Hmm, yeah, she should have expected that reaction. Well, she makes the best of it by licking the expanse of this throat. Tee hee.
"What I think is that we will make an extremely gorgeous couple and we deserve to make everyone choke with jealousy. And I think that a collection of archmages being plied with free wine could be a very valuable resource for new research leads." She boops his nose. "Aaaand at the very, very least, we can sneak away and make out in the library."
She has a point — she always does. Not only leads on research, but the possibility of thieving magical artifacts to sate his arcane hunger. There are more than a few wizards who will be in attendance that Gale thinks deserve it, enough to appease his conscience anyway. And besides that, Harley owes Blackstaff itself a blackeye or two. It had been a joy to Gale, a safe haven, the first place he felt understood, but he hasn't forgotten seeing it through Harley's eyes in her journals.
"We are going to end up going, aren't we?" he says, fast tracking the inevitable conclusion to this discussion. "You are a force of nature, do you know that?"
"We are, and I am." She favors him with another kiss and rubs his shoulders. "And don't you want to have me all fancied up on your arm?"
She rises from his lap and pulls him up with her. There's dinner in the kitchen. Some type of spicy stew and crusty bread, and a dry red wine. Stews are firmly on her wheelhouse now that Gale has gone through several basic cookery lessons. Advanced techniques are too fussy for Harley to stick to, but 'put everything in a big pot and leave it alone for hours' is more or less achievable.
"It's the perfect chance to use all that fabric we picked out. You know a good tailor, yeah?"
"I do want to see you all dressed up, making everyone around us jealous,"
he agrees, and then adds with a grin, "And I do know an excellent tailor."
After all, Morena Dekarios has never let Gale attend the Blackstaff Ball in
anything other than dazzling finery.
He lets her lead him into the kitchen, hand in hand the whole way. Harley
is always physical, which he's glad for, as touch starved as he's been.
"That smells wonderful!"
She glows from his praise. He would probably say it smells wonderful even if it was a burnt mess ruining their best stew pot, because he's endlessly kind and supportive and she's sensitive and prone to sulking, but she has improved and she likes to think she can tell when he means it.
She gives him one more kiss before taking their seats and playing footsie under the table. Harley tries to keep at least one point of physical contact at all times when Gale has spent a day absorbed in work. Like she has a quota to meet.
He does mean it. She has been learning to cook, but Gale has been learning too — mostly how not to be a pompous ass. She has gotten steadily better at cooking, less impulsive and more measured (literally willing to measure ingredients now), and Gale has gotten better at not stepping in to take over a task with the certainty he'll do better, doesn't offer unasked for 'constructive criticism'. He has also gotten better at making sure his compliments are genuine and not just conciliatory. Teaching her has become an enjoyable task, a bonding experience, instead of the frustrating chore it had begun as. He kisses her back, grinning as he sits down to eat and feels her foot against his ankle.
He takes a bite of the stew and considers it for a moment before nodding. "You really got the spice level perfect this time." He'd have added sun dried tomatoes, but he keeps that thought to himself. Gale never stops learning. "What were your thoughts on this coming spring, love?"
She tears into the chunk of bread and dunks it in the stew.
"I feel like maybe– unless we find something big at the alumni ball, maybe we're spinning our wheels here. Maybe other places have resources Waterdeep doesn't."
She watches his reaction to the suggestion carefully.
"What resources could Waterdeep possibly lack?" An instinctive reply, perhaps to be expected considering Gale's identity is so tied to his home city that he'd made it a part of his chosen name.
But she has a point. He eats for a few moments in silence, wearing his considering face. "It is a good time to travel," he agrees tentatively. Spring is stormy in Waterdeep. Gale loves storms, and has warded his house so thoroughly that there's no threat to the structure. Sometimes he sits out on the balcony and washes waves crash almost up over the railings. It does make travel around the city incredibly difficult, though. Hard to do research, hard to steal magical objects to sate his arcane hunger. "You are supposed to do the honeymoon after the wedding, generally speaking."
