Infected, Intoxicated, Corrupt (Meredith)

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Seth Lorenz Rosa had been awake for an hour or so, and was currently prowling around the hallways. He wasn't walking, the entire demeanor was wrong for that. With his silent footsteps, his presence easily felt, and highly stiffing, it was no wonder that the crowds were parting ways like water before his path. Although that could've also been in part due to the smile that managed to cross his lips every now and then for no apparent reason, or the light vapor cloud that was issuing from his mouth. And what a recent development that was by the way, the capability to manipulate the very air with little to no trouble was something he just woke up with tonight, although he had a small idea of where the ability came from.

While it would be impossible for Seth to say where or what that black fog was that was currently residing in his body, he was more than aware of it's presence, able to feel the energies that it contained, and to a lesser extent manipulated him with. But! All connections can work two ways, and while it took most of the night, despite making no headway in removing the life essence he had managed to draw on it's powers, and thus his sudden increase in ability to manipulate air as a whole. Even better though, was that his transmutations were virtually free, as Seth siphoned the usual costs of his actions onto the parasitic energies currently attached to him.

Unbeknown to Seth though, this sudden embracement of what was obviously a cancerous source was further corrupting his morals and cognitive skills quite thoroughly. Before he would've been questioning why he was even considering to follow the orders of some madman, who was obviously delusional as to the eventual outcome. Now though, Pffft, Seth could care less about such petty concerns. He still believed that there would be only one fate for Kazuma, but figured there'd be no harm in playing his selected role. Thus kidnapping, he needed to find victims, prey, but this crowd didn't interest him. He wanted something, someone special to prey upon. That grin almost came back again, as Seth licked his lips quickly.

He was being consumed by his primal desires. Pain, Pleasure, those are what drove most of his actions now, but he was patient, and could wait for the best candidate, despite the fact that that blonde that just passed by would be worth the reconsideration.

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There was something different today about Meredith. For one, she wasn't slouching. Her eyes weren't downcast, and her arms weren't crossed. For once, as she walked, she looked forward and smiled contently. Today, she was a little bit proud to be Meredith Jade Monroe, someone who Seth Rosa called a friend. She knew it was silly to be so happy over one encounter. The well-known prefect commander probably had warm conversations with people all the time, so their lunch together probably meant nothing. But of course, Meredith was a girl with a crush, so one pleasant half-hour was enough to have the girl smiling like a goofball all the way down the hall.

A gift from the reason for her stupid smiling was hanging on a silver chain, replacing the silver cross that used to be permanently around her neck. Using a drill from the wood shop classroom, she had drilled a small hole through the passion-cut jade for the chain. Even though it didn't seem like a huge effort to make the stone, it was a kind gesture, so Meredith was the type of person who would make sure she showed her appreciation to the world! Actually, she was still slightly too shy for that, so at the moment, the gem was tucked inside the undershirt of her school uniform. Still, she knew it was there, so she smiled pridefully.

Speak of the Devil. As Meredith rounded a corner, with her eyes not locked on the floor between her feet, she saw Seth himself and noticed that there was something different about Seth as well, only his change wasn't as positive as Mer's. His walk was different. It seemed determined rather than absent-minded. Was she crazy, or did his grin seem a bit maniacal? Then again, that didn't seem as unusual as the vapor coming out of his mouth. It wasn't that cold, was it?

Although she wanted to approach him, Meredith's shyness, which had been building for eighteen years, won over her new-found glee. She couldn't seem to muster up what little guts it took to walk up to the prefect and say hi. In her defense, apparently crowds parted for Seth, so he wasn't just any guy, but still, Meredith's awkwardness was slightly pathetic.

Instead of saying hi and asking him if something was wrong, Meredith stared creepily at Seth and walked slowly, hoping that he would notice her and initiate a greeting instead.

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Seth's eyes caught a flash of red in the small crowd of students along the sides of his path, he paused momentarily, to recognize the fact that it was indeed Meredith, and she had defiantly noticed him. His hands twitched towards the back of his belt, desiring to pull on the hidden handle and enact some action, but the crowds and Meredith's intense stare got him thinking another way.

