It's NOT a date... (Arc/Lani, Private-ish)(NSFW)

Her eyes slowly opened to meet his, almost reluctantly, her body stiffening and shifting under the weight of his words, as though they were crashing down, pinning and suffocating her. Her expression grew uncomfortable, and though it might not be visibly apparent, her chest had tightened, restricting her breathing just enough to be a nuisance. "Jay..." She begin, voice smothered and cracking, the tone still coming out chiding, though only barely.

Sighing, he sat back up, smiling her another smile that seemed just a little less genuine if not entirely so. "Sorry," he said, stretching a bit afterwards. "Do you think we should continue on?" he asked, quite clearly trying to change the subject.

Her expression quickly dissolved into one that was torn, the discomfort fading only somewhat, enough to be replaced by a genuine concern that she wanted desperately to ignore. She didn't answer him, instead sitting up, reaching a hand out to his face.

Jay was surprised. He thought, for sure, that she would welcome the opportunity to not talk about all that. He looked back at her, following the gesture, head cocked slightly with something like a somewhat uncomfortable curiosity.

Without him resisting, she set her hand on his cheek, watching his gaze with something of a worried, troubled expression. In silence, she moved forward, half crawling on him as she leaned in to press a kiss to his lips. The passion there was gentle, an avoidance tactic that was all too telling as she refused to either confirm or deny his request.

While more than happy to be receiving a kiss, and in the moment having enough of a thought process to go along with it, he still looked stunned at the end. A curious cocked head turned to one that was somewhat confused. He wasn't sure what to think. She seemed so uncomfortable before, after all, so why this all of a sudden?

She wouldn't tell him that her physical advances were an avoidance, instead moving to stand, smoothing out her clothes before combing leaves from her hair. He provided him with no answer, instead returning to the path, keeping her eyes open this time around.

He watched her walk away for a moment, lost for works and clearly enough entirely dumbfounded now. He stood up soon after, though, sighing as he shook his head, following after her. Damn him and his stupid attachment issues, because saying nothing would have at the very least been much less of a puzzle than whatever just happened.

Phoebe preferred the complication, if only because it made her feel better to have something else as tangled as she felt. It didn't help matters, certainly, but she didn't much care. Maybe she should lay off the coffee...

Jay followed along without saying anything, trying to do some untangling in his head, coming to no conclusions. He didn't speak, either, even though he wanted to ask straight up what that was about; he just sort of assumed that he wouldn't get a straight answer either way. All in all, the only thing he knew for sure is that the two of them managed to make things awkward.

Awkward, in her head, was better than committed. It was funny, really, when she thought about it, that Jay was the one seeking clarity, some confirmed, solid answer. To her, such things would be binding; it was like a bird wanting to be caged. Fuck, with it being caged, the analogy seemed even more fitting. So, instead, she kept it always, kept it open and noncommittal. She didn't need, didn't /want/ an answer, and thus refused to provide one. She'd probably be going out for a drink sometime after this.

Though a bird he may be, he was one that didn't like people going away. Really, a cage of commitment could just as well keep a bird safe from the uncertainty that lies outside. Not that either of them would know what the other thought, if neither one of them said anything.

She kept to her silence as she walked, leading him down a side path that wasn't even technically a proper path at all. Of course, she didn't care about this fact or else she wouldn't be doing it. "Follow me?" Phoebe said, voice upturning at the end as though it were a question.

"It's what I'm doing," Jay replied to her 'question', while doing exactly that. His curiosity was piqued again, however, considering that she asked at all.

The smaller mage gave a slight nod in acknowledgment, though why she'd bothered to ask was beyond even her. At any rate, she wasn't alone, though they were certainly alone with each other, and the deeper down the path that she led them, the more secluded the pair --- not couple --- became. With luck, he wouldn't bother to point that little fact out. She wasn't feeling particularly lucky.

Lucky her, Jay wasn't feeling like pointing out anything much. He followed in silence, wondering where she would lead them or what to. Whether that was a physical location or otherwise.

Surprisingly, given her history, she wasn't taking advantage of this... meeting to try to add another monster to her arsenal. Still, it shouldn't have come as any surprise to him if she were. Next time, she would. Next time.

Wait, why would there be a next time?

She stopped in her tracks, having kicked her own hornet's nest with her thinking, and her mood began to sour once more. Still, he hadn't actually, directly done anything this time so she couldn't really snap at him for her thought process. Well, she could, but it wouldn't exactly be fair. Shaking her head, she hung it for a moment and began to brush her fingers through it, starting at her forehead and following along her scalp, trying to calm herself down.

Shit. What if he notices I stopp-

"You alright there?" Jay asked, standing just behind her, concerned that she looked like she was going through something. Was it really that much of an issue for her, that he said something like what he did? He almost wanted to just leave and get everything over and done with, if it made things easier, unpleasant though the prospect was on the other hand.

"Fine," she said automatically, her voice curt. Closing her eyes, she groaned, letting her face fall into her hands before she released a long, shaky sigh. "S.... sorry. That wasn't.... that wasn't fair of me." She closed her eyes, tilting her head up and facing it towards the sky while she tried to calm herself back down, "I just let my thoughts get away with me. Nothing you did." Righting herself and turning around, she opened her eyes and nearly jumped back, face flushing, having not realized that he'd gotten closer while she was distracted. "I.. oh."

The flip flopping that she just went through left Jay both confused and just a little crestfallen. She was angry, it was apparently not something he did and then she reacts like... That? What was that, anyway. He sighed, unable to make heads nor tails of her reactions. "I don't bite." Usually.

She let out a bit of a nervous laughter before trying to make more light of the situation, giving him a bit of a pout and a flirty wink, "Not ever?" She teased, though she offered him no chance to respond as she spun on her heal and started walking again. Death, but she must be wreaking havoc with his mind.

He had the thought himself, but he honestly had no idea what she was thinking and if humour would go down well either way. Yes, she was giving him a mental run around. He could only follow, again, while trying to figure out what in the world he should do.

Before terribly much longer, they finally reached what appeared to be their destination; at the end of the path, there was a bit of an outcropping that made something of a perch or cliff, overlooking a good bit of the rest of the park, though most of it was well enough out of sight that they could sit up there and not be seen or noticed. Moving to the edge, she sat down, legs dangling; sure, none of her forms could fly, but she was confident enough in her own abilities to trust herself not to fall, to say nothing of her faith that Jay would catch her, should things go away. "It's not fancy, but it has that sort of, 'on top of the world' feeling I thought that you might like." She said softly. Honestly, while she wasn't particularly trying to hide it, Jay would easily miss it if he wasn't specifically listening for her.

Jay looked out over the park, assuming rightly enough that this was indeed Phoebe's destination. He sat down next to her, although made sure to keep his distance considering the strange way she was acting and his inability to figure her out. Still, he heard her, as she did matter more to him at the moment than the view or much of anything else in the park. "High places agree with me, yeah. It's a nice place," he agreed.

"Secluded, quiet, up high," she shrugged a bit, closing her eyes and leaning back to bask in the sunlight. Perhaps it was some leftover trait from one of her many familiar forms, though it was hard to say for sure; after all, she only knew of one that was reptilian. Regardless, she seemed to relax, now, despite whatever turmoil was going on in her head. Really, she should give the bird at least a bit of a break. She probably wouldn't, but she still should.