GoldenCat/Heads065
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Iron Innocence
Alexander: The House At the End of the Street.
Alex had gone thre with Iria's permits, to tell them about the allowances they would receive now... the Spookies. Equipment, the permit to sell what they get... some of their enemies had even magical materials in them. Or simply gemstones, which broken out of their cursed geometries might be good for them... Alex sighed. That was all he could give to them. They had helped him before... even though because of him, she was hurt.
Tasya...
Hurt twice, by him. That day, byt he demon... that night, when he ceased to understand her cry. When he made her so ashamed. The prince cursed himself. He had just met her inside... and when she saw him, she just blushed and ran. He felt so much worse, when he met their leader... that man. Alexander was still shaking. The broken shield. The many faces of his sister. So much that has happenned, and what is there to happen?
But now, he is trying to make up for his mistakes. He had talked with Magni and Modi, the interchangeable, strange, freakish and alluring servants of the Spooky leader... and asked them to get Tasya outside. And he waited for her to come out... to surprise her in a way she could not run. To try and explain himself... and make her happy...
Tasya: "P-prince Alexander?"
She had standing there for a few moments before she finally worked up the courage to speak. He hadn't seemed to notice her stepping out. Whatever must have been weighing on his mind was likely too important to distract him from. Matters of state? The war? He probably had so many things to think about...
She was dressed in her usual outfit, the rugged overcoat buttoned against the cold today and a thickly knitted scarf, it's pattern comprised of so many molted colors they nearly all blended together, engulfed her face up to her eyes. It was better that way though. That was he couldn't see the blush that had risen in her cheeks when she realized it was him. No one had actually told her who was waiting out here for her, but the moment she stepped outside and saw him standing on the street bellow the steps to the door, she felt her pulse quicken.
"I-is there... I-I mean... d-do you need something, y-your highness?" She rubbed her hands together in a fidgety fashion, both covered in gloves that matched her scarf.
Alexander: As she speaks his name, he nearly jumps!
Silly silly silly, you were supposed to get her when she walked out!
Damn those spookies and their stealth!
He looked up... oh, she knew. He told Magni and Modi not to tell, damnit! Quickly, Alexander's mind begun to run back and forth like a little miniature himself trying to hold falling food on a little frying pan! And he could not think of anything to say or do... and thus, he just stood there, looking at her...
And then he remembered the scene not too long ago, when she ran from him. And did the first thing that came to his mind! He went towards her, saying a little "Come here." before encircling her waist into his hand, and beating his wings so they are off the ground!
And it took a moment for him to find the words...
"... can we talk?"
Tasya: Her eyes went wide as he drew closer, uttering a single absolute command. 'Come here.' But then, he didn't give her the chance to. Didn't give her the chance not. Her body stiffened in surprised as his arm encircled her waist and pulled her closer.
W-what was he doing? She wasn't that sort of girl! I-it really was true what they said about royality...
She huddled in on herself, her shoulders shrinking and head dropping. eyes flickering back and forth at the arms now wrapped around her, the color that secretly burned in her cheeks rising up to enflame the rest of her face. Protests tried to stumble past her lips, never more than half-syllables before they lost themselves.
But one clear expression did escape her, when the prince suddenly hoisted them both aloft.
"Eeeek! " The hands that so worriedly twisted together suddenly flung around the prince's neck, her small feet flailing out from under her skirt as the ground vanished out from under them. For a moment, her face was buried into his neck, eyes clamped closed tightly. She still smelled like the baths even for all the time that had passed. In her hair, most of all, the sweetly scented soaps lingering long after they'd been washed away.
When seconds had passed without any horrid plummeting death greeting her, Tasya dared to open up her eyes, her round gaze trembling as she peered over his shoulder at the buildings bellow. ... was that little one really Spooky HQ? "W-w-w-wha..."
Alexander: He had been faster, since that happenned. Faster and surer. And it did not tire him, anymore, to hold someone like this, to beat his wings so fast! And so he came upon a mount to the edge of the city, one of those like the one Iron Tears had his Manse once... one of those where the vegetation tried to grow, at least a little. In a clearing, overlooking the city, a place not very dangerous, as there was a slope to it, not a fall... but still hard to walk out. "Sorry about that..."
Suddenly, that did not feel all that good of a plan. That was almost like kidnapping, wasn't it? And that was... beneath a prince... and just... wrong, besides! But now that he had done it, he had to think of... something... "I... I just did not want you to run away."
His arms left her, and he stepped a corteous, respectful distance away from her, blushing just slightly in embarassment... "I need to talk to you..."
