2023-07-24: On the Shore of Halmetz
- Log: On the Shore of Halmetz
- Cast: Loren Voss, Gwen Whitlock, Lan Lilac
- Where: Halmetz - Root Pier
- Date: July 24, 2023
- Summary: Gwen, Lan, and Loren reunite on the shore of a fantastic city. Stones are skipped, custody of the cloudbear is exchanged, and cake is desired.
===========================<* Halmetz - Root Pier *>============================ The city of Halmetz is built within a great tree, easily the size of a city. This is one of the only living ones to remain, with a proud and majestic canopy visible for miles as ships sail up to it. The majority of Halmetz is built inside of that tree, but the exception is the harbor district. The harbor is built along a massive root that reaches out into the sea. The root acts as a pier, with a paved road on the top, and small offshoots act as smaller piers for a variety of boats. The harbor is busy, with a road leading into a hole cut into the tree. Some businesses are out here, including a few foundries and other businesses that produce too much smoke for the inside of the city. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wEIuPU3i2E
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
He throws a stone into the wide lake towards the center of the town and watches it again skip across the surface before ultimately sinking below the surface.
Halmetz is an unusual town, even by Filgaian standards -- or Aquvy standards, for that matter. Most of the town is built up as well as can be inside the trunk of an enormous tree -- perhaps there were more like it, once, but now it's the only one that remains. It sort of made him wonder how it was, the first time he'd been by. Probably not older than five hundred years, though he's no tree scientist. Loren gets his numbers entirely by the date of the last catastrophe that befell Filgaia. It's hard to believe a single tree could have survived that, let alone one of this size.
In short order he'd returned to duty, and wouldn't you know it, regular duty had turned into irregular duty. He has his own thoughts about that, along with why he's been sent out solo... but these are considerations for another time.
Loren, after all, has a limit to the things which even he can actively ruminate about, and there are more potent things to be dwelled on than that.
...Leah had implied as much before, he'd thought, when he'd had time to think it through. It's just that... it went further that what he would have supposed or guessed. And who would have supposed or guessed all that?
Kneeling by the shore, he finds another smooth stone and, after a moment of testing its aerodynamics in his left hand, gives it another toss. The water here is clean, fed by some spring bubbling up from the depths. The tree that encases the city is hale and whole.
Eventually, Filgaia's rot will come even for this place. There will be cracked, barren earth and sand, dotted with the remnants of where people had once lived.
But there's an answer to the slow plague that will even see this place lost. He stoops for another stone.
He just has to believe in the answer.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"Well, howdy there, stranger." The humor in that voice implies that the owner is convinced Loren is anything but, as a pair of boots audibly step over in his direction.
It's Gwen, because of course it's Gwen.
The last time they had met was the prisons in the capital, on a completely different planet. Loren's been long overdue for a visit from the courier, and fate has no pity for the man's preference for being alone or what kind of company he'd prefer to keep.
Stopping a few feet aside him, with her hands on her hips, Gwen looks as timeless as ever, cheer bubbling from her like the spring that feels the tree and the city. "Kinda amazin' there's still places still like this 'round here," she says, adjusting her hat's wide brim. "Big ol' tree, source of clean water, nothing mystical holdin' it together but nature itself."
The nerve of a woman who comes up and starts a conversation with a man who's tried to his damnest to draw his lines in the sand over the course of years; but, Gwen figures, that's the way it's always been.
Picking up a stone like she saw Loren do, Gwen aims with her left hand and throws; while it goes a decent distance due to the courier's human strength, it doesn't go as far as Loren's own personal best, due to the random choice of stone. She rubs her neck. ".... I thought I saw Lan's face around back; I was in the middle of a delivery so I couldn't wave."
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Lan likes Halmetz. It's probably the weirdest town she's ever visited, simply by dint of being inside a tree, and because said tree is actually big enough to hold a town! This is the kind of thing that really makes a pilgrimage worth it, she reflects. Having been to no less than two hidden floating cities ought to make a simple treetown less impressive, shouldn't it? Not to Lan, apparently.
