LAND HOOOOOOO

"Not today, though."

Luna frowns at him, scooting closer. In all honesty, there's not much closer they can get with all the times she's tried to push herself against him in the past several minutes. It's making it all a little difficult which only adds to her frustration.

Releasing a deep, frustrated huff, she sits up on her knees and pulls him away from where he's seated, pushing him against the curve of the tub as a more comfortable backrest. Thanks to the water, it's actually incredibly easy for her to move him again, pick him up and set him back down.

He just looks up at her, obviously surprised, but she doesn't leave him there for long because, now that he can stretch his legs out, it leaves more surface area for her to curl up against. She straddles his stomach for a moment, pausing to kiss his forehead in passing, before she slips down and curls into his chest.

His heartbeat is strong under her ear, it makes her smile, pulls a content sigh right out of her as she listens in silence for just a moment.

"You can bring them back tomorrow. Today is for this. It's going to take a lot of your energy, I'm sure, so why not just save up all you can today that way you have more to use tomorrow? That seems like the most logical thing to do in my humble opinion."

He slips down a little so they’re both more reclined in the water. It’s warm, but at this point most of the heat from the water is gone and it’s mostly just her body heat pressed to him, making his breaths deeper and his eyes slip closed.

He won’t sleep yet, though. He knows this is time for them, like she’s said. The first real quiet, peaceful moment theyve gotten alone together since so much has happened. But his mind is trained to worry.

He thinks about everyone he’s brought back, how he’d started it all as a surprise for Luna, but how it ends up putting more of a strain on her than anything, having all their family back just to be the one to have to sit at their deathbed with them later, years from now. He hadn’t intended all that. Hadn’t considered it.

He wants to apologize again, but something says he shouldn’t bring it up now, should just let this moment stay soft and sweet between just them.

“You know that... that journal Lance shared with you? All the research he’d done?”

Shand starts cupping water in his palm, dripping it down over the top of her head, shielding it away from her forehead, to slowly and gently rinse at least the top of her hair off. He still needs more practice at this shampooing thing.

“I️ just wanted to tell you... for you to know... you can talk to me about all of that too, you know. I️ know we’ve been in each other’s heads and been a part of each other’s worlds for so long now, but there are still things we haven’t shared and things like this, I️ want us to share together, if you wanted to. That look in your eyes, the way all of you just lit up when you saw that book. I’d do anything to see that, all the time.”

The journal?

It seems so off topic from anything they'd been previously discussing that it catches her off guard, makes her have to try to think back quickly. Lance had given her... Oh.

"All the information about Aterkins? Piecing together Ata's old research?"

Even though she just laid down on him, she leans back up, tilting her head back, chin on his chest, to look at him, brows raised.

"Honestly, Shand... I'm not sure you'd find it all that interesting. I can't even believe Lance did that in the first place. The Aterkins are all old news, no one really remembers them, but especially not here. To this world, stuff like that doesn't exist. It's not really all that relevant."

That... Leaves a bit of a sour taste in her mouth. All her life, she's hated who she is, what was done to create her. But, to think about the fact that no part of that old civilization is left, is important, fills her with a deep sadness. All the death that eventually forced her to be created for nothing. All the lives and memories lost.

Even so, she's aware it can't be fun to hear about all of that, especially for someone not from her world. It all sounds like boring myths, like sitting in a history class with a professor lecturing about old ways of life that seem detached and dull now.

"I don't want you to feel like you have to pretend to be interested in things like this. I realize it's not everyone's cup of tea, you don't need to feel any pressure to try to make it yours."

"No, I just. I like you."

It sounds dumb, he's sure, because that much should be obvious by now. And if it was something she wasn't totally convinced of earlier today, she has to be certain of it now. He leans his head back a little until it's resting on the ledge of the tub, his shoulders relaxed at the ease of the weight off them.

"I just mean, I like you and I'll always want to know everything about you. All the history and the past and figuring out all the things that make you smile. I want to know all of them."

The look on her face when she'd seen that journal. At first, it had left Shand terribly jealous and upset at Lance for upstaging him, but after he'd gotten over that, he'd just realized that he was addicted to seeing that look on her face.

"Just, everything that makes you, you. That's interesting to me. You're interesting to me."

He knows he's not expressing himself well, and it's probably partially due to the tiredness still trying to creep over him. He tightens his grip around her hand to try to make up for what his words are probably not conveying.

