crescentview | [OPEN]

[OPEN]

WHO: Syrlya and You
WHAT: Syrlya gets cursed, and then has one bad day after another so he runs away to the hotsprings
WHEN: ~few days after the spring dance until last day of spring. Closed prompts through end of Summer
WHERE: The farm, around town, the hotsprings
WARNINGS: There is NSFW in these parts

[Do Not Agitate the Goddess (mute) | Edge of the Woods + His Farm]

[Syrlya gave it a few days, at least didn't confront the Goddess about her questionable habits at the dance itself. It doesn't go terribly well.

He marches away from the pond, his expression is twisted into a scowl and fists balled. Anyone who crosses his path in the immediate aftermath is met with irritation, and then a pointed turn of his face away as he marches down the path.

After a few hours he's had some time to cool off--though he's still sulking, toiling on his farm ripping up weeds and pushing new seeds into the dirt. If they didn't have to do this to eat, he'd let this goddess know right where she can--]

[Twice cursed (blind) | Other people's farms]

[Luckily, going mute only lasts for a day, and then it's back to normal. For a couple days, at least. Until he wakes one morning to the room being strangely dark, like the sun itself was snuffed out--no, but it isn't the sun that's the problem. It's his eyes.

The morning is a panic. A level of fear he doesn't often feel as he's suddenly lost the sense most important to him.

The first trip is a stumble to the clinic... unsurprisingly, when dealing with a talking plant it doesn't offer any answers except that they, at least, don't seem to be injured. Nobody there accuses the goddess, but an errant magical effect... Syrlya can only think of one person who is capable.

So, his option is to wait it out for now, see if it clears up on its own. That is... not optimal. But ultimately Syrlya can't find any better options.

Doesn't mean he can't try and do what he needs to. So, using a glittering sword as a makeshift walking stick (watch your feet) Syrlya strides out of the farmhouse.

Or rather, trips out of it, hitting a few walls along the way. And then he's on a truly blind path, tripping and crawling over other people's fences with no real idea of his orientation. Just where he thinks it is. The warmth of the sun isn't helping him as much as he wishes it did.

Anyway. Sorry if he tramples your flowers.]

[Make That Thrice Cursed (table) | The Town]

[The blidnness clears up after two days as if it never happened. So not a malady after all, it seems. So Syrlya goes into town to finish errands he intended to before the weekend. He's just headed down the street with a bag of groceries more varied than the limited vegetables from their garden... when it hits.

A plastic folding end table drops seemingly from thin air and smacks right onto his head. Syrlya buckles with a startled cry, his bag tumbling out of his arms and spilling to the ground.]

((His plotting post is over here if you want a more custom starter or simply something else!))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Syrlya crosses his arms, almost pouting as he mutters.] Oh I won't be forgetting how she stole my voice and my sight.

[He sighs, waving a hand dismissively.] I don't want to talk about this.

[He was just starting to relax and yet the water soothe all the marks Adelis left on him.]

[ A flash of fury glints in Trahearne's eye, his composure and goodwill quickly evaporating. ]

She did what?

[ Syrlya did nothing wrong (or so he thinks). Why target him like that?!

The marks, rashes on Syrlya's wrists do not go unnoticed either. His expression collapses into a full-on frown as he scoots closer in the water, grabbing Syrlya's arm before he can hide it beneath the surface again. ]

Did she do this to you too?

[Syrlya would agree, he did nothing wrong.

But his own complaining is interrupted as Trahearne grabs his arm. He turns to stare, bewildered... and then he realizes what his foolish mistake had been.]

Oh, uh--no. No, that was from... something else.

[His face flushes in embarrassment as just the memory of it puts a pit in his stomach that he does not need right now. This was not something he meant for Trahearne to see.]

Something else?

[ Trahearne parrots, as though he cannot imagine there could be more out there who would want to harm his commander.

He leans over to get a better look, letting his thumb run gently over the mark. ]

Then what happened?