"I enjoy winter. They're harsh here, but still beautiful," he says, knowing
the timing of the wedding isn't really the issue here. He turns his hand
over in hers automatically.
He frowns. "You are right," he admits. They'll run out of resources and
contacts in Waterdeep eventually — not to mention their thefts (Harley's
and Tara's) are starting to draw attention. It probably wouldn't be a bad
idea to get him out of such a densely populated area, either. "We'll look
into where to go."
She squeezes his hand and leans over the table to kiss his knuckles, and then his frown.
"We have months to figure it out."
She isn't one for making a plan, but Gale will want to know every step before they take the first one. Knowledge gives him comfort. She'll let him have that, until the plans fall apart in action like they always do.
She can carry him the rest of the way from there, if she has to.
"Besides, it's good to take me out for a spin. I get itchy feet staying in place too long at a time. We're only going on a little tour and then back home."
"Itchy feet, hm?" he says with a fond smile. "I know I must seem a terrible homebody, but I used to travel, you know, before everything with the orb." Before the fear latched onto him like leg irons. He still worries that she'll get bored of him, that she'll feel a need for adventure that he's in no condition to sate, not like he is now. Maybe solving the itchy feet can be enough.
That kindles a warm little glow in his chest, almost enough to blot out the ever present pain of the orb. "A beautiful garden's worth."
That question stymies him a little, not because he can't think of wonderful places to go, but because most of his travels had been at Mystra's behest, in his duties as her chosen, which isn't something he wants to explain.
"I quite enjoyed Silverymoon," Gale says, but is that an exotic enough adventure? And she hadn't asked where he'd like to go again. "I think you would enjoy seeing Calimport, though."
She closes her eyes and pictures Gale, hale and hearty and uncursed, exploring distant cities. Probably, especially, the libraries. Silverymoon is renowned for arcane arts and universities, so she isn't surprised that he was especially fond of it. The thought brings a tender smile to her face.
"Excellent choices, love. We can be in Silverymoon for the Midsummer festivals, enjoy a mild winter in Calimport, and get to see any number of things getting from one to the other."
If hyacinths hadn't been his favorite before, they certainly are now. He smiles wistfully.
"That sounds like an excellent plan," Gale says, still unsure whether it's feasible, but willing to try if it will please her. She speaks, he blooms. It's as if she were his sun. "The ball is a more pressing matter to plan for, however. After dinner, go and get the bolts of fabric. We're going to the tailor this evening."
She would raze the earth for the sake of that smile. If she's his sun, then he is her moon. Tempering her uneven tides.
"You got on board so fast! I expected this to take more bribes."
She should have questions about a tailor being open for custom orders this late in the evening, but maybe Gale knows someone at a night market. Waterdeep seems to run at all hours and Gale's schedule has been as bad as hers as long as she's known him.
He waves a hand. "I thought I might speed things along. You were always
going to bribe me, and I was always going to capitulate." He grins, taking
her free hand across the table. "However, I do still expect bribes. I could
always change my mind about the whole thing, of course."
She twines their fingers together and brings their joined hands to her lips. "Oh, do. It's extremely fun to talk you into things." They both know very little talking is actually involved.
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"What I think is that we will make an extremely gorgeous couple and we deserve to make everyone choke with jealousy. And I think that a collection of archmages being plied with free wine could be a very valuable resource for new research leads." She boops his nose. "Aaaand at the very, very least, we can sneak away and make out in the library."
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"We are going to end up going, aren't we?" he says, fast tracking the inevitable conclusion to this discussion. "You are a force of nature, do you know that?"
no subject
She rises from his lap and pulls him up with her. There's dinner in the kitchen. Some type of spicy stew and crusty bread, and a dry red wine. Stews are firmly on her wheelhouse now that Gale has gone through several basic cookery lessons. Advanced techniques are too fussy for Harley to stick to, but 'put everything in a big pot and leave it alone for hours' is more or less achievable.
"It's the perfect chance to use all that fabric we picked out. You know a good tailor, yeah?"
no subject
"I do want to see you all dressed up, making everyone around us jealous," he agrees, and then adds with a grin, "And I do know an excellent tailor." After all, Morena Dekarios has never let Gale attend the Blackstaff Ball in anything other than dazzling finery.
