As usual, here's a brand-new open post for all of you to post characters, mingle, and tag each other!
Seriously, post whatever you want. Empty toplevels? Open starters? Starters closed to specific people? It's all good — just enjoy! And as always, tag out and have fun!
A couple of crude drawings and a handful of hints don't actually...
[ She reached out to pull his hand down in frustration, but the contact jolts through her like a current of electricity.
For a split second, she's simply wide-eyed, staring, and the next second she abruptly lets go and jumps a bit back, covering her mouth with a hand.
Ah. Ah! Oh. Hm.
A bit too loudly - ]
I think I need some air!
[ About-face. Runs.
She is not sure what to do about the echo of memory she just saw, but her face is definitely warming from shock, embarrassment, and utter confusion.
Oh, esteemed Emet-Selch, won't you take pity on this newest member and honor me with a dance? - Hythlodaeus is watching and I want to make his jaw drop. Join me?
Had she... heard that right? As she tries to go through her mind over and over again, her ears keep twitching, as if trying desperately to hear something else in what she just remembered. ]
It's alright, Emet/WoL is my jam-- so no worries! Throw me those memories!
[ Well, that was a rather abrupt turn-about to be sure. Emet-Selch had been hardly expecting it, though there had been something about Alumette's eyes. A distant memory and his lip quirked ever so slightly even as he followed her though at a much slower pace, best to just let her get her equilibrium. ]
I would asked if the cat got your tongue, but I do realize that may be a poorly timed Miqo'te joke.
[ He says even as he casts a glance back at the murals, at what they contained and about the memories that could come to surface. But the memory that she was expiriencing at this moment, those ancient words spoken in a tongue that made understandable by the echo, well he remembered that exact moment as well. Perhaps it had been poorly timed on her part and she had not known what can of worms she had been opening, but well-- ah such were memories ]
Do I need to fetch you water? or perhaps wine?
making sure since it'd be easy enough to be platonic! o7
As she stepped out of the cave, slowing in her movements, she just basked in the starlight of the night and let it soothe her fractured, frazzled soul. Twelve save her, why did the forest always turn cold at night? She wrapped her arms around herself again, rubbing her forearms as she crouched down, the full feather-and-satin skirt of the Ronkan attire the Viis had given her serving to at least keep her legs warm.
The cold was enough to give her mind a nice shock back to earth so she didn't dwell overlong in the memory. She felt as if she could breathe instead of being stuck in images of swirling around a grand ballroom for - an official celebration, a joining of minds she had not been a part of but was allowed to watch.
There were questions to ask here, too, so many of them, and she... she regretfully could answer most of the easy ones. Why ask Emet-Selch for a dance? From what she could glean from the memory, they had a friend in common. Clearly teasing him was the best thing to do. What was she doing there? Supporting her friends, it seemed like. The rest of the Ascians had been there, too. It had been a magical night, something that Allumette could say belonged to something out of a fairy tale - even if it clearly was a memory from long, long ago. ]
Wine. Wine would be good. Or hard liquor.
[ Allumette finally brought her head out of her hands, and it took her a few good moments before she turned to see him out of the corner of her eye, over her shoulder. The look in her eyes was certainly distinctly different from how she'd seen him before. ]
Was I really shorter than you?
[ Start with small things. She'd start small and work her way up. ]
sorry for the lag-- had to drag myself out of chrstimas baking hell
[ Hard liquor-- that amused him for some reason. However he had never been one to judge someones personal decisions when it came to alcohol and so with a flick of a finger he summoned up a bottle of wine that he had stored somewhere in his little porthole where he had a veritable wine cellar hidden away full of rare vintages collected from all over Eorzea-- and the First (and maybe some other places which the Warrior of Light had never seen but only could comprehend within the depths of her imagination).
Setting the wine bottle down on a particularly flat rock and then following it with two wine glasses. He knew the Quitana Ravel was a sacred space and perhaps drinking wouldn't be appreciated but he couldn't really be moved to care overmuch. A mere passover with his hand and then the wine bottle was uncorked, it was one of those wonders, a movement of his hand and the cork just responded and then he started to pour ]
Shorter than me, dear you are shorter then me now...
[ of course he wasn't counting the ears, if one counted the ears then yes she was marginally taller then him. But granted there was a soft sigh of something that whispered through her at the remembrance, it meant of course that she was getting the bigger picture, she was piecing for herself what happened and more importantly she was one step closer to him-- to where he wanted her to be. But likewise he could bide his time, he was nothing if not exceedingly patient ]
Whatever are you remembering..
[ And then he proffered her the wine glass with a gloved hand and a raise of his winged brows; there was almost a smugness to his voice that might've been infuriating if it hadn't been so semi-charming to boot. ]
[ She tells herself that she hates that smug tone, but she has to bite the inside of her cheek and hope her dark skin still hides the red on her face.
Allumette can practically hear all of her friends screaming to not drink with an Ascian. Pimelle would probably be beside herself right now, and she can't even begin to imagine the scathing glare Thancred would give her.
But, really. What was she supposed to do?
Sit here with no answers? Wring her hands uselessly? She wasn't the kind of woman who stood still while the world moved. Instead, she takes the glass and shifts to sit, legs folded beneath her. ]
I'm not that short now. I was at your chest then! That's very different!
