Private Tales Bones and A Beating Heart

[Perrine Urahil]

She could only answer him with a happy smile, a gentle peal of laughter leaving her lips as she brushed past him and inside the inn he had spoken of for lodgings. She took a look around, elated and feeling a high that was not of her own magic's doing, and turned to reach for Val's hand. Perrine was not too sure of his current state, but it did not seem a bad idea that they walk together to keep one another from falling.

"Cosy and quiet in here... and not in a negative way." Perri commented, noting the soft music being played in the corner despite the growing lateness of the evening.

"How can I help you?" Asked the innkeeper, stood behind the bar and counting coins.

"Lodgings for one room, if you have vacancy." Perrine could not help the small smile at her lips, but it made the Healer a lot more approachable and pleasant to engage with if she had went with her standardised schooled expression.

"I have one last room. Not quite a sweetheart suite for you both, but it has a comfortable bed and breakfast will be brought to the room in the morning."

Perrine's hand tightened around Val's. Should she invite him to stay? Would that only give him an idea...? All these thoughts had taken a mere second or two to consider, but Perrine was too attached to the Pirian to let him walk away after their few hours of connection. "It shall do." She turned to share glances with her companion, smiling at him before releasing his hand to reach for her coin purse in her pocket.

 

[Val Pirian]

"Cozy" was right. The inn had a very down-home feel to it that Val had always liked when he'd come in the past, but...well, he'd obviously never been to it with Perrine before, and that put an edge on the atmosphere that he hadn't expected. The alcohol continued to course through his veins, Val still cognizant enough to recognize that he was sloshed. The frequent need for he and his companion to steady themselves against each other wouldn't let him forget.

"One last room," said the innkeeper. "It shall do," said Perrine. Val reddened. There was a lot that could mean. And if Perrine hadn't even had her first kiss until now, then...

"Are you certain? If you're not comfortable, I could find another inn..."

 

[Perrine Urahil]

Perrine lifted an amused brow at him as the innkeeper went to fetch the key after taking the money paid by the Healer. "I am uncertain of where our night will lead, but I know one thing for sure and that is I have plenty more time to learn more about you. We are both of an age where we do not need to trivialize a night spent together." The thought too had crossed her mind, leading her into a inner discussion of whether she would or would not. It was hard to tell standing here, not in the comfort of privacy to toy with the idea.

A light blush blossomed on her perfect complexion, and she turned away before it could turn scarlet. The innkeeper returned, handing her a key that she clasped in her fist and focused on the cool wrought iron key.

"Come along." Her hand found Val's again, giving him a light tug to follow. Perrine took the stairs slowly, releasing his hand to properly support each boot that found the steps and climbed, turning to grin at him once she had made it to the top. "Imagine if I had taken a fall. We would hope you remembered how to mimic my healing to make sure I was alright." She chuckled, waiting for him to reach her side before she softened her face.

"I am glad you are staying, Val." Perrine gave him a smile, small, but heartfelt. If they had already parted, she was sure she would be restless to sleep thinking of him, and the feel of his lips pressing to her own.

 

[Val Pirian]

Of all the times to start feeling bashful...gods, he was Percival Pirian for Kress' sake. Now was not the time to get shy.
"I'm certain there's plenty more I'd love to learn about you as well, my dear," was the answer he finally formed as the blushing beauty guided him along.

Val found himself grinning at her hypothetical.
"Trust me, I would not forget so easily! But to think I would simply let you tumble past me rather than catch you, my goodness! What kind of man would I be?" he teased back as he crested the top of the stairs as well.

He took her hand in his once more as they took their final steps toward their evening shelter, lifted it to his lips, and gently kissed the back of it.
"There is no place on Arethil I would rather be than here with you, Perrine."

 

[Perrine Urahil]

Perrine was smiling like a fool, smitten with the man that drew her hand up to his lips, kiss pressing to her knuckles. Sweet words tendered her, and Perri found herself taking a step forward, head angled enough to breath the same air as him. "And I too, feel the same way, Val." But she pushed down on the thought of kissing him, lips or cheek, and looked down at the key she had paid the room it would unlock.

She tore her eyes to scan the small landing, the number scribbled on the tag of her key matching the door at the end.

"I feel as if time is slipping away from us." She murmured as her hand moved to grasp his, tugging him slowly with her towards the door. Once reaching it, she found the key fitting perfectly and pushed the door wide open. It was honest, consisting of a large bed, a wardrobe, a mirror. A window was opposite from them, spilling views of the street below, where Perri had minutes ago had her first kiss. She turned to smile at him, squeezing his hand.

There was no real way knowing if she was up for another first tonight, but the Healer did not worry herself about it now, not when she merely wished for more kisses from Val. He had left her lips tingling, and now? Perri wanted his softness to bruise her lips, to allow her to not forget just how sweet he was.

"Well, the innkeeper said it was no sweetheart suite." Amusement coloured her face dropping his hand and going to shrug out from her cloak and toss it onto a chair in the corner. She sat on the bed, leaning down to slowly tackle the knots to her laces of her boots. "But it is nicer than the barracks or my small bed at the Academy."

 

[Val Pirian]

Each mention of time brought a dull ache to Val's heart. Many times in the past Perrine would have been right. A single night was all there was. A meaningless meeting of two faces that had never met before, and would likely never meet again, names barely exchanged.

For once in his life, the thought of that happening terrified him. It was an overwhelming fear that pushed its way through the swirling alcohol coursing his bloodstream and clouding his mind. He wanted to savor every moment he could, and prayed that when the dawn came it would not sentence Perrine to the halls of his distant memories.

And so Val swallowed hard, an observer in his own body as he watched Perrine pull him into their shared room. She sat at the edge of the bed, her beauty rushing over Val like a river. There was no certainty left in his essence now. Where the night might lead them now, only fate knew. At this, he laughed.

"It's...cozy. I quite like it," he said softly, sitting by her side and similarly beginning to discard his outermost layers. All he wanted to do was rest his forehead on hers, memorize the feeling of her skin, and drink more deeply of her than any drink the two had consumed that night.

 

[Perrine Urahil]

With him seated beside her, she could not fight the pull to be nearer to him still. Perrine leaned in, arms curling around his torso to hold her in place, her eyes closing as she rested her face into the crook of his neck. Her eyelashes brushed at his skin, her lips lifting in a smile. "A good way to wind down from our drinking." The blonde mused, before pulling him down with her to lay back onto the bed. Perrine let out her laugh, something so melodic and free to the ears.

Perrine sighed, smiling as she squeezed him tighter. "I cannot be the only one to think this natural." Since his kiss, she had felt the compulsion to cosy up to him, as if they had wasted enough time already by not being sweet like this. "Nor have I ever thought of myself feeling like this with someone..." And to have her own limited freedom to enjoy this.

Here, she tipped her head back to gaze into his eyes. Mere moments with nothing said, Perrine drew closer to him. Tentative and all too aware of herself now, she placed her pink lips against his soft, catching him with a kiss. How tender it was, leaving her lips to tingle with the effects still felt from her first kiss. Softly, lazily, Perrine took this moment hidden away from the street and patrons to enjoy this innocent intimacy with Val.

What felt like seconds had been minutes, and she pulled away to touch her blushing cheeks.