escordvi | closed 🪶⚡ all i really, really ever want is under the mistletoe

Oh?

[That lights a challenging spark in her eyes.]

I think you might cave first. With or without the stupid plant.

Shall we see then?

[And now he starts backing away.]

[Her hands slip away from him, her gaze following as he backs away from her, a spark of want lighting within her eyes.]

Is that a challenge, Cidolfus?

[He'll just give her a little smile—]

We'll see how you long you last.

[—before just running off towards where the lift is, but instead of taking it he just jumps down and grabs the rope to swing down it instead.]

What—!?

[Before she even has time to register what is going on, he is leaping over the edge of the overlook. She rushes to lean over the rails, watching him slide down on that rope, and she calls out to him, her voice echoing throughout the cave.]

Cidolfus, where are you going?

To the party!

[His voice bellows and echos off the walls as he continues to slide down before he's jumping down the last few feet and land with a spark of lightning. From the ground he just waves at her cheerily before turning around to walk towards the main area where the celebration can be seen.]

You didn't even—

[He's just walking away like that!? The nerve! He didn't even give her a kiss goodbye! Not that it matters because she is completely fine without it. Totally fine. Not upset at all.

He'll feel her eyes glaring sharpened daggers into the back of his head as he saunters away like that, and then a wind that blusters up the back of his neck before she pushes back away from the railing with a sharp groan and heads down to the party herself. She is going to need several glasses of wine and cups of cider if she is going to win this challenge of theirs.

And she will win it.

It would seem that, for a while, they play keep away from each other. Where Cid is, Benedikta is not, and vice versa, both of them avoiding the other so as not to be tempted.

One and a half glasses later and she is already searching for him...]

[Well she said he would use up all his kisses—

And he can definitely feel those glares and that wind, but he's grown far used to them, only smiling to himself as he reaches a group, clapping the unsuspecting member on the shoulder to surprise them. He knows Benedikta will cave in first—she always does—and he will make it more difficult by avoiding her whenever he sees her around. He even makes it more obvious by leaping over a table once to literally run away.

However, at some point he seems to be alone over by one of the food tables, and there just so happens to be a mistletoe above him...]

[That some point is when she is already two full glasses of wine into the night. Fortunately, she has not hit the 'tipsy' point yet, but she is starting to feel that telltale warmth in her cheeks. She doesn't notice the mistletoe above him when she approaches, trying to sneak up on him from behind, though with her clumsy footsteps, he'll probably hear or sense her before she reaches him.

And when she does, she says his name with a bit of a whine to it.]

Ci-dol-fus.

[She pokes him.]

[Despite his own generous intake of alcohol, he just grins when he hears her, pretending not to notice as he fills his plate with some food...]

Yes, my dove?

[And then turns around to press a little pastry against her lips.]

[She stiffens, the pastry an unexpected surprise, especially when she would like something else pressed to her lips instead—

But she takes a bite anyway, the crust of the tart sticking to her lips as she does.]

You are not running away from me this time?

When did I ever run away?

[Feigning innocence.]

[As if she didn't also run away plenty of times when she saw him nearby—]

Every time you saw me coming, you would find a way to escape before I could reach you. And yet... [She gestures wide and dramatically.] Here you are.

[She knows that she didn't sneak up on him.]

Come now, I would never do anything of the sort.

[And he'll reach up to use his thumb to brush away the crumbs from her lips...slowly.]

I watched y—

[Her words are silenced by his finger, and she stares at him in stunned (and slightly offended) silence until he's finished brushing the crumbs away.

Her eyes narrow at him.]

... What are you doing?

What, just wiping off some crumbs.

[And leaning in closer...

Before he holds up the plate.]

Mind holding this? I'll bring a drink over.

[She doesn't even think twice—or once—about it as she takes the plate in her hands, only realizing what's happened after she already has it. With a grumpy scowl, she picks off one of the pastries and takes a bite before setting it back down on the plate.]

