[Mechanical Marvels] Friendly Advice (Alistair)

[Hana]

The Benshira came wandering back into the room with a basket full of fruit that hadn’t ripened yet and a carefully wrapped package with four eggs in it. She had plans to try her hand at a new recipe she’d gotten from one of the neighbors.

But currently she was holding up a vellum envelope filled with a very small amount of pigment that she was considering buying to make a glaze out of. She’d left home with her hair hidden by her typical veil, but the moment she was through the door she was managing to balance the basket, hold up the envelope to catch the dying light, and taking off her head-covering.

“Alistair, they didn’t have cobalt. So I thought maybe-“ She stopped dead in her tracks, as she looked up to realize that there was company. It seemed all too obvious that Ha’na was quite different around just deGrey. Her voice was just a touch louder. She was even, possibly, talkative. Her blue eyes widened. “Oh. Hello, Sir Tenner.”

[Dusk]

Tenner chuckled, but his eyes were as serious as Alistair's - he might have been amused by the situation, but he certainly wasn't taking it lightly. Not when he could have been tucked into a corner of a tavern enjoying dinner at the moment, not trying to cobble together the love lives of two emotionally stunted geniuses. "Honestly, I think you're worrying too much about the whole 'official' thing--" he was saying, leaning an elbow on the counter again as if to get into the conversation. But then the door opened, and the subject of their conversation came bustling in. Tenner grinned to see her acting so different, so much more comfortable, and for a moment he regretted that he'd been there to interrupt that moment; but if it kept them together long enough for more such moments to occur, well, he'd deal with it. "Miss Ha'na," he said, straightening up from his lean and bowing politely. "My apologies. I didn't mean to intrude upon your evening. Your visit reminded me that I hadn't been to see the shop since Alistair took it over, and I'd thought to stop in and see it," he said smoothly.

[Alistair deGrey]

Similar situations summon similar reactions. It is unfortunate that I have recognized this pattern, for still I have no leverage. The difference is, I am awake when the tides come calling. Tenner's words echoed in Alistair's head as Ha'na walked in. They continued speaking their truths to deGrey even as he wondered at her eyes, her lips, the basket of eggs and fruit. How strange... Alistair had never eaten a dish using eggs and fruit before. He took comfort in Ha'na's comfort, for though she was still extremely Benshiran, she was becoming more relaxed around Alistair. He was finally coaxing one important concept into her mind, he was not Benshiran. deGrey did not expect the same subserviance. Alistair wanted a partner, not a slave. The inventor's slate eyes rolled over Tenner as he lied to Ha'na, and though under normal circumstances he might have been slightly flustered by the lie, he instead found himself disconnected. Honestly, I think you're worrying too much about the whole 'official' thing. What Sir Nigroso had iterated to Alistair earlier still vibrated in his skull. The butterflies that Ha'na had awakened the eve she met the inventor returned, renascent in their afterbirth. The return from oblivion made them vindictive, and they raged with renewed fury against Alistair. Honestly, I think you're worrying too much about the whole. Nervousness overtook deGrey, beating him into submissive surrealism. Why? The thought mingled with Tenner's words. Why was Alistair suddenly so nervous? Euphoria flooded the crevices of his brain like a lethal gas, shuttering his cognition. Before his analytical brain whimpered and died, the realization that he had felt this same apprehension and elation that first night hit him. Honestly, I think you're worrying too much. Everybody lied to him. Epiphany was not sweet; nor was epiphany bitter. As deGrey realized what he was going to do, epiphany was. Nothing more. Alistair knew not that he had already spoken until after the words escaped his lips. "Ha'na, will you marry me?" Honestly

[Hana]

At the mention of the man wanting to see deGrey’s shop, her face lit up like the morning sky. If there was one thing Ha’na seemed to adore almost as much as the fellow that ran the shop, it was the shop itself. Yes, she seemed oddly at ease in the place; it was like she felt safe there where she didn’t seem to anywhere else.

She opened her mouth as if she was going to say something to their visitor – Perhaps some actual conversation. Maybe she would have even giggled or out-and-out laughed. It happened within the safety of the walls. But Alistair had started talking, and she wasn’t wanting to interrupt the man. Or anyone at that matter.

Would she… She sort of blinked as the words finally seemed to translate in her mind. Typically she was quite good about it, but for some reason the message took longer than most did. She blinked. And blinked. Then she dropped the basket as obvious shock went over her entire expression. Her eyes lifted from the basket at her feet up to Alistair, wide and confused. Her mouth opened just a little as if she couldn’t believe what he’d just asked.

It was an odd moment. It wasn’t that she’d doubted that he’d eventually ask. It was just… Had he just asked?

