crowspace | for solomon

[ Wow, this would be exactly the best time for him to quickly make his excuses and exit, but the moment he starts to shift his weight like he'll flee, the heel of Ritsuka's boot comes down on his bare foot to pin him in place.

It's so strange to be in this body again, awkward in a way he never was in his first life, and now--out of the possible people who could show up, it would be this one person. Oh no. Oh heck. He no longer has his divine cheatsheet on How To Talk To Women. ]

Aha... Your Majesty. Hello.

[ Nailed it. ]

[Thank you, Ritsuka, you're a pal. She can get a discount on the next event shop.

Sheba's not much better. She can be professional and dignified in political settings, but this isn't a political setting, and Solomon has always been special.]

It's - it's so good to see you again! Not that I was hoping to meet you specifically, or-

[please just kill her now.]

[ She will take that 1% discount and appreciate it.

For Solomon, it does not actually make things easier that she seems so equally flustered; he can remember very clearly the impression she left on him, when they'd both been living--a clever woman, and beautiful, and strong enough to impress--and how distant his own understanding had been, at the time. They had all been traits he'd recognized intellectually and had never really connected to emotionally.

Things are kind of different now. He manages a stuttered laugh, awkward, rubbing the back of his neck--the same habit he'd picked up as Roman, and hadn't shed when he'd lost that false form. ]

Ah, yes, of course--I wouldn't have expected that; Your Majesty is quite accomplished on her own. It's only natural that you would be drawn here--

[ In the back of his head, there's a panic response brewing: you moron. You idiot. You colossal fool. You named one of the lenses of this base after her. ]

[It is absolutely unfair that on top of being wise, and kind, and handsome, and all the wonderful things Sheba remembers about Solomon, he's also really cute now. She was not prepared for this.]

Thank you, Your Majesty. [One of these days she'll actually call him by his name, but if she does that right now she'll die.] If it pleases you, would you - show me around?

[She doesn't care about the tour of Chaldea right now, she just wants to spend more time talking to him.]

Me? I--

[ --think that would be a better job for our Master, don't you think? except when Solomon turns to include Ritsuka in this, there is a space where she'd been standing just a moment before. Damn. When had that girl learned to be so sneaky? Now it's just the two of them in this room, and no matter how awkward this is, he can't just leave Sheba here. Not her.

So after a second, he sighs, turning a smile on her. It's not the same distant smile of the king--it's Romani Archaman's smile, embarrassed, sheepish, but something with actual heart to it. ]

--I'd love to.

[Ritsuka is getting her discount upgraded to 2%.

It is absolutely, positively illegal that Solomon can smile at her like that now. Sheba smooths out her cloak, abruptly self-conscious of her state of dress - it's appropriate for the desert but maybe not so much modern Antarctica? - and smiles back, warm.]

Shall we?

Edited 2021-04-25 22:16 (UTC)

[ It's fine, they're fine, she'll definitely get to hear Ritsuka complaining about Da Vinci's fashion sense when it comes to the arctic mystic code at some point.

Solomon clears his throat, a quick little ahem! and holds his hand out to her. It's an easy gesture, all muscle memory, though it's been many years--a whole lifetime--since he's had to escort a woman. ]

Let's.

[His hand is as warm as Sheba remembers. She twines their fingers together and somehow manages to keep her blushing to a minimum.]

If there are as many royal Servants here as I suspect, calling you 'Your Majesty' all the time will be confusing, won't it?

Haha, that's true, isn't it? I suspect that King Gilgamesh might take exception to that.

[ On the other hand, it's an intimate thing, to go from her title to her name. And which one is she even using, in this incarnation? Makeda? Bilqis? Is she content to share the name of the country that had been hers? Now would be a great time for his former divine connection to open up and give him a hint!

He manages to keep most of that off his face, though his smile is a little more embarrassed now. ]

Shall we introduce ourselves properly? Caster, Solomon. Once I held the title of "Grand," but I'm semi-retired now.

