Stop and Smell the Glowbulbs
The sky wasn't familiar.
Well, that was normal, considering she was still getting used to the Dark World, but Susie still figured that whatever the hell was going on up there far above, it was supposed to be dark and ominous. Something to do with the whole "dark" part of the name "Dark World," if she had to guess. As if to contrast her few hours of experience, the sky was a brilliant hue of red and yellow, glowing like the sun's bigger brother in a fiery swath of warm colors that pierced at Susie's eyes. There was a reason she preferred the dark colors.
"Well, we're definitely heading in the right direction," Ralsei said from somewhere behind her. Even without glancing at the Prince, Susie could tell he was looking at the same brilliant canvas she was failing to get accustomed to. Exiting the lengthy caverns prior was bound to be accompanied with a gratefulness for any kind of color, painful or otherwise. Ditching his hat let Ralsei look up without restraint, even raising a hand to his eyes to block out some of the omnipresent yellow. "The sky is so bright…"
Susie snorted. "Two for two, Captain Obvious," she teased. Shouldering her axe, the girl let out a brief sigh of preparation. It was pretty hard to miss the enormous pillar of light piercing the heavens, being so bright as to threaten blindness, though that also meant that it was anyone's guess how far away the thing actually was. Susie hoped that it wasn't too much of a hike. Though, that hope was probably desperate at best.
Now that she thought about it, Susie's feet were definitely starting to ache. Not in that uncomfortable white-noise of pain that wearing shoes too small tended to cause, but rather the unbearable soreness that was unavoidable when walking for two hours straight in combat boots. Looking ahead, she could see vast plains of pink grass and stone, like a blanket of cotton candy laid over a rocky shoreline. The pink spread far off into the distance, dotted with various flowers of even more various colors. Most people would probably find the view appealing; Susie just saw it as dismal, wanting more and more for someone to just carry her to the Dark Fountain so she could give her feet a rest. Still, Susie wasn't one to vocalize her complaints, if only out of habit. Ralsei didn't seem to mimic that habit.
"My hooves ache," he lamented, sounding not unlike Susie's more annoying classmates. Though, feeling similar prevented Susie from teasing much about Ralsei's stamina. Kris glanced at the Prince, the thin line of their mouth somehow seeming curious. If they had any complaints of their own, Susie couldn't tell. She couldn't imagine metal greaves were any more comfortable than her boots. Their silence let Ralsei fill in the gap, turning back towards the human leader with a pleading grimace. "Can we please, um, take a break, Kris? I-if that's alright…"
Again, Susie opted against making fun of Ralsei. The walk had drained most of her obnoxious spirit. Plus, well, she was kind of past her malicious intents with Ralsei by now, anyways. One of the perks/curses of knowing him as well as she did. Kris mechanically moved their features to Susie, as if asking her for some kind of input. A gentle breeze swayed Kris's striped ascot.
"Eh," she grunted, pretending to look at the field before them. The rocky stone underfoot had been quick to transition from a dismal gray to the bright pink grass more akin to fur than foliage. Colorful plants and flowers dotted the dirt just a few feet away, none of them familiar to Susie. Most of them glowed. "I don't really care. I mean, if it'll get him to stop complainin'..."
Susie turned her sarcastic grin to Ralsei, tilting her head for added effect. Just as she expected, Ralsei brought up his palms defensively, ears shaking rapidly alongside his head's movements. "We can keep going if you want!" he assured both the monster and the human. "I-I just think that… well, since we've been walking for so long, surely we could all rest? At least for a little while? And, um… enjoy the view?"
Kris didn't seem to hear him. They kept their silent gaze on Ralsei, their thoughts as hidden as their eyes. Then, the human reanimated their self, stepping past Ralsei in a level stride. The two heroes watched their leader for a couple seconds as they walked into the field of flowers. Without so much as a warning, Kris held their sword out to the side, letting it fall to the earth. Then they relaxed their legs, falling into a lax sitting position with a harsh *THUD*.
