Afterglow

[Vega]

79th Trial of Zi'da,
Arc 717

following this

"Arlo!" Vega was usually quite pleased to see him when he got back to camp from being somewhere on his own. So, too, when she got back from the same, she was happy at the sight of him. However it was rare, in fact a first, when she literally flung herself into his arms, wrapped her legs around his waist and beamed at him, kissing him soundly. "Where 'ave you been? I've been waitin' for you for ages!" He'd been gone a few breaks, for sure, but again in and of itself that wasn't unusual. "Iris would 'ave been lookin' for you but she didn't want to," Vega's eyes, as she leaned in and kissed him again, just before she jumped down, were swirling a mass of colours; gold, orange, pink and green. They were usually all positive colours, and her words seem to suggest that this was her general feeling. Once she'd kissed him soundly, she began to explain.

"You are not gonna believe it, I was talkin' to Bruce an' then there was this bloke talkin' back. I mean, 'e was jus' layin' there with me. It was Xiur, Arlo, can you credit it?" Vega watched him, delight evident in every bit of her. "I was talkin' to 'im, see, about the time you an' Asari an' I went lookin' for that little girl an' how he really 'elped me then. Any'ow, he was layin' next to me. Xiur. Over there!" She was talking so fast that she dropped more consonants than usual in her excitement.

"I mean, I wish you'd been 'ere, cos I swore. I said schnizzle my snoot, an' then knickers, an' I told him if I knew 'e was comin' I'd 'ave brushed my 'air." Somewhere, someone was probably chuckling at Arlo's expense in this moment. "An' 'e asked me these questions, about like, why the stars mean 'ope, an' stuff. Like a test, I suppose. An' 'e told me 'is birthtrial is in Cylus, but 'e didn't know exactly when an' I said I'd light 'im a candle, an' I made 'im a cup of tea." It was a testimony to her breath control and, in the arc that he'd known her she had never been this excited.

"An' I told 'im about you, an' I called you my boyfriend to 'im, in case 'e talks to Cassion, so 'e knows, an' then I told 'im about that bloke I was dreamin' about, remember? About 'ow he said he'd stabbed XIur? Well, it turned out 'e did. An' I was dreamin' with 'im, can you imagine?" The colours in her eyes were moving about as fast as her words and neither one of them were beginning to keep up with her brain. "An' then 'e said 'e thought I could do good stuff in th'worl' an' I told him, Xiur that is, not the dreaming bloke, that I can be a right temperamental cow, but I'd do anythin' 'e wanted or needed me to do an' I'd be 'appier than a pig in.. well, I stopped myself, thankfully, but I said I'd "be 'appier than a pig in sh... a very 'appy pig." It was rare that she did it, but Vega blushed as she said that. "An' then I couldn't stop talkin' about this pig what was really 'appy an' I'm 'appier than." She grinned at him. "I shouldn't be allowed out on my own, except I wasn't, I was waitin' for you. Where 'ave you been? Oh! Oh! I nearly forgot"

It wouldn't bother her showing him any part of her body but in the moment, she'd probably have shown anyone. Untying the laces on her shirt, she pulled the top open slightly and showed him a small, glowing white dot on her chest. "An' then 'e blessed me an' now I can do stuff, an' things, too!" She grinned and then breathed in. "'ow awesome is that? What 'ave you been buyin? He said we didn't need to go to Etzos, but we could, couldn't we? An' did you know, 'e didn't make the stars." As much as it seemed like she might not actually stop talking, Vega suddenly sat down and breathed out. Then, she looked at him and put her hand up on to her head. "I really would 'ave brushed my 'air, Arlo."

[Arlo Creede]

Arlo had never known Vega to be quite so happy to see him returning from an outing, either one that he'd taken to town for errands or one spent hunting. After all, he hadn't been gone that long had he? Not that he was complaining, at all, when she flung herself into his arms, nearly knocking him off his feet and wrapped her legs around his waste. In fact, temptation was to act first, in the privacy of their tent, and ask questions later. "I was just hunting, no luck," he began to explain. But before he could get any farther or elaborate, Vega was off and running. Not literally of course. But he'd be hard pressed to get a word in.

