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+---- Thread: baby kiss it better (/showthread.php?tid=12283)
baby kiss it better - Flora - 12-21-2025
The bathroom by the orangery is blessedly quiet, though the party still bleeds through in softened echoes; laughter dulled by stone, music reduced to a low, distant thrum, firelight flickering under the door in warm, indifferent pulses. Wildering House knows better than to intrude here; even the spirits keep their distance, the air unusually still. Outside the closed but unlocked door, Spice has settled herself squarely across the threshold, a small white sentinel curled with her tail tucked close, eyes bright and watchful as she guards the space with solemn devotion.
Flora sits on the closed lid of the toilet, elbows tucked in tight, arms wrapped fully around herself as if she can hold her own ribcage together by force alone. The red lace dress pools around her thighs in a careless spill of fabric. It clings where she doesn’t want it to, soft and delicate against skin that's still flushed from divine heat. Tear tracks stripe her cheeks, catching the low lamplight like something crystalline, though she’s gone very still in the wake of them. Jaw tight, breathing measured, doing that thing she’s learned to do so well; holding everything together by refusing to let it move at all. One hand fists briefly in the lace at her hip, knuckles whitening, before she forces it to loosen again.
Her parchment lies folded on the small counter beside the sink, still faintly warm from the message she’d sent, and now all that's left to do is wait. A tight knot of upset energy coils in her chest, nowhere to go, no shape yet, just fear and confusion and the awful hollow where her mother’s presence should be.
RE: baby kiss it better - Kaisel - 12-21-2025
Whatever thoughts and feelings he'd been accumulating around each sprinkle of orgy-evidence throughout the party stopped mattering the moment her tearful message came across the parchment.
He'd had half a hand on the folded paper already, warring with himself over asking her for clarity, still surprised she would do this, or telling her exactly how much fun he hoped she'd have. In the end he chose neither, just kept drinking to help drown the impulse. He said he'd not ruin the night, and that meant not letting the way he felt matter, at least for the time being. He could only accomplish that by avoiding the whole ordeal, so he sequestered himself in a distant and lonely room to avoid all the noise and imagery.
Expecting she's the one who organized the whole, gift, which is maybe why Sunjata, the sex-demigod suddenly needed to pull her away from the party (last minute plans or details, no doubt), it's a surprise then when her strained voice asks for him. He's on his feet so fast the chair he'd been in clatters back behind him. His pulse jumps with an immediate worry, dispersing the smallest thought that maybe she's luring him out there under false pretense. She'd be dramatic plenty, tease and goad and pretend from sun up to sun down, but fucked as he thinks this surprise is, he doesn't for a moment think that thin sound on the paper is anything but genuine. So then, what went wrong?
His mind is racing with the possibilities as he moves through the house, glancing towards the party still unfurling beyond with no hidden measure of distrust now. The crusade to her bathroom castle is one that shows him just how drunk he's become, a steadying hand held out at times to keep the walls straighter. Turns out, slamming back a bunch of different drinks in a short amount of time will catch up to you sooner than later.
Sagging against the door of the bathroom when he finally makes it there, as if he's just undergone a gauntlet and not a drunken march through a mansion, he glances down at the guard dragon. [say]"Spice, let me in,"[/say] he says overly loud to the little dragon, even as his knuckles rap on the door.
RE: baby kiss it better - Flora - 12-21-2025
Spice moves the instant Kaisel appears, unfolding herself from the threshold with a soft, crooning trill that vibrates straight through Flora’s chest via the bond they share. The sound hits her before the knock does, a bright, unmistakable him that sends her heart lurching painfully upward and Flora is off her feet before she’s consciously decided to move, the red lace of her dress catching briefly against her thighs as she stumbles forward. Her fingers fumble for the latch, breath already breaking, and the moment the door swings open she sees him—flushed, unsteady, worry written all over his face—and something inside her simply gives way. [say]"Kai,"[/say] she cries, the word small and wrecked and helpless.
She throws herself into him without hesitation, arms tangling tight around his neck as she presses herself against him as hard as she possibly can, like proximity alone might keep her from coming apart. The lace snags faintly against his suit, delicate threads pulling in places she would normally care about, but she doesn’t even register it. All she knows is the solid heat of him, the familiar weight, the way her breath stutters fast and uneven against his chest as she clings. Her hands fist into the fabric at his shoulders as she tries to drag him toward her, nudging him into the bathroom with desperate urgency, not wanting anyone to see her like this and have it ruin the party. The door swings shut behind them, muffling the party to a distant thrum as her forehead drops into the crook of his neck.
