao pushed himself from the doorway and stepped into the equally-large bathroom as he made his way over to where she was seated.
When Jade had mentioned to him before about Outworld overcompensating in some areas, he admittedly didn't really know what she had meant. He assumed she was referring to Outworld and its almost unhealthy obsession with magic. After all, just about every fighter from this realm had mastered magic in some shape or form; it was considered a rarity to find someone from Outworld who had no affiliation to it.
Earthrealm had its fair share of magic users as well, but for the most part, most of them were strength and body based.
And then Jade showed him what the inside of the Outworld palace looked like, and it all made sense.
Given the massive statues and the architecture that was scattered around the Outworld capital, it should've been obvious.
Growing up with the Shaolin, living with the monk brotherhood, an overabundance of space, especially for private quarters, was seen as a waste.
But within the former Outworld royalty, the larger the room, the more important one was considered.
Jade laughed when she talked about how small her room in the palace used to be. She had started out as a bodyguard for Kitana, which had essentially earned her a bed and a dresser, and that was about it; it was so small that Kitana used to have Jade stay in her room instead, so that she could have some proper space to sleep and get dressed in.
But then she rose through the ranks, eventually earning her title as Shao Kahn's right-hand Assassin - and earning herself a room that almost rivaled Kitana's.
And now, with Outworld under a new Kahn, she had been upgraded once more.
To a room Jade like to call the Honeymoon Suite.
Kung Lao caught the quick flicker of her eye as she spotted his movement, before she went back to her work.
"You're up early," Jade remarked. "I haven't even left yet."
She was an early-riser, more so than he was.
Not that he would consider himself early in any way it was used.
But she was usually up and out the door before he even thought about waking up.
"You're putting yourself together more than usual today," Kung Lao replied, as he sat down on the open end of her vanity bench. He leaned in with his back against the dresser's edge, and caught the subtle curl on her lips at his joining attendance. "You must be doing something big today."
"You know what I'm doing today," she reminded.
Something about meeting with Kitana and Mileena to discuss what to do in regards to the Flesh Pits.
Something about some old experiments getting out and running wild - harassing people at night, and raiding the rural areas.
Something that sounded dangerous to him, but completely normal to her.
Kung Lao watched as Jade switched to her other eye now, and watched as she painted her eyelid gold from end to end. One finger held her eyelid down and kept it straight while her other hand painted in two more coats. And once it was done, she opened her eyelid and fluttered her lashes a bit, testing the shadowing she had just put on, and examining it in the mirror.
When she was satisfied, she grabbed a second shade from her collection, a more fitting green one, and painted wings on her eyelid.
A bold curve right at the end of her eye, before she used a small sponge to blend the green through the gold.
He watched as she leaned back and looked at herself from a distance, turning her head side-to-side to make sure that they looked even.
And then she looked to him.
"What do you think?" Jade asked.
And despite having watched her apply her make-up, and knowing that she was questioning him on it now, Kung Lao found himself more focused on her eyes themselves, rather than the wings that emphasized them; which perhaps, proved the point of why she had added them in the first place.
Her eyes were an amber-gold.
An unnatural color outside of Outworld.
And maybe inside of Outworld as well.
They were mesmerizing.
They had lured him in the moment he first saw them.
And they still continued to do so.
Kung Lao already told her that when they had kids, he wanted them to have the color of her eyes.
Of course, Jade told him that she could only promise him so much - and with no guarantees.
"I'm going to take your silence and assume it means it looks good," Jade chuckled, as she turned back to her mirror. "I'm still waiting for everything to set though, so don't try anything."
He had heard that playful warning many times before.
And he had pressed his luck on it many times as well.
"I know the drill," Kung Lao assured, briefly raising his hands in mock surrender with the statement. "And I learned my lesson from the last time."
He had gotten stuck with the shade of her foundation on his lips for an entire day.
Which had certainly been a look on its own.
Jade gave a laugh before she leaned over to him.
She moved a hand to cup his jaw and pulled him towards her, before she pressed a kiss to his forehead.
"Oh, I can't kiss you, but you can kiss-" Kung Lao started, only to stop as he watched Jade pull away from him.
And then watched as she grabbed her lipstick from the counter and began to reapply it in the mirror.
"There's a big, red print on my forehead, isn't there?" he spoke.
"You're welcome."