It was just coincidence that she'd checked the local Memory Cube a day or so ago. She wouldn't know what irregular duty meant even if he'd explained it to her (he had not) but that's not even important. What is important is that Loren is back from Etrenank, and he's in Aquvy, and she's still got his cloudbear.
Said cloudbear is currently in Swaddle Jail again, strapped to her front so Lan can carry her rucksack on her back.
Bloosh, ka-bloosh, says the water, in the near distance. Lan perks up a bit and walks until she sees Loren and Gwen, hanging out by the water's edge. "Hey," she waves, grinning once she's close enough to not have to yell. "Having fun?"
Her hair's up in a ponytail, and she's wearing? a dress??
(It's a totally normal workdress, with an apron over it and beneath the bear, because Lan picked up some extra work at a cafe while she's here.) "Aaaaah it's both of you!" she cheers, very nearly going in for the too-enthusiastic fullbody hug (her victim is debatable) before remembering her passenger and kind of puttering to a stop. "Hi! Aaaaaah I'm so glad to see you~!"
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
He'd thought about not telling her he was back. But even Loren had realized that was not the brightest idea. Lan had said it herself -- she was going to oppose Solaris. So, it stood to reason their paths would cross in time. Besides, she still has the bear, which he absolutely will not admit to missing a little bit, sort of.
Besides, if anything-- now he knows for certain that this will end in time. Solaris will serve its purpose -- its true purpose -- and then he'll have his freedom.
He has to believe in that, right? That it will all turn out the way he's been envisioning since... since Leah told him everything.
(It wasn't everything. There were too many gaps, too many little holes. But it's no sin if he ignores that, is it?)
Someone calls out to him as he takes another stone in hand. He hesitates, then finally, reluctantly, turns. "It's you," he tells her, pleasant as always. It's been a while since he's crossed paths with Gwen Whitlock and --
Technically, he probably still owes her one. But he's going to pretend like it's the furthest thing from his mind.
"Like this," he tells Gwen, pitching his stone across the surface. It skips a good five times before settling to the bottom. "It's about the angle of approach," he explains with a weary sigh. "You want it to impact the surface of the water and then bounce off. Surface tension," he adds, shaking his head and turning back towards the lake as Gwen mentions that she thinks she'd seen Lan.
This gets his attention. "What? Where?"
He gets an answer moments later as a familiar voice calls out to the two of them from not terribly far away. Lan is here... and in a dress??
Loren sort of... stops for a moment when she comes racing towards him. Surely it's not because of the dress, or because he's touch-shy and she almost just wrapped him in an embrace most enthusiastic.
No, it isn't, not this time. It's rather more because he's looked at her and had, for the first time 'not even Lan' hit home.
"...Hey," Loren says, awkward, after a moment more.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"Hee, still the same ray of sunshine as ever~." Gwen grins wide.
Some people say hello by waving. Some people say hello by speaking a word. Others say hello by throwing stones.... against the surface of a lake.
And Gwen is here for it, because that's the sort of person Loren is.
".... Ah. Like this?" She's a quick study, at least; seeming to get what Loren is conveying. She throws her second stone, mimicking Loren's throw and pitch; it definitely goes a lot further, now that it's not simply carried by Gwen's force. "... Ah, lemme try that again." She picks up a stone and is about to throw it, as Loren seems distracted by her announcement.
As well as Lan. "I was just talkin' 'bout ya! Thought I saw your face, but I was in the middle of a tight deadline so I didn't wanna tempt myself with a visit, hehe." She rubs her chin as she looks over Lan's outfit, just before she goes in for a full-body hug. "Haha, lookin' good! How's that job been treatin' ya?" Gwen waits until Loren steps back before swooping in with her own hug; thankfully, it's for Lan, not Loren, unless Lan stops her for the sake of the hidden cloudbear.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Loren freezes! This isn't unusual, especially when someone comes running at him. Lan doesn't think much of it. "Hey," she smiles at him, winding down a little bit from her trio-induced fit of glee. "Here, give me just a sec--" She dumps her rucksack off to one side before beginning to unwind the long fabric keeping Runeberry snug against her.
