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 Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2023 10:35 am
Prompt 4 There is a tulip festival going on at the end of the month, perhaps now is a good time as any to find a cute new outfit to take that special someone out on a date, or maybe take the family out while the weather is nice.
'I'm trying.'
He'd said it to her twice, on two separate occasions, in two different locations. The first time Ny had just taken his word for it, because there was not much for her to do besides accept that he was 'trying' and would adapt in his own time. She didn't want to force him into anything that would just make him unhappier. Sometimes change took time. It wasn't something they had much experience with on their very regulated artificial planet.
But by the second time he'd said it, several months later, she was more skeptical of what 'trying' looked like, because it honestly didn't seem to be any different than 'not trying.'
It looked mostly like sitting alone in his room and avoiding most everyone else, with a near-daily foray out to the campus for classes, where as far as Ny understood it, there were minimal interactions with peers, despite the numerous opportunities. When it wasn't class time, 'trying' was just... a hyperfocus on his computer, his data, his tiny almost-creatures (almost because they weren't very successful at living... That probably contributed to the upset).
'Trying' kind of looked really sad. And really pitiful. It was not giving Ny any of the 'peppy, bubbly Fizz vibes' that she'd been missing for a year and a half. She'd been trying to leave him alone, to give him the space he needed, but honestly, she was having quite enough of that.
They were not going to hide in the Vanguard house today. They were not going to stare at numbers on his laptop screen for hours. They were not going to sit around and be sad and grumpy at each other because Ny couldn't take it, anymore.
What they were going to do was go outside. Be in the sunshine. Interact someplace warm and lively. Enjoy this opportunity to be here because so few Velencians had this chance to see somewhere outside of their own world, even if Fysarius didn't see it that way. They were going to do healthy, well-adapted people things. It was good for them. She didn't care what fight he'd put up about it.
Incidentally, now was a good time for it.
The humans were celebrating a seasonal change and the agriculture they were able to cultivate because of it. There would be pretty flowers and vibrant decorations and sweet treats and vendor crafts. Maybe she and Fysarius wouldn't do anything but walk around and enjoy the scenery, but Fysarius was a botanist. He would see these stupid flowers, and he would like it. At least, he better.
Henley had donned a white sleeveless dress, embroidered with a whole mess of yellow, blue, and green flowers over the bust and bottom trim, with a pair of very simple white flats on her feet. Her own school friends had called it 'Cute!' And one of them had given her a big white sunhat to wear to protect her face and shoulders from the worst of the damaging rays. She wasn't so sure, herself about the 'cuteness.' She'd felt emboldened by her friends, but most of the other girls wearing cute flower dresses at the festival were significantly...
Trimmer than she was, with slender arms and long legs pumped up by heeled sandals. Most must have been at least a foot and a half shorter than her, and it seemed quite uncommon for any of them to be sporting the hardened biceps and defined calves that she had from her training.
None of them towered over their partners, either.
Henley's huff was quiet and disgruntled as she slid an arm to hook through Weaver's, pressing in close to him so that he was perfectly aware that she did not want to be separated from his side. It wasn't a moshpit of a crowd, but there were a lot of humans here, and she felt like she stuck out an uncomfortable amount. It would be fine so long as Weaver gave her some kind of positive anything as a distraction. If he could bring himself to have a good time, she would too.
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Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2023 10:56 am
...He didn't like this.
But in all fairness, Weaver didn't really like anything at the moment, and the point was that he just needed to get over it. It was to be a day where they just wouldn't think about anything besides themselves and each other. They would have an enjoyable Earth experience, look at beautiful flowers, lounge in the sunshine- these weren't experiences Fysarius thought he needed, but they were ones that hadn't been available before, were now, and might not be again sometime in the future. This planet wasn't home, but they were here, and they had a chance to witness it...
That's how Ny felt, anyway. Fysarius wasn't quite so enthused, but for her, he had to try and make something of it. He'd told her he would. He had to try.
It took very little for Weaver to feel overwhelmed by the commotion, but that was just not what they were doing today, and he couldn't allow it to impede him. He kept his gaze down on the little parchment pamphlet of events, rather than up at all the crowded, colorful displays. There was to be music and children's games and various painting activities. Contests that judged the beauty of gardens and flower arrangements and people, for some reason. He wasn't sure if Henley would like much of that...
"Let's go get a melon skewer," Weaver advised, jabbing a finger into a line on the pamphlet that advertised a booth for fruit cups and strangely-flavored fruit drinks. "And we can take it over... Here. This seems nice." If they wandered out toward the edge of the festivities, there were areas for walking trails through pretty tulip "fields." Maybe they would be less occupied than the more central areas.
