this time, when flayn leans in, yin yu's almost expecting it. it still makes his heart swoosh and dive in his chest, like a bird, and he tips his head down to make it easier for her, automatically, to ease up on the distance between them. maybe in a few weeks, he'll be more easily comfortable - for now, it still takes a moment for him not to be tense.
...but that moment comes shorter, and shorter. slowly, yin yu relaxes when she kisses him--which, for someone who is tense constantly, is a pretty impressive state of being--and settles into the new, nice proximity, not immediate to pull back but rather, lingering in the gentle press for a bit longer than before.
at this point, he also has completely forgotten about the movie, instead quietly focused on flayn, and all of the wonders of the world that have somehow found themselves right here, next to him.
...it really does feel like a dream. a wonderful one, one that she never wants to wake up from. if you had called her on her feelings weeks ago, she would have laughed a little and maybe thought about acting on them when this was all over.
(or maybe she wouldn't have. hurting yin yu isn't an option - and to tell him something like that right before they would be parted seems a little cruel.)
but, truth be told, she's glad it worked out like this. she's glad to be able to spend this sort of time with him now, to give them both something wonderful to hold onto - she's sort of had the feeling for a while now that although they have both been insisting they'll find a way out of this, hope was getting hard to hold onto.
it's much easier, with him here. she lingers on the kiss, and looks up at him with an expression of such adoration that he probably doesn't need the contact to know that's exactly how she feels.]
[ never the one to be overly emotional, it is as ever overwhelming to look at flayn when she looks at him like that. he's never been moved to big, grandiose gestures, or expressions, or much of anything. it can't be enough, for someone like flayn, who deserves hua cheng levels of love and devotion, and he knows he's painfully lacking next to just about anything, but --
maybe it's selfish, to want to keep that look for his own. flayn will feel the kind of effect she has on him pretty much immediately; his heart squeezes in his chest like it's being wrung out, the affection choking him up more than anything, keeping him from being able to say anything in response. he just looks back at her, a little confused and a lot happy, overwhelmed, dazed. the expression on his face is unschooled, brows knitted together, but smiling, that tiny, gentle smile that he rarely realizes is there.
lifting his hand away from her side, finally, he reaches up - just to brush his thumb against her cheek, half confirming that it's real, half just to touch. how nice this is. how - how utterly unusual. how perfect. can he kiss her again? would she mind? probably. he's too much of a coward to go for it.
(maybe a few days from now, he'll know it had to be too good to be true, too good to last.) ]
[her cheek is warm under his touch, as his thumb brushes against her skin - and the feeling he'll get from her is a rush of warmth and affection and just the teeniest, tiniest bit of longing.
he might not have the guts to go through with it, but she definitely wouldn't mind if he did lean in and kiss her. she would never mind that.
(he's told her before, that she could never take advantage of him - but really, that goes both ways. flayn can't imagine yin yu ever taking advantage of her because she thinks she would like whatever it is he might try, if anything.)
he'll feel it, too, as she takes in the sight of that small, gentle smile - it just makes her feel warm and affectionate and endlessly, endlessly charmed. yin yu's smiles don't come easily - which makes them all the more precious when they do.
she reaches up, cups his cheek with one hand, and looks into his eyes. honestly, she's not sure if she could look away.]
yin yu picks up on that little bit of longing, unfortunately. he picks up on all the things, although it's hard to do anything but want to squirm away from the tidal wave of affection and charmed warmth. it's like staring directly into the sun, and she's looking right at him, and the fact that flayn feels all of that about him is --
it's too much. he exhales, not quite a wheeze, and leans forward to bonk their foreheads together, gently, closing his eyes. the first time that flayn kissed him he'd done much of the same, overwhelmed and embarrassed because he's beyond out of his comfort zone. flayn can probably tell from their emotions; he's wildly flustered and too repressed for this.