This was his friend, this girl was important to him, and she was acting hesitant, shy, like prey. Unable to control it, the grin came back, stretching wider than it had before, before he managed to turn it into a full smile and walked over to the girl. Personal space didn't seem that important at the moment. He wanted this girl to be close to him, to provide constant support, and standing a few feet away, giving her personal space seemed rather pointless. Thus Seth didn't even bother to consider it.

Flowing through the crowd, Seth ended up right in front of Meredith, pulling her closer to him, as his hands rested on her hips, bringing her body closer until they were mere inches from pressing against one another. "Hey~!" Seth stated, looking down into Meredith's eyes, before his own wandered to take in the view of her necklace, and the familiar lump it caused in her shirt. So she had kept the jewel, interesting. Running one hand higher up the side of her body, Seth grinned. "Fancy meeting you here."

Throughout all of this, the constant stream of smoke didn't cease in it's existence, rather growing thicker as Seth embarrassed the desires that Kazuma's corruption brought out. His eyes were dilated slightly from the situation, and his breathing a bit heavier than what would be considered usual for the boy. "You know, I've never been too fond of this dye job." He stated almost offhandedly. The hand that had been rising along her body, raised higher and ran through her hair, pulling out the various chemicals that had been infused into the hair, revealing the previous light brown hair that they had hid. It was only a small portion of the girl's hair that had suffered the effect, the small amount that had touched his hand actually.

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Although Meredith's thoughts prior to the moment were something along the lines of Notice me, please notice me, as soon as the young man's eyes met hers, Meredith was in between swooning and hiding. His odd momentary hesitation left her more than enough time to consider every possibility of what was going through his mind. Maybe he was happy to see her. Maybe not. Maybe he wanted to avoid her. Maybe he was hoping she wouldn't approach him. Maybe he was waiting for her to approach him and thought she was rude and weird for simply staring. Maybe he wasn't thinking anything at all. Maybe she was stressing over nothing. All of these thoughts raced across her mind in the few seconds before Seth smiled widely and melted them away, and Meredith decided upon swooning rather than hiding.

As the current guy of her dreams walked towards her, Meredith was somewhere in between elation and panic. He did want to see her! But what was she going to say? The calmness that Seth had instilled in her days before, it turned out, was not a permanent, irreversible effect. What if she was too excited? What if she looked too bored?

"Mmf!" Meredith squeaked loudly, taken by surprise as Seth pulled her toward his body and said "hey." All the physical contact startled Mer, but not as much as it would have if she weren't too busy focusing intently on "hey." How did cool kids respond to "hey?" Meredith was slightly tempted to say "please hold" in a robotic voice and then Google social etiquette on her phone. Research fixed everything. Why wasn't she prepared for this?! And how was she supposed to focus on an answer when Seth's face was inches from hers, making her wonder for a split second if he was going to kiss her. She looked up at his eyes, blinked a few times, and wondered if he could feel her heart beating like a drum in her chest.

"Hey," was Meredith's final answer, accompanied by a bashful smile. It seemed like a safe enough choice. Then she realized that it didn't really matter what she said, since Seth wasn't making eye contact with her anyway, giving the impression that he wasn't completely listening. This confused her, so she followed his eyes downward and realized that he was looking at the lump in the middle of her chest made by her necklace. This made her blush faintly, as she wasn't sure if he would think she was silly for being so attached to his little gift.

Every hair on Meredith's body seemed to stand up as Seth's hand trailed up her side. Having no experience with this, not knowing what it meant, Meredith finally decided to simply enjoy the new affection. This was what she wanted, right? Attention from Seth? Wait. That was it. This was Seth! The sweetest person she had met in the whole school. The person who remembered her middle name. The guy that squeezed her hand when he realized her anxiety at the mention of the Battle Front. He couldn't possibly have any bad intentions Though the anxiety didn't disappear completely, Meredith's body untensed for the most part. She smiled.

Meredith chuckled nervously at the mention of her dyed hair. She wasn't too offended. Subconsciously, Meredith didn't care for red; it had only been an attempt to separate herself from Reese, stop being her sister's awkward look-alike. But if Seth Rosa didn't like red hair, she'd bleach the dye out, first chance she got. Too late. He did it for her. Meredith looked down at the brown strip of her hair.

"Whoa." Her voice expressed both her surprise and the fact that Seth's power still impressed her. "You can do the rest if you want," she offered out, then remembered that Seth didn't like too many people witnessing his abilities. "You know, in private," she blurted out.

