[OOM] Eiattu - Grasslands

[fighting_mad]

Plourr rolls onto her back and stares up at the blue sky, shading her eyes with one hand. It's a warm day, a few wispy clouds scudding across the sky and the sun shining bright. The two thaks are quite happily tucking into their feed nearby, tethered to a fallen tree, and the tall blades of grass wave softly in the wind all through the field. Best yet, there's no sign of anyone else or any manmade object as far as the eye can see; just grass, thaks, forest, and sky. She closes her eyes and lets the sun warm her face.

Comments

[fighting_mad]

"Oho, immortal, are you?" she says, laughing, paying more attention to him than she is to the eventual goal of the side entrance across the courtyard.

[eiattu_pride]

"Of course," he says, grinning. "Skin of steel and a heart of...something impenetrable."

[fighting_mad]

They're both grinning fit to bust, dripping and muddy and looking decidedly unroyal, when Plourr tugs him through the door. It's the servants' level of the palace, but it's closest and besides, Plourr has never thought herself above being down here. More specifically, it is one of the kitchens, populated by precisely one boy, peeling tubers.

He stares to his heart's content. Plourr quirks an eyebrow at him and says to Rial, "Shielded, maybe?"

[eiattu_pride]

Rial grins at the boy, flicks water at Plourr, and nods.

"Very much so."

[fighting_mad]

"Mmm, well, I'm not," she says, ducking away from the water-flicking and slipping her wet hand into his, largely to prevent further attacks. Through the kitchen, into the cramped hallway, and pressing her boot into the baseboard beside a barrel of flour, all without hint of hesitation. Plourr knows her palace. "Immortal, that is." The panel in the wall slides open and she steps through without a second thought. "Despite what the boys might have said after some of the stunts I pulled."

[eiattu_pride]

Hmm. Rial will have to remember this one.

"That's a pity, now." He reaches out with his other hand, half-touches the side of her face, "Stay alive anyway?"

[fighting_mad]

She smiles at him, fleeting and genuine. "Of course." Then she turns and leads them deeper into the passage, moving under the low light of the self-contained glowlamps placed here and there.

"I've got this whole living thing down pretty well."

[eiattu_pride]

"Excellent."

Rial thinks that now would be an optimal time to mention children, but...he doesn't want to ruin the mood.

So he stays quiet.

[fighting_mad]

The air in the passage is cool and a little stale, like it always is, and she can feel her skin begin to lose some of the warmth afforded by the humid air outside. She glances at him, once, but he doesn't seem inclined to say anything, and contrary to popular belief, Plourr doesn't mind a little silence once in a while and can keep her mouth shut.

So she guides them through the maze of passageways, taking a left here, right there, left left right straight left, all with absolute surety.

Until there is only darkness ahead, and she stops. "Shit." The lights in this passage must be out of power.

[eiattu_pride]

Rial makes a face, glancing up ahead. "Let me guess. That's our only way out of here?"

Rial Pernon, while most don't know it, is not very fond of the dark. He won't panic, or anything, but he's not a huge fan of dark shadowy secret passages where anything could be lurking.

[fighting_mad]

"Well," she says, and she glances over her shoulder, in the direction that they came. "We could go back that way. It'll drop us right in the middle of the main corridor, though." Otherwise known as, as the name suggests, the most widely traveled thoroughfare in the entirety of the palace. Which also happens to be just about as far from their apartments as one can get.

[eiattu_pride]

"Eh." Rial weighs the two options, then shakes his head. "We might as well go through here."

[fighting_mad]

Plourr is of the same mind, really, which is why there is a flash of teeth and she heads unflinchingly into the darkness. "Careful; there's an incline," she says.

[eiattu_pride]

Rial nods, not really realizing that she can't see him, and clings onto her hand rather tightly as he navigates the corridor.

...it's not his fault.

Eurg, dark.

[fighting_mad]

They turn a corridor and poof, the light from behind them is gone. Plourr isn't bothered by it; she knew these passages by rote when she was a girl, and she uses them often enough now that she doesn't need her eyes. She just scuffs in front of herself with a boot occasionally, carefully, and keeps her free hand up, to lessen the chances of making friends facefirst with a wall.

They go on (not long; only a few minutes). Until:

"Rial, I'm losing circulation in my hand," she says.

[eiattu_pride]

"Oh."

There's a pause. He loosens his grip, a little.

"Sorry."

[fighting_mad]

She frowns and stops abruptly, at that, having expected a quip or at least a light-hearted response. She turns back toward where she knows he is. "Everything alright?"

[eiattu_pride]

"Yeah, it's fine."

Doesn't bother him as much as it did when he was little, but there's always that creeping feeling of something is coming.

[fighting_mad]

"Rial," she says, because she may not be able to see him, but she can tell when something's bothering him (she isn't stupid). She takes a step closer to him, footstep echoing in the silent passage. "What's the matter?"

[eiattu_pride]

He looks shifty (she probably can't see).

"I'm just not big on the dark."

[fighting_mad]

"Seriously?"

At least she isn't laughing?

[eiattu_pride]

"Yes, seriously."

This is why he didn't tell her.

[fighting_mad]

That would be a hint of snap in his voice. He's serious, alright, and so she's not laughing or mocking.

It takes some effort, but she's not doing either.

"How have I not heard about this before?" she asks, hand still firmly in his.

[eiattu_pride]

Rial shifts awkwardly, "It's a little embarrassing."

[fighting_mad]

"We sleep in the dark, in case you haven't noticed," she says, and her hand moves in his as she steps back toward him, closer.