...but he's happy, too. it's a tentative undercurrent under the embarrassment, but it's still there.
after a long moment like that, still pressed together, yin yu mumbles: ] ...sorry. [ for being really bad at this. and for being a weenie. and for not being anything like the romance novel protagonist she gets to read about. staring lovingly into each other's eyes with no pause for hours seems like a chengzhu and dianxia thing to do. ]
[...ah. yes, she can feel that - and as his forehead touches hers and his eyes slide shut, she's able to close hers, as well. it's easier to look away when he isn't looking directly at her.
his embarrassment mingles with hers, and after a moment, he'll get a sort of apologetic feeling - but it's coupled with fondness.]
You do not need to apologize to me. [her voice is gentle.] We can take this slowly. I am happy just to be with you... I do not need anything more if you are not ready.
[ there's a little lizard part of his brain that tries to run skittering wildly off with the phrase "anything more" but yin yu shuts that shit down before it goes anywhere even more embarrassing.
he's a little more sheepish, this time. ] I'm fine, it's just - ah. [ gods above. his ears are starting to burn, and his shoulders hunch, but he doesn't run off and hide. ] ...it's just all rather new.
...My lady will have to guide me, is all. [ oh god he's so flustered. the normal nickname comes back, this time, and she can probably feel yin yu cringe at himself for using it, mentally, but this train is already out of the station. ] And forgive me, as well. I... did promise that I would let you know if there was ever something I did not want to do.
[ maybe the heavenly emperor will strike him down with lightning where he's sitting. ]
Edited (forgets entire words? its fine) 2020-07-15 13:59 (UTC)
[there's no sharp pang of disappointment, this time - partly because they've talked about it, a little; partly because he's so obviously flustered here that she's more than willing to allow him anything if it helps him calm down.
she doesn't want him to start associating feeling uncomfortable with her.]
I can guide you, that is not a problem. [...] ...and... it is alright. It takes time to get used to speaking up.
[at least this happened during emotionshare week when she could feel it and stop immediately.]
[ actually yeah, for as embarrassing as emotions hare has been most of the time, this is pretty useful. yin yu's feeling less vulnerable than last week, now that the memories are gone, and even if the rush of his emotions related to flayn are vastly overwhelming in such close proximity, it's... it's not a bad thing.
he'd take it over sharing with lili again. (that was way too much.)
from where they're still pressed close together, she'll feel his head move, the beginnings of a nod. ] Thank you, Flayn. [ even that's starting to feel a little more comfortable, even if it gives him a spike of fluttering warmth every time he uses it. she is terrible for his blood pressure, but that's fine.
his tone's softly joking, poking at himself. ] Even speaking to others is still rather difficult for me, my lady. [ he sucks at this it's fine.
yin yu pulls back just a little to look at her again, feeling heartened and also slightly less overwhelmed, the smile on his face small and reflecting his fondness, his gratitude. ] If there's something that you'd like, then I'm happy to provide it. It's out of no obligation or sense of duty. [ ... he shifts, a little, embarrassed again, gaze flicking to the side. ] ...I just would like to make you happy.
[ ... ] ....and I'm sure it would most likely make me happy, too. [ .///. ]
[he'll feel a surge of that warm, giddy happiness again when he calls her by her name. even if she's managing not to be disappointed by my lady, there's no disguising the way her heart practically sings when he remembers to leave off the title.
her cheeks flush, and she smiles back at him, listening as he explains. that... sounds very much like what she's come to expect of him, and gods, she hopes it's true that it would make him happy, if he allowed her to.]
...the truth is, I am not quite sure what to ask for. [she actually sounds - and feels - a little flustered.] But I like... being able to show you how I feel about you, since words are... words can be difficult.
