Princely Magicks || 1x1

[Eto]

(eeee omg it's been forever !!

lao is as cute as ever, i love them so much)

 

Alon had reacted almost instinctively as he saw the nymph fall. The smile that had worked its way onto his face at the strange, delicately curious way the nymph had poked at his open palm was abruptly interrupted by the flash of the nymph's leaf-brown hair as they lost their balance coming down from the horse, and plummeted towards the earth. He rushed forward, feeling his heart jump into his throat. The nymph fell into his arms, and Alon straightened them both as his horse gave a whiny of protest. He circled their waist with one hand, letting go of their arm to brush their hair from their face delicately, his brow furrowed and expression worried as he scanned them quickly for any injuries. His touch was gentle, his heart drumming a steady, quickened beat against his wrist, 

 

"Are you al--" his words were cut off by the nymph's own speech, and Alon felt a scarlet flush quickly creep up onto his features. "H-hugging?" he repeated, and he could certainly see how it would seem that way -- they were awfully close, and Lao's body was warm pressed against his. They felt delicate, small, and entirely inhuman -- there was a certain ethereal quality in the way they felt against his clothes that he almost wanted to never let go, to keep them here forever lest they disappear forever.

 

As quickly as the thought had come, Alon abandoned it -- by dropping his arms and quickly backstepping with a nervous laugh. "Not at all," he clarified, eyes serious and warm and focused on Lao. "I just wanted to make sure you were alright, and that you didn't fall. You weren't hurt, were you?" He scanned the nymph over once more, nervous -- surely Lao hadn't hurt themself from such a slight fall? But even so, he had no idea how nymph biology worked, and he was far from a healer -- he couldn't have the other injured during their trip.

 

As Lao smiled at them, Alon swallowed heavily and shook his head to clear his thoughts. There was something endlessly endearing in Lao's faithful, almost blind trust in his being, and Alon suddenly felt appreciative of the way Lao was so honest about their feelings -- something very distant from the court that he had grown up in.

 

"Alright, then," he said. "Just to the stables -- it'll be quick. Let's go." 

 

With that, he lead Lao towards the stables, and made quick work of tying up his horse for the night. He gave it a soft pat on the nose, a 'be good', and headed off in the direction of the inn, all warm lights and welcoming windows in the quickly falling night.

 

As he opened the door, he held it open for Lao to enter first, and then closed it behind them to ward off the cold. "Hello!" he called into the somewhat empty place, looking for the innkeeper. Some patrons had looked up at their entrance, but simply shrugged and gone back to their meals or their conversation. As he waited for someone to show, he gave Lao a curious glance.

 

"Are you okay with sharing a room, or would you prefer your own?" Alon asked. He hoped he was right in his assumptions that, should Lao be given their own room, they wouldn't just run off -- that would be a disappointing end to his mission, but he hoped it wouldn't come to that anyway. 

[ValidEmotions]

Humans were very strange beings to Laomedeia.

 

They watched Alon's face darken with color in the quick moment before he released them. At the prince's questions, the Nymph shook their head and idly patted their hands down their sides. "No... I am not hurt," they replied. Beaming as they recognized what was concern from the human, Lao gave Alon a pleased smile. "Thank you," they said. "That is what humans say to express appreciation, yes? Words are strange...." the Nymph commented, lightly scuffing the heel of her left foot against the dirt of the road. 

 

Stables? 

 

They followed him as the human guided the horse to a structure on the side. It looked vastly different from the other structure beside it and the smell of horses filled their nose. As Alon continued inside, Lao stopped at the threshold. They stared at the doorway, raising a hand to touch the material of the wall. It was wood. For a moment, Lao's chest tightened as their heart silently began to croon. Distress etched across their features. "The trees..." they breathed.

 

Didn't the other creatures tell them that humans were only destructive? Humans had no powers to create with so, out of jealousy of the magical beings, they destroyed everything in their hands. Laomedeia looked away from the wood of the structure, towards Alon, and watched the human they had followed. The human poked his steed's nose, much like they had poked his hand earlier. Did he not know what a nose was for?

 

His touch didn't seem destructive....

 

They followed him away from the stables, the peaceful horses, and back towards the Inn. When he entered the building, Lao shifted to stand behind him. There were other humans here and, when he made a loud greeting, some looked his way. Fearful, they reached out for the back of his garments, feeling the foreign fabric against the palm of their hand as their fingers curled. 

 

At his question, Lao looked up to see Alon watching them. What did 'share a room' mean to a human? They understood sharing but they wondered if their definition was different from a human's. Maybe it wasn't. Nodding faintly, the Nymph murmured, "I follow you." They didn't want to be by themself in such a strange place, surrounded by humans. 

 

One human was fine and Lao already had their one human. They wanted no more than that.