lightwithin | 6th ♥ [Audio][Backdated to the 25th]

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!audio,
&holloways

6th ♥ [Audio][Backdated to the 25th]

[Kairi stands for a long time on the bailey bridge, looking out at a specific point where a knot of pumpkins stand gathered on their posts. Then, her resolve strengthened, she flips open her journal and brushes the page with a fingertip before beginning to speak.]

Xanth?

Could I talk to you?

It's important.

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I-I... I guess s-so...

[He sweeps his gaze over the area one more time, then looks back to Kairi. Gently, he asks,]

D-Do you... want to-- l-look for it...?

Mm-

[The word stalls as she realizes she's already shaking her head. She doesn't want to. She doesn't want to know what kind of game the Keep is playing or how she's supposed to fix it.

She wants to go somewhere quiet where nobody will see her so that she can cry for a while.]

Let's go.

[Xanth pauses a moment, then nods.]

I'll-- I-I'll walk you b-back to-- your room?

[It's an offer and a question all at once. He's not sure where she wants to go, or if she even wants him there. He will leave if she asks; he will stay if she needs.]

[She shakes her head. She doesn't want to be trapped in there alone.]

I'm going to the lake.

[She wouldn't make him come with her. But she couldn't send him away.]

I-I could... w-- walk you th-there?

[She shouldn't be alone, but Xanth doesn't know if she wants be around him. He did confess his love, after all, and then tell her that the boy she loves is dead.

It would be awkward. There could be no forcing normal until things felt normal, not this soon.

But he can't just leave her.]

Sure, okay.

[She doesn't know what they'll talk about or what they'll do once they get there. She wouldn't know, even if she was going alone. But it doesn't matter so much right now.]

[Neither of those things matter at all. They'll cross those bridges when they get there, if they need to.

Right now, Xanth just nods and takes a step out towards the lake. He knows the way there from just about anywhere in the Keep; he could be there in minutes flat, if he ran.

But he'll go at Kairi's pace.]

[Kairi's pace is brisk, purposeful. She's settled into auto-pilot and is content to let her feet carry her without having to think about where she's going or the route she's taking.

When she next looks up, the weedy shore's stretched in front of her.

She stops.]

Do you... Want to get a boat?

[Xanth looks out over the lake, then towards the boathouse. Chloe mentioned a sea monster out there. It killed someone. But he's never seen it, or even any sign of it.

Still, it was one thing to go out on his own. It was another thing entirely to risk Kairi's life. That is something Xanth just can't do.]

I-I'm... not sure that's a-- a-a good-- i-idea. I've heard... I-I mean, I-I think there might s... something in there...

[Kairi gives him a quizzical, if distant look.

It's a large body of water; of course there's something in there. But she's never seen anything like a crocodile here and there wouldn't be sharks in a lake like this, so the worst it could be was big fish.

Kairi isn't scared of big fish.]

Well, we don't have to swim. Or go very far.

[It's just a boat ride.]

[Xanth stares out at the water and chews on his lip. She's right; they don't have to go far.

It's now that he recalls the one time the Elegante docked. He and Kairi took a boat out on the ocean, and then were nearly eaten by a fish. Good times. The thought does bring a crooked smile to his face, which he tries to force away immediately. (He's not entirely successful.)

He nods.]

Y-Yeah, we-- w-we could-- just go out a-a little.

[He nods towards the boathouse.]

C--C'mon.

[And as she turns to follow him, she sees the expression.]

Hey...

[There's a question in the word that she doesn't know how to ask; is something funny? What's he thinking about?]

What is it?

[Oh, no. She's seen him. Xanth laughs, a little surprised, and then he tries twofold to curb his amusement. Now is not the time for laughing.]

U-Um. I, uh, it's, i-it's just--

O-Once, I-I was, uh, y-you and I, we... w-we took a little-- boat, o-out on a-- a beach, a-and then... w-well, there was this-- fish. It... it capsized o-our boat, a-and, um, sort of.

W-Well it, it didn't... try to eat us? B-But it-- it grabbed us, i-in its mouth. [He makes little grabby motions.] A-And then-- it-- spat us back out o-on the, the sand.

[Then, he twiddles his fingers, his smile finally abating.]

I-It's, um, it's not-- really-- th-that funny. S-Sorry.

[It's the gestures that get to her, the snapping motions and whatever he's doing with his fingers. The story itself is just bizarre and she tries not to hard to think about it - were they on a date? - but the gestures she can't ignore.

They make her smile.

It's an awkward expression, like her jaw is stuck on rusted hinges and she's long since forgotten how. But it's there, however briefly.]

Come on.

I don't think a giant fish will try to eat us here.

Y--Yeah, [he agrees.] P-Probably... prob'ly n-not.

[He's thankful for the smile, however short-lived it was. It brings a smile of his own back to Xanth's face, and his lingers.

He makes a gesture to Kairi to follow him, and starts off towards the boathouse.]

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6th ♥ [Audio][Backdated to the 25th]

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