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 Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2014 9:01 pm
"I've been well~" She said quietly, feeling slightly selfish for admitting such when he'd been having such a rough time. Even that couldn't chase away her smile, though. "I've started singing at L’oiseau Chanteur again…and I still help Laz with caring for Kyou on weekends. Aside from that, I just try to keep up with Zul and Riv, and Viola. She's going to massage school now!"
She didn't mention the Muses, or the Choice she felt looming like a shadow. It wasn't the time to trouble him, when Vivi and others lay recovering just a few feet away. At the thought, she reached out to him again, curving her hand comfortingly over his wrist. "I'm so glad you're okay. I'm glad…Zul was there for you." The words a pile of light surfaced in her memory, and her hand tightened. The thought of anything happening to him was too much, her mind slid away from it back into the happier present.
"What can I do to help? Isn't there something I can do at the bakery, or for your family?"
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Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2014 8:18 am
A look of relief washed over Cesc's features as the muse said she was well. He had not allowed her -- or anyone -- into his own private hell the past few months, but he still would have cursed himself to know that he had been absent when others may have needed him. He nodded as she numbered her activities, smiling gently. "Still singing? I must come and hear you one day."
His expression darkened slightly, and his mind lingered on her next piece of information. His lips tightened. "So there is... no change in the doctor's condition?" He phrased it as a question, although he knew the answer. If there had been any improvement -- or, heaven forbid, a turn for the worse -- the whole of the Raevan community would have immediately heard of it. They all had a debt to the doctor. There was not one of them that would not at least be interested in his condition.
The stag sighed, then tried to cheer himself and the moment. He smiled at Melisande again, the expression sweet and boyish. "I am glad to know you have so many friends and things to divert you." A look of sheepish guilt then supplanted the expression, as he thought momentarily to politely decline her request. But hadn't he just promised to speak up when he needed help? He couldn't go back on his words so quickly. Ah... that... We... may need help for a day or two at the bakery with both Granny and Shepard laid up, but I couldn't ask you to spread yourself so thin. You have your own job... we can get by until they're out."
It was as good as his politeness would allow under the circumstances.
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Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2014 12:21 pm
She shared his moment of sadness for the Doctor, but knew Cesc had enough worry to occupy him. Pasha simply shook her head, skipping the heartbreaking details. Her eyes lifted again at the mention of friends, and her smile faded slowly.
He didn't know that Rivener and Zul weren't just friends. Cesc's sweet kiss of promise was still fresh on her lips, and she realized just how much the Stag had missed in the long months.
"I would love to come and help. Whatever I can do…I could be there as soon as the morning! I would also like some time just for us, to catch up." She held his gaze for a moment, lips parted as she tried to think through the situation. It wasn't easy, no part of her wanted to dim their reunion, but Melisande didn't know what else to say. "They've been courting me...Zul and Rivener." The affection in her voice was obvious, even in passing, but her hand loosened on his arm. "It's something I had stopped by to ask your advice about." The kiss from Cesc had been so sweet, and so unexpected...
It surprised her. Not only the euphoria from having him so warm, and so close…but the regret for what she knew came next. He wouldn't be happy he hadn't known, and she realized with a twinge that...knowing Cesc...it wouldn't happen again. She felt the loss as though it were tangible, and struggled for a moment to find her smile again.
"I know now isn't the time…but I would like it, very much, if we could share all the things we missed."
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Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2014 1:40 pm
For a moment, Cesc could only look at Melisande as his brain caught up to her words. She spoke and seemed unhappy in her speech -- for fear of hurting or embarrassing him, he knew not which. It gave him a strange feeling of gratitude even through the slow crawl of blooming warmth over his cheeks.
He started to laugh. Softly at first, then a little harder, his mouth curving in an incredulous, embarrassed smile. Of course Melisande was being courted. Of course she was. Of course. What on earth … what on earth could he have thought?
