MESSALINA
She couldn’t help the delicate smile that bloomed like silk-petaled carnations at the sight of him, peering up at her from a sea of dew-soaked flowers. It was how she’d always pictured him, whenever her thoughts had strayed to the Regent and his rose colored gaze (which was maddeningly often, lately).
Dipping her crown in polite greeting, Messalina stepped lightly across the paved stone path towards Ipomoea, stopping just a few feet shy from his slender, painted frame. Despite the many months she’d spent in his presence, the ever-proper dancer was still careful to maintain a respectable distance between them whenever they’d met. She hadn’t wanted others to get the wrong idea, of course — no, Messalina could not possibly involve the Regent in matters that would bother him and his authority.
Yet lately, the distance had become less of a formality and more so because the thought of being so near to him brought a strange stirring of nerves to the girl’s normally coolheaded demeanor.
“For you, yellow is far more becoming on you than I.”
And that certainly did not help in preserving the integrity of her already paper-thin composure.
For a moment, she merely stared wide-eyed at the offering, all the training and eloquence Mother had ingrained in her dissipating like sand in a summer breeze.
“Oh — thank you,” she said at last, wincing at her less than stellar reply as she sank into a hasty curtsy. It was entirely too formal, to curtsy to him as the yellow rose remained hovering uncertainly in mid-air. She knew that, knew it before she’d bowed and knew it bitterly when she rose again.
But Messa was too flustered to do anything else, because no one had ever gifted her with anything before and if only her heart would stop pounding like a storm in her ear.
“It’s beautiful,” she breathed, a tendril of her own telekinesis reaching out to place the bloom delicately against her curls. Finally, cerulean eyes ventured upwards to peer softly into the Regent’s hopeful gaze.
“You said you were looking for me?”
With a short nod, Messalina forced the breath from her lungs as a wave of placidity once again washed over her features like a tide against the shore.“Yes, I was. But before that — congratulations on your ascension to regency.” She punctuated her words with a smile, because that was the proper way to congratulate someone, was it not? Unfortunately, Mother’s training had not extended to include handling situations like these.
“As for what I sought you out for… well, it seems that I am the new Champion of Wisdom.” Her gaze drifted to settle thoughtfully on a bumblebee buzzing lazily amongst the buds. “Somnus approached me only a short while ago. I — I’d never expected for him to ask me, and was so caught off guard that the only one I thought would know anything about the matter was you.”
A note of uncertainty wavered in her voice as she looked up towards Po through a fan of white lashes.“I'm at a loss for what to do.”
Dipping her crown in polite greeting, Messalina stepped lightly across the paved stone path towards Ipomoea, stopping just a few feet shy from his slender, painted frame. Despite the many months she’d spent in his presence, the ever-proper dancer was still careful to maintain a respectable distance between them whenever they’d met. She hadn’t wanted others to get the wrong idea, of course — no, Messalina could not possibly involve the Regent in matters that would bother him and his authority.
Yet lately, the distance had become less of a formality and more so because the thought of being so near to him brought a strange stirring of nerves to the girl’s normally coolheaded demeanor.
“For you, yellow is far more becoming on you than I.”
And that certainly did not help in preserving the integrity of her already paper-thin composure.
For a moment, she merely stared wide-eyed at the offering, all the training and eloquence Mother had ingrained in her dissipating like sand in a summer breeze.
But Messa was too flustered to do anything else, because no one had ever gifted her with anything before and if only her heart would stop pounding like a storm in her ear.
“You said you were looking for me?”
With a short nod, Messalina forced the breath from her lungs as a wave of placidity once again washed over her features like a tide against the shore.
A note of uncertainty wavered in her voice as she looked up towards Po through a fan of white lashes.
eyes so blue,
I drown.
I drown.
@Ipomoea
allll the angst hahaha <3
allll the angst hahaha <3
