northern lights, neon skies, just you and I

I like shiny things, but I'd marry you with paper rings

The sound of Kaisel's laughter reaches her before she fully registers the movement of it, and when she turns into it, the sight of him unravels something tender and unguarded in her chest that leaves her feeling almost dizzy with affection. Kaisel laughing like this looks like relief made visible, like a person rediscovering gravity after drifting for too long, and the way it breaks across his face softens every sharp edge the world has ever tried to carve into him. She sees not just joy but the courage it takes to let that joy exist without armour, the way his warmth spills outward in waves that invite rather than overwhelm, and she feels an almost undescribable gratitude for the kind of man he chooses to be. He looks radiant to her in that moment, not because of the auroras painting colour across his features or the ridiculous charm of his winter layers, but because he is open and real and laughing like someone who hasn't let the world erode their sense of joy.

When he leans down, she is already rising to meet him, her body answering before thought has time to intervene, one mittened hand and one bare sliding up to cradle his cheeks with a certainty that feels instinctive and grounding all at once. The kiss lands warm and fervent and imperfect in the way that only something utterly sincere can be, and when he begins to pull back, their foreheads still pressed together and breath mingling between them, she murmurs a quiet, "no—" and kisses him again, as though touch is the only language large enough to carry what she feels. The world narrows to the press of his mouth, the familiar heat of him against her, and the overwhelming urge to drag him down to their bed below deck where she could speak her love in gasps and sounds and the way her body knows his name better than words ever could, nearly has her tugging him toward the stairs.

When she finally pulls in a breath to let him speak, her cheeks are flushed from the cold and from the way his affection has settled so deeply into her that it leaves her almost dizzy. Her hands remain on his face, thumbs brushing along his jaw as if she needs the contact to stay upright in the world. "I want everything with you," she says, breathless but steady, the words carrying no drama because they don't need it. She pauses then, eyes searching his, her grip gentle but unyielding, and when she speaks again her voice softens into something even more intimate. "You’re my best friend." The words land with a quiet weight that feels heavier than any declaration she has ever made, because they carry trust and laughter and shared silence and the certainty that there is no version of her life that makes sense without him woven through it.

When Kaisel turns his attention to Spice with smug triumph, the little dragon chooses violence in the most dignified way possible, winding over with haughty precision before shoving her cool snoot up one leg of his trousers and releasing a pointed breath of frost that curls smugly up against his bare skin.

and I hate accidents except when we went from friends to this

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

RANDOM EVENT

At first it is easy to mistake the movement for the aurora itself shifting, the slow ribboning of light thickening and deepening until shape emerges from colour, and then the truth resolves with a quiet, breath-stealing certainty as enormous forms glide into view, their vast bodies moving through the night like living constellations set free. The starwhales swim the auroras as if they were warm currents rather than light, solitary giants drawn toward the brightness with their poor, trusting eyes, their silhouettes vast and graceful against the dark, each slow sweep of a fluke shedding a fine trail of stardust that lingers behind them like chalk across a blackboard. 

---

Odd is using her custom RE encounter for this

Need a hundred lifetimes kinda love

Flora always answers with full force. She rises to meet him rather than waiting, draws the moment out instead of letting it end, and she returns every breathless intensity he gives her so that he's never emptied by loving her. It's part of why he adores her so tremendously. Only with her has he ever felt so certain that he's exactly the right amount, and though he fights worries about not being enough sometimes because she deserves it all, he has never been afraid he could be too much for her. She reminds him exactly why in these moments, firming his confidence because everything she does is just as large, deep, and rich with intensity. It's utterly impossible to keep his heart from running away with love for her, not that he's ever tried again, not since the moment he declared it for her.

Cold seeps in with cruelty the moment he loses the soft press of her lips, but the rest of them fights it off as they remain wound and sunken into each other's space, exactly where they're meant to be. His arm is still curled around her side, and his grip tightens faintly, a pulse of agreement, as her words settle behind the brush of her fingers. "Even the bad days, the sad days, and the boring days," he murmurs, the list an agreement not a question. Every moment, every part of life, he wants her there. That truth is one he's already come to realize, but it strengthens daily. It's why he's never once questioned the speed with which he intends to put a ring on her hand, or why he's already got one tucked away, made just for her. "All of it. Together." The unrelenting smile he wears winks into his eyes with a shine that seems to have little to do with the electric skies and everything to do with the woman before him. "Ditto," he breathes around the faintest laugh. He feels like he might float away at any moment, the champagne celebration of being so wholly loved by her bubbling up inside him. It escapes as pops of grins and chuckles, or a fizz of touch, unable to hold onto it when all the space he's got has been filled to the brim with pure joy.

