“Like…” she paused for a moment, listening and thinking. “I guess it sounds the way a mermaid or some other underwater creature would feel. Like there’s all this beauty around you but there’s always an underlying note of danger. It’s probably hinting at some sudden music change later in the piece.”
August gave a sad smile and a slow nod. “It seems like it would sound nice,” he said while signing. He considered asking her to hum it for him, and he could feel the vibrations on her throat, but he wasn’t sure how to ask that.
//hum?
(Ah yeah, sorry)
//it’s fine, I was just confused
She watched Charlie and Chakuro come back in, arms around each other. She looked over the entire party, seeing the nobles who were eagerly reaching out to meet the twins. On cue, a man and a woman - both dressed in white and black, like a checker board - approached the two.
“Oh hello! Princess, yes? Princess and Sir.”
They spoke too fast for August to read their lips, and he glanced over at Noa with a nervous look in his eye. This is exactly why he didn’t want to come. He was top different.
She put a hand on his arm gently, as reassurance. “Yes, Miss. Is there an issue?”
August exhaled softly at the comforting touch as he watched the man and the woman, adding a bit more strength to the illusion of the mask over his eyes.
“No, no, we just wanted to ask for a small demonstration,” the man interrupted what was possibly his wife. “Of your powers, you know?”
Noa flinched and exhaled slowly. “I’m not sure that!s appropriate, sir. You’ll have to take it up with the king.”
The woman waved away her words. “He’s distracted by his lady.”
August managed to catch a few words, and he glanced over at the pair, resisting the urge to chuckle. Yes, he wasn’t fond of sharing his twin, but he loved to see her happy. He looked back to Noa with a questioning look. “Should we?” He managed to say, the usual stutter in his tone.
“If you want to,” she replied, signing as well. “My transformations tend to freak people out, so I might not.”
August nodded a tad. He could make the pair feel things, but he didn’t want to show what he was fully capable of. At a decent pace, he weaved an illusion over the woman’s dress, changing the color and the feeling of the fabric to something different than the original.
“Oh!” She laughed. “Edward, look at this. Why, young man, that is spectacular. Spectacular! Do it again!”
Noa winced. They were making August sound like some circus act.
August smiled in a slight embarrassed manner and made the illusion fall from teh dress in a trickling way. He glanced over at Noa, eyes scanning over her reflection.
“Now, princess, what about you?” The lady asked, turning to Noa. She refused to make eye contact, however. Sighing, Noa started to speak.
“I could,but it will shred my dress, so I’ll have to excuse myself for a moment.”
August frowned softly as he read Noa’s lips, catching bits and pieces of what she was saying.
She signed a basic version of where she was going to August and left the room. Fairly quickly, she was back in nothing but her black leotard and leggings. Sighing again, she looked at the woman and shifted into the kestrel.
It was almost grotesque, and the woman looked slightly shocked,mbut that faded as soon as Kestrel-Noa took flight. “Oh, lovely! Absolutely stunning.”
August smiled as he watched Noa. To him, he thought her ability was amazing.
She circled above August, almost like asking permission to land on his arm. The woman laughed as her husband started to get more onlookers.
August looked up at Noa and his smile grew. He held out his arm a bit for her to land on, feeling a giddy excitement in his chest.
Charlie frowned as she watched the pair of nobles make August create illusions for them. As if he was some pet. As if on cue, a lean, blond boy approached them, a huge grin on his face. She recognized him immediately. Caspian, the prince of the Beldish lands. Handsome. Boyish. Arrogant.
"I hear that a new King has ascended to the throne. So, I thought that I must meet him." Caspian began, bowing to Chakuro and kissing the top of Charlie's hand. "And of course, I couldn't miss the twins."
He turned towards Charlie, his light blue eyes narrowed and darker. "Tell me, do you have a 'blessing?' Or whatever those priests call them now. In Beldain, we believe that these are signs of the underworld."
She cried out and landed on his arm, carefully adjusting herself over the fabric so her talons didn’t hurt him. Seeing Charlie, she called again in her direction, trying to get her attention.
She cried out and landed on his arm, carefully adjusting herself over the fabric so her talons didn’t hurt him. Seeing Charlie, she called again in her direction, trying to get her attention.
August was full on grinning like a madman now. Even though it was still Noa, she was a bird now, and he hadn’t gotten this close to any animals, for that matter.
Her head turned to watch the nobles,and she suddenly wished she’d picked a more intimidating shift.