[024] OOM - Stardust

[tristranthorn]

The sky begins to grow slightly darker and greyer by the time Tristran leaves his home. Feeling well-fed, happy, and anxious all at the same time, Tristran readjusts his coat and sets off, waving happily to his family, standing by the entrance of the door. Now that there are no other prior engagements, there is only one thing left to do - and admittedly, it is all he can think about anyway.

Tristran leaves the village and makes his way to the wall at a quick pace, passing people by without a word, bent on one path and one path only. When he reaches the gap, he looks distractedly for Yvaine, brightening immensely upon seeing her.

Practically sprinting to reach the star, he smiles, slowing to a stop before her. His hands are slightly clammy, and possibly even trembling as he holds them out.

"Hello, you," he says. Then in a teasing tone, "Have a good time waiting for me?"

Comments

[an_evening_star]

The star is still seated in right about the same place where her legs gave out on her several hours earlier - which is rather ridiculous, and altogether pathetic if one makes note of the bits of delighted haze that still hang around her - but there hadn't been any real motivation for moving.

She was waiting. She had something to wait for.

(And he came back.)

She can't quite help the slowly stretching smile - the rather obvious display of giddy, glittering relief - as she reaches upward in return, fingers catching easily with his.

"Not particularly," she quips in return, chin tilting in a familiar manner.

[tristranthorn]

"I'm sorry," he says, as he helps her to her feet.

He means it. He's been away for nearly the entire day -- settling things with Victoria and catching up with his family -- when all he really wanted was to show her everything.

"I wanted you to meet my parents and my sister. I suppose I should have taken you with me, into the village."

[an_evening_star]

"No. You shouldn't have," she replies, adding a reassuring. "As much as I would appreciate it."

Her gaze stays trained downward - soft and low-lashed and oddly fascinated with how his fingers fit exactly - and her head shakes slightly before she takes the time to look up.

"I live as long as I am in Faerie. Were I to follow you," and her tone says, somehow, that she would. If he wanted. "Well, I would be nothing but what you had expected - a cold iron stone fallen from the heavens."

[tristranthorn]

He squeezes her hands slightly in his, eyes widening.

"What? But I almost took you through with me!" he exclaims, aghast. "I tried to - last night."

How could he not have known? If something happened to her, what would ... what would happen to him?

[an_evening_star]

She almost laughs - that persistent glow starting up inside of her once more.

"Yes," she says archly, trying rather uselessly to hold back yet another increasingly stupid smile. "Which only goes to show that you are indeed a ninny, a lackwit, and a - a clodpoll."

[tristranthorn]

His expression softens, and he smiles at her. Well, the point is it didn't happen. She's still here. And he's here.

"Dunderhead," he offers. "You always used to like calling me a dunderhead."

He pauses.

"And come to think of it, an oaf, too."

[an_evening_star]

Yes. They're here. It's rather nice, isn't it?

"Well," she says, diplomatically enough. "You are all those things and more besides."

The smile fades and her eyebrows beetle together sternly, set of fingers not caught with his rising to poke him at the center of his chest - before they spread out lazily over the place where his heart is.

"Why did you keep me waiting like that? I thought that something terrible had happened to you."

[tristranthorn]

"I'm sorry," he tells her again.

He places his hand over hers and the familiar tingling spreads through his fingers and up his arm. His heart is thumping so loudly in his chest, he's sure she can feel it.

"I won't leave you ever again," he promises, his tone serious.

[an_evening_star]

Her eyes close for a moment, just - just breathing in for a second because she can feel it, wild and racing against her fingertips and setting the edges of her alight.

"No," she replies then, seriously and with great certainty. "You will not."

She laughs, quiet and soft, as though she is taking the time to gather herself back together again.

[tristranthorn]

He isn't sure how on earth he could have missed all of this. A lot of time had gone by when he had no idea that he -- that there was this.

He would like nothing more than to just look at her, watch her, take it all in.

"Is it true," he starts, pulling her along beside him and in the direction of the market, "those things you said to me?"

