capeandcowllogs | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

WHO: Look at the tags
WHERE: Starting at ~~his~~ ~~her~~ ~~their place~~ the MAC, around town, out of town, the surface of the sun
WHEN: Sometime after this but before this
WARNINGS: no
WHAT: Zelgadis takes some advice.
WORDS: yes

It was afternoon; shining was the sun, cold was the air, and doing nothing in particular was Terra, sitting by a closed window. Her expression and mood were not easy to read, especially turned toward the glass as she was, which at the very least meant she was neither bubbling over with joy nor bawling her eyes out for sorrow. Presently, she felt--well, if you asked her, Terra wouldn't be able to answer, either. Emotions were a complicated subject.

So for now, she was focused halfway between herself and the mundane action of a couple laughing teenagers pretending to be giant robots and chasing pigeons.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Zelgadis' gaze did a bit of a double-take as she moved in and puzzled at him. The edge of his mouth tugged as he swallowed, knots tightening in his gut.

"Like I said...It's not so crowded. There's some water, a little bit of forest-"

And, from what she knew about this world, a distinct lack of large monsters. ... Maybe he wants to go fishing? she wondered, attention moving back to the map. It was the only thing she could think of. She knew he sometimes took trips out of the City, but never really caught what for. In that case, it made more sense. If he wanted her to go along, it was probably more out of a desire to not leave her on her own. After all, she had her magic back, and with Illidan still in the City...

Terra's fingers tapped quietly on the surface of the table, her lips pinched together for her concentration, before she finally nodded, confusion dissipating for the moment. "Okay."

He grimaced a little, straightening up. "Unless that's...not anything interesting. I'm not trying to..." What? Be pushy? Wasn't the whole outing thing crossing a line, anyway?

He waved at the atlas quickly. "You can pick somewhere else, if you want, I mean."

And confusion came slamming right back like a mace. Better to just go with what he had in mind in the first place, she figured; answers, if they existed, would turn up later. Probably.

Terra shook her head, waving a hand dismissively. "No, that's okay," looking up his way with a reassuring smile. "This is fine."

Her assurance was permission to breathe again, now running on a rush of adrenaline that came with the fear of being pushy, screwing it all up before barely getting underway. It would've been so much easier if it was Lina, even Amelia - people whose opinions he was already certain of. Not the case at the moment.

"Then...If that's okay--" Zelgadis took a step backward, turning and moving to retrieve what he'd left sitting on the middle of the floor. "Is now alright?"

An easy nod, though she spoke when she realized he wasn't looking her way. "Yeah, let me get my shoes and stuff." Both were easy enough; her high-heel boots were near the door, and 'stuff' — that is, her waist-wrap of more scarves than an amateur magician and its hidden packs and pockets — lay over the back of the couch. She grabbed the latter of the two as she passed, wrapping and tying the colored fabrics around her waist by the time she reached her shoes.

As she slipped on the first and slipped fingers around laces, she added, "do we need anything else?"

Zelgadis tried to mind his own business, slinging the bag over his shoulder again and fidgeting with the belt that held his sword for lack of any other business to mind. His head snapped to attention at the sound of her voice, taking a couple seconds to think it over.

"No, I don't think so."

And with the second tied, she let her foot drop to the floor with a click of her heel. "Ready," was her useless pronouncement, hands resting on her hips.

Okay.

Zelgadis nodded, then proceeded to stand there and stare back at her a bit blankly for a moment before he blinked, suddenly unsure.

"Are...we flying there or are you going to-?"

"I can." Her slim shoulders rose and fell in an absent shrug, before she moved back toward Zelgadis. "You're ready then?"

Right...Zelgadis remembered this one. Or...hallucinated it. Whatever. He swallowed, nodding and straightening up. When she came over, he glanced down, positioning his feet toe-to-toe with hers, face set with the sheer effort of not screwing up or doing anything ridiculous, of which breathing seemed to be part of the list. He was holding his breath.

Zelgadis was just full of surprises today; Terra had to resist the urge to blink at him even more. Proximity helped, but it wasn't necessary, and she hadn't actually told it was — or how this sort of pose made it easier than if they were side by side, or anything.

With an inhale, Terra let the warm power of magic flood over her arms and whiten her hands in a bright glow, spreading around them at "Warp!" She closed her eyes as her vision got blotchy in the move, and in a moment the two of them disappeared.

The location that Zelgadis had picked out wasn't one he'd actually been to, so expectations weren't wholly set outside of vacant, green, and with some presence of water. They were a little off, but not by much; it was a whole lot of open land groomed for raising corn, fairly barren and unattended as it wasn't yet the season for growing. Zelgadis flew them the remainder of the way, and it wasn't far at all before they hit a tree line. It wasn't the densest of wooded places, but it was enough for cover if it was too bright, light enough to wander around in without tripping over every root or shrub on the ground. Homes weren't more than a handful of miles away, either, so there wasn't a complete sense of seclusion.

It wasn't terrible, though. Hell, it was miles better than the endless noise of the city they'd warped out of. If anything good came out of the trip, at least a little sense of peace was possible...