Fortunately (?) Spice provides a grounding moment, more than happy to burst some of his bubbles. Whether oblivious to the sauntering dragon's impending retaliation or entirely too focused on Flora after tossing out the prodding comment, Kaisel doesn't brace for the chilly assault until it's far too late. Gasping like he's just jumped into a frozen lake, stiff as a rod, he leaps back suddenly from the warm blanket of Flora's side and the source of frost smug as snowfall perched at her feet. The hot cocoa still grasped in his hand, part of what made kissing Flora so awkward when he had to mind drinks and pivots, spills gloriously across his arm and splashes hot and steaming against his hand. "Spice!" he hisses through a yelp, exchanging the mug to his other hand and shaking the excess cocoa off before slorping it up with his lips. He deserved it all, he's aware, but he still shoots her a scowl and a defensive, "rude."

This is when his attention lifts suddenly, the slow motion overhead of dark shapes mingling with the bright ribbons of light in the sky causing his mouth to pop open in silent wonder for a moment. That moment doesn't last long. Sucking in a breath so fast its audible and nearly chokes him, he points eagerly skyward. "LOOK!" he exclaims, a different sort of joy leaping forth now. He reaches back to grab the map he'd put in his back pocket, waving it before thumping it across Flora's shoulder in a giddy assault of success. "You did it! You found the starwhales!"

Kaisel

I could say forever, but forever ain't long enough

I like shiny things, but I'd marry you with paper rings

Hopeless joy floods through Flora at his murmured agreement, wrapping itself around her ribs and settling there with a warmth that has nothing to do with cocoa or shared body heat, and she nods softly against him as she answers in the same quiet, unwavering certainty that lives at the core of her love for him. "Especially those," she says, voice gentle but unflinching, because she does not want him only when the days are bright and easy and worth bragging about, but when they are heavy and dim and exhausting, when sadness sits between them like a third presence, when nothing happens at all and that somehow feels harder than everything else. She wants him on the days where laughter comes easily and on the days where it does not come at all, and the truth of that feels so complete it almost aches. His soft ditto makes her smile stretch wider than she knows how to manage, the champagne fizz of his joy spilling straight into her as if she has tasted it herself, bright and effervescent, leaving her giddy with the impossible fullness of being loved so entirely.

Then Spice chooses chaos, and Flora dissolves into helpless giggles as Kaisel yelps and hops back, her laughter bright and breathless until his sudden, sharp inhale cuts clean through it, wide-eyed and urgent in a way that makes her heart stutter. For half a terrifying second she is certain they are about to plough into something catastrophic, some hidden iceberg of the sky that will send them tumbling in spectacular tragedy, but when she whirls to follow his pointing hand the sight steals the breath straight out of her lungs instead. Her abandoned hot chocolate clinks softly against the ledge as she stares upward, whispering, "Oh my gods," under her breath, awe threading every syllable, because a reckless part of her had wondered if the map was a lie or a hopeful exaggeration, and whether they might have built this entire night on faith alone. Maybe they have been impossibly lucky, maybe the stars have conspired in their favour, but either way the truth is there now, undeniable and enormous and gliding through the auroras like a promise fulfilled.

She laughs again as he thumps her shoulder with the map, snatching it from his hands with eager delight and a grin that feels too big for her face, and she shoots a look down at Spice with raised brows and shining eyes. "Open the bag," she tells the dragon with breathless excitement, already stepping away from Kaisel and back toward the wheel, her movements quick but sure, fuelled by instinct and wonder in equal measure. Spice responds at once, nosing open the enchanted purse as a rush of captured wind spills free and fills the Sugartide’s sails, and Flora’s hands find the wheel and turns them gently toward the drifting pod.

and I hate accidents except when we went from friends to this

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

RANDOM EVENT

As the Sugartide drifts closer, the pod remains largely untroubled by the small intrusion into their vast, luminous world, the great starwhales continuing their slow, solitary passage through the auroras as though the ship is nothing more than another curious fleck of brightness caught in the sky. Their immense bodies move with unhurried grace, each rise and fall of a fluke sending soft spirals of stardust unfurling behind them.