Tasya: It was over and done with so quickly, she was still trying to catch her breath when he stepped away. Tasya looked at the prince for a moment, then looked down the mountain at the city bellow them. A shiver ran through her, something a little bit frightened and a little bit excited. Now that the fear of it was gone, she realized that there had been something so wonderful and familiar about it all. To be weightless in the air, soaring without worry or care...
"I-it's okay..." she said at long last. The young Spooky sank down upon the rocky ground, carefully arranging her skirts and coat around her like a lady at court would fix her layered skirts before seating. Drawing her knees up to her chest, she hugged them against her and looked down at them blushingly. The wind blew pasted, stirring her hair around her, and for a moment she clung to the memory of it whipping across her as they soared across the sky. There was a smile in her eyes. "Y-you just surprised me..."
"W-what did you need, your highness? I-it's better t-to talk to Eciarde i-if you want to come on patrol w-with us again..."
Alexander: He looked down on her... she looked so nice like that. With that scarf... and that smile. He was caught staring at her smile and looked away, looking over her city... his city... their city, in so many different ways. And wondering what to say. "It.. it is not about that Tasya. I wanted to talk about..." us? Is there even an 'us'? No, there is not. "... last time. That was a little... you know... you left with a... wrong idea."
Tasya: "L-last time... ? O-oh!" She had glanced up at him in uncertainty at first, but the moment she saw the blush in his face, she realized what he'd meant, and quickly looked away. She scrunched her body into a bit tighter ball, one foot settling over the other and her fingers digging into her skirt. "I-It... I-I mean... I... i-it's alright, y-your highness... it w-was an accident..."
Alexander: "No... I want you to understand." He turns around, slowly, going to one knee besides her and taking one of her hands awkwardly on his'. "I did not have the wrong idea, there. I know... I know it was an accident. And just... all of it, your reaction, just looking at you..." He tries to find the right words, letting that hang on the air for a moment... "You are one of the purest, and certainly the cutest person I have met. Kanti told me about the... lotion. And even without it... I know who you are."
"Never think otherwise." He says with a smile...
"That... is part of why I brought you here, too. Away from the pollution... if I could, it would be farther away.
Tasya: Oh goodness! He was complimenting her! Tasya let out a tiny squeak and flushed to the roots of her hair once again. She hunched into her shoulders, but it made the cloth that covered her face slip away a little, her shy smile showing through, her eyes turning very deliberately away from the prince... even as they watched him every moment from the edge of her perception.
Did she not remember what happened? No, she remembered. She remembered every moment of it, but she'd had time to calm down. Time to think. Time to be more embarrassed about what had happened afterwards than what had happened during. Not that there wasn't plenty to be embarrassed about in each.
"D-don't worry about me. I-I... I feel bad for Kanti... I-I think... I think she th-thinks she did something bad..."
Alexander: "She does. She feels... so bad. And it is a pity, since... she needs friends." He des not let go of her hand, holding it, in a less awkward way with every passing moment... "She feels intimidated by everyone in our circle... all those dominant personalities and scary powers. She mostly feels warm around me or Ryshassa... it is sad that one of the few people she could talk to, she feels she hurt..."
"If you could go to her, later... be nice to her."
"You can come visit her... visit me... any time you want, Tasya. Alright?"
Tasya: That finally made her look at him, her chin lifting above the scarf. She wasn't smiling anymore, seemingly too surprised at the offer. Tasya licked her lips and then bit down on the bottom one, standing uncertainly on the edge of saying something. He was so nice. So much more... real than she'd imagined him. Maybe... maybe he'd understand. Maybe he wouldn't be disturbed if she told him...
Told him that she'd already come to 'visit' him so many times before. That she 'knew' the room he stayed in at the Boil. That she'd helped chase a ghost out of it once. That she could go back to it any time she wanted. That sometimes when everyone said he was in down, she'd slip out of bed at late night and through a Door in her floor into his closet. That she'd hide in there and watch him sleep for hours...
She looked into his eyes and wondered, maybe. Maybe...
... well, maybe there were just some things you really shouldn't tell a person. Tasya put on a small smile for his benefit and nodded. "I-I will... I... I don't have many friends either, s-so... if Kanti ever n-needs someone..."
Alexander: And then... he sits down, on her side, as a friend would. Watching the city down below... it was so broken, and yet... yet the clock tower was whole. Yet the Eir clinic was whole. Yet they could see the House At the End of the Street from there... He reaches to her other hand, and disentangles it, bringing it between them... and to make her less curled. 'Relax' it seems to say, as he holds their hands there, between them.
