Work Text:
Rhian made her way across the room, dropping to sit on the floor in front of the sofa Shadowheart was lounging on. She had a book propped up in her lap- some trashy romance novel she’d found- and had been engrossed in it for the last hour. Rhian leaned back, craning to get a look at the page. “Suddenly interested?” her cleric asked, not turning her gaze from the book.
“Just seeing how far you’ve gotten,” a lie, Rhian was hoping to find something to poke at her about; she’d taken one look at the title earlier, and had handed it back to Shadowheart without comment.
Unfortunately, now she couldn’t find any particularly explicit passages, so she turned her attention to her own sketchbook. Flipping through a chunk of pages, Rhian landed on the latest sketches and concepts she’d been working on.
It didn’t take her long to get absorbed in her work, feeling her mind relax with having something to focus her hands on.
Sitting in companionable silence, she added more details to one of the ring designs she’d half heartedly drawn out the other night. Shadowheart started absentmindedly playing with Rhian’s hair, twisting it around her fingers, pausing every so often to turn a page in her book.
Rhian got through another handful of sketches, including a goofy little doodle of Jaheira with one of her rats, before she heard Shadowheart close her book, setting it aside.
She flopped sideways on the sofa, slinging an arm over Rhian’s shoulder. Her breath tickled Rhian’s ear, eliciting a slight twitch. “What are you working on?”
Leaning her head to the side so Shadowheart could see, she propped her book up a little straighter. “Nothing in particular,” she twirled her pencil between her fingers, “I’ve had a few ideas for projects I’d like to do, once this is… all over.”
Shadowheart reached forward, lightly tapping a finger to a design she’d sketched in the top right of the page. “I rather like this one,” she said, and then chuckled, pointing to Jaheira, “and this one.”
Rhian smiled, the ring design was one she’d been partial to as well- simple, with a braided band, and tiny flowers encircling where a stone would sit. Despite its simplicity, she knew some of the details would be a challenge to replicate in metal, especially at that scale, but it was a challenge she’d look forward to.
“What else do you have in there?”
“You’re welcome to have a look, if you like,” Rhian snapped the book shut, handing it back over her shoulder to her.
Shadowheart hesitated in taking it from her. Rhian understood why- it might be full of silly drawings and designs, but it was still her equivalent of a journal or a diary.
Rhian wanted to share all of it with her, so she pressed the book into her hands. Shadowheart sat up, giving her an appraising glance before settling back. Rhian moved up to sit next to her, turning sideways so she could face her, leaning her elbow on the back of the sofa.
Opening the book, Shadowheart read through the scribbles she’d written in the front cover, just random little thoughts and notes she’d jotted down a few weeks ago, when she’d bought the book.
Rhian watched her flipping through her drawings and designs, every so often coming across some silly little doodle. Shadowheart giggled at the one she’d done of Karlach: a little cartoon of the tiefling holding up both Scratch and the owlbear in a hug. “Cute.”
She kept going, and was around halfway through when she turned another page, and lightly gasped, eyes flashing wide.
Rhian sat forward to see, and then realized the page she’d forgotten about.
“Oh!” Rhian lurched forward, intending to snatch the book back, but Shadowheart was faster.
She twisted, stretching to hold it out of her reach and to see what all was on the page. “Ah,” Shadowheart chastised, leaning out over the armrest, book held at arm’s length, well away from Rhian’s grasping fingers, “I don’t think so.”
Written in dark, damning ink above a ring design were the words “Shads - Engagement.”
Rhian was laid across her at this point, from her desperate attempt to hide the evidence, but she gave up once it was clear her cleric had seen more than enough.
Groaning, she buried her face in Shadowheart’s side. With her surrender, Shadowheart readjusted to sit back properly, laying the book against Rhian’s shoulder. “Rhian…” she poked her in the side.
Despite feeling like her face was on fire, she answered her, voice muffled, “Yeah?”
“It’s a beautiful design…”
Warmth flooded through her, different from the heat of embarrassment still igniting her face. But it was enough to get her to turn, staring up at Shadowheart from where she still lay across her lap. “You approve, then?”
“Very much so,” she was still studying the drawing, and Rhian could tell she kept running her finger over the words written above it.
She had settled on a simple, elegant, design for her- a braided band that didn’t quite meet, with one end blooming out into a night orchid holding a moonstone. Beneath it, she’d sketched out a ring for herself- a slightly thicker band, with no ornamentation, only an engraving of a night orchid to make them a pair. She had plans to crush up a couple of the flowers to inset them into the metal for a hint of color.
“I still expect a proper proposal at some point, you know,” Shadowheart’s gaze flicked over to Rhian’s.
“Of course,” she breathed, laughing lightly.