Justice Eternal

05 - No Strings

The morning with Anton wasn't starting well. Though Justice found him cheery, he was a lot more reserved from when they'd first met, and she was worried that something might have happened to him.

"Are you alright?"

"Nuh, yeah," he said as he ran his hand through his hair and then hastily fixed it back up again. "I just had a couple of unexpected phone calls at 2am, and I'm tired."

Justice thought he sounded a bit odd, but she was in search of good things, rather than strange ones, so chose not to press him any further.

Last night, the high she'd had from reading the Winners Choice had been somewhat dampened by an by awkward dinner with Baulder, Wynn and Felix. Processing the impending trip to Olympus kept her warden almost mute, and it was quickly evident that the other two had found time to discuss their mutual interest, for they made no attempt at hiding their new and now very public affections. Justice had tried to make conversation, but it didn't get very far.

"Let's not talk about that," said Anton to her relief. "I've got a fun day planned for us."

He straightened and flashed her a cheeky smile. It washed his tired expression away, and Justice understood precisely what she was seeing, for she'd done it a thousand times herself. She held out her hand, and he took it.

"Brilliant. Then, take us away."

Anton took them all over Ibiza, exploring various cafes, bars and beaches. It turned out he was quite the coffee aficionado and dragged her from shop to shop to find something that he considered half-decent.

"You have to ask where the beans are from," he'd told her seriously.

"They're from a coffee plant," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Yes, my dear sexy lady, but where was that coffee plant grown? What was its altitude, its soil composition..." He walked his fingers up her arm playfully, blue eyes catching hers with a cheeky glint as he regaled her with the absurdities of coffee snobbery.

Even in this, she liked him.

He held her hand as they walked, talked effortlessly and managed to make them dissolve into laughter every couple of minutes.

The best bit, however, was the way in which he had no shame in flirting with her. Every topic ended in a compliment, and he somehow found a hundred reasons to touch, poke and caress her, instantly assuming an intimate familiarity.

Justice more than enjoyed the attention and found herself lapping up every moment of their time together. 

And, now as she waited on a park bench for Anton to return with their third coffee of the day, she found herself wishing that she'd met him years ago. To have been able to draw this out over weeks and months would have been exhilarating. She looked up at the cloudless blue sky and fantasied about this being more than a holiday fling when she heard the familiar sound of a spark elemental appearing. Snapping back to reality she quickly looked around and found the bright green creature rifling through her bag.

"What are you doing?" she hissed while looking to make sure there was no one else in the park close enough to see. "Get out of there you stupid thing." She shook the side of the bag to dislodge it. The lightning figure whipped its faceless head toward her and let loose a string of white noise, before disappearing with another soft pop. With a frown she looked into her bag to find a note from her father, saying that they needed to come home now, and pick up another fledgling on the way. She forcefully shoved the note back into her bag, angry that what was left of her holiday had been cut short.