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 Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2014 6:37 pm
Zia sniffled a bit in the cold fall air. She had been crying a lot lately. Like, just an embarrassing amount. And she was glad most of that was happening behind closed doors in the penthouse where no one could see except Dodge and the stupid non-magical cats that roamed the place.
She had openly bawled after the strange seizing flash of disjointed memories and ideas, and Zirconia's voice being knocked loose. Her voice was still hoarse and she had a tight feeling of dehydration on her skin, lingering in her nasal passages.
It was barely in the back of her mind as she did her usual routine of insomnia through the carnival, stopping at Chester's office. She needed to see him, desperately, and she had braved her way out of the penthouse specifically because of this mission and goal. She stopped at the door though, suddenly seized by embarrassment and hesitation the more she thought about it.
She shoved her hands in her hoodie pockets and debated turning around and leaving as her face flushed red. She lingered, and then tried the door knob with a quiet, "You there?"
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Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2014 7:17 pm
The doorknob turned and the door eased open. He had a habit of keeping it unlocked for her, in case she wanted to stop by when he was working.
Chester was in the living room area of the modified quarters, sifting through elbow deep paper work. He was usually on top of everything he needed to get done, but somehow these things had slipped through the cracks. He had been a little distracted as of late, and his patrols and life as a knight certainly did get in the way sometimes.
But he was good at time management, and he just needed to focus harder. He was not worried about his ability to juggle it all, just disappointed that he had let himself slip so far. His work ethic was unmatched, so he did his best at all times.
He looked up when he heard her entering, his thoughts immediately shifting to her and his focus vanishing completely, as was wont to happen whenever she was nearby, he just did not, or chose not to, notice.
"I'm over here. Are you okay?" He rose, watching her passively, though he had his head slightly tilted to the side as he regarded her, the subtle action enough to reflect his concern.
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Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2014 8:00 pm
Zia enjoyed the easy refuge with Chester. The lack of pressure or expectations and the occasionally childish way he let her indulge in babysteps in getting closer to someone.
She had expressed a bitter expectation eventually he would get tired of her withdrawing, of her wavering distance. Of how sometimes kissing was a frequent form of affection and other times she wanted him to just hold her hand and nothing more. She knew she was not consistent or reliable and could be called high maintenance. He never seemed to mind and briefly when she wallowed in despair she concluded that the inevitable would be he'd get tired of it.
It had taken a bit to realize that the flashes she was assaulted with told a different story.
She lingered at the threshold of the space, arms tucked back in her pockets as she looked on at him in his workspace. She was quiet for a minute, eyes darting the floor as she tried to think of what to say and when she thought she had it, she glanced to him.
And instantly shut her mouth, turning a furious shade of red she could only combat by pulling her hood up as a quote echoed in her mind.
We’ll pass tonight doing something else.
And for a second all she could see when she looked at him were very hard things to not think about. She stared at him awkwardly, frozen, before ultimately grabbing the edge of her hood with both hands and pull it down over her eyes.
"Not really. Are you okay?" She eventually asked, hoarseness cracking her voice.
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Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2014 8:32 pm
Chester watched her and could not say he understood why she was so worked up and embarrassed, but he tried not to ask too many questions. Zia had a way of telling him everything she needed to, whether she wanted to or not, without him having to pry. He was not the type to push for details, save on the rarest of occasions when his worry crossed over a more serious line. Right now, her safety seemed intact, she was just awkward.
Her hoodie might have been too big. But he didn't think that was the problem. More the solution she was clinging to.
"I'm fine, just doing... paperwork... not very interesting."
Chester got up and walked over to her slowly, watching her with a bland but curious expression. It was more in his eyes than anything else, and they reflected their most when they were watching her.
"Why are you hiding?"
He was close enough to lift his hands and carefully pull the hoodie back a bit, lifting his eyebrows up expectantly as he did so, watching her reaction.
"Why aren't you okay?"
Though her methods of hiding from him were a little silly, that did not mean her concerns or whatever it was that was bothering her was likewise. He wanted to know what had managed to rile her up so badly, so he could help calm her. Sometimes he thought he was really bad at it, but she seemed to tolerate it well enough, so he would keep doing his best as long as she wanted him around.
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Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2014 8:44 pm
Zia let her hands be pushed up with the gentle gesture. At first her eyes were clenched shut, out of fear she was going to be seeing a man half a decade older.
