there's a warm wind blowin' the stars around

is this the end of all the endings?

The house has long since gone quiet around her, the last of the lanternlight dimmed to a low, honeyed glow that barely reaches the bed where Flora has curled herself into the space that still smells faintly like Kaisel, though it has begun to fade in a way she refuses to notice, as if ignoring it might somehow stretch the memory thinner, keep it from disappearing entirely. She had meant to stay awake—had told herself she would, had sat stubbornly upright against the headboard with every intention of greeting him the moment he stepped through the door—but the hours had softened at the edges, slipping past her one by one until resolve melted into something gentler, something quieter, and she’d folded into sleep without quite meaning to.

Now she lies half-tangled in the sheets, one arm tucked beneath her cheek and the other resting where she must have meant to keep space for him, fingers loosely curled against the linen as though they’d only just missed closing around his hand. Her curls have escaped whatever effort she’d made to tame them, a loose halo of gold against the pillow, and her breathing comes slow and even, the kind of deep, unguarded rest that only arrives after exhaustion wins outright.

Her engagement ring catches what little light there is, a soft glint of gold at her finger, and on the nightstand, a freshly cut flower has magically appeared. Flora looks smaller like this, somehow, all sharpness and sparkle softened into something quieter, the ache of missing Kaisel worn down into the simple, unconscious reach of her body toward the side of the bed that remains, stubbornly, empty.

my broken bones are mending

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

I'll push through my doubt, don't say goodbye

Moving with an exaggerated slowness that a sloth would envy, Kaisel climbs onto the bed. Every shift of his body is carefully placed, sinking his weight with such extreme care that it’s an atomic level of detail that he’s alert to. The moment two molecules bend too close together, he grabs his breath and draws the moment out in a frozen state of clenched hope. He’d control the quiet rush of his heartbeat if he could, but instead listens over it for any signs that he’s disturbed her. This impossible feat of calm and quiet is the hardest test he’s ever faced, but he’s never had one that matters more, and that motivator has turned him into an ace student of stealth.

He considered curling up on the ground beside her just to avoid the risk, but selfishly, that’s not close enough for him. A brief moment of payback also glimmered delightfully in a smile for a moment, where he contemplated divebombing the bed and bouncing her onto the floor with his sheer momentum, weight, and element of surprise. The war crime of attacking her while she sleeps is a trial he has no desire to face, and he need not stoop to such nefarious actions yet. That, and he couldn’t possibly bring himself to so thoroughly shatter such a moment where she is exquisitely at peace.

Watching her from the doorway led to the compulsion to join her. All other thoughts were immediately swept off the table, no possible comparison able to rival the need to hold her. He did have the wherewithal to strip his outer layers of clothing, leaving him in little more than boxers and an undershirt now, which is close enough to pajamas anyway.

With all the caution of disarming a bomb, he eases himself along her side. He waits, chest bearing down on any spare motion, gaze tilted up to her to watch for signs of continued slumber, before he proceeds to pluck up her arm and shimmy underneath. Her ring catches the light anew with the shift, a speckle of light bouncing across the opposite wall. It’s such a precise maneuver that his muscles threaten to seize against the deliberate strain, leaving him to beg Charlie to hold his horses. One breaks free anyway, and Kaisel has stuff a knuckle between his teeth as his toe curls on its own just as he slots into place and slides an arm around her.

I will love you 'til the lights go out

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

is this the end of all the endings?

Nothing in the room shifts against Kaisel, no startled breath or sleep-heavy protest, only the soft sigh Flora lets out as she settles more deeply into the mattress, her body accepting his careful intrusion as though it had been waiting for it all along. Even in sleep she yields just enough to make space, her arm pliant when he gathers it, her weight easing back into him until the space between them disappears and she fits, seamlessly, into the curve of his hold.

The house does not betray him either; no mischievous creak of floorboard or sudden slam of door interrupts the fragile quiet, as if the spirits themselves have decided, for once, to behave.

Flora remains under, steadfast and undisturbed, her breathing slow and even as the last hours of night slip quietly past, the darkness thinning at the edges until dawn begins to press pale gold through the wide windows. It’s that light that finds her first, brushing across her face, catching in the loose spill of her curls and warming her skin until sleep loosens its hold just enough for awareness to begin its slow return. It isn’t the light that wakes her, though.