Only at the trailing edge of the pod does the rhythm shift, where two smaller shapes peel away with unmistakable curiosity, their movements quicker and more buoyant, looping and rolling through the coloured light as they angle closer to the ship. The calves glide nearer in playful arcs, weaving through the aurora with a clumsy delight that sheds brighter sprays of stardust in their wake.

Need a hundred lifetimes kinda love

One day he might need to see about taking lessons for sailing so he could be more than the hot cocoa delivery boy or the map holder, the latter of which he's relieved of as Flora reclaims the parchment that cost a small fortune. Not that he minds, but as Doubletake and dragon get to work, he continues to gawk upwards, not immediately useful in the slightest. Gradually, he drifts towards the side railing, craning for a better view of this rare and magical moment around the bulk of the Sugartide. Though Flora is already veering them closer, the wonder of it all draws him in, the reality of seeing starwhales so much more than the idea of it. Absently he grabs onto the edge, leaning over with a puff of breath as more of the night sky tilts into view.

In a sea of stars that have winked on as the sunset fully melted into the horizon, the auroras carve a flickering current of light and beauty over the endless dark. The pod rises with an effortless grace through the tide of the sky, the perfect image of constellations that've come to life, twisting and turning around one another in trails of glittering light that fade as they scatter off their flukes. It's a majestic display of life's beauty, pushed into this private pocket of the world so that it can remain that way, untouched by risks of being too known. "Wooooooow," he says low and long, excitement tangled into every breath.

Without much concern for tumbling overboard he hoists himself up onto the railing, surefooted despite not taking his attention from the gliding behemoths overhead. He loops an arm around one of ropes that connects down from the sails, using it to anchor as his body rises up like its own mast at the side, coat fluttering in the cut of breeze and cold snap of their speed. Soft laughter tumbles free at the sight of the curious calves, his other hand lifting up, fingertips spreading into the wind like he could drag trails in the stars that bloom behind their play. "Flora, get up here!" he beckons with a quick glance over his shoulder towards her before it darts back to the cosmic scene. "Look how massive even the babies are."

Kaisel

I could say forever, but forever ain't long enough

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?"

and I hate accidents except when we went from friends to this

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

RANDOM EVENT

The calves surge closer with a sudden, exuberant confidence that makes the scale of them impossible to ignore, their immense bodies cutting through the auroras with a speed that feels almost playful until the sheer mass behind it becomes unmistakable. They move the way young whales always have, buoyant and curious and utterly unaware of how dangerous their games might look to something so much smaller, drifting toward one another in wide, looping arcs before bumping flanks with the careless affection of creatures who have only ever had each other to test their strength against.

Each collision sends a soft shock through the stardust-laced air, trails of glitter bursting and scattering as though the sky itself has been struck, and the Sugartide, with her sleek hull and jewel-bright, stained-glass sails catching the aurora light, has become the most interesting new object in their shared playground. The calves bank again, adjusting course with surprising agility, and this time their attention is unmistakably fixed on the ship, their movements quickening with delighted intent as if they have decided that this strange, glowing thing floating among the lights looks exactly like something worth nudging, testing, and enthusiastically getting to know.

Need a hundred lifetimes kinda love

The warmth that spreads from her touch against his leg is nearly immediate, the encircling shape of her arm blocking the bite of the wind and feeding a steady heat into him. It's science, to be sure, but it also feels like the manifestation of love, like he can't help but be in a better state because of her, especially when she's got ahold of him. He glances down with a starlit smile, adoring the view of her being captured in the moment too.

"Okaaaaaay, LISTEN!" His eyeroll threatens to swing him around the rigging with the force of it. "People can DIE from sicknesses Flora, it's no joke! And when it's all up in my nose and throat, it feels like it's trying to choke the life out of me. It was miserable." That he also didn't always want to take the medicine because it tasted bad and he felt like he should be strong enough to fight it off on his own clearly has zero bearings here. "That's not being a whale-sized baby, that's surviving," he asserts with a snort, the visible disagreement curling up before dissipating.

