pawnstorm | ( open ) mid-autumn in gisela

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( open ) mid-autumn in gisela

Who: Anyone who wants to celebrate Mid Autumn Festival!
When: Roughly 11th September to 17th September.
Where: Gisela
What: A log for those who wish to use their tickets during Mid Autumn Festival! You can still use this log for visits outside of this week too (as a catch-all) but the script is for the festivities. Basically what you can do is hang out at the Inn, at Gisela, or check out the island's hot springs!
Rating: Probably PG only for if a lantern catches fire or something.

[Welcome to Gisela, the floating sky islands above Gresser! Known for its mystic scenery, hot springs, and the fact that you nearly died the one time you had a dungeon here, Gisela could be considered a popular vacation spot. Or at least it should be, because Vietnam invested good money into this inn.

Inn, you say? Yes, after the defeating the dungeon, Vietnam bought a business here, an inn near the hot springs, Dragon's Flight and Phoenix Dance. A normally quaint inn, it has transformed to offer more festivities. Staff will welcome you with elaborate fruit displays they will put in your room for you to admire (and eat). You may also like to sign up for mooncake making sessions, where you will be able to make mooncakes together with your friends and family! Share a moment with them, and then share the mooncake. Nice.

Lanterns are strung up, leading you out towards the gardens. The inn itself doesn't have a lot of space for A GREAT FESTIVAL, but on certain nights, there will be lion dancing and a few stalls opened up to sell souvenirs, all handcrafted thanks to Vietnam's instruction. Now, lion dancing usually consist of two or more people under a lion costume, however, some generous NPCs have lent them some tame magical lion beasts that look similar to the Asian mythological kind. However, Vietnam and Kija also found a pretty wild one that seems to be stuck eating some lion snacks, because they tried to wrangle it and before they could run, they were forced to commit. Kija named it Jae-ha.

Go further, and it seems like the hot springs that Vietnam has permission to use have also a bit of decoration themselves, with something heat and water proof, that is.

Should you just want to spend your time looking at the moon, darker, quieter areas of the gardens will let you do just that. Sit down and relax, of course.

If you don't really care about any of this at all, perhaps you'd just want to go sightseeing in Gisela!

And basically do whatever you want in this place, really. RELAX, HERO.]

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[ The mask? Oh...

Ah, that's right. Especially as he has no further sight here anymore, it's never really come up with anyone...

Blinking for a moment, he smiles a little in a way that doesn't really reach his eyes and points to his left eye then. The scar that jags across his face in too bright a red to be any normal sort of scarring of the flesh, especially with the pentagram it forms upon his brow.

Well, a pentagram that looks more like a star now (some small comfort there) from when it had evolved and filled in. And if one were to look closely they might notice his left eye is just a slightly darker shade of grey than the other. ]

Because I can't see with my left eye anymore.

[ Well, clarifying: ] Nothing other than normal sort of sight, at least.

[ although tbh he is pretty near-sighted in it......... ]

Before--

[ Ah... it's nothing he hides, in fact it's very common knowledge, but even still, as she knows he created the mask with the ability to see mana... ]

It's what would let me see the souls of akuma. [ also....

did she blush? ~~really?~~ ]

[ No, of course she wasn't blushing, it was just a trick of the moonlight. Really. You were seeing things, Allen. Or not. Chalk it up to near-sightedness.

Watching him gesture toward his scar, she seemed at first quite confused. Assuming that was something that he received during a fight with an akuma, she hadn't given it much thought outside of her initial observation. It was just a part of him (but to one extent, she never quite realized). The shade of his eye, however, went entirely unnoticed. What reason would she have to notice something like that? ]

You can't—

[ Let him finish, Lux.

He could see an akuma's soul, through his left eye? And drawing just a bit closer, rising to her knees to get a better look, she could finally notice it, the slight difference in color there in his left eye.

She wouldn't linger too close for very long, settling back down into a sitting position after a moment. ]

Was that a part of your Innocence as well?

[ Well about him receiving it during a fight with an akuma...