So, she was laying about, and "There was a man laying with you? Arlo frowned darkly, and nearly missed the part about Xiur. But there wasn't a chance to question that either. While she told him what happened, he tried to take it all in while he set his pack and his bow aside. She had a way with words, that was for sure. And if she'd met an Immortal, any Immortal, it still didn't surprise him to know that nothing had changed.

He'd gotten a lot out of everything Vega said, even if he'd had to piece it all together in a haphazard way. But still, a few points stuck out along the way. "Wait a bit now. So Xiur laid down with you, you made him a cup of tea and he touched your chest?" That was where the mark was after all, the one that she'd shown him. And Arlo wasn't completely sure he was happy about that. The touching her chest thing anyway. And maybe the laying side by side in the dark thing too. What had he been buying, she asked? Nothing, he told her. He'd been hunting like he'd told her. Of course Arlo left out the fact that earlier that trial, he had gone off to town for a few bits.

It took a few trills though to take it all in after the fact, what she'd told him, and then rearrange all the pieces in a sensible way. But once he did, Arlo grinned suddenly and shook his head, grabbed Vega in his arms and kissed her again. "That's just...It's fantastic Vega. Blessed by Xiur? That's a wonder and I couldn't be prouder. Do you feel different?" he asked. But of all the Immortals, while there might be others too, Xiur seemed a fine match for Vega and as a follower, her to the Immortal.

[Vega]

79th Trial of Zi'da,
Arc 717

Vega laughed and shook her head. "No, it wasn't like that, don't be daft. Nothin' weird. I was all wrapped in the blanket, watchin' the stars twinklin' into the sky. You know, that bit where you're not sure if they're there or no, an' then they are? An' I was talkin' to 'im. Then he was next to me, not under the blanket with me. An' he 'eld my 'and, but the feelin' of.. well, whatever it was, the feelin' was there, in my 'eart." Vega looked on him despairingly amused as she explained to him. He was such a strange fellow, she considered, but then she understood a little too. Cassion had kissed her and Vega had lifted her hand to thump him, but had ended up weak at the knees and clinging on to him, so she couldn't really blame Arlo for being a little twitchy. Didn't he understand, though? "You are the only man I'm gettin' under blankets with an' I wouldn't be untyin' my blouse for anyone else, either, you dweeb." Though, he was right about one thing. "I made 'im a cup of tea, yeah. I mean, I didn't wanna be rude." Although, if she was entirely honest? "An' I was tryin' to cover for sayin' 'U'frek's butt. Or almost sayin' it. But yeah, I made 'im tea. An Immortal drank out of your mug."

His answers about where he'd been and how the hunting had been a lost cause, though. Vega didn't entirely believe that. "You've got tells when yer bein' slippery, you know." He didn't, or if he did she didn't know them, but it would do him no harm to think that she did. Looking down at her chest, she considered it and said, deadpan. "It's like 'e gave me a freckle. I mean, there's somethin' ironic in.. oh!" He suddenly seemed to realise what had happened, which took a long time considering how eloquent she'd been she thought, and he grabbed her and kissed her. Vega wrapped her arms around the back of his neck and lost herself in that moment. He couldn't be prouder? She grinned at that and she wondered at the feeling that gave her, when he said it. When he so obviously felt it.

"Yeah, I do," she said, when he asked her if she felt different. Taking his hand, she lead him over to the very bench she'd been laying on she sat down and tugged him to sit down with her. "I do feel different, aye." Twisting her fingers around in his she looked at him; the colours in her eyes were still all there, but they were at least slowing down. "An Immortal I've talked to all my life saw fit to come an' put his blessing on me, Arlo." A thoughtful frown settled on Vega's face and she breathed in, trying to form the sentences clearly or cleverly. "An' all I wanted to do was to tell you. Then, when I did," she shook her head, not really entirely clear herself on how all this happened. "You told me 'ow proud of me you are an' it's the best thing to 'appen to-trial. Yeah, I feel different, an' it's your fault." She gave him a gentle thump on the shoulder, very gentle considering it was her.

