[ it is safe, if only because dextera oddly doesn’t find anything strange about it—he doesn’t feel awkward in the least, peaceful as he is here in guren’s lap, and he notices too that the sky isn’t quite the same as it has been.
when the first star pokes through the cover of night, dextera blinks, rubbing his eye like it might be something wrong with his vision. ]
[Guren is kind of amazed at the view again, honestly. It's just a black sky with white specks— but no, they're sparkling, and it's clear that they're out there, existing.]
You can see the stars. [He catches that eye rubbing and peaks down.] Have you never seen stars before?
[ dextera knows what they are, but it’s hard to wrap his head around the sight. stars... like the plants, they’re something he never expected to see after his sin devastated the world. maybe he doesn’t deserve to see them, but—he’s glad he has. he’s glad guren brought him out here. ]
... [ a slow exhale, and he shakes his head from his position on guren’s lap. ]
[A red sky would make it difficult, he supposes, and he has no idea what Dextera's apocalypse was like. But that interests him, and he shifts just enough to lift one of his palms. Dextera's hair had shifted slightly with that little shake, and Guren moves his fingers now to nudge some of it out of the way so he can really see.]
Then I hope you're taking a good look now. [Enjoy those stars. He's going to, too, letting his hand rest by his own leg and looking back up, curious.]
I don't see any constellations I recognize, though. [That's just a fact he notes down for himself, but he shares it aloud, too. This place really must not be home.]
[ dextera is taking an extraordinarily good look now. if he's seen the stars ever before, it must have been from a time before the blaze... and those memories, of course, have been robbed from him. even when he closes his eyes and tries everything he has to remember, all his mind offers is a white room and a quiet song. there's nothing there that would suggest he's seen a night sky. ]
...
[ the clouds of earlier today have cleared enough to let them see the stars as they spread, and when guren notes that there are no constellations he knows, dextera raises a hand, pointing to trace something out in the sky.
it's... a circle? the lamest constellation, but he seems pleased with it. ]
Now you're making your own? [He doesn't laugh, but his voice sounds like he's close.] That one's easy to remember, at least. You're better than me, anyway. I just see a bunch of dots in the sky.
[No creative spirit... Or at least no admitting it.]
[ nothing wrong with dots, dextera thinks. even if he couldn’t pick out any shapes, he’d appreciate the vision overhead.
he rests his hands on his chest now, having pointed out his single new constellation, and re-settles in guren’s lap—but then he’s looking expectantly upward, and maybe... he wants guren to try anyway.
[Of all the times, now is when he chooses to tsun with the most resistance. A constellation... Something silly from his imagination that they can both see any time they look up at the night sky. It's not a bad thing at all, and he's going to get to it, but he's stalling for one hesitant reason or another.
He looks back up at the sky after making a face at Dextera, a small frown in place. It's going to take him a while...]
[ dextera doesn’t mind the resistance now—in fact, he seems oddly comfortable with it, like he knows guren is going to do it anyway. smug little shit!
but it’s hard not to feel happy and confident, laid across guren’s lap as he is, looking between guren’s little frown and the sky they’re both watching. it doesn’t matter what he finds in the stars, as long as it’s something dextera can see, too.
after all, a circle is a stupid constellation but it’s his now. ]
[Guren sighs like it's a big problem, but he's focused on the stars, now. He's trying to find something nice. Something that won't be dark or depressing, something to look up to and find nice. But he doesn't want something stupid like an ice cream cone, which is the first thing he actually finds, so it takes time.
Eventually, he points up.]
See that star? It looks a little brighter to me. Anyway, just follow around it... [He traces out from it, connecting stars and coming back, forming petals to a flower. A cherry blossom, specifically... Like the decoration on his uniform, if Dextera has a good memory of something like that.]
I guess it looks a little like a bloomed cherry blossom.
[ he guesses it looks a little like one... what a roundabout answer, but dextera is honestly content enough that he tried not to laugh or make fun of it.
instead, he tries to trace out the same shape that guren did, moving slower and more uncertainly, but when he finishes he thinks he understands what the shape is supposed to be.
he’s never seen a cherry blossom, but he can connect the shape now to the mysterious flower pin on guren’s poor uniform. ]
[WHAT WAS HE EXPECTING... But gosh, okay, now they have a circle and a cherry blossom in the sky. This is a little like a date, and he's not oblivious to that, but he's refusing to point it out, and thank god there's no one here right now who'd really risk teasing him. For the most part.]
