<div class="floatleft">(https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/580be61f-5ecf-4ed3-92ab-9dd309c0b93a/db5mr8a-9d04a25e-2be3-4613-9f3b-92e1278b0aca.jpg/v1/fill/w_747,h_1070,q_70,strp/raven_quickie_005_by_exmile_db5mr8a-pre.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MTUwMCIsInBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzU4MGJlNjFmLTVlY2YtNGVkMy05MmFiLTlkZDMwOWMwYjkzYVwvZGI1bXI4YS05ZDA0YTI1ZS0yYmUzLTQ2MTMtOWYzYi05MmUxMjc4YjBhY2EuanBnIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTEwNDgifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6aW1hZ2Uub3BlcmF0aW9ucyJdfQ.41GMnxJRVG_Au3Uphn-75YzqGItkB7AjW4IMCIr2j7Y)</div><strong>NAME:</strong>Raven (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=309416.msg15031642#msg15031642)<br/><strong>WEARING:</strong>Borrowed workout clothes (https://www.bodybybrazil.com/media/morena/blackmagic-jumpsuit01.jpg)<br/><strong>DAY:</strong>Saturday, August 22nd, 2020<br/><strong>TIME:</strong>Early in the morning<br/><strong>LOCATION:</strong>Secret Sanctuary Training Room<br/><strong>CONTENT:</strong>Morning workout<br/><strong>TAGGING:</strong>Brion, Open<br/><br/>Brion easy chuckles at that.<strong>"Yes, of course. We all have tests and trials in our lives that define you. My feelings for Helena are ...well you're the empath. The fact that my willpower has been up to the task is a grand complement."</strong>he points out.<strong>"I'm sure I'm annoying to be around when she steps into the room."</strong>He continues to do sets as he watches fly around in defensive patterns.<br/><br/>"Yes, we certainly do," Raven agreed, thinking about her own "trials".  "Well, you do sort of project your feelings like you're trying to club her to death with them so... yeah."<br/><br/>He listens to that and nods. It was customary for a few royals, dependent upon their culture to marry 'untouched' or 'pure' and their parents went to great lengths to make sure they were all but alone.<strong>"And you show up here with people who have raging testosterone and estrogen as they discover the people who excite them both mentally and sexually. You've literally gone through the most profound culture shock. "</strong><br/><br/>"Exactly."  It was sort of exhausting to keep herself from experiencing every little emotion the rest of them experienced around one another, but she supposed she'd have to learn to deal with it.  "So far, though, you're not all<em>completely</em>intolerable."  One corner of her mouth lifted ever so slightly.  "Just slightly."<br/><br/>He smiles at her question.<strong>"I haven't told Helena that I have feelings for her for two year--ok I told her last night...just to use myself as an example. When we met, we had both just lost our parents. We were devastated emotionally. She had no one, I still had a few people in my life who helped me through it. In the weeks we spent together I began to admire her even through her pain, she showed me who she was and I had a feeling what she would one day be. Still, it was not the appropriate time to express these feelings until she processed and dealt with her loss. Then I never found a good time really. Just because I was feeling all these things didn't mean she was."</strong><br/><br/>It was honestly terrible that anyone had to suffer through tragedy like Brion and Helena had to deal with while growing up, and she had no real experience to compare it to, save perhaps one.  She wasn't going to talk about that, however, so she could only offer platitudes.  "I hope the two of you can be happy together.  You deserve to have that much at least."  She couldn't imagine how difficult it had been for them both.  "I never knew my father, and I was kept separated from my mother while I was growing up."  Her cheek twitched as she fought not to grimace.  "Things were... complicated."<br/><br/>He sighs at that.<strong>"Perhaps not. But when you honestly care about someone you take their feeling and their current situation into consideration. The idea of courtship and flirting is to alert someone to the fact that you are attracted to them. Its a social custom that allows them to either flirt back or refuse your advances in a way that hopefully doesn't create a lot of bad and hurt feelings. Imagine someone like Lor except make him more emotional and lower his self control approaching the person they desire and bluntly stating that 'I want to have recreational sex with you' or 'you would give me fine babies, we should get on that' or any of the other blunt things that one could say to another which is basically the truth but not smoothed out by social customs."</strong>He presents a scenario.<strong>"If the person sortofZod approached wasn't into tall and muscular and was equally blunt with him saying 'I think your invulnerable penis would kill me' or 'nope, just nope, nope nope...never going to happen move on there because I don't find you attractive'--sortofZod could become highly emotional and wreck this mountain with everyone in it."</strong><br/><br/>Raven's face twisted up at the mental image Brion gave her of said situation without any of the social customs of this planet to "smooth things over".  "That would be... bad."  Understatement of the century there, girl.<br/><br/><strong>"We dance around the subject in the attempt to either let people down gently because they haven't made some huge bold statement declaring their intentions and being turned down...which could lead to all kinds of us no longer being able to work together. Feelings are powerful and they don't necessarily follow any kind of logic. They're messy and complicated."