[SE] petrichor

The light returns and the snow melts, and Fox (foolishly) looks forward to the cool breezes and green shoots of Flowerbirth. Only when he awakens the morning after the longest night, it's to steady, pouring rain. With a soft groan, he hauls himself out of bed and downstairs, pulling on a jacket and lacing his boots. He leaves Kiada to sleep, not wanting to bother her with any chores that will soak her to the bone. That doesn't mean he's excused, though.

If and when Kiada does find him, it will be to see the hunter out at the front of the property, drenched, his hair plastered to his forehead as he works to sweep a path to let the rivulets of water flow away from the cottage. He's also been stacking firewood beneath an awning where it will hopefully dry out a little, and cleaning up any debris leftover from the melting snows. It's gross work, and he's anything but happy about it, but that doesn't make it any less necessary.

welcome to the desecration, baby

we built you up and we'll tear you right down

KIADA

burn it into my collar, hollowed onto your wrist

It had been, perhaps, Kiada’s most nondramatic LongNight in history. And while the event had started with terrible sleeping habits, it had ended with her getting perhaps the best amount of sleep she has in a long time. Now, whether that’s because she’s convinced herself that there isn’t a threat anymore or the man sleeping beside her, she’s banking on it being the latter. So she certainly does sleep in, shifting only slightly when Fox slips out of the bed, until the dull light of cloud cover from behind the curtains starts to rouse her.

And when she wakes up fully to hear the pattering of rain and to feel the cold sheets beside her, it’s with a soft little huff that she forces herself out of bed, gets herself somewhat in a semblance of put together, she slips on a rain coat and drifts toward the outdoors. She doesn’t come empty handed, though, two little mugs of coffee with lids to keep the rain from getting in, even if it’s already starting to plaster her hair to her skin. “Morning.” She chimes to him, handing him a coffee and (because she’s sentimental and it’s the first day after LongNight and theyre both okay, she presses a kiss to his cold and wet cheek). “I brought coffee, but how else can I help?” She eyes the fallen branches from the heavy snow now soggy with rain and half sticking out from the mud, but lets her eyes wander back to him to try and see if he had something more pressing she could do.

heaven knows i don't follow, but i believe in this

Having just straightened up after finishing his fuckery with the firewood, Kiada is a sight for sore eyes and then some, though Fox had hoped he might help keep her dry this morning. Nonetheless, he accepts the coffee with visible gratitude, his cold cheek warmed instantly by the sweet caress of her lips. "Morning," he rumbles, wiping his wet face with a sleeve that's just as soaked, and taking a long sip of the coffee.

"That's just what I needed," he says with a smile, his breath fogging the air from the heat of the drink. "And your company is help enough. You should stay under the awning where it's dry," he tells her, grabbing up a couple of the branches she's been looking at to haul them out of the path, but there's a lot to do. "I wouldn't want you to get wet, or muddy."

welcome to the desecration, baby

we built you up and we'll tear you right down

KIADA

burn it into my collar, hollowed onto your wrist

A brighter grin is offered to him despite the longer she starts to look like a soaked rat, happy to know that coffee was exactly what he needed. She takes a sip from her own before she pushes back her already soaked hair again, running her fingers along her horns to get the water off from dripping into her face. “I’m perfectly capable of helping.” She informs him, stepping over to the awning anyway but only to place her mug there.

She steps out to help grab a few of the missed branches sticking out of the mud to haul back out of the path. “Besides, the sooner you get this done the sooner we can take a nice hot shower, hm?” She waggles her brow toward him playfully, before she’s grabbing the ends of all the branches they’ve collected to bring over beside the awning where they might be able to get away with using bits and pieces as kindling if it ever dries out.

heaven knows i don't follow, but i believe in this

"I would never question your capability for helping," Fox says seriously, taking another long sip of coffee and stepping to the awning to set his mug down as well. "I just wanted to do something nice for you, that's all." Nonetheless grateful for her assistance, he flashes her a grin through the rain and nods his agreement. "A hot shower is the only kind I'm happy about."

