t(-.-t) (the_warden) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-08-26 21:05:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, maia amell (the warden), morrigan |
Oh you have to be bloody kidding me.
Who: Maia and Morrigan
What: Part of their holiday in China. Darkspawn in a tomb and a proposal in a bathtub. Aka what else do you expect when The Warden goes underground?
When: Mid-august
Where: Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor
Status: PG-13
With the notable exception of nearly drowning twice, their vacation had gone well so far. Maia was enjoying herself, and she’d gotten to get a first hand look at the people and culture that she’d mostly missed the first time around. It was only a small subset of the cultures that actually made up China.
“We’d need a twelve month trip to really see everything,” Maia commented, leaning on the railing of their hotel room. “But we should probably get moving or we’ll miss our bus.”
They'd seen the great wall and the Yungang Grottoes, and were now staying in Xi'an. Maia had in particular wanted to see the Terracotta army after a conversation with Ms. Croft.
To say that Morrigan was in her element was an understatement. After all, she loved China, and the history here. She missed her calling as an archaeologist, clearly. She even spoke some Chinese, though it was rusty. She did at least try to converse with people in their own language. She may have also been armed with a couple English to Chinese dictionaries in Mandarin and Cantonese to cover some bases.
She was just pulling her hair up into a messy bun and stuck a couple chopsticks through it before she looked over at Maia. Smiling contentedly, she walked over and slid her arms around Maia from behind, chin resting on her shoulder.
“Perhaps that can be a trip in the future? Tis a most wondrous and fascinating place.” She enjoyed sharing this experience with Maia. “We should not dally, tis not every one is able to see the Terracotta army.” Morrigan also may have bought way too many books while on this trip. She had a lot of reading material to go over. Some of it was history of the places they’d been to. Others were focused on the Chinese herbal remedies and things of that sort.
Between the two of them they were passable enough at the language to get around, despite a few admittedly hilarious instances of miscommunication, one of which had nearly gotten them arrested. “Take a year off and piss off to the countryside?” Maia grinned at her, adjusting an oversized hat. “That might be fun.” She barely knew how they’d get their purchases, souvenirs and some of the clothing they’d bought home. How the hell would they work out a years worth of stuff?
“After the dreams we have experienced, I rather think we deserve it.” And if Flemeth ever showed her face in Orange County, Morrigan would run the hell away faster than anyone could blink. Hiding in China sounded like an amazing plan if that happened. Morrigan pressed a kiss to Maia’s cheek. “Perhaps I could breathe some new life into the Chinese legends regarding dragons.” She did need somewhere remote to practice shifting into a dragon, after all.
And yes, that pun Morrigan spoke was intentional.
Maia choked back a laugh that was almost entirely a giggle. “Good one. Oh hell. What if you could replicate a Chinese Dragon? Wouldn’t that be beautiful? You’re already beautiful, you’d just be more beautiful.” She squeezed Morrigan’s hand and held on, though she let go as soon as they were in public. Better than upsetting the locals. She disliked it greatly.
Morrigan chuckled. “I could certainly try to. It probably would not be difficult now that I have the ability to shift into a dragon in general. I do make a very beautiful dragon, if I do say so myself.” Her scales had a purple hue to them. It was certainly beautiful to see. Once in public, she walked with Maia, taking in the sights of the city as they made their way to the bus they needed to catch.
“Very gorgeous colouring,” Maia agreed. “It quite suits you.” She clapped her hands behind her back so she didn’t reach for Morrigan’s. It was a common habit of hers, since she doubted Morrigan wanted to be super PDA or anything of the sort.
They made their bus with time to spare, prompting Maia to concede that they didn’t have to rush.
“Thank you, love,” she responded. “Seems as though purple likes me just as much as I like it.” Considering her nails were always covered in fresh purple nail polish, and several of her clothes had some sort of purple aspect to them, said that.
“You look the part of a child who is about to go to Disneyland for the first time,” Morrigan commented with a teasing smirk. She couldn’t help it, though it was almost too easy to tease Maia about history. Though the same went for Morrigan. She loved history just as much, she just had a more contained approach to her enthusiasm for it.
“It is a royal colour, and you are royalty,” she said. Taking a seat she added, “Never been to Disneyland. Shocking I know. I should do something about that.”
