Duskwood & Moonvale one-shots

Waltz [Jake, MC]

Meet me. In Duskwood.

Jake:
This time, I'm at your mercy, Ariel.
I can't just run away from you.
And I don't want to.
[2:49]

You:
Will you stay in Duskwood?
Or will you disappear?
[2:49]

Jake:
Do you want me to stay?
[2:50]

She bites her lip lightly and stares at her mobile screen, unable to find the strength to type an answer. The night wind blows through the uncurtained window, ruffling the red curls and throwing seeds of doubt into the soul. Does she want to? Gods, of course, what a question! Ariel has been like that dreamy little mermaid since childhood. And in the latter, a mysterious prince also appears in her dreams, about whom very little is known: his name is Jake and he is a wanted hacker.

Sympathy for him begins with a flickering twinkle of mutual interest and flares up more and more brighter, as if it is carefully inflated by every awkward conversation, every 'well done', 'how are you?' and at first only a friendly 'I like you'.

Jake seems to know all about her. He knows her name, looks, and everything else, which is why he chooses her as his assistant out of Hannah's entire friends group, allows her access to hacking tools, and trusts her... Sometimes, sitting in front of the computer, she even feels his eyes on her collarbone. 'Just my imagination,' Ariel immediately dismisses. Her Jake couldn't possibly be spying on her. He's too good, too principled, too appreciative of her trust. He even defends her, suddenly intervenes in that vote.

She is sure that these are just glimpses of past curiosity, the only thing that really keeps her in reality. Awareness comes in one moment, collapses on the top of her head like a block of stone at the moment when her interesting interlocutor simply disappears, leaving an unfinished message for memory.

The thought is stunning in its simplicity: Ariel is in love. Conversation after conversation, one unaccustomed parenthesized smiley face after another — and she is obsessed with thoughts of a person with whom she communicates only by messages, not even allowing the idea that it may not be Jake who is waiting behind the screen, but at least Jane. Or anyone else. Ariel believes every word of someone who is so nice to her. Ariel can't imagine life without this slightly strange and very secretive prince, a constant inhabitant of dreams — and even puts up with Lilly, who from the very beginning only tests her patience for strength.

All for her Jake.

And he seems willing to do anything for her. He even comes out of hiding to protect himself from other hackers who are so little like FBI agents both in appearance and methods. Then it seems like the craziest thing he's ever done.

Now she was standing at the open window of her apartment, looking up at the clear starry sky. And her Jake is on his way to the iron mine shaft. Maybe he sees the sky too — the same stars or heavy clouds? She still can't figure out what the weather is like around that Duskwood.