escordvi | closed ⚡🪶 and forevermore, i'll be chasing the storm we had.

[He takes a long draw of the cigar before he releases it into the air in front of him, leaning back against her as he does with his head tipping back so that he can better see her face.]

Tempting. But I have a suspicion if I did we'd never see those hot springs...

[A hand goes down to the one teasing his side.]

...And it may be better over there than this "dingy, wretched little place."

[Said with an amused quirk of his lips.]

[He'll feel her low chuckle brush against his skin, her fingers moving under his to weave them loosely together.]

I suppose... Despite my best efforts, there's no getting rid of the wretched.

[Though, how many times will she find herself here in the near future, she wonders?]

But you do know that the springs are not all private? Unless you can afford a room.

I don't think you really mind that all that much.

[The "wretched" part. But then there's a low, thoughtful hum before he grins.]

Especially when it's going to be the reason why I can afford a room for a night or two.

[Her lips brush against the back of his neck, breath warm and ticklish and feather-light.]

And there will be room for two, yes? Should I collect my things from my apartment?

Edited 2024-01-08 04:54 (UTC)

If you'd like. I already have my things here so wouldn't take me long.

[That does get her to pause, her lips withdrawing from where they were brushing over the nape of his neck, and while he may not see the look on her face as she leans away from his view, he might hear that tentativeness.]

... You're sure about this.

[He does, and while it stings a little, he can't really blame her given how he was earlier. So the fingers still threaded with hers tighten.]

I am.

[He then looks down, averting his own gaze as lets out an exhale.]

Having something of a little "vacation" might do me some good, and your company would only make it better.

Mm.

[It makes her heart flutter, hearing that. It shouldn't, but it does. What she should be doing is telling him to stop wallowing, that he sounds so pitiful like this, but... instead, instinct takes over, and she grabs him by his chin with her free hand, the other tightening alongside his, craning his head back, and kissing him properly. Because that is all she can do, all she can say, even if it isn't saying anything at all.

Parting from him is difficult after that, those words having sunk deep and wrapped around and around her lungs like a chain linking her to him...]

... Then I will gather my things and meet you there.

[Whatever he expected, it wasn't the kiss, so she actually catches him by surprise. However, it's brief, and his own hunger for her taste quickly meets with hers, pushing back just a bit as it's always difficult to pull back. But this time, there is a bit of clingyness that that makes him linger, one that he doesn't really quite fully realize. All he does feel is that he just doesn't want to part with her just yet. That her presence is helping push away the lingering sadness and loneliness that is not leaving as quickly as he would like.

But he does part, he does pull back with a smile that has a hint of his usual playfulness.]

Don't keep me waiting long.

[Really, now that he's more "sober," he finds himself a bit pathetic being like this. It's not something he should be dwelling on or letting himself be caught up on it. But despite all his experience, his reasoning, his acknowledgment, and not only knowing that he really will be able to jump back to it within the next day or so but that Mid herself would ragging on him for being this way, at the end of the day Cid is human. And he is a father who regrets not knowing if he will ever see his daughter again without once again giving a proper goodbye, left behind to process the changes and all the things he missed out and will continue to miss out.

A thought that also makes him look at Benedikta a little differently as well. Not that he wouldn't miss the others, but Mid and Benedikta are the ones he's closest to with more personal history. So to be reminded once again that either of them could disappear at any moment...

Well, it makes a man think. Think a lot and reassess things.]

Edited 2024-01-08 06:04 (UTC)

[She hears that echo of her sentiments, and damn it all, it only makes it harder for her to pull away when she sees that heaviness still lingering in his smile, not quite the arrogant, teasing one that she's grown used to in the last several months. Hints of it, but not enough for it to feel as it normally does.

Maybe that's why she feels so strange about this. Why her own heart aches when she sees that his is, too. She doesn't realize how much she relies on him being himself to save her from tumbling too far into places she doesn't want to be until he's been dragged down there, too. He probably doesn't realize it either, she thinks.