"Not many friends? Someone cute and fun like you...? And with such a gift...?"
"Though, I guess your job makes socializing hard..."
Tasya: Relaxing around him... isn't easy. But he seems to want her to so much that she tries. Tries not to think of it as any different than sitting with any other boy. Though, no other boys she knew had broad white wings. Or a golden halo of light. Or such beautiful, endless amethyst eyes...
Tasya blushed as she realized that she was looking more at him than the city, quickly pulling her gaze back to the town bellow. "N-no at all. W-we're never off duty. I-I really shouldn't even b-be doing this..." She confessed with a little trepidation, glancing at him quickly to make sure he wouldn't take that as a reason to scoop her up and fly her home.
Though, she would have enjoyed flying again...
"E-Eciarde l-lets me get away with m-more than a Team Leader s-should. H-he thinks I'm still j-just a kid... b-but I'm not!" There was a sudden, stern conviction in her tone as she said that, Tasya giving Alex a glare and a thrust of her bottom lip that dared him to challenge that proclamation!
Alexander: He looks at her... she was about his height, only a little shorter, and she was a girl... "Well. You are certainly older than me." He says with a smile, agreeing with her, "And if it is alright for me to pick a sword and brave dark monsters together with the Angels, it is certainly alright for you. But... no off duty? Ever?" He scratched his chin... men always did that. He supposed it was because of face hair, which he lacked, but it made him feel more of a man all the same.
"Maybe I will try to get them to change that. You need time. To live..."
"That... or maybe we can change your work..." He said with a very low voice, it felt bad to try and take something away from the Spookies... but, but... no free time ? At all? That just sounded so wrong... even the Shades, who fought so hard against an ever-present enemy, got so much...
Tasya: Tasya gave him a firm nod as he made his pronouncement. Darn tootin' she was older than him! ... though, that didn't make it any easier not to blush when she held his gaze just a second more than was strictly necessary. Stupid blushing...
Looking away, the young Spooky shook her head quickly at the rest of what Alex said, though spoke a bit forlornly. "W-we have to be. Now more than ever. T-there just aren't enough of us t-to not have everyone a-at least on hand if something happens..."
"I-it's not so bad though. We have each other... Ecirade m-might treat me like I-I'm just a child, but he means well. A-and Noel bakes us all sweet rolls i-in his lab sometimes. T-there are lots of things to read at the House..."
"B-besides," she giggled softly and her cheeks glowed a little more. "You've been through the city, r-right? There's not really... I-I mean the Red-Lantern and... um..." Another soft giggle, her shoulders scrunching a bit in embarrassment. "I-I don't even really know what I-I'd do even if I had the time to do anything else. I-I like protecting the Boil, b-being important to it, but i-it's not really like any of the other places I've lived. T-there really isn't a lot to do u-unless... well... you know."
Alexander: "I... I know, yes." He blushed a bit. He had flown over the Red-Lantern, those few days... met the Lover.
And he would not go there either. Moon could say whatever he wanted to glorify it, but Kanti was not like them!
And then, he gives her a soft tug, asking her to come closer, to lean on him. So lonely. He remembered how he wanted to be held when he was lonely. Though the spookies kept her company... still... "Well, now you have somewhere to go, right? Come to us, and we will talk, and um... figure out something to do!" He nods. With all the lust going on, it has been so long since he did something... silly. Play hide and seek. Play some table game. There was the dance practice with the Silver Angel and Kanti, yes, but...
"You have... lived on other places? Where?"
I always thought you were from the Boil..
Tasya: Hesitantly, she let herself be pulled against him, trying not to chew her bottom lip. Trying not to smile to broadly. Trying not to giggle or shiver or bounce in her seat. With trembling fingers, she wrapped both her hands around one of his and squeezed shyly, staring down at their hands as she did with a strange little expression on her face.
Oh, bliss!
Tasya sighed and nodded slightly. "I-If I get the chance... E-Eciarde has to b-be careful about how much he l-lets me get away with..."
But he'd still let her, she knew. All she really had to do was ask. He was a good leader, when it came to keeping them happy.
"O-oh, lots of other places. I-I lived in Whitewall b-before I came here. A-and Windia before that. And Gethamane before that... ummm... Cherak, Lookshy, the Imperial City... twice there, o-once before they really got settled and t-then later on before I m-moved to Lookshy... umm..."
