no stone unturned

HARPER

At least her smile has returned, and he smiles back in turn at seeing it light up her face. Enjoying every stroke and twist of her fingers in his hair, eyelashes fluttering with every pass as she turns him to goo. Even so he gives a huff of a laugh and lifts his gaze to hers. "Maybe what this place needs is a little bit of too much good," he says softly, dimples peeking through as he smiles. It still feels arrogant to him to even consider putting weight to her words, to think he's too good for anything or anyone when he is still so flawed, so dark inside where the light of his happiness can't burn away misdeeds.

"Shouldn't give me that option huntress. I could talk your ear off for days." Amusement rises weakly in his gaze, sliding away from the implications shyly. Always more confident in the giving of help than the reception of it. At least she has fellow family and friends who can share these memories with her. Now, in this new world, Harper is the only one keeping the torch of his parents, Tova, his teammates and the civilians he has lost alive. It's a task he takes on stoically, but one that weighs heavy nonetheless.

this is your ocean, an ocean of night

BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3

i want to be a mystery, yet be known

i want to be together, yet alone

She continues to run her fingers through his hair, focusing on the lines of his face, the dimples that appear when he smiles, scanning over every piece of him as though she’s committing him to part of her memories as well. A slight nod is given toward him in response to his initial comment, her own smile lightening up her features. Caido did need more good, something light to balance the darkness that held it within its grasp.

She can see that in him.

But his comment next causes that smile to shift toward a slight smirk and she regards him coolly and still quite a bit amused. “Talk my ear off then.” She says with a hint of a challenge, waiting to see if he decides to take her up on it – somewhere deep down hoping that he does.

is it too much to ask to be famous yet unknown?

to be a wanderer, yet have a home?

KIADA

HARPER

It's not quite enough to put him to sleep, the hypnotic way she runs her hands through his hair. If he were slightly more tired he would absolutely be passed out on her shoulder. Instead he is loose-limbed and relaxed, practically purring in her grasp. It makes it easier in a way when she ignores his attempts to dodge her question, makes him tense up a little less.

"Not even sure where I would start," he admits weakly as he peels his eyes open to stare at her, feeling lost. He wants so badly to tell her. Nobody has ever really wanted the full story before. Even the little things had been discovered through time and accidental revelations. Never with intent like this. "You already got the gist of the traumatic backstory." He chuckles quietly, not even sure what else she could possibly want to know.

this is your ocean, an ocean of night

BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3

i want to be a mystery, yet be known

i want to be together, yet alone

Not sure where to start? Well, he could pick and choose and she could figure it out how it fits in, and she snorts when he continues, fingers trailing from his hair to his shoulders, to wrap her arm around where his neck might have the most tension, rubbing lightly against the muscles there as she focuses on him with a somewhat narrowed look – thinking and calculating.

But perhaps he doesn’t have to talk about the tragedy that’s befallen him. Perhaps he could tell her, like she’d told him, of his parents and Tova. And she offers him a light smile, a tilt of her head. “Tell me about Tova. Or your parents. Or both?” Her head tilts against the pillows and blankets curiously. “The good things.” No more tragedy, no more tears. Like he had offered for her.

is it too much to ask to be famous yet unknown?

to be a wanderer, yet have a home?

KIADA

HARPER

As if her touch was not already magical enough, Kiada's firm fingers seek out the knots and coils in the base of his neck, and Harper can't help the low throaty moan of appreciation and feel-good that reverberates through his chest. "Gonna put me to sleep if you keep doin' that," he slurs, smiling dopily at her from half-lidded eyes. Harper has to struggle through the pleasant sensation, not wanting to threaten the continuation of the action if she suspects he really will fall asleep so early.

Good things? Harper hums softly, almost glad that she is just as tired as he is of the blackened tar that drags down so much of their histories. "I don't have many solid memories of my parents," he admits softly. "I can barely remember their faces. I was so young when they died." A loss he grieves more than their lives sometimes, selfishly. "They were the opposite of most pairs. My dad was the happy-go-lucky airhead, the one who wanted to do all sorts of new insane tricks, to try out death defying stunts that had only ever seen the inside of his head." Harper smiles as he recalls this, full of insurmountable affection that will not wither until the day he meets them again. "My mom was the opposite. She could fly as well as any bird on the lines, but she was very level-headed and serious in public. Never let anyone make fun of my dad, or the pair they made. She was already well-built as an acrobat, and a little taller than my dad, so they certainly never lacked in comments." Part of what had drawn him to Tova he suspects, that she had loomed over him in much the same way. Providing that sense of safety and belonging that Harper has been chasing since his parents' death. Chuckling he lifts his gaze to Kiada, grinning sheepishly. "Kinda like us, huh?" Recalling how easily she'd moved and manipulated him, how he'd so easily shifted the power into her hands.

