that drip could turn torrential

Kaisel

She keeps not answering the questions. They hang, hollow and waiting, clarity just out of reach and hurt rushing into the space that waits. They're each rearing back from each other, too stunned by the chafe of this when it has always come easy, and maybe that's what lands hardest of all. Because why isn't this also as easy as everything else? "Why does a nice time have to mean there's no clothes??" His voice pitches up higher with the disbelief as she focuses on the one fact that he's the one somehow ruining this by wanting some fabric. Hell, he'd take a speedo even. A loincloth. Anything that could serve as a barrier. Duct tape some fucking seaweed to their cocks if need be and pass it off as pool-side sushi.

His teeth set sharply against each other as she stiffens, then retreats from his grip. She grasps for some manner of poise, and he feels like it's armor she's donning when all he needs is some emotional honesty here and not her perfected fighting stance for diplomacy. Though, the edge to her tone works his jaw once, twice, as he considers if he did in fact just overstep. His hand thumps at his side, feeling like an answer in and of itself, and he glances away with a glare into the dark along the side of the house. An egg sits there, gleaming in the shrubs, but he couldn't give a fuck.

"What are you trying to do here, Flora?" he manages, copper gaze flicking back to her with a hardness that's trying to stay soft. No, he doesn't want to fight, but also, what the fuck? "Do you want them?" Read: What else are dicks out in a hot tub good for, and is he suddenly not enough? He'd thought they'd made it all clear in the waves, but apparently not.

Wanted me to fail out of spite, I didn't
All bark but they don't bite, they timid

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

// as long as there's bread and as long as there's an appetite //

His laughter chases Danta’s heels as they bolt up the path and slip beyond the gate, also slipping off his scarf and with one arm out of the sweater he wears, carefully trying to keep the remnants of the drink he has from spilling. Danta’s whisper stops him in his tracks, however, and he finds a place to set the glass down lest he break it to look back where Kai and Flora have stopped deadstill, the air filling with tension.

“It would appear that they are not.” He whispers back, slipping his arm back into the warmth of the sweater before he swings it around Danta’s shoulders, trying to make out anything he hears. It isn’t much from this distance, admittedly, and it isn’t helped by Danta’s question nor the shove back to remove himself from the edge of the gate like he’s the problem.

Tearing his gaze away from the pair still outside of the Wildering House with the readjustment of where he stands, the butcher hums an agreement. “Perhaps he is self conscious.” He suggests, though his tone says he doesn’t really care about Kaisel’s feelings in the slightest. “Mmm, my moral compass, you say?” He shoots the Maverick a grin that seems to suggest his is screwed, though perhaps in a different way than society would like. “Given we have both been on the receiving end of Flora’s wrath a time before, I am sure we could hear it from the hot tub if there’s anything we need to immediately know or do?” A lot of it banked on the fact that the butcher is starting to get cold despite the alcohol.

Casting another peek briefly back at them, the butcher reaches out to snag Danta’s hand and pull him back toward the siren song of the hot tub, only to get him close enough he can tug off the blonde Ancient’s shirt.

Astaroth

// as long as everyone you need is stepping in line, you are camouflaged //

// but i'm weak, and what's wrong with that? //

"Self conscious of what? Flora doesn't seem the type to make do," Danta says through a scoff of laughter, still half trying to crane towards the pool gate despite having been the one to usher them both away from it. He's preparing to step back in that direction when Asta surprisingly opts not to be a gossip (who are you?), the Maverick biting the inside of his cheek as if trying to process what the other man is saying.

Eventually, even his tipsy mind is able to comprehend Flora's wrath, and he scrunches his nose in complete agreement and allows himself to be ferried back towards the hot tub by Asta's wandering hands. "Fine, fine," he grumbles, voice muffled as the butcher helps to drag his shirt over his head. Shaking his blonde hair out of his face and shivering at the cool air that hits his bare skin, Asta will have to forgive him for not opting to give him a strip-tease today.

Instead, Danta wastes no time in peeling off the rest of his clothes so he can slip into the hot water, submerging himself with a sigh of relief. "I don't care what they say - this was a great idea."