Ducking back into the downpour to keep hauling branches out of the pathway, once they've gotten rid of the bulk of it, Fox grabs a thick bristled broom from the side of the cottage. "Happy Flowerbirth." He chuckles as he starts to sweep the dirty water and mud from the paths. "It's not normally this rainy."

welcome to the desecration, baby

we built you up and we'll tear you right down

KIADA

burn it into my collar, hollowed onto your wrist

Even if she teases him, Fox’s seriousness and general demeanor over her will always charm her in ways she can’t quite put a finger on. “You are whether I help or don’t.” She teases him, flashing him a bright smile. It’s a smile that shifts toward a mischievous grin when he agrees about the shower. “Nice and hot and I can give your hardworking muscles a nice massage.” She lists off the perks of such a shower as if listing out a goal to complete the task quicker with.

But she’s off again, collecting more of the branches to clear the pathway. And as Fox grabs a broom, she sets to tidying the outside of the front of the house. “Happy Flowerbirth, Fox.” She chimes with her own chuckle. “I was going to say I didn’t think it was usually this awful. Should we make channels to try and keep the house from flooding?” She asks, pausing in her tidying to look back over at him.

heaven knows i don't follow, but i believe in this

"Well at least there's that," Fox says, though he loses the threads of that conversation almost instantly; unsurprising, when it's replaced by the mental image of her skilled hands working into the muscles of his back and shoulders. Not to mention the heat and steam of the shower, their warm, slick bodies entwined--

Having realised he's been sweeping the same patch of pathway for some time, the hunter clears his throat and gets back to work. "Hm? Oh, that's probably a good idea," he agrees, wincing as he looks back towards the cottage. "We're never at risk of that here, usually. The fields suck up all of the moisture."

He finishes his work with the broom and replaces it, before moving to a small shed around the back of the house and taking out a hoe. "There should be some flat stone from the rubble of the farmhouse. We can use that to reinforce the channels once I dig them. Do you mind going to take a look?"

welcome to the desecration, baby

we built you up and we'll tear you right down

KIADA

burn it into my collar, hollowed onto your wrist

Oh it’s a mental image that keeps her going in the face of the cold rain, but she can multitask. Her tidying comes to a halt ss she does notice how distracted he’s become with the broom, unable to keep the amused tilt of her lips from her face as she watches him clear his throat and return to the conversation.

“It might be too much, given it should have been absorbed from the melting snow.” It just made sense to her that it might overload the fields and that it was better to be safe than sorry. So when he steps away to collect the item to make the channels, Kiada’s more than willing to go scout out flat stones. “I don’t mind at all.” She murmurs softly, heading toward the shed to grab a wheelbarrow before heading to the farmhouse to start collecting stones for reinforcement. There’s a surprising amount and she’s glad she had the foresight to grab something to transport it easier, even if at least a quarter of the wheelbarrow’s contents were nothing more than just rain.

heaven knows i don't follow, but i believe in this

Glad for both Kiada's forethought and her help, Fox gets to work with the arguably muddier aspect of their work. He chooses a side of the cottage where the rain will naturally run anyway, beginning to hoe a steady channel towards the bottom of the gentle incline. By the time Kia returns, he'll be muddy and soaking but the digging will mostly be done - thankfully it's not a difficult task given how soft the earth already is.

"My hero," he chimes with a smile, the water already running steadily through the channel. "Hopefully the stone will stop it from collapsing in on itself." Abandoning the hoe, Fox trudges up to help her with the wheelbarrow, laughing at how clean the stones are thanks to the rain. "Alright - if I slip over, you have permission to laugh."

welcome to the desecration, baby

we built you up and we'll tear you right down

KIADA

burn it into my collar, hollowed onto your wrist

Fox works quickly and Kiada can’t help but to think it’s because of the goal at the end of this. She knows it’s exactly what she’s thinking of, too, as she returns to his side with a wheelbarrow full of stones, snickering when he calls her his hero. “I do try.” She rolls her shoulders in a way that almost comes off cocky and playful, before she’s grabbing one of the stones to start placing them in the channel.