[ She swirls the wine in the glass, eying it not warily but with the gaze of someone whose mind was clearly elsewhere and focused. In the starlight, her eyes look a much paler green than usual - rimmed by silver even as they reflect how distant she is from the First as she thinks on the past. The far, far past. ]
... it was some sort of formal gathering. A gala, or... something of that nature. I was there to show my support to...
[ She falters, and her brows furrow. She tries again: ]
I... I was there to celebrate but I wasn't a part of those we were celebrating. I think... I wanted to be? I asked you to dance with me. I was shy, but I don't think you noticed or knew me that well.
[ Well in all honesty, Emet-Selch would most likely tell Thancred where to shove it and in no uncertain terms. If it hadn't been for the fact that Lahabrea had been one of the Tempered, he would of certainly thought that Thancred very well could be a piece of Lahabrea's shard with how much he was perpetually annoyed by him. He had even tried to think of if there were anyone that existed back in the old days that could've annoyed him as much as Thancred did and really couldn't. Somewhat faulty memory, that was what happened when you had known so many people in a past life. ]
Ah, the Convocation gathering-- where we celebrate another person ascending the ranks; tis the only type that we had anything that amounted to a party; at least one that wasn't just an excuse to get together, share books and talk over ideas.
[ It had been one of those few times where masks did not need to be worn and Emet-Selch, oh he who had generally flouted comformity at every opportunity (or tried too, and would generally get scolded by the only person who had the ability to do even that). He had loved the dancing and the mingling and seeing everyone without their masks. He with his golden eyes and white hair, quirking smile and sharp features that also hid just as sharp as a mind.
That mind throughout time certainly hadn't dulled even though he was much slower in movements then he had been back then. Ah, such was time itself. ]
What else do you remember about that night?
[ he aerated the wine in his glass as he watched Allumette-- the expressions on her face as she tries to remember what it was-- all those little details, seeing tendrils of an unlooked for echo wrap around her ]
She frowned, taking a small sip of the wine - hey, didn't she know this? It tasted familiar... no. No, focus. ]
The memory isn't clear. It's as if looking through frosted glass... I can't even seem to remember who it was that was - ascending, as you said.
There are parts that are clear, but those parts came to me when I -
[ Oh.
Allumette paused in the middle of her sip, her ears immediately standing upright where they'd been relaxed. When she'd reached out and touched Emet-Selch was when the connection had been the strongest, when everything was crystal clear. The rest of the memory, as it trickled into her mind like water out of cupped hands, had been foggier and foggier. ]
[ The wine was not a vintage of Amaurot unfortunately-- that had not likely survived the age and as far as creation went, he could not create wine; that had never been his specialty, he could pull a good vintage from the cellars of the empire; and there was a hidden store underneath Longmirror Lake in Il Mheg, just underneath the Church of the First Light that he had pulled a few bottles from (but which existed at least hundreds of bottles more)-- oh yes and a few times where he'd nicked from Shamani Lomani's secret stash.
This was actually from Wineport directly; he'd summoned it across time nad space because to be perfectly fair-- what was power useful for if one couldn't use it in a manner that was also completely trivial?
But no matter, Allumette's aether seemed to swirl within an eddying stream of uncertainty-- he could see it, a glimmer of absolute chaos and the tendrils of Light aether was not doing anything to 'help' the entire situation. But he knew that she was grasping it and he liked where her mind was going and so he pushed himself up from the rock he was leaning against and then started to approach Allumette with no small amount of purpose within his golden gaze. ]
Perhaps I can assist with jogging your memories?
[ Perhaps she should tread lightly within this situation for this could go one of many ways and none of them would likely be comfortable. When there was a touch, the memories could be quite random but there were a plethora of them that existed between them-- some wonderful, other painful. It was a veriable roulette ]
[ This was playing a dangerous game, of this Allumette realized. She had no idea where this memory was leading her. It could be disastrous, and that Emet-Selch seemed so eager to have her remember gave her pause.
But not enough.
Not enough to deter her from her innate curiosity. She held her hand out, eyes focused on him. ]
Perhaps. Touch was what started this mess. It stands to reason that it may be the way out, as well.
[ Emet-Selch was not afraid of danger and he had a feeling that Allumette was not frightened of it either; in fact his expectation bar was set rather high for the Warrior of Light and he was constantly assessing to see exactly what she did and how she reacted to various pieces of information that he revealed. That was of course exactly how he knew she would be here within the Ravel, mulling upon ruins that had existed long before she had been even a thought on the Source.
He proffered his hand this time, his gloved hand indolent. It was an act of trust-- oh, he knew that. But he had a feeling that she would sip from the devil's cup, after all realizing that something was 'off' but not precisely 'knowing' what it was. He doubted there was any agony worse them that ]
I want to know what you will remember..
[ and by his tone of voice, silky yet for all that husky as well-- it denoted that there was a lot. ]
[ She'd been about to clasp his hand when he spoke, and it drew her eyes to his. Allumette swallowed hard, uncertain for a brief moment, all due to the notes in his voice. Her ears perked as her stomach twisted.