Words are very difficult. [ he agrees pretty much immediately, yeah. you're just preaching to the choir there, flayn.
settled close like this, his arm still around her, head ducked a little so the proximity doesn't change, it's easy to feel more comfortable, though, and it's almost a bit comforting to know that they're fumbling through the dark together, in some ways. flayn's miles more competent emotionally than yin yu could ever dream to be, but, she's coaxed him this far out of his shell. surely anything else is possible.
absently, his thumb rubs up and down where his other hand is still settled on her back. he doesn't even realize he's doing it; the gesture is just because she's there, a quiet revelation in her presence. he huffs a quiet laugh, shaking his head just a bit. ] I think it's easy to tell, though. [ i just am not sure if i can believe it's happening, goes unsaid. there's that sense of disbelieving, warm confusion, but, it's not a bad sense to have. he just can't believe something this good is happening to -- well, to him. like. why.
...there's also... lamely, after a quiet, embarrassed moment, he looks away and mumbles: ] ...this is all fine. [ everything. yeah. ] I like it too.
[she's so comfortable with him, even with how new this is for the both of them. flayn can't help but marvel over it. hundreds of thousands - millions - maybe even billions of people, in both their worlds. countless other worlds on top of that.
and they somehow manage to meet?
...they somehow manage to feel the same way about each other?
it feels like a miracle, like it's almost too good to be true. (could anything really be too good in a game of death? in two games of death?)]
[ me: I’m going to bed. also me: a liar with a phone
yin yu nods as she says so, and feels some of the weight of embarrassment loosen off of his shoulders. he’s able to relax, like this, arm around flayn, touch gentle and intimate, even peek back to glance at her properly. this time when he thinks, I should kiss her, it’s a little easier to lean forward.
so! as he tips forward to do so, feeling lighter than he has in years, feeling warmer than he has in years, just feeling something that isn’t the endless numb void of depression and guilt, yin yu does, gently, kiss her.
the problem is that about two seconds later there’s a BANG of a jump scare from the film behind them. ]
anyway. it's a perfectly nice moment - romantic, even, despite the fact that they're trapped in a camp where people die each week. (flayn had not thought many things could be romantic in a place like this.)
but yin yu's lips on her own make her feel warm and content - at least, for the two seconds they're there before the BANG on the television screen. flayn's shriek is muffled by his lips, but she clutches to him tightly, startled - more from the suddenness of the sound than because it was actually scary at all.
with a gasp, she pulls back, then buries her face in his shoulder.]
[ they're stuck in a deadly murder camp. any sort of noise can be threatening, which means when the noise goes, yin yu also startles like a cat, his arm immediately tightening around flayn's waist to pull her closer, protective, his other hand up, ready to fight -
....
and then it's nothing. all of the pent up tension goes out of him like a balloon, and yin yu glances over her shoulder to the tv screen. the ghost bride is haunting the main woman, shrieking and yelling and now making a ton of noise as they attempt to do some kind of exorcism. ]
...the movie. [ he says, shaking his head at himself for being too jumpy, a quiet chuckle in his voice as he loosens his grip. ridiculous... so ridiculous... ]
(he may get a sense of that, just briefly, before she tamps down on it. no, she told him they could take this slow - or at least more slowly. his own pace.
it strikes her as sort of funny - in the stories she hears, it's usually the other way around.)]
...ah - that is right. I did not realize it would be so... loud.
[she speaks the words into his shoulder. should she get up? should she let go of him? she probably could, but it's warm and comfortable, being here like this. at least the movie being scary ("scary") gives her an excuse to cling to him, even if she isn't actually scared at all.]
[ sorry for your lack of romance novel hero flayn :( you are the romance novel hero all along
yin yu's observant nature means he does not miss out on that wish of hers, and... though he'd already started to let go, he pauses.
this emotion share thing is... you know, it's been kind of terrible all week long? but right now, it's. it's really useful. some of the flush returns to his cheeks, but, slowly, he replaces his arm. the grip is less "incoming danger i will protect you with everything" and more holding her close to him, his fingers hovering briefly before his arm settles around her waist a little tighter than before. scandalous.
yin yu absolutely can only look at the screen while this is happening, too embarrassed to look at her properly, because the minute he does he will give into propriety and move. ]
I suppose that's one way to make things 'scary'... [ like startling a little kid during a game... well, ok. it did make yin yu jump, even, so it's not like he's immune. ] ...it startled me, too.
