Summary: Lucent and Varanim negotiate.
XP:L1, V1
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Lucent At night, in the day the orb of pluto was crafted, Varanim heard a knock on her door...
Varanim There's a longish pause, a bit of thumping inside, and then Varanim opens the door with a scowl on her face.
Lucent On the door is one of the servants of the cascade, a green-haired maid that Varanim had noticed before. "Lord Lucent, Patriarch of the Kashaen has asked you to meet with him. 'Among the flowers', he said, and said you would know where." She says with a scowl back at Varanim.
Varanim looks briefly incredulous, rubbing tiredly at her eyes. "Gosh, if Lord Lucent wants to see me, I suppose I'd better hop to. And wipe that look of your face, kid, or it'll stick."
Lucent The servant grits her teeth and slaps Varanim accross her face. "You... you don't even value that!"
Varanim blinks a couple of times, lifting a hand to rub absently at her cheek. "Hi, I'm Varanim, have we met? I'm not usually slapped by complete strangers, is all."
Lucent "I KNOW who you are! H-he's always thinking of you, and you!" The corner of her eyes begin to water, "H-he even called me YOUR name, you, you..." But, on a belated realisation of WHO she is talking to (or pehaps just too far into tears) she turns around as if to run away.
Varanim Varanim's left arm shoots out to grab the maid's, she opens her mouth to ask something, then a look of comprehension settles on her face and she lets go as abruptly as she reached out. "I see."
Varanim With a grim look on her face, she sets off for the garden.
Lucent When she gets to the garden, it is unusually quiet. And dark. Even for the night, moonlight does not appear to fall... and one could miss him if he was not Lucent Copper Haze, and thus, unmistakable. "Good evening."
Varanim regards him from ten feet away, folding her arms. "I'm only just barely fit for human company right now, so skip the pleasantries."
Lucent "I thought you would prefer it like this. This is what you want, right?"
Varanim "I've only half finished my post-nap drink, which always makes me a little slow. What the hell are you talking about?"
Lucent "You!" A wave of his hand and petals are plucked out of the flowers, floating in the dim starlight about Varanim as if each petal was possessed of their own light. "Pushing away from me in front of the others. Is this what you want? For us to remain a secret, cast in shadows?"
Varanim "Wait, you're... feeling neglected? Is that what this is about?" She rubs at her eyes, wearily.
Lucent sighs, walking to Varanim and placing his hands on either side of her face, infusing her with sunlight, with day, with man's energy to run in the fields and seize the sun's gift of joy. No more tired. "Why did you push me away?"
Varanim closes her eyes for a moment, a look of vast relief on her face, then her hands flex and she opens her eyes to fix him with a stare. "Why do you crave public fondling so much? We're not each other's property."
Lucent "So if you are not ashamed of my touch, that makes you my property? If I am not ashamed of your touch, does that make me yours'?" His hands slide down from her face, down her arms... "And what is so wrong about that, if we were?"
Varanim is very still under his hands. "Have you called all of your maids by my name, or just the green-haired ones?"
Lucent cringes, stopping his descent to her hands. "... I did not..."
Varanim "Every time I set foot in your bedroom, giant paintings of your exes stare at me. Do you spend all your time making love to ghosts, or just when you're feeling guilty?"
Lucent A ripple goes through the gold in his eyes "That is not fair. I was trying to FORGET you!"
Varanim opens her mouth to say something, then shuts her jaw with a click and turns away, clenching and unclenching her soulsteel hand. "My point," she says carefully after a moment, "was probably that you have your personal space, and I have mine. I'm too washed away by the lunacy of that last comment to make it coherently, though."
Lucent looks... disconcerted at first, at Varanim being so straightfoward, trying to make a coeherent point while so surprised! "I was in love with you, and you shattered my heart. And now I see you trying to push me away again... I know you love me, Varanim. I have seen into your heart."
Lucent His hands land light on her shoulders, "Do you want this to be a secret, then?"
Lucent "I can make them all forget, if that is what you want."
Varanim lifts her hands to his, brushing them with her fingers... then freezes as he finishes speaking. "That's your idea of responsibility? Wave your hand and erase people's minds?"
Lucent "It is part of my gift." He replies, deadpan.
Varanim "Don't do anything. Just... give me a little time. I'm still trying to decide how to handle you."
Lucent "And no more public displays of affection."
Varanim "Do what you want. You will, anyway." Varanim's tone is hard to read, as is her expression when she finally turns to wrap her arms around him. She murmurs in his ear, "I warned you I wasn't any good at this," squeezes him tightly for a moment, then turns and walks away.
Lucent "How can someone so intelligent be so stupid about it?" He sighs under his breath as she walks away, admiring her at the low light, the shining petals following her on the way out. "No matter how hard they try, no one is ever good at this."
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