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Post by C'Leena Thomas on May 29, 2023 17:44:22 GMT -5
The ship finally reaches the dock, and after a few minutes of tying the ship to the docks, the passengers are let off the ship and are free to go about their days. Compared to places like The Frost Gales and Dragons Cradle, the culture is vastly different, and it shows. Around the docks are merchant stands, most of which are selling meats and carcasses, farmed goods or various other trinkets.
At first glance, it's clear that Eclipse City, and maybe even Moonglade, is a very nature centered state. Most of everybody is wearing loose fitting clothes that are nature colored, with various greens and browns being the most predominant. C'Leena and Nephele stick out in this regard, with C'Leena still wearing her hoodie and her coat being tied around her waist. C'Leena has her head on a swivel as they disembark the ship, trying to take as much information in as possible.
The trip to Eclipse City was surprisingly nice. Even though C'Leena had never been on a ship, she didn't really get seasick, only having a mild reaction to some particularly choppy waters. On top of that, below the decks had multiple open flames which promptly freaked C'Leena out into a panicked state. Once that was cleared up, though? She was alright. The fires still scared her, but she felt far more centered with Nephele there with her. It was easier to deal with. She felt.. safe.
Taking Nepheles hand, they walk down the docks. It's somewhat crowded with the passengers all heading the same way, as well as the many merchants yelling out their wares to curious new-comers and citizens alike. C'Leena would be lying if she wasn't curious, but she needs to get a better handle on her financial decisions. For some reason, she bought a second rapier, and had the overwhelming urge to also buy a Halberd. Why? Because halberds are really damn cool. She doesn't even know how to use one, she just wants a damn halberd.
It's just after midday, so they have quite some time to burn before sunset. Walking off the docks and into the city proper, the sights are frankly incredible. The city is surrounded in shimmering white walls that the light simply bounces off of, almost becoming blinding. The beacon that is the castle stretches into the sky, screaming wealth and power. After all, it is where the princess lives.
The skies are clear with a beautiful cerulean, and C'Leena is simply looking up and around, admiring everything and anything that catches her eye. Her eyes still haven't reverted back to their aquamarine gemstone counterparts, and even after it was pointed out, she didn't seem to mind. Seeing as it was her natural eye color before the prosthetics, the change doesn't bother her, and it lowers the amount of curious eyes directed at her. So, win-win.
Holding onto Nepheles hand still and meandering through the flagstone streets, the bustle of the city is a somewhat familiar sound to C'Leena. The conversation and footsteps on stone-slash-concrete create a partial cacophony of the city sounds she grew up with. The only things missing are car engines and people laying on the horn at intersections. Although with her time here, she hasn't missed the borderline toxic air of the city center.
Right now, they have no destination in mind - at least C'Leena doesn't. Having said that, she does eventually ask Nephele "Anything you want to get done? I know you wanted to visit your mother, but you never said if there was a particular time you wanted to do it. We're running on your schedule here, babe." She gives Nepheles hand a light squeeze. C'Leena and Nephele recently got out of a trance after the kid from before had nudged C'Leena and told them that they were nearly at Eclipse City, so C'Leena had far more feeling in her prosthetics than before, and thus has a comfortable grip on Nephele. On top of that, her sensation has been lasting slightly longer with each session. it's not a lot, but it's progress.
Compared to a person with biological, undamaged hands, though? She might as well be feeling through leather, but it's still far more than she has felt in years, and is absolutely stoked about it. Progress is progress, no matter how small.
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Post by Nephele on May 29, 2023 18:59:16 GMT -5
Eclipse City was just as beautiful as Nephele remembered. The clear air wasn't tainted with the smell or feeling of overwhelming heat or cold, instead carrying with it a nice, cool breeze as the weather turned over slowly into winter. All of the same buildings were there, with the familiar sounds and bustling of merchants and other townspeople flooding her senses. Every single part of it was so familiar, and had she returned to it even six months before, Nephele would not have appreciated it as she did now.
Eclipse City was one of the only places in the Moonglades that were not tainted by her mother's influence, so all of the people that looked at Nephele did not recognize her. Usually, when somebody did it was not for a good reason, and would typically recognize her for the things that her and her mother did in her childhood. It felt nice, knowing that nobody had their eyes on her at least for the moment.
Things were different though, despite it being so very similar. This time, C’Leena was with her, having never been to Eclipse City to her knowledge. As they walked through and passed by different buildings, Nephele would point out sights that she had seen before, and others that she must have missed the first time she came. It was beautiful how much she had developed since meeting C’Leena.
