[ lock ] aurora and rory lock eyes across the room
there isn't much he can say about his existence that isn't soaked in the aftermath of his defining choices regarding love. that he is and will always be weighted by the choices he made when naivety was an option. now centuries on the only change is the hesitance. the walls placed between himself and feelings just in case because for all the good he might exude, there are parts of him which fear the consequence of love. the pain that can come attached to it. the darkness that might overtake every dream just because he dares to feel something deeper than himself. she is a defining exception. the darkness he had diagnosed himself with had never been prepared for the light she simply was. he could certainly fight it himself but at his core he was still that same man, foolish enough to have it draw him in because he could never truly imagine his life without that feeling. without love or something akin to it...something building towards it. she was the flame and he was but a moth happy to burn because of it.
he does his best to not recognise her pull straight away. to engage with the people they knew, the pirates that they associated with. his words feel like a blur of nothing even in his own mind, the very autopilot he'd found himself falling into the moment his gaze found her own and the rest of the room dimmed to nothing. he sees her as he often does but with a difference now. something that pulls at his chest, dares him to make his way across the room with many apologies to those around him. he could and would return to the more important conversations later. rory teeters off to the side, hoping to have hid himself enough that his approach might be something a little more unexpected. that his grin might set her alight the same way she does him. " my mother used to tell me the only thing that got her through events like this, was searching for my father in the crowd – i'd argue I hadn't understood that until now. " he laughs, maybe at the ridiculous sound of it. that he's aware she'll likely understand the deeper context to what he's saying. then he dips, a quiet moment to take her hand and place a kiss to the back of it. to linger for a moment, embracing his now moth status. " why is it that I can think of not a single smart thing the moment you even breathe the same air..." he feigns a frown though there is a clear lightness to it. " love potions. " rory nods at his words. certain that is the only answer and finding amusement in it because he's also very aware how wrong he is.
