heiressofairships

[heiressofairships]

"'Perfectly healthy'? Palom, the only way to look less healthy than you do right now is to be atop a funeral pyre!"

Luca grimaced. Palom could be so damn pigheaded sometimes. He could be worn down when the situation was serious enough - experience had taught her that - but the process was arduous and exhausting. She wished that now and again, they could skip this dance in a battle of wills and skip right to the part where he acknowledged that she had a point and made some concessions.

"Regular tea, then." The first step of the dance was to continue as if nothing had happened, and he hadn't launched ridiculous protest. The second step was for her to make an example compromise. "Even if you want to be alone, you're clearly not in a state to take care of yourself. I won't talk or trouble you, I'll just make you the tea and keep an eye out to make sure you don't die."

That was something of a white lie. Luca was a fan of talking, and it was likely she would only last a few minutes before she filled the silence with words again.

She made herself at home, pouring water into an old copper kettle and hanging it on the spit line in the fireplace so the water could start boiling. No sense making a fire in the oven to heat the stove when she had a good fire already blazing in the hearth.

There was a sudden realization that dawned on him. She didn’t break in because she thought she had some kind of right to be in his house. She had no earthly idea what was going on. Luca thought he was sick. Physically ill and incapable of caring for himself. So she shattered the front door knob.

Palom’s eyes shut and he inhaled a slow breath through his nostrils. He could already feel a headache coming on. This was ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous.

"No, Luca, stop it. I’m not drinking lizard tail tea, and I’m not sick," he corrected. Perhaps this would hustle the princess out of his house (though knowing Luca she would ask to stay here while visiting the over world, as she had done several times before).

Palom’s mouth drew itself out into a long, thin line. He walked across the old wood floor until his footsteps turned into muffled poof on the rug on the living room. He stood before Luca with his arms crossed and his toe tapping.

"I’m perfectly healthy. But if you would be so kind, I want to be alone right now."

[heiressofairships]

She shouldn't have been startled by Palom's voice, and upon closer reflection, realized she wasn't. It wasn't his voice that startled her so much as the sight of him: he looked like he hadn't slept well in days. Between his ill appearance and the earlier warning from the white mage in town, Luca felt less guilty about the extreme measures she'd had to use to enter the Elders' home.

"If I didn't go away when there was a door keeping me out, what makes you think I'm going to go away now?" Already she was making her way to the fireplace, opening the grate and heaping on more wood from the pile near the hearth. It was chilly in here (to her, anyway), and if Palom was sick, he needed warmth.

Dusting off her gloved hands, she looked Palom over again and sighed. "I'm sorry about the door, I really am. You didn't leave me a whole lot of choice. I promise I'll fix it."

"Now, in the meantime, get yourself in bed and rest; you look like you've got the worst cold I've ever seen! I'll make us some lizard-tail tea."

After delivering his sound message, Palom turned away from the front door and began to shuffle back to his bedroom. As well intended as Luca was, he didn’t want anything to do with her. He didn’t want anything to do with anyone, because what did it really matter anyway? The recent months had proven one thing and one thing only:

That he was squarely and wholly unloveable. Useless even, in many ways.

Because if the woman he loved, adored, and tried every day to change himself for— to better himself for— could just walk out on him so easily, then truly she had not loved him. Truly she could not love him. That was what it was, plain and simple. She might have thought that she loved him, but it only took her one month to realize that she didn’t. One month of being together romantically. Being in a real relationship. One month and she left. It didn’t mean anything to her.

After all, he was weak, right? Weak and worthless to her.

It was the sudden resounding crack which knocked the elder out of his weary revery. Palom looked over his shoulder in confusion only to spin around fully in anger the next moment. He told her to go away and she was BREAKING IN.

"Get out of my house," he stated firmly. Firmly, but blankly. Devoid of any real feeling. His hands clenched into fists at his sides for a brief moment before then unfurled and laid limp again. The flurry of pink whom had just invaded his house was not welcome. He did not want her here. He did not want anyone here. He could only look at her with eyes glazed over in a grey sheild. Face drooped and gaunt from insomnia, from grieving that had been suppressed. It would be obvious on his person that something was wrong. But to him it was normalcy, for truly nothing had changed for him in the grand scheme of things. He was still alone, and he still meant nothing for it.

"You broke my door. That’s against the law. Go away, Luca."

[heiressofairships]

Luca stared down at the note. Its ink had begun running as soon as it made contact with the wet front stoop of the house, but she still noted the insistent punctuation. This wasn't like Palom at all. Whatever was wrong, it was very wrong.