Susie blinked, raising her eyebrows. Her yellow eyes wandered over to Ralsei's glasses. "Guess that's a yes," she shrugged. Ralsei visibly relaxed at the confirmation. After his own sigh, the Prince followed Kris into the pink grass. Needless to say, he was a lot more careful moving to the earth underfoot. Susie watched his feather-like movements all the same.
A quiet breeze filled in the following quiet. Ralsei offered a pleased smile to Kris, then turned back to see Susie standing right where she was, still awkwardly holding her axe. She didn't really know where to put her eyes, much less the useless hunk of metal she'd carried all the way out to wherever they were. From her peripheral vision, she could see Ralsei adjust his scarf in some nervous manner.
"Susie?" he tried, voice nearly a whisper. Clearing his throat took a couple seconds too long to sound very natural. "Why don't you join us?"
The monster girl feigned a grunt, rolling her eyes dramatically. She'd be lying if she said the thought didn't immediately cross her mind, but she was still getting used to the whole "friend" thing to act much on her own. "Sure," she huffed out. "Why not?"
Susie's ax fell to the ground with a dull clatter of metal, followed by the footfalls of boots tramping through the grass somehow both lazily and harshly. About three seconds later, she fell to the ground like a rock, not too far from where Ralsei had taken to sitting. Kris leaned a ways to the side to see her expression, subsequently showing that they had parted the hair from their eyes. It was hard to tell why.
Like before, Ralsei gave the girl a warm grin, not saying anything else. The warmth was a lot more impactful when it was directed towards her, Susie noted. Wasn't enough to get her to admit as much. Close, though. Instead, Susie just shrugged again, propping one of her elbows up on her knees. The flowers around the three swayed gently in the breeze. A few bulbs poked out from under Susie's boots.
"Hrm," Susie hummed to herself, looking at her boots. Badass as they were, they weren't the most comfortable things in the world. The current soreness she was trying to remedy was evidence enough.
Ralsei watched as Susie put her hands around the leather of her boots, leaning back a tad to try and shimmy off the footwear. One of the downsides of how well they fit was the obvious secureness with which they were fastened. A couple aggravated grunts later, and maybe a few swear words Ralsei pretended not to hear, the boot came off, soaring in a graceful arc some feet behind Susie before its counterpart followed suit. The girl resumed her "cool" pose immediately after.
"Better?" Ralsei knowingly asked. It wasn't often Susie could hear the joking tone from Ralsei of all people. That wasn't to say she didn't welcome it. The girl nodded, giving a cool "Yup," in response. She could've sworn the grass was magically softer than the boring green she had back home.
Again, the field fell to silence, each hero surveying the placidity of the flowers around them. Above, some yellow dots pulsed like stars, distant and glowing in the already-bright backdrop of the gold sky. Susie tilted her head at the sight.
"Hey," she spoke gruffly. Though she was just trying to get Ralsei's attention, Kris opened one lazy eye towards her as well. She tried not to let the red dissuade her as she motioned towards the distant glints of light. "You're from around here, yeah? What's up with that?"
Ralsei followed the direction of her hand, seeing the yellow spots up in the sky. A curious hum fell from his lips. "I am a Darkener," he told Susie, "but… I'm not entirely sure. Perhaps they're more glowbulbs? I'm not sure how they got up there, though..."
That didn't clear much of Susie's confusion. If anything, the Prince's answer only confused her more. "The hell's a glowbulb?"
Ralsei looked at her quizzically, as if trying to gauge if he was being messed with or not. Then he seemed to remember the gap in dimensions they shared, visibly perking up a tad as the thought hit him.
"They're a kind of flower," he explained simply. A furry hand spread before him, gesturing to the wide variety of plants surrounding the heroes. Susie guessed he was referring specifically to the bulbous plants that were glowing. "They have these yellow bulbs, and they, um… glow."
"Hm," Susie hummed. "That's strike three, Captain Obvious." An embarrassed blush rose to Ralsei's features, though he laughed off the girl's teasing. She was glad to hear as much; trying to walk the line of "endearing" without being too much of an ass about it, and all.