[she doesn't want a romance novel hero. she just wants yin yu.
her heart warms as he wraps his arm around her, and he'll feel her fondness and gratitude - it's twinged with a slight bit of guilt, because she's sure he's responding to her feelings, but mostly it's just... she's happy.
really happy.]
...well! I suppose if we are both startled, it would be better to... stay like this, so that we feel safe if it happens again.
[that's such a flimsy excuse but she's providing it in case it makes this easier for him, if he has one.]
[ that is. such a lie. he can tell pretty much instantly.
....he's absolutely not going to call her out on it. ] ...If that's the case, then...
[ his emotions come across bashful, but, he's definitely not complaining. settled close like this with her at his side, yin yu feels more content, than anything. a perfectly warm, comfortable feeling of contentment that seeps into his bones and finds the dark places he's been hiding in. it's not such a bright light that he wants to scuttle off and away from it. it's just.
it's nice. it's a tentative grab at a happiness that he hasn't had in a long, long time. for a moment, it seems like that's all he has to say.
but, a bit of muted, fond wryness laces his tone. ] ...then, please protect me as well.
[ it feels a little embarrassing to say something like that, but. he has a feeling it might make flayn smile, and that's really - it just knocks him out, every time. someone could get used to such a tiny, muted warmth. ]
[just as he suspects - it does make her smile. it lights up her face and her heart, and with a little giggle, she cuddles up to him, staying exactly where she is. the exorcism plays on the screen behind them.
[ from anything. from everything, be it monstrous residual versions of their former island comrades, to too cold weather, to a jump scare in a film. if yin yu can protect her from it--keep this candle of hers flickering, the light of hers shining, that smile on her face-- he will give his heart and soul over to it.
so, as light as the moment is, it's a little meaningful, too.
she'll feel his heart swoop when he says her name, clearly still trying His Best, but it comes out anyway, and he doesn't tense up at the proximity or anything, either. rather, yin yu moves to reach for one of the blankets in the seating area to pull it up and over their laps, fussing to make things just a bit more comfortable and trying not to jostle flayn at the same time.
he, too, is not paying any attention to the movie. at all. he hasn't been in a while. ]
[it's sheer delight that he'll feel from her when he says her name again. maybe someday, she'll stop being quite so happy about something so simple -
but then again, maybe she won't.
"flayn" might not be the name she was born with, but it's the name she's chosen for herself. out of necessity, to be sure - but it's also the name that the people she knows and cares for know her by, and that's no small thing. to hear yin yu call her by that name, then - just as the people she so much wants to return home to do...
well.
it's certainly something.
she relaxes utterly as he pulls a blanket over them. it's comfortable, here with him. part of her wonders if they might fall asleep here, even though it isn't a curfew night.
[ meanwhile tomorrow there will be like 10 people stuffed in this cabin and one of them is going to die -
for tonight, it's just yin yu and flayn, though. there aren't many places in this camp that could be deemed acceptable for something like a 'date', or something 'romantic', maybe, but this seems to be pretty close to it. it's easy to forget about the outside world, just for a few hours, sitting comfortable here with flayn.
as she relaxes against him, yin yu takes a moment to take a breath. as ever, he is meditative, reflective - it gives him a moment to center himself, to marvel at the moment quietly from afar. this sort of happiness is something he'd like to hold onto, for when things are rough. there is someone and something worth fighting for, outside of simply doing his duties. a bond of his own, he'd forged over weeks of companionship, of flayn's gentle coaxing. no matter what happens, there will be this present moment of warmth to fall back on.
slowly, yin yu tips his head, so his cheek falls gently against the crown of her head. it ensconces them a little further, into this more or less comfortable little nest they've created, and the last bit of tension winds out of his shoulders, too. tuning back into the film puts the family in the middle of an opera, and the familiarity of the scene pretty much mitigates any weirdness of it being so modern; the sights and sounds are soothing, even if the opera is designed to be some kind of a ritual exorcism.
hm. as the scene plays, he comments; ] I can assure you that removing demonic presence does not often include singing or performance in reality.