It’s the weight, solid, familiar, wrapped around her in a way that sends recognition through her before her eyes have even opened, something instinctive and certain that has her shifting slightly, pressing back before she’s fully conscious of doing it. The feeling slots into place in her mind all at once, and whatever remnants of sleep cling to her dissolve immediately, replaced by something bright and fizzing that spreads through her chest too quickly to contain.

She twists in Kaisel's arms without hesitation, turning into him where he’s tucked her in close, one hand lifting to his cheek. Rising just enough, she brushes her lips against his, soft and insistent, a quiet attempt to coax him awake rather than let him linger as he'd graciously done for her.

"Hey," she murmurs, her voice still threaded with sleep, though there’s nothing drowsy about the way she draws closer, her leg sliding over his hip to pull them together until there’s no space left at all between them. Her nose nudges against his, affectionate and familiar, her breath warm against his mouth as the relief of him being here—actually here—bubbles up too quickly to hide, spilling through the soft curve of her smile as she adds, just as quietly, "I missed you."

my broken bones are mending

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

I'll push through my doubt, don't say goodbye

He doesn’t remember drifting into the pull of sleep, but it eagerly took him the moment he rode out the cramp and entirely melted in beside her, all the tension of his caution giving way to triumph and dreams. Undoubedtly worn weary in his own ways, it’s not the same bone-deep exhaustion, rather it’s finally being back in the rythym beside her that tugs on him so completely. A peace that doesn’t find him until this piece is part of it. She is home, in every possible way that matters.

The shift of her, too long and heavy to be sleep, is the first knock against consciousness. Off instinct alone, his fingers flex against her, an involuntary protest against whatever distance her movement might be trying to smuggle past him. The second knock is the soft slip of her palm gliding along his cheek, warmth pooling steadily in the wake of her contact. His head stirs, tilting into the feeling, just as his mouth twitches with habit more than thought to seal with hers.

Hey comes the third and final knock. One eye peels back slow and reluctant. Although he scarcely has vision through the heavy hang of lashes, the bleary image of her seeps in, enough to blink her into full focus as he rouses into a yawn. ”Hey,” he returns, voice smacking against the roof of his mouth as it leaves, still thick and deep, as if his breath has also been curled up and sleeping in his chest. A stretch offers her a rigid line to hook her knee against, spine and shoulders stiffening as his toes reach down deep beneath the sheets. He rolls out of it with a newfound zeal, curling her closer yet as his arm secures her weight more fully against him.

Briefly crosseyed as he glances down his nose at her, his smile breaks out a second dawn. ”You missed me?” he glows faintly, a reflection off the halo around her head, surely. He reaches up with two fingers to set it straight, folding the light behind her ear properly. ”Well, we can’t have that, can we? Guess we’ll have to stay here all day to make up for it.” He tilts his chin up, swiftly kissing the tip of her nose before it’s pulled away. ”Spirits, cancel all of our plans for the day!” he instructs the house, a finger flourishing in the air as if it’s a patient secretary waiting to jot this very message down.

I will love you 'til the lights go out

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

is this the end of all the endings?

The sound of Kai's voice—sleep-thick and a little rough around the edges—pulls something bright and buoyant through Flora's chest that has her smiling before she can help it, the expression blooming easy and then running rampant as she hums softly in answer, the note warm and pleased as it slips between them in place of anything more articulate. Of course she missed him, the feeling still fizzing under her skin like something just uncorked, impossible to contain now that he’s here to take the full force of it.

His theatrics earn a quiet laugh from her, soft and breathy where she snuggles closer, the sound dissolving into him as she tucks herself neatly beneath his chin. "Mm, yes, and definitely no being more than an arm's length away," she murmurs, playing along without lifting her head, as if the house truly might rearrange itself at his command, as if the day beyond these sheets has already been dismissed if only because he told his spiritual-alexa to make it so.

Her hands slip beneath the hem of his tank top greedily, palms flattening against the warmth of his skin. Her fingers wander idly, tracing the familiar lines of him, the rise and fall of his breath, the curve of his waist and hip as though reacquainting herself piece by piece, committing it back to memory now that she has him within reach again. She lingers there a moment, just feeling him, breathing him in, the quiet of it settling around them in a hush that feels soothing now that she isn't experiencing it alone. "How was it in the Grounds?" she murmurs against his chest, her thumb brushing a slow, absent path along his side.

my broken bones are mending

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

I'll push through my doubt, don't say goodbye

She'll find no disagreement or rationality from him, least of all today, certainly not when it comes to keeping her close. "I don't want you even an eyelash's length away," he informs her gravely, and very pointedly stares back at her with the stern intensity of someone reaching with all their might with their eyes. He gives up when their irises don't immediately hold hands and tilts his head into the first part of her that's close, blinking intentionally against her skin before trading lashes for lips and peppering kisses there instead. In case it wasn't clear, he missed her too.