this is your ocean, an ocean of night

BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3

i want to be a mystery, yet be known

i want to be together, yet alone

“Maybe that’s the goal.” She replies swiftly, winking to him but relaxing her massaging touches to listen to him as he speaks. And when he speaks of his father, the smile that crosses his face is reflected on her own – imagining a man similar to Harper in the recklessness of inspiration, something to be admired. And she listens further as he speaks of his mother – the opposite, the more serious, the one that evened out the pairing.

A serious one and a playful one, and she wonders how often his father got his mother to lighten up and how much his mother got his father to even out. A smile crosses her face as she moves her hands to his cheek, to rub her thumb along his jaw. “Well, you certainly are a bit more fun than I am.” She teases him lightly, winking but smiling softly all the same.

She’d never quite had someone to be less serious with… Always preparing for the worst, always too reserved to let herself go unless she was around Deimos and her childish antics crept up. Other than that? It had been survival.

is it too much to ask to be famous yet unknown?

to be a wanderer, yet have a home?

KIADA

HARPER

"I'm not nearly so interesting asleep," he chirps back at her, amusement drawing his cheeks up and turning blue eyes to small glittering gems above them. It's easy to sink into better memories, rose-glasses of youth making each one bright and full of longing.

"Don't worry I'll wear you down over time." Harper's grin is mischief incarnate as he vows it, already recalling her shocked laughter and squeaks in the hours they've spent in this place. Best way to loosen someone up is to simply grasp all those tight laces and pull at the same time. "Everyone in the circus knew each other, most had been there the day I was born. I learned so many tricks and talents from anyone who had a spare moment. And if nobody could be found to babysit me, my parents would usually find me with the elephants or the big cats." That had been an interesting explanation the first time they'd found him. "Freaked them out the first few times, but they had pretty much adopted me. They stopped worrying after a few years." Though they were not human, they'd been just as much a family to him as all the other performers and workers.

this is your ocean, an ocean of night

BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3

i want to be a mystery, yet be known

i want to be together, yet alone

A quiet laugh is given to him, a roll of her eyes at his confidence in wearing her out. But she can see it, glimmering in those steel blue eyes of his. The way he’d be able to pick at those little shown strings of her being, of who she was to unravel her from the inside out. Part of it scares her, not used to giving into that other side of her, too used to being put together and pretending that everything is okay. It doesn’t feel much different here, but it is. It was. She had the time now to give in if she wanted to.

So she listens, appreciatively, as Harper talks about the circus. “Were you born at the circus?” She asks curiously, recalling that her and her twin had been born beside a riverbank of crimson. No hospitals in sight. But her head lifts up in curiosity at the mention of elephants, a wide grin crossing her face to that. “Elephants?” Do tell more! It makes her think of Ru’in, makes her think of her father – those wrinkled faces with tusks large and sharp and wonderful strength.

She still offers a quiet laugh at the mention that they stopped worrying about him after a few times, once they realized he wasn’t going to accidentally off himself somehow. Some sort of understanding – similar to how Deimos had treated her, part of the reason she loved the General so much.

is it too much to ask to be famous yet unknown?

to be a wanderer, yet have a home?

KIADA

HARPER

Whatever hesitations she may feel, Harper does not intrude upon them. They have hours of twilight ahead of them, and he doubts they'll be sleeping any time soon. If there is anything she wants to share with him, she knows - now more than ever - that he is there to listen.

"I was," he chuckles, recalling his mother's retelling of the tale, and how she had done it multiple times whenever he aggrieved her as a child. "Luckily it wasn't a painful birth, as we only had basic first aid. They took me to see a doctor after the birth, but there wasn't any time - my mom used to say I was too eager to come." Something she would groan about time and again as Harper would race around causing all sorts of trouble.

Her grin is like sunshine, and Harper instinctively turns his face towards it in much the same manner. Basking in its warmth and glow. His own rises to meet it at her exuberance, at the recognition that she previously hadn't displayed, especially over a creature he holds so close to his heart. "We had a small family of them, yeah. They were amazing. Incredibly intelligent, and very gentle for their size. They would grab me around my stomach with their trunks and heft me around wherever they wanted." Fondness echoes in every word, recalling these beautiful animals who had been mother, father, and babysitter alike in his youth. "Have you seen them before then?" Her recognition had been unmistakable.

this is your ocean, an ocean of night

BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3

i want to be a mystery, yet be known

i want to be together, yet alone

Her eyes grow wide as she focuses on him with a small smile across her face. A quiet hum of a laugh leaves her throat at the teasing that it sounded like his mother had given him. “I can see it.” She teases him back, easily, a playful wink as she settles a bit to ask the question of the elephants – her grin growing wide as she meets his gaze.

