[color=gray][right][b][i]TIMESTAMP: AFTER “APONI AND HER HEART”[/i][/b][/right]
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[sub]A [@Venus] & [@BrutalBx] Collaboration
Featuring [color=7B68EE]Natalia Belmonte[/color] & [color=BB986B]Mitena Strongbow[/color][/sub]
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[indent][indent]Meeting Charlie’s friends was a lot.

In her correspondence with her half brother, Mitena had noticed that he had been fairly guarded to start with. He revealed very little of his life and the people in it outside of a superficial level. As time wore on and they grew closer, Charlie began to open up about a great number of things and a lot of his thoughts and feelings were very dark. It was obvious from the poison dripping from his words like blood from a knife that Charlie wasn’t okay. When Tena found out about his actions on the first day of his senior year, her heart broke into a million tiny stardust pieces. Could she have helped him? Should she have gone to Edenridge even though he was adamant she should never do that? 

It was too late either way. Charlie was gone.

Mixed in with Charlie’s deep resonate thoughts on the world and far too many quotes by authors she had never heard of, Tena found herself drawn in as the few joys in his life were revealed. The main one being his friends “the crew” he referred to them as. Jade, Mordechai and Penelope. And on this particular night under the bright lights of Aponi’s Heart, the native girl had come face to face with her big brother's best friends. 

Jade was everything that Charlie had described. Clad in black, angry at the world and with peroxide blonde hair, she was a badass wrapped in the body of a porn star. It was hot. Yet Tena could tell that there was a brokenness behind her smoke show eyes that any onlookers would rarely see. Charlie liked broken things. 

Mordechai was Charlie's best friend. Though towards the end of the letters she received they had sadly had some form of falling out, which resulted in a massive fight which he hadn’t gone into much detail about. But the Decky that she met at Aponi’s was a really sweet and kind guy. She wondered what could have caused the friction. 

Then there was Poppy-- [b]THE[/b] Poppy, the girl whom Charlie spoke about in every letter. Ethereal, almost ghost-like with sad emeralds for eyes, her skin as pure white as freshly fallen snow. The girl, it seemed obvious, that his heart belonged to. She reached out and Tena immediately felt like she had known her all of her life despite never meeting. She held Charlie’s heart in her hands. 

All of them were kind with their words, though they did not speak much beyond the intended conversation of warning Mitena about the menacing letters that they had been receiving. This gave her much food for thought. As far as she had been concerned prior to that night, Charlie was dead and buried and his legacy with him but now it seemed that like a poltergeist he was haunting and hurting the town that had failed him; even if it appeared like he didn’t actually want to.

Once she had finished her set, Tena had offered the quartet a place to stay at the farm but they declined, citing a prior relationship with Jadyn’s boyfriend ReyRey which was understandable. They were going to stay at Adora Diamondheart’s-- which was fine since Adora was a sweetie-- and had agreed to meet again in the morning before they left for Edenridge as a group. Tena had pulled Natalia aside, because out of everyone that had ventured to Blue Hill for her, she was the one that intrigued her the most. Mitena offered her privately a place to stay and the songstress couldn’t hide her surprise when Natalia agreed to stay with her for the night.

The Italian was also present in Charlie’s letters but unlike the other three, she became more fleshed out, more real, in Charlie’s heartbreaking manuscript. It seemed obvious in hindsight after meeting his friends that all of them were characters in the book that her brother had sent to her before he died. It was a heart-wrenching tale of love and loss, ghosts and evil but at its core it was the tale of a boy who loved intensely but was unable to form his feelings into words. The protagonist had deep affection for two girls, one of which as a reader, you’d assume he was meant to be with. This was Poppy. Natalia was the other girl in the book. She was the one that could’ve offered him something akin to normalcy. No drama. No pain. Just two kids learning and falling. She was the one he could’ve loved but never took that step.

Maybe she could take that step for him?

