They don't make jukeboxes like they used to...

[rememory]

To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To reach the unreachable staaaaaaaaaar....

From the kitchen that she'd designated as the focal point for de and reconstruction, Sabine barked, "Mimi!" and then choked out a laugh that was half a sob. Man of La Mancha had always been one of Byron's favorite musicals.

"What? You can't build without music and you don't have a boombox!"

"No one has a boombox anymore. Don't make me regret manifesting you." She shook a finger at the showgirl ghost who was lounging on the back of the couch like it was a baby grand.

Unrepentant, Mimi went on singing,

To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star.

"I love that line, don't you?" Mimi teased not just Sabine but Scott, even though he was out of earshot.

"Zip it, or it's Tsura's turn," Sabine snapped, cringing at the reference to their chaste, but far less than pure love.

"What was that?" Scott emerged from the next-door apartment through the hole he'd put between them to make testing the walls for support beams easier. There were two more like it in the filthy foursquare they'd chosen to turn into a community area -- for the time being.

"Nothing. Mimi was just asking your favorite musical so she could sing for you. Isn't that right, Mimi?" Mind-to-ghost she sent #Don't even contradict me.# Forbidding it with power was the simplest of her abilities, but Sabine didn't abridge her free will.

Mimi just laughed and laughed, sticking to Impossible Dream until the next person joined them Then she started in on songs from Annie:

It's a hard knock life for us!
It's a hard knock life for us!

Sighing, Sabine shot Scott and the newcomer an apologetic look then shrugged helplessly. "It's not like she's wrong."

[ooc: Gathering post! Sabine and Scott are clearing out a group of four apartments to start with to make a communal kitchen, dining, sitting area on level D. Mimi is audible and vaguely visible as a holographic figure of a showgirl with an indistinct face. She won't interact unless you ping me and ask for her. Will, Molly, Marie, Jack, Sebastian, Nick, Porthos, Maggie, all got a message inviting them for potluck and construction. Anyone else can have heard from them or have seen the 'excuse our dust' sign and stop by. Feel free; all are welcome. Tag Sabine with a note in the subject line; all other tags are top levels.]

Comments

[wgraham]

The feeling of Molly's magic pushing him gently was a new one, and Will wondered why she'd never used it before. Maybe she was worried what his reaction would be, though he'd only even felt excited and proud to see Molly put her true talents to work. At least when Winter wasn't involved.

"You better not be using your magic to cheat," Will warned, tossing a playful smile her direction and taking his own hammer to the wall. "Manual labor has never been in my job description."

[thewinterlady]

"I think both our job descriptions changed. Again." Molly laughed, hammering through a pristine section of wall. It was very satisfying. A week of stress and uncertainty and they both needed to let off some steam. "And I'm not cheating. This is all me." She said, striking a dramatic pose with her hammer.

[wgraham]

Will, as he had since the moment they met, lost himself for a moment as he looked at Molly. The situation with her was new and not like anything he'd ever experienced with anyone else; she was beautiful, and it wasn't that Will had never noticed attractive women before, but he'd never been so utterly drawn to anyone. He was attracted to her on a level that was beyond physical, which wasn't unusual considering their relationship, but it had been that was since their very first kiss, a moment that had sealed the deal for both of them, possibly forever.

"I'm not sure if you're standing there looking really sexy to distract me or not, but, for the record, I don't mind," he said, barely resisting the urge to drop his hammer and give up on this project entirely so he could take Molly back to his room with him.

[thewinterlady]

"I don't know what you're talking about, Mr Graham." Molly said, lifting her chin and turning back to her work, swaying her hips as she did. She and Will had never had an issue with mutual attraction and Molly could feel the desire starting to colour Wills thoughts. It was contagious and she found herself encouraging the feelings, sending her own back along their connection. They had work to do, but that didn't mean they couldn't mess around together while they did it.

[wgraham]

Will could have easily stood there all afternoon just watching Molly work, the muscles working under her clothes even as she used her magic. He could taste the flavor of it on his tongue, could feel Molly's attraction for him heating up the connection between them, and it would have been so easy to blow off this party, take Molly to his quarters and appreciate her in every way he knew how. But he knew Molly wanted to bond with people here, to make friends, and he wasn't going to take her away from that, no matter what he was feeling.