[say]"Sunjata said—"[/say] she starts, the words tripping over themselves, dissolving before they can take shape. [say]"He said—"[/say] Her head shakes helplessly, curls brushing his collar as she gasps in a breath that turns into something dangerously close to a sob. [say]"Please,'[/say] she whispers, voice breaking entirely now, fingers tightening as though she’s afraid he might disappear if she loosens them even a fraction. [say]"Please just hold me."[/say] She presses closer, if that’s even possible, trembling in his arms. [say]"As tight as you can."[/say]
RE: baby kiss it better - Kaisel - 12-21-2025
Since he'd been using the door to help prop up his weight, which suddenly seems too much for his legs to manage alone, he's rather messily spilling in to meet the rush of her. Their collision is nothing graceful, and he's forced to take a wide, staggering step or two around her to catch the both of them, which is just as well as she's also trying to sweep them back behind the door like a secret that can't be seen.
The sight of her hits him sharp and strong, moreso than any of the drinks he'd been sampling from the array she'd laid out at the bar. [say]"Whasrong?"[/say] he wonders with a crease to his 'brow, the words filling the space between his name and Sunjata's. She clings to him like any space between them now could be fatal, and it's an insistence that doubles his worry, sending it reeling into wild proportions. He's cradled her through tears a few times now, but this feels like something else—not wounds from monsters, not indecision of the heart, not the loss of a king or a bar and guild rich with history.
He holds her in return like it's instinct, a hand cupping the back of her head and the other curling tight around the middle of her back. He keeps the unsteady sway of their joined movements working towards something helpful. With hers half-dead with some kind of defeat and his wavering like gravity is optional, he waddles them to and fro until he can lean against the sink, the solid embrace like a sigh of relief to the threat of toppling over. That Sunjata's name is the first thing she manages to provide doesn't help in the slightest, combined with orgy accusations, he's at a complete loss for what the fuck is happening. [say]"Hey, hey, hey,"[/say] he mumbles, trying to soothe, the hand at her hair brushing a thumb back and forth against the base of her neck. A small movement, as much for him as her, finding distraction in the physical sensation like it alone could keep the world quiet and still.
Her broken explanation dissolves into a request, and he responds with a tighter grip before his voice lifts. [say]"Yeah, I got you. I got you Flora,"[/say] he murmurs, chin folding over her shoulder, breath ghosting near her ear. His hand falls from her head, wreathing around her shoulders for something that won't allow much distance, even for breath. His head tilts further into hers, brushing as he presses a slow, long series of kisses into her temple, content not to say anything and let the hum of their pulses match and slow into calm.
RE: baby kiss it better - Flora - 12-21-2025
The weight of him settles against her like a pendulum finding its centre, no matter how unsteady his own equilibrium might be. Panic surges—sharp and breathless—and then his fingertips brush the sensitive hollow at the base of her neck, grounding her just enough to keep her from floating apart. Panic again, tight and insistent, until his lips press to her temple, slow and steady, a repetition that starts to carve a rhythm into the chaos. Panic flares once more, thinner now, and then his voice hums low against her ear, warm and anchoring, and she clings harder as the air is nearly squeezed from her lungs in a way that feels impossibly, paradoxically safe.
Her body starts to remember how to exist inside his arms, and she buries her face against his collarbone, breathing shallow and fast, red lace twists against her ribs as she fights to pull enough air into her chest to speak. The words come out melted and broken, muffled against him, but urgent all the same. [say]"He said my mom is missing,"[/say] she manages, the sentence cracking under its own weight. [say]"That no one knows where she is, not even Deimos."[/say]
She has to pause there, breath hitching hard, panic clawing its way back up her spine as though it heard its name called. Her grip tightens reflexively, nails biting into fabric, as she forces another breath through lungs that don’t quite want to cooperate. [say]"And Frey said she was fine,"[/say] Flora continues, voice wobbling despite her effort to steady it, confusion bleeding into fear. [say]"But if I can’t channel her..."[/say] She pulls back just enough to turn her face up toward Kai's shoulder, eyes squeezed shut, curls brushing his jaw as her words tumble out in a rush. [say]"Then where is she?"[/say]
RE: baby kiss it better - Kaisel - 12-21-2025
What he offers, she gives back too, without even realizing. Each moment that passes with them wrapped in just each other's arms, hidden from the party, from the rest of anything, is a reassurance that grows steadily through him. His previous thoughts aren't aligning with this, and she's here, with him, instead of out there. It's no comfort that something's wrong, but the rest proves selfishly soothing.
