The Pulse

Abele figured the long riddle would confuse her a bit, but was rather surprised that she paid attention. He nodded at her thoughtful face, encouraging her to figure it out. As she pieced it together, a grin made it's way onto his face. He watched the realization hit her, and enjoyed the laughter that followed. "Ah, I knew you were the clever one," he mused, clapping softly at her intelligence. It really was impressive she got it; for not many could unless they paid attention, and didn't focus on everything as a whole. Usually the beginning of a riddle was the answer.

"Oh I have plenty. One of my band mates was a Riddle-Master at one point for a traveling circus. He's really good at making up hard ones, but I'm sure it would all be easy for you." He tilted his head, trying to think of another complicated one. "Ok . . . A man was found murdered on Sunday morning. His wife immediately called the police. The police questioned the wife and staff and got these alibis:
The Wife said she was sleeping.
The Cook was cooking breakfast.
The Gardener was picking vegetables.
The Maid was getting the mail.
The Butler was cleaning the closet.
The police instantly arrested the murdered. Who did it and how did they know?"

Absinthe laughed when he told her she was clever. "You're funny. I'm honestly not that clever." She put her hands behind her head and leaned back on the wall, listening to what he had to say now. Tons of riddles? She felt like she'd be occupied for the night. She listened to his new riddle, hoping she'd remember everything since the last one was long and gave her the answer in the beginning. She raised an eyebrow and listened to them all. "Sunday morning. Sleeping. Breakfast. Vegetables. Mail. Closet." She thought it over for a moment before laughing. "These aren't very hard riddles. There's no post on Sundays, it was the maid."

She glanced over to the guy again, watching him put his cigarette out as he walked inside and smiled over to her. She smiled back, blushing as she looked over to Abele. Maybe there would be a rumor going about that something was going on out here. She wondered when she should go and do her shift. It really hadn't been more than 15 or 20 minutes and she could take a break for up to an hour since the rave went on for so long.

"Now, hasn't anyone ever told you lying is wrong?" He tsked softly, reaching over and poking her forehead with his index finger. He was amused by her willing mind and quick wits. It actually amused him to some degree. He watched her once more figure the riddle, noticing she didn't call them really hard. "Well, for a smart girl like you," he cooed, leaning onto a different leg. He placed his hands on his slim hips, debating how long they had been outside fooling around with smoking and questions.

The bartender that smiled at Absinthe obviously had been listening in on their conversation for quite some time. He hoped the man wouldn't do anything--like spread rumors. He wasn't one for rumors, it made him crawl back into his shy-hole. He glanced down at Absinthe, seeing her blushing once more. He probably would never get use to that face. It made him smile, for someone actually found him tolerable, and in truth . . . He thought she was pretty attractive himself. He just didn't think he'd ever have the courage to do something about it.

Absinthe blushed a bit when he poked her, making her close her eyes for a moment and then rubbing her forehead where he poked it. She made a face and stuck her tongue out at him. "I don't know why you think I'm so smart and clever. I'm really not. I just think logically." She shrugged and put her arms back down. "Give me a real challenge. I like challenges and proving people wrong about things." She smirked a bit and looked at him. Stop being so attractive, damn... Her eyes went wide at her own thoughts, making her look away and looking around for her pack of cigarettes, only to realize she left them inside. She scowled and closed her eyes.

She was hating herself right at this moment. She wasn't like herself. Was this what she always heard about with girls not being themselves? She wouldn't know from experience. Twenty year old that had no idea about things that teenagers had all the knowledge on. Just lovely.

"Fuck logic," he laughed gently, leaning back slightly. He knew she was a smart person, she was just too embarrassed about it. He shifted his legs once more, moving easily as he observed her motions and such. She was really a front-kinda girl, but he didn't mind. There's a lot of things he didn't mind when it came to people who were nice about him. He noticed her wide eyes and rose a brow, seeming a bit concerned that she realized something bad or was shocked one way or another. But her craving for a challenge made him chuckle, nodding. "Alright. Here's one NO body gets. It seems simple, but really isn't." He thought exactly how the riddle went, then nodded when he realized he had it in mind. "You have three oranges in this stand. You take two away. How many do you have?" He grinned lazily, knowing which answer among many she would probably pick.

Though he wouldn't say anything, he could smell the emotions rolling off of her and sought confusion. It made him just as thought-filled as she seemed. He wondered himself way too much--and that is how he ended up knowing so many riddles. His bros always teased him with those, and he ended up being a more level-headed person because of it.

Absinthe laughed and put her head back when he said fuck logic. That was a new one. She purred out, thinking about the riddle he had just told her, trying to ignore her thoughts from before. She knew there was something to this since the obvious answer is one and he said everyone gets it wrong. She smirked. "Simple. You'd have two. You took two away from a stand, so the stand has one left and you have two." She smiled and pushed herself off the wall and walking forward a bit before turning around to look at him. "Come on now. You've gotta give me a real challenge." She kicked her legs a bit and then started pacing since she didn't have her cigarettes on her.

She stopped herself and looked back over at him, fidgeting with the tie on her skirt. "Unless you can't think of any real challenges for me." She smirked over at him and giggled, walking over to the wall that was next to the door and leaning on it, watching him from across the alley.

