Things seemed to change by the minute in Vallo and Fjord honestly had learned to roll with it. If it wasn't immediate threats showing up and attacking people, it was friends and family losing memories or aging forward (or reverse). Or just disappearing altogether. OR reappearing but not remembering their previous visit(s). OOOR something else entirely off the rails that he hadn't made a mental list of yet.
Which made him feel essentially blessed to wake up and see Jester still there every day. Beau, Yasha, Caleb, Essek - all of them, yeah, of course. If not blessed, at least very lucky and he'd take it. Life had been good here in Vallo, and it was bittersweet to know he'd been here longer than he'd traveled with the Nein in Exandria. There were friends here that he could say he's been around more often than Veth and Cad, and possibly nearing as many fights alongside as well.
Smiling with a bit of melancholy, he settled the jug of milk he was carrying into the crook of his arm and balanced the cheesecake (and two works) in his left hand as he reached to tap on the doorjamb. "Jes, you up yet?"
Jester had gotten mm, well, lazy being in Vallo. Sure, there were sometimes fights to be had and problems to solve but life in Vallo wasn't even remotely similar to the life she and the Mighty Nein had led back home. Even after having made it back from Aeor in one piece (plus one) and gone on their separate ways, she and Fjord had still constantly been on the move. Here, though, there was very little need for early mornings or hurried days. Aside from the bookstore, her writing and art, and the occasional prank to keep her from getting rusty, Jester had plenty of time to just...stay in bed.
And the fact that she shared said bed with her literal favorite person in any universe was just extra incentive to not be an early riser.
She'd stayed in bed after Fjord had slipped out a bit earlier, but had gradually roused herself not too terribly long after. She'd been planning to get dressed and ready for the day, but she'd been struck with sudden inspiration before she'd much progress to that end. So when Fjord returned a bit later, Jester was perched up in the bed, knees drawn up with a notepad balancing tenuously atop while a pencil scratched tirelessly across it.
Glancing up at the sound of his voice, Jester brightened, a smile spreading quickly across her face. "Technically, yes. Oh! What'd you bring back?"
Resorting items back into his hands, Fjord rounded the corner with cheesecake in one hand and milk in the other. "Breakfast," he intoned, gesturing to show what he'd come armed with. After a brief show of The Goods, he strolled over to the bed and set everything down on the nightstand. "I figured you'd be down for some nibbles in bed after the other nibbles in bed."
With a grin, he leaned to give Jester a kiss on the forehead and let his eyes trail to her notebook. "Whatcha drawing? Is it another penis?"
Jester snorted. “Um, I’m always down for any nibbles in bed, especially those of the cheesecake variety,” she replied, closing her notebook. Really, she’d take any sort of breakfast in bed. Donuts, pastries, eggs and bacon. Her priorities shifted depending on what was being offered at the time. “Strawberry?” she asked, craning her neck to see.
Her attention quickly turned back to her notebook at his question, though. She flipped it back to the page she had been working on and turned it over to show him her design. “Very, very indirectly yes? I had an idea for book two, actually, and I started drawing up a cover. It helps me visualize the story.” On the page was a very rough sketch of a young tiefling woman in a cavern with another elven woman who mostly looked like she was definitely a sailor, though she hadn’t quite finished that particular character design yet. “I think this one’s going to be The Pearl and the Pirate, though that might change. It fits with The Ruby and the Sea for now.”
Fjord reached over to grab the cheesecake and a fork, then cut a bite to feed to Jester. "I like it," he answered. "Even though I'm partial to sapphires. I'm guessing the tiefling is the Pearl in question?" He really enjoyed seeing Jester get to flex her creative muscles, so to speak. The ability to just… be in one place long enough to really work on something without having to pack up at a moment's notice and run off into some new gods-forsaken hellmouth of eldritch doom really worked for her. For all of them.
Jester nodded. “So after Ruby becomes the pirate captain, Pearl–” she paused long enough to take the bite and give her solid nod of approval over the cheesecake. “--comes to travel with her. Pearl’s the sister from the first book, the one Ruby had to take care after their parents were tragically murdered? And I think this is going to be the story about how she finds love with her sister’s second-in-command, Isola. I know a little bit about Isola from the first book, but I’ve been working on figuring out who she is when she isn’t just working for Ruby.”
Moving to sit up on her knees, Jester clutched the notebook to her chest, already swooning over the love story that was slowly taking form in her head. She’d always had a very active imagination and art had always been a good outlet for that, but something had unlocked within her when she’d realized she could make stories instead of just reading them. It had started shortly after arriving in Vallo when she’d been struggling with the absence of Artagan and what that meant for her magical abilities. Her friends had convinced her that she was the source of her own power and, in a way, that had helped her see her potential in other areas, too.
She didn’t have to just draw dicks. She could write about them, too.
“But I think she hates shopping and romance,” she added, punctuating the jest with a wink at Fjord.
Fjord had listened intently as she explained her plans and he could almost see the gears turning in her mind as she was laying it all out. He'd come a long way in respecting these books since the Oskar Incident, what with Jester's enthusiasm and everything Caleb had poured into Chastity's Nook. She'd come a long way, too, even from just hiding cupcakes in bookshelves.