Elephants always had a chance to spark some sort of excitement within her at the idea. And she hangs on every word he gives her, as if it’s a book she wishes to hear about until the end – imagining a smaller Harper carried around on trunks of grey steel. “I have.” She begins before sitting up a small amount, a small smile of nostalgia growing wider on her face. “My father had an elephant companion. And he was called the Elephant King.” Some sort of brightness of the idea of her father where otherwise it had been dark. “When I came here to Caido and I found Ru’in for the first time, he was attuned like I am. He had an elephant shift, too.”

is it too much to ask to be famous yet unknown?

to be a wanderer, yet have a home?

KIADA

HARPER

Harper grins at her teasing, reaching out to jab at her again because it's just too fun to resist. "Hey now, don't go siding with someone you don't know! You should wholeheartedly believe me when I say she was exaggerating. I'm very mellow." Nodding imperiously as if that will settle the topic with no further questioning allowed. Not that he expects Kiada to follow that in any way with her personality and their history, which is half the fun.

"That's incredible," he says instead, to all of it really. The companion, the title, Ru'in. "They're one of the most intelligent animals I've ever met. It would be hard to pick a favorite, but they're definitely in my top five." Sitting up slightly to match her, he turns a little at the waist to better view her. "What was your dad like to earn a title like Elephant King?"

this is your ocean, an ocean of night

BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3

i want to be a mystery, yet be known

i want to be together, yet alone

She snickers to him, wiggling away from his jab the best she can despite the way it still lands against her ribs – a brilliant laugh slipping from her throat as she squints at him. “Are you? You don’t seem like it, Harper Quinn.” She retorts, sticking her tongue out at him and reaching up deftly to try and jab him back briefly before she settles and explains how she knows about elephants.

They’re sitting up in a matching way, and Kiada can’t help but to want to reach out and rest a hand along the soft lilting curls along his neck. “They are. They’re great painters, too.” She offers with a quiet laugh. But the question of what her father was like to earn a title like that, she shrugs lightly. “He was… Rather large, strong. Powerful. In his previous world they called him the Elephant General, but when he came to Helovia and became a King it changed.”

is it too much to ask to be famous yet unknown?

to be a wanderer, yet have a home?

KIADA

HARPER

Despite how often he has heard it in this one day, he still can't help but be taken by her laugh, the brightness of it that only grows warmer the more she relaxes at his side. A beauty she keeps concealed, keeping everyone at arms length. He's honored that she has let him so close so soon, and basks in her joy even as his lips twitch up mischievously at her response. Letting her land her jab and wheezing dramatically as if she has winded him. "Abuse! Maybe I've been charming you all this time, only to turn out to be a lazy slob once you're too endeared to be rid of me." The challenge is spoken with a smirk as he sidles closer to sap her warmth.

Harper listens keenly as she speaks of her father, trying to imagine someone he will never meet. "Was he a good father?" A relative term, but he hopes she will understand what he means. He wants to know what the man beneath the title was like, if his mountainous form had been just as distant and imposing in personality.

this is your ocean, an ocean of night

BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3

i want to be a mystery, yet be known

i want to be together, yet alone

It’s rare for her to let them in so close, to see this younger version of herself beneath the layers of hardened adultness that she’d experienced when life had been torn from her hands, when worlds had crashed and she’d been forced to survive. In a way, it feels wrong. But with him here, with their pasts shared for the most part, it’s a different sort of feeling. A small grin, fierce and almost predatory crosses her face as she focuses on him, hand remaining by his side to feel the muscle and abs beneath and she raises her brow. “I quite doubt that. If, of course, by lazy you mean training and doing nothing else.” Her head tilts with a small smirk.

Of course, it fades as soon as the question leaves his lips. “At first, yes.” She says softly, shrugging once more as she suddenly feels quite awkward. “He broke into our kingdom to visit my brother and I when we were born. But then he convinced my mother to move to his kingdom… And with it, well, we went and my brother was kidnapped. My father spent more time having children with other people than to pay much more attention to us.” A feather of her jaw as she lays back down onto the bed with a huff of a sigh.

is it too much to ask to be famous yet unknown?

to be a wanderer, yet have a home?

KIADA