He lets her lead him into the kitchen, hand in hand the whole way. Harley is always physical, which he's glad for, as touch starved as he's been. "That smells wonderful!"
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She gives him one more kiss before taking their seats and playing footsie under the table. Harley tries to keep at least one point of physical contact at all times when Gale has spent a day absorbed in work. Like she has a quota to meet.
"I've been thinking about the coming spring."
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He takes a bite of the stew and considers it for a moment before nodding. "You really got the spice level perfect this time." He'd have added sun dried tomatoes, but he keeps that thought to himself. Gale never stops learning. "What were your thoughts on this coming spring, love?"
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She tears into the chunk of bread and dunks it in the stew.
"I feel like maybe– unless we find something big at the alumni ball, maybe we're spinning our wheels here. Maybe other places have resources Waterdeep doesn't."
She watches his reaction to the suggestion carefully.
"Could be nice. Like a research pre-honeymoon."
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But she has a point. He eats for a few moments in silence, wearing his considering face. "It is a good time to travel," he agrees tentatively. Spring is stormy in Waterdeep. Gale loves storms, and has warded his house so thoroughly that there's no threat to the structure. Sometimes he sits out on the balcony and washes waves crash almost up over the railings. It does make travel around the city incredibly difficult, though. Hard to do research, hard to steal magical objects to sate his arcane hunger. "You are supposed to do the honeymoon after the wedding, generally speaking."
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"A winter wedding could be nice. Romantic."
She smiles and reaches out to touch his hand.
"Or whenever. But I do think it would be good to go."
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"I enjoy winter. They're harsh here, but still beautiful," he says, knowing the timing of the wedding isn't really the issue here. He turns his hand over in hers automatically.
He frowns. "You are right," he admits. They'll run out of resources and contacts in Waterdeep eventually — not to mention their thefts (Harley's and Tara's) are starting to draw attention. It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to get him out of such a densely populated area, either. "We'll look into where to go."
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"We have months to figure it out."
She isn't one for making a plan, but Gale will want to know every step before they take the first one. Knowledge gives him comfort. She'll let him have that, until the plans fall apart in action like they always do.
She can carry him the rest of the way from there, if she has to.
"Besides, it's good to take me out for a spin. I get itchy feet staying in place too long at a time. We're only going on a little tour and then back home."
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She cradles her chin in linked fingers and smiled at him.
"Where, among all your travels, would you most like to show me?"
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That question stymies him a little, not because he can't think of wonderful places to go, but because most of his travels had been at Mystra's behest, in his duties as her chosen, which isn't something he wants to explain.
"I quite enjoyed Silverymoon," Gale says, but is that an exotic enough adventure? And she hadn't asked where he'd like to go again. "I think you would enjoy seeing Calimport, though."
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She closes her eyes and pictures Gale, hale and hearty and uncursed, exploring distant cities. Probably, especially, the libraries. Silverymoon is renowned for arcane arts and universities, so she isn't surprised that he was especially fond of it. The thought brings a tender smile to her face.
"Excellent choices, love. We can be in Silverymoon for the Midsummer festivals, enjoy a mild winter in Calimport, and get to see any number of things getting from one to the other."
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"That sounds like an excellent plan," Gale says, still unsure whether it's feasible, but willing to try if it will please her. She speaks, he blooms. It's as if she were his sun. "The ball is a more pressing matter to plan for, however. After dinner, go and get the bolts of fabric. We're going to the tailor this evening."
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"You got on board so fast! I expected this to take more bribes."
She should have questions about a tailor being open for custom orders this late in the evening, but maybe Gale knows someone at a night market. Waterdeep seems to run at all hours and Gale's schedule has been as bad as hers as long as she's known him.
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He waves a hand. "I thought I might speed things along. You were always going to bribe me, and I was always going to capitulate." He grins, taking her free hand across the table. "However, I do still expect bribes. I could always change my mind about the whole thing, of course."
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