The Room where it happens (open catch all!)

[weirdnecro]

Who: Sokie and you!
When: All month
Where: All over the city and on the outskirts
What: Open starters for Sokie as she tries to be productive!
Warnings: TBA



I: Parliament

[There was a lot of listening on Sokie's part, which may have seemed unusual for those who Kew her. Usually she was chatty, filled with charm and wit- but in Parliament, she dressed in a formal business suit and took notes (and also doodled). In exiting a meeting, she paused outside of the building and took a few moments to stretch. Her butt felt sore for sitting still so long.]

My butt hurts. I guess this is why I've always turned down a desk job.

[She needed to do some yoga and have a run. And a bath.]

II: Radio Hour

[Anyone and everyone could call or text in, but Sokie would stay on voice since...well, she was on the morning hour with her radio advice show. Which was on right now, live.]

Hello dear listener, welcome to An Undertaking with Undertown. What question can I answer today?

III: Teaching Magic

[She left a notice on te boards again. It wasn't good last month, by this time...maybe She could help some of the newbies learn their magic or how to counter it.

She asked them to meet at the entry of Haven, and after some introductions, things would move on from there. Well. She got to the point really.]

So, what do you want to learn today?

IV: A different kind of practice

[It was true she had a baton, but it was the kidnapping and speaking to Sephiroth that was a wake up call. Heck, she might have even been denying it, since the snow storm.

But she found a smithy and was going through the weapons, one by one, trying to find which would suit her best. So far, nothing really caught her eye but...she found one, and lightly twirled tin in one hand.]

It feels nicer but I think I need to put this through its paces.

...hey. You wouldn't mind going for a round, right?

[Sorry curious customer and or passerby. Sokie wants a smol fite.]

V: A moment of quiet

[She was in a corner of a cafe, or maybe just in Diplomatea. As usual, there were books around her, papers of various formulae, but she seemed more interested in her tea or coffee then she was in her work. Seeing someone nearby, she made a beckoning motion with her hand.]

Don't worry, I can move my stuff. Why don't you come sit?

VI: Wildcard

All other options, including hunting outside of the city can be done here! Any questions, comments, can be directed to my discord or at my plurk!

Comments

[weirdnecro]

[It was a low blow, and it was a rude one too. And he'd been trying to make sure that he'd be able to keep up and bypass Sokie when it came to the fitness routine so she didn't hurt her fist that much.

But hey. He sounded better too, going to show that Sokie could work miracles, given the right amount of time and incentive.]

Show? What show? I'm going to bed early, that's all that's happening.

[That's a lie and a half, and she grunts and she finds herself swept up and leaning against him, as he's had her do all night since he returned to her, sometimes squeezing to the point of making her ribs feel as if they wanted to fuse together.]

But you could have just set them on the kitchen table. But it was lovely. I see you miss story time.

[She leaned up then, and honked him on the nose.]

It was fun. The shopkeepers were more then happy to tease me, Especially about the Lucky Charms. I really hope none of them try to make that here. It'd be weird to have these here. They might infuse them with something weird, and then I'd have to blame you.

[A beat. Two, and she smiled at him-one of her real smiles, not the lazy careless smile, without a seeming care in the world. The sincere one.]

But really, it was cute.

[mirshikar]

[ 'Cute', huh? Now that's a word seldom used when describing anything in relation to him, Asura who is both lofty and unbridled in his stark lack of inhibition— the way he drinks, fights, fucks as he will, with his head held high as he laughs and snarls, is anything at all but cute. And maybe that's why he finds himself positively charmed by that little disclosure of hers, and by the smile she'd worn while making it. That half-moon curve of her lips? It's a fixture of the present, if he ever saw one, the expression reaching the green of her eyes in a way which can make him forgive the butt-punch and the nose honk.

(As though forgiveness were needed in the first place. Like he isn't flattered that Sokie can't seem to keep her hands off of him, one way or another. ) ]

You're glowing, you know. [ With her phosphorous eyes and moonshine grin. But had she realized it for herself? Prrrooobably not, so leave it to Asura to call her wholehearted presence and vivacity in the moment to attention. Affectionate and low in the throat, the rumblings of his laugh as he bows his head, catches the corner of Sokie's mouth in a kiss which is... Not lusty (for goddamn once). Not precisely chaste (Asura, he's not one for pure intentions). But overjoyed, in Asura's own way. ] Guess I really did show you a good time, after all, and I didn't even need to be present for it.