Would she eat the fruit? ]
I'll... tell you.
[ And with that, she takes his hand, lacing fingers together briefly.
(Of course she would.)
The new memory hits her hard: it feels young yet she sees no difference to his face, but all-white hair already make her pause. She teases, argues with him as they walk through a dark cave lit by crystal - he follows as she leads. Urania, she hears from his lips casually, affectionate but just as willing to be reproachful. Aphrodite, she hears when he's tense, when she almost falls off a steep drop within the cave.
When his arms come around her waist to secure her from falling, she looks up to him and her heart beats hard and she kisses him with vigor. To his clear surprise, she huffs a sigh - "Honestly, [ ]. I've had feelings for you three projects back. Did you truly not notice?" And then, she avoided his gaze. "Or perhaps... as everyone says, do you not care for someone so beneath you?"
She jolts back to awareness, breathing shakily, and feeling like her face was very, very warm. That memory had been almost painfully crystal clear... and yet... some fragments were still missing. ]
I.
Aphrodite? We were. In a cave. You... saved me.
[ And... she opened her mouth to keep speaking, but she found it was hard to even try to. Twelve save her, what had she gotten herself into? ]
[ And for some reason, Emet-Selch is taken back to that same moment-- the cave of crystals-- the way that they had been bantering back and forth all day. It rang out clearly within his psyche and he knew that she remembered. It was one shard of many that he wanted her to recollect and of course she had. There were key differences as she was only witnessing her own long-forgotten memory, he had a rather different recollection though from his own memories coloured by his own thoughts and whimsies (oh but he had those a long long time ago)
He had remembered that kiss and how it had come to be. And despite what she believed, he had almost been terrified that something could've happened to her and so when he fished her up, he had held her rather close and rather tightly- That might've been mistaken for something else-- but it had been moored into something akin to desperation and perhaps it came out as something different ]
Ah, you were known as many names-- depending on the situation. I suppose I could never decide on just one.
[ The hand, he could feel the energy surge within it and then he raised a winged brow almost indolently ]
Though there were many times and many lifetimes-- I think you are recalling the very first
[ She can't decide on what to even say, her surprise mangled into a series of baffled consonants that are not in any way words. When she finally gets a hold of herself, her shoulders tense and she grips onto his hand a little tighter. ]
I'm sorry? What do you mean, 'many times'? - don't answer that, I know what you mean. It's just...
[ She just couldn't... believe it. Many times, many lifetimes? How many? ]
... why can't I remember your actual name?
[ It's as if it'd been scrubbed from her memory. She could see so many new things in stark clarity, but... when it came to her saying his name, it was too far away. It was lost underwater. Why? ]
And let me guess: you'll wait until I remember properly and won't tell me what it is, either.
And I don't want to tell you my name, Allumette, because I would hate to spoon feed you memories-- you will come across them, I know you will; but do not think too hard upon it.
[ And yet all the same he uses the leverage of their combined hands to draw her to him, but not in a threatening way. More like a dance, something like their very first dance back before time had begun. He let out a soft and altogether enigmatic smile as one arm lightly moved to her waist and he started a step that he was hoping she'd fall right into. ]
However I will say this-- never for a moment think that I did not notice you; many times in the past-- you've been the only one I could see.
[ Strangely poetic words aimed at someone who's whole lives had been built upon shaky foundation and memories deposited here and there; where did truth begin and where did it end? And yet in those words that he spoke there was truth therein. ]
I just find it unfair you get to call me another name while -
[ She swallows her gasp as he pulls her towards him. Perhaps someone else would stumble or grow more flustered on her feet, but Allumette?
Her feet move with him. Her hand goes to his shoulder like she was practiced at dance though she'd only ever seen it from afar, always too busy saving the star. Too busy working with her free company. Too busy mentoring, creating, leading - no time for something like dancing or remembering. Her body knows these steps and she moves with him just as easily as breathing, with a grace that is both her own and not quite. Her eyes widen when she realizes it, almost pressed right against him in this dance, only a handful of inches away and needing to peer up at him as he speaks.
Twelve damn it, her face feels like it's burning. ]
Don't... don't say that all of a sudden.
[ Her heart held mixed emotions like a cauldron soon to overflow. She danced to a melody only they knew, and she knew it. Part of her wanted to hate that she knew it all - it didn't feel like her, but like she was the vessel with which he could bring life to these memories again - and yet every single memory felt embedded with her own heart. Aphrodite was her but not. Aphrodite was her past and Allumette was the future, not different people, but simply at different times. Every single instance since was the same. And yet... ]
Maybe in the past, but not here. We're on opposite sides, of a sort.
[ Funny she says that now after insisting constantly to the Scions that they needed to put those differences aside momentarily to listen. ]
It grieves me to say that we've been on opposite sides far more times then we have been on the same side, though we certainly did not start on opposing sides.
