ꜱ1ᴇ2　　balcony

@☼　Kairos Raptis ↳ ᴍᴀʏ 31, 2051
↳ ɴᴏᴡ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ: swim - chase atlantic

Areti slipped out onto the balcony to catch a breath of fresh air and the top buttons of his shirt for just a few moments of sweet comfort before he had to return to suffering whenever he went back inside, but he halted with his hand on the collar of his shirt when he lay eyes on the other young man who was already outside. When he and Kairos had last bumped into one another...

Areti still wasn't entire sure what had happened, but Kairos hadn't been happy and then Kairos had started convulsing and he had run away, leaving Areti alone and confused in the middle of a market with people staring at him.

The tree nymph sighed, pushing down the awkwardness with a glance at the crowded ballroom behind him. Avra would probably push him to speak to Kairos if he was outside with him now, so the nymph took a few hesitant steps forward.

"Kairos," he greeted, a little shaky. "I'm sorry. About... last time we saw each other. Are you...?"

/Okay/ was the word he was looking for, but it died on the tip of his tongue. Areti swallowed.

"How are you?" he opted for instead.

@☬　Wang Yeol ↳ ᴍᴀʏ 31, 2051
↳ ɴᴏᴡ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ: if we were made of water - banks

“Yes, the one that eats people.” Akaedi couldn’t even be surprised that this was the reputation Monarch had established for himself—his appetite preceded him. “He’s both. He’s half-pixie, half-vampire—but he isn’t quite fond of blood. He prefers the flesh, apparently.” The Mer snorted. “If others in their family are like Monarch, then I would assume so. He’s… a character.”

Akaedi’s lips curved in a small smile, the weight of homesickness settling through him. “The sea holds many secrets that land creatures will never know,” he responded, “for that which enters the sea will never truly leave her hold.” There were many secrets, hidden deep beneath the surface in the form of the dead, the lost, the forgotten; shipwrecks, skeletons, and so much more that even the Mer hadn’t seen. There were some things that the sea warned them to stay away from, and disobeying the will of the sea was asking for death.

The hand on his back took his gaze away from the sea, but only for a moment. “I made the necessary decision,” he responded, “there was no option but to learn to live among the land-dwellers. This is where the sea wanted me to be.” Yeol was right; he was close enough to slip into the waves when he needed to be wrapped in the embrace of the sea, to return to his home. “You aren’t wrong. It is a fatal flaw of Mer, that capacity to love mortals.”

Akaedi snorted out a laugh. Even at home, among his pod, he had been called heartless, incapable of emotions such as love—Akaedi Vos was the last Mer who would fall in love with a human.

“My apologies for misspeaking. You both have the propensity to aggravate /me/, and perhaps not other people,” the Mer corrected. He tore his eyes away from the sea, and arched a brow at the demigod. “I would scarcely ignore my date. That would be poor manners, and there are very few others here that I find interesting enough to have a conversation with. I do not always get along with Ziminiar’s guests.”

@♆　Akaedi Vos "Monarch..." Yeol repeated thoughtfully. "Ah, the one that eats people? Is he fae or a vampire? When people say 'eat' I can never tell if they mean draining blood or consuming flesh. Though I suppose one could do both. Anyway, they sound like a rather interesting family. Their family reunions are probably a very dramatic affair."

Yeol leaned on the balcony, staring out into the churning sea. "Yes, the sea does have its own pull. The waves are influenced by the gravity of the moon, but sometimes I wonder if it is not the gravity of the moon that is effected by the sea. She's a powerful force indeed. Always changing, always guarding her secrets. What is it that they say? The sea never gives up her dead? I wonder just how many corpses and skeletons lie at the bottom of the sea, eaten away by her children and now home to them. Or perhaps buried beneath centuries of sand. It would be interesting to find what secrets they could tell us."

The demigod looked at Akaedi, reaching out to gently touch the small of his back. "But you chose not to live on the ship for a life on land. I can imagine it was a hard decision to make. At least you are close enough to the sea that you can return whenever you wish. It always seems to me that Mer who choose to live on land never fully return to the sea. I've heard Mer have bad habits of falling in love with mortals sometimes. Then when the human dies, they fall into despair and forget to return to the sea and perish."

Removing his hand from the Mer, Yeol turned to lean his back against the balcony instead. "But you're not foolish enough to do that. I'd hate to see you turn into sea foam."

But Yeol wasn't trying to tease or pick a fight with Akaedi tonight, so he didn't push any farther. He let out a soft chuckle, shaking his head. "Is that so? If we are both aggravating, does that mean we'd clash? No, I think he and I would have a lot to talk about." Yeol tilted his head. "Then I shall count myself lucky that you have bothered to engage in conversation with me."

