[FoP - Day 2] Sleepless Nights

The dreaded moment had come. He had to push through the worse headache he had in ever, this was even worse then when he went drinking with Ezekiel. he swallowed, thinking back at that night. It had been weird, it had been one big blur. But slowly, over the following days, memories had come back to him. And he did know that he was not proud of what had happened. But granted, that was yesterday as well. Deimos rubbed his eyes, as if that would make the headache disappear and noticed how the room was still somewhat spinning. How much alcohol did someone need for the room to still be spinning a full day later. He had used most parts of this day to gather his stuff and keeping himself calm. Was it smart to douse his nerves with alcohol? Absolutely not, but he had heard that the best way to fight a hangover was by still be drinking. So, that was what he was doing. He wasn't as far gone as last night, which meant he could still speak full sentences and he knew what he was doing. But it made him feel a bit more secure about what he was going to do. Deimos had picked up his bag and looked outside, the sun was setting and soon the night would come out. He had chosen this moment especially because it would work out perfectly for both of them. And thus, when he noticed the latest rays of the sun disappear, he walked over to the chambers of the young lady Rizal and knocked on her door. "Fauna, would you fancy a walk with me?" He asked, hoping his voice was less shaky than he thought it would be. It was now or never.  

The moment the words had rolled over his lips, the anxiety and panic started to set in. He felt his heart beat in his throat, a knot forming in his stomach and his hands got all sweaty. He wiped them against his pants, took a few deep breaths and tried to keep his head focused on what his plan was with all this. What he had to do, what he was going to do. Yet, he felt things slipping, his courage was the fist. He swallowed dry, tried to get the lump out of his throat when he heard her voice. Deimos looked up when the door opened, stumped by how beautiful she looked. Maybe he had to believe everyone he had spoken with about this, he was a lucky man to be paired with her. He was taking aback about this all, without noticing that he was staring. Slowly shaking his head, waking himself up before forcing a smile on his face. "You look gorgeous." He spoke softly, before offering her his arm. "I hope I didn't ruin any plans you had for today? It is a day of rest after all." Looking past her, he tried to remember what he wanted to do. Right, outside, that was the first step. Oh dear Lythrana, this was going to be rough.

Once outside, in fresh air, Deimos started to feel both the alcohol still in his system and the rests of yesterdays alcohol that was trying to get in his head. He wasn't spinning, yet, but he felt a headache creep up. Carefully guiding Fauna to the place where he had paid way too much for his surprise. Hoping that nobody was going to be bothered with that. The first few days he had been here, before the festivities had start, he had found a adorable little restaurant and with a little bit of persuasion he had gotten himself a private table. And thus he guided her to this restaurant, trying to keep a conversation going. "Do you miss Raveryn?" He asked, genuinely curious. He himself missed Moonbright, from the moment they set foot in Lythrania. So he was wonder how bad it was by moving from one land to another. "Especially coming down here, in Xaila. Has to be quite a change." This was going nowhere and he hated himself for it. But it was the best he could do at this moment.
Thank Lythrana when he noticed the restaurant come into few. "Please, wait here for a moment." He told Fauna with a smile, kissing her hand gently before walking inside. He swapped a few words with the owner, gave him a little sack with coins. The owner smiled and walked with him outside. "Sorry about that." Deimos apologized to Fauna, before linking his arm in hers again and following the owner to a small place outside of the restaurant. There was nothing but a table for two, small fountain on the side and a glorious view of the city. "Please, take a seat." Deimos walked up front, moving her chair so that she could sit down.

It seemed to be going well, somehow. She had answered his questions with a somewhat sarcastic answer, but he could appreciate the humour. He even chuckled at some of them, still somewhat stunned by her beauty. Chaska had praised him for his bride to be, but he knew that she wasn't in the wrong corner either with Ezekiel. Of course did that feel different, with him being family and all. But still, maybe it was true. Maybe he should call himself lucky that a woman, not a girl, a woman, like her wants to marry him. He smiled shyly when she called him handsome. "That means that these looks serve at least one purpose." He answered while locking his arm into hers and leading her outside.
The sun tried to blind them when they stepped outside, but it quickly faded. He wondered if he should have helped her with anything, but it would only look stupid to place his hand above her eyes to protect them against the sun. Maybe next time, he could bring something for her to avert her eyes from the sun. Deimos felt how his thoughts were trying to spin out of control and he took a deep breath, before leading her to their destination.
He tried to make some small talk in between, hoping that she didn't mind. The eternal silence only made his thoughts go even wilder and he didn't want to all to fail. If his plan worked out the way he wanted it to, he had conquered at least one thing. Fauna told him that she missed her family mostly and he nodded. "Isn't some of your family here for the festival?" He asked curiously, he had seen some members of the Rizal family, or so he thought at least. He had heard the name at the party and had assumed that they were here. And granted, Deimos knew of one Rizal and that was a man he hadn't seen here. That one had stayed with his older sister back in Lemuria. "I can imagine that. It must be quite a shock to go from the freezing cold to this blistering heat." Even he didn't like all this heat and he was used to the tropical weather of Moonbright, this was just a bit too much for him. His question got bounced back to him and he looked into the distance. "I miss Moonbright, mostly. Lythrania was never truly my home, we moved there once word got out that Chaska had to marry Ezekiel. Moonbright is a much better place. I'll show you once we're back in Lemuria. If you want to, of course." Deimos felt how his cheeks flushed a bit when he spoke about taking her back to the place were he was born. He would show her how pretty the city could be, without living under a dome. But he couldn't think long about it, as their destination was coming up. He smiled only once she spoke about how lovely she thought the place was. That was good point, he was making progress. He excused himself, before only slightly bribing the owner of the establishment. Once he returned to her side, he gently guided Fauna towards the back and showed her just how pretty Al-Qahil could be. He held out her chair for her, smiling from ear to ear when she told him she was blown away by all this. "I'm glad you like it." He spoke softly, almost shy, while he took place on the opposite of her. "I've told them to work with some Raveryn flavours, they couldn't promise me everything, but tried their best." He had been working hard all day to do this, or even longer. As he had tried to make some arrangements before they got on the boats even.
Sitting here, in silence, made him even more nervous, so he was glad to see that a waiter came out with some coffee and the first platter. It looked like they did indeed tried their best, as the platter was filled with the commonly found fruits from Xaila, mixed in with small sides of body warming meats that you would expect from a Raveryn household. "Thank you." He told the waiter, before getting up from his chair to help Fauna, waiting for her permission. There was still a chance that she wanted to do it herself, and he would let her if that was the case.