Feeling A Mix Of Amusement And Disbelief At How Easily He Was Teasing Her (as Well As Unsure Of How To

Feeling a mix of amusement and disbelief at how easily he was teasing her (as well as unsure of how to take being assumed to be “the kind of person who likes reading”—because what does that even mean?), she just laughs and meets his fist with her own.

“Don’t let your one little win stroke your ego too much,” she teased, wrinkling her nose at him. “You better watch out, I’m going to redeem myself when we get a rematch. I’m not leaving you with a 100% win rate.”

She looks down at her own little bag of winnings and takes out the matching bookmark she’d taken. A soft smile graces her features. For all his moments of awkwardness and how oddly they’d started out, things today were fun and lovely, and she really wouldn’t mind doing this more often.

As much as he was a part of the weird mess her life had become, it was easy to forget about all that when they’re just doing normal human things. And she liked that.

“Although… I don’t think I’d call you a ‘normal guy,’” she points out, raising an eyebrow at him. “Your weird ‘side gig’ aside, I can’t help but think there’s still a lot more to you than meets the eye.”

(RE?)connecting; @jeremiahofphilo

Wednesday night. Cool, moderately windy, with the moon mostly blocked by the clouds.

Half an hour earlier than the agreed upon time, Dolasach arrived at the arcade—a flashy building with three floors of entertainment that ranged from the classic crane game, to a newly installed interactive holographic setup ‘that brought VR into IRL.’ Rolling up the sleeves of the beige and navy cardigan that her pouty lover insisted she wear lent her, she made her way deeper inside with a goal in mind.

Recalling that Jeremiah mentioned that he couldn’t figure out some of the machines, she made it a point to take some time to scour the place for anything that either looked like something Jeremiah would know about, or seemed like the right level of complexity for it to still be fun to figure out. Or maybe they could have fun with something they could both figure out together?

It crossed her mind that this was probably way more busywork than Jeremiah could’ve ever expected from her, but after how… Awkward? Some of their last meeting went, she just wanted to try and make sure things go relatively well. Or at least, they wouldn’t have that much dead air if it did get awkward again.

She pulled out her phone and quickly sent Jeremiah a text once she was satisfied with her findings, the time hitting close to their rendezvous.

->Mr. Philo-dendron: Let me know when you’re here, will meet you at the entrance. Take your time btw! No rush :>

Francisco Infante-Arana: Blue Lights (1964)

"Does it hurt?", Hovhannes Grigoryan (translated by Tathev Simonyan)

Franz Kafka, from a letter featured in "Kafka: The Tremendous World I Have Inside my Head,"

Dolasach pondered the logistics of helping Rafayel see his first sunrise on the surface. He'd already see the sunset—would it be difficult to have him witness its counterpart at the start of the day?

For some reason, it upset her that he had to enduring such longing for something that was so integral to her life. There was a bitter irony to it—dawn and dusk looked breathtaking over tbe sea, yet the God of the Tides himself would never have seen either if he didn't sneak out of Lemuria.

"If you'll be continuing to come up here to learn about Caspian," she said, unaware of how memories that weren't his were flashing through his mind, "then eventually you'll get to see it. When that happens, I know the perfect spot to watch it from."

Seeing him blurt out something that immediately rendered him bashful and embarrassed made Dolasach grin—she covered her mouth with her hand to spare his dignity as she tried not to laugh.

How cute. How terribly cute.

"It really shouldn't be," she agreed. Despite her efforts, her amusement was obvious in her voice. "Eolcha—erm, nevermind. They really were quite deeply in love."

No need to get into unnecessary detail that began to fluster her the moment she started thinking about them.

Her eyes were drawn to the flame he conjured, his words creating an image of him that reminded her just how integral the Sea God is to Lemuria. How long had it been between Caspian's death and Rafayel's creation? How did Lemuria survive however many years of darkness like that?

It was something that made her understand the reason why his handlers seemed to strict about what he did or where he went. If he were gone, then so would the light and warmth that made Lemuria thrive.

Yet there wasn't a single thing thay could justify to her how the elders treated Eolchaire and Caspian. And now, she wondered just what Caspian's fate meant for Rafayel, especially since it seemed that he wasn't all too different from the Sea God before him.

If he had to sneak out to come to the surface and return so quickly, then perhaps they treated him terribly.

She didn't like that.

“Then your mood must create the weather down there, doesn’t it?” she asked. “Perhaps you don’t control the dawn and dusk down there directly… But the Sea does listen to you.”

₊❏❜ ⋮ i'll chase you to the ends of the earth. ⚬𓂂

@dolasach

He is used to it; however, that didn't mean he accepted it.

Rafayel sighed as he let his head rest against his palm, the same thing being drilled into his mind by the endless sea of words spewing the history of Lemuria and the world on the surface repeated like a broken record from the elders. He seemed to be falling asleep and was immediately scolded for not paying attention.

Evidently, something came up that had the elders leave the vicinity for the time being and this served as an opportunity for Rafayel to escape. He had attempted in doing so a few times, but he was sure that this time he would be able to be successful. 

A blue fish swam around him and held his hand out, allowing the fish to swim over his palm. 

"Shall we head to the surface? It's a little boring right now and I'm tired of hearing the elders saying the same thing over and over again." 

The fish continued swimming over his palm before seemingly directing him toward an opening to which he was able to squeeze through. It was then he realized that he was out of the city walls of Whalefall City and was able to swim to the surface.

He thanked the fish before it disappeared back through the city walls and Rafayel didn't have to think twice as he turned away from Whalefall City to swim up to the surface; however, before he allowed himself to fully come out, he swam slowly as the damn words from the elders rang in his head. 

"The world on the surface is dangerous, even if those people worship our Sea God, there is a chance that someone will try to capture him."

"As the previous Lemurians have..." 

"Rafayel, you must never venture out to the surface world. Your people are here, that is all that should concern you." 

And the annoying part of all. "The Sea God will one day meet the Goddess of the Forest, and when that day comes, should he fall in love with her, it will be the beginning of the downfall of Lemuria."

Rafayel always thought it to be those stories to be something a parent would tell to their child to make them listen. And besides, Rafayel had always been, not only a rebellious soul, but one of sheer curiosity. 

Once he peeked out from the water, he spotted a woman by the shore. And he had seen a few other humans before, but something about her was different and he couldn't help but to swim towards the shore, closer to her. Who could she be? For some reason... he needed to know and while he doesn't know why he needs to, he simply just has to try; in a way, it felt as though there were residual feelings, feelings that weren't from him and that in itself baffled him.

So without thinking, his mouth opened to speak.

"Who might you be? You don't seem... human to me, although you do appear to be." He tilted his head briefly before letting out a laugh. "Ah, apologies. This is bold of me, I will admit."

I want to memorize every one of your curves so that they remain imprinted in my memory.