She doesn't like this look on him. It reminds her of their final days together in Waloed...

Which is why, even after she pulls away from him, she lingers, her own clinginess coming through.

She does quirk a grin though, at one corner of her lips.]

Sometimes I wonder if you remember who you're talking to.

[She could outfly him anyday.

But with one more lasting look, she leaves him behind, walking out of the bedroom and leaving him with that half of the cigar.

True to her word, she won't keep him waiting for long. Just as he asked of her. Within the same hour, the door of his workshop will fly open and in a flurry of feathers, Benedikta lands with a breeze that throws a few loose papers from his desk.]

[He can only smile a little wanly in return as he watches her leave, that strange pit in his stomach gnawing at him when she's gone completely and all that's left is the silence around him.

Silence he had long become accustomed to at various stages in his life, and had grown quite comfortable with.

A silence that had been broken by the whirlwind that was his daughter, and at times by Benedikta.

Now, both are gone, one for good as far as he knows, and one just for now. Yet the silence they both leave behind creeps into him in an unusual way, a way that it never had before. A silence that it takes him a moment or two before he's finally able to shake it off and resume dressing himself, the cigar hanging loosely from his lips before he finally extinguishes after he's through. A silence that continues to follow him as he goes back to the bathroom to finish freshening up and then returns to pack a small bag with clothes and necessities.

Just as he finishes pulling on the drawstrings, he thinks how it had been a while since he had something of a "vacation," and given how muddy his head has been, perhaps this really is a good idea. A chance to... Not be here.

Here, where he slowly walks over to where Mid used to work and sit in her chair, just like he did when she first left for Kanver. Here, where at least her old notes and ideas are neatly tucked away, things he's already looked at and will likely try and complete later. Here, where he's realizing how much he'd like to really stay in this world and continue this second life of his.... This second chance that could be taken away at any moment.

A second chance...

To live with the woman who blusters her way through that door, the sunlight pouring in with her. He just looks up quietly at her, taking her in the sight before he finally quirks his lips and greets her.]

Never were a fan of knocking, were you.

[Except she did knock the first time she came here. And for all her denials and hesitation and refusals when he first joked about her taking care of him, she's honestly done everything he needed, even if it was in her own way.]

Edited 2024-01-08 09:43 (UTC)

[She slings her bag over her shoulder and trots inside with all the confidence in the world, her expression softening a touch only when she sees him in the sunlight, a look that she now realizes she sorely missed earlier. Fucking hell, what is wrong with her? Either way, she uses his comment as a distraction from those pesky thoughts.]

Why bother? You knew I was coming.

[There's a quirk to her own lip as she stops in front of him, pausing a moment to look him over, his expression unreadable.]

And I didn't keep you waiting.

[A light chuckle as he looks up at her.]

You made me wait some time. Ten minutes, maybe.

[A more playful grin as he stands, reaching for his bag on the floor.]

And who is the impatient one?

[Benedikta clicks her tongue at him, her eyes following as he stands up before she's grabbing him by his hand and tugging him to the door.]

Come. I can fly us there if you'd like.

[It's her. She's the impatient one.]

[He is definitely giving her that look, but a smile also naturally forms when she takes his hand. He doesn't really consciously think about it, but he really does like it when she does.]

Suppose it would be faster than walking, but how far away is it from here?

[Since Nogard is right on the island... But he doesn't know exactly where.]

[He'll get a very pointed look over her shoulder as she leads him out the door, and the heat of the volcano automatically sweeps in to greet them both. Ugh, she hates it.]

The other side. [An arch of her brow.] You really haven't set foot outside today, have you?

[Oh.

That's definitely heat, hotter than than the Dhalmekian deserts, and he frowns with a grimace as he feels it. And as he glances at her, he awkwardly rubs the back of his neck.]

Uh...

[And that's enough of an answer of yes he has not.]

Will you be able to handle the flight through this heat? Wouldn't want to make you work more than you need.

How do you think I got home and back so quickly?

