[While the others are (presumably) throwing a party in the theater in anticipation of yet another person's impending death, Noah is stood by the sandy shore with his head lost amongst the clouds.
Noah's lost track of time. He could track it via the passage of the sun in the sky, the weather turning from warm and balmy to a mild and a bit windy, but it doesn't occur to him to do that. The passage of time doesn't matter in this moment, his control over it out of his hands so long as they remain under the control of their captors.
He hears footsteps approach him. Some part of Noah acknowledges that he's no longer alone, but he still startles when he turns to find Mio there, his reverie forgotten in favor of her.]
...Ah. Hey, Mio. [Noah sounds noticeably subdued. Just a little.] Why aren't you at the party?
[She didn't know she'd find him here, exactly... but when Mio started looking for him, she came down this way fairly quickly. There are no visible campfires around for him to stare into, so the water seemed like the next most likely.
When Noah spoke to Sora before the other man was taken away... the things he'd said had made her head hurt, just a little, like someone spending a spike of ice in one ear and out the other. The pain went away quickly, but the uneasy feeling still lingers.]
I wanted to check on you, so I came looking. [She doesn't think most people in the town are celebrating, and she doesn't want to be around anyone who is. Mio walks down to stand beside him, close enough that her shoulder brushes his arm.] It's a little late.
[He gets that it's late. He gets that he should be spending time with others and not secluding himself with his thoughts, but what's done is done. If it's any consolation, he's happy to shelve those thoughts to focus on Mio— rather, he will be once he's shared the most pressing of them with her.]
...Mio. After what happened today, I want you to stay by my side for as long as we remain here. I don't want to be apart from you.
Hey. [There's something so desperate about his declaration that she turns to face him straight on, her hands going instead to hold him by the elbows.]
I'm not going anywhere.
[Because she quite literally can't, but also because she won't be a part of hurting others who aren't even their enemies. The world has been a villain to them, putting into the position where killing is their only mean of survival, but here she can't even pretend to claim that what weeks she has left available to her are worth more than anyone else's.]
[Mio always seems to recognize how Noah is feeling before he himself does. That desperation he feels? It's real now that he sees it reflected back at him in Mio's eyes. Her hands are warm and soft and deceptively strong where they've braced his elbows, but they're hands that should never have to see another drop of blood. She shouldn't have to fight anymore, much less for her life.
That look in her eyes makes him aware of the lump forming in his throat, something he swallows down before folding his arms around her and hugging her tight to his chest. Don't ask what's gotten into him. He's sure Mio will figure it out for him.]
...There's room at Jade Vine now. I want you to come stay with me. There's no reason why we should remain apart when we'd always been in close proximity before.
[And this way, he'll feel like he has some say in what happens to them. If someone wants to hurt Mio, they'll have to go through him first.]
[Ah... It surprises her initially, but her hands all too quickly release their hold and slip between his arms and body, winding around his waist to return it. She turns her head to the side, pressing her cheek to his chest and feeling the warmth there and the life beating beneath her ear. Emotion blossoms in her chest, the back of her neck, her ears, sparking over her in an almost painful way.
He doesn't have any say at all, does he? It's a reality she can't bring herself to correct immediately. They were all sleeping, and none of them could have stopped what happened last night.]
I don't want to let go of you, but I don't know if I could. It would be hard to sleep there knowing why the bed was empty. [In the Colonies, they'd fill cots as they emptied. A vacated rank was filled, sooner or later, by another soldier transferring in from the Queen's endless supply. Mio doesn't want it to feel like that, sliding into the place once kept by a husk.]
[There's no other way to describe it: holding Mio like this just feels right. This sort of warm, fuzzy feeling is something he only feels when he's with Mio. It was the same way when they held hands. It was the same when he woke in the morning in the dim light of the theater to find her sleeping head propped against his shoulder.
If he could, Noah would hold Mio like this forever. A little longer, he thinks. Let me have this just a little longer.]
Then you can share mine with me. We've managed in tighter quarters.
[But she knows just how stubborn he is. Mio knows Noah won't take no for an answer, but he is willing to compromise to some degree.]
Or you can take the bed and I'll sleep on the floor. I won't mind it one bit.
You don't have to sleep on the floor, [Mio interjects quickly. Too quickly. She even has to temper a laugh at how silly it sounds, him offering and her denying in the middle of this entire situation.
