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bransjetryner · 5 years

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Forstyrret filmentusiast

Kay Olssen er arrangør av Forstyrret filmsalong og Ravenheart filmfestival. Forstyrret filmsalong er din veileder inn i en verden der filmer prøver og ikke minst feiler, der budsjetter ikke nødvendigvis eksisterer, der handling er en unnskyldning for grov vold.

Kay sier at de lover filmer som kommer til å vekke følelser i deg. Han ønsker at alle en gang i måneden kan bli med i filmhistoriens merkelige irrganger i Forstyrret filmsalong på Cinemateket i Oslo.

Ravenheart filmfestival er fra 27-30. august 2020. Festivalen inneholder masse ulike filmsjangre, blant annet Horror, Thriller/Suspense, Fantasy/Sci-Fi, Dark Comedy, Genre Music Videos (se anbefalinger nedenfor) og Genre Documentary. Festivalen holdes i Oslo, og er en internasjonal begivenhet.

Kay har lenge vært interessert i filmer og har alltid brukt mye tid på dette. Han har likt filmer helt siden han var liten, og de har spilt en viktig rolle for han. Han har lenge ønsket å gi den filmgleden som han selv får til andre. Han ønsker også at film skal være en sosial greie, noe som er en stor grunn til at han har satt i gang alt dette. Å dra for å se en film sammen gir mye glede, selv om det også er flott å se filmer alene. Det som er så gøy med en filmsammenkomst er at alle har samme interesse, og du møter mange nye mennesker som er interessert i akkurat det samme som deg.

Det er mange filmer som er veldig gode og kan sees mange ganger, derimot kan mange også være kjedelige. Kay vet hvilke sjangre han liker selv, samtidig kan han se mange andre sjangere også. Men det som er viktig for Kay er at alle får glede av film, og å få frem til folket at film er mye mer enn bare film. Det er så mange filmer, sjangere og alle har jo en favoritt, men på festivalen er det masse du aldri ville sett om du hadde vært hjemme, og det er det som er så kult.

Her er tre filmanbefalinger fra Kay:

Det finnes mange kultfilmer men bare en Liquid Sky. På begynnelsen av åttitallet var det iskaldt mellom øst og vest men likevel gjorde en sovjetisk regissør en science fiction-film satt til Mote og musikkmiljøet i New York. Eller rettere sagt, slik en sovjetisk regissør fra tiden ser på de nevnte miljøene. En UFO lander på taket til en plaget supermodell med et usunt seksualliv og mange særdeles dårlige venner. Alienen som bor i UFOen er narkoman og livnærer seg av endorfiner som mennesker skiller ut når de får orgasme. Deretter blir filmen rar...

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En kultfilm er en film som samler en gruppe mennesker rundt seg som elsker filmen. Den mest kjente er kanskje Rocky Horror Picture Show. Filmen er basert på en musikal som på tidlig syttitall ble spilt på småscener og nattklubber rundt i London. Tilslutt ble musikalen så populær at den fant veien til de vanlige teaterscenene og den påfølgende suksessen gjorde at filmprodusenter fattet interesse. Filmen leverte til å begynne med moderate resultater men ble en hit blant alternative mennesker og spesielt i LGBTQ-miljøet. I sin samtid var den revolusjonerende spesielt i sin skildring av seksualitet. Det må bemerkes at den kom på en tid av homoseksualitet var knapt nok avkriminalisert. I tillegg er den fortsatt svært underholdene og musikken er fremdeles rocka og befriende. Å gå på en visning av Rocky Horror Picture Show et rituale i seg selv. Folk kler seg opp som rollene og det er innfløkte instruksjoner på hva man skal gjøre under forskjellige scener i filmen blant publikum. Det sies at den et eller annet sted går den på en eller annen kino i verden og skal av gjort det siden premieren i 1975.

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Møt Alejandro Jodorowsky. Poet, kunstner, forfatter, skuespiller, tegneserieforfatter, spåmann og regissør. Mannen bak El Topo, en av de første filmene som ble kalt for en kultfilm. Før videoen og streaming var det i flere storbyer såkalte nattkinoer der man kunne se annerledes film. I New York lå de fleste av den i 42nd street som var en av byens mest beryktede gater med åpen prostitusjon, dopsalg og utallige pornosjapper. Men dette var stedet cinaster flokket seg for å se noe annet enn det Hollywood kunne tilby. Det var filmer fra hele verden og mottoet var gjerne jo særere jo bedre. Ikke rart at El Topo ble en suksess her. Historien om revolvermannen El Topo og hans sønn som skal drepe fire guder i en ørken for at han skal bli universets beste revolvermann, snudde mildt sagt westernfilmen på hodet.

Oppnår El Topo målet sitt? Det er faktisk ikke så viktig fordi Jodorowsky tar en seeren på en metafysisk reise om religion, sjel og menneskets potensiale. Jodorowsky sier at han lager film for å helbrede verden og fans av filmen som bla. John Lennon fra Beatles har i femti år latt seg fascinere av denne merkelige, brutale, tidvis nådeløse men også rørende og unike filmen.

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Lurer du på hva Genre Music Videos er for noe? Her er tre eksempler fra Kay:

Først ut av musikkvideoene er "Månelyst" av Kvelertak. Denne videoen er et perfekt eksempel å en musikkvideo som benytter seg av sjangergrep. Den er regissert av Fredrik S. Hana som har gjort en rekke kortfilmer innen skrekk og videoen er le så mye en gjennomgang horrorfilmens historie med flere hyllester til kjente og ukjente skrekkfilmer.

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Oslobandet The Devil’s Rejects har ikke bare tatt navnet sitt fra en skrekkfilm. Men de er også blodfans av sjangeren og alle sangene deres har tatt titlene fra grøsserfilmer. Her tar de for seg en undersjanger av skrekk og thrillerfilm som heter giallo (eller oversatt fra italiensk "gult"). Dette er en type film fra Italia som var meget populær på seksti og syttitallet. I motsetning til B-filmer fra andre land så jobbet kremen av de italienske teknikerne også på disse filmene, i tillegg å arbeide for de store italienske regissørene som Visconti og Fellini. Dette gav dem et mer profesjonelt utseende selv om mange av dem var laget på svært lave budsjetter. Gialli er kjent for utsøkt kameraarbeid og lyssetting sammen med mye vold og svært upolitisk korrekte temaer. Dette kommer godt frem i denne videoen.

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Bandet Slayer som nylig la inn årene kan se tilbake på en nærmere førti år lang karriere der de sammen med Metallica la grunnlaget for ekstrem-metallen slik vi kjenner den fra Death Metal og her hjemme gjennom Black Metal. De er også store fans av skrekk, kult og B-film slik en tydelig ser i denne videoen der fengselsfilmene utgjør grunnlaget. Se videoen her.

- Henriette Lien

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haledamage · 2 years

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So. Those Valentine asks. 10 for Nadia, either Kurt or Vasco, they both need to hear it. :P

2 and 6 for Kira, and 4 for Kai, whichever of her various partners you wanna answer for ;)

Kira (randomizer picked Mason for her 😂):

2. What's the best way to wake up with your partner?

I wouldn't know. Mason isn't big on spending the night. But there was one time we accidentally fell asleep on the couch together, and I woke up to him clinging to me like a koala with his face pressed to my neck. That was... nice. I could stand to wake up like that more often. A lot more often.

6. Say something nice about your partner.

He's loyal. Almost to a fault. Once he considers you one of his people, he'd do anything for you. And he's... really sweet. I know that sounds crazy to anyone that's met him, and I wouldn't have believed it when we first met, but I don't know what else to call it. He keeps surprising me. Also, he's really fucking hot.

Kai (randomizer picked Rekke):

4. What's a gift you want to give your partner but haven't yet?

I found a recipe in one of the books he gave me from Yezuha. Some of the ingredients have proven a little difficult to get ahold of, but when I do, I want to cook him dinner. To give him a little piece of home. He doesn't say it, but I can tell he's homesick. I hope I can help ease that a little.

Nadia (I just decided to do both :3):

10. Go tell your partner you love them. Now. Go on.

Kurt is never far away from her, so he's easy to find. His first thought when Nadia cradles his face in both hands is that something's wrong, but she just smiles and says "I love you." His concerned frown softens into pure adoration, and he pulls her into a tight hug. "I love you too, Green Blood. So much," he says eventually, voice muffled with his face pressed to her shoulder and rough with emotion. They stay like that for a long time.

While Nadia and Vasco don't mind saying "I love you" in the more straightforward way, their favorite way is through their shared love of poetry. She trails kisses across his cheeks and jaw, whispering the words against his skin. And when she's done, he returns the favor. Thoroughly.

#kira kingston #kai cirdani #nadia de sardet #the randomizer choosing chaos and picking mason for the 'waking up together' question lmao #(kira had MANY more nice things to say about mason but she respects his privacy too much to go into detail 😉)#I think nadia's love poem today is 'when I too long have looked upon your face' by edna st. vincent millay #just because I like it

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haledamage · 5 years

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Epiphany

Continuation of this prompt here. Can be found all together on AO3 here.

@queen-scribbles and @rannadylin this is your fault :P

Darling, Kai thought, for at least the hundredth time. What was I thinking? Am I flirting with Rekke? Have I always been flirting with Rekke? It would be a little dramatic to say she was panicking about the idea that she’d been flirting with him for months and hadn’t realized it, but to say that she was alarmed by the idea would perhaps be an understatement.

