RP:I Was Made For Lovin' You
Summary: Days after Meri and Khitti finish the mural in the baby's room, and Khitti adds the finishing touches, Brand's given the grand tour and is rewarded for being (in Khitti's opinion) the best soon-to-be husband and father in Lithrydel.
The Tranquility, Cenril Wharf
Typically, the gender roles would’ve been reversed here--except Brand had been so busy with work now that he’d done his part in building the baby’s crib and some gates and such and he’s also not quite the artistic type--but here Khitti was, leading Brand out of the situation room with a blindfold over his eyes. She’d stopped halfway down the hallway, spun him around a few times to get rid of his bearings (that guy probably knew how many steps it took from that room to their actual quarters--not the room they currently took up residence temporarily--and to the room that was now going to be used as the baby’s room. Khitti wasn’t going to have him ruin the surprise! “Don’t look. You do it and you’ll get a right hook.” Nevermind the fact that she probably didn’t have the strength to punch him right now, given how tired she was lately, the closer it got to her due date.
They’d eventually reach the room down the hall, and when they did, she’d open it for him, lead him inside, and close the door behind them. “Light a bit of fire and then give me your hand,” she’d instruct, then positioned his arm and hand right where she needed it. “Shoot there, there, there, and there.” Brand’s fire would find new homes atop candle wicks on a brand new light fixture Khitti had put in, in the center of the ceiling. The curtain on the window was then closed and finally Brand’s blindfold removed. “It’s finished.”
The baby’s room now had a mural that stretched across all four walls, including the back of the door. The left wall and the door behind them held a scene of a large underwater city and a flower-filled grotto not far away from it. The right wall had a city that Brand would find oh so familiar; Half of Cenril during sunset stretched partway across the wall, leading into the shoreline, as well as a dock with a very familiar boat sitting beside it. The middle wall across from the pair practically held their mirrored forms, albeit Khitti’s was obviously a little different. A red-haired mermaid sat perched on a rock amongst the waves, staring longingly towards the dock where a fiery-blonde-haired captain stood, gazing back at his mermaid. The various light sources in both of the cities, like street lamps and glowing underwater plants were given a light coating of the proper corresponding metallic shades. This, mixed with the chandelier above Khitti and Brand, made the lights come to life, flickering as the candles did. The furniture Brand had made were also newly painted--seagreen was ultimately the color chosen for them--and decorations given to them; atop the small toy chest sat the stuffed white rabbit and the crib had a mobile that featured ships of wood and ocean waves made of glass that also sparkled in the light.
“I wanted the baby to know where they came from. We’re more of the sea than land, you and I--even though I’d like them to know what being on land is like too when it’s time. And… I think that whatever it ends up being, it’ll call the sea it’s home, just like we do,” Khitti said slowly and only after Brand had enough time to take everything in. She was starting to feel rather shy now that it’d been revealed, anxious about what he might say about it--so much so that she felt the need to fidget and took to walking around the room a little.
Brand hesitated when Khitti instructed him. They were definitely still on the ship; the floor was still rocking under him, and he was surrounded by the telltale creaking of the wooden framework. “You better aim me right. If I set my own ship on fire, the crew will never let me hear the end of it.” But he acquiesced soon enough, and the room was lit without incident. Brand stared with freshly unencumbered eyes and a growing, awestruck smile. “Meri and you did this together? It’s… it’s fantastic.” He took Khitti in his arms and squeezed her sides--the closest he could give her to a proper hug these days. “Yeah, I think the kid’s gonna need some variety in their surroundings. I figure maybe they can come with you to your bakery sometimes when they’re old enough to help. And we could always build a second floor above it for a second home, if you want. It’s no storybook castle, but it would let us stay in Cenril. Dozla could share command of the ship so I could take several days a week there -- not like she isn’t already runnin’ the place half the damn time anyway, with all that’s been goin’ on.”
Khitti couldn’t help but grin when it was clear Brand approved. Getting the Brand Seal of Approval was difficult sometimes, so she was nervous! She returned the squeeze and could barely contain her excitement when he mentioned living on both land and the ship. “Really?!” There was a tiny squeal of joy. “It’d need a bit of remodeling--maybe less gingerbread house on the outside--but I think it could work!” The redhead stood on her toes a bit and smooched his cheek, “And if we decided to not do that, there’s certainly enough room next door to the bakery to squeeze in another building.” Khitti started to get lost in that rabbit hole of thoughts and planning until she remembered, “Oh! I have another surprise for you, for after the baby’s born.” She ever so carefully waddled her way to the toy chest, opened it, and plucked out two small bits of paper and returned to Brand’s side, “Two tickets for us to watch the bear wrestling in Craughmoyle. We’ll be spending the weekend there too! I booked rooms so we can, uh… have alone time once I’m all healed up and things have mostly settled with the kid.” That of course translates into ‘let’s go watch bear wrestling, get drunk, and have lots of sex because I love you and you’re the best’.
Brand could almost hear a holy chorus singing to him as Khitti showed him the tickets. Bears, booze, and ‘alone time’? Just the things a soon-to-be father needed to hear. It wouldn’t make changing the kid’s diapers any less gross, but at least he’d have something outside of work and child-rearing to look forward to. “See, stuff like -this- is how I knew I’d have to marry you.” He was beaming.
Khitti started blushing. -A lot-. Maybe she was just turning into a tomato? She was certainly as round as one. “What? No. You don’t want to marry me. Brand doesn’t like the word marriage or being tied down to the most unruly female in Lithrydel. Brand breaks out in hives when the very word is mentioned.” She unbuttoned a couple buttons on his shirt and peered inside, poking at his abdomen lightly. “No hives? Weird. I think I see that last cheesecake I made though… Guess you -will- have to marry me then. I think it’s fate. Can’t escape fate, you know.” She doesn’t bother buttoning those buttons back up as she peered up at the blonde, complete with eye-batting and a mischievous glint in those olive-green eyes. “I think it might also be fate that you don’t have any captain duties to take care of right now… and I don’t have to be at the shop today. Guess that means you get some ‘alone time’ with your woman. I think there might even be a bottle of whiskey and some cheesecake in our quarters… Not sure how they got there though. Definitely must be fate.”
Brand tripped over his tongue, searching for an eloquent response. She so easily rendered him speechless when she flirted like that -- and by the sly grin on her face, she knew it, too. He couldn’t drag her to their quarters quick enough. He nearly bowled over Sundance as they rounded a corner; the dwarf had to dive aside, fumbling the ledger he’d been leafing through in the process. He hollered words of caution at them, tugging at his beard in distress -- lost his place for the second time today! -- but Brand’s apologies would have to wait. Among other things, that cheesecake wasn’t going to eat itself.