Post by Endless Laeretti on Nov 28, 2016 15:11:44 GMT -7
7:00pm on the 4th of The Sisters, 5148 (4 Fey Days after entrance into the Feywild) Dyalind, the City of Sweets It's been maybe an hour since Tehodis left him alone with Rill, and Endless is certain that he's going to need to buy her at least a few dozen gifts to thank her for this. Endless has never really been on a date before; his extreme insecurity in expressing his leanings in Fortuna, combined with his general self-consciousness and lack of confidence with his people skills in general have a way of putting a hard stop on the notion of him ever doing anything with anyone. But it would seem that here in the Feywild, it's not really an issue. He learns that because when Rill takes his hand and sidles up close, and Endless recoils initially in fear, he's provoked into spilling his hangups to Rill. And that's when Rill tells him that no one here is going to mind - gender in relationships is hardly a concern for the fey folk. But he's getting ahead of himself. This started an hour ago, when Rill suddenly asked Tehodis if she'd mind wandering Dyalind on her own for just a little while, so that he could spend some time alone with Endless. The redness in the fairy's cheeks and his initial apprehension in asking told Endless clearly enough what his intention was for the alone time, and so after Tehodis had excused herself Endless was left staring dumbly for maybe five minutes while he tried to process that someone, an attractive someone, had just arranged a date with him. Rill had asked if it was alright, wondering if he'd been too forward, and Endless had eventually managed to get it together and tell him (in a quiet voice) that it was very alright, and that he just couldn't believe Rill actually wanted to. "Well duh I want to!" he said. "Haven't you been pickin' up on my signals at all? Jeez, I've been figurin' you gotta be super dense or something these past four days!" He laughed, and Endless felt like burying his face in his hands in embarrassment. He ends up (somehow, stupidly) confessing that he couldn't take his eyes off Rill from the moment they met, and that he'd figured it was impossible for someone like him to be interested in someone like Endless. That's when things had taken a slightly more serious turn, Rill placing his hands firmly on Endless shoulders and telling him that that absolutely wasn't true. "I dunno really what you might have been through in the past," he says, "that would make you think something like that. But Endy... you're a wonderful person, and anyone'd be lucky to have your attention if ya ask me. Heck, I sure feel lucky right now," he added with a bright grin. From there it was decided that Rill would show Endless some of the city's more "romantic" sights, places he'd avoided showing him and Tehodis thus far because he wanted to see it when he was alone with just Endless. Endless is quite sure there's no way he's going to be able to get used to that, the feeling of someone actually valuing him to such a regard, the idea that somebody would reserve something especially just for him. And that's when Rill decided to be bold and take his hand and nestle in close to his side, eventually leading to the explanation that calms Endless's nerves only somewhat. It's strange. It's strange and weird and foreign to be walking around holding anyone's hand, but especially holding the hand of another boy in plain sight of everyone, and to have no one pay them any mind. At one point, Rill even points out a few other couples to Endless, couples he might not have ever noticed on his own due to his mind's habit of defaulting to 'there's no way this will be seen as acceptable to others'. Sure enough, Endless sees pairs of male fairies and pairs of female fairies, and pairs who look like they could be either or neither, and he's astounded by the normalcy of it all. It's almost enough to make him think maybe he did make the right choice in staying here in the Feywild. Almost, but unfortunately not quite. "What's the matter?" Rill asks, when he notices how Endless once again takes his attention off of the present, off of the ice cream sundae in front of him (that leaves his gut objecting again with every bite he takes of it). Endless glances up, eyes wide as though surprised by the question, surprised that he was somehow caught not paying attention to the date he's on. Rill frowns. "Actually, what's been the matter, Endy?" he asks, and before Endless can cut in with his usual fake pleasant smile and assurances of nothing, Rill continues. "Me n' Tehodis have both noticed it. You never really got better, did you? Ever since I fed you guys, she's been great, but you've been... not. I keep catchin' you starin' at nothing with this sad look in your eyes. You look like you wanna be sick every time you're about to eat somethin', even though you seem to be fine when you actually do. You keep... lookin' up at the sky. What's goin' on, Endy? Can you tell me