It wasn’t like she didn’t find him attractive, of course. She was reserved, but she wasn’t blind; it hadn’t escaped her notice that she always felt a little warmer when he smiled at her, or that she sought his company more often than might be considered proper. But there was a difference between finding someone attractive and being attracted to them. When had one become the other?

“Cap, all due respect,” Serafen grumbled from where he half-leaned, half-lay against a bench in the dimly-lit ship’s hold they found themselves in, “but if you don' find somethin' else t' think about, I'm liable t' mutiny.”

Kai glared in his direction, but since his eyes weren’t open it was lost on him. “If you don't like what I'm thinking about, stop listening.”

“Wish it were that easy.” He opened one eye just long enough to give her a sour look. “I wouldn' be confounded if the lad can hear you mooning over ‘im from ‘ere.”

“I’m not mooning.”

“Course y’ain’t,” he said. “An’ I’m the fuckin’ May Queen.”

“An honor to make your acquaintance, your majesty,” Kai said dryly.

Serafen didn’t take the hint and stop talking, unfortunately, but he never did. “There ain’t no shame in wantin’ to find a bit o' comfort in a pretty lad.” He smiled at her, all teeth. “And your lad be mighty pretty.”

“That's not… it isn't… we aren't…” She scowled as if it would somehow make her more eloquent. “I think you've got the wrong idea.”

“Protest all you want, Cap.” He chuckled and tapped his temple. “I can see what's in your head.”

“Well, stay out of it,” she snapped. Without another word, she turned to walk away. She didn’t get very far, the hold small enough to feel crowded even with only five people in it.

“What is all the yelling about, I say?” Tekēhu stood near the doorway, the tallest part of the hold. Even still he had to bend down awkwardly to keep from scraping his head on the rough wooden ceiling. The look he gave her told her plainly that he knew exactly what the yelling was about, but wanted her to answer anyway.

“Oh, you know,” Kai said, voice still a little sharp in annoyance. “I said something to Rekke before we left and now I'm rethinking every conversation I've ever had with him for clues to how I ended up here. As one does, I suppose.”

Tekēhu laughed, the sound seeming to echo in the small space. “Ekera, you are as bad as he is, Captain.”

She stared at him, startled and confused and intrigued in equal parts. “What do you mean by--” she cut herself off, shaking her head, “no. No. I don't want to know. I don't have time for this. Stop meddling.”

“As you say, Captain,” he said, still amused.

Kai stormed away from him too, toward the other end of the boat. It was a short walk. Can’t a woman have an epiphany in peace?

She sat on a bench next to Ydwin and the Devil of Caroc, who were both silently glaring at nothing in particular and basically ignoring each other. “Are either of you going to try to give me advice?”

“No.” Ydwin said, sounding mostly bored.

The Devil added in a hollow voice, “We don’t care.”

“Good.” Kai sat back, letting her head thunk onto the side of the boat. She couldn’t hear anything beyond it, not even the ocean. “Thank you for coming along, Devil.”

The Devil of Caroc made a motion that was probably supposed to be a shrug, metal shoulder jerking stiffly. “Got nowhere better to be. And I still owe you.”

“No you don’t.”

“Yes. I do.” Devil finally looked at her then. For all that her face couldn’t show emotion, she was obviously rolling her eyes. “It ain’t up to you what debts I do or don’t pay, Kiki.”

“Eyes up, Cap,” Serafen called suddenly. His eyes glowed a deep blue-violet. “Looks like them assassins took th’ bait after all.”

Kai closed her eyes and took a deep breath, forcing her ruminations about Rekke out of her thoughts and reaching out with her senses. She could feel the minds of her companions, each as different mentally as they were physically, and above them on the deck of their boat, eight unfamiliar figures with minds full of suspicion and violence.

When she opened her eyes again, they flickered with violet fire. Next to her, Ydwin’s eyes glowed as well, a cold lavender. “Tekēhu,” she said, both aloud and in their minds, “if you would be so kind as to get the door for our guests.”

-------

The hatch opened and Xoti stuck her head below deck of the Defiant. Her hood mostly obscured her face, but did nothing to hide the enthusiasm in her voice. “Hey, Rekke, you busy? Edér and I were just gonna get some shoppin’ done, you wanna come with us? Watcher said you were on babysitting duty.”

From somewhere behind her on the deck of the ship came Edér’s voice, tired and annoyed. “I’m gonna tell you what I told Kiki: I don’t need a damn babysitter.”

Xoti disappeared for a moment, but Rekke could still hear her easily enough. “It ain’t up to you. Unless you wanna be the one to tell Kai you got yourself killed because you were too stubborn to use the buddy system.” There was a quiet clank, like a tiny, bossy priestess had just poked an armored farmer in the chest. “And you can be damn sure I’d keep your soul in the lantern long enough for her to yell at you about it.” She reappeared in the open hatch, smiling once more. “So whaddya say?”

Rekke chuckled, already reaching for his sword and armor. “Ta. Yes. How can I say no, when you put it this way?”

“Alright, c’mon then. Daylight’s burnin’.”

It was a relatively quiet day in the marketplace, just busy enough to keep the three of them on guard but not quite enough that someone could sneak through the crowd to catch them unaware. Rekke took the opportunity to think back to his conversation with Kai before she left on her hunt, as he’d been doing for most of the day.

He should have probably been embarrassed by how much he dwelt on how it felt to have her in his arms for that brief moment, how her hair smelled like woodsmoke, how tiny she was. The Watcher was larger than life, hunter of gods and saver of worlds; it was easy to forget sometimes that the elf behind the grand title was so small, so delicate.

Mostly, he thought of the look she gave him right before she left. Surprise and then panic, as if he had said something wrong… or she had.

Xoti elbowed him in the arm, bringing him out of his reverie. “Somethin’ on your mind, darlin’?”

“That!” he said, too loudly. Xoti looked at him like he’d grown a second head. He ignored it. “That word. What does it mean?”

“Darlin’?”

“Ta! Kiki called me that before she left.” On Xoti’s other side, Rekke saw Edér turn and look their way, suddenly interested in the conversation. “She seemed… upset. Or confused. She left very quickly.”

“Oh.” A sly smile spread across the priestess’s face, like she knew something he didn’t; he suspected that was very likely true. “Well, it’s a term of endearment. Like a… a pet name, I guess. Like ‘honey’ or ‘sweetheart’ or…” she paused, but she couldn’t think of any others offhand. “It’s not one I hear her use much. She mostly just calls everyone ‘dear’ like she’s some sweet old lady or somethin’.”

“Yukag? So it is a good thing?”

“Yes, I’d say so. Dunno why she’d be confused by it, though.” She thought about it for a minute, then shrugged. “Might wanna talk to her about it when she gets back.”

“I agree,” Rekke said slowly, mind already wandering. Trying to figure Kai out was like trying to work a puzzle while blindfolded. He knew all the pieces were there, he just couldn’t see how they fit together yet. Lucky for him he enjoyed a challenge.

“You and Kiki’ve been spending a lot of time together lately, huh?” Edér said suddenly, dragging Rekke out of his thoughts once more. The soldier stared at him like he was trying to read his mind. Rekke didn’t think he actually had that ability, but he couldn’t be sure.

“I suppose that is true, ta,” he said carefully. He had a feeling that if he said the wrong thing here, it could mean bad things for him. Still, he couldn’t help adding, a small smile spreading over his face, “She says that I make her laugh. I like to make her laugh.”

“Uh-huh.” Edér didn’t look like he liked that answer. He sighed and scratched at his beard. “Just… be careful, alright? She’s been through a lot the last few years. I don’t want to see her get hurt.”

Rekke tilted his head curiously. He knew that Edér and Kai were as close as family; if he didn’t know better, this sounded a lot like the ‘break her heart and I’ll kill you’ speech - if perhaps a little less threatening than he’d heard it in the past. He liked the idea that he and Kiki were close enough to elicit such a warning. “I think you misunderstand. We are friends. She only sees me as a friend. That is all.”

“Is that all you see her as?” Edér waited for an answer, but Rekke didn’t say anything. He also made no effort to stop either the blush blooming across his cheeks or the besotted grin on his lips. Again, Edér said, “Uh-huh. Just remember what I said.”

“I will. Thank you, Edér.” He didn’t know why he thanked him, but it felt like the right thing to say.

“Hey,” Xoti called from a few steps ahead of them. She had her sickle in her hand. “Do y’all remember when you said you didn’t need a babysitter? Did you tell your assassins that?”

-------

“I suppose it was too much to ask that we’d lure their leader out here and be done with it all.” Kai sifted through the meager belongings they’d found on the assassins. There wasn’t much more than a handful of coins, a single sheet of paper, the writing on it smudged into illegibility, and eight crude, wooden human effigies, one found in each of the assassins pockets. Just what she’d been afraid of. She shoved all of it into her bag.

“Probably. At least they told you where to find him. Sort of.” The Devil of Caroc glanced warily over her shoulder at Serafen. She didn't like ciphers even on a good day, but the mindhunter's little show of power had clearly made her nervous. “Want me to take care of it?”

“Tempting, but no.” Kai always felt guilty sending Devil out to do her dirty work for her, though she’d never tell her that. Just because the construct said she wanted to do so didn’t mean she should keep taking advantage. “I’ll take care of it myself. I’ve got a few questions for him.” Quietly, she added, “But thank you.”