Dantalion

// boy oh boy I love it when I fall for that //

flora

Flora exhales hard through her nose, the sound part sigh and part plea for patience as she tries to make sense of the sudden wall between them. Her shoulders rise and fall with a helpless little shrug that means I don’t know how to answer that, and when she finally speaks, her voice comes gentler than the tension deserves. "This is Torchline, Kai. I've told you that. Nudity’s just...a thing here." Her tone tilts incredulous if only to show how little she understood his upset. "No one thinks it’s a big deal." Except him, apparently. "Besides with the bubbles going and the different lights it isn't like you'd even see anything. It's just to be comfortable."

She starts to add, "I’m not trying to do anyth—" but Kia's next words slice right through, catching her mid-breath. Her head jerks up, blinking at him like he’s just spoken another language. "Wait—what?" The disbelief lands sharp in her chest as she straightens again, arms crossing over one another as if to defend against any more of his blows. "No, of course I don’t want them," she says, each word punctuated by a shake of her head. "Believe it or not, I can be in the presence of a dick and not feel the need to hop on it." The edge of exasperation breaks through now, bright and bitter that apparently he thought so little of her loyalty.

Then she laughs—quick, breathless, and disbelieving—because the absurdity of it all hits her at once. "Sorry," she says, blinking at him like she’s trying to make sense of the words even as they leave her mouth. "Are you seriously being jealous right now and telling me you don’t trust me?" The question hangs there, half incredulous, half wounded, her aqua eyes sharp and searching as though she might still find the version of him she recognizes underneath the accusation.

I hope you're wetting your appetite, finding your way into someone's eyes
I hope you're dreaming in black and white, and seeing in colour

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Kaisel

Oh, he didn't realize he signed up for a field trip of Torchline's local customs tonight. Hop aboard the nude tour everyone, it's headed straight to Flora's house!

"I do!" he blurts out, fingers pecking at his chest, like she might lose sight of him otherwise. "Or—I guess that makes me no one, so sure, it doesn't matter." The bitterness swells thick on his tongue, hard to swallow. He rakes a hand through his hair, trying to unknot the tension strung through him like wire. "Board shorts have always been comfortable for me," he frowns, a shrug of his lips. Almost like wearing clothes instead of wandering everywhere butt ass naked is a thing for a reason, and stripping them away is something usually done in private, you know, outside of Torchline evidently.

His gaze is sharp on her now, searching for anything, any flicker, that could give him a clean answer. He’s got no truth ring to warn him, and though he's always believed her, he's never had to demand an answer before either. All he has is her face, her voice, each becoming more guarded as she ducks behind folded arms and angled tones. Still, her no is something he seizes like a lifeline, brief but meaningful.

Then the laughter hits, attempting to scour away that fragile relief. It needles in with a way he's never known that sound to do, keeping away any hope when he hears sorry. His hands grapple with air at his sides, fighting for purchase and finding none. "When the fuck did this become about trust?" he fires back, hands lifting with emphasis, features falling into a hurt curl with the blow of that. He snorts, both hands moving to rub at his temples. He keeps them pressed there, like oddly comforting gills on his face. "This is about want," he insists, leaning toward her with the emphasis of the word before shifting back again. "And the fact that you want to be naked with two other dudes." Yeah, yeah, comfort only, apparently.

He sighs, hands spread helplessly in the space between them. It's a quiet admittance that he doesn't know how to get a hold around how blasé she is about something that means something more to him. "I’m not jealous," he says after a beat, voice low and thin. "I just don’t get how this is supposed to be nothing. It's personal, to me." The heat has all slipped out of his tone now, leaving something dull and heavy behind—an exhaustion that can’t quite settle before the next wave hits. "It’s not about them, it’s—" His breath drags out the frustration of trying to explain what feels obvious. "I don't get why you wanna do something with them that feels like it should be ours."

Wanted me to fail out of spite, I didn't
All bark but they don't bite, they timid

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

// as long as there's bread and as long as there's an appetite //

“Perhaps he is small.” The butcher smirks as he offers his whisper, his hand coming up between them to gesture a certain appendage’s short length before he’s letting a bit of his own chaos leave him in not letting Danta know his next move. He tries to corral him back toward the hot tub, though, tail sweeping low and a touch jerky each time a shiver runs down his spine.

