Ari ♫ ♪ ♬ (gracenotes) wrote in emillion, @ 2014-08-23 18:08:00 |
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That afternoon’s party had been the perfect distraction from her worries regarding the small box tucked inside her mandolin case, but she hadn’t quite forgotten it as there despite the many amusements available at the Duke and Countess’ engagement tea. And as much as she had enjoyed herself, she had still slipped away alone, and at a reasonable hour, to go home, dress down (if anyone could process through the Commoners’ District in a large hat festooned with silk flowers and butterflies and bells it would surely be Arielle Chiaro, but the thing weighed half a ton and there was such a concept as too much of a good thing), and head back out the door. She hadn’t forgotten what today was, after all. Which was why her knock upon Drake’s door was accompanied with a cheerful call of, “Drakey! Can you open your own door today, or am I visiting an invalid?” Either way, she was getting in, of course, but it would be nice if he wasn’t broken. Then again, it was his birthday, which made ‘not-broken’ rather unlikely. Fighters. Why did she love them so? Drake groaned from the couch. All he wanted to do was sleep off the Bad Breath and not worry about the dislocated-but-popped-back-in-place (and possibly infected - he didn’t know and he wasn’t really all that interested in asking Darius to look at it) shoulder in peace. But really, he should have expected that Ari would show up; getting rid of her on a normal day was tough. If he had to hazard a guess, getting her to leave on his birthday was going to be impossible. So he rolled off of the couch and shuffled to the door, fumbled with the locks one-handed, and opened the door. “If I told you I wanted peace and quiet and a nap for my birthday, would you let me have it?” He gave her a hopeful smile. “And as expected, the birthday boy looks like a malboro sat on him,” Ari declaimed once he opened the door. At the look on his face (really, he needed to stop being so transparent), she asked, “Wait, did a malboro actually sit on you? Faram’s sake, Drakey.” His comment about the peace and quiet would, of course, go ignored as she let herself in and stepped up to give him a kiss just below the collarbone. She steered clear of his rather green-looking shoulder. Trust Drake Liu to make the sight of his rather fine chest without a shirt a worrisome one, instead of enjoyable as it should have been. “It seems as though you’ve had all the peace and quiet you could take already,” she added, looking him over. “A very happy birthday, I take it?” “More like the malboro sort of collapsed on me,” he said, moving aside to allow her entry. But now he could honestly say that he could take on a malboro single handed, which was definitely saying something. Of course, he was sure that that was the last thing Ari wanted to hear, so he wisely kept his mouth shut. “But yeah, it was all right. I didn’t end up in the clinic this year.” Although he probably should have - the timely twinge in his shoulder reminded him of that. “And it wasn’t really quiet. Or peaceful. So I haven’t had any of that.” Well, the trek into the Outlands had been peaceful and quiet - wolves notwithstanding - but the rest of it definitely hadn’t been. His ears still hurt from the random Mandragora he’d come across, and even though he’d managed to dodge the Bandercoerul’s petrify, his body still felt heavy. “But speaking of no peace and quiet, how was Vivi’s thing?” “Well of course it did.” She nudged him towards the couch, satisfied only when he sat; at that point she set down her instrument case and settled on his lap, her hands gently prodding at the shoulder. Naturally it had been a malboro. Of course it had. Drake seemed to have an affinity for them that she had never seen matched by anyone else. “Anything broken?” she asked as she kept prodding. “And the party was… interesting. You were missed.” This was said simply, with no artifice -- she did not have to specify that she had missed seeing him once she’d realized he wouldn’t come. Surely others had missed him as well. “Not that I know of, though I’m pretty sure I dislocated my shoulder. Again.” Fortunately, last time he’d managed that, he’d had the white mage show him how to safely pop it back in. “I popped it back in, though, so it’s not a problem.” He winced as she poked and prodded at him. “I’m sure everyone had fun without me there,” he remarked; he’d been glad to have a legitimate excuse to get out of it though. As much as he liked wearing fancy clothes and could have found an amazing hat, an engagement party held in honor of the Bards’ Guild Master and Vivi just seemed like it would be boring. “I’m sure we would have had fun with you there, as well. You like tea. You like food.” She grinned. “You like pretty people in pretty clothing. I’m uncertain how much you would have liked the hats, but be that as it may…” She leaned