Linna snuggled down into the comfort of the bed, feeling the lovely sensation of the silk sheets rubbing her body as she turned over in her sleepy state. 'Since when do I have silk sheets?' Linna soon found herself wondering. She opened her eyes a bit and peered around a large bedroom that, of course, she didn't recognize at all. 'Oh, hell,' Linna thought to herself wearily. She looked over and saw that the other side of the queen sized bed had a indentation showing it also had been slept in. With a frown she began to rack her brain, wondering which bar she had been drinking at the night before and who might have been there buying her drinks. Linna sat up in the bed, and noticed she was mostly naked, except for wearing a very sheer, light green nightie that she didn't recognize as being one of her own. As she prepared to get out of bed she was struck by the memory of the battle the night before, then, the whole evening's events came rushing back to her, including her very embarrassing collapse, later. She blushed, but relaxed a bit, thinking 'Guess I must be somewhere in the Silky Doll, then.' She looked around the bare room and wondered who's bedroom she was laying in. There wasn't anything to indicate the gender of the room's resident, and her eyes widened as she came to the obvious conclusion. "Mackie, you little pervert," Linna suddenly angrily growled under her breath as she sat straight up in bed. She quickly looked around the room to see where her clothes might be laying around. The thought of him gleefully stripping her naked and then putting her to bed, death would be far, far too good for him! "I heard that," a very amused female voice said. "Don't worry, your virtue's safe from him, at least," she continued, and Linna turned to see a broadly smiling Sylia walk in, carrying a food laden tray. She walked gracefully over to the bedside, the gossamer thin gown flowing around her, not really concealing the fact she was just wearing panties and bra underneath it. "This is your room?" Linna asked, sounding a little surprised. Of course, she had never actually seen the inside of Sylia's bedroom, but it wasn't what she had been expecting at all. She had thought Sylia would have gone for something a little more decadent, honestly, not this very spartan design. A unadorned desk, the bed, a small chair, a few bookcases and a closet were all that occupied the small room. "I though about putting you out on the couch, but with Mackie here...." Sylia just shrugged expressively, and grinned impishly down at Linna. Linna smiled back at her knowingly, and they both broke out laughing. "Thanks," Linna said, and suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable. "Uhm, were are my clothes?" Linna asked a smirking Sylia a bit desperately. Sylia sat on the bed beside Linna, offering the food tray. "I'll give them back after you eat," Sylia said firmly. "Can't have guests fainting from hunger." Linna sighed softly, as she remembered asgain her fainting spell last night. 'I wonder how long it'll take for me to live that one down?' she mused. She looked down at the eggs, bacon, toast and orange juice, all nicely arranged on the plate and, after she tried a bite, fairly well prepared. Sylia stretched out beside her and began to eat her own food neatly as Linna asked her between mouthfuls, "I didn't know you could cook." Sylia chuckles and points a finger at the plates, "This isn't all that terribly difficult." She had a little sip of her juice, "I hope you don't mind that I stayed here with you last night. I'm sure you're perceptive enough to know my sexuality, but I can assure you nothing untoward happened here last night..." she said it all totally deadpan, but as she finished the last part, a bit of red colored her cheeks. She looked down at her plate, unable to look at Linna. "I'm sure you were a perfect gentleman," Linna reassured her, and smiled shyly over at the faintly blushing Sylia. She grinned suddenly and chuckled as she added, "Nene still hasn't figured it out, by the way." Sylia looked over at her in surprise, a nearly eaten piece of toast hanging halfway in, and halfway out of her mouth. She chewed it up and swallowed, then she said crossly "What do I have to do, wear a pink triangle on my forehead?" The bedroom door opened a bit and Mackie stuck his head in the room to ask, "Sylia, the load of wash is dry. Where do you want me to put it?" His eyes grew wide as he saw Linna and Sylia lying on the bed in their nightgowns, eating their breakfast together so decadently and he instantly jumped to the totally wrong conclusion. His face turned beet red, a bit of blood tricked from his nose, and he fled, slamming the door shut behind him with undue haste. Linna and Sylia just sat there a moment in surprise, then they both shared a good long laugh over that. They finished up breakfast talking comfortably, and Linna realized Sylia had spoken more to her in the last few days than she had in all the years she had known her. "I'll go get your clothes from Mackie," Sylia said smiling. "You let him