With the agreement, however, they part and it gives Asta enough time to slip out of his shoes and the rest of his clothes, too. All scars on display and shadows continuing to trail him like a long cape, the butcher sinks into the hot tub with his own rumble of relief. It boosts the heat into his body, reinvigorating muscles that had begun to tighten from the chill of Torchline.

“Gods, it was.” He hums as he finally settles into the side against the bench, his tail sweeping out under the water to slip around Danta’s leg. Sunk down enough that the ends of his long hair start to wick up the warm water, he draws silent to see if he can hear anything happening from the rest of their group that notably still hasn't joined them.

Astaroth

// as long as everyone you need is stepping in line, you are camouflaged //

// but i'm weak, and what's wrong with that? //

"What's that they say about it? It's not the size of the wave, it's the motion of the ocean?" Cackling to himself and fishing around at the edge of the tub to get the bubbles properly going, if it starts to steam a little more thanks to Danta's scorch magic, well, only he and Asta are here right now, and it could always stand to be a bit toastier in his opinion.

Once he's satisfied - and the inflatables are beginning to chaotically bob around now too, like they're arranging a little joust between them - the Maverick sags back against the side of the hot tub and also cocks his head to listen. Not that there's much to hear, and as he feels the butcher's tail brush against his calf he automatically scoots closer to drape himself against Asta's side. "It's a shame you can't partially shift. We could use your fyrhund ears for this."

Dantalion

// boy oh boy I love it when I fall for that //

// as long as there's bread and as long as there's an appetite //

“How metaphoric.” The butcher drawls before he laughs a low sound – uncaring either way as he lets the heat of the hot tub soak into his body. The addition of Danta’s scorch makes it even more comfortable and with the steady thrum of bubbles streaming into it, it’s hard to make out anything beneath the waves, forced to focus on just the feeling beneath it.

He watches the floaties bob around, the flamingo aiming straight for the encantado with its beak aimed right for the dorsal fin. It’s a small distraction and it doesn’t help him concentrate on the rest of the conversation down the way – frowning as they find absolutely nothing to latch onto aside from each other and the warmth.

As Danta drapes against him, Asta’s arms slip around him in turn, keeping him close and pressing a kiss to his temple just before the jut of those sharp diamond horns. “If only they were closer. I could be a lial in the pool.” He sighs with a shake of his head and the hum of another soft laugh. "What do you think they are saying, darling?"

Astaroth

// as long as everyone you need is stepping in line, you are camouflaged //

flora

Flora stares at him, flat and unimpressed, as he points at himself and declares he’s no one. The petulance in his tone makes her want to throw something—if only that egg was within each—but instead, she exhales through her nose and snaps, "Then you can wear boardshorts, Kai!" The words come out sharper than she means them to, and she drags a hand through her damp curls, jaw tightening as she tries to find her footing again. "You keep making it sound like the whole point was to be naked with them," she says, voice pitching with frustration. "When all it was about was getting into the hot tub as quickly and comfortably as possible!"

Her eyes widen theatrically as she gestures toward the house. "What was I supposed to do? It isn't like I have a stash of men's bathing suits around, and none of yours would fit them, so yeah, I assumed they’d go without, because they wouldn’t blink at it." Her words tumble faster now, exasperation breaking through the tipsiness. "You literally heard me say I was thinking about doing a whole regional quest just to make the ocean warmer for them—so yes, I wanted them to be comfortable." She jerks her chin toward the glowing hot tub, where the two Ancients are already settled, entirely naked. "And considering we've already seen each other naked, I didn’t think it was going to be such a big deal."

When he insists he isn’t jealous, she arches an eyebrow, incredulous, very nearly looking straight into an imaginary camera to pull a Jim-face.

Then her head tips back toward the sky, and she groans loudly, the sound spilling out somewhere between disbelief and exasperated laughter. "You should’ve just said that at the start!" she yells, throwing up her free hand. The flush in her cheeks deepens—not from the drinks now— but from sheer frustration. "I asked you if you wanted to, Kai. You didn’t have to make shitty comments to my friends or act like I was orchestrating some kind of dick parade."