[ Damn, what a cheeky thing to say. ] There'll be a knock off of the cereal circulating the city before the month is through, don't you worry. Already asked the guy who helped me bring puffed, sugar-covered oats and marshmallows to life if he couldn't also make them magically delicious. Literally.

[ Aaah, aaah, Asura you trouble maker. Not every food should function like a goblin fruit (or should it?!). ]

But before you go and blame me like you said— [ It's okay, really. He deserves it! Totally!! ] —aren't you going to ask me about the lock first?

[ Because that's why she'd found him, hadn't she? To hear him out, and to share in close proximity all the while? Or... could it be that she's aware already, of what Lucchetti dell'Amore means? And maybe, she's waiting for the right moment to brandish the lock and key, speaking unto him how she could or she couldn't for reasons all her own.

(Whatever it is, he knows she won't shy away from it. She's met him here, and Sokie Undertown never does anything halfway.) ]

[weirdnecro]

[Yeah, there was nothing personally cute about Asura. But the gesture was cute. Not in the way that was demeaning, but it was sweet, and charming and...lovely. And yes, something that may earn her a few cuddles here and there. And no, that was not to make up for the butt-punch and nose honk, because she had no regrets about doing that.]

Figuratively or literally?

[Sometimes, she wasn't sure. She was sure she had done some weird things before, and sometimes, even despite her control, there were effects that got away from her. She moved to look at her hand, and got surprised with the kiss.

Aw. Cute, again. Though arrogant too.]

Also, I hope you're lying because I am fine with making breakfast. Having that in the house is not worth getting off of breakfast duty. Seriously. You'll both rot your teeth right out of your heads.

[So no, she doesn't want you to encourage that!!! Seriously! And before she can go off on scolding him, he brings up the lock.

Ah.

She wondered about that.]

I was hoping you would bring it up. I want to hear what you have to say about it.

[mirshikar]

It's part of a human tradition, the lock, one meant to symbolize a promise. [ —she bids him to speak and he delivers, and perhaps it's of no true surprise at all that the very first gift which Sokie had received (that heart-shaped padlock, the dragon and the amaranth) should be the most important.

And while he knows she'll be able to infer the rest (what sort of promise, the one thing to do with a lock), Asura doesn't stop there, knowing that Sokie? She'll want more than just that. Need more, too, despite it being a Valentine's day where they stand together as womanfriend and manfriend, pressed flush against one another in embrace as Winter's brisk wind rolls off of the water below to catch in their hair and bite at their skin.

A good thing, that Asura's back to running pleasurably warm again thanks to Sokie. And that heat of his? He'd share it with her always. Does so now, even as he continues on: ] Young lovers adorn padlocks with their names and affix them to monuments in the hope that their feelings will withstand the test of time, no different from the statues or relics they become a part of.

[ In some cities, such an act is vandalism, and in others, it's a prized installation of art, but to Asura... Tradition is his sanity, and promises are his lifeblood. The former, tethering him to humanity, the latter always filled with all the emotion he could muster. ]

And though this bridge is no monument, and we ourselves are the relics, I'd planned to ask you, Sokie Undertown— [ The person he's contested and fought with, dropped everything to go on the run with. The one who he'd embraced vulnerability for. The mage responsible for his acceptance of magic. The woman who he held (and had been held by in return) every night for the better part of their detour in Talam. Sokie, who flustered and flushed even as she called him dumb jock and dork like they were teenagers despite once holding enough power to destroy the whole damn world. ] —will you place our lock here with me, over the river Temese?

The smithing was done by my hand, along with the enchantment which'll keep it from tarnishing. [ And resist the elements, a reminder that they existed. That they were here, together and stronger for it.

Huffing out a breath that turns to crystalline cloud-vapors in the cold, Asura locks his gaze with Sokie's own, grinning like he never has, because this is new territory for the both of them, uncharted as it is vast. And it's thrilling, isn't it? Almost as much so as the moment when he'd turned and saw her standing upon the bridge. ] By all accounts, it'll last longer than my teeth do after consuming too many sweets and not enough of your cooking.

