Not fit for cocoa

ISKRA

He follows the shape of her through the water, reaching for her a time or two, but always too slow, her body flashing away like a fish, slippery and quick. He isn't about to hand over the game though, so he tries to build patience, to draw her closer and make her drop her guard with the belief he won't extend his grasp again, resigned to his defeat. She either tires of the circling or can read him to well though, instead surfacing with her grin.

She certainly seems relaxed now, drifting along the remaining wake of her own motion. He's suspicious though, so he waits a bit, watching her float in and out of reach, too similar to the bait an anglerfish might wave around. "Oh I never said I was having a bad time," he grunts, choosing then to fling himself full force towards her torso, arms acting like a scoop as they dive under her. He intends to bring her up briefly on the bars of his limbs, body hoisted above the water as though he means to capture her for good, but it's all to give her distance to drop her back into the water with an impressive and disorienting splash. "I'm having a great time, just not the epitome of serenity."

Got me singing in the pouring rain
Got me wrapped around her finger
Well pardon my manners
Just something about you turns me to a savage

MELITA

She took her time, mind contorting with a rash degree of potential actions, inclining her head at his first statement, maybe to arch her brow, counter with a wry grin or some other measure that she couldn’t coordinate in time. Not with the sudden flinging of his form directly at her (a fond favorite of his, it seemed – maybe later she could coin it with a more technical term, like the Iskra Interception). She should’ve seen it coming, but she’d been wandering in her thoughts, and suddenly she was scooped up from the springs itself.

She let loose a ridiculous, laughing, squealing outcry, one leg swung in a wide splash to douse him while she was hoisted, then ultimately dropped. That motion didn’t go quietly either, and she let her arms flail on the way down, so there was a sweeping arc of warm droplets cascading over the forefront. “Well good,” she wrinkled her nose, shaking her head, not unlike a dog, so that he might find more of the water heading his way. Sweeping her hair back from her head again, where some portions had escaped from the braid, she found herself hovering exactly where she wanted to be.

With him, right in her grasp, snare taken and snatched.

Leaning closer, but deliberately a breadth away, she smiled, airs of pretense and innocence, nose wrinkling like she hadn’t the faintest clue as to what he was talking about. Maybe she didn’t. Serenity had never been her thing. “Oh – what would you prefer then?”

You're all gonna watch me
Disappear into the sun

ISKRA

His success is incredibly wet. It's already a splashing flurry, but with the addition of her flailing foot drawing up a sheet of water like a bird's plumage, he's forced to turn his head away and shut his eyes to the motion of it all. The peal of her laughter and the resounding sound of her hitting the surface soon thereafter leaves his grin like a permanent fixture. It does require a hand serving as a squeegee for his face once he's released her back to the pool's embrace.

His attempt is soon made pointless when she shakes off, his hands lifting as a poor shield. "You've spent too much time around Goose," he complains with a puff of air aimed up at the water dripping freshly from his face. There's no honesty to the bite, just a playful jeer being returned.

The moment he had her in his arms had been too brief to celebrate, and certainly lacked the tenderness he could imagine instead. Now though, he sees the way she's pulling in closer, and though he's wary she's still half a mind to leap on him and turn the tables of this predator and prey game, he's impossibly drawn in by the chance it could be something else, something more. He leans in too, her question remaining unanswered while he starts to sink into the stare she's turned on him. Time feels impossible to keep track of with her, especially when she's this close. "Any time with you is always preferrable," he confesses before erasing the remaining distance to claim her mouth. No splashes or shoves or giggles this time.

Got me singing in the pouring rain
Got me wrapped around her finger
Well pardon my manners
Just something about you turns me to a savage

MELITA

“Is there such a thing?” she laughed again, pushing the remaining hairs out of her face that had already escaped her braid. A rhetorical question, probably, but she delighted in the teasing and taunting, drawing portions together into little pitfalls and traps until she had him right where she wanted him…

Bait taken, she grinned at the confession, preening the moment his mouth claimed hers. It probably wasn’t necessary to utilize ruses or dangle snares to get here and this, but she glorified in it all the same, feral little heart beating rapidly in success, triumph, and contentment the instant his lips sought her. Giving up the ghost, she unfurled her arms to drape over his shoulders, and would be wholly satisfied in simply wrapping her legs around his waist and dangling there, with enough height vantage to take and snag for herself, but opted to float amidst the warm plumes, absorbed and transfixed. No fight, no flight, she returned the fervor in equal measure, granting the ardor in return, kissing him back in that languid, listless notion that they had all the time in the world. Maybe they did. Melita was never one for anything more than an impulsive, emboldened concept, until it smacked her upside the head, later on down the road.

