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Scott laughed quietly to himself, trying and failing to keep the corners of his mouth from twitching up into a smile. It was a hard task! Nom had just lost to him for the fourth time in a row, and said knight was pouting about it, his arms thrown up in disbelief and frustration. “How!? You got two straights and then three ones!” Nom complained, handing over a haphazardly put-together bouquet of flowers that was Scott’s prize. The things they were betting against each other were overall inconsequential, but Scott was still very happy to receive more flowers to add to his growing collection, even though he was also betting flowers against Nom.
“I’m better than you at Farkle now,” Scott teased, straightening out the lilies threaded through his blond hair that were sparkling with overflowing magic. The grass was starting to creep up around his legs from where Scott was knelt down by the Farkle table Nom somehow always had with him. That man was addicted.
The knight shook his head, a smile pulling at the edges of his face. “At this point, maybe!” Nom agreed, preparing another bundle of flowers to bet—the yellowish-orange daisies growing right next to him that seemed to have sprouted up from nowhere were also added to Nom’s bouquet. “I’ll beat you this time,” Nom promised, grinning in spite of his losing streak; honestly, it was only fair after he’d beaten Scott in so many games.
“That’s what you said the last three times.” Scott teasingly reminded him, gently brushing his hands through the soft petals grazing his fingertips; they felt akin to the feathers, like the ones Eloise always dropped.
When was the last time he’d let his magic overflow like this? It was something Scott avoided doing most times because of the… side effects that sometimes came with his innate magic. He still didn’t have very good control over his own abilities, and that could be catastrophic if he let it get out of hand, so he kept the swirling power in his veins still, refusing to let out any more than necessary. It was fine, the constant burning just beneath his skin didn’t hurt, or well, it didn’t hurt anymore after all these years. Built-up magic had the tendency to- explode, and if you didn’t let that happen, then it would try to get out in different ways, for example: pain. The burning would build and build until one day a mage collapsed under the pressure and let their magic infiltrate the world.
Scott never wanted his magic. He didn’t get to pick it, he didn’t study for it, he was just the unfortunate soul who had to learn to live with the thousands of flapping butterflies under his skin, never quite breaking the surface but never staying dormant either.
At least in small, controlled settings such as this, he was free to let his magic run wild. Scott’s emotions always seemed to have a strange effect on what his magic did; the dozens of flowers surrounding him were a good example of that. Joy was easy to come by when hanging out with Nom, his presence alone radiating an aura of warmth that wrapped around Scott like an embrace.
“Ah, there ya’ go! Triple ones!” The mage pointed out, cheering Nom on in this game of mostly luck. It was worth it, though, to see the spark in Nom’s eyes light up and his smile grow wider. Bragging rights were meaningless when the expression flitting across his friend's face was priceless. Scott let a burst of bright glittering magic seep into the ground, cascading out from his fingertips. Almost instantly, the air became saturated with different floral scents accompanying the new flowers slowly creeping towards Nom— Scott was exceedingly careful with making sure the petals only gently brushed against Nom, never letting the more thorny flowers anywhere near.
Nom glanced at the slithering plants with a curious but glimmering eye before turning his attention back to their game. “Finally! Now, to hope I don’t farkle next round.” He grinned, absentmindedly reaching out to thumb some of the flowers, twirling their stems through his fingers. Scott blinked at the fact that Nom didn’t seem alarmed by his flowers but quickly shook himself out of his trace, focusing back on the six dice in his hand.
Of course, all the dice gave him nothing, putting an end to his good luck streak. Well, it was fun while it lasted, considering Scott had never been particularly lucky. “Looks like I took the hit for you.” He laughed, blades of grass tickling him every time he shifted in place. A couple of yellow tulips wrapped around Nom’s sword laying nearby as he took his next roll, a teasing smile breaking onto his face.
“Well, thank you then, kind mage, even though that should be my job.” Nom voiced, trying to be a martyr in that way all knights seemed to insist on. Scott just rolled his eyes, tittering at Nom’s display and watching as the brunette banked two thousand(!) points in one round. Yeah, Scott needed to risk it now if he wanted to win.
The gods must have decided Nom finally deserved a win because Scott, after only banking one die, farkled, immediately letting Nom score an easy few points to secure his victory. “Yes! Only took a few tries…” Nom giggled, accepting Scott’s bouquet of flowers with open arms. The nature mage’s bundle was considerably more put together than Nom’s, aided by the fact that he had plenty of experience making bouquets. (He wasn’t the florist’s son for no reason…)
“Proud of you!” Scott exclaimed, not the smallest lie detected in his words, “You finally beat me.” He teased, making sure to put emphasis on the ‘finally’ in a way he knew would incite a reaction from Nom.
