SAY YES [ARIC]

[ARIC RESUR VALIN]

Aric paid no mind to her trying to convince him that she wasn’t interested in dancing or he didn’t want to dance with her (he wasn’t completely sure what she had said). He just continued to keep his firm hold on her, pulling her in so that they could blend in with the rest of the excited crowd. He was already convinced before even taking a hold of her that she would be completely satisfied with his decision once she was concentrating on something besides being embarrassed. Besides, why would she have to feel bashful about having a little bit of fun along with everyone else? She was a part of this city just as much as anyone else was and Aric was sure that nobody would look at her any differently. She was a tad bit shorter than most of them but he hardly noticed that difference. Who really did anymore anyways?

Once he had located a spot that seemed suitable in his own mind he stopped and turned to face her. He gave her a broad grin, raising up one of his eyebrows as though he expected her to just jump right into this. Really, he didn’t. He decided to take the initiative to get their dancing starting and in order by taking her left hand and placing it gingerly on his right shoulder. Then he took hold of her right hand in his left and rested his free hand on her hip. He didn’t give her much of an opportunity to do anything after that.

Aric watched the crowd and stepped into the dance when he decided that he could get into the motion of it without causing any chaotic crashes or stumbling. They were dancing quickly, all in time with one another and Aric’s determination to stay in time with them paid off. Soon they weren’t just two still faces in the crowd but rather one dancing in time with the music and the other bodies around them. Aric’s ears could detect almost nothing but the music and the sound of rhythm of the footsteps. His eyes weren’t nearly as focused as everyone else around him seemed to be, all watching their partners, too caught up in the dance to speak and only able to laugh. His green eyes instead bounced from face to face and even up toward the trees occasionally. He wasn’t sure why he could not just follow suite of everyone else and stare at his partner. It would probably make her uncomfortable though so it was probably best that he was kind of distracted (as he usually was).

The song was coming to an end and every so often they would skip by a pair who had fallen out of the rhythm and instead decided to just spin around or collapse in laughter to try and convince one another that they had not messed up. Aric was set on keeping up with the music though and continued on diligently, finally putting more effort into concentrating solely on dancing. His eyes briefly gazed down toward the floor and then finally up toward Meliora. By then the dance was ready to come to an end and he gave her a quick little spin and ended in a dip (off beat but everyone stopped about half a second later). He was surprisingly tired and lowered the small of her back over his knee before kneeling on the ground. He then spit his tongue out at her.

“Why didn’t you warn me that all of that bouncing around would be so tiring?” he asked her with a sarcastic shake of his head. “Perhaps next time you lead and dip me.”

TAGS: MELIORA
WORDS: 614
OUTFIT: CLICK THIS PLEASE.

[MELIORA ROSETTA ALASTAR]

Meliora squirmed in Aric’s grip, but it seemed like he wasn’t going to let up anytime soon. She couldn’t help but notice that no one was actually paying attention to them as he dragged her to the center of the festivities. Eventually, she gave up on trying to fight against him. He was probably stronger than her, not to mention he had a few more inches on her. But none of that seemed to matter to him, well at this moment it seemed like it didn’t. It was obvious that Aric was quite determined to make sure that she didn’t miss out on any of the fun for today. Of course Meliora didn’t, but she still wanted her private flower picking time with Aric.

At Aric’s grin she couldn’t help but grin back. Something about his smile always touched her, or made her want to smile back. Her mind was so distracted by his grin that she didn’t even think to place her hands. She watched as Aric placed a hand on his shoulder, blushing slightly as he took her other hand in his. Even more so when his hand landed on her hip. For a brief moment her eyes averted his as she tried to hide her blush. But, she should have been paying attention since Aric decided to lead them in their dancing.