He doesn't press, just waits. It isn't as if she hasn't tried to explain, and she's not so urgent about it as to be sprinting out of this room, so he trusts that whatever weight she's picked up will be alright in here, patient until she finds the strength to offer some of it to him too. When she does, he's not prepared for it in the slightest.
[say]"What?!"[/say] comes out as just a strangled whisper. He's glad for the backbone of the sink because he feels like he staggers in place. Though Flora's mother has always proven to be a difficult woman to pin down, it'd often been waved away as her nature, projects and plans and such, so for Flora to be this worried suggests something horrific. Which, yeah, when she goes on to explain further, crossing off the mental checklist he'd been populating as reassurance.
[say]"Fuck,"[/say] he says rather unhelpfully, but is a succinct summation of all the bristling worry that he can't help but regurgitate like a hairball between them. He's still holding her tight, lace marking the pattern of despair on his skin that's not behind the fabric of his suit. It barely even registers now, the clean explanation for Frey's presence, not a party favor but a plea for information. The past worries he'd just carried are already broken up and drifting away, hardly worthwhile now, and proven to be a sweatshirt draped over a chair rather than shadowy monster in the corner of his room.
He wants to tell her it'll be fine, that there's probably a good reason, that she doesn't have to cry because he'll fix it all. None of those are real though, and it's not the truth ring that keeps them inside, it's just the truth itself. [say]"Would Frey have a reason to lie?"[/say] he wonders, chewing on thoughts and sighing them against her head with his own dose of worry and wonder. [say]"If they did...your ring would have told you, right?"[/say] He doesn't know if a god could be more powerful than that or not, or if they are held to the bindings of the things they help craft. [say]"Frey might have been tricky, depending on what you asked, or how they answered. Maybe we ask Remi to just...confirm?"[/say] Fine could be an argument made for a ghost chilling in Mort's halls after all, depending on how you want to define fine.
RE: baby kiss it better - Flora - 12-21-2025
Flora barely registers the way Kai subtly staggers, the way his weight shifts unevenly against the sink. All that matters is that he’s here, that his arms are still wrapped around her, that she hasn’t slipped loose of him the way everything else seems to be doing. The small tears in her dress, the delicate lace pulled and snagged, mean absolutely nothing now. She could be in rags or silk or nothing at all; the only thing grounding her is the solid press of him holding her together.
She shakes her head slowly against his chest,
Her head lifts then, just enough to catch his face, and for a heartbeat she doesn’t understand what he’s actually suggesting. The words hover, half-formed, like they’re refusing to land. Then they do. The realisation hits her all at once, cold and brutal, and she stills completely in his arms. Horror blooms sharp and blinding, squeezing her lungs until her breath comes shallow and quick. Her fingers clutch harder at his suit, knuckles whitening as her eyes fill too fast, tears spilling before she can stop them.
[say]"Wait,"[/say] she whispers, the word barely there at all. Her gaze flicks up to Kai's face, searching, pleading, terrified of the answer even as she asks. [say]"You think she might be...dead?"[/say] The word comes out small and broken, trembling between them as Flora presses closer to him, as though she might disappear if she lets even a sliver of space open up.
RE: baby kiss it better - Kaisel - 12-21-2025
His curls curl around hers and everything is curly and there’s lots of hair too as their heads shift near each other. [say]”Less lie…”[/say] he draws out, struggling for a grip on the meaning and the implications of it for a moment. His fingers curl with the effort against her, pulling at the lace accidentally, tugging without notice now as more important focus beckons. [say]”More like, diplomatic fuzz. Maybe Frey can’t fully say, so they bent the truth?”[/say] A deal between them and Hotaru, or a purposeful, divine haze to keep things in order as needed, that need something beyond them. [say]”Maybe Hotaru asked them?”[/say] Maybe Frey has a plan?