When Mitena had pulled her away from the group to unexpectedly invite her to her home, Natalia (having been caught off guard) had nervously blurted out her acceptance. It's not that she was a stranger to the whole one-night-stand business-- quite the opposite, in fact. With her charming demeanor and bold approach, Tal had persuaded males and females alike to become her fleeting companions for passionate nights in college. Things with Tena, however, were vastly different. Since her relationship with Kylee back in senior year, Tal had been the driving force behind every hookup she’d been involved with in college. But tonight, for the first time since Reagan, it was [i]she[/i] the one being actively pursued by a breathtakingly beautiful woman instead of the other way around. It was a change of pace from the norm she'd grown accustomed to, but a welcome one all the same. 

Natalia felt some of her previous hesitation being left behind as they sped through the dirt roads of the reservation on their way to Mitena’s place of dwelling. The other girl’s soft, flowery-scented hair had tickled her face as it flowed freely with the wind around them, and the feel of her full, femenine figure wrapped around her arms was stirring up feelings inside the Italian girl that she had thought were long since gone. She was curious about her, and even more curious about the possibilities of what could be. The nervousness of swimming in uncharted waters was still there, but the green-eyed girl’s curiosity trumped over everything else.

Tena felt magic and mystery in the air when the pair arrived outside the farm on her motorbike. With Natalia’s arms around her waist, she glanced back at her Stargirl and smiled. [color=BB986B]“We’re here.”[/color] 

[color=7B68EE]"Cool,"[/color] Natalia mumbled, letting go of Tena's waist, stepping off the bike and awaiting further guidance or instructions from her hostess. The two women had parked in front of what looked like a large barn standing tall in the middle of an even larger piece of land, with tall trees shielding them from the world outside. [color=7B68EE]"Is this, uh, is this your place?"[/color] she asked the native girl in an attempt to prevent any awkward silences that would only increase her nerves to settle between them. 

[color=BB986B]“It’s my Auntie’s.”[/color] Mitena looked around the dusty roads around the farmhouse and barn and could not see ReyRey’s Firebird anywhere, which meant that he and Jadyn were still thankfully in town causing whatever mischief they desired. [color=BB986B]“I’ve lived with her since I was young, since my mother passed. I also have two cousins who live here off and on too, Resi and Illara.”[/color] She hoped they were ok. Illara was sensitive and as much as Forrest doted on his younger sister, he was a wanderer by heart and it was easy for him to be sucked into an adventure so it wasn’t surprising when Illy would turn up at the farm to spend the night. [color=BB986B]“Jadyn is super cool. She got stuck with us all when she was really quite young herself, she’s a badass”[/color]

It was true. Once upon a time there were three Silverheel sisters: Dakota, Leah and Cheryl. Jadyn was the daughter of Cheryl-- so technically, she was actually Tena’s cousin, but the age gap and Native tradition created for her the identity of Auntie. She was only twenty one, still living with her mother when Mitena landed on their doorstep. In many ways, she never got the chance to finish growing up. She very much became a big sister to Tena. And when her mother died, she graduated from sister to mother, gaining two new charges in Resi and Illy when their father went to prison. Luckily, the Reservation always took care of their own, and Jadyn, Mitena and the kids were looked after by Chief Coldwind, the Summerhills and everyone else in the Rez.

Looking out across the open field, it was on nights like this that Blue Hill really was beautiful. The dusty dirt roads and luxurious green trees mixed with the dotted lights of the distant town were mesmerising, romantic and sad all at the same time. The ride between the longhouse and the family farm was not a long one by any means, but Tena had hoped that it would have lasted forever. The touch of Tal’s hands around her waist, her hot breath on the back of her neck… Great Spirit, this girl was driving her absolutely crazy. She had never felt like this before. Her heart was racing and she could barely breathe. What was Natalia doing to her?

[color=BB986B]”You wanna come inside, Stargirl?”[/color] Tena asked, reaching out her hand. [color=BB986B]“Or there’s some lovely spots around the farm that we could go sit under and watch the sky.”[/color]

Natalia looked up at the cloudless sky above them, peppered with diamond stars and a full moon that illuminated the sea of fields and trees around them. The sounds of nature could be heard all around them, and a comfortable breeze kissed the bare portions of her alabaster skin, balancing out the warmth of the summer. When you are blessed with  alluring surroundings like these and such lovely company, it would be a real shame to stay indoors and not take advantage of the offerings laid out right at your fingertips.

