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Entry tags:

arthur,
syeira

closed

Who: Arthur and Syeira
Broadcast: N/A
Action: Starting on the Red Fish
When: Today

It's not really an unusual day. They're in a new area, people are milling about, the ships are running normally. But Syeira's fever broke finally, and she's actually starting to look like herself lately. So it's a good day, and a relief, to have her back and safe (and feeling a little better now). He doesn't want to think back on when he thought she was gone. It's stupid to do that anyway. It's irrelevant. She's here now.

With Syeira back, there are things to think about. One thing on the forefront of his mind: their relationship. He kissed her. Actually kissed her. She probably didn't remember it or appreciate it, but it happened. And now he's afraid, just praying he didn't go too far.

There's really only one way to find out. Ask her on a date. Another one. In any case, it would be a good excuse to get her out and doing something. It would be good for her. He's nervous as hell, though. He doesn't remember the last time he asked someone on a date. But he had the first part of the plan down. Dress up. Look good. Bring present. Ask her out. He could do that, right?

He's wearing a dark sweater with the sleeves rolled up and some neutral trousers; dressy, but not too dressy. His hair is slicked back as always, but he keeps messing with it like it's got him nervous. He stops at her door, knocking with the hand not holding a small bag.

“It's Arthur.”

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Thre's a moment where they're just looking at each other, his hands on her legs. She breathes through parted lips, shallow, soft little breaths of anticipation. And then he breaks the spell of the moment, pulling away. She has to wet her lips and swallow before she can try to speak.

"Yes..." Wait, he meant the lacings. Right. Right. She tries again. "Yes, that's good. Thank you."

There's a moment of awkward tension, until she laughs nervously. This is going to be some date, she can already tell. "You should probably help me up. Sometimes, my leg doesn't want to hold for some reason."

He laughs with her. It's nice, to know they can laugh about this sort of thing with each other, that not everything has to be serious.

"I can do that," he says as he stands. He holds out a hand for her and bends, looping his other arm around her so the effort isn't entirely on her.

They have to laugh. Because it's a little bit silly, isn't it?

She stands with his help, testing her leg. For the moment, it feels fine. Normal, just like her other leg. Her only issue is the lingering fatigue that makes her have to lean on him a little.

"It's as healed as it could possibly be. Not even a scar from..." From where the dragon-creature had bit through it, while she was transformed. "From before, but sometimes, I'll feel it again. Like the bones are broken."

She speaks matter-of-fact. It doesn't bother her to remember, not really. What's bothersome is the wondering if she will always be potentially crippled, from one moment to the next. Or will it fade like the fever faded? Only time would tell.

She sighs, giving him a small smile. "Come. Take me somewhere I can see sunlight, Arthur."

Staying close, he watches her test her leg. He's worried about her and her fatigue, but she did promise to tell him if it was too much for her.

Her almost mentioning the attack has him flinching slightly. He hasn't talked about it... really at all. He doesn't want to. He just wants to forget it ever happened.

He returns the smile, trying to shake off that and the nerves. Tonight was supposed to be fun. "It would be my pleasure. Just grab me if you're feeling unsteady."

He lets go of her middle and bends down to pick up the bag he brought in. "But first, I brought you something." He holds the drawstring bag out for her. It's a little heavy, and if she opens it, she'll find a small white ceramic statuette of an elephant.

"You did?" Gifts still baffle her. Baffles and humbles and delights her. She opens the bag with a giddy reverence, and carefully takes the figurine out. She draws in a little breath of wonder, turning it over in her hands.

"It's an elephant." She doesn't sound put out, or confused. Just purely happy and excited. "I've seen drawings of them. They're supposed to be enormous!"

She lifts her gaze to his, smiling warm as midday sunshine. She puts her arms around him then, in a tight hug. "Thank you. It's beautiful."

She hugs him, and he startles, surprised by her unbridled happiness. He thought maybe she'd be confused or think he was dumb. He hugs back, smiling softly.

"I'm glad you like it. Elephants make me think of loyalty, the way they think they can recognize family members that have been killed. And they're so smart. Like you."