"He was nice," she said, with a slight shrug. "I think he thought I was kinda funny. I'm ok with that. Once an arc, Papa an' I'd go an sit on the deck and pick a star for my mother," she smiled slightly. It was this trial every arc, of course, her birthtrial. He knew it was, she'd told him. But equally, she didn't want a fuss about it, not even vaguely. It was hard for him to comprehend, she knew, but that was because he didn't and couldn't understand what her birth had meant. "An' I'd talk to her. Tell her all that 'ad happened that arc, wrapped up in a blanket sittin' on the decks. And we'd always talk a bit to Xiur. It's well weird, Arlo." When he'd asked her if she felt different, she knew what he'd meant and so she breathed in, her eyes settling now, and she answered that bit.

"I feel pleased an' proud. I do. Really honoured an' a bit scared that I'm gonna balls it up." Looking at him she tried to make sense of what she was feeling and then she grinned. "An' more than a little embarrassed about tellin' him I was happier than a 'appy pig because I so nearly swore in front of him." Leaning forward she kissed him. "Arlo, there could be a 'undred Immortals here, an' it's you I'd be talkin' to about it in bed. You'd never catch me bein' so quick to jump to conclusions or bein' possessive." No, she couldn't even pretend that she meant that and everything about her told the truth of it. "Not never."

[Arlo Creede]

"He held your hand too?" Arlo had said, even though by then he'd already started to grasp what Vega was really saying, in her own unique and wonderful way. Still, laying down beside her, touching her, holding her hand. Xiur as an Immortal, in his humble opinion, was an awful familiar one. And then he grinned and shrugged, realizing how unreasonable his gut reaction had been. Still, as gut impulses went, it probably wouldn't be the last time.But he knew that time of the evening, he told her. It was one of the best times when the sky was clear and would put on a light show for all the world to see.

"I figure he probably already knew you well enough to know you've a way with words," he pointed out. "You speak your mind and heart, off the cuff without thinking twice, trying to decide if it's what the other wants to hear or not. Not everyone's like that. It might be better if they were." And he knew, Arlo told her. He was the only one for her, and her for him. He knew it, but she'd need to understand that he still might need to remind himself how lucky he truly was.

He was hunting, he insisted again when she accused him of being slippery. After all he had been hunting, even if it wasn't the only thing he'd done that trial. When she took his hand and they sat down together, and then she told him how different she felt, well, he couldn't imagine that she wouldn't. "He's left a part of him with you. Always a part of you. It's only natural you'll feel different," he said, keeping her hand in his. And if he was small part of her feeling that way? Well she wouldn't hear him complaining. And he couldn't be happier than to know it was him that she'd wanted to share it with.

It was nice though, the way that she and her father had chosen a star and talked to her mother. It was easier, when looking up at the night sky, to think that somehow those who were gone were looking in on them, watching over them. "Xiur heard you," Arlo was sure. And maybe her mother had too. He grinned then and bumped her shoulder. "I sure hope it's only me you'd be talking in bed with about it," he shot back. Smiling though, Arlo reached into the inside pocket of his coat. "I wasn't being slippery when I told you I'd gone hunting and had no luck. That was true. But it wasn't the only time I've been out this trial," he confessed.

"I've been working on something for a while now, on my own. But there were a few things I needed in town in order to finish it. That's where I went. To town," he told her as he pulled out a small flat box and put it into Vega's hands. "Now I know this is your birth-trial and you made me promise I wouldn't bother about it this arc. Well then this isn't for your birth-trial. It's a different trial. It's our first official I'm happy that your mine, and I'm yours anniversary trial."

If Vega opened the box, she'd find a braided leather band style bracelet there that she could tie in place around her wrist. Woven into the band and fixed there were a handful of shimmering stones. The largest of them was a faceted, oval mystic topaz. A good sized one. And along the band on either side, staggered fixed into the braid were six smaller, smooth and round cut brilliant blue zircon stones. When he'd first seen the topaz, it wasn't a precious stone so much that caught his eye. It was the way the thing shone in half a dozen colors or more, swirling and shifting from one to another or all together as they caught the changing light.

