middaeg | [closed] 🔶 such a lovely place, such a lovely face

[Rikku leans into the kiss on her cheek and giggles lightly, happy for the closeness. Whether she'll admit it not, this kind of mushiness is very effective on her--Sisters or not.

Her expression shifts to pure wonder as they arrive to a world she thought she'd never see. She breaks away from Ferran to run ahead, tossing her no-longer-necessary coat as she does so, so that she can take in every sight and sound around her. It's Home, but it's so much more than that. It's what Home was back in the days before Sin, back when the Al Bhed weren't constantly fighting against the other Spiran races and could live peacefully and prosper.

It's everything she wished she and her people could have. And for tonight, it's hers.

She turns to Ferran, eyes a bit misty.]

How did you...?

[She's not fully sure how to finish that question. How did he know? How did he do it?

Words suddenly too difficult, she instead runs back and wraps her arms around him tightly.]

Thank you. Thank you so much.

[Giddy at the sight of her impatience to see his work, Ferran manages to lunge forward just in time to catch her coat from hitting the ground with the help of his wings' fluttering. It's stupid not to use them, after all, and he briefly thinks about testing them further and bringing it up with Rikku, but...

For a brief moment, all the Fae moods disappear as a tendril of worry from Ferran's core shoots upward, and a genuine expression of surprise comes to his face, mixed with hesitation. He holds his breath without realizing. Was it too much, did he get it wrong—

But thankfully, she rushes forward into his arms and thanks him, and the reassurance brings his brighter mood back, the tension in his posture disappearing. He lets out a chuckle, returning the embrace wholeheartedly.]

You're welcome... I'm guessing that means you like it?

[Although part of it is their continued teasing at the sight of those teary eyes, the worry from before hasn't disappeared. Not that he'll admit to it right now, though.]

[Rikku pulls back, wiping at her eyes a bit but smiling ear to ear.]

Yes! It's great. I just got... emotional and stuff, seeing Bikanel like this.

[She rubs at her eyes again, suddenly self-conscious at the way this illusion has affected her. There's so much she can say about how all of this makes her feel, a touch sad at once was, more than a touch hopeful for the Spira and the Al Bhed's future, and very, very touched at the personalization. Ferran did this for her.

It makes her feel exceptionally special.

That, however, would require more talking about her feelings than she'd like at the moment. So instead, she focuses on merely enjoying the illusion while it lasts.]

Plus it's warm. I'm so sick of the cold and wet and gross weather. Come on, you should warm up too!

[Rikku takes Ferran's hand and pulls him in toward the oasis.]

[Complicated feelings aren't the type that Ferran is interested in at the moment, and although that could easily change, he's happy to let the topic change as they head inside the gates.]

I am tired of the cold.

[Informing her that his illusions have done nothing to change the temperature for him would be letting her see too far past the carefully crafted scene, and invite far too many questions. He'll let her believe what she'd like to believe—for the most part. The differences between sand and dirt are unimportant, but masking any physical dangers could easily be a danger itself.]

Are you hungry, or should we work up an appetite first?

[What's a little hypothermia between Bondmates?

Rikku will notice that it's not actually that warm eventually. For now, she follows Ferran easily to the change in subject.]

That depends. What kind of 'working up an appetite' did you have in mind?

[The question could be interpreted as flirtatious, if Rikku had thought to make it that way. In actuality, the question is because she legitimately can't figure out what he's thinking.]

[Thinking he had something specific in mind would be generous; she's about right with not knowing what he's thinking, given how quickly he's been moving from one notion to the next.]

I'm sure we could come up with something. A game, maybe.

[He's only vaguely using we in a collaborative sense, and the word game is equally in question. Fae games aren't known for their universal enjoyability.]

[Remember how Rikku decided to throw caution to the window, re: the fact that Ferran has gone Full Fae? Yeah, that's still happening.]

What kind of game? A game before dinner sounds fun.

[If both his hands were free, he would have clapped them together in delight, but the spark of emotion is clear enough through their bond regardless, and his eyes light up. He is being given too much power.]

How do you feel about a scavenger hunt?

[Rikku feels the spark and grins. She should prooooobably be a bit wary, but the excitement is too much for her. The adrenaline of playing fast and loose is intoxicating, and the bond makes it that much moreso.]

A scavenger hunt sounds great! Let's do it.

Do I need to cover my eyes or anything while you get it ready?