Why she’d fought this for so long, she couldn’t explain or fathom anymore; and pulling away only slightly, she gave a smug snicker. “Mm, but probably not very relaxing.”

You're all gonna watch me
Disappear into the sun

ISKRA

Thinking himself the victor in this scheme, none the wiser to her own plots, Iskra is equally celebrating the success of trapping her in the grip of his affection. Half expecting she'd swiftly retreat with a splash, another chase due to unfurl, he's instead pleased to find her arms slipping around him like a pleasant noose. It flutters wild and warm in his chest, the rush of loving her, a risk he's still learning to take. In response his own hands pool against her, one fanning out against her lower back while ther other cradles closer to her head, keeping her snug against the pressure of the long and deep kiss.

Even when they part, he doesn't give her much space to retreat, scarcely done enjoying this blissful moment. "What do you mean," he asks on the edge of a laugh, gaze tangled brightly in hers. "You're very relaxing when you're asleep." It's said teasingly, his nose drifting in to nudge against hers.

A soft sigh escapes, more serious for a moment. "I don't need you any other way than as you are." It's an easy admission because of its truth. Despite the years that've crept between them, he's known her, and though she's changed in many ways she hasn't. She's still the flame he adores. "I'm plenty relaxed now," he points out with a low hum, searching for another taste of her lips after doting on the tip of her chin and the slope of her cheeks first.

Got me singing in the pouring rain
Got me wrapped around her finger
Well pardon my manners
Just something about you turns me to a savage

MELITA

If Melita thought herself caught and snagged on the same lines and tethers, she scarcely noticed; far too busy gloating in her own triumph. She leaned in closer at his touch, scarcely breaths away, the proud grin turning into a softer, glowing smirk – not used to the lazy, languid, listless way of existing, of taking and snagging at one another, instead of chasing down those hollowed granules of nothing at all. She gave no thought of retreating, for there was nothing to run away from; immersed and surrounded and content, despite the feral inclination to perhaps bite at his lower lip and see how much she could get away with.

She probably would’ve tried had he not immediately relented in a tease – snorting at the implications, but the answering smile was enough to signify that she wasn’t offended in the least. “I’ll remember that,” came as the ghost of a threat (though he shouldn’t be surprised if she ended up kicking him in the middle of the night), and she shifted closer, hands tangling behind his neck, interwoven little fixtures and portions of skin that she committed to memory; pathways of Iskra that she hadn’t known as well before.

At his sigh though, and the more serious conjecture to his eyes, she stilled, brow raised, waiting for something inevitable to come crashing down. But when it didn’t, and he proclaimed acceptance of her, her eyes widened, letting the manifestation of his words spark their way through. He’d taken all her flaws, of which there were many, and still cherished her just the same – something not many would dare, or have the strength, to do. The Honeybee had always been easily waylaid by others – at least, when it came to her father, or those like Jack, unwanted, not something or someone to bother with. And she knew she wasn’t the same person Iskra had grown alongside; no less wild, but certainly less gentle and forgiving. Too much of a tempest now, waiting for any excuse to bristle and fight. So her features softened, the quirk of her Cheshire smile altering to something brighter and grander, head tilting, eyes tracking his movements, following the change in angles, whispering against his mouth. “Well, that sort of flattery will get you everywhere.”

Absorbed for moments more as she pulled him in for another longer, deeper kiss, and then giggling when the scratch of his beard lingered on her cheek, over her chin. Thereafter though, she whispered along the depths of his jaw. “You make me feel safe,” a rare occurrence for an individual always looking to deal the first and last blow, who'd fought tooth and nail to get where she was today.