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The noise of surprise that escaped from Meredith's lips as Seth managed to grasp onto her warm body with his hands was quite thrilling. It reminded him of the situation, that he currently had his prey within his grasp, his toy firmly in his clutches. At a whim, he could end this moment and bring the girl to Kazuma as dictated by the will, but yet, that'd be boring, wasteful even. This was a prime opportunity to enjoy himself, with this lovely little specimen ensnared in his clutches.

His mirth at the situation almost turned into full out laughter. Surprisingly, or rather not very, being this close to another person, made certain things more than obvious. Feeling the light tension, the small reservation with with Meredith remained in his clutches was thrilling, almost intoxicating in the amount of power Seth felt he had in this situation, but when she seemed to calm down, and relax in his grip. He actually let out a low his at that, thrilled beyond belief at the fact that she was subjecting herself to his actions, trusting his judgement in the situation.

The distant muttering of the people walking around was starting to be more obvious, as they stood there, so close to each other. It was defiantly the type of thing to start rumors, but Seth didn't worry about that, not when Meredith actually offered to find a secluded area to get away from the crowds. He couldn't help the grin this time as he led Meredith, holding onto her hips still, into a classroom door very close to where the two had stopped in the hall.

Luckily the room was vacant, not that it mattered too much to Seth. His hands had never left Meredith's body though, and now, with just the two of them alone, he let out a low chuckle, before lowering his face closer to her own, resting his forehead against hers, and breathing softly on her lips. His eyes were closed in a faux attempt to pretending to concentrate as his hands ran through her hair, separating the chemicals from the hair. A quite easy process, as the dyes didn't have the same protections that Meredith's actual hair did, and thus making it easier to manipulate the one without damaging the other. That wasn't the focus of Seth's thoughts though, rather he was caught up in the thick sweet scent that seemed to permeate from the girl.

Unable to help himself, as had been the case for the entire day really, and being caught up in the scent, Seth wetted his mouth, his tongue running along both of their mouths unintentionally, before he pressed his lips firmly against hers for a few seconds. Pulling back, Seth blinked slightly, as he looked into Meredith's eyes, his hands sliding out from her light brown hair to rest on her shoulders. "Heh, better now?"

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People were staring. That was not ideal. Meredith didn't like crowds. Crowds of people that all had their eyes on her, judging here, were far worse. If Meredith's empathy power was being used to its usual extent, the experience would have been too much at her. She would have melted down at all of the judgment, surprise, disdain, and possible jealousy that was flying around room--not to mention, she would have sensed Seth's feelings of manic elation and malice, and that would have tipped her off to the fact that something was not right. Luckily or unluckily, Meredith was too overwhelmed by her own emotions (excitement, nervousness, happiness, fear, shock, anticipation...) at the time to be acutely aware of the spectrum of emotions going on around her. Instead, she just got a headache. For that reason, she was more than glad when Seth accepted her offer and guided her away from the crowds, into an empty classroom. That was much better.

Was the classroom getting hotter? Of all things, that was what Meredith wondered as Seth rested his forehead on hers, breathed warm air onto her lips and chest, and drained the red dye from her hair. How was it possible that he could make hair color changes sexy? Right, because his hand was still on her hips, holding her close to him. Meredith's eyes shifted downward toward his body, letting her eyes linger on his chest, remembering the exposed skin and the discoloration that she had healed. Her mind was on that memory, not paying much attention to the present at all, when Seth jerked her out of her reverie with a kiss.

It was lucky that Seth's arm was around Meredith's hips, since her body mostly went limp as soon as his tongue and lips met hers by surprise. She quickly grabbed his other arm for more support, simply so that she wouldn't fall down; her grip was sudden and tight, almost violent, with her fingertips pressing into his skin. When Seth pulled away, Meredith involuntary gasped for air while she stared at Seth's eyes for some indication of what was going through his head, since her own thoughts and emotions were running far too rampant for her empathy to do any good. He was smiling. That was good. Right? Meredith had never been kissed before. She was stunned, and she had no idea what was supposed to happen at this point.

"Yes, thank you," was Meredith's shy answer as Seth asked her about her hair of all things. At this point, she felt like something needed to be said. But what was she supposed to say? Thanks to her nerves, she would say whatever came to mind.

