An Enchantment Of Blue [Closed]

Well, they were off! Good. Serenity didn't want to have to argue about whether they should leave now or after breakfast. Solon lead her through the village along a semi-familiar path until they came to Annika's house. "Here we are." he said and she didn't exactly hesitate to walk inside. As they walked in, Annika was resting. Serenity was unable to tell whether things had gotten worse, but it seemed to be sorta stable. "Solon, you...wait you look terrible. What happened?" Annika spoke up. Serenity just stepped over to the chair and stood behind Annika. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before placing her hands on each side of Annika's head. "Got stabbed." Solon said so casually and Serenity could not have had a more anime-dull expression. She looked toward him, still working on Annika, with semi-narrowed eyes, an 'are you serious' face, and pupil-less eyes. "A bit of an understatement..." she thought, keeping it to herself since technically he was telling the truth. She just didn't understand the lack of severity in his voice. She doubted him getting stabbed happened every day.

"He was stubborn and chose to concentrate on saving me over himself..." Serenity brought up to actually let Annika know what happened, "Some jerks in the forest decided it would be cool to mess with us and your friend here got stabbed while fighting off like... three or four men while I only was dealing with one. Is he always like that?" Serenity's curious nature was getting to her. She was probably going to ask Annika a whole bunch of questions now. And as she continued healing her, here they came. "How long have you guys been friends?" was the first one she could think of, and the rest came after each answer that either of them would give, "Do you guys travel at all, besides Solon's hunting of course? Are you guys a cooouuuple?" That last one was obviously innocent teasing, but also a legitimate question. Solon did seem very worried about her, so Serenity pretty much assumed that they were together in some way. The questions would also keep Annika's mind going, allowing Serenity to extract the disease from her Arcana much easier since it would also be moving more.

A few more minutes passed and Annika would be healed. Serenity would take a deep breath and find a chair to sit down in. "There... it's all gone." she said relieved. There actually wasn't that much left after she had taken care of so much yesterday. At least she knew why Annika wasn't suffering too much, that made her feel much better. She showed a kind smile but leaned back in the chair, laying her head back as she looked to the ceiling. She closed her eyes as she felt her stress sorta fading away from her. She took a quick breath and stood up again. "I think.. I'm gonna start heading back home." she said with a smile and moving to give both of them a hug. "You rest and recover." she said, giving Annika a hug first. She moved to Solon and hugged him as well, squeezing a little tighter and sneaking a small kiss onto his cheek. "Thank you for saving me." she said, smiling and then heading toward the front door, "Hope to see you guys again." Serenity stepped happily out of the house and began her way back toward Colburn.

Listening to Annika's explanation over Solons behavior caused a small smile and a faint blush. She tried not to look up to him, but couldn't help it. She glanced over to him a couple of times and then cleared her throat before continuing Annika's treatment. The fact that he didn't instantly deny the claim made Serenity wonder whether Annika was right too. And if she was, which version was it? Did he really like her? Did he feel responsible for the incident? Or was it both? Instead of keeping on the issue, Serenity moved the conversation along by asking questions. Unfortunately for Serenity, the question asking put her in a position she wasn't sure what to do about. "Since you were kids, huh?" she replied as Annika continued the story on Solon's Father. Serenity smiled and giggled on the subject and then asked about travel and their relationship with each other, which became a stupid question.

"Hm... I guess you're right about that one." Serenity agreed along with Annika. The likelihood of a woman giggling over the fact that their man may be crushing on another woman was low. This was actually kind of fun. She had just met Solon, but finding things out about him was interesting. "Do you have any funny stories that I could use against him?" Serenity asked, glancing to Solon to see his reaction. That was the final question before Annika was done being healed. "Ahh, muuuuch better!" Annika said and hopped up. Serenity was glad to see some energy in her for the first time since they had met. Once finished, Serenity realized she needed to get home, so she said her goodbyes and thanked Solon for saving her. She stepped out of the home and began walking off, but didn't get too far. "Serenity!" she heard her name being called and looked back to Solon. Seeing him limp over to her, she sorta turned and jogged back over in his direction in a bit of a hurry since she knew he was hurt.