After a few beats of silence during their walk, of which they barely even scaled a quarter of what the city had to offer, C’Leena broke the silence with her question. Ah, that's right. Nephele paused to think, humming under her breath. It was true, the time was drawing nearer for her to go to her mother’s grave, but it wasn't so close together that she'd have to drop everything and run. Nephele thought that they had at least a week to get there, which was enough time for them to spend a little bit of time in Eclipse City and then make the short trip through the Eclipse Jungle to where she was buried. Nephele figured it wouldn't take too long, but then again it had been years, and she didn't quite know what she was willing to tell her.
“Hmm, well I do recall promising a few things to you.” Nephele started, dodging around a group of children that were chasing each other in the crowd. She kept it pretty solid grip on C’Leena, just in case the crowds got too wild. “One of those things being finding us a tavern to drink ourselves silly in. Don't know if you're exactly a daylight drinker though, as fun as that sounds.”
“If not that and you wish to remain sober for a few minutes longer,” Nephele continued a bit of a teasing smirk on her face, “we could certainly continue seeing the sights. As you're probably able to tell, I truly do love this place. It's the first place that I ever went to on my own, I stayed here for quite a while. We can start heading that way in a few days, I'd like to breathe before I cry my eyes out.”
Nephele is smiling when she says this, but it's all true. The moment that they go to see Callythia, she's 90% sure things will not be going well for her mentally. For now she wanted reprieve.
"I also want to show you the old church building tonight, so maybe we should save drinking for later so you don't drunkenly fly into a pole." Nephele added with a teasing poke to her girlfriend's side, clearly joking.
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Post by C'Leena Thomas on May 29, 2023 19:25:01 GMT -5
C'Leena snorted - full on snorted at Nepheles offer to get piss wasted here. That, at most was a passing comment on her sobriety so she is beyond impressed that Nephele remembered. Hell, C'Leena didn't even remember saying that, but apparently Nephele has the memory of an elephant or something. "You know what? I might take you up on that. Jeez, you know the way to an aussies heart, Neph." She says, nudging Nephele lightly. "I reckon we go get pissed either tomorrow night or later tonight. Don't want to be suffering tonight with day-drinking, despite how fun that sounds, indeed." She says, almost crestfallen from her good judgement.
C'Leena understands simply wanting to chill for a while following a grave visit. C'Leena was much the same with visiting Rose, so she's more than happy to work on Nepheles schedule. "Yeah for sure, working on your time. We could be here for months if you really want to before we go visit. Anyway, you're the one who's been here before. Show me the cool shit!" She says with a grin. She's more than happy to follow Nephele around and she's been enjoying the things that Nephele has been pointing out to her.
With Nephele suggesting they go visit the church tonight, she looks over at Nephele with mild surprise, but that very quickly vanishes from her features. "Tonight? Yeah alright, for sure!" She says casually. Looks like her timeline just got sped up a bit, huh? Oh well, she can deal. Totally. She's not stressing about it, not at all!
Despite the mild surprise, she's still looking forward to the day, so she happily follows Nephele around, always holding onto her hand unless one of them needs to let go for a moment. C'Leena allows herself to be towed around Eclipse City, paying close attention to what Nephele points out and talks about. A part of her is still in disbelief on how C'Leena could have gotten someone like Nephele from sheer chance. It's one thing to encounter someone, but it's an entirely different thing to encounter someone in a place you intended for solidarity. For the foreseeable future, that'll be her favorite day of all time.
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Post by Nephele on May 29, 2023 20:12:49 GMT -5
“I'd say I've had a lot of practice,” Nephele jested, tilting her head as she stood on tiptoe to kiss C’Leena on the cheek, “but I think you know that already. Come now, I want to show you where I found a thief sneaking into the white walled castle. It was quite funny, he slept in not nearly broke his skull.”
It was interesting, having Nephele as a glorified tour guide, because she took it very seriously and showed C’Leena everything that she could ask for, but it almost felt like half of the things that she showed her weren't even landmarks. Of course, she pointed out significant spots of all kinds, staring in awe as she talked about the crowds she saw going into the Purple Lantern, the most renowned tavern and inn in the West of Charon (and possibly the entire continent).
However, when she wasn't showing C’Leena a significant landmark, Nephele was telling stories about random parts in the city that most people would walk by without much care. For example, she told C’Leena about the time that she watched a scuffle occur on the roof of a nearby jewelry shop from her own sanctuary atop another building across the way. She described in almost minute detail about who won the fight, who got away, if authorities were around when it happened, etcetera etcetera. It was at this point when it was pretty obvious that Nephele’s ability to remember things was nigh unmatched to most people they passed by.
