Nina Clarke: ᴍᴀʏᴏʀ, ᴀᴜsᴛɪɴ ᴛx & sʜʏ ʙʟᴏʙ (commonlaw) wrote in remains_rpg, @ 2015-11-19 18:31:00 |
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Entry tags: | # past / backstory, gemma wagner, nina clarke |
Who: Nina Clarke and Gemma Wagner
When: Backdated to October 2009
Where: The Biddle Law Library at the University of Pennsylvania
What: Nina gets much more than she originally bargained for.
The woman stood between two large rows of bookcases, fingers grazing spines before she found the right row of volumes. Well, the row she thought was right. She knelt down, bending her legs and following the spines with her brown eyes as she let her canvas backpack rest on the ground along with her small coffee and black winter coat. Red lips, curly chestnut hair, pink blouse with some stains on the sleeve from lunch, blue jeans with paint smears from her work with kids that morning. Lemon perfume that was supposed to actually be used on bedsheets. Gemma in a bottle. October was, without a doubt, Gemma Wagner's favorite month of the year. The air smelled crisper, long sleeve shirts were back in fashion, she could wear boots, and the library was always heated. Well, at least, the library over on the main campus was. The law library was chillier, but she could deal with it in the name of finding a particular book about the McMartin sexual abuse trial of… some year some years ago. That happened in some place. Look, Gemma was just happy she knew the topic of what she was looking for. However, she was swiftly distracted as a woman walked by. A beautiful woman, stunning actually. The library warmed up, as if the stranger was holding a balloon string with the shy winter sun on the other end, letting it float behind her clicking footsteps. Gemma stood up and grabbed her stuff, nearly spilling her coffee onto herself as she turned a corner to watch where Nina was going. When the woman settled, Gemma hesitated for about a split second before going for it. “Hey- I’m so sorry to bother you, but you look like a lawyer. I’m actually over at the psych school, so I’m not really sure where anything is. Do you know where the books on cases from the 80’s are kept? I’m looking for something on the McMartin preschool case.” Gemma gave a big, bright smile; hoping to outshine the sun hanging above a woman named Nina. Nina's couldn't help but look down at herself first, assessing herself for signs of lawyerdom and finding herself lacking, before she spoke up in response. The books she'd been searching for herself, intended for one of her upcoming essays, were pushed to the back of her mind as she took in the stranger before her. She found herself wishing, suddenly and fleetingly, that she too was at the psych school. "You must be pretty brave to venture in here," she said with a small smile, that Texas drawl still clinging to her words no matter how hard she tried to neutralize her speech. Gemma’s mind turned to Scarlet, and Annie Oakley, and whole lot of other Southern, fictional women. They couldn’t be nearly as pretty as the one before her. "It always takes too long to find what I need in here, 'helpful online look-up system' be damned." The law librarians kept their space clean, yes, but there was always a tiny bit of disorganization -- or perhaps it was a delay in actually doing their jobs -- that made it difficult to predict whether books would be where they were meant to be. The 80's, though, that was enough for Nina to at least turn the corner, glancing over her shoulder to make sure Gemma was following, and lead her over to the correct area. "The book you're looking for should be in this aisle." And then she spotted one that looked relatively helpful -- specifically about the case in question, too -- on the shelf. Nina sidestepped to place herself in front of its binding, a hint of a sly smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. Really, she should've been long gone, making a beeline towards that research she needed to do for herself. But there'd been something about that bright smile that made her stick around. She wanted to see it again. And Gemma wanted to give it again- she wanted to give the pretty girl another big grin. "It's a pretty complicated case," Nina added casually. "If you need any help parsing the legalese, I'd be happy to help." Cards on the table, Gemma didn’t need help. She was a bright girl, smart as a whip, and could follow legal terms. But she was ready to throw all that down a flight of stairs to spend more time with the woman she felt sure was flirting with her. “That would help a lot, actually. You can throw any psych term at me, even straight Latin, and I’m fine. But ask me to talk about habis corpus? No, not happening.” Nina opened her mouth to clarify that the term was 'habeas corpus,' then closed it as Gemma tucked some of her long brown hair behind an ear, reaching forward so that her arm grazed Nina’s shoulder and neck as she got the book. She could see the spine clearly, but her eyes flicked from volume to girl quickly, noss close and bodies almost touching. “I could use all the help I can get. I’m sure I can repay you.” Somewhere in the back of Gemma’s mind, she knew this was a cliche. Two girls meet at the library, they flirt, there’s physical tempting. Sex in the stacks. Porn music played on all speakers. But it was also real life, and as much as a daydreamer as Gemma was, she was in love with the reality of Nina’s breath on her neck. “I’m Gemma.” Nina couldn't look away from her, not when there were so many details on this woman's face that she had yet to notice and memorize: the tilt of her nose, the perfect arch of her eyebrows, the exact shade of brown of her eyes. She was certain she'd never forget the hue. Which was good, because Gemma had already replaced the information about her own face with the way Nina’s lips pinked as she smiled. It was already plainly obvious that this woman -- Gemma -- would be trouble, the kind of woman she couldn't overlook and ignore. And to top it all off, this wasn't the sort of thing she tended to do. The frequency at which she met new women and, even worse, let them charm her, was better described as 'never' rather than 'sometimes.' Still, she couldn't help but respond in kind. "I'm Nina." Her back was to the shelving and she leaned against it, unconsciously inviting her in closer, to fill up the space she'd left for her. "Maybe we can arrange a… study date, if you'd like to." A study date. Gemma could jam with that. She grinned wide, a slow movement that made the apples of her cheeks go rosy. “Oh, I’d love that. But how about we drop the ‘study’ and just make it a date?” Boldness was her middle name, and Gemma was about 