| Details for Lighting the Dark |
| Summary: | Elise confesses her feelings for Cillian. The Shadow lurks… |
| Date: | 1938-11-12 |
| Location: | Armour Gallery |
| Related: | — |
| Characters |
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The key to avoiding getting chased by shadows is…not sitting in the shadows, but Cillian can be found in the armor room, where shadows are quite rampant, staying near a lantern as he slowly works on transcribing some lines from a thick thick text book annnd onto a parchment. He's not as wet as he was before, getting dunked in the toilet can be icky but he just seems a tad refreshed, occasionally nibbling on a chocolate biscuit he pulls from that dark wooden chest that only Pirates seem to be able to find.
Elise comes here with an escort - an older Ravenclaw who was passing by anyway. She looks contrite, and instead of using her wand as a light source she is carrying a lantern, burning with a somehow cheerful blue flame. She enters and settles silently on the ground in front of Cillian, puts the lantern on the floor, and folds her hands in her lap. And then she waits.
Cillian eyes the older Ravenclaw suspiciously for a few moments before looking back to Elise as she settles down and he bows his head politely, finishing up the sentence he was writing and sorting through the stack of parchment to select another parchment with a list of names on it. "Hello Mousie, how was your day? I know by now, you're probably wanting your sword back…"
Elise lifts her hand, palm-down, spreads her fingers, and wiggles it slightly. Then she shrugs, and casts her eyes down. She puts a finger just below her eye and draws it slowly down her cheek while she frowns. And then she looks back up at him and nods, clasping her hands together hopefully.
"It 'as been a full day now hasn't it? You're welcome to reclaim and resheathe your sword now." Cillian offers with a hint of concern before carefully starting to add a few names to the parchment.
Elise takes a deep breath, much relieved. "Thank you," she says. "I have… a confession. You probably won't like it. But I should say it, anyway. I just want you to know that… well, I certainly don't expect you to do anything about it, or — or act any differently. At least I hope we'll still be friends." Her hands are shaking, and she squeezes them together and shoves them into her lap. "It's about what Medusa said."
"We'll always be friends, Mousie. I'm the captain though, which means everting me crew does, is by default my fault. We dun make threats, we only make promises and if we have information we store it and save it for when it'll matter most, but we /never/ let the other side see our cards. What we do or don't know and what advantage we may be 'avin." He tries to explain softly before he blinks several times. Cillian just quirks an eyebrow. "Which bit of what Medusa said?"
Elise nods at what he says. "Yes, I'm sorry about that," she apologizes. "I will try harder." Then she takes a deep breath. "She said I was keeping secrets from you. That's not really true. I just… I mean, everyone knows. Except you. It's not really a secret." Elise can't seem to look him in the eye. "You see, I /like/ you." The way she stresses the word, there's no doubt about what she means - she likes him as a /boy/. There's a long, awful pause. "Sorry," she finally manages, sounding like she might cry any second.
"It takes practice, jest like learnin' to use a sword. Which I tink we'll really need to…" Cillian trails off and quickly looks over his shoulder for a moment, dragging his lantern closer. Then he turns to focus on Elise as she makes her confession and he just blinks slowly, toying with his quill and opening his mouth before closing it. "Ah." A long pause. "Well there's no need to be apologizing for that, I mean…um, well Gunny has more books about it."
Elise reaches up to rub her nose. "I /tried/ not to, honestly," she tells him in a pleading sort of voice. "But you're sort of wonderful." She sounds a bit miserable about it. She glances toward the shadows a second after he does, but sees nothing there. Just in case, though, she draws her wand. "So… now you know. That's what Medusa was talking about. But I would never betray you, I swear it!" She even puts her hand over her heart when she makes that vow. Then she blinks. "B—books?"
"Ah." Cillian considers this for a few moments. "Well dun be worryin' about it. Or trying not to and all that. The heart wants what the heart wants. And thank ye for being brave enough to share that with me, to trust me with that information." Then he nods slowly. "Aye books about feelings and um reasons and um, m' not really sure. There are so many weird books…"
"You're welcome," Elise says. She tilts her head to one side. "Like romance novels?" she asks, a bit incredulously. "Lumos," she says absently to her wand, and the tip lights up with a brilliant white light, steady as electric lightbulb, but somehow more honest. She holds the wand out and points it toward various shadows a bit suspiciously. "Have you read any of them?"
"Romance…novels?" Cillian just buh-links and stares at Elise for a few moments, his own wand slipped out from his sleeve as he looks around and takes a deep breath. "I…uh." A pause. "No, can't say that I have…I mean, I may have glimpsed into a few but after the first two or three chapters, ye get the basic ideas." He shudders. "Me Da loves the tings, but he won't admit it."
"My mum loves them," Elise says. She stands up and turns her back to him. "Cillian… maybe we should leave." She sounds nervous. "It feels strange in here."
Cillian gets to his feet carefully and looks around. "Aye..go on Elise, go to the safety of yer house. I'll get to mine after I clean up, we have /got/ to do something soon about this…"
"You're crazy if you think I'm leaving you alone," Elise says, glancing back over her should to give him half a smile. "We'll both clean up and then leave post-haste."
Cillian just smirks gently at Elise. "Very well, but next time…we start on yer sword training." He nods firmly. "Lets get to work."