entrancelogs | No, it's never the same if you don't feel it too.

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No, it's never the same if you don't feel it too.

Who: Elphaba Thropp and Neal Cassidy
Where: In front of the mansion
When: February 14th
Rating: PG/PG-13 at most, probably
Summary: Do something special for the people you care about; that's the whole Valentine's Day thing, right? So Neal's going to make good on it.
The Story:

Neal's already waiting outside when he sends Elphaba a message to meet him by the door, which means he's got nothing to do but wait for her. Lucky thing there's enough thoughts running through his head to keep him occupied, turning over what he's going to say and how to say it, what he's going to do if things don't go his way. It's a pretty real possibility, after all. Elphaba forgets that she's worth more than just her part in some rebellion, or flat out doesn't believe she's a person that someone might actually care for.

So he's just got to convince one of the most stubborn women he's ever met to see herself a little closer to the way he does. Simple, right?

Which is why he's not coming to the fight unarmed. Neal opens the box he's brought with him, taking his hundredth look at the necklace inside. Say whatever about his father, the man has taste. Now so long as the enchantment works the way it's supposed to, maybe this day pans out like Neal's hoping it will.

And hey, even if it doesn't, he's walking away with a better ending than his last relationship--unless she shoots him as part of a mission she's on for his evil bastard of a grandfather. But even his luck can't be that messed up.

Hopefully.

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[ there is always a chance for snow or rain in that mad part of the world and when the message comes she peeks outside before pulling on a long, black wool coat, gloves and high boots. anything hat can shield her from any possible form of water. summer cannot come quicker if you ask one miss elphaba thropp who comes down bundles in her coat, hood pulled over her hair

it could have been an elegant look if there were a snow storm. as it is, she mostly looks overdressed. ]

If there is so much as a light drizzle I must return inside, you realize.

Hey!

[Well, since she's pretty much gone straight to the heart of the matter.]

Yeah, I know. I've been thinking about that, actually. Here.

[Neal hands over the box, top squarely back in place. He's trying not to look as anxious as he feels, but it's hard not to, considering what all of this is and what it could mean.]

Happy Valentine's.

About the drizzle?

[ she frowns but takes the box, doesn't open it because the more pressing question remains: ]

And to you too. I suppose it is a holiday of a sort? Like the odd Christmas and the odder one with the poor dead Turkeys. I fear I know nothing of it. I suppose I must ask -

[ looking at the box and then at him. ]

What is this Valentine's business?

About the whole allergic to water thing.

[But he's not exactly expecting what comes next, although in hindsight Neal probably should have. Different worlds, different holidays, and Neal mentally kicks himself a little.]

Uh, yeah, that's right. It's a holiday. No dead birds though. [At least not as a one of the primary traditions. Neal reaches up, rubbing the side of his neck with a hand as he forces the words out.] There's different versions of it, but basically it's a day when you give people you care about gifts.

[Except that's pretty open to interpretation, isn't it? And half his reason for doing this is to make it clear just where they stand with each other.

Well. Here goes.]

Specifically, people you're involved with romantically.

A very odd thing to be thinking about.

[ when one is not allergic to water themselves, that is. elphie certainly thinks about it as she goes through her day but for someone else, it is such an oddity. there are certain more pleasant subjects to ponder.

she sort of looks a bit baffled in the way that she usually does and with a bit of a confused tone: ]

This is a courting matter?

[ it seems to imply have you lost your senses entirely? ]

Not really. I mean, it's got to be a huge pain for you, right?

[And for Neal, that's reason enough to want to do something about it. But given how the conversation is going, it's pretty easy to see which part of the connection is missing. Once again she's acting as if it's this impossible thing, for Neal to actually like her, and in turn he huffs out a laugh.]

Yes, it's a courting matter. Elphaba, I've been flirting with you pretty much from the moment we met. [Well, if he's going to be open, might as well go all the way, right?] And the whole thing at the gala? I mean, we never said it, but it was a hell of a lot like a date.

