2019-09-16: Musical Flashbacks
- Log: Musical Flashbacks
- Cast: Riesenlied, Noeline, Lydia Seren
- Where: Djose
- Date: 16th September 2019
- Summary: In a great mood, Riesenlied has tea with Noeline and Lydia...
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Lydia has been around and that's making Riesenlied very happy, but today, today!! On a Walking Day!
Her daughter sees her mother in especially bright spirits, even already accounting for her usually positive, optimistic nature already. She just seems to literally be sparkling as she talks to people, goes about her day, does her chores, tells stories to children, and then later on can be seen hosting another above-deck tea-time session with Noeline, seeming to be extra-clingy and happy with her.
She even does an actual honest to guardians twirl and manages to not fall mostly because she's relying on Noeline to catch her by the end.
... did something good happen?
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline's always been the sort to be visibly buoyed up or weighed down by the mood around her. It's not like she wears her heart on her sleeve - in fact, it used to be quite the opposite - but she's always been the sort to thrive on interaction and atmosphere, and it shows in her face as she hums pleasantly, catching Riesenlied after her twirl to keep steady her upright.
She's been near to her beloved all day, joining in but working around and in tandem with Riese rather than taking over for her; providing extra voices and even the occasional silly expression for the children, more or less demolishing the chores between them, and doting over the other Hyadean in turn as they take tea.
She even allows herself an openly affectionate moment after the twirl, tugging her partner gently back into an embrace as she basks in Riesenlied's presence. Whether she's aware of something that happened or not, she's happy to take the day as it comes, it seems.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia is happy to see a mom in bright spirits. Riesenlied's well being means a great deal to Lydia! Enough so, in fact, that Riesenlied's bad days can drag Lydia's own days down too as she feels inadequate of being able to help one who has helped her so much.
Optimistic Riesenlied days aren't exactly rare but twirling??? That's new. Lydia blinks a few times in confusion and uncertainty. glancing over to Noeljne for some sort of clue. That answers it for Lydia...or at least gives /an/ answer.
"You seem to be really happy today." Lydia smiles. "It's really great to see."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied is conscious that she isn't an island -- far from it, in fact, and that others around her can be affected adversely when she's down. But there's a difference between days where she's keeping a stiff upper lip and maintaining a resolute smile and these kinds of days where she just feels so light.
She's nestled against Noeline because, nope! She decides they can just share one chair and have the other open for Lydia.
"Lydia...!" Riesenlied perks up. "Well, I admitted something kind of difficult to Noeline, and I feel very light for it. I feel like we've really moved forward in our relationship...?"
She tilts her head. "Do you think that's about correct?"
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
With a soft and rather rich chuckle, Noeline has long-since accepted Riesenlied into her lap, scales and spines and all; she's gotten very good at fitting around the other Hyadean, and the two of them look content nestled together, the Crimson Notble humming as she glances at their daughter.
"I think perhaps we were both a bit more worried about it than we had any need to be - really, I thought you were going to give me some sort of dire news," she puffs playfully up in Riesenlied's direction before sobering back into a smile as she considers Riese's question properly. "But that doesn't for an instant lessen the weight it's lifted off your shoulders."
"I'm very glad you feel better. And I now have a great, great deal of nostalgic memories to look back on and share, and a good idea of where to go as and when we return to Filgaia."
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia blinks a few times. She rubs a hand briefly against her neck, looking towards Noeline for a moment and blinking a few more times. And then she looks back to Riesenlied once more.
"Okay." She says. "I think I get it." She smiles. "Do you want me to tell the kids to give you two some privacy for some 'mom time' today?" She winks. "Don'tcha worry for a moment, I'll make sure you're not bothered...so you can enjoy...your mom time."
She winks again to make sure that she knows full well what 'mom time' is. Granted, she is sort of making a lot of assumptions here.
"Don't mind me neither, if you're happy I'm happy." She beams widely with many sharp teeth. "Got plenty of stuff to be happy about right now too, so you don't gotta worry none about me."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Oh oh. This is going to be one of those onrunning misassumptions isn't it--
"Mmm!" Riesenlied beams, thoughs he pauses to blink for a bit as she looks to Lydia to say, "You do?? Oh-- hmm, no, we don't need that kind of privacy. Mom time is, I mean, it's available for you too, right?"
Janey is quietly listening in and slinking away as she feels an intense awkwardness in her chest. This is the true burden of being Lord of Calamity.
"I'm so glad you're feeling happy too, Lydia," she expresses widely as she turns back towards Noeline. They really do look incredibly cozy together.
"I'm sorry it sounded dire, I really had no way to figure out how to express it..." she says to Noeline. "But-- yes! I look forward to so much more together..."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline is Noeline, of course, so it's probably on purpose that she's not exactly mentioning the details of what she and Riesenlied shared earlier - except that the good day she's having means that she can't really hide or deadpan past the amused look on her face either, kind of giving the whole game away before it's even begun.
"It's not like we'd kick you out," she snickers towards Lydia, though there's a warm note to her voice as well, because she means it genuinely rather than as part of the running joke. "Rather, we're glad to see it. Everything's been so busy, it's important to take every chance to be content."
It even sounds like she's just letting the joke go entirely!... except than she chuckles warmly towards her partner, shaking her head. "Really, it's alright. After all, I do like those times where you choose to get rather possessive and protective," she hums happily.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia blinks a few times. "Huh?" Her eyes widen. "Wait...it is??" She steps back, suddenly fearful...!!
