Carissa breathed a sigh of relief as Estella came out of the bathroom. She finished her sidecar.
"Estella, are you OK?" She asked, with a worried gaze. "I just… Well… I hope you're alright…" She continued. "I don't care what you are. In fact I knew your ten-times great-grandmother…"
"Hey, I'm fine, don't worry about it," she reassured with a fake but extremely convincing smile. "It's not because of that, I just got nauseous. But thank you. And I don't even remember who she was, but that's.. that's cool. How do you know, though?"
"I know…" She said, leaning in her ear. "Because she was the Sphinx of Greece… A wonderful thing…" She drew her face back.
"My official name is Carissa, but if you've read the Odyssy, you'll know me as Ceres…"
(wait, Ceres is Demeter in Roman form, isn't she?)
(wait, Ceres is Demeter in Roman form, isn't she?)
(Well, yes… But in the book I'm writing that she comes from, Demeter and all the Greek gods became their Roman counterparts after the fall of the Greek empire… Then she sacrificed her godhood to make a contract with the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse… She actually has both of her god forms in the book but here she's just an immortal sorceress now…)
(oh that's really cool!)
Estella somehow managed to choke on her own spit. Stumbling straight into Carissa– Ceres??– she stared up in shock. That's not– that's not possible–
"Are you OK?" Carissa asked, catching her once again, this time by the waist. "Estella… I…" She tried to say.
Estella froze under Carissa's hands, cursing herself for getting so attached so quickly. "I'm fine– just a bit… in shock.. How is that possible??"
"It's… Complicated…" She said, memories coming back to her. "That's a long story… Longer almost than the history of human civilization…" She seemed vulnerable now.
Before she could stop herself, Estella placed both hands on Carissa’s shoulders, focusing on those striking blue eyes. “Hey, calm down, its— it’s fine. No need to be.. afraid. I don’t want you to feel vulnerable.” She’s a goddess oh my god.
Carissa moved in, resting a hand on Estella's shoulder, as their noses brushed together again. She giggled, smiling.
"Where were we?"
Estella’s mouth went dry. She was suddenly in a turmoil again, caught between absolute panic and a want for more. This was moving way too fast— she loved this, but she couldn’t— she couldn’t do this. Not yet.
bump
Carissa sent soothing thoughts into Estella's head, smiling faultlessly as she did so. "i apologize if this is unpleasant, if you want me to stop, by all means…"
A crease appeared between Estella's eyebrows as she registered the pleasant thoughts, realizing immediately that they weren't hers. "I–" She pulled back a little. "Don't get me wrong, I love the flirting. I just… I don't want to move too fast." That, and you wouldn't want to do this if you knew me better, she added silently.
"That makes sense… I'm sorry… It's just that, when you've been alive for this long you really streamline the flirting process…" She chuckled, sensing her deeper thoughts vaguely…
Estella came to the realization that this beautiful apparition before her could probably read minds, and made an attempt to make hers completely blank, unreadable. She smiled shyly, though, flicking a strand of hair out of her line of vision. "It's no problem, I take things extremely slowly.. Or, I would, if this happened to me a lot."
"I understand." Carissa replied, sipping her drink. "It's cool. We go at your pace, darling." She sipped her drink once more.
The comment brought a faint pink to Estella's cheeks, visible even through her tan skin, because it suggested that there was going to be a continuation, that Carissa wanted to go further with whatever this was. "Th-Thanks," she managed, taking a deep drink of her martini.
"No thanks is needed." She said, finishing her third sidecar by now… "So are you going to tell me about yourself, or…" She asked, feeling slightly buzzed.
The colours in the room seemed to pop as she finished off the drink, swaying ever so slightly in her seat. She wasn't quite drunk yet, but tipsy. At least she was sober enough to realize it.
Estella bit her lip, thinking. "I'm not very special," she mumbled, trying her best not to let anything slip. "I'm interested in aerial silks, I have some at home. I rent an apartment. I…. like lions?"
"I think you are very special…" The sorceress said, taking a light sip of her drink. "You seem very interesting, dear." She assured, taking off her coat. It was tan, to match the bottoms of her wedges, with big, square pockets.
Estella's blush only deepened. She set down her empty glass, subconsciously beginning to scratch at the back of her right hand. "Me? You're the–" Even tipsy, she remembered to keep her voice down. "Literal goddess and sorceress."
"Not so… I was a goddess, now I'm simply just a sorceress with some very interesting pets." She revealed. "And even then… My deityhood was lost a long time ago…"
"Well, even so," The words came out slightly slurred. "At least you can say you were one at some point. I'm a regular young adult," she replied.
"You are far from it… You are the descendant of an intelligent, strong, very special thing…" She said, staring into the distance.
(What are the sphinxes like in your universe, so that there are no inconsistencies…)
(full Sphinxes are basically centaurs with a lion's body, the more powerful ones will either have two lion tails or one serpent tail. They have retractable fangs, and their eyes will flash gold when they're angry. Half Sphinxes are usually born with a human body and a few Sphinx characteristics, like the tail, fangs, and the eye thing, and have the same powers of hypnotization and binding [if they ask a riddle and the person asked can't answer, they are bound to them until they can guess correctly] except weaker. One-quarter Sphinxes look like regular humans, but their hair has a coppery sheen/caramel highlights, their eyes are flecked with gold, and they have retractable fangs. Some may have weak powers)
Estella shrugged, but it was a clumsy movement. "So what? It's not like I retained any of her… strong points. I'm sort of useless."
(Hold on…)
(wait what's up?)
(I had to deal with something earlier and now I'm at a party.