You'll have to show me some of your other tricks. I could use your wisdom.
[ and though her smile tilts, dimpling warmly, it's a sincere invitation. rhys has his own methods of training, hardened by the brute lessons of an illyrian warrior, but — yelena's bold efficiency is an impressive sight to behold. unapologetic, in its existence. unapologetic about her own existence — a trait alina envies and admires, in equal measure. ]
I haven't celebrated any Christmases. [ or many holidays, for that matter, always on the outside looking in. the unwanted orphan, forced to watch from keramzin's outskirts as families feasted in their homes for sankt nikolai's day, content and cozy while wrapped in that blanket of love she and mal had been denied. the life she might have lived, if not for the fold's ruthlessness, engulfing her chance at that happiness. alina's smile flickers only for a moment, like a flame trying to stubbornly persist even as the wind threatens to extinguish it. ] It looks like you and I will be celebrating something new together again.
[ like halloween, though this holiday feels ... more wistful, for her. more centered on families and traditions she doesn't have, outside of mal, his absence at her side aching like an open sore. yelena's companionship helps, for now, to ease that void.
her lips slant a little impishly as she peeks up at the mistletoe again, before her eyes fall back to yelena. ] I was hoping you wouldn't. Feel awkward, I mean.
So does that mean you're going to kiss me now, or are you going to be a coward about it?
[ it's as much a joke as it isn't, but ... what matters most is that it's easy to play off as a playful challenge, for the sake of her own self-consciousness, if yelena blanches. ]
no subject
[ and though her smile tilts, dimpling warmly, it's a sincere invitation. rhys has his own methods of training, hardened by the brute lessons of an illyrian warrior, but — yelena's bold efficiency is an impressive sight to behold. unapologetic, in its existence. unapologetic about her own existence — a trait alina envies and admires, in equal measure. ]
I haven't celebrated any Christmases. [ or many holidays, for that matter, always on the outside looking in. the unwanted orphan, forced to watch from keramzin's outskirts as families feasted in their homes for sankt nikolai's day, content and cozy while wrapped in that blanket of love she and mal had been denied. the life she might have lived, if not for the fold's ruthlessness, engulfing her chance at that happiness. alina's smile flickers only for a moment, like a flame trying to stubbornly persist even as the wind threatens to extinguish it. ] It looks like you and I will be celebrating something new together again.
[ like halloween, though this holiday feels ... more wistful, for her. more centered on families and traditions she doesn't have, outside of mal, his absence at her side aching like an open sore. yelena's companionship helps, for now, to ease that void.
her lips slant a little impishly as she peeks up at the mistletoe again, before her eyes fall back to yelena. ] I was hoping you wouldn't. Feel awkward, I mean.
So does that mean you're going to kiss me now, or are you going to be a coward about it?
[ it's as much a joke as it isn't, but ... what matters most is that it's easy to play off as a playful challenge, for the sake of her own self-consciousness, if yelena blanches. ]