escordvi | closed 🌠⚡ little of your time, little of your heart

[He's actually feeling too tired to voice complaints about that, but she will hear the click of his tongue of clear disapproval before he opens the door. Only then will he set her down, and while he gives a cursory glance, he won't pry too much.]

Then I'll be going.

Wait.

[She doesn't mean to grab his hand before he can walk away, and her grip lingers a moment before she lets him go, stepping back and slumping on the bed before she sways again.]

You're not... leaving leaving, are you?

[He's a little surprised when she takes his hand and he half turns in some confusion.

...Why does the bed look so comfortable and cozy—]

What of it?

No reason.

[She doesn't even know why she asked. It just spilled out of her unbidden, that desire to just... be in his company. Even if it is just having him present. Something that she finds herself wishing for more and more often these days.]

Just... wondering. You don't have to stay if you've got somewhere to be, but... probably should rest a little until the drink wears off?

[She starts to fidget with her hair, combing her fingers through the damp strands, and she gets up to grab a towel from inside her wardrobe before too much of the water drips to the floor.]

[He does notice she's acting... A little strange, but he's also feeling tired and just shakes his head.]

I have the ring, I can just go straight home after getting my things.

[...Ah, right. He left it all in the kitchen, didn't he... Ugh sounds like a pain to go through right now...]

[He sure did.]

I have some spare towels here for you too, if you wanted to use those. And I'm sure I could get you some extra clothes if you need, while everything dries off. Zack probably wouldn't mind.

[If he'd rather not go with the other alternative that they'd used after taking a dip in that waterfall.]

[A stubborn shake of his head.]

It's fine, I can do everything back home.

[But seriously why is she trying to keep him there?

Not wanting to have this drag on especially when he's really starting to feel tired, he reaches into his pocket for the ring...

...???]

Shit.

[He pats his pockets, feeling around and even turning in place to look at the floor.]

[She's in the middle of dabbing her face dry, her heart sinking just a little in her chest at his answer, when she lowers the towel to watch him.]

... Something wrong?

Can't find the ring.

[He checks his pockets one more time before he sighs running an aggravated hand through his hair.]

Did I leave it in my holster...

[Or did it fall out? Ugh.]

Oh.

[He was going to use the ring to leave. Had she scared him off? Made things too awkward by asking him that? Is this going to turn into another one of those goodbyes that turns into weeks of them not talking again?

She tries to ignore that disappointment that pricks her chest, and that strange longing that pulls at her heart as she watches him.]

... We could go look for it. Couldn't have gone far.

[Well he wasn't going to leave right away, more to prepare since he still had to gather his things...but he just clicks his tongue as he stares out the porthole where they can see and hear the rain still beating down.]

It's fine, you rest. If it's not in the kitchen I'll just wait out the rain.

[Because it would mean it's above deck, and even if it's safe in the bar he doesn't feel like dealing with a downpour and if it's not at the bar then he'd have to wait out the rain, anyway.]

Well. You shouldn’t wait out the rain like that. At least dry off.

[She tumbles back a bit on the bed as she moves to make room for him at the edge of it, and she pats the space that she left there.]

I can help.

[He stares at her blankly for a moment, as if to refuse. He dry himself off!!!

...But...

...Well...

The bed does look...strangely very inviting, and he does feel unusually tired. Exhaustion from the turkeys catching up to him? Alcohol? Both?? Not to mention his clothes are sticking to him.

And he remembers how the warmth from her heat had felt nice that other time...

...

....................

Aaaaaaaaahh whatever, it's not going to matter much, right? So he'll just sigh and silently walk over to sit heavily on the edge of the bed, head lowered as a silent signal that she can go ahead.]

[She topples a little again when he sits on the edge of the bed, the sudden shift making her lose her balance as she sits up on her knees and tries to shift back so that she’s sitting right behind him. Honestly, it’s easier to do it this way than facing each other for... obvious reasons.]

Okay. Just stay still.

[Her own voice is starting to sound a little softer. Sleepier. But it won’t take very long for him to feel the heat billowing out from where her hands hover over his skin, wrapping around him like a blanket. And she is going to try her very best not to let her gaze wander again, noting the way that the raindrops skim over the skin on his back...]

That feel okay? Not too hot?

[Having her behind is infinitely easier, yes. Though he also has his eyes close, again feeling that strange sleepiness. Yet although strange, he doesn't think much about it (even if he normally would). Instead he feels that pleasant heat and hums a little in response.]

...S'fine.

[Bit more a sleepy drawl there...]

Mm. Okay.

[A quiet sound of affirmation near his ear as she brings her hands up to his hair, the warmth billowing it and the little hairs on his ears as well, quickly drying away the water. And once again, she is overcome with this irresistible urge to touch them, squeeze the ends of them...

