Lost in Time

Lillian herself displayed, mentally, many ages. In an instant she could mimic the words of an intelligent old woman, to the excited eyes of a child, as though her age often mirrored her surroundings. Childlike demeanor, with an animated disposition, the woman listened in astonishment. “A floating island? My, it sounds wonderful!”

He walks towards the front of the airship, careful not be too closed to the edges as they could easily have an accident. Aware she would be liking watching the view from above her home and the places she often goes to, he remains quiet for a while, giving her time to admire what she can. He, too, was at awe from the view from up above-- he couldn’t imagine how it must be like in Lillian’s curious eyes.

She takes the time to muse over this, a part of her wanting to laugh the pang of dejection away. A joke – of course it was! The Leon she knew would never seriously say something that severe to her face – no way, no how!

At least, that’s what she told herself. But then why did her chest still feel so constricted?/

Leon… /She hesitated, her eyes flitting from his strong stare to the ground./ It doesn’t matter, really. Like you said – it was a joke! I just forgot to laugh, that’s all. I know you didn’t mean it that way, of course not…

/Tugging on the edge of her dress, she finds herself looking back up at Leon with an edge of surprise when he speaks up again. She rarely heard such sincerity in his voice, and ever so slowly a small smile tugs at her lips./

[When she does look back up again and answers, relief flooded his entire being-- a strange reaction from something so simple as being forgiven. He lets the alien feeling go, a small smile appearing that he hides with the help of his fan.] Good. I worry it would have taken me a lifetime to have you forgive me. [He takes this chance to pat her on the head, truly hoping all was alright]

Hm? [Flower? What-- ah. Right. He had forgotten he had the silly thing on the entire time. Reaching it and plucking it out from whatever held it in place on his head, he hands over the Moondrop towards his twin-tailed companion, an eye closing for wink]

For your efforts today~♫

[he chuckles lightly, not even minding that he had lost himself] It is clear we both lost today with our scores, however the Festival is still ongoing. May I stay with you? I will praise you till you are sick of me and my words. [He was half-joking, meaning to tease her with praises but was fully aware whatever he would spout would be truths]

But then again, friends don’t call friends ugly, so what did she know?

Frey shook her head, snapping back to reality just in time to hear Leon’s question. She doesn’t answer at first – takes the time to study him instead. Her eyes travel to his face, but she finds his expression unreadable. How she wished she had a fan to hide behind, especially at this moment.

Then, looking up at the score of butterflies hovering around his head, she finds a flower resting on his head. Strange, but she kind of liked it. It was very much like something Leon would do. 

Finally, she looks him in the eye. They say that eyes are the window to a person’s soul, but right now all she could see was a cloud of gloom. Nothing like the Leon she knew./

Would it matter if i did?

/She knows she wasn’t being fair, asking him that, but she could not help herself. Tired and wanting the day to be over, however, she elaborates:/

[He lets her finish what she had to say, each and every change of expression being imprinted in his mind, every single word sent directly to his heart.]

[He did understand the weight of words-- more so than anyone will ever know. It was a careless mistake of him to have gone far. Mostly because he had never thought his own words could affect the normally happy princess-- her image right now far from the one he’s used to]

[This was an interesting look of hers, sad as it was. One he’d prefer not to see, but he was somewhat glad to have seen it now. If he hadn’t, the inevitable day still would have come when he will commit the very same mistake and to have it now was better than to wait for a different date.]

It was a terrible joke. [he finally admits, fan now being shut closed] There’s a difference between a harmless joke and one that actually strikes you-- so I’m ask you again, did you take what I said to heart?

[He was looking at her directly now-- no fan to hide behind to, no unneeded witty comment. He felt exposed for once]

Because if it did, [he pauses, aware it was terribly unlike him to say this, but for Frey, he found himself not minding. Just for this time] You should know I meant nothing of it.