Here on the bus, she could take Morrigan’s hand without anyone noticing, which she did. “What if the army comes to life? The last time we encountered stone figures they did try to kill us.”
“I am not royalty,” she countered. Though she didn’t really know what she was beyond being Mythal’s daughter. Whatever the ancient elven gods had truly been, she did not know, nor did she wish to think about it. She didn’t like her mother, and that was that. “That makes two of us.” She’d never been to Disneyland either.
Morrigan squeezed Maia’s hand and looked at her. “If it comes to life, I suppose that is when my dragon form comes into good use.”
Maia found herself actually hoping something magical happened. She’d heard stories. Strange things. Things not always associated with dreams (though she believed most of them were, just by proximity to dreamers). Something new and mysterious and wonderful.
Something exciting.
“That would be so sexy, I don’t think I could contain myself.”
Every legend and myth had to start somewhere. There was always some fundamentally true fact that the legends came from. Morrigan did not doubt there were fantastical elements to this world beyond those of the Dreamers. After all, ghosts and stories of fantastical creatures like dragons persisted through the ages and across all civilizations.
“I cannot deny that that would be quite the way to celebrate a victory,” Morrigan quipped with a smirk.
Fiddling with something in her pocket, Maia nodded her head. “The absolute best way.” She was still waffling on when or even if she should do what she was planning. But with her dreams settled, at least for now, she thought that maybe she should at least try for the greatest treasure of all. “Lets at least take a lot of pictures. We should send some to Alistair, anything that might make his head explode.”
Morrigan was completely oblivious to Maia’s thoughts and intentions. She raised an eyebrow, a smirk crossing her face at the mention of making Alistair’s head explode. “I am not one to turn down making Alistair’s head explode.” She laughed a bit. “Though pictures are a given. I rather enjoy having documentation of such things.”
“I still can’t believe we’re here. After we missed each other last time we were in the country. But it seems like...destiny. The Warden and the Witch.” Maia’s eyes flicked to the view outside as the bus approached its destination. “It seems like our paths must always cross, if not run parallel.”
“Destiny or not, I am happy our paths have intersected this time. I am more than happy to have this experience with you.” Morrigan looked out the window, then to Maia, thumb rubbing against Maia’s hand affectionately. As much as she wasn’t exactly a people-person, she hated being alone. She liked having Maia around, and she’d even made some friends in Orange County, even if she hadn’t quite admitted to that fact out loud yet.
Friendship, after all, was magic. Maia thought there was a certain magic to love. In her dreams, she’d done a great deal of things, many of them for Morrigan. And she’d do them again even knowing she wouldn’t entirely get what she wanted. So maybe this life was her reward, for as long as Morrigan would have her.
Though she sometimes fretted that that wouldn’t last.
The vast majority of the tomb was sealed, to prevent damage to the terracotta soldiers, but there were plenty of places they could see them, behind glass and looking through sealed off corridors. It was actually a little creepy. Like an army had been frozen. “I’m suddenly reminded of the deep roads.”
Morrigan was an odd sort of romantic, for she never voiced her romanticism, but it was there once someone was able to pull the layers back. She’d simply been so resistant to letting herself be happy in the dreams because of what she needed to do that she’d tried to push Maia away. But Maia had come back despite it all, had still wanted her even after she’d left.
Perhaps this life was to show her that she could have happiness if she’d just let herself have it. She had no ulterior motives here, though if Flemeth showed up she’d be her pawn given the Well of Sorrows thing. But beyond that, this was her life, and she liked having Maia around.
There was a part of Morrigan that half expected to see an Eluvian in this tomb. It seemed like a place that could have one, given where Eluvians tended to pop up in Thedas. But she seriously hoped there wasn’t one here. The army was rather fascinating to see. Morrigan drew close to the glass, getting a good, close look at them. “They do seem like expertly carved golems, do they not? Perhaps tis for the best Shale is not here.”
“I wonder what she’d think.” Of course, they now knew the truth about golems. It had been a truth that Maia had spent several precious seconds fighting with herself over before she’d destroyed the anvil. She could condemn one soul.Maybe even a handful. But the hundreds that would be required to build an army? It was better to just take the dwarves as they were.
“I wonder if there are men’s souls locked away in this stone.”