[post deleted by owner]

@☬　Wang Yeol ↳ ᴍᴀʏ 31, 2051
↳ ɴᴏᴡ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ: heat waves - glass animals

"Monarch's cousin, apparently," Akaedi answered. From what he knew about his head negotiator, bringing an alligator to a ball was entirely characteristic of someone related to him. "It doesn't surprise me. Monarch is already... /odd/."

The Mer nodded, turning his head to glance back at the sea again. "The call of the sea never ends," he murmured softly, his gaze far away. "It's always calling to us, an irresistible pull... to stay away from the sea for too long is to either renounce one's tail or..."

Or to die an unpleasant death, away from the sea. Akaedi had been on death's doorstep several times before, weak and sick because one circumstance or another had kept him from the waters. But he didn't finish the thought, clearing his throat instead.

"Yes, even those who are... not children of the sea can be affected by her call. Our mother is always reaching and reaching, ever-hungry, ever-greedy. It isn't always the song of a Mer that brings sailors to fling themselves into the water. The sea gets want the sea wants." Akaedi shrugged. "Jinhai and his crew are understandable. Living on a ship would be a pleasant way to live."

It wasn't, however, an option for Akaedi, the Mer who had created a gang on land. With land-creatures. He knew there were people who found him strange for his choice. The sea had directed him and Akaedi had followed her instructions. There was a reason he was here on the land. All for a good cause and one day he could vanish back into the sea when all of his work with Vos was done. Someday, when he had achieved his ultimate goal...

Today was not that day.

"You and the mayor probably would get along. You have the same propensity to be quite aggravating," Akaedi agreed, though there was very little bite to his words. He pushed himself up on strong forearms so that he could sit on the railing, hands on either side of his hips. "Although I hardly bother to engage in conversation with him."

@♆　Akaedi Vos Akaedi must have been in a fair mood because he had been nothing but civil the entire night, and Yeol didn't have a single stab wound. Yet. But he was being optimistic! They had danced to a few songs, hung back away from the crowd with a couple of drinks, and then Akaedi had suggested they leave for the balcony.

Yeol had been happy to oblige, making sure he had a few subordinates in the ballroom to keep an eye on things so he could be reported back to later, in case anything happened. Though honestly, Yeol just wanted the town gossip. Who was dancing with who, who came with who, and who were sneaking away into private rooms. As a king with no kingdom, he was nosy and always wanted to know as much information as he possibly could.

While getting information on Akaedi could aid Wanggeom, Yeol surprisingly hadn't even thought about it when he suggested the Mer be his date. Yeol had known Akaedi for more than a while, though not on close terms. They were rivals, always biting at each other--well, it was mostly Yeol poking at Akaedi.

Yeol was about to suggest the pool to Akaedi, not minding if his date wanted to go for a swim, when the Mer told him about the pixie/alligator situation. "Who brings an alligator to a ball?" he wondered in fascination, walking out to the balcony. Yeol leaned back against the doorframe as he watched Akaedi, smiling slightly. "You can smell the sea from here," he noticed, pushing off the wall to join Akaedi by the banister. "I can see why you wanted to be out here. The sea does have a strange energy and calling to it, even for me. I imagine that's why so many of your Mer stay out on ships."

Yeol straightened his cuffs, tilting his head at his date. He likely wouldn't open up much about personal matters, so he decided to shift the subject a bit. "I'll have to go greet the mayor later. From what I've heard, I feel as though we would get along. I might be a grandson of heaven, but the opposite of heaven isn't hell; it's earth."

@☬　Wang Yeol ↳ ᴍᴀʏ 31, 2051
↳ ɴᴏᴡ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ: black sea - natasha blume

After their initial entrance, and a few dances with his date, Akaedi had led Yeol out onto the balcony for a breath of the night air. He would have gone to the pool for a swim, except Monarch had warned him about an alligator and his kid cousin being in the pool area. And if Monarch's "kid cousin" was anything like Monarch, Akaedi didn't really want to deal with that kind of a headache at the moment.

Oh, yes, and there was also the matter of getting his clothing wet; Akaedi didn't know if Yeol would be bothered by his date diving into a hotel pool fully clothed when they were at a ball. Not the strangest thing Akaedi had ever done at one of these parties, but he usually didn't show up with a date.

Resting his arms on the balcony rail, Akaedi closed his eyes and inhaled the scent of the sea. The hotel was on the beach, the sea so close and yet it wasn't as though Akaedi could just leave and slip into the water. This was the next best option, standing on the balcony and breathing in the air that was tinged with salt and home.

All at once, Akaedi Vos felt a little homesick, longing for the freedom of open waters and life in a pod and not having to walk on the land.

He shook his head, straightening up and opening his eyes. He had made a choice, had chosen to take residence on land and run Vos in the city. As much as he missed the life he came from... he wouldn't just abandon what he had built here.

Quietly, the Mer sighed and turned to look at his companion, leaning back against the balcony rail and crossing his arms over his chest. He hadn't tried to kill Yeol yet, that was a good start, as far as he was concerned.