Mio lifts her head from Noah chest to look at him directly, though she doesn't break the link of her arms around his waist.]
At least ask the other people staying at your farm with you? They sounded really worried about you. [Her house is full of pragmatic people, and she can't fault them for that. But as she thinks of Sora and the unexpected way he reacted at the trial again, her stomach feels as heavy as a stone. Mio wants to think of the consequences for the other people living with them, but it isn't as if she can guarantee she knows a single thing about any of them. It's difficult to think that they would miss her in the same way.]
[Noah visibly perks up when Mio acquiesces! ...But she's right, he should probably talk to his housemates about this first. Even if they've got room to spare now, a word of warning that they may be housing another person is only fair.
Noah nods, giving Mio a little squeeze. Can you blame him for finding relief in her answer?]
Alright. I'll have a word with the others and make sure they've got no complaints, and if they do, we'll simply find somewhere else to stay.
[Because staying with Mio is the hill Noah is going to die on. Good luck changing his mind now that she's agreed.]
There are plenty of places to sleep, but don't forget to keep nurturing those connections you've made. [She knows how stubborn he can be, after all, so it doesn't exactly come as a surprise. But it's important that he still listens to all the other things that she says in between acquiescing to him, too.
When she speaks of Noah's connections, Mio can't help but think of the trial and the revelation that he and Sampo had been friends. Unlike some other losses she knows from Noah's memories, Mio knows there was little she could have done to stop this one, but she can be responsible for what comes afterward.]
... Say. I dunno if you heard, but I asked Adela if she could find me a flue or an instrument like it. The ones we've lost, I thought I could send them on, even if life force doesn't work like that here.
That she'd see what she could do. I didn't expect even that, so I'd like to hope that once this is over with she'll be able to help us.
[Their embrace has gone on much longer than a hug should, but Mio hasn't really become conscious of it until right now. How normal is it to not want to move from his arms once she's in them? Everything, after all, must eventually come to an end. Her face feels newly hot.]
I was wondering if you wanted me to play for you. I know it wouldn't be the same, and I might not really understand the feelings you wanted to share, but...
Mm... She's not an unkind person. I believe her when she says she wants to see people happy.
[That said, Noah also believes that the definition of happiness is as diverse as the people who define it. At least in this instance, be believes Adela when she says she'll see what she can do.
...But moving on, why is Mio's face so red? Noah loosens his grip a bit, just enough to ease back and study her face more fully. Surely there's nothing wrong with staring at her tomato cheeks.]
If you would do that for me, I would be honored. I just wish I could join you. We harmonize well, I think.
[It's a far cry from the last time they talked about music when he had seemed so unanchored and directionless. A subtle wave of relief passes through her.]
We really do. Agnian off-seers often work in pairs, so I was used to having someone to play with. It wasn't until I played with you, though, that I noticed it. That I really felt like... our songs completed each other.
[It isn't just their songs, but it must be only natural to feel that way after they've literally been inside each other's minds and felt each other's memories. Like so many things, like the taste of his name in her mouth, she can't allow herself to let it become spoken word.]
[Yeah. They did, didn't they? The two tunes flowed together beautifully— Noah can easily recall that much, though the finer points of the Kevesi Offseer's tune still eludes him. But when he closes his eyes and imagines the two tunes together... it's not hard to recall it, humming it low in his throat.
Was it their duet Noah always found so beautiful? Was it playing beside another Offseer that stirred his soul? Noah opens his eyes, but when he locks eyes with Mio again, another answer comes to him.]
Mio. Close your eyes.
[He wants to share that answer with her. For this, words simply won't do.]
[Mio is still close enough to his chest that she can feel the thrum of music there, the soft hum of chords familiar to her because they're the ones usually made by her breath and fingers as she plays her part. Even as her arms untangle themselves from his waist, she feels the music in her heart and blood.]
Hm?
[Her ears lift in curiosity. The soft lilt of Mio's voice is a question, but it's the kind of asking where one already subconsciously knows the answer. Those things she doesn't have words for, the things she can't speak into reality.
So all she has for him is a curious, questioning noise, studying his face before she obediently closes her eyes.]
[Her arms won't go far before Noah's hands catch them, easing her back close like he has an instinctive need to keep her right where she is, warm and close and safe. There's... more to it than just that, but Noah isn't going to dissect that right now. Maybe later, when he's alone with his thoughts again.
