[ CLOSED ] the dawn is opening

[godshattering]

Who: Claude and various
When: September, October, November
Where: Cadens, Libertas, the Horizon
What: Catch all
Warnings: None currently, will add/mark as needed


( Closed starters below. Find me at indech, on Discord, or by PM at any time to plot something! )

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[godshattering]

[ This time when tears gather in her eyes, it doesn't hurt. Not anything beyond the small tug in his chest which always happens when it's another time he recognizes it as being when she's genuinely crying, much as they've talked about being able to spot this in the other before, but even that's a relief: that after all this time, something can slot so neatly back into place without it having to be a guess like all the ones he's been making for months.

It won't fix everything, of course. Everything that's happened can't be undone, but it also doesn't have to be. They'll find a way past it - through it, over it, whichever way doesn't minimize what might finally now be part of their past rather than the nightmare it's been of the present day for so long. It'll be another important part in that story after all.

So is this: the moment where her forehead leans against his with a scolding for making those tears appear in the first place and a quiet laugh finally feels like the right response as he reaches up to brush back a tendril of pink hair back into place. ]

Well, we can't have that. Though if you think about it, would it be fighting or that we'll have to walk out of here explaining that maybe the couples package wasn't the wrong label to use after all?

[ He's teasing and the amount of amusement in his voice will (hopefully) make that apparent given that it's far too early for any such labels to be tossed around, but. The staff really might have some questions after their shocked faces when walking in compared to leaving. ]

[theidlemaiden]

[ Even though she can quite plainly tell that he’s joking about labelling themselves as a couple, it doesn’t stop her flustered reaction and causes her heart to skip a beat. It’s a strange reaction, one that she can’t help but feel mildly exasperated towards considering that there’s barely begun to be a them and that there hadn’t really been a them in the romantic sense before this either. Getting worked up over such a small thing, inconsequential thing is hardly her style. So is trying not to let her heart get ahead of itself.

Jumping to conclusions, to labels, to everything they had done before is what they had just agreed not to do. Getting her hopes up about a silly joke, an attempt at levity, will only serve to be counterproductive. She attempts to claw back some of semblance of normal — whatever normal looked like now that is.

…Which apparently looks like a gentle shove that really only amounts to a light pressure against his chest punctuated with a groan. ]

I’m not explaining that to them. Maybe we should just stick to the roommate story.

[ Her scrambled attempt at dissuading the spa attendant hadn’t been forgotten and she hopes that he’ll find it funny. In hindsight it shouldn’t matter what anyone - the spa attendants, others around them - thought they were. There’s comfort in just knowing that she and Claude have come to an understanding. That they’re okay despite whatever may come next. Her gaze rises to his again, her hand never wavering from the place above his heart. ]

I missed you.

[ She missed them - but that feels like it goes without saying. It’s palpable, lingering in the silence that follows, in the way she looks at him. ]

[godshattering]

[ The flustered reaction is well worth it. Even as she sputters, even as Claude knows it was a joke just on the side of things neither one of them are addressing just yet, it doesn't stop a wide grin from crossing his face. He's all too pleased, but to say it's just from that reaction alone would be wrong. It's far more than that, an all encompassing sort of delight the last few months made seem like would be an impossibility for it to ever happen again between them.

The small shove gets another chuckle out of him what with it being equally familiar in something else long missed. It's half-hearted at best and not a real protest, but that it wasn't long ago it would've been one is still present in his mind. As is joking about being roommates even if it's technically correct and despite what all they've told each other and what's still yet to come - from what else he knows he has to say, that is - and Claude might've responded to that with yet another quip if it wasn't for what follows.

That admission has his expression softening all over again as he looks up at her where she perches on his lap and studies her face as if to memorize every part of it all over again. As if every time before wasn't enough when it wasn't, and as if gazing upon something treasured no matter how many times before this the same has happened. This is different: the agreement to let down all those walls one by one with trust in each other to do it and to mend it in time. ]

I missed you too, Hilda. So much. [ A statement which only scratches the surface, Claude knows, and an answer in kind to everything beneath the surface of simple words they won't say aloud but the other can hear as clearly as any ringing bell. Rather than elaborate on it, he trails the back of the hand that'd straightened her hair along her jaw, gaze focused momentarily upon her lips before flicking it back up to her eyes. ] Can I kiss you again or is that too far outside of the roommate story?

[theidlemaiden]

[ Claude's habit of never saying what he really meant had always bothered her, sometimes more than she'd like to admit. She hated reading between the lines, disliked the way it felt like she constantly needed a cipher to decode everything left unsaid. All of it involved more effort and work than she'd ever put in anyone. But when she did eventually crack the code, when she had finally woken up one day and realized what he was saying - nothing had ever tasted so sweet. 

This is one of those moments. One where she thinks she could sit there and try to untangle the things left unsaid. Goddess knows there's a myriad of them hanging in the air between them - but all she can feel is the weight and the warmth of them draping over them like a blanket. It's the same feeling from before, she thinks. It's the feeling of homecoming swelling in her chest, making her breath catch in her throat.

I'm sorry. I missed you. I love you. 

Maybe she's reading too much into it. Maybe she's projecting - especially that last one. But now isn't the time to dwell and sift through the tangled thoughts. A pleased smile hides in the corner of her mouth as she attempts to appear like she's in deep thought. The mirth and adoration in her eyes betrays her. ] 

Well they're not here right now, right? [ The smile creeps, spreading wider, growing brighter as she inches closer until they're a hair's breadth apart. ] We can figure out what we'll tell them later. We have time. 

[ And when their lips meet, as she breathes him in, as the sweetness settles on her tongue, all she can think is this: he tastes like home. She's home. They're home. ]