[another pause, then he mutters]

And I apologize.

dirk (who needs more threads, reply/ask if interested) owes: Raven

waiting on: Ivan, Tina, Chelsea

leon owes: Iris, Cliff, Sonja, Nami, Mistel, 

waiting on: Sephia, Frey, Pia, Luna, Klaus, Barrett, Kiel, Venti, Clorica, Lillian

kana owes: Johnny (<3), Sephia, Gwen, Kathy, 

No- /She frowns, her lips pursing as she finally looks at him in the eye./ I wish you the best of luck. Have fun out there, okay?

/When he’s finally out of sight, she lets her shoulders slump, unsure if she should wait for his return or instead, look for Lest, or Kiel, or Forte – anyone but Leon.

[His went back automatically to where he had left Frey. In all honesty, he was certain she would not have waited-- a clear image of the face she displayed to him earlier still vivid in his head]

[He bites the bottom of his lip, irked at the fact that he was and is irked at teasing someone(?) That was a record for the former priest.]

[His steps starts to slow down when he found Frey waiting, and for a while, he simply stares and seeks comfort behind his fan]

Did you take what I said earlier to heart? [He had to ask. He just had to make sure things got slapped on his face so he wouldn’t assume. Wouldn’t assume the wrong things... wouldn’t...]

[The flower on his head he had used to attract the butterflies remained on top of his head, and along with it, the butterflies --that he caught and allowed to bet free-- kept hovering above him]

!!

/What in the world has gotten into him? The corners of her mouth fall even further and she can partically feel her pigtails drooping from their brief conversation. As she makes her way to the butterfly-catching area, she bumps into a stranger, quickly apologizing afterwards.

It’d be a wonder if she could keep her head straight for the festival./

——-

/This time, Frey visibly stiffens as she feels the all-too-familiar jab of Leon’s fan. She almost doesn’t turn around to greet him, but with much reluctance, she decides to push aside the ache in her chest and offers him a weak smile./

[He hides his face with his fan, about to say something but was interrupted with his own name being called]

Ah-- that will be me.

[he turns to Frey, looking up as he spoke, fan still concealing his face]

You may have misunderstood what I said earlier-- you’re free to wish me bad luck as well. Ah, but I suppose that won’t do a thing, now will it?

...

I will be right back

Where’s my butterfly? I wished you luck. [dramatically sighs]

AAH–!! [ her body tenses immediately and swings the net she held in her free hand. however, she stops right before it makes impact with Leon’s head. ]

Er, y-you don’t need one from me! N-not that I-I’m naming them after people or anything! That’s just silly– I mean– Kiel already named one of his after you! [ she purses her lip and turns away from him, her eyes gazed down to see the butterfly still perched on her gauntlet. ] 

Oh? Has what I said inspired you? [raises a brow, casually walking up front just to see her reaction] So you are one to enjoy being called beautiful. I see.

Mm, game plan? I think I’m just going with my gut feeling on this one. Besides, it seems like Kiel and Forte are in the lead! It’s just as exciting as winning the festival myself.~

/Opens her mouth to ask Leon if he’s participating. Quickly clamps it back down as he speaks instead./

W-what?

/Immediately reaches up to pull on her bangs. It’s a desperate attempt to turn Leon’s attention away from her face, but alas, the damage was done. Even if he were to turn away and look somewhere else, she’d remain self conscious from head to toe./

Where did that even come from? That’s- /Takes a deep breath./ That’s really mean, you know!

[it didn’t help that her attention was called to participate, so he fails to explain himself and leaves it at that, mouthing a quick: I hope you do poorly. to match the insult]

[they had a term for this... some sort of reversal...]

[he blinks.]

[this better be worth it.]

-------

[right after the results were shown, he signs, disappointed] Well, that was a waste... [maybe teasing her and flirting was the better option? he makes his way towards the just finished from the competition Frey and pokes her again with a fan]

So.

[Waiting for the start of his joke, she responds with a:] Who’s there?

[Followed by:] A broken pencil who?

Alright. Well then--

[Ah, there’s that one joke...]

Knock Knock

....

To.

...

15 points for Leon, hmm? Fair enough.

[admittedly finds it amusing and chuckles at the pick-up line, surprised Kiel has actually read it]