His brows furrowed as a smile of faux uncertainty tugged flatly upon his lips. A laugh escaped them as he shifted his gaze towards her once more.[break][break]

”...I’m glad you think of me so highly, amore~,” he cooed, running a thumb along her temple with an idle, absentminded touch. ”All things considered, I’m but a flawed man. That much is indisputable.[break][break]

He pulled his hand away, eying her for a smile while longer before leaning back with a sigh, a single hue of azure directing itself back towards the flame.[break][break]

”...What matters is that I’m doing the best with the cards I’ve been dealt, though, I suppose~...”

mielle [break]
mission: vacation time

☉

"it wouldn't be interesting if there weren't a single flaw, now would it?"[break][break]

she's no better - far from stainless. but there's nothing else to do when you're stuck between a rock and a hard place - no use trying to claw your way against a current. she laughs in response, gently rubbing her cheek against his arm in an absentminded manner. even though they aren't so close to as to be like this, there's a part of her that wishes they were. [break][break]

"it's how i ended up in rocket~" she hums, warming herself up. "everything is alright, so long as there are no regrets~"

Dante Telos

☉

He chuckled, nodding in agreement.[break][break]

”Of course,” he mused, a softer smile tugging upon his lips all the while. ”Perfection is what everyone strives for, but flaws are what breathe life into everything, after all~...”[break][break]

Though recently returned, the smile upon his lips began to fade as a sense of thought took his mind. A hum trailed after his words.[break][break]

”...So long as there’s no regrets~...”

mielle [break]
mission: vacation time

☉

'so long as there's no regrets' hits a bit harder than it should have. [break][break]

so she falls silent, for a little while. just long enough for her to properly process it, but not long enough for him to be able to catch on, hopefully. instead, she hums, with a smile on her lips while taking in another breath of fresh air. "mhm.. i agree~" even if she still can't fully understand, or grasp, or wrap her head around it. [break][break]

still as affectionate is ever, even when there's no reason to be. though she doesn't lower her hand to slip her fingers between the gaps of his (she wants to), she does keep a firm hold as bright, golden eyes close. [break][break]

".. i think it's good to have a few regrets, though." because having none is unrealistic, and "because they're mistakes to learn from, and to grow with, mmn?" her smile doesn't leave, although her tone does lower, slightly, and when she opens her eyes halfway, there's the wistful longing that she hasn't experienced in a while "as long as you can learn and grow from them~."

Dante Telos

☉

She spoke truth, though as the words continued to leave her lips, he couldn’t help but glance towards her once more within a more subtle manner. Just as he’d done so often, a smile remained upon her lips as she spoke; a subtle detail that had still been all too contradicting to the shifts in tone and the like.[break][break]

For a man with little memory, it sparked a sense of familiarity within him.[break]
It was hard for it not to when he, himself, found himself beneath the same guise.[break][break]

”...As right as you are, amore, you seem a bit taken aback by your own words~...” he hummed softly, offering a similar sort of smile. ”Are you okay?”

mielle [break]
mission: vacation time

☉

she's getting lost in thought, lost in memories. they're memories she wished she could lose.[break][break]

his words snap her out of her wistful daze, and she only gives a bright smile. the smile is only slightly forced. "yes, i'm okay~" the kalosian lady nods. it's no lie; "i'm only.. remembering a few things. that's all~" things that didn't warrant his concern, she thinks. so she wears a smile. [break][break]

"ah, mainly stuff from before rocket~" the smile is starting to weaken "though.. i can't say they were good memories~"

Dante Telos

☉

Ah, memories far from fond.[break]
He understood. …Even for a man with lapses in memory, he understood.[break][break]

And thus did he gaze upon her for a longer while within the wake of the words she’d spoken to him, humming softly all the while. Before long, a singular hue of azure drifted upon the image of her lip in not their common, idle admiration and appreciation from past occurrences (the magnetism had always been there, but within the conversation, even he knew that there was always a time and place), but rather a sense of observation.[break][break]

”...Would you like to talk about it?” came the words at long last, coupled by none other than a subtle look of concern and curiosity, alike.

mielle [break]
mission: vacation time

☉

talk? [break][break]

yes, maybe talking would be a good idea - if it weren't something that's made her feel so shameful. she's thrown out easily, after all, and pity doesn't exactly go well on his face. she knows pity will be felt, towards her and her situation, but never does mielle actually want it; not when it reminds her of the shortcomings. [break][break]

but when she looks to those azure eyes that gaze on her so intently, and when he asks so curiously, it's becoming more difficult to say no (not like rejection was ever a strong point of hers). so instead, she sighs, leaning her head against his shoulder a little more. it's for the comfort. [break][break]

it's for the loneliness. [break][break]

"even if it has something to do with un ancien béguin?~" she giggles softly at her own words, then tacks on "an old flame" for translation sake. he's since moved on, and she has, too. yes. [break][break]

she has, too.

Dante Telos

☉

”...I’d argue especially if it’s about an old flame~.”[break][break]

A softer smile tugged upon his lips as the words left them, though not without a wistful touch in lieu of memories forgotten. His gaze remained upon her through her own bout of speech, as well as her gesture closer, and only strayed from her in favor of idly sparing a glimpse towards the oceans afar once more.[break][break]

The tug faltered faintly. Absentmindedly.[break][break]

”...It’s good to talk about all matters, after all.”[break][break]

Within the midst of his own hardships, he always found it better than stewing within his own negativity.[break][break]

”Doesn’t matter if the matter is good, or bad, or uncomfortable— and I’d even say all the better if it was uncomfortable~. ,,,It might just lift a weight you hadn’t known to be movable.”

mielle [break]
mission: vacation time

☉

is he worried? [break][break]

of course he is - he can't be after she's said that. though he's offering to be an ear to lend, she doesn't quite know about depending on him some more. mielle knows that they shouldn't be going out on a date like this, either (and she tells herself that it's not a date, for her own sake) when they glance out at the sun that's long since set. her lips press together, and she lets out a soft hum.[break][break]

she shouldn't be dumping her troubles onto him, not when the two of them are friends with benefits already; mielle knows the rule. she doesn't want to be that person who falls for her sleeping partner. still, she can't help it. [break][break]

not when he's being so warm and welcoming. [break][break]

so with a sigh of defeat, she leans back slightly, giving him a gaze in return to say "mm.. but it's nothing too important~" her head tilts, and she's humming with a smile "we just had.. some disagreements, that likely couldn't be fixed." she lies between her teeth, and the hesitation was never easy to mask "just a couple of disagreements, mmn~"

Dante Telos

☉

A vague response.[break]
Even before she’d begun to speak, he had a hunch that it may have been a topic she’d prefer to avoid.[break][break]

Yet nevertheless, he never would have known the exact response awaiting him if he’d never asked. With the words spoken to him, however, he simply nodded in thought as they settled into his mind, humming. A vague response had been better than no response, after all— and even if assumptions had been little more than a coin toss as to discerning truths or simple inklings, they had always proven to be easy to see and connect to him.[break][break]

He thought upon it for several moments more. He glanced towards her, subtly, to note whatever ailments upon her expression that may have surfaced.[break][break]

The hesitation had been far from lost upon him; the seeming reluctance equally as so.[break][break]

”Well, he lost a good woman at the cost of those disagreements, then~,” had been his response before long, genuine as it had been blunt and simple.

mielle [break]
mission: vacation time

☉