#|| setsuna

The gift came as a surprise. He’d spent the night following a lead concerning trouble brewing nearby. Returning late into the morning, he found himself greeted with the note and the bottle. The sake he was certain he would enjoy, but… Blinking in tired confusion, Matthew read the note a second time.

Setsuna… Had she liked her gift, then? Or was she just being polite… But the invite sounded playful, almost. Setting the note and bottle on his desk with a small, grateful smile, he flopped over onto his bed. Exhaustion had been stealing away at him of late. Aside from the odd (mostly accidental) venture beyond the gates, he’d spent most of the last few years throwing himself into his work.

Maybe a change of pace would be nice. And Hoshido, from how the archer had described it, sounded lovely. Hm…

The sound of his voice caught her attention far quicker than his approach. Setsuna blinked and turned, surprised to see Matthew there and bowing. Hadn’t he said he wasn’t a gentleman? Or was she mixing him up with someone else now? Either way, this whole situation was a surprise.

“Hello Matthew.” She started instead, smiling as well as she glanced past him. The dance floor was beginning to fill. She supposed a new song was starting. She hadn’t danced much yet today. It sounded like fun.

Her eyes drifted back to him. “Oh? How come? I didn’t think you would want to.” Despite what she said, she took his hand and tugged him along towards the dance floor with a laugh. It would be fun.

A quizzical look darted across his features as he echoed her question.

"Hm? How come?"

Before he could think too much on it though, she had accepted, and he was glad for it. He grinned and laughed with her, confident with either following or taking the lead. Mother had always wanted for her sons to learn to dance - in that, at the least, he could say he had not failed her. Being naturally light on his feet and, if he said so himself, decently coordinated certainly didn't hinder him any.

"Because I thought it would be fun," he mused, not quite spilling the whole of it as they headed into the first few steps of a lilting tune. "I may not look it, but I’ve always enjoyed a spot of dance... How about yourself?” There had to be a reason her feet had brought her to the ballroom, after all.

( @dreamyarcher )

He ran, and ran, and ran. His footsteps pounded in the rain. The ground was slick, but the thief remained surefooted on the worst of days. His cape billowed out behind him, a streak of red neath a dark, dreary day. The sound of his breathing, ragged and hitched, caught in his ears alongside the erratic splashing of puddles underfoot. He had to get away, had to distance himself.

This was a nightmare. It had to be. Yet on he ran all the same, determined to escape. Surely, he'd wake up at some point and all would be well, but in the meantime, he needed to-

"Waugh!" Perhaps not as fleet of foot as he'd estimated himself, he'd caught on a rock and stumbled. But where he'd been expecting to land a scant few feet ahead in the mud, he fell - right into a hole much deeper that he could have anticipated.

Ooh. She’d found him.

“Setsuna,” he offered by way of greeting, wearing a whimsical smile of his own. “Was it really so long? Time being in many ways but a construct, I can’t say I really paid it much mind… That aside, did our Lady Hinoka not mention? She sent me off to tend to a village on the kingdom border.”

🎵 meme “Send me a🎵and I’ll write some lyrics of a song that make me think about your muse.”

Hmm... Setsuna... I feel as though many a wistful, whimsical sort of song might fit-- but let’s go with Fly at Night, by Chilliwack

Fly at night in the morning we landFly at night 'til we're satisfiedSee the morning from the other side

And when you close your eyesSleep comes fastWhen you fly the universeWell, you need some restYeah, you need some rest

It reminds me of a quiet dreamer’s isolation from reality, and makes me wonder where Setsuna’s thoughts take her, and where the future might take her. For some reason, Clocks by Coldplay sort of feels Setsuna-ish to me too? And while I was looking for songs for this meme, I stumbled across this one -- no lyrics, but has that sort of fanciful spirit I was looking for earlier~

Bonus Mitama:Wake Me Up (heh), by Avicii

Feeling my way through the darknessGuided by a beating heartI can't tell where the journey will endBut I know where to start

They tell me I'm too young to understandThey say I'm caught up in a dreamWell life will pass me by if I don't open up my eyesWell that's fine by me