He glances down as he feels her shift, catching the rise of her gaze. Ah, fuck, he made it worse. It doesn’t help he’s not working at full faculties right now, but he’s tossing out hypotheticals like chicken feed and then is surprised when all the birds descend in madness. [say]”I’m just saying,”[/say] he tries to reason, as if emotion has ever listened to that, hers swelling now into something with a height he’s not sure he can reach the top of soon. [say]”If things aren’t adding up, let’s think outside the box and check off every possibility we can. We could go mad wondering, so let’s just find out, to be sure.”[/say]
He exhales long and low as he tucks his chin back over her, the back of his hand trailing up and down between her shoulders in an absent smoothing. [say]”I don’t think so, and I hope not, but Remi could tell us for sure. From there…I don’t know what…”[/say] Which maybe should have been how he lead this.
RE: baby kiss it better - Flora - 12-21-2025
Flora’s fingers loosen around the back of Kai's neck, her curly hair that's curled naturally but also literally curled tonight and is curly and no straight, not because she wants to let go of him but because she needs a sliver of space to breathe and to see him clearly, her hands still resting there as an anchor while she tilts her head back to meet his gaze. She listens as he talks through possibilities, her expression shifting from confusion into something quieter and more troubled as the implications begin to settle. The idea that her mother might have asked for divine interference lands with a soft but unmistakable weight, and crimson creeps up Flora’s cheeks, not from embarrassment but from a sudden, visceral unease that tightens her chest.
She swallows and lowers her voice instinctively, as if saying it too loudly might make the memory sharper than it already is, her fingers pressing lightly into the fabric at his collar. [say]"When my mom was infected,"[/say] she whispers, the words careful and deliberate, [say]"she kidnapped me. She took me out into the middle of the ocean and drugged me so no one could find me and so I couldn't channel."[/say] The confession sits between them, heavy with implication rather than accusation, offered not to condemn but to explain, because her mother is capable of terrifying extremes when something inside her fractures, and Flora needs Kaisel to understand that this fear is not theoretical.
When he mentions Remi, something in her steadies even as urgency spikes, and she draws a sharp breath before shifting her weight and turning so that her back presses firmly against his chest, grounding herself in his warmth as she reaches for the golden thethers that connect her to so many. Twisting in his arms so her back is to him, she raises her voice just enough to carry through whatever unseen space connects her to her dad, words tumbling out in a rush shaped by panic and love in equal measure.
[say]"Dad,"[/say] she calls, the word instinctive and raw, her heart hammering as she channels Remi’s presence with everything she has. [say]"Mom is missing and we need to know if she’s alive, so I need you to try and bring her through from Mort's realm."[/say] The plea spills out fast, clipped only by the knowledge that time may be short, and she presses her shoulders and hips more firmly into Kaisel as if bracing herself for whatever answer might come back, holding on to him while she waits for the universe to answer her call.
RE: baby kiss it better - Remi - 12-21-2025
Remi is there in a rush of displaced air and instinct, the bathroom suddenly far too small for the way his wings want to exist even if they do not manifest. For half a heartbeat he only sees Flora—red lace, tear-streaked cheeks, eyes too bright—and something sharp and protective twists immediately through his chest. [say]"Flora—?"[/say] Confusion flashes across his face as his gaze flicks once, quickly, to Kaisel behind her, taking in the suit, the closeness, the way his daughter is braced back into him like a lifeline. There isn’t time to ask questions. There is never time when it matters.
Every word lands hard and fast, and Remi’s mouth opens on instinct to reassure her, to tell her to breathe, to tell her he’s here, and then he closes it again, because six seconds is nothing and everything all at once.
His eyes shut, focus snapping inward as he reaches hard for Mort’s realm, for the familiar cold stillness, for Hotaru, before he shakes his head at once. [say]"No, she’s not ther—"[/say]
But his six seconds are up, and Remi vanishes.
RE: baby kiss it better - Kaisel - 12-21-2025
Reluctant as he always is to let her part from any bit of him, especially when holding her feels like the only good thing he can offer, he does relent after some insistence from her to add a smidge of space once more. Following on the heels of the reason why, his gaze tips towards her again, quietly searching along the muted gleam of her seaglass eyes for proof of where her mind's gone and to what depths it's sunken. The color that blazes up her to rosy her cheeks is a confusing display, and absently one of his hands slips from around her to cup the reddness, thumb trying to smooth it away as she talks.