He gives a slight shake of his head though, sitting back a little when she does. Ah, well.. ]

Not part of that, no. I guess it's the opposite, actually. [ The Gate Keeper had reacted like it still bore a trace of Dark Matter in it...

Letting his hands fold in his lap he gets a gentle kind of smile--not a sad one, but one that's a little hard to read nonetheless. ]

It's because I was cursed.

[ Did he just say that like it was no big deal? ~~yeah no big~~ ]

Cursed?

[ She very nearly gave him a wry smile, because really, Allen? Cursed? If it were anyone else, she would think that they were being facetious.

But the way that he smiled, and knowing the sort of man he was, this wasn't something that he would joke about. Give her half answers, perhaps, but never joke. ]

Cursed by what?

[ There is the flighty not-answer, of course, as Allen can be a rather cagey and wily sort of person to pull the whole truth out of sometimes. And he almost tries to side-step it, just because of Lux's expression and that perhaps unlike the people Allen's encountered in his own world—people who might feel for that kind of story but not be unduly saddened by it because that's just the world they live in—she...

...might take it far more heavily than he would mean for her to.

So he pauses for a moment, fingers curled lightly as if he were halfway to raising a hand to smile and wave off the question. But then... neither could he do her that disservice— ]

[ ...and neither could he ever hide his connection to and the importance of Mana that way. ]

When I was a child—

[ Ten years old on a cold and despairing Christmas night ]

...I tried to bring my father back to life. But instead, because I was foolish and knew no better, I turned him into an akuma.

[ softly: ]

For that he cursed me.

[ By slicing his face open would be the implication.

But he continues a little more gently, to try and buffer his words. ]

Ever since then I could sense them and see their souls. The part of them that was still human and mourned what they'd become. [ Because what he means Lux, why you shouldn't think it's a sad thing...

...what he means is that's also the most precious sort of thing to him. One that he could never give up. ]

[ And where she expected some kind of passable non-answer, Lux prepared to simply let it go. Their scars were a part of who they were, something so personal, and after practically forcing an answer from him the last time, what had nearly cleaved him in two... It wasn't that she didn't want to know, but that, perhaps, that was far too personal of a question to ask.

So when he spoke with little hesitation, she stopped, staring in muted surprise. ]

...

[ She held her breath, surprise turning into well-masked bewilderment.

(He turned his father into an akuma. A soul capable of feeling only anger and anguish...)

In his mourning, angry and frustrated at the world, Allen acted in a way that only a child could. Yelling, screaming, cursing the world and this unfair fate, and doing everything in his power to try to defy it, to take back what small fragment of normalcy that had once been his.

And at that, her heart ached, because in some small way...

(She kicked, screamed, damned her name, her fate, her power, as she was pulled away from everything she knew and loved and taken to that place. All for the glory and honor of her beloved crown and country. She hated it! She hated all of it with every fiber of her being! It wasn't fair, she screamed. IT WASN'T FAIR! )

She could understand why. ]

Edited 2016-09-16 07:45 (UTC)

[ He said that his father cursed him, and while that might be true, there was something else as well.

Moving just a bit closer, reaching for him and putting a hand on top of his (right, not left), she smiled calmly, expression smooth and unwavering. ]

Then is it really such a curse? To be able to see the good in something so many see as only evil. To be able to see them as still human, despite everything. Isn't that, in some ways, a gift?

[ "Then is it really such a curse?"

"Isn't that, in some ways, a gift?"

Lux...

In that moment she could knock him over with a feather, so struck is he by that. Breath held and sitting up just a little too straight, pale grey eyes widened as if that's something he's never heard because...

...he hasn't?

Because honestly while he may hold tight to the importance of Mana's curse, even if he wouldn't call it a gift in so few words, it's not something anyone else has ever even remotely considered... well, considered something they didn't hate, find repulsive, horrifying and sympathetic over--or at best just useful. Even his comrades. Lavi envied him only until he realized it was like seeing hell on Earth and a nauseating thing to bear, and Lenalee... even if she might understand him she hated his eye. And he could understand why. Of course he could.

But to smile and take his hand and say it might not be such a curse, because it meant being able to see the good in something so many only see as evil... ]

...