Off Topic

Bracelet - 30 gn

[Vega]

79th Trial of Zi'da,
Arc 717

"Oh, Mary McNulty's frilly knickers, Arlo, it wasn't like that." She was laughing, though, or at the very least amused. Judging by his expression first and then the way he grinned and shrugged, Vega figured that he was realising that he was over reacting more than a little. Maybe Xiur did know about her "way with words" as he put it, but his description of what that was caused her to look at him incredulously. "If there were more people like me, Immortals 'elp us all. I'm a mouth an' a 'undred opinions on a pair of legs, is what I am." She pulled herself close to him and kissed him. "An' I could do with thinkin' a bit more sometimes, before speakin'" Especially, she added, when it came to talking about happy pigs to Immortals of hope. When he said, though, that he knew what she said, but he might need reminding? Vega grinned. "Lucky? You sure that's what you mean, Arlo Creede?" It was what he meant, she knew, and she kissed him. "Whatever it is you are, I'll remind you as much as you need."

When Arlo said that Xiur had left part of him with her, Vega grinned. "Yeah. I got 'is freckle. An Immortal-granted freckle to add my own collection." She did feel different, it was true, but the wanting to tell him the trill she had news, to share it with him? That was as new to her as anything. Although, not wanting him to get too big for his boots, she was quick to add, "Well, there's Bruce, too. Don't forget Bruce. He's my other bedmate, I think it's good to 'ave a spare, innit?" As soon as she said it, though she followed up, quick smart. "So long as the spare is a stuffed animal, not a person. No spares for you, Arlo Creede. I'm only jus' startin' to think that Qit'ria maybe isn't after you." Although, now that she said that, she continued, she really wasn't sure and in fact, Qit'ria probably was. Still. Just like she always had been. "Yeah, no. I hate 'er." Vega grinned and rested her head against his shoulder.

Watching him reaching into his pocket, Vega listened to his explanation and she raised an eyebrow. "Slippery. You were bein' slippery. I told you, you've got tells." And if she ever worked out what they were, he'd be in a whole world of trouble, but she didn't tell him that. All was fair in love and war, after all. But then he went on and explained, what he'd done and where he'd been. And why. Vega looked at him and grinned, shaking her head slightly. The first thing she did was to put the box down and she said, as she did that. "I'm jus' puttin' this here for a bit. I'll open it then, but first I just need to say some stuff." Holding on to his hands again, she looked at him with bright green eyes, speckled with gold and orange. "A'right, so 'ow can we 'ave an anniversary of anythin' when we 'aven't even known each other an arc yet?" They had met, she told him, on the eighty sixth of Zi'da last arc. "I know this, cos I arrived in Desnind late on the 83rd. I stayed in the Inn that night, then I moved to Ti'niva's camp an' stayed there two nights, but 'e weren't sleepin' properly with me there an' he kept lookin' at me, like 'e maybe wanted to tell me somethin', so I figured 'e probably didn't want me there but didn't wanna say." Shrugging, she saw no other reason, genuinely.

"So, I moved to my own camp on the 86th, an' I was right worried that I couldn't manage on my own, so I decided to get my hey-nonny-nonny on, an' I stomped off to go an' prove to myself that I could hunt for my own food an' live. An' on the way there, I saw a boy in a tree." The rest, of course, he knew. So, she explained, it couldn't be an anniversary. And then, if it was a trial where they were glad for each other? Well, there was something fundamental about that sort of trial to her. "That's every one, innit? An' if we're gonna 'ave those, then I need to know too. So, this, 'ere, is a birthday gift." At least, she added, she hoped it was because otherwise she was, quite frankly, the worst girlfriend ever and she missed their first not-actually-an-anniversary.

"An' I asked you not to do nothin' I know, but that was wrong of me. Once you knew the date, that was wrong o' me." Her father had spoken to her about it and he was right, she knew. "Soon as I knew when yours was, I 'ad to tell you 'ow glad I am that you were born. I was worried that it's all messed up with my mother dyin' and I jus' think you've 'ad enough grief, you know? " Leaning forward she kissed him and grinned, a sudden and very genuine grin. "Thanks for the gift, Arlo. I love it."

