RP:Irerae

Summary: Second chances, not second choices.

Abandoned Seaside House

Irenic woke the next morning slowly and he started to process the previous night's events, but then the scent coming from the woman’s hair in his arms hit him and it all plays back to him. He dare not move and very cautiously bent his free arm up so his hand was behind his head in order to support it while looking down at the top of the blonde’s head that is resting on his chest. The sun was creeping in and he didn’t want to wake her, but on the contrary he wished he could lay here all day with her and learn about her all over again. This was exciting, but familiar all the same and he’s just rethinking their night over and over again in the quiet of morning. His fingers found their way in the silky golden locks of her hair and the arm she was curled up under shifted very carefully so that same hand could gently pull some hair away from over her face. The desire to kiss the top of her head emerges, but he refrains as anxiety takes over causing his heart to beat just a little harder. ‘What if she wakes up and realizes this was a mistake?’ He figures because he’s technically an ex, but he doesn’t remember any of that besides that one night he promised to never forget her. Now he was feeling guilty about that again and all he does is take a deep breath while trying to force himself to look at the ceiling, but it wasn’t working as he finds himself looking at her again as if trying to imprint her image back in his mind.

Valrae | With the homey scents of her forest cabin wreathing around her and the soft music of bird song, Valrae could almost pretend she was in her bed... But for warmth of the man she lay atop and the rise and fall of his chest. Sometime in the night he must have pulled the white cloth that had covered the furniture around them. Her hair had somehow come free of it's braid and waved in a long golden fan around them. Sunlight slanted over her brow and the dark sooty crescents of her eyelashes. Behind her closed eyelids everything was pink and red. The witch could feel the familiar, nagging ache of a headache starting where her skull met spine and could still taste rum on her breath. She felt the change in Irenic's breathing but kept her eyes closed a little longer. She wanted to feel him breathe, brush her hair from her brow, for just a little longer. Baines. He'd called her Baines last night. Her heart swelled with hope. Did that mean he remembered her after all? And if it did, how much of her? Did he decide to spend the night with her with his memories of why he left, or was she still taking advantage of his lack of that knowledge? Guilt settled like a knot in her throat. Every moment she was with him, without his memories, that she didn't remind him why he left felt like another lie. Slowly, her eyes blink open. Valrae tilts her head up and away from the sun. Her mossy hued eyes follow the lines of his chest, throat, and jaw before finding his own. A sheepish smile curves the corner of her lips, "Good morning, stranger."

Irenic was still looking down at her by the time she opened her eyes and a smile tugs at the corner of those scarred lips, by they were tinged red and slightly swollen from all the *ahem* kissing they did last night. “Morning…” his lips had made a shape like he was about to say Baines again, but thought better of it. His arm she was wrapped up in shifted and goes to sort of massage her scalp while running his hands through her hair, “how’s the head?” That was probably a poor choice in words, “-ache.” He amends and when those mismatched eyes met hers she might feel a couple quick beats of his heart. Declining to answer any questions she might have without an actual questions - because maybe she just doesn’t want to know and maybe… she just wanted some attention for a night. Which is okay! It would be fine! Irenic is pretty paid back. He figures he would ask his own question, “so? Was this… Okay?” I mean she can comment on his performance, but he’s just giving her an out if she wants it.

Valrae closes her eyes again, snuggling into him for a moment with a trill of pleasure and a bubbling laugh when his fingers brush her scalp. "The head, huh?" She teases, wiggling closer with a grin. "The headache is minor," She admits, stretching against him like a house cat. With a sigh, her body goes back to limp and her arm drops over him dramatically. "That's it, that's all my body can move," The witch jokes as she sprawls over him. "Now you'll just have to scrape me off or somethin', roll me up like a blanket... I dunno." She closes her eyes again, a sad little sigh escaping her slightly parted lips. His second question was harder to answer. Was this okay? How was she supposed to know that answer to that? Valrae felt the guilt again, the nagging knot in her throat she couldn't manage to speak around. Instead of voicing any of her actual worries, the woman just wiggles off of the avian and sits up on her knees in the the space between him and the back of the couch. The sheet slips down her back but she doesn't bother to rearrange it. Her hair was a disheveled waterfall of honey and silken gold spilling over bare shoulders. Sunlight haloed behind her and warmed her back. Covering a yawn, Val arches her back in another stretch. Having a bed to sleep in regularly had obviously spoiled her. Or maybe her body was just sore from the alcohol and... Extracurricular activities. "I... I'm okay with this." She answers tentatively, curling a strand of hair around her finger. "Are you?" She couldn't look at him just then. "Do you... Did you remember...?"