“And there,” Nephele was saying as she pointed in the direction of the housing district, “is the housing district. I spent some time scaring some of the neighborhood children here, but one of the family dogs came out and chased me away before I could do much more. It was never anything crazy, just walking around in a cloak and speaking to them in my siren voice.”
She actually sounded a bit guilty for this, scratching her cheek a little bit. “I suppose I was being a little bit cruel, but one of them found one of my earrings after it fell out of my ear and I was well and fully socially inept… so I pretended to be a vengeful, scary river lady looking for my wares. I nearly died that night I swear.”
It was at this point that Nephele had to let go of C’Leena 's hand to stretch. The crowd had thinned by the time this happened, mostly due to Nephele knowing how to get around it at this hour. It was strange how easily she was able to navigate a place that she barely even walked around on foot. Perhaps it was just instinct. A few hours had passed at this point, and Nephele peered up at C’Leena.
“Are you hungry? We've been walking for a while and I've been talking a lot. I think I need water.”
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Post by C'Leena Thomas on May 29, 2023 20:47:18 GMT -5
C'Leena listened intently, chuckling when she needed to and asking questions when something wasn't clear. It was also painfully obvious that indeed, Nephele has the memory of an elephant. Piss. She thinks to herself. Now she won't let C'Leena forget any embarrassing moments, huh? No more praying that she forgets things.
The sun has been lowering gradually over the day, and right now it's about 3pm or so, with sunset being in about 2 hours. Perhaps they can watch the sunset from the church? Maybe. They got quite a few sunsets to catch, so there's no rush to see this one in particular.
"You have an awful habit of nearly dying. Also since when were you the vengeful spirit type? Also 'Siren' voice? Sirens were.. Greek mythos, I think. Lured sailors into rocks and whatnot to sink their ships." C'Leena chuckled. "Sounds like a convenient excuse for a bad captain, I reckon. 'No, I didn't crash the ship, it was them Sirens done lured me! Wasn't my fault!'" She mocks in a concerningly good English accent. It's one of the things that she got good at during a prolonged hyper fixation binge a while ago. The ability to mimic accents pretty quickly has come in handy a surprising number of times, and is generally just funny to use and bugger with people.
"Food?" Her attention is suddenly arrested by the magic word. Goddamn, Nephele really is trying to make C'Leena swoon today, huh? "Say less, dal. The Purple Lantern isn't too far from here. You said it was a popular place to be, so might as well check it out, yeah?" She suggests. She hadn't eaten today so, truth be told, she's hungry. Remembering where the tavern was, she re-takes Nepheles hand after she stretches and leads her back to where the Purple Lantern was.
It doesn't take long to return to the tavern, and C'Leena walks in with Nephele in tow. Indeed, it's a decently crowded tavern, with the feeling that it only gets more packed the longer the night goes on. Most of the tables have at least 2 people sitting at them. Her vision actively struggles with seeing the opposite side of the room. Granted, it's a pretty large room, but still, she can't see shit on the opposite side, meaning she can't see what is being sold. "Dammit. God I need glasses - You want anything to eat?" She asks, looking at Nephele as they walk to a free table.
Something curious has been happening with her accent as of late. It's been subtle up until now, but it appears that C'Leena has slowly begun picking up small bits and pieces of Nepheles accent and replacing parts of her own accent with it. C'Leena isn't aware of this one bit, cause when are you really aware of how your own accent sounds?
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Post by Nephele on May 29, 2023 21:39:17 GMT -5
“Yes, well, if you’d suddenly been turned loose onto a big city after being co-dependent your whole life, you would go mad with power as well.” Nephele said in a far too serious voice, but it dropped almost immediately when she giggled to herself. Her laugh only got louder at hearing C’Leena’s impression, having to clap a hand to her mouth to stop herself from causing a scene. She couldn’t tell if she delighted in this new revelation or absolutely despised it and wanted C’Leena to never do that again. “Gods, never do that again, that was absolutely horrid. You wouldn’t be wrong though, it’s a common occurrence.”
“Nymphs and sirens are very similar, as we both have the gift of song. You’ve heard me use it before, I use it for meditation.” Nephele added, she then paused, looking at C’Leena with a curious look. It was then that she recalled something, something about C’Leena specifically that made her smile turn mischievous. But the looked dropped immediately thereafter, refocusing on the idea of food. “But enough of that, let’s go eat. I’ve only been in once.”
