3522/A Day Off

A Day Off
Date of Scene:	13 December 2015
Location:	Winter
Synopsis:	Close enough.
Cast of Characters:	757, 916

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Lyner Barsett (916) has posed:
     It's been a long time since Lyner was able to just sit back and rest. Ever since he vanished more than a year ago, he'd been nearly constantly on the move. Fighting battles, solving problems, wandering from world to world. It was tiring for sure, and yet Lyner never once complained. He was happy enough helping someone in need.

     Surely Misha could attest to similar lack of downtimes. But at least for today, that would change. Having been gifted a pass to a hot springs inn located out in this general area, Lyner sheepishly accepted the gift; which had been an impromptu reward for having saved someone from danger a while ago. Only now, the knight finally saw fit a time to use it.

     "Sorry for dragging you out on short notice, Misha." Lyner spoke as they plodded up the beaten path through their snoy surroundings, toward the homely looking building coming up. As if they hadn't had to bear with the cold enough already recently. But it couldn't be helped, one supposed.

     "It's been a while since we've gotten a chance to quietly relax. And I remembered that I had these, haha...whoops." Yep, that was Lyner.

Misha (757) has posed:
    It's been too long! Misha has seemed somewhat stir crazy sicnce Lyner's return. As though she had been WAITING for this. Between chaos back on the tower, the past returning to haunt her, and now this Lucrelia business, she's probably needed more than just a little downtime.
    A hot springs inn, though? Ritzy.
    The cold doesn't seem to bother the Reyvateil too much though, still wearing her heavy robes to ward it off, while pacing down the lonely path. "--No, not at all, don't worry about it." She replies rather quickly. "I was kind of waiting for some free time for just the two of us anyway." She replies with a small huff. Okay maybe she's been waiting a while-- over a year, really.

Lyner Barsett (916) has posed:
     "Haha...sorry about that." Lyner replied, rubbing the back of his neck in a sheepish manner. This was kind of his fault, wasn't it? Vanishing for over a year, and then returning and bringing more trouble with him in the process. But then, that was just like him. Never was there /not/ a problem chasing after him. Or him chasing after a problem.

     But they could put that aside for today. The blonde smiled his usual idiot smile and reached over, taking hold of Misha's hand as they arrived. "Well let's forget about that for today! We've got a day off and a chance to relax! We'll worry about all of that other stuff tomorrow, okay?" And with that, Lyner led the way up the stairs and onto the wooden porch of the inn. It was asian styled, judging by the architecture.

     Past the sliding doors and into the lobby proper, they would finally find the innkeeper seated behind a counter, reading a book. A small, elderly lady with her grayed hair fastened back into a simple bun. Upon hearing the bell ring at the door's opening, she looked up from her book, spying the young couple. "Oh, we have guests? Welcome." She set the book closed and stood, prepared to register them. Smiling warmly, she asked. "What are you looking for? One room? Two?"

     Lyner crossed the lobby, hand in hand with Misha, and stopped at the counter. "Let me see..." He reached an arm into his item pouch, shuffling through before producing a single ticket. "I got this a while ago from someone, is it still good?" The old innkeeper took the ticket, looking over it.

     "Oh, I see. You must have gotten this from my son. He's been traveling that Multiverse, trying to find something for himself." A nostalgic look crossed her eyes before she nodded, tucking the ticket away. "This is good for a single room night's stay. Come, let me take you to where you'll be staying." She spoke, stepping out from behind the counter and leading them towards a side hallway.

     She she plodded down the hall, passing by several doors with faint activity coming from the other side, she struck up a conversation. "So...how long has it been for you two?" She asked, eyeing Lyner and Misha's still joined hands with an amused smile.

Misha (757) has posed:
    Okay wow, yeah definitely ritzy, int is own rustic, rutal, inn charm. Taking the Reyvateil by the hand earns a slight deepening of the color to her cheeks, but there's no resistance in the least on the way in. "Mmm. I didn't really plan on worrying about it until that time came." Life is just a lot easier that way really and...
    Well a bit of Lyner has probably bled over into Misha after all the years.
    Two guests, though! With Misha's face a pretty silly shade of pink as Lyner flashes the ticket. "And just how'd you get that, Lyner?" She does ask curiously. "Just how much heroics have you been pulling without me, exactly?" That part is more of a jab there, just some light teasing- up until the ticket gets them ONE room. "Ah- heh. ... Heh..." Okay now she's the sheepish one, but her hand links fingers with Lyner's with a squeeze.