90% sure that this woman was 100% into her. The way Nina looked at her, the way the woman’s voice had changed. The psych student had been openly gay since college, and she’d never bothered to think twice about flirting with a girl who seemed okay with that. Maybe it was a little aggressive, but if she’d been a man it would have been totally expected and wanted. Screw double standards, she wanted to see this woman blush for her. “Say, dinner? I know a neat little cantina near campus.” She rested her head in the palm of her hand, biting her lower lip for a moment and then releasing it. The urge to play with glasses hit her, and Gemma wished she wore some to play with and look extra-library-datable. Nina's first instinct was to ask why they'd drop the 'study' before a hypothesis formed in her head: this whole thing, the book hunting and the shelves, it'd all likely been some kind of ruse for them to talk. It was just a hunch, but the looks that Gemma was giving her were enough to make her feel confident, arguing that case. And damned lip biting, too -- her gaze dropped down to watch and as her eyes flickered back up to meet Gemma's again, she knew, instinctively, that she was already gone for her. "Dinner," she echoed, the single word sounding more like a promise to her ears than it ever had before. "When?" Nina had class the next day, a research paper due Friday, a quiz to prepare for -- it'd been threatened, not officially announced on the syllabus, but she was 92% certain it'd occur -- and then there was, of course, her term project, due in three months, to begin. If Gemma could peer into the mind of the woman before her and see all those stats and numbers, she’d laugh and lean in and pull some away and rearrange them into happier shapes and brighter ideas. Then again, though, what would be the harm in dinner? Nina had to eat, after all. In fact, she couldn't remember if she'd had lunch yet today. "You know, I'm actually hungry now, if you're free." It was both an offer and a test of that hypothesis she'd formed about their meeting here in the stacks. “I’m free,” Gemma said, scooping up the book and her things so they could check out and leave. And just like that, Nina set up two dueling entities that would face off in her head for years, until the pair eventually separated: Gemma Wagner versus the Duties of Nina Clarke. But there was an eager edge to Gemma's voice that was impossible to deny, that trembling energy inside of her spine and ribs that told her that yes, spending time asking this girl about home and pets and siblings and majors was worth it. All that small talk that went into a first date bored the hell out of Gemma, but when she framed it with Nina’s black hair, her warm eyes, and that smile Gemma thought she could have happily sat through the law student reading from the phonebook to her. She checked the books out and met Nina at the doors of the library, holding it open for the woman. “So, Nina,” she said, testing that name on her tongue. “How long have you been in Philly?” Small talk. Meaningless, harmless, but a first step. And for once, Gemma wanted to pay attention to where she put her feet. "I've been here since 2005." Four years wasn't that much time in the long run, but Nina liked to think that she'd done a lot of growing up ever since that eighteen year old had arrived in Philadelphia back then. This, though, walking down the street with this gorgeous woman by her side, felt like the most grown up decision she'd ever made. She couldn't stop herself from sneaking sideways glances at her all the while. Gemma noticed. It made her blush, from her cheeks to other spots. "What about you?" What an easy question, what a simple volley back. What a hard answer to give. “Military family,” Gemma said as a quick explanation- and usually she would have left it at that, but those warm brown eyes were inviting Gemma to open up more, to lean in and whisper all her secrets- where she’d grown up, how much she’d wanted to turn into a pretty doll and be left on a shelf to just watch the world pass her by during childhood, how she’d stolen cubes of brown sugar from a cafe next to her ballet studio as a child to keep the energy to go back in and keep dancing despite hating every second. “San Diego mostly,” she said. Oh, that felt easy. Too easy. So did dinner. Gemma looked at Nina, and suddenly she reached out- they were on the cool of the street, fall was picking up. She held on Nina’s hand and felt warmth soak in. “I hate first dates,” Gemma said. “The questions are always the same. And the answers are different, but they’re not as important as the deeper stuff. So let’s… fast forward. I’m Gemma, I grew up in a military family of the WASP-iest WASPs in all of the USA. My dad is a dick and my mom has issues. I have a truckload of siblings; I don’t really talk to them, other than one brother. Chaz. I’m studying to be a child psychologist because I did a shitton of partying and drugs when I was a teen. I want to help other kids. And most selfishly, I want to figure out why I went so off the rails. I’ve been out since under grad. You’re gorgeous. I leave my keys in the freezer five nights out of seven. I’m allergic to cats but I have one anyways, my pharmacist thinks I’m probably on meth with all the allergy meds I’m on. And I really want to kiss you, Nina who studies law.” "Do you?" It wasn't a question that needed asking; the woman's gaze was intent, almost beseeching, but Nina needed a barrier of time to take in the whirlwind that was Gemma Wagner. She'd barely had time to process the sensory overload of her hand in Gemma's before the onslaught of words that painted a blurry image of the woman before her that was sharpening into focus the more she looked into those brown eyes. It was all too much, too soon, but instead of sending Nina running in the opposite direction she held on tighter to Gemma's hand and tried to regain her ability to speak. "I think I wouldn't mind that," she said, forcing herself to speak with care. Her eyes dropped down again to the red of Gemma's lips. "But only if you still take me out to that cantina afterwards." “I can do that,” Gemma said. She put two fingers under Nina’s chin and leaned down to kiss the woman, her mouth pressing against her’s. It created a seal that Gemma didn’t want to break, a seal of a promise of what was to come. Hot summer days of laughter and winters of touching and talking under covers. She could see a long road ahead of them, full of potholes and speed bumps and tourist traps. But she wanted to grab this woman’s hand and run down that road with her at breakneck speed, damn the warning signs and suggestions. She wasn’t letting go. |