Doubling back to the tavern, Nephele had to stand on tiptoe to see over the crowd. Her vision was much better than C’Leena’s was thankfully, so she could see towards the front. Nephele places her hand down on a free table by the leftmost wall, claiming it before another couple could and earning a glare from them. She ignored it, looking at C’Leena with a smile. “Anything with meat should be fine with me. But if they have any fruit at the front could you grab me some? It's been a while since I've had sugar.”
Nephele had been noticing the changes in C’Leena’s accent, raising a brow at some of her pronunciation. Nephele herself hadn't had any serious changes with her own voice and cadence, but every now and again she did find herself using some of C’Leena's vernacular unintentionally. A full accent change? Completely unheard of for her. Or perhaps it just hadn't affected her yet. Nephele wasn't complaining, of course. C’Leena's voice was attractive any day of the week to her, and listening to her adopt her own accent was strangely exhilarating.
Nephele almost frowned to herself. She really needed to control her thoughts, was she really that whipped, as C’Leena would say? How silly.
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Post by C'Leena Thomas on May 29, 2023 22:59:14 GMT -5
"You know what? Thats completely fair. The brits are fucken' dumb anyway." She says, chuckling. Returning to the idea of food as well, she listens to what Nephele wants and quickly makes her way through the crowd. A decent amount of time passes before C'Leena shows back up with 2 plates in hand, with a bowl and 2 cups floating behind her, wrapped up in those little inscriptions. Her arms are both glowing and the rings around her arms make a comeback as the items float themselves to the table and C'Leena places plates in front of Nephele and C'Leena's seats.
In front of Nephele is like a charcuterie board, just minus the 'board' bit. There's quite a few different types and cuts of meat. The bowl isn't large whatsoever, but it had a pretty decent serving of chopped fruit, with a primary focus on berries. The cup was steaming with freshly brewed tea to top it all off. C'Leena sat down opposite Nephele and placed down her own plate and cup. To be honest, C'Leena wasn't entirely sure what she got. She had gone up and asked for something that people were enjoying and was given what looks to be a meat pie, but replace the beef with fish, and a bunch of vegetables on the side.
"Sorry, I forgot if there was anything you wanted to drink in particular. I decided to just go with something tried and true instead. Hope you don't mind!" She says almost guiltily. It was an honest mistake, and unless Nepheles tea is poisoned or something, there shouldn't be an issue. Plus, even if it is poisoned, C'Leena can deal with it. What kind of doctor wouldn't be able to deal with poison?
"You also grinned at me before like you're planning something. What are you planning?" She questions, exaggeratedly squinting at Nephele and accusingly pointing the handle end of a fork at her. Nephele doesn't often get a mischievous grin like that going. It's not dissimilar to the grin she had when she found out that C'Leena is ticklish - the bastard. Whatever it is, she hopes that it'll at least be funny.
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Post by Nephele on May 29, 2023 23:49:51 GMT -5
Nephele sits down with ease, staring around at the interior of the Purple Lantern and doing her best to avoid eye contact with people. As they did most days she and C’Leena stood out quite a bit, but here it was very obvious. Nephele almost wanted to look for clothing that would help them blend in a bit more, but she squandered the thought. There was no reason for them to after all, as they were both set to leave soon anyway. On top of that, Nephele really didn't have any desire to appear normal, simply having an issue with their color schemes being slightly off from the rest of the city.
When C’Leena returned with food, Nephele forgot about the completely uncharacteristic thought, singing her girlfriend's praises. The thing that she didn't tell C’Leena was that the first and last time she was inside of the Purple Lantern was when she was sneaking in to watch the musicians that had come into town, never having experienced any of the food outside of just what it looked like. This was way better than she expected. “Not at all, thank you.” It took Nephele zero time at all to start digging in, having learned to utilize table manners a bit more since they first started traveling together. Granted she still ate with her hands, not liking the idea of using utensils, but at least she was nice about it. Her nails had gotten long enough to the point where she could spear the meat on her nails, plucking them into her mouth and doing a small little happy dance every time.
At C’Leena’s question, Nephele covered her mouth and swallowed, clearing her throat. She kept her hand up to her mouth, a roguish glint in her eye. “That's for me to know and for you to find out, isn't it?” Nephele then snuck a vegetable from C’Leena’s plate into her mouth, winking. She definitely didn't do that often; something was up. She'd never tell, but she was actively scheming.
“But anyway, do you like it so far? From my understanding you stayed in King's Valley, so things are a little bit different over here. Do you like it?” Nephele swerved the conversation almost seamlessly, biting into what had to be some sort of pork and pulling it off of her nail like it was a kebob.
