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 Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2024 4:24 pm
Elka 1 Elka was a buzz of excitement as she hurried home, the grin still wide on her face. It hadn't dropped the entire journey from town to the beach, causing other locals to stare at her strangely as she passed them, nearly shivering in her joy. It happened! It had finally happened! And she couldn't wait to tell Kayde about it. Oh, how thrilled he would be. How he would share in this news with her. She jogged through the sand toward the front door of their small house, mindful of the children playing in the yard nearby. Blissfully unaware of what was about to come down upon them.
"Kayde!" the Zenan yelled, bursting through the door and throwing down her bag with the new fabric on the floor, where it tumbled over onto its side. She took one look outside, checked that Elenora and Elias hadn't reacted to her yelling, than closed the door behind her. "I have exciting news."
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Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2024 6:54 pm
Kayde 1 It had been a long day, spent in the usual way: Doing odd jobs around the town for people. Though he didn't have to keep up with that type of work anymore, offering his services for anyone who needed it, Kayde found it difficult to stop. It was so hard to turn down someone in need. Not that he ever wanted to. Aside from keeping his days busy, it just felt good to aid someone. See the happiness on their face when the job was done. Or the relief, in some cases. He made plenty off his dancing, but it just couldn't compare to this feeling. Dancing on a stage was something more suited to Elka. Not him. He didn't dislike it, but he still very much did it for her. Because it made her happy and, when she was happy, he was happy.
So it was with a huge grin of his own that he greeted his wife as she stormed into the house, discarding her bag with more carelessness than was her nature. It was clear as the sun was out that something had happened to make her so excited to forget herself. He carefully put down the book he was reading and leaned forward. His mind could only think of one thing.
"I thought you had gone shopping for more fabric. Where else did you go?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2024 2:19 pm
Elka 2 Before answering, the Zenan woman crossed the floor to sit down on the couch beside her husband, her hands placed flat on the cushions as she leaned towards him slyly. He remained where he was, only moving the book out of her way to sit on the table next to him. Kayde had never been a very bold lover, even after marriage when the definition of the word had taken on its true meaning. He didn't often instigate contact on his own, not even to put an arm around her during quiet evenings or lean against her. She hardly minded. There were many other ways of showing one's love for someone.
"I met with someone."
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Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2024 2:29 pm
Kayde 2 "Met with someone, huh?" he answered, placing his hands on his legs and leaning back in his seat, now that she was closer to him. Her reluctance to say it outright made him even more sure about the reason for the secrecy, like it was something too exciting to say out loud too quickly. Despite himself, Kayde could feel himself mirroring her own happiness. Stop that. It could be something else entirely. "Who did you meet with?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2024 3:18 pm
Elka 3 He was curious. Good. The excitement she was feeling was reflecting easily inside his pale eyes. But than he did always share in her joys, even when he didn't know what the cause of it was. "My brother," she declared confidently, and than nothing more. She didn't mean to string it along. Not intentionally, anyway. It felt as if her whole body was shaking in anticipation o telling him the full truth of what she had done.
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Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2024 5:46 pm
Kayde 3 Her brother? What he thought she was about to tell him quickly evaporated in the air. Why would she tell Deric first over him? That made no sense.
Kayde's smile lowered in his confusion as he leaned forward a little, no longer leisurely resting his back against the couch. "What are you trying to tell me, Elka?" Clearly it wasn't anything to worry about, judging by her unrestrained excitement. She was practically bouncing on the cushion in her eagerness to tell him.
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Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2024 6:55 pm
Elka 4 "I am telling you..." Elka answered slowly, bouncing a little in her seat. It was hard to talk straight with little bubbles of laughter escaping her throat after every other word. "We have a house." There. She had said it. It was now out in the open, out in the air, and it couldn't be taken back. They had a house. A much larger house. Something that wasn't drafty in the colder nights. Where the roof didn't sometimes leak. Somewhere she could indulge her creativity in decorating. One could only do so much with a tiny place such as this. She'd tried her best over the years to furnish it so it shone with originality and good taste and she thought she'd done a good job of it. But it was definitely time to move up in the world. This tiny place wasn't where two popular dancers should be raising a family.
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Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2024 6:58 pm
Kayde 4 "We....Yes?" His confusion only heightened. What was she talking about now? They were sitting inside their house. Did he miss part of her sentence? Did she hit her head? Kayde's pale eyes moved up to her head, the dark blue curls pulled back into a tight bun at the back of her head, neatly tied with a bow. A few strands had escaped it to frame her face in the style she had worn since they had met. There was no blood that he could see. No bump on her forehead. Her eyes seemed steady as they watched him and waited for his reaction. At a loss, he gestured around him with his hands.