"I'm not going away!" she shouted back, then squared her shoulders and started brainstorming. If she couldn't get the door off its hinges with some finagling, then she would have to do it by force. But this was Porom's house too, and she hated to do any damage to it....

The Ancestors and Porom would forgive her. Besides, she was a princess. Princesses could afford to replace doors.

Grabbing the handle, she planted her feet firmly and pulled back with her full strength. She was rewarded with a popping sound, and then a sharp crack - the wood around the handle had split, and the entire handle came away in her hands.

"I'm sorry, Palom!" she called out, shoving one hand through the hole she'd created in the door and unlatching the lock from the inside. She then opened the door, shutting it carefully behind her, and awkwardly jamming the handle back in the door where it belonged. It hung there for a second, then fell to the ground with a clatter. She winced.

Rain pittered on the windows and rooves of Mysidia— a usual occurrence during the autumnal rainy season. It was a steady drip, steady drizzle, steady ‘doop dap dup’ along the walls of his house. But Palom didn’t really notice it. Or care.

The house was empty. His sister was gone, no one came to visit. It was just him and the cat, laying on his bed and staring at the ceiling. Whatever else did someone do when they were this numb? It was easy to act on emotions. To be happy, to be sad, to be angry, but this was different. This was nothing. That’s all he felt like, was nothing. All of Palom’s life he had been connected to the elements, drawn to them, interacting with them. At any given time he was usually able to feel and emote with one particular element as inspiration. Excitement— lightning. Anger— fire. Sorrow— ice. Lost in thought— air.

This was a void. This was so much of everything all at once that he had no choice but to suppress it Push it down. Smother it in his belly. It was either become numb, or feel everything crack and fall apart until he was nothing but dust and gravel underfoot.

At least this meant he was intact.

Sitting on top of his stomach, Hecate yawned. The grey cat was usually a loner, but in the rainy chill she’d decided to make Palom her pillow of warmth. He didn’t care enough to stop her. The cat gave a sleepy blink of green eyes his way. He looked back with a blank, dull expression.

The sudden pounding on the front door made Hecate startle, her claws sticking into the mage’s skin. Palom winced, but nothing else, just sat up stiffly and pushed the feline off of him.

That voice. It was Luca’s voice. The high pitched eagerness and soft edged concern. She had always been so bright and caring all at once, since they were kids. A stubborn kind of gentleness. Like being hit with a pillow.

Roughly, Palom stood and walked towards the door. He didn’t want to be bothered. He didn’t ant to talk. To anyone. Why bother? Talking didn’t change things. Talking didn’t fix things. Talking was how he had fucked up in the first place, and it was talking that had sent him spiraling downward.

Quickly, he grabbed a quill and paper and wrote in large letters:

"GO. AWAY."

He shoved the note under the small crack in his front door, where it ended up at her feet. Maybe the impersonal touch would be enough to make the Dwarven princess give up early.

[heiressofairships]

Escaping the Underground meant Luca could breathe again. More and more, she was wondering if it was normal for a dwarf to enjoy the Overworld so much. Then again, no one had been to the Overworld in generations, so it was hard to tell.

After a stop at Baron Castle on the Falcon to check on Cecil and Rosa and to report to Master Cid, she made her way to Mysidia to visit Palom and Porom. The overcast sky threatened to rain on her. She didn’t mind for her own sake, as she still found rain a novel experience, but worried for the sake of her ship. As a precaution, she sent Calca and Brina below deck, fearing the water would damage them.

It was a good call. Just as she landed the airship and was making her exit, a cold sprinkle of rain began to fall. It hastened her steps as she entered Mysidia, and left her wishing she had the benefit of the hoods and hats that the mages wore. Her bright hair was hanging damp and limp in short order, though the brim of her cap kept the rain from her eyes.

A passing white mage, face partially obscured by her cloak hood, spotted Luca and made a beeline for her. The dwarf walked to meet her halfway.

“Miss Luca, so glad to see you.” The hooded figure bowed to her, and Luca awkwardly bowed back. She never could keep proper track of who was who in this city. She hated to admit it, but many humans looked the same to her. “Are you here to visit Elder Palom? We’re all quite worried about him. He has kept his door locked for several days. It isn’t like him to shut himself away for this long.”

Luca cocked her head, puzzled. “Do you think maybe he’s sick?”

“I do not know, and I dare not disturb him.” The figure bowed again in parting, and hurried into the nearby pub and out of the rain.

It set the gears in Luca’s mind whirring as she walked briskly to Palom and Porom’s house. Palom could be moody when it suited him, but he would have written to her if something terrible had happened… wouldn’t he?

