#apricious

Send hearteyes for some sappy crush talk

The call with her sister began as it often did, with light pleasantries and general check ins regarding health and such things. Lisanna sat comfortably on her bed, nestled among her blankets and cushions, and painted her nails a nice lilac as she listened to her sister. Her attention drifted a little, distantly marvelling at the development of mobile communication lacrimas, which made the talk across such a distance possible and so easy.

Her focus jumped back to the conversation at hand, her sister’s question making her stop for a moment.

                  “How are things at Blue Pegasus? Have you made some friends?”

Lisanna hesitated and fought against the trickle of guilt that threatened to creep up on her. There was nothing wrong with enjoying her new guild, she reminded herself.

“It’s different, that’s for sure,” she said, a smile coming through in her voice, “But it’s going well, I think. It’s been really great having the Raijinshuu around, especially Evergreen. We’ve been hanging out sometimes.”

She finished painting the nails on one hand and carefully switched to work on the other, smile brightening at the thought of the other guildmate she had become closer with.

“Everyone’s pretty easy to get along with, but I have spent more time with one person. I’m not gonna name any names because you’ll get all silly about it, but they’re absolutely wonderful.”

The memory of how their first proper conversation started made her laugh, “I was practicing my owl Takeover – full body, and they came along and mistook me for their pet owl! It was pretty funny, I mean I still feel a little bad for kinda tricking like that…but I don’t regret it, because I think it helped us both connect a bit more without all the…layers of Blue Pegasus, y’know?”

She sighed and inspected the job she had done on her nails. “It can be hard to know people sometimes…” But it wasn’t exactly as if she had everything out in the open herself either. “I think we’re getting closer though. We have a lot in common actually! Like upcycling. Oh and next time you come for a visit, I’ll take you to the cat café! It was sooo cute.”

Screwing the lid back onto the polish, she went on with a smiling sigh, “It’s really nice spending time with E- uh, this person. I don’t know if I’ve ever met anyone so…calming and easy to be around. We can talk for hour and hours, I love hearing everything they have to say, and they always have really good advice too. They’re really smart, and talented, and funny, and kind. Have you ever met someone who’s like…the human form of a sunrise?”

She flopped back against her pillows and began to forget who she was talking to and about trying to keep things neutral.

“He’s bright and warm and kinda just, shines goodness on everything, and there’s something about him that always makes me feel…hopeful, I guess. Like everything will be okay and I can be myself. I hope he feels the same about that...And when it’s just the two of us, I always feel so relaxed. I mean, sometimes I think I talk too much and I’m probably annoying, but he never seems to mind. He’s genuinely so nice, and it’s the cutest thing when he starts talking about his sister – he’s so proud of her.”

A light giggle slipped out and she added, “He’s really cute in general, but especially when he’s embarrassed too, I mean I haven’t seen it much and even though I’m kinda tempted to make it happen again somehow, I won’t risk it, but his ears go pink. He also has such a pretty smile and sometimes, when he gives me one of those grins of his, I feel just like one of those starstruck fans with a crush on him or something, silly right? I can definitely see why he’s so popular with everyone.”

She hummed idly for a moment. “He’s growing out his hair I think, and it looks really nice. I always wanna touch it, but I’m trying not to be…too much, y’know? It’s hard sometimes because I really wanna hug him, I mean, you know how I am…”

Trailing off, she became abruptly aware of how much she had been talking and what she had been saying. Her heart skipped and rushed a blush to her cheeks.

Excitement energised her, powering a bright grin as he mentioned the potential for hearing him play the piano sometime. She rocked back and forth slightly to expel excess energy, a giggle escaping at the idea of Eve and his friends attempting to move such a large instrument around. Again, she had to marvel at his self control, and hope that it would be a lesson she would keep in mind next time she felt the urge to make a particularly big purchase.

“Even with magic, I’m sure moving a piano around is probably not fun,” she commented in amusement. And as much as she didn’t want to, she had to look away as he grinned, as if his expression was too radiant for her to behold for too long (truthfully, that was indeed the case). The brilliance warmed her cheeks with a delicate pink, as if she’d spent a little too long under the sun. She couldn’t help but lift a hand to cup her cheek, grateful for a touch of coolness.

Her eyes then followed the movement of his hand as he ruffled the grass beside them. She focused on his words, even while the Hare soul she had brought partially to the surface attuned itself to their surroundings, long ears twitching slightly.

With a touch of a frown, she nodded, “Mmm, I know what you mean. I don’t like it when people take apart perfectly fine things just to ‘upcycle’ them.” Before she could let herself get pulled into that topic, Eve’s offer captured her attention. Once again, she found herself grinning, almost bouncing with excitement.

“Oh, really?? I would love that.” She clasped her hands together in the attempt to contain herself as he went on. Intrigue tilted her head at the mention of Sherry Blendy and she rifled through her mind for the image and connection. Ah yes.

She sighed wistfully, hands unclasping simply to then hold her face. “She is so pretty…”

Eve’s question pulled her back and she dropped her hands, sitting up a little straighter as she smiled widely. “As a matter of fact, I’ve just moved into a cute little cottage and it’s a bit of a fixer-upper, so it’s sort of one big on-going project to make it nice again. The landlord has said I can do whatever I want in the garden, so that’s been my focus. I’ve been looking for cute and cool things to decorate the space with. I’ve seen some really pretty bird feeders made from tea sets, so I’ve been on the lookout for some nice ones.”

send my muse a mood, and I’ll describe how my muse deals with it.

sting: whaddya call a fish with no eye ?  eve, not looking up: myxine circifrons  sting: fsh

Her smile was bright enough simply from just seeing Eve and having him around, but having him hand her a present and wish her a wonderful birthday made her impossibly brighter. She took the parcel carefully, eyes alight with joy and fixed upon him, first and foremost.