Tasya had to think about it before she could name the next few. She remembered them all, though sometimes got the order confused. It was a lot of places to keep track of. Coral, then Abalone, though it had been White Pearl when she was there, and then down to the Lap... what had they called it while she was staying in the temple on the big statues head? Oh, it didn't matter. Then Chiaroscuro. "I-I liked Chiaroscuro best," she confessed with a shy smile. "W-with all those towers rising everywhere a-and everything glistening a-and all the people... t-though Meru was pretty too, w-when all of the sun gods were at court... b-but I was there waaay before I was in Chiaroscuro..."
A wrinkle worked itself into her brow as she pondered where it was she had been during that nasty Fair Folk attack, muttering to herself softly as she worked it out. Was that Deheleshen or Denandsor? No, it was Deheleshen. That was the one they called Lookshy later. Denandsor was the one with the giant metal men like Iron Tear's warstrider. "I-I was there when e-everyone started getting sick..."
Alexander: He listened... oooh, Whitewall! He was about to ask what it was there... imagining Tasya as a child in Whitewall... was she of noble birth? Had the Syndics given her some gift? But before he could talk about it, she mentioned Gethamane... and it was hard to get the image of a young, young Tasya walking between Whitewall and Gethamane and Windia and into the Boil.... he then wondered wether her parents were some skyship captains... he could see it, Tasya as a young child in a Skyship...
... and then she mentioned Lookshy.
And the Imperial City!!!
At around that time, all of Alex's suppositions were blown away, and the half-formed question that kept working its way into existence on the tip of his lips vanished under the light of beffudlement. He listened as she listed Meru, capital of the old Sun... capital of the old World, Whiteshield religion taught that... and he was just... just...
His mind just refused to proccess it.
And he just stared at her as if she had grown a third eye and was about to fly away with him and shine a rainbow anima. Or something quite to that effect.
Tasya: And Tasya, in turn, began to notice a strange silence from her friend. She was describing Rathess to him in detail, shivering a little at memory of the dragon people cutting open someone's chest, when her words slowly trailed away. Her eyes turned ever so slowly towards Alexander and find his incredulous gaze on her. Beads of sweat broke out on her brow as the color rolled up her face, bright and crimson.
Oh, oh no! She'd been talking too much. Oh, no wonder he was looking at her like that, listening as she blathered on like an idiot, not even giving him a chance to get a word in edge wise! Shrinking in embarrassment, her suddenly panicked brain struggled for a question that would give him a chance to speak instead.
"U-um... um... w-what's the capital city like? Y-you grew up there, r-right?"
Alexander: It took a moment for her question to even reach him. He was trying to find out how her tale even worked... but it was not possible. It just.... wasn't! Oh, clearly! It all made sense now! She was playing a prank on him! Must be some Spookie-thing... "Do not joke around like that!" He says, shaking his head and trying to focus once again...
"It was... oh, it was so sublime! The fountains, where people gathered to read poetries... I had a cousin, Amadeus, who would always call me to watch his recitations on one... the art expositions... the waterways, going through the city by boat through the rivers... all so white, all so right. I used to play hide-and-seek with my friends on Hedge Mazes and gardens... and Otieno taught me to ride, and fight, and things! And on the palace I had Cedric, and Carina, and.." there is a pang on his voice, "Oh, wait, the city! You could always see Azar, the Blade of Hope at the Gates..." he means the great golden Warstrider protector of the capital... "... and sometimes, he would even come, with his current master, to oversee a ceremony!"
"I used to think the prayers and ceremonies were boring... but now, just thinking of them..."
"They were so... moving..."
"And the Savants, with their magic of painting and art, of sculpture and music..."
"So different than Jungen's magic of Fire and Iron..."
His eyes are lost, now. Thinking of recitals, of beauty, poetry, chant, prayer, fountains...
And then they return, smiling at Tasya...
"I am surprised you have gone everywhere, but never there." He says, teasingly.
Tasya: She was lost in his words, listening intently as he described his home to her. So many places there! So many people! And each and every one of them spoken of like a dear friend or a family member. It sounded beautiful. Sublime, like he had called it. To be surrounded by that much love and affection and beauty...
Tasya blushed, but giggled. "I-I was g-going to, next. B-but the last chief a-asked me to stay..." She looked out over the city, with all it's smoke and noise and smell. It's dank side-streets and dark alleys. It's cold stone and colder iron. "I-it must seem so... terrible here, by comparison."