So I think about what hurts you because I don't want you to be hurt, and I got you something to fix it because I like you, a lot. And no, [Because he knows this is coming.] that doesn't make me crazy.

You're someone worth caring about, even if you don't see it.

Well, I suppose I cannot fault you for being overly subtle about the whole thing.

[ she looks quite affronted by the whole thing but sighs after a moment, lowers the hood from her head and allows her hair to fall freely now that it's clear it's not raining. ]

I don't understand anything in these matters. Not a single issue.

[ because aside of glinda and the odd little thing they share, she's so very much beyond the possibility of anything at all feeling anything remotely positive. it is simply the way her world works and she couldn't hope to understand glinda but now she thinks she understands her better than him. ]

I hardly understand you, you know well who I am and who I will be. There is little future in this world as no one belongs here. and then there is the matter of the child.

[ and the golden haired girl that makes so much more sense than whatever this is. ]

and what you deserve, and it's certainly not me.

[ because really. she's green as sin and too sharp and too jaded and has so little inkling in these matters. ]

Better a pretty normal girl with a perfectly normal color and manners and understanding of - any personal matters. which I don't, it was never my forte, it was hardly my territory.

Subtle doesn't work with you. Not with this.

[Because subtle gives her an escape. Some way to brush the whole thing off, pretend that it's something less than what it is. It's easier to do that, he thinks, than face something she doesn't understand.

But it sounds like she's trying to do that now, so Neal makes sure to listen. He wants to do this right, to make sure whatever choice she makes, it's for the right reasons.]

The thing about my future though, is I don't really have one outside of here. [He presses his lips together, looks down for a moment, and tries to think of how to help her understand.] I go home, I never see my family again. I get what, a year being trapped in an entirely different realm, doing everything I can to get back, and then I die.

[And they move on. Every time someone goes home and comes back, Neal gets that sharp-edged reminder of that the first time he sees them.]

So yeah, I have a kid, and Henry's hands down the most important person in my life. But he's not the only person in my life--and you know, he's already got three parents. You don't have to be a mom to him or anything.

[A friend might be nice, but one step at a time. Right now Neal has to deal with this, and if she lets him, he'll reach out to take Elphaba's hands in his.]

And I know who you are, and I know what some books say versions of you become. But my father is the Dark One, and Henry's mom, Regina? She's the Evil Queen. And me, I'm the petty thief who let his pregnant girlfriend go to jail for his crimes.

[Whatever his reasons, that's the truth of the matter. So it's pretty funny to hear Elphaba talk about what he deserves, when Neal's done things he's never going to forgive himself for.]

So maybe I deserve better, maybe I don't. All I know is that when I look at you, when I'm with you? I'm happy, and I want you to feel that way too.

I cannot afford to be happy or feel much of this insanity or take part in storybook romances. I cannot even be, it's a privilege. I have to have no name and no relations, only a cause. You've forgotten.

[ and this twisted mind set would bring about only trouble. if the wizard of his man shall ever come here to discover she cares for anybody, they'd be the first to die. ]

I am the Wicked Witch of the West. I have not forgotten what part she plays in all of this, I will not let this world have me play the same. not for any sense of foolish destiny. We are one and the same. this world can toy with it, it is a very possible danger and this - will make it all the easier. I won't you die for my supposed legacy.

[ oz knows she won't forgive herself. ]

Trust me, no happiness lasts very long around me, I'm as wrong of a choice as wrong goes. Truly - are you mad? I thought my complexion was enough.

[ as in, LOOK I'M GREEN. LEGIT GREEN. ]

[Except he hasn't forgotten. He honestly kind of hates that aspect of her world, even as he sees her willingness to give up so much as one of her strongest traits. But what really gets his attention in all the rambling is the answer he's only guessed at until now. At the heart of it all, her insistence that she's not worth the privilege of identity, that she and Zelena and every other Wicked Witch of the West will be his demise, is the unspoken truth that her fear is rooted in what she feels for him. She's fighting so hard against this because she's afraid for him--and afraid of what it could mean for her too.

