Private A Touch So Warm Time Stands Still

"What?!... What?! It's funny! He's the selfish kisser? Oh yes, yeah, hot mom over there gets it. Thank you madame,

thank you. The sculptor wishes their hands could find such a fine form as thine own! Oh. Well... Fare thee well... to

far, Sigward, too far. Stop while you are ahead..."

Steps came easy as Roki still beamed. Golden eyes set over his shoulder, checking out the crowd behind them. Spying the last mummeries of the street-performer. The laughs of a few members of the audience as they trailed away. His look darted back to the street before them. His shoulder near enough to Alouette's to feel the weight of her.

The pull. Each step they took just another plunk, wade, plunk into waters he felt rising just the more. Or was that just what it felt like when you wanted the seconds to stretch all the bit longer? Find the time between each grain that slipped there through that glass of their lives spent there in that moment, together.

Dropped the heel. Spread the toes. Dig the bones. Push the pads. Another step.


"Yeah?"


A couple of blinks. Head buoyed up as if by a steam cloud. "A selfish kisser?" he parrots. Moves his tongue about his mouth, lips worked over a moment. "Uh, I guess," he ponders allowed. "I mean, you know," he tests. But realizes how empty that really feels off his tongue. No accounting for where his feet were goin. He looks over at her. Eyes full on her plump lips. "Well, they just take what they want, you know?" he huffs. Shakes his head. Looks away. "But not in that way where its like, you know, a relief! Like, damn! I've been waiting for that and didn't even know it! Kinda way. No, not that kinda, taking what they want, and making you feel good for being what they want, but I mean, like. Well." He scratches the back of his head with one hand, and adjusts the bread basket with the other. "Like they aren't listening, you know? Like they don't care to feel what you feel, or give anything back. Its just, bam, wham, bite! Well, no I mean, that's not it either," he shakes his head. Huffs again. "I mean, I guess they come in all shapes in sizes, you know?" he blinks blinks. Looks over at Lou. "What do you think about it, Lou?" wiggles his nose some. Scratches the broad tip of it. "What makes a selfish kisser?"

Roki must have kissed a lot of people, she realized with a feeling that she couldn't describe. She felt it in her chest, a twinge of the heart. She felt it in her gut, a strange hollowness. Lou told herself that it was good she had asked Roki, that his thoroughness in answering her question meant she had asked the right person. A ribbon of warmth unspooled from her belly as she considered how it must feel, for someone to take her because they wanted her so badly, how it must feel because she was exactly what they wanted. Not just a good time, not just convenience, but a dream come true.

Her round cheeks were warm, blushing roses. When she looked at Roki when he asked her a question in return, her face burned all the more furiously. Lou was quick to look down at her feet, pushing away the thought of Roki replacing the image of Ketyl. His face, his warm skin, his kind eyes. The shape of his mouth, the long fingers belonging to his green hands, the way his voice must deepen... it lingered longer than she would have liked. Roki was her friend, one of the first she had made. They had snuck away to look at baby birds, to hunt four leaf clovers, to watch the cranes teach their young to fly. They had been stuck together in their squire duties, mending socks and polishing armor, switching tasks when a wrist or bicep felt sore.

She had made him his lucky bracelet, the very one still tied around his slender wrist. She should be ashamed, thinking of Roki that way. Ulrika always said men and women couldn't be friends, but that couldn't be true when it came to her and Roki, could it?

"I'm not sure," Lou said simply after a long moment of thought. "But I think I might be a selfish kisser." There was a pause, an opened mouth with a silent question hanging in the air. Mouth shutting with a snap, lips tight together, unspoken words dying on her tongue. The words that did come were soft and frail. "Because if I like something, I want more of it. Kissing does that thing with like it makes you only think of it. There's no other thoughts so it's hard to stop when you start. And I've never been the one to stop, so when they stop, I just think about doing it more." She frowned at the sort of hunger hiding inside her. No wonder why Ketyl avoided kissing her, he must have found it uncool and unknightly.

"What? No way!" he exclaimed like a balloon pop. Realized there had been too much in it. Brows scrunched, eased back. Some. "Sorry," he said all hushed. Went on listening. Nod, to let her know he was listening. Saw how their feet had stopped. The pair of them there amidst the flow of people that seemed to move on by in every which way of Soupe de Chiens.