“Perhaps she’d wonder if Caridin was here somewhere.” Morrigan had disapproved of Maia destroying the anvil, but after the choice had been made, she’d held her tongue. It hadn’t been an easy choice, she could see that, but Morrigan had a different approach to things. Golems could have been useful in the fighting. Darkspawn never tired and never slept. Golems were the same way. But what was done was done.
“I would not put it past the Emperor to have enacted some sort of curse to take the souls of his armies and lock them in stone for eternity.” Morrigan studied the statues, almost expecting them to move.
Morrigan disapproved of a lot of things. But that was okay. Maia loved her regardless. Maybe because of it, because she didn’t always want everyone agreeing with her. Until it came to giving the really important orders, anyway. Maia folded her arms. “That sounds like something out of a video game. Or a really ancient myth.”
Morrigan was definitely not the proverbial ‘yes’ person. She wouldn’t say it just to appease others. When she said it, she meant it. She wasn’t afraid to speak her opinion, and she believed she knew everything. Though the latter tended to get her in trouble at times, such as the whole Well of Sorrows debacle. “T’would not surprise me if it were the basis for a movie or a novel.” Morrigan moved further down the corridor, eyes going between the statues and Maia. “Did you know that it is said the Emperor had 100 rivers of liquid mercury in his tomb? They found unusually high levels of mercury present in the tomb.”
“One hundred rivers?” Maia peered deeper into the tomb, trying to imagine that. “Is there even that much mercury in the world? How many people bloody died to give the Emperor his silver rivers?” Exposure to that much mercury could drive a whole population mad. “I wonder what that would look like.”
Morrigan smiled at Maia, that smile that said she was about to divulge a bunch of knowledge. “Actually, mercury was quite common here. The Chinese could mine it from mercury ore. In fact, they had been able to do that process since about 3,000 B.C.E. They used it for a great many things, anything from contraception to medicinal uses. Though considering that in its liquid state it is silver, much like the moon and other celestial bodies are, many believed it held the key to longevity. Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi spent many years searching for an elixir to grant him eternal life, which could explain the presence of mercury in his tomb.” She glanced back to the warriors for a moment. “Whether there are actual rivers of it in his tomb, no one knows as it is still sealed. It teases the mind to wonder what the inside of his tomb looks like. And to answer your question about how many died in the process of building this tomb, nearly everyone. Though many were killed so they could not divulge the secrets of the tomb and expose it to tomb raiders.”
“Would you wager that in his pursuit of immortality, he might have killed himself with mercury poisoning eventually?” It was certainly a possibility. “Death sentence either way. I wonder if there was a way for us to sneak in without ruining everything.” Using… Magic.
“That is the story, actually. It is said he died from ingesting mercury pills.” Morrigan eyed Maia. “Supposing there is a way, would you risk being around such quantities of mercury? Even if the tales exaggerate reality, mercury is still rather dangerous in larger quantities.” She wasn’t saying there wasn’t a way in, but she also didn’t know if her swam form would be small enough to pass through the barriers or not.
Maia shrugged her shoulder. “I’ve got a few protection spells, I wouldn’t be too worried, especially if we didn’t actually touch anything. Lets do it, this could be an adventure!” What’s the worse that could happen? It’s not like they’d come to life. Or there’d be darkspawn.
“You do know I just dreamt about an ancient magister who thought walking into the Golden City was a good idea, right?” Morrigan teased. Because of course breaching the tomb of an ancient emperor was a good idea. “In all seriousness, let us hope the tomb is not airtight lest we suffocate inside.” She doubted that the tomb was that well sealed, but Morrigan assumed the oxygen levels would be on the low side.
“All right. Lets just slip away without anyone noticing,” Maia said. She could transform into a rat, that would be easy enough, wouldn’t it? Skitter through any seals, as rats have done for millions of years. She stroked a finger down Morrigan’s arm an excited glint in her eyes.. “Lets be daring, shall we?”
Why was Morrigan doing this, knowing that there was a chance something horrific could be on the other side? Possibly because she was relatively certain Maia would do it anyway, and if they encountered anything undead or otherwise in the tomb, at least they would have each other. “Let’s go,” Morrigan said, keeping an eye open for an escape route. Or at least somewhere that they could slip away undetected and shift forms before anyone noticed. She reached out for Maia’s hand.