"S-sorry," he apologized. The boy's gaze drifted to a nearby flower, its petals a mix of lilac and violet. As he spoke, he half-consciously reached towards the plant, picking it without even seeming to realize it. "I… don't know too much about the area, admittedly. But the flowers are very pretty, don't you think?"
Susie did, but she still clung to her stubbornness (fittingly enough). "Eh," she shrugged. Her eyes swiveled back up at the distant lights floating ambiently against the sky. If she didn't know she was in a completely different dimension, Susie might've mistaken them for stars. "How'd they get up there, you figure?"
Her eyes stayed wandering above, curious. Ralsei's voice reached her ear holes after a brief delay. "Well, it's kind of hard to see, but I think it has something to do with the Fountain."
Susie moved her gaze to the blinding pillar of light so many miles away. Subsequently, she looked away, trying to blink the spots out of her eyes as Ralsei continued. "You see how the Fountain is yellow instead of blue? Maybe it, um… maybe the Fountain is inside a glowbulb. Or, at least, was created there? The Fountain might've carried a bunch of other glowbulbs into the sky."
That was as good a hypothesis as any. At any rate, Susie didn't know enough about the Dark World, magic, or botany to come to any better conclusion. She grunted in her usual form of acknowledgement, turning back towards Ralsei. Then she noticed a distinct lilac just next to his horn, proceeding to double take.
Ralsei's gaze was directed to pink grass, a nondescript blush tinting his cheeks a similar hue. It lined up with the self-consciousness of his features well enough. Just next to his horn, about at the threshold of the boy's ear, was the purple flower he'd picked just a few seconds ago. He'd taken to putting it in his version of hair; however it managed to stay in place, Susie wasn't sure. That wasn't exactly what was going through her mind when she was staring at the boy before her. The current thought in her mind was the same reason she found her cheeks getting a handful of degrees warmer.
"I-I, um," Ralsei stuttered, glancing at Susie's stare for only a second. If he had hair to part over his ear, Susie imagined he'd take to the nervous habit several times over. Instead, Ralsei tugged at his scarf, looking like he was contemplating burying himself into it in one of his usually shy tendencies. "I just, uh, thought it looked pretty, is all. And, well, it feels… thematic? In a sense?"
Susie would've leaned towards the former. Her eyes scanned over Ralsei's nervous features, trying to ignore how well violet and white seemed to fit together. Past Ralsei, Susie could see a questioning gaze from Kris, their eyebrow raised suspiciously.
"Y-yeah," Susie coughed. Was she supposed to tease him? A brief bout of panic almost defaulted her back into that "mean bully" trope, but the sight before also cancelled out the notion in about as much time. "It's, uh- y'know, I guess it kinda… fits. I guess."
Evidently, Ralsei was expecting the usual slew of teasing. His shoulders untensed themselves, blinking as he registered Susie's complete lack of mocking. Hearing any form of agreement was not something he'd prepared for. A grin began piercing his features; slowly, at first, then rapidly spreading his lips into a smiling curve like wildfire. He didn't say anything out loud, but his features said enough. God knows Susie was listening enough to hear.
Another thought reached Ralsei, and he looked back over the surrounding flowers with far more vigor than Susie had ever seen him with. His eyes darted from violet petals to blue stems. Eventually, the Prince settled on a blue flower seemingly lacking a stalk. The shape reminded Susie of a bell. With a mixture of urgency and care, Ralsei reached towards the blue, picking it from the pink grass before turning back to Susie. His legs scooted himself closer to the girl from under his robes.
"Here," he offered, holding out the flower. It was Susie's turn to blink in befuddlement, recoiling a few inches from how abruptly Ralsei had moved. A distinct sweetness emanated from the bell-like flower. Though, maybe that was just Ralsei's hands? Susie didn't want to know for sure at the moment. The rosiness under her freckles deepened, and she lifted her claws up defensively.
