mistleglow: a winter kiss meme

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mistleglow: a winter kiss meme.

The month of December has been a cold one in Anchor, with the bots working hard to bring a little winter joy to the city. This year, there's a little extra surprise - the bots welcome the participation of the nanites, who are able to join in with the winter holiday protocols for the first time in a long time following their long imprisonment.

And what are the nanites doing? Well...this winter wonderland has been missing a conspicuous offender: the mistletoe. That's where the nanites come in...

▶ The nanites will be floating around in little swarms, lit up bright with various colors, and when they run into any sentient creature, they will enclose them in a harmless invisible shield with a radius of approximately three feet by three feet. Once the characters are entrapped, they'll be stuck for exactly one hour...unless they kiss!

▶ There is no compulsion to kiss, and characters are welcome to just wait out the hour and hope they're stuck with a good conversationalist, but if they want to get on their way, they'll have to kiss their fellow captive, in a specific way depending on the color of the nanite swarm that's trapped them.

▶ The bots will be helping by helpfully informing any trapped characters they need to kiss as they pass by. They won't say what kind of kiss because that would make it too easy. But at least now you know, right?

▶ This meme can be counted as game canon and used for AC if threads continue into January (don't forget: December is check-in only) if both parties wish. Characters who are not in the game are welcome, and threads from this meme can also count for application samples! Come join us!

▶ How to Participate: Just post a top-level detailing the types of kisses you're interested in, and then tag around to other people's top-levels.

▶ Kiss Type Legend:

RED: MOUTH ● ORANGE: NECK ● YELLOW: CHEEK
GREEN: FOREHEAD ● BLUE: HAND ● VIOLET: BUTTERFLY

Navigation.

Comments

[braidmage]

[ Reynir is jarred out of his slight haze when Onni hits his hand against the barrier, at an angle and velocity that look like they really, really hurt. And Reynir remembers, then, what he'd heard. Something about - the kiss had to be in the right place? So he reaches out for that hand, even as Onni is wincing, folding it over his own and bringing it up to his mouth to very lightly kiss those stinging knuckles. His green eyes stay on Onni as he does it, this old-fashioned and strange gesture. When Reynir reaches out this time, he does it more carefully. That barrier is still there. ]

Um... here.

[ And Reynir tries the next two most logical places for kisses, as far as he's concerned, cupping Onni's head and pressing lips to his forehead (his height gives him an advantage with that) and then to his cheek. Both are mere presses of his lips, soft and warm but then gone almost at once. He holds his breath as he reaches out and...

...the barrier is still there. ]

Shit, I really thought that would do it.

[ Reynir is more aware than ever how small a space it is they are confined in. But it's not like they are in danger. It won't really harm him if he gives up and just accepts his roiling hunger for another... probably 50 minutes or so. He could do that. He should do that, and he should stop looking at Onni's mouth. ]

Maybe we just didn't do it long enough?

[ Perhaps the real issue was that that first kiss hadn't been enough of a kiss. Hesitantly, Reynir leans in again, tilting his head slightly, waiting to see that Onni is not pulling away before he starts kissing him, again. This time, he puts a hand at Onni's hip, and returns the other to the back of his neck. Reynir can't let his own shyness be the reason they don't escape, on a small technicality. So his mouth is soft and open against Onni's, kissing him deeper than before, like he would kiss somebody he really wanted to kiss, without any nanites involved at all. And he doesn't break it off. ]

[scowlish]

[Onni has not personally heard about the part where the kiss has to be in the right place, so it's a little surprising when Reynir takes his hand and kisses his knuckles. He catches on once Reynir moves to kiss his forehead and his cheek, just soft presses of his mouth against Onni's skin. Once Reynir moves on from those spots, Onni finds himself still hyperaware of where he'd been kissed, and it occurs to him that it has been a very long time since he's been touched like this; not just the kissing, but the way Reynir's hand cups against his head, or where his fingers brush through his hair. Of course, Reynir had hugged him and stroked his hair and rubbed his back when he'd been upset, but that wasn't the same as this, somehow. The gentleness and purposefulness and intimacy is completely different.

It's strangely unsettling to realize how long it's been.

By the time he presses that thought into the place in his mind where he stores things he just can't think about right now, Reynir has already tested the barrier and found that it's not gone. Onni glances up when Reynir says he thinks they hadn't done it long enough, and then he's reaching for Onni again, tilting his head, and Onni gives one tiny nod before they're kissing again. Reynir's mouth is as warm and soft as it had been the first time, but now he's deepening the kiss, opening his mouth a little more, and Onni responds much more easily this time. He parts his lips, he presses back into the kiss, his jaw working and lips moving against Reynir's - he's hyperaware, again, of when Reynir's hand moves to the back of his neck and then the other as it settles on his hip.