When her hazel eyes opened wide to see him standing there, she released a big exhale, and then a weak attempt at a smile. Her hands stopped holding the hood and reached up to trace the edges of his cheekbones and jawline, holding his face which was exactly as it always should have been in her hands like it was delicate and precious.
"I... I did some things..." She murmured. She had found Helen's last mirror on the moon. She had discovered and stolen a piece of a fabled royal crystal. Her parallel soul had spoken to her again for the first time in years. But when she got to thinking about the last part, suddenly her stomach sank, and she glanced down to her feet and back up to him. "So really difficult stuff happened," She said with a weak sniffle.
"I haven't been able to sleep. Worse now, than it was. I'm just really tired. And I... I saw some things. Other people are saying they saw their future?"
She swallowed, taking a hesitating moment to steel herself. "I mostly just saw you."
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Posted: Sat Oct 25, 2014 7:44 am
Chester listened quietly, watching her as she spoke. e was not quite sure what she was saying, but he was worried about the way she was reacting to it. It seemed like it was very important to her, and he was immediately on guard as she vaguely explained what happened.
"Their future?"
He had seen some flashes of... something. He thought they were dreams, vivid and confusing but nothing more than that. Not exactly being a social butterfly, he did not get out to talk to others about it. Quiet to a fault, he just kept it to himself, as per usual.
He guided Zia to the sofa, helping her to sit down and taking a seat beside her. He put his hand on her leg gently, supportively.
"Tell me what happened... what did you do? Are you okay? Do you need my help?"
He was, and always would be, her knight. Whatever else happened, he knew that was going to remain true. He would protect her in whatever way he could, whenever she needed it. She had only to ask, to show him what needed to be done, and he would do it.
But that was what love was.
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Posted: Sat Oct 25, 2014 8:34 am
In Zia's opinion the gentle behavior seemed poorly matched to her childish bursts of action and withdrawing, especially when she flopped backwards on the sofa rather than softly sitting down.
"I dunno. It all came in one giant cake of a vision. I'm still kind of... digging through the layers and figuring it out."
She fiddled with her over sized sleeves and grimaced. "I found the mirror on the moon... And I talked to someone on the other side. I think if I can pay the toll I can send Zirconia's soul home and just," She gave a little shrug and a tired smile, "Go back to being human again." It was a nice thought, but she still seemed reluctant to share details and fears. It was a gamble if her soul was going to survive the separation, and if Cassandra could be trusted to hold up her end of the deal. Zia was on the brink of messing with possibly catastrophic things and for all she had rebuffed Princess Iris' warnings and complaints, she still knew it. She just wasn't sure she wanted to brag about that to Chester.
She leaned to the side until she was resting against his arm, following it down to where it rested on her leg and messing with his fingers. "I saw things being different. We were married and stuff."
She sunk into the collar of her sweater like that was going to help in hiding from the embarrassment again.
"It was disappointing," She concluded, furrowing her brow and frowning. "No offense. I've just been thinking a lot about it."
She cleared her throat to quickly explain. "I didn't like the carnival. We lived in suburbia. I waited for a long time before I trusted you and by the time I did I was hurt and everything had gone to s**t. I was dragging us down until I was a depressed, unhappy, bitter person crying about all the stuff we never did."
She wrapped both of her arms around his tightly. "It's not going to be like that."
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Posted: Sat Oct 25, 2014 8:58 am
"What does that mean? Pay the toll?"
Chester did not like the sound of it, and his nerves prickled in response. Nothing ever went well with tolls or payments, as far as he knew. Especially mystical ones on places like the moon. Mirrors, he knew, held far too many secrets and powers than normal folks were wont to believe or understand. But he had seen proof of it quite a few times now, and understood, at least partly, what it meant to Zia.
He leaned against her gently, kissing the top of her head.
The idea of marrying her had occurred to him a few times in this present time, and he felt like he had the impression from the few visions he had been given that she saw the same things he did. Married, but not happy. Not because of their relationship together, but because of the world around them, and how they had been forced to change.
He did not understand it, did not question it, but he nodded his head gently as she continued.
"I'm going to make you happy, and I'm going to do what I can for both of us, okay? Whatever this mirror is... please don't do anything without me." He wasn't telling her not to do anything dangerous: he knew her too well to understand that when she saw something she had to do, it would get done. But he was her protector, and he was not going to let her face it alone. Whatever happened, he would be there beside her, and where ever she went, he would follow.
No matter what.
"And that's not our future. We're still making it. Whatever you saw... it doesn't have to be that way."