"I know there's probably a lot of weight in being the only one like you. Especially here, where that's not even part of the world. I always wanna be... I always wanna share the heavy stuff with you. Good and bad. I don't want you to feel alone."

"Aren't you one of the only people like you from your world? Well... In 'recent' history?"

Clearly, based off of what he's saying and how he's saying it, they both have things they don't know about the other's past even after all these years. Sure, she has a general understanding of who he was to his world, how all the blue electricity works and why, but it's nothing detailed. Not enough information for her to go write a dissertation on or anything.

"And... It's... Who I am, even in my world, is just sort of a mistake, I shouldn't exist. I'm not a human and I'm not an Aterkin. I'm so weird test tube experiment child. If it weren't for science and the meddling of power-hungry emperors, I actually wouldn't exist. It's a very. Well."

Odd feeling. Upsetting feeling. Isolating feeling. Any and all those options at once. It always has been. Some days she handles that fact better than others. Since coming here, it's been easier to manage feeling like you exist because some random man tried to play God and happened to succeed once much to your pain and downfall.

Back in that life, it had been thrown in her face near daily that nature did not approve of her existence, would never have allowed it. Nothing says "you're a fluke" like your parents only conceiving you so your little embryo self could be tested on, probably die, just so they can make some money.

None of that really matters here because no one knows about that. It's just Shand and he never brings it up. Then again, now she's wondering how much he knows. Does he think that maybe one of her parents was an Aterkin so it was so gently and naturally mixed into her genetics? If only it had been that nice.

"What's the worst part about it. Me. Is that I'm kind of all that's left of the Aterkin race and I'm not even one of them. Ata likes to remind me whenever she works up the power to say something. My power, ability, whatever you want to call it, is stolen from her. She was murdered to have it taken from her. To say she's a little bitter about the whole situation would be an understatement."

It's not like, on any given day, Ata communicates with her, and, when she does, it's more of a feeling of what Ata would be thinking, a sensation she feels shoot through her bones in an almost excruciating way. If she's doing something Ata wouldn't like, a foreign sense of disapproval shakes the fibers of her muscles, like a chill rolling across her skin but worse.

And maybe that's the worst part of all of this. Knowing she's the last weak remnant of a civilization that doesn't want her but still depends on her to keep their memory alive. It's a lot of pressure and conflicting emotions.

Luna brings a finger up to Shand's chin, drawing a line back and forth across it with her fingernail, a little absentminded but mostly as a physical distraction. Something to snap her back to what they were actually talking about.

"I guess just all of that to say, Aterkin history may not be very interesting. I don't even know what Lance found so I can't give you a taste of it either to see if you'd enjoy it. But... If... If you really want, we can read the journal together."

Unlike her skin, his doesn't hold on to marks for long. If he were to do the same thing to her, her pale skin would have a little pink line displayed for several minutes. The rich, warm tone of his keeps it from being impacted too long. It's a little unfair but she finds some content in the fact that when they're doing... Other things, the marks last just as long on him as they do on her, even if they appear more vibrant on her skin.

“I’d like that. I️ really would.”

He smiles as he lets her trace along his face, closing his eyes to the soft, gentle feel of it, how it lulls him.

“I️ think. There’s just never been a day in all these thousands of years that I️ didn’t learn something new about you. I️ think that’s my favorite thing to do, out of everything. Ever. Learning about you.”

He peers at her through one squinted open eye, how she’s reclined up against him, and he loves that the extreme comfort he feels is reflected in her face too, in her posture and body language. They’re all melted together here, limbs woven around the others, one big cuddle pretzel.

They’ve always been good at this, havent they? All his new memories that before had just been dreams- they’ve been good at this in those. And even here in this world, when they’d kept a more respectful distance befitting best friends. They’d still been good at making the other comfortable, at peace and restful.

Shand can’t think of anyone else, ever, who has made him feel so much like himself, and yet so at peace. He’s never known anyone who can reconcile those two feelings quite like Luna can for him.

“See, this is hard. I️ want to lay here with you, I️ wanna map with you, I️ kind of want to jump your bones. I️ want us to dance, and go exploring, and read your journal. I️ want to do everything all at once. Guess it’s a good thing we have forever, huh?”

"Here's my question."

Luna smirks a little, both at his honesty but also at just the general feeling of playfulness she feels bubbling up from all of this. From being near him, really.

