(D11 MA-expecting) Down by the Riverside

[Asahina Hoshiko]

For a long few moments, there's nothing to say that can't be said better by the urgent curl of fingers against his back, lips seeking and finding a welcome response, and the gentle yearning of bodies against one another through at least a half dozen layers of clothing. The tree was solid against her back, and the heat between them flared incandescent in the winter chill.

When, somewhat reluctantly she turned her head to catch a breath, it came out as a bubble of laughter. There was something brightly joyful in it, a release from the tense realities of court an endless meetings. "Ahhh, so you're playing the rogue today? To lure me downstream with scandalous behavior in mind?" Her hand remains firm on his back, and she rests comfortably against the tree, white hair stark against the rain-dark bark.

The water still offers its gentle lap and swish nearby, the sound of hammers is barely noticeable, and some small, warbling bird signals that a nearby pine belongs to it. "I'm glad you did. I've been thinking of your smiles, whenever I see you about the House or the Court." Parted lips and that hand at his back urge him to continue as she murmurs, "and now I'll just be thinking of your lips.."

[Daidoji Ryu]

Indeed, with all the layers they both wore, the feel of Hoshiko was somewhat more implied than tangible. Echoes of their earlier flirtations, with light touches on the hand or arm. Less sensation and more symbolic, another shared secret between them.

Their lips, however, told a different story, as lips so often did. His were pleasantly warm, and he found hers delightfully cool, like a drink of fresh water. Quenching, and yet he found himself wanting to drink deeper...

Another breath, this time hissing in between his teeth, as they parted a second time, Ryu grinning manically for an instant. "Is that what happened?" Ryu murmured, lips brushing warmly across her cheek. "Perhaps I am handsome hero and scandalous rogue both. In the war, I learned how to find favorable terrain for a strike..."

He paused a moment, smiling just slightly, but all the warmer for that. "I've been thinking about you, too." He admitted. His hand that had been bracing the tree gently stroked her hair. "I try to watch out for everyone in the delegation. I'm not sure when I realized I was especially watching you." Those parted lips were too much of an invitation, and Ryu leaned in again, his own lips moving, parting, his arm tightening around her waist.

The umbrella fell behind him.

[Asahina Hoshiko]

There's laughter against his lips for a moment, felt at a greater remove through all those layers everywhere they touch, shading into pleased exploration. A literary familiarity with kissing turns out to be very different from a physical one, and somehow it feels very different to drink from full and parted lips, vs. closed, or that gentle offset that catches only, say, a lower lip between a pair. Nobody mentioned how aware you could be of a body shrouded and shapeless to the eye under several heavy silk tubes and a thick, rough coat.

The well-grown branches above catch a fair bit of rain, letting a still steady drizzle through. But those caught drops gather and run until they driiip of the end of a branch or bend. Plop! Hoshiko feels the large drop in the middle of her forehead, where it runs down alongside her nose to cool her warming, and now giggling, lips. As she pulls back, licking the water away, cheeks flushed with the weather and the company, there's an openness that's seldom seen in public.

Still close enough for words to breathe along his skin, she lets her hand slip down the rough coat to also settle around an estimated waist and asks, "thinking about me? Now I'm curious what you were thinking."

[Daidoji Ryu]

For his part, this was not Ryu's first kiss; or, as things progressed, his first two-dozen kisses. But while he'd had previous kisses enough to give him confidence, to let him guide Hoshiko delightfully as that shared heat rose, he'd had few enough that each time their lips met it was like making a wonderful new discovery.

Ryu, fully occupied with said lips, missed the initial impact of that sizeable drip. But he did feel her giggle into the kiss, and pulled back to see the dampness on her face. Smiling, he reached up, his thumb gently brushing away that moisture, then briefly exploring her face, tracing her lips.

The question made him pause; Ryu took questions like that seriously, and he always considered his words, even as the two shared caresses beneath the maple tree. "It was a changing thing, from day to day. From the first, you had me curious, with the shrine. Then we had our conversation, that night. Curious became intrigued." He didn't think it was necessary to say which conversation, or which night.

Still thoughtful, he didn't return to kisses just yet, although his hands slowly explored the shape of her back and flanks, or rather, the shape of her plus several thick layers. "I'm not sure when I realized you were someone I wanted to know. Like a puzzle. Hmph." Ryu grimaced. "I hope that doesn't ruin the mood. But the way your mind works, the path of your life..." He kissed her cheek; easy enough to turn towards or away from that.

[Asahina Hoshiko]

There's a momentary urge to do--something--as his thumb brushes her lips. Lick, bite, hmm...and the moment is gone. Perhaps the missed opportunity will be processed well enough to avoid missing it the next time. For now, her grin just grows wider, then gentles as she listens.

As always, when she listens, it seems to be with her whole attention, nodding slightly to indicate that she absolutely knows which conversation. For a moment, she seems about to speak, to offer an answer to a sort-of-asked question. But then his lips are on her cheek and the answer is easier to show than to say. Toward or away?

Toward, definitely. It felt like Hoshiko imagined those flowers that turned toward the sun felt, a happy and inexorable pull that warmed straight through. He may barely feel her fingers clutch a handful of coat, but she seeks his lips and lets him read how unruined the mood is.