She found his door locked, precisely as the mage had said. She checked the outer edge of the door, looking for hinges that perhaps her screwdriver could persuade. Alas, the hinges were on the inside, and she sighed heavily and knocked lightly on the door. Lightly for Luca was heavy for anyone else, so she was certain Palom heard her if he was at home.

“Palom? Palom, open up. I came by to see you.”

[heiressofairships]

shoutout to lindwyrm-lancer who is arguably the sweetest person on the internet

[heiressofairships]

[heiressofairships]

"Great question!" The princess gestured to the enormous ship behind her. "My Falcon and Master Cid's Enterprise both rely on crystal energy to turn these propellers and keep the ship in flight. The crystals are charged up by mages here in Baron, and we turn that potential energy into kinetic energy in the ship's engine room."

"There are other ways to make an airship fly, though. I have a friend whose airship runs on steam generated by burning coal, and I've heard of some ships that even run on Mist! The last one has always interested me because I know a summoner who can call Mist, so if I had her aboard a Mist ship, I could fly indefinitely."

"...oh, but I hope I'm not talking your ear off! I get so excited when people want to hear about airships. Sometimes I forget my manners."

"Oh! Yeah—we were passing through and I heard about the airships here, so I thought it would be fun to take a look… they’re really impressive things. What exactly do they use to fly?"

[heiressofairships]

"Awww!" Luca reached out to pet the tiny flame creature. She had never seen anything like it before, but that didn't make it any less darling. She did feel a bit toasty while touching it, but it was a benefit of being a dwarf to be so unaffected by heat. It made working in engine rooms considerably more comfortable.

"Are you going to keep him, Rydia? Have you picked a name yet?"

"Luuuucaaaa!" Rydia emitted a delighted scream "Look! Look what I found near the southern Lava-lake! Isn’t this the cutest pup ever?" The woman had never been happier to own an item to protect herself from the heat while holding the little… weird creature.

[heiressofairships]

"Lali-ho! It's always nice to see a fresh face around the shop! Are you a new apprentice of Master Cid's, or just interested in airships?"

heiressofairships started following you

"Good morning!"

That’s… a lot of pink.

[heiressofairships]

*sees all the sexual sunday kinky things and asks and such*

*NOPES OUT*

[heiressofairships]

// i've had an 'about' page forever, but was too confused about html to set up a proper link to it. that's all fixed now. yay!

[heiressofairships]

princeofeblan started following you

"Whoops! Glad I didn't let loose with the hammer. I know ninjas are silent, but you should consider giving a lady some warning next time!"

[heiressofairships]

// -HUGS- I haven't seen you in so long!~ >>unless you have other muses and I didn't realize//

THIS HAS PROBABLY BEEN LANGUISHING IN MY INBOX FOR MONTHS

I'M A MONSTER

[heiressofairships]

Well, they ARE the best duo, it's a matter of fact! *high five*

*SUPER DUPER HIGH-FIVE!*

[heiressofairships]

"The grumpiness doesn't surprise me." She leaned back in her chair. Even Palom's brusque greeting couldn't wipe the smile from her face. "You know me - I'll come up with any excuse to visit the surface! I would have been back sooner, but Father wanted me home for a bit."

She neglected to mention that one of King Giott's reasons for insisting on a protracted stay in the Underground was because he had several noble suitors that he wanted his daughter to spend time with. One of them, a heavily bearded man who pretentiously wanted to be referred to by his full title at every occasion (Count Something So-and-So, Son of So-and-So, Luca couldn't remember) had driven her so far up the wall that she had 'accidentally' set Calca and Brina on him. After they braided a few bows in his hair, he seemed altogether disenchanted with the princess.

Following that little incident, Luca judged it wise to drop in on Palom, and perhaps Master Cid, while she let her father cool off.

"What have you been up to? Things seem busy around here." She gestured to the scrolls and books piled on his desk.

"Hello, Palom!" Luca chirruped cheerily, bounding into his study and pulling up a chair for herself. She sat with her ankles crossed in a properly ladylike fashion; mud caked the soles of her work boots. Her face was mostly grin at this point. "How is my favorite Elder today?"

What was it about his office that made people forget about knocking? No one knocked anymore. Was it because he and Porom were young Elders, that no one thought they’d mind?

He almost thought it was Porom waltzing it at first, given the initial flash of pink— rather it was Luca,a Dwarven Princess long gone since her last visit several months ago.

"Good morning," he grunted in greeting, making a final note to some of the blue prints for the new wing in the Hall of Prayers.

"As usual, I’m grumpy. But things could be worse," he shrugged. "I finally managed to get rid of a three day headache."

"What brings you up to the surface today?"

[heiressofairships]

// Rydia and Luca, my favorite duo.

[heiressofairships]