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Polly Romantic: Winter Camping is probably someone's idea of fun. It is not Polly's, particularly. But if you're going to yoink off your mask for your magical boyfriend to ooh-and-ahh at, picking a secluded location far, far, far away from humanity and its obsession with doorways is usually a good idea. The only good way to ensure that and a lack of prying eyes? Winter camping. Or so figures Polly. Fortunately, she made certain to reserve a site with an established grill, firepit, and tent platform. It's already clear of snow, and affords a dry and elevated place to erect the tent, which is seen to in short order thanks to how easy these things are to put up these days. With their camp gear loaded into it, it's unlikely to blow away, but she sees to it there are bungees affixing it down to the platform's mounting hooks.
Once it's all set up, the overly winterized star shaped blob of clothes that's Polly rubs her now cherry red nose and waddles backwards away from the platform to survey their handiwork. Apparently pleased with it all. "I am going to leach all of your body heat, you realize. I am going to be a wet sock in your boot all night."
Jeremiah Hamilton: "Good thing I can turn into a portable space heater." Jeremiah replied with a smirk, nodding with approval as he looked over the tent set up. "Which I can queue up now, if you'd like..."
Polly Romantic: "Probably a good idea. I can't feel my entire ass." Polly would probably wiggle it indicatively at this point, were she in clothes that made her appear to have a butt to wiggle in the first place. Her look is really more of 'what if Patrick Starfish were a hobo' at the moment. Eager to not be wrapped in winter clothing and to finally be warm, she crawls up onto the platform and scoots herself towards the tent before working on the laces of her boots. They'll get left outside to keep the water and mud from getting inside, and then she's unzipping the front and starting to squirm in like a beached starfish.
Jeremiah Hamilton: "You got it." Jeremiah took a moment to tug the bronze serpent pendant from under his clothing, gently rubbing the back of it as he spoke quietly in a language that was a little off-kilter, using both as a focus for the effect. The spell clicked into place a few moments later, creating a room-temperature bubble over the platform. "There we go."
Polly Romantic: Polly finishes squirming her way inside and flops over onto her back on her sleeping bag. She piffles her lips and just lets the relative warmth of the room temperature bubble settle into her frozen joints and face. "Oh, wow, that's amazing. We have something like that, too, but it only works on us. I should look into it, actually. Being cold sucks." After a short bit of lying there she tugs off her gloves and begins to unzip her parka and commence the removal of her seventeen thousand and four layers of clothing. "So it's not too late to change your mind. If you'd really genuinely rather not know for whatever reason. Not that I think you're being insincere, I'd just be a bit of a jerk if I didn't give you a last chance to opt out of becoming too embroiled in our particular variety of supernatural nonsense."
Jeremiah Hamilton: "I don't use it as often as I should, honestly, now that I've picked it up. There are some interesting tricks at this level of mastery that I need to start playing with." He replied, claiming a seat beside Polly as he shucked off his jacket and set it off to the side to dry out.
"I'm sure. You have me for the long haul, madame." He looked to the Torrent with a smile. "Appreciate it, though."(edited)
Polly Romantic: Polly has a LOT of clothing to peel out of. The parka, a flannel jacket, a flannel, a t-shirt, and undershirt, a THERMAL undershirt. She's serious about not being cold. But eventually she strips down to her stylish yellow duckling MeUndies and slides into her sleeping bag to warm up out of her cold weather clothing. This involves squirming closer to Jeremiah once she's done. Because cuddling makes warming up all that much easier. "It's going to look super weird, and I might look a little bit like my face is melting. But you get used to it. At least. I kind of have, kind of. You ready?"
Jeremiah Hamilton: Jeremiah happily led Polly worm her way closer for cuddling purposes, sliding an arm around her as they got settled. "Weird is relative, and ready if you are."
Polly Romantic: "Relative to what you're used to seeing in a human face," Polly clarifies, as though he might actually be mistaken rather than trying to assure her it's going to be fine.
It takes some doing, a little actual effort on her part, though the nature of the effort is as mysterious and unknowable as most other supernatural aspects of the various denizens of the world tend to be. But by and by, the flesh tones of her skin fall away, and the unusual creature that lies beneath is revealed.