[Dusk]

Tenner suddenly found himself stuck in the middle of a very awkward moment - at least for him. And he learned firsthand just what the reward was for giving advice. He looked from Alistair to Ha'na, both of them looking a bit as if they'd been brained, and then down at the discarded basket. She's probably broken the eggs, he thought, and then had to suppress a grin, which just meant his mouth twisted and he snorted a tiny puff of air out of his nose. "Ahem." And then he just took three quiet steps to the side, slithering silently out of the way should these two need to throw themselves at each other, or if Ha'na decided to hurl some of the gadgets across the room, or any number of actions which really didn't require him to be in the middle of them. Of course, he didn't inch towards the door. Because, really, who wouldn't want to see how this played out?

[Alistair deGrey]

Tick... Tock... Tic... Toc... Ti... To... T... T... Everything is wiped away, leaving a black canvas. We embrace beyond the dying light, where nothing but oblivion awaits our disentanglement. So hold tightly my love. Tension. It did not well within Alistair. No, tension was a screw in his neck, with wires running through his body. The silence dragged on, and the screw spun. Anxiety had cleared Alistair's head, ushering out the fog like a crowd after a fire had erupted. He stood and waited, eyes of mercury frozen to Ha'na. deGrey could not have broken the paralysis should he have wanted to. The wires in his body just screeched their protest, close to snapping so great was the strain. Still he waited, what must have been thirty seconds, thirty chimes, thirty bells as far as Alistair could tell. Time simply slid off of deGrey, and space eluded his form. All bowed before Ha'na, before the center of the universe. This was where everything commenced. deGrey tried to open his mouth to speak to Ha'na, but speech let him down. Words, the arbitrary facilitators of conversation, were inadequate right now. The inventor reached for something greater, something ultimate and final. A transmission of emotion, something to be read at eternity's end. But Alistair deGrey was naught but stardust, reaching for the sun. He resorted to words, but had no voice. So they floated about his head like vultures. Will she run? What will she say? No? Yes?

[Hana]

Really? It was a question that Ha’na asked regularly. Really? She didn’t seem to believe things at face value, like someone had given and taken away so many times that she didn’t take anything for granted anymore. She had asked less and less, though, in the presence of deGrey. She may have asked the question a thousand times over with their first meeting from his desire to build her a kiln to the feelings he was having, but sooner or later is seemed like her doubts were fading. So while she didn’t ask it out loud, for a long moment her face seemed to ask the question for her. Really?

The smallest flicker of a smile shot onto her lips. She gave a sheepish glance to Tenner. She suspected he was up to something. Maybe he’d said something. Maybe he was just checking to make sure she was okay. She wasn’t sure, but what she knew was that she was happy he was there to witness this moment. She wasn’t sure she’d remember it for herself, because the room was spinning just a touch.

Her eyes moved back to Alistair. She studied him looking back at her. And then she gave the calm little smile she sometimes got when she was truly overwhelmed. She nodded. “Yes, of course I will marry you.”

[Dusk]

The knight was trying to make himself as inconspicuous as possible in the midst of all this tension. When he caught Ha'na's glance, and the tiny smile that tilted her lips, he couldn't help but grin back at her - an older brother's teasing grin, just a little satisfied with the turnout. "Of course," he chuckled, glancing up at deGrey - and was unsurprised to see the stunned look on the man's face still hadn't quite cracked. Dark brows rose, and he snorted and made a little Get over there! motion of encouragement. This was, after all, the part where he was supposed to sweep her off her feet in a truly romantic kiss. Or so the storybooks said.

[Alistair deGrey]

T... T... Ti... To... Tic... Toc... Tick... Tock... Wires curled, rusted and snapped inside Alistair deGrey. The tension pulling his body like Cordas dissolved in an instant. A smile, hints of bitterness or anxiety notoriously missing, broke out across deGrey's face, an unstoppable tidal wave. The inventor lacked the constraint to smother this, and nor would he have wanted to. He saw that one man, whoever he was it was unimportant, motion for him to "get over there". deGrey stepped around the counter and flew across the room to Ha'na. He enveloped her in a great hug, before pulling back and kissing her deeply. Alistair desperately wanted to remain there forever, but he broke the life giving contact to whisper to his betrothed, "Ha'na deGrey, may you never fear again, for I will always be here."

[Hana]

Ha’na deGrey… The name seemed so strange to her. It had been quite some time since she’d had a last name. As far as she was aware, no one that knew her full name given at birth was aware she was still alive. Maybe she wasn’t alive… Maybe...

No, she was rather certain she was. Her heart was pounding strongly in her chest, because she could feel it doing so. Blue eyes widened and teared up as he spoke such a simple promise to her. It was a promise, however, that she’d never thought she’d hear from another person. The emotions she was feeling were overwhelming, frightening, and wonderful. She’d never experienced anything like it in all of her travels.

The room faded away. All there was in her world was Alistair. It was a reality she found herself quite happy with as she wrapped her arms about his neck and made sure she was able to stay close to him.

She whispered back at him, “Alistair, I will always be here for you… I care about you so terribly much, and I am going to do everything in my power to see that you are happy and loved. I want nothing more than to be your wife."