// anyway presentation later, and then i will sleep, and then i might do some replies before grading, and then i will play the archon quest. AHHHHHH lol

UM! ALSO! I WAS REREADING LUNA 2 VARKA DIALOGUE AND HAVE A BUDDING THEORY THAT DOTTORE IS USING RERIR AS A PUPPET... I'M SAD...

// love the concept of these two idiots teetering on the borderline of obsession and worried theirs in particular will be overbearing and scare off the other.......

// i'm watching you

coat for comfort, but his tone of voice did not carry its usual confidence.

"... Let us find your flower a suiting vase."

The flames of his lantern, still dangling behind his back, threatened to escape their containment - dancing feverishly along glass walls as he set off down the corridor.

his hand in lieu of his 𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘬, using it to regain his composure and reorient his thoughts. The tether... the flower...

"Shall we continue where we left off?" There was no fooling anyone. Kyryll only spoke once he had walked a couple steps past Rerir, his lower face sinking into the collar of his

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Bashful, sheepish, and a tad embarrassed, a gloved hand was lifted to cover his mouth, and he gave a light cough.

"Thank you... Rerir." A fleeting glance was given, full of sincerity and awkwardness both, but it was short lived as Kyryll set his sights back down the hall. He still hid behind

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Messy and incomplete and confused and knowing that he needed to act, that Rerir expected something, but not having the foresight to know how to react - not able to meticulously plan out his responses when he was caught so off guard.

If Kyryll's flame could let off heat, he might have blushed.

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his waist, the heat was gone, and Rerir stepped aside.

... It was now that Kyryll collected himself, flipping the switch to that flawless mask of his back on.

No. He tried to. But the whirlwind of racing thoughts and emotions within his mind shut it down like a firewall.

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burned under Rerir's touch and didn't know what to do. That maybe his mind changed on the color red, and it no longer represented the wicked clutches of the Abyss - but rather a searing heat that pulled him into orbit, threatening to consume Kyryll whole.

But before his hand had even reached

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human mask - programmed to perfection. The closest thing to his heart was the lantern clipped on his coat.)

Kyryll's hand twitched at his side. What if he... held it? Rerir's hand, the claws on his chest. What if he...

Slowly, he raised his arm, wanting to show that he reciprocated, that he

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directed away from Kyryll's gaze as they were.

Those claws carefully dipped into his coat, tips raking against his chest as if they might find a heart underneath.

(It wasn't there - not really, anyway. Kyryll didn't need to breath, he didn't require a pulse. These were essential parts of his

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studied at a later date, another surprise stopped him in his tracks...

A hand over his chest.

It burned. It 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥. Kyryll was a flame with no heat, and he wanted nothing more than to cannibalize Rerir's warmth. Those maddeningly, vivid red eyes of his burned too, but their heat was tolerable,

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What was he doing? His behavior was unbefitting of a host - and far too raw for his liking.

Since when had the vestiges of his carefully practiced mask stripped away, leaving him exposed? Able to be perceived?

Before he could don that mask again, before he could lock his heart away to be

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With little resistance, Kyryll stumbled forward. Not fast enough to knock into Rerir, but landing close enough to stand right before him, yellow eyes locking onto the other's in shock even as Rerir peered down the hall.

... That's right - Kyryll had brought him here for an important purpose.

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a small faction who still revered the old god and his Knyazes.

No longer was the fae's expression twisted into a devastated frown. He stood silent, eyes trained on the ground but looking beyond it, at something that wasn't in the corridor that Rerir couldn't see.

And then came the push.

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... Perhaps it was because Rerir's words struck at the very core of why he had departed this world in the first place...

When the Tsar fell, so too did the people's faith in the blue flames. It was already a stroke of fate that the battle fought atop his grave was between the detested Abyss, and

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// have fun!