all_inclusive | the moon was bright

She had found a door, finally, which made her heart sing, her blood stir in her veins. However high the ceilings may be in her room, however expansive the hotel grounds, they were still too contained, small. She was used to endless horizons and unknown territory, and the hotel was somewhat suffocating in that regard.

But this, here. A small door that she had seemed to just notice (or had it appeared once her longing became strong enough?) down the hall from her quarters, which she had to duck slightly in order to walk through. It had been carved from apple wood, with designs of flowers and fruit curling around the door handle. Once through, aware of the fickle nature of the Nexus, she had propped the door open with a large rock.

She had appeared out of the side of a rocky hillside, a natural formation which in her own land would have been used as some sort of watchtower or signal top. All around Tauriel was spring. Flowers were beginning to grow through the damp grass, and the air smelt fresh and warm. After a few trips through the door Tauriel felt comfortable enough to visit it often, with only her daggers and no other weapon.

This time, it was night. She found a spot on the boulders she could comfortably half sit, half lay upon, and she looked up at a glowing profusion of stars she did not recognize. She ached at their familiarity all the same, though; them and the heavy moon hanging low in the sky. There was more than enough starlight and moonlight to see by and, humming a soft melody to herself, she began to slowly braid her hair.

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While it could hardly be said that Crowley was one of those nature types, he supposed he did have a sort of wary appreciation for it, as he tended to hold for all forms of life these days. Of course, he preferred the comfort of gadgets and his nice flat, but he’d been away from the latter for quite some time now, and the first had evolved beyond his own remedial understanding in this new place that he found himself, decades into the future as he knew it. It left him feeling unmoored sometimes, but Crowley wasn’t anything if not adaptable, and he seemed to be rubbing along in this new place well enough with zero contact from the dark overlord.

Crowley was adaptable, and also exceedingly susceptible to boredom, turns out, as when he happened upon a door to a nice, scenic little overlook where there were stars and a moon when, upon having just left the hotel’s gardens there had been enough sunlight to make him grateful for his trademark sunglasses, he checked the sturdiness of the rock holding the door open with the toe of his boot before heading out.

There was a creature of some sort laying out on one of the rocks, he realized, understanding instinctively that she was not human but not knowing just what she was. He thought her ears were a rather nice touch, though, and all that hair had to be unwieldy and hard on her neck and shoulders, but that was hardly any of his business.

“’ello, there,” Crowley said as he came to a stop nearby and craned his head to look up at the sky. The heavens seemed strangely accessible from that vantage point, and it left him feeling strangely vulnerable, but not at all homesick. “Lovely night, isn’t it?”

Tauriel knew she was not alone; whoever it was, their footwear certainly wasn't built for creeping about in the darkness. Though, there was something about the newcomer that suggested that even if his footwear wasn't useful to that pastime, the rest of him was.

She turned her head, but only slightly, so that she did not ruin her braid. She was wary, but only to the minimum, for this person had come through the Nexus, and she had yet to find danger there so far (much, she sometimes felt, to her chagrin). "It is," she said, with a smile.

The timbre in the man's voice was familiar; so, too, were the curves of his face. It was somewhat dark, but Tauriel had keen eyes - the real issue was the set of dark lenses currently covering his eyes. Very quickly, her smile turned into a thoughtful frown.

"You..." she began, then trailed off. It was... not Bard. Was it Bard?

Crowley sometimes drew looks for some reason or another, and he thought that perhaps the lady's smile had drifted more toward a look of curiosity because he still wore his sunglasses in the starlight. He took a step closer to her as though he thought an invitation to do so would be the next words from her lips, and casually tucked his hands in his pockets.

"Me?" He said, wondering if she'd just implied he was also as lovely as the night, or if he was simply misunderstanding things. Of course if she had, well, he was wearing a new jacket and Crowley always took pride in being well turned out, if nothing else. "Have I got some barbecue sauce on my face or some such?"

It was amazing how much a change in clothing and behaviour could completely alter the way somebody looked. He had the same cheekbones, the same chin, but the hair was cropped and his face was smooth and beardless, like an elf's. Never mind he was wearing the sort of clothes she had seen on many men around the hotel who presumably had a lot of personal riches, rather than the somewhat haggard bargeman's coat. The lenses, too, were strange, altering him further.

"You look like someone I know... knew," she said. Knew because she had not seen Bard since the battle had finished. She had not been back since she had fled the mountainside. "I have not seen him in some time."

the moon was bright

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