[ It was clear that Emet-Selch would give at least a few jewels here and there toward their relationships, even as he started the waltz around the old cavern. Funny to enact such a thing here amid the ruins, but perhaps it was a grand symbolism of their relationship, of what they had to work with throughout time. Dancing through ruins was as apt as any a descriptor and fitting to say the least. Though was it the ruins of time, the ruins of their ongoing relationship or was it an indicator of the single moment where it all went south. Who could truly say? ]
What, you cannot appreciate the sentiment? In fact who exactly do you think I was watching before I approached you and the Scions in the plaza of the Crystarium. I've been watching you far longer then even you can comprehend.
[ though searched for would've been an apt term and no doubt the reason why he hadn't caught her in this life was because he was nearing the end of his work as Solus and thus had been far out of range to begin with, but once upon the First-- awarence had flickered through him. Did she really need to know that he tended to search her out within lulls and pockets of time? He knew she was smart,perhaps she'd guess or perhaps her psyche would do the work for her. ]
What I can comprehend is limited at the moment, so don't act like that's so high a bar.
[ Well, it wasn't quite so much intellect or lack of it that stopped Allumette from realizing this or that, especially when it came to her own life. Rather it was her own lack of care with her life. She didn't see things the way Emet-Selch did; her recklessness got some frustrated tutting from the Scions or her comrades in arms often but nothing more. As far as Allumette was concerned, she wasn't expressly needed on this star when there were countless other adventurers who can and had taken up the mantle of Warrior of Light. Even with this emotional tie, why would she be sought out at all?
Granted, her heart was still young and she confused herself more trying to figure it out. What she'd gathered weighed on her heavily, even if it didn't show on her face.
But what she does do is keep dancing. Moving along with him, as her steps grow less practiced by rote memory and more relaxed, easy. Naturally enjoying this moment, even if she knew it was fleeting. ]
Does it frustrate you, that we didn't start out opposing each other, but ended up this way?
[ he enunciated this clearly and crisply and if asked, he knew exactly why Hydaelyn chose Allumette, and was likely because if there was anyone who could curtain the machinations of the Ascians, it was the shard that had broken away from the others to summoun her. And thus she was valuable on this chessboard.
And she was Hydaelyn's most valuable resource against him who had loved the sundered shards of her, who had watched throughout time upon time as she had come and gone upon various stars and picked up the mantle of the Mother Goddess.. ]
And thus the wheels of time spin on and on and we are once more locked in a cosmic dance, we shall fight and then we shall part only to meet again in another place and another time' that is the way of it, you do realize.
[ and that was Emet-Selch being pragmatic, it was him realizing that there was nothing that he could do to stop it-- even moments like this, this was but an interlude ]
[ She frowns, peering up at him through her dark lashes. ]
Oh, but tell me how you really feel, dear.
[ Briefly, she remembered idle chatter that Solus liked theater. She was not the least bit surprised, with how he seemed just at home monologuing. It wasn't a terrible thing - Allumette would never admit that she liked his voice, it was probably right along with his cheekbones as her favorite thing (and now she knew why she had a favorite thing of who had been no one but an enemy before now.) But really... ]
Are you really so certain there can't be a -
[ She doesn't even realize her slip earlier (dear?) before spots return to her eyes and the strain of light against her soul pressures against her chest. She lets out a pained whine as she loses her step, briefly clutching to him as she tries to catch her breath. Her ears pin back, and it takes several seconds before she even manages to truly breathe. She'd been clever enough to hide most of the pain from the Scions - wouldn't do to have them worry - but she hadn't anticipated this. Dazed, she tried to right herself, shaky on her feet. ]
... sorry. As... as I was saying, you can't be so fatalistic.
[ Oh he did enjoy the theatre when he had been in Solus' form, but he had enjoyed all sorts of theatrics and being in vessals throughout the centuries, that hadn't changed. Being that he had to infiltrate his vessals for the long run, it was best to develop certain 'hobbies' and 'enjoyments' and those same enjoyments just happened to align with what he had enjoyed back at Amaurot. He had other loves and other talents aside from a passing interest in architecture of human civilizations.
Though that thought is caught off guard when he felt her buckle and his arms are out to press against her upper arms in order to hold her there so that she doesn't completely fall flat against the floor. Though already he was noting the fact that the light within her seemed to throb and crackle and he had not rather anticipated that she would allow him to see that vulnerability.
And yet here they were. Ah, and they said that all stories had happy endings-- he really begged to differ, for both there sakes ]
I've existed long enough to have seen countless worlds burn, drown or whatever the calamity of the moment portends, my fatalistic world view is but based in truth
[ and 'ere was he good at giving her exactly what she wished-- well save one thing, and that had sundered their relationship far more keenly then anything else had to be perfectly honest, and so he let her go, his gloved hands falling to his sides and then he let out a rather indolent shrug even as he took a step backward and regarded her with a raise of his winged brow. ]
Ah, we were ever two exceedingly passionate individuals, all well and good until we are on opposite sides..
[ Why does her face heat up every time? Allumette averts her gaze briefly, before giving him a soft huff, rubbing her forearms. ]
Wouldn't we technically be just as passionate on opposite sides? That's what all the stories say. Twelve know that there are pages and pages of...
[ Her voice trails off and for a brief moment or two, she just stares at Emet-Selch with an expression that could only be described as a 'no... couldn't be'.
Those stories were just stories, right? He mentioned that they'd met before, often, even, and if that was true and they were always on opposite sides - more often than not - then that might mean... that at least one or two of those myths might actually be a retelling of...