Maia tok Morrigan’s hand and let her take the lead this time. This was, after all, an area of a bit more expertise than she actually had compared to Morrigan. She’d studied some of the cultures and the myths, but not to the same degree. “After you.”
Morrigan smiled before she headed down the corridor, moving at a normal pace so as to not attract attention. She spotted a place up ahead that provided a way they could get out of sight and change shape. Giving a quick little glance and seeing no one seemed to be looking, Morrigan took the turn quickly, pulling Maia with her. “We should shift forms and move quickly,” she whispered. She took a moment before she shifted into her swarm form in a haze of purple smoke that quickly dissipated. She waited for Maia to shift before moving to find some little crevice they could exit through and move towards the tomb.
There was something ironic about the rat, considering her time in the fade. Maybe that’s why she’d picked it for her first thing to learn. She’d considered a ferret but they didn’t really sit still long enough. She chittered after the cloud, bounding in that way that rats do. She was a cute rat, if she did say so herself.
The downside to being a swarm of insects was the buzzing sound. Morrigan tried to keep it to a minimum as she found an exit point and siphoned through it. And then it was off to the races, in a matter of speaking, to reach the tomb. Which seemed like an eternity before reaching it, but finally she was there, and trying to find a way in. Some little imperfection in it that would be enough for a swarm and a rat to get through.
Maia sniffed around. There was a sharp odor, so she followed it, sensitive ears picking up the sound of air. She found a very small crack, but she could squeeze through it with some effort. Just no fat jokes, please!
On the other side, she looked around. It was pitch black but she could see well enough. Scampering up the wall, she found a ledge to peer down. She shifted, and did a light spell. “Ugh, smells stale.”
Morrigan followed Maia. In these forms, Maia undoubtedly had the better senses. Insects weren’t precisely known for their senses of hearing or sight and such. And she wouldn’t make any fat jokes. She followed Maia through the crack, remaining in her swarm form until Maia cast the light spell. She moved over to her and shifted back to human, another puff of purple smoke accompanying the shift. She coughed a bit. “Considering the tomb has been sealed for over two thousand years, tis not surprising.” The atmosphere was heavy inside the tomb, no doubt a result of it being sealed for so long.
The light cast the oddest shadows. The statues like monsterous men waiting to attack them, and they all seemed to stretch for miles. They definitely weren’t supposed to be down here. “That area over there, looks like it’s recently been uncovered. We should see where it goes.”
She started down that path, and after a few minutes stopped moving. Was that whispering? Had she heard whispering? Her eyes started to glow, and she looked down another tunnel. “Oh you have to be bloody kidding me. Two darkspawn, about thirty meters down that tunnel.” But it was unmistakable, and she could all but feel her blood burning with a sudden rush of adrenaline.
Darkspawn? Here? Now? Well, Morrigan should have expected it to some degree. After all, she was aware there were Deep Roads in Orange County, or thereabouts. She knew there was a lyrium vein in them. So of course darkspawn would need to show up. She drew close to Maia’s side.
“First of all, no area of effect spells. There is history around us that must be preserved. Second of all, we need to plug that hole.” After killing the darkspawn currently in it. Morrigan searched her mind for something she could do in this fight. It was dark, so she needed better light without tipping off darkspawn to her presence. “I’m going to shift into a wolf to help me see better and move in the dark.”
What were they doing here? They were on the other side of the world. There were disturbing implications to that that Maia would need to think about later. She put out her light. “I think a concentrated blast should seal it.” She wasn’t exactly armed, though maybe she could make something from ice.
Morrigan initially thought a fireball could do it, but that might be far too destructive. Not only could it cause major damage to the tomb itself, it could light things on fire in here. And who knew what flammable things the ancients had buried with their emperor. “I can try to distract and corral the darkspawn while you find a way to seal the hole as best you can. We can seal it better once we have a closer look without needing to fight.” She glanced at Maia. “Just give me a warning before you cast your spell.” And that was all she said before the purple cloud enveloped her and a black wolf emerged from where she had just been. Morrigan carefully picked her way around the tomb, moving towards the darkspawn. Her vision was far better in this form, able to see them more clearly. And she began to try to corral them with some growls and slinking through the darkness of the tomb, using the wolf’s form to her advantage.