Nothing bad I assure you. [He didn't ask the details with Kaeya, he doesn't want to share them himself. His face is still gold.] There was just, you know, a particular bingo square of mine. It's fine.

[ That Syrlya doesn't elaborate tells Trahearne enough. Plus, he vaguely recalls one of the more salacious squares mentioning something like marks from the few times they've compared cards. ]

You've had sex.

[ Trahearne's expression is unreadable as he stares at his commander, a pang of...jealousy? muted under the tight lid he keeps on his feelings.

He gently lowers Syrlya's arm back into the water. ]

I hope whoever it was does not mean you any genuine harm.

[Syrlya pulls his arm back, absently rubbing his wrist as he plunges it into the water. He expected it to be embarrassing but he didn't think Trahearne would be... upset?]

He doesn't. It was agreed upon to complete a square for each of us and with someone I trust. I am bruised but not harmed.

[ Trahearne will insist he is not upset, of course. The look on his face and his posture saying otherwise.

He leans back in the water. ]

All right.

[ His lips are pressed into a thin line, amber eyes piercing Syrlya in his stare. ]

But if anyone ever does harm you, tell me. I will not let you suffer alone.

[ He will not enquire further, nor will he press the issue. He isn't one to talk. ]

If someone does attempt to harm me, I'll leave them with twice the bruises in return. [He glances aside to Trahearne.] But if there were any actual danger, you would find out.

[If he goes for rough sex pt 2, though, he isn't telling Trahearne shit.]

[ There's a brief pause before Trahearne's expression softens, a smile tugs at his lips. ]

You have always been a powerful fighter.

[ Of course he would. He thinks if there were any actual danger, it would come to him through the grapevine, or perhaps through someone else entirely. He doubts, especially with his limited power now, he would be rather useless if the situation called for it.

Trahearne sinks back into the water, going back to his original spot, gaze drifting out over the hot springs. He isn't sure what this feeling is that grips his throat, but he feels...awful. His proverbial heart aches. Like asking had been the wrong decision, though he went in with wrong intentions. Like he's driven a wedge between them that just widens the already impossibly large gap that separates them.

He doesn't say anything else. ]

[Meanwhile, Syrlya would really like to dissolve into this pond so he doesn't have to contemplate future conversations with Trahearne about his kinky sex adventures because Trahearne mistakes them for an attack.

He reaches to rub his cheeks, willing the evidence of his fluster to disappear. And otherwise, he lets the silence sit between them.]

[ He doesn't know! They were just talking about the goddess exerting her will over people!

The silence hangs over them for a long, long while. The tension does eventually evaporate from Trahearne's shoulders and thought process, but that doesn't make it any less awkward.

Eventually, he shifts in his spot, a little tired of sitting in the water. He lifts himself to sit on the edge of the pool instead, his feet still submerged. ]

I brought some of our mushroom harvest for dinner.

Oh? [Syrlya looks up (and up and up) and a small smile graces his lips.] That sounds nice. I brought some sliced turnip we could have with it.

That sounds delicious.

[ Syrlya's smile is met with another, slightly more hesitant one. It eases Trahearne's feelings, which have now been lidded and locked and buried.

That's been getting more difficult lately.

He lifts himself from the water and stands, speaking as he stretches: ]

I'm going back to camp now, but shall we take a little walk next?

[Syrlya looks down at his arms as he pulls them from the water. He probably doesn't want to steam for too long and over hydrate.]

That sounds acceptable. [He hauls himself out of the hot spring, shaking to get as much water off of him so he can grab his clothes within too much mess.] I should be dry by the time we return to camp.

[ Trahearne nods, then turns away to shake the excess water from his hair and begins to regrow his clothes.

It sounds like they're going back together. So it doesn't matter if he's finished by the time Syrlya's ready, he can regrow and walk. ]

[Syrlya folds his clothes up, boots in the other hand before he turns to Trahearne to start the walk back to camp. If he's holding his clothes up in a way that his torso scar isn't so visible... well, he'd rather not kill the mood of their outing a second time.]

