Confrontation

After the events that unfolded at the ball, Liandri peered at herself in her quarters back at their usual place of residence. She sighed heavily before shape shifting into her older self.

Do I come see him like this, or like my usual self? Ugh I'm so unsure, where in the blazes is Miso when I need him?

She brushed through her now auburn hair as it flowed past her shoulders, gave herself a rather valiant nod before striding out of the room on the search for Isaan. Liandri didn't pass anyone on her way, the residency appearing seemingly quiet for once. Before long Liandri was outside Isaan's room, she looked up at the large scaling door and took a deep breath, readying her hand to knock.

Can I do this?

He hadn’t seen it coming. His heart had been beating, for the least likely person he could imagine. Part of him wondered why it hadn’t done so sooner, but he had decided that even this devil curse had some sensibility about it, and so while Liandri had been hiding in the form of a child it hadn’t recognised her. Either that, or her ability to shapeshift was so flawless that her conventional form could even fool the devil heart, which was an amazing feat in and of itself if proven to be true.

But really, he wasn’t sure why he was so surprised. Now that he stopped to look back on it, she had always been at his side and he had always kept her close. Naturally he had thought his keeping her near more like the act of a protective big brother, or a father - that second one was a little disturbing now considering the circumstances - but never had he considered any other alternative.

He was in his office alone, sitting behind his desk with his feet up, flicking his lighter open and closed while trying to get his head together when he felt it. The first thud caught him by surprise, then the steady rhythm of his heart settled in and he looked over at the door. She hadn’t even knocked yet, but the proximity was enough for his heart to react and the fact it was beating, it meant that behind the door she was in her true, adult form, about to come and see him.

Isaan practically sprang to his feet and walked around his desk toward the door, hesitating for a moment as he reached for it, before grasping the handle and opening it slowly.

“Liandri?” He questioned, opening the door fully to peer out at her.

Well, excuse me mister paranoid, springing up suddenly and bolting to the door just to open it.
Liandri smiled nervously as her hand still stayed in the knocking position.

"Er...hello...Isaan."

She looked straight at his face with some hesitation, which was rather an odd experience for her. Being at this height she felt more compelled to kiss him at every turning second, she had the urges to do so every time they were together, but she doubt Isaan would appreciate kissing her in her usual shape-shifted form altogether.

As her thoughts wandered around her head, she proceeded to turn a bright red, though a small, satisfied smile stretched across her face.

"You asked me to come when I was ready. I'm not sure if I'm ready, but I can't stay away from you this long, not talking. This is the longest we've been apart with not talking to each other, I can't take it."

She shook her head, trying to look as chibi as she normally would, obviously failing due to the lack of 'normal' shape-shifted form. Instead her bottom lip wobbled slightly as she faintly held back a small bout of tears.

Isaan stared Liandri down silently for a moment when she greeted him. She was stood there in the same form he had encountered at the ball, a beautiful young woman who didn’t deserve to be hidden from the world. But he knew why, after all he knew all of Liandri’s secrets and why she kept them, from her the form she usually took to the reason she hid one of her eyes from sight at all times.

“Hello, Lia.” He said, pushing the door of his office open fully to let her in.

His back was to her when she began to talk again, the things she said making his beating heart flutter - as if the thing wasn’t obnoxious enough already with its incessant beating. He froze for a moment, then turned to face her again with his purple eyes glowing in the dim night light of his office, the candles the only thing illuminating anything in the room right now including the two of them.

“You’ve been at my side ever since the day I found you, always clung to my sleeve or fetching me drinks, making me food, doing my housework.” He paused, taking a steady breath. “You never complained once. More so, you seemed to look happier the more you were doing for me, but I didn’t once imagine...”

There was a moment of silence and Isaan lost all of his composure, the way he’d come to carry himself with confidence and swagger, head raised high - it all came tumbling down. His shoulders drooped, his face turned troubled and showed the weight of what he carried around with him for the first time in a long time, even around Liandri he didn’t show this side of himself often but she was the only one to see it. The only one he allowed to see it.

“I forgot that form you wear isn’t you. That you’re not a child, but a grown woman... almost as old as I am.” He took a step closer, placing the back of his hand against her cheek and gently stroking across it. “I’d never imagined you could be more than the girl who holds my sleeve, but now I see you like this, I want nothing more than for you to be... more.”

Liandri hesitated for a moment, her eyes attempting to keep their colour, going back to her emerald green and red as she embraced the moment. She looked down at his hand and back to him.

He feels the same way, I can't believe it, after all this time. All this time, these centuries I've waited hand and knee for the one man I want to spend the rest of my time with, the man I want to protect until both of our time is up, if that even happens. An eternity, I can live with that.

A smile spread across her face before she started talking.

"I don't know if this is real or not, my feelings didn't develop over time, they just hit me. I do everything I can do you because you're my world Isaan."

She placed her hand on top of his, feeling his heartbeat. This was the first time she had even felt it, and it struck her like a brick to her head.

"I love you too."

Her eyes widened, not momentarily, but for the entire duration that she froze on the spot. No thoughts flowed through her head, nor did she even continue breathing for the brief moment in time that she was froze, just staring at Isaan.

The hand over his heart caused a noticable flutter to accompany the steady beat, a slow breath being drawn following it as Isaan stared down at Liandri, unable to find the words to say as he knew there was no denying or hiding his feelings anymore. The look on Liandri's face said it all, she could feel the steady rhythm in his chest and it shocked her, but what struck Isaan were the words that followed the moment of silence between them.

Isaan placed his hand over Liandri's as it remained rested upon his chest, gazing down at her in silence again for a moment. Then, suddenly, he pinched the back of her hand firmly, enough that it would actually hurt before he stepped in with his other hand raising to her cheek before she could properly cry out, catching her lips in a tender kiss as they parted to do so. The hand that had pinched the back of her hand now rested on it again, clutching tightly as though to nurse the dull pain left behind.

Once the kiss broke again, after several long moments and with Isaan's face still close to Liandri's, he gave her a loving smile the likes of which she'd unlikely seen him give anyone before her.

"Now you know it was real." He said quietly, referring clearly to the fact he'd pinched her just before kissing her. "Just like the heart beating in my chest."