Their oxygen was in danger of going up in flame too. That was a consideration. “I think I’ve got an earth spell up my sleeve that’ll do that trick. If you can herd them towards me we can catch them between us and put them out of our misery.” She was a Grey Warden. If she could help it, she wasn’t leaving without killing the bastards.
A surge of excitement shot through her. This was what she was meant for.
Morrigan herded the darkspawn towards Maia. There seemed to be an echo inside the tomb, one that Morrigan used to her advantage as she slipped through the shadows. Every now and then she had to physically shove one of the blighted things in the right direction. She didn’t bite considering their tainted blood. She didn’t need to contract the Blight.
But of course as she was trying to herd them, they were lashing out at her. Most of the time she was out of their reach, but she felt a blade cut across one shoulder. A yowl came from her and quickly leapt out of reach and gave a howl, one that she hoped signaled to Maia to do something.
There were a lot of potential bad things that could happen against darkspawn, and contracting the Blight was among the worse. Maia didn’t think Morrigan wanted to become a grey warden unless she really really had to.
And Morrigan better not be hurt. Maia shot forward, swinging her ice weapon down onto the back of one Darkspawn’s head. She twisted, and ran the second through. There was one more and she could see it as it charged out of the darkness. Maia really, really wanted to use fire. It was her go to element, her instinct screamed at her to use it.
Instead she pulled from Morrigan’s spellbook, throwing a lance of ice right through it’s chest and thanking the maker there wasn’t anything bigger to kill. It would be hard enough shoving these things back down the hole. “Morrigan, are you okay?”
Morrigan was hurt, but she was trying not to whimper as she maneuvered around the darkspawn, ensuring none of them got away from Maia. There was a slight whine that came from her shortly before Maia’s question, and then she shifted back to human in a cloud of purple smoke. She pressed a hand to her wounded shoulder. “Tis nothing I have not dealt with before.” The wound stung and she hissed a bit before she focused and cast a healing spell, her hand glowing as she pressed it to the wound to heal it.
Fire. Fire bad. Maia controlled her temper, kicking and shoving the Darkspawn’s bodies back into the tunnel. The Taint wasn’t really an issue for her, since she was already tainted, but she was careful to avoid getting any blood on her. She ripped her shirt off to wipe her hands down, then tossed it in with the bodies. She lit the whole pile on fire to prevent contamination, then began to work the spell that would bury everything.
As Maia worked on pushing the darkspawn back and on her spell, Morrigan backed away from the area to ensure she was out of the line of fire. Once the gash on her shoulder was healed, she lowered her hand and drew in a slow, deep breath. The wound had closed. Currently it looked like a scar, but she’d try to take care of that later. Right then she’d only been worried about stopping the bleeding.
“I know fire is bad but I don’t want to risk some kind of contamination.” And no evidence of her shirt either. She was going to have to ride back to the hotel as a rat. She already knew exactly where she would wait out the trip, too. “Okay… just a little more…”
The rocks slid into place, sealing the gap. The fire would go out as the air was cut out, or when it ran out of fuel. Eventually. Probably. “Well. Not bad.”
With the hole sealed, and currently burning, Morrigan eased a bit. Light from the fire illuminating the tomb a little more. And, well, Morrigan finally looked up to see the light of the fire shimmer off of the ceiling above them. “Well, the legends stand true in that the ceiling is dotted with pearls to resemble the night sky.” And as she looked down again, she thought she saw light shimmering off of something on the ground. Liquid mercury, perhaps?
“It’s rather beautiful.” Now that they could relax, at least. Maia came over to Morrigan. “How’s your shoulder? I’m going to have to hitch a ride as a rat back. Otherwise I’ll be riding the bus topless.”
“It is well enough. There is a scar at the moment, but I was going to do a larger healing spell on it once we are back in our hotel.” She didn’t want to exhaust herself with doing that spell followed by the shapeshifting. At least she could rest and regain power on the bus ride. “And where precisely are you wanting to hitch a ride on?” Morrigan asked, quirking her eyebrows. Of course, she already had a very good guess as to what Maia’s response would be.
Maia’s teeth glinted in the firelight. “I think we both know where, love. How about a nice long bath together in that nice tub in our room?” She felt like they earned the right to be a little decedent.