What was yours, anyway? A sun? [It was a circle and yet he wants to believe it has meaning...]
[ dextera has never been on a date, so he has no idea how much this resembles one. gazing up at the night sky, resting in guren's lap... it just feels nice and natural. if you think it's a date, that's on you, guren!! ]
...
[ give him a second to think about that, because he hadn't actually applied any meaning to the circle he drew out. in a strange twist of fate, guren put more effort into discovering a constellation than dextera had, and now he needs to quickly come up with a retroactive meaning for his circle.
after a pause, he nods again. yeah, it was a sun. ]
[It wasn't a sun, was it. Guren's lips twitch into a smirk, and his response is to reach and pinch at Dextera's nose a little. Don't lie to him!! But, maybe it's a sun now. It's a quick pinch, at least, and he's letting go right after.
For the record, he's never been on a date either, even if Mahiru would beg to differ. He's just saying, if anyone sees them, they'd get the wrong idea!!!]
[ dextera squeezes his eyes closed when guren pinches his nose as if that will protect him from guren's wrath, but it's gone before it can hurt anyway. he probably deserved that, for being a liar—though he's thinking much the same. it can be a sun now, if they want it to be. that's fine. ]
Hah... [ a mix of a laugh and a sigh, and he touches his nose where guren pinched him. is this friendship? ]
[A sun is better, anyway! At least, Guren thinks so. Dextera is a little like a sun himself, with his warm and soothing nature. But he won't say that aloud. Anyway, nose pinching is definitely friendship.]
That's what you get. [The nose pinch!! But he smiles to himself, and looks away when he does, back up at the stars. Not that it hides his face, with Dextera's position, but whatever.
He likes the stars. He could probably sit here and think all night, even if his leg is kind of falling asleep like this. He won't move, he won't say a word about it. He'll just enjoy this moment.]
[ dextera has no idea the gay turn guren's thoughts have taken, but it's fine. all of this is fine, isn't it? guren has shown him a sight that he can't ever remember seeing, and they've even come up with two new constellations that didn't exist before they found them.
it's pleasant. he's happy, and he'll take a little longer to bask in that happiness. it's only once his neck starts to feel uncomfortable that he thinks to move, and he forces himself to sit up—and shakes out the stiffness, like a wet dog. he rolls his shoulders, and glances back over one to look at guren. does he want to go? to stay? the night is still young, dextera thinks, since sunset was only a little while ago. ]
[As soon as his leg is free, he stretches both of them out, and his arms, as well. Hmm, it really hasn't been that long at all, for how they tend to spend time together. He doesn't have all that much to do immediately. He can sort out the defense force teams later, and he's trying to pace himself and remember to take his time.
He'd gotten a little too close to dangerous things during the shadow event.]
How's Leliel doing? [They can go see the chicken.]
[ dextera’s expression immediately brightens, because guren has remembered her name. he’s the only one dextera has been able to tell, since it hasn’t come up with anyone else just yet—but that’s fine, because he did name her with guren in the room.
he nods quickly, excited to report (?) that she’s just fine, and he happily stands. ]
[As he moves to his feet, he quickly discovers one of his legs is definitely asleep, but he taps his foot against the ground a few times and that seems good enough.]
Let's go visit her. [He'll visit a chicken... She's a cute chicken.]
[ she’s the cutest chicken? she takes after her father in many ways.
dextera doesn’t notice that guren’s leg is asleep or he might feel bad about it, but guren is too good at hiding it! what a talent he is.
he stops, however, before he gets into the house—in the brief time they’ve spent away from the front of his home, it’s changed, ever so slightly. what was previously bare, somewhat unkempt rocks and grass, has now become a small plot of bright blue tulips.
they poke up through the ground as vibrant and sturdy as if they’ve always been there, tended to by an expert gardener, and of course dextera stops to examine them. ]
[Guren places his hand on Dextera's shoulder just so he can lean closer himself, taking a look at the flowers. Okay, he's very observant, but those... He thinks back to just moments ago, walking past this, entering the door...]
