[open] rain rain go away

[flamberge]

Who: kratos & you!
Which: open log!
Where: throughout the city
What: a sad swordman has a day filled with rain and watches! open log with a few dream board quests.
Warnings: none now but will add as needed!

a. near the library.

[sometimes a day spent reading is just what the doctor ordered. losing yourself in a good book seldom fails a to be a good way to pass some times. that had been kratos' expectation: go to the library, stay for a while and then be on his merry way. what kratos hadn't expected, however, was for a storm to come out of nowhere on him.

it starts out as a gentle drizzle. nothing to pay any mind to. within moments, however, the gentle drizzle evolves into a downpour. a little rain is fine; a curtain of rain is significantly less fine. luckily, there's a storefront with some awning that's perfect to take cover under. thus kratos runs on over to join whoever else happens to be taking refuge from the rain under here. the two of you can wait out the rain together.]

b. dream board - personal rain cloud.

[there has to be some irony in this somewhere of this happening to him. is he a sad man who might as well have a raincloud over his head? yes, but he full well did not expect a literal raincloud to randomly appear. just as the rain outside ends, his own personal rain begins.

it starts up right as kratos enters the library. for a moment, there's a look of confusion on his face when the drizzle doesn't let up upon stepping foot inside a building. that confusion shifts to immediate irritation upon looking up.

he sighs and rubs his temple. really? really???

sorry if the rain gets on you or any of the books you happen to be reading.]

c. dream board - running out of time.

[the rain cloud finally went away and not a moment too soon. to say that had been irritating would be an understatement. at least he can now enjoy the rest of his day in peace.

or so kratos had thought. as he's walking along, he hears something zooming right at the back of his head. there's a bit of an odd sense of deja vu as this reminds him of a prior encounter with someone in the city. similarly to that encounter, he nimbly moves his head to the side at the last moment. this leads to the thing missing him by a small margin and slamming into a nearby tree. it then falls to the ground with a thunk. kratos finds himself quirking a brow as he bends to pick up the item in question. a watch? he frowns at the device before looking around. where had that even come from?

while glancing around, he spots yet another watch flying out of nowhere and heading directly at the back of someone's head.]

Look out behind you!

[hopefully that shout comes in time for them to avoid getting hit.]

d. wildcard.

(ooc: if there's anything else you'd like to do, let me know on plurk at Shaorune or on the game discord!)

Comments

[ranchgirl]

[ A change of clothes might be a good idea. No self-respecting librarian is going to allow a man who looks like he just went for a dip in a river anywhere near books.

'Wetter than he'd like.' That's a bit of an understatement, isn't it? One that makes Malon have to stifle a chuckle. With his sodden hair plastered to his face like that, Kratos looks nothing like the immaculate prince Malon met. ]

Here. [ Malon sets her bags down on the windowsill of the store behind them so she can pull off her neckerchief and offer it to him--

Which he probably can't see at all through that wall of wet hair. Don't laugh, Malon. Don't laugh. ] You can dry off a little with this.

[flamberge]

[through the red drapery that is his hair, kratos catches sight of what's being offered. ah, that's a kind gesture. small as that cloth may be, at least it'll help dry off his face.]

Thank you. I appreciate it.

[he takes the neckerchief with one hand while he uses the other to slick back his wet hair with one smooth movement. drying his face can't very well happen with his hair all sticking to it, after all. the way that slicked back wet hair looks may just so happen to resemble how a certain prince had looked.]

[ranchgirl]

[ The moment he pushes his hair back, recognition hits Malon like a bolt of lightning. It's him! The prince she danced with at that ball, when she was under that strange enchantment!

All this time, she thought he was just a figment of the spell, like Ingo and her evil stepsisters. ]

It's you...!

[ She stares at him, agape, as memories of the ball rush back to her. Thanks to the influence of the enchantment replacing Malon's memories with Cinderella's, the whole thing feels more like a dream than something she actually experienced. In fact, if it wasn't for the storybook she received that clearly depicted Malon on its pages, she probably would've just written the whole thing off as a dream.

But not only was it not, apparently neither was the Prince. ]

[flamberge]

[the comment maron makes causes kratos to pause in drying to glance back at her. this isn't someone he knows personally. that said, she looks oddly familiar. this girl, she-- oh! his eyes widen in recognition as memories of that unfortunate event come rushing back. to think he'd run into the one person he'd rather have avoided now.]

