[ it's been a few weeks in orsterra, since the end of things in scawwy. things started off badly, but vin's generous wish and the polymorphed-until-return sazantos gave enough time for the guardians of light to wrangle the former flameguard and return orsterra to its rightful state. sazantos is somewhere locked up in recovery, and the world is no longer burnt with accursed flame, or recreated into some terrible, desire-free realm. not only that, but a whirlwind visit to the rest of the guardians culminated as things settled down with rondo's official instatement as the flameguard, an incredibly emotional moment as he wore the uniform he received back in scawwy with pride.
and now, finally... things have finally, finally settled down.
the days pass in chilly flamesgrace, and as the flameguard, rondo has his fair pick of housing, so a little stone house in the snowy village, kept warm with magical devices and the occasional borrowed trinkets from scawwy alike is all his and... all marina's, too, of course. he's done the best that he can to make sure she's set up with anything she'd like even in the hustle and bustle of the whirlwind days that came, and even respectfully made sure the housing he chose had a second room for her to make her own should she want it, ever the gentleman. he's barely had a second to enjoy the domesticity of it all, but it makes him so happy to see her, to cook meals with her (something he has really had to learn how to do) and to spend time with her as a whole, safe and alive and no longer threatened by the horrors of their former experience.
but since things have settled, rondo comes in to find marina one morning with a big smile on his face, poking around the cute little house to see where she's gone - he's practically bounding around, clearly brimming with some kind of excitement. ]
[ the thing about courting someone is that there a whole lot of formalities to it, but... less for rondo than he really thinks there are. for starters, he is no longer Lord Ravus - despite being the flameguard, the trappings of courtship aren't necessarily a requirement, but nevertheless, he wants to make sure he does things correctly. he asks the pontiff about it, who clearly thinks its sweet and gives his blessing - he's a kindly old man who dotes on marina anyway.
sister ophilia and sister lianna have given him all the tips on how to properly woo someone - and of course, he behaves properly. his kisses are chaste and warm - if sometimes, wanting, lingering, though his self control is excellent, and he wants to do things right. the most important step of all, of course, is cordelia's approval, which means the entire world to rondo and then some, came with absolute flying colors. nothing makes him happier than to see his darling sister and marina excitedly talking with each other - though rondo is unaware of what is almost certainly gossip, because he does not know his sister's got a little bit of a naughty streak?
despite this, of all people, it is the recovering sazantos who asks rondo after a return back from bolderfall if he plans on getting married. the request startles him so bad he thinks he might be dreaming it - sazantos informs him he's been mooning so obviously it is making him consider destroying the world again, and it takes rondo an entire thirty seconds to realize he was joking. but, it gets him thinking.
and the obvious answer is yes? and so, with the rites of courtship (mostly) performed, along with many, many hours spent together, many travels, many battles fought with monsters, many studies at the atlasdam academy, and plenty of time in each other's company in a time of relative peace, rondo does propose the idea. less romantically, at first - asking, marina, if that's something she'd be interested in.
and after a private and very romantic proposal with a very nice, stylish ring that he definitely agonized over for like, weeks, flamesgrace is abuzz with the flameguard and the scholar's future nuptials. gossipy neighbors and nosy nuns alike are all offering them anything and everything - blessings, luck, gifts, meals, anything, for their adopted daughter and adopted son, two darlings of the place they've most often found themselves in. the buzz of planning a ceremony melds in with the business of work, and for rondo, it comes with a thrill of joy each time he remembers, or whenever he holds marina's hand and feels the weight of a band on her finger. a promise made after lots of suffering - a future, of a shop marina owned, of a life together. a future neither of them were necessarily promised, that they now get to build.
in the week or so after the initial engagement, rondo's finally home for a little while. his work as the flameguard keeps him very busy, but today, it's just been a mountain of paperwork and relative peace, so he works from his desk in their little house, though certainly beyond a normal working hour... ]
[ it's not running away when your life is over. you can't run away from something that no longer is yours anymore, or doesn't exist. dead. but she's very much alive, alive enough to make the decision to take rondo's hand and go with him to orsterra, to start something new with him, something that means more than any words marina could place in a book. she is proud of him... more than anything else, and while wading through the sazantos aftermath with care had taken time, it would always be worth it for him, for his heart.
the days are full of learning... lots, and lots of learning. marina juggles it of course, doing her best to get flamesgrace underfoot within the first week or so. she supposes she has naught but termina to thank for her ability to route herself quickly in and around the village.
the second bedroom is used for sleeping all of once (barely once, she'd lasted perhaps four hours before smothering herself in blankets and stalking to his bedside, kneeing him lovingly to move over so she could wrap herself over his back and cling from behind.) thereafter, it is relegated to books upon books, history books, books on magic. marina devours the fascinating pantheon of gods that oversee this world of theirs now (theirs. it's theirs and it feels so strange, but so right. with all things, perhaps it will in time feel far more natural.)