"Y-You know, I've never done this before, so I'm really sorry if- I mean, uh, I just really like y- I mean, I've always-" Oh hell. She couldn't even finish a sentence with his lips that close to her face, so close, inches away. Who could focus like that? That was Meredith's justification when, like an experimenting virgin, she let go of her inhibitions and simply threw herself back into his arms, kissing him, letting him take care of the job of carrying her weight, since it seemed too difficult at the moment.

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Tight, warm, soft. Those were the three main thoughts that had flooded Seth's mind when his lips actually touched Meredith's. It was amazing how his body seemed to have become hyper-aware for that one moment where his lips touched against hers, feeling the subtle shifts in their positions as she seemed to grip onto him tighter than he would've believed possible, pulling the two together for those few seconds, and forcing him to help support her weight as well.

He couldn't help the grin that remained on his face as she seemed to have been just as caught up in the feelings that the kiss had caused to surge through their bodies. He couldn't help the flush that covered his cheeks as he realized what he had just done. This is what he would consider his first kiss, more than anything else. A confirmation of emotions and passion through touch, rather than a course of actions to ensure survival.

An idle thought passed through his head, as he wondered slightly if Kazuma's taint was spreading through him, and into Meredith, before such a thought passed from his mind. The taint in his body was as strong as ever, and thus he could assume that it hadn't effected the girl. It made it harder to explain her actions though.

Then, the moment of clarity passed, Seth's mind fogging up as the will reasserted partial control over his actions. Who cared why she was acting the way she was, it was what he wanted to happen wasn't it. His tongue ran along his lips again, feeling the warmth that her mouth had left against his as a searing pressure against his lips. It was hard to stop himself from taking her lips against his again, but the girl was speaking, and patience was something he was trying deathly hard to hold onto.

Apparently, he wasn't the only one overcome with the new situation though, as Meredith tried to stumble through a sentence, Seth realized that she was slowly moving her lips closer to his before, in a sudden rush, she was pressing her lips against his, holding onto his body. Seth wasn't too worried about that though, his main thoughts concerned with the bliss that was flowing through his mind at the current actions, his hands slid to her back to support the extra weight he now had to hold up. One daring thought later, and one hand was sliding down her back and gripping onto her ass, lifting the girl up off the floor and turning around, he pressed her back against the door they had just entered through.

He let out a small gasp pulling away for a second. "You, You liked me?" He asked, before his lips became occupied again, trailing along the girl's neck in order to give her the capability to answer, if not the ability.

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Caught in the moment, Meredith laughed when Seth picked up her body and spun her around, pushing her against the door. The groping practically went unnoticed initially due to her elation at being swept off her feet. A sudden, secret, and steamy scene in an empty classroom, complete with the lift and twirl--in her inexperienced mind, it all seemed so romantic. She had no idea that a gentleman would have wanted to get to know her better, or would have made more of an effort to ensure that she was completely comfortable and consenting. In her mind, Seth was the perfect gentleman no matter what he did. After all, he had remembered her middle name! That was never going to lose its novelty.

For a second, Meredith wondered if Seth was repeating the word "you" to mock her stuttering, but she didn't have much time to ponder that as his lips dove into her neck.

"Yeeeeees!" Meredith answered quickly, but given the circumstances, it sounded more like a moan of acquiescence than a piece of conversation. Shaking, even with her back against the door, Meredith had to wrap her arms around Seth's neck to keep her stable, which essentially forced his lips further into her neck.

Is this really happening? For Meredith, it was almost like an out-of-body experience, yet at the same time, it wasn't, since every sensation was running through her body. Although she had been living in the moment before, she took a second to actually assess what was going on. Seth Rosa had his lips planted against her neck, and his hand was groping her butt. If that wasn't surreal, she didn't know what was.

Some rationality returned to Meredith, and her tendency to over-think kicked in. Was this what she really wanted? Were they moving too quickly? Could Seth possibly be using her? "Wait..." As much as it killed her to do so, Meredith took Seth by the shoulders and pushed him away, a bit more forcefully than she had intended.

"Wait." She paused to breathe heavily, inhaling sharply several times before continuing. "And how do you feel about me?" she asked, her voice returning to its characteristic gentleness, warmth, and innocence.