Noah leans closer, his breaths warm against Mio's lips.]
This might feel a bit weird.
[This kiss, he means, tipping his head to one side and bringing their lips together for a brief and chaste kiss. Mwah.]
[Does it feel weird? It does, a little bit, if only because it's nothing like what she saw on screen in either of the movies they watched together. Mio's very short library of knowledge doesn't contain the reference material to know the extent of every single kiss and how it can go. It's chaste, brief, and unbearably soft, her lips like wings fluttering back against Noah's mouth.
It's a little bit strange, but it also feels so natural with him. It feels like something that might have happened a thousand times before and something she could do a thousand times more. With time so short and moving so quickly, Mio understands, if only temporarily, what it's like to want a moment to hold without end. Her hands feel like they cannot hold something that threatens to slip away between them.
When they part, her tongue touches her lower lip, fangs just slightly visible.]
[Nothing he's seen in movies could possibly compare to the real thing. Noah had imagined what it might be like to kiss Mio, because of course he had, but even his wildest machinations come nowhere close to reality.
Her lips are so soft and warm, a sharp contrast to those cute little fangs. He's not thinking about what it might feel like to be bitten by them, absolutely totally not, but he also is. Just a bit! Because Noah is convinced there isn't an inch of Mio he wouldn't like to feel under his hands and against his body.
'Course I did. Don't say that like I wasn't supposed to. I'll try and get a little better at it, for the next time.
[That much doesn't take any experience at all to know. It was meant to be - and was - nice. He hasn't released her this entire time; Mio becomes acutely aware of Noah's hands still grasping tightly to her arms. She tests it, moving slightly in his grip to see if he'll still hold fast, her forehead returning to his chest.]
Should we...? [It's a small, ebbing wave of guilt. She thinks she could have easily died without ever letting Noah get entangled in these feelings between them. Perhaps she should have let herself. But Mio knows now that she couldn't have done it. Sooner or later, her straining heart would rupture. With everything that's happened, it feels strange to find this joy, but maybe it's all they can hope for. Maybe that's the point of being alive.]
Ah... Her words are like a mild electric current over his brain, but it isn't a bad feeling. They're all Noah is thinking, repeating them over and over to himself in his mind, when Mio tests his hold and tries moving. Unconsciously, that just makes him hold on tighter.]
Should we...?
[He repeats, until the light bulb in his head finally flickers on. He gets it, his expression hardening a little. He understands exactly what she's getting at, but his mind is made up.]
We should. I want to make as many memories with you as I can. That way I can carry on your legacy without regrets.
[It stings, even though it's in a way that makes her heart swell. They might have had even less time if they hadn't been brought to this place. He still has so much that he can do. For his sake, she needs to do what she can to find a means of escape, even if it means the very last of her days fade into darkness here.
Was she really fortunate enough not to be hurt by love? The person who told her that must not have believed it. But let her see how long she can go without saying that word in the hopes its violence doesn't catch Noah in its reach.]
Thank you. Knowing that you will, it makes me glad.
[Will he meet her for another kiss if she's the one who leans into him this time, slower, like it could suspend a moment in a droplet of water?]
[The unfairness of it all stings. No one else here has the same limitations on their lives that they do. The realities of their existence become harder and harder to stomach the more knowledge Noah acquires, cast out of their garden and into the bedlam of a new world bursting with opportunity... but they can seize none of that opportunity for themselves.
Irritating doesn't do the feeling justice. Noah loathes it, truly, but shelves his growing frustrations for now. He's soothed by Mio like nothing else, loosening his hold on her arms to slip them back around her waist, leaning in to complete their kiss.
This time, he doesn't move away. He wants to linger in this feeling. Memorize it. Knowing full well how little time they have left for such memories, committing them all to mind is all he can do.]
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saturday post-trial
Noah's lost track of time. He could track it via the passage of the sun in the sky, the weather turning from warm and balmy to a mild and a bit windy, but it doesn't occur to him to do that. The passage of time doesn't matter in this moment, his control over it out of his hands so long as they remain under the control of their captors.
He hears footsteps approach him. Some part of Noah acknowledges that he's no longer alone, but he still startles when he turns to find Mio there, his reverie forgotten in favor of her.]