Caster, Sheba.

[Truthfully, she wouldn't mind if he were to use one of her personal names, but she can't just go spreading them around willy-nilly. That's a privilege only Solomon should get.]

The pleasure is mine, Solomon.

[ Ah... that was surprisingly easy? There's a flash of surprised pleasure in his expression--imagine! That went better than expected! Unlike nearly everything else in this new life. Huh.

From the summoning room, he leads her out into the main command room, keeping her hand loosely curled in his. ]

...Of all people I would have expected to see, I didn't think you'd be one of them. You were always a woman who obtained everything she wanted.

[She doesn't have much interest in the Grail, so the odds of her being summoned to a regular Grail War are low, but circumstances are different here.]

And you were a man who wanted for nothing. But I see quite a bit has changed.

...

[ He lets out a sharper little breath, something that isn't quite a laugh--similar, but not there yet. ]

There was one thing. It was only ever the one thing, but it was enough.

[Sheba inclines her head in an obvious question, and gives his hand a squeeze. He can talk about it, if he wants.]

[ The problem is just How To Do It, never mind trying to condense everything. He's silent for a moment as they walk, other than the occasional murmur to point things out: the cafeteria and its attached dining area. The various break rooms. The hallway that leads to the dormitories. Da Vinci's workshop.

Finally, though: ]

I wanted... I suppose, to be the master of my own fate.

I understand.

[In a way that perhaps few others do - she was there. She'd met him, and while he was everything the stories said of him... It was hard not to wonder how much of that was him and how much of that was God's design.]

I'm happy for you, Solomon.

It's been odd!

[ And it's because it's her that he can admit this. Of course Da Vinci knows--very little escapes the genius--and he's sure that both Ritsuka and Mash have guessed. And as much as he hates to think about it, Merlin probably knows, too.

But to say it aloud, and acknowledge it in his own words--that's something he can't just tell anyone. Not even to his own father (maybe especially not to him). But for her... for her, he can. ]

I don't know that it's what I expected, but I'm not ungrateful for this opportunity.

Humanity is odd. It's one of their charm points.

[As she's only half-human herself, perhaps she isn't in the best place to comment. But then, maybe she was closer to humanity than he was, before.]

Your smiles are so much brighter now.

Are they...?

[ What a strange thought. Surely she's right--she's one of the few people who had seen the way he'd been as a king, and his mannerisms then, but... ah, how odd to think about it. ]

If you're the one saying it, then I have no choice but to believe you.

Naturally! I have an eye for all things of value, after all.

[And Solomon's genuine smiles are incredibly precious.]

So you do!

[ No arguments there. Her reputation for that had preceded her, even in life. ]

You might enjoy wrangling the shop with Da Vinci, honestly.

[ And somewhere else in Chaldea, Ritsuka feels a cold shiver go down her spine. ]

Oh, believe me, I already have ideas for new products our Master could make use of.

[say goodbye to your mana prisms Ritsuka]

[ "I'm going to throw him back out into the ocean," Ritsuka is telling Mash somewhere. "I'll drag him back to Antarctica just to shove him facefirst into the snow."

Solomon blinks, and then--he laughs. There's nothing dignified or polite about it: it's a surprised little snort, involuntary and fond. It's nothing like the rare times he'd laughed, before. ]

Why am I not surprised? I'm glad that part of you is the same.

[ Ritsuka's rage continues, far away. ]

[That laugh is adorable and it's patently unfair.]

Not all of us have made such an impressive transformation as you, Solomon.

[She's still the same Sheba he met that day.]

I had some extenuating circumstances.

[ The tour is slowly coming to its end, but he's reluctant, he finds, to stop talking to her, or even let go of her hand. What a strange wonderful thing, to even have desires to act on, rather than having them all quelled before they could become fully-fledged things. ]

But... to be honest, I prefer myself as I am now.

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