With her first smile of the night, the Belmonte girl linked her fingers with the hand Tena had extended towards her. [color=7B68EE]“You lead the way. I’ll follow you where we go.”[/color] 

With a soft receptive smile, Mitena secured their hands together and led Natalia towards the main farmhouse. If they were going to be spending some time outside they were going to need supplies. Avoiding her bedroom, which was by the front door, Tena first took Tal to the sitting room to grab a blanket. The farmhouse and indeed the ranch itself was very old and had been in the Silverheel family for generations: old wood panel walls and a great big stone fireplace-- it was a bastard to maintain but Spirit it was beautiful. This was followed by the kitchen for some snacks and beer, which she placed into a cute little picnic basket that her grandmother had made. The girls final stop was the den, where Mitena grabbed a single antique tobacco tin before leading Natalia out of the back door and into the fields.

Following a brief two minute walk, the young women found themselves on a small embankment towards the left of the property. Off in the distance, the sparkling lights of the Blue Hill Reservation danced like small embers on a crackling fire. Tena lay down the blanket and picnic basket before placing herself down on top of it and kicking off her shoes, placing her bare feet in the luscious green grass. [color=BB986B]“Sit down.”[/color] She smiled as she opened up her tin to pull out some roll ups. [color=BB986B]“You want some? Take off that knife-edge you’re carrying around with you.”[/color]

Natalia let out a small laugh. [color=7B68EE]"That obvious?"[/color] she asked Mitena, imitating the Native girl by removing her sneakers and taking a seat next to her on the blanket. It wasn't until she pointed it out that Tal noticed the tightness constricting her shoulder and neck muscles: a tell-tale sign of the nerves and stress she had been in recently. As in her head as she was about her home situation and the Charlie situation and now [i]this[/i] situation, Tal might not have noticed, but her hostess clearly did. [color=7B68EE]"I'm sorry. Without going into too much detail that would damper our night, I've been going through some shit lately, and tonight's actually the first time I've gone out since I came home from college over a month ago. I've never been here either so I guess the combination of everything has me all messed up."[/color]

[color=BB986B]“I feel you there,”[/color] Mitena took out a blunt and placed it between her painted lips. [color=BB986B]“Not every day you play a gig and end up meeting the two girls your dead mass murdering brother was madly in love with.”[/color] Sparking her lighter, the native singer lit up the joint. She took but a small drag before taking it out of her mouth and placing it in Natalia’s. [color=BB986B]“I’m sorry for the dark humour, it runs in the family, I guess.”[/color] [i]Stupid.Stupid.Stupid[/i] There she was with her dream girl and she was making bad jokes and shitty comments.

Mitena’s off-hand comment stunned Natalia into silence. It wasn’t the crude humor she had used-- God only knew Tal used it more than it was probably politically correct. No, what brought the Italian girl’s mind to a standstill was the implication that Charlie Decker’s feelings towards her went beyond complicitness and friendship-- that they could be in the same realm as the ones he felt for Poppy James.

There wasn’t much time to dwell on this, though, because Mitena had noticed her bewildered reaction and assumed it was her doing. [color=7B68EE]"No, no, it's fine!”[/color] Tal quickly consoled the other girl, trying to ensure Tena knew she had nothing to apologize for. [color=7B68EE]“Don't apologize. I don't mind dark humor at all."[/color] 

Tena moved her doe-like eyes to meet the pain-filled galaxies that had bewitched her the moment she saw them. She raised her hand slowly, it hovered for a moment before her fingers gently rested on a bare bit of skin on the Stargirl’s back that was not covered by Tal’s top. [color=BB986B]"Just relax. Tonight doesn’t have to be anything you don’t want. Just chill, feel the vibe. Tomorrow can come tomorrow.”[/color]