...Ah. Hey, Mio. [Noah sounds noticeably subdued. Just a little.] Why aren't you at the party?
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When Noah spoke to Sora before the other man was taken away... the things he'd said had made her head hurt, just a little, like someone spending a spike of ice in one ear and out the other. The pain went away quickly, but the uneasy feeling still lingers.]
I wanted to check on you, so I came looking. [She doesn't think most people in the town are celebrating, and she doesn't want to be around anyone who is. Mio walks down to stand beside him, close enough that her shoulder brushes his arm.] It's a little late.
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[He gets that it's late. He gets that he should be spending time with others and not secluding himself with his thoughts, but what's done is done. If it's any consolation, he's happy to shelve those thoughts to focus on Mio— rather, he will be once he's shared the most pressing of them with her.]
...Mio. After what happened today, I want you to stay by my side for as long as we remain here. I don't want to be apart from you.
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I'm not going anywhere.
[Because she quite literally can't, but also because she won't be a part of hurting others who aren't even their enemies. The world has been a villain to them, putting into the position where killing is their only mean of survival, but here she can't even pretend to claim that what weeks she has left available to her are worth more than anyone else's.]
I'm still right here, so...
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That look in her eyes makes him aware of the lump forming in his throat, something he swallows down before folding his arms around her and hugging her tight to his chest. Don't ask what's gotten into him. He's sure Mio will figure it out for him.]
...There's room at Jade Vine now. I want you to come stay with me. There's no reason why we should remain apart when we'd always been in close proximity before.
[And this way, he'll feel like he has some say in what happens to them. If someone wants to hurt Mio, they'll have to go through him first.]
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He doesn't have any say at all, does he? It's a reality she can't bring herself to correct immediately. They were all sleeping, and none of them could have stopped what happened last night.]
I don't want to let go of you, but I don't know if I could. It would be hard to sleep there knowing why the bed was empty. [In the Colonies, they'd fill cots as they emptied. A vacated rank was filled, sooner or later, by another soldier transferring in from the Queen's endless supply. Mio doesn't want it to feel like that, sliding into the place once kept by a husk.]
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If he could, Noah would hold Mio like this forever. A little longer, he thinks. Let me have this just a little longer.]
Then you can share mine with me. We've managed in tighter quarters.
[But she knows just how stubborn he is. Mio knows Noah won't take no for an answer, but he is willing to compromise to some degree.]
Or you can take the bed and I'll sleep on the floor. I won't mind it one bit.
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Mio lifts her head from Noah chest to look at him directly, though she doesn't break the link of her arms around his waist.]
At least ask the other people staying at your farm with you? They sounded really worried about you. [Her house is full of pragmatic people, and she can't fault them for that. But as she thinks of Sora and the unexpected way he reacted at the trial again, her stomach feels as heavy as a stone. Mio wants to think of the consequences for the other people living with them, but it isn't as if she can guarantee she knows a single thing about any of them. It's difficult to think that they would miss her in the same way.]
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Noah nods, giving Mio a little squeeze. Can you blame him for finding relief in her answer?]
Alright. I'll have a word with the others and make sure they've got no complaints, and if they do, we'll simply find somewhere else to stay.
[Because staying with Mio is the hill Noah is going to die on. Good luck changing his mind now that she's agreed.]
no subject
When she speaks of Noah's connections, Mio can't help but think of the trial and the revelation that he and Sampo had been friends. Unlike some other losses she knows from Noah's memories, Mio knows there was little she could have done to stop this one, but she can be responsible for what comes afterward.]
... Say. I dunno if you heard, but I asked Adela if she could find me a flue or an instrument like it. The ones we've lost, I thought I could send them on, even if life force doesn't work like that here.
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[His friends are his ✨strength✨ after all.......... But at the mention of her conversation with Adela, Noah's brows arch curiously.]
Really? What did she say?
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[Their embrace has gone on much longer than a hug should, but Mio hasn't really become conscious of it until right now. How normal is it to not want to move from his arms once she's in them? Everything, after all, must eventually come to an end. Her face feels newly hot.]
I was wondering if you wanted me to play for you. I know it wouldn't be the same, and I might not really understand the feelings you wanted to share, but...
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[That said, Noah also believes that the definition of happiness is as diverse as the people who define it. At least in this instance, be believes Adela when she says she'll see what she can do.