"Hey, hey, hey!" she said worriedly and set a hand on his arm, "What are you doing? You can't rush around until you're better!" She looked at the back of his shoulder to see that it was okay and then back to him. "Don't leave just yet. I enjoy your company. I also want to see what your cooking tastes like." he said and Serenity's eyes lit up. "You're pale..." she suddenly realized, "Alright. Let's get back to your place and I'll cook you up something good, a lot of it!" Looping her arm around his, she smiled up to him and began walking back toward his house. Since she had walked there a couple of times, she knew where it was and didn't have to worry about getting lost. "How come you don't talk much?" she asked on their way back. While getting his answer, they would arrive at his home and Serenity would help him find a place to sit near the kitchen. Immediately, she'd look through his stuff and find everything she needed: food, seasonings, pots, pans, utensils, and plates.

"How come the village relies so much on you?" Serenity said, trying to keep the non-talker talking. It was the easiest way of helping herself pass time for the both of them. She loved cooking, but she wasn't going to ignore him through out the process. As she began boiling some cut and peeled potatoes, she decided to throw lots more at him. "Now a whole bunch at once..." she said with a giggle as she turned over some seasoned meat on the frying pan, "How old are you? What's your favorite color? Favorite food? Where'd you learn to hunt? Why are you not dating Annika or some other girl in your village? And did you know you snore when you're sleeping?" Serenity gave a sweet smile when she asked that last one. She began stirring one of the pots. Though it was around breakfast-lunch time, he didn't seem to have much directly made for breakfast, so she chose a dinner.  

About thirty minutes later, it was finished and she placed on the table. It was steak with a specially made gravy and mixed steam vegetables on the side, seasoned with a few choice herbs. "Eat up." she said happily as she stepped back toward the kitchen and began doing the dishes. Her stomach let out a low growl; she was hungry too, but she refused to eat just yet. She wanted to get things cleaned up a bit. As long as this wasn't protested, she'd clean all of the dishes and then sit in a chair beside him to eat her own food. "So... How is it?" she'd ask with a hopeful expression.

"Stories? I mean Solon isn't usually prone to situations that are that funny...oh, except for the time he apparently walked in on his dad...well, playing with himself." Serenity's jaw dropped and she looked over to the embarrassed Solon. She had to fight a serious battle when trying not to laugh at her new found information. "That was probably the single most horrifying sight I had ever seen, did you really need to bring THAT up?" His words made that so much worse. She couldn't hold in all the laughter. She let out a cute giggle that was obviously still trying to be held back. "Y-Yes... Haha. She did." Serenity said gladly. The information was worth a little embarrassment on Solon's side. "Oh it was easy to bring up, especially since I don't remember what your dad even looked like. OH OH, what about that time you thought you were being chased by a vicious beast, ran to town, smashed into a tree, and then it turned out it was just a Felli?" Serenity's giggle turned into a full on laughter. She held her stomach, trying to stop laughing, but with Solon's "Annika!" she only laughed harder. Seeing as she got the information she wanted, it was time for Serenity to leave, so she quickly made her way out. Of course, she wasn't expecting to be stopped.

"There just doesn't seem to be much I feel needs to be said most of the time." Well that wasn't true, especially when you just meet someone. You know nothing about each other, so there are things to learn through questions and interactions. His reply did let her learn one thing though, "You're just not the type to express. Someone who likes to express talks." Serenity nodded as if she had just stated fact and discovery. "Usually...I'm not very good at explaining myself with words...it tends to be easier to speak through actions." Serenity smiled widely. Yep, she was right! He doesn't express, he does. He takes action, which in some cases can be better than words, but there are many times more that a smile or talk can make someone feel so much better. Soon they arrived at his house and she was quick to get cooking. She continued to try and keep as much conversation as she could. She wasn't the type to be silent if she had company, or in this case, was the company.

"Depend on me? It doesn't really...depend on me. Well...I bring back far more food than anyone else, so I guess people depend on me so they can have more free time. To be with their family, or just enjoy a hobby maybe." That bothered Serenity a bit. "You make it sound like they use you." she commented before asking a lot of questions. "Slow down. Um. I'm 24. Favorite color? Never really thought about it. You know that bright green color? The kind that lush grass has? I really like that." Serenity raised an eyebrow and looked back to him as she was cooking. "You mean, like my hair?" she smirked a little and then turned back to the food. "I don't really have a favorite food...I learned to hunt initially from my father, but after I got the basics I taught the rest to myself. Why am I not dating someone from the village? Well Annika is pretty, but she is just sort of...a friend to me." Well that was shocking. Serenity assumed that they met too young and hung out too much to actually have a physical attraction to one another. Some people were able to gain one for a childhood friend, but Solon didn't seem to be one of those people. "And...well to be honest, no one else ever really caught my eye. You're the first person to really catch my eye," and then to the final question, "No?"