over to unfasten the buckles of her instrument case, drawing the mandolin into her lap. The small box tucked inside the case was now clearly visible, but her eyes didn’t linger there (that was for later). “If nothing’s broken,” she said, “I can fix it. I’m not sure how many other healers would climb into your lap and offer you kisses --” she placed one on his cheek, “so you’re a very lucky birthday boy today.” “Well, I guess a lapful of helpful healer complete with kisses is an acceptable way to spend my birthday,” he teased, wrapping his good arm around her waist to pull her close for a moment. He gave her a quick kiss then released her so that she could do play without him being in the way. Well, too in the way, at any rate. He closed his eyes as she sang and leaned back against the couch. The music washed over him and he could start to feel the aches slowly melting away. By the time she was done, he felt more or less better, although a quick roll of his previously-injured shoulder told him it was still a little stiff. But hey, it wasn’t green anymore, so there was that. “You’re the best.” She smiled a little as her hands fell from the strings. “I know I am,” she said. This time, the kiss was planted firmly on his shoulder, which had turned a much more acceptable color. Just poison, then -- and trust Drake to leave poison alone and assume it would go away on its own. Some days, she had to wonder how he stayed alive. (Sheer luck and good looks, she suspected.) And… she would keep putting this off if she didn’t just do it. She’d already put it off for well over a month, and it would be very easy right now to distract Drake entirely and give him…. well, the sort of birthday present she surely would have offered. Before. Except, that was not why she’d come here. So she sat back, and as she set her mandolin back in its case, picked up the small box. “To prove I am the best,” she said, keeping her tone light (light and nonchalant was best; maybe he wouldn’t notice), “I brought you a birthday present. Which has nothing to do with the song or the kisses or in fact even me in your lap. And for once, isn’t tea or a book.” Which already made it unique, but they could just gloss right over that, right? Right. She held out the box in her palm, said, “Here you go. Happy birthday.” Uncertain, he took the box. It was small - jewelry sized. She’d never gotten him jewelry before, so his immediate thought was she found something interesting and tossed it in a nice box she had lying around. Except that it was neatly tied off in a way that almost screamed shop. Still, there wasn’t any reason to think she was trying to change things. Slowly, he unwrapped the ribbon and removed the lid. Nestled in gauze was a single earring. A stud with a brilliant dark blue stone. A sapphire. And judging by the intensity and depth of the color, it wasn’t a cheap one. Gingerly, he removed it and held it up, watching as the light caught in the facets. “It’s gorgeous,” he said after a moment. He had to say something, and why are you getting me jewelry now? wasn’t exactly the kind of question that he could ask right now. The earring was placed back in the box before his hands lifted to his ear, removing the new stud from it and placing his old one inside. Then he picked the new one up and secured it on his ear. “I love it,” he added, leaning forward and giving her a light kiss. “Thank you.” Of course things with Drake could be this easy. She almost felt like a fool for worrying about it. Except now she was worrying that it was too easy, that he didn’t understand the meaning of the gift at all, that he thought it was just a pretty thing she had picked up randomly, and -- All right, so in matters like these, nothing in her life could be easy. It was a fact of her current existence. But she couldn’t exactly say, I got it for you for the same reason you got me the bracelet -- you understand, right? And she couldn’t say anything even clearer -- Faram forbid. So instead, she said, “Well, you did complain that I hadn’t brought you any treasure from that desert tomb I raided in Ordalia, and I told you to wait and see. Now you know your faith in me was simply insufficient.” “Well, I suppose this kind of treasure will have to make do,” he teased, but he pulled her into his lap and kissed her again. It was stupid to think that maybe something had changed, but she had been watching him, watching his reaction, and he’d known her long enough to know when she was nervous about something. So, even if was stupid to hope, hope he did. Now that he wasn’t feeling entirely like a Malboro had rolled over him and died, there were a few ways he could show his appreciation. “Are you planning on staying, or is there some post-party event you have to go to?” “Oh, ‘have to do,’ is it?” she asked. “Perhaps next time I will have to try harder to find just the right gift. You know me and challenges.” And let him take that however he pleased. She returned