Polly's mask and mien have a good many similarities, though her mien is perhaps just that much more perfected. As though someone had carved a statue of a renaissance nude and turned it into light on a lark. Her body is difficult to discern within the corona of rainbow light that emanates from her in all directions, interspersed with slowly wafting tendrils of light that seem to twitch and respond to stimulus, almost as though they're an extension of the woman herself. (They are.) Color and light pool and pour over her, compelled by what appears to be Brownian motion, but which cannot possibly be so, since she's not actually a liquid. Or the surface of a bubble. Or an oil slick. But that's genuinely the appearance of it all. Like she's blown glass, a bubble on the wind, spilling light in a hundred hues. It's a genuinely intriguing contrast; the full hips and statuesque form of a renaissance painting mingled with the fragility of a bubble, of a thin layer of ice on a morning puddle.
Her hair is decidedly unruly. Tight curls of light swirling about her head as though she were underwater, or floating in the air. As though it were weightless, suspended in a solution of gently drifting fluid.
It's definitely very, very different. Possibly even disconcerting. But very pretty once one gets passed that bit.
Jeremiah Hamilton: It was rare for Jeremiah to be at a loss for words, but as the Mask peeled back the Mastigos found himself with just such an affliction. The play of color and light that made up her form caused his eyes to dart here and there, briefly following patches of shifting light before pulling back to take in the whole once again. She had said she was made of reflected light, but while it wasn't what he expected he seemed more fascinated than anything.
Eventually a quiet "...wow" hit the air, dark eyes meeting hers with awe clear in his gaze. "You are stunning...not that you aren't otherwise, but you know what I mean..."
Polly Romantic: Polly seems genuinely nervous about his reaction, as would be natural for anyone in her position, really. Her hesitant expression cracks into a smile when his response is a positive one. "The lack of, you know. Eyeballs doesn't freak you out?" That might have escaped notice at first, but sure enough. Her eyes are just as glassy and color-smeared as the rest of her. It's hard to tell where she's actually looking, and genuinely does lend her the look of living statuary. After a fashion. If the statue in question were actually a rainbow.
Arcadia is weird, okay?
"But. Yeah. This is me." Her light tendrils wiggle in the air, almost like they're imitating jazz hands. She holds up her forearm, takes a finger, and writes 'Hi!' on her arm with her fingertip, leaving a streak of red light that slowly fades through the spectrum into cool blues, finally fading into purple and swirling away with the rest of her surface light. "You can also draw on me, which I figure might amuse you more than a little. Your own personal etch-a-sketch."
Jeremiah Hamilton: "Not really, no." He shook his head, smirking at the movement of the tendrils of light before cautiously reaching up to see if they were tangible enough to touch or not. "I've seen stranger, if you believe it."
Pandemonium, it turns out, is also pretty damn weird.
He looked down to her arm when she wrote on her skin, chuckling quietly. "That is amusing, yeah. You're...it's not what I was picturing, but in a good way."
Polly Romantic: "Well, that makes one of us," Polly replies with a chuckle, "the stink of it is, the more powerful I grow, the less... normal I'll look. So. Everyday I look a little less like myself. Or less like the me I remember. It can be jarring, looking in the mirror and seeing ... this. But. I'm glad you like it. Obviously. It would be super awkward if you didn't." She gives a small, nervous chuckle at that, then squirms her way in closer to resume the cuddling, seeking reassurance without asking for it verbally. "What were you picturing?" The tendril in question twitches backwards in startlement, almost like it had a mind of its own. It then floats closer to his fingertip and pokes it back. And it is, if only briefly, genuinely tangible.
Jeremiah Hamilton: "I can imagine, especially after what you went through for it to happen." He nodded quietly, smirking at the return boop from the tendril before looking back to Polly herself as she scooted back in, holding her close and gently massaging the small of her back with his hand.
"Something more...solid, if that makes sense. It's a lot more like looking at a bubble than I expected."
Polly Romantic: "Yeah, I get that a lot. When I say 'I'm made of light and color' people's brains can't quite compute what that must look like. They figure I'm a painted lady. Or like a woman that's been tatooed head to toe. They don't really figure that hugging me means they can see their hands on my back through my body. It's a good way to surprise people, I figure. Fun at parties, and all that." Polly nestles in a little closer still, her eyes drifting shut as she warms herself up against Jeremiah and is quite literally just herself. "When we go into the realm between here and Arcadia? We call it the hedge. But when I go in there, this is all you see. No disguise. I was thinking I might make a little home in there where we can hang out. It's safe for you, mostly. If you never ever leave it, anyway, except back to the real world. It makes it easier for me to do this without having to expend our energies and such. I can look into that if that sounds like something you'd be into? I kind of hate the hedge, myself, and don't go in there much because it scares the pants off me. But this would be a worthwhile exception, I think. I could even put a garden in it, maybe. It could be practical."