"Yeah?" he asks, head keeling toward her. Seeing how her hands fidgeted. How her steps stutter and rock.
Roki nods. Eyes soft as he watches the words form on her mouth. How the blood colors her cheeks. His own mouth feels heavy. Lips wanting to move.
Sees her frown. Bent like a rose, heavy for her, he finds himself smiling. "I don't know," comes knocking out of his throat. "Sounds pretty good to me," he lingers there. Too close. "Getting all you want to give, Lou,"

Sounds pretty good to me.



When her spring green eyes raised towards Roki, realizing the lack of space between them, something like lightning sparked down her spine. Between the hustle and bustle, time slowed down for Alouette. She knew then that he had been looking at her mouth - no that was wrong, he had been staring at her lips. Everyone knew what that meant. He wanted to kiss her.

A part of her thought about giving Roki what he wanted. She was curious what it would be like, curious about his tusks. She thought about how he had eaten bread and butter, wondered if she would be able to taste it on his lips. The single beat of her heart, heavy and slow didn't make it any less rhythmic in her chest hot with foolish, girlish desires.

"Roki," there was a edge, breathless but sharp nonetheless, like wind over the moors, flattening all the heather in came across.

She turned her head away from him, breaking the intensity as if it paper-thin glass, easily cracked and crumbling apart. Exhilaration still trickled through her veins, even if reason built a dam around her heart, desire still sloshed over to tingle in places like her toes and fingers, her tongue and lips.

"I don't want Syr Noa to think I ran off," she lied, beginning to move her feet again. "And we should put all this stuff away." Lou added, trying to smile sweetly as she always had before at Roki, but her cheeks were too red, her heart beat too fast, and her hands too clammy. "You know the way, right?"

It was all right there. Turning and fluttering inside of him. Side of his shoulder warm where it bumped with hers. Hands laden with the weight of the basket, and the bread, and the oils and butters. And damn how his lips tingled. Tusks ached.

The sound of his name from her tongue was a cold worry. Sharp as a needle's point, and oh how it pricked him to hear it. His own eyes widened. His head remembering all of its lulling weight. Snapped up. Spine straight as she turned away. His face felt so hot, and he turned his own eyes away. Gulping as his guts twisted. "S-sorry," he muttered. Brow's scrunched and mouth pulled down by a frown. "If I, well, made things weird,"

Roki nod nod as he stepped down the street. Feet carried a little heavier over the stones as he moved toward the Calico's Catch. "I know the way," he said with a forced smile, and a hollow little laugh. Face squished the more at how much he didn't like the sound of his own voice then. Shook his head. Kept walking.

The Calico's Catch wasn't very far. Just a few streets over, and a quick stop to ask a local painter, set outside a trio of colorful half-timbered townhouses which way to the Calico's, and he nod nod and pointed them over in the right direction. Went back to painting the fat tabby that went on bathing in the sun before him.

Silence, all the while, wayed heavy on Roki's heart. Or was it more the pit of his stomach, sinking in on itself? Hard to say really. But the more he thought to say something. The more he thought it was best not to say anything at all. Better not to disturb Lou. Especially after he had already done something so stupid. And well. There was nothing to really talk about, was there?

Up the stairs to the Calico's door they went. Squeek open the hinges, hold open the door, and he bowed his head toward lobby there in. Motioned with tilt of his head. Weak smile still spread across his lips. "After you,"

Thread snapped, both of their heads recoiling from the tension, no longer floating, Lou could feel just how hard and cold the ground beneath her was. Brown brows furrowed together at Roki's apology. If anyone had made it weird, it was her. She had brought up the subject, had gone into depth about the act of kissing. She had been the one to think of the two of them sharing a kiss.

But they were friends! Reason screamed at her.

But he's tall, dark and handsome! Her Heart screamed back.

Who cares if he's cute, friends don't kiss friends, or do you want to ruin it like you did with Ketyl? Reason had a point, a very sharp and hurtful point. Lou felt her stomach flipping nervously before beginning to sink.

Well... you know what they say about orcs, it was neither Reason nor her Heart speaking now, Roki definitely gives off big --

NO! Finally, her Heart and Reason were on the same page. Lou glanced at Roki who now look deflated and glum. Inwardly, she plucked Lust out of the way and shoved them into a drawer she hoped not to ever open again. It felt wrong, thinking of Roki in such perverted fashion when he so very clearly looked upset.