An urge that she ignores as she continues to dry them both off, allowing it to envelop her as well as him.

Maybe it’s the heat, or the alcohol, or the way his own warmth seems to reach her, but she is also starting to feel a little sleepier, and her eyes begin to droop, her motions slowing...

And, after a few minutes of silence...

Tifa closes her eyes, falls forward, and her face lands in his hair, her nose nuzzled into the spot where his ear meets it.

Immediately, she dozes off, but not before mumbling...]

...soft...

Edited 2024-08-16 15:39 (UTC)

[At some point, and he has no idea when, Eustace also started to doze a bit. It really didn't take long after she started for him to feel drowsier and drowsier, that heat a lot more pleasant and comfortable than he expected.

It's only when he feels that weight on him from behind that he rouses a bit, brows furrowing as he tries to turn his head.]

...Tifa?

[What the hell is she doing...]

[Her arms slide around his shoulders to hold herself up, but her face is already sliding down through his hair.]

...So soft...

[Is all the answer he will get before her breathing starts to even out, and her weight relaxes over him.]

[He is going to stiffen because what the fuck—]

Oy...

[Did she just...fall asleep on him?? And what is so soft, his hair?? Well it is, kind of, he knows that—

Anyway, he's going to just frown as he tries to move her arms to get them off of him and sort of "nicely" shove her off...]

[Her arms tighten around him unconsciously when she starts to feel herself falling, though she's already so out of it and so far into the sleep that she doesn't realize what's happening, or what she's doing...

...

Instead, he'll just get dragged along with her when he tries to "nicely" shove her off until they both fall sideways down to the bed together—]

[There's a small, surprised sound when he ends up falling with her.]

Oy! Tifa!

[Of course he's going to try and wake her first, struggling with her arms still tight around him. Why is she hugging him so tightly??

And why is her face so close???? For some reason he can feel heat rushing to his face as he ends up staring at her and just tries to wake her.]

[It doesn't work. That warmth of sleep and of him have drawn her in, and although her arms do loosen some, it only makes her nuzzle into him further, her face now buried against his neck as she remains unaware of how the scent of him and the rain have filled her head.]

...Eustace...

[A soft mumble against his skin, her brows pinching together.]

...Don't go...

[Again he stiffens at the contact because what is she doing??? There's something of a strangled sound as his heart races at the contact, heat rushing in different directions as for a moment his brain has no idea how to process this.

Until after a long exhale he just—gives up.

He's tired. Confused. Grumpy. And for some reason as crazy and apprehensive as this is, it's not....

...

Bad.

She's warm, soft, small...

Like Valo.

If he thinks of her like that then it's a lot more tolerable and...even a little inviting?

He's so tired.

His nerves had momentarily fired up because of what just happened, but it also made him more exhausted once he calmed down.]

...Really this is your fault.

[A low mutter as his the back of his forearm rests over his now closed eyes. A part of him knows he shouldn't let this happen, already aware of what will happen when she wakes up, but at the same time he's too tired and starting to not care anymore. If she wants to keep him here then fine. It's her fault.

And he's just going to sleep.

...

But as he drifts her words repeat in his mind and he wonders—what did she mean?

And why did he feel like obliging, anyway?]

[Whether she hears him or not, they will never know, but at the sound of his voice, she slides closer to him, the warmth of her magic and his, and the alcohol buzzing under her skin create a blanket of heat that cradles her and lulls her deeper into a sleep. And really, she probably needed this, with or without the drinks or the dancing or the tipsy mood. She's been working nonstop as she tends to do—it was only a matter of time before the exhaustion caught up to her again.

She isn't expecting those dreams to come trickling in, however, memories flickering across her consciousness like it is picking them out, observing them, and putting them back. All memories of him, some twisted by her sleepy state, but memories all the same. Of Ocard, of Latrommi, even their time in that crater, and yet all of them end the same way.

... All of them end with her eyes flitting to his lips, and leaning in, and—

"Miss Lockhart?"

She stirs gently at the distant sound of someone's voice.

"Miss Lockhart..."]

Hm?

[It sounds familiar, like someone on the crew, but her first thought becomes—]

... Eustace?

[He doesn't know how long he's been asleep, but at some point he had turned toward the warmth cradled next to him, his arm going around the soft body and just instinctively thinking it's Valo. After all, who else would he hug in his sleep besides his dog? Yet for some reason, the scent is softer, sweeter, floral, and when Tifa finally stirs he just mumbles nothing coherent as his nose digs a little deeper into her hair, attracted to that scent as his arms tighten around her.

If he weren't so affected by the drinks he would have noticed this long before now, but... He feels quite comfortable.]

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