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Posted: Sun Apr 28, 2024 5:15 pm
Elka 5 Shaking her head, Elka gave a little laugh at his response, realizing she'd used the wrong words. "We do. And it's served us well, this tiny house. But I think it's time we upgraded." Shifting on the cushion, the woman leaned in even more, getting close to her beloved's face and putting her hand on his, giving it a little squeeze. She failed to notice his smile had completely dropped and he was now looking at her in a way he had never looked at her before. Like he expected her to tell him the worst possible news. "My brother was looking into building himself a house here, for when he's in Matori on business. A big house, fit for many families. And he asked us to join him." The excitement over all the space and privacy a house like that, not to mention the living in luxury once more, would provide was too much for her to bare. She jumped up to twirl around the floor, only stopping to ask, "Isn't it wonderful? The kids could even have their own bedrooms."
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Posted: Sun Apr 28, 2024 5:56 pm
Kayde 5 Kayde felt a pit open up in his chest at her words. Found a house? She'd gone ahead and found them a new house, without consulting him first and what he might want? For the first time in a long, long time, he felt worthless. His input hadn't mattered. All the hard work he had been doing to provide for his family, to create a life for them hadn't mattered. It was true that the kids had came far quicker than either of them had anticipated and that the current house was far too small for a growing family, especially one with a boy and girl who would need their own rooms soon enough. But that still didn't give her a right to go behind his back like this.
His voice was colder than he had expected when he spoke.
"You did what?"
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Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2024 6:31 pm
Elka 6 "I...Got us....A bigger house?" Elka answered tentatively, feeling awkward where she stood, in the middle of the living room with her arms still thrown out. Slowly she lowered them, looking at Kayde, feeling a pit form in her own chest at the tone of his voice. Something she had never heard before towards her or anyone else directly. It was a voice used only for the most terrible of actions that deserved no forgiveness. "Is that not a good thing? I thought you'd be happy...." She could feel her lower lip start to tremble. She clamped her teeth down on it, not wanting him to see her distress.
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Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2024 1:48 pm
Kayde 6 Kayde's hands balled into fists on his knees and his eyes narrowed as he looked at his wife, full of hurt at her betrayal and her lack of understanding of it. "Happy? Why would I be happy, taking charity from someone else?" He rose from his seat, barely noticing her take a step backward. "I've been working so hard all these years. Does that not matter to you? Are you so starved for your old life?" He paced the floor, always keeping a wide berth from her, barely able to even look her in the face. She had taken his glory away from him, to provide for his family like a father and husband should be able to do.
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Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2024 2:24 pm
Elka 7 Elka's eyes, already wide from surprise at his reaction, now started to mist over at his harsh words. "Charity? It's not. It's..." She swallowed her rising fear, not at anything he might do in his anger. She never once would believe he'd hurt her. At least not physically and not intentionally. He was just high on emotions, saying whatever came to his mind. She still couldn't understand such a strong reaction to the news. "Kayde, why are you doing this?" Why couldn't he see how good this was? Or even ask her the details about it, so he's understand fully? It was true. She did miss her life of luxury. But if he thought she'd so quickly abandon what they'd built up together to chase it....
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Posted: Thu May 02, 2024 2:20 pm
Kayde 7 "It is," he answered quickly, turning his gaze on her, his hands balled into fists at his sides. How could it be anything but charity when they hadn't earned this house? It was her brothers. If they moved into it, they'd be nothing more than tenants. Renters. Kayde never wanted to be in service or dependent on someone else. He'd always worked for his keep. Ever since he had left Oba with the traveling trope, he had worked hard to life and not rely on anyone else. She was undoing all that.
With a sigh, heavily bordering on a growl, he turned away from his wife and started for the door. He didn't want to talk about this any further. He needed to get away and gather his thoughts. Calm his nerves down.
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Posted: Thu May 02, 2024 2:31 pm
Elka 8 Biting at her lip, Elka kept quiet on the retort that came to her throat, refusing to let it out. If he was so angry now, saying anything else wouldn't really help the situation. Best to keep quiet. But when he made to leave, panic took ahold of her and she forgot her plan a few seconds before. She reached out to grab at his wrist, catching a hold of his shirt in her long nails, shouting a, "No!" as if she thought he was about to leave her forever. She couldn't bare that. So much of her life had been given up to being with him. To face the rest of her life without him was terrifying. Where would she go? What would she do?
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