It was already waking up from a nap, but on hearing Loren's voice, it seems to be wiggling harder? "Okay, okay, hang on-- ahahaha!!" Runeberry is scooped into Loren's lap just in time for Lan to turn and throw her arms open for Gwen. "Thaaa-aaanks! It's waitress work, so lots of remembering things, but I have a notepad and it's easy to carry everything once it's made."
Gwen, unless she slips away or indicates that she doesn't want it, gets promptly picked up, Mockingbird and all, and given a spin. "You look so cute in that hat! And you've got more freckles!"
Lan has long been a vocal member of the Freckles Are Cool Club, despite having none herself. "It's okay. I probably couldn't have taken any time to talk either. Better that we should run into each other here instead."
Once Gwen is properly back on Filgaia firma once again, Lan tucks her apron between her legs and settles down crouching next to the water's edge. "Did you get to visit your parents after all?" she asks Loren, hunting for a stone of her own to try throwing.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
His response to that is to roll his eyes. One might get the feeling that he gets this sort of reaction... often.
Still, he's not saying or doing anything to actively try to make her leave. By his usual tendencies, that makes her positively welcome.
"Try again. Lower angle of approach," he tells her. Throwing things like this has always been a talent of his -- though the word 'hobby' might be more appropriate. Maybe he was always a little good at this, but he's only gotten really good at it because he's made the attempt to be. Having virtually no friends through certain formative teen years had encouraged him to find his own sources of fun, and if that included getting weirdly good at throwing small objects... well, that's basically what happened. Yes.
But another makes her approach, and all thoughts of his game of the moment are gone in that moment.
"Wh--" He has only moments to prevent Runeberry from kissing the pebbled beach and, well-- Loren goes for the save, dropping his latest stone. The cloudbear responds by immediately biting his hand. If it had tangible teeth, maybe this would have even have hurt. As it stands, he just stares at it as it gnaws, nonplussed.
"Really?" he says to it as it continues to try to bite. Sidelong, he glances at Gwen as she's lifted and spun. ...Emperor help him if he ever picks up that many freckles he thinks, silently. Are there more? He can't tell!!
Eventually the bear squirms, indicating it wants down. Loren squats, setting it down gently as it drifts over to inspect the water's edge. "...Yeah. Well, I saw dad." He pauses, looking away from her. "And Mirza's fine."
Leah is also fine. More than fine. But he can't say anything about that.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"Augh, you've been buildin' up that arm strength," Gwen says, laughing, as Lan picks her up. "N' don't remind me. I'm wearin' the hat to keep from gettin' more of 'em, haha." She catches Loren eying her, as if to see if she has noticably more. "Sunscreeeeen," she lazily trails off. "Remind me later n' I'll get y'some. I know it ain't like I'm the best person for recommendations, but you're better able t'keep out of the sun than me so you might stand a chance."
The grass is always greener on the other side, though Gwen doesn't seem *too* unhappy to receive positive attention for her freckles. Lan wouldn't be the first to have mentioned them that way. As Lan deposits Gwen safely back on the ground, Gwen motions with her chin towards Loren. "Yeahh, besides, it means Loren gets included! As well as Runeberry! Who's a good little bear~"
Lan asks about Loren's parents, and the courier raises an eyebrow.
"Parents?" Gwen looks surprised, as if the thought of Loren having parents was somehow odd, as if Loren had actually come about emerging from a particularly grumpy grey cloud one day--
Nah, that's not the real reason. "I thought your folks're up-- oh." Lan clearly meant in general.
It doesn't matter of Loren's parents or Solarian, Lunarian, or Filgarian: he has them, and there's a fair bit of history Gwen's seen behind that family bond. "That's good t'hear."
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Oh fickleness, thy name is Runeberry. Can't even be grateful for being rescued! (Lan had every faith that Loren would catch it.)