but they do well. marina enjoys the way he's eager to learn, and she doesn't mind cooking, but the affair is better together. it's a lovely home, she realizes one day when her hip brushes his to set something down on the counter, her face falling soft and fond for him as she reaches up a hand to tuck his hair away. she feels like she fits in like a puzzle piece beside him. she knows, in this moment, that this is where her heart wants to settle, more than anything, in any place that keeps her beside him.
how nice it feels, the weight of the world, the weight of an old blood inheritence... lifted. never in its entirety, but enough that marina feels like she could fly.
today, he finds her in the small aforementioned makeshift study, one of her hands occupied with hold her head, the other paging through a book at leisure. when she hears the sound of her name her head straightens gracefully, though her body draped over the chair remains at ease, relaxed... truly relaxed (a rarity). the hair shorn from her in scawwy has grown back, thick curls tamed into a pair of braids today. ]
Look at you, Sunshine... you're practically beaming today. What's up?
[ if she was proud of him, then the feeling could only truly be mutual. navigating scawwy had been one thing, but navigating an entirely new world in a much more permanent sense takes an incredible amount of bravery. he's done his best not to hover too much, but watching marina flourish here makes his heart just swell. she's incredible, and while she takes to their surroundings day by day, the surroundings take to her, too. ophilia and lianna, the daughters of the archbishop, draw to her like moths to a flame - the families and people who fill flamesgrace do too, doting and warm and curious all at once.
and nothing makes rondo happier than this. it's been amazing to watch her acclimate and soak up all orsterra has to offer like a sponge, nearly as amazing as the domestic peace of the post-sazantos world, of what truly, honestly, feels like a new life. it makes the nightmarish parts of scawwy feel like they're hundreds of years away, when they're tucked together in their little kitchen or curled up in the same bed (secretly, he much prefers this also, and breathed a little sigh of relief when she came to curl up with him that first night.)
naturally, rondo wants to support marina in all the millions of ways that she has supported him, so he brings her books like a puppy, studies with some of the local craftsmen to try and figure out how to make her bookshelves in his spare time, leans on the doorframe to watch her when he gets the spare time and just soaks in her presence.
so, if he can return that sense of settled, he wants to - and thus, the big smile. there's something he's clearly very excited about, and he rocks back on his heels and then forward, coming into the room and taking in her posture, her surroundings, with a brief flicker of fondness - the immediate oh, she's so cute, because he can't help himself - before it fades in the favor of his big news. rondo crosses the study room, careful not to step on anything, and then folds his hands in front of himself, resisting the urge to just bound in. ]
Well... I got my next assignment - the Pontiff has asked me to return to Atlasdam on some official business. [ being the flameguard involves traveling around the continent sometimes, after all. more importantly, though - ] That's where the Royal Academy is, and - the Royal Library, too, the biggest collection of knowledge in all of Orsterra. It's where all the scholars study, and - Flamesgrace, we have some things, but I know it's a small town, and they're all just based in the Church, comparatively, and I -
[ rondo bites his lip, gaze going hopeful. ]
... I was wondering if maybe you wanted to come to Atlasdam with me and visit the Royal Academy. On a trip. Together. What do you think?
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octopath world time...
and now, finally... things have finally, finally settled down.
the days pass in chilly flamesgrace, and as the flameguard, rondo has his fair pick of housing, so a little stone house in the snowy village, kept warm with magical devices and the occasional borrowed trinkets from scawwy alike is all his and... all marina's, too, of course. he's done the best that he can to make sure she's set up with anything she'd like even in the hustle and bustle of the whirlwind days that came, and even respectfully made sure the housing he chose had a second room for her to make her own should she want it, ever the gentleman. he's barely had a second to enjoy the domesticity of it all, but it makes him so happy to see her, to cook meals with her (something he has really had to learn how to do) and to spend time with her as a whole, safe and alive and no longer threatened by the horrors of their former experience.
but since things have settled, rondo comes in to find marina one morning with a big smile on his face, poking around the cute little house to see where she's gone - he's practically bounding around, clearly brimming with some kind of excitement. ]
Marina...?
dj khalid voice anotha one
sister ophilia and sister lianna have given him all the tips on how to properly woo someone - and of course, he behaves properly. his kisses are chaste and warm - if sometimes, wanting, lingering, though his self control is excellent, and he wants to do things right. the most important step of all, of course, is cordelia's approval, which means the entire world to rondo and then some, came with absolute flying colors. nothing makes him happier than to see his darling sister and marina excitedly talking with each other - though rondo is unaware of what is almost certainly gossip, because he does not know his sister's got a little bit of a naughty streak?