what's wrong?" Endless stares at the fairy sitting across from him at the table of the ice cream parlor, stares at Rill's hand that reaches across the table to rest on top of his own and offer a comforting squeeze. Rill has such a look of concern on his face, that Endless decides to stop hiding it. He casts his gaze down, almost wishing that he could see drops of light reflecting off the wooden surface back at him, like he would be able to if he was doing this in Fortuna, where the moon would be shining on him now. "I don't think I made the right choice, Rill," he says, quietly. "I... I really liked it here. Everything was so beautiful, and I was telling the truth when I said I don't really have a life in Fortuna. I don't. My family is gone, I had no friends... even the person I was living with died recently." He's mumbling, revisiting painful memories that for once he chooses not to just block out right away. "And... well, you were here, and maybe it was dumb of me, but I just thought... as nice as this place was, and especially with you here, how could it be a bad idea to stay?" Rill tries to ignore the dusting of color on his cheeks at those words, and instead presses onward. "So then... what changed? What did the food do to you?" Endless shakes his head. "Nothing, really. At least, I don't think it did. It hasn't actually made me sick or anything like that, it's just... the moment I ate that soup, I felt like something was wrong. Like I'd made the wrong choice and some part of me just knew it on some level. And then ever since then I haven't been able to stop thinking about Fortuna, and about... the sky." Rill glances out the window, staring at the greenish sky above. "The sky?" "I don't know if you've noticed before, during the times you've been to Fortuna, but at night, the sky gets dark. It turns this dark, blue-purple color if it's bright, more black if it's dark, and there's stars. There's so many stars," Endless explains, smiling a little. "I always loved looking at them. And then... there's also moons. Two of them sometimes! They show up in the night sky, these big, beautiful orbs, and they cast off this really peaceful glow... I always kinda hated what they did to me, but I still loved to just watch them, you know?" "whadda ya mean 'what they did to' you?" Rill asks, confused and interested. Endless falters, but Rill's grip on his hand tightens, and he smiles softly. "Well... my eyes. It might be because of my... radiated status, and all. But, uhm, whenever the moon was shining on me, I guess my eyes would catch the glow or something, and they'd light up. Like, really bright, actually. It kind of made it hard to actually be out and about at night, because people would always look at me funny if they saw that. And I hated thinking about it because it just reminded me that I was a freak." He stares down at the table sullenly then. "But somehow I miss it. I miss the sky, I miss the stars. I miss the moon. I miss home. This place somehow just doesn't feel as magical now ever since I ate that soup. I don't know what to do, Rill." Rill listens to the whole thing quietly, forlornly, and he doesn't know what to do either. He tried to tell Endless not to eat the food. He tried to warn him about what might happen. But then, none of Rill's warnings covered what exactly Endless was going through right now. Rill wasn't sure what he could do, how he could comfort him. For Endless to go back to Fortuna was impossible now. Endless needed to eat in order to survive - he wasn't like Tehodis, who could just abstain and subsist on magic if she really wanted to wait out her sentence. Endless would be stuck here forever because he'd need to keep eating more food. And he missed his home. "Come with me," Rill instructed, and he plucks Endless from the table by his clasped hand, practically dragging the boy behind him. When they're outside, Rill takes off, pulling Endless along, and Endless has enough foresight to use his powers to help float himself so that Rill isn't stuck carrying his weight through the air. Rill takes Endless up to a high point in Dyalind, and then asks Endless to very carefully describe the night sky to him. Endless is somewhat confused, but complies, offering as vivid a description as he can, trying to put into words the way the colors of the clouds can meld into the inky darkness, the pinprick glow of stars that varies from specimen to specimen, the glow of the moons and size of their discs. Rill takes it all in, and when Endless has finished, the fairy gazes up and starts moving his hands. And Endless watches as the minty-green sky darkens and takes on purplish hues, he watches as small lights start to appear, as galactic clouds start to form, and he watches as a beautiful silver disc comes into view. It's not perfect, and he thinks Rill knows that too, that there's a certain authenticity that could only come from directly committing the sight of the night sky to memory like Endless has, but it's still