[ ..Rare are the moments Allen Walker notices such things (you could count them on one hand probably), but in that moment, smiling like that and speaking so gently of something most think terrible... in that moment--

...she's beautiful.

And he blinks quite rapidly for a moment before he remembers to breath and his eyes cross a bit for a moment before refocusing on her. ]

Lux.. [ It's said quietly in an awestruck exhale. A quick-flutter, eyes sketching her face in nervous flicks of surprise and still just barely drawing a thin breath. Like when she'd said before she wanted to be at his side on his path. The not quite daring to believe almost-fragility of it.

Especially as he's suddenly become quite conscious of the fact he should stay rooted right where he is for a moment.

But really--what can he say to that? Does she know how important that is? It's not her world and she's never seen an akuma, but even so, knowing what she does know and still saying that...?

( Thank you. ) ]

Edited 2016-09-16 08:14 (UTC)

[ Perhaps it was the way he held himself, sitting almost impossibly straight. Or the way that he looked at her, his eyes wide in what Lux could only assume was bewilderment. But in that moment, she felt conflicted, unsure whether she had said something wrong or not, and whether or not she should try to break that spell of silence.

The moons hanging overhead, much of the party either dispersed or well on their way, normally she would be very conscious to others around them, to keeping some sense of decorum in what she perceived as public. But seeing him sitting there, very clearly affected by what she said, his hair practically glowing in the faint moonlight, Lux held her breath.

Even if she wanted to, she couldn't speak, too worried that somehow she managed to miscalculate, to misjudge.

And at the same time, much as she might want to, to avert her eyes and (clumsily) change the subject again, she couldn't look away. She couldn't speak.

And then he broke that spell by casting yet another, speaking her name in such a way that very visibly struck her, causing her to sit up just a bit more, and her shoulders to raise. It moved through her like electricity, making her head swim.

(Heavens above, don't say my name like that. Don't look at me like that...)

So very visibly stunned, she found herself unable to quite find her voice. ]

Edited 2016-09-16 08:41 (UTC)

[ In that moment...

There are a great many things that could happen.

He could take the sheepish way out and completely miss the situation except probably not really but it would break them both out of it before... well. Just before. Except that wouldn't even begin to do proper justice to how either of them feel or the importance of what she just said, and if there is anything Allen exists to uphold—it's that.

And then he could also... well...

... no he couldn't.

But Lux, that—freezing like that and not saying anything after you just said that and looking at him like that... that's not... even for a gambling man like him used to nothing being fair... ]

...

[ For a moment, his fingers twitch. ]

[ For a moment...

... and there is just letting the breath he'd been holding out finally in a long, almost wearied exhale and moving to entwine his gloved fingers with hers where she'd reached for his hand. Almost like someone finally weakly acknowledging (hai, hai) his defeat and resignation.

(Haah... this will be the end of him.)

Because with a twist of his wrist and almost elegantly smooth motion he'll bring her hand to his face. That small but important sort of gesture like when he'd first done it in the infirmary, nose touched to knuckles in solemn punctuation of the pledge to fight by her side (and make her happy). Like that second time over tea, hands joined as if in prayer and brought up to almost touch lips as he promised her yes, they could and were together on the same sort of path. Here. In the world at least. As long as it was so. But unlike those times...

...it's a little hard to tell actually. Just because of the tingle of warm-cool white mana that tickles a bit like feathers. Although that could also just be because of breath, warm and unexpected. Or perhaps he really has brought her hand up to just so-barely lift his chin—and touch his lips to her fingertips.

In the most reverent, quiet sort of way.

(It is, after all, forever the single gesture reserved just for Lux. The one you could never get him to admit to or even acknowledge he doesn't do with anyone else simply because of how grouchy he'd get over it.)

And also perhaps something to quickly curtail the moment. As he lets their hands drop a little—just a little—to cock his head to the side then and smile softly.

Softly, and quite mysteriously indeed. ♥ Although there's almost something a little sad—a little old and tired—about it too. ]

Have you written a wish with the lanterns yet, Lux?