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Every now and then, Seth would have another moment of minor clarity. The intense emotions that were being brought up by kissing this girl, helped him to think things through a little bit more. Why was he doing this. It felt good that was defiantly obvious. Her body pressing against his was something Seth could defiantly get addicted to. Her scent painfully obvious as he nibbled on the skin of her neck as apparent as ever and providing a different fog for his head, but one he was at least semi-proficient in thinking though. This entire thing was a mistake, but it felt so good. Seth couldn't help the small little chuckle he released as he nibbled at the girl's collarbone.

Hearing that the girl liked him, was defiantly a surprise, and Seth almost regretted the fact that he hadn't known sooner, hadn't chased after the right sister. Reese, while a very personable girl, didn't have much in common with Seth, just a very amicable personality that drew others to her like bugs to a fire. Getting caught up in Meredith's confession, Seth bit down a bit harder on the girl's skin, sucking on the collarbone he had been previously nibbling on.

Then he was pulled away, separated from that searing heat that seemed to be passing through their two bodies, and the abrupt shift in their positions provided enough of a disruption in his thoughts for that will to influence him again. He was about to force Meredith to kiss him again, until she asked for him to wait. So far, whenever she spoke, he had managed to hold back his actions, and for now, that hadn't changed yet.

How did he feel about her. Wasn't it obvious with how he was acting. She was his prey, within his grasp, and he was damned if he'd let go of her, allow her to get free. Meredith would fit into his plans, and nothing would change that, nothing could change that. She would have to understand. He closed his eyes, trying to regulate his breathing for a moment. It was proving too difficult, so he spoke despite that, his voice coming out throaty from his recent action. "Meredith, you, I need you by my side, you belong there."

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A goofy grin spread across Meredith's face as Seth told her what she wanted to hear. She sweetly pulled him in for a tight hug. For a few moments, elation was all she felt at her crush telling her that she belonged beside him. Basking in the elation, Mer moved past the affectionate but almost platonic hug by kissing the side of his face. He smelled pretty damn good, too, when her nose was pressed against his hair like that. She took in a deep lung-full of it and then started licking his skin, tasting it. Her tongue inadvertently found his ear, so she went with it and took a nibble.

Maybe it was the rush of fresh air she had gotten, kicking in after a delay. Maybe it was Seth's perfect words to her, his confession --albeit a false one-- that he had feelings for her as well, finally becoming clear. This was all moving so fast. Not so long ago, the prefect probably didn't even remember Meredith's existence. Then, there he was, kissing her, sucking on her collar bone, and revealing that he wanted her, just as she wanted him. Meredith had butterflies, only those butterflies were clearly on some crystal methamphetamine, and it had to be the good stuff. Her heart pounded out of control as well, while her own emotions soared all over the place, with Seth's emotions creating a sort of "buzzing" sensation in her head. It was too much.

"I'm sorry, Seth" Meredith exhaled suddenly, her arms still resting on Seth's shoulders for support. "I really need to sit down." She didn't think much of it. She figured Seth, being the perfect gentleman and all, would understand even if he was disappointed, so without any other words, she started walking towards one of the student desks, only she had to somewhat shove past Seth clumsily to get there. She hoped he wouldn't be too disappointed at her interrupting the action. After all, he was her knight in shining armor. He had swept her off her feet. The last thing she wanted was to displease him.

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It was a strange and particular feeling, or lack there of...It was a strange and particular experience, having his sense of touch focus on so many little aspects, like the warmth of Meredith pressing against his chest, or the feeling of her wet tongue trailing along his skin, leaving a cold trail marking it's passage. He couldn't help but shudder at the actions, completely unfamiliar with these sensations that were passing through his body, only for it to intensify moments later as her teeth found his ear. He couldn't help it then, his body reacting to the sensations as he let out a soft moan against Meredith's neck, unable to do much more than just stand there and take the pleasure she was providing.

He blushed a little bit more at the sensations running through his body, before placing a few kisses on the girl's neck, managing to find her vein and feeling the pulsing underneath her skin. Of course, what seemed like an instant later, and quite jarring to boot, Meredith was pushed him away again, seeking her own personal space, and Seth was left in a sight daze as she walked away to take residence in the nearest seat.