"One out of two isn't so bad," she tells him, selecting a smooth stone. Hmmm... no, it's too smooth to throw away. Lan puts it down, and searches some more. "And Mirza too! Did she remember me?" Lan was only there for a month, years ago. There are... other reasons that Mirza might not remember her. But Lan hopes, since Loren mentioned her.
But he didn't mention someone else. Doesn't that mean she's okay still? He would say something, right, if anything had happened concerning Leah? Lan can't even tell him.
She hunts out another rock, this one a little funny-shaped, and considers it. "...If you got enough freckles, like enough to completely cover all of your skin, would that become one big freckle or would they still be just a lot of normal freckles."
Even Lan isn't sure that made any sense.
But she nods at Gwen, when the courier wonders about 'up'. "How many deliveries did you have today? Think you'll stay the night in town? We could have a slumber party! I showed Loren how to do them! Except that I fell asleep before we could talk about boys or tell ghost stories or eat snacks."
It was not Lan's finest effort.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
He rather visibly balks when Gwen catches him looking, standing up ramrod straight. "--I use sunscreen!" he snaps in response, as if he were the one who had been offended. "We do have sunscreen!" ...It's just that sometimes, he doesn't necessarily have it on him and he gets badly burnt. One particular jaunt to Spira where they'd been taken unawares might come to mind -- he'd been burned badly enough to turn bright red. And then it had peeled.
Runeberry, meanwhile, either knows its name or is particularly interested in Gwen in particular because once set down (and done inspecting the water's edge) it sniff-sniff-sniffs in her direction and trots on over.
If permitted, it will bite. ...Its teeth are insubstantial, though so it might be more accurate to say it gnaws.
Strange, that. It hadn't bitten Lan immediately when she had taken it into custody initially.
Loren meanwhile gives Gwen a withering look. "Yes. I went home," he tells her -- once upon a time he would have shushed Lan for even mentioning the matter of his family around someone not in the know, but honestly, the cat's already out of the bag on this one. People know about Solaris. They know the empire's homeland exists... somewhere. And obviously, Solarians have parents, too, and probably aren't flashgrown from tubes or something.
"Yeah," he tells Lan, nodding. "She said she hoped you'd visit. And that you were eating well," he adds. Involuntarily, he clenches his jaw. He'd spent most of his time trying to avoid her after that. ...There is no difference between her and him, other than what his class has been bred to do...
He absently finds a stone. It's the wrong shape for throwing so instead, he worries at it with his thumb, tracing its uneven shape slowly.
"...I'm not answering that," he tells Lan, on the subject of freckles, grimacing as he jams his thumb hard against the stone's edge. "And--"
He'd been grouchily pensive (e.g. normal Loren) before. Now he just looks vaguely horrified, glancing between Lan and Gwen. "What-- what are you-- I don't--" It had been one thing with Lan! And she'd fallen asleep before things had gotten weird (even if there weren't snacks)! But if Gwen is involved--
If there are going to be ghost stories--
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"Well, yeah, of course y'guys do, if y'live up in the sky. That's like livin' on top of a real tall mountain. I mean, your skin don't even half as freckled as mine." Gwen's smile doesn't diminish a bit at Loren's remark. "Just that that city is way up there--" she begins, pointing up and avoiding saying any names, "--and we're down here. Sometimes y'gotta make due, y'know?"
Of course, genetics play into it as well. Loren just might not have the same capacity of freckles as Gwen does.
As for Lan's question, even Gwen suddenly becomes a little queasy. "... I don't wanna find out. It won't look as nice as if I had darker skin t'begin with, I'll tell ya that. You always look good in whatever you wear, Lan, n' you don't blind people if you go out in the sun without coverin' every inch of your body like I would." She's laughing now, so it's all in good fun.