He would be content to stay like this, lazing away the morning into the evening with nothing but her company, but if he's still swaddled in some dreamscape here, her question means to pull him out of that too. He stills for a moment, taut beneath her touch, then sighs it away with a lightness that requires effort. She doesn't know the gravity of what she's just asked. All things considered, he has much better news to tell her than he originally though, but it's still a minefield of disruption and he wants to feel like all his limbs are intact a little bit longer.

"Oh, fine," he begins, a shrug in his tone like there's nothing really noteworthy about the whole excursion. "I saw Danta while I was there. He and Astaroth are out camping in Hak Etme this season." His fingers tighten slightly against her side where his arm maintains its brace, the motion more like thoughtfully plucking a string instrument than tracing the vanishing peace of her warmth. "Dygra improved the weapon like I asked. I brought Charlie along, since she'd been the one to convince me of the quest." All very normal, casual, non-life altering things. He could probably end it there, not an outright lie, but he already feels the protest kicking back in his chest, a weight that's lodged itself despite all attempts to keep it at bay. He never wants to keep things from her, but gods, it's nice to just ignore the heaviness once in a while.

"I thought I got Charlie pregnant, but turns out I didn't."

I will love you 'til the lights go out

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

is this the end of all the endings?

Flora meets his stare like it’s a challenge she fully intends to win, eyes widening just a touch too much, mouth twitching at the corners like she’s seconds away from laughing but absolutely refusing to break first, until the whole thing collapses under its own weight and she gives in anyway, pressing in closer with a soft huff of a sigh that sinks into his chest. Being this close to him smooths something out in her immediately, like all the restless, stretched-too-thin parts of her just...settle back into place without asking permission, and she leans into it without hesitation, tucking herself tighter against him as though she could make up for the lost time simply by refusing to leave an inch of space now.

"Mmm, that’s probably for the best," she murmurs about Danta and Asta, her voice warm where it presses into him, one shoulder lifting in a small shrug that shifts against his hold. "At least it’ll keep Asta out of trouble for a bit, and it’s not like they’ll mind the heat." Her fingers continue their slow, absent path along his side, the motion easy and distracted as she hums a soft, "That’s nice," at the mention of his weapon, entirely unbothered, entirely unaware that anything in this conversation is about to veer off a cliff.

And then it does.

Flora still suddenly; it’s immediate, total, the kind of stillness that snaps into place so fast it almost echoes, her hand pausing where it rests against him as her brows lifting in a slow, deliberate climb. Drawing back just enough to look at him properly, she fixes him with a stare that lands somewhere between incredulous and deeply unimpressed, though the edge of it still holds just enough playfulness to keep it from cutting.

Her head tilts to the side, curls shifting over her shoulder as she studies him like he’s just said something so outrageous she’s giving him one clean chance to explain himself. "Babe," she says, the word flat in a way that somehow says everything, her voice calm in that dangerous, deliberate way that means she’s very much awake now. "What were you doing that you thought you got her pregnant in the first place?"

my broken bones are mending

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

I'll push through my doubt, don't say goodbye

Trying to keep it in meant it just kinda, sprung out, coiled too tight for too long. He'd have told her over parchment, but felt it wiser to put himself in punching range, for her sake. So instead it's been sat on, finally escaping in a wild, frantic way that's nothing like he rehearsed. Danta had advised against glamorizing the moment, but maybe he could have at least showered it off instead of kicking it out of bed and onto the floor.

He recognizes all this the moment it leaves his lips, and he stills almost in tandem with her, eyes slowly opening wider like a dog about to haul ass around the house. His zoomies might be a bit more fear motivated in this context. Babe lands like the footstep that splinters the ice over a lake, and Kaisel holds his breath, afraid to shift any of his weight and plunge into the chill. "Nothing!!!" he squeaks out, pushing back to sit up a bit straighter against the headboard of the bed, the lazy comfort of being flat now feeling too similar to lying in a grave. Both hands lift to hold her, using the contact to funnel as much sincerity into her as he can manage.

