the fire beneath my feet is burning bright {Genevieve}

[Cal Karnstein]

The verses had technically ended. The song became mostly a repetition of what Cal would likely insist was mostly a truth. The guitar kept playing while she sang her way through the last few litanies of the song, demonstrating her power and fervor for a few more moments. It was undoubtedly one of the more raucous numbers a shop like this would have, and a pretty stark contrast from that first one. But people were into it, and Cal finished eventually, nodding her head as the polite applause started.

"You should hear me with a full band,' she said, giving the guitar one last strum. Part of her was tempted to right on going, but Genevieve looked about ready to burst into flame on her seat. Plus Cal's food was right over there, and she was still hungry. She unwound the strap, ignoring a few halfhearted protests from the audience as she set it down, flicked the mic off, and moved over to slide next to Genevieve.

"So, yeah, I can play," she said, as if their conversation hadn't stalled for several minutes for songs, including at least one that could've literally been written for Genevieve. Cal took a bite of her sandwich then sipped delicately at her soup, grinning around the bites as she did, certain that Genevieve would have something to say.

And buying a little time to think of her question... or maybe questions, now.

[Genevieve]

“So it appears!” Genevieve responded as Cal rejoined her, her voice rather more high pitched than usual. “That was... something.” She sat a little higher in her seat now the attention was off her a little, although her shoulders were still a little hunched and she still had the look of someone who was hoping for a fire bolt or a hole to open up beneath her.

“Interesting song choice.” She said with a hint of sarcasm, unable to stop a smile escaping. “I can’t believe that just happened.” She buried her face in her hands again.

She so wanted to not have been affected, or even better, to be annoyed at the show. But she was falling. Hard.

[Cal Karnstein]

"Mhm," all but cooed Cal, still smiling as she nibbled at her by now mostly lukewarm food. She could see the blazing cheeks and all but feel the mixture of embarrassment, shock, and pleasure. "Oh, it definitely did. I made sure there were witnesses and everything," she gestured around them with her spoon, before sticking it in her mouth.

Her other hand went up to gently wrap fingers around Genevieve's, prying down down a bit. "Quit hiding," she said. "It's kinda adorable, but I didn't invite you out so I could stare at your hands the whole time." She took the fingers up to her lips, giving them a light kiss and a gentle squeeze. "Sorry about the surprise and all, but it's more fun that way, trust me." she gave the hand another squeeze, before using her free hand to take another nibble.

"I was going through songs and all and that one popped up, made me think of you. I mean, c'mon, girl who spends her time in the library, reads during lunch, but is totally down for dumping water on my head and kissing me in a crowd?" she grinned again, a toothy grin. 'You can't deny that's totally you, Gen-eh-veeve," she sipped her coffee. "I'll try to keep the attention off you for the rest of the night. Well," she gave Genevieve another look, "except mine, of course."

[Genevieve]

Genevieve groaned into her hands as Cal gestured at all the witnesses to her embarrassment. As she felt Cal take her hand, she allowed her to move her hand away, lowering her other hand a little to nervously bite her nail. And there was that flip in her stomach again, as Cal kissed her hand. "I'll take your word for that." She replied with a smile. "Maybe when the shock's worn off I'll agree."

Her smile grew slightly as Cal kept hold of her hand, and she used her free hand to lift her tea and take a sip. She flushed again as Cal explained the song choice, putting the cup down and biting her lip as she looked at Cal. "That might have been a moment of madness," she said with a small laugh. She glanced down at the hand that Cal was still holding and shifted it slightly, lacing her fingers with Cal's. "I think I can cope with just your attention." She said with a shy smile.

"Do I need to be prepared for anymore surprises like that?"

[Cal Karnstein]

The shock? Cal laughed lightly. "Oh, around me, the shock never wears off," she insisted, using her free hand to go ahead and brush her shoulder. She decided to keep the other locked with Genevieve's, at least for the time being. It felt a bit too innocent for Cal, but it seemed to comfort the other girl, and that was what she was definitely going for here.

"Gonna have to inspire more moments of madness," she said. "Which kinda means more surprises. But like that?" she tilted her head to the stage, paused to consider, then shrugged. "Yeah, probably gonna get a few. I can't seem to stop singing," she grabbed the last of her sandwich, popping it into her mouth.

She held out the free hand while she finished eating, holding up three fingers. "Y'know I'm up to three questions now, right? Since you were all asking about the whole playing and now you wanna have me spoil your first date. So here we go," she finished swallowing. "How much of that song is actually accurate to you? I know the library thing, but I'm so curious," Cal propped her free arm up on the table, leaning into it to give Genevieve her full attention now.

