"You're sure you want to go ahead with the adoubement?" Solan asks Aura. They sit in the plush black chairs near the fire in the meeting hall. Solan alone had been called to a meeting.
Aura raises a brow. "Solanaceae," she chides, "We've all agreed to it, even you."
"Yes, in a fit of madness after Nymphaea removed Glaucus' Cloud. But then I realize she'll have right to speak…"
"Practically, they already had it. It's been a while since they've exclusively been the demons to our angels." She said the last word as though annoyed with it, but out of all of them, she knew well she looked the most angelic.
"But they will always be the shadows to our lights."
"Where there is light, there is shadow."
Ignis walks from her place of contemplation at the fireplace to her seat at the round table. "Who are we waiting for?" All of the Luminaries and Phobos sat at their spots.
A light bell chime answers her question. Gleam's form quivers before appearing solidly midway down the hall leading to the meeting chamber.
Aura nods as she approaches. "Right in time."
Gleam smiles. "It's easy to be when you can teleport."
Solanaceae sucks in a breath. "Shall we begin then?"
Aura shakes her head and chews her bottom lip slightly. "We're still waiting for one more."
Solan looks around the table quizzically. "There's no one left…" She grimaces. "Unless you're referring to…"
( Read more... )
The bolt of energy soars through a glass pane in the meeting hall and hits Aura squarely in the back. A small hole, no bigger than a bullet appears, but the glass does not shatter. The Luminaries turn on their heels as Aura trips forward a step as though the wind has been knocked out of her.
Glaucus made plans, insisted he would stick with them, and said he was trying to be a better friend. Aura drank in every word and made a promise to the self to reveal emotional vulnerability during the week they spent together. So it was a complete surprise that, when she finally did so, Glaucus asked Phoenix to leave prematurely. The one thing her trust had not accounted for.
( Read more... )
She looks past the nightshades and smirks at the nocturnal daylilies surrounding them. They are all in shades of crimson, Tyrian purple, violet, plum, or magenta with various colors on the throat, midribs, and edges. The metaphor is not lost on her—the daylily is the flower of coquetry because they open up briefly during the morning or late afternoon and close roughly twelve hours later. Like a coquette, they have no intention of sticking around.
She hears the sound of swirling water interrupt the active babbling of the fountain in the garden outside and sees she is not alone. Nymphaea sits on the side of the fountain, pale blonde hair untied and spilling down her back. Solan slowly opens the other greenhouse door and walks to her fellow Luminary. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Eosphoros had rehearsed and written down the points she wanted to touch on, with the assistance of pragmatic Esoterra… and then deleted them and started anew. Aura was incredibly optimistic when she realized Glaucus felt the same way Phoenix did about their friendship… but then became increasingly cross and out of sorts when he didn't respond to correspondence for three weeks. Finally Ignis, with her new anthem running through her head, set things in motion by sending him a decisive message, calling on him to make his intentions known… and he responded, acknowledging fault and providing a reason for his silence.
Again, after a week of no talk, Ignis moved again, not in anger, but to request they settle things. She specified that if neither was buying what the other was selling, they would be in agreeance going their separate ways. Tomorrow. He really shouldn’t feed into this newfound directness—it might become habit.
Phoenix had begun a night with Casanova, who eagerly insisted she join in watching an episode of The Magicians. Phoenix acquiesced, laughing, since she had already watched the first season as well as the first episode of season two. She helped dismantle the house's Christmas tree and then the couple shared YouTube videos as they waited for the file to download. The two are just about to get up and go to the entertainment room to watch the show.
The Luminaries mingle on the balcony. Only Eosphoros' constant attention is needed since she is responsible for everyday interactions with friends, but out of nowhere, sizzling purple energy shoots out of Casanova's Cloud, triggering Solanaceae. She whips her head around to the sky and meets the energy with a confused smile. "Oh-kay," she says. She throws out a one-liner in response, but nothing more occurs.
The night continues as planned until the late hours of the night when it is time for sleep. The Luminaries, not used to going to bed at such a time, remain in the meeting chamber for some time, and Phoenix lies awake. A soft physical connection ties Solan to the Cloud.
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