Lyner Barsett (916) has posed:
     Lyner didn't really think too hard about /one room/, maybe he might have in the past, but now it was just...well, what did he have to be embarrassed about? Misha's jab earns her a bit of a smirk. "How much? Weeeeell...I mean, it's been more than a year, almost two at this point, right? I've actually been to a lot of places, and done a lot of things." He'd better, after having been gone that long. "I ran into a guy traveling just like me some time back. Helped him out of a tight spot, and he gave me that in return." A chuckle escaped then. "I totally forgot I had it until the other day."

     At the innkeeper's question, the knight glanced aside at Misha, then back to the innkeeper. "Ah...well, a while?" He never got clear on that, but then, he never thought it important enough to define it. It was what it was.

     The innkeeper chuckled herself, slowing down at a door at the end of the hall. "I see. Well, here is your room. You can find futons and blankets in the closet. Dinner will be in a few hours, so go ahead and enjoy the hot springs at your leisure. Bathroom is down the hall we came from and to your left. Head to the lobby and down the opposite hall to get to the baths." And with a bow, she turned and plodded back down the hall, leaving the two alone.

     "Alright! Time to finally relax!" Lyner turned and slid the door aside, revealing their room as he stepped inside with Misha. It was about to be expected of this place. Nice and cozy, moderately sized, allowing a single individual, or couple to be placed in it. A small kneeling table was in the center, able to be moved when it's time to sleep. There was also an out of place, flatscreen TV, likely with multiversal channels and such.

Misha (757) has posed:
    "Heck of a time to remember you had it. And here I was beginning to worry you'd wandered off for good, and got married to a life of heroics instead of me." That was meant to be another verbal poke but she near chokes on it, swallows it down, and clears her throat with a cough, like it had never just been said in the first place. "Well..." She does muse after a beat.
    "At least you came back this time." There's the Misha Lyner knows. Sticking her tongue out, one eye sliding closed in a wink. But yes, it's time to relax. "It's been a while since I've been to a place this nice just to relax. With all the Union business and everything, we're usually helping SAVE places like this huh? Never really... Get to enjoy them." How true it is, and how miserable a fact it is, at that. But her weight shifts into a slight lean against Lyner's shoulder. For as comfy as the room is, that seems like the best way, to Misha, to start relaxing. "I missed you, you know."

Lyner Barsett (916) has posed:
     "Hehe, well y'kno-wait, huh? What was that just now?" Lyner first laughed lightly, but then grew curious at the tail end of Misha's comment. Having conveniently not clearly heard the last bit amid putting his stuff down. He put it aside after a moment though and flopped down to the center table with a sigh.

     "Of course I came back. I may have gotten a little caught up in things...or a lot caught up-" Sheepishly, he scratched his cheek lightly with a finger. "-But I'll never forget you. You know that." He hoped. But then, he didn't really do a great job expressing that fact. That aside, Lyner sprawled out on his back, arms outstretched.

     "You're right. It's been too long since we've gotten to do something like this. It's always stopping this guy, or stopping that guy...never a dull moment at least, huh?" He pulled himself back up and looked in Misha's direction. "I missed you too." And for once, he didn't immediately append it with 'and everyone else!'. "I wanted to come back sooner, but I was always in the middle of some incident, and things just kept going on like that."

     He looked upwards at the ceiling lights casually. "I was able to take care things myself most of the time, but that Lucrelia problem...well-" He shrugged. "Anyway enough of that. We've got the night for ourselves. What do you say we head to the baths and warm up?"

Misha (757) has posed:
    "Nothing, I didn't say anything." Misha replies as smooth as a cat, choosing to simply move on with the moment. Warm up. It sounds like a nice plan after all the trudging through snow, in and out of the tundra to deal with the Lucrelia events-- and even to get to the little in. Fact of the matter is, if ice wasn't already one of her elements, she'd probably sick to death of it.
    Okay she is a little sick to death of it.
    But she keeps her trap shut about it, Lyner is treating her to a nice date and that means she isn't going to complain about a thing. "Yeah. Yeah I know you by now. Sure, you get distracted, but... You always did come back." Like now " Huff.
    "--Yeah, let's go, I'm sick of freezing."

Lyner Barsett (916) has posed:
     "...Alright." And Lyner, either by ignorance, or otherwise, let it go. With an unreadable expression, he stood. "Come on!" And without further ado, he led the way out, down the hall, and to the lobby. Past the Innkeeper, and to the opposite hallway. Once there, they arrived a pair of doors leading to two separate changing rooms. "See you when we get back." He spoke, bidding Misha a momentary farewell before vanishing into the men's changing room.