Though, maybe not. The gardens of flowers were probably the focal point of the whole event. Many people must come to see them... But it would be less crowded, surely, Weaver tried to reason. Even if there weren't "less people," they would be more dispersed.
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Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2023 6:27 pm
A melon... what?
Briefly distracted from her own thoughts, Henley glanced down to where her companion was prodding at a little pamphlet of information, and- yep, she had indeed heard him correctly: 'melon skewer.' Well, it seemed pretty self-explanatory as to what that was. Fysarius did like melon, and it pleased her that he had found something (albeit something strange) to engage with. She nodded agreeably and was happy to walk arm-in-arm with him over to the stand selling the treat.
Upon arrival, it was entirely as expected. There was a short line of people to get through, and then upon handing the vendor the card containing the Earth currency, she was rewarded with a wooden stick impaling six cubes of a variety of melon. An orange one, a green one, and a pink one, and then repeating. It sure was colorful! Like the flowers, she supposed.
Henley smiled as she accepted a skewer for herself and passed one to Weaver. It was quite a sticky, wet treat, and she was careful not to drip any juices on her dress as they left the stand. It would be a significant dampener if she were to ruin the 'cutest' thing about her...
But that really wasn't very important. At all. It was to be a joyous excursion, and certainly Henley wasn't going to be the one to ruin that.
With snack in one hand, she shielded the other against the brim of her large hat and peered across the scattered crowd toward the garden walkways: the main attraction! Last year, they hadn't really stopped to enjoy spring, due to all the... Due to how sore spirits still were after their failure. It would be different this year! She jostled Weaver with how firmly she hooked into his arm and pointed off toward the nearest tulip garden.
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Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2023 9:50 am
Cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon. Henley passed him the skewer, and Weaver scrutinized it intensely, as he judged everything produced on this planet that was expected to go into his mouth. Part of him didn't trust the vendor to have not done something unnecessary to it (like coat it in batter and fry it or dust it with some kind of spice powder), but it looked and smelled normal enough, so he took a bite of the first cube and wasn't terribly disappointed.
Henley seemed chipper, too. Good. She deserved to be.
At least, he thought she seemed mostly pleased with the events. After the vendor stall, she eagerly pulled them through the crowd and toward the gardens, and it was during that walk that Weaver noticed something a little... off? Obviously she wasn't going to say anything about it, but Weaver thought he might've caught her once- twice- eyeing the other human couples that had come to roam around the event.
He expected her to be alert for danger, but the day seemed peaceful, and Henley wasn't acting like she expected someone to assault them, just like she was thinking...? He actually didn't know what she was thinking. Strange. He didn't like it.
"Henley?" He didn't really like saying her 'Earth name,' either, but he'd get over it. "Hey? Are you feeling fine?" Weaver asked as they came upon the start of the first path weaving through the gardens. "You look like you're thinking about something. Intermittently. Between the activities, I mean." because she did look happy too! Happy to be in the sunshine and flowers with him. Just also distantly thoughtful if her gaze landed on someone else.
"Is there somewhere else you wanted to go? All the walkpaths will be pretty crowded, probably."
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Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2023 11:49 am
They were nice. The tulips. There hadn’t been very many colorful displays on their world at all, and even if there had been, the atmosphere would’ve been too dim to appreciate it in full glory. Not that there wasn’t a beauty she missed in looking beyond Velencya’s barrier and seeing the universe as far as her eyes could tell, but this was different. Pretty. Nice. Special. Most of her people would never see something similar. Even a few who had come to Earth with them hadn’t survived long enough to witness all its seasons…
Her arm clasped more tightly where it hooked around Weaver’s, and she blinked down at him in quiet question for the concern that seemed laced through his tone. ’Are you feeling fine?’
Well, yes, of course she was! Henley gave a bright nod and beamed at her companion. Because that was the point of the day, wasn’t it? They were to both feel fine and enjoy themselves! She wouldn’t be the one to ruin that… No matter how many uncomfortable things tried to enter her stream of consciousness. She was fine. Henley would always be fine because Fysarius struggled with it so much, and she absolutely could not burden him further.
…But if anyone knew her well enough to gauge the accuracy of her displays, it would be Fysarius. She didn’t like to hide things from him, either. Her smile wavered slightly, and her yellowy-green gaze flicked briefly out toward a young human couple as they walked by, swinging their clasped hands and chattering animatedly between themselves. Henley’s focus didn’t linger on them, and she instead gave a little shrug, fluttered her fingers down the front of her white dress, as if dusting it off, and tried a little smile again. Her fruit skewer had already been consumed, so she didn’t have that to busy herself with further, just an empty stick between her fingers.
