claude von riegan. (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
godshattering) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
abraxaslogs2024-07-12 10:59 am
godshattering) wrote in abraxaslogs2024-07-12 10:59 am
[ OPEN ] the river's overrun
Who: Claude and various
When: July + August
Where: The Free Cities, the Horizon, TBA
What: Catch all for both months + open TL for Free Cities quests for July
Warnings: None currently, will add/mark as needed
( open + closed starters below | action, prose, and wildcards all welcome | find me at ![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
indech, by PM, or on discord to plot something! )
When: July + August
Where: The Free Cities, the Horizon, TBA
What: Catch all for both months + open TL for Free Cities quests for July
Warnings: None currently, will add/mark as needed
no subject
It doesn't help matters either that they both seem to take turns egging the other on with their behaviour. Case in point right now.
There's no stopping the snort and the laugh that follows that Claude immediately pulls from her at his dramatics. He'll meet no resistance as he pulls her into his side or a missed beat as she begins to lead them towards their final destination for the evening. ]
Do you know how much work that would take? One was enough. I'll need at least eleven months before I'm ready for another one.
[ It doesn't take them long to reach the Old Public Hall. With a lull between shows it's blissfully quiet which is exactly what she had hoped as she leads him towards her office. For once all of her projects are tucked away into their respective areas leaving the couch and desks in a rare clean form. Which means that it would be impossible to miss the beautifully wrapped package lying in wait on the couch. She's quick to lead him over before holding it out towards him. When he begins to unwrap it she explains, perhaps with the first sign of nerves that she's displayed all day, a preface to what he'll find. ]
Now, I didn't have much to go off of but I wanted to get you something that blended something of home and here.
[ Lying in the box wrapped in delicate tissue is a beautiful silk outfit not so dissimilar to what he'd find in Almyra. And naturally, it's made fit for a crown prince. It's made of deep greens and golds, and embroidered with motifs of deer and the clockwork of the city that they were slowly coming to call home. Her eyes search his face watching for any signs of distaste or offence. ]
...Do you like it?
no subject
For all his many reflexive responses to something, for all those repartees waiting to be used - they fail him now. Or more accurately, Claude doesn't even start to reach for any of them. Doesn't want to when even if it's something to be expected, an easy balance between them long established by years of the same, it would feel so out of place.
Because it would here and now where sentiment tightens the back of his throat, does something to the expression on his face he doesn't feel compelled to tuck away from being seen; to allow anything else in would be a jarring discordance with what's in his hands as he traces the pad of his thumb along embroidery, over antlers and something so close to what he might've once worn in another life. A feeling of being seen but also far more than that when it's plain to see in each and every stitch the love Hilda put into the garments in a way which still hasn't quite allowed him to catch his breath. No words could compare to that, and now isn't a time to try.
Instead, Claude gently sets the outfit down with great reverence to make sure it stays safe. It's perfect, he could say, and it'd be true. It doesn't feel like enough as instead he turns to Hilda properly. This time to pull her in for another kiss, this one more weighted than the many others from today alone. One meant to linger, and one that's confirmation and adoration both. ]
no subject
Though she wouldn't admit as much, Hilda approached everything she made with a sense of seriousness. This was her art. Her craft. An extension of herself put out into the world so that those she cared for would be able to have a physical, tangible form of what they meant to her. It's something she's begun to think about more and more as the days blur by here in Abraxas. How does she create while also ensuring that those she loves are protected in some way? All of which is to say, the baseline of concern is there but it's tenfold because of the person standing before her holding what is probably the equivalent of a love letter to him in clothing form.
The silence is almost too much. Seconds seem to stretch and she practically blurts out something to break the tension. But then she watches his face shift and he's moving towards her though her brain doesn't seem to register that fact until he's pulling her close. The kiss that he gives her is less heated than before but no less full of affection and tenderness so much so that it makes her heart hammer against her chest. In the same instance it serves to quell whatever nerves she had flitting at the back of her mind. When they break apart it's only a hairs breadth as she lets out a quiet, relieved laugh. ]
I'm going to take that as a yes.
no subject
It's perfect, my heart.
[ The term of endearment is easily slipped in like all the rest since the teasing ones they'd invented as teenagers who thought they knew better as the first steps on the path that'd eventually led them here even with all the twists and turns. Those words he'd thought weren't enough seconds ago now feel right when used to underscore the sentiment voiced first through another method as he rests his hands at her waist, his forehead against hers, and with a smile that isn't one of the many in his arsenal but something quieter, more private, more meant for moments just like this one. ]
It's incredible, but more than that you are for both taking the time and for making it. I'm already looking forward to wearing it with pride the first chance I get and telling everyone who asks where it came from.