The Devil did that jerky, stiff shrug again. “Ain’t no brass off my back either way. Got to see the ocean and kill a bunch of people on it. You’ve sent me on worse jobs.”

“You could stay with us, you know.” Kai knew she shouldn’t say it, but she always did.

Devil shook her head. “Don’t ask. You know what my answer is.”

“I know. But the offer stands.”

“I know.” The Devil of Caroc started walking away. She stopped on the edge of the boat and lifted a hand in her version of a friendly wave. “See you around, Kiki. You know where to find me.” Without another word, she stepped off the side of the boat and sank below the waves.

Kai shook her head, chuckling to herself. The Devil did love her dramatic exits.

Serafen leaned over the edge, staring down into the depths as if he expected to see a bronze construct swim by. “Well, she was charmin', if you like ‘em cranky and rusted.”

“What’s her story?” Ydwin asked, something that almost resembled curiosity in her voice.

“Not mine to tell.” She tried not to feel too smug about the hint of annoyance on Ydwin’s face and turned to start setting the sails and getting the ship moving again. “Come on. Let’s go home. Looks like we’ll have to finish this hunt another day.”

The return trip was quiet and uneventful. The whole trip had been, really. As far as assassins go, these were barely professionals. The only problem was how many of them there were, but they'd take care of that next.

Kai hoped things were just as uneventful back with the Defiant. The idea that she'd gone hunting for the hunters only to have one sneak around while her back was turned made her uneasy. Better not to think about it, or else she'd drive herself mad before they made it back home.

She sighed. Was it too early to try to get some sleep? They'd travelled light, so she had nothing on board to keep herself entertained while they sailed; she wished she'd brought a book or something.

“He's a good lad, y'know,” Serafen said suddenly, because apparently the fight wasn’t enough to get his mind on a different subject. “Your stowaway. Weird, but which of us ain't.”

“Serafen, stay out of my head,” Kai snapped, sharper than intended. She knew his meddling was well-intentioned, but she had enough well-meaning would-be brothers trying to give her advice. She didn’t need another one.

He shrugged and laid back on his bench again, looking for all the world like he was sleeping. Kai knew better. “Weren't in your head, Cap. Don't take no mind reader to know you're thinkin’ ‘bout ‘im. Cipher as strong as you should know how t’ hide her thoughts better anyhow.”

“I can hide my thoughts just fine, thank you. Just not from you, for some reason.” She had very good mental shields, in fact; the problem was that, since Serafen had no formal cipher training, he had ways of seeing around them that she didn’t know how to compensate for. “And I wasn't thinking about him. I was thinking about sleeping.” She knew it would have happened sooner or later, though, as it had been with alarming frequency.

“Don't see what you're so bothered ‘bout,” Serafen said, answering her thoughts as if she’d said them aloud. “He obviously fancies you. Always has done. If you weren’ so fuckin’ uptight, ‘e might’ve already told y’ so.”

She thought about denying that she was uptight, but she was too self-aware for that. Instead, she just said, “Well, that's certainly news to me.”

“He's always flirtin’ with you.”

“So are you.” She shrugged. “Doesn't mean anything.”

“Heh. It could've.”

“You don't have a single romantic bone in your body.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she regretted them.

Serafen, predictably, grinned at her. “Just the one, aye.”

“Charming,” she said sourly, but she smiled in spite of herself. She looked away from him at the others, but Tekēhu was above deck and Ydwin could have been either sleeping or dead as still as she was. There was nowhere she could go to escape this conversation.

“Life be short, Cap,” he said, tone unexpectedly somber. “Even when you live as long as elves do. Ain't no point wastin’ time on 'someday'.”

Kai looked back at him, surprised, but he still looked like he wasn’t even paying attention, lazy and half-asleep. “That's… unexpectedly wise, coming from you.”

The seriousness in his voice was gone just like that, replaced with another sharp-toothed grin. “I be full of surprises. I'm willin’ t’ share a few others, if you ask real nice.”

She scoffed. “I ought to set you on fire.”

“You’re the one that has t’ live with the burnt fur smell,” Serafen said, chuckling when she scoffed again.

-------

“Captain on deck!”

Rekke quickly tried to look casual, like he hadn’t been waiting anxiously since the crew had first spotted the boat that Kai and her team had taken. He picked up a book from a nearby shelf and started thumbing through it. He recognized the sound of her boots on the deck above, steps measured and purposeful, and then a moment later she strode through the open hatch and down the stairs. She spared him a quick glance before turning to Edér and tossing something toward him. He scrambled to catch it before it hit him in the head.

“Skaenites,” Kai said, as if it explained everything. Maybe to her and Edér it did. “It’s your Skaenites again.”

“I guess I should have expected that,” Edér said, looking at whatever she’d thrown at him. He rubbed a hand over his chin in thought. “I’d hoped they wouldn’t follow me all the way out here.”

Kai smiled, but it didn’t look the least bit friendly. “Lucky for us they’re as ineffectual as they are stubborn.”

Edér sighed. He dropped the mysterious object onto his bunk. “God of resentment and covert plots. If they’d given up, they wouldn’t be good Skaenites, would they?”

“I guess…” Kai ran her fingers through her messy mane of curls, leaving them messier. “But assassins? I’d expect that more from Magranites. Or Galawain’s hunters, maybe.”

“Piss off a lot of Magranites, Kiki?”

“Just the one.” Her smile widened, triumphant, and Edér chuckled like she’d said something funny. “Right, well, we should have a couple days reprieve before they send more. Long enough to resupply.” She poked Edér in the chest. “You don’t go anywhere alone for a little while. Xoti told me about the market.”

“Of course she did,” Edér grumbled, but he didn’t argue.

“Oh please.” She poked him in the chest again, but less forcefully. Rekke was reminded abruptly of his sister. “Like you’ve ever been able to keep a secret from me.”

Edér put his hands on Kai’s shoulders and lowered his voice. “Kiki, you don’t need to do all this. It’s my mess, not yours.”

“No. That isn’t how this works, my dear.” Edér was going to have a bruise from being poked in the chest even with all that armor, if Kai and Xoti had anything to say about it. “You carried my empty husk halfway around the world to get my soul back, the least I can do is protect you from territorial Skaenites.”

Edér hugged her and she froze before hugging him back. Rekke looked back down at his book, trying not to intrude on what felt like a private moment. He heard a whispered exchange between the Watcher and the farmer, but tried not to pay attention to it.

“Your book is upside down.”

“Ta. I find them more interesting this way.” He looked up and there she was, smelling like fire and sunlight and the sea and looking at him a bit like he was a crazy person. “Hello, Kiki.”

“Hello, darling.” Her cheeks turned a lovely shade of pink. “Xoti tells me you had an interesting day at the market yesterday.”

“Did we? We bought some fruit, we fought some assassins, Edér found another cat. Another beautiful day in Neketaka.” He set the book down, presumably on a table or bunk but he didn’t look to see where it ended up. “I wish it rained less here. It makes my hair…” he paused, but he couldn’t think of the Aedyran word, “eshibiz.”

Kai laughed, bright and warm. “Indeed. That’s a good word for it.” She looked like she wanted to say something else but she didn’t, an unfamiliar hesitance in the set of her shoulders, the way she absentmindedly rubbed her palms together, nothing like the cool, confident woman he had come to know.

Shy. She looked shy. Rekke didn’t know she knew how.

He took a step forward and reached out to her, resting his hand on the curve of her shoulder, just wanting to stop the overthinking he could see behind her eyes. She looked up at him, surprised and momentarily unguarded, and in a rush, he said, “Take me with you next time.” He wasn’t sure if he’d said it in Aedyran or Seki. Maybe both.

Kai raised an eyebrow at him, amused at the demand in his voice, but she looked more like herself, less lost. “I intend to. I know better than to leave you to entertain yourself for too long. You’ll end up doing something… how was it you phrased it? Something noble or stupid.”

Rekke blushed at the way her eyes followed the scar across his face when she said that. She looked like she wanted to touch it. He wished she would, but she kept her hands firmly to herself, contained and controlled as she always was. “I am very good at noble and stupid. Mostly the second one. I am told it makes me charming.”

“That’s one word for it, I guess,” she said with a smirk.

“You do not find me charming, Kiki?” She blushed scarlet all the way to the tips of her ears and he grinned wickedly. “I will have to try harder then, ta?”

She stared at him, searching his face, though for what he didn’t know. He just kept smiling at her and slowly she started to smile back.

Above deck, someone called “Captain!” and Kai took two large steps back. She drew herself up to her full height, such as it was. It was like watching her put her armor back on; Rekke couldn’t recall when exactly she’d taken it off. “I should go,” she said quietly.

“Gigideb ke tahun. I did not mean to keep you from your work.”

Rekke watched her closely as she walked away, then listened until he couldn’t hear her footsteps anymore. Only then did he collapse back against the side of the ship, running his hands over his hair. He made no effort to stop the smitten smile he wore.

He became aware of eyes on him, and turned to find Serafen sitting at one of the tables in the mess hall, staring at him through the open door. He stared back for a moment, but the orlan didn’t so much as blink. He called out, “Ku? Is there a problem?”

“That remains to be seen, lad. You tell me.” Serafen didn’t wait for an answer, though, just walked away, leaving Rekke confused and feeling like he was being judged for something he hadn’t done. He shrugged the thought away and left to find something to occupy his time.