[frankly, given the number of pcs i've seen set in the entertainment cabin, i'm astounded no one has walked in on them. maybe there are like five people here on the other side of the room this evening, pointedly ignoring their het nonsense.
...for her part, flayn has never seen an opera. yin yu's comment draws her attention back to the movie, and she watches for a few long moments.
is that what the opera in enbarr was like, she wonders? or maybe this is merely fiction, for the sake of the story they're telling. he's already said it's not a true exorcism.]
mm... at flayn's question, he pauses, a bit thoughtful, watching the exorcism on the screen with detached interest. it's all very bloody and gory and horrifying, but it seems to be successful... so there's that. ] It's usually a messier affair. Talismans or ceremonies, or sometimes through pain to the host person.
It's not unheard of, but I don't believe I've ever participated in one like this. [ that's for sure. masks or otherwise, you will not catch him singing at a demon anytime soon. ]
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fishingforcompliments) wrote2020-06-06 12:53 pm
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this time, when flayn leans in, yin yu's almost expecting it. it still makes his heart swoosh and dive in his chest, like a bird, and he tips his head down to make it easier for her, automatically, to ease up on the distance between them. maybe in a few weeks, he'll be more easily comfortable - for now, it still takes a moment for him not to be tense.
...but that moment comes shorter, and shorter. slowly, yin yu relaxes when she kisses him--which, for someone who is tense constantly, is a pretty impressive state of being--and settles into the new, nice proximity, not immediate to pull back but rather, lingering in the gentle press for a bit longer than before.
at this point, he also has completely forgotten about the movie, instead quietly focused on flayn, and all of the wonders of the world that have somehow found themselves right here, next to him.
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...it really does feel like a dream. a wonderful one, one that she never wants to wake up from. if you had called her on her feelings weeks ago, she would have laughed a little and maybe thought about acting on them when this was all over.
(or maybe she wouldn't have. hurting yin yu isn't an option - and to tell him something like that right before they would be parted seems a little cruel.)
but, truth be told, she's glad it worked out like this. she's glad to be able to spend this sort of time with him now, to give them both something wonderful to hold onto - she's sort of had the feeling for a while now that although they have both been insisting they'll find a way out of this, hope was getting hard to hold onto.
it's much easier, with him here. she lingers on the kiss, and looks up at him with an expression of such adoration that he probably doesn't need the contact to know that's exactly how she feels.]
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maybe it's selfish, to want to keep that look for his own. flayn will feel the kind of effect she has on him pretty much immediately; his heart squeezes in his chest like it's being wrung out, the affection choking him up more than anything, keeping him from being able to say anything in response. he just looks back at her, a little confused and a lot happy, overwhelmed, dazed. the expression on his face is unschooled, brows knitted together, but smiling, that tiny, gentle smile that he rarely realizes is there.
lifting his hand away from her side, finally, he reaches up - just to brush his thumb against her cheek, half confirming that it's real, half just to touch. how nice this is. how - how utterly unusual. how perfect. can he kiss her again? would she mind? probably. he's too much of a coward to go for it.
(maybe a few days from now, he'll know it had to be too good to be true, too good to last.) ]
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he might not have the guts to go through with it, but she definitely wouldn't mind if he did lean in and kiss her. she would never mind that.
(he's told her before, that she could never take advantage of him - but really, that goes both ways. flayn can't imagine yin yu ever taking advantage of her because she thinks she would like whatever it is he might try, if anything.)
he'll feel it, too, as she takes in the sight of that small, gentle smile - it just makes her feel warm and affectionate and endlessly, endlessly charmed. yin yu's smiles don't come easily - which makes them all the more precious when they do.
she reaches up, cups his cheek with one hand, and looks into his eyes. honestly, she's not sure if she could look away.]
