Xelloss stared at the ceiling, flat on his back, and wondered what had just happened. He was familiar with one of the primary emotions involved, its taste always having been like strong wine upon him. He had been told it was lust, though he didn't know for sure if it was; lust was supposed to be a positive emotion, not some shade of grey. He hadn't tasted that much of it before, either; usually his presence had acted like a wet blanket upon it, and never had he had so much of it around him, and directed at him to boot.

This did make a difference: he had long ago realized that emotions directed at him had a stronger taste then emotions directed at the universe in general or at somebody else.

He had come in planning on taking advantage of that, actually. He had thought that Filia would be incredibly angry at him -- and very embarrassed -- if he woke her up. When he had teleported in he realized that she must have found it uncomfortable to sleep wearing anything, as she was sleeping in the nude. It was also obvious since she had kicked the sheets off her bed already. This was a first, for he had several times teleported into her bedroom at night though nothing unexpected had happened before now. But to Xelloss it seemed all the better: she'd be even angrier, and he did like how her body looked...

Xelloss looked at her, as he hadn't quite gotten a good look at her sleeping before now as the times before she had woken up soon after his arrival. He enjoyed the faint taste of nightmare-induced negative emotions drifting off of her for a few moments before she sat up in bed, her eyes turned in his direction. Her eyes looked past his own, which were open in surprise.

"Filia?" he had said, curiously.

Her eyes had suddenly focused so they were looking into his, and...

Things then became blurred for a while; he wasn't even sure how long the blur had lasted.

He could remember the tastes more than anything else... Love and hate in equal parts, both directed at him. Two parts desperation, which always reminded him of ice cream. And four parts of the spicy strong wine taste, which he knew was directed at him.

There were some other sensations he remembered, most clearly the feeling of getting pulled down into the bed, and his own pleasure... He had no more than a vague idea what caused him the pleasure, though, nor any idea how he managed to become naked... He had the vaguely distressing feeling that he should remember willing his form to appear naked; he had learned how to appear as a naked human, since there were times where that was useful, like when he had gone streaking...or followed Gourry and Zelgadiss to the baths, so he could continue to amuse himself with the chimera's emotions.

(He still wasn't sure he had gotten it right, though. Every time he had appeared as a naked man, he could feel the jealousy from most of the men he was near directed at himself. He didn't mind it, but he still wondered why.)

It had tasted good, and had felt wonderful.

I wonder if we can do whatever that was again... he wondered.