|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 6:32 am
Who: Zul and Melisande
Where: The Lighthouse, pub and cafe'
When: Following the Summer '14 ORPThe wind was still warm, even with sunset just an hour or two away. Her curls were wild from the salt, pulling in the breeze even though she'd done her best to pin them back. It didn't matter. The Muse was content…something she hadn't felt in a very long time. Pasha's hands rested on the weathered wood of the railing as she looked out over the water. It glittered this time of day, alive with color and light. She could count the times she'd seen Zul as happy as he had been in the water, cutting through the waves and shining as he smiled. She smiled absently at the memory. It had been a wonderful day. Such a different day… "Your table is ready! Outside okay?"Melisande turned, and checked the sash on her little grey wrap style cover up out of habit to make sure it was still in place. "Thank you! Perfect." She smiled first at the server, then at Zul, where he floated just beyond. Leave it to him to get a table when they were supposed to be full. She slipped one arm around the Demon's as she pulled even with him, with a slow and light touch as he showed her to the table. It was still a marvel to her. "Have you been here before?" The balcony was lovely, with an incomparable view…but the way the patrons were mainly grouped inside told her they were largely locals. Who else could stand to look away?
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2014 10:23 pm
Zul felt full, even though his stomach suggested otherwise. It was the fullness of watching the morning sun drape over a sleeping loved one, the fullness of laughter with the sun in Melisande's hair, the fullness of Rivener's gentle weight against the demon while they laid on the couch. It was something he knew and defined as love, but that he didn't have words for; and nodding his head to the waiter and looking towards the Muse watching the water...he was full. The light she gave him during that day was irreplaceable.
She turned at the waiter's voice and the demon found his cheeks aching with another smile, floating to her once her eyes found him. He and Alex once frequented the diners in the area, having a sort of patron status for their repeat patronage and bringing others. It didn't hurt that Zul had a way with words, either. Delicately resting his hands upon hers, his thumb traced small, indistinct shapes over her fingers as he lead them to their table. "I have, many times." He cast her a warm smile that easily lit his eyes. "Lex and I used to eat out a lot when I first became a Sigel. Wanted me to try everything so I'd know what I liked best." He chuckled faintly at the memory, feeling a small twinge in his stomach that was both hunger and a small bit of guilt. The demon wouldn't dwell on his Guardian just then, however, as he wanted to keep his focus entirely on Melisande.
With his free hand, Zul pulled out one of the chairs for her, letting her hand go despite his desire to keep contact. "I always liked the Lighthouse because it was on the beach. The food is good, but I've always loved the water. I grew up with it." He waited for Melisande to be 'seated' before he pushed the chair in, pulling the one that was opposite around to instead be next to her, sitting then himself. He didn't feel like they needed pretense or space just then, but he'd let her dictate that, ever mindful of her body language.
"Have you not been to Gambino often?" he asked, genuinely curious. "Is it that your...work, keeps you in Durem?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2014 10:08 am
With murmured thanks, the Muse settled into the seat Zul had offered. She smiled sidelong as he recounted Alex's efforts in his youth. Aki had never gone to such lengths, and though it was for a different reason, she felt a twinge same as he. None of it showed in her smile, though.
"Work?" She repeated, focusing on Zul's face as she took in the question. It was an unexpected one, and the Sigel hesitated. "In part. Alain and I have our business…" Pasha dropped her eyes, and realized she was about to dodge the question. Some old part of her that didn't want to be a bother, didn't want to darken the day with thoughts of the past. It was an effort, but Melisande lifted her eyes again, and found peace in Zul's curious eyes. She smiled back, relaxing.
"When I was young, we had a Villa, on the cliffs." If he was from the area, he would know where she meant. The water there was cooler, the shores rocky…it was not meant for swimming like this stretch of the shore. The houses there, though, were breathtaking. "That day, with Lucia…was that the day we met?" Another smile, sad at the edges with memories of old friends. "She's never did like talking about her troubles…I remember the way you shook your head at me, when I'd tried to ask her. Even though you were…a stranger, I shared what was troubling me, instead…to get her mind off of whatever it was that troubled her."
Every pause was a memory, fluttering back up to the surface. What Pasha was feeling was clear on her face; the way her eyes lidded over her smile when she mentioned Lucia, the unconscious furrow of her brow when she mentioned Aki. She moved her fingertips idly up the inside of Zul's forearm as she spoke.
"When I discovered that Aki intended for us to move, I left. She is a very strong willed person. I still believe that should she find me…I wouldn't even have time to leave a note." Her smile pressed into a line. She'd shared with Zul and Rivener that she'd emancipated herself with Kyou's assistance…which gave a different weight to the Muse's words. What she feared wasn't relocation. It was abduction.
Her hand tightened gently on his arm, taking comfort from the way his salt kissed skin felt under her fingers. "That's why I'm not in Gambino often. As for why I stayed in this corner of the world at all…" Melisande's free hand curled around the ring she wore, on Zul's own chain, and her smile dimpled slowly. She'd carried hope for years, but closure had a sweetness of its own.
"And as for why I continue to stay…" She leaned forward, settling both hands on Zul's forearm, and pressed a kiss against the corner of his mouth. Her heart was beating fast, though it wasn't the first time she'd kissed him. That was something she doubted would ever change. Melisande leaned back, blossoms full and fine, and searched the Demon's face. "You've both been…so patient. I never formally accepted, did I?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue May 19, 2015 10:11 am
Alain. That name always seemed to come with some sort of hesitation from the Muse, a breath held or a glance averted. Zul retained his silence and watched her, trying to be a gentle presence of encouragement rather than something that made her want to keep herself within. It had been a long struggle - almost a year, now - for them to find their even ground with one another. It was a time he cherished and did not now want to endanger.
And then she opened, a tentative bloom to touch upon the thorns of her past, one that even he was a part of. He felt a distant pang of sadness at the sound of Lucia's name, the memories it pulled from him in turn. Zul wasn't even sure Melisande knew what happened to the feline Sigel during that harrowing time, but that was another piece of darkness he did not want to set upon her. He listened, because she needed an audience, something he could always provide.
Warm fingers slid over the one that rest upon his arm, squeezing it as it did him, watching her smile as she touched that ring. There was a fundamental change in her that even he was aware of, in regards to that ring: the splash of memory from when he first saw it, the tears in her eyes, to now... Zul smiled softly at her, a genuine expression of affection that warmed his eyes into blue crescent moons, his smile lop-sided and lightly dimpled on one side. Peace. That was their middle ground.
The kiss was warm and well received, the demon's head tilted subtly into it and his eyes closing briefly, breathing deeply of her closeness. Melisande's presence was the sun, and her closeness always filled him with images of spring flowers and secret gardens.
It was a lot to have on his plate just then, after the festival. He continued to gently rub and squeeze the hand on his arm, regarding her with affection in his blue gaze. "You know I'd never let anything happen to you," he replied softly, trying to encapsulate all her worries and uncertainties. "Wherever you go, if you needed us...if you needed me, I would find you." There was a somberness to his tone, a serious chord that begged to be plucked. Zul felt the sense of something in the air akin to the world holding its breath, though he couldn't say why.
As for the rest of her comment... "You are not to be rushed, not to be committed to a word or a title if you don't wish it, beautiful Melisande." Zul smiled again, crooked still, but containing an easy conviction of belief in his own words. "You have been a light in our life, certainly the sun in my sky, and if this is what makes us happy - unspoken, unofficial, unformal - a name need not be put to it. Happiness is what we sought, it is all I wish for you."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