No.
No, she can't think about this right now. She's already feeling faint. ]
Well, we've - I've discovered quite a lot already. I should probably head to sleep before anyone else figures out I'm awake.
[ ah yes, her line of thinking was starting to fall into just the right places-- for while they had been on the opposite sides, they did not start off in that precarious situation, once upon they had been working on the same side, back before Zodiark and Hydaelyn had even existed-- it was only with the advent of those that they both started to list toward a particular side, and it had been in that way that they had been torn asunder. However he did not speak on it, but his silence-- that was rather telling ]
Ah, but I should hate to keep you from your warm bed...
[ She had made her decisions and he had made his-- did not stop him from ever so often attempting to see if perhaps he could make he remember what they had shared, and he could tell that it was on the tip of her tongue, tip of her memory-- bits and pieces here and there. ]
I do sleep-- more then you'd give me credit for.
[ Ascians rarely slept however he tended to enjoy human actions, for all that he tended to mock the humans and their ways of life, perhaps why he spent whole lifetimes within a form unlike his brethren who made the jump whenever they felt that it would behoove them to. Not necessarily a liar-- except when it came to his own truths. ]
You seem perpetually tired, so I just assume you never get enough sleep. [ She waved his dismissive wave, lips pursed as she let out a soft huff.
Yet, even as she announces her leaving, she lingers, her back to him as she briefly pauses at the mouth of the cave. It takes her a moment, but she does look back to him. ]
Can I trust you'll actually keep this between us? I'd like to do this again. Not - not the dancing, so much, but...
[ These memories, trying to bubble up to the surface... ]
It comes back easier with you, and I can't deny my curiosity. If there's more to be learned, I want to learn it.
[ ... and no matter the life she had, the person she was, she'd always had a voracious drive to learn. ]
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valoirs
lmk if this is okay, np if not!
[ She reached out to pull his hand down in frustration, but the contact jolts through her like a current of electricity.
For a split second, she's simply wide-eyed, staring, and the next second she abruptly lets go and jumps a bit back, covering her mouth with a hand.
Ah. Ah! Oh. Hm.
A bit too loudly - ]
I think I need some air!
[ About-face. Runs.
She is not sure what to do about the echo of memory she just saw, but her face is definitely warming from shock, embarrassment, and utter confusion.
Oh, esteemed Emet-Selch, won't you take pity on this newest member and honor me with a dance? - Hythlodaeus is watching and I want to make his jaw drop. Join me?
Had she... heard that right? As she tries to go through her mind over and over again, her ears keep twitching, as if trying desperately to hear something else in what she just remembered. ]
It's alright, Emet/WoL is my jam-- so no worries! Throw me those memories!
I would asked if the cat got your tongue, but I do realize that may be a poorly timed Miqo'te joke.
[ He says even as he casts a glance back at the murals, at what they contained and about the memories that could come to surface. But the memory that she was expiriencing at this moment, those ancient words spoken in a tongue that made understandable by the echo, well he remembered that exact moment as well. Perhaps it had been poorly timed on her part and she had not known what can of worms she had been opening, but well-- ah such were memories ]
Do I need to fetch you water? or perhaps wine?
making sure since it'd be easy enough to be platonic! o7
As she stepped out of the cave, slowing in her movements, she just basked in the starlight of the night and let it soothe her fractured, frazzled soul. Twelve save her, why did the forest always turn cold at night? She wrapped her arms around herself again, rubbing her forearms as she crouched down, the full feather-and-satin skirt of the Ronkan attire the Viis had given her serving to at least keep her legs warm.
The cold was enough to give her mind a nice shock back to earth so she didn't dwell overlong in the memory. She felt as if she could breathe instead of being stuck in images of swirling around a grand ballroom for - an official celebration, a joining of minds she had not been a part of but was allowed to watch.
There were questions to ask here, too, so many of them, and she... she regretfully could answer most of the easy ones. Why ask Emet-Selch for a dance? From what she could glean from the memory, they had a friend in common. Clearly teasing him was the best thing to do. What was she doing there? Supporting her friends, it seemed like. The rest of the Ascians had been there, too. It had been a magical night, something that Allumette could say belonged to something out of a fairy tale - even if it clearly was a memory from long, long ago. ]
Wine. Wine would be good. Or hard liquor.
[ Allumette finally brought her head out of her hands, and it took her a few good moments before she turned to see him out of the corner of her eye, over her shoulder. The look in her eyes was certainly distinctly different from how she'd seen him before. ]
Was I really shorter than you?
[ Start with small things. She'd start small and work her way up. ]
sorry for the lag-- had to drag myself out of chrstimas baking hell
Setting the wine bottle down on a particularly flat rock and then following it with two wine glasses. He knew the Quitana Ravel was a sacred space and perhaps drinking wouldn't be appreciated but he couldn't really be moved to care overmuch. A mere passover with his hand and then the wine bottle was uncorked, it was one of those wonders, a movement of his hand and the cork just responded and then he started to pour ]
Shorter than me, dear you are shorter then me now...
