player npcs. (citizenries) wrote in emillion, @ 2014-09-08 00:07:00 |
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The weather was almost perfect this evening with the summer heat finally melting away into the cool temperatures of autumn, and so Merri had been more than eager to accept the maitre d’s offer of dining on the patio. The first evening stars poked through the colorful sunset as they put in their dinner order, and as Merri beamed at Ran he knew that he couldn’t be happier. It was their first real date in some time, Merri having been too paranoid to go anywhere other than Ran’s apartment and the Mages Tower, but it’d been weeks, now, and aside from Ari there hadn’t been a peep of a mention of him being able to summon a creature either like or unlike Vivian’s. He felt more at ease now that as long as he remained careful, that would be all there was to it. No mobs would come after him, nobody would harass him on the streets for it, and there would be no public outcry that one of the guild’s councilors might pose a threat to the safety of the city. Merri, too, had finally been reassured of it himself on that last point; he could understand Carbuncle clearly now, and the creature had proved himself a friend. These days, he remained quiet in his mind, leaving Merri to live his life in peace. That was why, when Alec handed him a flyer for the show The Sister Act, Merri jumped at the opportunity to go and had been thrilled when Ran had agreed to accompany him. And so now here they were before the show, Merri bubbling with excitement and his worries quieted. “Have you ever seen this one before?” he asked her, a smile spread across his face. "Once, when I was a child. For a month after I dreamed of becoming a Pharist sister. All the fault of the musical numbers." She let out a soft laugh. "Later I exchanged that ambition for another to become a ghost when my parents took me to see The Spectre of the Opera." The words were true, but she felt like she was speaking of somebody else that she had known a lifetime ago. She had revealed little of her past to Merri, to avoid unwanted associations, and because it was far easier to keep track when lying by omission. But details like this were harmless, and a better focus for his attention than the couple two tables away who had been talking and glancing in their direction since the beginning of the meal. Merri gently laughed, his own youth having been influenced in similar ways. While it hadn’t been until he’d arrived in Emillion until he saw live theatre for the first time, the books he’d read inspired him to take many different paths, such as running off on an airship to find lost treasure, as Jaymes Hawke had in his most favorite childhood book. Strange now, thinking of it, that that was something he had managed to do as an adult — and stranger yet that he could reflect upon those days without a twinge of sadness anymore. But he knew he had Ran to thank for that. “I’m glad you didn’t become a sister,” he replied, “or a ghost. I don’t think we’d have met if you had. Or been able to be together if we did wind up meeting.” A small blush covered his cheeks. "I am glad as well," she smiled, reaching out over the table to take his hand. "To have met you, and be with you. And more than that, I do not think the life of a sister would have held much appeal for me, once I discovered it was not all singing, dancing and exciting double lives." She shook her head, wry. "A good thing I never joined. But what about you? Did you always want to join the Guild?" “Not… exactly,” said Merri slowly. “Not that I regret coming here, and when I did come it was all I wanted, but it wasn’t until I’d just turned twelve that I even knew that the Mages Guild existed. I mean, well, I knew that mages guilds existed, but I didn’t know... That is, we don’t have one back in Risca, only a Fighters Guild, which I did want to join, but when my mother’s friend gave me a book on magic, that was when I decided that I wanted to learn. It took me almost burning down the house before Mother finally let me come to Emillion to study.” He laughed sheepishly. She laughed. "I imagine that must have been quite a compelling argument indeed." (Unbidden came the memories of her own childhood, the books of magic that had never held the intrinsic appeal for her that they had for Merri, only the promise that they would be the gateway to what she wanted to achieve, a broken promise in the end. She had persevered out of spite, but she kept that bitterness out of her voice when she spoke.) "I am sure your mother is proud of you, to see you now," she said. “I hope so.” In truth, Merri had not heard the words from his mother since he was appointed Councilor of the Mages Guild, and he knew why. Being councilor meant that, she thought and had hoped, he’d be safe from the front lines, that he wouldn’t be fighting, and he’d be safe and sound in the Mages Tower. The last time he saw her, he had nearly died from illness that had run rampant in the city, and her letters and network messages since Vivian’s attack had begged him to return to Risca where it was safe. Still, he wanted to do good by her while still pursuing his own happiness, and it was a difficult thing to achieve, he was discovering more and more. “I think she’s still more worried than anything else, though.” Ran nodded. "That is quite understandable. Emillion has been a dangerous city to live in of late." She sipped her wine for a moment of silence to listen to the mutterings of the other couple, but they had quieted down and were no longer looking in their direction. Then, she said, "Have you ever thought about moving away from here?" The question caught him more off guard than he supposed it should have. “Moving away?” He’d only seriously considered it once, and his refusal to do so cost him months of heartbreak. But it all worked out in the end, didn’t it? “Once,” he admitted slowly, his eyes falling to his drink. “About a year ago. Not because of the trouble in the city. It wasn’t even nearly as bad as a few months ago then. But… I had--have a duty here, to my guild and to the city, even if both could get by without me. I hadn’t thought much about it since then, even when Mother asked me to go back to Risca. My hometown,” he clarified, unsure if he ever told Ran that. “I don’t think I could now. I have a lot here now, beyond my job and duty.” He looked up at her bashfully, meaningfully. She smiled at him. "I am glad to hear you say so. I would hate having to part ways with you, Merri." Indeed, why leave? For the time being, there was no danger for her to be concerned about. There were plenty of people to concern themselves with the problems of the city, the monsters and those still harboring mistrust toward the mages, and she was not one of them, for Ran Matsuura was a mere citizen, nothing more. |