New kink unlocked? She shoved the drawer back shut and locked it. She couldn't trust her thoughts to not wander in such dangerous territory. What had gotten into her, why did she still feel it in her lower belly the coals of desire fanned out through her entire body. Such a powerful ache in her heart, between her legs.

'Look at you, greedy green eyes and all,' he had said before sucking in a breath, thumb lightly stroking her cheek as the rest of his fingers pressed harder into the back of her head.

Lou shook her head. No, no more of that. She stared hard at the back of Roki's head, glad that the nape of his neck was covered. The silence between them let Lou think without interruption, finally settling both Reason and Heart into a grumbling compromise. Kissing wasn't bad, it wasn't giving all of her like sex was, and one time when Ulrika was drunk and kissed her, they had remained friends. Kissing was more like a test, like dipping a toe into the water; sex was a cannonball in. With kissing, they both had control, they could pull away or stop; sex didn't stop until there was an end, and Lou knew that to say 'no' during the middle of it was taken like a punch.

So maybe she should kiss Roki? Just to see, to compare to Ketyl and Ulrika, and maybe nothing would be there or maybe something would be there but shouldn't she try and see?

The discordant wave of laughter and banter, mugs clinking and wooden bowls stacking, a rowdy song and a even rowdier cheer had Lou realizing that they had arrived, Roki already opening the door. Inside was as merry as a holiday, many tables and chairs, benches and stools. It was full with men and women, travelers and locals, all sharing the same space to share stories or gossips, catching up with old friends or making new ones.

All wooden floors and walls with a large stone hearth ensuring warmth all around, small sketches of cartoon cats and critters decorated the walls. Whoever had hand painted the walls was someone with a sense of humor, cats wearing hats and puffing on cigars, a cat walking a dog, a cat showing off a roast to a bunch of dinner guests, granny cat knitting and complaining to another granny cat that to make mittens and scarves for her eight grandchildren was giving her arthritis, cats fishing or chasing rats, a cat telling their human pet not to hack a hairball on the floor, mama cat telling baby cat not to cry over spilled milk; nearly every inch of the wall was covered in cats and all their shenanigans.

"You know," Lou said, looking back from inside the Calico to Roki, "A kiss should always be private, never where others can see." All pink cheeks and timid curve of lips, she softly added, "You didn't make things weird, Roki. Maybe we could... go somewhere--"

"Roki, Lou -- you two finally made it!" Syr Noa shouted over the usual din of a dining hall. She waved a large tankard in her hand over her head, no drink spilling over the lip despite her haphazard swinging. Ne gave a disapproving growl, but neither did he fear about getting splashed with ale. Sitting beside the knight on the long wooden bench were Ketyl and Winnika, heads close together as if sharing a secret before Winnika looked past Ketyl's head to smile at Roki and Lou, gesturing with a hand for the two of them to join them.

"We're about to have dinner," Winnika informed them. She had tied her long, black wavy hair behind her head. Lou thought she always looked like a boy with a bowl cut whenever she tied her hair behind her head, and at least Ulrika looked like a boy, too. Winnika looked as lovely usual, her face framed by dark strands that emphasized her high cheekbones and made her blue eyes look as bright as the sky in summer. "We asked Syr Lefelen and Syr Dunnird to join us," gesturing to the empty bench across from them, only filled by small knapsacks to reserve the seats.

"Lou," Syr Noa said, finally prompting Ketyl's attention to go from Winnika to the two squires. He narrowed his eyes at the two of them, a mean, assessing look that had Lou looked away to the floor, suddenly guilty as if she had been caught in a lie. "Guess what, they got a dish with no animals. It's technically not a meal, they call it a aperitif, but it's olive oil, butter beans and leeks. No duck fat or butter goes near it. Can't say the same about the other stuff though." She took a loud swig, followed by an even louder thud as the bottom of the tankard hit the table.

There was an expectant pause.

"Oh okay," Lou said, glancing towards Roki, "Wanna put this away before joining them?"

"Put what away?" Syr Noa asked, raising up a hand towards a woman and gesturing towards her mug for another pour. "Our bags? Naw, we'll do that once Lefelen and Dunni get here." There was a mischievous grin plastered across her face. "Or else we gotta get Ne stretched out across that bench and he's too fat to do so, ahahaha!" Ne growled with disdain, bumping his head hard into Noa so she fell into Ketyl who remained sturdy, protecting Winnika from the weight of laughing Noa and sulking Ne.