So when she asks him again if he's crazy, points out the rich deep color of her skin as the most obvious reason why he should be fleeing rather than flirting, he just grins.]

Maybe I am.

[But honestly, even if he is, what does that change? Not how he feels, not how she does. So Neal lets go of her hands in favor of cupping her cheeks instead, and maybe it doesn't mesh with some storybook romance to have their first kiss go this way.

Doesn't stop him from doing it though. No more than her green skin, or her belief that she's going to end up being the death of him.]

[ when the story will be told, it'll be said the wicked witch of the west loved nothing and nobody. in truth, elphaba left behind a sister, a brother, a father, a nanny and Glinda, fully knowing that they must know nothing. if they will, the Wizard's army would surely use them.

it was not a choice she regretted. the wizard must die and personal relations had to be put aside.

she misses them still in wonderland but doesn't regret/

she never asked any of them nor confided which is perhaps why he gets to be stubborn and they did not.

she thinks she had allowed herself too many things in this odd land. a name to start with and words and friends and one fall led to the other and then they all led her here to the place where she's a rebel terrorist and a wicked witch but a young woman first.

so she doesn't claim her hands back nor her lips when he kisses her, a protest dies between them. she kisses as many would guess witches do, with little refinement and docility. as witches are never girls, they are always women and they destroy, they enchant, they fight and they care in passion. they never do things by halves.

she's not a maiden, either, it becomes evident enough or perhaps Elphie never was as some women are never brought up to be that. she steals a breath only when she remembers where she stands ]

-- Half the Mansion goes out and in those doors.

[ and she hardly needs gossip on top of everything else. ]

[So just going on how things have happened in the past, Neal is kind of expecting to get slapped for kissing her so suddenly as he had, or that she'd pull away once she got past the shock at the very least. But it turns out, when Elphaba gives herself over to something she gives fully, and that probably shouldn't surprise him at all.

Still does though. In a really good way.

Whatever doubts Neal may have held onto are long past gone by the time she does pull away. Hopefully hers are too, because Neal's done holding back. Not when she kisses like that, fiery and passionate, and yeah, okay, maybe she just might turn out to be the end of him after all. But there are definitely worse ways to go, worse things to die for than this.

He's catching a quick breath himself when Elphaba makes her complaint, one that has him laughing lightly under his breath.] Well to be fair, I hadn't exactly planned on doing that right here.

[And to be less fair, he isn't exactly pulling away now that he has. No, Neal's still got his eyes closed, still stands near enough that he can feel the warmth of her breath on his skin. His thumb brushes across her cheek, a gentle caress over the shape of bone, and that is much more important to him than any rumors that might spread if they don't steal away to some place more private.]

Yes, well.

[ she pulls down on the sleeves of her coat quite needlessly, unused to all of this as she is. it'd be wrong to assume that elphaba is shy, it would be very correct to assume she's very unused to both affection and touch. she doesn't recoil or shy away, simply busies herself with smoothing down her dress before scrunching her nose a bit at him. ]

Plans and romance, I do not suppose they always match.

[ fine, she'll look at the box and the Valentine thingy.

and frown. ]

it is a pretty thing but how does the trinket has to do with water?

[Yeah, Neal can see why she might not be. The way Elphaba acts, she's probably managed to scare off more than one person in her life. But funny thing, for all her talk about how green her skin is? When he touches it like this, she just feels normal, and warm.]

Yeah, guess not. [But since she's clearly feeling awkward, Neal lets her go. Granted, he's not going far, just standing next to Elphaba while she opens her gift.]

I got my dad to enchant it. It's magic will keep the water from touching you. Like a duck. [Very smooth, Neal.] I mean, it'll only work when we're not in an event or whatever, but I figure it's better than having to worry all the time.