[ of course he wasn't counting the ears, if one counted the ears then yes she was marginally taller then him. But granted there was a soft sigh of something that whispered through her at the remembrance, it meant of course that she was getting the bigger picture, she was piecing for herself what happened and more importantly she was one step closer to him-- to where he wanted her to be. But likewise he could bide his time, he was nothing if not exceedingly patient ]
Whatever are you remembering..
[ And then he proffered her the wine glass with a gloved hand and a raise of his winged brows; there was almost a smugness to his voice that might've been infuriating if it hadn't been so semi-charming to boot. ]
np! i'm about to enter that hell
Allumette can practically hear all of her friends screaming to not drink with an Ascian. Pimelle would probably be beside herself right now, and she can't even begin to imagine the scathing glare Thancred would give her.
But, really. What was she supposed to do?
Sit here with no answers? Wring her hands uselessly? She wasn't the kind of woman who stood still while the world moved. Instead, she takes the glass and shifts to sit, legs folded beneath her. ]
I'm not that short now. I was at your chest then! That's very different!
[ She swirls the wine in the glass, eying it not warily but with the gaze of someone whose mind was clearly elsewhere and focused. In the starlight, her eyes look a much paler green than usual - rimmed by silver even as they reflect how distant she is from the First as she thinks on the past. The far, far past. ]
... it was some sort of formal gathering. A gala, or... something of that nature. I was there to show my support to...
[ She falters, and her brows furrow. She tries again: ]
I... I was there to celebrate but I wasn't a part of those we were celebrating. I think... I wanted to be? I asked you to dance with me. I was shy, but I don't think you noticed or knew me that well.
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Ah, the Convocation gathering-- where we celebrate another person ascending the ranks; tis the only type that we had anything that amounted to a party; at least one that wasn't just an excuse to get together, share books and talk over ideas.
[ It had been one of those few times where masks did not need to be worn and Emet-Selch, oh he who had generally flouted comformity at every opportunity (or tried too, and would generally get scolded by the only person who had the ability to do even that). He had loved the dancing and the mingling and seeing everyone without their masks. He with his golden eyes and white hair, quirking smile and sharp features that also hid just as sharp as a mind.
That mind throughout time certainly hadn't dulled even though he was much slower in movements then he had been back then. Ah, such was time itself. ]
What else do you remember about that night?
[ he aerated the wine in his glass as he watched Allumette-- the expressions on her face as she tries to remember what it was-- all those little details, seeing tendrils of an unlooked for echo wrap around her ]
Surely there is more...
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She frowned, taking a small sip of the wine - hey, didn't she know this? It tasted familiar... no. No, focus. ]
The memory isn't clear. It's as if looking through frosted glass... I can't even seem to remember who it was that was - ascending, as you said.
There are parts that are clear, but those parts came to me when I -
[ Oh.
Allumette paused in the middle of her sip, her ears immediately standing upright where they'd been relaxed. When she'd reached out and touched Emet-Selch was when the connection had been the strongest, when everything was crystal clear. The rest of the memory, as it trickled into her mind like water out of cupped hands, had been foggier and foggier. ]
... but perhaps there's a way to change that?
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This was actually from Wineport directly; he'd summoned it across time nad space because to be perfectly fair-- what was power useful for if one couldn't use it in a manner that was also completely trivial?
But no matter, Allumette's aether seemed to swirl within an eddying stream of uncertainty-- he could see it, a glimmer of absolute chaos and the tendrils of Light aether was not doing anything to 'help' the entire situation. But he knew that she was grasping it and he liked where her mind was going and so he pushed himself up from the rock he was leaning against and then started to approach Allumette with no small amount of purpose within his golden gaze. ]
Perhaps I can assist with jogging your memories?
[ Perhaps she should tread lightly within this situation for this could go one of many ways and none of them would likely be comfortable. When there was a touch, the memories could be quite random but there were a plethora of them that existed between them-- some wonderful, other painful. It was a veriable roulette ]
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But not enough.
Not enough to deter her from her innate curiosity. She held her hand out, eyes focused on him. ]
Perhaps. Touch was what started this mess. It stands to reason that it may be the way out, as well.
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He proffered his hand this time, his gloved hand indolent. It was an act of trust-- oh, he knew that. But he had a feeling that she would sip from the devil's cup, after all realizing that something was 'off' but not precisely 'knowing' what it was. He doubted there was any agony worse them that ]
I want to know what you will remember..
[ and by his tone of voice, silky yet for all that husky as well-- it denoted that there was a lot. ]
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Would she eat the fruit? ]
I'll... tell you.
[ And with that, she takes his hand, lacing fingers together briefly.
(Of course she would.)
The new memory hits her hard: it feels young yet she sees no difference to his face, but all-white hair already make her pause. She teases, argues with him as they walk through a dark cave lit by crystal - he follows as she leads. Urania, she hears from his lips casually, affectionate but just as willing to be reproachful. Aphrodite, she hears when he's tense, when she almost falls off a steep drop within the cave.
When his arms come around her waist to secure her from falling, she looks up to him and her heart beats hard and she kisses him with vigor. To his clear surprise, she huffs a sigh - "Honestly, [ ]. I've had feelings for you three projects back. Did you truly not notice?" And then, she avoided his gaze. "Or perhaps... as everyone says, do you not care for someone so beneath you?"