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Post by C'Leena Thomas on May 30, 2023 2:30:43 GMT -5
C'Leena was a mix of things. Confused, amused, concerned and only mildly fearful of whatever Nephele is plotting. I mean, come on. Nephele stole a vegetable from C'Leena. Nephele borderline avoids the things. C'Leena frowns playfully before eating her own food, trying to puzzle out what it is Nephele is planning.
"Oh yeah, very different from Kings Valley. Honestly, it has been really nice to wander the city with you. So far, I've been loving it. I see the appeal but with our time in small towns and in the middle of butt-fuck nowhere, theres an almost.. I guess Claustrophobic feel to the city? Not saying we need to leave ASAP, but I'm just saying how it is. It's strange feeling that when I spent 25 years in what amounted to a dystopian city."
Despite the feeling tickling the back of her mind, she's been really enjoying Eclipse City. It's a bunch of new things to learn about which she'd never turn down and the city almost has a cozy feel to it. The tavern alone, despite the crowd is actually not too bad with volume. Plenty of people are talking, sure but it's not like most other taverns with drunkards yelling challenges to drinking contests. Oh lord how badly C'Leena wanted to accept those, but the wandering pair has always been on a schedule. At least she'll be able to make fun of Nephele being a lightweight soon enough.
C'Leena and Nephele continue talking about various things, with C'Leena continuing to try to puzzle out what Nephele is planning. She grinned after I successfully remembered what Sirens are known for. She stated she had a Siren voice.. What if.. Despite all her efforts, all possibilities are foiled except for one, which she has entered denial about, so it might as well be foiled, too. Since we all know that denial is absolute.
Once the couple finish their meals and drinks, they continue talking for a while before the crowd inside begins to grow to borderline uncomfortable numbers. C'Leena hasn't particularly liked large crowds, and that still holds true. "Unless you'd like to stick around, are we ready to go?" She asks easily. It's beginning to approach sundown, by C'Leenas estimations. Perhaps they could actually catch the sunset if they leave now, but then again, it's Nepheles call. C'Leena is fine with that. Especially with what she wants to do tonight, some minor procrastination isn't particularly bad, right? Right?
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Post by Nephele on May 30, 2023 10:38:26 GMT -5
“I understand, it feels like that the first few times you go through these cities.” Nephele agreed, pausing to repeat C’Leena’s words. “Dis-to-pi-ahn, you’ve used that term to describe it a lot. It sounds intimidating.”
As they continued to talk, Nephele found herself finishing her food in nearly record time, clearly hungrier than she had thought. She leaned forward on the table as she talked to C’Leena, nodding and responding accordingly to their conversation. In the back of her mind, there was that nagging dread of where she was and how close she was to Callythia again. Luckily though, due to the noisiness of the tavern and C’Leena’s voice, the nagging had become simply that; a nuisance that could be easily ignored.
“I think we should, it’s getting too loud for my liking.” Nephele acquiesced quickly, almost like she was just waiting for C’Leena to ask. She stood up, grabbing the dishes and stacking them neatly for the bussers, before helping C’Leena up. Nephele kept a firm grip on her hand, looking toward the exit.
“Let’s go through the back,” Nephele proposed, nodding toward the door with a much smaller crowd. “Too many people the other way, and if I remember correctly the old church is only a few blocks down from there.”
Nephele walked with C’Leena through the masses of bodies, weaving around them until they got to the door. This door opened into an alleyway, with tunnel-like alleys paved through the entire city. For a city, the amount of people tucked away in them were usually pretty small. This still held true today, with only a few sketchy people speckling the narrow walkways with the impending sunset casting a dreary shadow.
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Post by C'Leena Thomas on May 30, 2023 10:57:21 GMT -5
C'Leena was about to elaborate on 'Dystopian' when Nephele agreed that they should leave, so she opted to wait until they were outside to continue the conversation. Weaving through crowds was nothing new for C'Leena, and she knows a pretty intriguing trick when it comes to navigating them. C'Leena, apparently uncaring for the crowd, simply looks ahead and begins walking with Nephele.
As she walks, most people do edge away from them so they can pass. It's a psychological trick as many people - whether they're aware of it or not, use other peoples eyes to see where they're headed. While it doesn't work on everyone, and there is still some careful footwork required to navigate the crowds, it's far easier than it otherwise would be. Once outside, C'Leena picks the conversation back up.
"Dystopian, yeah. It's the opposite of 'Utopian' which is a place where perfection is achieved. The place I lived wasn't the best. Really poor, lots of crime, really difficult to get out of poverty cause of the government keeping people there with taxes and shit. I was one of the lucky few to be able to pass it simply because of the importance of my job." She shrugs. "Polluted to all hell, too. Not a good place, let me tell you."