[Genevieve]

"If I had a voice like yours I wouldn't stop singing either." Genevieve smiled, finally turning her attention to the sandwich. She thought about Cal's question for a moment, running back over the song in her mind. The more she thought about it, the more accurate it seemed to be - the 'good girl' parts anyway. She was starting to think people were right, she did need to relax.

"Probably more than I'd like to admit." She said with a smile, taking a bite of the sandwich. "I mean, I'm definitely not my Dad's favourite, and I've never snuck out of my room to meet a boy." She gave Cal a look. "Or a girl. But, yeah - maybe I spend a little too much time in the library. Or studying in my room..." Finally finding a little bit of confidence, she looked Cal in the eye and smiled, raising her eyebrows ever so slightly. "And I am fluent in French, as it goes."

She ate some more of the sandwich, and smiled at Cal. "One down, two to go."

[Cal Karnstein]

"It's good for other things too," replied Cal gamely. She fell silent while Genevieve worked her way through the other parts of the question. She already knew the bits about favorites, which had Cal wondering just who the other siblings were, or who the dad in question was. Summer meant the mom; and Cal definitely dug how the kids all took that name first.

The bit about being fluent in French brought that too-toothy grin back. "Gonna have to test that later," she said, before taking another sip of her coffee. Her small meal was about done, which suited Cal just fine. She'd probably end up eating more later, or, well, she did have one last little thing planned for later on. Capstone and all that.

Two more questions to ask first, at the least. "Right, so we know why I came over to bug you and asked you out and all that. But what made you say yes? Just curious? I mean, I know I'm pretty irresistible," she wiggled her eyebrows at that.

[Genevieve]

"Soit mon invité." Genevieve quipped with a smirk. Growing up with a proud, patriotic French father meant that she had been speaking French almost as long as she'd been speaking English. And of course, having the in-built need to be the perfect daughter she had worked hard to keep her language skills up, in an attempt to please her father and make him proud.

Cal's question made Genevieve pause. She finished her sandwich, thinking for a moment before she answered. "People don't notice me. Except, apparently, to talk about me behind my back." She gave Cal a small smile. "People don't go out of their way to talk to me, unless they are my family, or as good as. But you did. You noticed me, you talked to me, and..." cue the blush, "you made me feel something in that cafeteria that I'd never felt before." She looked away, running her finger around the rim of her teacup. "Plus... well, you're really pretty. And interesting, and funny. People like you aren't interested in people like me."

She picked up her tea and took a drink to cover her embarrassment, draining her cup before putting it back down again. She looked back up at Cal and gave her a small smile. "And maybe I wanted to kiss you again."

[Cal Karnstein]

It took Cal a bit to dredge up her old French lessons. She'd had a few, being technically a princess and all, but it wasn't like she spoke it all that often. Thankfully the phrase was fairly common, at least enough for Cal to pick it up and let her lips twitch slightly in response. Much more interesting was the followup.

"People are stupid," Cal said almost automatically, waving off Genevieve's almost downtalking about herself. She'd probably have continued sweet talking, but Genevieve's next comment had her pausing instead. That cheeky little smile. "'cause good girls are bad girls that haven't been caught~" she lightly sang. The toothy smile returned. "And you think you're not interesting," Cal rolled her eyes. "You just need to loosen up a bit. Oh, and Genevieve," she gave the hand a squeeze, before leaning forward, locking eyes, "if you wanna kiss me again, just let me know. I'm not gonna be saying no any time soon."

[Genevieve]

She couldn't help but laugh a little at Cal's dismissal of people. She was right, Genevieve knew she was, people were, for the most part, fairly stupid. The fact that so many people were so quick to dismiss her twin, and had been their whole life, had confirmed that to her at a fairly early age. But Genevieve was Genevieve, and that meant giving people the benefit of the doubt, looking for the good, and generally spending time alone because others weren't as patient or willing to work at it as she was.

But then along came Cal.

"I don't know how to loosen up." She admitted with a shrug. "I'm used to being in everyone else's shadows; it's safe there. I was told recently I need to see my own spotlight, but I never knew I had one." She looked at Cal as she squeezed her hand, her heart beating that little bit faster as Cal leaned in towards her. Genevieve smiled at her words, feeling a flutter in her chest as she leaned closer too.

"Ok..." She almost whispered, suddenly finding herself mere inches from Cal's face. "I want to kiss you again." She took a deep breath, looking into Cal's eyes. "Properly."