In her usual back-to-front manner, after she'd thanked him, Vega took her hand out of his and opened it. There was no doubting how she felt, the colours swirling in her eyes told the tale before her words did, "Arlo.. it's beautiful. You.. you made this for me?" She looked up at him, delight on her face and she held out her hand, palm upwards. "Would you fasten it for me? It's.. you know, this is the first birthday gift I've ever 'ad?" Looking down at her arm, held out there to him, she grinned. "Be'ind the fountain of youth, in that cave, you took 'old of my arm, like this, do you remember? Said my blood was like a flash of lightning?" She'd been annoyed at him, of course, because she thought he was looking at her that way and not answering because he didn't like her silver blood. "When you jus' touched my arm, then, I felt... well, I think if you'd traced it, I'd 'ave kissed you then, you know. Even though you 'ad just spat a whole ton of water over my 'ead." Once he'd fastened the bracelet, she held out her hand to show him it. "It's beautiful, Arlo. Thank you."

[Arlo Creede]

Well if more people were like her, Arlo teased her, so far as being more inclined to say what they were thinking and further, saying what they actually meant, then there might be a lot fewer wars that were started over mutual misunderstandings. Of course on the other hand, there might be quite a few more brawls than there were, but on a much smaller scale. "Six of one, a half dozen of the other, he concluded with a grin. But it sure would make things interesting. As for him, he wouldn't want her any other way.

He guessed he could allow Bruce his place in her heart, Arlo considered. So long as the stuffed bear didn't start thinking above his station. Which all in all, wasn't very likely. When Vega mentioned Qit'ria though, he snorted and shook his head. "I can't see that she ever was." After him. On the other hand, it didn't surprise him that Vega's impressions of the other woman hadn't changed. "She does have a way with words though doesn't she?" A haphazard way, that was. But she wasn't so unlike Vega herself in the sense that whatever it was she was thinking, she tended to say. Clearly or not in Qit'ria's case.

But when he gave her the gift and explained it the way that he had? He could only wait her out, bemused while she detailed how they'd met and the timing, picking his argument apart before he'd made it, and laying out timelines a professional messenger could set his timepiece by. Alright so maybe he hadn't thought it out completely, but it changed nothing so far as he was concerned. Grinning and bumping her shoulder, he muttered, "Fine. It's a birth-trial gift. Open it already will you?" He made it, Arlo told her and took the bracelet in order to fix it round her wrist. "Mostly anyway. I worked the leather, fixed the stones into it. Those though..." he said, "when I saw that center one, I saw your eyes. As if nature borrowed from all the colors of your eyes to create it."

He tied the thing in a way that meant if she wanted to take it on and off, she wouldn't have to tie and untie the bracelet to do it. Snug enough to avoid falling off, but with just enough give to allow to her slide it on and off over her hand. "I remember," he said when she reminded him of that trial in the cave. "I remember thinking that even with that place glowing like starlight, you were more beautiful by far." She'd pulled away that trial in more ways that one, and because he hadn't understood why, well, it was a moment where he'd already known that he loved her but was too afraid to say it. "Not anymore though," he told with a smile, tracing that same place on her wrist and then leaning in to kiss her.

[Muse]

Your review is ready!

You all just continue to be full of wit and cuteness, occasional awkwardness and an unquenchable fire. I always love the little post-Blessing threads. They're cute when there's someone around to celebrate with.

Vega

Points

XP:
15 | These points cannot be used for magic.

Fame:
N/A

Loot

+1 bracelet

Injuries + Overstepping

N/A

Knowledge

Skill Knowledge:
Acrobatics: Jumping into someone else's arms
Persuasion: Really, it's a birth trial gift.
Strength: Holding yourself off the ground in someone else's arms.

Arlo

Points

XP:
15 | These points cannot be used for magic.

Fame:
+2 Gave a gift

Loot

Thanks for keeping an accurate Ledger!

Injuries + Overstepping

N/A

Knowledge

Skill Knowledge:
Acrobatics: Keeping your balance when someone jumps into your arms.
Persuasion: It's not a birth-trial gift, really.
Strength: Holding someone off the ground.

If you've got a question or concern or if I've missed anything, don't hesitate to PM me!

Now that your review is complete,
don’t forget go back to your review post here and drop this image in!

Code: Select all

[center][img]/gallery/image.php?album_id=39&image_id=12206[/img][/center]