The couple continue to walk in companionable silence. The bustle from before has quietened as the sun slowly lowers closer to the horizon. Soon enough, the old church is in sight. Now, C'Leena knows that religion from her world doesn't exist here. 'Jesus Christ' doesn't exist, and has most likely raised questions to who that is or what it is when C'Leena practically yells it out. She knows of the pantheon here, but hasn't really done any research into it since she hasn't felt the need to do so.
With that said, C'Leena, for some unknown reason, expects the church to have the cross emblazoned on it somewhere. Despite her crap vision, she can tell that it doesn't actually have the cross, instead some other symbol that she can't make out. "So, we climbing or flying up?" She asks casually. It's a fair question, but knowing Nephele, both options are very much on the table. It's either C'Leena holds her as she blazes up the side of the building, or Nephele gets to expend a hell of a lot of energy climbing the side of it.
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Post by Nephele on May 30, 2023 11:54:20 GMT -5
“That…sounds horrible.” Nephele admitted, unable to keep the disdain out of her voice. She couldn’t even begin to imagine what that would look like, though she supposed that was a good thing. Nephele barely made it by in Charon alone, and the idea of a place so dreary and cold was both horrifying and fascinating at the same time. How did people live there? She wondered if C’Leena had more tales like she had of the Moonglades. Maybe she’d ask a bit later.
Nephele’s nostalgia trip as they approached the church was immense, her excitement revving up again as the memories stirred within her mind as muscle memory threatened to take over. She wanted to climb the building like she usually did, wondering if the same nobs and divots in the weathered white brick were still there from when she used to scale the wall with ease. However, now that C’Leena had said it aloud, Nephele realized that by the time they got up there, they would miss the sunset.
“We can climb another day.” Nephele sighed, slightly resigned to the idea but letting logic win her over. She couldn't be too upset though, so happy to be back that she was nearly bouncing. She wanted C’Leena to see everything that she loved about this place, including the best times to witness it. The transition from sunset to night as the stars slowly made their appearance in the dark sky was something truly magical. “Do you mind?” Nephele asked first, despite C’Leena practically offering.
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Post by C'Leena Thomas on May 30, 2023 12:27:56 GMT -5
Seeing Nepheles excitement grow with each step toward the dilapidated church was heartwarming to watch. At Nepheles request, her golden wings sprouted from her back as C'Leena scooped Nephele up into a bridal carry. With a single flap of her wings, they launched into the air, reaching the roof in mere seconds. Landing gently on the roof, she put Nephele back down, and her wings shimmered away.
Up here, the roofs of the city stretched on for miles, lights lining the streets, smoke pouring out of chimneys and small groups of people still walking the flagstone roads. On the horizon, the sun just touches the and dips below the curvature of the earth. C'Leena stands next to Nephele, watching the sun dip below the horizon and see the stars slowly appear in the night sky.
The sunset doesn't last too long, only about 5 or so minutes, but it seems they caught it just in time to watch the entirety of it. As the stars slowly appear and twinkle in the sky, C'Leenas attention is arrested by the sights. Nephele wasn't lying all those months ago; the stars are indeed far more beautiful up here. To say that she's in awe would be an understatement.
Standing on the old church and watching the twinkling stars strewn across the sky incites a feeling within C’Leena. Her heart is pounding, but for a different reason; an anxiety that is unfamiliar. Intense, but not crippling. Her eyes find Nephele watching the stars herself with that childlike wonder that she had grown to love about her. Nephele always finds beauty in everything, and always looks like she’s seeing that thing for the first time each and every time.
Out of view of Nephele, C’Leena reaches into her Space Pocket and pulls out a ring. It’s a beautiful thing; A silver ring with 3 embedded obsidian chunks, a big one in the center with 2 smaller ones on either side. C’Leena had asked for an engraving on the inside of the ring. Looking it over, the engraving reads "Here's to forever and always, petal." She smiles. The jeweler did beautifully. It’s in C'Leenas handwriting, despite Nephele struggling to read it. That way, it feels more personal
She takes a deep breath before enclosing her hand around the ring, hiding it from sight. "Nephele?" She says, getting her attention. Looking at C'Leena, it's extremely obvious that she's nervous about something, but there is a certain look in her eyes that scream resolution. "I don't know Fey traditions when it comes to this, so I'm gonna go about it my way. Hope that's alright." She says in a minor forewarning. She wasn't sure how to broach the subject before without raising questions by Nephele, so she simply didn't.