Jeremiah Hamilton: At the mention of seeing through her Jeremiah glanced down briefly to do just that, smiling a touch as he watched his hand move through the shifting colors. "I'd be up for that. Getting to see this side of you without having to drag ourselves out into the weeds would be nice...probably warmer, too."
Polly Romantic: "Not that I mind getting away with you. Not at all. This is actually pleasant, if a bit nerve wracking." Polly is rarely this far from an outlet with a lamp plugged into it. But that's the benefit of having a forces mage as a partner, one supposes. "It's definitely nice to be able to get out and about more. I've felt a lot less tethered to my house lately. Which is also a good thing. It's nice to stretch my wings a little." Polly does not have wings, as it turns out, so that's entirely proverbial, that comment. "The good news is that I'm entirely solid, still! Which makes cuddling possible." Polly's eyebrows waggle at that, though it is decidedly hard to tell given the details of her face sort of fold together as the colors wash this way and that across it. "So that's settled, then. I'll make a place. Maybe turn it into a place to work on music and art for the both of us. No reason you can't use it as a hidey-hole now and then, right?"
Jeremiah Hamilton: "Good, and glad I've been able to help with that." He replied with a smile, chuckling at the eyebrow waggle as he let his hand drift up her back, nails lightly tracing along her spine. "So I've noticed...definitely a good thing."
"True, and with the proper connections I might be able to port right in rather than having to pass through the Hedge you mentioned. Will have to look into that, though."
Polly Romantic: "No reason I couldn't put a door in your place that links right up to the hollow. Put another one in my place, and we can just walk to and from each other's places whenever we want. Which is a good way to beat the traffic to center city for you, I guess?" Not that traffic is a big issue with a space mage. "I'd probably want to handle it that way. Just cos it'd make meeting up with you when it's dark out less dependent on you wanting to travel my way. You know?" Polly's being practical about it all, after a fashion. "Don't have to, though, if you'd prefer to have your space be ... you know. Your space."
Jeremiah Hamilton: "I'd be fine with it, but I'd have to check with the girls about setting something like that up at the house. Shouldn't be a problem, though; can key it like the portal that goes to Maddy's so only certain people can use it." He nodded quietly, looking Polly over with a soft smile. "Although, for the record, I don't mind having to come to you. I'll do it in a heartbeat, and all you have to do is ask."
Polly Romantic: "Could make it exit at your backyard shed, for all that matters. You have to know the secret to unlock the door so that it leads to the hedge. So that part isn't a risk, so much. I understand if you all don't want my stuff all up in your business, though." Polly rolls onto her side to peer up at Jeremiah, resting her head on his arm in the process. "And there's no reason I couldn't make it exit like a half block away in some bathroom stall, or other." Some of Polly's tendrils settle around Jeremiah's side as though she were hugging him to her without employing her arms, which she's still hugging to herself for warmth. She's not seeming to put any real thought into it, either. She's probably done this a hundred times before now without him being able to realize it.
Jeremiah Hamilton: "Mmm...we can figure out the details. I don't think they'll mind, though. They know how much you mean to me." The sincerity in that last phrase was clear as crystal, his smile warm as he reached up with his free arm to gently brush her cheek. The motion of the tendrils was noticed but not commented on, filed away for further thought later on. "You need to turn up the heat more, or are you good for the moment?"
Polly Romantic: "I'm good. Chilly still, but I prefer to warm up by snuggling you rather than just making the molecules move faster around me. Much more pleasant." Polly has won the approval of any Guardians paying attention, no doubt. And she punctuates the statement by squirming in a little closer, as though that were possible, and conjuring up a decidedly contented smile afterwards. "Well, good. I admit I wasn't sure where all of this was going at first. And I'm really quite happy with where we've ended up. You're one of the least complicated parts of my life, which is super rare for me with men. You make me really happy, Jay."
Jeremiah Hamilton: "Agreed...definitely better to do it the old fashioned way after a certain point." He nodded with a smirk. "Right back at you. It's been...a while since I've been with anyone that makes me feel the way you do, and I'm really glad we stuck with it."
TBC
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