He knew he'd been doting on her more heavily ever since that time she'd lost her memories and wandered off thanks to some evil magic-sucking bitch, but it didn't bother him because he realized that he'd look out for her happily for the rest of his life. No matter what got thrown their way.
"Sounds like my kind of pirate," was his response, smirking at the wink. "Maybe she has a troubled past, searching for her father figure and avoiding a poorly made deal with an evil power."
Jester didn’t mind the doting, even though she'd thus far avoided revisiting the experience that had been Interitus. Everyone had tried talking to her about it and she knew she probably should talk about it, but it had been easier for her to pretend like everything was okay and normal than it was to talk about what had happened. She was well-versed in running from things. She was good at it.
Raising an eyebrow, she said, “I only just now realized that we have even more in common than I originally thought. There for a second, I didn’t know if you were talking about you or me.” Artagan wasn’t evil, at least. Chaotic, yes, which was much of the reason why she loved him so dearly. But he was not Uk’otoa by any means. “I was thinking of giving her a family heirloom, too. Maybe a necklace worth thousands of gold that gives her resistance to dry land?”
Fjord laughed. "Your archfey is an asshole, but I don't think he's evil. Besides, how could I hate someone who's always been there for you?" It sounded charming, sure, but he meant it. Artagan, the Traveler, was a complicated piece of Jester's history, but he was certainly someone that actually cared about her and wanted what was best for her. There was a time when Fjord honestly thought that he'd been USING Jester for his own ends, to get more followers or more power or something even worse, but after the events on Rumblecusp… well, he knew a lot more since then.
But he also knew he was right about one thing - Jester didn't need anyone to be who she was. The fact that she still let people in was such a testament to her character. And he caught her other reference, too, and shook his head. "Not sure how you'd write about resistance to dry land, unless you mean something happened to her and she can't leave the sea without the ring to keep her bound to it."
Shrugging, Jester said, “And we’re all assholes, too, so really he’s not so different from the rest of us.” She knew that her friends had had their suspicions of him and that a lot of those suspicions came from their love for her which she more than appreciated. It was a nice feeling to have people who wanted to protect her because they cared about her. She thought maybe Artie could have fit in with their little group of outcasts if circumstances had been different. Maybe that was optimistic of her, but he had managed to ingratiate himself into the group as Sprinkle, so maybe it wasn’t too optimistic?
“That’s–a really interesting idea,” she replied, eyes suddenly fixating on an invisible story playing out in her mind. “What if Pearl has to go on a quest that leads her away from the sea, and Isola wants to go with her to protect her because she unwittingly loves her too much to let her go. Except she’s cursed to never be able to leave the water and the necklace is the only thing she has to keep the curse at bay? But then-- oh no, Fjord, how terrible– the necklace breaks or is lost and it’s a fight to find a way to save Isola before she is lost to Pearl forever.”
Jester tapped her pencil on her chin, contemplative. “I don’t know, it needs work.”
"All romance needs work," answered Fjord. "You could be onto something, though. Stories need a good dramatic hook to add urgency, right? No one likes a boring tale at the tavern, same thing really." He kind of shrugged. "Sort of." Though he did kind of think he'd like the role swap there, where the Pearl has to save the Pirate instead of the other way around.
"Maybe an evil fire wizard and his floating purple henchman steal the necklace for their own nefarious purposes."
Jester glanced back over at him fondly. All romance did need work and that was something she wanted to work into her stories. She wanted them to be the kind of romances she’d grown up loving and wanting, but she wanted them to be real, too. She pulled herself up toward Fjord and stole a quick kiss for no reason at all other than the fact that she’d wanted it. She appreciated the fact that he was just as willing to be there listening to her prattle on about a story she was working on as she was to listen to him nerd out about the things he was interested in. All romance needed work and she’d found someone willing to do that work.
Snorting, she replied, “Plot twist, Pearl and Isola thwart their nefarious plans through the power of imposing friendship.”
"And at least one explosion?" asked Fjord, smiling at the stolen kiss. He hadn't forgotten Jester and Veth's love of Fluffernutter. Nor when he completely misunderstood what it was when he got to Vallo, resulting in a very strange conversation with Matthew. He enjoyed watching her deep in her work, because Jester in creative mode was probably the most beautiful Jester. Something about just how she really threw herself into it and left the world behind for a few moments. Even if it was drawing cocks.
"Anyway. While I've got you here, I wanted to ask you something."
Moving to sit back against the headboard, Jester patted the space next to her for Fjord to sit down, too, before holding out her hands for the cheesecake. She had more she wanted to jot down about the ideas forming in her head, but she both understood and appreciated the need to just stop and enjoy cheesecake for breakfast in bed.
She tilted her head to the side, one brow lifting in curiosity. “Oh? What is it?”
Obliging, Fjord grabbed the cheesecake and settled in next to Jester before cutting off a bite-sized piece with the fork and guiding it towards her mouth. For a split second he almost jokingly made sounds of a ship coming into harbor, but then he remembered he was going to ask a relatively serious question and didn't want to ruin it by acting like it wasn't.
