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This RP is backdated to August 8th

There were definitely comparisons that could be made between Arkady and a small puppy. Point the first: boundless energy. Point the second: overly affectionate. Point the third… well, she was housebroken, so there was that.

At least the first point seemed to be getting under control relatively quickly. Though Arkady had picked Finn up and spun him around when he’d first announced the trip to his Wonder, she had quickly quieted down as soon as they left the apartment, expression closing off just as Vanya’s had been, and Tate’s before her. She stuck close to Finn as they walked away from Florence Court, both of her hands clasping his just a little too tight. “Where are we going,” she asked, unable to keep the smile off her face for too long, though her eyes were still crinkled at the corners with suspicion. “Are we going to space?”

They were, in fact, going to space, and she knew it. But asking made her feel better.

He transformed into Babylon Knight, and together they vanished to the Knight’s Square in Babylon. “Ohhh,” she said, her breath rousing a pale cloud of steam. “Wow.” High above them spun the Milky Way, or something like the Milky Way, a glorious tableau of stars-and-city. She draped herself over his shoulders, ignoring the picnic basket entirely. “Where are we? Is this Babylon? Why’s there lights everywhere?”

Then she kissed him on the ear and hugged him, tight. “This is so cool!”

She tucked herself around him, and looked where he did. She saw lights, interspersed evenly throughout the levels of the city, like the beats of a heart, but--with holes. Missed beats. That stunk of wrongness, and she wrinkled her nose as she released Babylon. “Okay,” she agreed, amiably. “I’ll take the basket.” She snatched it out of his hands, swinging it easily and freely as they headed up into the city.

“If you’re Babylon and it’s Babylon, then who is flying the plane,” she asked, “Is it me? I don’t remember how to fly a plane.” Had she ever known? Oh, probably not.

Arkady hopped a bit ahead, and turned around to smile at Babylon. “Do I have someplace like this,” she asked. “A pretty city on a hillside with stars?”

“Oh my god, where did that come from!” Arkady--well, the best word to describe it is ‘fluttered’--circled Babylon and his Wick, trying to get a look inside the lantern to see if there was, like, a hole in it, or something. She looked up at the dome, green eyes wide with disbelief. “It stops the snow! Oh…” She reached up, like she might be able to touch the high dome of the city so easily, and was disappointed to find that she could not. “Oh,” she repeated, sadder, but then she turned her attention to the lantern from which he had drawn the light.

The glass was cold. Well, that was weird. “Why do we have a picnic basket,” she asked, trying not to look too disappointed in her lack of being able to pull off Babylon’s pretty trick. “Are we on a date? Because picnics are dates. I saw that in The Little Mermaid.” Oh, yes, she had been very busy with Finn’s Netflix account lately. It was a good way to catch up on all the social norms she didn’t know, right?... Right?

She sighed. “Can I touch the light, too? Is it warm? I think everything on Mercury is probably cold.”

Babylon's attempt at education was considered, then roundly ignored. Who cared? Mercury was so pretty. He was so pretty. She watched him turn his face to the light and sighed. Friend date, she thought glumly, kicking a snow drift. What if she didn't want it to be a friend date? What if she wanted it to be a Kiss the Girl romance date? Probably that would have to be a mutual decision. Double sigh.

But he offered her a little ball of the light and that was not quite as good as a kiss but she would live. It was in the same neighborhood. Arkady ran her fingers through the light and shivered. She did it again, slower, and pressed the tips of her fingers against his with a tiny smile on her face. "It's cold," she sighed, shaking her hair over her ears like a wet dog. "Will it get hot when the sun comes up again? Or do you think it will always be cold?"

He didn’t look happy at her. She wanted him to smile at her, and touch his forehead to hers, and to hold his hands. But he was doing something, probably something important. Making the sky stay in one piece. She looked up at it again and huffed out a tiny sigh, her shoulders slumping. “That’s sad,” she said. “When will the flowers grow?”

He was rummaging in his pockets and she stopped spinning idly in place to watch him, wide-eyed and curious. When his hands resurfaced from the massed fabric of his… coat… pants, there was a bright light on a chain. “Ohhh,” she said, and she held out a hand so he could tangle the chain around it. It was so pretty, she thought, holding it up as if it were a lantern of her own. Soo pretty.