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yin yu picks up on that little bit of longing, unfortunately. he picks up on all the things, although it's hard to do anything but want to squirm away from the tidal wave of affection and charmed warmth. it's like staring directly into the sun, and she's looking right at him, and the fact that flayn feels all of that about him is --
it's too much. he exhales, not quite a wheeze, and leans forward to bonk their foreheads together, gently, closing his eyes. the first time that flayn kissed him he'd done much of the same, overwhelmed and embarrassed because he's beyond out of his comfort zone. flayn can probably tell from their emotions; he's wildly flustered and too repressed for this.
...but he's happy, too. it's a tentative undercurrent under the embarrassment, but it's still there.
after a long moment like that, still pressed together, yin yu mumbles: ] ...sorry. [ for being really bad at this. and for being a weenie. and for not being anything like the romance novel protagonist she gets to read about. staring lovingly into each other's eyes with no pause for hours seems like a chengzhu and dianxia thing to do. ]
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his embarrassment mingles with hers, and after a moment, he'll get a sort of apologetic feeling - but it's coupled with fondness.]
You do not need to apologize to me. [her voice is gentle.] We can take this slowly. I am happy just to be with you... I do not need anything more if you are not ready.
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he's a little more sheepish, this time. ] I'm fine, it's just - ah. [ gods above. his ears are starting to burn, and his shoulders hunch, but he doesn't run off and hide. ] ...it's just all rather new.
...My lady will have to guide me, is all. [ oh god he's so flustered. the normal nickname comes back, this time, and she can probably feel yin yu cringe at himself for using it, mentally, but this train is already out of the station. ] And forgive me, as well. I... did promise that I would let you know if there was ever something I did not want to do.
[ maybe the heavenly emperor will strike him down with lightning where he's sitting. ]
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she doesn't want him to start associating feeling uncomfortable with her.]
I can guide you, that is not a problem. [...] ...and... it is alright. It takes time to get used to speaking up.
[at least this happened during emotionshare week when she could feel it and stop immediately.]
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he'd take it over sharing with lili again. (that was way too much.)
from where they're still pressed close together, she'll feel his head move, the beginnings of a nod. ] Thank you, Flayn. [ even that's starting to feel a little more comfortable, even if it gives him a spike of fluttering warmth every time he uses it. she is terrible for his blood pressure, but that's fine.
his tone's softly joking, poking at himself. ] Even speaking to others is still rather difficult for me, my lady. [ he sucks at this it's fine.
yin yu pulls back just a little to look at her again, feeling heartened and also slightly less overwhelmed, the smile on his face small and reflecting his fondness, his gratitude. ] If there's something that you'd like, then I'm happy to provide it. It's out of no obligation or sense of duty. [ ... he shifts, a little, embarrassed again, gaze flicking to the side. ] ...I just would like to make you happy.
[ ... ] ....and I'm sure it would most likely make me happy, too. [ .///. ]
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her cheeks flush, and she smiles back at him, listening as he explains. that... sounds very much like what she's come to expect of him, and gods, she hopes it's true that it would make him happy, if he allowed her to.]
...the truth is, I am not quite sure what to ask for. [she actually sounds - and feels - a little flustered.] But I like... being able to show you how I feel about you, since words are... words can be difficult.
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settled close like this, his arm still around her, head ducked a little so the proximity doesn't change, it's easy to feel more comfortable, though, and it's almost a bit comforting to know that they're fumbling through the dark together, in some ways. flayn's miles more competent emotionally than yin yu could ever dream to be, but, she's coaxed him this far out of his shell. surely anything else is possible.
absently, his thumb rubs up and down where his other hand is still settled on her back. he doesn't even realize he's doing it; the gesture is just because she's there, a quiet revelation in her presence. he huffs a quiet laugh, shaking his head just a bit. ] I think it's easy to tell, though. [ i just am not sure if i can believe it's happening, goes unsaid. there's that sense of disbelieving, warm confusion, but, it's not a bad sense to have. he just can't believe something this good is happening to -- well, to him. like. why.