"We've put off talking about moving out of the Xhorhaus," he added, cutting a small piece for himself while she chewed. "I was thinking about it and, by the Mother, it warms my heart that you suggested living on the Ball Eater. But. I think I'd prefer it if we stayed here, with our friends. With random disappearances, I want to keep them close. We can always take either of the ships out for personal time when we need it."
He smiled softly over at Jester and took his bite before continuing. "Plus there's bathrooms - showers, here."
She didn’t know why she’d momentarily been worried. Fjord hadn’t given Jester any reason to think she needed to be. Even so, she found herself relaxing a bit at the question, glad of it. This was an easy one to respond to. “Oh, Fjord, no! I think that’s a really good idea!”
Jester had wanted to live on the Ball Eater and she absolutely would have with Fjord. It was what they remembered being used to, after all, and she loved the little life they’d been making for themselves at sea. But he was right about wanting to be close to the others. Jester tried not to dwell on the harder emotions for too long, regardless of how healthy or not that tended to be, but it was hard not to be constantly reminded of how impermanent their lives here could be. It almost felt like a daily thing to find out someone else had been returned to their own worlds. Eadwulf had gone just recently, even if she hadn’t necessarily been sad about him going so much as sad about Caleb losing his opportunity to make whatever progress he’d wanted to make with him.
So hearing that Fjord wanted to stay here at the Xhorhaus, close to everyone else they loved for as long as they could manage, was a welcome relief. “I want to stay here, too. I’d be happy anywhere with you, you know. But I like that we’re all here together.” She took another bite of the cheesecake before happily adding, “Besides, it would be a really long glide for Essek to come by every morning to bring me pastries and tell me I’m pretty.”
"You're right, let's do it for Essek," chuckled Fjord, setting down the cheesecake on Jester's lap now that she'd settled into a position to enjoy it. Now came the more challenging part of why he'd come in to bother her this morning. With a calculated bump of his elbow, he knocked the glass of milk off of the nightstand and onto the floor.
"Damn. One minute, Jes."
He hopped up and moved to the floor to clean up the milk, but when he sat back up, he was in a kneeling position and the Minor Illusion that had been a jug of milk was actually his fire resistance ring, sitting in the palm of his hand.
"I'll get you a better one later, if you want," he started, realizing it wasn't the most beautiful ring, but it was his and he'd spent a fortune on it. "But with how things are around here, I didn't want to wait anymore. I was thinking, though…. How do you feel about Fjord Lavorre?"
Jester’s mama had always told her that there was no use crying over spilled milk, but she’d never said anything about finding a good laugh in it. Fjord was suddenly all elbows and Jester couldn’t help the sympathetic half-laugh, half-oh nooo, that came out at his plight. Maybe now that they had decided to stay here in this room, it was time to maybe invest in a little bit bigger bed for the two of them, or maybe rearrange the room in a way that was a little bit…roomier. Make it theirs. Make it their home.
Her laugh came up short, though, as Fjord recovered and suddenly found himself in a position that some part of Jester had been dreaming about since she’d been a little girl. Those dreams for so long had been about her mother having someone sweep her off her feet, or her father showing up to be the one doing the wooing. And eventually it had turned into dreaming about some whirlwind romance like she’d read in books that ended with someone on one knee telling her they loved her.
But Fjord had had it right before. Romance was not what fiction described it to be. It was work. It was believing in one another’s strengths when the other fell short of believing in themselves. It was helping her count her words every time she tried to Send a message. It was Fjord asking her to come with him on the ship and her knowing that it wasn’t even a question because her future was wherever he was.
So while Jester had not planned on crying over spilled milk or that ridiculously expensive ring she’d teased him over time and time again, she could help the prickle of happy tears in her eyes as she popped up on her knees and covered her mouth with her hands, cheesecake toppling carelessly from her lap. They could always get another one later. “Wait, really?” she asked, barely able to contain her excitement. “Wait, wait, wait, I have to test it out first.”
She held out her arms in a grand gesture and said, “We are pleased to present bestselling romance novelist and artist, Jester Lavorre and her very delicious arm candy, Fjord Lavorre.” She looked back at him, grinning. “Yeah, I think it sounds pretty perfect. Technically.”
"Technically is a yes, right?" asked Fjord, smiling despite himself. His little proposal trick had seemed, in his mind, something perfect for the trickster that was Jester, and it apparently caught her by surprise, so it was even better. He'd been working out a proper way to do this for close to a month now, and Eadwulf's sudden disappearance had reminded him how fleeting all this could be - so he'd double-timed it.
Not that he had any doubt they'd end up similar to this back home, anyway. But still. He knew it wouldn't be a perfect fit until she'd had time to attune to it, but he moved to slip the ring onto her finger anyway.
Jester smiled as he slipped the ring onto her finger, letting it wash over her that it was actually happening. She leaned forward and placed a hand on either side of Fjord’s face, placing a soft kiss on each of his tusks before stealing a real one. “Technically, yes,” she grinned. “Okay, definitely yes.”