"When Dygra improved my weapon, and Charlie was there—we weren't even touching or standing that close to one another or anything!" He needs her to know, to believe that nothing had happened between him and Charlie, which had been half the mind fuck he'd already staggered through. "Well, she also gave Charlie a gift then. A spill of chaos, she called it. A demigod child." Maybe more apparent how easily he'd been duped now, saying it so plain, but in the moment he'd felt like he'd just been offered a version of a cuck chair and got way more involved than ever desired. "It wasn't immediately obvious, what Dygra meant, but Charlie knew right away. She could feel it, and..." he rolls his eyes a touch here, because gods help him, his friend is a pain in the ass sometimes and he still loves her for it, maybe more because of it, but he'd prefer never to do this again. "She leaned into it, passed it off like it was ours."

I will love you 'til the lights go out

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

is this the end of all the endings?

The moment he shifts upright, something in her follows without thinking, the ease of a lazy morning giving way to a sharper kind of attention as she watches him, a small crease between her brows appearing before she quite realizes it’s there. It isn’t fear—not yet—but it’s enough to pull her up with him, the sheets slipping as she moves, tucking one leg across his instead of over him this time, reconfiguring rather than retreating. Her hand finds his automatically, fingers threading through his with quiet insistence, grounding more than gripping, the contact steady and deliberate like she’s making sure he doesn’t drift off into whatever this is about to become.

At first, her expression shifts in pieces; brows lifting when he insists nothing happened, one corner of her mouth tugging faintly like she’s not entirely buying the urgency of it, her eyes narrowing just slightly as he doubles down on how very not-touching they were. It builds, that look, stacking suspicion on top of suspicion, until it just stops. Because there's nothing there. No confession of cheating. No slip he wishes he could take back. No moment that actually connects him to anything except standing nearby while chaos did what chaos does.

Flora blinks at him, then again, slower this time, as though she’s just missed something obvious and is waiting for it to catch up. "Okayyyy—" she starts, drawing the word out just enough to give herself space to rearrange what she’d been bracing for into what she’s actually been given. Her free hand lifts, gesturing vaguely between them as if she can physically sort the pieces into something that makes sense. "Let me make sure I understand," she says, her tone careful but already tipping toward incredulous, her brows climbing higher as she goes. "You’re telling me that your ancient friend—with a documented history of turning into a dragon, causing problems, and convincing people to do absolutely unhinged things—who is also, just casually, the priestess of a literal goddess of chaos—" Her hand pauses mid-air, palm up, like she’s presenting the argument to an invisible jury. "—said you fathered her baby...because you were in the room when Dygra did it?"

Silence lingers for half a second, her expression holding, before her head tilts slowly to the side, curls shifting with the motion as she studies him like he’s just handed her the world’s most ridiculous explanation and expects her to sign off on it. "Kaisel," she sighs, the word drawn out with theatrical weight, not sharp, not angry, just deeply, deeply unimpressed in a way that somehow still carries a thread of fondness beneath it.

my broken bones are mending

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

I'll push through my doubt, don't say goodbye

Her quiet is the most unsettling thing he’s ever witnessed, because he expects the crash out. He’s aware she’s already given him precious seconds to be heard, but gods it doesn’t feel like he’s used them fast enough, well enough, smart enough. It’s a disjointed, vomited retelling that he’s not sure he’d believe in this manner if their roles had been reversed. So surely, any second, she’s going to pull the silence away and (rightfully) detonate, and he’ll have to break through the ricochet of everything breaking apart just to rebuild it again.

Instead, she waits. Trust stretches out the moment, impossibly long and forgiving, and as he nearly hiccups to regain the dump of his breath, every part of his skin prickling with the anticipation of yet more chaos following him home, she just—takes it all into her lap and sits with it.

His mouth shuts so fast the moment her voice picks up that his teeth clip each other and vibrate down into his jaw. Sweat already gathers in the places where his palms keep her anchored, the new placement of her leg like a lap belt for the wild ride they’re sure to descend into. Toad’s wild ride’s got nothing on this.

It doesn’t come—not the drop, not the noise, not the strain of outrage and disbelief wrinkling something permanently, even if really, nothing happened. Her truth ring surely has his back a bit, but he knows it’s more than jewelry shining through here. ”Weeeelllll,” he groans, head hanging shortly after with a flop of bedhead hair. ”When you put it like that,” he mutters, red racing up his neck.