He smiles, gesturing at the door. "Shall we leave? I thought we'd head to this Spirit store not too far away."

It's kind of fun to know what they're doing and not telling Sye, not gonna lie, but he'll eventually tell her.

"Yes, lets. I'll just put this here." She moves away from him only a little, to place the elephant statue on her night stand, right next to her little tree, carefully and with purpose. She points it so that it can be seen fully from across the room.

Then she loops her arm through his, wanting the closeness to him, but also in case she needs support. "I'm ready."

He watches, quietly pleased that she likes it so much. And then he takes her arm and leads her out.

"Have any idea what we're doing?"

"Hmmm," she pretends to think. "I'll wager...Leaving the ship?"

She chuckles, no she has no idea.

A grin. "Right. For the first part. Then we're going to a store that has items that got me through my childhood."

"Oh really?" That's an interesting little mystery. "And what are those?"

It feels great to be outside. Probably even better for her. He smiles, looking over at her. "Books."

He couldn't have pleased her more if he'd offered her diamonds and gold. Not by a long shot. Her expression goes bright with delight and excitement. She even hops a little, boosted by the idea of getting some new books.

"Really?!"

He laughs delightedly. "A girl after my own heart. Yes, really."

She's so irresistible like this. He could just kiss her silly, if he only had the courage.

"When I was about thirteen, I was really into this series of books. It was about this man who went into space and fought aliens. Kind of ironic, that now I'm buying books in space. What kind of books should we get?"

"Every kind." She's passionately adamant, and obviously not joking. "History, Mathematics, Astronomy, Magic Theory, fiction, anything! We could take them to the library on the Iskaulit and add them to the collection!"

She's so excited, so energized. It means she's going to crash sooner, but at the moment, she can't possibly care. Arthur is taking her to do one of her favorite things. She even tugs on him a little, despite not knowing at all where they're going, just that she wants to get there now.

"That's a good idea. Especially if we get all the kinds you want to."

They've gotten such good ratings lately that they should be able to afford it, too.

"I'm keeping a few for myself, though. You should, too."

It's always good to have a little personal collection. Especially while she's not feeling completely well. He leads her down another street.

It's not as busy back here, and it's a bit of a hole-in-the-wall place. It's old and dusty and probably a weird date location, but he holds the door open for her, smiling. It's one of those places that is stuffed and stuffed with books, of all kinds, sorted with a few handwritten signs. The shopkeeper gives Arthur a quick smile, then turns back to his paperwork.

Arthur smirks and takes her hand in his, leading her back through stacks and stacks of books to the book.

"I like this place. There's a lot of history books back here that I wanted to look at."

She's all smiles in the bookshop. The hand Arthur doesn't have, touches everything. Every spin and cover in reach, her fingers run across. But she lets him guide her back to the stacks, where the books he's after are.

She picks one book, leather bound with gold embossed words on it. She runs her hands over it, almost worshipful. Opening it, she's careful not to crease the pages. She breathes in deeply, taking in the scent of parchment, ink, and leather. And suddenly, tears are in her eyes and she has to cover her mouth to stop a sob coming out. She turns a little, hoping Arthur won't notice. She doesn't want to spoil the outing with this random outburst of emotion.

He's excited, and starts to look through the books as she picks one up. He can't help but glance at her, though, watching as she loses herself in the smells, the feel of it. She loves them the way he loves them.

And then he notices her hold her mouth, and he startles, standing up straight and reaching for her immediately. He knows it has to be something with her dying. It had to have had happened sooner or later. It still breaks his heart.

"Hey," he says softly, his eyes sad. He slips his hand over the one still holding the book. "What is it?"

She sniffles, and immediately swipes at her eyes to dash any tears away. She smiles wanely as she turns to look at him.

"It's nothing. I'm all right." Even she doesn't really believe her. She's never very good at lying to people she cares for. "It's just...all of this. You and this place, these books. I almost-"

She has to swallow hard, to keep going. "I almost lost all of it. I don't regret what I did, don't get me wrong. I would do it again in an instant to protect you. I just-"

She just doesn't want to die. She wants to live and breathe, and read books and talk to her friends, and everything a life can have in it. She presses the book to her chest, turning more fully towards him. She's mostly contained the abrupt urge to cry, but there's still so many emotions on her face.