“Thank you! That’s so nice, Eve.” She would have hugged him then, but thought the gift might have made the action a little awkward while she held it.

She turned her eyes down to the present, admiring the wrapping with a smile, almost unwilling to disturb it. But her curiosity and excitement got the better of her and she began to gently unwrap the gift. Denim unfurled beneath the paper, splashes of colours against the material catching her eye. She shifted her hold on it to fold the wrapping paper neatly to put aside, then held up the jacket.

A little gasp stole her breath for a moment, her eyes positively sparkling at the stitched flowers. She turned the jacket this way and that to admire it further, and it was when she noticed the phrase embroidered upon it that she let out a barely suppressed squeal and laugh, hugging the item close to her chest.

“Bee kind! I love it! I love it so much!”

The joy that bubbled through her could hardly be contained, she bounced on the spot in the attempt to release some of it, but it wasn’t enough. She wasted not another minute, quickly putting the jacket on and throwing her arms around Eve. Her embrace was perhaps a little too tight in all her excitement, but it lasted only a few moments, because she then shifted her hands up to lightly grab the sides of his head, holding him still as she tiptoed and peppered his face with quick kisses.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you-“

Letting him go, she dropped down to her normal height, touching her fingertips to her cheeks, sure that they’d start to hurt soon from smiling too much. There were far worse things to have cause an ache, she thought, feeling incredibly lucky in that moment.

It was…strange, to say the least, being in the Blue Pegasus guild hall as a member and not, well…sneaking around it. She almost felt like she shouldn’t be there at all, among the guests and other members, and it was a feeling she wasn’t used to ( she had long been too accustomed to being in places she shouldn’t ). The slight unease was perhaps due to the fact she was now tied to a legal operation ( she had been working in the shadows for so long, being anywhere in the light seemed positively wrong ), or perhaps it was simply the number of people around. She was by no means shy or introverted, but it was a lot to take in at once.

She glanced around and spotted Hibiki across the room, and her instinct was to go to him, he was familiar after all, safe. But how would she ever grow if she stayed safe? Indeed, it was high time she made some new friends.

Unfamiliar stirrings of nervousness started in her stomach. She had no problem talking to people, she reminded herself, regularly getting information right from the source by charm alone but…That was a certain persona, to a degree, and was it wrong to be like that around guildmates ( even if they seemed to have personas of their own? )? In the dark guild of her past, it was necessary to play a certain role just to survive, but surely this should be different.

She drummed her nails ( a dark red to match her ever-present lipstick ) on her thigh and forced herself to start moving away from the edge of the room. She noted most of her new guildmates wore suits or dresses, some a little more casual than others, and she was glad she had adjusted her usual attire to fit ( somehow, she felt her typical black cargo pants, crop top, and leather jacket would be a bit out of place in the glamourous guild, and her wine-red dress better matched ). Now, who would be a good bet for a chat? She mentally shuffled through what she knew of each member as she saw them, but stopped at the sight of Eve. Hmm.

Decision made, she headed over to where he sat, glad it appeared he wasn’t busy with a client.

@apricious

She plucked up a pair of champagne glasses from one of the tables and added them to her tray, casting her eyes about for more dishes to collect. Her attention switched to Eve as he spoke, her head tilting at the question, gaze shifting towards the piano as she smiled.

“I’d love to hear you play,” she said, and then she thought for a moment, humming before she asked, “I don’t suppose you know any, old Stellan songs, do you?”

She set the tray down on the table and drummed her fingers lightly atop it, eyes wandering heavenward as if her memories could be seen floating along the ceiling. She raised a hand to tap her lip as she concentrated on the whispers and scenes within her mind, speaking slowly as the details began to come to her.

“Back in our village, which was mostly people like our mother who had come from Stella, we had a sort of ‘town hall’ I suppose…a community hall, and every so often they would hold parties, or like…a fair or festival. Nothing fancy, just…everyone coming together, bringing food to share and cook together. There were games for us kids too, I remember running around with the others…And there was music.”

Music was something she enjoyed, and thought was irreplaceable and wonderful. It could make people happy or sad, it could tell stories, it could soothe or bring people together. It had certainly brought all the villagers together on those wonderful nights.

“There was a piano in the hall,” she remembered, “Painted a horrible green, but it sounded beautiful. The other musicians would gather around it, and they’d all play together, and everyone would dance. It was…folk music I suppose. It was really fun, I remember…I remember my parents dancing.”

She closed her eyes at the flash of the new-old memory surfacing. She could almost see their faces as they danced, their movements following the same patterns as those around them…

“They were always shy about starting to dance, but once they got started…they had the most fun of everyone. Papa was a big man, like Elfman, and he was always getting led in the dances by Mama, everyone thought it was quite funny to see it. But there was always one song, a slower one, where he led…”

The melody teased her mind, so faint, so close. She let herself slip further into the memory, focusing on the image of her parents together and the peaceful movements of them swaying and stepping. She began to hum the tune as she mimicked their actions, shifting from foot to foot and turning slowly. The song seemed to solidify in her mind, a few of the lyrics finding their way to her lips.

She trailed off as the rest of the words escaped her, and slowly she opened her eyes and realised she had danced her way part way across the room ( miraculously missing several tables ). She blinked and felt a faint heat in her cheeks, giving a quick rub of her eyes and then tugging a little sheepishly on her earlobe.