The Many Weddings of Fettina

[Gullara]

[The Ceremony]

Kirk watches as the two ascend, none too impressed as he has been throughout really. Though the transformation, that takes him off guard. The drow looks upward with visible confusion. What just happened? he's not going to be able to truly interpret it until they're back at ground level.

[Morty]

[The Ceremony]

Fayyaad also watches Tina and Cantata float up, looking no less astonished than Kirk. Tina is... back to having a human body? This is good news, even if he has no real idea what just happened.

[Murkus]

[The Ceremony]

Tina smiles widely at Cantie as she pulls away. She holds the empath's hands and stretches out from her a bit, holding her at arm's length as she spirals back down toward the ground. As if whirling her in a slow dance, they land together, and it's only after a moment like that that Tina realizes her arms have changed. She can see them where they poke from her sleeves.

"Oh... Oh! That's what you mean!" Fettina pinches her bicep. Rolls up one of her sleeves. Touches her sides, her stomach. Reaches around and grabs her own behind. "It-- it worked! It worked! Hahah!" Fettina whirls and hugs herself, then rushes up and grabs Cantie. "It really, really worked! You were right!" She kisses Cantie again, and then covers her face in kisses.

"So?" She leans back from the no-doubt flustered empath and, grinning, turns her head from side to side. Strokes the backs of her fingers down each of her cheeks. "My real face. My real skin. You gotta tell me what you think."

Tina's family steps back to let her have her moment. Gelley leans on her sister, sighing. Even Naitiri smiles a little. Amari looks to the guests. He spreads his hands, and his voice rises to a basso boom belied by his soft-spoken appearance.

"We will be enjoying a reception right here on the chapel grounds to celebrate this most joyous of days. You are, all of you, welcome to stay! Eat! Drink! Love! For that is what today means."

[Arkhosia]

[The Ceremony]

At first Cantata jolts when Fettina starts to pull away, her arms moving to cling tighter - until she realizes that gravity hasn't started trying to take her, and the instinctual fear of plummeting down subsides from her mind. She glances down at her floating self before looking back towards Fettina, clasping the woman's hands and staring back in wonder.

Then the two come to a stop upon hard earth once more. Cantata stumbles back slightly when her heels touch the ground, offering her bride a giddy little smile before grinning in delight as Fettina pulls back and starts to feel her own body. She raises a hand to cover her mouth, trembling with silent giggles, then turns away and positively quakes with laughter, playfully pretending to try and fend off the sudden hail of eager kisses.

"My dear, you are never anything less than beautiful." Cantata's eyes are bright and heartfelt as she gestures over her face, ending the sign by lowering the closed hand over the nexus between her collarbones as if squeezing a beloved locket. She takes a step forward, absorbed in staring at the impulsive, talented, positively adorably gorgeous woman standing in front of her - so much so that she jumps a little when Amari raises his voice, as if she'd entirely forgotten there was anyone else here with them.

[Gullara]

[The Ceremony]

Kirk looks at Tina with disbelief once they're close enough to be properly made out again. He steps closer to the pair, wearing that stony expression that he does when he's concealing emotion. A fine enough disguise for most people, but he's not fooling Tina. "Fettina... Did you know this would happen?" He tries to interject when he has an opportunity to. It seems like he ought to be able to with the reception starting.

[Murkus]

[The Ceremony]

Fettina giggles in her usual tinny, harmonic tones, but they're a little pitchy with giddiness. This was nice. Even if it was a bit more serious than she originally intended. "Oh, please, that's such a non-answer. You gotta-- hmm?"

Here was Kirk! Tina is positively elated. She wants to share this feeling with her friend. But... something seems to be the matter. What was going on with him? Tina understood that he wasn't one-hundred-percent happy with Cantie, but she didn't think there was a reason for him to be seriously upset. She couldn't fathom one just now, at any rate.

"Well-- I-- I mean, what do you mean? Me turning back to mostly-normal?" Tina tries a smile. "I hoped I'd be able to change back. But I didn't really expect exactly this, no. I guess a part of me was really, really looking forward to the chance to be me again."

The angel wants to ask him what's the matter. She'd ordinarily be very direct about it, too, but the fact that he's going to the trouble of hiding his expression is rather telling. Tina would rather not draw out something that's going to hurt or embarrass him.

[Arkhosia]

The Ceremony

Cantata blushes and smiles self-consciously when Fettina starts to teasingly insist for more specifics, but her mood shifts once Kirk enters the conversation. There’s a brief flash of worry as she picks up a faint hint of what Kirk is really feeling through her empathic senses - bur then something shifts, and the bride puts on a steadfast, neutral expression as she raises an eyebrow.

No, she’s done trying to appease Kirk by shrinking from conflict and playing the part of helpless damsel. That’s not who she is - if he wants to confront her, and on her wedding day no less, he’ll find her made of sterner stuff than that.

Cantata doesn’t, however, move to address him - this is Fettina’s discussion for now, and she’s not sure Kirk can even understand her signing just yet.

[Gullara]

[The Ceremony]

Kirk process that, and gives Cantata a hard look. Then back to Tina. "Good. I'm happy for you." He'll then turn and start walking away. There's a bar around here, right? It's about time.

[Murkus]

[The Ceremony]

"Kirk-- hey! C'mon," Fettina holds her hand out after him. Her first urge is to chase the man... but that wouldn't be right. That wouldn't be fair to Cantie. She turns to Cantie with shoulders slumped and runs a hand over her braids. The angel sighs through her nose. "Sorry. I'll... I'll talk to him. I dunno. Let's just have some fun and focus on you for today."

