❂ one | video post

[gazingup]

[ Betraying the heavy mood of the City, the center of town is relatively quiet. Only the soft patter of foot steps here and there and the murmuring of hushed voices reach the air, but if anyone was to pay attention, they might notice a orange-yellow orb making a low course across the sky. An orb that's heading for a direct target-- which just happens to be a certain shiningdown. Ironic, isn't it? And the orb dips, gaining speed as it begins to fall toward earth, the light peeling back to reveal a young man with look of death (or at least shock) across his face. Finally he reaches his target, colliding directly into the woman, and in turn knocking them both into the fountain. There's a rather loud splash, as there obviously would be. ]

Oh, Mother! Mother, I've gotten you all wet!

[ absolutely furious splashing, like someone's just flailed her arms in exasperation...which Yvaine has ] Mother? Who's 'Mother'? Ow, would you get off of me already? ... [some more indignant splashing]

You are my mother! [he still hasn't gotten off her yet, probably too caught up in the moment to realize that he just might be heavy.] See, I've got this candle- I've got the candle you gave me, and I thought of you just like I was supposed to...then suddenly I was here!

[ a long pause........silence.....maybe just the sound of the fountain ] I'm as much your mother as you are a genius. Weren't you listening? I said, move! [the sound of...well she's trying to push him over now, not really caring if she tips him right over back into the fountain next to her or not because...he Isn't Listening fff ]

[ he lands beside her with another splash, choking on a gulp of water in the same motion.] But this candle is- [a fit of coughs] ...this candle should have taken me to my mother! Unless-- [ there's a stunned look on his face, his mouth half agape and eyes wide as he focuses them on Yvaine. ]

...I was thinking of my mother, and then Victoria popped in my head -- the star! I was thinking of the star! Then why- then why am I here in a fountain? On top of a woman! There's no star around here! Is this ruddy candle broken or something?

[ equally stunned silence but not of astonishment...unless you count astonishment by what Yvaine considers the closest personification of the word idiocy she's ever been so unfortunate to encounter ] ...of course. It had nothing to do with you not being able to follow simple directions. [sarcasm, would you like some more? because there IS more...lots]

You're unnecessarily cruel, you know that?

Only if you've earned it!

How have I earned it? I haven't done anything to you!

Comments

[shiningdown.livejournal.com]

...gee, I wonder.

[ A meaningful....stare....and by meaningful we mean one full of loathing....she directs it at him and tilts her head to one side as if also saying 'think hard, think really hard...if you can' ]

[gazingup.livejournal.com]

So have you seen a star? Honestly, please tell me? I promise I'll leave you alone once you tell me!

[ The look on his face is at least earnest. His own eyes meet hers, staring without a trace of sarcasm or anger or any other negative-- nothing else besides maybe a hint of weariness. ]

[shiningdown.livejournal.com]

Oh come on. You can't be serious.

[ in that you don't see what is right in front of you....or can he be serious after all? she has doubts the longer she waits for the obvious to occur to him and the...more...that...it...you know, doesn't ]

...I'm not spelling it out for you. I'm not.

[ except she totally will if he continues to be a dunderhead for much longer ]

[gazingup.livejournal.com]

What do you mean? You're the one not making any sense.

[ he's honestly confused, really. She has the face of a woman, the body of a woman, the voice of a woman, the elegance- never mind, that's verging on a compliment. Anyway, to Tristan she is nothing but a woman, and never a star, unless she suddenly turns into a rock. ]

[shiningdown.livejournal.com]

Think, think very hard.

[ She knows it's difficult for him. Really. ]

You thought of your mother--but obviously it did not take you to her! And you thought of Victoria--but obviously it didn't bring you to your dear heart either. What is the only other thought you focused on when using--albeit accidentally--the Babylon Candle?

[ Tapping of a foot would happen if it wouldn't over balance her something awful, leaning entirely on that good foot and leg now, a grimace her almost perpetual expression and, at this point not entirely out of dislike for him so much as how being fallen on and knocked into a fountain seems to have brought the pain searing back. But Yvaine is proud, too proud perhaps, and she bites her tongue as she waits for the well dubbed Flying Moron to pick up the Very Obvious pieces of this Very Simple puzzle. Does she have to put everything together for the clodpolls of this place?...well, apparently. ][ Her question barely escapes being in vain preemptively. ]

[gazingup.livejournal.com]

I know, I know! It's not like I haven't said it multiple times. The Star.