[ A laugh!:] But if you no longer want me when I'm all out of dragon fang, that's what the key is for. A failsafe.

[ Because human hearts, they can change. And it's ever her choice, her decision to make. ]

[weirdnecro]

[She's quiet as she listens. She thought that there may be something about it, something important to it-a symbol, meaningful and needful, for manfriend and womanfriend, what their relationship could become.

Or what it is. She's quiet, not interjecting as he explains, how they were a tradition, a public declaration of L O V E for all to see, a promise that he wants to show the world, and...

She remembers the piercing blue eyes, the shining declaration of love. The request to be a muse, to stay, to be for them, to be theirs...

A beloved possessive obsession. Nothing gold will stay.

She can feel something drain from her, and she doesn't feel warm or cold or anything as she thinks, for far too long as to what her answer will be. ]

If I am to understand you, this is to stand in place like teenagers would crave a heart and their initials in a tree? Or more that it would stand in place as a promise ring?

[He lives for promises and traditions, and he seeks to lock her within them. Is that how it is?]

[mirshikar]

[ Sokie, she's gone quiet, and Asura hopes she won't go and disappear into her head (too late), and in an attempt to draw her out of memory (because that's where she's slipped away to, hasn't she?) and into the present, he sees her jostled with a bump of hip against hip. Redirecting, playful, and damnably gentle all. Whatever she's feeling, it's okay, but there's no way for him to know what's coursing through her mind (benumbing her emotions) unless she talks to him.

And when she poses that question, there's really only one thing he can say: ]

Was thinking that it could stand for us. [ Their partnership, their balance, their arguments. Their give and take. ] Because you and me, the hell of a one-two punch that we make?

We can last, and we can fight our way through anything. [ Through others and through each ofter, if need be. And as for the latter... well, Sokie surely has to know that Asura thoroughly enjoys how hot-blooded she can be. ] And you can bet that I want all of Talam to know it.

[ Ostentatious as he is and always will be, except... in this moment when he quiets, and though the grin does not fade from his lips, his jovial spirits temper with the strength of this conviction: ]

To my kind, the idea of a tether is repugnant. Chains are to be broken, and locks are to be shattered, but... [ Bowing his head, he wonders if she'll meet his gaze. If she'd withdrawn from him again. ] We make promises, like this one, to honor and protect our freedom.

And when I'm with you? I am free. [ "No mages, no courts involved. Just us," Sokie had said once, and to be removed of it all (to have her just see him) had been exhilarating beyond anything. Mostly stubborn, she'd called him. A large flirt of a man, built beyond human endurance, but... still Asura. Always Asura, regardless of what he'd been made to be. ] But I'd only ever have you place the lock with me if you felt the same.

[ And that's what he's asking. If she can return this foreign, muted, profound feeling which teems alongside the anger in his furnace of a chest.

But even if she can't: ]

Just know that whatever direction you're running in, Sokie, I'm right there behind you.

[ So Sokie, let him know what you're thinking, huh? Alone in your head is no place to be, not on Valentine's day. ]

[weirdnecro]

[She felt the jostle, and it brought back her awareness. But the amused lilt in her eyes as gone, and not even the arch mage that circled around him cautiously on the roof is there.

This is something, someone else that isn't seen in public very often. If only because it shows how old she truly is, how inhuman she can be.]

You've been carried away by the holidays. I've spoiled you too much.

[She sighs, as she continues.]

Another binding. One to be your shadow, another to be your public lover, and next..a ring I suppose, and children that cannot exist.

[She pulled away, but gently, even with her numbed state, the fire in her breast died out- or just waiting for the right moment to burn her to death.]

You have a funny way of showing gestures of love. Happy Valentine's Asura.

I'll leave the lock in your room.

[mirshikar]

All right. [ It's all right, that she'll return the lock to him. That she cares, now, to make the distinction between his room and her own, though since the beginning they'd only ever had one: theirs, shared on both good nights and rockier ones.