#pillars of eternity deadfire #kai cirdani #kai/rekke #otp: a nearly criminal amount of freckles #rekke #they're probably going to keep pining for a year after this #kiki's never met an emotion she couldn't suppress into submission #kai shows interest in a boy one (1) time and suddenly she has half a dozen protective older brothers #yes I know I didn't need to bring DoC along but I needed a reason for Kai to know where the assassins were #and DoC is her red right hand #I also wanted the ambush party to be all rogues and ciphers #except teke who's mostly just there for a good time and to make sure they don't die #writing rekke's pov was a fun challenge #I don't usually write about kai from an outside perspective #and I enjoy how smitten he is compared to kai's panic about it

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haledamage · 4 years

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🍩🏹🏆🚓 for Rekkai?

🍩 | their favourite snack to eat together

“Together” is a strong word. It’s more like “theft” :3 Kai has a major sweet tooth, so she’s buying (or making, when she has time) little cakes and candies whenever she can, and Rekke will occasionally swipe a bite because he’s a little shit but also because he means it as a compliment. It’s hers, so that makes it better than other things, right? The special ingredient is Kiki :) she allows it because she loves him

🏹 | how they would fight together in a battle

Rekke is the front line, 6′5″ and big sword and he’s just a wall of muscle that’s impossible to get past. Behind him, not-quite-5 foot tall Kai, with a pistol in one hand and a grimoire in the other, wreathed in flame and eyes glowing with soul energy. Honestly, they’re terrifying together, their combat synergy is unbelievable. Those that manage to survive their combined assault have nightmares for years after.

🏆 | their reaction to the other beating them at something

they’re both really poor losers, so I think “rematch” is the most likely statement at the end of any competition between them. unless it’s one of those playful competitions where there’s no real “loser” and it’s pretty much just an excuse to flirt :P

🚓 | which one is most likely to get arrested

HAHAHAHA they get arrested together. Aloth bails them out. He is so so tired of bailing them out of jail.

seriously, though, it could really go either way. Kiki has a habit of mouthing off to very powerful people, including gods and kings, so chances of her saying the wrong thing and getting herself clapped in irons is very high. But Rekke heavily implies that he left his home and crossed the Mortar due to some light-to-moderate arson, so really I don’t know why anyone lets these two go anywhere together.

#kai cirdani #rekkai #kai and rekke actually have better combat synergy than even kai and eder do #if only because they're both high offense so they're just brutally unstoppable #whereas I build eder to be more defensive what with his larter door and all #(kai and aloth have no real combat synergy because they're both wizards #though he's very defensive/support and she's very offensive so they're still a good team)#rannadylin

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haledamage · 5 years

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And for Rekkai...Kiss 15?

15. A kiss because I have literally been watching you all night and I can’t take anymore

Being a bodyguard was very boring. Rekke had expected it wouldn’t always be about rescuing Kai from assassins or defending her honor or whatever things knights in shining armor always did in the stories, but he didn’t think there would be quite so much standing around. Even at a formal gala. At least they let him keep his sword; Kiki wasn’t even allowed that. They didn't even let her keep her spellbook.

He stood at her side, just behind her left shoulder, looming--politely looming--as she spoke to heads of state and ducs and kings and queens from all over Eora. They all called her ‘my lady’ like she was one of them, and she blended in so well that even he could almost forget how many times she’d told him she hated this part. The politics, the fake smiles and the platitudes from kith who wouldn’t hesitate to throw her to the wolves to further their own goals. That’s why she needed him here to begin with.

Every politician wanted the ear of the famous Watcher of Caed Nua, promised her empty words and emptier gifts. She refused each one while somehow making it sound like she was honoring them by doing so. She accepted nothing, she promised nothing, she moved on to the next.

And all night, her smile never faltered. None of the nobles could see through it, but Rekke could. Kai’s real smile was lopsided; the left side of her mouth lifted before the right, leaving her looking either playful or sarcastic depending on the situation. The one she wore now was straight, fixed firmly in place and ending long before it ever reached her eyes.

It stayed in place even as kith practically lined up to ask her to dance. He couldn't stay at her side then, obviously, but he stood on the edge of the dance floor and kept a close eye on her. He only had to step in once, with a young nobleman who’d had a bit too much to drink and had convinced himself he might have a chance with a woman like Kai. Rekke wasn't sure if he was intervening in an effort to defend her honor, out of some sort of possessive posturing, or just to keep Kiki from setting the poor idiot on fire.

Either way, at least it gave him the opportunity to cut in line. “May I have this dance?”

“I thought you’d never ask, darling.” The left side of her mouth lifted, then the right, her smile warm and real as she took his hand. The sight of it eased some of the tension from his shoulders. He led her out onto the dance floor and the relative privacy it gave them. “You must be terribly bored.”

He laughed, loud enough that a few nearby dancers turned curious glances their way. “Is it that obvious?”

“Only because I know you.” The way she said it warmed him all the way to his bones. There was no higher compliment Kiki could pay someone than to know them; it meant she thought you were worth the effort to try. “I doubt anyone else can tell.”

“Of course not. I do not think they know I exist, ta?” The only ones all night that had so much as made eye contact with him were other bodyguards.

She chuckled. “Do you want them to? You'll have to talk to them.”

“I would rather talk to you.”

“And I you,” she said softly. She moved a little closer and lowered her voice like she was sharing a secret. “I've been watching you, darling.”

“You have?” Rekke probably should have been embarrassed by how excited he sounded, but he wasn’t.

“Hmm.” Kai had one smile in particular that drove him crazy and she wore it now, a mischievous little smirk that was more of a light in her eyes than it was a tilt of her lips. “You're very good at this.”

“The dancing?” He was, in fact, very bad at the dancing, possessing much more enthusiasm than poise.

“I meant at the bodyguard thing. Is this something you did back in Yezuha?”

“Never.” He didn’t talk much about his home or his life before they met - but then, her stories always started in Gilded Vale, as if her life began at her Awakening. The past was just smoke and misery, better left forgotten. “If you would ask those that knew me, they would say all I did was get into trouble.”

“You do rather excel at it,” she said fondly, even proudly. “One could argue that that’s all we do now, too.”

“That is true. But at least we get paid for it now, ta?”

“Then I suppose you’re just a natural.” Her hand, which up until that point had been properly and precisely placed on the curve of his shoulder, curled affectionately around the back of his neck. “Lucky me.”

He grinned delightedly. “Are you flirting with me, my lady?” Rekke tried to imitate the Vailian accents that most of the nobles had. “My my, how scandalous. What will the ducs think, ta?”

“If they think I care about their opinion of me, then they’re all madder than a Watcher.” Kai grimaced at the turn of phrase, even though she was the one using it. “They could use a little more scandal in their lives, I think.”

“I know a good place to start.” He leaned down and captured her lips in a quick, chaste kiss. Well, fairly chaste. Well, at the very least not an indecent kiss. Mostly. “I have wanted to do that all night,” he breathed when they separated.

“What stopped you?”

“An apparently unnecessary sense of propriety.” He brushed his knuckles across her cheek and she hummed a tiny, happy noise. He bit the inside of his cheek in an effort not to react to it. “You should not have told me this, Kiki. Now I will make a scene at every party you are invited to.”

That smile was back, crooked and wicked and only for him. “Promise?”

#watcher wednesday #kai cirdani #rekkai #eeeey three days in a row posting content! apparently kai was just waiting for quarantine to start talking to me properly #rekke and kiki have so much ust it's ridiculous #I can't take them anywhere I swear #rannadylin

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haledamage · 5 years

Note

70 for Rekkai :3

70. Starting With A Kiss Meant To Be Gentle, Ending Up In Passion

“Sit down. Let me see.”

“I’m fine.” Kai tried to wave off Rekke and his concerned hovering, but he was having none of it. “I’m fine, darling. Truly. It’s just a scratch.”

“If that is the case, then you will not mind letting me see, ta?” He put his hands on her arms and gently but firmly pushed her until the backs of her knees hit the edge of the sofa and she had no choice but to sit down. He knelt in front of her, putting them right at eye level with each other, and pushed her wild curly hair out of her face.

A long cut, so thin it looked like someone had dragged a needle against her skin, ran from just over her eyebrow, past her hairline, and across the tip of her ear. It hadn’t bled much, but it looked nearly as irritated as the tiny elf it belonged to. Rekke stood up just long enough to grab the water basin and a clean rag, then set about trying to sooth both the injury and its recipient.

“This is very strange,” he said, once she no longer looked like she was going to run away. He grinned as charmingly as he could and slowly she smiled back. “Usually it is me as the grumpy one in the chair. It is refreshing to be on this side of things.”

Her hands twisted in her lap in the way that told him she was thinking too much. “Why are you doing this? It’s barely a scratch. By tomorrow, no one but you and I will even know it’s there.”

“Ke lap tamutu,” he said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Because it was. He should have told her the moment she dragged him from the ocean and every moment since.

“What?”

He brushed his thumb along her cheek. “You know what I said, Kiki,” Rekke said softly. She was every bit as fluent in his mother language as he was.

Blush bloomed along her cheeks, following the trail of his fingers. Kai looked away, too shy to meet his eyes any longer, and whispered, “If I pretend I don’t, will you say it again?”

She looked up at him through her lashes, and the words caught in his throat, even though they still echoed in his mind. So he improvised, and leaned in to kiss her instead.