his kiss and told him, “Of course I’m staying. I left early so I could come and be with you tonight. Just try to kick me out and see how far you’ll get.” She leaned her head on his shoulder, snuggling in and closing her eyes. “I… really am glad you like it,” she said after a moment of silence. Really she knew she ought to leave well enough alone, but she couldn’t help trying to explain at least a little. “But I can try to do better next time.” She was better with gifts than words, for now. Drake laughed, his hand stroking through her hair. “I was teasing,” he told her, kissing the top of her head. “I really do love it.” And I love you. “There are few things that would have made a more perfect present.” It felt a little like toeing the invisible line that he’d put between them. In no way did he want to seem like he was pushing her to return his feelings; he was completely content with the way their relationship was, but he would be lying if he said a little part of him didn’t hope for more. What that more was, or how it would change things, he wasn’t sure. “Speaking of perfect presents, how’d you find this one?” Why did you pick this one? “I suppose,” she said after a brief pause, face still pressed against his neck so she didn’t have to meet his eyes, “if I hadn’t looted it from an ancient tomb, I may have spent an entire day in the artisans’ bazaar in Montmartre looking for just the right one instead. Supposing my coming upon it wasn’t simply an accident of fate, at any rate.” “Do you usually spend an entire day picking out presents? That aren’t for yourself, that is.” He’d been party to one of her shoe excursions; an entire day going from shop to shop to shop, watching her try on shoe after shoe, only to return to the first one to pick up the first pair she’d tried on. And then hitting the second one for the second pair, and so on. He wasn’t entirely sure how long she took for gifts going to friends, which really was something that he should know. “Only for particular people,” she responded, and placed a kiss against his skin. “People I like at least as much as I like myself, of course.” A joke, but not really; self-love had never been a problem for Ari -- if anything, she was more likely to take care of herself first, but in a few special cases… well. “You should see it in sunlight,” she said, suddenly a bit uncomfortable. Maybe talking about the gem was better. “You’re missing half the sparkle, in here.” He kissed the top of her head again and then gently removed her from his lap. Going outside didn’t sound too enticing at the moment, but he could always see the sparkle from sunlight streaming in from the window. “You have a hand mirror?” he asked her. The only mirror he had was hanging in his bathroom. “I have…” She removed herself from clinging to him to bend over and rummage in one of the side pockets of her instrument case, finally coming up with a mirror compact. “A girl ought to be prepared when she leaves the house, lest the very charming gentleman she is visiting believes in sparsity of decor on par with the average uninhabited flat,” she said with a slightly teasing smile, offering it up. “Just because I don’t believe in clutter doesn’t mean my flat looks uninhabited,” he countered, taking the compact and heading towards the window. Holding the mirror up, he properly looked at the stud in his ear, making sure to try different angles so that he could see the different variations. She was right, of course - there was a great deal more sparkle when it caught the light just right. He couldn’t help the thought that this kind of a gift was far more expensive than the ones she’d bought him in the past. The surge of guilt came quick, but subsided just as fast. Drake smiled and walked back over to Ari, placing a kiss on her nose and her compact in her hand. “It’s really beautiful,” he told her. “You really shouldn’t have.” In response, she took the compact in one hand and placed the other against his lips. “I’ll take a simple ‘thank you,’” she said. Then, with a sigh, “Sometimes, talking to you is such a trial.” Never mind that it wasn’t his fault at all; she was a professional at shifting blame to suit herself. “I suppose, however, as it’s a special occasion, I should be gracious and not hold it against you. I can also,” she continued, “skip the terribly cliched line of holding something else against you -- but I will say that the evening is yours to do with as you please.” A grin (this was so much easier than trying to explain her gift; perhaps she would simply have to make peace with the fact that he did not understand -- yet). “I’ll follow along.” “I’ll have you know many people think I’m easy to talk to,” he told her. “But, since you mentioned holding something against me…” Drake grinned and picked her up without warning. “I suppose I should let you follow through on that threat.” They could talk more later. Right now, there were more pressing things to take care of. |