The Belmonte girl nodded and offered Tena a small, reassuring smile. It had been so long since she had been somewhat sober and actually wanting to live in the moment; but this was the perfect night to allow herself to do so. Although she didn't know her yet, Tal felt safe and at ease with Tena. It was… It was nice. [color=7B68EE]"Only if you promise that we'll talk about topics that aren't gloomy or depressing,"[/color] she said with a small laugh, mindlessly placing a hand on Tena's thigh. [color=7B68EE]"I'm over those for a while."[/color]

[color=BB986B]"Anything you want, I promise.”[/color] Mitena’s eyes fell upon Natalia’s hand on her thigh and she felt her cheeks flush slightly. This was insane, how connected and tethered she felt to this basic stranger that she met in a bar. Yet the feeling was almost indescribable. It was a shame she didn’t have her brother's talent for words because Tena could write sonnets and anthems about how Tal made her heart race.  Mitena’s fingers travelled up Natalia’s back, climbing up her spine until they reached her tense neck. Without really thinking, she began to massage her new friend. This was insane. 

[color=BB986B]"So,”[/color] Tena began. [color=BB986B]“Do you go to school? Forgive me if I’m assuming but you strike me as the college type.”[/color]

When she felt Mitena's touch softly trailing from her back to her neck, Natalia couldn't hold back her smirk and the knowing smile that followed. She knew [i]exactly[/i] what the other woman was doing with her soothing, stress-relieving massaging. Physical contact that progressively escalated into passionate, heated exchanges was a technique she'd used plenty of times herself, but one she was comfortable in engaging in all the same.

Focusing back on the present and not the rabbit hole of lust she was almost at the edge of slipping into, the Belmonte girl nodded. [color=7B68EE]"Finance and Business Administration major at UMass,"[/color] the woman replied, discreetly shifting closer to Mitena. This girl was very accurate in her assumptions-- proof of how perceptive she probably was. [color=7B68EE]"Got a full-ride volleyball scholarship for it, too. With the exception of one of my sisters who's a teacher, most of my family's been involved with running a business in one way or another, so I figured by the time I was finished with school there could be an opening for me. But even if there isn't, it's still a field of study that has plenty of opportunities, you know?"[/color] she elaborated. [color=7B68EE]"What about you? Forgive me if I'm assuming, but you strike me as the free spirit type,"[/color] Tal lightly teased, shooting Mitena a small smile and a wink.

Tena let out a little chuckle as Natalia echoed her own words. [i]Touche.[/i] She felt the girl shift closer to her and the songstress' fingers danced across her skin even more. [color=BB986B]"Yeah, nothing as exciting really,”[/color] She smiled. [color=BB986B]"We don’t have a high school here so I went to school in Salem. I did alright there, won a few trophies and medals for track and field. I loved to run. College was never really in the cards for me though. Never had any money and my auntie and the tribe needed me here.”[/color] Mitena’s eyes drifted across the skyline of trees against the moonlit backdrop as she reminisced. [color=BB986B]"But I get free beer when me and the band play Aponi’s so it’s all good,”[/color] She reached her hand higher up Tal’s back, caressing the bottom of her hair. [color=BB986B]"Family has to come first, right?”[/color]

[color=7B68EE]“Right,”[/color] Natalia agreed, though she couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt. Before her mother’s illness, any closeness she felt towards her family was limited to her parents-- especially towards her father. The age gaps, their many responsibilities and individual, unspoken struggles meant that she wasn’t close to her older sisters, while her relationship with Mira was fine at best. Tal’s most fractured connection had been with Danny, and thankfully they were already in the process of mending those cracks before it had been too late. In hindsight, she hated that it took shared suffering for her to lower her defenses enough in order to welcome her twin back into her life. All she could hope for was that the rest of her family would follow their lead, and that Silvia’s death wouldn’t tear them apart any more than some of them already were.

[color=7B68EE]“Family’s actually why I’m taking this upcoming semester off and staying home. My mother’s not doing very well--”[/color] Understatement of the year right there. [color=7B68EE]“--which I’m sure you can understand. Her health has been on the decline for some time now, so I wanted to be around for when the inevitable happens…”[/color] she trailed off, feeling the heaviness of her mother’s imminent passing settling heavy on her heart. 