He brushed his lips against hers, intending only the lightest of kisses, just an affirmation of his feelings, but that brief contact was like a lightning strike between them. They both surged forward, lips meeting in a hungry kiss that left him immediately breathless. Her fingers curled into his hair, fingernails lightly scratching at the nape of his neck, and he couldn’t stop the needy noise that escaped.

This was usually when Kai got scared, when she would pull away and withdraw into herself again, when whatever terrible voices from her past whispered in her thoughts and made her think that she wasn’t allowed to have nice things. Rekke hated those voices, hated whoever had planted the fear in her, had ever tried to dim the wildfire that burned inside her, but he would never hold it against Kiki. If he did nothing else for the rest of his life but kiss her like this, it would still be a life well lived.

When she pulled away, he tried to cover his disappointment by gently kissing her cheek, waiting to move away until he knew his smile would be genuine enough, but she was still clinging to him. Her hand was still curled in his hair, the other sliding up his chest to rest over his racing heart.

“Rekke?” she whispered, her lips brushing his cheek as she spoke. It was almost enough to distract him from the nervous tremble in her voice. “I love you too.”

He pulled back enough to see her face, to see the truth of her words shining in her eyes. There were no words in all the languages of Eora that could do justice to the warmth in his chest when she smiled at him. “Say it again. Please.”

“I love you,” Kai said immediately, voice stronger, more confident this time. “Ke lap tamutu.”

Rekke surged forward to kiss her again and her laughter was like music as she pulled him onto the sofa with her. They didn’t have much use for words after that.

#kai cirdani #rekkai #OH BOY THEY SAID THE THING #I thought for sure that prompt was going to end up something spicy #and then it suckerpunched me with FEELINGS instead #it was fun to write this from rekke's pov instead of kiki's #because hers would have mostly been abject terror #queen-scribbles

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haledamage · 5 years

Note

19 for rekkai from the kiss meme?

19. Kisses because I don’t want you to go and maybe I can convince you to stay just a few minutes longer

“Okay, I’m ready.”

Kai smoothed her hands over the front of her armor to keep from wringing them nervously. Rekke had no such reservations, and paced the room restlessly, an uncharacteristically serious look on his face.

“I should be going with you,” he said, as he’d said so many times already. “These are my people. My sister will be there.”

“That’s exactly why I can’t take you with me.” They’d had this not-quite-argument a dozen times already, but it bore repeating. She put a hand on his arm, stopping his pacing. “If this goes poorly - and it very well might - I’m not going to make you choose between me and your family.”

“I choose you.” There was no hesitation, his expression utterly sincere. He took both of her hands in his. “I will always choose you.”

“You shouldn’t have to.” Still, Kai couldn’t deny how warm those words made her feel. She squeezed his hands, trying to impart that to him when she knew words would fail her. “But thank you.”

He kissed her fiercely, pouring all his love and helpless frustration into it. “I wish it did not have to be you, samutun.”

“I know. But it does.” There were the nerves gnawing at her thoughts again. She smoothed her hands over her tunic in an effort to make them stop shaking. “I have decades of experience as a diplomat and I’m literally the only person native to this side of the Mortar that speaks Seki.”

“That does not make it easier, ta?”

“I know, darling.” He kissed her again and she let herself relax into it for a moment, ignoring the weight of the job she’d been tasked with. Peace talks with a previously uncontacted nation and she was literally the only person in a position to host them. No pressure.

She pulled away, but Rekke followed, kissing her again. She laughed. “Darling, I have to go. I’m already running late.”

“I do not think they will start without you.” When she dodged his attempt to claim her lips again, he kissed her jaw instead. “You cannot be late, they can only be very early, ta?”

“You--” she hissed in a breath as he kissed a sensitive spot behind her ear, “you do make a very compelling argument.” She clenched her hands in his shirt, fighting every desire she had to pull him closer. “But I really do have to go.”

“I know.” He kept kissing her anyway, and she gave in and wrapped her arms around him. They only separated when a loud knock sounded on the door and they couldn’t stall any longer. He caressed her cheek, then finally stepped back and let her go. “My people will love you as much as I do, I do not doubt it. Well, perhaps almost as much.”

“I’ll take almost.” Kai took a deep breath and let it out slowly, steeling herself. Then she turned and left the room while she still had the willpower to do so.

#kai cirdani #rekkai #I hope if PoE3 ever happens that we get to explore what happens now that Ondra's Mortar is gone #but since that's not an option I'll just have to stick with fanfic #poor Kiki just wants to rest but she's literally the Only Qualified Diplomat #sure wish Rekke's sister had a canon name or something I could call her other than 'sister'#serenbach86

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haledamage · 4 years

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ღ💝💌💙💜 for Rekkai?

ღ:who is more likely to initiate hand-holding in public?

Rekke. he’ll take any opportunity he can get to touch her, so chances are that any time they aren’t in a fight or preparing for one, he’s reaching for her hand or throwing an arm around her.

💝:who spends more time (possibly overthinking) what presents to get the other?

Kai. Kiki is queen of overthinking, especially when it comes to romantic or emotional gestures. is this gift too casual? is it too much? will he even like this? over and over. Not that she needs to, of course, she’s great at picking gifts and Rekke will like literally anything she gets him, but... well, old habits die hard.

💌:who is more likely to send cutesy texts to the other?

Rekke, constantly. Kai never knows how to reply to them, leaves a lot of them on read or just replies with a heart emoji

💙:who is more protective?

Oh boy, definitely Kai. Rekke may worry about her sometimes when she throws herself into danger, but he has complete confidence in her abilities, and while Kiki also trusts that Rekke can take care of himself, she’s firmly of the opinion that he shouldn’t have to. He is 16 inches taller than her, and she will still put herself between him and harm every single time

💜:who said "i love you" first? or, if neither has said it yet, who is more likely to say it first?

Rekke said it first, and he showed remarkable self-restraint waiting as long as he did. He wanted to say it for like a year before he ever did, he waited until he knew she wouldn’t run away when he finally did. It took her a while to come around, but she did, and she probably ends up being the one to say it more often once they break that barrier.

#kai cirdani #rekkai #rekke is the kind of guy that will tell complete strangers about how great his girlfriend is #we all know it's true #rannadylin

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haledamage · 5 years

Text

Rhicember 12/23

I don’t know whether to smack you or kiss you. - Kai/Rekke

(EDIT: now on AO3!)

“It’s open!” Kai called as a knock sounded at her door.

Rekke poked his head through a moment later, grinning in a way she found both charming and suspicious. “I have something for you,” he said in greeting.

Definitely more suspicious than charming, then. She gestured for him to come in, and she stood up to walk around her desk as he shut the door behind him.

“I sent a letter with the first explorers past the Mortar.”

“You're the first explorer past the Mortar, darling,” she interrupted, but then his announcement caught up to her and she stopped abruptly, reeling in shock.

“Past where the Mortar used to be,” he continued as if he didn’t notice her distress. “My sister was very surprised to hear that I did not die. Less surprised that I did not want to come home.” Without another word of explanation, he pulled a book out from one of his pockets and held it out to her. “You said you enjoy history, ta? This is a book of the history of Lipsalis. You can learn about my people and practice your Seki at the same time.”

“Is there something wrong with my Seki?” she asked as she took the offered book, turning it over slowly in her hands.

“Spoken, no. You learn very quickly. Written, your letters are still… very Aedyran.” His smile was disarming, making sure she didn’t think he was insulting her. “It is good to practice.”

“Rekke, this is… very sweet. And very stupid.” That felt like an understatement, Kai thought as she traced her fingers over the soft leather cover. “It was probably really dangerous to send that letter.”

“My sister is not that scary,” Rekke said with a laugh. “Okay, maybe sometimes she is.”

She sat the book carefully on the table and looked up at him again. “You know that's not what I meant.”

“I know. It does not matter. If I get in trouble, I get back out again.” His dark eyes were very sincere. “Do you like it, Kiki?”

“I love it,” she said, because it was the truth. “But I don't know whether to smack you or kiss you.”

A coy, inviting smirk spread across his face. “If you are looking for suggestions, I know which I would prefer, ta?”

“I think I know which I'd prefer too,” she said quietly. She took a slow step closer.

Then she smacked him on the arm, just hard enough to make a point. She doubted he could even feel it through the padding of his armor, but he still let out a startled yelp.

“That is for smuggling historical documents across the Mortar before we've even established diplomatic relations.” She grabbed his armor by the collar to drag him closer and stood on tip-toe to brush her lips across his cheek. “But thank you for the book, darling. It's perfect.”

She pulled away, but he stopped her before she got far, curling his hand gently across her cheek. His thumb brushed lightly along her bottom lip. “I thought you were going to kiss me, Kiki.”

He waited for a handful of endless seconds to see if she would pull away or tell him no. She didn’t, and he leaned back down to her again.

Even though she saw it coming, Kai still gasped when his lips touched hers. Rekke froze like he hadn’t actually expected to get that far. They stayed that way for a long moment, neither of them pulling away or pressing forward, and when it became clear to her that he wasn’t going to take initiative, she took matters into her own hands. She slid her hands up into the soft, magnificent waves of his hair, pulled him closer, and kissed him like she meant it.

It was not a storybook first kiss. Both of them were so surprised it was actually happening that they couldn’t remember how. Rekke seemed to have forgotten where to put his hands; they flitted from her face to her hair to her waist before finally coming to rest on her shoulders.