You're all gonna watch me
Disappear into the sun

ISKRA

A low chuckle rises at the idea of contorting her so easily with something as simple as kind words, seeming rather impossible that it wouldn't take more. Though, he surely doesn't understand the depths to which she has wandered alone and fierce for so long, her truths still guarded in many ways, something for him to pick over in time to finish piecing together the puzzle of their lost time. Nothing hidden exactly, she's been fairly free about revealing all manner of truths, but things that have nonetheless been tucked away by time and memory, jostling back into the open when certain things shift. Flattery just one such slope for them to slide along.

Mostly his laugh rouses as an outward admission of the simple happiness that settles warm and unfamiliar in his chest at this proximity to her affections. The sound is soon swallowed back by the return of her mouth, a newfound current of exhilaration swelling at the contact. If flattery will get him everywhere, he'd want it to lead nowhere other than here, bracketed by her touch. "I don't need to go anywhere but here," he murmurs.

Grinning at the sound of her joy as they part, the space minimal at best, he is struck anew by the quiet weight of her voice. Safe is an underrated sensation in a world where much of their family has perished and threats abound. It's a strength he'd have given years of his life to offer to her, and here it is, already thriving. "There's no higher compliment," he says on a breath, the visible cloud of it drifting past their cheeks as he tilts his head into hers for a moment. Gods, he hopes he can maintain it.

"What do you say so me joining you in Torchline for Longnight?" he wonders, drifting back enough to capture her gaze. "Then afterwards, when Flowerbirth arrives, I take you on a proper date?"

Got me singing in the pouring rain
Got me wrapped around her finger
Well pardon my manners
Just something about you turns me to a savage

MELITA

Melita was not often the recipient of any form of flattery (nor the giver, if one was being critical) – but Iskra’s did well to impart portions of acceptance – of who she was, of who she’d become – and that affect was rare. The Honeybee wasn’t easily moved or swayed at any given hour; much too stubborn, indignant, and defiant, but those words held an enormous power, and she trusted Iskra wasn’t wielding them simply because he could – they were meant, lodged in veracity.

Her brow arched at his response, but he gained another long, slow kiss for the murmur; sinking into the mere thought of always having someone, other than herself or her companions. “Yeah? Gonna travel with me when I’m committing nefarious deeds?” A tease and a joke; she had no inclinations of drawing him into her Ludo webs – nor that she had to drag him everywhere, into the mayhem. Unless he enjoyed it; but that was another consideration.

Unaware that her safety had been his goal in the first place, she still preened under his watch, very catlike as she raised her fingers to graze along the back of his head, stroking at the finer hairs. The following proposition wove a Cheshire grin upon her features, mind contemplating at the distinctions. “I’d say that’d be very nice,” and the thoughts of a date, rather than their haphazard impulses flung anywhere and everywhere, gave her pause. Not out of anything to negate, but surprise, then pleasant notions, all playing out across her face – wondering if that had been the ground they were reaching for all along. “Ooh, to where?” Her head tilted – pondering, prying through those sparks of indulgence and the unknown. “Is there anywhere you haven’t been?”

You're all gonna watch me
Disappear into the sun

ISKRA

If he knew speaking the thoughts of his heart out loud would earn him her lips so often, he would have opened up much longer ago. The warm pull of the water moving around them, the twist of her fingers at his nape, and the soft brush of her mouth is enough to keep him from sliding into any habits of regret, far too content with the current situation to look for ways to needle himself. "The more nefarious they are, all the more reason for backup, yeah?" he smirks. While not entirely sure to what depths she might sink to, by force or choice, he's certain he'd dive after her all the same. There's little else in life worth chasing than this feeling, and there's few people left breathing who matter to him, none of whom compare to her. "Already plotting something wicked?" he wonders, just to see how big of a breath he might need to take.

