Summary:A romantic interlude on Herons' island.
XP:L1, V1
Tags:< The Eleventh Deliberation | Sol Invictus Logs | Tell Me The Short Version >
Varanim Late at night, well after Lucent is back from swimming with Zahara, Varanim finally reappears from some corner of the little island looking for him.
Lucent was throwing stones in the water, waiting. Of course, that being Lucent they bounced at least a dozen times. And described complex patterns in the water, forming perfect artwork in the glory of the sun, wonders long gone, and love, that was erased as soon as a new wave slid over the water. Varanim sees her face, smiling sweet, described by coral-pebbles before being erased.
Varanim "Better digestion cures an overactive imagination," she says, coming up behind him and resting her chin on his shoulder to watch his last masterpiece before it fades.
Lucent smiles, happy as he watches Varanim's smiling face disappearing from the waves. "Well, it is not my fault y'all didn't wait on me and Zahara to cook the crabs. Imrama was raised on a mountain on the north, what do you think he knew of roasting crabs on the first place?"
Varanim waves a hand airily at that, then extends it to Lucent. "And it's not my fault you people are lost without a host of servants to do everything for you."
Lucent takes her hand, placing it over his heart. It was beating fast. He laughed at her words, slipping an arm around her waist as they watch the moonlight on the water "God, what would we do without you around? To keep us real, to keep us grounded? To keep me"
Varanim looks over at him a little strangely. "Much the same as you've always done, I expect. I haven't changed anything by coming, aside from a few extra screaming fights and a bit of headboard-banging that probably isn't too cosmic in consequence."
Lucent "You mean, aside from killing the Herald and saving the whole damn world. You mean, aside from using your necromancy to awaken pluto after we had him fixed. You mean..." He smiles, as if saying something obvious, then stops. "But I meant smaller. You and Zahara, the companionship you have given her, the partner you have given Spring... the awakening you have given me."
Lucent "You were the missing piece."
Varanim "You're deluded, but cute," she says, reaching over to ruffle his hair and drawing him in a slow amble down the beach. "I don't usually stay in one place for long," she adds more quietly after a minute, "and I've mostly avoided having friends."
Lucent Arm-in-arm with her, he starts to walk down the beach, smiling at the sea. And at her. "Well, you failed. You have friends now, quite a few of them, who missed you terribly when you were gone. More even than friends. A family. Wherever you go, you take your family with you." He stops, turning to her to place a hand over her heart. "You take them here."
Varanim looks at him appraisingly for a moment. "It never fails," she says finally. "If I concede a tiny bit, you want it all." She shakes her head with a smirk and half-turns away to resume the walk. "Anyway, I don't expect I'll be leaving again soon. Isn't that good enough for now?"
Lucent has a sorrowful smile on his face as he replies, "Will at least be long enough..."
Varanim Varanim's arm tenses slightly around his. "Your free-floating heroic angst is a waste of energy. I seem to recall you saying I didn't have to worry about you, because you're immortal."
Lucent "Yes. Are I not the silliest Exalt you have ever met?" He turned around to kiss her lips... and, breaking it, to step away from her. "You know that place I visited, the Violet Bier of Sorrows? It oversees the end of all things that should end, gardeners of Creation... sometimes literally."
Lucent plunges his hand on the air close to himself, his fingers digging in... the broken veils appearing the color of brass. He takes a brass orb from out of the broken reality, opening like a flower to reveal his armor as it is deposited on the sand. Reaching inside of it... he takes a bouquet of flowers.
Lucent They were almost metallic in nature, flaring in solar hues, the red so copper, the bright so bronze, supported by green stems the color of Varanim's hair, with black dots freckling them.
Varanim Varanim's hand stirs as if to reach out for the flowers. "Very silly," she agrees softly after a moment, one corner of her mouth turning up a bit. "You didn't really bring me flowers from heaven, did you? Me?"
Lucent "I SAID I was the silliest of Chosen, right?" He winks. "Taken from the most secluded glade of the Violet Bier of Sorrows. Born of a Primordial, they will not wilt, they will not die. They will remain even after Creation is done and gone. But they are only proof that something has existed if they are given a purpose." He places the bouquet, wrapped in ambrosia, on her hands. "I love you."
Varanim "Great, now I can be long outlived by my decor." She lays a hand on his cheek, though, and leans in to kiss him. "I'll put them in my very favorite moonshine jug."
Varanim "Also, you're being ostentatiously sappy, even for you. If you keep it up, I'll have to press about why."
Lucent breaks the kiss, holding her so very close, his words but whispers, "Only heaven may end them, but now they have to come for them. And then, you can send them away. And remember today, whatever happens, even if I am a monster again. Just remember today, that I gave you the flowers, that I loved you. Find it silly and stupid and sappy and corny if you wish, but remember this..."
Varanim looks at him for a long moment, something dark and thoughtful moving far back in her eyes, then she banishes it with a little shake of her head and a brief sad smile. "Don't worry," she says quietly, linking her arm again with his. "I remember everything."
< The Eleventh Deliberation | Sol Invictus Logs | Tell Me The Short Version >