Starring:
Summary: Too many kisses in the library.
Date It Happened: December 20, 2008
Love Potion Number Nine
North Hollywood Regional Library
The late afternoon finds the library bustling in that quiet, subdued manner of libraries. As the setting sun stretches long shadows from the shelves, people mill about, collecting books, or sit around reading them. There's a small group of schoolchildren working on a project in a back corner, periodically rowdy until a glare from the librarian silences them for awhile again.
Daisy sits not too far away, a few books out in front of her. She's flipping through one, pausing periodically to jot down notes on a yellow legal pad. It's hard to concentrate when the kids grow louder again, and she looks up from her reading to glance over at them.
Celestina enters, and the petite brunette starts to immediately make her way over towards the mythology books. It's been several days and she's gotten desperate enough to try checking out books that aren't hers, in hopes of a solution. Her path is bringing her near to Daisy, through the vagaries of fortune and luck.
Nadira comes in almost right behind Celestina, bundled up in a coat. Her path diverges a little from Celestina's, in that she's headed towards the fiction shelves. She smiles fondly at the kids off in the corner.
Daisy lets out a sigh as one of the kids tosses a rolled up ball of paper at another one, which starts a bit of a battle, complete with trying-and-failing-to-be-quiet giggles. She rolls her eyes, giving an indulgent grin at the antics, but resigns herself to not being able to concentrate until they're quiet again. Tucking her hair back behind her ears, she glances around the room, taking a look at the various people who have moved about while she's been concentrating. And then a ball of paper goes slightly off-course and beans her painlessly in the head before bouncing off.
The paper ball flying through the air draws Celestina's attention to Daisy for a moment…and that's the specific moment that she feels that curse flaring up. Oh no. Not now… She feels herself seized by the magic, and in that moment, she leans in and then makes a good, honest attempt to grab Daisy and plant a big kiss on her.
Nadira was amused by the kids, but that ended when the paper balls began to fly. She walks over to pick up and throw away the ball. Hopefully she'll remain outside kissing range, because the attempt has her frozen in shock.
"Oh! Um! Wha-?" is as far as Daisy manages to get in protest, not quite ready to defend herself against being randomly kissed when she's in the middle of being hit by balls of paper. There's definitely a squeak of protest as the kiss is planted though, and after a brief moment of flailing, Daisy tries to push herself free.
Celestina blushes a bright red as the kiss is broken. Oh, HELL. She looks back at Daisy. "Oh, god. I'm so sorry…" How in the heck does she explain this one. At the moment, she's not even trying, just looking a bit mortified.
Nadira asks, "Is everyone okay?" before bending down, grabbing the ball of paper and tossing it into the nearest wastebasket she can see. While no longer frozen, she still appears rather confused.
Daisy has gone rather red herself, especially when she notices they've drawn an audience. For a few moments, she just stares, wide eyed and gobsmacked, at the woman who just planted one on her. Nadira's question finally sinks in and she blinks a few times before slowly shaking her head. "Uh, yeah, I'm … okay?" She doesn't really mean for it to be a question, but there are so many questions right now, it comes out as one as well. "I just - I don't … understand… what just-" But she can't find the words to finish that thought, so she just continues staring at Celestina, edging back slightly in her chair.
Celestina looks back at Daisy, and then over to Nadira's question, and then back to, well, the just-kissed woman. "Sorry…I thought you were…somebody else?" Somehow, them thinking she's a lesbian seems like the easiest explanation.
Nadira blushes a bit at that, but relaxes. Apparently that explains enough for her to go on. She stays put, but looks around for something, probably the location of her favorite kind of book.
Daisy tries to summon up a little smile, but is still mostly looking dumbfounded. People in LA really are different. "Oh, I - I see," she replies, nodding a few times and seeming willing to take that as the explanation. "I … didn't realize I had a double running around," she adds with an uncertain smile, finally able to tear her gaze away and glance over at Nadira.
