Picnic

[Chris Strongheart]

Christine settled down on a blanket, her knees tucked under her. She was busy unpacking the basket that she hadn't heard anyone come up behind her. She gave out a terrified squeak when a pair of masculine hands draped themselves over her eyes.

She quickly shoved them down and pivoted to see who it was. "Oh, you," she huffed, glaring up at Sky, before the anger melted away to amusement. "Are you trying to kill me?" she lightly teased. She shook her head slightly and returned her attention to what she was doing.

Which was uncorking the wine bottle... Without much success.

Finally, irritated beyond measure, she thrusted the bottle over to Sky. "Oh, you open it," she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

OOC: tags Sky and a surprise guest star

[Sky]

"It would be my pleasure," Sky replied grandly as he effortlessly removed the cork before moving to sit down on the blanket next to Christine. With a smile, he asked as he shifted so that he was lying on his back, looking up at the green treetops, "So, my fairy princess, what's on the agenda for today?"

[Chris Strongheart]

"You, me and nothing but relaxing," she said quietly, smiling at him. "I have no plans. You?" she asked softly. "I'm up to do whatever you want." She smoothed the soft material of her sundress, a soft white cotton.

She sighed softly and stretched. "I'm just glad we managed to get away to relax. We don't do this enough. Relax I mean."

[Sky]

Reaching over, Sky squeezed Christine's hand as he said, "You're right. All too right." Drifting into a peaceful silence for a few moments, he then continued, "I like this. You and me, I mean. It feels good. More than good. More like perfect." With a grin, he added, "Is it just me, or does it feel like we're the only people in the world right now? Everything feels normal; it's almost as though everything that's happened in the past few months . . . didn't." Quietly, he finished as he propped his hands behind his head, "I feel normal, Chris. Do you know how long it's been since I've felt this way?"

[Chris Strongheart]

"I think the last time we felt normal was the end of last school term," she pointed out. "This school year has been, ah, unique to say the least." She smiled at him. "So, enjoying our day off so far?" she asked. She poured a fairly good amount of wine into their glasses and smiled at him. "Here's to our day off."

[Sky]

Chuckling, Sky replied, "Here's to our day off - one that shall be filled with normalcy and nothing but normalcy." In a content voice, Sky added, "On a beautiful day like this, with good drinks and a lovely companion, what could possibly go wrong, am I right or am I right?"

[Chris Strongheart]

Christine said nothing, not wanting to point that Sky just jinxed their day by saying that. She smiled at him and sighed softly. "It does seem like something out of a storybook, doesn't it?" she asked softly.

[Sky]

Sky nodded in agreement as he took a long drink of his wine before setting it back down on the blanket. Absently tracing his finger around the rim of the glass, Sky said with a faint smile, "And you know, the good thing about storybooks is that they always have a happy ending."

[Chris Strongheart]

"Yeah, they do," she said quietly. That made her wonder if their story had a happy ending. She didn't feel like bringing the subject up so she kept quiet, and took a long sip of her wine. "So, any progress on it?" she asked. It being the curse that the elf had reawakened in him.

So far they hadn't had any luck in getting it under control, but Christine had faith that they would.

[Sky]

At the mention of his curse, Sky grew silent, his face becoming grim. After some moments, he finally shook his head in the negative as he averted his gaze from Christine's. She had so much faith in him, in everything that sometimes he felt unbearably ashamed that he didn't feel the same way about things as she did. He knew that she believed with all her heart that this curse could be reversed, that someday in the near future things would be normal again . . . but he wasn't so sure. Not really. And with each day that passed in which he lived with the curse, he began to lose more and more hope. It created a dull ache in his heart and he was saddened to realize that he had begun to accept his curse rather than to fight it. Somewhere along the way the curse had become his way of life; it had almost become his new normal. And that was the most terrifying thing of all.

[Chris Strongheart]

Christine tried to hide her hurt expression. "I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I didn't mean to dampen the mood by asking. It's just... Never mind," she added. She grabbed the bottle of wine and refilled their glasses. She cleared her throat and looked at him. "So, how are your parents?"

[Sky]

"The same as usual I would imagine," Sky replied with a slight frown. "As a matter of fact, I am certain that at this very moment my father is signing some important document or something and as for my mother, she is probably having a fitting with her seamstress so that she can attend a charity event sometime within the next week. See? Same old, same old. But enough about them, how about your mother?" With a light smile, Sky continued, "Is she still as lovely as ever?"

[Chris Strongheart]

"Mother's well and still as lovely as ever," Christine said, before shaking her head. "But she's getting on my nerves a bit. She wants me to become the proper princess and you know my feeling on the matter. I rather wrestle with dragons then do polite conversation with a nobleman. Present company excluded," she said with a laugh.

[Sky]

His mind quickly flashing back to the meeting he had had with his mother a few weeks earlier in which she had lectured him on how his life was not only about him, Sky replied in a more serious tone than he had intended, "Sometimes you have to make sacrifices for the ones you love, though; besides, you know your mother is only looking out for your best interests."

[Chris Strongheart]

Christine glanced away. "Sure, right," she said quietly. "If that was the case, don't you think she wouldn't be pushing all this proper princess stuff down my throat? All she cares about is me getting married to someone who will take care of me. The only thing I want her to teach is me is how to control my curse."