Newgrange shared Sherwood's desire to find some new normal with the knight thing, but no matter how hard he tried to fit into the shoes he'd worn a few months ago, the fit wasn't just the same. He went through the motions, but now more than ever he felt restless.
The things that left him filling fulfilled before now made him question himself, and he realized that if he was ever going to be happy—content—with the life he had before this, he needed to figure what to do about the whole knight side of things.
Wandering through Destiny City was a bit bland, so when he felt someone's aura on his radar he couldn't help but meander towards them. Despite the bustling metropolis the city could be, Newgrange thought it was quiet—too quiet. And the silence was starting to bother him.
Whistling seemed like a good way to pass the time, so he hummed the first tune that came to mind as he meandered towards the energy signature. Eyes on the ground, he didn't at all think to look up to find the page.
"Newgrange."
Her singsong voice called down to him with a teasing in her voice that caught his ears like a piece of velvet. She had an easy eye on him from her perch and the page turned on her side to face him entirely. Anyone could have heard him coming with that whistling and despite her enormous sleeves she managed to be fairly well hidden. Her green eyes almost glowed in the moonlight as she considered him. It had been a while since their previous meeting and this purely by accident.
"Fancy running into you here."
She smiled to let him know she was teasing and tried to move again, her sleeve catching underneath her body this time and causing her to pitch forward when she tried to move, tumbling from the tree limb. She was plummeting toward the ground...
As soon as his name was spoken, Newgrange looked up. Surprised, he stopped whistling, though his lips remained pursed and his eyebrows lifted. Of all the pages he could have encounter—Sherwood, again?
Fate seemed keen to cross their paths again, and he certainly couldn't complain. He would have been content to remain where he was and chat with her while she stayed in the tree—had she stayed in the tree. The second Sherwood lost her balance, Newgrange was moving towards her. The distance wasn't far and he managed to sprint so that he was just under her before she hit the ground. He held out his arms and caught her, looking down worriedly. "Careful! Are you all right?"
Sherwood gave a quick exhalation of breath when he caught her, wrapping her arms around his neck for balance. "My hero!" she teased, reaching up to kiss his cheek in thanks. "These stupid sleeves are so cumbersome! Who designed these things, anyway?" She seemed undaunted by her fall. Mostly because she hadn't hit the ground. The female page couldn't say she was unhappy to see him, either. She'd wanted company and he was about as pleasant a companion as she could think of. "What are you doing out alone?" Never mind why he hadn't called her to let her know he was going out. His social life was still his own business and she didn't feel the need to chastise him for it. She was most definitely not his girlfriend.
Newgrange seemed surprised at the kiss though was quick to laugh it off and set the girl back on the ground. "I'm fortunate not to have any sleeves," he said, though there had been some windy nights that he regretted his attire. Truthfully, he didn't have the slightest idea who designed any of this, and while it had been a pain in winter, he found himself pretty comfortable now that spring had rolled around. "I was just taking a walk, getting some fresh air. I was getting a little restless, I think. What about you, what were you doing—napping?"
"Lucky you." She was fine enough being back on the ground and started walking tugging him along for the stroll. The path was pretty, especially at night with the moon filtering through the trees to dot the path silver. "I wasn't napping. I just like looking at the moon. Don't you ever do that, just study the sky?" She was fascinated by it, the natural beauty of it. That had always been true from the time she was a little girl. "It's a nice night for a walk, anyway, and I'm glad you're here. I was worried I wouldn't find anyone again. It can be lonely alone sometimes, you know?"
"I suppose. When I go camping, I like to listen to the sounds around me, look up at the sky. Of course, you can see a lot more when you're further away from the city. I don't mind being alone, though. The quiet is nice. But company is also nice, it's just hard to find someone that's really interested in that sort of thing. Most of my friends aren't interested in that sort of thing, so my trips out of Destiny City are usually by myself. Though, sometimes I can steal my little sister. Girl Scout," he explained, sounding proud of her.
"You're lucky to have a sister." Of course, those sounded like things KD did already. She liked being under the stars and loved the feeling of nature all around her. She couldn't imagine being anywhere else. That was probably why she was an Earth knight and not from some other planet. This was her home and she felt a keen relationship with it. Of course, she doubted her parents would go for her camping with an older boy but she wasn't really all that shy about sneaking out and breaking the rules so she supposed that didn't matter much. "We could go sometime, you and me. I have a tent. There's a great clearing not far from where we first met that's mostly undisturbed. And there's a stream, and deer. It's really amazing."
"Really?" Newgrange asked, seeming a bit surprised. "Huh. I ought to get our more, I didn't know there were deer there. I mean, I've never seen them so close to Destiny City. But yeah, that sounds interesting. Though, I suppose we'd have to worry about youma."