Abele licked his lips as he thought about her answer. True, she was on the ball, getting three riddles right in a row. She had to have a complex mind, because it's not often those are found out. He's come by too many that over look the important details. Especially that first one. He rubbed his chin, thinking of a more serious one. "Fine, fine. You softened my walls and now I have to give you a real one," he sighed, chuckling afterwards. This was was more of a bad pun, but it was a riddle. He thought over it, watching her move about.

She seemed rather antsy, and that made him tilt his head. He laughed lightly when she spoke of challenges. He guessed he could give her one of the actual hard ones he held up his sleeve. He set his back against the wall, starring right at her. "I'm a flower, but put two of me together, and I shoot up into the air. What flower am I?" He watched her with careful, sharp eyes. This one even Abele didn't get at first.

Absinthe listened to this closely since it seemed that he gave away the answers in this riddles usually. She narrowed her eyes at him as he stared at her and said the riddle, making her blush a bit. She kept her mind on track though and thought about all the different flowers in her head. Poppy. Sunflowers. Tulips. Roses. Pansies. There are far too many flowers out there... She started to glare at him without realizing as she thought it through. She wasn't really glaring at him, she was really just thinking and getting mad that she couldn't figure it out. "I feel like I should know this easily. I've looked up enough flowers in my studying." She bit her lip a bit, still glaring, but looking off into the distance as she thought.

She didn't want to give up, but she felt like they were going to be here for a while. She pouted a bit and crossed her arms as she let her eyes focus back on him. "Fine. You got me. I told you I'm not that clever on these things, you were just giving me easy ones before." She sighed a bit and tilted her head back to lean it on the wall, hoping the answer wasn't too obvious.

Now this one was definitely a giver. Not a giver in answers, but a giver in funny expressions. He was sure to keep an eye out for her expressions. He snickered softly at her heated stare, glancing aside and coughing into his fist to avoid laughing. He kept feeling her glare, but didn't turn back so he could keep his laughter at a calm rate. Her voice was charmingly spiteful, full of thoughts. It was something truly to wonder about.

Abele looked back at Absinthe, noticing her give up on the riddle. He shrugged his shoulders, seeing she was stumped. Though, he couldn't tease her. It made him feel guilty that she didn't think so highly of her intelligence, though he wasn't one to talk. He stepped over to her and gave a comforting smile. "No~ That was just the hardest of them all," he told her, looking her in the eye. "I never go easy unless advised." With that, he winked at her face and stepped back, letting her have her space. "I didn't even figure that one out when I was presented with it. It's a tricky one."

Absinthe watches as he moved, keeping her frustrated eyes on him. When he stepped closer to her she listened to what he had to say. She giggled and shrugged. "Well I told you to challenge me. So I'm glad you did." She smiled finally and watched as he stepped back again, pouting a bit that he got further away, not knowing why she did though. She nodded to him and tilted her head. "What's the answer? Don't tell me it's an obvious one." She stepped forward a bit, taking her lighter out and playing with the fire form it, staring down at it now.

It might have been time for her to go inside for her shift but that would mean making him go back inside with the maniac girls that were flirting with him. She wasn't sure if she was jealous of them doing that or not, or if she just felt bad for him that he had to get flirted with by them. She tilted her head down at her lighter as she thought about it all.

"Well, I aim to please," he replied to her, slipping his hands into his pockets as he watched her preform the natural pout of a woman. He only saw that a few times from her, so it was really a sort of surprise. He blushed a light pink, glancing away. "Well, not really. Only if you get the second part of the riddle can you really understand why it is what it is." He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "The answer is a rose." He watched her play with the lighter and found himself smiling as he took his hand and moved it over the flame, catching it onto his palm and letting the flame sit there, glowing brightly against his pale skin. Since his element was fire, and he was a dragon, he could control said element is he wished. With the flick of his wrist, he had a small amount of the flame resting on each tip of his fingers, just child's play in his flame-work.

Though, he did make the fire disappear, figuring it wouldn't be that impressive to Absinthe. He tended to goof off whenever fire was around, just because he could bend that element to his will.

Absinthe continued to play with her lighter until he told her the answer to it and put his hand out to the flame. She gasped quietly when his hand came into her sight and over the flame, watching him play with the flame. She smiled a bit, seeing that his element was fire. She smirked a bit, getting an idea. "I get it. A rose, arose." She said simply "I thought of roses. Guess I just didn't get the idea of it." She looked up a bit to his hands and watched the fire that was on his fingers.

She looked around now, seeing what electric things went on in the alley. There were just the lights that lit up alley way. She thought about how everything connected so she could figure out what to do with them all. She turned back to him now. "So your element is fire, hm?" She smirked again, stepping a bit closer to him. She quickly made the lights go out in the alley way, flicking her lighter back open.

"It really is just a silly pun. However; it manages to stump a lot of people," he murmured, watching the flame go with slightly saddened eyes. He missed behind able to just play with fire for a long time. He actually was a Fire-Dancer for awhile, twirling and doing other risky things while the bright flames accompanied him. It was really a passion of his--just like his music and art. Abele never realized how many hobbies he had.