She tilts her chin and drops her voice into an exaggerated imitation of his, lowering it into a rumbling drawl. "‘Oh hey babe, I don’t know that I want to be naked with your friends even though they seem super cool, and not to be a totally controlling asshole or anything, but I’d rather you weren’t either.’" Then she raises her brows, looking at him expectantly as if to ask why that was apparently so fucking hard for him to say.

I hope you're wetting your appetite, finding your way into someone's eyes
I hope you're dreaming in black and white, and seeing in colour

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

// but i'm weak, and what's wrong with that? //

Between the battle of the inflatables and Asta, Flora and Kai might be very pleased to realise that Danta's attention span is very quickly fading away from them, especially as the butcher's lips press to his temple. Humming a note of contentment and relaxing further into his arms, he chuckles under his breath at the idea of lial!Asta prowling around the pool to try and hear the best gossip.

"Mm... let's see. I think Kai is saying that he's upset that we're so tall and exotic and being naked will make him feel worse about it," he begins, the words half mumbled against the curve of Asta's jaw as he loses the fight to notwant to make out with the other man pretty much all the time. "And I think Flora--"

Whatever he thinks Flora is saying doesn't matter, actually, because at that moment her voice chimes out loud enough for them both to hear it. Danta, having jumped a bit in surprise, gazes slowly up at Asta with a very poorly hidden smile. "I think Flora wants to be the marshal leading the dick parade."

Dantalion

// boy oh boy I love it when I fall for that //

// as long as there's bread and as long as there's an appetite //

Danta’s attention span might slip from the other couple, but the butcher’s focuses on both. He uses the distraction to keep himself pressed against Danta as they await any fireworks that may come from the argument brewing down below – but until then? He hangs onto Danta’s words as they make their own little story of what’s really going on down there. “Ooh, exotic, mm?” He chuckles softly until he abruptly stops alongside Danta’s voice to hear her yell of anger break across the beach and the distance.

He sits up a touch to listen better, his arm and tail still wrapped around Danta now before his gaze drops to peer at his lover with a curious gleam in his gaze. “I think I understand, now.” He drawls in a conspirator’s whisper. “Kai is afraid of dicks.” It’s said so simply and bluntly between the drunkness and the thickening of his accent that he can’t hide the actual giggle-like snicker that passes his lips before he shuts himself up to listen again in case Flora actually did need their help.

Astaroth

// as long as everyone you need is stepping in line, you are camouflaged //

Kaisel

His 'brows raise in continued disbelief at her. Maybe he should attribute it to the drinks, but "what I literally heard you say, was that the spirits could get some suits for them," he points out, a tightness to his voice as hers tips into wildness. "You were the one to suggest they could go without instead." His jaw feathers again, working against the disappointment that sinks deeper with every rebuttal she makes. "I think it's one thing to make sure your friends don't turn into stone, and quite another to offer they undress."

His hands finally retreat in full from the space around them, sinking into the pockets of his shorts, as if he's given up hope of finding anything steadying he could grab hold of between them now. "Not to mention, no one had to go in the hot tub. Plenty of things we could have done instead." That his words had sparked the idea are ones he'd gladly take back, but he'd no idea the avalanche hot tub would make.

The shout she offers up next is one he watches with the faintest curl of hope that, annoyances aside, they'd found some understanding. It's a shock, then, to be bit by accusation. instead. For a moment, all he can do is stare, blinking against the sting as her voice echoes off into the night. A sharp, humorless sound slips out—half laugh, half scoff. "Oh, I see," he mutters, glancing off toward the dark for a moment like the shrubbery might get it all. "You’re embarrassed of me." The words come out quieter than he means, but edged all the same as his attention rounds back to her. It makes sense now, the way she’s fighting so hard for this, for them. Because he's the one that ruined this oh so simple fun, and her good hostess efforts, and didn't wow her friends with a naked strut across the deck. His gaze flicks back to her, wounded and incredulous at the slap of her words. "You think one half-assed remark back means I made ‘shitty comments to your friends’?" He exhales forcefully, unsure how he keeps being surprised so horribly.

