🗱 Sara/Barnham

[alcobrawlic]

[ For all levels of shenanigans, there will probably be a picture here at some point CUT ME SOME SLACK IT'S LATE ]

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[moraled]

[Look.

Going out for drinks with coworkers isn't something Barnham typically does, but he was naive and relatively new and he had no idea it would lead to this.

This being...well, Sara. Being Sara.

It doesn't take long before she's slurring, picking fights and generally being a handful (and Barnham is really not sure what to do with her), but when her words do seem to hit a nerve for someone--well, he can't tolerate some big, irritated man posturing at her.

(Sara can take care of herself, and yet chivalry dies hard in him.)]

Enough. You are making a fool of yourself for no necessary reason. Cool your head--elsewhere.

[alcobrawlic]

But he started it! [ Sara, he's not talking to you. Also, stop rolling up your sleeves.

This is probably a great impression to leave on a relatively new coworker, but hey-- Thomas, at least, had found it endearing and incredibly amusing. ]

[moraled]

[A soft sigh.]

And now we are ending is, Ms. Valestein. Do you take issue with that?

[alcobrawlic]

Maybe a liiiiiittle punch?

[ Sara, you don't do "little". ]

[moraled]

[Sara, you definitely don't do "little".]

Certainly not. Do not be ridiculous; if any is to be low-grade entertainment at this bar, it will not be us.

post-robowest, 1.

[moraled]

[Well, I say post, but I want more train shenanigans.

Which means that in all actuality, it's Barnham sitting on the train. They've got time before it's Sara's stop, after all. And... well, he's starting to look and feel a little more human after a few days of sleeping and eating and remembering how to function as a human being.

But there's something he wants to do now that he feels more human.

He just has to wait for Sara to pop up.]

[alcobrawlic]

[ And pop up she will-- she's never actually too far away, if just because she'd promised that much. But she's also not the clingy type, so she's not hovering all that much either.

If he speaks up, though, he can catch her on the way back from the dining car. ]

[moraled]

Sara--

[Of course he's speaking up!!!]

A moment, if you aren't busy?

[alcobrawlic]

-- Yeah! What's up?

[ Please, she's had two weeks to be not busy at all, to the point where it had almost started to be annoying. For as much as she loves sleeping in and doing the minimum effort, Sara still actually likes having a purpose and being active for it.

So she's just moving closer to his seat, head tilted. ]

[moraled]

[That's fair, Sara.... he can't imagine how boring that must have been.

She steps close and he...makes a bolder move, reaching up to snag her waist and tug her a little closer? Oh. Fine.]

There are a few things I would like to ask you, if you are not opposed.

trista;

[alcobrawlic]

[ It feels strange to be back, but much like how it had felt when she'd stepped off the train with a bunch of tired students in tow or stepped foot in town after Thors had been liberated...

There's a certain sense of contentment in the way Sara looks now, closing her eyes to take in the scents of spring and exhaling softly.

Some things haven't changed, but considering who she's brought with her... not everything's stayed the same, either. ]

This is where Thors Military Academy is located. [ She turns to Barnham now, offering him a smile. ]

I figured we could stay here a day before taking the train to the guild branch, if you're okay with that. It'll help you get a feel for the town, too.

[moraled]

Indeed, that is more than acceptable.

[He would have been okay with that for a ton of different reasons, the greatest of which being how content Sara looks to be here. It's clear that for at least one definition of it, this is home.

It's pleasant here, too; he glances around thoughtfully, even as he steps forward with her.]

I expect you are willing to show me around?

[alcobrawlic]

There's not a whole lot in the way of tourist attractions, but I can show you the inn and the pawn shop and the dorms and the academy-- so the basics.

[ She's so excited, actually. ]

[moraled]

[... She is excited, isn't she?

It's nice to see.]

It does not matter to me where we begin and...that there are few tourist attractions also matters little.

I am not here to be a tourist.

[He's here because it's Sara's home.]

[alcobrawlic]

... Yeah, I guess you're not.

[ There's maybe the very lightest shade of pink for all of three seconds, and then Sara clears her throat and starts walking. It's... sort of evident immediately that she's lived here for awhile, because the lady selling flowers knows her name, the little girl sweeping outside of a general store knows her name, and even a couple holding hands in a doorway pause to say hello and ask about her company.

And Sara's more than willing to introduce him, of course, with an air of pride. ]]

proposal;

[moraled]

[It's as he's shoving his sword through the skull of the last of the vicious zwordar that had been plaguing the nearby fort that Barnham brings up the thought, nonchalant, though as deathly serious as ever:]

Perhaps we had ought to get married soon.

[Ah.]

[alcobrawlic]

[ Sara at least has the good grace to--

Not burst out laughing in his face, but if she'd been drinking, she probably would have spit it out, and that would have been a tremendous loss. For now, she just-- stares. ]

Huh?

[ WHY IS THIS WHAT HE THINKS OF AFTER STABBING A KILLER BIRD THING ]

[moraled]

...Ah. [Was that weird?

That might've been weird.

He...clears his throat, cleaning his sword.]

Apologies. It was on my mind.

[alcobrawlic]

A... pparently.

[ Uh. ]

Long enough for you to blurt that out right after monster-killing?

[moraled]

[WELL......]

... Yes. [Clearly.]

It is something I was very firmly considering for quite some time.

MARRIAGE TIME

[moraled]

[Hey so.

Unsurprisingly.

Barnham is so nervous. He hasn't seen Sara in what feels like far too long, when she was kidnapped to be made into a beautiful bride (????), and he's been shuffling around awkwardly in his own suit (he gave up on keeping his sword after the looks Sara's students gave him), waiting to see her again.

Constantine, in a little bowtie, barks.

This sucks.

He is Suffering.

(This was your idea, Barnham, suck it up.)]

[alcobrawlic]

[ This was totally his idea. Sara could have gotten away with eloping, but she'd taken to the idea of actually having a wedding and getting to fluster her groom and that is precisely why she saved all of her complaining for the ladies who had helped her get ready: Alisa, Laura, and Emma (Fie was napping in the corner), Beatrix and... well, Clair, and thankfully not Sharon.

Either way, she manages, and by the way she walks as though she's floating, head held high, it's like Sara Valestein did not spend the past hour and a half whining about her dress. ]

[moraled]

[It's...astonishing. It's astonishing, overwhelming--the sight steals his breath away, and Barnham... was not prepared. He thought he was prepared, but absolutely nothing could have actually prepared him for this moment.

He stands at the altar, straight-shouldered, chin up...

But there's definitely an awe-struck look on his face as Sara walks down the aisle, his lips parted slightly in sheer amazement.

Oh.]

[alcobrawlic]

[ Sara barely restrains a grin until she's reached him, turning to face him. ]

You're staring, Bracer.

[moraled]

[He won't deny that. Rather, he confirms agreeably:]

With absolute wonder.

[And softly, with a touch of that wonder in his tone:]

You look incredible, Sara.