She jolts back to awareness, breathing shakily, and feeling like her face was very, very warm. That memory had been almost painfully crystal clear... and yet... some fragments were still missing. ]
I.
Aphrodite? We were. In a cave. You... saved me.
[ And... she opened her mouth to keep speaking, but she found it was hard to even try to. Twelve save her, what had she gotten herself into? ]
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He had remembered that kiss and how it had come to be. And despite what she believed, he had almost been terrified that something could've happened to her and so when he fished her up, he had held her rather close and rather tightly- That might've been mistaken for something else-- but it had been moored into something akin to desperation and perhaps it came out as something different ]
Ah, you were known as many names-- depending on the situation. I suppose I could never decide on just one.
[ The hand, he could feel the energy surge within it and then he raised a winged brow almost indolently ]
Though there were many times and many lifetimes-- I think you are recalling the very first
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I'm sorry? What do you mean, 'many times'? - don't answer that, I know what you mean. It's just...
[ She just couldn't... believe it. Many times, many lifetimes? How many? ]
... why can't I remember your actual name?
[ It's as if it'd been scrubbed from her memory. She could see so many new things in stark clarity, but... when it came to her saying his name, it was too far away. It was lost underwater. Why? ]
And let me guess: you'll wait until I remember properly and won't tell me what it is, either.
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[ And yet all the same he uses the leverage of their combined hands to draw her to him, but not in a threatening way. More like a dance, something like their very first dance back before time had begun. He let out a soft and altogether enigmatic smile as one arm lightly moved to her waist and he started a step that he was hoping she'd fall right into. ]
However I will say this-- never for a moment think that I did not notice you; many times in the past-- you've been the only one I could see.
[ Strangely poetic words aimed at someone who's whole lives had been built upon shaky foundation and memories deposited here and there; where did truth begin and where did it end? And yet in those words that he spoke there was truth therein. ]
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[ She swallows her gasp as he pulls her towards him. Perhaps someone else would stumble or grow more flustered on her feet, but Allumette?
Her feet move with him. Her hand goes to his shoulder like she was practiced at dance though she'd only ever seen it from afar, always too busy saving the star. Too busy working with her free company. Too busy mentoring, creating, leading - no time for something like dancing or remembering. Her body knows these steps and she moves with him just as easily as breathing, with a grace that is both her own and not quite. Her eyes widen when she realizes it, almost pressed right against him in this dance, only a handful of inches away and needing to peer up at him as he speaks.
Twelve damn it, her face feels like it's burning. ]
Don't... don't say that all of a sudden.
[ Her heart held mixed emotions like a cauldron soon to overflow. She danced to a melody only they knew, and she knew it. Part of her wanted to hate that she knew it all - it didn't feel like her, but like she was the vessel with which he could bring life to these memories again - and yet every single memory felt embedded with her own heart. Aphrodite was her but not. Aphrodite was her past and Allumette was the future, not different people, but simply at different times. Every single instance since was the same. And yet... ]
Maybe in the past, but not here. We're on opposite sides, of a sort.
[ Funny she says that now after insisting constantly to the Scions that they needed to put those differences aside momentarily to listen. ]
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It grieves me to say that we've been on opposite sides far more times then we have been on the same side, though we certainly did not start on opposing sides.
[ It was clear that Emet-Selch would give at least a few jewels here and there toward their relationships, even as he started the waltz around the old cavern. Funny to enact such a thing here amid the ruins, but perhaps it was a grand symbolism of their relationship, of what they had to work with throughout time. Dancing through ruins was as apt as any a descriptor and fitting to say the least. Though was it the ruins of time, the ruins of their ongoing relationship or was it an indicator of the single moment where it all went south. Who could truly say? ]
What, you cannot appreciate the sentiment? In fact who exactly do you think I was watching before I approached you and the Scions in the plaza of the Crystarium. I've been watching you far longer then even you can comprehend.
[ though searched for would've been an apt term and no doubt the reason why he hadn't caught her in this life was because he was nearing the end of his work as Solus and thus had been far out of range to begin with, but once upon the First-- awarence had flickered through him. Did she really need to know that he tended to search her out within lulls and pockets of time? He knew she was smart,perhaps she'd guess or perhaps her psyche would do the work for her. ]
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[ Well, it wasn't quite so much intellect or lack of it that stopped Allumette from realizing this or that, especially when it came to her own life. Rather it was her own lack of care with her life. She didn't see things the way Emet-Selch did; her recklessness got some frustrated tutting from the Scions or her comrades in arms often but nothing more. As far as Allumette was concerned, she wasn't expressly needed on this star when there were countless other adventurers who can and had taken up the mantle of Warrior of Light. Even with this emotional tie, why would she be sought out at all?
Granted, her heart was still young and she confused herself more trying to figure it out. What she'd gathered weighed on her heavily, even if it didn't show on her face.
But what she does do is keep dancing. Moving along with him, as her steps grow less practiced by rote memory and more relaxed, easy. Naturally enjoying this moment, even if she knew it was fleeting. ]
Does it frustrate you, that we didn't start out opposing each other, but ended up this way?