By now he should be used to the absolutely off the wall stories she drops like nuclear weaponry. She's always so casual and succinct with tragedy, fitting it into conversation with the same ease your neighbor does the weather every morning in passing. [say]"...Ummmm,"[/say] he says with a carefulness that suggests he's trying to gauge how he's supposed to react properly to this news. [say]"That's super fucked up,"[/say] is all he manages after some blinking, not sure if this means we're mad at Hotaru...? Trying to read between the lines, which is especially hard since reading on the lines right now feels challenging with beer liquor goggles, he tries to pull out the point from that little happy trip down memory lane (and will deal with the issues later that not even her mom has been a reliable parent figure). [say]"...So, if you can't channel her, maybe something has blocked her from being channeled, the same way you were once blocked from channeling?"[/say] He doesn't know what, but it makes sense if it can work one way, something can be created to do the opposite.
Starfall and the Family had certainly proven there's a lot they still don't know about the world and the universe as a whole, and that what's normal for them is just the end of their limited knowledge, not the actual limits. After all, plenty though the world once began and ended at the Hollowed Grounds.
She moves again, wordless but not leaving, and his grip loosens and retreats to let her maneuver. When she leans back, settling, his arms slip back around her shoulders and chest, hugging her from behind. His chin rests on her left shoulder, sliding low enough against the sink, legs splaying around her as he offers what certainty he can in body and presence alone. That her voice reaches out for Remi doesn't surprise him, and patiently he waits for the champagne cork pop of Remi's arrival alongside her.
It's not long, though it is, even still, mildly startling when the Bastion is suddenly there, and so close given the marginal space afforded her. Silent, it's only the flick of his eyes to briefly meet Remi's that is the greeting he'll offer, this time too valuable. It's over just as soon as it starts, but Kaisel breathes out the taut wind in his chest to hear the certainty that Hotaru is not dead. [say]"Now we know, for sure."[/say] And it's the only thing it seems they might get to be certain of.
RE: baby kiss it better - Flora - 12-21-2025
Flora nods as Kai stumbles gently through what to do with that information, her agreement quiet and immediate. [say]"Yeah,"[/say] she murmurs, voice dull around the edges. [say]"It really sucked."[/say] There’s more there—so much more—but she doesn’t reach for it now. The past can stay where it is for the moment; the present is already too sharp.
When his arms come back around her from behind, she lets herself sink into them without resistance, lifting her hands to press over his as if to anchor them both in the same place. Remi’s sudden appearance, his too-brief certainty, leaves her with a strange, unbalanced mix of relief and dread blooming simultaneously in her chest. Not dead, thank the gods, but...then what the fuck?
Flora's breath slips out of her in a soft, helpless hum that borders on a moan, not of pleasure but of pure emotional overload, and she twists in Kaisel’s arms again, turning until her cheek presses flat against his chest. His heartbeat is loud there, steady and real, and she wraps her arms fully around his waist, holding on as though that alone might keep the world from tipping further off its axis.
[say]"I know it’s probably rude,"[/say] she says quietly after a moment, her voice small and tired but threaded with affection, [say]"to disappear in the middle of the party..."[/say] Said party still thrums faintly beyond the walls, a reminder of how much noise and life she’s stepped away from. Her fingers curl lightly into the fabric at his back as she tilts her face up just enough to look at him. [say]"But do you think anyone would mind,"[/say] she asks softly, honestly, [say]"if we just...went up to bed? Or—"[/say] Her voice falters, and she shakes her head, curled curls brushing his collar as she exhales. [say]"I mean, you can stay if you want. I don’t want to pull you away if you were having a good time, or if there’s something you still wanted to do."[/say] His friend Charlie was here, after all.