The reality of the situation came crashing down and Kai pulled away from him, scrambling halfway across the room. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have--I didn’t mean--”

“It is okay, Kiki.” Rekke chuckled, holding a hand up to calm her down. Still, his other hand drifted to his lips and he couldn’t seem to stop grinning. He looked her over, and whatever he saw made his grin turn teasing. He asked, slyly and entirely too knowingly, “Was that your first kiss?”

“No!” She looked away from him, feeling her face get warm with embarrassment, and reluctantly admitted, “It was my second. My first kiss was a few weeks ago. With Edér, under the damn mistletoe.”

His chuckle became a full, delighted cackle and he collapsed on the edge of her bed, shaking with laughter.

She crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t see what’s so funny about that.”

“All… All the times I have wanted to kiss you,” Rekke said through his laughter. “To know… to know I could have been the first and it was taken from me by a holiday tradition. I really do have the strangest luck, ta?”

“How,” Kai’s voice came out an undignified squeak. She cleared her throat and tried again, “how often have you wanted to kiss me?”

“Every day since we met.”

“What?”

“You did not know? Yukag?” She couldn’t tell if the look he gave her was awe or pity. She chose to believe the former. “I have not tried to hide it. No less than four of your friends have approached to gently threaten me. Twice from Aloth, but one was the… the other Aloth. The angry woman. At least, I think she was threatening me.” Softly, nervously, he added, “Was it that bad?”

“No! It was--that’s not--” Curse her uncooperative tongue. She knew a dozen different languages and couldn’t seem to form a coherent sentence in any of them.

“It is okay, Kiki,” he said again, and he seemed to understand what she was trying to say even if she couldn’t say it. “You do not have to be scared of me, ta?”

“I’m not scared of you, darling. I’m scared of…” but she paused, unsure how to finish that sentence. There was too much noise in her head right now. Her quarters were too small to contain both of them. Rekke seemed both very close and too far away. Unable to find the words she wanted, she changed the subject entirely. “You are looking entirely too pleased with yourself, Rekke.”

“I have never seen you so unsure of yourself. I did not know you knew how.” He took a step toward her, and when she didn’t bolt in the other direction, he took another. He still couldn’t stop smiling, giddy and smug and insufferably attractive. “It was only a kiss.”

“Only,” Kai scoffed. His grin only grew wider. “What happens now?”

“Now, I will leave you alone so you can panic in peace.” Something must have shown on her face, because his smile softened. “I am not offended, Kiki. It is part of who you are, ta? One of the things I--” he cut himself off abruptly and looked away, face turning red. “You panic, you take your time, and then you come find me. Nothing will happen that you do not want to happen.”

“What do you want to happen?”

“I do not think I should answer that."

“Oh, it’s like that, is it?” Kai couldn’t help but smirk at him, trying to get herself back on steady ground. “Keep your secrets then, darling. For now.”

“No secrets,” Rekke said plainly. “They are yours when you are ready for them. As am I.”

She was very proud of herself for not outright flinching at that, though she did inhale sharply like the words impacted a little too hard. In a carefully controlled tone, she said, “I will take that under consideration.”

“Good. You should come find me, if you need a reminder.” He brushed his knuckles across her cheek, and she looked up at him in surprise; she hadn’t realized he was so close. He dropped his voice to a sweet, gentle murmur. “Let me try again, when you are ready, ta? Let me do it right.”

She was still trying to figure out how to respond to that when he left the room.

-------

Kai managed to avoid him for almost two weeks. It wasn’t hard to do in a city like Neketaka; there was always work that needed doing, especially for a woman of her reputation. She spent the time she couldn’t fill with work pouring over the book Rekke had given her as if it held the answers she was looking for. If it did, they were enigmatic; she could only decipher two-thirds of the book at her current ability to read Seki, and… well, it’s not like she could ask him for help. Not yet.

Rekke was respectful of her need for space, which she appreciated, though it also brought to light exactly how much time she’d been spending with him. His absence now made her feel like she had when she’d first cut off all her hair - clumsy, off balance, strangely light-headed. She missed him.

Serafen did not respect her need for space. He was there every time she turned around, never saying anything but always watching. He clearly knew something, though how much she didn’t ask and he didn’t offer the information. She didn’t want to talk to him about it, but she knew she needed to talk to someone and he clearly had no intention of leaving her alone until she did.

Edér was the first thought since he knew her best, but as sweet as he could be he lacked the right perspective. Aloth had even less experience in romantic endeavors than she did, and was even more cautious, so she couldn’t ask him, and she couldn’t ask Tekēhu either for the opposite reason. That left her options very limited.

"I wish Kana was here," she said to the empty ocean, leaning on her elbows and staring off the side of her ship.

"Ain’t that Maia’s brother?" Xoti said jovially as she leaned next to Kai. Kai tried not to make it obvious how much the priestess had just startled her half to death. "Are you friends with him?"

"That's a very long story, but yes. We met in the Dyrwood, more than six years ago now. He gives good advice," Kai admitted, "and I find myself in need of some."

'Anything I can help with?"

"Maybe." She looked down at the water lapping at the side of the ship. She considered which was a worse fate: confiding in Xoti and her knowing but sympathetic smile, or the crushing depths below. She took a deep breath to put the steel back in her spine. "I kissed Rekke."

"I knew it!" Xoti exclaimed, clapping her hands together in glee. "Y’all’ve been actin’ real weird the last couple o’ weeks. I knew something must’ve happened." She tilted her head, curious about the carefully blank look on Kai's face. "I woulda thought you’d be happier about that, Kai."

"Did you."

"Well, sure. You’ve been dancin’ around each other for months now. You’re smitten. You both are. Everyone can see it." She tilted her head the other way, bird-like, keen eyes seeing through Kai's attempts at stoicism. "It scares you, huh?"

"It terrifies me," Kai admitted quietly. "I’ve spent most of my life trying to avoid getting… attached to people. It took a long time just to get used to the idea that I had friends. That I could have friends. This…" she struggled once more to find the right words "this thing with Rekke is far beyond that."

"You could start by callin’ it what it is. You’re smitten, Watcher."

"I am. Beasts take me, I am." She turned and slid down to sit on the deck of the ship, leaning her head back against the familiar, worn wood. After a moment, Xoti sat next to her. "What do I do, Xoti?"

The priestess tapped her fingers against her chin thoughtfully. “What do you wanna do? That seems like the best place to start.”

Kai closed her eyes so she didn’t have to look at Xoti as she whispered, “I want to kiss him again. I can’t stop thinking about it. About him.”

“Then I don’t see what you’re still waitin’ on.”

“I may have…” Kai groaned and covered her face with both hands, “I may have panicked a bit last time and then spent the last two weeks avoiding him.”

Xoti laughed, clearly delighted by this whole conversation. “You sure don’t like to do things the easy way, do ya?”

“So I’ve been told.”

Xoti nudged Kai’s shoulder with her own. “Got good taste, Watcher. He’s real pretty.”

Kai grinned, wide and infatuated. “He is.”

“Lookit you. Smitten.”

“How long do you think it will take someone to notice if I toss you off the boat, my dear?” Kai said dryly, raising an eyebrow.

Xoti’s smile was completely unrepentant. “Gettin’ rid of me won’t hide the truth.”

-------

Kai still avoided Rekke for another two days, trying to get her thoughts in order, but she couldn’t stall their next trip out into open water. Once they were out there it was clear there could be no more hiding from it.

She tried to keep her mind active and her nerves in check while she waited for the proper opportunity to present itself, so she sat down at her desk to sort through and reply to some of the letters spread across its surface. She had just finished writing and sealing the last missive when a soft knock sounded at the door. She had a sinking feeling she already knew who it was. "Come in, darling."

Sure enough, Rekke cracked the door open just enough to poke his head in. "Serafen said you wished to speak with me."

Of course he did. As loudly as she could without risking being heard by non-ciphers, she thought NOSY BASTARD. She was pretty sure she heard his familiar raspy laugh from somewhere past the door. "Come in," she said again.

Rekke stepped into the room and shut the door behind him. He glanced at the pile of papers in front of her, the top one with a still-drying wax seal. “You are busy.”

“I am always busy. But I can always make time for you, darling.” She was willing to forgive how sappy that sounded if only for the way he lit up at her words. “I was actually about to come looking for you. Good thing I have such thoughtful friends as Serafen to save me the trouble.”

“He is a nosy little bastard, ta?”

Kai laughed in surprise to hear her own thoughts echoed back at her. “He is. But maybe I’ll forgive him, just this once. I…” she took a deep, fortifying breath. “I want to start by apologizing. For avoiding you. For… for running away.”

Rekke took a slow step further into the room, expression uncharacteristically serious. “You did not run away. You are still here.”

“I thought about it. I’m still thinking about it.” She stood up and paced the small space from her desk to her bed and back, feeling cornered even though the only one making any demands of her was herself. “I’m very good at running away, darling. I’ve been doing it for a very long time. Sometimes I don’t think I remember how to do anything else. But I don’t… I don’t want to. Not this time. Not from this. Not from you.”

“Then if you run, I will just chase you,” he said, like it was obvious, like he had never even considered anything else. “For as long as I need to. You are worth it.”

She grimaced and had to look away. “Rekke, you can’t just say things like that.”

