what is love? [OPEN/CLOSED]

[circumitus]

Who: Rey and Maketh Tua + Nick Valentine and OPEN prompts to anyone who wants in on that small town wedding business.
What: An actual firefighter wedding turns into more of a shotgun wedding and not quite like how those movies usually end.
Where: The Park + Church.
When: The last day of Stepford Summer.

[ooc: Prompts will be in individual comments below. Some details of the plot are here and here, but feel free to contact me if you have any questions!

[Otherwise, feel free to assume that your character has received a wedding invitation and they're there... or square.]

Comments

Park, pre-ceremony

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin leaves work, double-checks the invitation to be sure of the time the event is supposed to start, dresses in his best, and hurries to Pleasant Park. He runs his hand through his unruly hair and gives his bow-tie a last tweak before he gets out of the car.

He looks around for Rey, making a fast circuit of the park, and he spots the bride in her finery sitting in the gazebo, gazing at the card in her hand. There is an expression of ineffable longing on her face.

He looks around. He doesn't see any of the bridesmaids, or for that matter, the bridegroom. He has a slightly uneasy feeling, and he doesn't know for sure where it is coming from. But he knows Rey, a longtime firefighter who has his respect, both for her courage and professionalism and on her own account, as a person of integrity. When they were both in high school but before he joined the Army, he had fantasies of being in her profession, but instead he took a completely different career path. He admires her for making the choice that she did and following through with it. He approaches.

"Rey, you're looking very beautiful. But. . . a little soulful. How are you doing?" His voice and his face are warm and sympathetic.

[circumitus]

Despite wanting some alone time, there is something inviting about Curufin. Not just because he isn't one of the bridesmaids of bustling wedding planners or attendants around, but he doesn't seem... fake. Like a prop on a movie set. Or something of the like. Just as Nick is, he feels real. Here.

It does call for some interesting questions, such as the nature of Rey herself. Is she here? Who's to say that she is real at all? How can she be certain one way or another?

"Could be worse."

That's... not something you're supposed to say just hours before your wedding, is it?

[so_dark_a_road]

That question of what is real and who is real is complex enough to puzzle even an Elvish seer. Which Curufin is not. He's just an Elvish craftsman. But he does ask those same questions, and they sometimes baffle him as well. Rey is such a credible person that he feels comfortable asking the important questions in her presence, especially if they concern her.

"Oh. . . I'm sure it could be worse," he answers. "A rock from outer space could come careening down and reduce your gazebo to rubble and the town to a smoking crater!" He smiles. "But things don't have to be that bad to be. . . a little troublesome. Is something troubling you?"

[circumitus]

At that, Rey barks out a sound that resembles a laugh. It's harsh, though, devoid of the joy that one should be expressing on such a day.

"Troublesome. Right," she halfheartedly agrees as she runs a hand down her face with a sigh. "I... don't know, though. This just doesn't feel like the way things should be."

Not just the wedding, but reality as a whole.

[so_dark_a_road]

Oh, that laugh. The sound of trouble.

"What isn't the way it should be?" he asks.

Not that he doesn't have an intimation of unreality himself. He's happy in his life here, for the most part, but he's restless and he keeps having dreams and imaginary conversations with his brother Maglor about the sea. If Rey is having vague intimations that something should be different, he is going to be listening closely. You betcha.

[circumitus]

Everything and nothing. Despite playing all the possible answers in her head, not a one comes to mind that's in any way satisfactory. She just brings her hand to her chin, trying not to mess up her appearance before the actual event.

Thing is, Rey should be happy. Weddings are supposed to be joyous events, and she has happy memories of a loving family and a childhood where she is cherished. And yet, for some reason, she can't help but feel melancholy. Not because of the loss of her mother, but because it all feels so far away where happiness is unattainable.

"All of this." The words blurt out before she can think about what they mean, and her mouth tightens into a thin line.

She means it, doesn't she?

[so_dark_a_road]

She sounds like she means it.

"All of it?" He nods. There is no denial in his tone, only acknowledgement. Yes, weddings should be happy, and yet, Rey is not happy.

There is something in the air. No, even more than that. It is something that is everywhere.

"Have you ever. . . felt as though all of this. . . " He gestures to everything around them, the park, the gazebo, the surrounding town, the green hills into which the town is nestled, the very sky with its dreamy wisps of cirrus cloud. ". . . is not, well, real? As though it were a backdrop curtain on a stage, or a stage set in a movie? And found yourself wondering what would be there if you tore it away, or down?"