He didn't expect her to reject the offer, but watching her smile deepen at the extension of it and her spoken agreement manages to lift his heart nonetheless. He is continually struck by how much putting word to all the thoughts and feelings hes sat with for years makes such a difference. He expected he already knew how to love her, but he's finding it's something entirely new that's growing in response to doing so aloud. "I've heard good things about an Italian place in Stormbreak's Pacifist Plaza," he suggests with a shy smile, not quite ready to have the idea put down for judgement. He'd meant to inquire a bit more first, but maybe it'd be better to get her take too instead of leaning on surprise to be the wonder of it all. "They have an acrobatic show afterwards, nearby at a little theater."

He waits a moment for reaction, trying to judge her favor of the plan. "Or I also considered taking a picnic lunch to the Oerworld's Peepholes. We could treasure hunt around the meal." Something more civilized and something more wild, figuring of the two one might do. Eventually, both, why not. "I've not been to either of those places," he admits with a drop of his voice, because for all his dreams and wild adventures in youth, it seemed Ampere took them with her, or better said, he buried them with her. With the help of Mel, he's started to wonder about digging them back up, a graverobber of old ambitions.

Got me singing in the pouring rain
Got me wrapped around her finger
Well pardon my manners
Just something about you turns me to a savage

MELITA

“Mm, you do talk a good game,” she grinned, head already tilting into some obvious plotting measures. Though he’d negated the potential of the great extreme sledding idea, Melita wasn’t without her constant impulsive scheming. “And I can’t tell you – that’d ruin the surprise.” Was it because she didn’t know yet? Of course – but it didn’t mean there wouldn’t be something around the bend (and she didn’t really want him to shoot down another dangerous notion just because). “What if I let you use the cannons, hm?” as a way of distraction; though she really did have to improve the distance on those…

The wayward jumble of thoughts didn’t really matter in the end though, because they were on other topics – like dates and pasta and picnics. Her brows furrowed while she listened to the floated potentials, wondering if they’d suffer under the boring state of Stormbreak (stuffy as always, and she could nearly picture a series of forks to be used that she’d stab something with). But rather than immediately disregard it, her eyes widened the moment ‘treasure hunts’ were offered. “Oooooh,” came on a glorified gasp, twining her hands further across his shoulders while she maneuvered around and contemplated. “We should totally do that. I haven’t been to the Peepholes in ages.”

At the way his voice dropped though, her eyes did too, watching him from her gilded gaze, as if prying through and striving to see what had disturbed. “Then we should go,” she ascertained with a nod, as if that solidified and sealed the deal, wondering if she’d have to drag him out of somewhere again. “Save Stormbreak for second though.”

You're all gonna watch me
Disappear into the sun

ISKRA

Now he regrets telling her his surprise. He would have like for them to go tit for tat with them, his a nice date, hers some murderous potential. It is not actually surprising that she holds onto it with all the iron teeth of a safe though. To invoke as much chaos as possible it's best to spring things on people, and as his continual experiences with her have only further demonstrated, from soldiers in pockets to masquerade plots, she is not one to share he plans and lose the potential of a wild reaction. She might be one of the best secret keepers in Caido, if he had to hazard a guess, unless the telling of the secret would create more bedlam for everyone.

"Hopefully you're not hoping I'll actually hit anything with them," he laughs low and entirely pleased at the idea of getting his hands on her cannons, both the ones on her ship or elsewhere that she owns. "I've never used them, so a trial run might be in order." Similarly, he could use practice on both her cannons.

It does seem for the best that he ran the possibilities past her, since unlike her, his goal isn't to shock and awe, but for her to find the most fulfillment. He would have chosen the city first, if only because they spend so much time romping through the wilderness as is that he thought it might feel less like a date and just another one of their days doing fuck all. Maybe that's her point though, that she'd rather more of those over trying to bend to what others deem suitable. She has never been one mold herself towards what everyone else wants. "Peephole picnic it is then," he declares without another thought about it. Eventually, he'd whittle off every land beside her, stuffy city or not.

"Let's go before we both turn into wrinkly prunes," he murmurs, hands sliding down to gather at her thighs and hoist her to his chest, wading out of the pool. "Towel off, dress fast, and we'll race back home so the cold can't catch us." He sets her down and will even be kind enough to wait until her twenty layers are back on before starting the race.

[FIN]

Got me singing in the pouring rain
Got me wrapped around her finger
Well pardon my manners
Just something about you turns me to a savage