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Valentine's Day

[a_sin_for_him]

[Lust honestly hadn't been sure what to expect from Boone, come the holiday. She'd seen him asking for help on the network, and had done her best not to listen to any of the conversations. It was enough to know he wanted to do something - due to a variety of circumstances, she's yet to celebrate how humans traditionally do.]

[She'd like to, just the once. This day is for the ridiculous, socially constructed ideals of romance.]

[And really, she's been impressed with her man. His emotional expression range is akin to a soft rock, but she's used to that. She likes that - most of the time. And the rare times an attempt is made...it means all the more, for its rarity.]

[Lust has her own something special, as well. But saved, waiting till they've finished dinner and have retired to privacy. Some things require a closed door, wholesome and decent as they may be.]

[thumbsdown]

[Boone has gone all out for the day. He gave Lust her gifts with the air of a man expecting to fuck it up somehow, but Lust had seemed happy with them. Even his card, with his stupid feelings on it. He's taken her out to dinner at the best place in town, and now they're heading home.

He quietly links his fingers with hers as they walk. A little gesture, but something that comes easier than a lot of words.]

You have a nice time?

[a_sin_for_him]

A very nice time. I know it's all silly, a holiday devoted to romance...as though anyone truly needs that. But it's...it's such a widespread human experience...

[She'd just wanted the one ridiculous 'traditional' celebrating of Valentine's Day. And she has. Her opinions remain unchanged, it's really rather silly and a bit embarrassing, but she's still glad for it.]

[And it says a great deal, the lengths Boone went to. He's like Scar, he's not a man who shares or shows deep things easily or comfortably. His actions are what reveal his feelings.]

But anyway, the evening's hardly over.

[thumbsdown]

Yeah. Figure we could at least see what it was like, huh?

[He's glad she enjoyed herself, though. It's enough to make him smile ever so slightly, a little one that makes him feel kind of silly.]

What did you wanna do now, then?

[a_sin_for_him]

Yes...just to have the experience. Human experiences are...important to me. And despite having lived a human life for half a decade or more...there's still so much I've never done.

[There's just so much that makes up an average human life. Much of it is lost to her entirely, things experienced as children and growing things. But there's still plenty open to her, little and grand.]

But...really, related to the current topic, there's something I'd like to share with you. Privately. [A soft chuckle as she realizes how that sounds.] Besides the obvious, I mean.

[thumbsdown]

Heh.

[He's looking forward to that part of the evening, but he can wait, too.]

Hope we can experience a lot of other things together, too.

[It's said earnestly, or as earnestly as Boone gets. They reach Lust's home and Boone lets go of her hand so she can open the door.]

[a_sin_for_him]

If fate is kind.

[Or whatever force rules this world.]

Though if there is one thing I've learned in all my time here, it's not to put things off or wait.

[Lust peers about the downstairs, reasonable sure the house will be empty but cautious just the same. Even so, she leads the way up to her room quickly. She just prefers her privacy in these matters.]

[Her room is large, elegantly decorated in lavenders and grays, a few Pokemon napping about and the Espurr family tucked into the windowseat. There are two comfortable looking plush chairs by the other window, the one overlooking the street.]

Make yourself comfortable.

[thumbsdown]

[Boone makes himself comfortable in one of the seats, glancing out of the window. This seems kind of serious, so he wonders what Lust wants to talk to him about.]

What's on your mind?

[He looks up at her from behind his shades, open to talk with her.]

[a_sin_for_him]

Oh, nothing much in the grand scheme of things.

[It's automatic for Lust to sit at her vanity to let down her hair. But once she's sat she's reminded she has no hair left to let down, and can only fluff up her painfully short curls. She sighs and turns to Boone, crossing her ankles beneath her form hugging red dress.]

It's silly, really, but to me... You realize, of course, that 'Lust' isn't my original name - no human baby is named Lust.

[The details of her former life she's yet to share, only the broadest strokes. Not quite human the last go 'round, but human originally, some of the unpleasantness. It's still difficult to speak on.]

[thumbsdown]

It's not silly if it's important to you. Remember that.

[Said gently, but seriously. He doesn't want Lust to feel like anything she cares about could be interpreted as silly.]

And... yeah, I figured. Didn't think asking was a good idea, though.

[a_sin_for_him]

I feel like some of the things that are important to me are silly. Especially personal things. In my last life...we weren't supposed to have personal feelings. They were a manifestation of weakness.

[Homunculi weren't human, they didn't have human emotions, human desires, human wants. Any shadow of such was just a flaw, something to be erased.]

It's...a complicated thing. I didn't even know it myself until strange events here led me to remembering speaking it under the effects of some magic. I...honestly don't even know if it's my proper name, I just know it's what I used to be called. I don't go by it, I don't offer it to many.

But...I feel you should know it. I'm not so young an naive as to think this is some passing fling between us, I know where this goes.

[If ever given long enough.]

[thumbsdown]

[Boone would like to think this could go somewhere more. He's not in love yet if only because he's so frightened of losing Lust the moment it happens, but he know that one day he could see himself marrying her.]

You can tell me. I'm not gonna tell anyone.

[He offers her a small smile.]

Not like anyone but you calls me Craig, right?

[a_sin_for_him]

No, I know you wouldn't share it with anyone else.

[And she doesn't even refer to him as 'Craig' to anyone. That's...private. An intimate thing between them. But names have always held a certain intimacy to Lust.]

[But she also tries to keep these darker, stranger parts of her past to herself. She doubts anything would shock Boone, or change his feelings about her, but even after so long in this world she feels the need to keep certain things out of view. Her name ties into it all.]

It's Isa. I...am Isa.

[thumbsdown]

Isa. That's a pretty name. Suits you.

[He wonders if it's Isa as in Isabelle.]

Hey, I'm glad you told me. Won't use it unless you want me to, though.

[a_sin_for_him]

Thank you. I don't know anything about it, what it means, if it's even my name or just...some pet name I was called as a child. But it's all I remember.

[Due to some strange quirk of this place and nothing more. Had that strange weekend not happened, had she never been subject to those particular effects of wild Pokemon magic...]

It's alright in private, if you'd like.

[thumbsdown]

Could be some shortened form of Isabelle, or Isabella.

[He offers it, wondering if it'll resonate with her any.]

Sure, I'll keep it just between us.

[a_sin_for_him]

[A thoughtful frown purses Lust's lips, some faint something shifting in those dark depths of her mind. Sometimes she feels as though it's some dark, shadowy swamp. She knows things are down there in the depths, but she can't see them. There's only that impression of movement sometimes.]

I think...it could be...

Oh, but I don't even know what sort of names my people have. I just don't remember any of that.

[Not for lack of trying.]

But thank you.