"Neph, since day one I’ve loved you more than anything else. You gave me the time of day when nobody else would, you listened to what I had to say with attentive ears and stuck with me throughout it all. You already know that I wasn’t in a good place when I was first summoned here, and you’ve helped me so much without requesting anything in return. I want to live my life with you. Even if I find a way to go back, I won’t stay there. It’s not home anymore. A while back, I told you that you can have a home with me. I consider wherever you are to be my own home now."
"You are.. Incredible. You’ve been gentle when you need to be and you’ve walked me through this place in a literal and figurative perspective. You’ve put up with my bullshit and my temper and my issues and you haven’t looked at me any differently other than with a concerned eye. And uh..
"And I want to put this into stone. I know it’s been absolutely no time, and I won’t begrudge you for wanting to delay this until we’ve been in a relationship for longer but um.." She hesitates. She’s begun slightly shaking but she still seems resolute and determined. With a deep breath, she lowers herself to a knee and takes the ring in her palm between her index and thumb. Looking at it for a moment, she looks up at Nephele and she extends the ring.
From C’Leenas perspective, Nepheles form is surrounded with stars, and her eyes almost look like little gateways to a different sky. She’s almost certain that with how often C’Leena loses herself in her eyes, she could map out each and every star from memory.
Her words are steeled when everything else about her isn’t. Nephele has done everything and more for her, so this feels like the natural next step. She truly wants that future with her. She wants to be able to well and truly call Nephele hers. In the starlight, it’s easy to see C’Leena. Her aquamarine eyes glow faintly in the darkness, and the uncertain light in the sky makes the shadows sway lightly.
When she speaks, her words are filled with boundless love and a matching level of anxiety. She shouldn’t have to worry, but the possibility of a declination is frightening to her. It’s not like she’d begrudge her for it, as this is incredibly fast, but it still worries her.
“Nephele, will you marry me?”
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Post by Nephele on May 30, 2023 14:20:24 GMT -5
The sunset tonight was every bit as what Nephele remembered it. She gasped as the warm colors of the sunset cascaded over the horizon in the distance, filling her with pure and unbridled joy. She was smiling so hard that her cheeks hurt, releasing a happy laugh that was so raw and saw true that it nearly caught the attention of passersby.
It was silly, Nephele had never thought that she would cherish a memory. For her, memories were to be pocketed, taken out and only shared to those who asked. Those who asked usually didn’t stay around unless they wanted something from her, and ultimately she ended up tucking the memory away for safe keeping. Years of pain and horrors that could rival the worst of monsters were enough to make Nephele hate remembering, and yet here she was, sharing one of her favorite memories with someone she truly loved. She loved C’Leena, and C’Leena loved her.
And that’s why, as soon as she heard her name, Nephele spun around and her eyes glittered with the same galaxy that C’Leena saw when she meditated. Red, pink, blue, white, yellow…nebula after nebula in her eyes, and all she was doing was looking at her.
The start of the statement nearly startled Nephele, the hairs that stuck out from the braid in her hair wisping in the breeze. Her eyes are wide in surprise, wondering what was wrong as she turned to fully face her. The first thing to cross her mind was how nervous C’Leena looked, almost appearing afraid. Nephele lifted her hand in an idle motion, resting it across her chest as she gave C’Leena a wide-eyed stare.
And then she was talking. Reminiscing. Remembering. Nephele wasn’t too sure what was going on, wondering why C’Leena was radiating warmth and gratitude at such a heavy rate. It was beautiful, and she didn’t give a damn how many times C’Leena denied it, she was beautiful. Every shaky word she spoke was addled with pure humanity, each word a song and a story, something Nephele loved about her since the moment she met her.
Nephele has not moved an inch, the only thing moving her body was the wind that picked up her hair and clothes. She looks absolutely astonished, and a bright red nebula ripples in her right eye. This memory…was she going to cherish this one, too?
Callythia always told Nephele that she would feel what it felt like to meet your soulmate. She said it was electric, like being stuck by lightning and ascending. But being with C’Leena? It wasn’t like that.
It was the ache in your feet as you walked through desert sand, blistering cold, and wetness. It was the laughter that pierced the air when she watched you trip over your own two feet. It was the smell of her hair, the color a beautiful chestnut brown. It was the color of her eyes, aquamarine, and sometimes grey or gold. It was the sound of music, of duets, a piano. It was the sound of soft sobs and the feeling of being cradled to rest, sometimes even the feeling of cradling another. It was the taste of her lips, and the feeling of the smile that she left behind, feeling like the most delectable branding on the skin. It was flying, and the wind whipping through your hair as the world whizzed on by below you.