"Well you do, quite loudly. Nice way to keep a girl up." Serenity giggled and soon brought over the food. She sat down and waited for him to start eating, asking him how it was. Before he answered, he began eating really quickly and Serenity assumed that was a compliment. She smiled widely and resisted the urge to clap her hands like a child. "It is delicious, I've never had food like this." he confirmed and she did end up clapping her hands together once. "I'm so glad!" she said happily. "Aren't you going to eat? You need food too." he asked and Serenity looked down to her plate. "Oh, right." she remembered and then picked up her fork. She didn't eat like some proper princess with her back perfectly straight, but she had very good manners and was quiet while doing so. The food was good, if she could say so herself. She hadn't eaten some of her own cooking for a while, so this was refreshing. It may be a little cocky, but she actually loved the way she cooked, which is why she got excited to cook for someone else. She was proud of her abilities in the kitchen and liked sharing them. Soon, she would get done, though likely a while after Solon did. Taking a deep breath, she relaxed a bit and then stood up and took his plate. "I'll wash them real quick." she said taking them to the kitchen sink and beginning to clean up from dinner. "So... how far have you traveled, Solon? Since you take care of the village so much, I can't imagine that you've been able to go many places..." she asked, trying to keep up more conversation.

"Why are you so surprised? You should know your food tastes good." Serenity could only smile more. "I know, I know, but just because I like my food doesn't mean everyone else does." she explained to him and began eating. Besides a few humming noises, Serenity didn't make much noise while eating. Once she finished and began the dishes, she began asking him a few more questions. He answered the one she was mostly interested in and it shocked her. For some reason, she thought he was one of those men who rarely traveled and just stuck to the area he found familiar. It was nice to see he wasn't like that. "Need any help?" he asked and she shook her head. "No, no. Thank you, though." she said as she began rinsing them, "I know most people don't like dishes and I'm fast at them, so I can do it."

And then he actually began asking her questions. She assumed this meant he was getting more comfortable around her because he was quite silent before. It was pleasantly surprising. It was pleasant because he was interested, surprising because of the questions he chose to ask. "How old are you Serenity? Are you single?" he asked. The first was normal and understandable, but the second was so blunt. "I'm... Well..." Serenity finished rinsing the final of the dishes and turned back to him, "Don't you know it's rude to ask a lady her age!" Yes, she was actually embarrassed about saying she was a lot older than she looked. She was twenty-eight, but looked around twenty-one. "And yes, as of this moment I am single." she answered as she dried her hands on a towel. She stepped over toward him and waited; she could tell he had more to ask.

"Also, where'd you learn to cook like that? You go to some fancy school for it or something?" was his next set of questions and she only smiled, staring at him curiously as she shook her head no. A moment later, she chose to speak up again. "No, I did not. I taught myself." she explained, "I even had a garden that I took care of to give me perfect and fresh ingredients." Of course, she was speaking past-tense here. "So I take it you need to get home? If so, let me walk you to the edge of town." he offered and Serenity accepted. "Yes, I really should get going." she stepped over to the side of the room and picked up her bag and began walking out with him. "How far away do you live?  You probably can't come back to visit whenever can you?" he asked ad she thought about it. "Um... I actually live in a house on the outside of Colburn, near the Academy. My house... got destroyed in a storm, so I'm staying with a friend." that was a semi-lie. She didn't exactly want to talk about having a stalker.

Soon, the two would make it to the edge of the village and it was time for Serenity to go. Before she'd walk off, she stopped and turned toward him. "Thanks for saving me; I really appreciate it, but you better take care of that wound." she demanded of him, narrowing her eyes as some sort of cute threat, "... And anyways, just because I can't come visit whenever I want, doesn't mean you can't take a little stroll over to Colburn to come see me." Serenity smiled, gave him a quick hug, and began stepping away, "I'll... see you soon?" She asked that in sort of a question, but didn't exactly need an answer. She smiled and turned away from him, beginning her journey back toward Colburn, unaware of the fact that she was once again going to be pulled off of her normal journey and into the lives of three blonde women...

~ Serenity has left the thread