"How does time work for us?"

Shifting herself, she flips over so she can lean back against him, use him as some sort of backrest, having to grab and flip her hair with her because it was to reach around and tangle over every part of him. It's like even the nonliving pieces of her just crave being close to him. He has to be near for things to feel worth it and she'll fight to keep it that way.

Not that readjusting her hair does much of anything because with how she's laying on him now, it just... Clings. It clings all over him as if it's a new outfit for him to wear, covering him up as far as it'll reach.

"We're both ageless beings, you created this world. I don't see why we can't do all of those things today and, somehow, make it so that very little time has passed for everyone else. We're the gods of this world, aren't we? If we want to have fun in every definition of the word then I think we should be allowed to."

“Ah, a new challenge. Haven’t had one of those in a while... other than the whole both of us nearly breaking ourselves thing the other day.”

He cocks a sideways grin, taking up a strand of her hair that had matted to his chest to twirl around his finger and play with.

“Hmm. Haven’t manipulated time in... lemme think.”

Its been a while. Not since he made this place, right? And even then, it was barely anything to get excited over. Back in that awful in between phase, back in his world after everyone he’d cared about had died and before he’d felt in their shared dreamspace that Luna had been in trouble, he’d experimented with his abilities in nearly every way he could think of. There wasn’t much else to do, and there was a whole hell of a lot of time to pass.

Of course, he could be remembering it wrong. Back then, he was nearly constantly drunk, alone, basically living out of a cave. He’d thought he remembered seeing two sunrises in a row instead of the normal progression of sunrise and then sunset, but then again, a blackout could have been just as likely a culprit as time manipulation.

But who’s to say he can’t try again, this time in a much better and safer and more productive way. In a way that has some meaning to it:

“So what exactly are we looking for then? A time standing still deal? Just kind of freeze stuff, keep the sun from moving and all?”

If Shand were to choose himself, though, he thinks he’d freeze time, bring it all to a standstill, overnight. While he can see the moon. So they can dance on the rooftop terrace, her in his arms, and moonlight bathing them. God, he can’t imagine anything else could be more perfect.

“Nah, lets wait til nighttime. And we can have an endless night in moonlight up there, the two of us.”

"So pause time for everyone except us and..."

She tilts her head back, arching her next as far as it will go, so she can look up at his face. At first, he's too preoccupied with playing with her hair to notice, watching how it twirls around his finger. But then he finally does catch sight of her and the two lock eyes for a long moment, both just content to stare and not say anything.

A moment where time stands still and it's really just them doing whatever they want. She'd make that right this second, she'd make it thirty-seconds from now, a year from now, millennia from now. All of it.

But he seems to have something different in mind.

"And just dance? Forever? Never stop, always dancing?"

As fun as that seems, it also strikes her as odd and amusing in the purest of ways. He really could have said anything, filled in that blank however he wanted, and he went with dancing in the moonlight.

Most people have looked at Shand and thought he seemed rough, dangerous, not worth getting involved with. They couldn't be any more wrong. He's soft and sweet and wants simple things in life more often than not. He's gentle and caring, attentive and rash, but in a brave sort of way.

Of course, those had been people from other worlds, not from this one. People here can't get enough of him, actually worship the ground he walks on. It's a great change of pace to see, Shand finally getting respect and recognition she knows he deserves, but...

"... It would be so nice to just be us again. No one looking for or up to us, no getting stopped ten million times on a crowded street. Just the way it used to be when we first came to this world. Even if we only get to enjoy it for a short while."

“I️ kind of miss those places like.., what was it called, Portland? Where everybody seemed to just let us be for the most part.”

He laughs a little, a burst of air out through his nose. He hadn’t appreciated it then, handy really appreciated it in any world where they didn’t have to worry about sustaining life for an entire population of a world.

But, on the other hand. In all of those other places, it has always felt like they were running from something. People trying to hurt them, take them away from each other. Sometimes, they’d just been running from themselves.

“Sure is nice to not have to run anymore, though.”

Even beyond the worlds that populate his dreams and memories of the two of them, it had been running on his own, too. Running from his eternity, desperate and terrified of being hated and alone.

“How many dances you think we could fit into forever?”

He feels his grin keep growing as he leans himself over slightly, enough that the tip of his nose rests on hers. He closes his eyes as soon as he feels her skin on his.

