If you really, really wannakah/Have a happy, happy, happy, happy Hanukkah [OPEN]

[thegreatexperiment]

WHO: Samantha Moon
WHERE: Various parts of the Inn
WHEN: December 2-10
OPEN TO: ALL
WARNINGS: Standard language warnings for Sam; nudity and sexy in thread with Danny

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Sam had many talents, but tracking the lunar calendar wasn't necessarily one on her resume. Nevertheless, it was December and she decided that meant Hanukkah was on the way. Her second one in the fucking clown rodeo. Something like her fifth or sixth since dying. Which was just depressing as all hell. As if she needed something else depressing to weigh on her mind.

Last year, she'd cobbled together a menorah out of bolts and spare wires and broken bottle necks. It looked steampunk as hell, but when she managed to pull together enough candles to light the thing up, she had to admit, it was kind of cheery. It was about as out-of-place as they all were, trapped in this Skinner Box of doom, so in that sense, it was perfectly at home. So she lit it every night in the common area of the Inn, on the window ledge.

Ba-ruch A-tah Ado-nai
E-lo-he-nu Me-lech ha-olam
Something, something
Something
Soooomething
Something, something
Le-had-lik ner
Shel Cha-nu-kah.

Okay, so she didn't remember all the words. It was the thought that counted, right? Sure. Why not.

When she wasn't lighting the candles, she sometimes slipped into the kitchen. The year before, Erik had taught her a recipe for latkes. She remembered most of the basics and tried her hand at it a few times. Not that she could fucking eat any of them, but after the first couple of failed batches, they started to smell pretty amazing. And she left them out on a plate for anyone who came by.

And feeling particularly in the holiday spirit, she set herself up at her favorite table in the corner, with her box of colored pencils. She'd saved scraps of paper where she could, stealing napkins, starched fabric, and what remained of the book Jude had put together for her. On one of the napkins, she wrote "Free Portraits." Back home, she'd done some unofficial work as a police sketch artist. They didn't have photographs of the people they'd left behind. But she could do pretty good approximations. She'd hung up one of her sketches of Avery as an example.

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[thegreatexperiment]

Lying on the floor of the bathroom after, feeling any number of different kinds of tingly, Sam looked up and saw that the mirror over the sink had fogged up from the hot water. And possibly from the waves of heat roiling off of Danny's skin. It made her think of that scene from Titanic. When Kate and Leo got it on in the backseat of the car. As a kid, she hadn't really been able to put two and two together to figure out what was going on. It was a social aspect of life that alluded her.

It made her want to laugh, for some reason. But laughing meant moving. And she was far too content, tangled up with Danny on the floor.

She breathed in deep.

So. That was what it was like. When the guy didn't immediately lose interest in you.

Huh.

It took her a moment to realize that she'd said it out loud. "Huh."

[theimmortalweapon]

Danny was enjoying the afterglow and the intoxicating feeling of her skin against his as the rapid beat of his heart began to steady. He breathed slowly, his eyes closed as he held her. The water was still running and Danny was thinking they should turn it off, except that like Sam, he didn't want to get up.

"Mm?" He asked as he turned to look over at her.

"You okay?"

[thegreatexperiment]

It seemed like a weird 'after' thing to say, but Sam wasn't convinced she could have come up with much better. How was it that people had been boinking for thousands of years, but somehow managed to master the art of conversation?

She didn't have a clue.

"Of course," she said, turning to brush her lips against his forehead as she spoke. "I was just...this wasn't exactly something I saw coming."

Not tonight. Not necessarily ever again, to be brutally honest.

[theimmortalweapon]

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Do I need to plan this ahead of time in the future?" His tone was light, teasing and a little worried. Danny didn't really know what he was doing but he liked being close to Sam, she was comfortable, sweet and funny.

He smiled as her lips brushed against his.

Danny hadn't really seen it coming either but he wasn't all that upset about it.

[thegreatexperiment]

"I think planning this sort of thing kinda kills it," she said. At least according to what she knew from pop culture. "I just mean that..."

She faltered.

It was more than just sex in the bathroom she was talking about, anyway. It was this whole thing with Danny. A thing that she didn't know how to describe, a thing she couldn't really name. Maybe she was just building it up in her head too much. But it felt like a...thing. But the fact that Sam didn't even know what to call it bothered her. She was a scientist, after all. She liked classifying...things.

"...just, what I said last time, you know? About not knowing the rules."