[There certainly is a significant feedback loop happening. Thankfully, there's not much to prepare with what he has in mind—nothing physical, anyway.]

Oh, no need, here—

[The Fae slides behind her, placing his hands over her eyes himself, and within a few seconds the space has transformed once again: a multi-tiered maze of hedges and walls greets her eyes once he frees them, although they still match the Bikanel theme.]

If you can find my six pets, you get... a prize.

[She's probably familiar enough with the little vegetable-creatures by now, and they with her, so at the very least they're unlikely to flee too far if they meet. However, two of them are birds and one of them is a squirrel, so they could be in inconvenient places. The mouse and salamander aren't incapable of scurrying into small spaces, either, so really, only Pluto the cabbage dog is restricted to easily-grabbed ground level...

Ferran isn't leaving her side, of course. He has to make sure nothing real gets knocked over.]

[Of course he's on top of it. He's a fae on the full moons with a metric crap-ton of fae illusions up his sleeve. It feels as if his only limits are those of his imagination, not his ability.

Whether or not that's actually the case is irrelevant right now.

Rikku almost asks what the prize is, but she stops herself. He isn't going to tell her, and she knows that. So instead, she gives him a kiss on the cheek and a grin.]

I'm on it!

[And into the maze she goes, walking slowly and examining her surroundings closely to try and distinguish greenery that belongs to the hedges from greenery that belongs to the little vegetable-animals.]

[With a pleased chuckle, Ferran lets her go without further instruction, and though he remains by her side, the nature of the illusion allows him to slip through the "walls" to occasionally disappear and reappear. He's never gone from her sight for very long.

Ares, at least, is easy enough to distinguish from the green, his name inspired by the reddish sweet potato color, and Pluto's whitish leaves keep him from blending in. The latter is certainly the most friendly of the lot, regardless, and it's only a short while after she starts her search that the creature comes running towards the familiar girl, letting out a few happy yips.

The Fae's hunt wasn't going to be a simple affair otherwise, if just because of the objective, but that doesn't mean he wasn't going to add another twist to the affair; when turning a corner, if Rikku is too slow to dodge, she might find herself assaulted with a sudden face full of rose petals and glittery powder out of nowhere.]

Hi Pluto!

[Rikku is quickly distracted by the good veggie boy, stopping to crouch and pet him. It's not quite the same as burying her hands into a real dog's fur, but it's close enough for her tastes.]

Are you going to help me find everyone else? Of course you are.

[He probably isn't, but he's happy to tag along! And that's what matters.

Once she gets that out of her system, Rikku continues into the maze... only to be blasted in the face with glitter almost immediately.]

Ferran! That's not fair!

[She's whining more than anything, and Ferran should know her well enough to know the difference.]

[At least Pluto's tongue is significantly less wet, so that's probably a bonus...

Either way, the sound of the Fae's snickering seems to have no origin immediately following the dust-and-petaling, before he ducks back into sight around a different corner. There's nothing sticky involved, thankfully, other than glitter being notoriously difficult to remove from anything...]

Who said anything about being fair? [Not him, that's for sure.] Five more to go...

Boooo!

[Pluto gives a bark, which Rikku chooses to believe is him taking her side and not just a reaction to her loud and sudden noise.]

You're lucky I like you so much.

[She brushes the dust off her face and dress, then spies a fluttering in the distance. It's probably Diana, so she runs off after the sparrow.]

I won't argue that.

[Ferran follows at his own pace, enjoying the sight of her playing his game with such enthusiasm—it's certainly the most a fairy could ask for, when building such a thing.

She's lucky that his pets like her, too, even if it's not a hard thing to accomplish: although the sparrow picks a relatively high perch when Rikku approaches, it chirps curiously down at her and stays where it's landed.

Despite whatever climbing may be necessary, the rest of the challenge is mostly about tracking down the plants rather than any trickery on Ferran's part. It is meant to be fun for her to some extent, after all, even if he could think of a dozen different ways to make it more interesting. So really, it's just a matter of time.]

[Rikku continuing in the hunt is evidence enough that despite all her whining, she's not really that upset about the glitterbomb. The worst consequence that Ferran will have to worry about is the possibility of retaliation at some point. The likelihood of Rikku rubbing some of the glitter onto his hair or clothing next time he gets too close is pretty high.

For now, however, she still has a sparrow to collect and three other animals to find. Fancy clothing be damned--Rikku scrambles up the hedge that the sparrow is perched upon.]

Hi there pretty girl.