[Benedikta slows and turns a little more to him, before she gives his hand a firm tug, pulling him right up to her.]

I'm offended that you would even ask.

[Hm...

He'll look her over a moment before he lets out a small breath to accede.]

Very well, then. Just don't squeeze too tight.

[She laughs, the sound a low, wispy thing in his ear as she holds him tighter to her.]

No promises.

[With that, there's the familiar burst of aether, and the brush of her winds, and rather than work to push him away from her like they had done before, they draw him closer, forcing them together as she pulls back, a smirk finding its way all the way up into those shimmering, bright blue eyes that now stare at him before she's kicking off the ground in a single beat of her wings... with him in her arms.

A feat she certainly could not pull off without her semi-primed state.

But as they fly over Nogard, she will make sure that he gets a good view of the dragon that's now clinging onto one edge of the island, of the volcano, and of Eltrut and Elah on the opposite side, as well as the mountain and the hot springs to which they are headed. She might even tease him with a few sudden, fast rolls through the air before diving down to the resort which seems... awfully quiet.

It isn't until she lands in front of it that she sees the sign:

TEMPORARILY CLOSED DUE TO FIRE DRAKES. Please come back in a few hours.

As her aether fades away, Benedikta finally releases him just before her feet touch the ground, and she swears under her breath.]

Un-fucking-believable.

[Admittedly, it's always a strange feeling to have Benedikta carry him like this, but he's just going to enjoy the ride as it is, knowing that she normally wouldn't do it like this. Though he will behave and not ham it up like he normally would.

Until she tries to pull those rolls. Then he'll start making those quips and pretending a damsel in distress (this may not really help matters). Even so, he does take in the view, marveling a little at how their leviathan moved to just latch onto this side of the island. Granted that it seems dragonesque, seems fitting.

Once at the resort...

Feet now back on the ground, he walks up closer to the sign to read it over again. Then he'll peer beyond it before he hears the sound of shouting, and hissing.]

...Sounds like they're still at it, too.

[A wince at what sounded like something getting destroyed. Oof.

Running a hand through his hair, he turns to Benedikta. Really, he feels more sorry for her, having flown all this way carrying him, and he gets the feeling she might have been looking forward to the springs, too. But then his eyes catch sight of the sky lifts...

Hmmmmmmmmmmm.]

But there's a winter lodge up on the mountains, isn't there? Since we're here, might as well try our luck there. Would help us get out of the heat for a bit, at least.

[She was looking forward to the hot springs. What gave it away? The clear disappointment that transforms her face into a full scowl? The tension that sets right in between her shoulders? The wind that blows through and rattles the sign like she's trying to blow it over?

Benedikta hears the drakes, and she has half a mind to leap over the dividers and take care of them herself, and then maybe they'd have a few hours of the springs to themselves before everyone decided to come back...

...

....

But Cid's voice draws her back, the promise of something chillier than that god-awful heat a tempting prospect...]

What's at the lodge?

[Her eyes follow his up to the gondolas that look to be carrying people up the side of the snow-capped mountain.

At any rate, she's already walking in that direction, taking him by the hand again, the other adjusting the bag at her shoulder.]

No idea.

[But he'll tighten his fingers around hers before tugging her closer to him, as if trying to help soothe her disappointment.]

But there might be something we can try. At the very least we can take a walk around, and if we feel a little cold, well.

[A more playful, roguish grin.]

I'm sure we can find ways to warm each other.

[She falls back a step until she's walking tucked right at his side, close enough that she can see that pesky grin of his that only gives her one of her own.]

... Well I was looking forward to the hot springs keeping me warm.

[She really was, and she's still annoyed, but she gives a playful roll of her eyes, and an equally dramatic sigh anyway.]

But I suppose the other ways will have to do. A fire, perhaps. Or some nice blankets. A cup of coffee? You do like that.

That all sounds good to me... Especially that coffee.

[A rub of his chin as he continues to lead them over to the gondolas, already with quite the crowd given how everyone is having similar ideas.]

Reminds me I haven't had one since this morning.

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