Loren, of course, gets defensive about his family. Gwen takes it in stride. "... What I'm sayin' is I'm a little jealous, I 'spose. Haven't been able t'see Auntie or Brother Silas in a long while now, though I imagine she's enjoyin' the peace and quiet, n' Silas likely has his hands full with the constant stream of kiddos." It's not quite jealousy, if Gwen's body posture is of any indication, but she is a little wistful, thinking about them. She never wants to be in a position like Lan was in; that was the only reason Lan got to meet them in the first place.
She has enough of brainwashing to last her several lifetimes.
"Whoah whoah whoah," Gwen says, holding her hands up and laughing. "Even I can notice the look on Loren's face when y'said that. You're gonna give the poor guy a heart attack! What kinda hijinks have you been subjectin' Loren to, Lan?"
She's still grinning as she says this.
She might not be entirely as aghast as she might try to sound. "Maybe, like, we go to a cafe or somethin' instead. My treat."
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
He had looked like a cooked shrimp. It was probably the most pathetic thing Lan had ever seen in her life. And that was before he started peeling.
She laughs a little at Runeberry's attempts to gum Gwen's hand. Maybe Lan is just better at babysitting animals than Loren? (Maybe it doesn't like the taste of ink.) But... Mirza had remembered her after all, and said such kind things. Lan ducks her head a bit. Even if she'd rather be dragged behind a wild chocobo than go back to Etrenank, it would be really nice to see her again. (Maybe she could--)
Oh ugh, no! She's not gonna cry! Lan looks very hard at the stones by her feet until her eyes don't feel hot anymore. Think dry thoughts!
And stop thinking freckly thoughts, too. "Okaaay, okaaaay, I'm sorry," she warbles, mouth wide in a grin. "I didn't mean it!" Lan has heard tales of Auntie Frea, and maybe even a couple about Silas; but she's never met either of them. "Take me to visit them sometime?" she asks. Lan would like to meet the woman who gave Gwen a second chance on life.
She at least has the grace to look a little sheepish about causing Loren new and exciting ways to panic. "He always does that though," but it's a half-hearted protest at most. "We ran into each other when I'd been awake and traveling for a day and a half and I remember him being really worried about me," does she really?? "And he paid for an inn room so I said he should use it too! There were two beds and everything!" Lan pauses to breathe and, gods willing, maybe even think. "...Think we can find someplace with cake?"
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
He would like to never burn that badly again. Even with healing magic it had been agony.
Loren gives Gwen a long look, as if to quietly wonder who told her their nation remained suspended in Filgaia's heavens. Maybe it was van Houten. Probably it was van Houten. He beetles his brow as if in consternation.
...The fact that much of the company they generally keep have traveled far and wide across two worlds now and none of them have caught sight of anything like a home country for Solaris on the ground (with the barest evidence of their support structure, at that) escapes him. Where else would Solarians live, under the sea?
"...Hmph." He folds his arms over his chest when Gwen admits that she's a little jealous. "Then go visit your family," he tells her, shaking his head. "Nobody's stopping you." He has to go through so much paperwork to see his, and that's assuming he wants to go home and it's not something that was more or less... foisted upon him.
If he hadn't gone, he wouldn't know about Engil, though. He's not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Would Leah have told him... all of that anyway?
He looks at Gwen and Lan as if regarding them afresh. He tosses aside the stone he'd been worrying, letting it clatter across the rest of the rocks on the shore.
And then Gwen accuses Lan of subjecting him to some sort of ill-conceived... goings-on, and Loren belts out with a defensive, "Nothing happened! And-- and it was for your own good!" he says, jerking his head in Lan's direction so quickly it's a wonder the man doesn't get whiplash. "If you fell asleep in public and something happened-- who says I was worried?!"
Cake might be the safer option.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
As if reading Loren's mind, Gwen grins widely, waving a hand. ".... C'mon. It's not like I know where it *is* up there. It's like me saying it's located on Filgaia." She may be playing with fire, but... well, that's a terrible joke to make, anyway. ".... A city has to exist *somewhere*--"
Then, Gwen notices Lan beginning to toe the ground with a brave face. Ah man, sorry 'bout that, Lan! You're from Ignas too, so me gettin' all nostalgic is gonna make you feel the same." Gwen says this as Runeberry attempts their damnedest to gum up her outreached left hand. It's okay, that's what gloves are for! .... Aside from flashing everyone with her special ARM every time she so much as waved.