[Cal Karnstein]

"Alcohol helps," offered Cal almost immediately after Genevieve's comment regarding loosening. She heard the rest, and she had to smile and nod. Whoever gave Genevieve that advice had definitely been speaking from a good place. Smiles, and Cal could all but hear that fluttering. Genevieve had leaned in, their lips separated by mere inches now. Eyes met.

"There ya go, Gen-eh-veeve," whispered Cal. She tilted the other girl's face softly, gently, her own lips moving in. Cal's lips closed about her date's. This wasn't a quick stolen gesture of affection amid a crowd. It wasn't a showy display of affection, something that Cal would normally do in public, particularly after drawing attention. No, Cal simply gave Genevieve just a touch of affection, sliding it into her lips and passing it along through contact. Nothing demanding, nothing pressing, which took some will from the randy dhympyr. Oh, Cal wanted to slide her tongue in, or to bite. But she held back, giving the sweet girl a sweet, gentle, affectionate kiss, the sort you gave a girl on a first date. The location was what would make it a bad girl thing.

Cal's hand squeezed, while her other moved back a bit of Genevieve's hair. She pulled back only when she figured that Genevieve would need to breathe: and even then, she added another quick little kiss, nearly a short nip, on Genevieve's lips. "Proper enough for you, Gen-eh-veeve?"

[Genevieve]

Her head swam with the feel of Cal's lips on hers. She was utterly inexperienced, she had never kissed anyone before Cal, but it came naturally, and she felt herself responding to Cal's kiss, pressing herself forward. She wanted to reach out and touch Cal, but the nerves hadn't fully dissipated yet, and the hand that wasn't entwined in Cal's rested on the table, fingers curling ever so slightly.

She smiled as Cal pulled away, slowly opening her eyes and blinking a few times, feeling breathless. She self-consciously bit her lip as she looked into Cal's eyes, feeling an urge to giggle that she forced herself to suppress. Licking her lips, she took a breath to try and calm herself a little, and slow her heart, which was currently pounding.

She smiled coyly at Cal's question, raising an eyebrow. "It's a start, I suppose." She teased, tucking that loose strand of hair back behind her ear. She really wanted to lean in and kiss Cal again, but she forced herself to sit back a little. "And I think you still have one more question."

[Cal Karnstein]

Lip bites, trembling breaths, as if Cal's eyes weren't already shining with something akin to predatory lust. Were she more vampiric than she was, her teeth would be longer. Fortunately that wasn't a particular problem for her. Though given the coy smiles, the teasing comments, the tucked in hair. The predator in Cal wanted to take this little lamb into a back room and see if they couldn't shed some wool.

"Actually," said Cal, reaching up to tap Genevieve's lips with her finger, "I just asked about the quality of our kiss. So," she lowered the hand, "this one's all yours, Genevieve." Though there were still a few questions that Cal could potentially think of asking the girl. She did have at least one and a half more activities planned for the night, after all. But no need to push things further than they already were.

Thank God they were in a place where two girls kissing and holding hands wasn't going to get too many looks. They couldn't start grinding or anything... which given Cal's proclivities, was probably a good thing.

[Genevieve]

Something in Genevieve wanted more than that kiss, wasn't satisfied, was yearning for something more. But she glanced around the room, remembering where they were and how much attention had already been drawn to them, and she knew this wasn't the place to start exploring her feelings and desires. Besides, she didn't know what else Cal had planned for the evening - who knew where they might end up? She took a breath, reminding herself that they had the whole evening ahead - there was plenty of time.

So she restrained herself from taking Cal's finger in her mouth when she tapped her lips, and smiled instead, her fist clenching on the table.

She glanced again at the now empty stage thoughtfully, her eyes falling on the guitar. "I could never get up in front of a crowd of people like that." She said, her eyes coming back to Cal. "Why do you perform like that? I mean, how does it feel to be up there and make a room go silent like that?"

[Cal Karnstein]

If you're not careful, you're going to end up all but eating this girl.

yeah, well, I'm not thinking she'd object.

Those dozen or so siblings might though...

Cal's eyes flicked toward the guitar. Her lips curved back into that slight smile as a question she should've seen coming drifted across the table. "I like the attention," she admitted honestly. "That and... singing. It's something I know I can do well. Both my moms had some good vocals, and they're kinda artistic anyway. So all us Karnstein kids got bit some by the music bug. It's a way of getting all those emotions out that doesn't hurt people quite as much as it could. And, y'know,' she shrugged, giving another toothy grin, 'I'm all about getting attention. Plus, you know I just made you super hot up there."

She gave another wink and squeezed the hand. "You ready to go? Or did you wanna stick around here a bit longer, soak up the atmosphere?"