[ Luckily for Syrlya, Trahearne only glances briefly in his direction, flashing him a smile, before setting off on the path back to camp.

And when they arrive back, Trahearne stands by his bed roll and turns his gaze upward, mentally making a note of which way is town, which way is to the springs, and what part they have yet to explore.

He waits for a moment before turning to Syrlya. ]

Ready?

[He pats himself to ensure he's dry enough, and then starts pulling all of his clothes back on.

The gloves are last, after his boots, and he flexes his fingers before he looks at Trahearne with a nod.] I am. Where are we walking?

Nowhere in particular. [ Trahearne starts moving towards the side of the clearing they've yet to venture past. ] I thought it might be nice to walk where our whims take us.

[ A page out of Kaspar's book, probably.

He'd say "it's not often we get to stroll aimlessly," but it was a mistake the last time he used that phrasing. So he won't do it again.

The walk is pleasant, all things considered. The darkening sky is a comfort to the dusk blooms, and Trahearne carefully pries out stories from Syrlya of his adventures after Maguuma: Elona. Kralkatorrik. Cantha. That all this happened is such a delight to Trahearne, that he is in such close proximity with someone so well-traveled and who has done so much. But he also feels a pang of envy, that he was not there personally to witness any of it.

Despite the tension earlier, Trahearne decides that he quite likes spending time with Syrlya alone like this. Every once in a while he glances over at him as he speaks, unable to help the fond smile that crosses his face. His chest swells with pride. ]

[The walk is peaceful, even if the topic of discussion isn't always. Some of it he brightens up as he details stories of Aurene, of Dragon's Watch. But the war has worn on him, the struggle to defeat the dragons without destroying Tyria with them has worn on him, and sometimes his mood dips to be pensive, distant as he remembers hard memories.

He rarely highlights where his own actions fall in these great battles--but Trahearne knows him, and Trahearne's seen him and Trahearne can take a guess how he held shaky alliances together so that Tyria had the strength to fight back.

It's already dark by the time they're making their way back, Syrlya glancing around the trees.] We're going the right way? Perhaps we should have marked our path.

[ There's a weight he senses on Syrlya's soul that was not there the last time they were together on Tyria. He never pries beyond what Syrlya is comfortable sharing, indulging in the faint dips of mood with him as they come. It hurts to know he was not there with him to give him the support he so deserved, but it's what he can do now.

Watching the way his face lights up when he speaks of Aurene makes it all worth it, though.

And even if Syrlya never tells him what, exactly, he was doing, Trahearne knows. There could be no other person in the entire world that could act as the vanguard of the defeat of the dragons as his--his commander could.

At the question, Trahearne's gaze instinctively flits to the sky, but is met instead with the foreign array of stars. That doesn't help. ]

I believe so, but I may be wrong. [ The conversation has been so riveting.

After a second, he turns to look at the mountainside slope that reaches upwards not far from where they are, and he goes to scramble up the rocks. Maybe with a higher vantage point, he can see the town and figure out where their camp is. ]

[It's a sound idea, and Syrlya keys into what he's doing. But it doesn't look steady enough for both of them, so he simply waits at the bottom of the rock formation with his hands on his hips, for Trahearne's answer.]

[ Trahearne clings to the rocky face and glances behind, out over the island. It's a beautiful view, one that momentarily takes his breath away. Lights from the farms dot the vast land, a bright warm glow that belongs to the town sitting squarely in the center. Faint starlight dots the dusk sky, like a heavenly mirror image of the island.

But he doesn't forget why he climbed. His head swivels around for a moment, trying to triangulate their location, before he scrambles back down the slope and comes to a halt right in front of Syrlya. A little too close. ]

I think I know where we are. We will have to adjust course slightly. [ He smiles, observing the teal glow now faintly present on Syrlya's face. ] We're not in a particular hurry, are we?

[ They can eat grass if they get truly lost. ]

[Syrlya leans back slightly, instinctively trying to avoid getting run into. But Trahearne stops himself just in time.] I shouldn't think so. We are supposed to be well away from any demands right now.

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