Celestina is just beet red. "I'm really, really sorry. I didn't mean to just walk by and kiss you; I don't do that sort of thing…" Except when she's cursed. "Not to say that somebody wouldn't walk by and kiss you, but I…I'm not helping this, am I?"
Nadira shakes her head. "Probably not," she says gently to Celestina. Then she says to Daisy, "Did I meet you in some terrible bar on the edge of south central L.A.? You sound a bit familiar."
Daisy clears her throat and then shakes her head again. "No, I'm pretty sure no one would walk by and kiss me. Which is … why the surprise," she replies with a little gesture at herself, finally recovering enough to give a little laugh. To Nadira, her eyebrows lift and then she nods with recognition. "That's right, yes. You were looking for directions, right? Looks like you managed to get out in one piece."
Celestina looks embarrassed, but backs away. Hopefully she can just get out of this before anything else embarassing happens. Jeez. SO need to find a counter for this spell…
Nadira says to Daisy, "Thanks to that nice man, I did. I've seen rough people before, but I don't need to see entire square miles of them. I am never, ever, ever taking that off-ramp again."
"Yeah, he does seem to be one of the good ones," Daisy agrees about Francis, her manner becoming easier now that the matter of the kiss is fading, along with the red in her cheeks. "You … want to sit?" she extends the offer to both of them, partly to reassure Celestina that there are no hard feelings, and partly just to be friendly.
Celestina looks back to Daisy. "Thanks, but really, I should get going. I—" And then she feels it welling up inside again. Oh, hell. Nononono…dammit. Seized again by magical compulsion, the woman steps up, and this time it's Nadira who she attempts to reach out and pull to a kiss.
Nadira really wasn't expecting it, so the kiss lands. The kiss gets to last three seconds before Nadira attempts to break off the kiss by pushing Celestina away. Nadira's trying to hold Celestina at arm's length, not knock her down or push her into something.
"Woah!" Daisy exclaims in surprise as Celestina is suddenly kissing the other woman. Okay, she could buy the cover story once, but it's hard to rationalize this one away. She opens her mouth to say something, but honestly just can't think of what to say.
Another bright red blush. There isn't an excuse she can fabricate here, and she knows it. She tries to turn and bolt, though if Nadira keeps hold of her, she's certainly not going anywhere.
Nadira lets Celestina go, saying, "What did you do, drink Love Potion Number Nine?"
"Wait!" Daisy calls out, immediately looking guilty for raising her voice in a library. No doubt, this group is being more disruptive than those kids. "Are you - Are you all right? What's going on?" Nadira gets a confused look as well.
There's no immediate answer forthcoming from the brunette. Right now, she's just trying to get clear before it happens AGAIN. She runs for the door, not caring that she's drawing more than a little attention. Running in heels isn't THAT fast, though, and she could be caught if pursued.
Nadira elects to answer Daisy instead of chase Celestina. "I have no idea," she says to Daisy. "She certainly didn't mistake me for anyone else. I was told Californians were friendly, but she's probably too friendly even for here. This is making me think of an old song."
Daisy watches Celestina go, looking like she's rather considering chasing after her. "I- Song?" Her brow furrows as she tries to figure out what song Nadira could be talking about. Then shaking it off, she goes on, "I don't know. It … didn't seem like she /meant/ to do it. I mean, if she wanted to be friendly, she wouldn't kiss and run."
Nadira nods. "Love Potion Number Nine doesn't give many choices," she says. After looking at the librarian to make certain she's not going to get kicked out within the next minute, she softly begins to sing:
"She led me to the kitchen and gave me a wink
"She said, 'I mix it up right here in the sink.'
"It smelled like turpentine and looked like India ink
"I held my nose. I closed my eyes. I took a drink.
"I didn't know if it was day or night
"I was kissing everyone in sight
"But when I kissed the cop at Thirty-fourth and Vine
"He took away my bottle of Love Potion Number Nine."