Irenic’s eyes wonder where most men’s would when she sat up to stretch and he admires the art of her body. “I mean, I don’t think the guys I was with would mind my new shirt, but they wouldn’t appreciate this view as it should be.” His coy smirk spreads across his face and wrinkles those crows feed on his temples. His hand gently reached to lift her chin to look at him, “yeah, how can’t I be - you’re gorgeous.” When his hand lowers he would attempt to take one of her hands in his own and this caused his smirk to turn into a smile, “look how tiny your hands are. How do you even do things?” Then she’s asking a bit of a tougher question and now he was quiet before tentatively asking, “did we not see each other for a long while back when we were an item?” He would pause a moment watching her expression,” it’s just. I was having some whisky and in the library of House Dragana when I started to remember something. You and I just tore into each other as if we have been anticipating it for too long?” A shrug, “and even though I couldn’t hear anything we were saying, all I could think of was Baines.” In their recent encounter she never even said her name, “is that your name? Or a nickname?” He would sigh after her answer to that, “and then… I’m so sorry. I really am because the only thing I heard at the end was your plea and my promise to never forget you.” Irenic is a hard and sarcastic man, but she would have only seen pain so visible on his face one other time than right now and that was when he had to bury Quizzy.

Valrae doesn't mind Irenic's wandering gaze. She felt lighter, more beautiful now than she could ever really remember and the feeling left no room for embarrassment or modesty. She's laughing again and a small part of her is lost in quiet amazement because of it. How long had it been since the last time she'd laughed, before stumbling upon him the night before? Long enough that she can't really recall. He brings her back to him with a smile. The lines of character on his face that appear with it make her heart squeeze with a wave of nameless emotion. Her face forms a poor mock of a pout, but really she's fighting a smile and more laughter as he compares their hands. "Hey!" She chirps, noting that his were much more sun-darkened than hers now. "It only seems that way because you are abnormally large," She counters teasingly, "Plus, I get -plenty- done." The witch wiggles her golden brows suggestively. A quiet blooms between them, after she finally manages to ask the question that had been searing through her brain, and Valrae looks away again. It's hard to see the look on his face. The honest vulnerability of a man who usually keeps himself so guarded. She doesn't answer quickly. She struggles through the storm of conflicting emotions the memory brings her. The sheer, blinding panic that grips her when she is reminded of her time in prison. The bitter relief of being free, waking to Irenic after her first night away from cold stone walls. "My last name," She whispers finally. "You remember my last name." The witch laughs again but there is little humor in it this time. "And you remember the morning after you arranged my escape from the Cenril prison." Valrae climbs her way around the avian and manages to make it look graceful. She stands, crosses the room with her hair waving around her hips, and pulls the cloth from a chair to wrap around herself. "I... I think we should talk about something," She says, her voice soft and serious as she pulls her messy tresses from the folds of the blanket and tosses them over to one shoulder. "I think I should tell you about the last time I saw you. Before you couldn't remember me."

Irenic watches her and listened with a surprised expression, “well… How noble of me.” He doesn’t really do things like that and he’s starting to piece together she must have meant the world to him to do this. There’s that feeling in his chest again, like it hurt his heart to beat as if it were doing gymnastics in his chest cavity. A playful groan when she wants to talk and he thinks, ‘well, this is never good.’ Those abdomen muscles tense and harden when he sits himself up on an elbow, but looks right back at her with that coy smirk. “Alright, lay it on me,” he sighed out in a way that didn’t sound annoyed or mad, but curious.

Valrae walks toward the nearest window. She stands in the slanted rectangle of light and lets the sun warm her shoulders while sliding a finger through the dirt on the glass. "I..." The witch hesitates, fear clawing mercilessly at her heart and stopping the words in her throat so that they threaten to choke her. In the light she can see the lazy dance of dust motes in the air, stirred by her movement. "We..." If Irenic turned her away again... Could she stand to see him so cold again? How could they go back to be strangers? "The reason we weren't together anymore... The reason you left me... It was Hudson." Just saying his name sent warring emotions spinning through her chest. The last time she saw him, he'd accused her of blackmail and had been fully committed to doing whatever it took to shut her up. Thinking of him now was as painful as standing in front of a mirror that reflected your soul. It was hard to see your own flaws and Hudson was like a magnifying glass to all of hers. She was weak and malleable when it came it men. Love was enough to make her lose all sense of self... But she could work on that and would. "I was with a man when I met you. After, you kind of pieced me back together. When I moved to Larket though... Things got so messy and I changed so much. You were gone and I never knew..." Her hand drops from the glass. The line her finger left was clean bright with sunlight. If only it were that easy to remove the dirt on your soul. "I didn't know what had happened. I looked for you but a lot of time had passed before I knew you were cursed. Even then, I was so caught up in everything I was doing in Larket." Shame darkened her voice. "I wasn't who you needed me to be. I slept with Hudson again then and you left me. You erased me." Finally, Valrae turns again. "And I don't blame you. I'm selfish. Even now, I'm selfish and I understand if you want me to leave. I'm sorry I didn't tell you before... Before last night."