It had been such a stressful month. He'd nearly lost everything, his family, his light, his life. So much strain.
This was just embarrassment. She didn't seem angry with him, bless her. She didn't want to leave him. So he'd made a fool of himself. He could only hope it hadn't injure their friendship.
"Pasha," he gasped through his self-deprecating mirth, pressing his fingers to his eyes, his broad shoulders still shaking. "Bless your generous heart, you beauty, you -- you need no advice." He let his hands down, still half-laughing, and cupped her face. "Do what gives you joy. You're made of it, you know. Do what makes you the happiest, and know I will support you in whatever it is."
He shook his head, still red, and looked down at himself and then back up at her, anxious of her feelings. "… it seems we have much to catch up on. The bakery does open fairly early…"
If she still wanted, the offer was open.
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Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2014 9:30 pm
Melisande was watching his face carefully, even as he started to laugh. She couldn't picture a world where Cesc would laugh at her, so she listened with a kiss of color high on her cheeks. She gazed up at him, trusting but still trying to piece his reaction together, as he reached forward to cup her face gently.
"Joy." She repeated, as though trying the word out. Pasha tilted her face against his hand for a moment before her smile truly rekindled. "I don't know what makes me happiest…but I think I will enjoy finding out."
Her heart was still faster than it should have been, but she focused on his half formed request. The rest could wait. Melisande twisted her curls neatly over one shoulder, cheeks still the faintest pink. "I'll be there at...5?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2014 9:58 am
Cesc endeavored to keep his laughing under control. His shoulders stopped shaking, and after a few more moments, even his new abdomen stopped trying to send any more tremors of mirth through him. He wanted to sit somewhere and just think, iron his poor, emotionally-exhausted head out straight. This was not ideal.
His cheeks were still red. He wasn't certain when they were going to return to their normal color again. Rhedefre could feel heat in his ears and thanked the dawn and sun and stars and everything above them that at least that blush wasn't visible. But there would be time to parse his own embarrassment later. There was no call to make Melisande uncomfortable. He smiled and shook his head at her.
Zul and Rivener? Or was it Zul or Rivener? Either way, or both, he could not fault them, or her. Zul, he loved and loved enormously. He was gentle and kind and full of warmth and self-sacrifice. He was handsome and powerful and deeply loving. What more could Cesc want for his friends? If he could have hand-picked them, would he not have made the same selection?
Yes, he told himself. Of course...
It was not as soothing as he would have liked.
But his smile, as he kept it, was still earnest, if a touch wry.
"I hope baking gives you joy," said Cesc with a faint laugh. "Vivi wants to be here in the morning -- I'm used to opening alone, but usually we have things prepped early, and, well..." He lifted up his hands, rueful. "It hasn't been what I'd call a very productive day..." His smile warmed. "I can promise you that I will reward your diligence. Several cupcakes -- and strawberries -- I can even throw in a baguette, if you are very, very good."
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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2014 10:34 pm
Pasha relaxed as he did, still holding his eyes as she smiled. Gingerly, she reached up and pressed a forefinger to his brightened cheek…watching the way the skin turned pale again with the pressure of her touch before the blush eased back into place. Her little smile dimpled.
"What gives me joy is that you are here, whole and sweet and willing to have me ruin your kitchen tomorrow~" Her smile twisted charmingly a bit at the corner, and she dropped her hand back to his arm. They'd been through so much, even if not together…that allowed her to see the same graceful resilience in Cesc that had taken her so long to find within herself. Melisande was glad for it. "And I'm not sure I'll be very very good, but now I have my heart set on baguette…so I will try my very best."
Without thinking on it, she floated higher, leaving a kiss against his cheek as she was used to doing. She paused for only a heartbeat, despite herself, before drifting back again. Her smile was once again small, but the Muse herself was still radiant.
"Thank you for messaging me. I will see you tomorrow, Rhedefre." Pasha spoke his given name infrequently, but the accent was captured carefully in her own sweet tones.
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