Loren's point is made; while Gwen's own parents have been long dead, she's already mentioned the people she considers as much of one. "If only it were that easy. I'd be way out of the loop of things if I traveled that far away. I can still send 'em a message." She grins. "Just... felt like, for once, you needed to be the one t'hear that." hat Loren wasn't the one left with what was left over, but someone who had things, unique to him, that were special.
That he, himself, was special, in that contrary way of his.
Loren instantly comes to the defense of Lan, as Lan explains. Gwen laughs. ".... It makes sense! I'd do th'same thing, Loren. Though I think I'd have a lot more fun with it." She nods towards Lan. "... 'specially if there were two beds to split between you two. No need to flip t'see who sleeps on the floor."
Cake. "That'd be great." Gwen doesn't even need to consider. "You good with that, Loren? Don't know how you are with somethin' sugary like that."
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Lan peers at Loren like he's grown a second head. "What are you so upset about? Gwen's trying to defend your honor!" --Wait, that sounds bad. "She knows nothing happened," Lan tries again. Why is it that she can't just spend the night in the same room as a guy without people going all weird about it?
Maybe Lan has really been misunderstanding this whole time. Do other people think about bedroom stuff that often? Is it really that big of a deal...?
"You're even worried right now though," she continues, not sure that she wants to waste time fretting over her differences. "About me falling asleep in public. You fell asleep in public first!" On a park bench, no less! He didn't even put down a bedroll or anything.
Gwen apologizes, though, and Lan isn't entirely sure what for, but she gives her a smile anyway because Gwen is so thoughtful. "Someday when you have the time and can have a little vacation from work, we'll go. Even if you miss out on all the news for a little bit." It may not be for a long time, but eventually they'll all see their families again. Even Gwen, even Lan, even Loren.
She's forgotten to keep looking for the right kind of stone, which is just as well because Lan has not made a study of rock-skipping technique. "Yeah, it was a really nice room. There was even a private bathroom with a whole bathtub and running hot water!" Of course, Lan doesn't mind single beds most of the time either. She shared a loft bed with Hicalu pretty much until she was old enough to leave home. Snuggling up, skinship, whatever you want to call it... "I like when you and I get to share though," Lan hums, standing up and swiping dust from her skirt. "It's nice and warm. Don't worry about Loren, he'll eat just about anything!"
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Loren's response is to give Gwen the proverbial stinkeye. Finally, slouching his shoulders, he says, "...If anyone ever asks, I didn't tell you." ...As if Solarian Command, too, still would think that the relative area in which their nation is located remains yet a secret to all.
It's not that he hates his parents -- far from it. It's just that the situation remains, well... fraught, in a word. His parents want him to retire from service. There's probably grounds for it, after all that's happened. It's just that... well, his thought then had been that it would reflect poorly. He'd be the one who couldn't hack it. And then there's all the other reasons, some of which he had barely acknowledged to himself. On top of which--
If he'd decided to become a civilian... knowing what he now knows... No, that never could have happened in that sequence. But if he had retired and then somehow learned it anyway... then what? Then what would happen?
Some 'might-have-beens' don't bear speculating.
"Ugh," is what he tells Gwen, those darker currents passing on regardless beneath the surface. "You just don't get it, do you? ...We're not friends."
He's just going to keep on being like this, isn't he?
"There were two beds," Loren says, defensively, as if it were his honor on the line here. It's fortunate that there were two beds, because he hates sleeping on the floor. Lan would probably invite him into her bed, though-- if not in the way most people most people would think about it. "It's not-- look, people think things. About a guy, and a girl..." he says, the last just above a mutter as he is defeated, utterly. "...Look, enough," Loren sighs, when Lan comes back at him, reminding him he fell asleep first. "Forget about it."