Alexander: His arm went around her belly then, holding her close as they watched it, trying to imagine his city again... and looking down at the Boil. He had no way of being anything but honest... "Yes. It was. This... place. I do not really like it. Even though I found so much to like in it. But that is... that is why, when I am done... this... and all other places I can... will be like the capital." He stopped and smiled at her, a little bit of regional pride in his face. "As close as it can get, at any rate."
"But I will try to bring this place to the light. To be white. To have an air that deserves to be breathed by you."
"A pity you never got there... I think you would like it there... even if it does not measure to all the other places you went to!" He says with a grin, as if to show he is on to her play! Silly Tasya, thinking he will fall for that tale of trips and eternity!
Tasya: Slowly, shyly, she began to lean into him. Her weight was barely noticeable at first. It could have easily been his arm pulling her closer. But as he spoke of changing the city, making it beautiful, white, clean, she started to lean more and more, until her head finally tipped to the side and rested on his shoulder. She was still curled up tight, even as she leaned against him, her hands balled together and pressed against her chest.
"I-I've found things to love about everywhere I lived. Even if it's j-just the people who live there." Her gaze moved almost at once to the House at the End of the Street, a warm smile passing her lips. "I-I'll move on again sooner or later, I know. B-but they deserve to have a place like that. A p-place they can breath. A place that d-doesn't even need Spookies anymore..."
Alexander: "Yes... a place like Whiteshield... with clean soldiers. Without criminals to hurt, without gangs as anything other than groups of people helping a neighborhood, without the dirt, without the things. A clean place. So you girls like the Red Lantern can go sew or knit or... do things. So you can go to parties, smile and pick flowers in a glade in spring."
I hope we will be alive in spring.
I hope there will be a spring.
If she asked, he would say 'of course! We will make it happen!' but himself? He was not so sure. It got so close, at times. He was so confident at times... but in others... he touched Tasya where a wound had been. It probably had left no scar on her side. But... because of him, she... and that made him think. Face his own mortality, all the times he had been hurt worse...
"And when you move on, it will be to Whiteshield." He says, surely. "By then, we will have it beautiful again."
"And you will never want to leave.."
Tasya: "I... I always leave... eventually." She said slowly, turning her head towards him. Tasya smiled to let him know that she meant nothing by that. Nothing to offend his dream, just that it was the truth. It was just the way of the world. Sooner or later, whatever there was that made her want to stay would go away. People got sick or got old or just got killed. Places did too, strangely. She'd cried when the towers in Chiaroscuro had fallen. It was going to happen here too, probably sooner than later. She hadn't made an easy life for herself here and might have left after the last Chief died, if she hadn't met the new Chief then and Eciarde soon after.
But golden ones like Alex, they lasted a lot longer than other people. Meru had been around forever before it fell. That meant Whiteshield would too. So, she smiled happily, twisting against him to get more comfortable, and looked down on the city again, trying to picture it as he promised it would be...
"B-but I know I'd w-want to stay for a long time."
Alexander: He stops, just holding her like that. Warm. It was so warm, even during the cold. Snow begun to fall on them... slowly, with an almost reverence... but he was glowing ever-so-lightly, and he kept her warm. And in kind, she kept him warm. His cheek brushed her hair, and he stared at the city, and thought... and thought... and finally, he spoke.
"I guess we all have to, sometime."
And then he picked her... in his arms, this time... and flew. All the way up, around the clock tower, around the Boil... and down, in front of the House At the End of the Street. Lowering her slowly... but not letting go of her. Wondering what to say... what he should say...
Tasya: This time around, she found herself laughing as they flew. Open, clear, unabashed. Her eyes wide as the excitement rose out of her in merry bursts of giggling. Her fingers stretched out and brushed the tip of the clock tower. Her hands grasped for the fading sun above the hilltops. She'd held her arms wide, as if trying to catch the sky and bring it with her. She'd never been aloft like this that she could recall, but it felt so... right.
It was over too soon for her liking, though some small part of her was glad to be back on the ground again as her feet touched down. It reminded her where her place was. She caught sight of Eciarde watching them through one of the windows and noticed the inky shape of Second Shadow stretching out from under the front door, trying to hide itself in the shape of a black cat as it watched them. Tasya didn't tell Alex.
For once, she found words where he lacked them, her face still bright, flushed with exhilaration as she looked up at him. "I-I... t-thank you, y-your highness. F-for the flight. And the talk. I h-hope I can come to visit soon."
Alexander: He held her tight, but allowed her to open her arms... and lingered, for her, flying, going up and down, playing around the clouds... there was a moment when his face had been hidden in the mist, and he came out with a 'boo!'... it was joyful. Just watching her joy... made him so much more...