[an_evening_star]

She's tugged along willingly, teeth catching at her lower lip to hold back the smile, until the words make their way out of his mouth - she lets out a tiny, horrified squeak and the speed of her footsteps slows, flush spreading its way down her neck and pooling at her shoulders.

He couldn't be - she hadn't planned on -

Cautiously, eyes squeezed shut, "W-what things would those be?"

[tristranthorn]

He slows too, to keep his pace beside her. An amused grin begins to appear on his face in response to the squeak (yes he heard it), before he turns to face her.

He stops.

"While I was still a mouse," he replies. His expression sobers just a bit. He ... has to know. "There were some things you said. I just wanted to know whether they were true."

[an_evening_star]

Oh, she knows exactly which things he means - in vivid, horribly embarrassing detail even - she just doesn't know whether or not she wants to admit that she knows which things he means.

"You weren't supposed to -" her free hand presses over her mouth, catching another mortified noise between her fingers. "I didn't - you were - oh, gods."

[tristranthorn]

"I don't remember everything," he admits, hands going to both of her arms, resting there, warm (and still tingling pleasantly) against her skin. "But I remember bits and pieces."

He laughs softly. "I didn't want to tell you because I thought I might have been dreaming, or..." A pause. "I didn't want to think it was untrue."

[an_evening_star]

"It's not," she blurts out quickly - and then slower, quieter. "It's not - it's just -" a stern frown, and she pokes him lightly once more. "You weren't exactly supposed to be paying attention, Tristran Thorn."

Her hands fall then, fingers hooking easily into his belt loops, and chin ducking a bit sheepishly.

"Can't listen to anything, can you?"

[tristranthorn]

"Well, I guess I couldn't help it," he says. He places a finger beneath her chin, raising it slightly so he can see her properly.

With affection, he tells her, "You do make it hard not to listen to you, after all."

[an_evening_star]

"Took you a while to hear it," she murmurs and glances upward cautiously, his fingers setting off another sweeping tingle along her skin.

A smile, quick and crooked.

"Guess I will have to be louder next time," she says. "Just in case."

[tristranthorn]

"Just in case," he repeats with a nod, smiling still.

Quickly, his hand finds hers and they continue walking, path set once more towards some form of destination.

"You know, the captain and I had a conversation on the ship -- a little before we left, actually."

[an_evening_star]

The star tightens her fingers slightly, almost instinctively, peering downward with a helpless grin.

(you know love when your fingers fit like a reflection)

She tilts her head curiously, "Did you now?"

[tristranthorn]

A wind begins to come up and around them as they reach the Faerie-market. Many tents and booths are already set up, flags flapping and gusting and a series of chimes clinging musically in rhythm in reply to the weather.

"Yes," Tristran replies to the star. "And he told me something, too. Something I didn't really understand - until now."

[an_evening_star]

The wind only heralds the start of a rain shower and she tugs him forward this time, laughing as they pause once more under the awning of a book stall. She smiles and smooths down an errant cover absently before her fingers return, as if drawn, to tug on the cuffs of his sleeves, playing idly with the seam between the material and his skin.

"Going to tell me what it was, Prince Charming?"

[tristranthorn]

A number of other creatures and people alike join them beneath the awning to keep shelter from the sudden onslaught of rain. In the mean time, the stall-keeper hauls a boxful of books further under the canvas tent in order to protect them from getting wet.

Tristran glances at her, hand hovering at her cheek for a moment; never mind that they are likely being watched by an audience (though most of them are browsing through books, or watching the rain).

"He told me that my true love was in front of my eyes," he says. "And he was right."

[an_evening_star]

She leans slightly toward the contact, an absent sort of hum making its quiet way passed her lips - and if there is an audience of any kind, it's not very terribly likely that she notices them at all.

He's extraordinarily lovely. It's not, by any means, the first time that she has noticed - but that doesn't change the fact that she does notice.

"That is what I meant, mostly," she breathes out. "Only you said it better."

[tristranthorn]

"Mackerel sky, mackerel sky, not long wet nor not long dry," a sing-song voice softly floats through the air, interrupting the two.

Tristran settles his hands at the star's waist, turning to look over his shoulder. A man in a black silk top hat grins at them, picking up a small red-leather bound book and waving it at them.