Hearing about Natalia’s mother brought Mitena back ten years and her own mothers final days. Everybody on the reservation loved her. Despite her apparent terrible taste in men, a Silverheel woman’s curse, Dakota was a kind hearted soul. She was a nurse and spent her days caring for the sick and the elderly. It was a true shame that when it was time to take care of her, what could be done would never be enough. Mitena missed her, everyday. Jadyn and Chief and everyone around her had done wonders to raise her and bring her up to be what she hoped was a good woman but that didn’t change the fact that sometimes a little girl just wants to be with her Mom.

[color=BB986B]"I’m sorry to hear about your Mom, I lost mine a few years ago.”[/color] Mitena shook away her sadness and tried to reinforce the positivity that Natalia very obviously needed in her life. [color=BB986B]"If you ever need to talk about how you’re feeling, I’m here.”[/color] Tena had lost a whole lot in her life, so much loss, but she always powered through. Even if nothing ever came of this chance meeting with the Italian girl, she would at least know she offered what she could to take some of the sadness away.

[color=7B68EE]“I’m really sorry for your loss. And thank you, truly. I’ll be sure to keep that in mind,”[/color] Tal responded, taking Mitena’s free hand in hers and squeezing it for a moment in a display of gratefulness. In the spirit of moving away from depressing conversation and focusing on enjoying the opportunities of the present, however, Natalia added, [color=7B68EE]“I plan to go back for the winter-spring semester, though, if everything has settled by then. I’m not the kind of person that leaves things halfway finished. If I start something, I have to see it through. A Belmonte never quits and never gives up-- that’s what my Pappa says.”[/color]

Snapping away from dark thoughts, Tena grinned. [color=BB986B]"Well I’m happy you always see things through; means this night doesn’t need to end just yet!”[/color] The native girl pushed a strand of Natalia’s hair away from her face so she could see more of her before returning her hand to the girl's back. [color=BB986B]"How are you finding it here? Bit of a change of pace from town, right?”[/color]

[color=7B68EE]“In the best way,”[/color] Tal confirmed with a laugh. [color=7B68EE]“I love Edenridge, but living there can feel suffocating at times. Getting the chance to go somewhere else to breathe is always a good thing.”[/color] She briefly explained, allowing her fingers to begin grazing the soft skin of Mitena’s outer thigh. [color=7B68EE]“What about you? What’s it like growing up in a place like this?”[/color]

Tena’s eyes fell upon Natalia’s touch on her thigh and she let out a shallow breath. She had to stay calm. What on Earth was this girl doing to her? She edged even more close to the offcomer and took a minute to compose herself. She stared at the girl for a little while, just lost in every contour, every small freckle. God she was beautiful. [color=BB986B]"It’s probably a lot different to what you’re used to. It’s quiet. Not a great deal happens that’s noteworthy which can be a bit boring.”[/color] She nodded as she glanced at the picnic basket that neither had touched because they were so lost in their conversation. [color=BB986B]"So when we get visitors like you and your friends, it’s very exciting. And not every visitor looks like you do…”[/color]

[color=7B68EE]“I bet you say that to all the girls you bring back here,”[/color] Natalia teased her with a chuckle, making sure Tena knew she was just joking with her by smiling at her. [color=7B68EE]“A gorgeous girl like you probably has a whole line of interested people from here all the way back to Edenridge. Makes me think about how many of them I’ll have to fight to get a chance with you.”[/color]

[color=BB986B]"Oh sweetie,”[/color] Tena let out a giggle. Natalia’s smile and laugh were infectious. [color=BB986B]"You’d be surprised how many people I had to fight off back at the Longhouse just to get into that bathroom to meet you.”[/color] Although it was mostly a line, it was also true. Mitena knew that once some of her fellow Blue Hillers caught sight of Tal’ perfect perfectness, they would be on her like a rash. She could only thank the Spirit that she got there first, because even though their moments together had been brief, Tena felt like she had known Natalia all her life. [color=BB986B]"Though the thought of you fighting? Kinda hot.”[/color]