The suddenly start to Meliora by surprise, her mind trying to get in tune with the music and figure out where her feet went. Every now and then her feet would go the wrong way, and rather than just worry about it she laughed it off. For once it was a genuine laugh, something that was rare when with Meliora. However, it seemed like Aric was the only one that was capable of producing such an open personality in her. For the first time in a long time, Meliora was actually enjoying herself. At this point, she just followed Aric’s lead, bouncing around the square, laughing the whole time.

No longer was she paying attention to what others were thinking about her or what they were doing. She was too busy lost in the fun in dancing with Aric. She could tell the song was coming to an end, suddenly realizing that she was starting to get out of breath. She wasn’t expecting the spin and dip, again giggling uncontrollably. Resting against his knee, she did her best to catch her breath, chest heaving. Her head tilted up, looking at Aric only to see his tongue stuck out like a child. Again she couldn’t help but laugh, her side hurting from all the laughing. He could be such a child sometimes, but Meliora didn’t mind. She was quite used to it at this point, and she actually enjoyed it. It reminded her to let go about her insecurities and just have fun.

As he spoke she couldn’t help but laugh again. “It was you’re idea Aric. I thought you know what you were getting us into?” She rested against his leg, letting her eyes wander up at the trees above them, many others around them out of breath and laughing. This was the happiest Meliora had seen the village and that she had felt in some time. “Oh I don’t know if I could do that. Lead maybe, but if I even attempted to dip you I would probably drop you.” She told him with a giggle.

TAG: ARIC
WORDS: 572
NOTES: AW SO CUTE!
LYRICS: YES - COLDPLAY

[ARIC RESUR VALIN]

Sarcasm was still written all over his face while she laughed and tried to convince him otherwise. He was pretty sure that she was right about the not being able to hold him up if she tried to dip him part, but he still rolled his eyes at her like he thought otherwise. He let her stay balanced awkwardly on his knee for the moment, making the crowd navigate around them. Many were sitting down for a break and braiding flowers into their hair. Some of the more athletic continued dancing around as soon as the music started up again. The song was a bit slower this time though so Aric wasn’t too concerned with getting stepped on. During their dance it seemed that he and Meliora had drifted off more toward the side of things anyways. So he had concluded that the two of them would be at a safe distance for now.

His eyes were distracted with that for a moment and then he finally looked back down at Meliora, wrinkling his nose at her. “You’re lucky you aren’t overweight or I would have just dropped you by now,” he informed her matter-of-factly. “Either that or my femur would have caved in.”

Now that he was looking down at her and letting her know the importance of her weight in relation to his bone strength, Aric found himself simply staring at her. He allowed one of his careless, silly looking grins to spread on his lips. The pushed out slightly and his brows rose making him look like he was trying to decide what to do while holding in hysterical laughter. Really there was no laughter and if anything did come out it would probably be awkward and horribly forced. By now he felt like he was getting stared at by others around him and he was completely unaware that her bubbly demeanor may wear off at any moment because of his sudden trance like state. Finally he seemed to snap out of it, his eyelids blinking shut for a millisecond.

“You’re really beautiful, did you know that?” He tilted his head a bit, letting the sweaty strands of brown hair slip away from his forehead. “If I didn’t know any better I may just take this opportunity to kiss you.” He gave her a full on smile now. “Don’t worry. I won’t embarrass you,” he said it quietly and almost knowingly, completely unaware of any feelings toward him.

With that he pulled her back up off of his knee so that she could stand. He let go of her then so that he could brush his hair back over his head again. The shorter strands only fell back toward his face though. He let out a huff now, resting his hands on tight fabric against his wrists. He furrowed his brow as though just realizing his sleeves were not loose enough to push up. He just shook his head in the end and took a few steps back to give everyone room.

“Perhaps we should look into a fashion for the hotter seasons…”

TAGS: MELIORA
WORDS: 516
OUTFIT: CLICK THIS PLEASE.