Her fingers tighten briefly at his waist, then loosen again, a small tell she can’t quite hide. She presses her cheek more firmly against him, eyes closing as if the contact alone is helping her hold herself together. [say]"I just..."[/say] Another shake of her head, smaller this time, more tired than uncertain. [say]"I don’t think I can fake one more smile tonight after everything and I don't want to ruin it for Danta."[/say]
RE: baby kiss it better - Kaisel - 12-21-2025
As she rotisserie chickens in his arms back to facing him, he resettles around her, head tilting into hers, listening for a moment to just their breathing and the quiet tick of life carrying on beyond this room. It's strange, knowing that his whole world is steadily falling apart in his arms while the rest goes on oblivious and unchanged, happy even. So when she offers up the idea that it could be rude to not only permit the party to continue, but to keep hiding from it, he snorts with an immediate disagreement at the very idea.
[say]"I don't think you have to worry about anyone finding it rude,"[/say] he reassures in the next breath, leaning back to tilt a look at her before pressing his lips to her forehead, gently kissing away the creases there like his breath could iron them free. [say]"When you summoned Frey, it got everyone all fired up, especially with Charlie scattering ideas of orgies left and right."[/say] He murmurs that truth still pressed against her forehead, pulling back just enough to talk before delivering another kiss, his hands sliding up from around her to hold each cheek in his palm. Nothing sweeping or romantic, but trying to press every bit of affection into her, that even now she'd still worry about the feelings of everyone else, so he means to dump all his feelings into her in return. [say]"So when I left, Danta and Astaroth were already looking ready to strip on the spot. Who knows who else has by now."[/say]
He shakes his head, hair that isn't entirely straight but also not really curly but maybe a little bit wavy or just perhaps a bit messy, shifting with the movement. [say]"Bed, with you, is the only place I want to be right now."[/say] There's no smoldering implication there, just a return of her weariness, though by no means to the same degree, that crawling into familiar comforts and just holding her into the break of a new day is all that really sounds desirable right now. [say]"I'd already left the party anyway, I didn't want to be around all the—Frey touched,"[/say] he finishes, deciding it best not to spill that he'd been lured into thinking she'd done it all as a gift. A rather stupid series of coincidences and insecurities that don't deserve any more light than they've already taken.
He tips his forehead against hers now, holding her there, sharing breath like it could steady them both. [say]"No more fake smiles,"[/say] he agrees, at least for tonight. [say]"I can even tell them to take it to Danta and Astaroth's room, if that'd be better. Or we just barricade ourselves in ours and put enough cotton in our ears we forget they're even out there."[/say] They could communicate through touch well enough, and parchment, jotting notes back and forth like a pair of school kids even if they're right beside each other.
RE: baby kiss it better - Flora - 12-24-2025
Flora wrinkles her nose the moment Kai mentions the effect Frey had on the rest of the party, the expression reflexive and unguarded. A tired, self-deprecating laugh slips out of her as she drops her forehead briefly against his chest, the sound more breath than humour. [say]"I didn’t even think about that,"[/say] she admits with a sigh, shoulders lifting and falling as though the weight of the oversight has just now found somewhere to land.
She pulls back enough to look up at him, rolling her eyes with affectionate resignation. [say]"Honestly, between Danta and Charlie and Asta, I’m pretty sure they can keep themselves entertained without us."[/say] A small shrug follows, loose and tired. When he says he didn’t want to be around anyone Frey-touched, her brows lift a fraction, curiosity flickering despite everything. For half a second she wonders if something happened—if someone flirted with him or he inadvertently to them, if something ridiculous or awkward unfolded—and then the thought drifts away just as quickly. Right now she does not have the energy to care, let alone unpack it. Whatever it was can wait until morning, when the world feels less like it’s held together with twine and they can laugh about it.
As his forehead rests against hers, she exhales slowly, her hands loosening at his lower back only to roam a little instead, palms pressing into the familiar solidity of him, following the steady rise and fall of his breath. [say]"It’s Danta’s party,"[/say] she murmurs, voice dry with exhausted humour. [say]"If they want to fuck in the kitchen, they’re welcome to."[/say] One corner of her mouth quirks as she slides her hand into Kaisel’s, fingers threading through his. [say]"Our room is the only one off limits."[/say]
She gives his hand a gentle squeeze, adoring and grateful, and then turns toward the door, already angling her body as if plotting a careful escape. [say]"Come on,"[/say] she says softly, determination edging through the weariness, fully intent on Mission-Impossibleing their way upstairs. [say]"I guess it would make things too easy if you had an invisibility ring too,"[/say] she chuckles.