“Why not? It is the truth.” He waited until she looked back at him and held her gaze, every inch of him radiating sincerity. “You are worth it. You deserve to be happy. I want to make you happy.”

Kai fought the urge to back away from him and instead took a couple steps closer. “I don’t know how to do this.”

“Do not worry, Kiki. I can be very patient.”

“Yes. I can see that.” She took a few more steps forward. She stopped in front of him, close enough to touch. He didn’t reach for her. She could see that he wanted to, but he didn’t move. The next step had to be hers. “May I…?”

“Ta,” he said quickly, not even waiting to know what she was asking. “Please.”

She slowly, very slowly, lifted a hand toward his face. His eyes fluttered shut as soon as she touched him, leaning into her careful caress, and so she let herself do what she’d wanted to for months and trailed her fingers softly down the length of his scar, across his cheek and lips and chin.

Her whole life, she had never understood the appeal, had never seen what everyone found so attractive about her red hair and freckles. Looking at Rekke like this, it finally made sense. He really was beautiful, with his long copper lashes and dark green eyes and the hint of mischief ever-present in his smile. She traced the pads of her fingers over his jaw and cheeks, finding patterns among his freckles, and a part of her wondered if she could convince him to do the same with hers.

Rekke moved suddenly, turning his head to press a kiss to her palm, then took her hand in his and pressed another kiss to her knuckles. He lowered her hand from his face and held it to his chest instead; she could feel his heart racing underneath her palm.

“Too much, darling?”

“Ta. But also no.” His voice shook with barely contained emotion. Kai wanted to ask what that emotion was, but was scared he’d actually tell her. Then he opened his eyes and met hers and he may as well have told her anyway. There was such an endless depth of longing in them that it took her breath away. “Kiki,” he whispered, and then softer, reverently, “Kai.”

Oh. Oh no. Kai felt like the solid deck beneath her feet shifted and the world tipped sideways. She moved closer to Rekke as if his presence could help steady her, even if he’s what had her reeling in the first place.

His free hand curled around the back of her neck; his eyes shifted to it momentarily, as if he was surprised to see it there, as if he hadn’t meant to do that. “I think I should go.”

Kai bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from protesting. Instead she just nodded. Rekke took a large step backwards and she let her hand fall away from his chest back to her side.

He took another step back, moving away from her to make his way to the door. He paused when he got there, considering, and pulled something out of an inner pocket of his jacket, turning around to place it wordlessly in her hands.

Kai looked at the object she held, turning it over in her hands. “You got me another book? How many of these do you have?” she asked incredulously. “You remember I told you how dangerous this was right now, right?”

“I remember. I also remember you said ‘thank you’ and ‘I love it,’ and then you kissed me.” His smile finally returned, proud and a bit impish. “I have done much stupider things for less worthy reasons.”

“There are easier ways to get me to kiss you than smuggling me books.”

“Ta. Tell me and I will do those instead.” He nodded stiffly, almost a formal bow, and gave her one last sweet, hesitant smile before he opened the door. “Good night, Kiki.”

#rhicember #kai cirdani #rekkai #otp: a nearly criminal amount of freckles #so this is probably my favorite piece I've written in a really long time #(it's also long enough that I'll probably post it on ao3 once I figure out a title for it)#I have a lot of Feelings about kai and rekke and the way their relationship is progressing #I could probably write a novel in the tags about how much I adore them #but I won't #anyway I love this pairing so so so much and it's entirely cait's fault #so if you like this you should @ queen-scribbles and thank her for being the Best and the Worst enabler a girl can ask for <3

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haledamage · 5 years

Text

Sleepless

(I waited until after midnight to post this so I could count it for Watcher Wednesday :P Rekke POV, Rekkai unrequited crush (or is it? :3), early enough in Deadfire that he isn’t yet fluent in Aedyran but has started to learn it. Seki is in italics)

It was late at night when Rekke woke suddenly from his sleep. It took a moment to remember where he was, to recognize the sound of the ocean, the barely familiar language spoken in murmurs around him.

He was on a ship, in a land far, far from home, and he should have been sleeping.

He opened his eyes. The hammock across from his belonged to Edér, and it's empty. He sat up in time to see Edér disappear into the Captain's quarters.

He felt a stab of jealousy, but quickly pushed it away. He shouldn't have been surprised that he wasn’t the only one interested in her. She's beautiful and clever and fearless and Edér had years to win her heart while Rekke had barely known her weeks.

He rolled back over and pushed it from his mind. He was already asleep again when Edér returned.

The next night, Rekke was awoken again as Aloth climbed from his bunk above. He caught the elf’s eye as he walked past, and he didn’t catch all of the half-whispered Aedyran Aloth said to him, but he got the gist of it. ‘Everything’s fine, nothing to concern yourself about, go back to sleep.’ Like that’d ever worked to make anyone less curious, especially a man like Rekke.

He watched as Aloth carefully entered the Captain’s quarters like Edér had the night before.

Last night’s jealousy was overwhelmed by tonight’s curiosity. It’s doubtful this was another clandestine rendezvous, which meant the other probably wasn’t either. Which meant they’re up to something else and he suddenly, desperately wanted to know what that something else was.

It took Rekke a long moment to realize he wasn’t alone with his thoughts. Next to his hammock was the little girl he’d seen climbing around the rigging of the ship sometimes - Vela, that’s her name. Edér had said she’s an orlan; near as Rekke can tell, she’s a very young girl with furry ears and a smile full of trouble.

She had that smile pointed at him now. She offered him a hand wordlessly, and he barely hesitated before taking it. She led him to the door and knocked.

It’s Edér that opened it. Rekke hadn’t even noticed he wasn’t in bed either. He looked confused before turning a look of paternal annoyance on Vela. Before he could say anything, Vela spoke up. “Rekke wants to help Mama, too.”

The look Edér turned on Rekke was less paternal and more annoyed. “Does he.”

Rekke tried not to look like he had no idea what’s going on. His Aedyran was heavily accented, but confident. “I want to help.”

“Let him in, dear,” he heard her say from further in the room. She sounded like she was in pain or very, very tired.

“Kiki,” Edér started, turning from the door to look at her. Rekke caught a glimpse through the open doorway. She met his eye and gave him a listless smile. Tired, then.

She waved off whatever protest Edér had. “Let him in,” she said again. “He’ll just hover outside the door until you do.”

Edér moved aside to let him in, though he didn’t look happy about it. Aloth gave him a polite, tight-lipped smile from where he sat in a chair in a far corner, book open in front of him. Vela dropped his hand to instead sprint across the room and scramble into her lap.

Her. Rekke wished he knew what to call her. Even in his head, she was only “her.” Captain was just a title, too formal. He’d heard some people call her Watcher, always with a hint of awe or fear, but she didn’t seem to like that and no one would tell him what it meant. But her name was all vowels and he still had trouble shaping it right, though not for lack of trying. So he didn’t call her anything. He just said, “hello.”

“Good evening.” Her accent in Seki was as thick as his in Aedyran, but he liked that she was willing to learn. “Or good morning. I guess that’s more accurate.”

This close, he could see the exhaustion clinging to her like spiderwebs. Her hair was a mess, even by her normal standards, and her normally bright green eyes were dull and shadowed. Her smile was a distant, ghostly thing. There’s a cup of coffee on the table in front of her; as he watched, she touched a hand to the ceramic cup and steam started to rise from it where it had previously been cold. She lifted it to her lips and drank it all in one gulp, grimacing at the bitterness of it.

He sat at the table with her and offered her a hand. He didn’t touch her, didn’t know her well enough yet to know what she’s comfortable with, but he tried to make it obvious what his intention was. He put the offer on the table - literally, in this case.

She took his hand. Her fingers were cold. How did a woman who controlled fire with her mind have such cold hands?

She laughed, tired but warm, and Rekke realized he said that out loud. He blushed, embarrassed, but she didn’t appear offended. If anything, some of the light seemed to have returned to her eyes. “Ask your questions, dear,” she said. “I can see them in your eyes. Ask.”

He asked. Already, he knew he couldn’t deny her anything. “What’s wrong? Why can’t you sleep?”

And, amazingly, she told him.

In a careful, meandering combination of Aedyran and Seki and, briefly, another language he didn't know but he’d heard her speak before, she told him of her curse. Of what it meant to be a Watcher. She was thrice haunted, once by the dead, once by the gods, and once by her own distant past. They whispered in her ear, danced in the edges of her vision, and tormented her sleep.

Edér and Aloth reluctantly filled in the spaces that she couldn’t, pieces she’s missing from the time they first met when she lost herself to the voices. Also, at least two times that her… soul was kidnapped? That didn’t sound right, but perhaps his grasp of Aedyran wasn’t as good as he thought it was.

It’s a fantastic story, and Rekke’s pretty sure he only believed a quarter of it. How was he supposed to believe that this tiny, tired woman in front of him was the resurrection of a woman who had created and then rebelled against her gods two thousand years ago? That because of this, she could read a person’s memories and life story from their soul? It’s impossible. Wasn’t it?

She must have seen his disbelief on his face. “I wouldn’t believe me either. It’s a ridiculous tale, truly. I can prove it to you, if you’d like.” He nodded, too confused and curious for words, and she smiled at him and squeezed his hand. Then her eyes went… blank. Empty. A few moments passed in silence before he noticed the glow in them, violet light curling in their depths like smoke. Where their hands touched, he felt her skin go colder, almost painfully so, like wherever the life in her eyes went it took all her warmth with it.

