Ari/Aspel - 2:30 AM
"I'm certain I will be asleep not five minutes after my head hits the pillow," Ari said, smiling up at her companion to show how little concern she felt about the matter. Truly, she rarely had trouble sleeping, unless something specific was bothering her or she was attempting to work through an issue. It was the waking up part that got her every time; mornings had been invented by some sadistic deity, surely. "I will remember that, in the event I ever need it," she said, giving Aspel a curious look at the mention of the healing magic. How many of her own injuries might she have healed, these last few months, for which she had instead requested Ari and her instrument? An interesting thing to contemplate, sometime later. "I am quite well, however, I promise you." The headaches aside, but surely she just needed a few full nights of sleep. She'd start tomorrow.
She ascended the stairs to her door ahead of Aspel, smiled up at the other woman at the gentle kiss on her fingers. "I've no doubt it will prove difficult to forget," she said. However, when Aspel dropped their joined hands and began to pull away, even as that little smile played across her features, Ari couldn't help herself. She gave Aspel a slightly exasperated look - it would read quite clearly as, really, this is your plan? - before setting the instrument case at her feet, disentangling her hand, and reaching out to grab Aspel by the lapels and pull her back, quite firmly. "And I suspect we can make a better memory to cap off the evening," she murmured, close enough to feel Aspel's breath on her lips. She felt her heartbeat flutter and speed in anticipation. She had been thinking about it for hours, as they smiled at each other over the crowd, as their bodies brushed on the dance floor, as they walked, hip to hip and arm in arm, thought the darkness. She had never been shy about taking the initiative. She gave another firm tug on the fabric of Aspel's jacket to bring their lips together hard, and a pointedly insistent bite on the other woman's lower lip to encourage her to participate.