...But moving on, why is Mio's face so red? Noah loosens his grip a bit, just enough to ease back and study her face more fully. Surely there's nothing wrong with staring at her tomato cheeks.]
If you would do that for me, I would be honored. I just wish I could join you. We harmonize well, I think.
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We really do. Agnian off-seers often work in pairs, so I was used to having someone to play with. It wasn't until I played with you, though, that I noticed it. That I really felt like... our songs completed each other.
[It isn't just their songs, but it must be only natural to feel that way after they've literally been inside each other's minds and felt each other's memories. Like so many things, like the taste of his name in her mouth, she can't allow herself to let it become spoken word.]
no subject
[Yeah. They did, didn't they? The two tunes flowed together beautifully— Noah can easily recall that much, though the finer points of the Kevesi Offseer's tune still eludes him. But when he closes his eyes and imagines the two tunes together... it's not hard to recall it, humming it low in his throat.
Was it their duet Noah always found so beautiful? Was it playing beside another Offseer that stirred his soul? Noah opens his eyes, but when he locks eyes with Mio again, another answer comes to him.]
Mio. Close your eyes.
[He wants to share that answer with her. For this, words simply won't do.]
no subject
Hm?
[Her ears lift in curiosity. The soft lilt of Mio's voice is a question, but it's the kind of asking where one already subconsciously knows the answer. Those things she doesn't have words for, the things she can't speak into reality.
So all she has for him is a curious, questioning noise, studying his face before she obediently closes her eyes.]
no subject
Noah leans closer, his breaths warm against Mio's lips.]
This might feel a bit weird.
[This kiss, he means, tipping his head to one side and bringing their lips together for a brief and chaste kiss. Mwah.]
no subject
It's a little bit strange, but it also feels so natural with him. It feels like something that might have happened a thousand times before and something she could do a thousand times more. With time so short and moving so quickly, Mio understands, if only temporarily, what it's like to want a moment to hold without end. Her hands feel like they cannot hold something that threatens to slip away between them.
When they part, her tongue touches her lower lip, fangs just slightly visible.]
It didn't.
no subject
Her lips are so soft and warm, a sharp contrast to those cute little fangs. He's not thinking about what it might feel like to be bitten by them, absolutely totally not, but he also is. Just a bit! Because Noah is convinced there isn't an inch of Mio he wouldn't like to feel under his hands and against his body.
Noah smiles, relieved, and exhales a thin laugh.]
Then you liked it?
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[That much doesn't take any experience at all to know. It was meant to be - and was - nice. He hasn't released her this entire time; Mio becomes acutely aware of Noah's hands still grasping tightly to her arms. She tests it, moving slightly in his grip to see if he'll still hold fast, her forehead returning to his chest.]
Should we...? [It's a small, ebbing wave of guilt. She thinks she could have easily died without ever letting Noah get entangled in these feelings between them. Perhaps she should have let herself. But Mio knows now that she couldn't have done it. Sooner or later, her straining heart would rupture. With everything that's happened, it feels strange to find this joy, but maybe it's all they can hope for. Maybe that's the point of being alive.]
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Ah... Her words are like a mild electric current over his brain, but it isn't a bad feeling. They're all Noah is thinking, repeating them over and over to himself in his mind, when Mio tests his hold and tries moving. Unconsciously, that just makes him hold on tighter.]
Should we...?
[He repeats, until the light bulb in his head finally flickers on. He gets it, his expression hardening a little. He understands exactly what she's getting at, but his mind is made up.]
We should. I want to make as many memories with you as I can. That way I can carry on your legacy without regrets.
no subject
Was she really fortunate enough not to be hurt by love? The person who told her that must not have believed it. But let her see how long she can go without saying that word in the hopes its violence doesn't catch Noah in its reach.]
Thank you. Knowing that you will, it makes me glad.
[Will he meet her for another kiss if she's the one who leans into him this time, slower, like it could suspend a moment in a droplet of water?]
no subject
Irritating doesn't do the feeling justice. Noah loathes it, truly, but shelves his growing frustrations for now. He's soothed by Mio like nothing else, loosening his hold on her arms to slip them back around her waist, leaning in to complete their kiss.
This time, he doesn't move away. He wants to linger in this feeling. Memorize it. Knowing full well how little time they have left for such memories, committing them all to mind is all he can do.]