     And with that time to himself, Lyner's happy go lucky expression dropped. "....." As he dressed down, he let himself get lost in his thoughts. He picked this day out, as a break from all the ridiculous nonsense going on recently, because they really needed a break. And time to catch up. But more than that...there was something else.

     Something he needed to do. "...." Well, no use dwelling on it now. Finishing rinsing off, Lyner stepped out of the changing room on the other end, towel fastened around his waist, and out into the baths. It was an outdoor hot spring, large and accomodating.

     He didn't notice that the bath was shared. Not partitioned off. "Wow...this really is a nice place...Is this really all for one side?" He mused to himself as he stepped into the water. "Wah! Hot!" Okay, maybe he needed to take this slower. Going more gradually this time, he got in fully and settled down.

     "Phew...okay."

     And with that, Lyner closed his eyes, beginning to allow his thoughts to drift.

Misha (757) has posed:
    Right... Time for the baths, then. Time to soak, time to rleax... "Yeah. See you when we're back~."
    And into the baths. After her own rigorous rituals of cleanliness before sinking into the waters, Misha had mostly begun to drift off almost immediately, weeks of general tension, stress, and exhaustion melting away like snow in the steamy waters.
    Right up until she hears a familiar voice. The baths may not be separate, but she is leaning against the other side of a particularly large rock. It's Lyner's voice that snaps her back to alert wakefulness. "Muh...? ... Lyner?"
    There may be a rock between them, but she knows that voice. Unlike Lyner, however, Misha read the SIGNS that said 'mixed bathing'.
    Well this is now awkward ANYWAY.
    "... How's the water?"

Lyner Barsett (916) has posed:
     "Ahhhh...the water's just fi-huh?" Lyner opened his eyes, looking towards a particularly large rock. He could see a vague outline around the edge, but he didn't move. "....Uh-" This place was mixed? Well that's awkward. "Whoops." Maybe six years ago, he would have panicked and apologized, but now...He just chuckled. "Heheh, it's nice. I can feel my stress melting away."

     "Say, Misha? I heard a little about the time I was gone. You were a wandering singer, right?" He randomly started, moving through the water to lean back against the other side of the rock, keeping it between the two of them. "What was it like? What did you see? Was it hard? Enjoyable?"

Misha (757) has posed:
    YEP. Awkward! There's another beat of pause as the Reyvateil clears her throat softly. "Yeah. I kind of needed this." She admits after a short time of quiet. All that cold had me tensed up and shivering, even by the time I'd get back home every night." Admitted with a nervous chuckle. But then Lyner asks her a question.
    "Mn. Yeah, right after I left the tower. I started wandering the Multiverse. I tried to go everywhere I could, I wanted to share my songs with a much larger world. --Not for fame or glory. But because I wanted to." Mused. "It was hard. A lot of the times I'd have to sing for a meal or a place to stay, and sometimes people just didn't understand the emotions in my singing. But nothing you love is ever supposed to be easy right? I did enjoy it. A lot actually. It's why I tried picking it up again. But by that point I think I was just about at the point where I felt like it was time to try and settle down again."

Lyner Barsett (916) has posed:
     "Heheh, I can understand that." Lyner interjected about the cold. "I had to buy that cloak during my travels once I got to that regon called The Tundra. It was...an experience." He let that subject go after, allowing Misha to speak about her esperiences. And during that time, he remained quiet, listening patiently.

     "So that's what you were up to." He mumbled, nodding to himself. "That does sound hard...but that's okay. Like you said, nothing you love is ever easy. And besides." He grinned, and in the pause, Misha probably knew he did too. "You're strong, Misha. You go through all of that, and you're still here now, able to talk about it like this."

     Another pause as he stared up at the night sky. "...And now, you have a lot of good friends willing to support you and be by your side. It's inspiring, I think. To me, I think the emotions in your songs have reached more people than not. And your friends proof of it, aren't they?" Lyner trailed off at that, thinking to himself.

     "There've been a lot of jokes about me getting lost, but honestly? ...I kind of just wanted to get out and travel. The Multiverse is a vast place, and there's so much to see. I wanted to experience it with my own eyes, so...I did." He chuckled and looked down at his reflection in the water. "Maybe I did go off target, lose track of time, but...I got plenty of time to think too." Think about what? He didn't say. Instead, he fell quiet.

     "...It's hard to believe it's been seven years, huh?"