despite this, of all people, it is the recovering sazantos who asks rondo after a return back from bolderfall if he plans on getting married. the request startles him so bad he thinks he might be dreaming it - sazantos informs him he's been mooning so obviously it is making him consider destroying the world again, and it takes rondo an entire thirty seconds to realize he was joking. but, it gets him thinking.
and the obvious answer is yes? and so, with the rites of courtship (mostly) performed, along with many, many hours spent together, many travels, many battles fought with monsters, many studies at the atlasdam academy, and plenty of time in each other's company in a time of relative peace, rondo does propose the idea. less romantically, at first - asking, marina, if that's something she'd be interested in.
and after a private and very romantic proposal with a very nice, stylish ring that he definitely agonized over for like, weeks, flamesgrace is abuzz with the flameguard and the scholar's future nuptials. gossipy neighbors and nosy nuns alike are all offering them anything and everything - blessings, luck, gifts, meals, anything, for their adopted daughter and adopted son, two darlings of the place they've most often found themselves in. the buzz of planning a ceremony melds in with the business of work, and for rondo, it comes with a thrill of joy each time he remembers, or whenever he holds marina's hand and feels the weight of a band on her finger. a promise made after lots of suffering - a future, of a shop marina owned, of a life together. a future neither of them were necessarily promised, that they now get to build.
in the week or so after the initial engagement, rondo's finally home for a little while. his work as the flameguard keeps him very busy, but today, it's just been a mountain of paperwork and relative peace, so he works from his desk in their little house, though certainly beyond a normal working hour... ]
no subject
the days are full of learning... lots, and lots of learning. marina juggles it of course, doing her best to get flamesgrace underfoot within the first week or so. she supposes she has naught but termina to thank for her ability to route herself quickly in and around the village.
the second bedroom is used for sleeping all of once (barely once, she'd lasted perhaps four hours before smothering herself in blankets and stalking to his bedside, kneeing him lovingly to move over so she could wrap herself over his back and cling from behind.) thereafter, it is relegated to books upon books, history books, books on magic. marina devours the fascinating pantheon of gods that oversee this world of theirs now (theirs. it's theirs and it feels so strange, but so right. with all things, perhaps it will in time feel far more natural.)
but they do well. marina enjoys the way he's eager to learn, and she doesn't mind cooking, but the affair is better together. it's a lovely home, she realizes one day when her hip brushes his to set something down on the counter, her face falling soft and fond for him as she reaches up a hand to tuck his hair away. she feels like she fits in like a puzzle piece beside him. she knows, in this moment, that this is where her heart wants to settle, more than anything, in any place that keeps her beside him.
how nice it feels, the weight of the world, the weight of an old blood inheritence... lifted. never in its entirety, but enough that marina feels like she could fly.
today, he finds her in the small aforementioned makeshift study, one of her hands occupied with hold her head, the other paging through a book at leisure. when she hears the sound of her name her head straightens gracefully, though her body draped over the chair remains at ease, relaxed... truly relaxed (a rarity). the hair shorn from her in scawwy has grown back, thick curls tamed into a pair of braids today. ]
Look at you, Sunshine... you're practically beaming today. What's up?
no subject
and nothing makes rondo happier than this. it's been amazing to watch her acclimate and soak up all orsterra has to offer like a sponge, nearly as amazing as the domestic peace of the post-sazantos world, of what truly, honestly, feels like a new life. it makes the nightmarish parts of scawwy feel like they're hundreds of years away, when they're tucked together in their little kitchen or curled up in the same bed (secretly, he much prefers this also, and breathed a little sigh of relief when she came to curl up with him that first night.)
naturally, rondo wants to support marina in all the millions of ways that she has supported him, so he brings her books like a puppy, studies with some of the local craftsmen to try and figure out how to make her bookshelves in his spare time, leans on the doorframe to watch her when he gets the spare time and just soaks in her presence.
so, if he can return that sense of settled, he wants to - and thus, the big smile. there's something he's clearly very excited about, and he rocks back on his heels and then forward, coming into the room and taking in her posture, her surroundings, with a brief flicker of fondness - the immediate oh, she's so cute, because he can't help himself - before it fades in the favor of his big news. rondo crosses the study room, careful not to step on anything, and then folds his hands in front of himself, resisting the urge to just bound in. ]
Well... I got my next assignment - the Pontiff has asked me to return to Atlasdam on some official business. [ being the flameguard involves traveling around the continent sometimes, after all. more importantly, though - ] That's where the Royal Academy is, and - the Royal Library, too, the biggest collection of knowledge in all of Orsterra. It's where all the scholars study, and - Flamesgrace, we have some things, but I know it's a small town, and they're all just based in the Church, comparatively, and I -
[ rondo bites his lip, gaze going hopeful. ]
... I was wondering if maybe you wanted to come to Atlasdam with me and visit the Royal Academy. On a trip. Together. What do you think?