-- Is it a tradition in your world to show romance by comparing a young lady's allergic reaction to a duck?

[ said with an arched eyebrow ]

because I admit, most young ladies in Oz would find a dove sweet or perhaps a flower of a sort. A duck, however.

[ not really. ]

[Yeah, okay, Neal probably deserved that.]

I meant the effect. Ducks have that thing that keeps them from getting wet when they're in the water. When you wear the necklace, the magic in it will do the same thing for you. You'll be able to go outside without getting hurt, even if it rains.

[So the theory goes, anyway.]

This thing being - feathers? I do hope the pretty little thing won't grow some on me. Green is one thing but being green with feathers shall surely attract some unwanted attention and I have to answer enough foolish questions as it is.

[ really, the last thing she needs to be is half girl half bird ]

though a duck is a very sensible animal.

[ she tilts her head at the thing ]

I know nothing of magic, is it a spell of a sort?

[Neal just kind of gives her a look at that. Seriously Elphaba, trust him at least a little.]

No feathers. My dad was pretty happy to set this up, actually. I think he might see you as a friend.

[Which, for Neal, says more the impact Elphaba doesn’t seem to realize on people than anything else.]

You’d have to talk to him about the details. I just know it’ll only work for you, and you’ve got to wear it so the magic will work. [A small grin plays over his lips; someone may be stalling, but Neal’s not having it.] You want some help putting it on?

[ what, she was jesting! ]

I do doubt anyone else would need it. I believe myself to be the only person present who has this specific affliction.

[ she gives him a somewhat pointed smile ]

well, if you insist on being a gentleman about it.

[ she places the trinket in his palm and turns ]

assist.

[Uh huh.]

Yeah, well. It's not like crazy things don't happen on a regular basis here.

[That smile on his face just gets bigger when she hands over the necklace, then turns her back towards him. Neal carefully hooks his arms around her, taking in the contrast of silver against the unique shade of her skin as he easily closes the clasp.]

And...there. Assisted. [He moves his hands to her shoulders, gently tugging so she turns back to face him.] It looks good on you.

Madness is the rule in a land with no rules.

[ the only logic is to think illogically and elphie loves philosophy but she cannot hope to understand the mechanics of this world, still. she's too firm on science and logic. she can recognize that there is order in this chaos but she cannot see it. ]

I do appreciate that you've seen fit to keep it green. I'd hate to clash with something so valuable.

[ half a jest, really. ]

[Neal finds it pretty messed up too; granted, he hadn’t exactly come from a place where things were predictable or anything, but certain things had been nice. Like not having his sense of reality shattered every other week or so.]

That you can blame my father for. It looks good on you though. [It’s probably symbolic or something, but hell if Neal knows for sure. He’s more focused on the present, and he offers a hand to Elphaba.] You want to go for a walk to try it out? It’s still a little cold on the beach, but the ocean is gorgeous up close.

Better green than pink.

[ said very casually. she never really had jewels or other trinkets before. the most she had was a piece of colored glass given to her by her father many years ago that she kept. ]

If it doesn't work for some reason, however, I will most likely burn.

[ what does she knows of magic and chances of success, really. ]

How will we know it is effective?

Oh, okay. Get you something pink next time.

[Yeah, Neal's not actually going to do that, but it's fun to tease.

At least about jewelry. Not so much about the notion of Elphaba burning. Sure, Neal knows the magic goes if an event happens where everyone loses their powers, but the thought of something his father's made not working just hasn't crossed his mind. For her though, it's got to be a very real concern, so Neal takes it seriously.]

We could test it. Something small; just a drop of water. [That's easy enough to get.] If you want, we could go to the clinic to do it. That way if something goes wrong, there's someone right there to help you out.

[And ease Neal's guilt over the fuck up.]

The wardrobe does it for you every morning.

[ and her level of disapproval rises with each day but never mind that. she considers his words before nodding her head. ]

that does sound quite logical.