Morrigan chuckled a bit, shaking her head slightly. “I would not say no to that bath.” After fighting darkspawn, it was certainly needed. “I suppose we should be heading off. The oxygen in here is not the greatest, and I think I see some liquid mercury not that far away. Perhaps we should take our health and run,” she suggested. But before making any sort of move, Morrigan reached up and pulled Maia in for a kiss.
Ah! Now this was a proper end to any sort of adventure. Maia would be happy to have another. Just that this had brought something home to her. If they weren’t standing in mercury she’d get on her knees here and now. “Lets hurry back.”
Perhaps at a point in the future they could return here and explore the tomb more, without darkspawn interference. Morrigan was entirely curious to see it. Nevertheless, it was best if they left before they got themselves immersed any deeper into the mercury or ran out of air to breathe. She gave a nod before shifting into her swarm form and headed out the way they’d gotten in.
They made it out without any further incident, and Maia did indeed hitch a ride in Morrigan’s cleavage. No sooner had they made it back to the hotel and she returned to human form did she remark. “They really do make the best pillows.”
It felt odd having Maia in rat form in her cleavage. Morrigan had just hoped Maia would behave herself and not squirm or do something to tickle Morrigan and make her laugh. But she was happy they got back to their hotel without incident. “I am pleased you think so.”
Doing that as a rat would just be weird and Maia had some small decorum. She wrapped her arms around Morrigan, kissing her cheek. “Now about that bath?”
Morrigan smiled and slipped her arms around Maia. “That bath sounds wonderful right now.” She then pulled away and headed into the bathroom and began to run water for the bath.
Maia spent a few moments carefully going over the rest of her clothing, looking for darkspawn splatters. She eventually gave up, and out of an abundance of caution burned her clothing. She used other nature magic to blow the smoke out the window rather than set off any fire alarms. Only then did she join Morrigan in the bath. “Well that was a thing.”
While Maia took care of her clothing, Morrigan shed her own, then slid into the bath. Once in the water, she cast a more potent healing spell on the gash on her shoulder. Any trace of the wound disappeared. It was at least one less scar to carry. She still bore the ones from the fight with Corypheus’ dragon, but those she could live with. She closed her eyes and drew in a breath, then looked at Maia as she finally joined her. “At least tis behind us now. Though clearly darkspawn exist in this world. Suppose I should have expected that when Max found the Deep Roads in Orange County, along with a lyrium vein.”
Before Maia climbed in, she set something on the ground next to the tub, careful to prevent Morrigan from noticing what she was going. The water sloshed as she got in, and she gave Morrigan a sloppy grin. “I love you. I doubt that’ll be the last of it.”
“I love you. We have slain an Archdemon, survived the darkspawn hordes, I have fought against an insane darkspawn magister that wished to tear the world apart. I rather think we can stand against whatever else comes.” That was her hope, even if Morrigan had a very bad feeling about what her mother might make her do in the future in Thedas. Or, well, Solas since he apparently now had Mythal and Flemeth’s souls inside of him.
“We can.” Maia had no particular death wish. But she thought they both knew she’d make the ultimate sacrifice if she had to. It felt like they were on borrowed time, and well...she would take advantage of that. “Since I found you again I’ve been… I’ve just. I know I get a little clingy. I’d endure heartbreak all over again just for the chance to kiss you once.”
There was a teasing remark on the tip of her tongue, but something told Morrigan to not say it this once. What Maia had said carried some note of seriousness within it, and she wasn’t going to snap that atmosphere at the moment. “I know I broke your heart in the dreams, but I’ve no intention of doing so here. Neither of us have duty pulling us away from each other the way we did in the dreams. Here, I am not as afraid to be happy, even if I sometimes question if I deserve to be happy.” She well knew she wasn’t the best example of humanity, and she was a bitch to most people. She also tended to do whatever it took to get what she wanted, even if it involved doing terrible things.
“You deserve happiness.” Maia flicked some bubbles towards Morrigan’s face. “More than I can give you, probably. You deserve better than a silly professor who’s going to die young.” How could they stop the taint? She had another ten years at best. Possibly less. “And I know, I know it’s stupid of me, but I worry about you.”
“Everyone dies sooner or later. Call me a romantic, but sometimes it is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all. Loving you has made me a better person, and I would rather enjoy the time that we do have than to wonder what could have been. I already lived that path in the dreams, I do not wish to live it again.” Yes Maia will eventually succumb to the taint, but Morrigan would rather bear that pain than to do what her dream self did. Besides, what if they could find a cure for the taint? There was plenty of time for that to still happen before Maia heard the Calling.
