Random 105

He glanced upward at the sky. "If I asked you to call me that, or more or less naming me that?" Sebastian replied, worried Sylvie might take it the wrong way. It felt important, somehow. He was tired of being called all those names by people who had little to do with him or just stuck with the stories. He closed his eyes and waited for backlash.

"Oh. You did ask me for a new name before, didn't you?" She gave him a look, wondering why he seemed nervous. "I rather like 'Sebastian', but if you want to start over with a new name, I guess Sammeh works, if you like it."

He looked relieved the moment Sylvie had her say. "Tell you what," the half-elf said, momentarily frowning at the sight of a dead cat. "Let the rest of them call me that. I like how it sounds, but..." He skirted another puddle. "But you, just call me whatever you want? If you like Sebastian, call me Sebastian. And if Fuckwit should suit me, well, you can call me that, too." There was a hint of humour but quite a lot of seriousness to his tone, mixed.

Sylvie, by contrast sounded impish. "Sebastian for private moments? I could live with that."

That broke his last and final bastion -- all the nervousness and fear disappeared once the tone of Sylvie's words hit him proper. He bursted into laughter, putting one hand on his knee and pulling Sylvie closer with the next. "Damn you, we could both live with that," he managed between laughs.

Sylvie leaned her forehead against his temple and said, with emphasis, "But not with people watching." She was grinning, even if they were making a spectacle of themselves already.

"That... did not help, Sylvie," he chuckled between wheezes. "Damn you," Sebastian continued, still trying to contain himself. It didn't work too well, but he managed to keep his laughter down to snickering as he more or less dragged her along after his outburst.

"The first moment... the first moment we get out of sight, you, pretty little willow, are in deep trouble," Sebastian said playfully, grinning.

Sylvie lengthened her stride a bit but at the same time pulled back on his hand for him to not overdo the hurrying. At his "threat" she raised an eyebow. "You think?" After a nod and in slightly less impish tone she changed the topic, "So, am I collecting nicknames now, too?"

"You might already have," Sebastian said, still grinning. "I shall call you Willow, Poppy, but first and foremost, I'll call you Sylvie. Also, yes, I think you are in trouble."

He did slow down when it came to the pace.

"How so?" In part, she wanted to make sure they were in the same page here.

"Because I want to drag you off to the nearest bush and stay there huddled with you for a long time?" Sebastian suggested. "Don't worry, I won't, unless it's favourable in your mind."

"Well, it's still rather muddy and public. Even if the first turns out unavoidable, the second should at least get less of a problem after nightfall."

Sebastian chuckled. "But you're not opposed to the idea apparently."

She put on a baffled expression. "Should I be, now? I thought we agreed there were things to talk about, not in public." There was a tiny wince. In hindsight Sylvie wasn't sure bringing that up again just that moment had been a good idea.

"I was flirting with you," Sebastian said with a smile, looked at the path in front of them and flexed his neck, growing more serious. "We're agreed on that. I just... tried to -- I wanted to hear you laugh."

She sighed, smiling. Voice warm and gentle, she said, "I don't find being in trouble that funny. But thanks for trying."

"Trouble is never funny," he murmurred, stubbled cheek against her temple. "In any case... I owe you a song."

Clearing his throat, Sebastian began to sing. It was rhythmical, in a language Sylvie would not have known, but it was quite apparent that he was at least a passable, average singer. Perhaps not good enough to make a career out of it, unless he settled for being a background singer.

Partway into the song, Sylvie noticed that both of their steps were falling time with it. She let the melody fill her mind for now, leaving no place for worries. It wasn't complicated, repeating soon - it could go on forever.

Despite the mud sucking on her boots, despite the sheer weirdness of the last few days, despite too many things unsaid, it helped her snatch a while of quiet contentment. That may not have been quite as obvious as all-out laughter, but it still felt good.

She did not say anything, watching the road ahead, wanting to give calmness some time to take root.

Once he was finished with the song, Sebastian stole one glance at Sylvie, narrowed his eyes and raised his eyebrow. With a slight twitch of his lips, he decided to throw caution to the wind (balmy and warming) and launched into another song, eyes firmly on the road. It, too, was in another language, one different from the last, and a slight rasp entered his voice when he sang it -- it, too was rhytmical, and suited his range far better.

To be honest, it was closer to home in terms of language and speech patterns for Sebastian, so he felt more comfortable.

Once he finished, he sighed and looked at Sylvie again.

She smiled at him for a moment, eyes nearly closed. "Very nice, both of them."

The street started climbing uphill. Sylvie saved her breath. The ground was firmer, more gravelly.