Misha (757) has posed:
    "Seven years is a long time." Misha murmurs quietly in reply. "And it can go by as fast as a blink."
    A small sigh and she leans back against her part of the rock, pausing there for moment. "Yeah, that's what I was up to. You?" Of course there have been jokes of Lyner getting lost, but the truth is, only Shurelia has a worse sense of direction. And right now doesn't feel like the right moment to dig at the swordsman over any of it. "I know the feeling though. The wanderlust used to hit me pretty hard, back then after everything happened back home. I still felt cooped up. Like a caged songbird, if I stayed on the tower, after wanting my freedom for so long. Heh... But that's what a journey is. Going places and making friends. But no matter where you go, they're always with you. Even when you weren't around, you were with me, you know. Because I held on to the hope we'd be together again." She chuckles lightly.
    "I guess my friends are proof, but you? You always had a magic of your own, even without singing, Lyner."

Lyner Barsett (916) has posed:
     "Me? Magic?" Lyner shook his head at that. "No, the only magic I have is the support of my friends. They're the ones with the real magic. Including you." There a pause. "And I'm not talking about singing." Ever humble, he was. Sharing a moment's chuckle with Misha, Lyner settled down and sighed. "Yeah, I always thought about everyone. My friends back at the tower, the friends I made in the Multiverse...I made plenty of good memories."

     "......"

     Silence ensued for a while longer. Nothing but the flow of water and the occasional ripple to remind them that time was still moving. Lyner's thoughts turned and twisted, eventually coming to a conclusion. And then he spoke.

     "Hey, Misha? I have something I want to- no, need to ask you."

Misha (757) has posed:
    Oh now that gets a laugh. It's a soft chuckle- genuinely amused, but a bit subdued. "Yes Lyner. That's your magic." She confirms. "You. It's because of you that you're able to make people come together and see a different way of living. Remember back on the tower when everyone wanted to get rid of Mir. And you chose to forgive her? I don't think anyone else could have swayed everyone to give that a try. You win that support where others wouldn't be able to grasp it."
    All good memories, yes.
    That lingering silence seems to be perfect. A moment where nothing feels like it needs to be said, until Lyner breaks the silence. Something to ask her?
    "... Yes, Lyner?"

Lyner Barsett (916) has posed:
     "Well...we've known each other for a long time, right?" He started, actually sounding slightly nervous now. "...Hehe, even if I may have forgotten back then." That was his bad. A faint laugh followed, and then he sobered up. "Well, you've supported me for so long, and I...well, I really appreciate it. But more than that..."

     Ah, how does he say this? How to ask this? ...Now that he thought about it, was this even the right place? Well, too late now. He already started, better finish it. "...Well-" A hand came up and out of the water, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "-We're not getting any younger here. Well, me anyway." Another chuckle. "But all of that aside, what I wanted to ask was..." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then opened them again.

     "Misha...will you become my family?"

     Wait, what?

Misha (757) has posed:
    A long time, yes. Since the two were very small children. This much is true, and around the shadow of the rock, through all the steam Misha's outline can be seen, listening so intently. A slight shift and ripple of water as she sits up, waiting and intent.
    But more than that.
    But more than that, her heart is beginning to pound in her chest, breath hitching slightly. Well, it's true, as a Beta-type Reyvateil she probably will outlive most humans, Lyner dragging the moment out, she's practically holding her breath by the time that question comes.
    Silence hangs for a long, pervasive moment. Long and drawn out, almost oppresively, there's nothing for a good moment.
    It's not quite the question Misha had been beginning to expect. But knowing Lyner, he has a habit of pulling these curveballs without thinking. Just because that's the way he is.
    There's a small huff. Just a tiny hiss of breath through her teeth at first, as she slowly turns the question over in her head again and again.
    It... For her. It works.
    Another breath, and Misha reaches one arm around the rock, hand finding way to link fingers with Lyner's for another long moment of silence, this one much less of a torture than the first, as she breathes her reply.
    "Of course."
    Somewhere, deep, deep, within her, she's pretty sure she gets the intent.
    And somewhere, even deeper... Hama is screeching, flinging the most wild of tantrums as she devolves into a state of kittenish yowling and insensate, inchoate, and fitful rage.

Lyner Barsett (916) has posed:
     There.

     He said it!

     ...Wait, no! He didn't say it! Did he say family? Crap! No! How did that happen! And so Lyner mentally raged at himself for bungling that question right at the worst moment. Way to be a total idiot, Mr Knight! Of all the times, it had to be this time! You truly have failed the ga-

     "...?"

     And while Lyner cursed himself, he felt Misha's hand reach around, fingers linking with his own. And she answered.

     'Of course.'

     ...

     Wait, what? Did he hear that right? It took several seconds for the young man to turn the answer over in his mind. She said yes. She actually said yes, despite his idiocy.

     Did he do it? ...He did it.

     His hand closed around her own, grasp tightening just a tad. And he smiled. "I promise, I'll make you happy. I swear."