With his point well made, further argument isn't needed, but is held back regardless with the flickering movements of the swimming stars frolicking through the neon streams. They continue to whirl around each other in boisterous displays of vigor and agility, setting off clusters of starlight like silent fireworks. It's entirely breathtaking, and Kaisel is fully enraptured by the view. "Uh huh," he says with a distant agreement that suggests he heard her but the understanding doesn't sink in entirely, not the way she meant it. If anything, he's delighted by the idea of them getting closer. In fact, he's wondering what it might be like to ride one, the brief and brilliant flare of an intrusive thought goading him to leap out onto their backs if they get close enough in passing. He wouldn't do that...probably...but the mental image lingers with potential just the same.

With a delayed register of her fingers tightening against him, he seems to blink back to the present awareness of what is actually happening here. "Oh shit," he realizes, their approach entirely unmistakable now, and with no lack of energetic speed or impressive size being flaunted. "Here they come, brace yourself!" His words are smaller than he means them to be, breath tangling in his chest as he slips down from the railing quickly, though he keeps his elbow hooked around the taut ropeline and grabs onto the banister with both hands, glancing over to ensure she's equally as tangled into something sturdy enough to keep her on the boat for the impending bump.

Kaisel

I could say forever, but forever ain't long enough

I like shiny things, but I'd marry you with paper rings

Flora has to bite the inside of her cheek hard to keep her laughter from spilling out when Kai launches into his valiant defence of surviving illness, her eyes widening with exaggerated solemnity as if she is genuinely weighing the merits of his argument rather than mentally cataloguing every dramatic sniffle he has ever suffered. Her grip tightens around his leg in mock consideration, the corner of her mouth threatening to betray her as she nods along, and for half a heartbeat her hand very nearly betrays her entirely, sliding a traitorous inch higher up his thigh with the clear intent of testing just how committed he is to that railing and his dignity. The thought evaporates the instant the calves sweep closer, their immense shadows cutting through the auroras with a speed that drags her attention away like a snapped line, awe tipping sharply into alarm as scale and momentum finally click into place.

When Kaisel swears and drops down from the railing, relief and urgency collide in her chest, and she releases him only long enough to pivot and scramble back toward the wheel, boots skidding slightly on the deck as wind and adrenaline surge together. Instinct takes over despite the part of her that knows it is probably already too late to redirect anything this large and enthusiastic, her hands flying for the spokes as if muscle memory alone might somehow coax the Sugartide out of harm’s way.

"The bag!" she calls out, voice bright and unsteady with a nervous edge that refuses to dull, not even as excitement still crackles through it, because she is not entirely sure whether they need more wind to dart forward or less to stall and let the calves pass, and the uncertainty only sharpens the moment. The sails shiver overhead, stained-glass panels catching and fracturing the aurora light as the whales bear down on them in playful, oblivious arcs, and Flora braces herself at the helm, heart hammering as wonder and worry braid tightly together while she prepares to meet whatever comes next.

and I hate accidents except when we went from friends to this

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

RANDOM EVENT

One of the calves veers in with a careless, affectionate confidence, its vast body rolling just enough that its flank drifts into the Sugartide as though the ship were nothing more than a familiar obstacle in its path, a solid shape worth rubbing against for the simple pleasure of contact. The touch itself is almost gentle in intention, the celestial equivalent of a kitten winding around a waiting leg, but the reality of its size turns tenderness into force as the hull groans and splinters under the pressure, wood cracking with sharp, echoing snaps that skitter across the deck like thrown kindling. 

The impact nudges the Sugartide off her course, sending her into a slow, dizzying spin as sails shudder and stained-glass panels scatter fractured aurora light in wild arcs, the ship turning lazily through the glowing sky while stardust rains around them.

Need a hundred lifetimes kinda love

His eyes widen, the moment impossibly slowing, which seems at odds with the uptick to his pulse, because where is she going!? "FLORA!" he calls out, but doesn't wait for her answer once it's clear she's on a mission. Abandoning the steady cling he'd woven himself into on the rails and rope he shoves off after her at a run. She jerks to a halt on the wheel, providing some clarity, although he's certain they've no means to steer away at this point. Even with distance difficult to gauge, it seems pretty apparent at this proximity that collision is imminent.