But then it was over, and they touched the ground... and he was to let her go.
And yet, his wings curled around her.
And yet, he could not help himself getting closer... and closer...
"I sure hope... it will be soon... so very..."
It was just a whisper now, and parted lips nearly touched hers'....
Tasya: Tasya looked left and right at the wings that curled around her, a lump in her throat demanding she swallow it. He... he wasn't going to... to... !!! , was he? It seemed like he was... he was so close now. Her was heart beating. Beating so fast. Running as if it were trying to climb up her throat. A throat that glistened with rising beads of sweat. She started to tremble in his arms. Her eyes were so wide, so big, shimmering as they trembled. Her bottom lip was shaking, but for once she didn't bite it to stop it. How strong his arms were around her. How... safe. Secure. Gentle. The world began to vanish slowly as her eyes closed, only his face remaining in clarity through the veil of her lashes. She licked her lips, the very tip of her tongue actually brushing his own, the contract sending a shiver up her spine.
"P-prince Alexander, I-I... I..." The words were barely more than a sigh breathed into his mouth, her sparkling lips softly parted as he came closer... closer...
... and neatly smooshed his face into the wall of solid darkness that suddenly thrust between them. It was soft, like a pillow, but engulfing. And as soon as it was there, it began to expand, ballooning outwards between them, pushing them further and further apart!
"S-Second Shadow!" Tasya cried out in protest as the princes arms were pulled slowly off her body. She raised a hand to give the blob of darkness a good smack, but it distorted itself to avoid the blow and immediately deflated, slipping back across the ground... to the feet of Eciarde, standing in the door way, Noel behind him looking more than a little amused as he looked the other way and pretended to adjust his glasses multiple times.
"Sorry Tasya." Eciarde said without sounding in the least bit apologetic. He walked down the stairs, pulling a heavy satchel along behind him that he held out to her. "We've got a mission to get to though. His highness will have to wait to finish your... discussion later."
Behind him on the wall, Second Shadow suddenly stretched out, the dark form twisting into the shape of a halo-wearing rooster strutting towards a hen house. Steps before it made it in however, a wall suddenly thrust out of the ground and the bird smacked face first into it.
Though her cheeks were burning bright, Tasya accepted the bag with nod and turned to Alex, giving him a crooked, exasperated smile. "A-always on duty. See? I t-told you so..." She pursed her lips and stole a glance at Eciarde, who stood with arms crossed across his chest, giving a level glare to the both of them, while Second Shadow mimicked his pose in oversized caricature upon the wall behind him. Then, with a sudden boldness that she'd probably never have again, Tasya lunged forward. Her lips planted themselves onto Alex's cheek, soft and warm and slightly damp, her small fingers gripping his arms tightly for that one, sweet moment of bliss. Then, she was away and, her face glowing brightly, trying to run down the street with the over-stuffed equipment bag in tow. "C-come on, you two! W-we've got a job!"
Eciarde's eyes stayed on the Alex far a very loooooong few seconds, with the sort of fatherly weight that could crush even an Exalt, before he looked away and started past. Second Shadow lingered behind, wagging a finger at the boy-prince until it seemed to hit the end of it's 'teether' with Eciarde and suddenly jerked off the wall, arms flailing bonelessly as it was pulled along behind the veteran Spooky.
Noel came last, Alice over one shoulder and his own thaumaturgic tool satchel on the other. He passed more calmly down the stairs and stopped next to the prince. Without looking at him, the blond haired man reached into his bag and dug around a moment, then pulled out two objects and pressed them into Alex's hands. One was a goat-blatter sheath, the sort passed out at Houses in the Red Lantern for the men to wear. The other was a small pouch stamped with an red image of a tea leaf and a young woman beside it. Maiden Tea.
"Not saying anything," Noel said, clearing his throat noisily and fixing his bag. Still looking mildly amused and embarrassed. "Just... you know, in case."
Without another word, the Spooky stepped off to chase off after his team mates.
Alexander: It was a splash of cold water.
Very cold water.
He just... stood there. Watching. Growing ever more red, wanting to say something... and failing.
And it stung. It was like being caught naked doing something embarassing in front of the world.
He barely even felt the little slice of heaven of Tasya's kiss.
He just... stood there.
Trying to come up with a thousand words and excuses that would never come.
After they left, he was still there.
He had been made a man in the last month.
And yet, Alexander Holysword had never, ever, felt so much like a boy
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