She started speaking, in a distant voice but flawless Seki, and Rekke realized with a jolt that he knew the story she’s telling. It’s his own. He heard in her words (though not in her hollow, lifeless tone) his pain and fear and stubborn refusal to surrender to the storm they call Ondra’s Mortar as the waves and wind ripped apart the boat around him. He heard how close he came to drowning when the ship splintered and he was thrown into the sea.

The light faded and the life returned to her and silence reigned over the room. Rekke watched her face as all the emotions from what she saw (what she read. From his soul) caught up with her, tears filling her eyes and spilling over silently, falling on their joined hands. She brushed them away quickly.

“I didn’t mean to put you through that,” he said, as if he had any control over what his soul remembered. “I’m sorry, Kiki.”

The pain on her face was chased away with surprise and then a beautiful, bashful smile. “Kiki?”

“That’s what Edér called you earlier. Is it okay if I call you that?” It’s much, much easier to say than her other name and it suited her more than just calling her Captain ever would. But maybe it wasn’t a name? Maybe it meant something in Aedyran that he hadn’t learned yet; maybe he just insulted her, or it was a term of endearment or something.

The smile lingering on her face said she wasn’t offended. “It’s… a nickname my family gave me, that’s all. I don’t mind if you use it.”

He beamed at her and she blushed, her cheeks and the tips of her pointed ears turning a lovely shade of pink. There was something shy in the way she looked at him now, and it was new and intriguing and beautiful. He wished he knew exactly what made her look at him like that. He’d do it again in a heartbeat if it meant she’d keep doing so.

Aloth said something, his accent much different than Rekke had heard before and tone sly and playful and completely not like Aloth. Rekke didn’t understand the words, they weren’t quite in Aedyran - but maybe something akin to it? - but whatever he said made Kiki blush darker and Edér chuckle.

“Iselmyr, please don’t say things like that in front of my daughter,” Kiki said primly, motioning to Vela still curled up in her lap. The little orlan was fast asleep.

“I should probably get her back in bed,” Edér said. He scooped the child out of Kiki’s arms; Vela didn’t so much as stir in her sleep. “You okay, Kiki?”

“I’m fine.” There was that tired smile again, even more exhausted than it was before. “You should sleep, my dear.”

“You should sleep,” he said, and his worry was audible.

“I don’t think I have a choice at this point. I’m…” she huffed an almost soundless laugh, “done. Someone come wake me if I start screaming about shipwrecks.”

Edér hovered about for another minute, but when Kiki just repeated 'I'm fine, go to bed' he reluctantly left. Aloth approached, leaning down to have a brief and very quiet conversation with Kiki before he left as well, wishing them both a good night.

And then it was just the two of them. Rekke wondered if he was supposed to leave now too, but he didn’t want to yet and Kiki hadn’t made any indication that he needed to. She was still holding his hand. Did she know she was still holding his hand?

“You’re going to have nightmares about my shipwreck now?” he asked to fill the silence.

She shrugged, casual like they’re discussing the weather and not the fact that Rekke has just become another of the ghosts that haunted her. “Probably. The things I See in other people’s souls tend to leave a mark, at least for a while. Don’t worry, dear. It’s still better than my usual fare.” She gave his hand another squeeze, then pulled away and ran it self-consciously over her hair. Her eyes stayed on his face, though, studying him as if trying to read his thoughts; briefly, he wondered if she actually could. “I hope I did not scare you. This… Watcher business, it unnerves people sometimes. They think it’s creepy.”

“I think you’re incredible.” It wasn’t what he meant to say, but it was true so he didn’t take it back, though he knew his face must be red. “I have never met anyone like you before.”

“I could say the same to you,” Kiki said, and she’s blushing again too. “Thank you. For wanting to help.”

Rekke smiled, sly and mischievous. “I thought you and Edér were having an affair. The way he sneaks in here in the middle of the night is very suspicious.”

She laughed at that, real and joyous and livelier than anything he’d heard from her all night. “I told him that would happen. I don’t know why he’s trying to keep it secret. I don’t make any effort to hide my condition.”

“He is trying to protect you.”

She pursed her lips sourly. “He always does. So does Aloth. I’m still not sure if I think they’re sweet or obnoxious.” Her frown turned into a fond smile, though, and he got the impression that her protests were habitual and not sincere.

“They are family. I think that makes them both.” Kiki turned that fond smile on him now, and it made him feel warm all the way down to his bones. It made him want to do something reckless, something to impress her and earn that affection for himself. Instead he said, “Do you want me to leave so you can sleep?”

“You can stick around a little longer, if you’d like. I can’t promise I’ll be much of a conversationalist, though.” Rekke believed it. Even though she was still smiling, her head was leaned heavily on one hand, elbow propped on the table. She was struggling to keep her eyes open.

“Do you want me to stay?” He thought he knew the answer, but he needed to hear it. Wanted to hear it.

Her eyes snapped open and she met his gaze in obvious surprise. She seemed taken aback by the question, like she didn’t expect to be allowed an opinion on the matter. “Yes. Just… Just until I fall asleep. If that is okay.”

He grinned. “I’ll stay as long as you wish, Kiki.”

There’s a few moments where neither of them moved, where the air in the room started to feel heavy and charged. Kiki cleared it with a shake of her head, like she simply didn’t have the desire for things to feel awkward and so they didn’t. She walked over to her bed and nudged at what looked like a pile of blankets. It turned out to be a large black dog and an absurd number of cats. The menagerie reluctantly moved to sleep somewhere else.

Kiki crawled into bed without hesitation, too tired for decorum, and Rekke claimed the nearby overstuffed reading chair. She gifted him with another warm smile, but he could see sleep pulling her down and away. Within minutes, her breathing slowed and evened out and she was out.

Rekke knew he should leave now that she’s asleep, but he lingered a little while, watching her. There was a knot of a frown between her eyebrows already from something forcing its way into her dreams. Without thinking, he reached out and smoothed his thumb over it, smiling as her expression cleared and she relaxed back into sleep. He brushed a few wild curls out of her face, then pulled his hand back and moved away from the bed in an effort to remove the temptation to keep touching her.

He took the opportunity to sate his curiosity and look around the room instead. He hadn’t had the opportunity to explore this corner of the ship yet.

There were a lot of books. What use could she possibly have for this many books? There seemed to be one or two on every surface, gathering in piles and drifts on any available space except the bed and the desk.

The desk was mostly covered in paper, haphazard stacks of letters and half-finished replies. He picked one up, but he couldn’t read it yet so he just shrugged and set it back down.

On a small shelf next to the desk was a collection of knick knacks that caught his attention. A pair of broken swords and a third sword that was still whole. Twin intricate bronze daggers. Several amulets tied together, all bearing the symbol of a black key. A speckled bird feather. A fox carved from white adra. A diving helmet. A stone bust of a woman whose eyes seemed to follow him wherever he went. He got the feeling that the woman was judging him, though he couldn’t say why.

Kiki made a small, distressed noise in her sleep and Rekke immediately abandoned his exploration to return to her side. She had curled into a ball, hands tensed into white-knuckled fists. He knelt next to the bed and covered both her hands with his. Her hands were alarmingly warm.

She whimpered again and he shushed her gently. “Shh. You are safe, Kiki. No harm will come to you while I’m here, I swear it.” When she didn’t immediately calm down, he did the first thing he could think of and started to sing. It’s a lullaby his mother used to sing to him, the first song that came to his mind, and he didn’t remember all the words, but he knew the tune enough to hum the parts he couldn’t recall.

Some of the tension drained from her as he sang, so he kept going. Most of the songs he knew were shanties or pub songs, but his singing voice wasn’t half-bad, and Kiki’s asleep so he doubted she’d judge his taste. He’s in the middle of the third song when she finally relaxed again and after a moment, he relaxed too. He rubbed his thumb over her palm, trying to soothe the crescent-moon marks left by her fingernails.

A few minutes passed and she didn’t stir, breathing still calm and even, so he reluctantly pulled himself away from her once more. He went back to the reading chair and, after a moment’s consideration, picked it up and moved it next to the bed before settling down into it. “If you need me, I am right here. Good night, Kiki.”

Rekke watched her for a little while longer, but whatever had been troubling her didn’t come back and her sleep remained undisturbed. He leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes.

Aloth found them the next morning when he went to check on Kai. She was curled up on the bed, the big black hound draped over her legs like a blanket. Rekke was still in the chair, with a cat on his head and two more in his lap. With a small smile, Aloth backed out of the room and let them sleep in.

#rekkai #pillars of eternity #watcher wednesday #rekke #kai cirdani #rhi writes #rekke has a BIG CRUSH and kiki is the only person in eora that doesn't know it #I love writing about watcher creepiness from an outside perspective #especially people that are less familiar with it than folks like aloth and eder #I haven't decided if I want to put this on ao3 or not but that's probably ye olde imposter syndrome talking #because writing from a canon character's pov always makes me second guess myself #(also from what I've been able to figure seki doesn't have any double-vowel sounds in the language #so I figured a name like kai would be something he struggled with at first #though he does get the hang of it later and calls her that sometimes #which is why he got very early special permission to call her kiki :3 totally only that reason and not because she liked him)#and yes kiki and rekke both switch back and forth between aedyran and seki #because they're at that stage of learning a new language where you can understand it find but still struggle to speak it #and it was fun to explore that a bit between them

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