Sunset is an extravagant show in Solterra. It begins long before the sun hits the horizon. It begins now, in the burgeoning afternoon, as the plants seem to slowly, slowly turn their heads to the west, and the sandstone begins to reflect orange and purple. And the temperature drops by the water, and the shadows grow long. Colors leak from everything, as if in anticipation of one last violent display before the long silver-blue night.
She's changing too, she takes the afternoon colors and makes them her own. God is kind.
And when she smiles at him, he is surprised.
He has the distinct feeling that if he tried to get a smile out of her, he would walk away feeling a great fool. But her smile is a ray of light in an otherwise dull, tiresome existence- so he looks across the small oasis to the canyon walls in the swelling twilight, and tries very hard not to try. Busy as he is not looking at her, he does not see her reaction to his question. But he feels a tension in the air.
It's across the ocean, she says, and something deep inside of him sighs silently. How many worlds are there, unreachable for that vast, violent sea? How many times has he wanted to swim in a straight line, just to see how far he could go? Just to see if he could be somewhere else?
And does he really think it would solve his existential crisis? Or is he just looking for a poetic way to die?
(We
d a m n
ourselves.)
His curiosity is piqued but for once he doesn't push to have it satisfied. He takes what he gets, and his mind runs away with itself. Swinging hands into the sunset. We are the part of the brain that observes itself. Is it odd that we begin to feel jealous of what we see?
We forget ourselves, but we return (sadly) as we always do. As we must. When she speaks of Maxence, Eik can't help but be amused. She wields her words like a sword- gods know he wouldn't want to be the one on the receiving end! "You have a talent for words." Is all he says in response. He had said the same thing to Asterion once. It is a talent he wishes he had; Eik is good at thinking and thinking and not quite knowing what to say.
After a long pause, he ventures to ask- "Do you think people will talk about you after you're gone?" A small smile, almost shy.. "Do you want them to?"
- - -
There is no better way to know us
E I K
than as two wolves, come separately to a wood
@
Bexley <33
Time makes fools of us all