...He really didn't wan to be eaten in his sleep, but that would have been just his luck.
"Oh--speaking of them. How are you doing with them? Fighting them, I mean. You doing okay?"
"They only come if you're real quiet." Sherwood spent a lot of her time in trees as he'd just seen. Mainly she liked being somewhere other people ordinarily overlooked. She wasn't especially afraid of youma, either, though she hadn't liked the time or two she'd run across them. Mainly, she was still pretty sheltered to this whole knight thing. She wasn't letting it color the rest of her life. There was no need for that in a war that didn't seem to be happening. "What about you? Have you run into many?"
"Deer, not so much, but youma? Plenty," he said. "I've been trying to hunt them down. The first one to attack me was...pretty scary. If that hadn't come along--if I hadn't...gotten whatever turned me into Newgrange...I don't know if we would have survived. So I guess I just want to do what I can, play my part, and take care of them. Lot of fighting involved. It's not exactly my strong point, though. I guess I'm sort of just waiting for the day a youma too big for me to handle comes along. I mean, I'm not exactly sure what you're supposed to do to get better at fighting beyond actually fighting them...but going into every battle knowing it might be your last? Guess it's a bit nerve-wracking."
He paused for a minute and then cleared his throat. "Ah--Sorry, Sherwood, I didn't mean to ramble"
"You've run into a lot of those things?" Sherwood felt kind of bad to hear that. She was very happy about not having monsters or other agents to fight. In fact, she'd be happy to patrol every day of her life without running into the "bad" guys. Part of her really didn't believe there was a war going on since there didn't seem to be any enemies that she'd seen. Still, knowing he did made her worry since he was her partner. When he apologized she shook it off with a short hand wave. "Don't worry about it. We're both new to this. It's not something I'm willing to die over. I have too much to live for. There's still art I want to make and things to learn. I want to fall in love and have my first time and, I dunno, maybe get married and have kids someday." She looked down at her uniform and a shudder went through her. She grabbed him and hugged him defensively. He was here and that was how it was going to remain, by God. "You're not going anywhere, not on my watch."
Newgrange seemed a bit surprised by the gesture, but hesitantly reached out to wrap his arms around her in a gentle hug. "All right," he said, blinking. "Well then I'm lucky to be on your watch. "You...I'll have your back, too."
She was right, after all. They were both young--he knew she was younger than him, but they weren't so young that he couldn't sympathize. There was still so much he had left that he wanted to do for him...And this whole war was just so big. They still have their whole lives in front of them; were they just supposed to sacrifice that for something they barely understood?
That just wasn't fair. And neither was asking her to give up her hopes and dreams—her life.
In that moment, Newgrange realized how much he to protect her—to keep her safe. When the realization dawned, he embraced her with a bit more conviction.
"It'll be okay, I'm sure. I was just...being pessimistic, I think. But, thank you. Hearing you say that means a lot to me, I appreciate it. Know that I'll always have your back, Sherwood, all right? No matter how bad things get."
Caydence stopped short of crying. This wasn't something she wanted to cry over but the thought of dying, of anyone dying, filled her with this terrible sense of dread. It was like protecting Ulane when she first powered up. She knew he was in danger and Sherwood has appeared to help. She became what he needed. Since then she hadn't run across anyone or anything. Maybe she just wasn't needed. She certainly didn't want to think about anyone dying. "You better," was all she answered. Despite having only known him a short time he was someone she could identify with and latched onto that in this crazy mixed up situation. "This life is too short and this world is too big. I'm not giving up on it for this war. Someday my work will be in galleries and museums. Someday I'm going to paint something really great and people will just look at it and get it. They'll see how much beauty there is in the world and they'll thank me for showing it to them."
"I believe it," Newgrange said, patting her back lightly. "Don't give up on those hopes and dreams. I figure that's the sort of thing that'll keep you going when times get tough. No war is worth dying in, and as long as you've got someone looking out for you, you don't have anything to worry about. I want to see your work hanging proudly. I want to go to a gallery and brag about how I know the artist. And how she definitely endorses my bakery, right?" he asked, leaning back a bit so she could see his smile.
Something he said had turned the conversation down this path; now he just felt obligated to try and fix things.
Death was a serious topic—and maybe he hadn't realized exactly what he was saying, or thinking, until Sherwood brought him up.
Death wasn't something he wanted to think about—not for her, not for his sister, not for him—not for anyone. And if they couldn’t find some way to win this war in their own time, without any casualties?
Maybe they needed to find other people to fight, because right now he wasn't so sure he was ready to give everything up.
