Like thunder screaming out for a flash of lightning

[flawed_immortality]

[Cor's not great at this whole party thing, especially as this time it's not just a family gathering but intended for the friends they'd made here as well. The video starts with Cor sitting in a cushy white and grey striped armchair, a stone fireplace beside him glowing warmly. It's a classy set up and far above the townhouses they've been in.]

It's New Years, celebrations are in order. His Majesty, Ignis, and I have obtained a larger space and we'd like to offer our home for the festivities. Feel free to stop in, have some snacks, and await midnight with us.

[Locked from Regis]
[He looks a little paranoid at first, double, then triple checking that he's done this right.]

It's also his Majesty's birthday. He's always eager to sweep it under the New Years celebrations but he has no reason to shy away from any such celebrations here. Don't let him.

[Action - Party Start~]
[The new house is really very nice. It's nothing compared to the Citadel but it is very nice. Clean and homey with the accents of warm wood that, if Cor didn't know better, he'd have thought was reclaimed.

There's a fire in the hearth, hor d'ouerve trays laid out on the kitchen counters. The replicator is of course available to anyone who wants something specific, though you might be surprised to find she responds to voice commands and is distressingly cheerful to talk to. The house is open for examination! Go on, explore folks, mingle away.]

[Action - Midnight]
[As chill as the night is Cor makes a point of slipping through the crowd throughout the evening. There's a number of Lucis Caelums and other magic users as well. So when the time comes near he does his best to usher everyone into the backyard, or at least onto the back porch.

He's certainly not the one to lead the countdown, no someone more energetic can do that, but at the final count a series of spells get fired into the night sky. They may not be traditional fireworks but a few Flares, Thundaras, and spells he has no names for will work well enough, don't you think?]

Comments

[iustaegis]

[ After a delayed pause, she decides to answer straightforward. ]

More apparel... it isn't needed.

[ Coming from a world that is dying, resources are precious. Why take anything more than necessary? This world, too, is also on the verge of collapse, and the haven of this city seems precarious at best. Where do the native obtain all of their materials to weave more cloth for clothes, for dye for the fabric, more thread for their designs? She doesn't know, maybe it's like the food replicator and that the material is just poof'd into existence, but-- if the resources in this haven are limited, it would harmful for her to take more. ]

This... [ Dropping one hand from his, she motions to the plain tunic she's fashioned. ] is more than enough. [ It's also more than she's ever had before. A townhouse, a dress fashioned after Somnus' style? That a lot; she is grateful for these things. ]

[carbungle]

Feels needed to me. I wore the same clothes a lot on the road back home, and it was the worst.

[Have you ever tried to get daemon ichor out of high-quality leather? Nightmare. Thank the Six they all wear so much black.]

They drag us here against our will to fix their problems, when most of us have plenty to do back in our own worlds- the least they can do is keep us clothed and fed.

[iustaegis]

[ She doesn't need to be fed either, though...

She tilts her head. ]

I... am wearing something different now, aren't I? [ Isn't that enough. ]

[carbungle]

[no!!]

After what, a couple months? How often do you do laundry?

[It's probably magic - it's not like her outfit ever stinks, and he knows the smell of unwashed clothing, he lived out of a goddamn car for months on the run - but he's teasing anyway.]

[iustaegis]

If I answered "once a week" [ ....................For Somnus' shit. ] would you believe me?

[ However, seeing as he's likely caught on anyways, her question to dodge his own is said with a vague smile. She's just playing now, and she's letting it be obvious. ]

[carbungle]

I would, if you had a normal amount of clothes in a normal wardrobe.

[Though now he would really like to see how laundry can be done magically.]

[iustaegis]

[ She laughs softly at that. Alright, she's been caught.

Time for another question. ]

Is what I wear not... to your liking? [ Either this tunic or her normal attire? She lowers one of her hands, picking up a bit of the fabric of the tunic to let it sway. ]

[carbungle]

[HE SMELLS A TRAP but he'll probably fall headfirst into it anyway.]

Nah, it looks cute. I just think you could have some fun with shaking things up once in a while.

[iustaegis]

[ Bold of him to assume she'd do anything for herself. Nice outfit? Make up? Even curling her hair? Unfortunately, she will not. Tunic is enough as it is. ]

Is that what you wish?

[carbungle]

It's my very helpful suggestion.

[He ain't gonna tell you how to live your life, friend.]

[iustaegis]

[ She's torn. On the one hand, she got a judgmental stare at her current outfit earlier. On the other, he says she looks nice. What is a girl to do--? ]

King, game developer, now fashion expert. You keep on surprising me.

[carbungle]

It's been known to happen.

[Sort of nice to get a reputation for good things, so he'll take it.]

