Who: Elphaba and Lúthien When: Start of September Where: Shopping Centre What: Ring shopping! Rating/Warning: G Status: Complete
Elphaba had taken the afternoon off work to meet Lúthien to shop for an engagement ring and she hurried through the lanes of the shops to meet her girlf...fiancée. Wow, that was still taking some getting used to, Elphaba thought to herself with a wry smile. Spotting Lúthien by the water fountain, she quietly hurried up behind her and murmured in her ear, “Knock knock.”
Luthien shivered, and turned to gaze at her fiance. She wrapped her arms around her and kissed her, not caring that they were in public. “I’m excited and nervous.”
Elphaba grinned and wrapped her arms around Lúthien as they kissed, long and slow, not caring about passer-bys. “Why are you nervous?” she asked with a little frown as she pulled away slightly, arms still wrapped around Lúthien.
“Because this is a big thing. I know it is silly, it’s just a ring, but it’s still…” She touched her heart. “It’s meaningful.”
“Which also means that if we don’t find one today we can keep looking,” Elphaba told her with a soft smile. “We’re going to do this right, in every way,” she kissed her gently, thumbs stroking back and forth against her back
Shivering, Luthien nuzzled her cheek. “Well I have an idea of what I want, and we will find what you want, and then we will compromise.”
“I love you,” Elphaba grinned before kissing her gently. “Shall we? Where do you want to start, my love?”
“There.” She pointed at a shop. “That one, I have a good feeling.”
“Excellent, ladies choice, so lead the way,” Elphaba told her with a smile, sweeping a hand in front of her and a little bow in a gallant manner. She kept hold of her left hand and let Lúthien direct them to the jewellery shop she’d pointed at.
“You’re a lady too,” she pointed out, bumping their hips together before they entered. Inside it was a small fortune, but nothing that Luthien would bat an eye at.
"Yeah, but you're more a lady than I ever was," Elphaba winked as they entered the shop. Elphaba had been very much a tomboy growing up and sensible to boot what with having to look after her sister growing up and look after herself. She only wore skirts to work because her boss preferred it, said it looked professional. Whatever...tired old prune that he was, Elphaba thought a little bitterly. They looked in the first cabinet, and Elphaba asked, "Anything you'd like to see in there?"
At least one of them was sensible. Luthien was too fanciful to be sensible and she always had been, even before the dream. She was always at home in just about anything - including, as Elphaba had yet to find out - dancing skyclad in the back yard.
“No, over here…” she led her to another display.
"Ok," Elphaba laughed and let herself be led to the next cabinet. Dancing skyclad was...not on Elphaba's agenda, would never have even contemplated it, so that was going to be an interesting day. "What about that one?" she asked, pointing to a simply designed plain ring without really thinking.
“I like it, but I want something..” she searched for the word. “Leafy. I am an elf. Unless you don’t want leafy?”
"No, you're right, sorry love," Elphaba apologised, standing up and pressing a kiss to the side of Lúthien's head and closing her eyes against her stupid big mouth.She sighed and stood quietly next to Lúthien, pissed off with herself for already screwing up.
“Honey…” Luthien looked at her lover, then put her arms around her. “This is for both of us, is it not? Perhaps something simple but elegant? It should be something you want too.”
“I guess...I just…” Elphaba sighed. “I will be happy with whatever you choose, love,” she quirked an anxious smile at her, hoping she wouldn’t see through her worry. She wasn’t used to being given an equal say when it came to relationships. Mostly she gave and others took, and while she knew it was different with Lúthien it was still hard to break the habit.
Luthien folded her arms stubbornly. She leveled a look at Elphaba, and said calmly, "what speaks to you most? I have an idea but I need to know what is best for you."
“I…” Elphaba stopped herself, seeing the stubborn look on her fiancée’s face. She sighed and rubbed a hand over her forehead as she thought. “I...hadn’t really given it much thought to be honest...something...spirally? I like spirals,” she admitted quietly.
Luthien's face lit up like the sun. "Spirals are beautiful and full of meaning." She looked the the case. "What if we combined the ideas, no?"
“I..can we do that?” Elphaba asked, looking over Lúthien’s shoulder at the cabinet. She had never been particularly creative when it came to artsy things, so she found it hard to imagine the two ideas combined.
“A spiral leaf pattern, perhaps? Or a spiralling ring with a leaf pattern to hold the gem? For the engagement rings. And for the wedding rings, just a simple spiraling band? Oh! Or perhaps like a vine?”
“I like the idea of the pattern holding the gem and the vine for the band,” Elphaba smiled at that. “It seems very...organic,” she told Lúthien.
Luthien nodded at her, and threaded their fingers together. Her eyes were sparkling. “You know, you just made a decision. Your opinion matters very, very much to me.”
Elphaba sighed at how stupid she felt not making something as simple as that. She was a fully grown, successful woman after all, but when it came to telling someone how she felt she’d always been a bit backwards. Other people had always mattered more than her and he’d never grown out of the habit of deferring to someone else’s judgement. “I know, I’m just...useless at telling people my personal opinion,” she shrugged. “Political or business yes, but emotional, not so much,” she squeezed Lúthien’s hand by way of an apology.
“I’m just glad you brought up marriage to begin with.” Luthien kissed a finger tip. “I might have been waiting awhile. But it would have been worth the wait.”
Elphaba blushed at that. If she hadn’t come to her realisation about Fiyero when she did, they would more than likely still be going along as normal. She wasn’t normally so brave, but she counted her lucky stars that she had been. “Let’s hope so, eh?” she mused quietly, self-doubt her constant companion. “So is there anything here that fits the bill?” she asked, re-directing their attention back to the cabinet.
“Here,” Luthien said, pointing at a pair of rings that were almost perfect. Nothing would be perfect, of course. But she found she didn’t want it to be perfect. Life was flaws, and as long as she was with Elphaba it would be perfect.
Elphaba peered into the cabinet at the rings Lúthien was pointing to and smiled. “I like them,” she nodded, squeezing Lúthien’s hand. “I really like them.”
"Then these are the ones we shall have..." She lifted Elphie's hand to her lips. She was giddy with excitement and she couldn't wait!