[SE] vision without execution is hallucination

In the middle of the night, in my dreams
You should see the things we do, baby

Rain pattered against the domed roof of the Atheneum, droplets sliding down the glass like so many tears falling from the sky. The sound is accompanied by the trickle of running water as it flows through the building, swept along by the current that allows access for the aquatically inclined. Rows of bookselves mark the space, but Aithne has made her home for the day a table in the back, where she has spread out a large sheet of paper and a variety of books and magazines. None that belong to the Atheneum, of course, seeing as she's going to cut them to pieces to make a vision board.

She's dragged Soren along, of course. She can't plan for the future without him there, and even if he looks bored out of his mind, she knows that they'll find a way to enjoy this little exercise. They always do, when they're together.

Flipping idly through a magazine, she holds up a picture. "I think something like this for my living room," she announces. She's decided that she needs a house, if only so that she has somewhere to store all of her trinkets while she's off adventuring. And she might as well settle in the Grounds, where all of the other Ancients seem to have claimed space. "But, like, with more crystals." She's always liked shiny things, after all, and her time in the Climb only means that she's accumulated more gemstones than ever before.

In the middle of the night, in my dreams
I know I'm gonna be with you, so I take my time

Aithne

soren

soren

Her voice cutting through the focused silence finally brought him back to the world. He shifted in his seat, bringing his feet down off the corner of the table and swinging them beneath it again. Soren wiped the sleep from his eyes as he focused on what she was shwoing him. He squinted, a lock of dark hair falling into his green gaze. "You think you're going to be able to find that color fabric in the Grounds?"

He lifted his eyes to the girl, searching her face. He didn't mean to shoot her down, or ruin her plans, but someone had to be realistic. He propped his elbows up on the table and leaned over some, scanning the other smattering of images and papers she had. Clicking his tongue, the youngling grabbed up another picture and held it up. "This feels more Grounds, less Stormbreak."

We're spitting off the edge of the world out in the night

In the middle of the night, in my dreams
You should see the things we do, baby

Aithne deflates slightly as Soren points out what should have been obvious, but she recovers quickly enough with a sniff, turning her nose up at the picture. "I meannnn, I could always import it." Then she huffs a soft snort. Like she has that kind of money these days. She doesn't miss her family, doesn't miss Stormbreak, but damn did their wealth make things easier. "Fine, so maybe I can't," she admits with a sigh, tossing the offending scrap of paper to the side.

She accepts the one Soren's picked out, tilting her head to one side as she studies it. "Needs more glamor, but I can see the vision," she says, grinning at her best friend as she plops the image down upon her sheet of paper. She rustles through another magazine before pulling out a metallic swatch. "Some gold, some gemstones - I can use what I found in the Climb to make it pop." What can she say? She likes the finer things in life.

In the middle of the night, in my dreams
I know I'm gonna be with you, so I take my time

Aithne

soren

soren

Soren didn’t need to shoot down Aithne again, because she got there on her own. When they left Stormbreak, they only left with the clothes on their backs and the desire for freedom in their hearts. They didn’t have a coin to their name—either of them—and they certainly couldn’t write in for a loan from either of their families. There would be no importing, no luxury in this new home. At least, not by any conventional means.

”Yes. Very Dygra.” Soren said with a smirk, a nod of approval solidifying it as the best idea. He lifted his hand, too, flames licking up his fingers as he called to them. ”And you’ll need the biggest fireplace right in the center.”

We're spitting off the edge of the world out in the night

In the middle of the night, in my dreams
You should see the things we do, baby

Very Dygra, Soren says, and Aithne beams in his general direction before pasting the image onto her vision board. She gathers up a few clippings of gold and gems as they continue to talk and plan. "The biggest fireplace," she agrees, finding an image that depicted just that and adding it onto her paper. Then, tilting her head and tugging a new picture free, she offers it to Soren with a fanged grin. "I was thinking something like this for your room."