This time, Reynir doesn't pull back, and so they keep going. Onni's hand lifts and hooks against Reynir's waist, the other moves to curve against the small of Reynir's back. He only pulls back once he realizes he needs to breathe, surprised at how distracted he'd been by the sensation of it. It's not like any kiss he'd ever tried before, longer and deeper and it stirs something in him in a way none of the kisses before had.

Lifting a hand, he carefully reaches out and finds his palm and fingers connecting with the barrier, and he makes a soft 'hm' in his throat.]

I have an idea.

[One sparked, actually, by the way Reynir had touched his hip and the back of his neck, by his awareness of those touches and how they'd affected him.]

[braidmage]

[ If Onni is hyperaware and overthinking, an opposite sort of process is going on in Reynir's mind. He sinks into a happy sort of haze, only really aware of the feel of Onni's mouth moving against his, the warmth of his breath, the softness of his lips, the feeling of that hand against the small of his back. He melts into it, easy as breathing. It feels good, so why would he worry?

His eyes are shut, so he only notices Onni pulling away when it's too late to do anything, but he can't stop himself making a very small noise low in his throat, like a mute protest. And maybe he moves his weight forward a little, as if to keep up the contact, until he snaps out of it and opens his eyes again.

When Onni's hand connects with the barrier again, Reynir sighs, resigning himself. He'd gone hungry before. He will live. Clearly all that stuff about kissing being the way out was a lie...

...but then Onni says he has an idea, and Reynir looks at him, curious and uncharacteristically quiet: ]

Oh?

[scowlish]

[Something in his chest and belly twists a little when he hears that tiny noise of protest, and feels the way Reynir sways toward him as he pulls back from the kiss. Like Reynir really wants this, wants to kiss him, was enjoying it rather than thinking of it as a means to an end. A chore.

That makes it a little easier, when Reynir asks him what his idea is, to follow through with it.]

I thought of where else people might kiss, and...here.

[Lifting a hand, Onni rests it on Reynir's shoulder, and it doesn't take much effort to pull him down, just a little. Once Reynir is in reach, he lifts a hand to brush back some of his wild red hair, and his eyes flick up to Reynir's for just a moment, looking for any sign of protest before he moves in closer. For just a second, he hesitates, his breath fanning against the muscle connecting Reynir's shoulder and neck, and then he ducks his head and presses his mouth there, just a soft open-mouthed kiss that lasts just a second.

When he's done, though, he lifts a hand and reaches for the barrier, finds it intact.]

Mm. I thought maybe the neck or throat...people kiss there, don't they?

[braidmage]

[ There is not a hint of discomfort or displeasure in Reynir's open face, or in those bright green eyes of his, as Onni moves closer. He blinks a few times, noticing the details he can see on Onni's face from this closer - that little furrow between his brows, the patterns within the icy blue of his eyes, the perfect and adorable shape of his nose. He can feel Onni's warm breath before he feels the contact of his mouth, so brief and chaste, and, from the feel of it, a bit uncertain?

And what he says a moment later confirms that. He is right, of course. People kiss just about anywhere, Reynir knows. But Onni isn't stating, he's asking. Not rhetorically, from the sound of it, but really asking. Like he's not sure. Like he's never kissed anyone's neck before, or had his kissed. Which... well, Reynir has never talked to Onni about his love life but he gets the overall impression he didn't have time for himself after he started looking after Lalli and Tuuri.

It would be a shame, Reynir thought. To not know what it was like to have your neck kissed. ]

They do. But - not quite like that. Here.

[ His breath is caught in his throat as he reaches forward, twining fingers into Onni's hair and tugging ever so gently, encouraging him to tilt his head. Then, eyes locked on Onni's until he is too close, Reynir ducks his head forward and kisses Onni's neck. He starts nearer to his collarbone, but makes his way up, finding the place where he can feel the rapid thrum of Onni's heartbeat and lingering there, his mouth warm and curious. He can feel the faint hints of Onni's stubble, and mouths against the underside of his strong jaw.

Eventually, after what seems like a long time and no time at all, Reynir pulls away. His mouth is just a touch reddened from that scratchy stubble and from contact, his face pink beneath his freckles. ]

That's how they do it.

[ He doesn't even remember to maybe check the barrier, now. ]

[scowlish]

[Reynir confirms that people do kiss on the neck and throat, but that they do it differently than Onni had just now. It makes sense that he would do it wrong, he thinks, because he's pretty sure that whatever it is that makes people want to kiss and take the time to learn how is broken in him. There's some instinct missing, or maybe it didn't form in the first place because he'd been too busy with surviving as a teenager.

