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Lady Bella gawks at the bright lights of Metropolis from the comfort of her taxi seat. The name it dons– City of Lights– really isn’t for naught. Michiko had told her about it a number of times, the dazzling lights and life of the city; Bella hadn’t truly believed that anything could be as dazzling as she claimed.
“Unpleasant,” Aurora mumbles from the other side of the car. Bella tilts her head in utter confusion; what about the sight before them could be the slightest bit displeasing?
The actress scoots to the middle seat and leans her body against the robot on the left side of the taxi, taking the opportunity of closeness to steal a glance out of her window. “What is it, Lady Aurora?” Nothing from her window looks different than the sights Bella had seen in her own; brilliantly bright lights of holiday colors with the soft drift of snow.
Aurora welcomes the warmth of her partner's touch; denying Bella wouldn’t fare well, and the woman doesn’t know how to keep her hands to herself anyway. She hesitates to share her thoughts with the actress– it’s the first time she has welcomed Bella to the city of Metropolis, and the last thing she wants to do is dampen her mood towards the environment with nitpicking. Aurora shakes her head, signifying her disinterest in sharing her conflicts.
Bella hums quietly, more than understanding of Aurora’s position. While she continues to watch the cityscape blur past them, her gaze lingers on a billboard advertising Metropolis’ biggest star, The Eternal Aurora. She’s mesmerized, in all honesty.
“You stare as if I’m not at your side.” Aurora sighs, gently pushing Bella away from her window and denying her any further peeks. Despite the attitude she puts forth, Bella can hear the telltale whirring of her fans– she has started referring to it as Aurora’s purr.
“Can I not admire such a perfect depiction of your beauty?” She doesn’t need to whisper– the driver of their taxi being a robot saves her from any embarrassment she would usually feel. But the same can’t be said for Aurora; she gapes at the actress and she knows Bella can feel the uncomfortable warmth that spreads over her synthetic skin.
Any arguments she wants to form fall flat to become an amused, “You are a dangerous woman, Bella Donna.”
They’ve come close enough to their destination, Aurora has decided. Quickly, she leans forward to touch the shoulder of the driver, and her blue eyes are momentarily replaced by an unnatural shade of pink as she silently gives him a new set of instructions. The car immediately slows upon receiving the instructions before pulling over at the earliest convenience to appease the star. She certainly is pleased.
Aurora reaches out to keep a firm grip on Bella’s hand as if she were a child who would run off and find herself lost in any other case. The actress doesn’t mind the restriction– she’s too busy gawking at the city to pay it much attention anyway.
“Maybe a billboard of the rising talent Bella Donna would look good around here too,” Aurora’s jest is enough to regain Bella’s attention; she quickly waves her off with a flustered expression.
Bella’s cheeks are flushed in her embarrassment– not even blaming the cold could save her from Aurora’s scrutiny. “I could never. Plus, it would be too far of a journey for most to see me perform anyway. It’d be pointless.” She doesn’t consider Aurora’s words to be a true offer, but she does allow herself to imagine such a gracious display momentarily. Even better if she could be placed beside the Aurora, but she’s sure that she would look far less appealing next to the city’s beloved star.
“Far of a journey…” Aurora mutters under her breath as they walk hand in hand– it’s a good opportunity for her to see how the city has fared in her absence. “Such a problem wouldn’t stand if you took to our stage, no? Not a journey if you perform in Metropolis itself.”
This time Bella outrightly shakes her head at the idea. “I am afraid it would not be that simple, Lady Aurora.” She does appreciatively stroke her thumb over Aurora’s and offers a smile for her kind gesture nonetheless. “There is a whole troupe. An actress might shine but she still needs her fellow stars by her side.”
It would be easier for her, she realizes now. As a performer, she needs nothing but herself, and she could take to any stage anywhere if she truly wished to do so; it was as simple as that. Bella required far more if she were to show the world her talent. She can’t help but pity the people who will never witness Bella Donna.
“The world does not deserve to see you, but it would be a shame for anyone to miss your talent.” Aurora means it wholeheartedly– despite the lack of a physical heart. “More importantly, you deserve to see the world, Bella.”
Bella furrows her eyebrows at the overwhelmingly emotional sentiment from Aurora; she was prone to spewing such odd bouts of honesty from time to time. They wind through a crowd in silence for a while– while Aurora enjoys the serenity of silence Bella takes the time to imagine the privilege of seeing the entire world. It has never been out of her reach, seeing the world– but imagining such an endeavor with Aurora at her side brings a warmth to her face. “Seeing the world would be quite nice. Have you ever dreamed of doing such a thing, Aurora?”
Aurora couldn’t miss the slight inflection of hope in Bella’s voice despite how hard the actress tried to sound neutral. “The world certainly is big… Seeing it by myself would be rather lonely, no?” And truly, although there were only a small number of distinctions between Aurora and any human when weighing the emotions she was capable of, Aurora couldn’t say she had ever ‘dreamed’ of anything. Especially something as fruitless as seeing the world. What could be so important to experience?
The prospect of seeing it with Bella Donna sounds much more… pleasing. She almost feels as if it were something she could dream of.
“Ah. We’re here, Lady Bella.”
The building Aurora gestures towards was certainly not what Bella had been imagining. However, she actually wasn’t too sure what she expected to see on her first night in Metropolis. The level of grandeur that had been expressed from the lobby decor alone told Bella that it was indeed no cheap place; Aurora only accepted the best.
