middaeg | . summer's play

[All around him, both monsters and witches alike delight in muted festivities beneath the aurora. Dimitri has, as the night progressed, taken to watching bonded pairs, families, and solitary observers with comparable awe.

He appreciates the ease with which these people mingle. It's not a lonely feeling... rather, a hopeful one.

A group of children weave through the street, catching cometflies in glass jars. It's quite a collected, corked and stored any way the kids could manage to carry them. A few clatter to the ground, forgotten in the exhilaration of their game, he supposes.

Without thinking, he bends to pick one up - a small red glow waxing and waning calmly inside.

He approaches the first lone child he sees and offers the trinket forward with a smile he hopes is as friendly as he intends.] It seems some of your friends have started a collection...

Would you like one?

Edited 2020-04-03 02:06 (UTC)

[What are the chances that the first lone child he saw would have the symbol of the Black Eagles sewn on like a badge on her chest? Maybe it's just a coincidental black eagle, though. Even with the case of Lysithea to push down the boundary, she looks too young for the Officers Academy and she doesn't seem to recognize Dimitri even a little.

Regardless, it appears he succeeded on his friendly smile roll, because Leslie returns it with a smile of her own, though her face really brightens in excitement when she sees the jar of cometfly.]

Oh, so they're catching them...but is it really okay if I do take it? I've learned a little about how to look after pets, but I never thought of having an insect as a pet before.

[She places one hand on one cheek as she thinks, which is particularly noticeable because the index and middle fingers of that hand are glowing softly yellow thanks to a previous cometfly landing.]

[Too enamored with the girl's smile, Dimitri hasn't noticed the eagle emblazoned on her chest. The glow of the cometfly illuminates only the lower portion of her face, and the soft yellow hue on the girl's fingers seems to fill his eyes.]

I admit, I'm not sure how to care for it. [He looks at the small, delicate thing in his hand, and offers it forward once again.]

Perhaps you could keep it as a friend for the night, and let it go when the sun rises?

[As they speak the sky lights up, a bright ray of rainbow flowing through the view before fading back to a dull glimmer.]

[With that idea, Leslie does accept the offered jar, her smile managing to get even a little bigger.]

Just for one night can't hurt. [too bad tomorrow morning she's going to wake up and think she killed it until she finds someone who has realized cometflies all die the morning after but for now she's really happy]

It's like a little lamp, but with a prettier colour and [she giggles a little] a little friend inside, like you said. Thank you, Sir, um.

[She realizes that she doesn't know his name, but when the sky lights up, she decides introductions can wait for a moment. She's completely lost her words as she watches, fascinated, the colours through the sky.]

It's so pretty.... I wonder if this happens every year?

[~~Poor girl.~~

Dimitri follows the line of the child's gaze, watching as the sky is overtaken by rainbow lights before fading gently back into its marvelous hues. A few meteors flash, stark against the darkening backdrop, but he has no wish that stars could grant.]

I don't know.

But I have heard that sometimes, if you wish very hard when you see a bright meteor, it will come true.

Do you have one? [Introductions can come later - it may not be polite to draw out the conversation between strangers, but Dimitri cares more for the look in the girl's eyes when she sees the stars than for making himself known.]

A wish....

[Leslie stays staring at the sky for a moment, but she realizes she's probably being impolite and turns to look at him again.]

I have a lot of wishes. Although even if something like that works in Aefenglom, it would have to be for something that can happen here, wouldn't it?

[She glances up at the sky again before returning to look at him.]

I'm mostly happy with how things are for me here. Maybe I would wish I was good enough with magic that I could do anything useful with it. [She pauses for a moment before her expression becomes a mix of anxious and guilty.] No, I should wish for something like the people of the Outer City being given a Bright Wall, too, shouldn't I? Even if things are good for me, I shouldn't forget that others have more important needs than me.

[She sure did feel guilty for thinking only of herself when her wish for herself was about becoming more useful for others.]

[Such a practical kid, thinking through the limitations of her wish. It's a bit sad, that she no longer thinks anything possible with the kind of confidence only a child could possess. Dimitri keeps his smile as warm as he can manage.

But his eyes lose a bit of their spark.

He breaks her gaze, looking up towards the display of stars and falling celestial bodies.

Wishing to be useful. Wishing for the safety of others. Maybe he should hazard a silly little plea to the stars himself for the same.

Without turning back, he plops himself down on the ground next to her, knees bent and posture awkward - he's not accustomed to such a casual way of sitting.] You know, there are so many stars falling tonight.

I think it's safe to wish for both, and whatever else you'd like too.

How about I join you? [It feels silly to wish alone, so he simply makes it into a child's game-

For his own sake, mostly.] I'd like to wish to be stronger myself, and to do my family proud.

Also... I'd like a new set of boots. [Something petty and small - to encourage the girl to make her own little indulgences.]

[Leslie takes ~~over a month~~ a moment to respond, blinking at him for a moment, but at the end, a laugh leaks out, though she soon covers it with a hand.

A new set of boots. What a thing to use some kind of mystical wish on. It certainly lightens up her expression from the guilt on it before.]

Do you really want boots that badly?

[It seems to have had the desired effect, though, and when she looks up for the next shooting star, she makes the wishes with a smile. She still says them completely earnestly, though.]

There! I wish that there will be funds for the Outer City to be covered by a Bright Wall.

[She waits for the next star to fall.] I wish that I was good enough with magic that I could help people with it.

And for myself... [She trails off, her smile fading into mild confusion.] And for myself...um.

[She doesn't know what she should want for herself. She's already living a better life than she'd ever imagined until a month before she arrived in Aefenglom. She tries to think of something, but all she ends up doing is looking uncertain.]

[Her excitement puts a smile back on Dimitri's face. He listens to her earnest wishes - still for the benefit of others - and leans closer when she calms to wish for herself. As if offering to let the idea be a secret between them.

More easily whispered than shouted to the stars above.

When a moment passes and she says nothing, Dimitri looks to her face. Conflict, frustration- He hadn't intended for this.] It's alright if you don't know.

Sometimes it's hard to think of yourself, when so many other people are in need. I understand that, as well.

You're very kind.

[Leslie turns a little red at the comment. She's certainly gotten many more compliments since she arrived in Aefenglom, but she's still not used to them.]

That's a little -- I already have almost everything I could want here, if it's something purely selfish. If I wanted hot chocolate, the people who work at DiplomaTea don't even always let me pay for it. If I wanted a book to read, there are a lot available to me, and I even have people who will help me with parts that I don't understand. Even when I was only in the dream before arriving, someone already told me that I could stay with her if I ended up in Aefenglom.

[She smiles a little and holds up the bottle with a red glowing cometfly in it that Dimitri had given her.]

And I got given a cute light like this just now. [Her expression returns to something a little more serious.] So...asking for more than what I have now feels ungrateful.

. summer's play

. leslie

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sorry for disappearing! if this is too old feel free to wait for a later thread

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