So he's never done this, kissing someone on the neck or having his neck kissed. He doesn't know what it feels like or where to start, he doesn't know if he's going to like it. Kissing Reynir's shoulder had felt alright, but he feels a strange sort of anxiety building under his diaphragm when Reynir reaches forward and puts his fingers into his hair, pulls on him. Then Reynir's mouth is on his collarbone, traveling up his throat with a series of soft open-mouthed kisses, and Onni realizes that apparently some of those instincts are not broken in him, because he tilts his head to allow Reynir's face to fit neatly under his jaw.

When those soft lips linger against his pulse point and then move along the line of his jaw, Onni releases a soft breath, realizes it's shaky, and then Reynir is pulling away and looking at him with his face and his mouth pink, telling him that's how they do it. Swallowing hard, he lifts a hand without meaning to, and cups it against the side of his throat, his own cheeks a bit pink, avoiding eye contact with Reynir.]

Ah.

[He can't find any other words, right now, and he doesn't think to check the barrier either.]

[braidmage]

[ Reynir's assumption - and why wouldn't it be - is that Onni's flush and the way he touches his hand to his neck is primarily embarrassment, and maybe some degree of discomfort. He had gone a bit overboard, perhaps. Let himself get swept up in things. Probably the reason Onni's never had his neck kissed before, by the sound of it, is that he knew he wouldn't like it. So he's about to apologize when he finally realizes neither of them have tested to see if that had worked. So, before he says anything, Reynir reaches out for the barrier...

...and it isn't there. He checks again, sweeping his arm out in a loop, taking a few steps back just to confirm. The nanites, he sees, have stopped glowing and are flying away in a little swarm. ]

We did it!

[ Reynir gives a little jump of happiness, clapping his hands together in front of him. He sees how Onni is still looking away, touching his neck, and remembers to feel guilty. Maybe he should have given a bit more warning than that or asked if Onni was okay with him really going for it. Pushing his hair back from his face, Reynir says, happy still but sincerely apologetic: ]

Ah, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Onni! I know that wasn't any fun for you. But it worked. So it wasn't in vain, at least?

[ It's easy for Reynir to believe, in spite of the evidence that he ought to have noticed right in front of him (the way Onni had breathed, his body language) that his exuberance is obnoxious to people. What is this but one more case of Reynir solving a problem exuberantly, in his own fashion, and Onni being peeved but kind about it? ]

I promise I'll make it up to you, once I've had something to eat. You can put snow down the back of my shirt or something.

[scowlish]

[Thankfully, Onni is a little too distracted to overthink much more than he already has. A lot of what he's feeling right now is probably going to be left on the back burner to simmer for a while so he can get his mind straight, but this whole interaction feels poignant.

Reynir jumps around and swings his arms to show the barrier is gone, does a little jump and cheer and crows about how they've done it, and Onni can't seem to drop his hand from his neck. The spots that Reynir had touched him are still tingling a little, but mostly there, under his hand, and he half wishes he could wipe that sensation away.

But when Reynir apologizes, he finally finds he can drop his hand to his side and start moving, a quick little jog to catch up with Reynir as they continue on their way to the kitchens to get something to eat.]

Don't apologize. You had to do it, and it wasn't bad.

[Of course, Onni realizes that there's probably no way Reynir particularly enjoyed that whole situation. He doesn't suspect he hated it, judging by his reactions, but Onni imagines Reynir has had a lot of opportunities to do that kind of thing and can't imagine he's the pinnacle of those encounters, or even in the top half.]

Now I'm hungry too.

[braidmage]

[ Reynir is a little taken aback at himself and the mixed emotions he feels when Onni accepts his apology in that way. Of course, there is relief there, that Onni is telling him not to apologize - something Onni does plenty, but in this case, where Reynir thinks it might really be necessary, it's good to hear. But then there is disappointment, as well. It's not like he had expected Onni to tell him it was wonderful or anything. Obviously not from the way he'd reacted. But something about the extremely faint praise of 'it wasn't bad' just doesn't sit right. Why does he feel that little sink in his stomach, like he wishes Onni had thought it was better than he'd expected or something?

Oh, well. It doesn't matter, and they're free, and Onni's not mad at him, and that's what is important. But Reynir does feel just a little like he'd made a fool of himself, without really being able to identify why. ]

Then let's go get some food!

[ He puts extra brightness and enthusiasm into it precisely because of that faint unease. ]