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[ he enunciated this clearly and crisply and if asked, he knew exactly why Hydaelyn chose Allumette, and was likely because if there was anyone who could curtain the machinations of the Ascians, it was the shard that had broken away from the others to summoun her. And thus she was valuable on this chessboard.
And she was Hydaelyn's most valuable resource against him who had loved the sundered shards of her, who had watched throughout time upon time as she had come and gone upon various stars and picked up the mantle of the Mother Goddess.. ]
And thus the wheels of time spin on and on and we are once more locked in a cosmic dance, we shall fight and then we shall part only to meet again in another place and another time' that is the way of it, you do realize.
[ and that was Emet-Selch being pragmatic, it was him realizing that there was nothing that he could do to stop it-- even moments like this, this was but an interlude ]
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Oh, but tell me how you really feel, dear.
[ Briefly, she remembered idle chatter that Solus liked theater. She was not the least bit surprised, with how he seemed just at home monologuing. It wasn't a terrible thing - Allumette would never admit that she liked his voice, it was probably right along with his cheekbones as her favorite thing (and now she knew why she had a favorite thing of who had been no one but an enemy before now.) But really... ]
Are you really so certain there can't be a -
[ She doesn't even realize her slip earlier (dear?) before spots return to her eyes and the strain of light against her soul pressures against her chest. She lets out a pained whine as she loses her step, briefly clutching to him as she tries to catch her breath. Her ears pin back, and it takes several seconds before she even manages to truly breathe. She'd been clever enough to hide most of the pain from the Scions - wouldn't do to have them worry - but she hadn't anticipated this. Dazed, she tried to right herself, shaky on her feet. ]
... sorry. As... as I was saying, you can't be so fatalistic.
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[ Oh he did enjoy the theatre when he had been in Solus' form, but he had enjoyed all sorts of theatrics and being in vessals throughout the centuries, that hadn't changed. Being that he had to infiltrate his vessals for the long run, it was best to develop certain 'hobbies' and 'enjoyments' and those same enjoyments just happened to align with what he had enjoyed back at Amaurot. He had other loves and other talents aside from a passing interest in architecture of human civilizations.
Though that thought is caught off guard when he felt her buckle and his arms are out to press against her upper arms in order to hold her there so that she doesn't completely fall flat against the floor. Though already he was noting the fact that the light within her seemed to throb and crackle and he had not rather anticipated that she would allow him to see that vulnerability.
And yet here they were. Ah, and they said that all stories had happy endings-- he really begged to differ, for both there sakes ]
I've existed long enough to have seen countless worlds burn, drown or whatever the calamity of the moment portends, my fatalistic world view is but based in truth
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It feels as if we've argued this before.
[ Ages ago, eons ago, on a star burning. Perhaps not that long ago, on another shard. History didn't repeat, but it rhymed. ]
You can let me go now. I'm righted.
[ Though she sounds too amused for her own good. Felt a bit like when he'd saved her from falling lifetimes ago. ]
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[ and 'ere was he good at giving her exactly what she wished-- well save one thing, and that had sundered their relationship far more keenly then anything else had to be perfectly honest, and so he let her go, his gloved hands falling to his sides and then he let out a rather indolent shrug even as he took a step backward and regarded her with a raise of his winged brow. ]
Ah, we were ever two exceedingly passionate individuals, all well and good until we are on opposite sides..
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Wouldn't we technically be just as passionate on opposite sides? That's what all the stories say. Twelve know that there are pages and pages of...
[ Her voice trails off and for a brief moment or two, she just stares at Emet-Selch with an expression that could only be described as a 'no... couldn't be'.
Those stories were just stories, right? He mentioned that they'd met before, often, even, and if that was true and they were always on opposite sides - more often than not - then that might mean... that at least one or two of those myths might actually be a retelling of...
No.
No, she can't think about this right now. She's already feeling faint. ]
Well, we've - I've discovered quite a lot already. I should probably head to sleep before anyone else figures out I'm awake.
Do you even sleep?
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Ah, but I should hate to keep you from your warm bed...
[ She had made her decisions and he had made his-- did not stop him from ever so often attempting to see if perhaps he could make he remember what they had shared, and he could tell that it was on the tip of her tongue, tip of her memory-- bits and pieces here and there. ]
I do sleep-- more then you'd give me credit for.
[ Ascians rarely slept however he tended to enjoy human actions, for all that he tended to mock the humans and their ways of life, perhaps why he spent whole lifetimes within a form unlike his brethren who made the jump whenever they felt that it would behoove them to. Not necessarily a liar-- except when it came to his own truths. ]
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Yet, even as she announces her leaving, she lingers, her back to him as she briefly pauses at the mouth of the cave. It takes her a moment, but she does look back to him. ]
Can I trust you'll actually keep this between us? I'd like to do this again. Not - not the dancing, so much, but...
[ These memories, trying to bubble up to the surface... ]
It comes back easier with you, and I can't deny my curiosity. If there's more to be learned, I want to learn it.
[ ... and no matter the life she had, the person she was, she'd always had a voracious drive to learn. ]
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sorry took so long-- was battling a bit of seasonal depression