It was the smell of red poppies, and a promise made on the wind. It was C'Leena.
Nephele can’t see by the time C’Leena is on her knee, the tears in her eyes glistening and unshed. A few caught in the wind, a particularly harsh gust doing nothing to disturb the look of pure shock. And then C’Leena asks her:
“Will you marry me?”
Nephele finally blinks, and she can see C’Leena again. But then the tears keep flowing and Nephele can’t stop them. She covers her mouth with her hands, and much like when C’Leena played her a song, her voice completely broke, an ugly wail ripping from her throat.
“Y-You can’t just--” Nephele’s surprised she can even speak. Her chest heaves with the effort of trying to breathe, dropping her hands and head as she struggled to keep it together. And when she speaks again, Nephele’s voice is worse, despite her best efforts to steady it. “You can’t just s-say that without a-a proper warning!” The next sound that Nephele makes is high pitched and overwhelmed, and she presses her palms into her eyes.
And then she’s laughing, joyous and filled with pure love and adoration. She can’t stop whipping her tears, sniffling heavily as she choked on her laughter.
“C’Leena, you absolute angel…of course I’ll marry you.”
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Post by C'Leena Thomas on May 30, 2023 15:56:49 GMT -5
By the time C'Leena finished speaking, her hands were shaking like mad. She wasn't able to steady them whatsoever as she waited for Nepheles response. Despite her overflowing anxiety, she couldn't look away from Nepheles eyes. The nebulas she wasn't usually conscious for making their full appearance. Nepheles voice is borderline incomprehensible, but she hears the words that matter the most.
The second she hears 'Of course', her arms completely fail her and practically go limp, her right hand holding the ring is resting on her raised knee as she then rests her forehead against her arm. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that she is actively crying. With shaky legs, she stands up and gets close to Nephele. The temptation to immediately dive into a kiss is a difficult one to resist, but she instead takes Nepheles left hand in a careful hold and slides the ring onto her finger.
"I can give you no warning, and I just did. I told you I'm doing this my way, didn't I?" She says, moving her hands up to cup Nepheles cheeks and carefully wipe away the non-stop tears streaming down her face. C'Leena looks beyond happy, and her voice is rather close to matching Nepheles own. Without preamble or warning, C'Leena goes in for a kiss and makes it the longest one yet. It's a fitting time, after all.
Eventually, every good thing has to end, and C'Leena breaks away from the kiss. The overwhelming feeling of needing to cry but not being able to hits her, but for the first time she doesn't care. Clearing her throat, she begins speaking. "I've uh, been planning this since you first showed me the meditation. The stones are from the obsidian you collected there, too." She explains carefully, trying not to trip over her own words. She genuinely feels weak at the moment. She remembers something, as well. The other part of a proposal. It would be wrong to remain ringless, after all.
Flicking her hand off to her side, a near identical ring appears in her hands as she hands it to Nephele. "Where I'm from, the rings indicate commitment to one another. Generally it's only one person wearing the ring, but I don't really agree with that. It only makes sense I have one too, yeah?" Theres barely a break between her words as she subconsciously starts lowering the pair to the ground, her legs suddenly unable to hold her weight properly. "Jesus Christ you have no idea how much I was afraid you'd say no."
C'Leena wraps her arms around Nephele and sinks into her and cries along with Nephele. After a moment, she rests her chin on Nepheles shoulder and looks up at the sky. Taking a steadying breath that does absolutely nothing, she speaks. "I know I already did what you asked, Rose. Now I've done more. I hope you're proud of me, flower." She says between sobs before sinking back into the embrace. She could almost hear Roses "Told you that you were a loverbug" as she cries just that little bit harder. She'd give everything to be able to invite Rose to her wedding. She'd make the best Best Woman.
After a while of simply crying into one another's shoulders, eventually the 'tears' run dry on C'Leena. Remaining in the hold for that little bit longer, she remembers the primary reason they were up here. C'Leena carefully leads Nephele to the edge of the roof where she gently leaves the embrace and sits off the edge, legs dangling off the side. "We came here to see the stars, right? In the beginning, this was your idea all those months ago and I don't want to rain on your parade too much. C'mere," She raises her arm for Nephele to move under so she could sling an arm over Nepheles shoulders.
C'Leena doesn't care how long it takes for them to actually get married. It could be years from now for all she cares. All she wants is to keep Nephele close and to never take off the ring. Truthfully, she has never been happier and it really shows. Her expression, body language and everything else has been radiating love and happiness the moment Nephele said yes.
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