He could forget time altogether like this. Pause it and just forget to restart it. Leave the rest of the world in never ending limbo, just to get lost in the feel of her skin for eternity. That’s how he knows for sure that she’d been a goddess long before he’d brought her to this world. He’d slow time, speed it up, obliterate it altogether if he could, just so he could spend it all on her.

He sighs though, because he knows their responsibilities have grown since then. People depend on them, and she’s right, it can be burdensome and tiring. He wonders if this is how parents feel, how his father has always felt. With the added pressure, of course, of bringing people back from the dead on command. Living up to the whims of a bossy, Machiavellian fox.

But really, all of that pales in comparison to the importance of loving her.

“What would you wanna do? Assuming we got our fill of dancing. If time stood still longer after that, what would you want us to do with it?”

"I'd..."

Her eyes widen, a flash of remembrance flickering across her expression as she thinks on the answer. In a way, she had expected to have to reach for a response to him, to stall as her brain tried to keep up with everything she'd want to do with him forever, unbothered by anyone.

In reality, only one thought comes to mind. One that makes her blush a little but also smile with a sense of confidence.

"I'd want to take you to the sea. To a dock I constructed centuries ago. It's in the middle of nowhere, probably wouldn't even have to freeze time to feel like it's just the two of us."

The randomness of her suggestion makes him raise his eyebrows. That only gets her smiling more because she knows she's got him now, really captured his interest. Any talks of a beach usually come from him, not her, so she can only imagine what a rare treat this must feel like on his end of things.

In all fairness, she has her reasons for not jumping for joy whenever she things of a beach. Lifetimes ago, it had been because she couldn't swim. Now, and the more constant reason, is because a beach is hot and she doesn't handle the heat well. Shand, on the other hand, loves that sort of miserable warmth. Not that she should complain, it's probably the reason he can tolerate being around her as well as he does.

"And then, while we're standing there, I'd show you the culmination of all those times I went off on my own for some alone time. Show you all the practice I've fit into the past thousands of years with a new technique and element. I think you'd be surprised, hopefully happy with what I'd show you. But that is what I would want to do if we could stop time."

“Well bonus points for mystery.”

His smile is looking more and more boyish all the time, like a child who wants to know a secret so badly they don’t know what to do.

“I’m inclined to try for your thing first. I️ mean, I’m not retracting my thing. I’d still wanna dance. But I mean, you’re right, if I️ can figure out how to stop time, there’s no reason we couldn’t do all of it. Would probably be a little irresponsible if we didn’t.”

Strange, he has some vague memory about what she could be talking about. Except, its not really a memory at all, just more of an impression. Or is it? It feels hazy, and he can’t tell exactly what it is. Just, the remembrance or idea of Sabina’s voice, floating down, sounding a million miles away like it had to travel through water to get to his ears. He would have loved it, she’s saying. All he can see is black, and his joints hurt. But he can tell that whatever Sabina’s saying, it’s to Luna.

His brows furrow a little as he tries to trace it back.

“Did she... did we... did you...?”

He can’t collect his thoughts enough to string together a question, but he shakes his head, a bit of seriousness about him now.

“Okay, how about this. I️ don’t know what exactly it’ll take for me to do the time stuff, so maybe we catch a quick nap, and then I’ll see what I️ can whip up?”

"Okay, okay, that's fair, I suppose. A nap doesn't sound so bad anyways."

Luna laughs lightly, sitting up away from him no, pulling her hair back with her so it doesn't try to tie down his limbs, or really weigh him down by any means.

"Speaking of losing track of time."

A soft laugh escapes her again, eyes on a wall-clock not too far from them as she reaches her arms above her head and stretches with a small little groan. Somehow, in all of this, they've spent a little over an hour in the bath. It's probably to be expected with how much they discussed and her embarrassing breakdown, but it still manages to catch her off guard.

She moves from stretching her arms to twisting side to side to stretch her back out after they've both been crammed in this small space together for so long.

"Here, I'll get our towels."

Not that she really wants to move away from him, but she figures she can show more motivation and self-control than he can. That's usually how it goes. Standing, she lets the water drip off of her for a moment before stepping over the wall of the tub, her long hair hitting the floor of the bathroom with a wet slap as she pulls away, crossing the room to a bar with towels folded across it. She takes two, wrapping one around while she steps back over to him, handing the second one out for him to take.

"Let's go get you all rested before we figure out this time-magic, stuff."