[ As he slipped his fingers between hers, her mind ran through how this scene would play out. A gentle squeeze, perhaps, and him canting his head gently in mind concern ("Lux..?"), before putting on something of a smoothed over, albeit worried smile before saying something to break that spell. Because that was how it always happened; it had become almost routine by this point.

Yet she couldn't help but shake the feeling that something was different, the way he almost sighed in acknowledgement and resignation. Allen, what were you..?

Feeling him draw her hand upward, the scene changed slightly in her mind. He had done this before as well, gently brushing his nose against her knuckles, or letting her hand hover just short of his lips. And that would be that, right? He would say something brief and heart-wrenching as he always did, her hand suspended, and the moment, while sweet and meaningful as these moments often were, would pass without consequence.

Those lines could remain divided, clear and strong, and not at all muddied around the edges. She would not let them blur.

Soldier, one that they both embraced; and woman, one that neither would cross.

And still unable to speak, his hand moved hers with purpose. To bring her hand, still caught in his, to his face. Tipping his chin ever so and, without hesitation, to brush her fingertips against his lips.

(It was warm, the feeling of that incandescent light woven between her fingertips, and colors running truer than they had before, they almost seemed to rustle like leaves in a gentle autumn breeze. Swirling and lifting, alive but also somehow so very still, dusting his lips ever so gently. Reaching.)

As someone so keenly aware of her surroundings, concerned with things such as social decorum and how one should act in a public space, it was strange how little that seemed to matter to Lux in this moment. How the courtyard and the people within it seemed to fall away in an instant, this instant. Their voices carrying through the chilled autumn air did not reach here, could not lift the spell cast in that moment.

Catching her own breath as it quickly and quietly drew inward, Lux sat suspended, caught completely unawares and unsure of what to do. Something so innocent and chaste, it caught in her throat, her head reeling, and though it was over just as quickly as it happened, she could still feel that lingering sensation on her fingertips.

The warm-cool swirl of his own mana, soft and featherlight, and the gentle, tender warmth of his lips.

(Could he feel it too? That lingering warmth that made up every color that she was? A warmth that was, in all ways, truly only present for and because of him?)

A kiss on the hand was something so familiar to her, and something that, while she did not mind, always felt somewhat shallow, like someone trying their best to show how much of a gentleman they were. To Lux, such a thing was the ultimate display of lip service.

And even the pale light of the moons couldn't save her, the heat of a blush rolling across her cheekbones and gently coloring even her ears so very apparent. A warm, gentle rosy pink.

(Soldier and woman. Both parts that wanted to walk beside him, but, as she was beginning to realize, for very different reasons, in very different ways. The soldier for strength and belonging. And the woman... for stolen moments like this that made her heart race and her head rush. Moments that reminded her of how human she could be.

They weren't blurred, she realized, for both could exist. Two separate paths, both bound by that same shimmering thread of love.)

...He expected her to speak after that? ]

Ah—

[ It came out a bit forced, an almost strangled sound lacking any sort of substance or volume. And at that, she looked dreadfully embarrassed, masking it over a rather forced smile. ]

I... I haven't... had the chance yet.

Edited 2016-09-16 23:10 (UTC)

[ The problem with that...

The problem with that, you see... is because of the kind of person Allen is, lines like that don't exist to him. Because to Allen, clear, strong, divided lines... can never exist for long. In anything.

People don't work like that.

Because Lux is Lux. Someone who is so very important—who he fights beside, yes—but especially for Allen who doesn't even consider himself a good soldier or even a warrior... It's not about her being however many clear, strong, and divided lines... because she's simply Lux to him. Like everyone is whoever they are, the entirety of their feelings and convictions.

And the entirety of her feelings, that small prismatic burst (ah... tingles?) is reminder enough as well of that. Lux, whose nature of her soul he's become so familiar and comfortable around with over the months. Who feels so strongly and so warmly it's like being caught up in a sunburst.

Trying to push those around to fit into little boxes would be insulting to those feelings. To someone's humanity.

(Light doesn't stay between the lines. It shines through them.)

But if he noticed she squeaked or stammered he is far and away too polite to let on that he did. Which is why he smiles quite warmly, quite politely, instead and sits back a little and releases her hand. Like absolutely nothing is out of the ordinary.