Though Abele noticed the sudden bath of light, he didn't bother moving. They were closer than before, just a foot or so from bumping chests. He nodded his head, glancing down to the lighter. "Yeah. It comes with the whole Italian-dragon thing," he said nonchalantly, waving his hand as if it didn't matter much to him. Though, like mentioned several times, he was a prideful man of his culture and bloodline.

Absinthe tilted her head as she thought about it. "I guess it is just a pun, but's its a hard to understand pun." She looked up at him after the lights went off, smiling a bit under the light of her lighter. "You should show me some fire tricks sometime." She tilted her head and made the lights turn back on, closing her lighter as she looked up at him still. "I'm obvious an electric element. Odd for me since my heritage is Native Americans from Arizona." She stepped back a bit from him now. Was she flirting or just being silly? She couldn't tell anymore. "Ya know, I don't want to leave you to the crazy girls in there, but I'm pretty sure I need to go to my shift soon." She said quietly, not really wanting to stop talking with him.

Her smile was one of secrecy. He tried her understand her thoughts, but he came up short since he had no base to go on. Instead he listened to her talk about her element. Electricity. He rose his brows in surprise. "You're an electric type, hmm." He couldn't imagine her holding that element, but more like something gentle. "You wouldn't seem like the type--no offense." Especially with Native American heritage. That was a bit odd, but this day and age had several different mixes among creatures.

His body leaned back, eyebrows raised and eyes slightly widened. Was she jealous? Now that was adorable. He leaned over and gently pinched her cheek, giving her a wink. "Don't you worry, Absinthe," his voice was soft, low. "They don't catch my attention like you do." He didn't care if he just admitted his casual interest, but he could tell he needed to say it. Especially since Absinthe was shrinking before him.

Absinthe laughed and looked at him oddly. She didn't understand how she couldn't possibly look like an electric type. She wrote it all over herself with her neon colors and lighting bolts and electric waves. "Really? I feel like it's kind of obvious." She shrugged, still a bit confused on that. Ever since she was little she knew she could control electricity. It might have been since she was brought up differently than her parents with so much technology around her, though her brother was a fire type. Sometimes that did have an influence on things.

She blushed now a bit when he pinched her cheek, rubbing her cheek afterwards at the gesture. She giggled a bit. No one did that anymore, it amused her. When he told her that the girls inside didn't catch his attention like her she got even redder. She obviously hadn't noticed that what she said had two meanings to it. Yes, she was being a bit jealous, but at the same time she just didn't want him to get attacked by the girls. "Well, um... Good then." She hated stuttering. She turned around and walked over to the door and then turned to him. "Come on. I'll go do my shift now."

"Maybe if people judged others by what they looked like." he shrugged. He then realized she must of expressed her whole self through her clothes and not just her indifference. He shoved his hands into his pockets, thinking now that his own clothes tended to match his element. That was different. He now had plenty to think about whenever he had time. Did everyone, without realizing it, base their favorite colors on their elements? Their style? He shook his head and blinked,

Absinthe's red face could of made Abele chuckle. It was so bright and contrasted with her face so much. He thought maybe her cheeks would be hot enough to actually look something, but he didn't tease her. He thought she had enough of that for a bit. Though, sometimes he couldn't help it since he liked seeing her reactions. A bubble of laughter followed her stuttering reaction, especially when she turned away and headed for the door. His couldn't help but smile at her. "That's fine with me~ I'll probably toss back a few drinks before dealing with hormonal teenagers," he sighed, slipping his hands behind his head as he entered the place with her.

"Well people do tend to judge people that way, most of the time." She smiled a bit. She laughed at his comment about the teenagers, realizing that a lot of the people at her rave must be so much younger than them. She always forgot about that. She felt like she had been the same age since she was seventeen. She shook it off though. It was true that he was gonna be attacked by crazy girls again and she wasn't sure how she felt about that on many different levels.

She walked in and walked down to her bartender when she turned the corner to tell him to let Abele get any drinks he wanted on her and she'd pay up for them later. She walked back down and smiled at him. "Have fun with the crazy girls, I'll see you after my shift is done." She walked off and up the stage to take her shift as the songs changed so she could start off right away mixing music.

Abele shrugged, accepting his defeat. "I guess you're right." He felt rather energetic despite the fact he had been dancing quite a lot before. However; he wasn't that eager to go back to those girls that awaited him. It wasn't that they were weird, per say . . . He just wasn't use to them fawning over his cuteness or wanting to be his girlfriend. Well, actually, he was kinda use to it--he just hadn't heard it in awhile. Either way, he just couldn't pin-point a major reason, but they made him embarrassed.

When Absinthe left a bit ahead of him, he simply waited a moment and listened in, snorting past a chuckle when she said she would pay for the drinks. She was a lady, and despite her saying, he was sure he could convince the bartender to let him pay. He gave her a soft smile when she came back for a moment. "I think you'll see me the whole time~" He cooed that as she walked away, chuckling. Then, he decided to go over to a bar stool and settle down, speaking to the bartender that was smoking earlier.