"N-nah," Susie tried denying, still leaning like Ralsei was holding a gun. Too many thoughts filled her head from so simple an action for her to treat the offer with any sense of normalcy. If she was lucky, Ralsei wouldn't notice. If she was really lucky, maybe Kris wouldn't either. "I-I don't, um, do... flowers."
Ralsei didn't appear to understand her immediately. One of his ears swayed to the side as he tilted his head. "'Don't do?'" he repeated, unsure of what Susie meant. "But, it's so pretty… or, wait- are you allergic? I-I didn't mean-"
"Nah," Susie denied again. She kept her pace as best she could, trying to ignore the sweetness just a foot from her nose. "I ain't allergic. Least, uh, I don't think so. I just mean, um, I'm not a 'pretty' girl."
A brief frown pulled Ralsei's eyebrows together. The flower lowered just an inch, but it was more to match his confused features than to rescind his offer. "Don't say that," he returned, leaning a tad closer. A unique determination shined from under his glasses. "You're very pretty, you know. Right, Kris?"
Whatever degree of blushing had been gradually lost over the past twelve seconds came back tenfold. Even if she was in a completely different dimension, Susie's face felt like she was currently dunking itself inside the sun. It was such an off-hand compliment, too. Kris, apparently enjoying the flustered sight before them, nodded confidently, grinning just enough to tell Susie that they were doing as much.
Normally, Susie would just tell Kris to shut up, falling back on her usual defense mechanism of clobbering. She was about to re-engage in that familiar routine before Ralsei halted her once again, leaning back towards the girl.
"Here," he repeated. Susie was too petrified by the honest compliment to offer any sort of resistance as Ralsei reached towards the girl's hair, flower in tow. Time seemed to slow down. She should've been berating him, saying he needed to get his glasses checked if he thought she was pretty, even roughly pushing his arm away. All Susie did in reality was stare at some point on the horizon, feeling the boy's cautious fingers weave the plant into her hair with so much ease that she would've figured this wasn't his first time doing so.
Around Ralsei's robe, Susie could see Kris watch with amusement before looking around at the flowers like Ralsei had. Whatever they did next was obscured as Ralsei leaned back onto his hooves, sitting back into the pink grass. His hand naturally trailed from Susie' hair to the girl's cheek. It seemed to hesitate in place for a moment- just long enough for Susie to make note of how soft his fur was- then moved back to Ralsei's side. Maybe Susie just imagined the pause in the middle.
"There, see?" he said assuredly. There was a pleasing confidence to his tone that managed to breach past Susie's internal fluster. Susie stayed quiet as he spoke, cheeks still warm. Crap, had he felt that? He could probably see as much, though. Either way, Ralsei continued, still sitting close to the girl. "It looks great on you, Susie."
Like one of those crappy computers back in the Librarby, Susie's usual gruffness lagged for a couple more seconds before half-heartedly returning to her voice. "Y-yeah, yeah, whatever," she tried waving off. Being so close to Ralsei prevented most of her usually over-dramatic gestures, though some part of her she'd never admit to owning would say that the trade-off was worth it. "I get it, flower boy."
Ralsei only smiled, treating the new nickname with a palpable eagerness. "I think I prefer that over 'toothpaste boy,'" he said with a light chuckle. Susie found herself laughing a little in response, fluster be damned. Even Kris gave a silent snort, leaning back into the pink grass in a more comfortable sitting position. They, too, now had their own flower waved into their navy blue locks, though Susie couldn't recognize it.
Once again, the three heroes fell to quiet, enjoying the respite as much as prophetic legends could. Ralsei moved to give Susie some space, though she noted that he wasn't quite as far as he'd been when Susie first fell to the earth. She wasn't complaining. Yellow bulbs danced on the wind above alongside the pink grass of the fields around them. Susie scratched at her cheek, then cleared her throat.
"Y-you're, um…" she said in a half-whisper. Piqued, Ralsei moved his green eyes to her, seeing the anxious blush spread over her snout as she spoke. "You're… pretty, too, by the way."