Can't say I know anything about girl's fashion, though. Maybe talk to Luna? She came with me, so she's around here somewhere.

[Probably went to go bother one of his relatives by now.]

[iustaegis]

[ Ah, Luna. Beautiful and graceful and as pure as freshly fallen snow. She's easily admirable, and has certainly gained Pyra's own. Wherever she is at the party, her sight finds her. ]

She is a part of your family....

[carbungle]

She was gonna be.

[His tone is musing for a moment, quiet and a little shy, his gaze falling across the rest of the party as he looks for her. When he finds her nowhere in sight, he refocuses and shakes his head.]

I mean, she is. She's more than welcome if she wants that.

[If she wants, well, him. And all signs point in that direction so far.]

[iustaegis]

[ WELL HOLY SHIT. ]

---You are engaged?

[ What--

uh

a bluh ]

[carbungle]

[FECK

And he's red again. He is red, red, red.]

Kind of? Or- we were, just- it's complicated. We're figuring things out!

[He has no idea what he's supposed to tell people anymore. This is why he doesn't do it...!]

1/2

[iustaegis]

[ How else is she supposed to interpret "She was gonna be" and then "She's more than welcome"?!

She sees that blush. Goodness, he's as red as her hair.

..... ]

[iustaegis]

[ She brings their joined hands up between them, giving his a gentle squeeze that accompanies her smile. ]

I'm so very happy for you two.

[ Two mortals coming together, finding each other in an entirely different world, and in love. Or-- hm, they're still figuring it out, sure, but... This is how it should be. ]

[carbungle]

[Gods. At least she's not going at it full swing like Aunt Aera is so fond of doing. He's still flustered, of course, but his smile is soft as he relaxes a little.]

...Thanks... I'm really glad she's here.

[And relieved, too. After what he heard of his future back home, and after worrying about her for months... to have her here and safe is huge.]

[iustaegis]

[ Well, at one point she actually DID get fully excited after guessing that someone else was in love.... and she got fully told off because of it. Hence she's changed, and so he is given the more muted and cautious reaction.

She was going to ask him for a dance.

But perhaps that would not be so appropriate anymore. ] That you are meeting each other in another world like this.... it's almost like fate.

Very romantic.

[carbungle]

...Maybe.

[He certainly can't argue; a lot of what happens here, the people who are brought to this place, sure feels fated. Those from all walks of life, different timelines and experiences, to mend broken old bonds and perhaps undo some terrible fate their world is to befall, if someone can figure out how the hell that works.

The fact that she's here, and he's here, and back home they were never going to meet, never going to marry... it could very well be fate.]

It didn't start out all that romantic. It was arranged for us- terms of the peace treaty with Niflheim. I didn't even get a chance to ask her how she felt about it ahead of time... it didn't seem fair to expect anything serious.

[iustaegis]

....Oh.

[ Oh wait a moment. ]

Does that mean the two of you fell in love here?

[ Granted, she is assuming they are in love but!! ]

[carbungle]

[...ah...

He glances away, lips tightly pursed, free hand pressed over his face as if it'll spare the room from the pink returning to his cheeks. Is there really any sense in denying it? To her, or to himself?]

Not gonna speak for her. We agreed to take things slow. But... I've known how I feel for a long time.

[He doesn't know what counts as being in love with someone. Never happened before. But he adores her, happily and wholeheartedly. He admires her strength, her will, her kindness. The way she serves the world and fulfills her duty with a smile and a reassuring voice, healing the people no matter where or how sick they might be. A lone woman standing against an endless darkness, unafraid.

All he'd wanted was to be with her again, to help her, to save her. To face that dark together, like they'd promised to do when they were children. She'd believed in him wholeheartedly, even when he was too young to be useful, too fragile to even walk. "I know you will," she'd told him. She helped him believe in himself.

He very well may be in love with her. The idea that they might share that warms his heart. But he knows without a doubt that he loves her and always will. That's never changed.]

[iustaegis]

[ He's blushing still, and she wonders why he's attempting to hide it when his response makes it so obvious. If not in reaction, then in words, if not in words then his tone.

....How had she not noticed before?

There is absolutely nothing she could say to him, to reassure him on his future or sway him on it, that would effect him as grandly as his family would. As Luna would. She remains an outsider evermore. ]

You should go to her. [ She urges gently, her fingers beginning to slip out of his. ] Dance with her, tonight.

[carbungle]

Dance with her? Come on, you know that's a bad idea. I don't know how.

[Besides the one dance, as he'd mentioned, and right now the party is too crowded for a dance that... busy. Plus he can hardly expect her to do a traditional Lucian wedding march with him on the spot like this. In front of everyone??]

It's okay, we live together. She's visiting with the ones we don't see every day, so I've got some time.