[MELIORA ROSETTA ALASTAR]

Meliora continued to catch her breath while resting on Aric’s leg. Just looking at his face she could see the sarcasm written across it. She sank her teeth into her lower lip, trying to stifle her fit of giggles, but it was impossible. She wrinkled her nose back at him out of her own bit of sarcasm and toying with him. “Please. If that were the case then I think I wouldn’t be considered a Narro. Besides, I can’t help if if your leg is so comfortable.” She stretched out more, acting like his body was a bed to support her, unable to stop laughing at her own silliness. In her mind, Meliora couldn’t remember the last time she was so happy or had been so open towards Aric or just in public. It was a strange sight really.

Her eyes lifted back up to look at the trees above, sunlight peeking through the top. At this point, her breath had returned to normal, her chest no longer heaving or her lung needing to have such deep breaths. For now she rested on top of Aric, letting her mind wander as the music started up again. During this time she was unaware that Aric was actually staring at her. Her eyes roamed over the tops of the trees, spotting a few critters here and there and foliage that made up their home. When her mind came back to reality, she looked up at the moment Aric seemed to be snapping from his trance. A confused look came across her face, but it didn’t last long.

Despite her cheeks already being flush from dancing, her whole body seemed to radiate heat of embarrassment from Aric’s compliment. “You... You think I’m beautiful?” It was the first time anyone besides her best friend and father had said that to her, and it just happened to come from Aric! She swooned at this, and something in her mind suddenly began to turn. If Aric though she was beautiful, what else did he think about her?

Wait... Kiss?! Meliora wasn’t sure how much more she could take! Did Aric have any idea how he made her feel? Foolish question. She knew that answer. Her behavior of deep blushing was something he was no doubt accustomed to, but did he really understand why she was always flushed pink? Although he didn’t kiss her at that specific moment, she did hope that maybe soon she would place those lips of his against hers. Most nights she dreamed about that, praying that it would one day happen. “Well, trust me. It doesn’t take much to embarrass me, Aric.”

Using her own wait she pulled herself to her feet with Aric’s help, her head spinning from getting up to fast and her previous thoughts. Taking a moment to gather herself, she ran a hand through her brown locks, tousling them so the didn’t sit so much on her shoulders, but now more down her back. She watched as Aric tried to make himself cooler only to fail in the attempt of pushing his sleeves up. Again she giggled, wanting to help but unsure of how to fix the problem. “It probably wouldn’t be a bad idea. I’m sure some of the villagers wouldn’t mind something cooler to wear in the summer months.”

TAG: ARIC
WORDS: 553
NOTES: AW SO CUTE!
LYRICS: YES - COLDPLAY

[ARIC RESUR VALIN]

Aric lifted his wrists to his face and pulled the laces out of the holes in at the bottom of his sleeve that held his shirt close to his arm. When he got both laces undone he flapped his wrists until the fabric had loosened up. His hands were quick to pull it up passed his elbows then making the shirt look extremely large and baggy on him. He noticed this almost immediately and scrunched his nose at it. It wasn’t really doing the job anyways, was it? It was still warm out despite the covering that they had from the trees. He wasn’t satisfied and what usually happened when he wasn’t satisfied was that he made some kind of difference to alter the situation to his favor. It wasn’t even that difficult to do since he was rather well liked and the others were always so eager to help him out. He liked to think that it was not the whole prince thing but sometimes he was pretty sure that it was nothing but that fact. This time he was looking toward Meliora for his help again. She had already aided him in starting up these festivities but she just so happened to still be near him and available.

An innocent grin formed on his lips and he edged toward her, pretending to be somewhat shy. He tried to appear sweet but was sure that she had already caught onto the fact that he really just wanted something from her. So instead of trying to continue playing everything off he decided to just go ahead and cut to the chase. “Meliora,” he spoke gently. “I’m a bit thirsty.” He shrugged and pointed toward his head with his index finger, shaking his sleeve loose in the process causing it to slide away from his elbow. “I didn’t exactly think everything completely through when I thought about dancing in the sun.”

You couldn’t have a festival without drink and food, could you? It didn’t seem really all that fair to the people taking place in the active dancing, flower weaving, and music playing. But it never took Aric long to get some kind of idea to fix his problems.