"Are you kidding? You better be at my first opening!" She smiled and playfully hit his arm. Her eyes sparkled in the moonlight with tears that hadn't fallen. "And anywhere that makes cupcakes is worth supporting." She kind of liked the idea of having someone in the world that wanted to brag about knowing her. It wasn't that her parents weren't supportive, quite the opposite, but KD wasn't sure she had a lot of friends that didn't think she was nuts for what she did. Her art wasn't always the most conventional stuff around but it was something she put her heart and soul into. Little by little she loosened her grip on Newgrange until she felt like she could let go and step back away from this morbid topic. No one was dying tonight she reminded herself. Not ever if she could help it, especially not him. Maybe she was developing a little bit of a crush but it was hardly something she was thinking about right now. The feelings were real. She wanted to see him safe and happy in his bakery. "Do you want to see a deer? I know where some usually are. If we're quiet we might be able to see them. They like to come drink from the stream close by."
Though Newgrange wouldn't outright say it, he was glad for a topic change, and smiled before nodding. "Yeah, I'd like that, a lot. I mean, assuming my voice hasn't already spooked all of them. I'm actually really excited to see them," he confessed, though. "The biggest animals I've seen in Destiny City—wild, at least—are probably…raccoons? Some stray dogs? But deer…"
He shrugged. "To be honest, I thought I had to get into the mountains. That's neat, though. That even with this metropolis," he looked up towards the sky, and even though he couldn’t see the city clearly, he could see the glow of the lights hiding the stars from sight, "That they can go on with life, and not let all the ruckus of our day-to-days. If I were a deer, I probably would have left, tried to get back to the mountains." He wanted to ask if she thought the youma bothered the deer, though didn't want to bring up the topic again. Instead, he tried to focus on something positive—that even in the wake of this industrialization, even in the wake of this war—life went on.
"You worry too much Arias." Sherwood smiled and shook her head at him giving a look that said he was quite hopeless. With a happy giggle she took his hand and darted off down the path toward where the stream was. The girl was clearly at home in forest, far more than maybe he realized before. She wove through the trees as if she knew exactly where each one was before she encountered it. That was only really because she spent so much time here. Quiet forests did more for her than bustling cities with loud noises and bright lights. Miss Goddard's was one of her favorite places in the world and this was something like that summer camp, quiet and beautiful. She slowed as they got closer to the stream and made him duck down, pressing a finger to her lips. She peeked over the top of a bush and sure enough a summer stag was bending down to drink from the stream fifty yards from where they were. It shone silver in the moonlight and didn't seem to notice their presence. Maybe it was used to the Earth page by now.
"I do," Newgrange agreed; he knew he worried too much. He'd been told it many times, but it wasn't a habit he could easily break. Not that he'd really tried; he was of the mentality that it was better to be safe than sorry. He crept behind Sherwood quietly, trying to make as little noise as possible. Mimicking her actions, he crouched to peer next to her. Immediately, he noticed the door and couldn't help but smile. A part of him wondered if he would just have been bad luck and would have prevented her from seeing anything, but seeing the stag there was not only pleasant, it was relaxing.
He breathed a soft sigh of relief and rested his elbows on his knees as he crouched. He stayed still after that, worried about making some sort of noise that would agitate the stag before it was ready to be on its way.
Sherwood stared in awe of the beautiful creature no more than a stone's throw from where they hid. If they were quiet the stag wouldn't be concerned about them. Maybe it had something to do with the magic, she didn't know. Either way the beautiful buck dipped its snout into the water and drank deeply from the stream. KD knew from experience that the stream was a rather pleasant place to be come summer. She'd come wading here a time or two before. "Isn't it beautiful?" She whispered, charmed. It was like something out of a Disney cartoon.
Newgrange was quiet still and nodded. "Though, we should probably go. I don't want to scare it," he said, more concerned about the deer than he was happy about seeing it. Not that he was complaining; a part of him just wanted to sit down and watch the deer, but there was a nagging in the back of his head. Even if he hadn't been out there doing this for so long, it was hard to just sit there and enjoy life.
And maybe he needed to take a step back and see things like this so he remembered just what it was he was fighting for. Or maybe just take things in stride and make sure that even if he was fighting, he still needed to enjoy life while it happened.
"Go? Now?" Sherwood whispered, although a bit loudly. The deer's head bolted up and it looked in their direction before sprinting off into the woods. She sighed, coming up out of her crouch to look off in the direction it went. "Why do I get the feeling I'm gonna have to drag you out of your shell with a lasso?" She put her hands on her hips but smiled to let him know she was teasing underneath her tone. She wondered exactly how much joy he had in his life. As his friend, and she considered herself that now, she felt it was her duty to show him. "You're going out with me." Not that KD even thought of accepting arguments from him on that point. "We're going to have some simple, honest to God fun and you're going to like it." She nodded once to tell him that was already decided.
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