Ah.

[he's quiet a moment before returning to drying himself and hoping to do as much without betraying how awkward he feels. how awkward does he feel? SO so very awkward.]

It's been a while.

[...that was the most pathetic thing to say. ugh. good job. kratos mentally kicks himself for that. he had acted completed foolishly and out of line. sure, it was out of his control but it was still completely out of line.]

Rather, I apologize for how I acted last we spoke.

[there. better.]

[ranchgirl]

[ 'It's been a while'? Wow, that... is probably the most stilted, awkward response he possibly could have given to the girl that he was prosaically gushing over all night a month ago. This is not the reaction Malon expected to receive if she ever met the mysterious prince again.

Because, of course, she has fantasized more than once about what such a reunion might be like. And it usually involves significantly more poetic gushing about lost loves finally found, accompanied by unreasonable amounts of fluttering rose petals.

But it would've been fine. He probably never expected to run into her either. Maybe he also thought she was just part of the spell. Malon just about opens her mouth to make such a remark when Kratos cuts her off--

with an apology??

Wait, what? ]

I...

[ Malon fumbles for a response, clearly thrown off by an apology she wasn't expecting at all. Kratos how did you already manage to make this worse?

Somehow, she manages a smile, dismissively waving off his apology with one hand. ] It's all right. I really didn't mind. It was actually kind of.. fun.

[ Understatement of the year by girl who has been thinking about her mystery prince all month. ]

[flamberge]

[because he's simply that talented when it comes to making things worse.

oh he did full well think of that evening. said thinking consisted of being horrified at his own behavior. that had been too much like zelos for his own liking. hell, not even zelos compared to that and that speaks volumes. if the cinderalla had been real then he felt for her having to deal with all that.

a that sort of response ends up surprising kratos, even if said surprise doesn't really show. well, at least she seems not too upset. that said-- fun?? that was fun?? to each their own, he supposes.]

Perhaps to a degree, but how I acted was [cringe-worthy.] not how I typically act.

[ranchgirl]

[ Imagine saying things that would make Zelos embarrassed. That's peak cringe right there.

Even if he isn't showing it very much, it's pretty clear to Malon that he's embarrassed. Someone who wasn't embarrassed wouldn't have immediately launched into an apology without so much as a hello. ]

You weren't that bad. [ She offers with a laugh. Honestly he was... extremely corny. Even thinking back to some of the stuff he said gives Malon second-hand embarrassment. But it also makes her girlish heart flutter, because she's long wished for a dashing prince to sweep her off her feet. ]

I wasn't really myself either. [ Even though she wasn't nearly as bad as Kratos. ] Obviously I'm no noble's daughter. [ She gestures at her outfit, the simple dress, the heavy apron, and her well-worn boots. ]

And I figure you're not actually a prince either.

[ haha, but maybe...? Malon wouldn't mind if he actually turned out to be a prince. ]

[flamberge]

[exactly. which is why he will do his best to ensure this event and all that transpired during it reach as few ears as possible. heaven forbid were yuan or zelos to find out, that'd be an annoyance of divine proportions.

so yes, he is very much embarrassed.

but he will keep believing he's successfully hiding that fact. how understanding malon is acting causes some of the tension in his shoulders to ease. he finishes drying off his face before turning toward her and responding.]

No, I'm nothing of the sort. I'd been a knight once, but with no relation to any royalty.

[many knights were royalty but his family was not one of them. they were lower ranking nobility, nothing special.]

Currently, I'm more of a mercenary than anything else.

[and angel.]

[ranchgirl]

[ A former knight? And now a mercenary? Both of Malon's brows go up as she looks him over again, comparing this new information against his currently sodden, less-than-knightly appearance. She hasn't really met many knights before, and even fewer mercenaries, but the image in her mind's eye is of someone in armor, someone imposing. Drenched as he is, Kratos isn't exactly that at the moment. ]

Well, I guess I shouldn't call you "Your Highness" anymore.

[ Said with just enough impishness in her tone to suggest that she still might anyway. She's still calling Link "Fairy Boy," after all, even though he's grown up now. ]

[flamberge]

[he catches that tone and makes a bit of a face. on the one hand, please don't; on the other, given how poorly he'd behaved around her, if she wants to keep calling him by that then he won't make too much an effort to say no.

...even so, he'll still try to make an effort to nudge her away from that title. just a small nudge.]

Just Kratos will suffice.