Seth let out a shuddering sigh, clenching his hands quite tightly, managing to dig his nails into his skin and draw blood as he sought control over his desires. It was hard, so hard to resist the temptation of walking over to Meredith, pulling her out of the seat and sitting her on the table, before picking up right where they had left off. The pain helped to stifle his libido, and Seth sealed the cuts with a quick transmutation, unwilling to leave his blood everywhere on Meredith's body. Although it was an amusing thought, to mark where he had touched her.

Gritting his teeth, he tried to focus again. Figuring that maybe if he was closer to Meredith, he'd be able to control himself a little bit more, Seth move to sit down on the desk across from Meredith. "Sorry about that, I kinda got caught up in...Heh, my emotions got the better of me, I guess." Although he explained it to Meredith, it really drew into question what the hell he was thinking. This wasn't like him at all, but Seth struggled to discern why he was acting as such. Still, he offered Meredith a warm smile, able to remember the emotions she had brought out with their actions, and used that to keep his mental state somewhat more stable than it otherwise would've been.

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After completing her drunken stumble into a seat, Meredith rested her head on the adjoining desk, pressing one of her cheeks against the cold, hard wood, which was refreshing enough to calm Meredith down and return some of her lucidity. With half of her face still on the table, Mer directed her gaze toward Seth. His hands were bleeding. The remaining lust that lingered slowly gave way to concern as Meredith sat up and kept her eyes on Seth, examining his face. He seemed to be grimacing, gritting his teeth together. Something was wrong. As Meredith became more lucid, she was able to sense Seth's emotions, though not clearly yet. He seemed to be feeling frustrated, impatient. Although Meredith's mind was still a little foggy, and she couldn't fully trust her powers, she still began to worry. Perhaps she had done something wrong. He probably didn't like that she had abruptly stopped their little rendezvous. It was rather stupid of her. Seth Rosa wanted to kiss her. She was supposed to kiss him back so hard that he passed out from lack of oxygen, right? That was what any sane, socially competent girl would do, right?

Right?

With Seth sitting beside her, Meredith felt a little bit safer, as if it assured her that she hadn't completely screwed up her chances with Seth yet. She looked up at him and smiled sweetly. "There's no reason to be sorry," she assured softly, her voice just a notch above whispering. Reaching out, Meredith took Seth's hands in her own and looked at the four nail-shaped marks left behind in each palm. With a quick hover of her hand, the marks glowed for a moment then disappeared, leaving behind fresh, soft, newly generated skin. His hands were within her own. His lips were within reach. She could kiss him if she wanted. Ha. How much more perfect could a moment be? She kissed one of Seth's palms lightly before relinquishing his hands. Still, an aura of frustration and something else that she couldn't put her finger on seemed to surround the young man. Hoping to ameliorate that, Meredith got up from the seat and, seizing a moment of bravery, instead sat down on Seth's lap sideways, with legs dangling over the desk. He'd been on her neck a second before, so this was nothing in comparison, right? Even with the justification, she smoothed her uniform skirt over in an unsuccessful attempt to make it cover more of her legs.

"Hello... so how are you?" Meredith said with a shy smile, knowing that she was being a bit dorky by moving backwards ten steps. Usually, "How are you?" came before making out, not afterwards. But she was concerned about Seth, and her powers were mostly failing her at the moment, so for once, instead of telling a person how he or she felt, she had to ask. It was as strange for her as it probably was for Seth to hear.

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Anger, Fear, Resentment, Despair, Hope, Love, Lust, Regret. Seth was suffering a multitude of emotions, all tainted by the will that was trying to control him, and the only thing keeping it at bay was his continuous cycle of thoughts that kept him from focusing one one single thing and reacting as such. It was easy to keep the cycle going, trying to find an explanation for his actions seemed to fill him with enough inner angst to keep the ball rolling on that end.

The alchemist closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, trying to get a firmer grip on his emotion or actions, whichever would get him to stop acting like some wild animal. He blinked a few times as he heard Meredith say there was no reason for apologies, but Seth felt that it wasn't close to true. His actions were unforgivable, and just because she was fine with it, didn't make the fact that he had done such things any better. He let out a soft sigh though, trying to look on the positive side, although it was still quite a surprise to know that Meredith had liked him, maybe for quite some time too.

