Log: Li's Over the Moon - September 14, 2004

The Jade Moon -- Upstairs Apartment

The apartment takes up the whole of the second floor above the tea shop below; thankfully, with the door closed, the insulation is good enough to block out most of the noise. Most of that space is a single room, subdivided by function rather than walls. The living area is the largest, blocked off with a long couch and an oversized chair piled up with embroidered pillows. The chair is arranged to face the television, while the couch is turned perpendicular toward the wall. Only, it's not so much a wall as a series of foot square windows from floor to ceiling, letting in vast amounts of light and giving a quite spectacular view of the back side of downtown Santa Cruz. Off behind the chair is the office area, where a rolltop desk butts up against the wall. A rolling oak chair waits there, and a tall bookshelf stuffed with books as well as little knick-knacks stands nearby. The kitchen is in the far corner, with a table just large enough for two to eat at if they're cozy. The decor is sparse but well-chosen, antique pieces of Chinese art that are fit to the space and make the place unique. A second door, near the kitchen area, presumably leads off to the private areas.

Contents: Jan, Li Qin

Jan keeps up the carrying all the way to the couch, where she stops and sets Li gently, gingerly down.

Li Qin grins up at Jan for a moment, then hesitates before she leans over, sets the flowers and the stuffed dino down, then reaches up to tug Jan down into her lap if allowed.

Jan shrugs out of her backpack first, letting it hit the ground next to the couch, and then allows herself to be tugged, willingly compacting into the lap o' cricket. "Hi," she whispers.

Li Qin smiles shyly up at Jan, and nestles in contentedly with her arms tight around her. "Hi. Can I keep you?"

Jan blinks at that, then nestles closer still, nodding as she does. "Yeah. You can."

Li Qin sighs gently. "Oh good. THat just made the day infinitely better." She looks over at the flowers, and notes, "They -are- gorgeous, you know."

Jan quirks a smile, saying, "Well. I figured I should say _something_ with flowers..."

Li Qin laughs softly. "I should say something back, I think."

Jan asks, "Does something include 'get off my lap'?"

Li Qin laughs. "No. I don't know how to say that with flowers, anyway."

Jan leans down to kiss Li, gingerly, before murmuring, "S'okay. I like watching you bloom way, way better."

Li Qin blinks, then flushes brightly. "You, my love, are...incredibly adorable when you do things like that. Do you know what you do to me?"

Jan blinks back, and offers, "Raise your blood pressure and make you late for work?"

Li Qin laughs, and curls close against Jan as...the violins start out of nowhere, gently swelling along with Li's smile. The cricket lifts her head again, studying the girl above her before she starts to sing.

"I was alone but didn't even know it;
I spent all of my time with my work.
Of course I had friends, and even quick kisses,
But then, from the blue, I found you.

I don't even know how it started
I can't give you day, time, or place
But what I do know
Sworn to holiest vow
My heart found a home thanks to you."

Jan blinks. Several times. Apparently, 'Ole sang and had musical accompaniment' doesn't necessarily lend itself to 'and now my girlfriend will burst into song'. And then the lyrics sink in, and Jan just stares, eyes going wide.

Li Qin laughs suddenly, unable quite to control herself as the music continues. She slides Jan out of her lap and climbs to her feet, so she can...of course...begin to dance around the apartment just for Jan as the music continues. This means, of course, second verse!

"We flirted online, don't deny it!
And I've never been much for email
But there was this -girl- you were seeing
So text was quite safer, if stale.

I tried to be happy as friends
I tried to be a good girl
But tried as I might
I just couldn't fight
My heart longed for home inside you."

Jan gets onto her knees on the couch, the better to twist around, wide-eyed as she watches Li. And she's smiling. Slowly, like she can't help it. And doesn't want to.

Li Qin sighs softly, leaning in as if she's about to kiss Jan...and then back out and away. She leans toward the roses, posing as she leans in to breathe in the bouquet of flowers that haven't even started to bud much less bloom on the young bushes.

"I know that all roses are thorny
And love, like that flower, bites back
But I don't know how I captured desire
Or found a cage it would fit in at last

We set down the rules and waited
We traded gifts like summer rain
But hopeless my fall
Didn't fight it at all
My heart aimed like an arrow at you."

Jan pouts a little as Li darts away, but still, there's singing, and so she listens, twisting around to watch her with the flowers.

Li Qin smiles shyly when she sees Jan's momentary 'distress', and ends up slowly prowling back toward the couch, her hips swaying in time to the music as it slows. She drops to the floor right in front of her then, her voice almost gone sultry as she finishes the song.

"And now, despite odds, I have found you
And trembling, I kneel at your feet
I know there's a dream girl who lingers
Who may pull you away from my hands.

But until that forever is over
While I can make a true claim
Come curses or drought
I have not a doubt
My heart will be here waiting for you."

There's a last bit of violins, crescendoing up to a glorious finish as Li whispers, "Here waiting for you."

Jan simply stares, for a very long moment, before she bends, putting her hands against the sides of Li's face, and kisses her. Slowly. If she hadn't already said 'I love you', she'd be saying it right now, with that kiss; it's the sort of serious address to an issue that one really only makes when it's truly, deeply meant. When oxygen runs out, she pulls back, just a little, cheeks flushed, and whispers, "I'm. Staying here."

Li Qin blushes bright, but is entirely too busy returning the kiss to say much besides that. She stays down on the ground, biting her lip as she studies Jan. "I...I know. Most of the time. I didn't expect -that- for your anniversary, though?"

Jan shakes her head. "Musical numbers, sort of new. New, but cool. If worrisome, on a larger scale. But I...I don't have any songs for you. At least, I don't think I do. I'm not singing, so I'm probably not, but...I...oh, _words_. Stupid words. Li..." She rubs her thumb along the side of Li's temple, expression thoughtful before she says, "I wasn't looking for you. I didn't know there was a 'you' to look for. And I found you. And it's been two months like two days, and I _love_ you, and I want to plan Christmases with you, and let you remember my birthday, and say 'happy anniversary' for more than just a month. Your heart can wait for me all it wants. It won't have to go far to find me. I'm yours."

Li Qin blushes brightly at that, then climbs up carefully and settles into Jan's lap. "I didn't need an answer, you know. But thank you."

Jan wraps her arms tight around Li, leaning back in the couch. "I know you didn't. That's why I gave you one."

Li Qin ohs, and grins quietly. "Fair enough."