...there's also... lamely, after a quiet, embarrassed moment, he looks away and mumbles: ] ...this is all fine. [ everything. yeah. ] I like it too.
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[she's so comfortable with him, even with how new this is for the both of them. flayn can't help but marvel over it. hundreds of thousands - millions - maybe even billions of people, in both their worlds. countless other worlds on top of that.
and they somehow manage to meet?
...they somehow manage to feel the same way about each other?
it feels like a miracle, like it's almost too good to be true. (could anything really be too good in a game of death? in two games of death?)]
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yin yu nods as she says so, and feels some of the weight of embarrassment loosen off of his shoulders. he’s able to relax, like this, arm around flayn, touch gentle and intimate, even peek back to glance at her properly. this time when he thinks, I should kiss her, it’s a little easier to lean forward.
so! as he tips forward to do so, feeling lighter than he has in years, feeling warmer than he has in years, just feeling something that isn’t the endless numb void of depression and guilt, yin yu does, gently, kiss her.
the problem is that about two seconds later there’s a BANG of a jump scare from the film behind them. ]
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anyway. it's a perfectly nice moment - romantic, even, despite the fact that they're trapped in a camp where people die each week. (flayn had not thought many things could be romantic in a place like this.)
but yin yu's lips on her own make her feel warm and content - at least, for the two seconds they're there before the BANG on the television screen. flayn's shriek is muffled by his lips, but she clutches to him tightly, startled - more from the suddenness of the sound than because it was actually scary at all.
with a gasp, she pulls back, then buries her face in his shoulder.]
What was that...?
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....
and then it's nothing. all of the pent up tension goes out of him like a balloon, and yin yu glances over her shoulder to the tv screen. the ghost bride is haunting the main woman, shrieking and yelling and now making a ton of noise as they attempt to do some kind of exorcism. ]
...the movie. [ he says, shaking his head at himself for being too jumpy, a quiet chuckle in his voice as he loosens his grip. ridiculous... so ridiculous... ]
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(he may get a sense of that, just briefly, before she tamps down on it. no, she told him they could take this slow - or at least more slowly. his own pace.
it strikes her as sort of funny - in the stories she hears, it's usually the other way around.)]
...ah - that is right. I did not realize it would be so... loud.
[she speaks the words into his shoulder. should she get up? should she let go of him? she probably could, but it's warm and comfortable, being here like this. at least the movie being scary ("scary") gives her an excuse to cling to him, even if she isn't actually scared at all.]
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yin yu's observant nature means he does not miss out on that wish of hers, and... though he'd already started to let go, he pauses.
this emotion share thing is... you know, it's been kind of terrible all week long? but right now, it's. it's really useful. some of the flush returns to his cheeks, but, slowly, he replaces his arm. the grip is less "incoming danger i will protect you with everything" and more holding her close to him, his fingers hovering briefly before his arm settles around her waist a little tighter than before. scandalous.
yin yu absolutely can only look at the screen while this is happening, too embarrassed to look at her properly, because the minute he does he will give into propriety and move. ]
I suppose that's one way to make things 'scary'... [ like startling a little kid during a game... well, ok. it did make yin yu jump, even, so it's not like he's immune. ] ...it startled me, too.
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her heart warms as he wraps his arm around her, and he'll feel her fondness and gratitude - it's twinged with a slight bit of guilt, because she's sure he's responding to her feelings, but mostly it's just... she's happy.
really happy.]
...well! I suppose if we are both startled, it would be better to... stay like this, so that we feel safe if it happens again.
[that's such a flimsy excuse but she's providing it in case it makes this easier for him, if he has one.]
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....he's absolutely not going to call her out on it. ] ...If that's the case, then...