But then she blinks a few times. Wait. That clearly doesn't make any sense, Lydia! Think things through! Lydia calms down after realizing there's some miscommunication going on here. "Oh uh. Okay. Well. Uh. Cool! Great. I mean, if you're sure. Probably!"
Her cheeks silver and she avoids looking at either of them directly as she struggles with her own embarrassment.
"Well--yeah! You gotta enjoy the good times while you've got 'em. Never know how long they'll last after all."
She smiles down at her feet. "Um... I'm really glad. Despite everything, I think this may be the happiest month I've ever gotten. Even with all the uh, awful. So maybe net month will be even better? I'm trying to be cautiously optimistic."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Completely unaware there'd been some miscommunication -- and missing Noeline's grin and not understanding why Lydia's looking a bit flush save for the fact that she's just very emotive! -- she smiles as she clarifies on her own time at long last:
"I admitted to Noeline that I have a long chain of pen pals in Aquvy, in an attempt to keep in touch with her when she left so long ago."
She bobs her head and twiddles her thumbs. "It was real hard to admit because I was basically spying on her....."
A pause, as she flushes and snuggles a bit wider. "Hmm... we'll make sure we gird our spirits, okay? I know it was tough for all of us."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline doesn't make fun of Lydia's confession, at least - she blinks for a moment instead, then slowly nods as she mulls that over, sitting just a little straighter as she gets into 'mom' position.
"... I won't say anything like 'things can only get better', or 'live for the moment'. Neither are terribly useful at times like these. All I can say is that it's important to pause and take some strength from things from time to time, and if you've the chance and feel you need to, there's no shame in doing so. Even if you feel like a bother doing so, I can assure you that you aren't."
She does give Riesenlied a glance at the same time, and chuckles quietly - like mother like daughter, after all.
Her smile returns, though, and she chuckles quietly. "Of course, I don't hold it against Riese at all. Rather, she surprised me with a long history of caring for me, and a record of placed I'd travelled and people I'd met. Not quite a living history, but certainly very close. ... there's a lot of pleasant memories bundled up in there," she adds softly.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Fortunately Riesenlied doesn't know of the tale of Icarus, is he a kid or something? Do not let yourself be cast into the pit, Lydia!!
"... we did ... spend some time before we really worked it out. I mean, I also feel I did it for myself too, in some small part," Riesenlied admits. "I found myself waiting for these letters with bated breath sometimes... I'd walk up to a balcony reading them and imagining the wastes of Elru as somewhere else. The beaches of Meria Boule's southern peninsula. Windfall Island..."
A pause, as she sighs almost fondly.
"I wanted to be part of that world, so much I could almost sing about it."
A LONG TIME AGO
I want to be... where the people are! I want to see them dancing... I want to be... part of your wooo--
- BAM*
Underneath, Berserk lets out an annoyed grump and flings his metal wrecking ball clear through a training dummy, as if to go, 'You /really/ need to take your kid out sometime, Siggy. She's annoying me!'
NOW
Riesenlied clears her throat again. "Hehe... I would too, of course," she smiles wider towards Noeline.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"It's not 'creepy'," Noeline grumbles, with just a touch of the romance novel protagonist about her; she folds her arms around Riesenlied's waist, sinking her head down on the other Hyadean's shoulder as it suddenly becomes obvious she's actually rather bashful about her partner's persistent attention towards her and the care and concern she's been shown.
She lifts her head again, though, to offer a lopsided smile towards both Lydia and Riesenlied. "Honestly, whenever I try to think of a span of time that long, it's hard for me to imagine it, and hard to know where to start the story. But then, I think that's why I'm so happy to see the letters - I'd already started to lay out a chart, relying on both the correspondence and my own memories."
There's a pause, and then she chuckles. "Besides, it's a matter of filtering it. A lot of it is me getting used to things that a human would take completely for granted. The sensation of lazing around all day..." she muses. Muises...
"I'm glad that it gave Riesenlied a chance to hear something of the world outside, mostly. And not from me directly," she adds, her grin indicating that her tongue is firmly in cheek. "I've already mentioned that I would have been a terrible letter-writer back then."
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"It's tough for me to imagine you two not together, but I guess I've only known you for a small part of your lives," Lydia admits. "Though I guess you had, uh, some pretty huge changes during that small time."
She gratefully doesn't get to see Riesenlied's adorable flashback. It's hard to imagine Berserk in adorable situations like that even if he's not the one being adorable.
"I didn't say it was creepy! I mean. It just was creepy when...put like that. Nevermind! IGNORE ME!"
She throws up her hands and adds, "A terrible letter writer...?" She sounds skeptical. "But if you say so."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"N-n-no, I mean, you should've heard how I said it in the first place, you're right, it was creepy..." Riesenlied stumbles out some words, horns drooping. But Noeline insists it's not, and there's a flush as she warms up as she clings closer. It's rare for her to be the one feeling protective, but... there it is.
"I don't know. I think I would've cherished every one and each letter from you, of course," Riesenlied speaks. "... I'm pretty sure a lot of my pen pals eventually cottoned on that they were writing to an incredibly lovestruck girl."
She reaches under their tea table and takes out... the letters. There's a *massive* stack of them, meticulously organised, in a cute basket!
Riesenlied takes one out.
"The one that teased me the most is a heartwarming dog beastwoman from the Thames called..."
A pause.
"Mama Shibe."
COMING SOON IN ACT 2