Fortunately for him, the discussion seems to be moving away from 'a sleepover' and more towards 'a cafe'. "It's fine," he tells Gwen, giving Lan a sidelong glance. "It's about being efficient," he tells them.
...It's been ages since he's had a piece of cake. Filgaian cake (or Lunar cake), not... what passes for cake in Solaris ('printed with real wheat, with colored sugar paste!')
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Loren's stinkeye is met with a wide grin. "Of course not! And I'd be tellin' the truth, besides." The darker currents in that spur Loren's defensiveness go uncommented on. ".... I'd be worried if y'did casually call me your friend, t'be honest. Like you were tryin' to lure me into a trap or somethin'." Gwen shakes her head. "I'm 'fraid y'ain't ever gonna get rid of me that way."
"Whoah, whoah. I was leavin' that out of it on purpose. That ain't the way you two work." Gwen laughs. "I was more wonderin' if Lan tried t'keep you awake chattin' 'bout gossip or whatever. That kinda slumber party." She grins. "But yeah, it would be nice t'share a room sometime, Lan! We'd save on money and be nice n' warm."
There's a certain comfort in realizing you're sleeping alongside a friend you could trust that much.
"Then it's settled! I think there's a bakery down the road." Gwen points with her chin down the road. "They had some on display. What're you guys thinkin' in terms of flavors? Chocolate, vanilla, oh! Maybe a mix, or strawberry... Lemon... Poppyseed..." Her stomach growls. "Llleett's just get goin'."
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Loren insists that he and Gwen aren't friends. Lan frowns and pokes his shoulder with her index finger. "Hey. Quit that." It's far from a righteous ass-kicking, but Lan's disapproval is plain enough. "After she helped save our butts at Macalania and everything!" He's just being cranky for no good reason!
People will think things. It doesn't bother Lan, because -- well, people always seem to be thinking things! Lan thinks all the time and it hasn't hurt anybody (yet) (that she's aware of). "It's just weird to me, that's all." But she knows that even if it's of no concern to her, it is to Loren, who grew up in quarters a different kind of cramped than Little Firelight was. She can see it mattering very much in Etrenank - what others think. "...Nevermind."
She hasn't forgotten their excursion to the shopping district.
"See, Gwen gets it," Lan nods approvingly, as if that somehow means that everybody does. "And... well, I was more trying to keep myself awake. At least until sundown. So I wouldn't wake up too early and then it would be all dark and lonely. But I think I passed out after we got cleaned up." The last of the afternoon is a blur of images and half-remembered chatter. She thinks she remembers sitting on the floor.
The next time she and Gwen have a slumber party, they'll do it right. There will be snacks and gossip! And speaking of snacks... "I'll eat any flavor of cake, but if they've got strawberry...!"
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"--Ow, hey."
Probably, he should have expected that, Lan being Lan and also quite determined to make him behave despite his attempts otherwise. "Ugh, fine," he relents, closing his eyes as he sighs weightily. Oh, how the innocent are put upon! ...Except he's not innocent in this, he's being told to behave, and quite frankly, Lan's right anyway.
Maybe you can't owe someone friendship, but he certainly owes Gwen something, after what she did for them both.
"...But I'm not going to call it friends. See, she agrees!" he protests, gesturing Gwen's way with both hands. That's two against one, Lan!
He grumpily settles into silence as Gwen says she hadn't meant it like that, anyway. What, so no one even thinks that they're...?
Not that this is the sort of thing Lan could reciprocate. Not that he even knows that's what he wants.
"She didn't stay awake long, anyway," he finishes, reaching over to lightly ruffle the bear as it comes trotting back his way. It responds by latching onto his wrist. He just looks at it with mild suspicion, shaking his arm free. They've already figured it's eating magic, but hasn't it had enough already today...?
Maybe it just likes his flavor, Loren thinks distantly, gazing across the lake.
Speaking of flavor--
"Do you think they have chocolate?"
Loren pauses.
"For... no reason."