It's a room of black wood and red silk - though Aithne knows that she will need to modify it to make do with what materials she can find in the Grounds. "I can trade some of the gems I've found for money," she suggests - something she would only ever do for him, of course, seeing how she's much more like a crow than anything else. Parting from her jewels and trinkets is not something she will do lightly. "But this year, I will make a place for us."

In the middle of the night, in my dreams
I know I'm gonna be with you, so I take my time

Aithne

soren

soren

The fact that Aithne though of, and knew, what Soren might like was the reason they were as close as they were. She was, to this day, the only person in his life who thought about what he wanted and truly cared for his thoughts, desires, and dreams. It's why they were together, why he wouldn't leave her. While there was no romance between them, there was a deep bond that Soren treasured even when his demeanor didn't prove it.

But now, it did.

He gave her a smile. It was slow in creeping up his features, but it made his green eyes shine so brightly they made the best and brightest emerald envy. His room? He looked down at the picture, enticed by the dark hues and soft silks and he made a noise that rumbled his chest in amusement. "Let's do it, then."

We're spitting off the edge of the world out in the night

In the middle of the night, in my dreams
You should see the things we do, baby

Soren's slow smile was worth everything. There might not be romance between them, but Aithne was fiercely loyal to her best friend, and everything she did, she did with him in mind. It was why she'd followed him from Stormbreak, why she'd gone to Dygra in the first place. Oh, sure, it might have sounded interesting enough to a cooped-up socialite from Stormbreak to become an Ancient to be feared - but would she have gone through with it without Soren? Even now, she isn't sure.

With a gleeful flourish, the girl pastes Soren's room into place on her paper. It fits right in with the rest of the vision she's creating, full of rich, dark colors and adorned with gleaming accents. Her eyes light as she works, and as they lift to rest on her best friend, she bares her fangs in a grin. "Perfect," she purrs. "Are the Grounds okay?" It's her idea to settle here, but she wants him to agree. She won't separate from him, not for long, but she wants roots, and she wants to build them with Soren by her side. "I mean, not that you have to stay all the time," she clarifies. He can be a nomad if he wants, that's fine. "But, you know... it's yours, too." The house she wants, the room she's planning, the life she's living. And for a moment, there's a rare vulnerability in her eyes, because his answer matters.

In the middle of the night, in my dreams
I know I'm gonna be with you, so I take my time

Aithne

soren

soren

Soren watched her work, the soft drag of charcoal and the brisk certainty of her hands. It shouldn’t have caught him off guard, for Aithne in motion was always like this, full of conviction she pretended was whimsy, but something about seeing his room sketched into the growing blueprint of her imagined home struck deeper than he expected.

Yours too she’d said. Like it was that simple. Like she hadn’t crossed worlds for him, bled for him, reshaped her own soul in the wake of ancient magic for him. Soren exhaled, slow. "The Grounds are fine." He said, holding on to her hope and excitement like an achor in the wind of his traveling heart.

He wouldn't stay put, though, he admitted inwardly. It wasn't in him and she knew that better than anyone else. His dreams had always been lived on the edges of maps, in places that cut and scarred, places deeper and more dangerous and enticing than the solid and known streets of Stormbreak. Yet as he glanced toward the page—toward her—another thought rose, quieter, startling in its honesty. A moment, soft, only for Aithne “It’s ours, then.”

We're spitting off the edge of the world out in the night

In the middle of the night, in my dreams
You should see the things we do, baby

Oh, the girl knows that Soren won't be a permanent fixture in the Grounds, and that's fine; she can hardly blame him, when her own soul yearns to travel and explore, to see all that their world has to offer. But she longs for roots, too - for somewhere to call her own, something that she's built with her own hands, something to pour her blood, sweat, and tears into that is completely and unapologetically hers. And it can't be hers without also being his.

So she finishes her sketching, arranges her vision board just so, and leans back to look at it with a satisfied expression on her pretty face. "Ours," she agrees, and it's so full of confidence that they can have everything they want that there is no way her plans can fail.

fin

In the middle of the night, in my dreams
I know I'm gonna be with you, so I take my time

Aithne