His green eyes light up and he dropped his arm with a wide toothy grin. He looked like he had just solved all of the questions he had ever had drifting through his head. Without a word a tapped her hand and then turned on his heel running through the crowd and then down the walk of the village. He didn’t bother with stopping either, he was on a mission to make this day great and was sure that Meliora would either follow him or find something equally productive to do for everyone. She was always quite good at making herself a healthy asset to the village rather than a trouble maker (which always made her very likable in his father’s eyes and probably her own as well). Aric was only a trouble maker from time to time. He wasn’t sure if he should count this time as trouble.

It wasn’t long before he found himself at his own home. It was a rather large, circle home made around and inside of a large spiraling tree draped with large green leaves. The bottom of it was mostly open and he hurried up the carved staircase. He ran into one of his mother’s workers in no time. Aric came to a quick stop, the worker looking completely concerned as the prince tried to compose himself. But when he spoke the worry was replaced with confusion. “Take a few barrels of mead down to the square would you? It would be much appreciated.” The male nodded uncertainly, still staring at the prince. Aric grinned then. “And when you get there take the day off. I’ll clear things with my mother for you, no worries.”

Aric turned and looked down toward the path then, looking for Meliora. “Flower girl!” he called airily. “Come on!”

TAGS: MELIORA
WORDS: 669
OUTFIT: CLICK THIS PLEASE.

[MELIORA ROSETTA ALASTAR]

Meliora distracted herself while Aric undid the ties in his shirt. It was one way for him to get cool. She was fine the way she was, but her hair was still making her hot as it clung to her neck and shoulders. Gathering it in her hands, she pulled it to one side and slowly began to weave it into a braid. At this point she realized just how long her hair had gotten within recent months. She examined the ends of her hair, but the ends still looked fairly healthy. Maybe it was just growing faster than normal? She wasn’t sure what caused it, but it was something she could worry about later. Tying her hair off she looked up to see that Aric was confused as what to do with his sleeves. She knew he would figure something out eventually.

Quickly her eyes spotted the grin, watching as he walked closer. Something about that smile stirred something in Meliora. She had seen it many times. Aric wanted something from her, but what that was she wasn’t sure. When he mentioned he was thirsty, a small laugh escaped her lips, that child like demeanor had come back. It always seemed to make her laugh. For a moment she thought, realizing that the others in the village might also be thirsty. There wasn’t much to drink suddenly in the square, and Aric seemed to realize it the same time as she did. Again, those eyes lit up. She knew.

What she didn’t expect was for Aric to take off into a sudden run. For a moment Meliora was taken back, unsure of what to do. She stood there, a little lost as Aric made his way swiftly through the crowd. Then it hit her that she should probably follow him. Her feet did their best to carry her through the crowd, occasionally getting held up for a moment or two. At some point she lost sight of Aric, but from the direction he was running towards she was sure that he was headed towards his home. Eventually Meliora managed to get out of the middle of the square, picking up her pace as she did her best to catch up with the prince. She knew the path well of course, having spent many times in his home as kids. Usually keeping each other occupied while their parents worked. Yes, she knew his home quite well.

Finally the tree came into view, Meliora out of breath. Rather than run inside she walked to the door, only to suddenly hear Aric call to her. Her eyes rolled, but rather than run she broke into a jog and entered the house. When she entered, she didn’t see Aric right away. Her eyes moved up the staircase again picking up her pace to make her way up to where she was sure Aric was. She skid to a stop when she found him, still trying to catch her breath. A few strands of hair had slipped loose from her braid, huffing to blow one out of her face. “You need to warn me when you do that.” she told him matter-of-factly, “It’s hard to keep up with you.”

Standing up straight, she looked around his home. “Did we come all the way to your home for water, Aric?”

TAG: ARIC
WORDS: 557
NOTES: WHAT'S HE UP TO?
LYRICS: YES - COLDPLAY