That mindset was what kept Zelgadis' feet from dragging and his head from drooping. He was actually...well, a bit excited in a fearful way that they were actually doing something out of the norm, possibly devoid of some kind of miserable conflict. He definitely didn't want to jinx that.

There sure as hell wasn't a lot of high ground, though...

The spell gave Terra a momentary sense of vertigo when they landed, but — strangely enough — the pause of flight, removed from the ground, was able to get Terra's feet beneath her steady when they returned to ground.

It was sunny, with patchy clouds; the weather was fair, with little chance for rain, but chill enough to keep people indoors. Of course, cold really wasn't much a factor for either of them, with stone skin for Zelgadis and a body temperature naturally cranked higher and more resistant to change than a normal human for Terra.

The land was ordinary enough, and the woods tame. They walked on. The strangest thing was how, not quiet for sound it was out here, but quiet for magic, too. In the MAC there was always that mild flux of foreign powers on every floor, some stale from mages long since departed, some not, but served as much background noise as electricity and traffic. In the City itself, that concentration dimmed, but never entirely vanished. Now, the only magic she could sense was the two of them, alone, for miles and miles. It was surreal, and the realization was written on her face, somewhere between overwhelmed by the natural world, and a sense of wonder the trees around them didn't deserve.

It wasn't completely the way Zelgadis had pictured the place, but was forgivable enough if he could find some kind of alternative. The loud snap of plastic in a brief breeze was a continual reminder that they couldn't just amble on aimlessly for too long...The ice cream would melt.

"Here," he said after a time. Fallen trees were as good as anything, and he could hear water not far away. He shrugged off the bag and sat, leaning down and fishing through it.

Terra still hadn't learned what the hell Zelgadis had in that bag. So while he was rifling through it, Terra went to sit as well, not bothering to hide her curiosity, leaning his way and trying to catch a peek of what was inside.

One carton of chocolate, as Abby had recommended, was slowly thawing, dripping wet because of it. A handful of spoons, individually wrapped, ganked out of the basket they'd been in at that convenience store. They were supposed to be for soup-buyers, but what did he know of that. He pulled one out and held it out for her without looking, one more pressed against the carton as he palmed it to lift it out.

He was treating this a bit more formally than he ought to, but he needed something to focus on to keep from assuming how ridiculous he must've seemed.

Her attention was more on the carton than the spoons, so there was a second's delay before she took it from his offered hand. Sure, Terra recognized what it was he was opening, but ice cream wasn't something she'd ever bothered to try before. Now it seemed she'd have that chance.

It was really no surprise that she was reminded of her birthday, nearly six months ago. Hopefully neither of them would end the week in feathers, she thought, but there was a wonder as to the occasion. Was it his birthday? She'd never asked, and he'd never mentioned it.

Maybe the birthday of a spine in some regards, sure, but not any other birthday of mention. Abby said dessert food could help, and Zelgadis trusted her judgment as a girl who knew what the hell was going on in the world - and also girls. So even if Terra was more than a little strange more often than not, she was still a girl. There had to be a constant he could fall back on, right?

Right?

He sure as hell hoped so, because he wasn't sure how much more self-inflicted awkwardness he could stand anymore.

The carton was set on his lap, thumbnails picking at the lid until it tore enough to open, convenient little tear strip completely unnoticed. He peeled the plastic film off the top, setting it on top of the bag he then set his foot on to keep it from drifting away. He moved the carton in-between them.

"Here."

For once, he'd gotten lucky. Terra had to scoot in closer to actually reach the carton, soup spoon pinched between two knuckles, but she didn't show any obvious signs of wariness or uncertainty. Sure, she was still a little confused about the whole affair—who wouldn't be?—but she wasn't dragging her heels in the ground asking why at every pause still. At least, not yet.

Her scrape of the spoon across the top of the ice cream was a smooth, easy motion for how soft it was getting. Not quite past losing form, or becoming a carton of cream soup, but it wasn't carrying the 'ice' in that title very well. The confection itself was sweet, and good. Better than the cake, she thought.

Spoon hanging in her mouth, Terra looked up at Zelgadis with a mild, amused question to her eyebrows. He wasn't expecting her to eat this whole thing alone, was he?

Zelgadis was unwrapping his own spoon while she took her test taste. He caught her look out of the corner of his eye once he'd balled up the plastic, turning his head.

"Any good?" he asked, not waiting for the answer before picking at it with his own spoon.

It was an "mm," but a positive one, spoon coming out for the clarifying "yeah." She waited for him to get out of the carton before sliding for a second taste. "I've never had it before, but..."

He made a sound in reply, spoon in mouth. Jeez, that's a lot of chocolate...

"Me either," he said. "Never by itself, at least..."

"No?" She gestured a little his way with the spoon when she spoke, once the dessert had been cleared from it. "What did you have it with?"

He had to think about it, rolling his eyes up to recall. He looked back down, expression almost as dry as his reply.

"...Everything, I think. When Lina orders..."