He's several strides behind her still, so when she shouts out about the bag, his attention snaps that way, peripheral sliding past the looming shape of the oncoming calf. "Fuck!" he grinds out as he skids to a half-halt. Boots squeal over the deck with the force of the change in direction, momentum stalling for just for a moment before swinging fully into his turn and sending him dashing down towards the mast and the bag positioned there. He also doesn't know if it's better at this point to keep it open or closed, but he'd like to be near enough to make that choice on way or another.

The whale's hip bump is about the same as a high five from Dwayne the rock Johnson. The sudden groan of the Sugartide's bones giving way is a sickening sound that he's decided just now he never wants to hear again, although noise is the least of his worries when the deck rolls and bucks beneath him with the force of the snapping and the nice reroute from the brush against the calf. Gravity happily reclaims his upright position with a hard glee that strangles out a yell as he lands. He might have held his ground if he hadn't been running, but his feet leave the it steadfast in one place and rejoin it, tilted, in another and he wipes out instantly in a flail of limbs and a lost frog hat that goes tumbling away.

He slides a touch as the Sugartide begins her spin, but he regains some measure of control, and since he'd nearly made it to the bag chooses to crawl the rest of the way there to be safe. "ARE YOU OKAY??" he shouts back at Flora without seeing her as he snaps the bag shut, figuring maybe less motion is the best choice right now since the Sugartide is throwing out plenty of dancefloor moves at the moment.

Kaisel

I could say forever, but forever ain't long enough

I like shiny things, but I'd marry you with paper rings

The impact rips through the Sugartide with a violence that Flora feels straight through her bones; the groan of splintering wood sounding so intimate and wrong that it makes her chest seize as if something vital has been struck. The ship is more than timber and sail to her, more than a vessel carved out of fear and survival and stubborn will, and for a heartbeat the sensation of her being hurt feels indistinguishable from the Sugaryide herself being torn open beneath her hands.

That panic barely has time to crest before it is eclipsed by something sharper and far more urgent, and she shouts Kaisel’s name into the chaos, the sound ripped from her throat raw and loud, before the spin takes hold and the deck lurches beneath her feet hard enough to knock the air from her lungs. Her teeth clamp down around the scream that wants to tear free as she clings to the wheel, arms burning with the effort of holding herself upright while the world turns in a dizzying, aurora-streaked blur.

Then the sails lose their breath. She feels it instantly, the way the Sugartide’s wild, uncontrolled rotation stutters and slows as if someone has reached up and physically grabbed the sky, the momentum bleeding out of the spin in a merciful, stomach-lurching deceleration that leaves her shaking and breathless but upright. Relief crashes through her so fast it nearly makes her lightheaded, and she hauls herself higher against the wheel, heart pounding as she cranes her neck to search the deck through the fading blur of motion.

"Kai!" she yells, voice tight with panic and effort as she spots him sprawled and then moving, blessedly moving. "I’m okay, I’m okay—are you okay?" The words tumble out all at once, breathless and desperate, as she forces herself to steady her footing and edges away from the helm, every muscle still humming with adrenaline. She swallows hard, eyes flicking instinctively back toward the sky where the calves had been moments ago, fear and awe tangling together in her chest. "Can you see them?" she calls, trying to keep her voice level as she takes another careful step forward. "Are they coming back?"

and I hate accidents except when we went from friends to this

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

RANDOM EVENT

The calves wheel away in wide, unbothered arcs, their massive bodies carving slow spirals through the aurora-lit sky as if the earlier collision were nothing more than a forgotten game. This time they pass beneath the Sugartide, their immense forms gliding through the darkness with a smooth, deliberate grace, and as they do, the air itself seems to swell and lift in their wake. 

The displacement rolls upward like a hidden current, buoyant and powerful, pushing against the hull of the ship so that it rises in a lurch as though borne on an invisible tide rather than suspended in open sky.  Stardust streams from the calves’ passage in shimmering ribbons that curl and eddy below, making the air beneath the ship look briefly alive with glittering undertow.