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Posted: Sat Oct 25, 2014 9:28 am
"She's upset, I think I can get her to complete the bridge with something her brother left behind," Zia explained, trying to downplay the creepiness of the oblivion crystal as much as possible. "I've got most of it, I just need her to stop being mad and talk to me again."
She paused at his request. She had absolutely planned to do it as alone as possible, save for the few people she had manipulated into doing heavy lifting. She didn't want Chester caught in crossfire, and she had no interest in manipulating him into dangerous positions. It left him in an awkward category. There were people she didn't trust but were useful, easy tools and there were people she did trust and was comfortable tearing away the ugliness and letting them know the truth. Chester didn't really fit into either. She trusted him, but she didn't want him to know the lines her ambition was willing to cross.
Not because of him, but because she didn't want him to see her stooping that low.
But she had already done what she perceived as 'the dirty work'. It would be a comfort to have back up the next time she faced off with Cassandra.
"Okay," She promised.
She exhaled a long sigh about the 'marriage' topic, though. "I think marriage is stupid," She concluded. "I've had like four step-mothers and six step-fathers. I don't believe in it. And I always said I'd never get married. But..."
Even with confirmation she was wrong about how temporary Chester's loyalty was, it still needed a moment of pushback, hesitation to ward off the rising fear before she plunged in and made a move. Climbing in his lap and holding his face in her hands, bracing for serious. "I love this carnival, and I love you, and I," She reached down and threaded her fingers in his. "I know I've been withdrawn and afraid and really slow to come out and be honest about stuff, but I saw that future. And I don't want to wait so long to be okay with you when there's no more good years left."
She rested her forehead on his, "So it's not going to take years. It'll be okay. I like the way we are right now. I like this me, the way I am. I didn't like that girl in the future. So I want to love you with everything I've got, right now. Okay?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 25, 2014 10:18 am
Chester nodded, absorbing what she said and storing the information for later. He would remember her words verbatim if he needed to, some other time, though he rarely ever called her out on things she said. He was just not that kind of a guy, but this seems important to know and do his best to understand.
He never would, not really, but he was trying as best he could.
When she moved into his lap, his expression softened and he watched her with a gentle, loving look on his face. He put his hands lightly on her sides, letting her hold on to his face, as she liked to do sometimes. He was all too happy to hold on to her hands, shaking his head slowly.
"I'm not going to make it easy for you to lose me. However long you do want to take, I'll be here. I don't want you to be scared because of something you saw... you have to know that I'm going to be here no matter what, and I'll love you because that's all I know how to do. I was made to be with you, and being lucky enough to find that out and experience it has made me a better person... I'm thankful just to be here. You don't have to change or worry, because... whatever bad you saw, I'll fix."
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Posted: Sat Oct 25, 2014 12:23 pm
Her eyes seemed to drift to the side before she sunk into her shoulders with an abrupt laugh. "Okay."
"I am never going to stop feeling at home here, because if I wasn't drawn to this place for some weird reason, I never would've found you. That b***h in the future is never going to be me," She said with the solid confidence.
She had already decided earlier to roll the dice and change her fate. Even small things, like the fact five years in the future made it really obvious she would still young while Chester aged. That could be fixed. She would give up being a cosmic alien powerhub just for that.
The way she nuzzled against him easily turned to kisses, that made their way to his lips. But even with the affectionate gestures that slowly built their way up, she could still feel her heart pounding nervously in her chest and she felt heat rush to her face as she tried to psych herself up.
"Can... You can totally say no. But can I, um. Can I maybe spend the night?" Her voice got quieter down to a near whisper with each word, and lingered at the low volume, and she had turned nearly beet red. "Not like when I crash on the couch, I..."
Embarrassment demanded the rest be strictly whispered in his ear as if someone hearing was a huge risk.
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Posted: Sat Oct 25, 2014 9:38 pm
Chester watched her for a moment, then smiled softly. She was the only person that got this particular smile, as most never got to see one of any kind. But this one was specially crafted for Zia alone, and only she had the ability to bring it out of him.
He touched his hand to her face and nodded his head slowly. It was one of those times where he did not really have to say anything. He wanted her to stay, and it was very easy to let her know that.
He kissed her lovingly, drawing her closer to him, and hoped to help her relax and forget everything that was troubling her. If he could just do that for her, even for only a little while, then he would feel like he was doing something right.
The rest would follow. Tonight, he was just going to focus on her.
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