[ his emotions come across bashful, but, he's definitely not complaining. settled close like this with her at his side, yin yu feels more content, than anything. a perfectly warm, comfortable feeling of contentment that seeps into his bones and finds the dark places he's been hiding in. it's not such a bright light that he wants to scuttle off and away from it. it's just.
it's nice. it's a tentative grab at a happiness that he hasn't had in a long, long time. for a moment, it seems like that's all he has to say.
but, a bit of muted, fond wryness laces his tone. ] ...then, please protect me as well.
[ it feels a little embarrassing to say something like that, but. he has a feeling it might make flayn smile, and that's really - it just knocks him out, every time. someone could get used to such a tiny, muted warmth. ]
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she is paying absolutely no mind to that.]
I will protect you with my life, Yin Yu.
[from, um, jumpscares?]
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[ from anything. from everything, be it monstrous residual versions of their former island comrades, to too cold weather, to a jump scare in a film. if yin yu can protect her from it--keep this candle of hers flickering, the light of hers shining, that smile on her face-- he will give his heart and soul over to it.
so, as light as the moment is, it's a little meaningful, too.
she'll feel his heart swoop when he says her name, clearly still trying His Best, but it comes out anyway, and he doesn't tense up at the proximity or anything, either. rather, yin yu moves to reach for one of the blankets in the seating area to pull it up and over their laps, fussing to make things just a bit more comfortable and trying not to jostle flayn at the same time.
he, too, is not paying any attention to the movie. at all. he hasn't been in a while. ]
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but then again, maybe she won't.
"flayn" might not be the name she was born with, but it's the name she's chosen for herself. out of necessity, to be sure - but it's also the name that the people she knows and cares for know her by, and that's no small thing. to hear yin yu call her by that name, then - just as the people she so much wants to return home to do...
well.
it's certainly something.
she relaxes utterly as he pulls a blanket over them. it's comfortable, here with him. part of her wonders if they might fall asleep here, even though it isn't a curfew night.
that might not be so bad.]
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for tonight, it's just yin yu and flayn, though. there aren't many places in this camp that could be deemed acceptable for something like a 'date', or something 'romantic', maybe, but this seems to be pretty close to it. it's easy to forget about the outside world, just for a few hours, sitting comfortable here with flayn.
as she relaxes against him, yin yu takes a moment to take a breath. as ever, he is meditative, reflective - it gives him a moment to center himself, to marvel at the moment quietly from afar. this sort of happiness is something he'd like to hold onto, for when things are rough. there is someone and something worth fighting for, outside of simply doing his duties. a bond of his own, he'd forged over weeks of companionship, of flayn's gentle coaxing. no matter what happens, there will be this present moment of warmth to fall back on.
slowly, yin yu tips his head, so his cheek falls gently against the crown of her head. it ensconces them a little further, into this more or less comfortable little nest they've created, and the last bit of tension winds out of his shoulders, too. tuning back into the film puts the family in the middle of an opera, and the familiarity of the scene pretty much mitigates any weirdness of it being so modern; the sights and sounds are soothing, even if the opera is designed to be some kind of a ritual exorcism.
hm. as the scene plays, he comments; ] I can assure you that removing demonic presence does not often include singing or performance in reality.
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...for her part, flayn has never seen an opera. yin yu's comment draws her attention back to the movie, and she watches for a few long moments.
is that what the opera in enbarr was like, she wonders? or maybe this is merely fiction, for the sake of the story they're telling. he's already said it's not a true exorcism.]
What does it normally involve?
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mm... at flayn's question, he pauses, a bit thoughtful, watching the exorcism on the screen with detached interest. it's all very bloody and gory and horrifying, but it seems to be successful... so there's that. ] It's usually a messier affair. Talismans or ceremonies, or sometimes through pain to the host person.
It's not unheard of, but I don't believe I've ever participated in one like this. [ that's for sure. masks or otherwise, you will not catch him singing at a demon anytime soon. ]
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