"Arthur...can I ask you something?"

When she turns to him, he smiles sadly, listening patiently. It makes a lot of sense. And he can't even imagine how she feels right now.

He reaches out to touch her chin, a light caress. "Of course."

Oh, dear. Now comes the asking of the actual question. But she must, if for no other reason than she needs to know if it was just a figment of her addled imagination. She blushes, glancing away as he touches her face so gently, making her heart skip a beat. Of course, he had to make this even harder by doing that.

"When I...came back, that first day...did you-" She licks her lips, rallies, even though her face is certainly bright red. "I um- I thought I remembered you, uh..." Say it already, girl! "Did you... Did you kiss me?"

Oh that was hard. Her breath comes rushing out of her mouth, only for her to draw it back in, quick and shallow with tension, and she manages to flick her gaze back up to his, shy and nervous.

He goes from sad to shocked in a few seconds. He hadn't really thought she'd remembered by now. They hadn't discussed it, and she hadn't acknowledged it. His body feels molten hot all of a sudden, especially his cheeks, which have turned bright pink. It's not something he thought he'd have to own up to yet, though he should've thought about maybe having to kiss her on a date.

Not that it was a chore. That kiss had been rather strange with her not reciprocating, but it hadn't stopped his whole body from feeling like it was on fire at the time. Like lightning had connected their lips.

He blinks at her for a few moments, his breathing turning as shallow as hers. It's up to him now.

"I... Yes, I kissed you."

He steps closer, his voice turning to a murmur. "And I'd like to do it again, if it's what you want, too."

She barely remembered it, but what she could recall was that his mouth had been on hers and she hadn't been ready. Could breathe enough and it was just...awkward. Not awful, but definitely not the way she'd pictured her first kiss.

And now he's close, touching her, with another clearly on offer. She doesn't dare to move, in case he somehow read it as a rejection. Her eyes focus on his mouth, and her stomach starts turning sommersaults.

"Please..." It's a soft little murmur, so as not to shatter the moment, but audible enough to be understood.

That's all it takes to crumble any resolve he had about waiting. He cups her cheek softly and leans forward, pressing his lips to hers. He seems to know what he's doing, but he keeps it sweet and soft, though it feels like he can feel everything, every tiny little hair pricking up on his neck.

He almost lost her. He almost lost this. And suddenly he's pressing his lips harder, his brows knitting. He's never attached this much emotion to a kiss, and he's never thrust out his heart for anyone like this. But it's like he never knew how important this was until now, until he could kiss her and touch her again. He had no idea how much he sincerely cared for Syeira until she was gone.

While technically her second, for her memory this is her first kiss. The first lost to vague feverishness, and illness. No she'll take this one instead. Even though her heart is in her throat the entire time.

The touch of his lips makes her jump slightly, but she doesn't pull away, though her nerves give her the suggestion. Since she doesn't relent to the adrenaline rush, it pours itself into the rest of her, making her hands shake as she reaches for him, to steady herself. The poor book falls to the floor in a heap, completely forgotten.

She's not at all skilled, and just follows her instincts. It's not terrible, at least she hopes. It's lovely for her, exciting and terrifying and overwhelming. He kisses her harder, and she has to move her head a little to catch air through her nose. Still it's not enough to keep her head from swimming. It builds so quickly, the emotions and physical sensations in response to just his mouth on hers. She had no idea it was so intense.

And while she is brave and bold, and tries her hardest, she's so untried and unskilled with this kind of thing- physical affection; romantic physical affection. The shaking progresses up her arms and she feels her jaw tighten, as if to start her teeth chattering. That's when she pulls away, leaning back against the shelf just behind her hard enough to make the books rattle a bit.

Her breathing is fast, as if she'd run a league in a minute. She puts one hand over her pounding heart, the other holding tight to whatever part of him she can blindly grasp. She doesn't want him to think something is wrong. It's not. At least...she doesn't think it is? "Just- just a moment...Need to breathe..."

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