[ Something he'll do with even more pride, truthfully, since Claude's already looking forward to telling people about Hilda and her talents rather than letting all any forthcoming compliments fall upon his own shoulders. That simply won't do when there's nothing better seen there than her gift for putting it all together. It's both a tease and a promise in one since he means to hold to it. Of course, perhaps a little more teasing will have to come through, too. ]
Should I get a journal ready to take orders since you'll be rather busy after that?
no subject
It probably goes without saying as well that making a love letter as personal as this would only ever happen for one other person that currently resides in Abraxas. ]
Stop that! I just wanted to make you something nice. And I know it it probably isn't exactly what you'd wear in Almyra but I wanted to try and -
[ Realizing that she's rambling she buries her face further into him with a disgruntled groan. This wasn't exactly how she had planned on giving him the present but she's managed to get through life thinking on her feet when spanners are thrown in the works. ]
You know what just go and try it on, okay? [ No matter what he says she will take his present and all but force him towards the changing screen. ] Come out when you're done!
no subject
[ That's interjected in there even as he's laughing when she sputters, grabbing for one thing after another in what Claude would be lying if he said wasn't his aim in taking the conversation that direction. The same for not letting her hide even if it's just by leaning down to press kisses to whatever he can reach of her face while she presses it against him, and for chuckling as she groans then pushes him away with a goal in mind. ]
Alright, alright. I'm ready to show off all your hard work even sooner if that's what you want.
[ A wink goes with that before he ducks behind the changing screen like this will spare him any further commentary from Hilda (or being swatted, for that matter). Claude makes quick work of toeing off his boots to make sure they don't accidentally dirty anything and then stripping off his shirt and trousers to toss aside for later. Putting on the garments Hilda's made, however, gets far more care put into it to make sure nothing happens to them as each layer falls into place. Hardly any straightening of any kind's needed from him thanks to her talent in making them, and it's with a small smile of homesickness for the familiar feeling of the clothes and delight in what she's accomplished he adjusts the cuffs while stepping back out from the changing screen. ]
If you were hoping to avoid more praise after I put everything on, you're gonna have to suffer even more of it now.
no subject
There is one final element to his scavenger hunt that she has to implement after all.
And while she knows that Claude enjoys the rare opportunities when he can make her blush, a flushed face simply doesn't fit into the overall aesthetic that she had been going for. She works quickly and by the time he steps out from behind the changing screen she's changed into something else too. Mostly.
What greets Claude is Hilda who has made herself comfortable on the couch in far less clothing than she had been minutes before. A long length of red ribbon is wrapped around her body covering all the indecent bits before being tied at her breasts with a comically huge bow. There's nothing to imply that anything is amiss however. In fact, she looks thoughtful as she admires him from her spot on the couch. ]
I was hoping to praise you instead. Isn't that what a birthday is supposed to be about? You?
no subject
[ That's where that thought ends once he looks up from tucking one of his cuffs into place and everything about Claude comes to a complete halt. Not just physically as he stops in place but also mentally and whatever else might be included in a rather rare complete breakdown of his usual comportment. There's also, tellingly, no attempt to play it off as being anything but that as he stands in place with his gaze locked on her. It's a surprise with that to match, but more than that: it's a delight.
If praise was supposed to be involved, it's lost on him along with the rest of what Hilda said as his gaze travels over her to take everything in about her own outfit change with a slightly raised eyebrow and a smile curving up one corner of his mouth to go with it. Rather clever to insist that he needed to try on his new clothes right then, he thinks as he remembers how to move and steps forward towards the couch. Leave it to Hilda to think of this. ]
Well. I think I'll be the one doing some praising for a while yet. [ Perhaps that goes without saying as he takes a seat next to her on the couch and reaches out to run a fingertip along the top of one length of ribbon before next sliding it beneath to run it along her skin just as appreciatively as his smile morphs into something decidedly resembling a smirk. ] Do I get to unwrap this present as well?
[ An entirely shameless question and he knows it. ]
no subject
She's admiring him in her own way of course. Marveling at the way he fills out the fabric, brings the garment to life in a way that only he could. Though she had gone to pain staking lengths to pick out the fabric there was a warmth to it now that she can't explain. With only pictures to go off of she didn't know how the fabric would move or what it would embody - but she has to imagine that it looks like this. Ironic then that she had plans to see him out of them before the day was done.
Though Claude's touch has her skin pebbling in its wake she plays it off like nothing at all as she stretches her arms above her head akin to some lounging cat. His smirk had to be matched after all if not with another smirk, but the air of one. ]
It is your birthday. I think it'd be a shame not to unwrap it but far be it from me to tell the birthday boy what to do.
[ Her head tilts to the side regarding him briefly as she nudges him gently with her foot. ]
Unless he wants that, that is.
no subject
The reaction telling on her skin compared to the slightly aloof smirk on her face is a contrast he'll never tired of, and now is no exception. It's as impossible as ever to ignore the small rush of desire it brings when he knows exactly what it looks like to be on the other side of one of Hilda's calculations when that's something she could say just as easily.
All the more reason to keep his fingertips running beneath that ribbon without skipping over any sensitive spots as he goes in search of what else it might bring. No reason to stop as she contemplates him with that tilt of her head in another expression he loves clearly, and then it's Claude's turn to grin both at the nudge and the words following. ]
You know me too well.
[ In this, in other things - in all of it in the slow unraveling of everything it'd taken to get them here. For now there's nothing presently in mind but Hilda in this ribbon as he leans forward with a grin until their lips meet in a kiss while reaching for the bow to begin unraveling it, too. ]