Welcome to Gaia! ::

Quote:

The Fireflies (6) : In the warm summer nights, little glowing lights begin to bob and dart through the city. Fireflies are mating, so this isn't uncommon in itself; in the past few days you've probably seen hundreds of fireflies. What makes these lights so unique is that they seem to change color; you might see a blue one, a green one, a red one. They flicker randomly, and something just seems off with them. If you come into contact with one, you will find yourself with a strange electric jolt. They cannot be caught, and will flicker away if you pursue too aggressively. This isn't the first time they've appeared in Destiny City, but no one's been able to tell where they came from or where they're going. No matter how quickly you chase them, they always seem to disappear before you can find any answers.

Aloysius ached, even if he didn't have any visible wounds aside from the odd bruise here and there after his operation in the Rift. While he managed to do reports and some light patrolling, he decidedly was on light duty more often than not, with the semester over on top of things.

Slowly making his way down toward the home gym, looking for his husband, he kept a hand held to his aching side since he knew Desiree and Agatha were out for the evening. He could allow himself a bit of weakness to show, especially since he was hoping to get some attention and care from his husband. Something outside flickered, not like a flash on a camera, no, something more organic, and he gazed towards the end of the hall but saw nothing in the dark of the window.

With a shake of his head and more slow steps, he made it to the right room and knocked on the door before pushing it open lightly. Everything hurt, not as badly as he might be if things had gone worse, but he was old and tired now. At least he felt it sometimes, even if he didn't want to admit it.

"Darling, care to join me lying down on the couch or in bed?" Something that wasn't him, trying to sit up and keep working on things. In the past, he would have worked through things, but over time, Liam had persuaded him that rest wasn't a bad thing after getting hurt.

Leaning his shoulder on the doorframe, he looked back down the hall to make sure nobody was around before responding. "Yes, though not as bad as the morning after everything." He knew he'd come home and gone to sleep while still mostly in his clothing, being too sore to really do much more, and Liam had been asleep already that night.

"That sounds perfect, especially since everyone else is out for the evening." Meaning he could be less on edge about being sore still. Agatha had been sour about things, avoiding him more than usual for the moment, even though he'd made sure to pull her back out of harm's way more than once during things. If anything, he was certain one of those instances was why his shoulder ached on top of things.

Whatever response he had seemed to pause as his attention was directed somewhere else for the moment before he looked back up at their face. "Do you want to shower first and meet me in the living room? It will give me a bit of time to get comfortable, maybe get some things to drink ready too."

"It could have been worse, especially with senshi involved, but nobody decided to be an imbecile and try seeing if their starseed made good bait..." Everyone had gotten the right idea, even as he went through things on the fly near the end.

With a soft sigh, he thumped the side of his head lightly against the doorframe. "I need a bit of time to get everything in order first, then I can let you know what I can." There were certain things he kept out, specifics that were tied to how things worked in the Negaverse, but he'd always done that, and there was that understanding there as long as what he withheld wasn't something that hurt him.

Leaning into the kiss, he turned with them as they stepped past, holding his side still as he followed part of the way before heading towards the stairs. "Maybe use the lavender this time, I do like that on you." He wouldn't say they stunk, mostly because he was usually too distracted in the moment. That and he thought it was never as bad as what they dealt with when he was still smoking constantly, or the small room he lived in when he was alone in his house in the city center.

"Just a trim though, not too much off... You know I like your hair longer." Looking over his shoulder before he started slowly down the stairs, he offered a teasing smile.

It was slow going, though, something he knew would take a few more days to get used to as he made it down the stairs and into the kitchen. It was a dull throbbing ache more than a sharp pain, punishing him when he moved in a way the soreness didn't want. Moving carefully, pulling down tea and setting up the kettle, he noticed another flicker outside one of the kitchen windows. This time, he caught it, a lazily glowing and bobbing light. Then another, a bit farther away, this time in a different color. Fireflies, maybe magic because of the color, but he found them nice to look at as he worked on things.

There were a few aspects of seasonal magic that he enjoyed, the meteor shower being the main one, but he could maybe add this one to the list as well. The snowy rabbits would be on that list as well, if it weren't for Desiree's hatred of the powder puff creatures. While he was lost in that chain of thought, he managed to get some of the cannoli and tarts out of the fridge. That bakery he went to started to make seasonal fruit tarts and had offered him a few extras as thanks for his weekly visit.

When all was said and done, the real struggle started as he put everything on a tray and brought it out to the coffee table in front of the couch, his side protesting the whole time. It was far enough that when he sat down, he felt the twinge of a sharp pain as an added protest before it eased down under his hand.

"It has happened, not exactly that way, but close enough, even if I was absent when it did happen." He let out a tired sigh with his words and nodded. He'd tell them what he could, what he thought would benefit them, and what needed to be known.

Hearing the shower shut off, he looked over the back of the couch towards the stairs as Liam came down. It wasn't the most comfortable change in position for his side, but he wanted to look. What surprised him were the two glowing fireflies, floating lazily around the house. "Oh... you let some things in, it seems." But they didn't look like they were actively trying to do anything other than float around. So maybe they were fine, he hoped.

Shifting to ease the soreness in his side, he leaned a bit more on the arm of the couch. "I brought everything to the coffee table for us, Desiree said she will be out with Agatha for a while tonight, so we can take our time figuring out what to watch."

"There are those who lack a certain self-preservation skillset in every faction, it seems... though I would like to say that perhaps our groups are a bit better off most times outside of those one-offs."


Waiting until they sat down, he nudged them slightly and then lay his head on their lap. His sore side was facing up as he rubbed it gently, trying to ease the ache from moving about more than he had been the past few days. "A movie sounds nice, something interesting, maybe a mystery?" Turning his head slightly to look up at them, he waited until they were settled to pull their free hand down to rest in his hair. It was easier to act than to ask, still, at least with some things, and he let out a pleased sigh as he relaxed a bit more.

The fireflies did as Liam had said, simply existing in their space without bothering either of them, so he was alright with that for the moment. Just one night of nothing going to hell during the holidays or summer festival was all he asked. At least it meant he could justify a break from what he'd been working on, given that the unaligned magic could skew the results of things.