You've a lot of nerve, Cidolfus.

[He just gives her a wink before he goes off to get that drink and returns with a glass of—water. He sets it down on the table next to her.]

Here you are love, and—

[He just blows her a kiss before glancing up.]

Doesn't count.

[AND HE'S OFF.]

...

[What in the world is he up to? Her eyes follow him all the way, her suspicion growing. He is certainly acting a little strange, and that does not go away when he comes back... with a glass of water? Alarm bells go off in her head, and she understands why when her eyes dart up to meet the mistletoe.]

What are you—!?

[He blows that kiss her at her and runs, leaving her there once more in stunned silence, holding a plate of food. His plate of food.]

Cidolfus!

[It's a shriek this time, and she throws that half-eaten pastry at him, nailing him right in the back of the head as he escapes her once more.]

[Even when he feels that pastry hit him, he just laughs, his voice echoing through the hall as he continues his escape through the crowds.

LOVE YOU BABE.]

[She'd fling every last pastry on this plate at him if she was sure that she would have a good shot, but as it is, he disappears into the crowd as she throws one last one for good measure before she stuffs another into her mouth and sets down the plate with a huff.

Two more glasses into the party (that's four now?), and in that time, she has been caught beneath the mistletoe with three other people. Three poor souls who have to listen to her yell at them to get away. Three poor souls who have made an enemy of her for the night. Kupli has now joined the party along with the other moogles, and she flies around above everyone's heads as best as she can with a mistletoe strapped to her. She seems to be on the hunt for both of them, but Benedikta has been very good at avoiding her, even when she tries to fly over.

It's already been at least an hour, maybe more, and she is much more tipsy than she had been the first time she'd gone to hunt him down, but where could he be this time...]

[Whenever he hears her shrieking at a poor soul, he can't help but cringe and glance over. Sure enough, an unlucky victim of the plant. Really he might be teasing her for too long now, and those who have noticed or heard of his scheme say as much. But, for better or worse, it has also kept her out and about, meeting other people (if unwillingly and leaving...interesting impressions). Of course if she knew of his little "plot" she might dump the entire table on him, but what she doesn't know won't hurt her—or him.

Eventually, and after a few more pints of his own, he has made his way to the pinata where he's made a bit of a ruckus. Having schemed with the person putting the blindfold on him, he is able to see through enough to chase people with the bat instead and when she eventually makes her way over...]

[He should feel bad for the people stuck under the mistletoe with her and not for her. She is drunk enough now that socializing doesn't really bother her, and she has spoken with a few people here and there, as well as attempted to cut others off who might be a little too much for her while being tipsy herself.

But yes, if she knew what he was scheming, then she would absolutely throw every piece of food she could get her hands on at him.

If anything, though, she mostly just misses his presence and his company, and it manifests into her being a grumpy old bird when she's had one too many glasses of wine. So here she is, searching for him again, and demanding anyone that ends up in her path tell her where he might be.

Only for her to discover that he is wielding a very large bat blindfolded, and...]

Ci-dol-fus?

[Her voice is a little higher than normal in pitch, the syllables of his words already starting to blend together this time compared to last, but it's more confusion than anything as she tries to parse what the hell he is doing.]

I have come to collect.

[Did he hear her?]

Just a minute, love, there's a bird I need to smack!

[And with seemingly unsteady legs, he turns right to her and swings the bat at her...though not so close to actually hit her even if she's slow to move. In fact there is a clear foot gap between them.]

A bird? What do you—

[She cries out when the bat swings in her direction, and though there is a considerable berth around him, she still takes a wobbly step backwards, and then another just in case.]

Take that ridiculous blindfold off! I simply wanted a kiss, you do not have to go this far!

[And here comes a moogle, the telltale sounds of her pom bobbing around, and she is completely oblivious to what is happening. All she sees are the two of them together, and that is all it takes for her to try and chase them down.]

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