[She reaches over to urge Diana to hop onto her hand. Instead, Diana takes flight just enough that she can resettle on Rikku's head. That works, too.

Rikku looks around for her fae host.]

Two down! It's a good thing they all like me, huh?

[Ferran is sitting nearby on a bench that may or may not have been there before, watching as he taps the tip of a shoe on the ground.]

It's hard not to, if you ask me.

[A rustling hoo emerges from somewhere nearby, and the Fae places his chin in his palm, smiling at the sound. He likes her so much, in fact, that he wouldn't even slightly be bothered by any glitter attacks on his hair, despite his usual protectiveness over its style.]

Apparently Minerva agrees.

Awwww, listen to you.

[You got her to blush, Ferran! She kicks her feet a little from where she's seated, giggling, before she hops down to follow the source of the noise. Minerva is tucked into the foliage, not so high that Rikku can't reach in and gently grab her. There's a bit of resistance--surprise, not distrust--but soon she has a confused owl on her shoulder, a sparrow on her head picking at her hair, and an excited dog lapping circles around her.

All vegetation, of course.]

I'm going to run out of ways to carry them all at this right, you know.

[The laughter in her voice suggests that she doesn't exactly mind this predicament.]

[Ferran may or may not take a discreet picture of the scene with his watch—not that he'd let that motion show through with the illusions, of course. It's such an adorable sight that he couldn't bear to let it go without some attempt at preservation, even if the surroundings are mundane in the camera's view.]

Oh?

[Neither of them consider it much of a problem in the first place, but fairness isn't exactly a main component of a Fae's morality, anyway, even if they happen to have one in the first place. His shrug is a little exaggerated, hands held out with his palms up.]

You have two hands, don't you?

[The last two are hardly large enough to need more than that.]

[If Rikku ever finds out that he snapped that photo, she's going to simultaneously die of embarrassment and be super touched by it. He likes her enough to memorialize her! That's wonderful and also full of aaaaaah feelings.

She responds to his exaggerated shrug by sticking her tongue out at him. It's difficult to pull off while she's still laughing.]

I guess so. And I can always put one of them on Pluto's back if I have to.

[Pluto barks and runs a circle around her, just happy to be included.]

Back to the hunt, then!

[Rikku puffs her chest out and continues into the maze.]

Recruiting your targets to do the dirty work. I see...

[At this point, Ceres has finally decided to investigate the ruckus and where the others have gone, making the job of finding her easy, even if getting to her might require some creative movement over what appears to be a pit of something unpleasantly sticky. At least there are a few footholds near the hedges of the maze, as unsteady as they may be...

Ares, meanwhile, has decided to scuttle around Ferran's ankles. The Fae remains silent about that fact, lest he give Rikku any unearned clues.]

Hey, a girl has to use all the tools she has you know.

[She's not even a little sorry.

Ceres makes her appearance known, and Rikku starts moving toward her. She tunnel-visions, stepping into the goop before she even realizes it's there.]

Oh, ew!

[If Rikku were a better problem=solver and less of a stubborn teenager, she would have backtracked and investigated her surroundings, finding the footholds provided. She's more than able to climb around the muck using them, given her athletic ability.

What she does instead is try to trudge through it, figuring she's already in it and might as well. As a result, she ends up stuck halfway through. Undeterred, she bends down to try and pull a leg free. It doesn't budge, and eventually she loses her balance and ends up falling backwards into it.

So much for looking pretty. Realizing her predicament, she looks over to where Ferran's perched.]

...whoops?

[The Fae has perched himself on top of a nearby hedge, salamander scuttling across his shoulder as he restrains his giddy laughter poorly. The sight is ridiculous, only made more so by the fact that he can see the reality of Rikku floundering in nothing at all. It's no longer any wonder why fairies are so delighted by their own tricks.]

What's that saying? Fight smarter, not harder...?

[He gently taps an eager-looking Ares on the head to keep him from moving down to Rikku immediately, wanting to prolong the game just a little bit.]

Need some help?

It's not funny!

[It's hilarious. Rikku will come around later, when she realizes she's not actually covered in goop. And when Ferran's close enough that she can punch him in the arm for the trouble.]

If I knew how to make illusions, you'd be sorry. I'm going to start learning how, just you wait and see.

[PRANK WARS: COMING SOON.

She tries, and fails, to get up.]

...

Also yeah, I need help.

[closed] 🔶 such a lovely place, such a lovely face

Ferran please.

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