WEEK THREE MATCH CEREMONY

[potatomance]

ᯓ⭐ WEEK THREE MATCH CEREMONY

It's That Time! Again! Woohoo! Step on up, take your seats, place your bets and pray for mercy!

It is once again the same set-up, so you'd all better be looking spiffy and spruced-up.

Riri looks the same as always, but that's because it's Riri.

"Let's see how you did this time? Lucy the Pussy is up first, so don't waste our time and get up here already!"

This is why Riri doesn't have any friends, maybe.

Comments

[cosmoid]

[ with an amused curve of his lips. ]

You might find it an insult, hedges are hardly great elms. [ he curls his fingers around her own. ]

I'm teleporting us. [ a few moments later (that's enough of a warning, right?) he does just that—another 1-1 talk for them with the backdrop of the night sky, though this time they're nestled atop the largest hedge on the grounds. he's also managed to bring a blanket too, so they're not getting scratched by the leaves. ]

[hearthwarming]

Oh—

[ Before Ori can have a say, they're... stargazing on top of a hedge, and it takes a moment for Ori to orient herself with their new spot, looking around, and about, before glancing back at him with a genuine curiosity across her features. ]

Come to think of it... You've probably never climbed a tree properly, have you, Uroko?

[cosmoid]

No, though I could have reached this height by jumping. [ he tilts his head in a silent ask of why.

also, if he jumped he couldn't have brought the blanket as easily. (though he's also just lazy.) ]

[hearthwarming]

[ Ok. She probably should have expected an answer like that... ]

Well, that's not as fun.

[ Regardless, she settles in, carefully sweeping her long hair over the front of her shoulder before she sits back on this blanket nestled atop a hedge. ]

Is there something on your mind? Oh, I guess most of us do at this point, but...

[cosmoid]

[ ??? she can practically see the question marks above his head, but they can find out how awkward it would be for a fish to climb another time. ]

Besides you? [ playfully, though he sighs into the end of it. ]

Truly, that is most of it... [ right, his words. ]

You captivate me Oriphi, in a way that is not supposed to be possible. I told you of the Sea God, but I did not tell you that I share his feelings, past and present; good and bad. And I know what dating is like, from his children and their lives in Shioshishio, as tangled as it often becomes.

It is not something I had considered myself interested in beyond words, until now. The reason I exist is in essence, a rebuke against such things—in breaking himself into pieces the Sea God dispersed his hurt and loneliness away from his soul.

Still, I wish to see your forest one day. And I want to show you my Sea. I want to keep seeing you beyond this place, in the same way, and more.

[hearthwarming]

[ He speaks of impossibilities, of things that Oriphi herself could never have imagined, too. After all, her own track record when it comes to love and relationships is a bit... troubled at best, messy at worst, and even at present, Oriphi finds that she cannot confidently say that she's... necessarily ready.

But Uroko... is such a new, and entirely unanticipated aspect of all of this, when she truly hadn't thought she would come away with this with more than a few new friends - and she would have been more than content with that. She'd meant what she said at the ceremony; he took her by surprise when he made good on her request to get to know her earnestly, and even more so when he decided that the woman he'd find in doing so would be one he'd come to care for.

And the same can be said for her part.

Gently, she takes his hands in both of hers, thumbs brushing affectionately over his knuckles. ]

...You really took me by surprise, too, but I'd already said that at the ceremony. [ a quiet chuckle. ] I'm not going to question you again, since you've made your feelings very clear.

[ He's... a part of a god. In spite of herself, there will always be a question as to whether that's all right, especially given what he'd just said about himself. But they are running out of time here, and she has always been the type to place good faith in others. So she will. ]

I... I want to see your Sea, and I want to meet the children of Shioshishio. And I want you to see the Wilds one day and the other lands beyond it, too. I... want to keep seeing you, too, but...

[ She closes her eyes, takes a deep breath. ]

We both have... roles that tie us to our homes. Honestly, the Wilds might be fine without me, but... I don't want to go too far, while I don't yet know where Juniper's journey will take her. When she finishes her quest, I want to be the first person to see her on the other side and say, "You did well." That, right now, is my biggest wish. And it's something that comes not from my role as the guardian of a forest, but as a mother, a guardian of a child.

But if I'm able to still see you, from time to time, and keep seeing where this road will take us little by little, I think... that would be perfect. And I would like that very much.

[cosmoid]

[ he begins to smile as she talks of the "buts", the negatives of them both being tied to their lands, their duties, their people, their family. it might be a curious thing, but she'll hear his smile even if she keeps her eyes closed, that's how pronounced it is.

it should be a bad thing. he should have fallen for a human woman.

but. ]

Oriphi, even if you were willing—I would not want you to live the rest of your life at sea. You deserve more than that, and I—I am not the Sea God who takes his beloved from the only land she has ever known, because he is lonely.

[ he pauses there to squeeze her hands gently, needing the comfort for himself as much as he wants to give it to her. he is not the Sea God, something he has always known, but realized with greater meaning here. still, some part of him wondered if he would have dissolved into salt at such a rebuke towards the deity who he only lives to serve. ]

...but it is lonely. However, it would be far less lonely if I could see you still when the time allows for it. So, that is what we shall do—I'll make it so. I promise you, and we shall see where the tide and the changing of leaves and seasons, take us.

[ he could use his wish, assuming they don't fail and assuming that he hasn't pulled the short stick with the blackout, but he doesn't need those things truly. he will make it so, because even if he is only part of a god, he is still powerful and divine. he just might need to actually apply himself as far as his powers go, but he doesn't mind. ]

[hearthwarming]

[ And truly, his words are yet another testament to the gravity of these feelings. That Uroko would say such things, promise such things, when he's normally so loathe to act, so passive... It makes her heart flutter - how could it not, when all she'd ever wanted from anyone was a promise that they would make time? ]

I...

[ She closes her eyes against the stinging that she feels, the blurring of her vision as tears wash over her amber eyes. ]

That's all I would ever want to ask of you, too. To see where this all takes us.

[ Loosing a quivering breath between her lips, she leans forward and rests her forehead against his shoulder. ]

You're still... part of a god. I could never take you away from the Sea you're a part of - and its people who love you, too. But every now and again... it would be nice, to be swept up in your tide.