Save, perhaps, for the small brush of fingers together as he lets go of her hand and somewhat glossy quality still of his smile. ]

I think I know what I'd like to write now.

It's like the festival, isn't it? [ When they'd tied wishes to the trees. ]

[ Living in a world of black and white for most of her life, these definitions, these clear and dichotomous delineations were a necessity, the last little thing that she held on to. To define, to understand, and thus, to know how to act. It was silly, really, to hold on to something that was likely meaningless, but in trying to understand how she felt for him, to put it into words, she thought it necessary.

And as with most things, she managed to over-complicate this as well. For it was the same for her; he was simply Allen, a man who made her so infinitely happy at times that she thought that she might burst. Allen, who she felt in some ways she knew so well, and yet in others not at all.

Someone who (and she couldn't be quite sure, because it seemed too easy and not at all logical) might actually feel the same for her. And that terrified her, both that uncertainty and the possibility that she was right.

Sion told her that she needed to be true to her feelings, to tell him. That he truly cared about her. And while she denied it, growing almost emotional in those moments—it wasn't like that, she told him, and it could never be like that no matter how she felt on the matter—in that moment, she so very desperately wanted to say those words that had been etched on her heart. To tell him that she would give him the sun and stars if he asked for them. Anything, just to see that smile, to hear him laugh, and to remain by his side, her hand held gently in his.

"You mean the world to me."

And as he released her hand and the spell cast in that truly intimate and timeless moment, her posture finally eased again, settling into a gentle, muted contentment.

The festival, the night where this journey all began. She didn't know what to write then, settling for something simple; "I want to shine for all of them."

But after all these months, she finally had a better answer.

Canting her head to the side, a somewhat girlish smile spreading across her lips and catching in her eyes, there was a gentle lilt in her voice. ]

Will you tell me?

[ Of course she didn't expect him to. Such was the nature of wishes, but curiosity (and a bit of playfulness) won the day. ]

Edited (because I hear this a certain way in my head and it bothers me if I don't use the right number of syllables /nerd) 2016-09-17 02:02 (UTC)

[ oh ]

Well...

[ Perhaps then he does look a touch awkward just because—this isn't really a ceremony he's familiar with. But the sentiment is one he appreciates enough and he found the festival of lights a couple months prior quite touching so why not?

It's for a similar sort of reason like when Makoto gave him her paper to write his wish on that Allen reaches for the lantern he'd been given. To hold it up with a smile as if to ask if this sort of thing is okay...? ~~He's British and while well-traveled he wasn't in Asia that long.~~

And look, see he'll even hold up the pen they'd given him too as if to make his intent more obvious...! ]

I thought perhaps we could both write one. [ i mean he could get up and go find another for her but

It seems important for the same sort of reason why he'd found Makoto's gesture touching. ]

Edited 2016-09-18 08:04 (UTC)

[ ~~Demacia is basically fantasy Great Britain so she's just about as clueless as he is with this as he is.~~

When asked to write a wish during the Festivale de la Ceinturonne, Lux was unsure of what to write. For something like that, writing one's wishes on a slip of paper and tying them to a tree... it seemed a bit odd. But she played along, writing something that, at the time, seemed to make sense:

"I want to shine for all of them."

Because it was truly how she felt.

And it wasn't that Lux had changed her mind, she still felt strongly about that, but somehow that wish seemed... incomplete, and a bit narrow in scope.

But now... Even if this sort of thing was still unfamiliar, she knew what she would write now.

So when he suggested they write one together, even holding up the pen for emphasis, she couldn't help but feel absolutely tickled by the idea. That girlish grin only growing as she moved a bit closer, holding her hand out. ]

Only if you let me write them.

[ Because really, Allen, your handwriting was terrible, and not even the mightiest of deities would be able to decipher his scrawl. ]

Edited 2016-09-18 08:16 (UTC)

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( open ) mid-autumn in gisela

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flips every table in the universe at

flips them right back at how dare

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you know what fuck it this icon works well enough

miss luxanna, really....

what did she say about using that name allen?

that it made her violent...?

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