She wasn’t sure if he’d understand that wistful sort of look toward the oblivious couple. Wasn’t completely sure she understood it, herself. A lot of things about those humans seemed… nice to her. They looked happy. The girl was very cute. They seemed carefree. And it wasn’t really like that for her and Fysarius, at the moment…
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Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2023 11:57 am
It would’ve made sense if she was looking to the flowers, which was what Weaver thought they’d come to see, but he followed her gaze, however fleeting it was, to where it landed on a pair of humans a handful of yards away from them, and getting farther as they traversed the garden path. He couldn’t read The Look, but he at least recognized it wasn’t all bright and sunshiny like it out to be.
Then Ny looked back at him, dusted her dress, and gave him a much smaller smile. Something… longing, maybe? That did make a fair bit of sense to him. All of the Vanguard here were probably all experiencing a certain degree of want for something.
But mostly, Weaver didn’t think there was anything special about her. Or her partner, or any of it, really! It was just that they looked… well, he didn’t know- picturesque, maybe? ‘Cute’ by Earth standards, and with the tulip garden backdrop on such an atmospherically adequate day? They did look happy together…
“Should I hold your hand like that?” He offered, letting his arm relax so that it slid free of where she had them hooked together, and his palm found hers. He couldn’t force himself to be all chipper and frolicky, but Weaver had definitely never had a problem with holding Ny’s hand. And… her dress, the way she’d sort of- almost fluttered it about with her fingers. It was a little of a strange look on Ny; Fysarius didn’t think he’d ever seen her in anything even slightly similar, but a lot of the girls at the festival were wearing a suitable equivalent.
It wasn’t really customary for them to put a large amount of stock in appearance, besides to just be neat and put-together, but Ny had chosen something specifically to suit the Earth culture. She must be thinking about it- She must be! Since she’d gone out of her way to don the little flower dress.
“Oh, and you look very nice,” Weaver stated firmly. That was probably what he was supposed to do.
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Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2023 12:04 pm
Weeeelllll… It still wasn’t her old, ‘peppy’ Fysarius. They weren’t skipping around making a scene of themselves like some people were, but maybe it would’ve been strange if they had. Henley thought they were quite mushy by acceptable Velencian standards, and she might have liked to see how well they could fit in doing an Earth event, but humans were just- significantly more expressive and vibrant and open than even her Fysarius. And Henley was actually pretty pleased at what ‘trying’ looked like, this time.
So, maybe she didn’t mind too much if she wasn’t ‘Earthling pretty,’ or if her partner didn’t gush over her and swing her around and make silly sweet gestures at her when she donned special attire or did her hair the right way (maybe she’d taken too much to human film entertainment…).
He was doing his best today, so she couldn’t be mad at him. She couldn’t think it wasn’t enough…
There were discomforts in her mind between her nagging insecurities and the people around her, and she certainly wished that would all go away. But Henley could be okay. She and Weaver could be okay. She tried a smile again, a little warmer as his hand found hers, and she tugged him further down the path. Maybe it wouldn’t be right in the middle of the festivities or right next to the gardens, but she thought there must be somewhere they could sit in relative peace together!
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Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2023 12:12 pm
So that had done it, he guessed?
Whatever exactly was on Ny’s mind must have been quelled in some part if she was willing to continue on their way, and she did seem a little brighter as Weaver fit his hand into hers. It was just a little strange to have seen even a flicker of… He didn’t know what, but it wasn’t anything good, whatever it was. Pretty much since they’d made it to this planet and learned of their actual assignment, she’d been pretty focused on doing what she could to placate him.
Yes, she could get angry. Yes, she could be upset. Usually while staring him dead in the face, because Fysarius had been some form of cause for her to be offended.
…But he didn’t really think of her as having her own sadnesses and hurts caused by not being home. He was too wrapped up in his own. He was selfish. When it should be that they were supporting each other, not just ‘her looking after him.’ She must be missing her family too (no matter how complicated the relationship was), her other friends, all the sights and smells and familiarity of home they didn’t have, anymore… He was so selfish, and she was still next to him.
Weaver drew their hands up, kissed the back of her knuckles as they walked. “I love you, you know.”
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Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2023 12:18 pm
Oh, yes. She knew. Maybe she was selfish too, because she definitely wouldn’t have been there- here, with him- if she didn’t think their bond was worth something. But it was. She knew it was. She wouldn’t abandon him because things were more difficult now, and Henley believed with every fiber of her being that if their roles were reversed, and she was struggling very mightily, Fysarius would be there for her too.
Her laugh was soft and breathy as Weaver kissed her knuckles, and when he came in close enough, she grabbed his face in both her hands and pulled him close to kiss him back.
The day probably couldn’t really be going better. It was nice to be together. They’d find a place to settle, relax, people watch, enjoy the sweet scent of flowers and the thrum of activity from the festival. It was very much enough for her in the moment.
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