“Okay,” she said, draping the chain of her new necklace over her head. It was definitely the super prettiest, although still not as pretty as Babylon, who kind of glowed from the inside. She leaned over to drape her arm around his shoulders as they hiked up to the top of the city, and as they laid out the picnic basket. From here, she could see--she could see something. Something bright blue and starry looked up at her from the valley floor. “What’s that,” she asked, pointing as he unpacked the food in the basket. “It’s pretty.”

She found a good tree to lean against and settled down among its roots, her sandwich held in both hands as she scooted down the bark of the tree. “They must be magic,” she said. “Flowers need sunlight. It’s a Rule.” She said rule reverently, like being a rule made something completely inviolable--and of course, why wouldn’t she think that? She didn’t know that her rebirth had come at the cost of one of the core rules of purification. But then, neither did anyone else.

Taking an experimental bite, she nodded. “It was a good choice,” she told him. It was strawberry preserves--she liked the big chunks of fruit more than anything, although the crunchy cashews were nice, too. “You are the best at sandwiches.” True to form, she ate only half her sandwich before settling it down. “I like Mercury alright,” she said. “It’s very pretty, and very cold, but it’s alright.” Her forehead wrinkled a little as she scrunched up her nose. “Wasn’t there supposed to be somebody here? Who stands the watch when you’re on Earth with me? What if Chaos comes and you’re not here?”

The things she remembered from before never made much sense, she reflected. Chaos was ice, so… wasn’t it already here? “Hvergelmir said that Chaos was ice,” she related. “But this isn’t Chaos, is it?”

Arkady considered this information, as she considered all information, and tucked it away for further consideration. Thinking of the person who probably protected Avalon only made her deeply uncomfortable in a way that she did not want to examine--like prodding a broken bone, or--she tucked her chin into her scarf. At least now she knew why he had insisted she dress warmly. “He went with the white lady,” she said. It was not a question, she just--it was true.

“Take care of your pretty city,” she instructed, leaning awkwardly sideways to rest her cheek on the top of his fluffy head. “It’s important.” If she had an island, like he said, why didn’t she know where it was? In her head she saw the shore, slate-gray water and seafoam, a salt-stained dock jutting out into the sea. But it didn’t feel like hers. Not the way she imagined the city must feel like her Babylon’s.

She shifted onto her knees, fastidiously set her sandwich aside so it wouldn’t get in the moss, and leaned forward enough to look him in the eyes. They glowed much more obviously when he was Babylon. The visor, though, that got in her way, so she reached out and pulled it off, very gently and carefully. “You love me,” she said, and there was no question in that, either. He had promised that he loved her on the day of their reunion. She hadn’t stopped to examine the glowing marks on his face then, too shy or too overwhelmed--and she hadn’t asked about them since, because it never seemed like a good time. But they were alone here, and she wanted her turn to examine them. Why not now?

“Don’t move,” she instructed him, making eye contact very seriously. “I’m studying.”

The lines were long, straight, and blue. Not like cracks in his skin--why had she thought they would be--but as if he just glowed, sometimes, in some cells. She traced a long one over his nose, down the scar on his face, and into his hair. For a moment, her hand stayed there, unmoving. Arkady bit her lip and looked away for a moment, hair falling into her face. She wanted to kiss him so badly, she thought, but he’d never let her before. Nor had she really tried. All the movies agreed that it was the boy who ought to make the first move, but what if he just wasn’t moving?

No one was here to know if she kissed him rather than the other way ‘round. Just in case, she looked over her shoulder at the empty, quiet park. Not even the buzz of a bee… it was just them. So, no one would tell on her if she did. Unless Babylon--but no, he wouldn’t. Arkady leaned forward and pressed her lips to his, very gently. He tasted like peanut butter and strawberries, but instead of committing to the kiss, she broke it off and rocked back onto her calves. “I love you,” she said, very quietly.

This was not a satisfactory answer to the question implied by her short little kiss. If this were any less satisfactory she would probably be crying. It hurt to hear him say no to her, even if it was couched in such pretty words. It hurt and she hated it with a sudden, vicious ferocity. "Why not," she asked. "What are you afraid of?" That was what all that nonsense he'd just said had meant, right? A lot of other considerations he had to be conscious of... Other people's fears shouldn't matter in this, and it offended her that they did. It sent chills down her spine, icy fingers playing her vertebrae like piano.

She had seen how some of them cringed away from her. If that was what this was about, she couldn't imagine a single way to ever change it. Maybe, if she gave it some time, an answer would present itself to her. In the meantime, she pressed her palms to either side of his face. "You're mine. You said you were mine. Aren't you?"