I like shiny things, but I'd marry you with paper rings
Flora has been watching the pod too, hands steady on the wheel even as her heart threatens to lift clean out of her chest, tracking the slow, dignified sweep of the whales through the auroras while the Sugartide glides obediently in their wake. It is only when Kaisel calls out to her, wonder bright and reckless in his voice, that she turns her head properly and registers the exact way he has climbed himself into trouble, balanced up on the railing with the rigging in hand and laughter written all over him like he has always belonged on ships and in impossible places. A flicker of concern sparks sharp and instinctive, immediately chased by something warmer and far more dangerous, because gods, she loves seeing him like this, unguarded and delighted and lit from the inside by awe.
She sets the wheel with practiced care before jogging across the deck, boots thudding lightly against the wood as wind tugs at her coat and scarf, her grin already breaking loose as she closes the distance. Sliding an arm around his calf to anchor herself and him both, she laughs up at him, breath puffing white into the cold. "Whoooa, they are big," she says, eyes flicking back to the sky where the calves loop and glide, stardust curling behind them like chalked laughter. "Although, I don’t know, I don't think they're as quite a big of a baby as you are when you catch a cold."
Her teasing lingers easily between them as she turns her attention fully back to the whales, her body still pressed close, arm secure around his leg as she leans out just enough to really see. The playfulness drains from her expression by slow degrees, not abruptly but with a quiet narrowing of focus, her eyes tracking the calves as they peel wider arcs through the auroras. Distance is hard to judge up here, with nothing but light and dark and movement to measure against, and she takes a breath, recalculates, watches again as one of them banks and surges forward with surprising speed. Her fingers tighten in the fabric of Kai's trousers without her quite meaning to, a small, involuntary tell that something has shifted in her assessment.
"Uhh..babe?" she says, voice careful and light on the surface even as a thread of nerves winds through it. She keeps her gaze trained on the sky, not wanting to spook him with the way her pulse has jumped. "Do they...look like they’re coming over here?" She pauses for a moment, measured and attentive rather than panicked. "Like...really fast?"
She sets the wheel with practiced care before jogging across the deck, boots thudding lightly against the wood as wind tugs at her coat and scarf, her grin already breaking loose as she closes the distance. Sliding an arm around his calf to anchor herself and him both, she laughs up at him, breath puffing white into the cold. "Whoooa, they are big," she says, eyes flicking back to the sky where the calves loop and glide, stardust curling behind them like chalked laughter. "Although, I don’t know, I don't think they're as quite a big of a baby as you are when you catch a cold."
Her teasing lingers easily between them as she turns her attention fully back to the whales, her body still pressed close, arm secure around his leg as she leans out just enough to really see. The playfulness drains from her expression by slow degrees, not abruptly but with a quiet narrowing of focus, her eyes tracking the calves as they peel wider arcs through the auroras. Distance is hard to judge up here, with nothing but light and dark and movement to measure against, and she takes a breath, recalculates, watches again as one of them banks and surges forward with surprising speed. Her fingers tighten in the fabric of Kai's trousers without her quite meaning to, a small, involuntary tell that something has shifted in her assessment.
"Uhh..babe?" she says, voice careful and light on the surface even as a thread of nerves winds through it. She keeps her gaze trained on the sky, not wanting to spook him with the way her pulse has jumped. "Do they...look like they’re coming over here?" She pauses for a moment, measured and attentive rather than panicked. "Like...really fast?"
and I hate accidents except when we went from friends to this