Those weren't there when I walked in before. [He's pretty sure they weren't there when they walked out, either.]
Tulips...? Are either of your roommates growing any?
[ dextera hasn’t even seen these in the gardens in flavo. he spends a lot of time there, but this color doesn’t seem familiar in the least. on top of not growing tulips in the first place, they’re odd because of the absolute novelty of them!
but he isn’t complaining. he shakes his head in response to guren’s question, and then he’s moving closer, gently taking one of the flowers—just curling it closer, as impossibly delicate as if he were dealing with ice or glass or something crystal and fragile.
[They're beautiful. Guren thinks so, staring at them and letting his hand slip away from Dextera as the other reaches to touch them. Tulips out of nowhere... Guren glances back to the side of the house where they'd been, wondering. It appeared like a reward would...?
He looks back down at Dextera, touched by his appreciation of all things like this.]
They're yours now, then. [Who else would they be for?] That's a rare color, too. It suits you.
[ dextera doesn’t make the connection to a quest reward, since the last reward he got was a bunch of knives and certainly not something as pleasant as flowers. he also hasn’t even done anything.
but he’ll take it. they’re pretty, and he’s glad to have something to admire so close to his home—however they got here, he’s glad. ]
...
[ he blushes, a little, when guren says that the color suits him, but then he’s moving just enough to make room for guren to sit down next to him.
they found them together, didn’t they? so that means they belong to the two of them. ]
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when the first star pokes through the cover of night, dextera blinks, rubbing his eye like it might be something wrong with his vision. ]
...
[ but it isn’t? ]
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[Guren is kind of amazed at the view again, honestly. It's just a black sky with white specks— but no, they're sparkling, and it's clear that they're out there, existing.]
You can see the stars. [He catches that eye rubbing and peaks down.] Have you never seen stars before?
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... [ a slow exhale, and he shakes his head from his position on guren’s lap. ]
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[A red sky would make it difficult, he supposes, and he has no idea what Dextera's apocalypse was like. But that interests him, and he shifts just enough to lift one of his palms. Dextera's hair had shifted slightly with that little shake, and Guren moves his fingers now to nudge some of it out of the way so he can really see.]
Then I hope you're taking a good look now. [Enjoy those stars. He's going to, too, letting his hand rest by his own leg and looking back up, curious.]
I don't see any constellations I recognize, though. [That's just a fact he notes down for himself, but he shares it aloud, too. This place really must not be home.]
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...
[ the clouds of earlier today have cleared enough to let them see the stars as they spread, and when guren notes that there are no constellations he knows, dextera raises a hand, pointing to trace something out in the sky.
it's... a circle? the lamest constellation, but he seems pleased with it. ]
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Now you're making your own? [He doesn't laugh, but his voice sounds like he's close.] That one's easy to remember, at least. You're better than me, anyway. I just see a bunch of dots in the sky.
[No creative spirit... Or at least no admitting it.]
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he rests his hands on his chest now, having pointed out his single new constellation, and re-settles in guren’s lap—but then he’s looking expectantly upward, and maybe... he wants guren to try anyway.
just make one up. for him. ]
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[Of all the times, now is when he chooses to tsun with the most resistance. A constellation... Something silly from his imagination that they can both see any time they look up at the night sky. It's not a bad thing at all, and he's going to get to it, but he's stalling for one hesitant reason or another.
He looks back up at the sky after making a face at Dextera, a small frown in place. It's going to take him a while...]
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but it’s hard not to feel happy and confident, laid across guren’s lap as he is, looking between guren’s little frown and the sky they’re both watching. it doesn’t matter what he finds in the stars, as long as it’s something dextera can see, too.
after all, a circle is a stupid constellation but it’s his now. ]
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Eventually, he points up.]
See that star? It looks a little brighter to me. Anyway, just follow around it... [He traces out from it, connecting stars and coming back, forming petals to a flower. A cherry blossom, specifically... Like the decoration on his uniform, if Dextera has a good memory of something like that.]
