[Triply banning Kalim from Heartslabyul if the fire show was Riddle, keeping him safe, etc, considerations to keep in mind. Hell hath no fury like Rosehearts out for blood.]
We are going to take Carpet out into the desert, correct?
[Otherwise they're fucking sharing a camel the whole way out or something.]
[He is going to take that hand and climb up on Carpet because all of this is perfectly normal and normal people go off into the middle of the desert with their...rival and equal...to practice a fire show. (Whatever that means.) Perfectly normal.
And now he is settling in next to Kalim like he belongs there.
[ It's perfectly normal for them. For anyone else? Perhaps not so much. But with Jamil settled, Kalim pats gently at Carpet's front-left corner, and they're off into the night sky. ]
Should we go to the oasis? Or just pick a spot away from the dorm?
Oasis might be easiest. They'd know where to find us if anything happens while we're both gone.
[And that should be that.]
But somewhere new might be better if you want to keep the fire show secret from Scarabia until it's ready. [That obviously wasn't that.] It depends on what you're trying to accomplish and if you have a better alternative in mind or not.
Hmm... Not really, but maybe it's better to keep it a surprise!
[ Kalim is getting better at reading through the lines when it comes to Jamil's input. He says it might be safer as if they're at any real risk of being discovered at the oasis anyway. But the suggestion implies something else more plainly. Somewhere private. Somewhere just for the two of them. ]
I did see something when Carpet and I were out last night! Do you remember it, Carpet?
[ As if to answer, Carpet hangs a sharp right, and they're off in the opposite direction of the oasis. Then, belatedly, Kalim looks up, and laughs quietly. ]
I'll never get tired of how the stars look from up here! It's like you could touch them.
[Secure in the knowledge that he had neither been seen through nor Kalim had actually understood what he really wanted, Jamil was content to lean back. Eyes closed for a moment, enjoying the wind-]
Ah.
[Kalim had said something. He opened his eyes again. Looks up.]
They always make me feel small.
[Then.]
That's not a bad thing.
[Then, before Kalim can ask too many questions. (Read: Any questions.)]
How far away is this... [Uh. Fuck if he knows what word to use.] place?
[ Small. Jamil's not wrong, and the notion is almost comforting at this point. Maybe it's better to be infinitesimal in the grander scheme of things. A balm, to know there are greater things out there -- harder battles being fought -- than these little sorrows between them now. ]
Not far! It's just-- Ah! There it is, right over there. Do you see it?
[ And then, just as Kalim tries to grasp at Jamil's arm, he realizes they'd never released one another's hands in the first place. Have they really been like this the entire time? Ever since Kalim helped Jamil up onto Carpet?
...is it really so natural that Kalim barely even noticed it?
He doesn't comment on it, and the faint moonlight doesn't do much to illuminate the dust of a blush on his cheeks. Instead, he calmly takes his hand away from Jamil's, and uses it to point out their destination in the near distance.
Ruins. It looks as if they were once an arena or forum. A crumbling platform of clay brick is flanked in ascending rows of benches to either side and before. Broken columns behind it are the only decor that's survived. ]
[He doesn't know what to expect from whatever-it-was that Kalim had found, and, if he had to think about it, Jamil would assume something like...something soft. A grove of trees, perhaps, maybe an abandoned orchard? Something soft, perhaps with flowers. (But generous and giving and enduring, everything that Jamil knew he was not. How could he be giving when he didn't have a single thing only for himself?) He wouldn't say why it was he had assumed this, because he couldn't.
Instead, ruins. He blinks, not sure why he's surprised, the handhold not having registered to him - it happens so often Jamil has long since come to accept it and expect it, only noticing the absence of it. Like now: things had gotten ever so slightly colder, and his glance slides down to his hand, which is the same as always, so...
He looks back at the ruins.]
I don't know what I expected. But...
[A fire show would destroy that something soft he had expected. So, really, it was stupid that he had expected it.]
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[ Hell if Kalim knows! ]
Ummm... Hmm! I thought he was talking about a circus act or something. But maybe it's Riddle!
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[Triply banning Kalim from Heartslabyul if the fire show was Riddle, keeping him safe, etc, considerations to keep in mind. Hell hath no fury like Rosehearts out for blood.]
We are going to take Carpet out into the desert, correct?
[Otherwise they're fucking sharing a camel the whole way out or something.]
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[ Carpet, who is drifting out five minutes late with Starbucks. Getting ready? Who knows what that means. Best not to question it.
Kalim scrambles on when Carpet stops beside them, then holds a hand out to help Jamil up as well. ]
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And now he is settling in next to Kalim like he belongs there.
Perfectly.
Normal. All of this.]
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Should we go to the oasis? Or just pick a spot away from the dorm?
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[And that should be that.]
But somewhere new might be better if you want to keep the fire show secret from Scarabia until it's ready. [That obviously wasn't that.] It depends on what you're trying to accomplish and if you have a better alternative in mind or not.
[No ulterior motivations no.]
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[ Kalim is getting better at reading through the lines when it comes to Jamil's input. He says it might be safer as if they're at any real risk of being discovered at the oasis anyway. But the suggestion implies something else more plainly. Somewhere private. Somewhere just for the two of them. ]
I did see something when Carpet and I were out last night! Do you remember it, Carpet?
[ As if to answer, Carpet hangs a sharp right, and they're off in the opposite direction of the oasis. Then, belatedly, Kalim looks up, and laughs quietly. ]
I'll never get tired of how the stars look from up here! It's like you could touch them.
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Ah.
[Kalim had said something. He opened his eyes again. Looks up.]
They always make me feel small.
[Then.]
That's not a bad thing.
[Then, before Kalim can ask too many questions. (Read: Any questions.)]
How far away is this... [Uh. Fuck if he knows what word to use.] place?
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Not far! It's just-- Ah! There it is, right over there. Do you see it?
[ And then, just as Kalim tries to grasp at Jamil's arm, he realizes they'd never released one another's hands in the first place. Have they really been like this the entire time? Ever since Kalim helped Jamil up onto Carpet?
...is it really so natural that Kalim barely even noticed it?
He doesn't comment on it, and the faint moonlight doesn't do much to illuminate the dust of a blush on his cheeks. Instead, he calmly takes his hand away from Jamil's, and uses it to point out their destination in the near distance.
Ruins. It looks as if they were once an arena or forum. A crumbling platform of clay brick is flanked in ascending rows of benches to either side and before. Broken columns behind it are the only decor that's survived. ]
no subject
Instead, ruins. He blinks, not sure why he's surprised, the handhold not having registered to him - it happens so often Jamil has long since come to accept it and expect it, only noticing the absence of it. Like now: things had gotten ever so slightly colder, and his glance slides down to his hand, which is the same as always, so...
He looks back at the ruins.]
I don't know what I expected. But...
[A fire show would destroy that something soft he had expected. So, really, it was stupid that he had expected it.]
It's a good place for a practice.
no subject