[ You're giving him far too little credit, Yvaine. Where he comes from, the stars are very much inanimate objects. Or at least that's what the scientists tell them, and he has reason enough to believe them.]

You're saying the star is around here? [ he looks around, left and right, up and down, northeast, and southeast, hoping to catch the sight of something shiny. He even gets down on his knees, his damp pants leaving water marks on the concrete as he pats the ground down. ]

I don't see anything other than bits of gravel. [ he picks a piece of said gravel up, closing one eye and staring at it with the other, as he picks it apart for maybe a hint of starshine.] You know, you shouldn't be so condescending, when you've really no idea what you're talking about.

[ Pressing his mouth into a fine line, Tristan looks at her with dubious sort of expression, eyebrows peaked as he waits for her to snap back. And still, he is completely oblivious to her injury and his partial fault in it.]

[shiningdown.livejournal.com]

[ She limps back over to him, granted at an alternating pace, evenness not being something easily attained with broken limbs being dragged behind oneself. Pausing right in front of him, she is, for all essential purposes, basically in his face at this moment, disbelief contorting with a resignation colored by intense sarcasm that is one of her only defenses against how she might actually be more and more unnerved the clearer it becomes to her that people simply are not recognizing her for what she is.]

Yes, you clodpoll. The star.

[ Her brow raises emphatically, head turning just a degree to sort of indicate humoring. ]

And there is no one here, for whatever reason, right now, apart from you, and me.

[ Another pointed look, well, she sends it his way. ]

[gazingup.livejournal.com]

What does that have to do with anything? Of course there's just you and me out here, unless you count the crickets. I don't get what that has to do with the star.

[ His eyebrows are still raised, if not pushed higher to match Yvaine's own expression. He doesn't move as she approaches, remaining in place with his arms still hanging limp at his side. ]

[shiningdown.livejournal.com]

[She has come this close, time and again to just telling him only to be derailed each time by what she considers to be the most inane of idiocies she has ever come across. How he can not know even after all of her hints, all her points--good points too--, after, by her mother the moon, all her sarcasm even alone? Who else would the star be? Really. But it does not occur to Yvaine that in some worlds she is nothing but a pitted space rock, or a wave of starshine that glimmers in a breeze and then disappears forever, scattered. For all that she knows, it is simply the truth that she is a star, has always been, and has until recent days been easily recognized.

Exasperation incarnate, she points at him, begins something like 'You---' but stops, rolls her eyes and turns away, half giving up again as she starts to limp off...also again. ]

[gazingup.livejournal.com]

Where are you going? You were about to say something!

[ Any sane person would have given up on this women by now, would have stepped away and started on their own course instead of putting up with the incessant volley of barbs. However, it seemed as though Tristan could take a face full of them without giving up. It was also a matter of practicality. Sense and rationality and staying alive alive before comfort. Regardless if she was the most unsavory and insufferable woman he has ever had the displeasure of meeting. It's at least better than getting killed out here in this strange world.

Tristan throws up his hands with a heavy sigh, and for extra emphasis - rolling his eyes as he stalks after her. Considering his pace and her broken leg, it takes only a few seconds for him to reach her side. ]

I can't figure out, for all the life of me, why you're being so hostile!

[shiningdown.livejournal.com]

Well, for starters, you nearly killed me with your landing.

[ an exaggeration but look, she's irritated---and she stops again, shoulders shrugging noticeably with a vehement sigh ]

...and you don't know what's right in front of you, for another.

[gazingup.livejournal.com]

That was entirely unintentional. It's not like I could choose where to land, otherwise I'd have picked somewhere else. Like a bed. Or a grassy field.

[ he extends a hand in front of him as a gesture to emphasize his words ]

A woman? A very irritated woman? A woman with an insufferable attitude? I'd say it could be either one of them or all three.

[shiningdown.livejournal.com]

Your level of intellect is astonishing.

[ Her sarcasm is of course meant to denote that, no, that is not what she meant, Tristan Thorn. ]

[gazingup.livejournal.com]

Then if you're so incredibly brilliant, why don't you explain it?

[ And he notes it immediately - this and the previous (and many) instances of hostility are building into one behemoth of a headache. Or maybe it was the whole falling from the sky thing that had nearly caused him to puke upon landing. Aren't you glad he didn't, Yvaine? ]