It’s even more obvious reframed that way, as clear as day now. He glances back up, guilty in the only way that really matters here now, a weary look finding her from beneath the hang of hair. ”She said ancients get pregnant all kinds of ways. Even Danta didn’t think it was impossible when I asked for his help. They just kept congratulating me for Dygra’s clear approval.” The only time he’s ever shrunken away from recognition. His features scrunch up with a fresh wave of defeat, a senseless mutter grumbling from his chest.

”Fuck, that’s a weight off my chest. I thought I was going to be a father, which isn’t something I’ve ever imagined, least of all without sharing it with you.” One part of that had already been overwhelming, but both had nearly done him in.

I will love you 'til the lights go out

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

is this the end of all the endings?

Flora's brows climb higher and higher as he talks, until they’re threatening to disappear into her hairline entirely, the look she fixes on him somewhere between disbelief and reluctant acceptance as she lets out a long, slow breath through her nose. "Well.." she starts, the word dragging slightly as she works through it, one shoulder lifting in a small, conceding shrug. "I guess that does sound like something that’s possible with ancients, but—" Her mouth twitches, not quite a smile, not quite anything settled, as her eyes narrow just a fraction and she angles her head at him, studying him like she’s about to poke a very obvious hole in this entire situation.

"You’re really telling me that if Charlie was going to have a divine, Dygra-blessed baby with you, she wouldn’t demand to do it the fun way?" Knowing admittedly little about Charlie, Flora feels like she knows enough to be quite sure that were it the case, the priestess would have demanded to seal the baby in with sex, even if it was strictly necessary.

The tension still lingering in her shoulders breaks under her own logic, spilling out of her in a soft laugh as she leans back just slightly, the sound warm and a little incredulous, like she can’t quite believe this was the version of events he’d been bracing himself for, and then his next words catch her more cleanly, her lips pulling into a crooked grin as she glances up at him. "A father, huh? Not a dad?" Her nose wrinkles faintly. "I feel like you'd be more of a dad."

The grin lingers for a second longer, but it doesn’t quite hold, something quieter slipping in beneath it as her hand stays laced with his, her thumb brushing once along his knuckle before going still. It’s not the word itself that catches her, it’s everything wrapped up around it; the way they’ve somehow circled into this without meaning to, right on the heels of her bracing herself to bet old her husband had cheated on her, and instead finding herself here, in a conversation they’ve never actually had. The last time anything like this had brushed against her, it hadn't been a conversation so much as Jack telling her I'm having a kid with Safrin but don't worry it's just a business arrangement.

"I’ve never really thought about it either," she says, softer now, the words a little more careful as they leave her, like she’s testing how they sound out loud before deciding what to do with them. "Have you not imagined it because you don't want it, or..?"

my broken bones are mending

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

I'll push through my doubt, don't say goodbye

His mouth opens, then closes, then opens again. No words or air passes, just an apparent fish impersonation as he grapples with this newfound realization. ”I don’t think—” which about sums up most of his problems in life. ”Well, yeah, but—” His hands have slackened off her arms a bit, and now they flop and roll through the air like he could pull the sense from some veil he can’t see but is still desperately trying to reach.

”It’s not like the baby was her idea either. Dygra just kinda, provided. Plus, you know how they all are about her,” his eyes widen slightly, his voice lowering into conspiracy. ”It’s like a cult.” He shakes his head, certain. ”Even if she wanted it one way, I doubt she’d push back on her goddess.” Charlie’s devotion, like most of her, is wild.

The tension melts away in waves, relief lapping up with every fresh breath. There’s sanctity too in the unrelenting grasp of her gaze, security in the adamant curl of her leg against him, too sure to let distance grow even here and now. Rubbing his free hand over his face and through his hair, the faintest laugh dares reappear. ”Funny, I always thought I was more of a daddy.” As if to prove the point, he reaches out to grab at her calf, tugging her further against him as he leans in closer, forgoing the spine of the headboard.

He doesn’t press the intention further, not the least of which is because she seems to quiet in a way that’s full of echoes, drawn in deep enough to thought that there’s room for them. The brush of her finger against the lace of them, pad rolling over his knuckle, feels like the same thing her mind is doing to something gone askew. He reaches back out, his other palm sliding off her leg to fold over her engagement ring. The jut becomes obvious when she speaks again, and he rolls his thumb against the gemstones slowly, tracing each edge.