Bella admires the atmosphere as best she can in the dark while Aurora locks the doors behind them, ”Where are we exactly?”
“Patience, My Lady.” Aurora tuts at Bella, turning into a chuckle when the actress huffs in disappointment. She leads her companion through the dark halls with a precision that could only come from traveling the same path numerous times. She knew this place better than anyone, even cared for it enough to consider it an extension of herself.
Upon arriving at their first destination, Bella doesn’t regret trusting Aurora in the slightest; patience has proven itself virtuous this time. The stage isn’t bigger than the one Bella performs on, not in the slightest. But the auditorium of Aurora’s stage would put her own to shame– it’s no surprise that the City of Lights must require an auditorium of such scale when it comes to The Eternal Aurora. Bella could only dream of showcasing her talent to an audience of this size; even merely imagining it filled her with nerves.
She also finds herself imagining being in the crowd, privileged enough to watch Aurora’s talent unfold.
Bella drags Aurora across every corner of the stage, studying everything with bright-eyed wonder. “This… You are too humble, Aurora! To fill a crowd of this size? You are not a mere star, my dear, you are the sun!”
She receives the praise with a sincere smile, ”You excel in flattery, Bella dear.” It isn’t necessarily untrue. Her performances were adored by all except the few unfortunate stragglers. People would gladly pour into the crowd whenever she wished for them to– packed like sardines for a chance to watch her perform and celebrate the life of the City of Lights. And although time has passed since then, she isn’t yet willing to back down on her previous offer, “I would love to see you entertain such an audience. The people would love you, both a beauty and a natural talent.”
Bella doesn’t deny her directly this time. Her smile is wry and doesn’t quite meet her eyes but she pretends to consider the idea. “Maybe I can speak with the directors about performing at a bigger theater to see the turnout.”
“Perfect. You will see.” Aurora squeezes her hand for a brief moment of reassurance, she isn’t blind to the things she doesn’t share, just unwilling to dig into what Bellla would rather keep hidden. She leads them to the backstage now– this path is much more hazardous than the first one they took; with sudden turns and obstacles jutting from the wall that Bella narrowly avoids with Aurora’s gentle assistance. It’ll be worth it once they reach their last destination, Bella has to believe that or else the embarrassment she feels each time she almost trips over herself would be for naught.
Aurora pulls Bella through one last door and finally does her the favor of turning a light on after all this time. It’s exactly what she had expected– Aurora’s home, but the appearance is also far from what she thought it’d be. It looks more cozy than what she expected a robot to care for. Her kitchen is expectedly barren, as if she never stepped a foot in it, but the livingroom is an entirely different story. The couch is covered in an array of pillows and neatly folded blankets, Bella would even argue that it was an excessive amount of blankets. But imagining Aurora bundled in every blanket out of pettiness towards the cold and a desire to keep her body’s temperature regulated is enough to make her laugh.
“What is funny, Bella Donna?”
“Your hatred for the cold- it is genuine, isn’t it?”
Aurora huffs, letting go of her hand since there’s no further threat of losing her here and shrugging her furs off to hang beside the door. “Cold weather is… unpleasant. Surely it will lead to the downfall of humanity.” It’s not necessarily untrue but certainly the kind of dramatics she has inhabited from being too close to Bella. “My systems aren’t easily bested, afterall I’m built for nothing if not to endure. But this awful weather? It requires twice if not three times as much maintenance and management.”
Despite her disdain for the weather itself, her livingroom was appropriately decorated for holiday festivities. Aurora was extremely private about her affairs, Bella has learned that she the hard way when inquiring about the sort of people Aurora keeps in her personal circle. To put it shortly, no one. Therefore she couldn’t imagine why she would decorate for the holidays.
Her host has gone ahead of her, waiting underneath the arch that leads to livingroom with an outstretched hand and a proud smile; and like a moth to a flame, Bella approaches her more than glad to reclaim the connection. Only once they’re side by side in the threshold does Aurora point above them, “Mistletoe.”
Bella sputters for a few short seconds– a flurry of questions that she struggles and barely manages to brush aside lest Aurora have a change of heart and rescind her invitation. Her face becomes hot and her cheeks flush; she curses the light for being on now of all times.
“Close your eyes, my dear.” Bella says with facade of calmness.
“Worry not, I’ve done plenty of studying on these actions.”
“Mon Dieu…”
Their lips meet and the space between them diminishes in favor of skinship. Aurora’s hands are much colder than usual when they rest against Bella’s shoulders; her synthetic skin has trouble retaining heat in the unforgiving winter weather. And true to her word, Aurora has an unprecedented skill for someone who has never had a personal enough relationship to practice such things.
Tongues brush against one another with unabashed curiosity—the kiss is an odd mixture of cold and warm, metal and flesh coming together in exploration. Some places where one would brush against expecting to find flesh were full of wires, and brushing against said wires unexpectedly induced a familiar, pleased purring.
They separate with great effort, on Bella’s part at least; Aurora was more than content without breathing. She sees it now, a light blush dusting over Aurora’s synthetic skin. It hadn’t happened before, maybe because there was no real catalyst to stimulate enough embarrassment or excitement from her, or maybe she had only began to mimic it now.
“You can do that too…” Bella whispers in awe, there is always something new to learn about the woman before her. “Are you pleased with yourself?”
And Aurora’s smile is bright and disarming when she shakes her head, “Not quite. We have the whole night ahead of us, let us try a few more times, yes?”
“Of course. I would love to see all that you have studied, ma chérie.”