[ see, she can be super agreeable. ish. ]

Nah, that doesn’t count. That’s Wonderland being Wonderland, not an actual gift from me. [Very different things, Elphaba. She’ll come to understand this ~~the more she makes out with~~ the longer this relationship goes on.

She’s willing to test out the water thing, so Neal nods and slips his hand into hers. He might be a little nervous now, but he’s also eager to prove to her that this gift works, to see her delight when it does. So he leads her back inside, and no, he’s not letting go of her hand the entire way. Not until they’re at the clinic, and he sees about getting her a glass of water.]

You ready to do this? [In the end though, it’s not his eagerness that matters. She’s the one at risk, and Neal would get it if she decided not to go through with it.]

Ah to be on the receiving end of such gifts from both you and the wardrobe.

[ glinda would have been proud. she lets him lead her with no fuss, however. at the very least, glinda isn't here to ask miss elphie about the company she keeps and the men she is seen with while entirely without escort.

she looks at that glass with an obvious reluctance. even as a baby, elphie refused to come near water. the instinct made her fear it without control. ]

I would not be able to dip a finger without flinching, you'll have to spill it.

[Hey, Neal wouldn't exactly mind Elphaba having a friend around, even if it wound up with him getting the fifth degree or whatever. But he's pretty proud of the steps she's taking too, considering how certain she'd been he couldn't care for her--and probably still sure he shouldn't.

He hadn't realized just how shaky she was about the whole water though, but it makes sense now that he sees it. She knows that it burns her, and she's been reading stories where it kills her counterpart. If the necklace doesn't work for some reason, she's about to be in a lot of pain.

Suddenly Neal's not feeling all that great about this either.

Still, he's never known any of his father's spells to fail. So he manages a smile and a nod, still holding her hand.] Okay. Here.

[There's a table ~~conveniently~~ nearby, one where he can set the glass. She suggests spilling the water, but he'd rather have something smaller, more controlled. He dips his finger into the glass, then lifts it up over hers. Just a drop should be good enough, and he lets it fall, unaware of how he's holding his breath until it lands.]

[ she certainly is sure he shouldn't but at the very least she knows better than to argue.

she tenses as she sees the water, almost pulls her hand back out of instinct. her stubbornness wins over her fear and her hand remains in him, however uncertain elphie herself may be over this whole matter.

she watches it land and releases a breath of relief when nothing happens, skin remaining emerald but otherwise unharmed. ]

Well, my goodness gracious. My old Nanny would have been quite pleased to see this and quite angry that her own witch friends could never create such a spell.

[It still counts as progress.

He can see the way she goes stiff, feel it where he still holds her hand. But in the end she keeps it together, long enough for the water to fall--and roll harmlessly away from her skin. She's not the only one relieved; Neal's smile is back, just as bright as when he kissed her, and if she's not careful he might just do it again.]

Yeah, well. My dad's pretty exceptional at this stuff. [For all his other flaws, at least they can count on his power.] So, any interest in taking that walk now?

Curious. I always thought magic to be just empty little parlor tricks.

[ but this is quite impressive, even she has to admit to it. she doesn't know how much she likes the idea of being guarded by a trinket she cannot possibly hope to understand but on the other hand, perhaps it shall teach her a lesson to simply think all magic to be useless. ]

well, now that we've determined I am not dying.

[ she takes off the coat which is really a bit too heavy for the season already. ]

It has been terribly long since I've been outside.

Pretty sure most people do, until they see the real thing in action.

[Even in the Enchanted Forest, while he may have found it distant, Neal had grown up thinking it distant, something that would never touch his life. How wrong he’d been.

But hey, she’s not dying, or in any type of pain or agony. His own reluctance in regards to magic is easily pushed aside in favor of this, and he reaches to take her coat, meaning to drop it off somewhere on the way out.]

Then we should make the most of it. [And yeah, he’s still all smiles as he motions for her to lead the way.]

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No, it's never the same if you don't feel it too.

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want to wrap this one here? :)