“L-L-“ she started, but did not quite manage to finish, immediately turning her head away to hide the fervent blush that quickly burnt its image on her face. Mireille certainly had…..ways to talk about love and romance. It was one of the favourite topics in her novels. And, frankly, she accidentally or deliberately hit on girls somewhat often. But she could never….just couldn’t simply talk about these sorts of things with that kind of…immediacy. It just was too brazen! Audacious! Love had to be danced around, had to be considered carefully. One could not just ask someone out of the blue like this!

Hence, she would need to take a couple of deep breaths to calm down. It basically was a bit of a struggle until the embarrassment she felt was dwarfed about the embarrassment to react like this to something so basic and simple.
Only then could she harrumph and try to play this as if nothing had happened. “I came here looking for my brother. He always gets himself into trouble and never calls back. I found him already, so I just kind of…stuck around, trying to do…knighty things?” With nothing to draw upon in her current state and express this, Mirri was clearly stumbling her way through this conversation. Not helped by her apparent need to answer all the questions, even though she probably did not have to and kind of did not want to. Yet, it had come with a question mark, so she felt like she owed it. “And no, I don’t have…I mean I never actually had…you know….a lover or anything like that. I would like to but it’s just…..ahhhh.” Unable to fully bring that to fruition, she briefly hid her face in her hands, too embarrassed to do so.

The laughter did increase the embarrassment, of course, but it was also kind of nice. Part of the reason as to why Mirri did what she did was so that she could see people happy. Being around others who enjoyed themselves gave her something that few other things could. Plus, this woman had a nice laugh, too. Despite her blush, the knight was kind of glad now that she had not chickened out completely, since she did get to see the other this jovial.



“I don’t…..really mind sharing, I think. It is more akin to….I do not think others would be very much interested in these sorts of talk from me, so I keep it all to myself. I mean, if I just started talking about love, it would bother most people, right? They would just think that I was coming onto them. I don’t really like being a bother….” Her voice quieted progressively as she said this, not much above a whisper towards the end. It was only in the silence of the night that it could remain audible like this. Instead, she looked back up at the stars for a bit, thinking.

Oddly enough though, she would start up again soon, despite it not being needed. Maybe it was just a dam that broke by opening up just a little. Talking more about such embarrassing things became easier to her once she started at all. “I am not rushing or stressing, I think. If it means that I can find my lady, I am willing to be patient, for certain. Yet….I always worry that I might be missing a chance. Does that make sense? There are so many people that are interesting to me but that I do not properly engage for fear of being wrong about things. But I also worry that if I do not do so, I might miss out on something very special. It is very….difficult.”

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Briefly, she worried that she had said too much. The other had seemed kind of out of it, momentarily, and took a moment to reply. However, soon enough they were facing one another – awfully close, actually, even though they held a respectful distance. It just felt closer now, somehow. A brief shift in angle could easily have consequences like that, it seemed. There was a brief stopping of her breath, barely noticeable, but she managed to catch herself and keep the air flowing, after all.

And thus, she listened. Those words made sense and it was probably good advice. But she could already tell that they would be hard to follow. “That certainly sounds…reasonable,” she started, slowly, as she was still mulling it over in mind. Dating multiple people….it just sounded so different from the novels. Granted, when it came to longer-running series, then the hero or heroine usually dated someone new every book. But it always still read as if you just had no one forever, then found the one for life and were happily ever after. Dating multiple people sounded like it would inevitably lead to multiple break-ups, so more heartache.

But on the other hand….it just kind of made sense, didn’t it? There was a logic to these words she could not deny at all. Still….it just was hard. Continuing this was difficult to her, so she had to pause briefly. Most certainly, the sincerity and insecurity in her words would be audible, too. “But trying is hard. It always means risking to lose what you have. Like….if I asked you out right now, it would risk destroying this whole mood, would it not?”

Naturally, hearing someone talk about this so directly and easily made her blush even more. However, for once she just soldiered through it all, breathing deeply and not averting her gaze. It did feel incredibly weird like this. On most days, she probably would not have had the strength to do this. But with this backdrop, under this beautiful night’s sky? She just felt different. Stronger, maybe. Or at least less easily thrown for a loop by her own feelings.

So, she listened intently, actually thinking about what was being said. “I….see, I think.” A sigh followed, briefly. “Somehow, it is much easier to even put my life on the line for others, in order to protect them. But I guess that’s because those sorts of things have to be done. This isn’t anything that is strictly needed. Just something I kind of…want for myself. So it is easy for me to find reasons not do it.”
That was probably the most outspoken she had even been about these sorts of things. Introspection was something she was often inclined to do, but she rarely ever talked about it, or acted on it for that matter. Maybe this time she should. “But….um….would you be at all interested to see if it would be any good?”

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A knight? Now that had her confused in return, if only for a bit. Honestly, she hadn’t even given it any thought. Not because the other seemed completely unsuited for it or anything like that, far from it. But being a knight was something so specific, so tied to Galar and its customs, that she had not really considered the possibility at all. It was less Genesis seeming unfit for the duty and more the duty not being something that anyone from this region would want, in her eyes.

Mirri opened her mouth to explain that, but was then hit by an addendum that saw her briefly figuratively choke on the mention. “I-I didn’t mean….I mean I did mean….I….” she had to stop herself in that moment, barely managing to keep herself from jumping up in panic. It would take a few deep breaths to calm down, of course. But somehow, she managed. Again, somehow.
It would take a few more moments for her to collect herself. “I did not mean the knight part,” she hence started back up again, blushing. “And I guess this very reaction probably means that I am unfit after all. But….you seem like someone I could like. And you already know pretty much the worst parts about me and do not hate me. So….it just seemed like it could work, maybe?”

Not…no? Did that….did that mean yes? Her blush certainly went into overdrive, but she forced herself to not look down. After all, the other had just accepted to at least try it out, right? To be frank, Mirri had no idea what to do with this. But she didn’t just feel awkward, also kind of…happy? It was still difficult, of course. But she did look a lot brighter quite quickly. The sun was rising, and her mood was matching that just as well.

“Neither am I….even though I tend to act the part,” she replied, trying to be as honest as she could be. After all, she was asking much of the other, too. Then, she put a hand to her chest, took a deep breath, and continued with some more conviction. “But neither of us has to be. So far, I think you being you is just enough, really. Well, for me that would be, at least.” Plus, she already was the knight in shining armour herself, if nothing else. Mirri had never looked for another, a princess at best. And that kind of person could certainly be a bit mischievous and headstrong, really.