[color=7B68EE]“I’d be an idiot to waste my opportunities by letting someone else take them.”[/color] The Belmonte girl laughed again, this time shifting her touch from Tena’s thigh up to her arm and shoulder, playing with the fabric of her sleeveless dress. How nobody had snatched up someone as gorgeous as Mitena didn’t make sense to Tal, but she sure was grateful for it. [color=7B68EE]“Once you asked me to come back here with you, even if I was fucking nervous in the beginning, I knew this was a chance I couldn’t say no to. I’m sure you’ve probably heard this before, but I swear to you I mean every word when I say you’re the most beautiful, captivating girl I’ve ever met in my life. And I don’t know how you feel about it or where you stand on things, but I really hope this isn’t the only moment we ever spend together.”[/color]

Tena was almost speechless. To hear those words from Natalia made her heart begin to pound against her chest. How could this even be real? They hadn’t even met but a few hours ago and now they were camped out under the stars and feeling something that neither had ever felt before. [color=BB986B]"If it’s up to me, this moment will simply be the first of a million.”[/color] She began. [color=BB986B]"The second I saw you from that stage, the very second I looked into your eyes; Stargirl, I knew that I had to-- I just [i]had[/i] to speak to you. To know you. You absolutely stole my breath away from me. Even now my heart is beating faster than Odina on drums and trust me she beats. Life is strange and fickle. It gives and it takes away. Tonight, it gave me you and I’ll be damned if it tries to take you away.”[/color]

[color=7B68EE]“Then I guess you better give me a damn good reason to stay…”[/color] Natalia muttered, letting the implications of her words amplify the tension between them as she moved to caress Mitena’s face, allowing her own to slowly inch closer to that of the gorgeous woman beside her. 

Was she saying what she thought she was saying? At this point it didn’t matter either way because Tena had made her mind up about what happened next between her and the Italian beauty. Her fingers reached up and took a hold of Natalia’s gorgeous dark hair whilst her other hand came up to cup the beauty's flawless face. Without another second wasted, Mitena brought her lips to Tal’s and felt a volcano burst around the two of them. Tena's brown dress was soon accompanied by Natalia's own clothing items in a pile atop the forgotten picnic basket as the girls passionately lost themselves in each other-- gentle hands and lips exploring soft, bare, alabaster and caramel skins. Tena could not fathom with her now furiously busy mind what was happening. But the only thing she could see was Natalia. The only thing she could feel was Natalia. Finally breaking their kiss, the native girl pressed her forehead against Tal’s. Breathless and now addicted, she opened up her eyes to look into the other girl’s. 

She had never believed in love at first sight but this girl was making a very compelling argument to the songstress. Tal’s demeanour and energy had changed to match what Tena was feeling. Any vibe of awkwardness and hesitation was gone, replaced by raw magnetism. Something was drawing the indigenous woman to the Edenridge girl. If her older brother Charlie was right and Natalia did indeed have galaxies in her eyes, then Mitena was desperate to become a space explorer.

[color=BB986B]"Stay with me, Stargirl.”[/color]

Drinking in the sight of this beautiful woman hovering over her, seemingly sparkling under the glow of the moonlight like the rarest of gems, Natalia mulled over everything that had just happened to her in the span of over twelve hours. At the beginning of this day, she had been in the middle of a depressive episode, explaining to her father the reasons why it was best she leave the States to settle in Italy over some bagels in her kitchen island. She talked about having nothing going for her in this country, and how a clean slate somewhere else would be her only real option to thrive. Fast forward to a few hours, and here she was: staring right at what could be her one reason to never leave. It was a scary thought, allowing someone you just met to hold such power over you. But she had nothing to lose, and everything to gain. So instead of concerning herself with what came next, she did just as her father told her to: [color=887b6e][i]live, girl. Live now. We’ll worry about the future later.[/i][/color]

[color=7B68EE]"For as long as you want me to,”[/color] the girl finally answered breathlessly, tangling her fingers in the native girl’s luscious locks of black hair and pulling her into a heated, passionate kiss.

And under a cloudless night sky, with the moon and the stars as their only witnesses, Natalia and Mitena abandoned themselves into the heated throes of passion.[/indent][/indent][/color]