[theimmortalweapon]

His arm tightened around Sam's shoulders while his fingers continued to stroke her shoulder. Danny wasn't good at defining things. He was impulsive at the best moments and only really thought about his actions after the fact. It was how he made many mistakes and likely how he would make many more. "I know." His voice was low and rough.

It was hard to think when they were naked and tangled together on the bathroom floor.

"I haven't really thought this through Sam." His voice was soft but carefully composed. It was the way that Danny got whenever he was trying to keep his emotions under control. "But I like being around you, touching you." He pressed his lips against the crest of her head.

"Is that okay?" Danny didn't want to stop and while every interaction might not end like this, he liked spending time with Sam. She was frustrating at times but lively, sarcastic and earnest. There were so many positive notes to her personality and appearance and Danny could never understand how she didn't see it if he could.

[thegreatexperiment]

"Of course it's okay," she assured him. If it weren't okay, she'd have kneed him in the nuts a long time back. Sam didn't always understand guys, but she knew how to deter them. No, she didn't want Danny to stop.

Probably wasn't about Danny, anyway. Just her own self doubts. If she was being completely honest.

But she held that thought back.

"I like you too," she added, in case there were any lingering doubts on his end of the conversation. "I like hanging with you. And touching you." She paused, then gestured to the bathroom floor. "And this is pretty awesome too, not going to lie." That sounded more Dude than she intended. But whatever. "But the thing is, I'm really, really good at screwing things up. Which is normally fine because I don't care. But the fact is that I kinda...care this time. You know?"

Was that too much? It felt like too much.

[theimmortalweapon]

Danny felt his heart leap in his chest. 'Of course its okay.' He felt like he could fly or dance or... something equally ridiculous. He shifted and turned so that he was cupping her cheek, his eyes staring into hers as if she was the only soul who could bring that glimmer to his misty green gaze.

"Me too."

He kissed her again, slower and deeper as he sought to imprint every part of her to memory. Danny had no idea how the future would go or if anything about this was a good idea but he wanted to give whatever it was a chance.

He lightly pressed their foreheads together and inhaled the sweetness of her skin. "I'm pretty good at screwing things up too." Maybe it'll negate each other... "Let's worry about that if it happens."

[thegreatexperiment]

Easier said than done. But she could only express her concerns so many times, to be met only with Danny's Zen. The definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. And the Ventrue were more prone to insanity than most Kindred.

She kissed him back, and nodded slightly, closing her eyes.

"Just...promise me something," she said. She knew it sounded heavy, but she hurried on before concern could wrinkle his brow. "Just promise you're not going to reveal suddenly that you're secretly my brother. Because the last date I went on...it didn't end well."

Although it had brought her just one step closer to being Luke Skywalker...

[theimmortalweapon]

"Mmm?" He hummed, his voice low and pleased as it rumbles through his chest.

Danny snorted. "I promise that we aren't related. I was an only child." Not counting the fact that they were from two different worlds. Danny really didn't think that was something that they had to worry about.

"Come on. Let's get dressed. We'll get cold if we lay here much longer."

[thegreatexperiment]

Really, Sam had been aware of how warm she felt. But whatever. She leaned over to cup her hand under the spray of the faucet, splashing water in Danny's face. It was, admittedly, a little cold. But that was what he got for his super-Danny-like reply to her little confession.

If he were any more Zen, she was going to have to keep checking him for a pulse.

"As you wish, Monkey Boy."

[theimmortalweapon]

"Hey!" He lifted a hand to guard himself from the splash of water and playfully pushed her in retaliation.

It took him a moment to grab his things and stand. He liked watching Sam and watched her get dress before pulling his robe back on. It was an easy on easy off kind of attire though Danny hadn't really noticed before now.

"Any other holiday traditions I should know about?"

[ooc: want to wrap this one up? I need to tag at the NYE party still.]

[thegreatexperiment]

Sam felt a little self conscious, the way he watched her. But she supposed there wasn't much she could do to hide the fact that she was thin and bony and awkward. So she did her best not to show it, even if she turned her shoulder slightly, every once in a while, in a gesture that was almost shy.

She tilted her head as she braided her hair up, giving him a little smirk.

"I think we've strayed pretty far from 'traditional.' Maybe we should just start making some new traditions."

[OOC: Sounds good!]

[theimmortalweapon]

"I'd be okay with that."

Danny pulled on his robe and when she was dressed, pull Sam against his frame. He kissed her again, slow and deep, before pulling away and stepping towards the door.

"I'll make sure that the coast is clear."

[ooc: sorry for the slow but I'm going to take the NYE party today.]