Still, the urge to chase him remains. She can't quite quash it. That damn fool of a man.

[Arkhosia]

The Ceremony

Cantata returns with a rather unconcerned expression as Kirk shoots her a look, quirking an eyebrow as he stalks away. Her face softens when Fettina turns back to her, however. She shakes her head, raising a hand.

"No - please, go and talk to him. Something is clearly bothering him - and besides, it'll just eat away at you the longer you leave it." she reaches out and squeezes one of the angel's golden hands. "I'll mingle a little, maybe speak with your family - either way, I'll be still be here when you're done, and then we can have the best night between us that we've had in a long time."

[Gullara]

[The Ceremony]

Kirk will soon be found at the bar, drinking his troubles away. He leans against it, a tumbler in hand looking out at the crowd enjoying themselves. Their high spirits stand in sharp contrast to the drow.

[Murkus]

[The Ceremony --> The Bar]

Fettina smiles gratefully, squeezing Cantata back, and then flits off to find Kirk. It takes her a couple of minutes to catch up, and maybe a little longer to screw up her courage, so Kirk has a very brief time to himself before he'll hear the subtle flutter of wings.

When Kirk looks, Tina is there. She's folded her wings into herself by the time he turns around, somewhat eerily. She could be entirely her own self again if there weren't those spiral grooves on her arms leading down to turn her hands to gold.

"Hey handsome," she sidles up and bumps her hip against his, despite him being seated. She doesn't want to rush into asking 'what's the matter', or if he's 'okay'. Platitudes like that seem kinda insensitive or useless given the context of their complicated relationship. She feels like she might be able to mostly guess what's wrong, but she'd rather hear the whole thing from him explicitly. When he's ready. Even if she has to gradually coax it out of him.

So instead she just plops down on the carry-in barstool next to him. She sorta rolls her shoulders and extends one wing out so that it shades Kirk from the sun. Gives him a nice shadow to brood in. "I can do a fan, too," she says. She wafts air in his direction.

[Gullara]

[The Bar]

"Hey." Kirk greets, his voice pretty neutral. He cracks a small smile. "I'm surviving. Staying hydrated." He holds up a drink that's very much not hydrating. "I'm not pulling you away from Canti, am I?"

[Murkus]

[The Bar]

Fettina gives a pout. "Nuh-uh," she shakes her head once. "I wanted to check on you."

She tries to slide a hand onto his shoulder. "You're really important to me, you know that, right?" She wafts her wing against him and tries to reach over and turn his head so he looks her right in the eyes. There's no neon in them at the moment. They're a very common shade of brown that's made all the more striking by their presence on a face like Fettina's. Kirk's probably only seen her regular eyes a handful of times, but he is one of the few who has. "You wanna talk about what's bothering you? Lemme help?"

[Gullara]

[The Bar]

Kirk breathes out through his nose, uncomfortable, but he meets her eye. It takes him a long moment to work up to speaking at all. "It's... foolish. Petty." He admits.

[Murkus]

[The Bar]

The girl searches his eyes. "If it's upsetting you, it's not petty."

[Gullara]

[The Bar]

Another pause before he answers. She can definitely tell he's going through it. "Cantata got to be the one that helped restore your body. It should have been me." He says flatly.

[Murkus]

[The Bar]

Fettina lets that hang for a little bit. She slowly unwinds her slender legs and stands up next to Kirk's stool. She slips her twiggy arms around his shoulders, hugging him around the neck and putting the side of her face against his head.

"I'm sorry. If I knew that I could change mostly back, if I'd known what all it would do for certain, we could have at least talked about it beforehand. I'm sorry it bothers you," she, nuzzling him with her cheek. "You know why she got the first wedding, right? She found the idea to help me. It meant a lot." She squeezes him. "I didn't want it to hurt you."

[Gullara]

[The Bar]

"I understand. And I don't blame you. It's just-" He lets that hang in the air. Can he put it to words? Does he need to? He simply puts his hand on Tina's waist.

[Murkus]

[The Bar]

"It's okay," she whispers. "You don't have to say it."

"You don't have to say anything."

Tina decides that, even though maybe it doesn't need to be said, she is going to say it anyways. She wants to give something to Kirk that Cantie doesn't yet have - maybe that nobody has. Something that she's not sure if she's ever said, to anyone, and really meant it. If it could be said there's a way to fix this, to mend the situation a little, then this just might be it. But it's more than that.

She doesn't know if it's the right thing to do. Doesn't really know if it's fair to Cantata. But Kirk needs to know - maybe just now he needs to hear it. Maybe.

If she dies tomorrow, at least she'll have said it to somebody when she knew for a fact that it was true.

"I love you, Kirk," Tina whispers in his ear, her lips just barely touching him. And she plants a long, lingering kiss on his cheek to punctuate it.

[Gullara]

[The Bar]

Kirk places his hand on the back of her neck and holds their faces close together. He holds her close life that for a little bit longer, than manages a reply. "I love you too." A small shudder passes through Kirk, like a dam broke inside him.

[Murkus]

[The Bar]

Fettina tries to turn his face to kiss him properly this time. Really savoring it.

If he allows, she draws back with a giggle. She looks flushed and happy. "I gotta go for now. But you just try to enjoy yourself, okay? Go annoy Dena. And we can be together some more soon." She leans into him again, hands on his thigh. "I'll be all yours."

[Gullara]

[The Bar]

Kirk kisses her back, lingering for as long as he can. When she pulls back, he nods. "I will." His eyes are smoldering. "Soon." He promises. Once she's stepped away, he turns around, downs the rest of his drink, then gets up to find Dena.