wash my stuff?" Linna said to her a bit dubiously. Sylia grinned and laughed, "Let the poor boy have a thrill." She looked Linna up and down and added, "You can keep the nightie if you want." She blushed a bit, "It looks good on you." With that, Sylia, too, all but fled. Linna watched her go, thoughtfully. Once she was dressed, she folded the green nightgown and carried it under her arm when she was met by Sylia at the door. "Thanks for taking such good care of me," Linna said, and felt strangely shy. "It was my pleasure," Sylia answered. "Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?" she suddenly blurted out. Linna smiled, glad that Sylia had asked. "Yes, please," she said happily. "Is seven o'clock all right with you?" Linna asked her. "Sure," Sylia said with a smile. "I'll see you at the Rose, at seven. It's a date, then," she said, and blushed as she realized what she had just said. Linna didn't correct her, just smiled and said "I'll see you then." Sylia stood in the shadows of the club, watching the woman in the blond wig loudly sing to the cheering crowd. She really didn't want to be here right now, but in some way she felt she had to. She owed Priss some explaination, and maybe this way Sylia could get some closure. Priss had taken the blond wig off and was toweling the sweat from her neck as Sylia walked into the disaster area of Priss' dressing room. She looked sourly over at Sylia, and Sylia found herself wondering how she ever could have felt any attraction to such a total mess. "What do you want?" Priss asked her sullenly. "To apologize," Sylia said to her calmly, crossing her arms in front of her in a reflexive move to self protection. Priss looked a little surprised as she answered, "For what? I know you've been a grouch lately, but that's no reason to apologize." Sylia looked over at Priss, and suddenly understood that the self centered rocker had simply not seen Sylia's state of distress over the past few weeks. Hadn't seen,. or she just hadn't cared. "I wanted to apologize, because I hired a private investigator to check on Sylvie," she said softly. "He inadvertantly took some photos of the two of you together." Priss just shrugged a bit at the mention of Sylvie. Then again, she hadn't talked about poor Anri's death with anyone, either. "What did you do with them?" Priss asked. She saw the blank look and elaborated, "The photos?" "I immediately destroyed both the photos and the negatives," Sylia said to her calmly. "I don't intend to hire that investigator again." She looked at this cool, detached woman, trying to see any sign of actual feeling and realized that except for her famous battle fury, Priss was almost dead inside. She just didn't seem to care. Sylia shivered a bit as Priss answered her, "That's all right, then." Her tone of voice was so cold! "Thanks for telling me," Priss finally said to Sylia as she picked up her duffel bag from the messy floor and prepared to go. Sylia watched her close the door behind her and felt as if a cloud had suddenly shifted, releasing the warmth of the sun's rays. She knew, now, that whatever she might have once felt for Priss Asagiri, it was in no way love. They were meeting for dinner again that evening, it was going to be their first 'planned' meal together, unlike their first few chance meetings. Linna had spent more than a few minutes looking through her closet searching for just the right thing to wear. There had been something in Sylia's eyes when she extended the invitation that made Linna wonder if this might be a real date, not just a dinner between friends. 'But do I want it to be a real date?' she mused, holding a dress up to her body as she gazed into the bedroom mirror. 'I've never been particularly interested in girls before,' she thought, 'so why this sudden attraction to Sylia?' And it was an real attraction, Linna realized. Even during that teary eyed dinner last week, Linna had felt drawn to Sylia, to the shockingly rare vulnerability shown by the normally iron willed leader of the Knight Sabers. And this morning, I don't think I've ever seen the joking, blushing Sylia before. 'I even think she was flirting with me a little bit!' Linna thought with a grin. 'Does she really trust me so much,' Linna wondered, 'to show me these other sides to her, or is it just because of whatever hurt her?' "Or whom ever," Linna suddenly said aloud. She frowned, Sylia's bad temper really dated back to when Priss... "Met Sylvie," she finished quietly. Had Sylia been in love with Priss all this time? It would certainly explain a lot. Linna shook her head, trying to dispell those thoughts. She looked up at the clock, and froze, thinking 'If I don't hurry, I'll be late!' She finally settled for a nice party dress, not too revealing, and some strange impulse made her pick her green one. Obviously, Sylia must like seeing her in that color, considering it was also the color of Linna's hardsuit. 'And,' she thought with a little blush, 'it was the color of that nightie she put me in.'
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