”I wouldn’t say that. More like, I feel like I just got done being a kid myself.” Not even so long ago he’d still been with his parents. Is still called kid by Koa, which maybe would continue well into the years he’d grey. His tone slips under into something quieter, less certain not because of fear, but because of lack of exploration. This feels unknown, and that requires care. ”I was…terrified, when I thought Charlie’s kid was mine.” He sucks in a quiet breath, pulse rising faintly as he drifts against those moments of panic all over again. ”In part, because it was so, unexpected. Not even an accident, but not even possible, or so I thought. Then, because it wasn’t with you, which I never would want.” Not to hurt her that way, but also because he’d want to take that adventure with her.

”It’s a massive change, and it’s forever. It’s so easy to accidentally do wrong by a kid. So many things when you grow up, you realize you do because of them, for better or worse.”

I will love you 'til the lights go out

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

is this the end of all the endings?

Flora's eyes roll so dramatically it’s a wonder they don’t get stuck there, a soft huff leaving her that sends her bangs shifting off her forehead as she squints at him. "It’s not like a cult," she mutters, voice dry but mischievous, the corner of her mouth twitching. "They’re just literally a different race. Of course things are different for them."

"Yeah, you wish—" she starts, quick and automatic when he calls himself a daddy, the tease already there on her tongue before it falters as he leans in, the space between them shrinking in a way that pulls her attention clean off track. Her heart kicks a little harder against her ribs, a quiet, traitorous reaction that brings a small, almost shy curve to her lips even as something warmer coils low in her stomach, before his fingers brush over the floral stones of her engagement ring, and just like that, the moment shifts.

She exhales softly through her nose, grounding again as she listens, her hand staying where it is beneath his, her thumb brushing once along his as he talks. It makes sense, because yeah, thinking you’d somehow fathered a child without even doing anything to cause it would be enough to knock anyone sideways.

When he says it wasn’t with her, though, something in her softens immediately, heat rising to her cheeks as she ducks her gaze, leaning in closer instead of away, her shoulder pressing into him as her attention drops to their hands, to the way his thumb traces over her ring. "Well," she says after a second, a sarcastic little laugh escaping her as she gives a small, conceding nod, "you already know how shit my upbringing was, so I definitely agree with you there."

Her nose wrinkles faintly, the expression pulling at her features in a way that’s more thoughtful than playful now. "And some kids just come out weird, y’know? Like they’re already haunted before you even get a chance to mess them up yourself." Even as she says it, her gaze lifts back up to him, aqua eyes settling on his copper ones, searching in a way that isn’t sharp or demanding, just..curious, like she’s turning the idea over in her mind and trying to see how it fits now, with him, with them, now that this is something real enough to actually consider.

my broken bones are mending

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

I'll push through my doubt, don't say goodbye

His lips shrug grandly in place of his shoulders, because he isn't saying they're a bad cult. All things considered, they're quite fun, and Dygra clearly knows what she's doing when she's made some of their favorite people. Could be the sex, and the blood, and the always trying to convince them to turn Ancient that really gives off the cult vibes, much less the unwavering devotion to their goddess. His point remains, perhaps more neatly wrapped in the way she says it, but yeah, shit got a little weird over there. "Well, don't worry, fool me once and all that." Maybe not the most applicable line for his experience with Charlie's deceptive games, but he means he'll be casting doubt more often her way going forward.

In a very Charlie-approved transition at least, he lets that topic fade away for the sake of feeling her skin closer to his, more than eager to practice making babies with his wife. The spark that stirs quick and easy is all her doing, fed by even the whisper of a touch, always eager to talk with her, whatever form that might take.

One conversation tips over into another, and as she turns scarlet and melts against him further, he finds a smile breaking into the wariness. It is not often he gets to see her turn red, so self-assured about things, or able to pretend as much. "Flora," he breathes into a laugh, trading her seriousness for humor now. "I don't think you're supposed to say kids come out haunted." He gets her point though, and the mirth dies out with an understanding sigh and a slide deeper into the bed as he hauls her closer up to his shoulder.

"I think, one day, I'd love to make you a mother." He tilts his head into hers, a gentle kiss pressed into her temple. "Even if it is a ghost baby," he murmurs, his lips stretching out against her crown for a moment before he pulls away to better regard her. "Make something better, than all the things that did us wrong." That's always the point, isn't it, to improve something. Maybe he could start with himself a bit more though, if easily getting tricked into a false fatherhood is proof enough, and that he surely can't blame on his parents. "Maybe I should get a dragon first," he muses, since Flora got to practice perfecting Spice all on her own.

I will love you 'til the lights go out

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