"I trust you know what I'd rather be doing with you right now," he said, his voice a low, husky whisper as he returned to work himself, taking the sledge hammer to the wall to Molly's right. It wasn't how he'd prefer to expend his excess energy, but it was much better to be here with Molly than trying to socialize with mostly strangers.

[thewinterlady]

Molly grinned at Will. "I know. Save some strength and we can spend the next two days doing just that." She said, swinging her hammer. It was a nice idea. They had already spent a few days just buried together, making sure they understood at least some of what was going on and reconnecting. She could definitely stand more of that.

[wgraham]

"Two days?" Will replied, turning a surprised smile on Molly. "I'd been planning to be happy with a few hours," he added, still smiling as he moved to pull down some loose cabling from the exposed ceiling. It wasn't as if Molly and Will hadn't had alone time since arriving here, hadn't spent time locked away, sorting out how they felt, how they planned to live, here in this new place. Will didn't feel starved of her, though he would never say no to the opportunity to spend more time lost in her.

"In the interest of behaving for the time being," he said then, offering another grin, "have you had any progress on the nannying front?"

[thewinterlady]

Molly appreciated the change of subject. Her magic was still flaring and dropping away in waves, though it was much steadier than it had been, and she didn't like the idea of having it respond to Will too aggressively in public.

"I have a message on my comms thing from that notice I posted on the community forum." She grinned at him. "I just have to figure out how to listen to it."

[wgraham]

Will could feel Molly's relief, and it calmed him too, making him able to put his desire for her in check until it was more appropriate and easier for them to resist (at least as long as they were in public). Picking up a crowbar, he began working on stripping some plastic panelling as they continued to chat.

"That's great news," he told her, tone serious as he tugged a length of stripping from the corner junction. "Hopefully it won't be too difficult to figure out how to listen to the message and respond," he went on. "Assuming it's an offer you're interested in taking up."

[thewinterlady]

"At this point, I'll look after baby Hitler if it'll pay well enough for us to get some new clothes and some more of those pastries." Molly smiled as she pulled out some old wiring and made a face as it pulled down a ton of dust with it. She coughed and spluttered and tried to blink it away. It wasn't shifting.

"Uh...little help??" She said, laughing and reaching for him.

[wgraham]

Will had already started to grin at Molly's joke, and he laughed easily and without restraint as Molly was dusted with debris from the ceiling above her. It looked like she was covered in powdered sugar, a fine layer of it coating her hair and her shoulders, frosting her eyelashes.

Taking her searching hand, Will pulled her close, smiling fondly at the joy on Molly's face, the happiness she was able to find wherever she went. He'd always considered himself lucky to have found her, but moments like this only served to remind him just how much she enriched his life, how much better he was for having her love, for loving her back.

"Close your eyes," he instructed softly as he brushed his palm over her hair, knocking the dust away gently. Once he'd done a reasonable job of tidying her hair, he used careful sweeps of his thumb to clear it from her eyelids and lashes, the bow of her upper lip. His touch lingered there, his fingers on her jaw, his thumb tip tracing the seam of her mouth, and all the restraint he'd mustered before fell apart, his mouth lowering to steal a kiss before he could stop himself.

[thewinterlady]

Molly gave up pretending she cared about the rest of the world as soon as Will's lips touched hers. She didn't bother opening her eyes, just put her arms around his shoulders and pressed up against him, sinking into the way he kissed her.

It'd always been this way since the first moment they kissed. The world fell away and left them alone, wrapped in eachother. Molly opened up and pulled Will closer, quiet noises of want escaping her. The kiss went hot and a little messy and the feedback loop of their emotions went smooth and dark with lust.

Pulling back a little, Molly smiled at him. "I think I'm going to have to apologise to Sabine for leaving early." She said, kissing him again and tossing her hammer aside. "We need to get back to our quarters."

[wgraham]

This kiss, like all of the kisses they shared, was warm and full of promise, and it carried the same spark as their first, all those many months ago in a completely other world. Will hadn't suspected that Molly would reel him in the way she did back then, and he didn't think it would happen again now, not when all of their intentions coming in had been to behave and be part of this event, at least for a few more hours. But at the kiss wound deeper, reaching beyond where they physically touched and into their bodies and souls, hearts starting to race in unison, Will knew their time here at this party was about to come to an end.