The mockery hits unlike any she's ever done before. The tremor of his breath catches, irritation and hurt warping together, a blaze across his expression as it narrows. "When did asking questions make me controlling? I haven’t told you that you can’t do anything, I just—" He stops himself, shaking his head like the words are a trap and he's not about to get pulled under again. "Forget it." She's not listening anyway. He doesn't even think she cares. They're just biting because they have teeth now. So he shrugs, an exaggerated motion, because he's completely out of energy left to stand here and take all these blows from her just because he doesn't like something. "Far be it from me to stand in your way Flora, so please, go enjoy your fucking hot tub and your friends." An arm gestures freely towards the house. "Your choice, to be clear. Would hate to control you," he adds with a forced, tight-lipped smile that hides the way he crumbles.

Wanted me to fail out of spite, I didn't
All bark but they don't bite, they timid

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

flora

Flora’s head shakes fast, curls catching the lantern light, her eyes wide and wild with disbelief. "That’s like saying if I offer someone a cocktail, what I actually want is for them to get drunk," she shoots back, voice trembling between exasperation and hurt. "Just because I said they could be naked doesn’t mean there was anything beyond that, Kai. I suggested it because I know them and know that's what they'd prefer. It isn't any deeper than that."

Her breath catches, the colour in her face bright with frustration, but then his next words land and something in her expression falters. Confusion drags her lips apart in a small, shocked O. "How am I embarrassed of you?" she demands, the question escaping in a rush of breath that sounds almost like a gasp. "What are you even talking about?" The accusation of her friends sparks next, sharp and immediate. "And yes," she adds, incredulous and raw, "half-assed snipes to Danta is literally saying shitty comments to my friends."

There’s more—so much more—ready to come spilling out, a thousand little retorts burning behind her teeth about how his questions had stopped sounding like questions a long time ago and had instead started sounding like a leash, but then he tells her to forget it. The words knock the air straight from her lungs as she's just dismissed. Her jaw slackens, the bright defiance in her eyes flickering out as something quieter, heavier, takes its place. Her lashes flutter once, twice, fighting back the sudden sting that floods her eyes. The tears come sharp and humiliating, and she blinks them away fast, shaking her head as though she can dislodge them.

He’s still talking—each word landing colder, sharper, more foreign than the last—and Flora takes a small step back, the space between them yawning wider. She glances over her shoulder toward the hot tub, where Asta and Danta are pretending not to watch. For half a heartbeat, she considers it—doing exactly what Kaisel has told her to do—but when she looks back at him, she just feels small. Small and aching and utterly lost in what a mess their evening has become.

Softly, still blinking away the threat of tears, she wraps her arms around herself to ward off a shiver that has less to do with the cool night air and everything to do with the way he’s looking at her. He’s never been like this with her; never mean, never dismissive, never so distant and sharp-edged that she can’t find her way back in. And given how easily nudity and Flora have always gone hand in hand, she can’t begin to understand how he’s leapt from hesitation to just go away. "Why are you being like this?" she asks softly, voice breaking around the edges. "You’re never like this."

I hope you're wetting your appetite, finding your way into someone's eyes
I hope you're dreaming in black and white, and seeing in colour

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

// but i'm weak, and what's wrong with that? //

Hitched up a bit in the water alongside Asta, Danta lolls against him as he strains to hear anything further, but clearly Kai isn't as much a fan of yelling into the night as Flora. "Of course exotic," he purrs, voice dropping to a whisper as if they're the ones trying not to be heard for some reason in all of this. Grinning another kiss against Asta's cheek, he raises his eyebrows at him. "Especially you. You are very exotic," he says, trickling his fingertips across the butcher's scarred chest.

They're just threatening to slip beneath the surface of the water when Asta suggests - and giggles - about a dick-phobia, and that all on its own is the sort of humour that the inebriated find contagious. Before he knows it Danta is also snickering, trying hard to stifle it so he can also parse what else is being said.

"...I think Kai thinks Flora is embarrassed that he's scared of dicks," he whispers at last.

Dantalion

// boy oh boy I love it when I fall for that //