“Marry me,” Maia blurted. She immediately covered her face with her hands. Maker. This wasn’t what she planned. She’d wanted to do the knee and anything. Granted, she’d still be naked.
Morrigan blinked. Had she heard Maia correctly? Was Maia being serious? Judging from the reaction, Maia had clearly planned something and that plan hadn’t exactly come out right. And yet all Morrigan could do was stare a bit at her girlfriend and she sat up a little straighter. “What did you say?” Her response was a little strained because she hadn’t exactly taken a breath since Maia had blurted those two words out. She was fairly certain her heart had stopped beating for a full couple seconds, and now it started with the pounding. But she figured her question was the best option, to ensure that she had heard Maia correctly and that Maia actually did mean it.
“I uhm… shite.” Maia held up a finger, then got up and clambered out of the tub, sending water splashing everywhere. Her feet slipped around on the tile as she tried to retrieve the ring box, and she knelt for her own protection. And for dramatic measure as she popped open the very wet felt box. “I had a speech planned and everything but this isn’t like going into a big battle or something. Will you marry me?”
This was entirely not what she’d anticipated happening today. Though Morrigan did have a moment of fright as Maia’s feet slipped on the floor a bit. But as Maia repeated what she’d said moments before, Morrigan felt her breath catch yet again. And then she looked at the ring, then to Maia, her brain catching up and forcing her to take a breath. “Yes, I will marry you.” A simple response, one that was entirely scary, but Morrigan knew without a doubt that she wanted to be with Maia. She wanted the chance to have here what they had not been able to have in the dreams. Not for any prolonged period of time, at any rate.
Maia realized belatedly that any kind of relationship committment talk could very well be a battle when Morrigan was involved and she really should have prepared some kind of epic speech. The kind that bards would sing songs about in the next Age. She took a breath, expecting rejection, or at least some kind of argument about the merits of such a bonding, and immediately let it out. “What? Really? I ….” She burst into a grin and all but dove into the tub, kissing Morrigan and sending water everywhere.
Such things could certainly be battles unto themselves, especially where Morrigan was concerned. But as it was, Morrigan wasn’t going to put up a fight. It would go completely against what she wanted, after all. She also grinned, letting out a peal of laughter as Maia dove back into the tub. She kissed her back soundly, wrapping her arms around Maia.
Resting her head against Morrigan’s, Maia had to fight the urge to cry. Soap in her eyes, honest. She kissed her lightly, then sat back so Morrigan could get a better look at the ring. “Felt like it suited you.”
This was certainly an emotional moment. Morrigan was definitely having an emotion. Possibly even two of them. She grinned brightly when Maia sat back and she got a better look at the ring. Gold, purple and silver in color. And a dragon on the band. “It is very beautiful,” she said, some emotion in her voice.
It was well suited to Morrigan, or at least that had been Maia’s thought. She eagerly slid it onto Morrigan’s finger, then toppled back onto her to kiss her again. “I love you.” She could say that, over and over and over and never tire of it. And always feel like she didn’t say it enough.
The ring was beautiful, and Morrigan felt her heart flutter a bit as Maia slid the ring into place. She was having a moment, or ten, and couldn’t quite help some tears stinging the corners of her eyes. She caught Maia as she toppled back onto her and returned the kiss. “I love you.” She couldn’t yet believe that this was actually happening.
“Going to take you out for dinner tonight,” Maia said. And maybe they couldn’t be as open as they wanted (well they could, nothing was stopping them, but she didn’t want to make a scene or start a fight). “Treat us to something special.”
Morrigan smirked a bit, nuzzling her nose against Maia’s. “I like the sound of that. Though at the moment, I rather have other things that I am hungry for.” Why yes that was innuendo, and Morrigan was wielding it rather viciously as her hands slid down Maia’s back. There was just something about getting engaged, a gorgeous ring, and having a naked and utterly gorgeous fiancé in the tub with her that just put Morrigan in the mood.
It was a mood that Maia was more than willing to indulge in. A good fight always did make her a little randy, and the way Morrigan was looking at her, with that ring on her finger, it just did something to Maia’s insides. “We can call the tub our silver platter.”