He offered Meredith another warm smile for her words of comfort, before blushing as she healed the marks left in his skin. Thinking back on it, she had always been slightly more gentle, affectionate towards him than anyone else, although he assumed that the kissing of his had was due to their recent activities. She really did like him, and seemed to be happy with the unexpected development between them.

Seth's eyes widened as Meredith ended up sitting in his lap, after releasing his hands. It was unexpected, but her thick sweet scent, and warmth quickly overcame his minor reservations against such actions. It was just her sitting on his lap, completely innocent, even if Seth's hands had almost acted on their own, one rubbing along Meredith's thigh, staying above the fabric of her skirt thankfully. The other was resting along the small of the girl's back, as he tried to think properly. "I'm not really sure. Something's wrong, but." Seth gritted his teeth, unable to say anything more than that, despite actually wanting to.

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The more time there was in between the present and their previous make-out session, the more clearly Meredith could think. By the time that she was sitting on Seth's lap with his hands on her more affectionately than lustfully, her ability to sense emotions was working at its usual level, which meant that she was always mildly aware of the emotions around her, but she could easily "zoom in" if she so desired. It just so happened that the situation gave her plenty of reason to desire.

Anger, Fear, Resentment, Despair, Hope, Love, Lust, Regret.

Meredith's heart sped up, and a distinct frown appeared on her face. Virtually none of the myriad of feelings radiating from Seth were positive ones. The hint of love he seemed to be feeling was being harassed by the aggressive anger, the smothering fear, the growing resentment, the drowning despair, the regret... Meredith started to shake her head in confusion. This was supposed to be a happy time. Why was he regretting what had just happened?

Meredith's head shook, although it was barely perceptible. She had stopped listening to what Seth was saying by the time he spoke because of the horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. Something was wrong indeed.

Realizing that Seth had said something and that she hadn't heard it, Meredith snapped out of her trance and looked into his eyes. With that eye contact made, her empathy skill became even sharper, and that was when it became clear.

She wasn't sensing one set of emotions, of desires, of motivations within Seth. She was sensing two.

Oh my God. This explained so much. Meredith was suddenly depressed, realizing that the rendezvous had meant literally nothing. But she didn't have time for depression. She had to get the Hell out of there. But how was she supposed to do so without alerting him to her realization?

"Seth... I... have to go," was the best she could come up with, and with her fear slowly over taking her, she slid out of his lap and made a bolt towards the door.

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Seth frowned as Meredith shook her head for some unknown reason, signaling the start of her body tensing up again, locking herself away from his touch, and he couldn't help but wonder what had changed between this moment and the last that would cause such a thing. Still, despite this, Seth was about to press on, to try and explain what was occurring as far as he could, in hopes that the girl would understand and forgive his actions. He'd stick with Meredith, he probably owed her that much at least for his previous actions. A way to make reprimands for what he had taken away from the girl.

Seth watched as the girl met his eyes, and he tried to smile again, to provide some comfort for the girl, only to watch as he expression seem to go fall further, until he noticed a hint of fear. His sorrow at her current mode was quickly feed on by the will. What right did she have to be sad about what happened. It was what she wanted, she didn't have to give up anything to make this right. Everything that she desired would be falling into her lap, just because it was how it was suppose to be. He gritted his teeth, watching as the girl bolted from his grasp towards the door.

Standing up quickly, knocking down the table as a result, Seth slashed his hand through the air. "No! You're not leaving." He commanded, and like an arrogant demi-god denied his desires, the very elements responded to his command, though not in nearly as dramatic fashion as what legends told. The air around Meredith quickly increased in density, contained within a small bubble around the girl. It happened in nearly an instant, the sudden shift from low density to high, almost equivalent to a sudden increase in atmospheric pressure around Meredith to twelve times the normal level, only to dissipate an instant later.

Hopefully that would be enough to knock the girl down to her feet. Seth walked after the girl at that point, feeling betrayal at the girl's actions, used by how quickly she abandoned him, and down right predatory at how she had run away. Without the calming gestures of Meredith, or as before, the onslaught of lust provided by two teenagers getting caught up in the moment, it was nearly impossible to prevent the torrent of emotions all spiraling down towards hatred and violence. Seth reach behind his back to pull out a dagger. "You see," he started, figuring that she'd be more willing to listening now. "Something's wrong. Something important, and while I thought you'd be willing to help, apparently I was wrong. Apparently, You, Don't, Care!"