</strong><br/><br/>"Hence why I was trained to control mine," Raven remarked without thinking about it.  "...that's a long story.  I'll tell you about it some other time."<br/><br/>He looks around.<strong>"This is a good start. I worked out a lot around Helena. Took a lot of cold showers too."</strong>he says.<strong>"The other thing you can do is actually... flirt with someone you're attracted to. If they feel the same way then well... kissing is a good start. Touch, dancing... just doing things together helps with the release of sexual energy and tension. Now personally, I'm a romantic and believe that you should actually like the person you're attracted to and they should like you. It leads to a deeper bond and a more fulfilling experience. But, there are many people who don't have the same ideas. You need to ask yourself the question of what you're looking for. Something slow and casual so you can ease into things, maybe something with a little more structure like courting and agreeing to being exclusive to each other.."</strong>he shrugs.<strong>"I'm not sure what you want. Only you'd know."</strong><br/><br/>"...yeah, that's not happening."  Her cheeks gained a dusting of color at the thought of even attempting to flirt.  "I'll be lucky to say hello without making a fool of myself, so no thanks."<br/><br/><hr/><br/><div class="floatleft">(https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-O6_UpVq2wl0/V8GAHgfWVII/AAAAAAAAA_o/FizZ_6jTLwYF6tYigWRLqFTvumPbuf7WwCLcB/s1600/Laura%2BMichelle%2BPrestin%2B8.jpg)</div><strong>NAME:</strong>Stargirl (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=309416.msg15042212#msg15042212)<br/><strong>DAY:</strong>Saturday, August 22nd, 2020<br/><strong>TIME:</strong>Early in the morning<br/><strong>LOCATION:</strong>Secret Sanctuary Kitchen<br/><strong>CONTENT:</strong>Breakfast, woo~!<br/><strong>TAGGING:</strong>Brion, Open<br/><strong>MOOD MUSIC:</strong>Breakfast Song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc-O3AD4xKE)<br/><br/>Brion snickers at that.<strong>"Well, you could help. There is usually all kinds of prep that you need to do. Individually its not so bad, you don't need timing to cut tomatoes or whisk eggs. You'd slowly acclimate and be able to watch me and the way I went about it certain things so there would be less pressure."</strong><br/><br/>"I can at least handle a knife," Courtney reasoned, figuring she'd help him with prep the next time he made a meal.  She also snagged a piece of pepperoni and shamelessly popped it into her mouth.  "So I'm not<em>completely</em>hopeless."<br/><br/>He laughs at that not even having to adjust gears in his head, this was new information about her but she could have also said I like custard.<strong>"Tell me about it. Never shower with a bunch of men after a soccer game..or any sport for that matter. They just 'boom' flash you and then you can't unsee them. It's like..turn around, look at the wall...and by God don't try to have a conversation with me while I'm ...washing myself."</strong><br/><br/>She couldn't help laughing at that mental image.  "I can't even imagine, but just try picturing that scenario while being gay."  She shook her head, remembering certain scenarios in high school.  "I hate communal showers, because I have to check myself every two seconds so I'm not staring at another woman's breasts while we're all trying to get clean."<br/><br/>He snorts again.<strong>"Yeah ...well I think you're...probably ok...maybe even good."</strong>he teases her.<br/><br/>"You really think so?"  She made a show of looking herself over.  "I'm<em>so</em>totally worried that one day I'll just, like, turn into a balloon, y'know?"<br/><br/>He nods as he gets her a plate of things that are ready.<strong>"Great, the JL have been doing things a certain way for years now. They have their well oiled machine and their patterns. As the next generation of heroes, we need to improve upon that."</strong><br/><br/>"I read ya loud and clear, man," Courtney assured him, accepting the plate and giving a hum of pleasure as she partook of his offering of culinary goodness.  "I'll have to look into who's tech savvy in the group, put our heads together and all that jazz."<br/><br/>He listened to her explanation of Cindy and puts it into his head to login their computer files and take a look at who this woman is and also to do the same for all the other heroes here at Mount Justice. He reaches out and squeezes her shoulder after wiping his hand on his apron.<strong>"That is a horrible situation all round."</strong>he says knowing what kind of toll that would take on him.<strong>"Promise to talk to me if you wake up with horrible dreams...or when you're feeling the weight of this upon you."</strong>They had to be here for each other and not just in the naked/sweaty sense.<br/><br/>"It's been awhile since I woke up in a cold sweat or whatever," Courtney told him, pausing in her intake of calories to offer him a smile to let him know she appreciated the gesture.  "Right after was the worst, y'know?  If it wasn't for my stepdad... I dunno.  Things improved between us after I learned he flew around in a giant mech suit at least."  She chuckled weakly, then cleared her throat.  "Anyway, no worries.  I'll be okay."