Will breathed deeply as Molly pulled back to speak, and he brushed his hand through her hair, smoothing it away from her face. "I promise I didn't kiss you just now to convince you to take me home," he assured, his eyes moving over her lovely face, gazing at her soft, damp lips and then following the curves and angles back up to meet her eyes. "But I'm not going to complain about getting to be alone with you either," he added with a heated smile. "I'm sure Sabine will understand."

[thewinterlady]

"She will." Molly said, throwing a little nudge of power out to Sabine so she'd notice them leaving.

Will was smiling at her in the way that always lit her up regardless of how long they'd been doing this and she couldn't help grinning back as she dragged him close for a kiss, then caught his hand to lead the way out of the kitchen. They'd be back in the morning to help Sabine again. For now their connection was talking more loudly than the urge to be social.

Molly found the nearest lift and backed into it as Will followed. "It's nice to feel the connection again properly." She said quietly, looping her arms around his shoulders and nosing in to kiss his cheek and up to his ear. "In quarantine...I couldn't feel you at all and now I just want to roll around all day in it." She added with a sly smile.

[wgraham]

Will nodded at Molly's words, feeling her energy pulling him along with her, running through the length of him, twining and looping through his body. The separation they'd gone through in quarantine had been like losing a part of themselves, the connection they'd grown accustomed to cut off savagely and completely. It hadn't been quite as dire for Will, the feeling of Molly gone from him but the rest of his psyche intact. Molly had been drained of all her powers, energy she'd carried around and relied on for years, and Will had been able to tell, even without feeling her emotions directly, that Molly was suffering in pain and panic without them.

It had take a while, but eventually Molly's powers had returned to their full strength, and with them the mental and emotional link between them. Will could feel each little tingle Molly sent toward him, hints of desire and love, a playful happiness that he'd missed when Molly was still coming back to herself completely. All he wanted in life was for Molly to be content and cared for, and feeling her joy suffused him with his own.

"Mm, that sounds really nice," he replied as he turned his head to nuzzle into her temple, feeling the wisps of her hair tickling his jaw. "I'm perfectly happy to just hold on to you and never let go."

[thewinterlady]

"Oh yeah?" Molly said, cheeky smile playing around her lips as the old elevator cruised up to their floor. "That'd make bathroom visits awkward but I'm game to try it if you are." She said, kissing him hard and letting her hands wander down his back and up under his shirt, trailing the length of his spine, running gently over the little bumps there.

This place was still weird and confusing but Will was real and warm and home and that was all she cared about. They'd manage the rest because they had to, but in the meantime they had eachother.

The elevator stopped and Molly groaned. "We should probably not start this here." She said, sliding a hand into the back of Wills pants, completely ignoring her own words.

[wgraham]

Will hummed low in the back of his throat, both of his hands slipping into the hollow of her lower back and then down over the firm curve of her backside. "I wonder if these elevators have stop buttons," he mused as he sucked a soft, wet kiss into the side of her throat. "Next time I'm in here without such a wonderful distraction I'll do some research."

Making a reluctant sound he pulled back, turning so he didn't have to disengage Molly's hand but could lead them both from the lift and into the corridor. It wasn't a long walk to their room, and he scanned them in quickly, turning again to catch Molly in his arms as soon as they'd crossed the threshold. His hands brushed up and down Molly's back, feeling the warmth of her, the shifting of her muscles beneath her skin.

"I love you," he said just before he ducked to kiss her, their lips meeting sweetly and shallowly. "Our lives together have been so strange and wonderful," he went on, pressing feather light kisses against her cheek. "But somehow it feels exactly right."

[thewinterlady]

Molly curled into Will and murmured. "I love you." She said, nuzzling in close and letting their connection broaden and encouraged it, wrapping him up in her magic.She felt the way he felt and smiled, the little reminders that they were in this together winding up the enthusiasm. Molly tugged at his shirt and got her hands on skin, thrilling a little more at the feel of him under her hands.

"Our lives are weird." She smiled, and found his lips, kissing him gently and letting it linger, tongues winding together.