What isn't all right is this: ]

But something's got you eating your own words, Sokie Undertown. [ And he wants to know what it is, that emotion (memory, fear) that's got her pulling away from the person she is, even with the weight of her years. Immortality can dehumanize, this Asura knows to be true (is he not so too wedded to old record? centuries, he had spent waging war across Arcadia, and for decades, he had done the same in the mortal realm they both know), but it does not render life so unimportant and middling that someone (much less someone like Sokie) would renege on her word. ]

You said that you wanted respite, to be taken exactly as you are despite the madness that you come from. [ And she could know that, among Summer. Not because of the entitlement of Sun's Shadow, and not because of who she was to Asura, but because she is a friend to Changelings— a rare mage who'd no desire to harm their kind, only to help. ]

And out in the Wilde, you made me believe in a chance at a family. [ When she'd asked of him if he'd wanted children, with her, or at all. And it's funny, isn't it, how that memory had been a source of strength in the days he'd spent in the Rathmore's vile pit of stone, whereas now... Now, in this moment, it tastes like ash upon the tongue. Ash, where it had been happiness once. Still can be again, because like he'd said, they can last. Asura, he's certain of it. ] One with you.

[ Reaching out, he makes not to stay her from leaving, but to simply remind her of something important. And this? He sees it accomplished with the flat of his hand pressed gently between her shoulderblades even as she retreats from him. ]

So what is it, Sokie? What are you feeling that's making you turn your back on [ not him, and not even those things which she'd wanted, but ] yourself?

[weirdnecro]

[She just gave up on having a separate room, but...right now she needs space. Thank goodness for the expedition that was happening tomorrow; it would make it easier for her to process what she was thinking, and figure out what would be best to do. Maybe move out, and find a place of her own for awhile.]

I will apologize if I raised your hopes. I went through the process of possibilities and clearly I was wrong do so so. I shouldn't have done that.

[She couldn't bring herself to be angry. Not right now. His hand felt too hot through her clothes.]

I shouldn't have done that to myself. I feel...that I'm giving too much of myself. I'm being too submissive.

I'm not being myself. No-I'm following a pattern that I shouldn't follow. I'm giving, but while you give these gifts...

These tokens...are all they are.

Asura. Have you realized yet? That you give me nothing of yourself, that you do whatever you wish, even when I ask you not to?

The crown lays still upon your brow, and you already assume a bended knee from your tame mage.

[She holds up a hand.]

It's true I've respected your space, asked no questions, but you've never offered. The only thing I have from you is a story to tell me why you don't want me to do something.

So...I'm not the only one that needs some time to think.

[mirshikar]

Sounds an awful lot like you're conflating me with someone else.

[ A memory, a ghost. Perhaps the very one which had inspired her anger, virulent and cold, when they'd sojourned together out in the Wilde. ]

I've asked a lot of you, yes. To trust me. To be honest with me. But what I've never done is ask you to limit yourself because of me. [ No more than he has ever stood in the way of what she wanted to pursue most. ] The thing that I love most about you? It's how you're never potential and always kinetic. You're a force to be reckoned with, Sokie, but...

Maybe you're afraid that you won't be, someday. [ More so than ever here, in this world removed from the one (and many) that they know. Where Sokie is neither archmage nor necromancer, remaining bound to the limits of the city by the magic of the Bright Wall. That she is able to leave and claim her freedom from Aefenglom's confines for short periods of time is not enough, and it will never be for as long as her moments of liberation remained contingent upon a spell, but... It hadn't changed that which is intrinsic to her, no more than love would. ] That you'll become this "tame mage", the submissive person that you're not, because you went out on a limb and you allowed yourself to care.

You think too damn highly of me, you know. I wasn't sure that you'd come to the bridge today, and the nerves were nothing like I've ever felt. [ It's terrifying, and he gets it. Understands that opening up yourself to someone (being vulnerable to them) requires a strength which he hadn't possessed until he'd woken up and Sokie had held him close. ] But when you showed, I was elated. Over the moon. And I still am.

[ Because nothing could change it, the way every nerve in his body had lit up upon seeing her just minutes ago; how Sokie's smile had been real, true to herself (and incongruous with the face she wears now). ]

But if that is no more than a token to you, and if my want to share and build a future with you is a token as well, you're not the person I believed you to be.

[ And that notion? It hurts as much as withdrawing his hand, letting her go. ]

Yet... I can't think that's true. [ That everything they are is built on falsehood, a mistake. ] So I'll wait for you to decide who you are, Sokie Undertown.