Just as expected, the knight took ‘great’ offense to that statement and tried to defend his honor. “Well, I’d like to see you try to beat me now that all my bad luck is gone! And I beat you at the start before the gods favored you for a few minutes.” Nom argued, laughing as a few flowers snaked around his wrists in challenge. “Your flowers were very useful, though, all those times I lost. Thanks, Scott!” Nom earnestly admitted, oblivious to the thousand of swirling emotions currently burning in Scott’s chest at the small comment.
His magic was… helpful? I mean- he knew that obviously, why else would he be drafted to the Blue Kingdom? But to hear that from Nom when he wasn’t even concentrating on controlling his magic and was just letting it seep into the landscape naturally? To hear that his wild, untamed magic didn’t just hurt, didn’t scar and cut until blood stained the soil, but instead helped was forcing Scott to sit still in shock, a flush of red covering his cheeks as he battled to regain his bearings. How could his magic ever be… good?
Apparently, Nom decided he hadn’t shut down Scott’s brain enough because suddenly, he, with so much care Scott struggled to think he deserved, carefully plucked one of the flower mage’s trademark lilies. Nom twirled it around in his fingers for a few moments before meeting Scott’s gaze, a smile permanently pulling on his lips while his eyes twinkled with amusement and fondness. He splayed his hand across the rough wooden table and shifted up to reach across the Farkle setup, stopping when his calloused fingers gently grazed Scott’s soft blond hair. The elf sucked in a sharp breath, feeling the heat radiate out from Nom’s warm body despite how cold his armor usually was.
The spark in Nom’s eyes didn’t disappear; if anything, it only intensified, chocolate brown meeting forest green. The lily grasped in Nom’s hand carefully came to weave between the golden strands of Scott’s hair, his touch feather light as he positioned the flower amongst the other lilies—something in Scott’s chest melted, the glowing orbs of light scattered around the area flickering with his emotions. Finally, after covering the tips of Scott’s pointed ears in a pink blush, Nom pulled away, satisfied with his work. The mage could do nothing but unconsciously let his magic out into the surrounding environment, a couple of wildflowers blooming unceremoniously under his hands.
“You needed another one,” Nom explained simply, a soft fondness leaking into his tone that made Scott’s heart beat faster at the sudden realization. It was a frankly simple action, just putting a flower in Scott’s hair, but it meant so much more to him. He wasn’t used to people caring for him; usually, it was always the other way round, and he had a feeling a certain knight was very similar to him in that way. Scott was slightly surprised Nom even noticed what type of flowers he kept in his hair, let alone that one had fallen out earlier when he himself hadn’t even realized. It did strange things to his heart and forced him to reckon with such care and attention focused solely on the mage who was always happy to blend into the shadows, even when light was his whole thing.
Nom grinned, tilting his head in a curious but amused way; like he could guess at the hundreds of emotions fluttering under Scott’s skin—and the thing was- he’d probably be right, he seemed to be able to read Scott like an open book sometimes. Luckily, the half-elf could easily repay the favor, picking up on the slight tells of Nom’s emotions just as quickly as he did.
Gently reaching up to touch the lily threaded through his hair, Scott suddenly snapped back to reality and remembered that he had never responded to Nom’s comment, instead deciding to listen to his rapid pulse. “Thank you,” Scott murmured, his tongue heavy in his mouth as he looked back up to meet Nom’s eyes. Somehow, the knight perfectly understood everything Scott was trying to say with those two simple words by just meeting his gaze, a small smile gracing his lips.
“Anytime, Scott,” Nom promised, so much earnestly coating his words that didn’t do anything to help Scott and his efforts to stop looking like the same shade as the nearby roses. This unbelievably sweet gesture wasn’t for show; nobody was watching. If a knight admits to caring about you and no one else is around to hear it, did it really happen? Yes, the answer was yes.
“Also, we should play Farkle again soon! I like hanging out with you, Scott. This was fun.” Nom expressed, running his fingers through the layer of flowers absolutely covering the mossy forest floor, a direct result of the burning magic in Scott’s veins tainting the air.A small, bubbling giggle came from within Scott’s chest, his eyes twinkling with mirth. For the longest time, he hadn’t really ever had anywhere to belong, especially now that Dad was gone, but… Scott didn’t think it had to stay that way. It turned out that Blue Kingdom’s inhabitants weren’t so bad… One might even say he liked this strange, possibly (definitely) troublesome assortment of people. “I- like hanging out with you too, Nom."