remarkably close. It's remarkably close and beautiful, and Endless looks at Rill with a sense of shock. "How did you..." "Most of the fairies here work with Enchantment," Rill replies. He shows Endless a lopsided grin. "But I'm a little better with illusions." Endless glances down at the city streets, at the other fairies down there. "Can anyone else see this?" Rill shakes his head. "Nope. I'm only letting you see it." Endless can't describe how touched he feels. He can't believe someone would go out of their way to do something like this for him. He stares up at the pretend night sky Rill has painted for him, admiring the glow of the moon and how close Rill came to the real thing, and his gaze softens. He feels a genuine smile fill his features for the first time in days, and thinks that maybe he didn't make the right choice in being here, but that he can probably work with it if Rill is here with him. He turns his gaze back down to thank Rill, and instead finds the fairy leaning forward to softly press his lips against Endless's. And Endless is quite certain he will never be able to thank Tehodis enough for the last hour or so he's gotten to spend here. He's never kissed anyone, and he's sure he probably isn't great at it, but Rill didn't seem to be trying to do anything fancy; just a simple press of lips, the closing of eyes, one of his hands on Endless's cheek, and it's only a few seconds later that he's pulling back and smiling softly. Endless is pretty sure his heart is about to burst from his chest. He thinks of what he can say here, what he can do, and he thinks maybe he'd like to try doing that again, but-- But then they hear a giggle. "Oh how romantic~ What a shame it won't last~" Rill's demeanor changes at the sound of that voice, and he lets go of Endless and spins around, looking for its source with a tenseness in his shoulders. The two of them spot the source a moment later, a fairy who looks like a young girl, sitting cross-legged in midair and wearing an oddly wicked grin. Endless can't say he's ever seen a fairy with an expression quite like hers. "What do you want, Sybelle?" Rill asks, his tone full of accusation, as though just the idea of her being here seems poisonous to him. He stands in front of Endless in a way that is distinctly protective, and it makes Endless wonder if he should be really worried about this girl. "Oh, I just thought you two might like to know a little something about your friend is all. The pretty kina girl?" "What did you do to her?" Rill asks, voice louder now. He pulls out a weird weapon suddenly, one that Endless has never seen and didn't even know Rill was carrying; it looks like some kind of winged slingshot, with a long, pointed handle. When Rill tugs the drawstring back, glowing ammo appears on the catapult like magic. Sybelle laughs. "Oh my my my, Rill, are you threatening an officer of King Haelrin? Relax, relax, I didn't do anything to her. She just wanted to go see the King is all." She giggles again. Rill hesitates, looking shocked. "What?" "Oh, it's very sweet. You'll love it!" she assures, looking at Endless. "She just couldn't handle how boohoo sad her little friend has been, so she decided to go to the King and trade him herself - forever - in exchange for the boy to go home. Oh but boo, you two were having such a nice little date~ What a shame that that happiness came at the cost of your dear friend's sacrifice, hm? Oh well!" Endless couldn't believe what he was hearing. Tehodis was doing that? She was going to trade herself to Haelrin, make herself a slave, just so he could leave? "Why..." he breathed out, quietly. "I don't understand. Why would she..." "Mmmm, your guess is as good as mine," Sybelle says, a sadistic sort of glee on her face. "And quite honestly I don't really care. I just thought I'd come and share the happy news. I do so love spreading joy, after all." She starts giggling again, and it quickly devolves into cackling before she's suddenly zooming off, her laughter echoing on the wind as she vanishes. Rill looks as though he's at a loss, his weapon held loosely in one hand. "Take me to Haelrin," Endless says. Rill looks up, surprised. "What?" "Take me to him!" Endless says, louder this time. "I can't let Tehodis do this, not for my sake! We have to stop her! Please, Rill, take me there." Rill looks like he wants to object, like he wants to tell Endless that it's a foolish idea, but he gets one look at the steely determination in Endless's moon-like eyes, a level of resolve he hasn't seen from him yet, and decides there's no point in arguing. He grabs Endless's hand again, and Endless is already levitating himself when Rill takes off, pulling them both in the direction of the Royal City and zooming as fast as his fairy wings will carry them. Their date gets shoved into a corner in the back of Endless's mind, and he very briefly grieves its brevity, but his focus is on something more important now. His focus is on rescuing a dear friend. |