Nodding his head (he seems so familiar, that man), Tristran turns back to Yvaine. The rain seems to have let up, and many people begin to leave the stall.

"Shall we?" he says to her.

[an_evening_star]

"We shall," she grins, stepping away from the contact with a tad bit more reluctance than she would care to admit and snagging his arm in the meantime.

The star glances back curiously at the man in the top hat, who mumbles something about receiving proper thanks, before shaking her head dismissively and concentrating once more on the young man walking beside her.

[tristranthorn]

"I don't know why -- well, I do know why, but -- I just feel so happy," Tristran muses aloud, half breathlessly, as they walk past tents and stalls filled with whosits and whatsits, sparkling, shining and chiming from displays.

The musty smell of damp fills the air, but the atmosphere is bustling still, full of colour.

[an_evening_star]

She shakes her head, laughing brightly - and other things may shimmer and shine, but never enough to catch her notice for very long, they've never been terribly important in the first place.

"You're ridiculous," she says - and then, a little breathless herself, a quietly incredulous, "I love you."

And then laughing once more, shoving his shoulder slightly, "You idiot."

[tristranthorn]

Tristran laughs too. "I'd say that is the finest thing I have ever been called," he says, practically beaming, now.

"And d'you mean it?"

[an_evening_star]

"No," she replies, as dryly as she can manage (though it's still nowhere near her usual standards). "I'm lying - can't stand you."

The rain has started up again and when she tugs him close her fingers are cold where they curl into the sides of his shirt, smile bright and impish and unusually free.

This is where she belongs, right here. There isn't much room for doubt.

[tristranthorn]

Tristran stops them both, pausing for a moment as he turns to her.

Then resting his hands -- slightly damp from the soft rain -- gently against her cheeks, he places a kiss on her forehead.

"I love you, too," he tells her, voice barely a whisper.

And then.

And then he leans down to kiss her lips under the cold spring rain, heart pounding in chest so loudly, so grandly, so unable to contain all the joy it holds.

[an_evening_star]

For a moment - just a second, really - she's frozen.

Completely still and she scarcely dares to even breathe because this - this is what she waited for, what she would have waited forever for, even when she hadn't realized it yet.

And then - all of a sudden she's so very alive again - she pulls back once, only briefly, and just enough to whisper a quiet ("Wasn't lying.") against his lips before her fingers travel upward to match, pulling him closer.

She's changed her mind - this is where she belongs.

[tristranthorn]

Droplets of rain continue to fall like a shower upon them, but Tristran hardly notices.

Eyes opened now, he looks at her. She is glowing and she's never appeared more beautiful to him than now, all wet and slightly flushed and brilliant.

He kisses her again, blinking back rain, then smiles against her lips.

"You are my most wonderful girl."

[an_evening_star]

She hums pleasantly against him and presses a kiss very quickly against his jaw - she can't help it, she's short - smiles up at him, all confidence once more.

(when you look in someone's eyes and you find yourself there)

"Works out well then," she replies, toying with his collar. "She is pretty, but I do not think that she'd be very much fun."

[tristranthorn]

Tristran raises his eyebrows in surprise.

"Oh? So, you've met her, then?" he asks, hand finding itself winding into her hair completely on its own accord. "When was that?"

[an_evening_star]

The star arcs one of her own back at him easily enough, tilting her head.

"Earlier," she waves a hand dismissively, before replacing it on his shoulder. "I will admit I was rather happy to discover that you were not marrying her."

For entirely selfish reasons.

[tristranthorn]

"So was I," he confesses, letting out a breath.

"I could not see myself marrying her -- not for a while, now. And maybe I never really could to begin with."

He takes her hand again, squeezes it.

[an_evening_star]

"Good answer," she murmurs in reply - and, this time, she's the one to wind her free fingers at the back of his neck, to lean upward just enough to catch his lips with hers.

It takes a moment to notice, really, how the persistently familiar beat of her heart isn't quite caught against her ribs (as if trying to escape) any longer - but when she does she laughs, bright and relieved against him.

And it's not hollow at all, like she had worried. It's full and dizzy and it feels more like home than anything has before.

It's perfect.