“I hope so.” She adds by mention of the stones preventing the collapse. Her iceberg gaze snaps back up to his face, taking in the streaks of rain and the mud and finding herself distracted by him when she realizes he’s said something. “Mm, well, if i get trapped you can laugh too.” It’s far more likely to slip in the mud than get trapped, but she feels obligated to add it in, too.

So saying, she gets to work. Grabbing stone after stone, slipping them into place in the channel.

heaven knows i don't follow, but i believe in this

"Lovely," Fox rumbles with a smirk, content with their agreement and helping her to lay out the stonework. It's hard work, and not nearly as quick as the initial digging of the channel, and by the time they reach the bottom of the incline the rain has grown harder. In fact, as Fox finally straightens up, he's sure he's actually stuck in the mud, and he pulls a face as he gazes back up the hill.

"That could prove problematic," he remarks to Kia with the slightest hint of amusement in his tone. Indeed, as he starts to try and climb back up throught he mud and sodden grass, his shoes slip and slide near instantly. With a bark of laughter and a colourful curse, Fox finds himself right back where he began, if not dirtier than when he started.

welcome to the desecration, baby

we built you up and we'll tear you right down

KIADA

burn it into my collar, hollowed onto your wrist

It’s playful and nearly childish, their agreement. But with it made and a promise to help each other out, Kiada sets to work alongside him, soaking her knees and legs with mud as well as her arms up to her forearms. She’d think by the time they were done that she’d be coated in sweat with how much work it was, but the rain has simply soaked her to the bone enough that it doesn’t make a difference.

She doesn’t have the issue of sticking in the mud, however, and whether that’s from where she’s decided to step or because Fox was heavier than she is, she can’t say. What she can do, though, is laugh alongside him, scrambling to try and help catch him before he slips, covered in mud. “Grab on!” She tells him, bracing her feet with the stone channels they’ve made (like a terrible makeshift snow shoe for mud), and she reaches out to haul him up against her.

heaven knows i don't follow, but i believe in this

"I'm trying!" Fox complains through a laugh, clinging on to Kiada as best he can without dragging her down in the mud with him. The entire endeavour is made worse by a sudden fit of the giggles, and it's a long, slow and muddle waddle back up towards the cottage. On the plus side, their makeshift channel is working nicely all the while, and a miniature river of rainfall is already flowing down the stone towards the bottom of the hill.

"I feel like we've done our part to clear up after Longnight," Fox says, a hint of hopefulness in his tone as his muddy boots finally reach the solid stone of the pathway. "Unless you're very keen to stay out here in the rain, of course." She's the only reason he'll be staying outside, put it that way.

welcome to the desecration, baby

we built you up and we'll tear you right down

KIADA

burn it into my collar, hollowed onto your wrist

His laughed out complaint has Kiada grappling onto him in turn to try and slowly step up the side of the incline – made slower when the giggles occur and she can’t help but to find it contagious, giggling and snickering alongside him as they waddle up to the cottage. She lets him go for the moment when she realizes he’s standing solidly on his two feet, departing only to duck into the awning to get the two mugs from earlier that she’d brought out, before she returns to his side, holding both in her hands and dripping a mixture of water and mud on the dry surface under the farmhouse’s awning.

“No, I think I’ve had enough fun in the mud today.” She comments, flashing him a playful grin and handing him his mug back. “I think we deserve that nice hot shower now, don’t you?” She steps closer to him and with a wet hand she cups his cheek, angling him for a soft lingering kiss as if adding to the thoughts that might be running through his head over that shower she’d mentioned earlier.

heaven knows i don't follow, but i believe in this