Irenic stayed quiet while he sat correctly on the couch and only listened to everything she had to say and yeah he felt jealous, but he’s never acted on such feelings or admitted it. He can tell she’s confused and probably easily overwhelmed, but there is a strong desire to not cause her anymore of that. “I see.” He looked at her so far away in the room and waves her over, “come sit with me.” It won’t be long before those pirates would be up and he would have to set back out to sea. “Now… I am not sure about what I said before or if what I’m about to say will help.” Easily looking far into those mossy eyes before placing a slow tender kiss on her lips once she got comfortable next to him again. “I’m not jealous. I probably wasn’t then. If this guy is so important to you then you should be with him and I should step out of the way.” He knows nothing of Hudson, “if he doesn’t want you then he’s got to be the blindest and dumbest man alive.” Funny coming from a man with a blind eye, “other than that. I know me and I don’t get into petty competitions over a woman because you aren’t some object. You’ve got a mind of your own - I hope, and it’s entirely your choice. I think… I just didn’t want to be the leftover choice.” He seeks her hand out once more, “assuming you’re not cheating on anyone right now… Then I gather he didn’t chose you?” He sighs and smirks, “I’m probably going to regret asking this, but was I or am I just a second choice?”

Valrae, wrapped in her white sheet, all but floats over to Irenic. A ghost answering a summons. Her face is drawn with the lines of distress, unsure of his next words. She sits neatly, with her legs tucked underneath her, and struggles to meet his bicolored gaze. The kiss was sweet enough to squeeze her heart and send a trill down her spine. "No I-" She tires to interject, when the avian mentions stepping out of the way, but her mouth closes as he finishes. She can only shake her head. "I'm not with anyone." She answers, a little miserably. In all her time with Hudson, she had always known they would never be together. That's what had made it so easy. There was no fear of commitment, no possibility of a moment yawning into a forever of normalcy. She loved him, sure. He was her first real love, after all... But she had no future with him. The last time they had slept together hadn't even been from a place of love, either. It had just been two lonely people in tough situations taking physical comfort in one another because they could. "Irenic, he's married." Guilt and shame made her voice break. "Even when I was with him I wasn't... With him. Not like this," She waves a hand between them. "I'm not making excuses, I just want you to understand. I don't love him like I love you. It's different." She shakes her head again. "I don't have to -be- anything with you. You just accept me and love me and somehow take all my jagged pieces and fit them together until I feel like a real person again. You were never a second choice, never. I'm just... I'm selfish and stupid and I don't know to deal with things in a normal, adult way. You were gone and everything was falling apart. It still is." She looks away. "There is so much that I've done now, so much more that I'm not proud of. I never deserved you in the first place."

Irenic actually blushes (waaat?!) when she said she loves him and he took the hand he held to place it over that crest so she could feel his heart when it beat the way like it hurts. Impulsively, “I love you, too - Baines. If I turn back into some beast bird-“ he chucked. “I think… It sounds to me that we both needed each other and failed. So, maybe we are exactly where we are supposed to be?” He fixes her with a look that says ‘please say, yes’ and looks almost offended at her last words with a scoff, “I didn’t deserve you, more.” He teases and after a silent moment between them, “maybe, we are just awful people who don’t give a flying phauqe what others think and are only so awful enough for each other?” His smirk returned with that mischievous feel to it and he kissed the knuckles on the hand he was holding. “Well… You’re mine now. Deal with it.” He stood up and let the sheet fall away so he can find his clothes once more, but he can barely look at her when he explains, “I’m going away for another week or so with these pirates. It’s apart of a project I’m involved in. So, if you want to wait. I, uh, like to take you out or something,” he found his shirt and pulls it over his head till it fell lazily against his abdomen muscles.

Valrae can only nod, weak with relief that he wasn't turning her away again, dizzy with a boiling storm of confusing and complicated emotions that she wasn't quite equip to deal with yet. She returns his smile when he presses his scarred lips to her knuckles. "I can live with that," She replies honestly. She's scared but she's ready to try something real this time. Maybe even with labels and normalcy - not that she would ever really have to worry about things being too normal between them. He was a cursed avian and she was a runaway witch. She watches him dress with her head tilted, admiring him and letting herself feel. Being with Irenic had always felt like recovery. "I'd really like that," She answers, standing herself. "I have a real home now, on the outskirts of Larket. I'd love for you to see it." With the sheet still around her, she crosses to him and leans up to her tip-toes. "So whatever you're doing, stay safe?" The witch blinks up at him expectantly. Another kiss goodbye couldn't hurt, right?

Irenic bent down again, wrapped both of his arms around her to lift her and kiss her once more. “Another for good luck?” Already kissing her before gently setting her back down. As far as the house he answers while buckling his belt, “I’ll be there with bells on, Baines.” He smirks down at her, “au revoir ma sorcière magnifique.” His low gruff tone being cushioned by that romanti language, “meaning, goodbye my beautiful witch.” He places a sweet kiss on her forehead before giving her a black calla lily he found in the house and backing up out the door while keeping those mismatched eyes on her with a smirk. Doesn’t notice there’s a step out the door, trips, stumbles out and easily catches himself so he doesn’t fall…. Smooth.