I guess it looks a little like a bloomed cherry blossom.
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instead, he tries to trace out the same shape that guren did, moving slower and more uncertainly, but when he finishes he thinks he understands what the shape is supposed to be.
he’s never seen a cherry blossom, but he can connect the shape now to the mysterious flower pin on guren’s poor uniform. ]
...
[ he nods. it does look like that, doesn’t it? ]
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[WHAT WAS HE EXPECTING... But gosh, okay, now they have a circle and a cherry blossom in the sky. This is a little like a date, and he's not oblivious to that, but he's refusing to point it out, and thank god there's no one here right now who'd really risk teasing him. For the most part.]
What was yours, anyway? A sun? [It was a circle and yet he wants to believe it has meaning...]
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...
[ give him a second to think about that, because he hadn't actually applied any meaning to the circle he drew out. in a strange twist of fate, guren put more effort into discovering a constellation than dextera had, and now he needs to quickly come up with a retroactive meaning for his circle.
after a pause, he nods again. yeah, it was a sun. ]
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For the record, he's never been on a date either, even if Mahiru would beg to differ. He's just saying, if anyone sees them, they'd get the wrong idea!!!]
You're so full of it.
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[ dextera squeezes his eyes closed when guren pinches his nose as if that will protect him from guren's wrath, but it's gone before it can hurt anyway. he probably deserved that, for being a liar—though he's thinking much the same. it can be a sun now, if they want it to be. that's fine. ]
Hah... [ a mix of a laugh and a sigh, and he touches his nose where guren pinched him. is this friendship? ]
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That's what you get. [The nose pinch!! But he smiles to himself, and looks away when he does, back up at the stars. Not that it hides his face, with Dextera's position, but whatever.
He likes the stars. He could probably sit here and think all night, even if his leg is kind of falling asleep like this. He won't move, he won't say a word about it. He'll just enjoy this moment.]
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[ dextera has no idea the gay turn guren's thoughts have taken, but it's fine. all of this is fine, isn't it? guren has shown him a sight that he can't ever remember seeing, and they've even come up with two new constellations that didn't exist before they found them.
it's pleasant. he's happy, and he'll take a little longer to bask in that happiness. it's only once his neck starts to feel uncomfortable that he thinks to move, and he forces himself to sit up—and shakes out the stiffness, like a wet dog. he rolls his shoulders, and glances back over one to look at guren. does he want to go? to stay? the night is still young, dextera thinks, since sunset was only a little while ago. ]
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He'd gotten a little too close to dangerous things during the shadow event.]
How's Leliel doing? [They can go see the chicken.]
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he nods quickly, excited to report (?) that she’s just fine, and he happily stands. ]
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Let's go visit her. [He'll visit a chicken... She's a cute chicken.]
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dextera doesn’t notice that guren’s leg is asleep or he might feel bad about it, but guren is too good at hiding it! what a talent he is.
he stops, however, before he gets into the house—in the brief time they’ve spent away from the front of his home, it’s changed, ever so slightly. what was previously bare, somewhat unkempt rocks and grass, has now become a small plot of bright blue tulips.
they poke up through the ground as vibrant and sturdy as if they’ve always been there, tended to by an expert gardener, and of course dextera stops to examine them. ]
...?
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Those weren't there when I walked in before. [He's pretty sure they weren't there when they walked out, either.]
Tulips...? Are either of your roommates growing any?
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but he isn’t complaining. he shakes his head in response to guren’s question, and then he’s moving closer, gently taking one of the flowers—just curling it closer, as impossibly delicate as if he were dealing with ice or glass or something crystal and fragile.
he’s a little awestruck by the shade of them. ]
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He looks back down at Dextera, touched by his appreciation of all things like this.]
They're yours now, then. [Who else would they be for?] That's a rare color, too. It suits you.
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but he’ll take it. they’re pretty, and he’s glad to have something to admire so close to his home—however they got here, he’s glad. ]
...
[ he blushes, a little, when guren says that the color suits him, but then he’s moving just enough to make room for guren to sit down next to him.
they found them together, didn’t they? so that means they belong to the two of them. ]
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